you to reach and annoy the enemy and will give to defense its greatest efficiency by meeting danger at a distance from home.  It is impossible by any line of fortifications to guard every point from attack against a hostile force advancing from the ocean and selecting its object, but they are indispensable to protect cities from bombardment, dockyards and naval arsenals from destruction, to give shelter to merchant vessels in time of war and to single ships or weaker squadrons when pressed by superior force.  Fortifications of this description can not be too soon completed and armed and placed in a condition of the most perfect preparation.  The abundant means we now possess can not be applied in any manner more useful to the country, and when this is done and our naval force sufficiently strengthened and our militia armed we need not fear that any nation will wantonly insult us or needlessly provoke hostilities.  We shall more certainly preserve peace when it is well understood that we are prepared for war.

In presenting to you, my fellow-citizens, these parting counsels, I have brought before you the leading principles upon which I endeavored to administer the Government in the high office with which you twice honored me.  Knowing that the path of freedom is continually beset by enemies who often assume the disguise of friends, I have devoted the last hours of my public life to warn you of the dangers.  The progress of the United States under our free and happy institutions has surpassed the most sanguine hopes of the founders of the Republic.  Our growth has been rapid beyond all former example in numbers, in wealth, in knowledge, and all the useful arts which contribute to the comforts and convenience of man, and from the earliest ages of history to the present day there never have been thirteen millions of people associated in one political body who enjoyed so much freedom and happiness as the people of these United States.  You have no longer any cause to fear danger from abroad; your strength and power are well known throughout the civilized world, as well as the high and gallant bearing of your sons.  It is from within, among yourselves—­from cupidity, from corruption, from disappointed ambition and inordinate thirst for power—­that factions will be formed and liberty endangered.  It is against such designs, whatever disguise the actors may assume, that you have especially to guard yourselves.  You have the highest of human trusts committed to your care.  Providence has showered on this favored land blessings without number, and has chosen you as the guardians of freedom, to preserve it for the benefit of the human race.  May He who holds in His hands the destinies of nations make you worthy of the favors He has bestowed and enable you, with pure hearts and pure hands and sleepless vigilance, to guard and defend to the end of time the great charge He has committed to your keeping.

My own race is nearly run; advanced age and failing health warn me that before long I must pass beyond the reach of human events and cease to feel the vicissitudes of human affairs.  I thank God that my life has been spent in a land of liberty and that He has given me a heart to love my country with the affection of a son.  And filled with gratitude for your constant and unwavering kindness, I bid you a last and affectionate farewell.