University of Virginia Library

2324. DUTY TO MANKIND.—

We have, willingly, done injury to no man; and have
done for our country the good which has
fallen in our way, so far as commensurate
with the faculties given us. That we have
not done more than we could, cannot be imputed
to us as a crime before any tribunal.
I look, therefore, to the crisis as one “qui
summum nec metuit diem nec optat.”

To John Adams. Washington ed. vii, 154.
(1820)