I should
worry about you if I had time in this reeking town, where it is a wonder
any man has health in him. Oh, for the cane-fields of St. Croix! But
tell me, what is the policy to be--strict neutrality? Of course the
President will agree with you; but fancy Jefferson, on his other side,
burning with approval for the very excesses of the Revolution, since
they typify democracy exultant. And of course he is burrowing in the
dark to increase his Republican party and inspire it with his fanatical
enthusiasm for those inhuman wretches in France. I believe he would
plunge us into a war to-morrow."
"No, he is an unwarlike creature. He would like to trim, keep this
country from being actually bespattered with blood, but coax the
Administration to give the Revolutionists money and moral support. He
will do nothing of the sort, however. The policy of this remote country
is absolute, uncompromising, neutrality. Let Europe keep her hands off
this continent, and we will let her have her own way across the water.
The United States is the nucleus of a great nation that will spread
indefinitely, and any further Europeanizing of our continent would be a
menace which we can best avoid by observing from the beginning a
strictly defensive policy.
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