But whatever may be our situation, whether firmly united under one national government, or split into a number of confederacies, certain it is, that foreign nations will know and view it exactly as it is; and they will act toward us accordingly. If they see that our national government is efficient and well administered, our trade prudently regulated, our militia properly organized and disciplined, our resources and finances discreetly managed, our credit re-established, our people free, contented, and united, they will be much more disposed to cultivate our friendship than provoke our resentment. If, on the other hand, they find us either destitute of an effectual government (each State doing right or wrong, as to its rulers may seem convenient), or split into three or four independent and probably discordant republics or confederacies, one inclining to Britain, another to France, and a third to Spain, and perhaps played off against each other by the three, what a poor, pitiful figure will America make in their eyes! How liable would she become not only to their contempt but to their outrage, and how soon would dear-bought experience proclaim that when a people or family so divide, it never fails to be against themselves.
PUBLIUS.
This is very interesting...let's go down the check list:
U.S. National Government:
efficient: No
well administered: No
our trade prudently regulated: Yes but having problems
our militia properly organized and disciplined: Yes but spread thin
our resources managed: No
finances discreetly managed: No
credit re-established: No
our people free: Yes (but losing more and more everyday)
contented: Definitely Not
united: Definitely Not
"what a poor, pitiful figure will America make in their eyes!"
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