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nians, were not an intelligent people? Were they not intelligent when they banished the ablest statesmen and generals, and the purest patriots of their state? Was their intelligence sufficient to insure, at all times, a just administration of the laws? In short, if intelligence could preserve a republic, why were not the Grecian republics preserved ?

"Then let us turn our attention to the Roman state. Were not Sylla and Marius intelligent men, when they rent the commonwealth with faction, and deluged Rome with blood? Were not Cæsar and Anthony and Lepidus, and Crassus and Brutus and Octavianus, intelligent men? Did not the Roman commonwealth fall into ruins in the most enlightened period of its existence? And were not the immediate instruments of its overthrow some of the most intelligent men that the pagan world has produced?

"Then look at France during the revolution, when there was no settled government to control reason. Were not the leading men of the parties intelligent men?-men who cut off the heads of their opponents, with as little ceremony as they would tread a worm under their feet, and for the sake of liberty. When one party was crushed, the others cried out, the republic or liberty is safe. When another party fell under the guillotin, then the triumphant party shouted, liberty is safe. But after all, the republic was not saved; and all parties at last were glad to find peace and security under a throne. "Intelligence alone then has not yet saved any republic. But intelligence, it is said, must be accompanied with virtue, and these united are to give duration to a republic.

"Now, sir, what is this virtue? what does it mean in the sentiment or opinion above cited? What did Montesquieu intend by virtue, when he wrote about its influence in preserving a republic?-(Spirit of Laws, passim.)

"The virtue of a Roman citizen consisted in personal bravery, and in devotion to the defense and extent of the commonwealth. In particular men there existed a strong sense of right or political duty, which may take rank as a moral virtue. But such instances were rare, and most rare in the decline of the commonwealth, when the citizens were most intelligent. But in general, the virtue of the Romans was a passionate attachment to the commonwealth, for the grandeur of which they fought and conquered, till they had brought the civilized world to the feet of the republic. This virtue extended the dominion, but did not secure the existence of the republic.

"If by virtue is intended the observance of the common social duties, this may proceed from a respect for custom, and a regard to reputation; and either, with or without better principles, is a useful practice.

"But such virtue as this will not save a republic, unless based on better principles than a regard to custom or to reputation. The reason is obvious; such morality will often, not to say generally, yield to selfishness; that is, to the ambition of obtaining power and wealth. When strongly tempted by private interest, men often find the means of enlisting reason in its service; and invent excuses for disregarding the public good, which ought to be, and for the preservation of republican government must be, the ruling motive of citizens.

"The virtue which is necessary to preserve a just administration and render a government stable, is Christian virtue, which consists in the uniform practice of moral and religious duties, in conformity with the laws both of God and man. This virtue must be based on a reverence for the authority of God, which shall counteract and control ambition and selfish views, and subject them to the precepts of divine authority. The effect of such a virtue would be, to

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bring the citizens of a state to vote and act for the good of the state, whether that should coincide with their private interest or not. But when or where has this virtue been possessed by all the citizens, or even by a majority of the citizens of a state? History does not authorize us to believe that such virtue has ever existed in the body of citizens in any community; or to presume that such a community will ever exist."-pp. 269, 270.

In the course of this letter he analyzes the expression, "all men are born free and equal," compares the tyranny of kings and nobles, against which our fathers took care to guard themselves and their posterity, with the tyranny of the people acting by a majority, against which it is not so easy to guard. He speaks of the operation of universal suffrage; of the rights of person and of property; of the difficulty there is, from the extent of our territory, of the great body of the electors becoming acquainted with the comparative merits of the different candidates for office. He adverts to the extensive patronage of the President, which enables him, if disposed, to bribe his supporters; of the jealousies between the rich and the poor; of the attempt to excite prejudices against learning and literary institutions; of the opinion, that the legislator is bound to follow the wishes of his particular constituents; of removals from office; of the doctrine, that there are no vested rights; of the opinion, that a state may at the end of nineteen years from the date of the contract, repudiate its debts; of the doctrine, that if a small number of persons are guilty of violating law, they may be indicted, but if a great number outrage law and rights, they are not to be indicted or punished; of the opinion, that offices are created for the benefit of individuals, rather than for the state.

On these topics he presents his thoughts to us in his own excellent style of writing, perspicuous, terse, and vigorous, characterized, like his other productions, by his intimate acquaintance with our mother tongue; reminding us of the best writings of Hamilton, Madison, and Jay; breathing forth the same spirit of patriotism, and instinct with the same intellectual life.

Animated by the spirit that pervades this letter, we would say to every one who intends to perform the duties of an American citizen, it is not enough for you to become acquainted with the general features of American society, and of American institutions. What you want to know so far as you can, is the exact "form and pressure" of the present times. You want to know the very shapes of the circumstances in which you will be called personally to act.

Our country, commencing its existence under the happiest auspices, is furnished with abundant materials of present good; while the omens of future good lead us to expect a glorious destiny. There are so many physical causes in climate, soil, water power, and facilities of intercourse; so many political causes in the freedom of our institutions; so many moral causes in education, religion, and the power of the press, that we very easily, in our self-admiration, adopt the opinion, that our country, in the words of one of our own bards, "the queen of the world and the child of the skies," will go on in improvement, from glory to glory, until she will become the joy of the whole earth.

But while one prophet from his elevated position is thus ready to say, "How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee;" another prophet, gifted with as clear a vision, is ready to say, "How is

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the gold changed, and the fine gold become dim! ah, sinful nation, a seed of evil-doers, how art thou become a hissing and a by-word among all nations!" When some political seer, some foreigner, puts forth such a prediction, instead of giving him any credit for "mystical lore," which may enable him to see coming events in their shadows," we upbraid him with the insinuation, that his "wish is the father of his thought." But instead of this, should we not rather imitate the prudent mariner, who, with a wary eye, looks out for storms even in fair weather? Is there no evil at work in our system, which with a terrible efficiency tends to this predicted result, which we rejoice to believe it will never reach?

In the physical world there is what is called a principle of compensation. Where there is a peculiar advantage or convenience, it is balanced by a corresponding deficiency or inconvenience. Thus, under the sunny skies of beautiful Italy, the malaria reigns. The same principle appears in the moral world. In this mixed state of being, we find that when nations or individuals enjoy peculiar blessings, they are subject to corresponding evils.

What then are some of the ad vantages which we as a nation enjoy, on the one hand; and what are some of the correspondent evils?

First, then, the age in which we live is characterized by great freedom of opinion, in opposition to mere authority. The ages of prescription have gone by. Men will not adopt fundamental doctrines in politics, education, and religion, merely upon the authority of great names. They ask for evidence; and they feel competent of them selves and by themselves, to judge of the evidence. In the early periods of human society, the great mass of the people were willing to enroll among the gods, as worthy of

divine honors, the man who made discoveries in science, or inventions in the arts. In later periods, if they did not deify such, they still were willing to honor them as princes in the empire of knowledge, to whom others should do homage. Thus was it when Aristotle reigned with imperial sway, over the minds of men, who were contented with this intellectual vassalage. Thus was it during the night of the dark ages, when he of the triple crown proclaimed his infallibility to believing millions. Thus was it during the dawn and after the risen day of the Reformation, when Luther and Calvin, even when in their graves, ruled as lords paramount over multitudes of retainers. Every village in Protestant as well as Papal countries, had its lord spiritual and its lord temporal, who exacted the homage of the many as their right; even though the one lord was a New England justice of the peace, and the other a parish minister.

But we in this age, delivered from this intellectual vassalage, enjoy to the full the right of private judgment, and liberty both of speech and of the press.

But while we rejoice in the good, let us look at the evils which in the way of compensation are put into the other scale. One evil growing out of this state of the public mind is, that in their opposition to authority, men will not believe even on the authority of God, any truth that is mysterious. There is danger that men in the pride of intel lect, will reject some of the fundamental doctrines of the gospel. There is danger, that, while they avoid repairing to the great light of the world for illumination, they will in the pride of reason walk in the light of their own fire, and in the sparks which their own hands have kindled. Are there not even now those who lean away so far from the authority of God to their

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own understanding, that they measure themselves by themselves rather than by the Bible, which they consider to a large extent as obsolete. Are there not those who reigning as kings, without their teaching, set themselves up to be teachers of what they do not understand, the originators of new and crude doc trines in politics, new and wonderful nostrums in medicine, and new revelations in religion? But do you say, give truth an open field for encounter with error, and we need not fear for the issue? Yes, but you should remember that error is multiform, while truth is but one. Error has a natural affinity for the universal depravity of man, while truth can not be omnipresent with appropriate evidence, to meet it.

Another evil connected with the good mentioned above, is, that while men enjoy the advantage of being free in their opinions and conduct from the authority of the press, they are exposed to become the vassals of the many, in their subjection to what is called public sentiment. In our popular form of government, as the majority must rule, there is supposed to be a positive excellence in numbers, independent of the virtue and intelligence which they may include. As men are at liberty to form any opinion, they are under a constant temptation to adopt the opinion of the majority as the most profitable. Watch the workings of their minds. "That cause will prevail, therefore I go for that cause. Those opinions will generally be adopted, therefore I adopt them now." If they are in doubt which side will prevail, they are, in the language of the day, unwilling to commit themselves, lest they should be found on the wrong, that is, on the unpopular side. Now to talk of such men being free, when they are the slaves of the many! why, they will follow the multitude to do good, or they will follow the multitude to do evil, esVol. I.

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pecially if by so doing, there is a chance to lead the multitude. They can not bear the loss of popular favor. They cower and hang their heads beneath the frown of popular indignation. They tremble and quail beneath the tyranny of public opinion. The sense of their individual responsibility is lost in the mass of minds with which they are associated.

Moreover, the age in which we live is characterized by the love of practical, to the comparative neg. lect of speculative truth. In former times, there were sages and philosophers who retired from the haunts of business, to seek for truth in the calm meditations of contemplative life. In their seclusion, they held communion with God, with nature, with the spirits of the mighty dead, with their own great minds, that they might become acquainted with the living form of truth, with the first good and the first fair. Admiring the forms of intellectual beauty, they sought for them in the fields of original investigation. They loved knowledge as an end, not merely as a means. In thus extending the bounds of knowledge, they were the benefactors of our race; but to a large extent they were so unintentionally. They did not apply their knowledge to any useful purpose. And besides, they not unfrequently employed their minds on subjects that lie beyond the scope of the human intellect, or that in their nature are frivolous and unprofitable.

But in our times there is not this waste of intellect. The grand inquiry now is for useful truths, namely, for those that have a practical bearing in promoting the arts of life, the well being of society, and the salvation of the soul. Look for a moment at the application of physical truths to the construction of machinery, that can by one directing mind do the work of a thousand hands; or at the application

of political truth to a system of internal improvement, which is diffusing through the land, wealth, convenience, and comfort; or at the application of moral truth to the temperance reformation; or at the application of religious truth in Sunday schools. If you look carefully at things like these, you can hardly fail of being convinced, that there is scarcely an important truth known in physical science, in politics, in morals, in education, or in religion, which has not been applied to some purpose, if not to some useful purpose.

One evil to which we are exposed in consequence of this attention to the application of truth, is, that men will think lightly of those truths which they can not perceive to be immediately useful. They are so much accustomed to consider truth as valuable on account of its application, that they overlook its intrinsic excellence. Thus the noble science of astronomy may be valued only as it is applied to the art of navigation; the wonderful science of chemistry, only because it can be applied to the prevention and cure of disease; mechanical philosophy, because it can be applied to steam engines; political truth, only as it will help to sustain a party; and religious truth, only so far as it will help to make converts. In this way it is, that Truth, who dwelt of old in the bosom of God, as his own daughter, comes down to man, not as the child of the skies, but as a mere menial, useful, but degraded.

The tendency of this, is, to give a superficial character to all the important professions. If the farmer studies the art of agriculture only so far as is necessary in order to make money; if the mechanic learns his trade in the shortest possible time, so far as it is necessary in order to undersell his competitors; if the physician studies the science of healing only so far as is

necessary to get a multitude of patients; if the clergyman studies theology only so much as is necessary to draw after him a multitude of admirers; can they be otherwise than superficial? Said one of the most successful politicians of the present time, men do not love truth now-a-days. They want only so much truth in a given case, as will gild over a falsehood and give it currency. The whole secret of success in politics is to employ a little truth, and a great deal of management. If political agitators find that they can arouse and sway large masses of men by party machinery, will they not be tempted to reject the doubtful aid of truth? They want only those truths which are immediately available, and not the whole truth. They want a candidate that is available, and not the best man. What they want is loyalty to their party, just as in a monarchy there is loyalty to the king. The party can do no wrong, just as the king can do no wrong.

And is there not danger more. over, that religion will in this respect follow in the steps of politics; that those who plead her cause will rely more upon machinery, than upon the great truths of the Bible. If the politician forsakes the grand principles of the constitution, in the use of truths that are available to the present success of his party, is there not reason to fear that Christians may forsake the great doctrines of grace, in the use of those fragments of truth that are found to be most available? If the politician labors not so much to instruct, as to produce immediate results at an election, is there not reason to fear that leaders in religion will aim chiefly at immediate results, rather than at thorough instruction? If the politician dares not trust the people to form their own views of public measures, but must make as many as they can, commit themselves at some public meeting, is

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