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on the other side of the Atlantic was converted , on this continent , into the cadaverous aspect of disease and degeneracy—that , while she walked over
the face of Europe , in all her beautiful proportions , here she hobbled on crutches , and degenerated into a dwarf . How successfully he threw back this slander upon our calumniators , let the world decide . His Notes on
Virginia will ever bear him faithful witness . Slanders upon nations make the deepest and most lasting- impression . They fall not on one man , but on a whole people ; and , if not refuted , tend to sink them in the scale of
existence . If , under any circumstances , they are to be deprecated , how much moreare they to be so when published against a nation not even in the gristle of manhood , unknown to the mass of mankind , and struggling to be free Such was the condition of America at
that day . Shut out from free intercourse with Europe by the monopolizing spirit of the parent state , she had remained unknown to the world , and was regarded as an extensive wild
within whose bosom the fires of genius and of intellect had not as yet been kindled . Mr . Jefferson saw then the injury which she would sustain if these slanders remained unrefuted .
Vigilant at his post , and guardful of the interests of the States , he encountered the most distinguished of the philosphers of Europe , and his victory was complete . It was answer enough for him to have said , what in substance he did say , that in war we had
produced a Washington , in physics a Franklin , and in astronomy a Rittenhouse—and if his triumph had not then been esteemed complete , might we not add with certainty of success , that in philosophy and politics America had produced a Jefferson ?
In all the various stations which he afterwards filled , we find him labouring unceasingly for the good of his country . Having \ vony by his virtues and talents , the confidence of Washington , he was called to preside over the Department of State . In this
station he vindicated the rights of America against the sophistry of the European cabinets , and gave proof of that skill in diplomacy , by which he will be distinguished through all future ages . When the future Statesman shall look for a model from
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which to form his style of diplomatic writing , will he not cease his search , and seize with avidity on that offsprin g of the Secretary ' s pen , in his correspondence with Hammond and Genet ? Called , at length , by the voice of the people , to the Presidency of these United States , he furtiished the model
of an administration conducted on the purest principles of republicanism He sought not to enlarge his powers by construction , but referring every thing" to his conscience , made that the standard of the constitutional
interpretation . Regarding the Government in its true and beautiful light of a confederation of States , he could not be drawn from his course by any of those splendid conceptions which shine but to mislead . He extinguished 33 , 000 , 000 dollars of the national
debt—enlarged the boundaries of our territorial jurisdiction by the addition of regions more extensive than our original possessions—overawed the Barbary powers—and preserved the peace of the nation amidst the tremendous convulsions which then agitated the world . I will dwell no
longer on this fruitful topic , nor indulge my feelings . Party spirit is buried in his grave , and I will not disinter it . The American people will , as one man , look with admiration on his character , and dwell , with affectionate delight , over those bright incidents in his life to which I have already alluded .
Thus , then , my countrymen , in the 69 th year of his age , he terminated his political career , and went into the shades of retirement at Monticello . But unlike the politicians of other days , who had fled from thq cares and anxieties of public life , that retirement was not inglorious . He sti 1
lived for his country and the world . Let that beautiful building , devoted to the sciences , the last of his labours , reared under his auspices , and cherished by his care , testify to this . How choice and how delightful this the last fruit of his bearing ! How lasting a monument will it be to his memory
It will be , we may fondly hope , the perpetual nursery of those great principles which it was the business ot his life to inculcate . The Youth ot Virginia , and the Youth of our Sister States , to use his own beautiful language , " will bring hither their genms to be kindled at our fire . " "
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644 Jefferson and Adams .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1826, page 644, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2554/page/8/
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