equal rights; she has, in the lapse of nearly half a century, without a
single exception, respected the independence of other nations while
asserting and maintaining her own; she has abstained from interference in
the concerns of others, even when the conflict has been for principles to
which she clings as to the last vital drop that visits the heart. She has
seen that probably for centuries to come all the contests of that
Aceldama, the European world, will be contests of inveterate power and
emerging right. Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been
or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions, and her
prayers be. But she goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She
is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all--she is the
champion and vindicator only of her own. She will recommend the general
cause, by the countenance of her voice, and the benignant sympathy of her
example:--she well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than
her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would
involve herself beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of
interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy and ambition, which
assume the colors, and usurp the standard of freedom. The fundamental
maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force; the
frontlet on her brow would no longer beam with the ineffable splendor of
freedom and independence; but in its stead would soon be substituted an
imperial diadem, flashing in false and tarnished lustre, the murky
radiance of dominion and power. She might become the dictatress of the
world: she would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit."

During Mr. Adams's occupancy of the state department, efforts were made by
the American Government to abolish the African slave trade, and procure
its denunciation as piracy, by the civilized world. On the 28th of Feb.,
1823, the following resolution was adopted by the House of
Representatives, at Washington, by a vote of 131 to 9:--