}t37 ltd? AN O R A 1^ I O N , Delivered lieforc the Deiiioerats of IVeisliiiigtoii Voanty, Moutpelicr, on tLe 4th ofjulir, 1839: BY EDWARD D. BARBER. [Published by request of Committee of Arrangements.] PRINTED AT THE PATRIOT OFFICE. 1S39. ORATION The public commenunoration of great and momentous events in the liis>tory of nations and o{ men, has been practised from the remotest antiquity. It is the most obvious and effectual means of preserving, among succeeding generations, the remembrance of such events and of the good which was obtained, or the evil which was averted by them. Nothing can so effectually keep alive and embody the spirit of the tin^.es in which the event transpired, as the frequent cel- ebration of its anniversary, and the recounting of the scenes with which it was attended. When a nation whose history has been marked by some signal deliv- erance from danger or destruction, either wholly neglects to commemmorate that deliverance by public rejoicings and thanksgivings, or suffers it to be signalized with unmeaning and inappropriate displays, it needs no prophet to divine that the spirit of freedom hath departed from the hearts of its citizens. But when tlie festival of a nation's birth or rescue from captivity, or oppression, is celebra- ted with generous enthusiasm — with appropriate demonstrations of gratitude and joy, and with the spirit of those who wrought out the deliverance, we need not fear for the perpetuation of its liberties or the patriotism of its people. It is a live- ly recollection of the blessings which such deliverance brought with it, and a filial remembrance of the virtues and daring of those who achieved it, that kindle mto a flame in the public festivity, and mark the existence and power of the father's spirit in the bosom of the .son. If, then, the event which a nation is called upon to celebrate with public rejoicings and honors, is one which should be hallowed in the memories and reverenced in the hearts of its citizens, it is but a dictate of duty, as well as an impulse of patriotism, to signalize its return with the homage of the intellect and the soul, and make it the jubilee of reason and truth. To this end, on the present occasion, we should make all our facul- ties of thought and emotion subservient to the contemplation of the great events and principles connected with our revolutionary history. Every demonstration of respect and every manifestation of joy— the pageantry and show— the thunder of the artillery— the thrilling of the music— the voice of adoration and prayer — the power of reason and the appeal of passion— the blandishments of beauty and the thousand sympathies and influences which fill our bosoms and crowd upon our minds, should all be made instrumental in exciting in our bosoms a deeper reverence for the illustrious dead, a holier love for the liberties they purchased for us, and a more unalterable determination to transmit them to posterity un- tarnished and undiminished. The event which we this day celebrate is one which stands upon the page ot history, for its grandeur and its glory without a parallel. Its grandeur is not that of battle and blood and its glory is not the glory of victory. But Us gran- deur consists in its being identified with the interests and happiness of the hu- man race; and its glory consists in its being the triumph of right over power. The celebration of the anniversary of the 4th of July 1776 is one in which not Americans or American institutions alone, have an interest, but one in which civilization, humanity and the world, should be sharer. This day, sixty three years ago, were promulgated those principles wl-^ch constituted a new era in the history of human libcrfv, and which are destined to work out the emancipation 4 and regeneration of mankind. To day we commemmorate the highest displays of undaunted courage, heroic virtue and unconquerable devotion to human good, which the annals of our race affords. And it is only when we sit down to a faithful contemplation of the characters of our revolutionary fathers — theii many and signal virtues as statesmen, as patriots and warriors — tlieir noble conceptions of right and duty — their disinterested and unhesitating dedication of their hopes and their fortunes upon the altar of their country and its principles — their uu- tiinching endurance of hardship and suffering, of wrong and reproach, as the un- dying testimonials of their attachment to human right — and their unblencliing passage through the fiery ordeal of persecution and war, to a triumph most glo- rious and beneficent in its effects upon themselves, their posterity and their kind, that we have a full and vivid conception of the benefits we have derived from their efforts and their sacrifices. And ©n the opening of tliis occasion, how ap- propriate is it, while some — a scattered remnant of that patriot band who wrought out our independence with fire and blood, — yet linger among us, that that we should recur to the times and the scenes through which they had to pass, that they might meet us, their children, here in peace, and that we together might lift our heads, our hands and our hearts in homage to freedom and to the God who helped them to achieve it. Let us, for a few moments, hand in hand with these venerable relics of a glorious race and a glorious age, revisit, in imagina- tion, the days and the fields of their trials and their triumphs. Walk we first to the field of Lexington, there to behold tho opening of that fierce drama of blood, the acting of which shook the island empress of the sea with terror and scatter- ed the brightest jewels from her crown, to witness the first offering of human sacrifice upon the altar of tyranny and to hear the deep oath muttered to the winds by the free sons of the pilgrims that they would "die or live freemen" — and now we turn to the smnmit of Bunker's blazing mount and behold there, what Britain learned too late, "The might that slumbers in u peasaiil's arm" — and while our hearts KJiout with the gallant Putnam in the midst of the din and the carnage of the battle, let us not fail to drop one holy tea* of reverence and love over the lifeless corse ot the generous but ill-fated Warren — and now at our own Bennington, we strike with Stark "for freedom or a grave" and, "in the name of the Great Jehovah and Continental Congress," demand with Allen the surrender of Ticondcroga — and now behold along the thundering heights of Bemis, the eagle winging his victorious llight above the sinking ban- ner of Burguoyne — and now we look ujjon the fierce fields of Trenton and Princeton, where the father of his country is winning back to his standand, af- ter a long absence, the bird of victory, whose notes of triumph send life and an- imation through millions of desponding hearts — and now we tread upon INlon- mouth's gory plain where "freedom's banner torn but flj ing Streams like a tliaiidcr cloud aguiust ilie wind" — and now we Ijnger among the sad and joyless scenes of Valley Forge, and behold the snowy earth red from the unshod feet of the defenders of untitled liberty, steadfast amid starvation and death — and now we are treading the ground where "Camden's martyrs fell" and wandering amid the scenes "Whence rang of old the rifle shot And hurrjiug shout of Marion's men," and drinking that air, "Which o'd DeKnlb and Funipter drank." At length we ascend the heights of Yorktown where clo.sed the dreadful strug- gle, and where, in the presence of Washington and LaFayette, the British lion crouched cowering before the stooping Eagle of America, and the infant I.nde- VENDENCE was installed in the hearts of three millions of freemen— the more than regal throne from which had been driven back to their refuge among the dynasties of the old world legitimacy and kingly sway. Froin this scene of triumph and glory, let u.s pass to the shades of Mount Vernon, and behold thete the great and good father of his country, seeking in letireincnt uiid |;cacc, that rich inheritance of fame which the sceptre and the crown can never bestow. "There dwells llie Man, ihe flower of human kind, Whose visage mild bespeaks his nobler mind; There dwells the Soldier, who his sword ne'er drew, But in a righteous cause, to Freedom true; There dwells the Hero, who ne'er fought for fttnio, Vet gitined more glory than a Ca;sar's name: — And oh! Columbia by thy son's caressed There dwells the Futher of the realms he blessed, Who no wish feels to nuike hia tiiighty praise, Like other chiefs, ihe means himself to raise, Kut there retiring breathes in pure renown And feels a grandeur that disdains a crown." How tlniiiing and instructive has been this our short pilgrimage of memory, over the hallowed spots and amid the sacred reminiscences of the revolution. Fancy still holds us in her charmed embrace. We live in an other age — we breathe a purer and a liealthier atmosphere — the spell of other times is upon us — the fields and tiowers are more redolent of truth and liberty — and we are drinking at fountains which are welling up forever from the great deeps of human right and huyian improvement. Under such circumstances, the inspira- tion that moved the souls of' the mighty dead — that made eloquent the tongue of Henry — that touched as with fire the pen of the immortal Jeflerson — that nerved the arm that smote for freedom, and that stirred, as with one mighty impulse, the heart of a whole nation, sliould be upon us, and should fill us with the spirit that reigned supremo in the bosom^of our forefathers. And for what, let me inquire, were all the costly sacrifices of treasure, blood and life, of which 1 have been speaking, made? What was the revolution which our fathers accomplished .•" Was it got up and carried forward by aspiring dem- agogues for their own personal aggrandizement? Was the war waged to throvv off one fonn of government, in order to estaijlish another on less beneficent pri.i- ciples? Were the doctrines asserted by our revolutionary sires, mere seditious declamations addressed to the selfishness, cupidity and vanity of the nmltitude and calculated to inflame the passions, without carrying with them in their prac- tical operation, any salutary reform — any new constitution of human gov- ernment — any sound exposition of human rights? If so, why eulo- gize them or their promulgators? But if, on the contrary, the struggle of -the revolution was a struggle for great and enduring principles of right — if the men who led it on and carried it through, amid every peril, amid disaster and defeat and in the face of power and the lust of dominion, were ac- tuated by noble and philanthropic impulses — if the doctrines which they publish- ed, as those by which they would stand or would fall, contain the true elements of human liberty and human progress, then both the men and their doctrines de- mand our homage and both should be cherished in the hearts of all, who strive tor the welfare and the elevation of their race. The founders of the republic, in the immortal instrument which you have just heard read, made a declaration of the principles by which they would be guided, in their struggle for independence from the mother country. They de- clared their intention not only to be, to free themselves from the tyranny under which they were suflering and to set up a government of their own, but to es- tablish that government upon their own principles — to lay its foundation, not on the perishable and unstable basis of human poucr, but on the deep, immutable and eternal basis of human rights. Their declaration was general in its terms and general in its object — not for the few millions of people who inhabited the soil of America alone, but for the world — for man every where — for human na- ture in all its diversity of rank, color, condition and clime. The heaven-de- rived, indestructible rights of man, were placed upon the throne in the place of princes and regal dominion. By the principles of that declaration, legitimacy was despoiled of its splendor, and humanity clothed in its true dignity — rank was driven from its usurped and abused authority, and merit exalted in its stead— privilege received its sentence of baniahment, and manhood ^va3 recaleld fron:i o its exile — PuwtK, in «hoit, was casl down, and Right set up. It was a bold attack, in the name of man, upon evciy prince, potentate and dynasty of the earth. It vva.s the exhuming of human nature from beneath the cru.shing weight of thrones and aristocracies — it was calling forth the buried Lazarus of Human Rights from the iron-girt sepulchre of civil and ecclesiastical tyranny. Its lan- guage was the language of the human heart — its voice had a tone of'startling power among the nations of the earth — it rang a peal of joy to the oppressed of every clime — and it spoke, like the muttering of seven thunders, in the ears of nobles and despots: "A voice on every wave A sound o'er every sea; The war note of the brave — The anthem of the free! Fiotn steep to steep it rings Through Europe's many c'iines — A kncll to despot kings — A sentence on their cri-iies: From every giant hillj companion of (he cloud, The startled echo h.-aps lo give it back aloui^: Where'er a wind is rushing — Where'er ii stream is gushing — The swelling sounds are lieard Of man to freeruan calling — Of broken fetters falling — And like the enrol of an uncaged bird, The bursting shout of Freedom's battle word." The strife of the revolution was not, on the part of our fathers, n strife about words, or money, or rule; but it was'a strife about the manner in which money sliould be taken from the people, and about the principles upon which men should be governed. Tiic contest between Great Britain and this coun- ty, was a coiitest for naked poiccr on the one side and naked right on the other. Lord North claimed that the imperial parliament had the constitutional power to lax the colonies, without their consent (sr without tht'ir representation in par- liament; and he stopped not to enquire whence that power waa derived or how It came into the British Constitution — v.iuther by usuipation or not — but having found it there, [ho fad was sullicicnt for him, and on that fact he planted himself in his attempt to subdue to British rule, the people of America. Sarnuel Ad- ams, on the other hand, den)anded, in the name of the American people, by what rigid that power was claimed. The simple fact that it had been exercised by parliament and had got a lodgment in the British constitution, was not, in the minds of our ancestors, a sullicicnt reason for its continuance. ^Vit'i/ went behind Hrilish precedents for the true source of governmental authority. Power., without right, was to them but another Hame for tyranny, and right in their esti- mation, was derived not from rulers, but from man. I'liu-s were ahstract power and abstract right arrayed against each other as the great antagonist principles for \rhich the conllict was waged. On the side of the former, were arranged the sceptre and the diadem — the wealth and iniluence of iiereditury titles and honors — the sympathies and encouragements of all the royal dynasties of the world, and the might of a heartless, hireling and disciplined soldiery. On the other stood untitled, undecorated and unpanoplied human nature, surrounded with a ^^"*^' .?^. l'"''''"'s who had pledged "their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor in its cause, and sustained by an army of those who came fresh from their firesides and their homes to do the battle of freedom, self-relying, unterrificd, imconqnerahle. Such was the contest ef the revolution — such the actors in its scenes of doubt and peril and victory — such the deliverance it wrought out for us, and such the spirit and principles which were bequeathed to us by our fathers and which we arc under solemn obligation to cherish and transmit to our children. Ihc most interesting as well as most appropriate imiuiries for such an occasion as this, then, arc— What is human liberty? From whence is it derived.' How can It bo maintained.' Is our own government founded upon it and are we sus- taining nnd perpetuating its true principles: 7 lu the conception of some men, freedom is a mere accitlent to a man's birtli, or complexion, or innate superiority, and is to be looked upon, rather as a mat- ter of good fortune, than a necessary element of man's nature. They do not see in it a divine bestowment, by the great Author of all existencies, upon the human family, and are hence fain to treat the idea of its being an "inalienable right" of man, as the oflsprins of a false philosophy or the flourish of a too vivid rhetoric. And with the ridicule and contempt which have of late years been thrown upon it, there has been a manifest tendency in public sentiment, to hold in little respect, the whole doctrine of rights so fiercely contended for by our fathers, and so perseveringly sneered at by the royalists of their days. But, mark me, if we would preset ve the form and the spirit of liberty in the world, we must ever keep ourselves firmly planted on the rights of human nature — with- out constantly keeping our eye upon them, as the cynosure in the political firma- ment, we launch forth into an illimitable sea of speculation and doubt, without any guide to direct us to the desired haven, and are sure to be either swallowed up in the Maelstroora of Anarchy or wrecked on the rocks of Despotism. Liberty is founded in the constitution of man and is a necessary attribute of his nature. His creator has endowed him with capacities for enjoyment, and furnished him with powers that impel him to action — that enable him to acquire knowledge and shape the means to the end — that elevate his aspirations and de- .sires above the grovellings of the brute to a higher and better destiny — that bind him, with indissoluble ties, to the beings around him, and that guide him to the choice of the right and good. Happiness, in the exercise and the enjoy- ment of these powers, is his great persuit. Burning with such high energies, his great parent has placed him in a heritage abounding with animation and beauty and power — with delights for his sense, mysteries for his mind, kindred beings for his affections, and good St evil for his power of choice. Thus constitu- ted a reasonable, intelligent and n^oral being, he cannot but be the subject of du- ty — duty to himself, to his fellow creatures and to his Creator. Forever con- scious of his claims upon others, he possesses an instinctive conviction of their claims upon him. A law of reciprocal obligation and duty is written, by the fin- ger of the Almighty, upon his heart. But he cannot obey this law, or comply with the beneficent impulses of his nature, or conform to the government of rea- son, or be guided by the dictates of natural justice and duty, unless he possesses rights, — the right to move, to speak, to control his own actions and to seek his own good and the good of others, according to his own free choice. How can he be the subject of reasoii, if not left to exercise his own reason, without re- straint? How can he be the subject of duty, if he cannot act from his own vo- litions and be governed by his own motives? If, by the constitution of his na- ture or the requirements of divine authority, he is bound to perform any act, forego any gratification or resist any evil, he must possess theright to choose and the right to act from that choice, independant of the commands of another. If he is under obligation to do any thing, he must necessarily have the right to do it. If man is, therefore, the creature of reason, of duty, and of right, he must he free, or the principles of his nature are violated & the purposes of his creation thwarted by a daring infringement of the divine will. His freedom being the necessary result of his being a reasonable and accountable creature, so long as he remains reasonable and accountable, bis freedom must be an "inalienable right:" for he cannot, without violating the constitution of his nature and the will of his maker thereby expressed, obsolve himself from the faithful exercise of his moral & intellectual powers in obedience to those laws enstamped upon his soul. Such being the rights of man as an individual — rights which are insoperable from his nature, given him by God and not derived, in any way, from compact with his fellows, it follows irresistibly, that whatever rights are natural to man, are possessed on a perfect equality by every individual of the species. While, therefore, men differ in their physical powers, in their moral qualities, and their intellectual gifts, so far as rights are concerned, they come from the hand of their maker perfectly equal — equally free, equally entitled to the enjoyment of the bounties of nature, equally entitled to seek after and participate in the de- lights of sense, the solaces of affection and the pleasures of intellect. Standing ill the simplicity of nature before his Creator, man is every where the ollspi iug of the same parent, the free denizen of the same world, the equal inheritor of the riches and benefactions of his great author — the same free, intelligent, mor- al and immortal being. God has not, by any ordinance of liis will, made one n prince and another a peasant — made one to roll in affluence and another to pine in want — one to command and another to obey. These are the results of man's devices — of man's disregard of the riglits of his fellow man — of man's war upon the interests of his brother, at the expense of that liberty and equality which Heaven hath bestowed alike upon alJ. If such is the natural condition of man, for what purpose sliould be instituted government? Should it be tomakolhe million, the serfs and slaves of the one"' To rob the multitude of their heaven-descended rights and to manufacture a monarch or a nobility out of the spoils.-' To invest one or a few with the right to command and give rules of conduct to the rest, without their consent? To have one class born to luxury, idleness and magnificence, and another to toil, pri- vation and penury? No. The simple and proper object of human government is, to protect the natural and inalienable rights of man from invasion and violence, and aid him, as far as practicable, in the developement of his powers and the virtuous improvement of his nature. Men enter into the social compact, not to yield up rights, but to provide means tor their more perfect security. In the natural state, though all men are equally free, equally entitled to every gratifi- cation of which their natures arc capable and which the world of matter, mind and emotion can atTordthem, they do not all, in obedience to the dictates cf right and duty, respect the rights of their fellows, but seek for their own advantage and elevation, at the expense of the good and enjoyment of others. The strong oppress the weak — the guileful circumvent and defraud the upright and pure min- ded — the rapacious and powerful prey upon all whom they can overreach and despoil. Now the great and primary object of government is to furnish protec- tion to the rights and interests of humanity when coupled with weakness, and to repress and restrain those dangerous and hurtful propensities of our nature, which unsettle the order and harmony of the moral world — which have filled every land with violence and plunged every nation in blood. If. therefore, when men enter the social state, they yield up their natural right to protect them- selves from wrong by their own strong arm, they do it only that the more pow- erful arm of public lorce and public law may be substituted in the place of their own comparative weakness. If they consent that their controversies should betaken out of their own hands and settled by public tribunals, it is, that the right of all may be the more cflectually guarded and equal justice more surely dispensed. If they submit to have a portion of their gains taken Cov the support of public authority, they are only, by that means, providing the more effectual safety for all their interests of person and property. Government is, in short, only a mode, adopted by common consent, of vindicating interests w-hich are common to all, from infringement and distruction. It is but an embodying of the public strength and public wisdom, for the public good. Its high prerog- atives are beneficence and justice. It never suffers, without losing sight of its highest ends, tight to be sacrificed to expediency — honesty to rapacity — recti- tude to favor — or man to property. What then, sliould be the fundamental principles, of a legitimate constitution o( human government ? The leading one, must necessarily, be an acknowledge- ment of the people, as the only source of political power, and a perfect ultimate responsibilty to their will. One step of departure, from these principles, places you in the high road to despotic power. To this must be added an acknowledge- ment of the unqualified political equality of the people. The idea of hereditary rank, — hereditary privilege,— titular distinction, or any distinction whatever, ex- cept that founded on superior merit, can find no place in any just conception of constitutional freedom. If once admitted, as being founded in nature, there is no stopping place in the career of-exclusive privilege, short of the divine right of kings ; whereas, in the eye of the true philosopher of liberty, all rights are di- vine, but equally so in the rags of tiie mendicant and the trappings of the noble, — in the peraon of the laborer, and the person of majesty. In like manner, every true conslitution of government must rest itself on the capacity of the people for self government. If the whole are not most capable of governing, where shall the eclectic process stop ? It can stop no where short of an aristocracy or a throne. The people best know their own wants, and can best tell how they may be relieved. Being themselves the subjects of government, they will not be like- ly to prey upon their own interests, or submit to exactions that are not for the general good. All true government provides moreover, for a division ol its pow- ers into proper departments, and a precise definition of the number and extent of those powers. It looks also to the improvabilty of our nature, and has faith, not only in the sagacity of men to discover what is fortheir own advantage, but in their intelligence and their capacity for improvement in knowledge and virtue. It therefore, always provides the means for giving full scope, for the display of the moral and intellectnal powers of those who are to be under its sway; and instead of putting clogs upon advancement and fetters upon intellect, it throws wide open the avenues of distinction, and brings education and knowledge to the doors of all. To forward the work of human improvement, — to make the people best acquaint- ed with their rights, and their responsibilities, — and to prepare them for an intell- igent exercise of the high prerogatives, with which they are invested as freemen, every constitution of government should provide for perfect freedom of opinion and perfect freedom of inquiry and discussion. If men are to be their own governors, they must be left free to speak, to write, and to publish their thoughts for the ben- efit of all. How can the right be determined without investigation .' How can the good be known without inquiry and discussion .'' And how can the benefits of discussion be realized among the whole mass, except by open- ing and keeping open, the avenues of intellectual communication.'' It is on- ly where the general good is treated as subordinate to partial and oppressive in- terests, — where truth is not to be sought lest the truth should make free, — where right is trampled beneath might, tliat the free speech is feared, or that gags for the mouth and padlocks for the press are needed. Where man is respected and not his externals of condition and station, — where justice, rectitude and truth are to be established, the more freely the immortal mind is left to explore the universe of God, the more certainly will those objects be attained, and the more rapid will be the improvement and the higher the elevation of the race. Unless error is the reigning deity, no nation need fear the worship of truth, and where truth is left free to combat error, no one need fear for the ultimate triumph of the former. "Truth crushed to earth sliall rise again, The eternal years ofGod, are hera, But error, wounded, writhes in pain. And dies umong her worshipers." So, too, the perfect security of freedom of conscience, is an essential element in every true constitution of human government. It is only leaving man, in his discovery and practice of duty towards his maker, where that maker has left him to answer each one for himself The most execrable of all tyrannies, is that ■which steps between man and his God, and attempts to dictate to him the matter of his belief, or the mode of his worship; and which visits him, with pains and penalties, because his faith does not square with the canons of a sect, or the or. thodoxy of a statute. It is only necessary to remark here, in passing, that our our own constitution recognises all those great fundamental |)rinciples of civil liberty, of which I have been speaking. It derives all political power from the people, and makes all rulers their mere servants and agents. It discards all hereditary distinctions and privileges and opens the door of distinction to merit alone. All its provisions look to the capacity of the people for self government and self improvement It throws wide open the avenues of intelligence, inquiry and discussion, and forbids any abridgement of the means by which they are carried forward. Its whole machinery is adapted to give scope to free speech and thought, and to make all its departments of authority ,^eel the play of public sentiment. It provides that the popular will should be paramount, and takes care that every means shall be furnished for the intelligent and benevolent exercise of that will. It makes, io short, oplnicn, instead ot'force, the supremo arbiter. 10 'ihiit ixiiit a govcinmcnt feLoald be as eimplo as possible in its details and op- eration, must ho u])pnierit Rt n glanco. Its pnranifcuiit objerts aro plain and few, and the means whii:li it adopts to secure those objects should bo equally plain'and I'evf. Its powers should be well defined, and should never dopend upon mere pre- cedent, construction or implication. The less complicated it is, in its provisions and administration, the more certain will it be to secure its just ends; & the mure intricate it is, whether in theory or practice, the more surely will it depart from its le^itimateobjects and become (ho refuge of oppression and wrong" J^ut such a government as i have been describinsf, inay be established, and may bo perfect in the arrangement of its powers, and tiie adaptation of its means to secure the freedom, happiness and improvement of its citizens, and yet not be administered so as to eO'ett those objects. If rulers lose sight of righis. and le- gislate independent of tiiem, for properly, prosperity, and national greatness, they ore sure to render government an engine of wrong to some, and favor to others, and thus, thwart its only true end, — the promotion of the well'are of all alike. — The GENERAL GOOD, therefore, should be the great aim in the administration of government. And by }i;encral good, I do not mean the promotion of richcs,^ Bplendor and power in the nation, but the equal protection of every citizen ia his rights, — the impartial adininistration ofjuslice, the supremacy of the laws, in their power ot punishment and protection, over all — equal means (»f wealth, (sduca- tion and advancement to every citizen — the universal dillusion of intelligence and the promotion of hoifcsty, industry and virtue among every class, — and the subor- dination of all mere pecuniary and temporary interests to the good of man, in all his moral and immortal qualities. All legislation, tlien, which is partial in its ob- ject or operation, is at direct war with the principles of republican liberty, — a palpable violation of the social compact, — an adoption, in practice, of the very essence of tho aristocratic principle of society and government. Laws should h«ve reference to rights, and rights belong equally to all. The administration of our own government, then, upon wrong principles, and Trith wrong views as to the true object of government, and the true scope of legist lation, is the rock upon which we aro most likely to split. The great end a- which we should aim in our ellbrts for tho public good, manifestly is, to imbue the public mind with just sentiments as to the true objects of government, and the best means of securing those objects. The public sentiment of the nation is ex- pressed by the statute book, — if that sentiment is tinctured with false notions, and formed upon unsound maxims, the laws will exhibit, in their character and operation, an unsound policy. If the simple doctrines of republicanism prevail among tho people, the laws will be few, general, impartial and plain. If the ar- tificial and speculative dogmas of tho aristocratic principle have been adopted to any extent, by tho people, the laws will be correspondmgly numerous, com- plex, partial and unintelligible. The former will be the policy of nature; the lat- ter, the policy of artificw. It is at this |)oint that the people of this country divide into parties, and here it is, that we may appropriately inquire, are we of the present day maintaining and carrying out the simple principles of republican freedom as wstablished by our fathers, or aro we, to a greater or less extent, adopting the principles and policy of tho aristocracies of the old world .•' This inquiry is not only most proper for us, as partisans, but also most pertinent to the occasion which has called us together. If wo go back to the tirno of the revolution, we shall (ind that a very marked diffarencQ of opinion, as to the object and powers of government, prevailed among the leading men of those days. This dilForence of opinion did not fully and une- quivocally manifest itself until after the close of the struggle for independence, when it becamft necessary to settle Sc define the powers of (he new government. All thfi men of ihono days uijrced in ona thing, — that America should be indepeyidant of British lule. But one portion were in favor of independence, in order to es- tablish a govornmont on the model of the British Constitution; and the other, which Avas, by far, the largest class, and which gave^haracter to the principles of the revolution, — were in favor of independence in order to establish a govern- ment based upon the right* of man. Kesistance to a bad administratio* of a good goveitliiieiit rti\A ths tloclrino of ono class, and reslalntJce lo tyraany fur tUc [ibi- nose of securing Iriio liberty, whs the doctririo of tlie otlior. At the UoadoftliQ former was Hamilton; Rt the hefid of the latter was Jefferson, These two schools distinctly exhihited themselves at the formntion of tho con«(itution. The ono con- tended for hereditary features in the constitution, and the removal of power from the people, and the other, was for placing the power wlioli!/ with the people, and for establishing the njost perfect e(iuaiity ojnong all classes. After the Consti- tution was formed and adopted, and the popular had triumphed over the exclus- ive principle, as to the form of the government and the arrangement of its pow- ers, as soon as the government went into operation these two classes began to ex- hibit their peculiar notions in its administration. The one was for extending its powers, — addinij new ones by implication, and rendering the government strong nnd imposing; while tlie other contended that government should keep closely within its defined and cnuuierated powers, taking nothing by implication, and that it should b« ijiain and simple i;i its character and operation. Hamilton and his scliool drew their notions of government from Great Brit- ain, — their 6eon i(ie«Z of government was the British constitution divested of some of its most glaring defects, and the form of society which they would substantial- ly adopt, was that which prevailed in the mother country. They looked upon men as naturally divided into two classes, "the gentlemen and simplemen,"— -tlie former fitted to be lawgivers and governors, and the latter, subjects. The peo- ple were not, in their estimation, qualitied to be entrusted with sovereignty, but should be checked and controlled by a permanent and patrician interest, which should hold and exercise authority, not from the people, but from the constilv.iion.* Jefferson and his school, on the other hand, threw themselves back of the British Constitution, upon the natural rights, and natural equality of men,— looked up- on jrovernment as an association of men for their common good, and ielt full faitli in the virtue and intilligcnce of the people as their own best rulers. The aim of the one class was a mere »iosequently in the struggles of 1793 and the following years, and every thing like patrician rank and hereditary privilege having been discarded, to those who thirsted for such distinctions, the posession of extraordinary wealth seemed to open the only door for the attainment of their wishes. Wealth, with its influence and appendages, took tlie place of dukedoms, lordships and baronies, in the imagina- tions of those wlio longed for the substance, if not the gew-gaws of rank. Forget- ting that government was instituted for the security of riglits and the good ot all, with special favors to none; and finding tiiat riches might be made to flow in, with n more swelling tide, upon those who could obtain from government certain ex- clusive privileges, they exerted themselves to turn the legislation of the country to their own account. The true object of legislation began to be lost sight of; and although every thing was done in the name of the people and for the alleged g-ooci of the people yet the interest of the few was the governing object. Law ceased, in some measure, to be the voice of right and became the voice of gain ! Property, and not men, began to be uppermost in the mind of the law-maker, — the interests of mammon began to overshadow the interests of humanity, — labor weighed as nothing in the scale against ca|)ital, — national virtue was disregarded in the rage for national greatness and power, — and the enduring interests of hu- man nature were trodden under the foot of sordid and heartless avarice. Such was the introduction into this government ofthat iniquitous system of legislation which has filled the land with privileged corporations, and has done much to build up among the people, a privileged class more powerful than the people themselves. And this is the spirit and substance of aristocracy, if not its form. What, I ask, is the substantial difference between incorporatmg a certain class into a privileg- ed order by constitutional provision, and granting the same or similar privileges to a like number, by legislative enactment ? What 'diflerence in principle is there, between attaching to a certain portion of the soil of England, certain e- moluments and honors, and attaching to a specified portion of the money of this country, represented by stock, advantages which do not attend the residue? — What diflerence, in its practical operali«m, can there be between cutting society into two classes, making a part nobles and a part peasants, at once; and so employing the powers of government, as to constantly aggrandize those, already rich and |)ow- erful, at the e.\pense of the rest, until all is splendor and niagtiificence above, and all is poverty, wretchedness and want beneath ^ What boots it, that we live in a government constructed upon free principles, if the powers ofthat govern- ment are 90 wielded, as to enable apart to plunder the rest, or the laws, which ar9 ena<;tGd under its authority, are not founded upon the equal rights of all ?■— Wliat have we gtiined, iJ'wo have but exchanged an aristocracy of Intid-holderfl for an aristocracy of stock-holders? What have we not lost, if wo have exchanged fur the ascendancy of a chivalrous St educated nobility, the ascendancy of heartless and soulless legal existences, which have no notions of right and wrong, and v\hich iiavc no sensibilities to be touched, cither in (heir bosoms or on their backs. To satisfy ourselves (hat there has been a gross departure, in the past legisla- tion ofthe country, from the true principles of democratic freedom, we need but look around us atid recur to facts, withvhich all are familiar. Throughout the length and breadth ofthe land we behold, instead of general and impartial laws, enacted for the security ofthe people's rights and their improvement in all that constitutes true elevation of character, laws erecting an almost countless num- ber of monied and other corporations, with privileges which no individual poses- ses, and which have been given them at the expense of the community: we be- hold, also, that with these monied corporations, has grown up, in the midst of us, a distinct and powerful interest, that mixes with eveiy branch of busin(;ss, and exerts its influence in every department of society — we have seen this interest win its way into the \ery government ofthe country, and boast that the govern- rrent could not perform its appropriate functions without its aid — and we ' have witnessed it, when its utility was questioned, and its ri^ht to participate in the administration of public affairs denied, openly wage war against the constituted au- thorities ofthe land, plunge the nation into distress, and threaten it with irretriev- able ruin, unless its wishes were acquiesced in — and at this very moment, we know that it is engaged in a fierce contest to compel the government to an al- liance with its interest. In this we discover that predominance of the partial over the general interest, which is most fatal to iVeedom in its tendencies, and is the sure forerunner ofdespotic powei. A system better calculated to mislead and deceive, than the corporation, pa- per-money, credit system so extensfrely adopted in this country, could not have been devised by the ingenuity of man. Possessing some advantages, and those such as address themselves most forcibly to the observation even ofthe unskilful — intricate and subtle in its details and operation,— insidious in its encroachments, and specious in its effects, — inflaming (he cupidity of some and ministering to the ambilion of others, — possessing, in short, some allurement or some bribe for al- most every portion ofthe community, it won its way to public favor, as noiselessly as the serpent glides to its prey; and the nation were only aroused to their dang- er when they found themselves crushed beneath its weight and writhing within its folds. 15y its command ofthe circulating medium of the country, and by its consequent power over the commercial world, it possessed the means within it- self, of teaching and influencing every pecuniary interest ofthe people; and once having mtermingled itself with all the pursuits of life and ramifications of society, t became no difficult matter to impress upon the public mind, that its continuance md sustentation were necessary to the prosperity and well-being ofthe body pol- tic. Secure in the inviolability of corporate privileges, — beinji in no way directly lesponsible to the popular will, but possessing an infinite number of appliances to operate upon that will and mould it to its own purposes, and being the dispenser instead of the recipient of favors, it necessarily acquired a fearful influence, not jnly over the people but over their public servants. It became no middling interest or third estate in the republic, but began to be the stale itself. And yet it had eached this fatal supremacy, by such rapid and stealthy strides, that the people eemed not to know that they were under the yoke, — its galling alone aroused hem from their lethargy. In the minds of some politicians and statesman, this country owes all that it losseses of prosperity, improvement and greatness to the introduction and pre- .alence ofthis system. They would fain make you believe, that before its adop- ion and extension, the land was a waste and the people, barbarians; and that with- >ut its continuance, the country would become a desolation, and its inhabitants a race of paupers! How little do such men know ofthe true source of a nation's prosperity, or the true elements of a nation's improvement and greatness. Indus- try, frugality and virtue among the people, are the fountains from which flow true 14 nationn! increasa and Btren^Lh. That ihi.-; aysteiTihaa a tenduncj lo advRiicc iho nation in many respects, 13 admitted. It in';rca3cs the business, the coinmcice, the luxuries and the splendor ofthe nation. It acts upon the body politic, like n powerful stimulu.s upon the human .system, taxing ull its powers to tiie utmost and urging it forward with blind impetucsity in a career which has no guides and no goal. But is this improvement in its proper sense r In the eye of the "true pat- riot, improvement does U'^t consist alone in the increase of power, in the exten- sion of couimerce and the arts, and in the multiplication of cana's, steam ships nnd rail-roads, — all these may exist while in all that constitutes real national rich- es and prosperity, the nation may be wantins and ultimate consequences. He who loves lii.>^ country and his kind, wHI not permit his vision to be bounded by the interests of a year or a cycle of years, but will look beyond, into the extended and extend- ing vista of futurity, and will estimate the consequence of present acts, upon re- mote poslerit}'. He will not adopt that narrow minded, unstatesman-like policy which seeks for the agrandizoment of the existing generation at the expense of the misery of generations yet unborn. The Public and the People are not t!ie same, and their interests are by no means identical. The public is a creature of temporary and changeful interest, but the people are eternal, and their great interests are ever tlie same. If we grant, then, that the corporation and paper money systems, as now exisiting in this country, arc of present advantage, — that they stimulate industry — multiply manufactures, — extend commerce and urge forward the country with great rapidity, in the increase of v/ealth and luxury, does this prove that these systems are beneficial to the nation? How are all these"^ things accomplished? Surely not by any new creation of wealth or any now creation of its natural lesourccs. They are accomplished by adopting new and artilicial modes of action,— by unsettling the more equal distribution of wealth among the people k associating it in large masses, whereby its power for great enterprizes, whether good or evil in their character, i.q immeasurably increased, — by introducing the spirit and principle of monopoly into the public policy, — by breaking down in- dividual enterprise, and competition and, with them, 'the more genei^l diM'usion of competence and independence,— and by driving labor from the soil to the fac- tory, and thus bringing it more peneclly within the power of capital and conse- quently rendering it more perfectly its prey. In tho present state of this coun- try, whera land is pienJy nnii cheap, and the po[;uiut'ujn is not crowded, the oils which such an order of things is calculated to produce, aro not distinctly eeen and leit. Yet these are but the incipient steps in the estabiishmerit of a state of uocietv, where every thing like liberty and equality arc trcddrn under (bot. To gain a full and vivid conception of the fatal tendency of such a policy, the in- quiry should be made, what will be the condition oflhe country a century or two centuries hence, if the system is persevered in, and increases with the growth of the nation ? It needs no prophetic pencil to paint the picture. The land has been rapidly filling up with population,; — wealth has been gradually concentrat- ing in thehaiids of the lew, and poverty as gradually extending among the many; the soil lias come under tlve control of extensive land holders, and instead of a numerous, independent class of moderate farmers, there is one landlord to a hundred tenants, — r-s^seciated wealth* has reared its factories and tbrges and workshops around every waterfall and in every hnmlet, — the competition between capitalists and between laborers has increased, only to bring down the wages of la bor, — the multitude live only at the beck of the few, — flie improvement of mind, the culture of morals, and the practice of virtue among the mass, are all noglert- ed in the struggle for a scanty subsistence, — squalor, rajisand wretchedness hcfld frightrul sway in the crowded city and village, — disease there sets up his ghastly dominion, — hunger and starvation go prowlitii)- round, with hollow eyes and shriv- elled lij>s, and with frenzied crime tor an attendant; premature old age and de- cay fasten upon manhood,-— infancy is driven to l-mg :\nd almost unrequited toil, with no smile upon its lip, no rose upon its cheek, and no joy within its heart,' — and the country, v.hich should have been the home of freemen and the nurse of giant men, has, by its own evil system of legislation, turned its freemen into dependants and filled its borders with a wretched and degenerated race. How tiorrible the contemplation! How truly may it be said: "111 fares that land to hastening ills a prey, Wliere wealth acciiinulates and men decay." Wherever true notions of liberty arid a rtrict adherence to the principles of democratic equality prevail in the government and policy of a country, we be- hold an entirely different state of things. Instead of that "horizontal cut" in so- ciety which divides the ])eople into nabobs and paupers, there is a more general distribution of wealth among all portions of community. The laws are general in their provisions and impartial in their operation, neither oppressing one, nor grantiiig favors to another; independence is in every hi cast — industry and con- tentment go hand in hand to tiieir toil and frugality is the companion of gain. I'he goverr.ment, with parental care, looks to the protection of rights rather than the protection of particular interests. It never suffers the individual era class to be sacrificed, though the sacritice may bo asked in the name of the general good. It subjects its policy to what is just, instead of to that which is only ex- j)edient and advantageous. It makes labor honorable, and does not exalt rich- es and show above virtue and iiitelligenec, though their let may be lowly and their garb homely. It strives, ni shoit, first fur the improvement of the mind and heart of the nation and aims to secure the elevation of the intellectual and im- *It has bee.n gravely said by an eminent statesman and writer, that " associated wealth " is no more dangerous than"associaled poverty." That the evil, if any, is in "ilie principle of associat- ed power and in the purposes of the association." and not in the wealth or poverty oftlio parlies." If the question was simply whether the association of rich men or pour aicn, for the accoiiiplish- ment of any given object, was the greater evil, the only inquiry would be, which has liie most pow- er, bv iheir means ami numbers, to accomplish the end proposed? The association would be equal- ly anli-republicnn in both cases. Hut the associating nl" wealth in large masses, which posspsnea an iiilii'rent power to gainfave; and control for its possessor, when distiibuted amongindivi:!ijals,and con- lering upon it tiy law new powers whereby its influence is incalculably increased, is a positive evil in itself, and of arii-repubiican lendercy whether considered within the control of ricjj or poor men. But poverty is ihe absence of wealth, — the lack of influence, — the want of power, it is not, liUe wealth, by nature the spoiler, but iiis prey. And how cau poverty be associated and armed with new p