"Mindful of the advice given by the Father of our Country in his Farewell Address, that the great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible, and faithfully adhering to the spirit of that admonition, I can not overlook the reflection that the counsel of Washington in that instance, like all counsels of wisdom, was founded upon the circumstances in which our country and the world around us were situated at the time when it was given that the reasons assigned by him for his advice were that Europe had a set of primary interests which to us had none or a very remote relation, that hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which were essentially foreign to our concerns, that our detached and distant situation invited and enabled us to pursue a different course, that by our union and rapid growth, with an efficient Government, the period was not far distant when we might defy material injury from external annoyance, when we might take such an attitude as would cause our neutrality to be respected, and, with reference to belligerent nations, might choose peace or war, as our interests, guided by justice, should counsel." Compare our situation and the circumstances of that time with those of the present day and what, from the very words of Washington then, would be his counsels to his countrymen now? Europe has still her set of primary interests, with which we have little or a remote relation. Our distant and detached situation with reference to Europe remains the same. But we were then the only independent nation of this hemisphere, and we were surrounded by European colonies, with the greater part of which we had no more intercourse than with the inhabitants of another planet. These colonies have now been transformed into eight independent nations, extending to our very borders, seven of them Republics like ourselves, with whom we have an immensely growing commercial and must have, and have already, important political connections, with reference to whom our situation is neither distant nor detached, whose political principles and systems of government, congenial with our own, must and will have an action and counteraction upon us and ours to which we cannot be indifferent if we would.