6506. PEACE, National reputation and.—
I am so far from believing that our reputation
will be tarnished by our not having
mixed in the mad contests of the rest of the
world that, setting aside the ravings of pepper-pot
politicians, of whom there are enough
in every age and country, I believe it will
place us high in the scale of wisdom, to have
preserved our country tranquil and prosperous
during a contest which prostrated the
honor, power, independence, laws and property
of every country on the other side of
the Atlantic. Which of them have better
preserved their honor? Has Spain, has Portugal,
Italy, Switzerland, Holland, Prussia,
Austria, the other German powers, Sweden,
Denmark, or even Russia? And would we
accept of the infamy of France or England
in exchange for our honest reputation, or of
the result of their enormities, despotism to
the one, and bankruptcy and prostration to
the other, in exchange for the prosperity, the
freedom and independence, which we have
preserved safely through the wreck?—
To J. W. Eppes. Washington ed. vi, 15.
(M.
Sep. 1811)
