University of Virginia Library

317. [further continued] .

I have ever deemed it
fundamental for the United States never to
take active part in the quarrels of Europe.
Their political interests are entirely distinct
from ours. Their mutual jealousies, their
balance of power, their complicated alliances,
their forms and principles of government, are
all foreign to us. They are nations of eternal
war.—
To President Monroe. Washington ed. vii, 288. Ford ed., x, 257.
(M. 1823)