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 BKKOKK THR 
 
 Literary Societies, 
 
 UMVKiiSITY OF YIRdlXIA 
 
 Cil A UI><> rTKSVlLLK, VA., 
 
 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26th. 1872. 
 
 \V \SllIN<ilOS: 
 H. P.3LKINHORN ^ Co , PrIMTERS. 
 
ADD E ESS 
 
 UEUYERKn BY 
 
 ON. nLLEN G. 
 
 HUR/VIAN 
 
 BEFORK THE 
 
 Literary Societies, 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, 
 
 CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA., 
 
 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26th, 1872. 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 
 ji. POLKINHORN <^ po. , J^RINTERa 
 1872. 
 
tc 
 
Univkksity ok Va., 
 
 June'IWi. 1872. 
 Hon. a. G. Tmini.\x. 
 
 Stit: — 111 behiilf of the Ijiterary S'icieties ot'tlie University of Virginia, 
 we would request for publication a copy of the Address delivered by you 
 on the evening of the 2(Jth inst. 
 
 With the highest appreciation of its excellencies, 
 \W are, sir, 
 Your most obedient servants, 
 
 ,,, . ( J. 0. TAYLOR. 
 
 Charlottesville, June 28th, 1872. 
 Gextlemex : 
 
 I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your polite 
 note, and to send herewith a copy of the Address. 
 I am very respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 A. G. THURMAN. 
 Messrs. J. G. Tayloii and T. A. Seodon, 
 
 Chairmen. 
 
J^ ID XD I^ E s s. 
 
 The theme upon Avhicli I propose to offer some obser- 
 vations to-night, is the future of our country, or, rather, 
 the dangers likely to menace the existence of the Re- 
 public, and the means of averting them. 
 
 In the outset, I assume, what I believe to be true, that 
 whatever differences of opinion have existed, or may yet 
 exist, as to the advantages or disadvantages of preserving 
 the Union, every American citizen now wishes it to be 
 preserved, if at the same time liberty can be secured and 
 the rights and interests of every section promoted. The 
 proposition that freedom has no safe dwelling place, save 
 in small communities, is an old idea, and, whether true 
 or false, I have no quarrel with him who sincerely 
 believesit. !N'ay,more, were the sad alternative forced upon 
 us, to choose between a splendid despotism, ruling over 
 a vast territory, and an oppressed people, on the one hand, 
 and on the other, freedom in a small state and an humble 
 community, no true man should hesitate to'choose the 
 latter. For freedom is of such transcendent value that it 
 far outweighs all the distinction, pomp and power, that 
 the most successful despotism can ever achieve. But the 
 experiment has to be made, whether a vast Republic may 
 not co-exist with freedom, and with advantage to all its 
 parts; and every one of us, I am sure, whatever may be his 
 forebodings, is anxious to give the experiment a fair trial. 
 Therefore it is that I speak upon this theme to-night. I 
 know of none more appropriate ior an address to an 
 assemblage of American youth. The mature men of 
 to-dav will ere Ions; be gone. Whatever of good or of evil 
 
government may confer or inflict, will soon cease to 
 trouble them. Their mantles will fall upon your shoul- 
 ders and the shoulders of those, who like you, are just 
 entering upon manhood, and upon you and your fellows, 
 will rest the grave responsibility of contributing to the 
 happiness or the misery, not of one only, but perhaps of 
 many generations. Wisely to prepare for that respon- 
 sibility is a task than which none can be nobler, none 
 more elevating, none that better deserves to engage the 
 understanding or warm the heart. 
 
 The first danger to the duration of the Republic, of 
 which I shall speak, is that likely to result from its mag- 
 nitude. It is a trite observation that nations, like men, 
 have their infancy, youth, manhood, old age, decay, and 
 dissolution. Whether this analogy be fanciful or not, 
 the history of the world gives no small support to the 
 idea, that nature has set a limit to the growth and dura- 
 tion of empire. The tate of Babylon, Xineveh, Assyria, 
 Media, Egypt, of the Empires of Alexander, the Caesars, 
 Genghis, Tamerlane, the Caliphs, Charlemagne, and 
 Charles the Fifth, cannot, while it strikes our imagina- 
 tion, fail to arrest our attention. We pause and ask : 
 "Is it ever thus to be ? " But let us not be too hasty in 
 our conclusions. True, those great monarchies have 
 been rent into pieces ; true, the seats of some of them are 
 now given up to desolation ; but it does not follow that a 
 similar fate awaits us. They were, for the most part, 
 the product of conquest, and over their wide domains 
 despotism held unlimited sway. Their fate teaches how 
 insecure is the empire whose sole foundation is violence, 
 and how powerless is tyranny to perpetuate its rule over 
 an unwilling people. But it does not teach — at least it 
 does not prove — that a homogeneous people, under free 
 institutions, may not attain and preserve a greatness that 
 none of those States ever knew. To our country it was 
 reserved to make this mighty experiment, than which 
 
nothing o;rander has ever engaged the sympiithies or tlie 
 efforts of man. Let ns not, witli despondent souls, rashly 
 predict its failure — hut, rather, with hopeful hearts and 
 patriotic zeal, let us manfully strive for its successful 
 acconi[ilislnnent. That our Repuhlie, if it hold together, 
 will attain an unexampled and perilous greatness is cer- 
 tainly true. Only fifty years hence our population will 
 prohably exceed 100,000,000, or four times the present 
 population of France. At the end of a century, in 1972, if 
 it increase in the same ratio that has hitherto marked its 
 D-rowth,the United States will contain more than twice as 
 many })eople as now inhabit the continent of Europe. Tf 
 it he inadmissible to sujjpose that this ratio of increase will 
 continue, it is not irrational to afhrm, that within the 
 lifetime of a child now born, (Mir jiopnlation will equal 
 that of the five great Powers of Europe combined. Such 
 an aggregation of mankind, for the most part homogene- 
 ous, belonging to the most intellectual and energetic 
 portion of the human race, speaking the same language, 
 all more or less educated, occupying one of the fairest and 
 most fruitful portions of the earth in that North Tem- 
 perate Zone that seems to be the chosen habitation of 
 civilization and progress, united under one government, 
 and that a government of free institutions, w'ill present 
 a phenomenon such as never yet has been seen in the 
 world. History exhibits nothing like it. nc^thing that 
 bears any close analogy to it. It strikes the imagination 
 like the dawn of a millenium, and even the most sanguine 
 and hopeful can scarcely regard it as more than a dream. 
 But, who is there wise enough to foresee that it will not be 
 reality ? Who is there bold enough to say that the Provi- 
 dence that creates will not preserve ''. Who is there author- 
 ized to condemn as blind and unreasoning optimism, the 
 hope that the experiment may be crowned with success? 
 
 It is true that a contrariety of interests is incident to so 
 great and varied a territory. A\^ith but one interruption, 
 
the Republic extends from beyond the Arctic Circle in 
 Alaska to the confines of the Torrid Zone, and from the 
 Atlantic Ocean on the east to the Pacific on the west. In 
 square miles its area nearly equals that of all Europe. 
 It contaitis every variety of soil, from the most fertile 
 plains to barren mountains and desert wastes. It holds 
 in its bosom every earth and mineral useful to mankind. 
 Its water boundary, with the indentations, exceeds 14,000 
 miles. It thus presents a field for every industry known to 
 man. Agriculture, commerce, manufactures, mining — 
 every pursuit in short that serves to sustain or enrich a 
 people are here seen in a state of unwonted andgrowing 
 activity. That there must be some clashing of interests 
 between the difterent sections of such a country, is obvi- 
 ously true. That each section, in maintaining the Union, 
 must make some sacrifice of its peculiar interests, is 
 almost as obvious. But the question to be answered is, 
 not whether such sacrifices are made, but whether they 
 are not compensated by the advantages resulting from the 
 Union. In my judgment, they are fiir more than com- 
 pensated. A particular section may be oppressed for a 
 time by unjust laws — as some have been, and I think yet 
 are — but in the long run justice is pretty sure to prevail. 
 In the meantime, the incalculable benefits of the Union — 
 free trade between all its parts, unrestricted communica- 
 tion, highways that penetrate the most remote recesses, 
 exemption from foreign aggression, and peace at home — 
 amply repay all the local sacrifices that occur. It is no 
 answer to this to say that peace has not always prevailed, 
 that we have just emerged from the most fearful civil 
 war the world ever saw. True it is so, but for seventy- 
 three years domestic peace did prevail. For seventy- 
 three years no man lost his life in civil commotion, no 
 man was executed for a political offence. The history of no 
 other nation records a similar experience. Xot one ! No, 
 not one ! " To insure domestic tranquillity," is declared 
 
in the preamble to the Constitution, to be one of the ob- 
 jects for which it is ordained. It did insure it for nearly 
 three-quarters of a century, and if, at last, wc fell upon 
 evil times, the exception only illustrates the generality of 
 the rule. 
 
 The diversity of races and languages among us is 
 considered by some to be fraught with danger to the dura- 
 tion of the Republic. American, Goth, Celt, Anglo-Saxon, 
 Teuton, Latin, African, all contribute to form our popu- 
 lation. But I apprehend tliat the danger supposed to 
 arise from this diversity, is greatly exaggerated. Of 
 the thirty-eight and a-half millions of our ])Oople in 1870, 
 but five and a-half millions were foreign born, and they 
 were scattered throughout every State and Territory of 
 the Union. And for the most part they are intelligent, 
 industrious, thriving, and sincerely attached to free insti- 
 tutions. With the increase of population, the pro- 
 portion of foreign born to native citizens will decrease 
 each year. The various elements of white population 
 will become more and more blended, until a homogene- 
 ous whole will be the result. The American of a century 
 hence may differ from the American of the past or the 
 present century, but yet, whatever his origin, he will be 
 an American. What people are more homogeneous than 
 the French? And yet, in their veins runs the blood of 
 Celt, Roman, Goth, Teuton, to say nothing of lesser sub- 
 divisions of the human race. AV'hat more composite in 
 his origin than an Englishman, to whose blood the Celt, 
 the Roman, the Dane, the Angle, the Saxon, the Xorman 
 all contributed ? Yet, what uniUcation more complete 
 than that of the English people of to-day ? We have 
 nothing then to fear, as it seems to me, from the diver- 
 sity of race among our white population. They will, 
 before many generations shall have passed away, be 
 merged into one common type, the American of the 
 future, with the same language, the same literature, the 
 
10 
 
 same sentiments, and substantially the same character- 
 istics. 
 
 The African presents a more difRcult problem. By 
 some it is supposed, that, followino; an instinct of his 
 nature, the negro will, eventually, drift into a more con- 
 genial clime for him — the Tropics. But a century, nay 
 many centuries, may elapse before this will occur, should 
 it ever occur. The climate of the Southern States is not 
 unfriendly to the African, as his rapid increase there 
 for nearly two hundred years attests. His exodus, unless 
 precipitated by a war of races, which humanity and the 
 interest of both white and black forbid, must necessarily 
 be slow. Practically then, it may be assumed that he is to 
 remain a citizen of the Republic. And the question is: 
 will his continued existence among us endanger its dura- 
 tion? As long as he was a slave, he was a bone of conten- 
 tion between the abolitionist, seeking to set him free at 
 whatever cost, and the Southerner, insisting upon the 
 guarantees of the Constitution. Then, indeed, he did 
 endanger the Republic. But, though he is to some ex- 
 tent a bone of contention yet, I do not see that he is longer 
 a source of peril. His race now constitutes less than thir- 
 teen per cent of our population. With each returning 
 census, although the absolute number of the race may 
 be greater, the proportion will be found to be less. Its 
 numerical strength may increase, but its relative 
 strength Avill constantly diminish. As a cause of 
 strife among the whites, as a facile instrument in the 
 hands of designing and unscrupulous men, the negro is 
 certainly a disturbing element, but great as are these evils, 
 they are not beyond the rectitying power of time, pru- 
 dence, and patience. 
 
 Another cause of anxiety is found in the proneness of 
 mankind to war and their love of military glory. It was 
 a celebrated English philosopher who said, that war is 
 the natural condition of the human race. It is to be 
 
11 
 
 hoped for the credit of the race, that the saying is untrue. 
 But we cannot shut our eyes to the fact that two or three 
 hundred or more millions of people — the future popula- 
 tion of the United States if they liold together— have 
 never yet maintained perpetual peace. So inclined are 
 men to war, so intoxicating is military glory, so great 
 are the honors and eiuoluincnts awarded to successful 
 chieftains, that peace, perpetual peace, over a continent, 
 .seems more like the dream of a visionary, than the well 
 founded hope of common sense. In the four hundred 
 and fifty odd years of the Ronum Kepublic, the temple 
 of Janus was shut but once. In no year since history 
 was written, has peace prevailed over the entire globe. 
 Even in this nineteenth century, which we are accustomed 
 to call enlightened, there is scarcely a great Power in 
 Europe that has for twenty consecutive years been ex- 
 empt from war. In view of these facts, it may well be 
 asked, where, it the Republic be perpetuated, will be the 
 outlet for the warlike spirit of as warlike a people as ever 
 existed? AVill it find occupation in war upon our neigh- 
 bors? Where are the neighbors who could long re- 
 sist ? Will it make battle with the Powers of Asia or of 
 Europe? The soldier would gather few laurels in a war 
 necessarily waged upon the deep. Where then but in civil 
 strife could the warlike temper be dis[.layed and military 
 honors be won ? And could the Republic long bear the 
 strain of such strife? I can only answer that nations 
 have survived the most dreadful and sanguinary civil 
 wars. Not to multiply instances, witness France, Austria, 
 Eno-land, Spain. It may be unwise to expect that we 
 shall escape the calamities that have befallen other peo- 
 ples, but it is not, I trust, unreasonable to believe, or at 
 least to hope, that we m ly be able to survive them. 
 
 It is not uncommon to hear the remark, that the pas- 
 sions and prejudices excited by the late civil war will 
 lono- endure, and cannot fail to imperil the Union. 
 
12 
 
 This is not the time or the place to discuss that war. 
 Indeed many years must elapse before impartial and 
 philosophic history will do exact justice to the actors in that 
 mighty scene. But this much may now be safely affirmed, 
 that if the -N"orth believed, as it did, that right was 
 on its side in suppressing what it regarded as a rebellion, 
 the South had equal contidence in the justice of her 
 cause. For four long and weary years, against the most 
 fearful odds, and in the midst of privation and suffering 
 that might have appalled the stoutest heart, her people 
 upheld that cause with a heroism and fortitude never 
 surpassed. To doubt their sincerity in the face of this 
 fact, is simply to shut one's eyes to the truth — to heap 
 unmerited reproaches upon them, is to disregard the plain- 
 est maxims of wisdom, charity and justice. It is doubt- 
 less true that the o-reat features of the strusrsrle will never be 
 forgotten. The influence of a contest that placed America 
 in the front rank of the warlike nations of the earth; that 
 developed characters, whose names can never pass into 
 oblivion; that made many a battle field heroic ground to 
 be reverentially trodden by the feet of pilgrims from age 
 to age; cannot be eft'aced in a day. But, unless all 
 history' teaches a lesson that is false, the bitterness of feeling 
 engendered by the strife will pass away and cease to 
 shape the conduct of men. What nation has ever suffered 
 more from civil wars than France, but what Frenchman 
 now speaks of them save as events of history ? What 
 Englishman inquires, unless from the instinct of a harmless 
 curiosity, whether his neighbor's ancestors wore the red 
 rose of Lancaster or the white rose of York, or whether 
 at a later day they were roundheads under Cromwell or 
 cavaliers under Charles? AVheu were the passions of 
 men ever more excited than in the civil wars of Rome, that 
 followed the passage of the Rubicon and ended onh' when 
 the victory at Actium placed the imperial diadem upon the 
 brow of Octavius? Yet more than three centuries elapsed 
 
18 
 
 before the Empire was divided, and it was not until 
 nearly eleven centuries more had rolled around, that 
 Mahomet, the second, placed the Crescent above the Cross 
 on the dome of Sophia and put an end forever to the 
 Empire of the East, 
 
 But why dwell upon particulars, when every nation 
 that exists or has ever existed, presents an example of 
 the forgiveness or forgetfulness of injuries given and 
 received. A wise Providence has ordained that hate 
 shall not " reign eternal in the human breast." The vio- 
 lent passions of our nature may dominate for a time, 
 but the strain is too great to last, and in the end the bet- 
 ter and gentler emotions prevail. Every revolving year, 
 though it may not blot out the memories of the past, 
 will soften their asperities, and the time may come, more 
 speedily than the most sanguine now hope, when a frater- 
 nal feeling will animate the breasts of all who find shelter 
 and protection under the aagis of the Republic. 
 
 I come, lastly, to consider what, in my judgment, is a 
 greater peril than any of which I have spoken, the tenden- 
 cy towards centralization. In treating this subject, I must 
 necessarily express some political views, for they are 
 inherent in it, but I shall not violate the proprieties of 
 the occasion by speaking as a partisan, and I trust, that I 
 shall avoid w^ounding the most delicate sensihility. If, 
 as I have supposed, the theme that I have chosen is a 
 proper one, it cannot be improper to express calmly, 
 impartially, and without party bias, feeling or purpose, 
 the thoughts to which it gives rise — thoughts, indeed, that 
 are inseparable from its consideration. 
 
 The tendency towards centralization is by no means 
 confined to the United States. It stands revealed in 
 the consolidation of Italy, the unification of Germany, 
 and the union of the British Provinces under the Do- 
 minion of Canada, as well as with us. There may be 
 
14 
 
 liiddpii canoes of tliis teiuleney, tliat it is difficult to dis- 
 cover, bnt there are other causes too patent to escape ob- 
 servation, or at least agencies that work without ceas- 
 ins; ill a centralizing; direction. Every ship that is 
 launched, every railroad that is built, every telegraph 
 wire that is stretched, is an ag-ency of this kind. The 
 ship owner looks to the Federal Government, clothed 
 with the power "to regulate commerce with foreign na- 
 tions, and among the several States," for the protection 
 and encouragement his interest requires, and naturally 
 wishes that Grovernment to be powerful enough to grant 
 him all he asks. The Railroad Company, spurning the 
 limits of a State, projects its road through many States, 
 and submits, with iU concealed discontent, to the vexa- 
 tions of local law. The road itself, almost annihilating time 
 and space by the rapidity of transit, brings the most 
 remote regions into close communication, until the mind 
 finds itself losing the idea of State lines and thinking 
 onh^ of the wide-spreading Republic. And so, in a still 
 more eminent degree, with the telegraph. 
 
 But these are not the only agents of consolidation. 
 One of the most powerful, if I am not mistaken, is 
 what may be styled metropolitan literature and the 
 metropolitan press. It has been said that orators govern 
 Republics, but if the remark were ever true, it is true 
 no longer. Had every member of Congress the eloquence 
 of Demosthenes, they could not mould public sentiment 
 against a press whose daily issues exceed 1.300,000, 
 and furnish daily mental food to millions of readers. 
 But of these 1,800,000 daily sheets, about 1,170,000, 
 or nearly eight ninths of the whole number, are pub- 
 lished in the three cities of Xew York, Philadelphia, 
 and Boston. More than one half of the Avhole num- 
 ber issue from the press of New York alone. 
 
 If We turn from the dailies, to the weeklies, tri and 
 semi-weelvlies, reviews, and magazines, we iind the same 
 
1.S 
 
 strikino; foot, that these thvec! cities arc the groat cen- 
 tres of publication. There is scarcely an art or industry 
 that has not its organ in the city of New York. So too 
 of the books published in the United States. More 
 than tliree-fourths — probably nearer nine-tenths — issue 
 from the press of these three cities. The effect is 
 that they liave become the great centres from which the 
 facts, the fictions and the ojtinions that are moulding 
 the American mind, emanate. But local self-goverment 
 requires vigorous and independent thought on the part 
 of those who uphold it. It is a [ilant thatdoes not tionrisli 
 in tlie atmosphere of monopoly wiiether of business or of 
 ideas. The centralization of power that has distinguished 
 tor centuries every government of France, wluiTever its 
 form, has been owing in, a great degree, it is thought, to 
 the centralizing influence of Paris. And so, I am in- 
 clined to think, the tendency of the facts I have stated, 
 has been and is to strengthen the idea of consolidiitiou 
 among our people. Look into many of the school books 
 and see whatpolitical doctrines are taught to our children- 
 doctrines that twenty years ago no party would have ven- 
 tured to assert. See how in newspaper and periodical, 
 in law book and volumes called historical, the powers of 
 the federal government are exalted to a height beyond 
 the imagination of the warmest advocate of a strong 
 irovernmont when the Constitution was formed. In 
 hrief, see how literature in all its departments, influenced 
 by the materialistic tendencies of the age, or si-duced by 
 the glowing image of a gorgeous and imp-rinl ri-pubTu', 
 lends its potent aid to the work of centralization. Ami 
 remembering that this literature comes from a section of 
 the country in wliicli centralization has ever found its 
 most able and efficient supporters, 1 think that I do not 
 err in attributing to this cause all the wei^dit that 1 
 attach to it. 
 
 Another strikinu' fact mav have some connection with 
 
16 
 
 the subject under discussion. I refer to tlie much more 
 rapid rate of increase in thelastseventy years, and tlirough- 
 out all Christendom, of the urban than of the rural popu- 
 lation. The population of England in 1871 was nearly 
 two and a-half times as great as it was in 1801. But, in 
 the same period, the population of London had grown 
 from 876,000 to 3,883,000; of Liverpool from, 77,600 to 
 493,000 ; of Manchester, from 70,000 to 355,000. From 
 1800 to 1866 the increase of population in France was 
 about thirtj'-three per cent. But in the same time the 
 population of Paris was nearly trebled. BerHn, which, 
 in 1816, contained but 182,000 inhabitants, now contains 
 over 700,000. St. Petersburg has six times the popula- 
 tion that it had a century ago. Madrid contains two and 
 a-half times as many people as it did in 1845. And 
 these are but illustrations. Throughout all Europe the 
 population of the cities and towns has increased far more 
 rapidly than that of the country. The same thing is 
 true of America. The last census shows that in some of 
 the States there was within the last decade no increase at 
 all of the rural population, or one too insignificant to be 
 noticed. The whole increase was in the cities and 
 towns. And with the exception of some of the new 
 States, the same census shows everywhere in the Repub- 
 lic, an increase in the cities and towns altogether dispro- 
 portionate to that outside of them. What will be the 
 ultimate eflect of this fact, if prolonged, upon our insti- 
 tutions, I do not venture to predict. 1 merely note it as 
 a fact very striking in itself, and worthy of the pro- 
 foundest consideration. 
 
 I have thus, in a very imperfect manner, I am aware, 
 brought to your attention some of the causes, or at 
 least agencies, that are at work tending to create a 
 supreme centralized government over the Republic. To 
 these is to be added the inevitable effect of the late 
 Civil War, in which the govenmient assumed powers by 
 
17 
 
 all admitted to bo Gxtraordiiiary, and to tlio oxci-cisc of 
 which the people became liabituated. 
 
 Of course it will be understood that in enumerating 
 among these causes, commerce, railroads, telegraphs, 
 literature, and the press, I manifest no hostile disposi- 
 tion towards them or any or either of them. There is 
 no one so absurd as to be their enemy. But the best of 
 earthly things may have evil as well as good tendencies, 
 and it is but common prudence while we accept and 
 enjoy the good, to seek to avert the evil. 
 
 That with tremendous power all these causes have 
 operated and yet continue to operate, might easily be 
 shown by our history for the last ten years, and 
 especiall}' by a review of the Constitutional amendments 
 and the legislation of Congress. But I forl)ear to enter 
 upon that field, lest it might be deemed inappro- 
 priate to the occasion. I will only venture the sin- 
 gle remark, that the interpretation placed by some com- 
 mentators upon the first section of the I4th article of the 
 amendments, makes the jurisdiction of Congress supreme 
 over all State legislation in evervthing that concerns life, 
 liberty, property or the e([nal protection of the laws, in 
 short in almost everything that is the subject of law. If 
 this is the true interpretation, consolidation already 
 exists. 
 
 It remains to be considered, whether tlie concentration 
 of all power in the hands of the Federal Government,* 
 would be likely to preserve or imperil the existence of 
 the Republic, To my niind, nothing in the future seems 
 more certain than that it would not only im[ieril, but 
 ultimately destroy it. I do not believe it possible that it 
 could long endure under such a system. AVhatever name 
 might be given to it — Kepublic, Monarchy, Empire, or 
 Federation — its true name would be despotism. There 
 never was a greater mistake- than to suppose, that a 
 government of despotic powers is alone able to govern 
 
1-S 
 
 a great extent of territory. The very reverse of the 
 proposition is nearer the truth. The very magnitude of 
 a country, diversiiied in its interests and in tlie habits, 
 usages, customs and traditions of its people, makes local 
 self-governments an indispensable necessity. AVithoutour 
 system of States, the Federal Government would never 
 have existed; without them, it could never have extended 
 from ocean to ocean ; without them a happy, contented, 
 free, and prosperous people would never have been our 
 boast. And whenever they shall cease to exist or shall 
 become but a name, the foundations of the Eepubiic 
 will have crumbled away and the structure they sup- 
 ported will hasten to its fall. I cannot repress a feeling 
 of amazement when I see men, whose ability and patriot- 
 ism I cannot <leny, straining every nerve to extend the 
 jurisdiction of the Congress over m-atters of the merest 
 local concern in the States, as if it could possibly be either 
 right or politic for the purely local law of a State to be 
 made by the representatives of other States. And I can- 
 not but marvel at the blindness that does not perceive, 
 that a Congress Avith such powers would soon become 
 the most corrupt body on earth, and fall to pieces from 
 that corruption. 
 
 But it is time to bring this discourse to a close. 
 I have endeavored to point out some of the dangers that 
 menace the duration of the Republic, and to weigh their 
 importance as I went along. How they are to be averted 
 it would be presumptuous in me to predict. To time 
 and experience must i)e left the task of providing reme- 
 dies for whatever evils may be found to exist. Our 
 foi-efathers, in framing the Constitution, Avisely provided 
 for its amendment. Tliey knew that no work of human 
 hands is perfect; they knew that what is sufHcient for 
 the wants of one generation, may, from changed circum- 
 stances, be inadequate to the wants of another. They 
 foui'dod a government more perfect than the world had 
 
19 
 
 ever known. They ordained it not for tliemsolvos only. 
 l)ut for their posterity also. To those who sh<-)uld come 
 after them, they left the task of making snch alterations as 
 experience should prove to be necessary or wisdom 
 commend, lleirin consists the prime element of safety 
 as long as tlie government shall endure. That the Consti- 
 tution will be further amended there can be no doul)t. 
 If it shall liappen in your day, sec to it that the right.- 
 ol' the States and the liberties of the people be preserved. 
 Ill the meantime, cultivate your own literature, main- 
 tain 3'our own institutions of learning, sustain your own 
 press; in a word, " do your cwn thinking. "' 
 
 Young gentlemen, w'ithin the peaceful precincts of this 
 University, inseparably associated with the immortal name 
 of Jeiferson, in the bosom of a Commonwealth whose 
 fame will endure as long as genius lias a worshipper, 
 freedom a disciple, or heroism an admirer, you have re- 
 ceived 3'our preparatory training for the great trials of 
 life. It is no pathwa}' of ease that you are soon to tread, 
 but it may prove a highway of honor, if you tread it well. 
 
 Without rash and overweening confidence, but with 
 brave hearts and steadfast minds, you should enter upon 
 it. Let no vain repining over the past; no morbid dis- 
 gust with tlie present; no unmanly fear of the future; 
 unnerve your minds or palsy your efforts. Go forth, 
 resolved to contribute by your talents, your education, your 
 industry, your energy, to the welfare and glory of your 
 native land. Let this be your earnest and unvarying 
 rule of action, and whether fortune shall grant or with- 
 hold honors and wealth, you will have in your dying 
 hours, what you will then prize more than honors and 
 wealth, the inward consciousness of a well spent life. 
 
 -<fpn^