That was not the principle of your Washington. When he speaks of harmony, of friendly intercourse, and of peace, he always takes care to apply his ideas to _nations_, and not to _governments_--still less to tyrants who subdue nations by foreign arms. The sacred word Nation, with all its natural rights, should not be blotted out, at least from _your_ political dictionary: and yet I am sorry to see that the word nation is often replaced by the word Government. Gentlemen, I humbly wish that the public opinion of the people of the United States, conscious of its own rights, should loudly and resolutely declare that the people of the United States will continue its commercial intercourse with any or every nation, be it in revolution against its oppressors or be it not; and that the people of the United States expect confidently, that its government will provide for the protection of your trade. I feel assured, that your national government, seeing public opinion so pronounced, will judge it convenient to augment your naval forces in the Mediterranean: and to look for some such station for it as would not force the navy of republican America to make disavowals inconsistent with republican principles or republican dignity, only because King So-and-So, be he even the cursed King of Naples, grants the favour of an anchoring place for the naval forces of your republic. I believe your illustrious country should everywhere freely unfurl the star-spangled banner of liberty, with all its congenial principles, and not make itself in any respect dependent on the glorious smiles of the Kings Bomba et Compagne.