It was not considered a
conclusive reason for declining this invitation that the proposal for
assembling such a Congress had not first been made by ourselves. It had
sprung from the urgent, immediate, and momentous common interests of the
great communities struggling for independence, and, as it were,
quickening into life. From them the proposition to us appeared
respectful and friendly; from us to them it could scarcely have been
made without exposing ourselves to suspicions of purposes of ambition,
if not of domination, more suited to rouse resistance and excite
distrust than to conciliate favor and friendship. The first and
paramount principle upon which it was deemed wise and just to lay the
corner stone of all our future relations with them was
_disinterestedness_; the next was cordial good will to them; the third
was a claim of fair and equal reciprocity. Under these impressions when
the invitation was formally and earnestly given, had it even been
doubtful whether _any_ of the objects proposed for consideration and
discussion at the Congress were such as that immediate and important
interests of the United States would be affected by the issue, I should,
nevertheless, have determined so far as it depended upon me to have
accepted the invitation and to have appointed ministers to attend the
meeting.
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