City Document.-———~——-N0. 35.  

©:m~Y®1‘@mPIm

MR. WINSLOV/V’S

FOUR'I‘I~I OF JULY ORATION.

THE MEANS OF 'I‘HE PERPETUITY AND PROSPERITY OF OUR REPUBLIC.

ORATION,

DELIVERED BY‘ REQUEST OF‘

THE MUNICIPAL AUTHORITIES,

01-‘ THE

CITY OF BOSTON,
JULY’4,183&

IN TPIE

OLDEMHWWICHURCH,

IN C1?1L1”fl]3I{.A.'.['IOI\1' 013‘

AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE.

IBY HUBBARD VVINSLOVV, I

B O S T O N:
JOHN H. EASTBURN, CITY PRINTER,
No. 18 State Street.

1838.

CITY OF BOSTON.

July 5, 1838.

Rcsolecrl, Tlxet the tlumlcs of the City" Council be presented to the Rev.
IIUm3A.1'm VVINSLOVV, for the eloquent and patriotic Oration, delivered by him,
bef'c)z'e the Municipal Authorities en the 4th instant, being the zlnrxiverszgxry of Ameri-
can Irxdependmxcze, and that the Mayor be requested to ask of him :1 copy for the
press. e

A true Copyw--Attes-zt,

S. F. McCLEARY, City Cleric.

ORATION.

THE MEANS OF THI"J PI§RPE'.I‘UITY AND PIt0f:3l’J3RI'l‘Y OF OUR REPUBLIC.

Fnnnow Crrxzrzns 2

Tan sentiment at the foundation of the remarks which I pro-
pose to offer, has long been firmly established in the minds
of all whom I have the honor to address. The sentiment is
this, that one of the greatest of earthly blessings, and that on
which all others depend, is a good civil government.

To be convinced of its truth, we have only to consider for a
moment the condition of mankind wherever this blessing is not
enjoyed. Crushed beneath the iron hand of despotic power, or
dashed in pieces by the wild waves of anarchy, or incessantly
pillafrerl and wasted by savage hordes, or slaiiglitered by the
b1ood.y arms of ambitious conquerors, they realize little else
than the absence of all that is good and the presence of all that
is evil. Oppression and violence,intolerance and revolution,
brute niriglit and impatient rebellion, alternately triumph over
bleeding‘ and wretched humanity. Domestic bliss has no safe
retreat, virtue no guardian, property no security, industry no
motive, religion not sanctuary, and life itself no real value.
Factions, riots, frauds, confiscations, impostures, murders--—eve~
ry description of crime and cruelty---unite to Worry and devour
their unhappy victims, and to blight the last blossoms of hope,
which survived the ruins of Eden.

Such has been the actual condition of no inconsiderable por--
tion of our race in every age. "What a frightful book is the his-
tory of mankind! Almost every page is black with the crimes
and cruelties of relentless tyranny, or red with the slaughters of

6

conquests and revolutions. Few and far between are the pa-
ges, which present that fair and bright picture of human society
on which the eye of philanthropy delights to repose.

Turn now and look upon the country favored with a good
civil government. One of the first and most delightful objects
you here behold, is a quiet and happy family. Witliiii its sac-
red precincts the conjugal, parental, and filial affections, the
sweet endearments of home—-——all the charming blessings of the
domestic constitution——-are fully realized. So peacefully does
it repose beneath its own vine and fig tree--—~—-so fearless, so safe,
so seemingly unprotected-—-that you might suppose it to be the
only occupant of the soil. But extending your vision, you see
such little happy communities scattered in every direction over
the wide country, while every here and there you behold num-
bers of them clustered together in villages, and occasionally
vast multitudes closely compacted in cities, all fearlessly enjoy-
ing the same social and civil immunities. Families, neighbor-
hoods, towns, states, comprising millions of human beings——are
here affianced together in the same common interest, protected
by the same civil power. Not only is each individual as safe
and happy as though he were alone, but they all find safety and
happiness in each other.

What a magnificent and pleasing scene is this! A whole
nation of human beings, at once perfectly free and perfectly
governed, having their separate and their associate interests
well defined and equally protected; mutually pledged to resist
oppression, rebuke injustice, secure equity, and promote the
true ends of human existence. Here industry is encouraged
with a sure promise of reward; genius is sought out and incit-
ed to effort; property has a true and permanent value; the
path of learning, fame, influence, wealth and glory, is open to
all. None suffer but the indolent and the vicious, none are

countenanced but the industrious and virtuous; while all are

equally protected and encouraged in serving their ,Maker, and

securing the great object of their beinox “ Happy is that peo-

ple, that is in such a case.” i
 lWe hence see that a civil government in which righteous

r laws reign, is one of the noblest gifts of God to man, and one

'7

of the grandest triumphs of human Wisdom and greatness.
We are thus admonished to be very jealous for its safety, to be-
ware how We trifle with it, to prize it as that on which essen-
tially depend all our dearest earthly pleasures and eternal
hopes. Its necessity is found in the Weakness, the wants, the

' wickedness, and the fears of men. It originated in our nature.

The disposition to govern and to be governed, the relations of
guardianship and dependence, the feelings of paternity and of
filial homage, are born into the World with us; and these are the
essential elements of civil government. It is then truly said, that
every well regulated family contains the rudiments of an empire.

The question respecting the bestform of government, is not
new to be considered. That a monarchical government, of
some kind, is the only power adequate to control an ignorant
and vicious people, We are not slow to admit. The mere form
of government, i.s of comparatively small importance, provided
there be vvisdom and fidelity in the presiding powers. Of this,
however, there can be no permanent security; and even if there
could be, all our sympathies are in favor of republican institu-
tions. We havc entire confidence in their success, provided
the appropriate means are employed. So had the fathers of
our nation. They believed tha.t a popular government could
be sustained, but they never dreamed that it could be done by
ignorant, vicious,iunprincipled men. Their faith Was, that men
could be egmnrrrnn to govern themselves ;——--to qualify them,
was the object of their first and most assiduous attention. In
humble pursuance of the same views, I would propose, as our
subject, the means of the perpetuity and prosperity of our Re-
public. This day usually, and With great propriety, invites us
to exultations over past achievements and present blessings. It
may not be less appropriate and useful, though it should prove
to be less entertaining, at the present time, to look forward,
and to inquire, how we may perpetuate, improve, and transmit
to posterity our glorious inheritance?

The grand experiment is now fully begun; it is for us
 and our children to complete it. Republics of another kind

have had their day. Athens and Sparta, Rome and Carthage,
are among the things that Were. Whatthey said of Troy, it is

8

now ours to say of them. Long have they slumbered together
in the ashes of the past. The modern republics of Germany
and Switzerland are of a different character from ours; and
those of South America are just struggling into birth. This
is the firstv-strictly elective and representative system, under full
and mature operation, in the annals of mankind. It owes its
existence, under God, to a pure and invincible love of civil and
religious liberty, kindled in some of the noblest spirits that ever
honored humanity. Until the sun himself tires and falters in
his burning path, their memory will live in all hearts true to
freedom and philanthropy.

Having long groaned under the intolerant institutions of their
country, and having been more than once exiled for their re»-
ligion from their native Island, our immortal ancestors at length
resolved upon that bold adventure, which constitutes one of the
most brilliant and decisive epochs in the history of mankind.
The settlement and early history of these colonies, the events
which led to their final separation from the parent government,
the circumstances connected with the organization of this Fed-
eral Republic--—--though of thrilling interest, yet to most familiar
-——-need not here be even epitomized. Come We then at once to
our own times and duties. .

Already has a little one become a thousand, and a small one
a strong nation. Yet is our nation in its infancy. Cast your
eyes abroad over the length and the breadth of this great terri-
tory, bounded only by the shoreless ocean on either side, and
by the torrid and the frigid zones on either extremity ;——---con-
template its almost boundless plains and vallies of richest virgin
soil; behold its thousands of verdant hills and mountains swel-
ling upward towards the skies, on which the foot of man has as
yet scarcely lighted; see its numerous beautiful and magnificent
rivers, capable of wafting all the commerce and of propelling the
machinery requisite to manufacture all the materials, which it
can ever be made to furnish ; look at its exhaustless mines of

/wealth in the bowels of the earth, and in the deep fissures of

its mountain rocks 3-t--think of the hundreds of millions of peo-

T ple which it is capable of sustaining, and which it promises to

sustain at no very distant day ;---observe its rapid increase of

9

population, wealth, luxuries»---all those causes which tend ‘ to
enervate mind, nourish selfish and indomitable passions, and
annihilate that severe masculine morality essential to civil and
rel.igious freedom ;———-and it cannot fail to appear that the great
experiment is but begun, and that its final result is, to human
view, highly problematical. '

How may the success of the experiment be made sure?
This is the interesting question We are now to solve. Our task
does not require us to attempt to enter far into’ the profound
science of jurisprudence. This is the laborious study ofages--——the
collected and systematized Wisdom of all past research and ex-—
perience. Nor are we to indulge in sublime theories and refined
speculations, which cannot be realized in practice. The means
in question are few, simple, obvious, and entirely practicable.
I shall here assume the position that all governments must have
their seat and source of adequate power gr that in a despotism
they are, under God, with the despot ; in an aristocracy, with
the nobility; and in a republic, with the people ;—----—and that
every huinan gorvernrneint  strong or weak, prosperous or declin-
iiig, according as it is true or false to its own principles. This
admitted, it will follow, 1i.l1at the means of the perpetuity and
pr0spc1'it;y of our repulilic, are the clifliwslion of the essenttial ele-
ments of 73nl‘elligent omelet’/rtuous power among all classes of
cit't.ecns. These I shall arrange under three general heads;

I. .ENLIGI"ITENED AND PURE RELIGION.

The opinion seems never to have been for a moment enter-
tained by those, to whom we are indebted for our free l1'lSlL;ll211',-
tions, that a people can govern and protect itself, without the
ascendant influence and sanctions of acknowledged human ac~
countability to God. Nor was religion with them a mere
tool or means of civil government. It sustained the two fold
relation of both object and means. They prized civil liber-e
ty, because it afforded them opportunity to serve God accord-
ing to the dictates of their consciences; while they believed

10

that the actual service of God Was an essential means of sus-
taining civil liberty. ,

Hence their first acts, on landing upon these shores, were
those of religious homage. They began with prayer and praise ;
--A--they acknowledged God in all their Ways, inscribing his
hallowed name upon all their social, secular and public transac-
tions. Theirs was a severe, manly, uncompromizing religion,
such as imparts a serious earnestness and efficiency to charac-
ter. It gave no indulgence to the enervating pleasures of luxury
and debauchery, nor to looseness of sentiment and principle ;----
it produced reverential, solemn and adoring views of God, deep
and trembling convictions of human accountability, and the ster-
ling social virtues of temperance, frugality, chastity, and un-
blenching honesty.

They held firmly to the Sacred Scriptures, as an infallible
utterance of the Divine Mind for our standard of moral truth
and duty. As such they taught them diligently to their chil-
drenp They believed, as therein taught, that the present state
is only the infancy of our being; that our conduct in this life
is to sustain an indissoluble connection with our condition in
an endless life to come ;-—---that we were made to honor and enjoy
our Maker, by aspiring to his holy character and service; and
that if we come short of this, We defeat the true end of our ex-
istence and vvhehn ourselves in irretrievable disgrace and sor-
row. They believed that We are a sinful, race, needing that
dispensation of recuperative grace unfolded in the gospel; and
that only the penitent and obedient will enjoy the everlasting
blessings of the divine favor.

Such Were their religious views, and upon these they acted.
They lived in this World in view of living forever", under a
government of righteous retributions. They dug deep and laid
their foundations upon the rock of ages. They aimed both to
form their individual characters, and to erect a social fabrick,
upon truths and principles enduring as the throne of God.
To this, more than to any other human cause, are We indebted
for the civil and religious liberty we this day enjoy, and for the
hitherto unparalleled prosperity of our nation.

11

The same foundation upon which the pillars of this republic
were reared., must continue to sustain them, or it will soon be
numbered with those of other ages. Strike out to day from
this nation all belief of the existence of God, of a future state,
of moral accountability and retributions, as taught in the Sacred
Scriptures-——annihilate from the minds of the people all religious
sentiment and devotion--and this would prove the last celebra-
tion of our nation’s freedom. The shouts of jubilee would
soon be exchanged for the groans of slaughter and the sighs of
bondage. Before the revolution of another year, the tempestu-
ous elements of unrestrained human passion would rise above
control,———-the sun of this nation would be turned to darkness
and its moon to blood; its stars would fall from heaven as when
a fig tree casteth her untimely figs; and the sanguinary history
of atheistic France would. be repeated.

But the permcmevnt existence of a general atheism is never to
be anticipated. Its action is spasmodic and temporary. Re-—
ligious sentiments are a part of our nature. Absolute atheism
is an unnatural and forced state, and can therefore never realize
a prevailing continued existence. Some excentric and strange
spirits may always continue to embrace it, and to creep up here
and there from their dark places upon the face of the land, but
they will ever be few, feeble and short lived. a

The question with us, then, is not whether the people of this
nation shall liave a pure religion or none; for a religion of some
kind, they will certainly have. The only question is, whether
they shall have religion pure or corrupted. Shall religion as
she descends from above, holy, enliglitening, elevating and trans-
forming, or shall some monstrous and debasing superstition,
prevail over the land? If the former prevails, our civil liberties
may be as enduring as the principles which sustain them; if
the latter, they are doomed to an early sepulchre. Their fate,
like that of other republics, will be speedily Written upon the
pale skies in letters of blood! For it has ever appeared, that
while religion pure is the greatest of friends, religion corrupted
is the greatest of foes to human liberty. The moral and relig-
ious sentiments of our race are mighty for good or for evil.
Rightly directed, they unbind the fetters of the soul and exalt

12

man to the highest dignity of his nature ; misdirected and per-
verted, they render him a Willing victim of the most oppressive
surveillance and most abject degradation. N o vassallage in
which ambition and avarice ever held human beings, is more
desperate than that inflicted when they interpose between them
and God, to keep them in ignorance of his Word and to give
laws to their consciences.

The brief reign of atheism has ever resulted, and ever must
result, in that general prostration of soul and character, which
leads directly, by the bloody steps of anarchy and revolution, to
enslaving credulity and despotic power. Adversaries of human
accountability to God, are therefore enemies to our republic.
However loud their boast or fair their promise of liberty, they
would soon reduce us to the most galling and relentless of all
earthly bondage. It is not because they exercise freedom of
conscience, but because they outrage all conscience, not because
they use the rights of men, but because they abjure the rights of
men——--alienate themselves from humanity and become as irre-—
sponsible brute beasts----that they forfeit all claim to the privileges
of a free government. N o republican government could be
possibly sustained by a community of such men gm-you might as
Well think of building a city, and calculating upon its safe repose,
on the crater of an active volcano. Every enlightened and
faithful patriot will therefore give his influence, to hold the great
principles of moral accountability in contact with every mind
in the nation. Let them be comrnissioned, as set forth and
sanctioned in the Sacred Scriptures, to enlighten the under»-
standings, invigorate the intellects, elevate the aims, inspire the
hearts, and control the Wills, of both subjects and magistrates—---
and to the end of time may our free institutions stand, firm as
mountains of brass.‘

II. Jusr AND TEMPERATE vrnws nnsrrzocrrne HUMAN zarenrrs it

AND LIBERTIE S .

The doctrine is becoming somewhat prevalent, and" is incor-
porated in many of the most popular and imposing theories of

13

our day, that all men have the same identical rights and liber-
ties; that it is only needful to be a human being, to possess all
the qualities requisite for one to‘ govern himself and others. If
this is so, why is there any need of civil government? Indeed,
what is government in any form, human or divine, but usurpa-
tion? All men are human beings-~——alli have human rights-—---
why should not‘ all be allowed to exercise them unrestrained?
Our excellent ancestors entertained no such views. Fathers
and benefactors of human liberty, they neither acknowledged
nor sought such liberty as this! K That they were sometimes in-
tolerant, we all admit. But there is an apology for them in
the fact, that they considered they were making a momentous
experiment for all succeeding generations, in which they had
no hope of success but i.n the prevalence of what they consider-
ed sound moral and religious principles; that they had adven-
tured everything in this great enterprise; that they had the
prior possession of this soil; and that if men wished to try an
experiment of another kind, this great western world was be-
fore them, and they could go and secure  place for tlieiri-
selves. Wl‘1atevcr may be thought of some of the measures of
the puritans, the principles by which they were actuated and the
general course of their conduct, as well as the fruits of their
labors, have rendered their names and their example worthy of
everlasting remembrance and imitation. T ‘
The oppressions surl'l‘ered by the pilgrims in the old world,
the impulses under which they sought the new; the boldness
and energy acquired by their descendants in subduing the forest;
the exaspe1'atio11of feeling and the increased aversion towards
licireditary power, subsequently excited in the colonies by the
overbearing policy of the British crown; the character and sen-
timents of some of the leading minds in the country, during the
revolution and subsequent to it; our annual festivals through-
out the land, and our eloquent and impassioned speeches and
odes in honor of liberty,»---have all conspired to make the love
of freedom the strong master passion of this nation. It is a
noble spirit; but it needs to be enlightened, tempered, guided
and restrained, or it will rush headlong to its own destruction.
The spirit of liberty has ever carried along with it a strong
2

14

tendency to excess and anarchy. One of the loftiest and most
enobling of human passions when ternperately excited and wise-
ly directed, when irnmoderately exerted and without control, it
is one of the basest and most destructive. The steam Which,
when kept within due bounds and judiciously applied, bears
the Vessel safely, proudly, and speedily onward towards its des-
tined port, when raised too high or unskilfully ernployed, pro-
duces a terr:ible explosion, disastrous to the vessel and to those
einbarked in it. Such will be the inevitable fate of our repub-
lic, if We do 11otlc‘1ing; but feed the "fires of liberty and raise liiggh
the passion for hunian ifiglttzs. An experienced and judicious
pilot would jtirlge it Wise, at the preserit time, to tli.rninisl:1 rath-
er than increase the steam, and to ,e,‘i.ve sorne attention to con~
servative measures. If We prize liberty so l1igl',ily as to desire
more, it surely becomes us to preserve what we already possess.
It is of first importance, that all republican citizens should be

well aware of the nature and limitations of their riglits and liber-

ties, and of the duties required to protect them ;--——-for, st1'a1r1,tge as
it may sound in some modern cars, even human riglits and lib-

erties, like all other human tliiiigs, have their limits ; and, like

all other human blessings, are to be secured and perpetuated
only by some co1'1'espo11di11g sacrifices.

A very excellent writer of the other Continent, has justly re»-
marked”“, “ The disruption of the United States from the Mother
Country, and the outburst of the French Revolution, were the
first effects, on a large scale, of those principles which in A1neri-
ca had their birth in the love of liberty, but debascd by their
mixture with the atheism and spirit of anarchy, which had
long been brooding on the Continent, began to threaten the
very foundations of all social order. Yet it was but a small
number of enlightened men that clearly saw this tendency.
Multitudes tliought they saw, and really vvished to see, in these
events, only the growth of rational liberty; and counted those
who foresaw and predicted the dangerous action of these prin--
ciples on the weakness and wickedness of human nature, as
bigots and libellers. But the minds of men have been let

*London Register.

15

loose from old restraints; and generation rises up after genera»
tion, each st1'ugg;lii1g, vvjith trrovvirig earnestness, to rid itself of
all control. .7teli;rious liberty is new publicly advocated on
principles, which, if pursued to their leg;g,'iti11'iate consequences,
would prevent the rulers and legislators of nations from ac-
linowledging; even the lrieing; and providence of God, lest they
should, by such ¢‘ZLCliI10‘WlGCl,Q,'l.'l1€§.l,)t, restrain that freedom of opin-
ion, which it is allertlgerl that every man has a 1'igl“1tto eXer~—
cise.” N ow there are not a few reformers in our own country,
of the radical cast here referred to———1nany of them men of very
l1igl”i and excellent character, who would shrink with abhor-
rence from any knovvn approach to atheism, or to principles
subversive of human accountability-----who have embraced and
are ui'gi1ig,' forward doctrines and measures, which if carried
to their own natural results, must infallibly terminate in the de—-
thronement of the Moral Governor of the universe, and the
prostration of all law and authority, both divine and hurnan.
Yet they do not foresee these results, so absorbed is their vision
in the cl,ar*ling; objects they have espoused.

If a man were self—<)1:'ig,;*i1i:“tt;e<rl, and the only being in exist-
ence, his individual 1'l§,§‘l‘i1t to do whatever his inclination inight
dictate, would he unrestrained. But inasmuch as he exists in
connection with other beings, who have 1‘,lfTl1t$ as well as “lie,
and to vvhorn he sustains various inipoitant relations, his indi-
vidual I’lfj‘l”ll'.S are proportionally curtailed and rnoclified. He
has no riglit to <‘1is1*e,g;r,'arcl the riglits of others. Srrstainiiig then
first of all to God the relation of a dependent creature to an al-
mighty Creator, and of an accountable subject to a iigliteous
Ruler, he has no rights vvhatever, excepting such as his Maker
has given him ;-----and his Maker has never given him a right to
do as he pleases, any farther than he pleases to regard the vvel-
fare of his fellow beirigs as Well as his own.

N or does the mere fact that all men are human beirigs, give
them all the same social rights. Men may he incapacitated by
want of intellect, by insanity, vice, ignorance, inefiiciency, and
various other causes, even to protect their own lives and inter-
ests. The idiot, the mad-rnan, the drunkard, for example, has
no right to his liberty, when it seriously endangers his own or

16

his tneighbor’s safety. rMere humanity, therefore, confers neith-
er equality of rights nor ability for self-protection. _ So far from
this, there is no race of creatures upon the earth so incapable
of taking care of themselves, Without a course of preparation
for it, as mankind. Hence the necessities, the rights, the social
duties of men, are as various as their conditions. It is the
right and the duty of the sane to take care of the insane, of
the virtuous to restrain the vicious, of the learned to instruct
the ignorant, of the wise to guide the simple, of the strong to
protect the Weak, of the aged to counsel the young ;----and if it
is the duty of some to» do these things, it is the duty of those
for whom they are needed to consent to have them done.

All these rights and duties are ultimately to be determined,
not byeach individual for himself, but by the society or govern-
ment of which he is a member. It is not for the simpleton, or
the idiot, or the maniac, or the profligate, to say whether he
has the qualifications’ requisite to take care of himself and
others; it is for society to determine that.

Nor is a correct View of liberty and equality allied to any
leveling system. The leveling theory is against all the analo-
gies of nature and providence. To render it consistent, all the
stars in the firmament should be of the same brilliancy, all the
hills and mountains upon the face of the earth of the same
height, all rivers of the same magnitude, all men of the same
mind and stature ;——the bolt of heaven which smites one man’s
dwelling, should smite every man’s dwelling _:,-----the cold blasts
of Greenland should sweep the tropical regions, and the tropi-
cal fruits and spicy gales of India should solicit the apetite and
fanthe person of the Esquimaux and the Icelander. That
there should be inequality in the conditions of men, as there is
in all the other works of providence, is clearly a wise and benev-
olent ordinance of heaven. To this is owing, in a very high
degree, the noblest social virtues and some of the most exquisite
enjoyments of mankind. _Without it, society being reduced
to a dead and stagnant level, all the reciprocities of sym-
pathy, beneficence and protection, of dependence, confidence
andgratitude, with their endless train of lovely graces, would
be exiled from our race. A It was the levelling disposition, that

17

cast down the shining angels from their starry heights. If it
was evil in heaven, it is not less evil on earth.

Radicalism sustains to the levelling system the relation of
means to an end. It would level all, by destroying all. Under
the pretence of building anew, and building better, it would
sweep away, with one great burning blast, all the collected wis-
dom and experience of past ages. Not only is the means de-
plorable, but it fails of its end after all. So far from levelling,
it ultimately renders society more uneven, and that too in a
way disastrous to all classes. “ Those who attempt to level,”
says Mr. Burke,”“ “never equalize. In all countries consisting
of various descriptions of citizens, some descriptions must be
uppermost. The levellers therefore only change and pervert
the natural order of things; they load the edifice of society by
setting up in the air what the solidity of the structure requires
to be on the ground.”

The leveller is a man of dangerous ambition. As Caesar said
of Cassius, he

   

has a lean and hungry look.
Such men as he he never at heart’s ease,
Whiles they behold a greater than themselves.

Wliat then is the true republican doctrine of equal rights and
liberties. I conceive it to be summarily this, that all men have
by nature the same right, and should have equal liberty, to serve
their Maker with all their powers, in the way most conducive to
their own welfare and to that of their fellow beings. Under

’‘‘Edmund Burke was the first and greatest of the few “ enlightened men,” re-
ferred to above by a London writer, who foresaw and predicted the result of those
principles which produced the French Revolution. Standing,f'orth strong and clear
upon the conservative side, amidst the prevailing tendencies of his age to revolu-
tion, by the soundness of his wisdom, the integrity of his politics, the invincible-
ness of his arguments, and the subduing power of his eloquence, he did more than
perhaps any other man to save Britain and the other civilized nations from plunging
into the gulph of anarchy, and into another long and dreary night of dark ages. His
writings should be in the hands of all American citizens. A firm friend of rational
liberty and human rights, a christian, a patriot, a scholar, an orator, of the sound-
est and most finished order, he can be read by no American citizen without intense
interest and true profit.

18

the control of the divine government, there can be no clashing
between a man’s own interest and that of his neighbor. The
man who promotes the interest of his fellow beings in the best
manner, promotes his own interest in the best manner.
Personal liberty implies entire freedom to employ ones own
person in all lawful ways, being subject to no restraint but

what is important to the good of society.
Moral liberty is the power and the opportunity of an agent

to do what is morally right.

Religious liberty allows its subject to worship God according
to his own conscience, directed and controlled only by the
teaching and authorityi of divine truth.

Civil liberty implies exemption from all restraints, excepting
those imposed by laws essential to the public welfare. The
civil liberty of a good citizen, in a good state, is all that he can
desire; a bad citizen will always desire more, just in the dc»-
‘gree that he ought not to have it.

Political liberty is a means to civil liberty, and implies a right
to vote, to be a candidate for oflice, to sustain a part in con-
trolling public affairs. Civil liberty secures to a man his most
7:important natural rights, while political liberty gives him cer-
tain relative rights or powers over others.

Republican liberty is the agregate of all these; its actual

degree and perfection are measured by no abstract theory, but
by the actual degree and perfection of the knowledge and vir--
tue, which obtain in the subject himself and in the great body
of the republic. In a republic of intelligent and good citizens,
every man will increase his rights and liberties, just in the cle-
gree that he increases his merits.

The times urgently demand that correct views of the rights
and duties of republican citizens, clearly defined and set forth
in a popular form, should be diffused through the nation. The
Wild theories propounded by some of the modern apostles of
liberty, and perpetually urged upon certain classes of susceptiw
ble minds, are kindling up the latent tires of envy, jealousy, dis-
content---»-the most dangerous foes of republican institutions—-
and while thesesdemagogues, under guise of promoting liberty,
thus created a popular prejudice against the true a friends and

19

protectors of human rights ;--—-while they dazzle the eyes and
intoxicate the passions of men with their excessive light and
love,---they are preparing the way to enthrone themselves over
the wretched objects of their ambition, in the exercise of the
most intolerant of all despotisms. Such is the law of ex—-
tremes ; such are the disastrous results of extravagant specula-
tions. The men most violent for liberty, make the most op-
pressive of tyrants ;-—--—--they who soar highest in theories upon-
human rights, are the first to make shipwreck of all rights.
Mr. Burke states in his remarks upon the French revolution,
“ Almost all the high-bred republicans of my time” (by which
he means the ultraists and radicals of his day, not such men as
our good old republicans of 76) “ have after a short space be-
come the most decided thorough-paced courtiers. They soon
left the business of a tedious, moderate, but practical resistance,
to those of us whom, in the pride and i11toxi.cati0n of their the-
ories, they have slighted as not much better than tories. Hy-
pocrisy, of course, (.l($l.lg'lf'll.S in the most sublime speculations ;——-—-—
for, never intending to go beyond speculation, it costs notliiing
to have it 1‘11z:Lgr1:ificc1t’it." T
But for the encouragenient of the friends of order and sound

doctrines, be it said and known, that if we adopt the excellent.

rule of Coleridge, to weigh men instead of comzting them, it is
but a small relative amount of the real mind of our nation, that
has gone over to radical views. The seekers of popularity who»
may be on the eve of going over to such views, under an ap-~
prehension that they are about to prevail, should consider well
before they take the dangerous step. Policy not founded in
sound and well studied principles, is apt to be short sighted.
Anxious to be with the many, or at least with the growing par-
ty, and not given to patient consideration, it often mistakes
noise for numbers and increase. The furious and perpetual
rattle upon the ear, is apt to affect it more than the calm dic-»
tates of sober and noiseless truth. It is not to be concealed
that the radicals make the most noise; and not a few are ready
to infer, that the comparative silence of those who stand upon
the side of conservativeness, implies a gradual concession to
their doctrines. But a few years hence will read a different

20

story. “ The vanity, restlessness, petulance, and spirit of in-
trigue,” says the great British statesman above cited, “ of sever-

al petty cabals, who attempt to hide their total want of conse-

quence in bustle and noise, and puffing, and mutual quotation
of each other, makes you imagine that our contemptuous neg»
lect of their abilities is a general mark of acquiescence in their
opinions. No such thing, I assure you. Because half a doz-—
en grasshoppers under a fern make the field ring with their im-
portunate chink, whilst thousands of great cattle repose beneath
the shadow of the British oak, chew the cud and are silent,
pray do not imagine that those who make the most noise are
the only inhabitants of the field; that of course, they are many

B in number; or that, after all, they are other than the little

shrivelled, meagre, hopping, though loud and troublesome in-
sects of the hour.” These observations respect radicals in every
description of reform, whether political, social, domestic, moral,
or religious. Their noisy day is always short 5---they soon use
themselves upland pass away. Marks of devastation and ruin
they leave behind them, long after themselves have perished,
except as associated with the evil they have done. They are
like the violent agents in nature, which are speedily exhausted,
leaving her steady, silent, resistless laws to move calmly on, re-
pairing the injuries occasioned by the shock, and effectually se-
curing the great ends of divine wisdom and goodness. T

While, therefore, we firmly advocate fearless inquiry, free
discussion, the liberty of the press, human rights, and all me-
forms in politics, society, morals and religion, which tend to
improve the condition and character of mankind, let us with
equal firmness observe that temperance, gentleness, modesty
and discretion, that due deference to the voice of history and
the councils of age and experience-——that determined spirit of
conservation, which is as wisely intent on saving what is alrea--
dy gained as in adventuring for more---—without which, all at»
tempts at reformation must ever prove to be like the earth-
quake and tornado ;——--without which, they will but demolish the
work of the wisdom and industry of former generations, destroy
the good with the evil, set society backward, defeat their own
professed ends, and distance the desired millenial age.

21

III. Coimncr VIEWS nnsrnorrne wear consrrrurns TI-IE
;ESS1i3N'1‘IAL srrsnnnerrr AND enema or A NATION.

" It has been the too frequent policy of statesmen, to direct
their first and most earnest attention to what is merely circum-
stantial and extrinsic. Political economy has been their main
study ;-—-they have looked after the lands, houses, furniture and
provisions of the people, rather than the people themselves.
Placing effect for ca.use, they have committed the error of those
parents who are more solicitous to provide well for their chil-
dren, than to nirake them rich in their own resources. It has
been their chief object to deve-lope merely the physical resources
of their country, to create facilities for wealth, to reduce the
necessity for human labor, to provide means of ease and indul-—
genes, to swell the public revenues; to protect their nation
internally with laboured statutes and well executed penalties,
and externally with treaties, bu.lwarks, xrarnparts, fleets and ar-
mics. Tliese have their V&‘l.l.l..1(3, but there are otlier tlriiigs of
primary and pa1'a.1nount importance, without which all these
will prove valueless and vasin.

As a man is to be estirnatod not by his possessions, but by
his personal worth,   a nation to be justly estimated, not by
its lands, houses, reverrues, ibrtitications, navies--—--any further
than these indicate the virtues of the peopIc,§§———-but by the
intrinsic ,ElI"l(il essential character of the people themselves.
The true sts;rr:n,o,'1;l1 and glory of a republic lie in the intcalligence,
the genius, the 'in.te,<rrrit;y, the rinrlustry, the patrtolvisrn, the
intellectual and moral worth of the people. ,As long as these“
exist in a lrigh degree, the nation will be free and mighty; let
them be wantingg;, and nothing can give it either freedom or
st1*e11gt.l1. Tl'1rot1gl‘1 the omnipotence of these Virtues, one can
chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight. These
are the wealth, the arms, the miglit, that subdued the forest,
secured our liberties, (3Stf:1l)ll.Sl”.l(3(l and blest our nation. With-
out these, tll'1o1.ugli our fathers had brought with them all the
treasures of the Old VVorld, though, on landing upon these
shores, the mines of Golconda had been thrown open to them,
and the armies of Caesar had been at their command, this

3

22

wilderness would not have budded, these solitudes would
not have echoed with the notes of liberty,---a Franklin and
a Washington would never have arisen ;--—the day we cele-

brate would never have shone upon us.
Only the same virtues which originated and established our

. republic, can perpetuate and prosper it. The danger is in na-—
 tions, as in families which have risen from poverty, that the

fathers will forget the means by which themselves rose and will
employ other and less effectual means for their children-—that
their posterity will learn to depend upon their external pos-
sessions and advantages, rather than upon their intrinsic charac-
ter-—--and finally, that the great study of both people and states-

,men will be turned entirely outward and away from that, which

is essential to their real welfare.

Let our children then be early and faithfully taught the true
republican doctrine, that their independence and greatness
must depend upon themselves, rather than upon their circum-
stances and possessions ;-———-—let them well understand the worth»
lessness toman of every thing, which has not a worthy friend in
his ‘own bosom. What is the worth of gold, without integrity?
What is the value of an oflice, to a man unprepared for it or
unworthy of it? VVhat price has fame, that is not well earned?
What condition is so servile, as that of ill-gotten and niggardly
wealth? Who has so much to fear, as the dishonest man?
Who so much to hope for, as the man of sterling probity?
What so omnipotent as true goodness, and what so feeble as
conscious guilt? Who so noble as the true patriot, and who so
contemptible as the demagogue? Who walks abroad with
such erect and manly independence, as the man who is con-

scious of acting from the impulses of duty and benevolence, be i

he rich or poor, lord or peasant?

If the children of this land are taught to solve these questions
and to act upon their import, unhappy jealousy and heart burn-
ing towards men of office, distinction and wealth, will dimin-
ish ;---the low arts of dishonesty and the pleasures of vice will

gradually cease from society ;—-——---the rising generations will be

put to the work of making for themselves characters of intrinsic
andeverlasting value. Hundreds of fleets and armies, and ex-

23

haustless treasures of gold, could not render our nation half so
mighty or glorious.

The importance of union, or that state of the republic in
which harmony, of views, feelings and interests prevail between
the various classes and members of society and the difi"erent
sections of the country, has always been justly maintained.
Education and all other interests and pursuits, should be con-
ducted upon those republican principles, which favor this desira-
ble result. There must be no aristocracy of knowledge, wealth,
or rank ; the means of obtaining them must be, as far as possi-
ble, thrown equally open to all.

It should be the settled policy of every state, not to allow a
child within its jurisdiction to pass the age of six, without being;
able “to read ; nor to pass the period of childhood, without hav-
ing acquired the rudiments of a good common education. In
addition to this, every family should consider it a duty to be
supplied with useful books; every town should be provided
with well furnished libraries; and a taste for reading should be
everywhere cultivated and encouraged.

As ready vehicles of public intelligence and instruction, news-1
papers are of indispensable service ; they are eminently re-
publican. They are the most constant companions and teachers
of the people. In their daily visits, they are at the doors of
their patrons to give them the news, “first in the morning and
first in the evening; frequently they breakfast and dine and sup
with them; they entertain them in the parlor and advise them in
the counting room; they travel with them in all the coaches,
cars and steam boats, upon the public ways ;——--there is not an
athenaeum, nor reading room, nor house of entertainment, nor
any place of public daily resort, where their forms are .not seen
and their voices heard. They are in truth the omnipresent ge-
niuses and tutelary goddesses of the people,—--and if there be any
truth in the proverb, that they who perpetually have our ears
have at last our faith, their influence must be great and decisive
upon the destinies of this republic. Considering their immense
power over the public mind, every good citizen must see the im--
portance of endeavoring to save them from perversion, of elevat-
ing their character and disseminating them as widely as possible.

2414

Every family that can afford it, should take at least one paper,
and should exercise the most wise discrimination in the selec-
tion. Few men confer more benefit upon the community than
good editors, and few do more harm than bad ones.

Academies and colleges, institutions of law, medicine and the-
ology should be generously endowed either by state or private
bounty, in every section of the country, to train for public ser---
vice the best minds from all the ranks and conditions of society.
Besides that this secures men of the highest talent and energy
to the service of the public, it tends to create a strong bond
of union. If only the sons of the rich were educated for pub-
lic and professional service, not only would a large portion of
the finest intellects be lost to it, but a wall of jealousy would
rise to heaven between the different classes. Let every family
know that there is a place for its sons in our public literary in-
stitutions-—-a place within the reach of talent, industry and per-
severance——~——-be their parentage rich or poor. At these institu-~
tions, the adventitious‘ distinctions of wealth and family vanish;

  every individual stands upon his own merits. If the sons of the«

poor had indulged envy towards the rich, t.hey lose it here; if
the sons of the rich had indulged contempt towards the poor, it
here gives place to admiration of intellectual worth, wherev-
er it is found. The rational and enduring friendship here con-
tracted between the sons of all ranks and classes, between those
destined to different pursuits and professions, and between those
who are to hold a prominent position among the most influen-
tial members of every family, neighborhood, town and state in
the nation, are among the highly important means of social
and political union.

Let gentlemen devoted to public life and to the different
learned, professions, ever cherish the attachments they formed
‘inter sylvas Academxi. Let them ever sympathize with each

a other’s callings and pursuits. Operating as they do in different

spheres and upon allclasses, acting upon the liveliest sensibilities
and upon the most valued interests of mankind, no men can do
more to unite or to alienate society. Engaged in different depart»
naentisrof the same great work, they can do much towards creat-

 public confidencein each other, as well as towards binding L

25

society together. The professions of jurisprudence, law, medi-
cine, theology, teacliirig, are all branches of one and the same
universal science. , Every enlightened and liberalized mind
will clearly perceive that the study of entire nature, and the
particular study of man as a social, physical, moral and intellec-
tual beirig, are generically one, incluclirig the elements of civil
goverlmlent and of all the learned professions. The same is
true of all arts and pursuits, which tend to elevate and adorn
humanity.  Cicero has said,—-~—-Onines artes quae ad,..hu-
manit.atc1r1 pertinent, habent quoddam coninugine vinculum, et
quasi cognatione quadam inter se continentur.

The physical wealth of our nation must be principally souglit
in its soil, and a most important part of its virtue, eeriergy and
patriotism in those tzatiglit from their childhood to cultivate it.
A glance of the i1‘it.elligent stranger’s eye, as he passes through
the land, cannot fail to determine the places where true repub-
llC€L1TlilS1"I1l1€LS its best support. There he sees the Wilderness,
the moors, the deserts, yl0lClll.1g to the hand of industry and
becoming .fruitful fields. On every side, the plains and vallies
are seen clothed with the verdure of spring and surnrner, or
waving with the golden harvest of autumn; vvliile every hill and
mountain .sal.utes the eye with its orchards of sniiling fruit, its
Woodland groves, and its numerous flocks and herds grazing
upon its sweet pastures. Farms well fenced, abundantly stock-
eid, liigl’1ly cultivated, having neat and comfortable dwellings in
connexion with spacious barns and granaries, pass in constant
succession ; While here and there the landscape is adorned with
beautiful villages, where the mechanic arts, the exchangeof
merchandise, the higher schools and the temples of worship,
contribute to the welfareof the surrounding country.

Remote from the dissipation of the city and holding daily
converse with pure nature, farmers are favored with the best of
means for training up their offspring to virtue, piety, industry
and efficiency. Here their children may learn the Worth of
property, by being early accustomed to earn it by the sweat of

the brow; here they may learn the worth of time, by beipg,

compelled while young to husband and improve every hour;
here they may learn the worth of knowledge, by the efforts: and

26

sacrifices which they must make to obtain it; here they learn
to value their country, by the hard—earned interest they secure
in its soil. Their attachment to the soil, the scenery, the
home of their childhood, is never dissolved. It inspires them
with a deathless patriotism. The pure air of the vallies and
mountains, together with wholesome food and abundant exer-
cise, gives them vigorous constitutions; while the beautiful and
sublime objects of nature store their young minds with corres-
ponding sentiments and emotions. There is not probably in
the world a class of citizens, of an equal number, so sound in
intellect, so industrious, so patriotic, so virtuous, as the farmers
of New England; none more devoted to liberty, philanthropy,
truth and religion; none who train up and present to their coun-
try and to the world more enterprising and noble sons. There
is no quarter of the globe, which is not at this moment feeling
the happy influence of the sons of New England farmers. So
much for the country, which a respected gentleman of the
South so pertinently designated as the land of ice and granite.
Like the former commodity, her sons have learned to endure
all climates, and to carry health and happiness even to the
burning zones; While, like the latter, their firm and massive in-
tellects are among the strongest pillars of the nation.

The number of mechanics is second only to that of agricul- ‘

turalists, embracing some of the most intelligent and valuable
men in the nation; Not so strongly attached to the soil and
scenery of theirpcountry as farmers, they are not as a class, it is
said, naturally so patriotic. Yet through the influence of
other causes, a spirit of chivalrous devotion to their country is

often enkindled in their bosoms, which is seldom or never sur-

passed. On the Whole, it is doubtful whether there is any class
of American citizens more truly and faithfully devoted to the
welfare of the nation, than her great body of respectable and
high minded mechanics. But from this general remark, as in-
deed from all general remarks upon classes of men, I am afraid
that some little deduction must be made. There is a small
number, who have no interest at stake in the public welfare, and
who, with the peradventure of gaining something, and having
nothing to lose, are more given to change than improvement;

27

Their proverbial tendency to scepticism, owing in part to their
dealing exclusively with cause and effect in the material world,
their opportunities of frequent intercourse with each other, and
the reckless and revolutionary spirit engendered by infidelity,
render them sometimes dangerous men to the republic. It is then
highly important, that special attention should be given to their
intellectual and moral cultivation. Much has already been ac-
complished. ' The progress of temperance, of religion, of the
knowledge imparted by lyceums, and of social culture, has done
more within a few years to redeem them from the blighting in-
fluence of infidelity, and to elevate them in the scale of respec-
tability and usefulness, than any other citizens. It is also de-
sirable that all artizans should become owners of the houses
they occupy, or that they should hold some stock in banks, rail
roads, manufactories, or other corporate or public institutions,-—-----
as with industry and prudence they may,—-——-that they may have
an interest at stake at the polls, and be saved from that unhap-

py jealousy of monopolies, upon which demagogues so success-- it

fully operate.

Although farmers and artizans do not ordinarily accumulate
so large fortunes as some other callings occasionally afl"ord,
yet their average wealth surpasses that of all other class-

es ; and when they are industrious and temperate, none are

more safe, trustworthy, thrifty and independent. In these must
ever be found the chief strength, wealth, protection and safety of
the nation. Their industry, thrift, virtue, patriotism, intelli-
gence and happiness, must hold a very prominent place in
the deliberations of every wise statesman. , As they must always
comprise the majority of voters, if these do well, our re-
public is safe. Through all the rude storms and convulsions
which threaten her youthful course, she will steadfastly hold
on her way to permanent and exalted glory. No higher
eulogium need be, nor can be, pronounced upon the farmers
and inechanics of this commonwealth, than to announce the
fact, that the character of the citizens of every state is known
by the character of its magistrates, and of its legislatures in
congress who represent them. We may well be proud of our
state, as surely we ought to be grateful, when we consider

28

I

what men she has to elevate to her high oflices, and the
unequalled discrimination and wisdom of her elections.

But it is of the greatest moment that agriculturalists, artizans,
and all other citizens, should understand how deeply and how cer-
tainly their own interests are involved in those of merchants and
manufacturers. There are few men, to whom all classes and
interests are more indebted than to these. To all the farmers
in the land be it said, take away our commerce and manufac-
tures, and soon will your farms and your produce sink to one
fourth their present value ;----to all the mechanics be it said,
take these away, and soon three fourths of your employment
and your property will be wanting ;---to all christians be it said,
take these away, and soon the work of enlightening the world
must cease ;—--to all the friends of civilization be it said, take
these away, and soon do we allibegin to return to the savage
state I ‘ 

How unnatural and unhappy, then, are the jealousies so
frequently indulged against those devoted to these interests.
Although whatever cause injures them, ultimately injures all
other classes, yet the evil does not so soon overtake the “latter as

. the former; andfrequently it mocks them with some apparent

temporary advantage. Hence many are deluded into the belief,
that when they vote to the “injury of our merchants and manu-—
facturers, they do themselves a corresponding benefit. .
But selfishness is ever short sighed. Wheii farmers begin to
see their property depreciating, and the fruits of their labor
wasting upon their hands, for want of a market; when thou-
sands of mechanics are deprived of business, and compelled to
dismiss their men in service; when hundreds of thousands of
laborers are deprived of employment, and their children are
crying in vain for bread,-—-—-then indeed do they begin to see,
that whatever cause disturbs the free and prosperous operations

of mercantile and inanufacturing business, brings ultimate evil t

upon the whole community. The disastrous wave, first felt in

the large cities and sources of enterprise, rolls forth upon the a t

lands; nor does it cease to move onward, till the remotest in--
habitants have felt its unhappy impulse. l

29

It is, then, of the last importance, that all classes of citizens
should take large and correct views of their duty to the repub-
lic, as it respects the elevation of the wisest and most faithful
men to office. The highest authority has said, “Woe to thee,
0 land, when thy King is as child ! ” This may have had a
primary application to a monarchical and hereditary government.
But in one respect its application to a republic is more severe,
inasmuch as it implies‘ not only calamity, but also obliquity on
the part of the people, as well of their rulers. In a hereditary
government, the people have no voice in constituting their
magistrates. The evils which they suffer from them are una-
voidable. Not so in a republic. Here all the magistrates, from
the highest to the lowest, are raised to power by the free consent
of the people ;. and moreover, as their destination returns peri-
odically, and at short intervals, into the hands of those who
first elected them, they will not often depart knowingly from
the expressed will of their constituents. I-Ience whatever evils
result to republican citizens from bad legislation, are but a
righteous retribution for their abuse of that sacred trust----the
clective franchise.

lI3.‘..rperi.ence however often comes too late. Nor is there any
method of ariticipating and averting the calamities of bad legisla-
tion, but by convincing all men, that what is for the interest of
any one class or section of the nation, is for the interest of all,
and that what is for the good of the city, is for the good of the
r.":.ount;ry,—-———-so that if any member of the social system suffers, all
the rriernbers rnnst at length suffer with it. I hold this to be
a cardinal truth in every sound republic,--mone of the most vital
of truths to the common welfare of this great nation. The man
who will do most to give it admission to all the understandings,
and to impress it in living characters upon all the hearts of his
fellow citizens, will well deserve a place among the greatest of
benefactors.

And who are the men, next to the most profound and experi-
enced statesmen, first to know assuredly whether legislation is
right or wrong? Are they not those whose eyes and hands are
actually upon the great springs and wheels, which move the
enterprise of éthe nation? Such are the men, who have the

30

direction of our commercial and manufacturing operations.
When they begin to see the signs of untoward causes in the do-
ings of govermnent, then let all citizens be assured that evil is
approaching, and as they love their country and themselves
hasten to avert it, by a prompt and united action at the polls.

And as to monopolies of business and wealth, what of them?
When in the absence of all laws perpetuating property, in the
enervating tendencies of large inheritance upon posterity, in the
increase of heirs, in the ample opportunities for gain afibrded in
common to all, and in the overturnings of providence, the most
huge masses of wealth ever rolled up in this country are melt-
ed away and dispersed in a thousand directions within two or
three generations; when the sons of the poorest frequently pur-
chase, from under the hammer, the costly dwellings and furniture
procured by the sons of the richest, and at almost every second
or third generation they become alternate masters and servants

to each other; when the largest investments in stock and trade T

are continually changing hands, and are equally at the refusal of
all our citizens,-—--the cry of monopolies is the most unmeaning
sound, with which envious indolence and dissappointed am-~

bition, in the haggard forms of poltroons and demagogues, ever

deceived a people.

There are no monopolies, there can be none, in this republic.
If the speaker believed there were, he would be among the first
to condemn them. His entire sympathies are with the people
at large; and had he any influence in public, it should always
be employed to defend their common rights. But the truth is,
we have no men of mammoth size and power, nor can we
ever have, as they have in some of the hereditary governments
of the Old World, who live by devouring the poor. The bless-
ed genius of our institutions forbids it. On the contrary, our
rich men are necessarily, from the nature of our government,
public benefactors. The more we have of them, the greater
are our means of carrying forward important public operations,
of rnaking internal improvements, of enhancing the property of

other men, of promoting education, of giving imployment to the -

31

idle and bread to the hungry, of imparting enterprise and pros»
perity to the nation.”“

Among the greatest of evils in legislation, are those of irmova-
tions and experiments. The last place where an experiment
should be made, is at the head of a state or nation. Experi-
ments should always be made upon the smallest possible scale,
that the risk may be as small as possible. Legislation should
never be an experiment, but the result of all experiments from
the beginning of time. It should always follow, never precede
experience. Scarcely a greater evil can afflict a nation, than
that of dashing and capricious politicians, in whom ignorance

of the past, recklessness of the future, idolary of self, and the

obstinate blindness that cannot see afar off, are the prevailing;
characteristics. Every movement in our national and state leg»
islation, should be the result of the perceived wants of the peo-
ple ; should be, as far as possible, the dictate of long and sure
experience; should be deliberate, gentle, far-reaching; that the
grand desidcratum may be secured--~--1>n.nMAN:aNcr. ,
All the great and complex affairs of business throughout the
nation, must accommodate themselves to its public legislation ;
and it is the Work of years for a change, comrnenced with leg»-
islatiou, to make its Way through all the classes and interests of
society, so that harrnonious and prosperous action may be re-
stored. A. disturbance begun in the social system must, like
a disease in the human body, run its course, and in its course
produce immense suffering and loss. Every great change in

*For the truth of these remarks, the author begs leave to refer the reader to the
argument of Mr. Webster, in his “Second Speech on the Sub-Treasury Bill,”
wherein, by an extensive induction of facts, and a course of expansive, liberal, dis-
passioued and invincible state logic, he expounds the happy peculiaries of our
political system, as distinguished from those of hereditary governments; and dc-
monstratcs, that instead of having any thing to fear from monopolies of business
and wealth, all citizens, who are true to their own welfare, will sustain the great
interests of commerce, trade and manufactures ;-—-and that the men who do most
business and procure most wealth by an honest pursuit of these and other callings,
are doing most, other things equal, to promote the industry, prosperity, wealth and
independence of all classes. J i

32

legislation unavoidably produces great derangement and waste,
weakens the power of government, destroys confidence, defeats
all rational calculations, and throws property out of the hands
of honest prospective industry into the hands of idle specula-
tors, or fortunate capitalists. If there can be any thing ap-»
proaching dangerous monopolies in our country, they are pro-
duced in this way, by destroying motives to steady industry and
offering premiums to idleness and speculation.

It is a war upon nature. It is as if the sun should sometimes
of a sudden descend from his throne in the tropics, and wander
for a season about the polls ;-—--—it is as if the the storms and
frosts of winter should come up in a night, and beat upon the
green fields of June ;-—it is as if the bright stars of heaven,
which have for ages guided faithful mariners safely over the
dark ocean, should surprise them all by a new direction to ruin.
In short, it is as if all the human forethought and effort, which
through the constant course of nature has hitherto tended to pro»
duce prosperity and happiness, should through a strange caprice
of nature’s laws produce only disaster and misery. If the rivers
of our country, instead of flowing uniformly in the same chan--
nels, should entirely change their place and direction every
two or three years, what calamities would befall our commer-
cial, manufacturing, agricultural, domestic and social interests!
Scarcely less evil are the changes which affect the nation, pro-
duced by inconsiderate and rash movements in its halls of leg-
islation. It is the wisdom of the Creator to make the laws of
nature uniform, that men may know what to depend upon.
Not less should it be the wisdom of civil rulers, for the same
reason, to render uniform the laws of a nation.

Our enterprising citizens can accommodate themselves to
almost any laws, provided those laws are permanent. Like the
prudent and industrious bees which so well represent them,
they can labor to effect in hives of every shape ; but where the
hives are continually broken up, as soon as their busy inhab-
itants have put them in order and begun to form the comb, no
forethought nor labor can ever accumulate much honey.

Look now at the immense sums invested in out»-lays,----—-in
manufactories, commerce, domestic trade, bank—st*ocks, large

i.;.m

33

operations for the general welfare; invested by men of small

means, as well of large--—by widows, orphans, teachers, hard
laboringflartizaris-—-all staked onthe faith of government, on the

permanency of its policy and laws ;-——--then calculate the millions

that have been recently sacrificed at the shrine of experiment
and innovation.

If then we are to be subject to such changes in the proceed»
ings of government for years to come, as have been experienced
for a few years past, the result will be a general disgust at re-—'
publican institutions. Confidence will fail, property will di-
minish and lose its value, patriotism will die, contention and
revolution will prevail, till all men will exclaim,-—-—Grive us des-
potism, give us the laws of the Medes and Persians, rather than
this.

But we hope better things. A brighter prospect dawns.
There remains a sound and healthy sentirnent in the land ;---—-—the
great body of American citizens wish to be governed in the best
manner, if they can know what that is. Give them that knowl-
edge on this subject, which they are now fast receiving, and the
sun and stars and rivers of the nation will resume and hold
their proper places ;----afl"airs will come into a natural and un-
disturbed course ; the wisdom of experience will ascend the
throne; the brief and troubled night of sophisters and experi-
menters will pass away; order and stability will be hailed with
acclaim by the concurring voices of the people, and through long
and prosperous ages will dignity and bless our institutions.

In the earlier periods of a republic, a vulgar prejudice is lia-
ble to prevail among the people towards men in public service,
and those devoted to the learned professions. This opens a
way for ignorant pretenders to practice their impositions. A
sentiment is fostered among the people, that the men of this
class are lording it over their fellow citizens, living at ease
and growing rich at their expense ;--—--the people are taught to
believe that to oppose and oppress them, is to promote their
own interests ;---and finally the opinion prevails, that if such a
class of men we must needs have, it is the truest republicanisrn

84+

to have the rudest, the cheapest, the most ignorant and vulgar,
that can be induced to compose it.

N o sentiment is more false and pernicious; none more de-
basing to a people, or disgraceful to a republic. If any of our
citizens deserve to be called working men and public benefac-
tors, those who faithfully sustain the civil offices and the
learned professions of the land, are surely of the number.
Most people have no adequate conception of the severity of
their labors, or the value of their services. None work harder,
and few so cheap. How seldom is the labor of intellect duly
understood and appreciated 1, How little is known, by most
men, of the toil and sacrifice demanded of those who are call-
ed to sustain our institutions and to feed the people with
knowledge. If the people are true to their own interests,
they will ever cherish towards them the liveliest and most af-~
fectionate sympathy; they will hold forth to them the highest
motives to excel in their callings ;-»--it will be their ambition that
the choicest talent, learning and character may enable those,
who hold these important positions in society, to exert the most
powerful and happy influence upon their individual and social
'-welfare. Few earthly affections are stronger or more sacred,
than those which ought to exist between republican citizens and
the men who sustain to them the relations of faithful magis—~
trates and protectors, physicians, pastors, and teachers. Guar-
dians of their individual and social rights, of their health and life,
of their morals and religion, of the education of their children,
they should deserve and receive their highest love and esteem.
All that the people give to them of their sympathy and sup-
port, , will return into their own bosom an hundred fold.
Whenever the people withhold these encouragements to pub»
lic worth, republicanism degenerates to vandalism; what-
ever elevates, adorns and blesses society, passes away,-----and
the whole community sinks by degrees into ignorance, poverty,
low vice and remediless contempt.

Let usthen be very jealous for the talent, the intelligence,
the high character of our guardians and teachers. A wakeful

discriminating vigilance having secured only the worthy to .

these responsible trusts, let our warmest esteem and most

35

cheerful patronage then encourage them to do their best.
“ Woe to the country,” says the great statesman whom I
have before quoted, “ which would madly and impiously reject
the service of the talents and virtues, civil, military, or religious,
that are given to grace and serve it; and would condemn to
obscurity any thing formed to ditfuse lustre and gloryaround a
state. Woe to that country too, that passing into the opposite
extreme, considers a low education, a mean contracted view of ‘
things, a sordid, mercenary occupation, as a profitable title to-
command. Everything ought to be open, but not indifferent
to every man.” The same wisdom adds, “I do not hesitate to»
say, that the road to eminence and power from obscure condi-
tion, ought not to be made too easy, nor a thing too much of‘
course. If rare merit be the rarest of all rare things, it ought
to pass tlirouglr some sort of probation. The temple of honor
ought to be seated on an eminence. If it be opened through
virtue, let it he remembered too, that virtue is never tried but
by some difliculty and some struggle.”

As our republic advances, a generous encouragement should
be extended to the fine arts. Painting, sculpture, music, ar--
chitecture, horticulture-—--all those arts which cultivate and de--»

light the eye or the ear,.-develope and set forth the beauties of

nature, improve the human capacity for enjoyment,and place
man at a distance from the savage state--———are worthy of the at-
tention of every philanthropist. As our nation grows in numbers.
and resources, they will be found important means of expending
the superfluous wealth that would otherwise promote dissipa-
tion, of alluring the people from the gross pleasures of vice, of
extending through the community an elevated and christian
standard of taste and amusement ;--:--they will tend to soften
down savage asperities, to prevent or allay the wild storms of
excited passion, to check the growing tendencies to insubordi-«
nation, and to render all classes of citizens more humane, con-
tented, peaceful and happy. A

It is not when the well taught eye is gazing upon the
sweet touches of the pencil, nor when the soul feels the charm»

36

mg inspiration of the breathing canvass; it is not when the
sculptured marble, with its solemn and subduing power, is hold-
ing our hearts in communion with the talent, learning and
patriotism of other ages, or of our own honored ancestors; it
is not when the ear is drinking in the rich melodies and the ex--
quisite harmonies of music, as the spirit chimes to the notes of
tender affection, or plaintive sorrow, or bursting joy, sung
by voices that have learned to echo the language of heav--
en; it is not when the proud monuments of architectural
beauty and grandeur are looking down upon us, avving us into
reverence and filling us with grateful admiration of the native
genius, the high wrought skill, the persevering industry, which
they reveal to the honor of humanity; it is not, 0 it is not
when the manifold and splendid operations and gifts of nature
are saluting every sense and delighting every perception of
man, as he expatiates amidst the rich and fragrant plants and
banks of smiling flowers, the luxuriant and sweet groves, the
blushing fruits, and all the nameless charms of a recovered
paradise,»-—-thact he feels and acts the savage. N o. It is then
that he realizes the blessings of government, civilization, cultiva-
tion, refinement ;—--——-it is then that he sees other and better
Ways to employ his energies, gratify his ambition and find his
happiness, than in fomenting discords, heading factions, excit-
ing riots, laying a ruthless hand upon our civil institutions and
destroying Whatever exalts and refines our nature. Among the
rioters and the disturbers of society, seldom do We find the men
devoted to the fine arts; nor even those suflioiently cultivated
to appreciate and enjoy them.

But it is only as protected by a pure public taste and under
control of a strict virtuous sentiment, that the fine arts are thus
beneficial. If they may serve to elevate men from the savage
state, they may also serv_e, when perverted, to plunge them into
the no less deplorable state of effeminacy and debauchery. If
they are patronised and prosecuted only by the indolent, the

A pleasure-loving, the vicious, they will be as effectual for evil,

as in other hands they may be for good. The prostituted
canvass will breathe but to pollute; the marble will speak but
to awaken impure imaginations; the charming pastimes of

37

music will be seasoned with sentiments suited to gratify a vi»-
tiated mind ; monuments of architectural skill and beauty will
be with us, as with some in the Old World, defaced with
shameful objects and associations; and even the sweet groves
and beauties of nature will become scenes of guilty licentious-
nessl

To prevent this perversion, as well as to realize the full bene-
fit of the fine arts, our most virtuous and influential citizens
must cultivate and encourage a taste for them. As our country
grows older and increases in wealth and luxuries, they will cer-
tainly be patronised and extended; they will exert a powerful
influence upon the people. Then let them not be relinquished
to evil hands. Let good men have them under their con-
trol,---——~let them form the public taste, and decide upon the
character of the entertainments that shall be served up for
themselves, for their children, and for the people at large.

Galleries of the most finished painting and statuary, fur--
nished by public or private munificence, should be opened in
our principal cities and places of concourse, and brought with-
in the means of all classes. In these the great and the good
of other ages and countries, the heroes of our revolution and
fathers of our nation, illustrious scholars, artists, poets, divines,
statesmen and benefactors, should speak to the hearts of our
citizens, andinspire our children with a generous and enobling
enthusiasm. These are alnorig the causes which attach us to
our homes, our families, our common country; which make
us emulous to excel in those virtues, which most elevate and
adorn humanity.

Music should be taught, as an essential branch, in all our
schools and universities; the songs of Zion should ascend to
heaven, with sweet and impressive melody, in all our temples
of worship ; the choicest concerts should occasionally be served
for every citizen, who can be induced to believe that they afford
a more rational and true enjoyment than sensual indulgences.
Few causes would contribute with more happy effect, to melt the
hearts of the various members of the social system into each other.

The man understood human nature who said, “ Let me corn-
pose the ballads of a nation, and teach the people to sing them,

a)

38

and I will vouch for their union and patriotism.” As “the
evil spirit departed from Saul” when the influence of “the
skilful player” was upon him, so the evil spirit of envy, jeal-
ousy, insurbordination, anarchy and strife, would find a potent
antagonist in the prevailing power of heavenly melody and pat-
riotic sono‘. The Ii{ebi'etv minstrels well understood this ; and
“the sweet singer of Israel” accomplished more by his harp
than by his sceptre.

AA classic, chaste, impressive architecture should honor our
public buildings, enter extensively into our private dwellings,
and inspire a deep and universal passion for severe beauty and
simple grandeur in the works of art. This would create a public
sentiment, that would ensure a more efl"ectual protection to our
edifices from the rufltizzui hands of rioters, than could be secured
without it by all the civil codes and penalties ever enacted. Every
tongue would cry out against those who should rudely attempt to
injure them. All hands would be lifted for their protection.

Every city and place of concourse slrould have, within
or near it, extensive and richly furnished ga11'(le1is, open to all
classesigratuitously, or at an expense which all can alil'ord."“
They should be public in such a sense, that all our citizens
may feel a common pride and pleasure in them. A taste for
horticulture, extensively cultivated, would greatly contribute to
the health, virtue, refinement, contentment and liappiness of the
people. N o earthly taste is purer, no pleasures are more
rational and refined, than those aflincled by cultivatecl nature,
especially to the mind that is ll'lS1i)l1'(3(;l and sanctified with vir-—

*It is understood that measures are now in progress for an extensive garden in
the City of Boston, at the foot of’ the Common. Every Bostonian will rejoice in
the prospect of so valuable an acquisition to the many beauties and ‘attractions of
his beloved City. If any thing can possibly be wanting to complete the charm
of the Common, and to render Boston a deliglitlhl summer residence, it may be re»-
alized in the anticipated garden. Exte,t1di1'1g over a large space, and commanding
a perfect view of the whole Common ; so situated as to receive the breezes and
freight them with its sweet odors, as they are wafted tlnouglx it over the public
malls and pleasure grounds, and cliscliarged by numerous avenues into the very
heart of the City; being also in a place of‘ easy and pleasant access from every di-
rection,~——-nothing is wanting but that cultivation which Boston l-mews how to bestow,
to render it a great ornament to the City, and :1 most valuable contribution to the
health, taste, recreation and happiness of its inhabitants.

39

tuous and pious sentiment. lt was no less than a divine hand
that first planted a garden. The history of the o1'igin and first
fruits of horticulture, and of the use to wltrich it was applied, is
in the fOllOVV’ll]g words, “ And the Lord God planted a garden
eastward in Eden 5 and there he put the man whom he had
formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow
every tree that is pleasant to the sigl’1t and goocl for food. And
the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of
Eden, to dress it and to keep it.” It hence appears to have
been the oiigiiial desig3;n of a garden, that it should be made to
yield all the productions of nature which cleligl‘1t the eye and
which nourish and refresh the body; and that, it should be a
very appropriate employment of man upon earth, to cultivate
and enjoy it.

The most important object to be gairiecl by public gardens,
and by the various exliribitiotns of the fine arts, is the creation
of a ]')l7()Vt1l.ll1"lQ,' and true taste for them, which shall lead people
to cultivate and enjoy them, in a private and domestic way, at
home. They may thus be made directly to subserve the do-
mestic Welfare of every family, by rnaking home attractive, and
thereby securiiig its members, from straying in pursuit of vicious
indulgences, to those recreations which cultivate the mind
and improve the heart. i h

Then they also afibrd a cornmen pleasure to all classes, and
thus promote a common sympathy between the rich and the poor.
Gentlemen of vvealth who own fine ga1'clens,ea.1_1 scarcely confer
a greater public benefit than to throw them open occasionally to
all their fellow citizens. VVhen people have become accustom-

ed to these privileges, and have learned to appreciate the beauti~- .

ful and the rare, such gardens will seldom be injured. It is often
and truly remarked, that the unenvious poor, who have a well
formed taste, can enjoy many of the fine tlrings of the rich bet»
ter than their owners can; for they have the most important
part of the pleasure, Without the attending care and anxiety.
Hence the fine arts are highly republican. Our more prosper--
ous citizens who construct elegant edifices, cultivate gardens,
patronise music, painting and statuary, are public benefactors,
not only because they furnish employment to others, but be-~

40

cause they put their property in a condition for others to enjoy,
as well as themselves. How much more generous than to hide
it in a napkin, or deposite it in a dark vault! And how wisely
benovolent is that providence, which has rendered it necessary
for the man who would derive the most pleasure from his
possessions, to employ them in some way which contributes to
the welfare of his fellow beings.

It was to be expected in the earliest infancy of our republic,
when to subdue the forest, provide for the absolute necessities
of life, and protect ourselves from invasion, was enough to
engross all our energies, that the higher pursuits of literature
and science would be neglected. But we have passed that
period, and these noble pursuits should now claim a more par--
ticular attention. Let the hi-stories of other ages and nations
instruct us. What was it that placed Egypt, Syria, Greece and
Rome, so high in greatness and influence over all the world,
while so many nations, great, populous, warlike, flushed in their
brief day with numerous and mighty conquests, passed irnme—-
diately away to oblivion 2’ Among the most important causes,
were the pursuits of learning, instigated originally by the religion
from heaven, firing them with a noble enthusiasm, and affording
them the means of becoming distinguished and powerful. These
were the causes which produced in them the wisdom to plan,
the knowledge to legislate, the eloquence to thunder, the poetry
to sing, the patriotism to sacrifice, and the heroism to defend
and conquer, for their protection and glory. Through these
more than any other human causes, those nations were enabled
to stand fast in strength and greatness during long periods
of change and overthrow, like rock-bound islands in the ocean,
while the rude nations and tribes around them, like the in-~
constant waves, were swelling upward and dashing down again

1 in constant and rapid succession.

The nations which gave birth to Moses, Manetho and the
Ptolemiesg to David, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Habakkuk; to
Homer, Pythagoras, Demosthenes and Plato; to Virgil, Hor-
ace, Cicero and Caesar----will be remembered and honored
through all the ages and revolutions of time. Had the religion

41

which gave the original impulse to the intellect of those nations,
been by them known and retained in its purity, they might
have remained till this day. Their proximity to savage tribes
would have exposed them to invasions, but they would have
possessedwisdom and valor to resist it. If we may credit
history, their ruin commenced with themselves. Corrupt reli-
gion and vice produced and reproduced each other; these at
length occasioned a fatal prostration of intellect. Enervation,
efferninacy, loss of valor, the pleasures of sensuality, gradually
prepared them to fall a prey to their more powerful invaders.
For it is only as rendered mighty by the super_ior energies of
mind, present and active in the living generation, that a civilized
nation can stand up firmly against the everlasting assaults
of envious and ruthless barbarians upon their borders.

Tim} cultivation of intellect and the treasures of learning

passed away to other nations. Switzerland, France, Spain and B

Gerrnany received the precious inheritance ;---Britain subse-
quently partook of the same, and more than all others improved
upon it. Britain! Her whole firmament is bespangled with
stars! Wliat constellations of brilliant minds adorn her sky!
No intellect surpasses British intellect; whether we consider
the accuracy and compass of its science, theclepth of its phi-
losophy, the soundness of its logic, the fascination and power
of its eloquence, or the raciness, richness and variety of its
poetry. The language in which the transcendant Bacon and
Newton made their great discoveries, and opened a way into
new worlds; in which Locke thought and Butler reasoned;
in which Larned and Paley studied and taught, and Hall
preached; in which Chatham electrified and swayed by his
eloquence, and Burke rose highest of all mortals in majesty,
splendor and power of intellect ;-—-----in which Dryden, Pope,
Shakspeare, Milton, Cowper and Scott breathed out their
burning spirits upon the world—--we may well be proud to claim
as our mother tonguefl‘

"These are samples of British intellect, in some of the principal departments of
learning. N 0 other man, probably, has done honor to so many of them as Edmund
Burke, the illustrious scholar and statesman, to whom I have so freely referred.
His mind entered a great variety of departments, and excelled in them all. An-

42

Great in age, ancestry, commerce, intellect and renown,
tliougli small in territory, Britain holds ascendcncy over all
other nations of the Old VVorld; but take away her treasured
knowledge and her pride of ancestral learning and clig'11ity:;
strike from her laiiguage the literature and science ,<_.;'a,ri1e1'ecl up
in it ; blot from her sky all the l)1'igl1t orbs which have risen in
it since Alfred the first of them rose ; give her the stinted and
feeble powers of dark, uncultivated mind; place her in all
these respects in a conc.l.ition not interior to that of Russia———-—-
and a single frownof the great autocrat 1r1;igli1t annihilate lier in

cient and Modern Languages, Mathematics, Philosophy, English Literature, Criti-
cism, I-Iistory, Jurisprudeuce-—-received from hirn their l'iigl'xest honors. The depth
of his study and astonishing variety of his acquirements, every where appear in his
state papers, as well as in his literary productions. Even his most severe and pro-
found argurnents are ernbellislied with the beauties of a finished taste, and illustrat-
ed with the richest collection of study and history. Frequently, after conducting
you with great precision 0fi'.l10l‘lgl‘1t through a long course of cautious, close, logical
demonstration, he comes suddenly forth with a bold and mighty rhetorical stroke,
as of forked lightning from the clouds ; or bursts upon you in splendid flashes of
genius, like scintillations struck from the sun. At another time, like the sky»-
rocket, he soars directly into the heavens with terrifiic grandeur, and liaving awed
you into reverence, turns quietly and comes down upon you, like the showers of
fire-drops, gentle, liquid, variegated with every hue of beauty ; and at last disap-
pearing with acalm, subdued, but brilliant lustre, which leaves in you an emotion oi”
exquisite delight in the performance, iningled with regrets that it is so soon over.

As an example of the former, take the conclusion of‘ his speech in the trial of
VVarron I-Iastings, govei-not-—general of Bengal. At the close of his labored and
powerful argument, attended with some severe sarcasm, he gives the finishing
stroke with these words. “ My lords, it is not the criminality of the prisoner,
it is not the claims of the commons, to demand judgment to he passed. upon
him, it is not the honor and dignity of this court, and the welfare of millions of
the human race, that alone call upon you. ‘When the devouring flames shall
have destroyed this perishable globe, and it sinks into the abyss of Nature,
from whence it was commanded into existence by the Great Author of it; then,
my lords, when all nature, kings, and judges themselves, must answer for their ac»
tions, there will he found what supersedes creation itself‘, namely, ETERNAL .TUs-
men I This was the attribute of the great G-on ofNA.'rUn1::lhefore worlds were ;
it will reside with him whenthey perish ; and the earthly portion of it cornmitted
to your care, is now solemnly deposited in your hands by the commons of Eng-
land. I have done.”

As a specimen of the latter, take the oft-cited apostrophy upon the i1l—-fated queen of
France. Depicting the horrors of anarchy and revolution, as illustrated in the de-
struction of the royal family, and the bloody massacres that followed, he mentions the

43

it clay. But it its right to pros?-.:1:1n"1c: l1l"1t1.t llritztiu will xiovor lose
lior 1litl.l()I1£1l €i3Xlt:5l.(’£.‘.1“l(":.l:). l}Ior g7§(§1)‘V‘(?3tl'ltllil‘lC)lll; will tJ;l‘Z"1.t(iil Iflgltlly 31533111110
:1 more poptllzttr form; hot .l;ltl'lil.ll(3li.tl <:;:omlit,io1‘1 ttmty lm rovolu-
tiot1izt:;:d; but tlto g;g,'1'c3':;tt1'1c2Sss: 0fl"1or lm;o7ll<:3t:t;1,i:.,tl I’.)(i.j)‘S"t'”{:‘l', tlte sound
l<3zt1'11i11g zimcl tlto pure 1'oli§gio11 w1'o1.i§}'lt1t. frtf>1'tt1.tg'<:2o in to her ol'1ar-
ttotor oncl lI‘1Sl1ll1l1lil(§)l”1S, are, in tlit: I’i)§l'(;!S(:3.1'll i1np1'<i)x'(;;e«t;;fl :a;t't::2.to of the
world, plcxlgos tlixztt her I’12l.ll,()11Etl0Xl.;E;l1(3l"1CC ztm;l g;l<:>ry will lztsst till
the end of time.

following, among other lltcts, £:lllOVVlt”lg that tho “ esull'orings ol'tnot1:tr<:l1::; make 11 deli-
Cl(“)l'l.‘.'-l l'(;’:pu.s‘:l; to sottto .s;ort of pulzttoizs.” “ l.ili.~.»'tory will 1'oco1'cl, that on tlm rttorning of
the (ltli ol'(I)otol.)o1*, 1.783), tho Icing; and qu.oo.u of I"m,1x<‘:.o, ztI'tor it dtty of <::o1“1l‘u.~sion,
oltmti, tllS!’l’lity ZllIl(l .~;alzm,gl1to1', lay clown, tmclor tho plcitlgtltl :m::1tt'it,y of public l‘tlltl’l_.,
to lI‘)(iltllgt‘a tmtttro in o. llwvltot1x‘.~;i ofrosipito, mid t1'oulil(:(l m«;:l:mt:lu::>ly ropot-to. I5‘1'otn
this sloop tho qttooit Vvttfi flmst .«=tzn°t.lo<:’l by tho voico of the sontim;:l at her door, who
oriotl out to Iior to .‘}~32lt‘\v’(l l1oi'soll' by flight-——--tlmt tliirtt was tlxo lilt‘-lll m'0Ql:' of’ fidelity he
(.3()llltlglVt2-~l.lll1tlZtlltly woro1xp<;)rt lxim,:1ntl Ito wzm tltmtl. lm-:t.:tmtly ho woo out
down. A lmtxtl ol'(:rxml 1'ulli:m.-1 Zllltl ztssztessixxsx, t'ool<ix')g with his»: blood, r1.ml"ted into
thotzl1:Lml.>oi'ol't.l 1 quotm, nml piorc.:m;l with :1. lttzntlrml Hl;1't)l~i(:H Qt‘ lmyomzttt arid
p0l‘ll.ttt‘tlt~1 tho l)((§(l, l"rom Wl'ltlll(.:(,‘.l,lll::%1)(2I‘tl(f3tllllll.(l(l \.vomnn l1:ullmt;jm-it time to fly almost
tiztltml, and l.ltl'()1x,glt ways xmlmown to tho ml,Il‘(l(ill‘(":l'H haul (T3:rl(.§ll1‘lt,Z,.‘.vt‘.t.l to F-l(t(,'5li rofugo at
tho loot ol’ :1. l£lx'lg zmtl Int:-slizmtl, not Hti.‘,(:lll't3 of his; own lllll for at 1,1ilIf.,;)l.x’H";l,‘.‘l‘Il2..

".l‘l1i.~.; ltixig, to may no more oi" him, mul till.‘-'3 t'111(.lt.lll, nml limit’ iitfmtt olxiltlmn (who
(moo Wottld‘ lizwtt lmtm tho ptitlo mid l1«t‘)prit~. of‘ at gt-<y~.z1t nncfl gt::nt;.~.x*o1m pC:()[)l(-53) wow
tli.o1‘tfo1'ootl to ulmndon tho a;~m1mtt1m'y of tlxo txxcmt :e<pilom;litl pztllzttm in tho world,
wltxittzlx thoy lol‘ttwiz.xititiix-lg in l.)l('J(l(l, pollutttd by ltlitf.-t$tl(ll‘(l, tttltl tttrowmil with soot-
toroc]. limbti anal lltllfllllltttlitltl t31ft1'(3tll~3Ht!53. 'l.‘l1ottt:o tltoy wort» c:outilt;ic;ttoutl into the cflfll-
tail of tliioir l{lllgtl()ll’l. Two lmtl I:lt:ot1solor:tod frcnn tho Il,lll’ll'(?l)”'&v"'.Z?l,w1‘(2(:l, u'I.’l1‘(’:.‘EilSl2C(l,
pi-or'rii.~;mi:1cm.~f; .'~Ill:.tt‘1gllL¢‘3't', wlxiclt was tmtclo of tho gm‘)l‘.l(;!t'l‘lt11”1 of lmtlzt zxml. fttmily who
oompoesocl tho ltixtgfo body guztrcl. "lt.‘ltc.*..s.:o two gotitlurtiou, vtitlt ull. tllo pztrmlo of an
oxooution of jumtico, woro oruolly mad publicly £ll‘flgg(2(l to tho l.il<;ml+:, tmcl boltoadod
in tho grout court oftlio palztoo. Tlioit ll(‘.’:t1(.l:':3 woro stuck Itpozi :sa;[':1t;t~:1x~ea+, mid led the
proooosiort ; whilst the toyztl cuptivoo who 'l'ollowed in tho tmiu ~vvm*t: slowly moved
alox'ig, ttmid the horrid yells, and ‘tlll'llllIlg sore;-tiring, mid frzmtio £,lZtl‘1CC‘é3, ztnd inf'am-
0113 ooyitumollos, and all the mfmtto1'ul;llo tll)0mll“l:ll.l0IlS of tho l'urltzt~: of hell, in the
abused slmpe of the vilost of womcm. After they had been rmitlo to taste, drop by
drop, more than the bitterness ol'do:.:1;l‘1, in the slow torture of at j 01:l1'I'10y of twelve
miles-:, protrztctod to six. l‘l0t'tl'E£, they woro, under a. guard, t~.ornpoaod of those very
solcliors who ltud tlms c:omltu.cr.tc:cl them through this l‘u,mous triumph, lodged in one

oftho old palaces of I’m'is, now converted into 1;]. Brmtilo for L:ingsa.” Itlo tltoni

soon ol.'tor pmoood.~:a to my, “ It is now ::~:ix.tooz‘1 or sevontomti y(2'.:‘11'$3 since I saw the
queen of Tl.i‘r:moo, tlion the (.l{.11lI)lIlll'lt".l.‘.'».“el, at Vorszitillos 5 Itlltl .‘4l11‘(‘,!ly‘ 1~m~._,m. lighted on
this orb, whioli alto hardly S(3(L‘.I"l'lfl(l to touolt, at more doliglxtful vi::~sion. I saw her
just above the ltorlzoxt, clocorztting tllld oltooring the elevated r.~zpl'1oro slzzo just begun

44+ '

So much for our ancestry. Consider too our opportunities.
A healthful invigorating climate, various and magnificent sce-
nery, free institutions, easy and abundant means of support,
unite with illustrious descent and a rich inheritance of knowl-
edge, to favor the cause of learning in our nation. Never did
the sun shine on a race more privileged for intellectual pursuits.
Let other nations then boast of the triumphs of aggr'essive
wars, and exalt in the garlands of victory; be ours a nobler
honor and a purer joy.

That we have accomplished something, even for'eigr1 jealousy
is compelled to admit. Already have we an honorable roll of
names, of the dead and the living, that will be known and
cherished as ornaments of our nation’s intellect, so long as

to move in,--—-glittering like the morning star ; full of’ life, and splendor, and joy.
Oh ! what a revolution ! and what an heart must I have, to contemplate without
emotion that elevation and that fall 1 Little did I drearnwhen she added titles of
veneration to those of enthusiastic, distant, respectful love, that she should ever be
obliged to carry the sharp antidote against dis_grace concealed in that bosom ; little
did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fallen upon her in a nation
of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers. I thouglit ten thou»-
sand swords must have leaped from their scabbards to avenge even a look that
threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gene: that of sophisters,
ceconomists, and calculators has succeeded ; and the glory of Europe is extingnish-
ed for ever. Never, never more, shall we behold that generous loyalty to rank
and sex, that proud submission, that dignified obedience, that subordination of the
heart, which kept alive, even in servitude itself, the spirit of an exalted freedom,
The unbought grace of life, the cheap defence of nations, the nurse of manly senti--
ment and heroic enterprise is gone ! It is gene, that sensibility of principle, that
chastity of honor, which felt a stain like a wound, which inspired courage whilst it
mitigated ferocity, which ennobled whatever it touched, and under which vice it-
self lost half its evil, by losing all its grossness.

All the pleasing illusions, which made power gentle, and obedience liberal,
which harmonized the different shades of life, and which, by a bland assimilation,
incorporated into politics the sentiments which beautify and soften private society,
are to be dissolved by this new conquerin‘g empire of light and reason.”

Had France been at that age favored with a few Burltes, she might have saved
the blood of her Revolution, and have been new fifty years in advance of where
she is. These facts evince the value of eminent learning and virtuous talent to the
state, and the desirableness of combining them in public men, as far as practicable,
as well as in professional teachers. As literature and science can ever exert a very
powerful influence over nations, especially in popular governments, it is true re»
publican policy to encourage them in the highest degree, guard them against per-

version, and consecrate them to the public safety and welfare. r

45

nations shall exist. But it is not to be concealed that distin-

" guished intellectual attainments have failed to receive that

measure of consideration and patronage, which amore enlight-
ened and patriotic public sentiment would dictate. Ambition
has with us hitherto been too much given to another object.
The community has been pushing and scrambling with all its
might for money ;,-—---the tug of business and bustle of specula-
tion, have left by far too little regard for the superior attain-
ments of mind. Wealtli thus sought and thus idolized, Will
open a short and sure Way through enervation and profligacy
to ruin. Wlren knowledge comes to be prized by the comrnu-
nity only inasmuch as it directly contributes to Wealth, and
Wealth is prized only because it gratifies avarice, or gives
reputation and means of indulgence, destruction for a long
time lingereth not. i

We must afford suflicient inducements to the ablest and best
furnished minds, to engage in the Work of teaching and diffus-
ing knowledge ;--—-we must also extend a cheering patronage to
original talent, native genius, and large literary acquirements.
We need a greater proportion of profound thinkers and exten-
sive scholars. If men are encouraged only to beat and divide
the gold, who will mine and Work; the precious metal? Our
nation’s knowledge will be extended, but not increased; or, to

i change the figure, our intellectual fountains will be enlarged 

and their streams multiplied, but they will also become diluted,
stale and powerless. As a consequence of this, the country will
be gradually overrun with a class of teachers and declaimers,
who will make the people any thing but better and wiser.
Respect for the higher cultivation’ of mind, homage to exalted
greatness and goodness, deference to the collected genius and
industry of past ages,-——-ordained by heaven as essential means
of refining, enobling and identifying the character of a nation,
-—-will at length give place to the prevalence of that vulgar and
arrogant sentiment, which induces every man to despise all
knowledge superior to his own.

Woe to the republic, that is in such a case! All that rlen-A

ders “povver gentle and obedience liberal,” that makes men
slow to command and quick to obey, is departing from it.
6

46

Conceit, arrogance, vanity and presumption, having displaced
the conservative virtues of modesty, reverence, respectfulness
and prudence, the only cords which bind a free people to law
and order are completely sundered, and all is at the mercy
of the first and most daring pretenders. At length, availing;
themselves of the lower passions and more turbulent principles
of our nature, upstart insolence, head strong ignorance, intoler-
ant and exulting littleness, encouraged and shouted by the
many, assume the reins and drive madly on to destruction!

It has been frequently remarked, that exceptirlrg men of am-—
bitious designs, whose heads are better than their hearts, and
excepting constitutional monomaniacs, ‘the most ruthless and
dar1ge1~ot1s radicals are usually men of a partial and superficial
education. it

If then we would save society from their dangerous power
and secure stability to our institutions, sound and thorough
philosophy must have with us her calm and solemn shrines,
well studied science must put forth her pure lights in our sky,
literature must open her richest and most siparltling fountains,

n and a deep and fixed sentiment of respect towards them, must

be universally encouraged. If anarchy ever desolates our land,
it Will be most rife where these are most wanting. There,
if any where, will be furnished the rulers to nullify and over-
throvv ; there, will be raised up and sustained the disonganisting
teachers and declaimers, to mislead the people and foment dis-
cords; there, will be born and nourished the degener'ate sons
and daughter's, who would-not shun to destroy all these sacred
monuments of the piety, study, wisdom, valor and blood of the
noblest and best of fathers.

i But We are pursuaded better things of our country. The
spirit that dwelt in the fathers, will not utterly forsake the sons.
In the progress of innovations and reforms, it will be severely

 tried ; individuals and sections of our country, it will at times

seem to have utterly forsaken ; but it will be overruled by others.
An enliglrtened christian community Will be convinced at length,
that there are surer and better Ways of removing all evils and pro-
motingall good reforms, than of disturbing the order of society
andksubvverting our civil and religious institutions. A sound

47

prevailing sentiment will compel our young men in a course of
training for public service, to go through and completetheir
preparation, instead of turning aside, with minds half disciplined
and half furnished, to become teachers and reformers.  Taught
by the wisdom of experience, the people will refuse to be led
by minds which, from lack of study or from constitutional in-
firmity, have never learned to entertain but “one idea.” Igno-
rant pretensions, noisy excitements, furious and disorganizing
agitations, will then every Where give place to faitliful disci-

pline, thorough study, calm and sober thought, consistent piety,-

and “patient continuance in well doing.”
On this day, Q()l'1SGCl'£tlZGCi to liberty and philanthrophy, with-
out forgetting the virtues of other states;---not with sentiments

of arrogance, but of devout g'r'atitude,-m-inay we in this con-

nexion make honorable mention of the long and faithful devo-
tion of this Commonwealth, to the principles we have humbly
attempted to advocate. The land on which the pilgrims first
planted their weary feet, which witnessed their first tears and
vows, which drank the first blood spilt in the cause of liberty,
has not failed to produce sons worthy of the soil. This venerable
state and her illustrious metropolis, have only to direct the eyes
of the nation and of the World to their civil and domestic in-
stitutions, to their temples of devout worship, to their public
free schools, to their halls of higher learning; to their distin-
guished scholars, able teachers, and men of tried fidelity in the
learned professions ; and to the fruit of all,»--—their enlightened,
steadfast, enterprising, patriotic, virtuous and pious yeomanry.

i To these may they add, as their crowning ornament, their pres-
idents and representatives in Congress, and their state and mu--,
nicipal magistrates, Whose elevation to oflice by such a people,
and Whose unsurpassed devotion to the public welfare, are their

sufficient eulogy. Those of them who have rested from their
labors, have already dwelt upon the lips of burning eloquence,
and been Written with the point of a diamond upon the immor-
tal page .;-—---of others, though excelled by none of their prede-
cessors, yet the praise must be uttered at another time. May
that time be far distant 1

Last to be mentioned, but not least in importance, among

-18

the means of the perpetuity and prosperity of our republic, the
better half of human creation must well sustain their better
part of influence and honor. I say the better, for who will
doubt that such is the part so purely intellectual, domestic,
moral and religious, which Providence has assigned to the
female sex. Some of the modern attempts to thrust them out

he of their own sphere, with a mistaken view to their greater eleva-

tion, are but the extravagant movements of a few eccentric
minds, in the midst of a correct and growing sentirnent favor-
able to their highest cultivation and influence. The srgilijeczt 
extensive and interesting, but our time has more than expired.
Suffice it then, that all the intellectual and moral culture which
gives energy, dignity, beauty and power to the human iriind,
should be as faithfully imparted to our daughters as to our sons,
while also the peculiar virtues of their sex, and the qualifications
for their appropriate sphere, should be neither impaired nor
neglected. ,

Daughters of America! N o earthly power nor privilege ex-
ceeds yours. It is yours, mainly, to inspire the first sentiments
and form the habits of the rising generations; it is yours to im---

part to these millions of families the “only bliss that has sur-p
vived the fall ;”——---yours it is, by the resistless power of liighly

cultivated and well furnished minds, moulded to pure and
chastened but devoted and active piety, and shining with the
peculiar and fascinating graces of your sex, to perform an eIni—~
nent service in exalting this great republic to sit as a queen in
robes of purity and light, to be for the admiration, delight and
example of the whole world.

I have spoken only of our internal dangers, impressed with
the belief that if our nation ever falls, she will fall like Rome,
by enemies within rather than without. Walled, in on either

side, by vast oceans, from the powerful empires of the Old

World ; having upon her borders“ only dependent provinces
and feeble states, whose policy it must ever be to seek her pro—~
tection ; she has almost nothing to fear, but from her own sons
and daughters. a If theselshall prove true to their birthright,

49

nothing but the blast of the archangel’s trump and the power
of that arm which reared the universe, will consign her to the
common sepulchre of nations.

Let the means which we have considered , be faithfuly em-
ployed, under the constant direction and impulse of that great
truth which inspired the hearts of our fathers, that it is the de-
sign of the present world to prepare accountable beings for a
liigher and more perfect state,--—-that the nation which ministers
most to this glorious design will be most honored, as the golden
ages advance,--—and what will be Wanting to render us the most
favored people, over which heaven9s bright canopy was ever
spread? Men of upright, patriotic, enlarged and liberal minds
will be exalted to power; men who will stand firmly upon the
constitution of the United States, and be ever true to its spirit;
men who will not oppress the people Within, while they resist
oppression from without; men who will extend a broad shield
of protection and a generous, impartial and permanent encour-
agemerit to commerce, manufactories, agriculture, arts, learning
and religion; men who, in the language of one who has so sig-
nally illustrated what I mean in his own person, will “act for
the common defence, the common renown, the common glory,
the common prosperity and happiness of ourselves and our chil-
dren.”

The reverses and embarrassments, which have thrown such a
night of gloom over the land, will give place to awakened en-
terprise and revived hope. Morning cometh l The brightness
of its rising is already upon us. Even from places of deepest
darkness, gleams of light begin to play along the horizon and
stream up the gladdened sky. Soon will the sun burst forth
with his full--orbed splendors, and all the people will walk at
large and rejoice in his beams. Another note of gladness
and thanksgiving, scarcely inferior to that which honors our
emancipation from foreign bondage, will be sounded through
the land ; and ten thousand fresh chords of affection will bind
all hearts more fast than ever to a free, righteous, permanent
and happy government. a

50

We have indulged in no romantic speculations. All that we
have proposed can be done, and if done, all that we have
prophesied of good will come to pass. Not more sure is the
course of nature, than will be the progress of this republic to
that throne of power and influence over the world, which will
usher in the long expected jubilee to the nations. Yonder sun,
though he has constantly walked the heavens and looked down
upon all human events, from the birth of creation, will have
never beheld a nation like unto this. Majestic, enduring, lofty,
as her own granite mountains, which rise _from their broad
and deep foundations through mist and storm to salute the
clear blue sky, will be her social structure; pure, sweet and
abundant, as the crystal waters which gush from their sides,
will be the virtues and the pleasures of her sons and daugh-
ters ;-—---magnificent and bounteous, as the rivers that run
through her mighty vallies and empty their treasures into the
ocean, will be the blessings she will pour forth to all the nations
of the globe, and to all the generations of coming time.