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PAPERS OF MIRABEAU BUONAPARTE LAJ\fAR
nessed a miracle, no less imposing & strange, than were those which brought Conviction of the truth of our holy religion to a gentile world- But Gentlemen, I c&ndidly confess to you, that however much I desired it, & aimed to deserve it, I never for a moment expected such unanimity of sentiment- I never flattered myself with being able to devise, & steadily pursue a course of policy, which would not elicit an opposition strong in itself, and embarrassing in its consequences; but I did hope, that that opposition would never degenerate into a ravenous hostility, or bitter invective- that proceeding from an honest patriotism, & sincere desire to advance the best interests of our beloved Country, it would have been conducted with that moderation and decorum which alone could have rendered it available or u~eful- Whether or not, in all instances, it has been so conducted- Whether its end & aim have at all times been the advancement of the public weal, or whether less legitimate objects have not sometimes governed it, are questions which I shall now leave to be solved by those who are best acquainted with our political history of the past two years- They are subjects upon which I do not love to dwell, & to which I should not now have adverted, were it not that the response which I feel bound to make to the kind notice you have been pleased to take of my official course presents an appropriate occasion for an explanl,ltion of some of my acts, the motives to which seem not at all times to have been prope-rly .understood. Coming into office Gentlemen as I am proud to say I did, without party or personal feelings to gratify or to soothe, I had but one motive to govern me, but one object to attain- 'l'hat motive and that object was the public good- It was to lay the foundation for our National prosperity and security at home, and to establish for the Country a character & credit abroad- To do this Gentlemen, I was necessarily compell'd, according to the view which I took of things as they then existed, to mark out a line of policy in many respects different from that which had been pursued by my predecessor; and altho' -in saying this, I do not intend to draw inviduous comparisons in respect to our official acts, or to assert that under the circumstances by which he was surrounded, his were not dictated by a sound judgment or proper pru- dence, still it is necessary that I should to some extent advert to them, to shew the reasons which governed me- With a frontier bleeding at every pore from Indian depredations and treachery, I could not consent to foster within the heart of our Country, a tribe, which I believed to be, not only affording protection & countenance to those who were actually engaged in this work of desolation & death, but who were the insiduous promoters, if not the perpetrators, of many of the cruel butcheries which were, & had been imputed to others- Hence the early steps which I took to place a guard against there actions, by the establishment of a military post within their assumed borders, and hence, as their perfidy be[came] more fully developed, the full com- plete & entire expulsion of them, which followed a short time after- wards That this measure of my administration (the expulsion of the Cherokees) has been branded with the epithets of cruelty, tyranny, oppression, injustice, & treachery, we are all aware; but Gentlemen, upon a calm review of the circumstances which led to it, I now state, that there is no act of my life, either official or unofficial, which I would not as soon recall, were it in my power, as this- In directing
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