eration， depending for the advancement of the public service more on the integrity and zeal of the public officers than on their numbers.
a diffidence， perhaps too just， in my own qualifications will teach me to look with reverence to the examples of public virtue left by my illustrious predecessors， and with veneration to the lights that flow from the mind that founded and the mind that reformed our system. the same diffidence induces me to hope for instruction and aid from the coordinate branches of the government， and for the indulgence and support of my fellow-citizens generally. and a firm reliance on the goodness of that power whose providence mercifully protected our national infancy， and has since upheld our liberties in various vicissitudes， encourages me to offer up my ardent supplications that he will continue to make our beloved country the object of his divine care and gracious benediction.