who
did. He says they made a great impression upon the people of England; that
he heard Mr. Windham and Mr. Fox speak of them as the best thing that had
been written, and as one of the best pieces of reasoning and style they
had ever read."

The younger Adams, in surveying the condition of the country at this
critical period, became convinced it would be a fatal step for the new
government to take sides with either of the great parties in Europe, who
were engaged in the settlement of their difficulties by the arbitrement
of arms. However strongly our sympathies were elicited in behalf of the
French Republic--however we may have been bound in gratitude for the
assistance rendered us during our Revolutionary struggle, to co-operate
with France in her defence of popular institutions--still,
self-preservation is the first law of nature. Mr. Adams saw, that to throw
ourselves into the melee of European conflicts, would prostrate the
interests of the country, and peril the very existence of the government.

These views he embodied in a series of articles, which he published in the
Boston Centinel, in 1793, under the signature of "Marcellus." He
insisted it was alike the dictate of duty and policy, that the United
States should remain strictly neutral between France and her enemies.
These papers attracted general attention throughout the Union, and made a
marked impression on the public mind. They were read by Washington, with
expressions of the highest satisfaction; and he made particular inquiries
respecting the author.

The position of Mr. Adams on neutrality was new, and in opposition to the
opinions of the great mass of the country. To him, it is believed, belongs
the honor of first publicly advocating this line of policy, which
afterwards became a settled principle of the American government.
Non-interference with foreign affairs is a principle to which the Union
has rigidly adhered to the present hour. In these articles too, Mr. Adams
developed the political creed which governed him through life in regard to
two great principles--union at home and independence of all foreign
alliances or entanglements--independence not only politically, but in
manufactures and in commerce.

On the 25th of April, 1793, Washington issued a proclamation, announcing
the neutrality of the United States between the belligerent nations of
Europe. This proclamation was not issued until after Mr. Adams's articles
urging this course had been