3299. FRIENDSHIP WITH ENGLAND, Cultivation of.—[continued].
I hope that through your
agency we may be able to remove everything
inauspicious to a cordial friendship between
this country and the one in which you are
stationed; a friendship dictated by too many
considerations not to be felt by the wise and
the dispassionate of both nations. It is,
therefore, with the sincerest pleasure I have
observed on the part of the British government
various manifestations of just and
friendly disposition towards us. [204]
We wish
to cultivate peace and friendship with all nations,
believing that course most conducive to
the welfare of our own. It is natural that
these friendships should bear some proportion
to the common interests of the parties.
The interesting relations between Great
Britain and the United States are certainly
of the first order; and as such are estimated,
and will be faithfully cultivated by us.
These sentiments have been communicated to
you from time to time in the official correspondence
of the Secretary of State; but I
have thought it might not be unacceptable to
be assured that they perfectly concur with
my own personal convictions, both in relation
to yourself and the country in which you are.—
To Rufus King. Washington ed. iv, 444.
Ford ed., viii, 163.
(W.
July. 1802)
