9076. WEST INDIES, Dominion of.—
Whenever jealousies are expressed as to any
supposed views of ours on the dominion of the
West Indies, you cannot go farther than the
truth in asserting we have none. If there be
one principle more deeply rooted than any other
in the mind of every American, it is that we
should have nothing to do with conquest. As to
commerce, indeed, we have strong sensations.
In casting our eyes over the earth, we see no
instance of a nation forbidden, as we are, by
foreign powers, to deal with our neighbors, and
obliged with them to carry into another hemisphere,
the mutual supplies necessary to relieve
mutual wants. * * * An exchange of surpluses
and wants between neighbor nations, is both a
right and a duty under the moral law, and
measures against right should be mollified in
their exercise, if it be wished to lengthen them
to the greatest term possible.—
To William Short. Washington ed. iii, 275.
Ford ed., v, 363.
(Pa.,
1791)
