OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MA/AILTON PRESENTED BY FREDERICK W. PUTNAM AMERICAN DIALOGUES OF THE DEAD AND DIALOGUES OF THE AMERICAN DEAD, PHILADELPHIA: PUBLISHED BY EDWARD EARLE William Fry, Printer. 1814, INTRODUCTION. (2<3UJt IK reading the Dialogues of Lucian, of Plato and Cicero among the ancients, and those of Fontenelle, Fenelon, Lyttleton and others among the moderns, the idea was suggested to the author of these Dialogues, that the same vehicle of instruction and amusement might be employed to the advantage of his country- men. The writers before mentioned had each of them his separate object in view, in resorting to this mode of communication. His object is simply to endeavour* to be of some little service to a country that he loves., by inculcating upon his fellow-citizens sound princi ples in politics, literature, morals and religion. His in tention, should he meet with sufficient encouragement from the public, is to continue these Dialogues in a series of numbers, under the heads of the political, literary, moral and religious. The two first of the poli tical he now offers to the public in his first number,, Scrupulously avoiding cither to utter the language of party or to imbibe its spirit, he has confined his view solely to those great principles in which all ought to agree, but against which all in their turns are alike prone to trespass* And in the investigation of all sub M632651 jects, but ntore especially those which are political, it is of the greatest importance frequently to revert back to fundamental principles. He indulges an humble hope that the speeches which he has put into the mouths of those illustrious patriots and statesmen, whom he has chosen as his dialogists, though not such as they might themselves have spoken, at any rate will be found not utterly unworthy of them. The author has endeavoured to transfuse into them that spirit which breathes in their several works. He is fully sensible of the difficulty of his undertaking, and should have abandoned it in utter despair, had he not been encouraged by the hope of calling into the view of both those parties which now engross the politics of his country, some fundamental points in which they should unite, and thereby preventing them, if not from indulging intemperate heats, at all events from being transported to those excesses which may prove fatal to the republic. Upon points of minor impor tance, party animosity, under certain restrictions, may innocently exhaust itself, but on these we should say to party rage, as in the fiat of Heaven was said to the ocean, thus far shalt thou go and no farther, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed. The author of these Dialogues is a native American, and has been accus tomed from the earliest period of life, to study and ad mire the constitution of his country. The sentiments of his youth have been confirmed by the reflections and observations of his more mature years. He still regards that constitution, as one of the proudest mo- numents of human wisdom. His best hopes for his country are involved in its success, and surely its fate depends in a great degree upon ourselves. If we are determined, at all hazards, to pull down and destroy it, it will be wonderful, indeed, if it has strength to resist us; but if we are resolved to save it, there can be no solid reason given why it should not survive. It is hoped, at all events, that amidst the most violent con flicts of party, and even the din of arms, there are some inclined to listen to the counsels of prudence, modera tion and temperance. If encouraged by the public, it is the intention of the author to proceed, in due time, with the literary, moral and religious dialogues, in all of which he shall select such topics as will be the most useful and inter esting to his fellow-citizens. The present situation of his country is too serious to permit him in this num ber to assume any other than a grave aspect. In some of those that follow he expects occasionally to relax his muscles into a smile, and endeavour to amuse as well as lecture his readers. He throws himself, not without sensibility, upon the candour and impartiality of the public. By its decision, after a fair hearing, he is willing to abide, and promises not to murmur at the sentence although it should be against him AMERICAN DIALOGUES OF THE DEAD, DIALOGUE I. WASHINGTON, ALFRED AND WILLIAM TELL. WASHINGTON. THERE was an interesting wildness, like that of your native mountains, in the spirit of liberty exhi bited by you, William Tell, and your illustrious co adjutors in the cause of Switzerland. I could never peruse, without a mixture of admiration and enthu siasm, the events of your life, during the short but glorious career which you ran, while acting as the champion of your country's freedom. They who look back upon your conduct, without transporting them selves to the period in which you lived, and adverting to the circumstance that Switzerland, and many other nations of Europe, was then subject to the iron grasp of feudal tyranny, will award you but a small portion of the praise which you merited in that heroic enter- prize. How noble was the indignation which you dis- 8 covered at the cruel, wanton and atrocious acts of despotism, practised by the tyrant Gesler; and how daring the magnanimity and heroism with which you breasted yourself to the shock of arbitrary power, and broke asunder the chains with which he had fettered your country! There is something so singular and ex traordinary in the incidents related in this portion of your life, that we should almost feel inclined to ascribe their origin to the airy dreams of fiction and romance, and to assign them a place among the fabulous exploits of Hercules and Theseus, were they not established by the sober and enlightened testimony of more recent and authentic history. How very interesting and ro mantic, for instance, are the circumstances recorded, of your spirited refusal to render obeisance to that ri diculous pageant which the tyrant erected at Altorf, to mock and insult the good sense of the people; of the cruel punishment to which you were condemned by him; of the wonderful dexterity with which you shot the apple from the head of your child; of your almost miraculous deliverance from the hands of your op pressor while he was transporting you over the Lake Lucerne, to imprisonment, bonds, and perhaps to your fate; and of the happy opportunity which, on that occa sion, was, at length, presented to you of directing an arrow to the heart of the execrable monster, and at once relieving Switzerland from her sufferings and her fears! Through the medium of these transactions we are enabled to trace in you the lineaments of one of those bold, impracticable and invincible minds which are formed to become the scourge of tyrants and the deliverers of their country. By these generous and disinterested acts of heroic virtue, you entitled your memory to perpetual respect and veneration, and for these are you now enjoying the glorious rewards of Elysium. Such are the happiness and glory reserved, in the wise order of the universe, for the benefactors of their race! How delightful must have been your sensations, after your toils and dangers were ended in the complete deliverance of your country, to have found yourself so endeared to the feelings, and conse crated in the grateful remembrance, of your fellow- citizens, and to have heard your name re-echoed through the valleys of Switzerland in your native airs! Could the tyrants and oppressors of mankind once be made sensible of the pure and exalted enjoyment to be derived from becoming the objects of gratitude, con fidence and attachment to the people, their self love alone would triumph over their pride and ambition, and, foregoing their lust of power and domination, they would learn to consult only the welfare and happiness of their subjects. What is that pleasure which is to be derived from the grandeur and magni ficence of a throne, the splendor of imperial rank, the pomp and pageantry of a court, and the venal adula tions and obsequious homage of courtiers and syco phants and slaves, in the midst of all which, perhaps, the heart is the prey of distrust and anxious cares and torturing fears; when compared to that pure, un alloyed and vivid enjoyment which fills, occupies and B 10 transports the soul when we are receiving the free, unsolicited and unrestrained homage of a grateful people? WILLIAM TELL. I do not wonder, General Washington, that you ex press yourself with so much evident sensibility upon these subjects. Never did man more richly deserve the gratitude and affection of his fellow-citizens, and never did man receive more flattering demonstrations of them. If the efforts which were made by me in the deliverance of Switzerland, spirited indeed, I am ready to admit, (for I have in me a soul which could never brook the ignominy and baseness of servitude,) if the efforts, I say, which were made by me in the deliver ance of Switzerland, so suddenly commenced, so short in their continuance, and so speedily terminated, have raised me so high in your estimation, what honours did not you merit from the American nation for your fatigues, anxieties, watchings and incessant toils, while at the head of its armies during a long, perilous, and bloody war: and for your subsequent useful exertions in obtaining for it by the weight of your unbounded influence, and bequeathing it with your latest breath, that invaluable inheritance, a wise and admirable con- stitution of government? Your greatest praise was that unshaken fortitude with which you bore up under the severest reverses of fortune, and pertinaciously adher ed to the cause of your country, amidst those over whelming difficulties and disasters, which would have 11 appalled the mind and subdued the resolutions of al most all other men. All circumstances considered, I regard your successful achievement of American in dependence, as the sublimest effort of military skill and prowess that was ever witnessed. And after you had thus by your arms become the saviour of your country, what consummate talents and address did you display as a statesman, what exalted virtues as a man! Nor were the honours and rewards with which you were crowned incommensurate with your talents, your services and your virtues. The brightest fictions of fancy and romance have been realized in your life. When your toils and dangers were ended with the war, and you were elected by the unsolicited votes of a free and grateful people their supreme magistrate, the splendor of royal dignity or imperial rank would have faded before the lustre of your glory. At every step you were followed by the acclamations of the people, and every movement you made through your native land, was more illustrious than a Roman tri umph. The poets of your infant country, in no vulgar strains, have already sung of your heroic achieve ments; orators adorned their discourses with your name and exploits; and the historic muse has drawn from the events of your life some of her richest and most invaluable materials. If the death of Germanicus filled with gloom the whole Roman empire, the news of your decease vibrated in deep-toned horror through every fibre in the hearts of your fellow- citizens. Your glory, however, was not extinguished in the grave. 12 but rekindling from your ashes, only burns now with a higher and more steady lustre. Your name is em balmed in the memory of your countrymen. The first words which children are taught to lisp is that of the Father of their Country; the painter and the statuary have exhausted all the resources of their arts in exhi biting your form and features; and your image, like a household god, meets the eye at every splendid dwell ing as well as every log-house throughout your coun try. The shades of Titus and Marcus Aurelius, as well as Alfred here present with us, all of whom are enjoying the rewards bestowed in this place upon the benefactors of mankind, may envy you the honours which are still thickening on your memory. Had you lived in the days of pagan superstition, you would have been deified at your death. The English justly regard Alfred, who so nobly delivered them from the incursions and dominion of the Danes, as a perfect model of a virtuous Prince; and the Americans may, with still greater justice, venerate their Washington, as having exhibited an example, not only of one of the greatest Military Chieftains, and most able Statesmen that ever lived, but, what is still higher eulogy, of a pure and incorruptible Patriot. WASHINGTON, Whatever may have been the merit to which I was entitled, I have received an ample recompense in the flattering estimation in which I was held by my fellow- citizens and their unabated regard during the whole of 13 my life, and in the still higher pleasure which I now enjoy, being admitted into the company of Epaminon- das, Leonidas, Cato, Titus, Marcus Aurelius, Alfred, William Wallace, and all the celebrated champions of their country's rights and benefactors of mankind. Among those illustrious sages and heroes, who by the efforts of tkeir genius have filled the lower world with their renown, and have contributed to enlighten, to hu manize and improve their race, I have always regarded Alfred as entitled to pre-eminent claims. Justly has he been venerated by the English, through every period of their history, as the perfect model of an unrivalled sage and patriot king. If you, William Tell, and your colleagues delivered Switzerland from the intolerable yoke of Albert and his despicable minions, and I Ame rica from the arbitrary and illegitimate pretensions of England, Alfred enjoys the immortal honour of having relieved his country from the ferocious and sanguinary despotism of the Danes. The spirit and military skill with which he resisted the repeated attacks of those barbarous invaders his numerous and hard-fought "battles his signal victories the unconquerable firm ness with which he met the severest losses and misfor tunes, when having his army overpowered by superior numbers, broken, dispersed and dispirited, and he him self being obliged to seek his safety in the disguise of a peasant and perform the menial offices of a cow herd the pertinacity with which under all these dis couraging and dismaying circumstances, he still ad hered to the sublime purpose of effecting his country's 14 deliverance the promptness and impetuosity with which collecting his scattered troops, he availed him self of the first opportunity to pour down upon his enemies, again discomfited and subdued them his lenity and hospitality even to these ferocious invaders when the fortune of war had placed them in his power all these considerations prove him to have been one of the greatest heroes and best men that ever lived. His glory was completed by his subsequent conduct on re-ascending his throne. If before he had displayed the talents of a gallant and able general, here he per formed the part of a lawgiver and sage. Under his happy sway, the wisest and most wholesome laws were introduced, the welfare and happiness of his people promoted by every expedient which wisdom, guided by parental affection, could devise, and their rights scrupulously regarded, the arts and sciences were en couraged, colleges founded and endowed, commerce and agriculture promoted, the cities, destroyed by his enemies, rebuilt, and the whole nation advanced to a state of prosperity and power which it had never known before. But what peculiarly distinguished Alfred as a sovereign, and should endear his memory to the wise and good, not only of the English, but of every age and nation, was his delicate and punctilious regard to the rights and privileges of his subjects. So great was his solicitude on this point, that even in his will, he declared, " It is just that the English should be as free as their own thoughts." Would all sovereigns but follow his just and humane example, seldom should 15 we hear of those tumults, seditions and civil broils which so often convulse the world and fill it with blood. ALFRED. There, Washington, you touch a cord that never fails to vibrate in my heart. I never recollect the good which I did to my people, and the virtuous part I acted among them, but my bosom is thrilled with delight. It is in doing good to the people, in resorting to every expedient to mitigate their sufferings, and like a kind and benignant parent dispensing prosperity and hap piness among them, that a sovereign or ruler of a na tion, establishes his claims to empire and authority. The reflection which always afforded me more plea sure than all the splendor of royalty and the caresses and homage of courtiers, was that by personal ser vices, by the substantial benefits I had conferred, I had purchased a title to the confidence and attachment of my subjects, and that the influence which I had so justly obtained over them, was exercised solely and supremely with a view to their welfare. The substan tial and permanent interests of the people is the only legitimate end to the accomplishment of which a ruler can direct his exertions. He holds his station under A high responsibility to heaven, as its minister and vice gerent, and as soon as he loses sight of the interests of the nation, he forfeits his claim to the dignified post he occupies. In this respect, what a sublime example has been exhibited by Washington to the potentates and 16 rulers of the earth! How unambitious, disinterested and incorruptible was he! Instead of abusing his im mense influence and weight of character in the aggran dizement of himself and family, or like Cromwell, in order to elevate himself to supreme power, becoming " guilty of his country's blood," he sighs only for the quiet retreat of Mount Vernon, and like Cincinnatus to ; " return to his plow. Honours and rewards, plen- teously as his country showered them upon his head, were unsought by him, and were the spontaneous effu sions of a people's gratitude. How worthy of a seat in these realms of light and happiness, is a soul thus fraught with the sacred and celestial fires of virtue! But amidst this rich harvest of well-earned fame which you enjoyed, Washington, and while in all points you were faithful to your own glory, have you not failed in one particular, of vital importance to your country, and with which her future destinies are intimately con- nected? Should you not have exercised your unbound ed influence in giving to your fellow-citizens a more efficient and durable form of government? This was an object altogether impracticable to William Tell and his noble auxiliaries, since their views were limit ed to the deliverance of a few Cantons of Switzerland from the immediate pressure of an insupportable des potism, and even the Helvetic league which was afterwards formed was a feeble and ineffectual union preserved from dissolution only by the pressing fear of foreign danger. But with you and your country the case was widely different. Instead of that feeble and 17 inefficient government, which the collisions of the dif ferent parties have already shaken, several times, well* nigh to dissolution, and which is actually, at this mo- ment, tottering under the shock of a foreign war, why did you not bestow on them a constitution which, like that I gave to England, could control, if not entirely subdue the violence of domestic faction, meet un hurt and undismayed the storm of foreign war, and even triumph over the devastations of Time himself? WASHINGTON, And there, Alfred, you touch a subject which never fails to awake within me the deepest sensibility. In the fate of that frame of civil government, and those free institutions both political and religious which I gave to the American nation, I cannot but feel the most lively interest. It is natural that you should ad mire that form of civil polity which was introduced into England by your grandfather and firmly esta blished by yourself, and which, after the various changes and modifications it has undergone from time, accident and numerous revolutions, it would discover a mere prurient attachment to republican;- ism, as well as a stupid prejudice to deny, now pre sents to view a superb monument of human wisdom and has advanced your nation to an enviable state of power and prosperity. Nevertheless while I thus with out hesitation acknowledge the excellence of your form ^f government and its superiority to that of any other nation in Europe, I as freely and candidly declare C 18 that, whatever may be the imperfections which some politicians imagine they perceive in the American con- stitution, I give it an ardent and decided preference to your's. Some difficulties and obstructions indeed, have been found to attend the carrying of this frame of go vernment into full and effectual operation, but these have not yet extinguished my enthusiasm in its favour. Availing themselves of the lessons taught them by the long and oftentimes calamitous experience of your country, whose history is pregnant with political in struction, the Americans have founded a government into which are more liberally incorporated the elements of civil and political liberty. It is admitted that this government in which such numerous checks and re straints are imposed upon its departments, and in which at the same time, are so plentifully interwoven the prin ciples of freedom, is an experiment; but it is an experi ment worthy of those humane and illustrious sages who modelled it, and glorious will be its ultimate success. Should it finally triumph over the difficulties with which it has to contend and in all respects prove ade quate to the great purposes for which it was instituted, it will mark a new epoch in the history of the human kind. And why should it not succeed? Who has as certained the precise quantum of political liberty which may be admitted into the constitution of a country, without so far enfeebling and vitiating the system as to expose it to a violent and premature fate? Who has marked the exact boundaries that must be drawn be tween the prerogatives of the government and the 19 liberties of the people, in order to communicate stabi lity to the first and perpetuity to the last? As natural philosophy is founded on physical experiment, so all political science which is solid and substantial must rest upon moral experiment, the history and experience of mankind. To this we must appeal as the ultimate and most infallible test of truth. In the reigns of Elizabeth in England, of James and of Charles, what would have been thought of the present freedom of the British constitution? Would not a system of government con ducted upon such principles as are now prevalent and familiar in that country, have been thought as imprac ticable and Utopian, as the American constitutions are now regarded by many of the politicians of Europe? While we reject with disgust the stupid doctrine of the perfectibility of man or of those governments in stituted to control him, let us not rush unadvisedly into the opposite extreme of denying him the capacity to enjoy the blessings of a just and rational liberty. If we must err, and to this we are all liable from the fallibi lity of the human understanding, it is surely more hu mane and virtuous to be mistaken in extending too far, rather than in limiting too much, the principles of civil and political liberty. But you have alleged, Alfred, as an objection against the American form of government, that under its sway the country is subject to violent convulsions, and seem to regard these as the prognostics of its speedy and final dissolution. And where in the whole history of man can the government be pointed to which has been exempted from these evils? To what sudden and violent revolutions is even the despotism of Tur key subject, and all the despotisms of the east, under whose baleful influence, those delicate plants the rights of the people have never been allowed to spring up or grow. In these countries the storms of revolution are as sudden and destructive as those tempests which are engendered in their torrid zone. And has your own monarchy, stable as you represent it, enjoyed the en viable privilege of being freed from these casualties and disasters? Oftentimes, as you well know, has the throne been shaken to its base, and once it was crum bled into a heap of ruins. From the period of the tur bulent sway of the Barons, until the days of king Wil liam, revolution succeeded revolution, under all of which vicissitudes the nation endured every variety of suffering, and under some, was made to bleed at every pore. That the American republic, therefore, is sub ject to violent agitations and convulsions from the conflicts of party, is no uncommon fate, and if the peo ple are faithful to themselves and the honour and glory of their country, these storms, like those of the ele ments, will pass harmlessly by, serving only to venti late and purify the political atmosphere. On this point, however, I candidly admit, I am not without my anxiety and apprehensions, (such as immortals feel), so much depends in our republic upon the good sense, the virtue, the intelligence, the moderation and patriotism of the people. The great misfortune with 21 republics has ever been, that the members of it have exhibited a discontent, restlessness and turbulence dur ing the enjoyment of their liberties which have never been quelled but by the iron hand of a master. May heaven avert this fate from my beloved country! The privilege of foreseeing the fate of empires is not be stowed even upon immortals, but reserved as the dis tinguishing prerogative of the great Supreme; but con fident I am, that by wise and moderate counsels, by a just and equitable administration of the government, by calling into operation all those moral causes which tend to humanize, enlighten and purify the public mind, the American republic may long protract if not finally avoid this destiny. That there will be occa sionally violent and embittered conflicts of party, is to be expected under a free government. These are storms naturally engendered in the atmosphere of freedom. They are at once a proof, a pledge, and un der wise and wholesome restrictions, a guarantee of the liberties of the people. So far from countenancing those wicked political persecutions by which a domi nant party may attempt to quell the murmurs of oppo sition, I would not entirely silence their bickerings if I could. If the oppositions of party be conducted upon fair, liberal and manly principles if a devoted attach ment to our constitution and laws forms a bond of union between the most bitter and irreconcileable po litical opponents if the indivisible union of the states becomes a rallying point in all conjunctures of emer gency and danger if the safety and prosperity of the 22 great republic be the polar star, towards which the efforts of all are invariably directed, whatever may be the prevailing difference of opinions as to the wisest and best plans of civil policy the great and perma nent interests of the nation are still secure, notwith standing the temporary paroxysms into which she may be thrown by the contests of party animosity, or the partial injury she sustains from the unsound policy of any given administration of government. An indisso luble union of the states, the permanence and inviola bility of our constitution and laws, should be the watch words at which every American heart should thrill, and which every American tongue should respond with enthusiasm. Palsied be the head that projects a separation of the states, and leprous the hand that would dare attempt the demolition of our present constitution and laws, DIALOGUE II. WASHINGTON, HAMILTON, AND FISHER AMES. AMES. It appears evident to my mind, that the United States must separate, and that all the evils which, during my lifetime, I foresaw and predicted, are upon the very point of breaking forth. The silken band which connects together these confederated republics, has been gradually frittered away, and will soon be cut asunder. The train is already laid, and wants only the application of the match to produce an explosion which will convulse the continent, and afterwards consume it with a mighty conflagration. I faithfully forewarned the American nation of the approach of these calami ties, but they turned a deaf ear to my admonitions, and must now meet the consequences. I apprised them that that cloud which in my days was no larger than a man's hand, would soon overspread the land with its deadly shade and deluge it with mischief. My predic tions are now receiving a complete and fearful ac complishment. I consider the American nation, at this moment, as standing upon the very brink of a preci pice, at whose feet lies the horrible gulph of a civil war. They have but one step more to take, and they plunge into it. HAMILTON. Amidst all tbat sterling worth and distinguished greatness, Mr. Ames, which no one can more highly estimate than myself, and which undoubtedly entitle you to rank among the first and best men, America or perhaps any other nation has produced, you seem to have had a constitutional tendency to high- colouring in your representations of things, and a kind of rheto rical caricaturing in description. Whether it arose from the amazing fertility of your fancy (and this faculty was certainly in you a soil in which grew sponta neously flowers of every variety of fragrance and hue,) or that the hectic which shed its unnatural and intem perate glows through your body, transfused them also, in some degree, to your mind, from the intimate con nection and sympathy known to subsist between the one and the other, I pretend not to determine; but certain it is, that to this circumstance alone is to be ascribed the fault which blemishes your, otherwise, masterly and admirable political writings. These pro ductions are subject to the same objection which was brought against the pictures of a celebrated painter, who was said to take pleasure in exhibiting objects too horrible to be contemplated. The blood curdles and the hair stands on end, when you are depicting the fu ture calamities which shall befall your country. God of heaven! grant that your prophecies may never be ac complished! I cannot, however, help indulging the hope, that the events of her history, although partak* 25 ing, no doubt, of that commixture of prosperity and adversity which is the common lot of nations as well as individuals, will be less shocking and disastrous than you have portrayed them. On this point, I would say as Cicero did of his anticipation of immortality, of which the sceptical philosophers by their controversies and doubtful disputations would have bereft him, if my hope be delusory, it is an agreeable delusion and I wish not to be undeceived. I would not sadden and torture my soul by anticipating such gloomy and hi deous prospects for my country, which after all may prove chimerical. If these dreadful evils, under the awful and inscrutable dispensations of heaven, should at last, overtake her, it will be soon enough to endure the miseries they will inflict, when they shall have ar rived. And, I trust, that although my countrymen will no longer have a Washington and Ames to enlighten, to guide and to save them; there will not be wanting able and devoted patriots who will be as prompt in provid ing as skilful in administering a remedy. I pretend not to deny, that the hopes which I was disposed to enter tain, in reference to those future fortunes which the destinies were weaving for my country, were occa sionally, and particularly in the latter part of my life, shaded by the most painful apprehensions, and that sometimes my heart was oppressed and overpowered by the settled gloom of despondency; but I must be allowed to remark, that a severance of the union, so far from being the remedy which I would have re commended, for these anticipated ills, is the very D 26 result which, above all others, I should most fervently have deprecated. The plan which I had projected, as is well known among my countrymen, in order to avoid the mischiefs which I was apprehensive would result to the union, was to impart greater force and efficiency to the federal government, and thereby not only enable it to sustain itself, amidst the severe con flicts which necessarily awaited it, but also to extend such a powerful control over the state governments, its natural rivals, as would, without annihilating their independence or consolidating them with itself, enable it to preserve them firmly and steadily in the several spheres, in which they move round it, AMES. Ah, there, indeed, General Hamilton, lay the re medy, and had it been applied in season would have effected a radical cure. Had your wise and salutary counsels been pursued, and the government, in its original organization, been rendered sufficiently ener getic to have perpetuated its powers and to have stayed by its arm every effort at separation, then indeed, the republic would have remained secure. But the time in which she might have been rescued from destruction, has elapsed, and she has let the opportunity pass away unimproved, in which she might have foreseen and avoided the numberless miseries which are now com ing upon her. The hour of her sorrow and anguish is at hand. Those hardy sons of the north, long tram- pled upon by their administration, and ground as under 27 a mill-stone by its measures, are determined to rise in their might and assert their claims. Having drunk to the very dregs the cup of endurance and submission, they are at this moment, prepared to draw the sword from its scabbard, and at a single blow sever the bond which connects them to the union. HAMILTON. I hold in too high estimation, the good sense, the intelligence and patriotism of that reflecting people to the east, to imagine, for a moment, that they will per mit any provocations to stimulate them to such fatal ex tremities. They who have hitherto discovered that they knew so well how to distinguish those limits in which a rational liberty terminates and a mischievous licen tiousness begins, will not, on this occasion, forfeit the reputation they have obtained, and by a single rash deed hazard their own peace and prosperity as well as those of their sister republics. AMES. But why talk of the cool and philosophical calcula tions of expediency and propriety to a people whose families are wanting bread, and who are crushed by their government as in a wine-press? The eastern peo ple have perceived with indignation, for some time past, that, from the addition of these new states and territories to the south, they have lost all their influ ence in our federal councils and become as the mere dust of the balance. The embargo by precluding the interchanges of commerce, checked the circulation of the very life-blood of these countries. All these things they have borne with patience and magnanimity. To this fatal measure has succeeded a war the most odious to them in its origin and character, and while a cruel and ferocious enemy is let loose against them, they arc left by the government vulnerable and defenceless at every point; and to fill their cup of grievances to the brim, while thus the sources of their wealth and pros perity are dried up, while in a state of perpetual dis quietude from the apprehensions of sudden and de structive inroads from the enemy, the scanty wealth they have left is rifled by the administration, and the flower of the citizens dragged from those firesides which it is their province to defend, to carry on a war of conquest and ambition. Will that brave people tamely submit to such aggravated wrongs as these? They will not They will forcibly sever themselves from that national government over whose measures they have lost all influence, and which instead of be ing known to them as a good government should be, by the benefits which, under its guardian care, it dis penses, is recognized only in the miseries it inflicts. HAMILTON. Whatever may be the real or supposed grievances they suffer, if they act wisely they will form no rash determination nor adopt any violent measures, during their present resentment and irritation. The passions are wretched counsellors and still more wretched guides. In reference to the loss of influence in the national councils and upon the national measures of which they complain, and of which I am free to admit they do not complain without reason, I would indulge myself in a few observations, which, I think, may present to the eastern section of our country some consolation for the present sufferings they sustain from the war. There is evidently arising in our country at this time, as is perceptible to the eye of every philosophic ob server, a southern and a northern or eastern influence, which for some time to come will be perpetually con- tending for the mastery; and this conflict, if it prove not the rock upon which the republic immediately splits, will, at all events, give rise to many of the fu ture incidents of her history. Sometimes the southern scale will preponderate, and at other times the eastern. The eastern influence, moreover, as it is characteristi cally commercial, will gradually extend itself until it embraces the whole of the Atlantic states, for the At lantic ocean itself forms to these states a strong, and as it should be, indissoluble chain of connection. On all great emergencies, these states will, I am convinced, at no distant period, uniformly co-operate with each other. The eastern states, therefore, need not be im patient under that temporary suspension of their power in the federal government, which is the cause of their present dissatisfaction and alarm. By wise and mode rate counsels, by adopting and firmly persevering- in those plans of policy which will contribute to their best and permanent interests, they will, in their turn 30 prevail, the present clouds which obscure the political state of their country will be dispersed, and the day- spring of peace, affluence and prosperity again visit their borders. At any rate, before they resort to the mad expedient of seceding from the union to obtain relief from their present sufferings, let them seriously reflect and weigh well the consequences. Were they separated from their sister states, what would be their condition? Would it be meliorated? To avoid present inconveniences and injuries, may they not pull down upon their heads the whole fabric of civil so ciety, although like Sampson they themselves may be crushed amidst the ruins? To escape the beatings of the impending storm which cannot long endure, may they not plunge into an abyss in which they may perish forever? WASHINGTON. I have listened to your discussion, gentlemen, with the most profound interest and attention, as this is a subject which has lately occupied a large share of my reflections and awakened within me the most painful solicitude. We who have attained to these realms of light and happiness, having our minds cleansed from the discolouring prejudices and prepossessions of party, can view every subject offered to our contemplation in the calm lights of a mild and just philosophy. Let us, therefore, proceed to a cool and dispassionate con sideration of the subject whose merits you are now canvassing. 31 I perceive with no little pain and displeasure, that the dissolution of a union formerly regarded as sacred, as the ark of the covenant, which no one presumed to touch but with veneration and awe, has now become a topic of ordinary and familiar conversation among my countrymen, its advantages and disadvantages are coolly descanted upon, and there are not wanting those who are daring enough to declare it as their opinion, that it has become both necessary and expedient. Now, this is a circumstance deeply to be regretted by every American patriot, as we all know how rapid is often times the transition from the habitual contemplation of an act to the guilty performance of it. Divines inform us, that in order to preserve ourselves from the con tamination and seductive influence of vice, and perse vere in a course of virtuous conduct, it is necessary, not only that our outward deportment should be un exceptionable, but even our imaginations should not be allowed to be vitiated by the intrusion of illicit images and thoughts. The maxim is not without apti tude in its application to the present case. States so happily confederated together as are those of America for the promotion of important and national purposes, should ever regard the ties which connect them as consecrated, and should never permit themselves to think it possible that there can be a dismemberment of their empire. It is dangerous even to indulge them selves in such trains of thinking, and the nation cannot too speedily by a kind of moral expiation, purify her self from the impiety of having yielded to them, AMES. Where, then, is the redress which a state or num ber of states is to obtain when it feels itself oppressed and ruined by the measures of the administration? Is there no point at which the endurance of a people must cease? WASHINGTON. They can obtain no other redress and they should desire no other, than that which is extended to them in the provisions of the constitution. I allude not now particularly to the controversy which the eastern sec tion of our union is carrying on with the general go vernment. It falls not within my plan to decide upon the merits of that case. If we wish that our federal government, the offspring of our own wisdom and the adoption of our own choice, should ultimately suc ceed, and we may be assured that with its success are intimately connected the vital interests of this country, there are certain great and fundamental principles, to which, amidst the bitterest conflicts of party, we should all steadily and pertinaciously adhere. Within the boun daries prescribed by the constitution, let the parties rage, foam and exhaust their animosity, but let them never dare overstep those sacred limits. It is a mockery to have a written constitution and laws, unless they be rigidly and scrupulously adhered to. But to return to the point we are now investigating. What kind of re dress of grievances, is that which the eastern states 33 would obtain by a severance of the union? It would be the redress of a man who, in a paroxysm of rage against an adversary, cuts, maims and perhaps destroys himself. When I hear men talking coolly and with apparent unconcern, about the separation of the States, I imagine I see children playing with edged tools, or in their wanton gambols, scattering sparks in those places in which they may kindle those subterranean fires that produce an earthquake. Men are, surely, ignorant of the long train of miseries and calamities which an event of this nature, may, and in all probabi lity, will draw upon them. I can regard the separation of the American States, take place at what period it may, and from whatever quarter it may come, under no other similitude than that of opening in the new world, the box of Pandora. More evils than imagina tion can picture or the tongue of an angel adequately describe, would be its inevitable results. AMES. But why, General Washington? Whence the neces sity of such direful consequences? Could not the eastern states which entered voluntarily into the fede ral compact, from the prospect of the advantages which would redound to them, now that they find it produc tive of mischief, peaceably retire from the union? WASHINGTON. Impossible It would be to defeat the great and leading objects for which a federal government was in- E 34 stituted. Why was this government established with authority paramount to all others, and with an influ ence diffusing itself over every part? For the express purpose of preserving those parts from violent colli sions and final separations. In the preliminary article to the constitution it is declared that that instrument was adopted to " preserve a more perfect union and promote domestic tranquillity." Must not the govern ment, then, be invested with powers competent to effect these purposes? And would not all of them be at once defeated were the states allowed to separate from each other at their discretion? It was foreseen by those illustrious patriots and ,sages who at that time wielded the destinies of the nation, that an association of states depending for its continuance upon the will of the par ties, and capable of being severed whenever the inte rest, passion or caprice of any one or any number should propel it to such a measure, would, like the Amphyctionic and Achaean leagues of Greece, the Helvetic republic, and many others which might be enumerated, prove as ineffectual to its ends as a rope of sand. It was for the precise purpose of remedying the imperfections of such a system that the sublime idea was suggested and carried into execution, of modelling a great national government, which extending its control over the whole should bind them strongly and insepa rably together, without absorbing them into its vortex, as the sun by its attractive power preserves the planets in their spheres. When the states entered into this so lemn compact, they relinquished the right of retiring 35 from it at their pleasure, and for any violations of its stipulations rendered themselves amenable to the tri bunal of the union, which has a clear and undoubted right to compel them to comply with the terms of their agreement. Besides, what sort of government is that which has not the power to coerce the submission and obedience of the citizens, to every just and legitimate requisition? Let it, therefore, be considered as a ruled case, a settled and established point, that if at any time any state in the union or any number of states con jointly, shall determine to withdraw itself from tjie,con- federacy, it is the province and the duty of the federal government to compel it to return to that connec tion. AMES. I suspect that in all such cases, which always pre suppose a great degree of popular excitement, the states will not be withheld from accomplishing their end, by nice points of political casuistry. WASHINGTON. Let them be withheld, then, from an anticipation of the horrible results. Suppose that the Eastern states, (I do not believe, for a moment, that any such things are to be apprehended from that moral and religious people,) but suppose, that, in a paroxysm of resent ment, worked up to phrenzy by their opposition to the administration, they should enter into the fatal de termination to secede from the union, what would be the consequences? At the same moment that they form this rash determination, they let loose the sword from its scabbard. With one hand they sever the bond which connects them to the union, and with the other, hurl the firebrand of civil discord. Could the general government look on with indifference and pusillani mity, and not raise an arm to reduce to submission its refractory members? It could not. It would be unfaith ful to the powers with which the people have entrusted it, unfaithful to the confederation, to its own honour and duty, to the seceding states themselves, to the glory of the republic, if it did. The attempt is, then, made to compel the recreant states to return to their allegiance. An army is set on foot by the government, and a war commenced for this purpose. Say, that it is successful in the horrid enterprise. At what a dreadful price has its victory been purchased? What hecatombs of vic tims have been offered up to the demon of civil dis cord, what kindred have imbrued their hands in each other's blood, what scenes of slaughter and cruelty have been exhibited by those parties whose sentiments of hostility have only been exasperated by their former intimacy, what arrows of resentment left festering in the heart, what seeds of animosity sown that will spring up and grow into future wars! AMES. But they would not be successful. Those hardy sons of the north, inured to toil from their earliest years, habituated to hardships and fatigue, and accus. 37 tomed to breathe the atmosphere of freedom, could not be subdued. What! shall they who were rocked in the very cradle of liberty, who, in our revolutionary war first raised its sacred standard and fought most bravely under it, when once they have again reared that animating symbol, ever strike it to an enemy? WASHINGTON. Such men should be the last to raise it against a Re public, founded by their wisdom and cemented with their blood. I again repeat, that I am confident, that intelligent, brave and magnanimous people, will never drive matters to such dreadful excesses. We are only supposing such a case to make good our argument. Let it be as you say, that the government has been foiled in its attempt to reduce them. Still the effort has produced the evils before enumerated. Still all those agonizing scenes have been exhibited which fur nish matter for the tragic muse. If we wish to wake our souls to the highest pitch of horror, we have only to peruse the histories of Greece, Rome, England, France, or any other country during their civil wars. What, then, must the acting of such dreadful scenes be? In the mean time what a spectacle olf scorn and de rision, do we present to the nations of Europe, some of whom would not want the malignity to rejoice in our misfortunes! A number of states have attempted to secede from the rest, the general government has exerted its utmost force to prevent it, but in vain, the disaffected members have made good their defection at the point of the bayonet. What a triumph to our enemies! What humiliation to our friends! The glory of our republic is gone, her power sapped, her pride humbled, the exalted rank she held among the nations is forfeited, never to be regained; she is become the object of contempt, and contumely, to those who formerly envied and feared her as a rival. Our bitterest enemies could not imprecate upon our heads a severer punishment. But let us not stop here Let us pursue the matter to its remotest consequences, following in our progress the lights of history. The republic is now forcibly divided, and two, or as some projectors in politics will have it, three smaller republics, a southern, middle and northern one, formed out of it. Thus divided, are we to expect to enjoy the halcyon days of peace, plenty and prosperity? By no means. As before we might read our history in the civil wars of Greece, Rome, England and France, so now we may read the continuation of it, in the wars which were waged between the rival republics of Rome and Car thage, of Athens and Laced agmon. Parties would soon spring up, more violent and embittered in pro portion to the limited space within which their virulence was confined, and convulse with still more portentous throes, these new republics. A thousand causes of con troversy and animosity would arise, as surely as the malignant passions of the human heart would continue to operate upon the affairs of mankind, and these would lead to the most rancorous, ferocious and bloody wars. These contests, animosities and wars would be en- 39 couraged and fomented by foreign nations, who al though now they would despise us, would set in operation all their arts of intrigue and diplomatic seduction. These arts and intrigues, which during the pure and vigorous days of our union, could make no impression upon us, when divided and weakened, would obtain a deadly influence in our councils. We should soon see one of these rival republics enlisted on the side of England and another on that of France, in those long and sanguinary contests, which they have maintained with each other through every period of their history, and which are at this time asleep for a season only to be speedily renewed with exacerbated feelings. Thus should we at once launch the barks of the petty republics we had modelled, on the perilous and tempestuous sea of European politics; and no sooner should the standard of war be elevated in the old world between the great rival nations, than it would become the signal for its commencement here. And during all this time, what, in all probability, would be the internal state of our country? Wars would rage with the utmost violence and fury; all those scenes which for centuries have been exhibited on the old continent and which have disquieted, convulsed, and wasted it, would be re-acted in the new. The struggle for superiority and pre-eminence, would excite inces sant commotions. Sometimes the northern force would prevail, and at other times the southern; but whether the preponderating power approached from the one quarter or the other, were ingendered in a southern or northern 40 clime, it would equally prove a destrudj^ tempest. It would be the difference only between the Siroc and arc tic storm. During this period also, the relations between the different republics being radically changed, and those who were formerly amicable and sister common wealths being converted into jealous and hostile states, their political, civil and military institutions are un dergoing fundamental alterations. Having forfeited along with numberless other inestimable advantages, that which we derive from the remoteness of our situation from any power which in case of hostility can become formidable to us, our governments must be so modelled as to be accommodated to our new situation, and suited to the exigencies to which they must be now exposed. The mild genius of a republi can government, our boast and pride, at this time, the boon for which we expended our blood and treasure, so adequate to all purposes of our present defence and prosperity, would not be sturdy and robust enough in its structure to repel the sudden invasions of formida ble armies. Each republic, vulnerable at every pore, must, now that it has a rival and enemy at its door, commence adequate preparations of defence. The banks of the Hudson and Potomac and the shores of the Atlantic must be lined with fortifications erected at immense expense, and these fortifications manned with veteran troops. Large standing armies, which all agree are so dangerous to liberty, must now be kept up in time of peace in order to provide against the exigencies of war. Thus the supreme magistrate in 41 each commonwealth has at his disposal a perpetually standing force. In seasons of extreme difficulty and peril, he is invested with dictatorial powers. This ex periment is repeated but a few times, before some Cassar or Cromwell arises, more bold than his prede cessors, who rendering himself popular with the army, bribes them to his interest, seizes upon the reins of government and makes himself master of his coun try, and then as a military despot rules it with a rod of iron. This is not fictitious history, it is real and written in Roman and Grecian characters. Thus together with unnumbered other blessings, would the American nation, in the dissolution of their union, pave the way to the final wreck of their inva luable rights. The happiness of our present situation on the globe, more than any other circumstance, af fords us the best security for the permanence and perpetuity of our free institutions. Circumstances, it has been said, make men. If this maxim be liable to objection when applied to individuals, it is emphati cally true that circumstances make governments. Place England upon the continent of Europe by the side of those powerful monarchies, and she could no longer retain the freedom of her present constitution. Transfer our republic to the same situation, and she could no more defend herself, with her present form of government, against attacks from those powers, than the infant arm could wield the battle-ax. It would become indispensably necessary to effect those great F and important purposes for which governments are in* stituted, to assimilate them in a great measure in activity and energy to those of the states that surround us. The Americans, therefore, cannot too highly appreciate the happiness of their present situation on the globe, and if by one rash deed they will forfeit this advantage to gether with unnumbered others connected with it, it will be an act of suicide and insanity unexampled in the history of mankind. To sum up in few words the whole matter. With the preservation of our union, are indissolubly connected our peace abroad and tran quillity at home, our independence and glory as a nation, the freedom of our institutions both political and civil, our future greatness and prosperity. Let us never cease to regard that union as sacred, which was constructed by the hands of sages and cemented with the blood of our revolutionary heroes. Let us venerate and religiously preserve our present constitution as the palladium of our rights, our ark of safety. Let the states confederated together be considered as firmly fixed in their stations as the constellations of heaven, or as the planets that move round the sun. The gene ral government, whatever clouds may occasionally obscure its lustre, is to this country what that great luminary is to the solar system. It diffuses through it the animating and fructifying light of peace, do mestic quiet, liberty and prosperity; while by its gentle and controlling influence it makes the states to move in harmony and order through their several spheres. We have planted in the midst of us the tree 43 of liberty, let none of its branches be lopt off, but let it grow and flourish that our children and our chil dren's children may rejoice under its refreshing shade, and pluck and live upon its goodly fruits. Let the permanence of our present constitution, and an indis soluble union of the states, be written upon our Capi tol in the blood of our revolutionary heroes; let it be inserted in our litanies and mingled with our most fervent prayers to heaven, let it be inscribed upon the door posts of our houses, as a sign to preserve us from the sword of the destroying angel of civil discord, Let us cherish our union, as the source of our country's prosperity, the foundation of her future greatness and glory, the depository of our invaluable rights, and our best safeguard against unnumbered ills. - 2JUr wB