LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA DAVIS A. K. McCLURE, LL.D. FAMOUS AMERICAN STATESMEN & ORATORS PAST AND PRESENT WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES AND THEIR FAMOUS ORATIONS IN SrX VOLUMES VOLUME I ALEXANDER K. MCCLURE, LL.D. EDITOR Author of ^''Lincoln and Men of War Times" "0#r Presidents and How We Make Them," etc. BYRON ANDREWS of the "National Tribune" Washington^ D. C. ASSOCIATE EDITOR Author of '" 'The Eastern Question" k ^The Life of Logan" "One of the People" (McKinley), "Monroe and His Doctrine" etc. NEW YORK F. F. LOVELL PUBLISHING COMPANY LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA COPYRIGHT, 1902, F. F. LOVELL PUBLISHING CO, BECKTOLD PRINTING AND BOOK MFG. CO. ST. LOUIS, MO. CONTENTS. ADAMS, CHARLES FRANCIS On The States and the Union, Page 116, Vol. V. ADAMS, JOHN Inaugural Address, Page 88, Vol. I. The Boston Massacre, Page 97, Vol. I. ADAMS, JOHN QUINCY Oration at Plymouth, Page 107, Vol. II. Lafayette, Page 129, Vol. II. The Jubilee of the Constitution, Page 137, Vol. II. ADAMS, SAMUEL American Independence, Page 27, Vol. I. AMES, FISHER On The British Treaty, Page 19, Vol. II. ANDREW, JOHN A. The Eve of War, Page 380, Vol. I. BAYARD, THOMAS F. On The U. S. Army, Page 133, Vol. IV. BEECHER, HENRY WARD Address at Liverpool, Oct. 16, 1863, Page 204, Vol. V. BENTON, THOMAS H. On The Expunging Resolution, Page 108, Vol. III. BEVERIDGE, ALBERT J. For The Greater Republic, Not for Imperialism, Page 3, Vol. VI. BLAINE, JAMES G. On The Remonetization of Silver, Page 172, Vol. IV. BOUDINOT, ELIAS Oration before the Cincinnati, Page 195, Vol. I. BRECKINRIDGE, JOHN C. Address Preceding the Removal of the Senate, Page 371, Vol. IV. BROOKS, PHILLIPS Abraham Lincoln, Page 131, Vol. VI. BROOKS, PRESTON S. Speech on the Sumner Assault, Page 376, Vol. II. 1 I 4 CONTENTS. BROWN, BENJAMIN GRATZ On Slavery in its National Aspects as Related to Peace and War, Page 356, Vol. VI. BROWN, JOHN Words to Gov. Wise at Harper's Ferry, Page 380, Vol. VI. Last Speech to the Court, Page 381, Vol. VI. BRYAN, WILLIAM J. The Cross of Gold, Page 251, Vol. V. BRYANT, WILLIAM CULLEN Welcome to Louis Kossuth, Page 62, Vol. VI. Address at the Founding of the Metropolitan Art Museum, Page 66, Vol. VI. BUCHANAN, JAMES Inaugural Address, Page i , Vol. IV. BURGES, TRISTAM Rebuke to Randolph, Page 198, Vol. II. BURLINGAME, ANSON Massachusetts and Sumner, Page 13, Vol. III. BUTLER, BENJAMIN F. Character and Results of the War, Page 336, Vol. IV. CALHOUN, JOHN C. On Nullification and the Force Bill, Page 315, Vol. III. Speech on the Slavery Question, Page 327, Vol. III. CASS, LEWIS On the Spirit of the Age, Page 357, Vol. III. CHANNING, WM. ELLERY Character of Christ, Page 84, Vol. III. CHOATE, RUFUS Books and Civilization in America, Page 88, Vol. V. *j/ CHOATE, JOSEPH H. Oration on Rufus Choate, Page 214, Vol. IV. CLAY, CASSIUM M. Address at Yale College, Page 149, Vol. V. CLAY, HENRY Dictators in American Politics, Page 336, Vol. II. On the Expunging Resolutions, Page 350, Vol. II. On the Seminole War, Page 354, Vol. II. The Emancipation of South America, Page 360, Vol. II. s/ CLEMENS, SAMUEL L. New England Weather, Page 321, Vol. IV. / CLEVELAND, GROVER First Inaugural Address, Page 276, Vol. V. CONTENTS. 5 CLINTON, DE WITT Phi Beta Kappa Address, Page 169, Vol. II. COCKRAN, WILLIAM BOURKE Reply to William J. Bryan, Page 263, Vol. V. CONKLING, ROSCOE Speech Nominating Grant, Page 166, Vol. IV. CORWIN, THOMAS From Speech on the Mexican War, Page 43, Vol. VI. Cox, SAMUEL S. The Beauties of Diplomacy, Page 78, Vol. V. CRITTENDON, JOHN J. On the Crittendon Compromise, Page 371, Vol. III. CUMMINGS, AMOS J. On the Naval Appropriation Bill, Page 106, Vol. VI. CURTIS, GEORGE WILLIAM On the Spoils System and the Progress of Civil Service Reform, Page 253, Vol. VI. DALLAS, GEO. M. Eulogy of Andrew Jackson, Page 62, Vol. IV. / DAVIS, JEFFERSON Inaugural Address, Page 133, Vol. V. DEPEW, CHAUNCEY M. Speech at the Dinner to Celebrate the Anniversary of the Birth of General Grant, Page 311, Vol. IV. DEXTER, SAMUEL Argument in Selfridge's Trial, Page 57, Vcl. II. DONNELLY, IGNATIUS Reconstruction, Page 197, Vol. IV. ELIOT, CHAS. W. Inaugural Address as President of Harvard University, Page 274, Vol. IV. EMERSON, RALPH WALDO Harvard's Heroes, Page 99, Vol. V. / EVARTS, WILLIAM M. The Day We Celebrate, Page 326, Vol. IV. .- EVERETT, WILLIAM Patriotism, Page 153, Vol. VI. FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN The Federal Constitution, Page 19, Vol. I. Dangers of a Salaried Bureaucracy, Page 22, Vol. I. GALLATIN, ALBERT On the British Treaty, Page 40, Vol. II. O CONTENTS. GARFIELD, JAMES A. Inaugural Address, Page 185, Vol. IV. GARRISON, WILLIAM LLOYD Words of Encouragement to Oppressed, Page 103, Vol. V. GRADY, HENRY W. The New South, Page 342, Vol. V. GRANT, ULYSSES S. Speech at Warren, Ohio, Page 43, Vol. V. GREELEY, HORACE On the Union of Workers, page 195, Vol. V. GROW, GALUSHA On Manila, Page 38, Vol. III. HALE, EDWARD EVERETT New England Culture, Page 32, Vol. V. HAMILTON, ALEXANDER On the Expediency of Adopting the Federal Constitution, Page 370, Vol. I. HANCOCK, JOHN Oration on the Boston Massacre, Page 160, Vol. I. HANNA, MARCUS A. Promotion of Commerce and Increase of Trade, Page 283, Vol. V. HARRISON, BENJAMIN Inaugural Address, Page 224, Vol. IV. HAWLEY, JOSEPH H. On the Press, Page no, Vol. IV. HAY, JOHN Secretary of State's Tribute to the Dead President, Page 193, Vol. VI. HAYES, RUTHERFORD B. Campaign Speech, Page 53, Vol. V. HAYNE, ROBERT Y. On Foot's Resolution, Page 12, Vol. IV. HENRY, PATRICK "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death," Page 126, Vol. I. "We, the People," or "We, the States?" Page 131, Vol. I. "A Nation Not a Federation," Page 135, Vol. I. The Bill of Rights, Page 140, Vol. I. Liberty or Empire ?, Page 146, Vol. I. HIGGINSON, THOMAS WENTWORTH Decoration Day Address at Mount Auburn Cemetary, May 30, 1870, Page 222, Vol. VI. Oration Upon Grant, Page 226, Vol. VI. For Self Respect and Self Protection, Page 234, Vol. VI. CONTENTS, / HILL, BENJAMIN H. On the Perils of the Nation, Page 181, Vol. VI. HOAR, GEORGE F. Address at the Banquet of the New England Society, Page 83, Vol. IV. HOLLAND, JOSIAH G. Eulogy of Abraham Lincoln, Page 3, Vol. II. HOLMES, OLIVER WENDELL Leave no Verbal Message, Page 139, Vol. V. HOUSTON, SAMUEL Speech of the Nebraska and Kansas Bill, Page 75, Vol. IV. INGALLS, JOHN J. On the Political Situation, Page 241, Vol. IV. INGERSOLL, ROBERT G. Blaine, the Plumed Knight, Page 381, Vol. V. JACKSON, ANDREW State Rights and Federal Sovereignty, Page 149, Vol. II. Jackson's Farewell Address, Page 154, Vol. II. JAY, JOHN Address to the People of Great Britain, Page 256, Vol. I. JEFFERSON, THOMAS Democracy Denned, Page 232, Vol. I. KNOTT, JAMES PROCTOR Speech on " Duluth," Page 308, Vol. VI. LEE, HENRY Eulogy on Washington, Page 358, Vol. I. LINCOLN, ABRAHAM At Gettysburg, Page 147, Vol. V. LIVINGSTON, ROBERT R. Oration before the Cincinnati, Page 270, Vol. I. LODGE, HENRY C. Oration on Daniel Webster, Page 356, Vol. V. LOGAN, JOHN A. On the Independence of Cuba, Page 103, Vol. IV. LONG, JOHN D. Problems of the Future, page 307, Vol. V. LOWELL, JAMES RUSSELL Oration at the 25oth Anniversary of the Founding of Har vard College, Page 3, Vol. V. 8 CONTENTS. MADISON, JAMES On the Expediency of Adopting the Federal Constitution, Page 282, Vol. I. Inaugural Address, Page 296, Vol. I. MARSHALL, JOHN Speech on the Federal Constitution, Page 336, Vol. I. McKiNLEY, WILLIAM Last Speech, Page 232, Vol. V. MONROE, JAMES Federal Experiments in History, Page 33, Vol. II. MOODY, DWIGHT L. What Think Ye of Christ ?, Page 119, Vol. VI. MORRIS, GOUVERNEUR Speech on the Judiciary, Page 317, Vol. I. NOTT, ELIPHALET "How are the Mighty Fallen," Page 308, Vol. II. OTIS, HARRISON GRAY Eulogy on Alexander Hamilton, Page 87, Vol. II. OTIS, JAMES Against "Writs of Assistance," Page 50, Vol. I. PARKHURST, CHARLES H. Sermon on Gariield, Page 93, Vol. VI. PAINE, THOMAS Speech in the French National Convention, Page 177, Vol. I. PHELPS, EDWARD J. Farewell Address, Page 47, Vol. V. PHELPS, WILLIAM WALTER Sound Currency, Page 315, Vol. V. PHILLIPS, WENDELL The Murder of Lovejoy, Page 159, Vol. V. PINKNEY, WILLIAM Speech for the Relief of the Oppressed Slaves, Page 78 1 Vol. II. PORTER, HORACE The Triumph of American Invention, Page 16, Vol. VI. POTTER, HENRY C. Memorial Discourse on Phillips Brooks, Page 73, Vol. VI. QUINCY, JOSIAH On the Admission of Louisiana, Page 216, Vol. II. QUINCY, JOSIAH, JR. Speech in Defense of the Soldiers, Page 239, Vol. I. CONTENTS. 9 I RANDOLPH, JOHN On Foreign Importations, Page 240, Vol. II. RAYMOND, HENRY J. Speech on Reconstruction, Page 3, Vol. III. RED JACKET Speech at Fort Stanwix, Page 301, Vol. I. Defense of Stiff- Armed George, Page 306, Vol. I. Reply to Mr. Cram, Page 312, Vol. I. REED, THOMAS B. Address on National Issues, Page 321, Vol. V. ROOSEVELT, THEODORE Speech Seconding the Nomination of McKinley, Page 243, Vol. V. Ross, JONATHAN The Nation's Relation to its Island Possessions, Page 277,. Vol. VI. RUTLEDGE, JOHN Speech to the General Assembly, Page 187, Vol. I. SCHURZ, CARL The Policy of Imperialism, Page 145, Vol. IV. SHERMAN, JOHN On Silver Coinage and Treasury Notes, Page 65, Vol. V. SHERMAN, WILLIAM T. The Army and Navy, Page 26, Vol. V. < v - STEVENS, THADDEUS Againts Webster and Northern Compromisers, Page 48, Vol. IV. The Issue Against Andrew Johnson, Page 59, Vol. IV. STORY, JOSEPH Characteristics of the Age, Page 57, Vol. III. SUMNER, CHARLES On the Crime Against Kansas, Page 171, Vol. V. TECUMSEH Speech at Vincennes, Page 194, Vol. II. Speech to General Proctor, Page 195, Vol. II. TELLER, HENRY M. On Porto Rico, Page 299, Vol. VI. TILDEN, SAMUEL J. Address on Administrative Reform, Page 226, Vol. V. TWAIN, MARK NEW England Weather, Page 321, Vol. IV. IO CONTENTS. VANCE, ZEBULON B. The Slavery Question, Page 288, Vol. VI. VEST, GEORGE G. On Indian Schools, Page 328, Vol. VI. VOORHEES, DANIEL W. Defence of John E. Cook, Page 116, Vol. IV. WARREN, JOSEPH Oration on the Boston Massacre, Page 215, Vol. I. WASHINGTON, GEORGE First Inaugural Address, Page 59, Vol. I. Farewell Address, Page 65, Vol. I. WATTERSON, HENRY National Problems Discussed, Page 340, Vol. VI WEBSTER, DANIEL The Reply to Hayne, Page 126, Vol. III. Laying the Corner Stone of Bunker Hill Monument, Pa^e 233, Vol. III. At Plymouth, in 1820, Page 260, Vol. III. Adams and Jefferson, Page 264, Vol. III. WHITE, ANDREW D. The Apostle of Peace Among the Nations, Page 26, Vol. VI. WIRT, WILLIAM Speech in the Trial of Aaron Burr, Page 278, Vol. II. LIST OF PORTRAITS. VOLUME ONE Col. A. K. McClure, Frontispiece. George Washington, Page 78. Patrick Henry, Page 126. J. C. Calhoun, Page 264. VOLUME Two Abraham Lincoln, Frontispiece. Edw. Everett, Page 90. Charles Sumner, Page 196. Jefferson Davis, Page 282. VOLUME THREE Samuel Houston, Frontispiece. William M. Evarts, Page 90. Daniel Webster, Page 186. Joseph H. Hawley, Page 330. VOLUME FOUR William McKinley, Frontispiece. Benjamin Harrison, Page 88. James A. Garfield, Page 194. Theodore Roosevelt, Page 280. VOLUME FIVE James G. Elaine, Frontispiece. Henry Watterson, Page 154. William J. Bryan, Page 260. Thomas B. Reed, Page 330. VOLUME Six George F. Hoar, Frontispiece. Joseph H. Choate, Page 90. Horace Greeley, Page 170. Grover Cleveland, Page 266. EDITORIAL FOREWORD. "Oratory," said Abraham Lincoln, "is the great power that moves nations to do and dare; it was oratory that wrecked Rome and made Christianity live." None of our public men better understand the power of oratory than did Lincoln, and he esti mated it from its highest plane. He would not have been a great orator in Rome when Roman people were swayed by the impassioned eloquence of their orators to deify to-day and crucify to-morrow, but he was one of the greatest of American orators of the rare type that always appeals to the considerate judgment of mankind. The power of the impassioned oratory that swayed the ancients in the days of Demosthenes has been impaired by the growing in culture and thoughtful- ness of the people of all nations. There are occa sions when it is yet most appropriate and impressive, but they are rare. It at times asserts itself in great trials in our courts of justice, but its impressions speedily perish, unless they appeal to some enduring human sympathy. Senator Depew truthfully says, "Eloquence is the master element in politics," but political oratory in this country, like the political oratory of every other civilized country of the world, has materially changed in its most effective attributes. In the days of Thomas Corwin of Ohio, and Sargent S. Prentiss of Mississippi, the political orator was the sole dependence of political parties. The news paper was then a luxury and did not reach the masses of the people. The "bustlings" was, therefore, 14 EDITORIAL FOREWORD. the only medium by which the people could be taught. Education was greatly circumscribed, being accessible on a liberal scale only to the few, and it was a period in the history of our country that developed a class of orators and a type of oratory, trained in all the arts of appealing to ignor ance and prejudice, that has been gradually sup planted by a much higher standard of disputation, although often not so fascinating to a popular assembly. The orators of the early days of this country, like the orators of Rome and Greece, had but one great study, and that was to sway multitudes by mingled eloquence, pathos, humor and invective. Had Corwin or Prentiss delivered a sober address on any great political occasion such as Abraham Lincoln delivered to the Republican State Conven tion of Illinois in 1858, when he was unanimously nominated for United States Senator, such a deliv erance would have fallen upon heedless ears and entirely without responsive enthusiasm. The newspaper that now reaches everywhere and is the daily teacher in almost every home; the school that, as a rule, is open and free to all regard less of race or circumstances; the college that now gathers its pupils from every section and class; the railway that now peals out the hoarse music of the iron horse over hill and valley in every part of the country; the swift greyhounds of the ocean, which annihilate space in great centers of sea travel, and the multiplicity of books and libraries which reach into almost every village and are thus brought within the range of almost every household, have advanced intelligence and thoughtfulness, and man hood and womanhood, in our happy green land to an extent that has largely shorn impassioned oratory of its locks and measurably destroyed it as an agent in the great w r ork of teaching the American people. EDITORIAL FOREWORD. 15 The impassioned oratory that in olden times was solely relied upon to sway the multitude, has had a full share in the wonderful advancement of the American people. It is less potent now than half a century or more ago, but it remains as an important feature of oratory among all the people of the earth. Patrick Henry gave the most exquisite illustration of it that we have in our history. Others have probably spoken as eloquently and as earnestly as he did, but the theme that called out the burning eloquence of Henry is one that enlists the sympathies of all classes and conditions throughout our great Republic, and must continue to do so while our free institutions are maintained ; and every pupil of our schools has been, is to-day and ever will be familiar with his immortal utterance, "Give me liberty or give me death ! ' ' But the impassioned oratory of Henry and others never could have organized the great Revolution and founded the noblest government of the world. It required the sober utterances of the Adamses, of Franklin, of Madison, of Marshall and others, to appeal to the convictions of the people and unite the colonies in the desperate effort to throw off the English yoke. None of -our many eminently distinguished pub lic men equaled Henry Clay in the impassioned ora tory that swayed the multitude, but Clay was much more than a mere orator. His greatest oratorical efforts were delivered in the Senate of the United States, where he was one of the most skilful and powerful of disputants. Webster was the most forceful in argument of all our public men, but he cultivated none of the arts of oratory. His manner was as simple as the style of his expression, but he stands out single and alone as the greatest intellect ual force of American statesmanship. Clay swayed audiences not only because he was generally the 1 6 EDITORIAL FOREWORD. idol of his auditors, but because his utterances were as forceful as they were charming, but Webster awed the masses who heard him into reverence by his ponderous intellectual mastery, and was greater than Clay in the discussion of any abstruse legal or political question before a judicial or deliberative tribunal. Elaine was the most magnetic of our great ora tors since the reign of Clay. He was brilliant, sym pathetic, audacious and when aroused, carried his audience by storm, but he was not the greatest of our political disputants, for the disputant and the orator often essentially differ in attribute and achievement. Conkling was grand, imperious and cogent, and on every occasion that called out his greater qualities his orations were most impressive and well remembered. His nomination of Grant in the Republican National Convention of 1880 will ever be remembered by all who heard it, as long as memory remains to them. It had all the elegant polish of oratory, and would have been a most im pressive deliverance to any assembly that was open to deliberation on the subject of nominating the President; but in that contest between Grant and Blaine, it could be said of them as was once said of Rome, that " Caesar had a party and Antony a party, but Rome had none." The most profoundly impressive speech I ever heard was that of Robert G. Ingersoll nominating Blaine for President in the Cincinnati convention of 1876. It was delivered to a convention a majority of whose delegates were largely or measurably in sympathy with Blaine, and its effect upon the assem bled delegates was so great and so clearly visible, that the opponents of Blaine were compelled to resort to the most desperate measures to prevent a ballot for President during the day. Daniel Dougherty's speech nominating Hancock EDITORIAL FOREWORD. 1 7 for President in the Democratic National Convention of 1880, was one among the very best exhibitions we have had of impassioned American oratory, and while it was a more polished deliverance than that of Ingersoll, it was simply a most exquisite oration, exhibiting the highest art of oratory, but lacked the rugged forcefulness of Ingersoll' s appeal for Elaine or of Bourke Cockran's able and impressive protest against the nomination of Cleveland in the National Convention of 1892. We have as great orators to-day as we have had at any time in the past history of the Republic, but conditions have vastly changed the relations be tween orators and the masses during the last half century. In oratory the mountains are just as tall and imposing, but the valleys have largely filled up, and the distance in point of intelligence between the orator and the people has been vastly lessened. The successful orator of to-day the oratory that sways public sentiment and leads the American peo ple in ruling their own government, is not the im passioned oratory that for centuries swayed the world. The attributes of oratory are just as necessary now as they ever have been, but the aim and efforts of the successful orator of to-day are to make themselves convincing disputants with all the fascinating em bellishments of oratory. The last generation devel oped a number of distinguished orators of this type. Douglass, Seymour, Hendricks, Thurman and others were the most impressive Democratic orators of the time, and Sherman, Curtis, Schurz, Morton, Carpenter and others w T ere among the most successful teachers of Republicanism on the forum. In short, the effective orator of this enlightened and progressive age must be something more than a mere orator to illustrate the power of oratory, and all our teachings i8 EDITORIAL FOREWORD. now tend to train American oratory to the highest standard of grandeur and power. The study of oratory, and of the great orations alike of ancient and modern times, is vastly more general to-day than at any time in the past history of the civilized world, and I believe that this work now presented to the public, intelligently covers the great American orations. It contains the most famous speeches of the leaders of all the varied types of American orators, and there is no phase of oratory that is not given in its very best attributes. It is a work especially adapted to the students of the present generation, old and young, and I know of no work that the intelligent young student could study with greater profit. As an educational work it is, I believe, altogether the most valuable of our publications which can be obtained at moderate cost. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 1 9 Franklin, Benjamin, a distinguished American phi losopher, statesman and diplomatist, born in Boston, Mass., Jan. 17, 1726; died in Philadelphia, April 17, 1790. He learned the printer's trade in his youth, and removing to Philadelphia at seventeen he there set up in business, pros pered, and became one of the most influential men in the colony and prominent in promoting all enterprises for the public welfare. While deputy postmaster-general he or ganized a working postal system for the colonies, and he was twice sent to London by the colony of Pennsylvania as its agent. He was a member of the committee which drafted the Declaration of Independence, was one of the commis sioners plenipotentiary to France, where he became the lion of the hour, and signed the treaty of peace between the United States and Great Britain in 1783. He also took an active part in framing the National Constitution in 1787. He was an eminently shrewd, far-sighted writer and speaker, possessed of both tolerance and humor, and the characteris tics of his style may be well perceived in his observations on the Federal Constitution, and the Dangers of a Salaried Bureaucracy. THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION DELIVERED IN THE CONVENTION FOR FORMING THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, PHILADELPHIA, 1787. I CONFESS that I do not entirely approve of this Con stitution at present ; but, sir, I am not sure I shall never approve it, for, having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better informa tion or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but 2O BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. found to be otherwise. It is therefore that, the older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment of others. Most men, indeed, as well as most sects in re ligion, think themselves in possession of all truth, and ihat wherever others differ from them, it is so far error. Steele, a Protestant, in a dedication, tells the Pope that the only difference between our two churches in their opinions of the certainty of their doctrine is, the Romish Church is infallible, and the Church of England is never in the wrong. But, though many private persons think almost as highly of their own infallibility as that of their sect, few express it so naturally as a certain French lady, who, in a little dispute with her sister, said : " But I meet with nobody but myself that is al ways in the right." In these sentiments, sir, I agree to this Constitution, with all its faults if they are such because I think a general government necessary for us, and there is no form of government but what may be a blessing to the people, if well administered ; and I believe further, that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people sihall become so corrupted as to need despotic government, being inca pable of any other. I doubt, too, whether any other convention we can obtain may be able to make a better Constitution; for, when you assemble a number of men, to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local inter ests, and their selfish views. From such an assembly can a perfect production be expected ? It therefore as- j BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 21 tonishes me, sir, to find this system approaching so near to perfection as it does ; and I think it will aston ish our enemies, who are waiting with confidence to hear that our counsels are confounded like those of the builders of Babel, and that our States are on the point of separation, only to me*et hereafter for the purpose of cutting one another's throats. Thus I consent, sir, to this Constitution, because I expect no better, and because I am not sure that it is not the best. The opinions I have had of its errors I sacrifice to the pub lic good. I have never whispered a syllable of them abroad. Within these walls they were born, and here they shall die. If every one of us, in returning to our constituents, were to report the objections he has had to it, and endeavor to gain partisans in support of them, we might prevent its being generally received, and thereby lose all the salutary effects and great advan tages resulting naturally in our favor among foreign nations, as well as among ourselves, from our real or apparent unanimity. Much of the strength and effi ciency of any government, in procuring and securing happiness to the people, depends on opinion, on the general opinion of the goodness of that government, as well as of the wisdom and integrity of its governors. I hope, therefore, for our own sakes, as a part of the people, and for the sake of our posterity, that we shall act heartily and unanimously in recommending this Constitution wherever our influence may extend, and turn our future thoughts and endeavors to the means of having it well administered. On the whole, sir, I cannot help expressing a wish that every member of the convention who may still BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. have objection to it, would, with me, on this occasion, doubt a little of his own infallibility, and, to make mani fest our unanimity, put his name to this instrument. DANGERS OF A SALARIED BUREAUCRACY DELIVERED IN THE CONVENTION FOR FORMING THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, PHILADELPHIA, 1787. IT is with reluctance that J rise to express a disap probation of any one article of the plan for which we are so much obliged to the honorable gentlemen who laid it before us. From its first reading I have borne a good will to it, and, in general, wished it success. In this particular of salaries to the executive branch, I happen to differ ; and, as my opinion may appear new and chi merical, it is only from a persuasion that it is right, and from a sense of duty, that I hazard it. The committee will judge of my reasons when they have heard them, and their judgment may possibly change mine. I think I see inconveniences in the appointment of salaries; I see none in refusing them, but, on the contrary, great advantages. Sir, there are two passions which have a powerful influence in the affairs of men. These are ambition and avarice; the love of power and the love of money. Separately, each of these has great force in prompting men to action; but, when united in view of the same object, they have, in many mincls, the most violent ef fects. Place before the eyes of such men a post of honor, that shall, at the same time, be a place of profit, and thev will move heaven and earth to obtain it. The BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 23 vast number of such places it is that renders the Brit ish Government so tempestuous. The struggles for them are the true source of all those factions which are perpetually dividing the nation, distracting its councils, hurrying it sometimes into fruitless and mischievous wars, and often compelling a submission to dishonor able terms of peace. And of what kind are the men that will strive for this profitable pre-eminence, through all the bustle of cabal, the heat of contention, the infinite mutual abuse of parties, tearing to pieces the best of characters ? It will not be the wise and moderate, the lovers of peace and good order, the men fittest for the trust. It will be the bold and the violent, the men of strong passions and indefatigable activity in their selfish pursuits. These will thrust themselves into your government, and be your rulers. And these, too, will be mistaken in the expected happiness of their situation, for their vanquished competitors, of the same spirit, and from the same motives, will perpetually be endeavoring to distress their administration, thwart their measures, and render them odious to the people. Besides these evils, sir, though we may set out in the beginning with moderate salaries, we shall find that such will not be of long continuance. Reasons will never be wanting for proposed augmentations; and there will always be a party for giving more to the rulers, that the rulers may be able, in return, to give more to them. Hence, as all history informs us, there has been in every state and kingdom a constant kind of warfare between the governing and the governed; the one striving to obtain more for its support, and the 24 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. other to pay less. And this has alone occasioned great convulsions, actual civil wars, ending either in dethron ing of the princes or enslaving of the people. Gener ally, indeed, the ruling power carries its point, and we see the revenues of princes constantly increasing, and we see that they are never satisfied, but always in want of more. The more the people are discontented with the oppression of taxes, the greater need the prince has of money to distribute among his partisans, and pay the troops that are to suppress all resistance, and en able him to plunder at pleasure. There is scarce a king in a hundred, who would not, if he could, follow the example of Pharaoh get first all the people's money, then all their lands, and then make them and their children servants forever. It will be said that we do not propose to establish kings. I know it. But there is a natural inclination in mankind to kingly govern ment. It sometimes relieves them from aristocratic domination. They had rather have one tyrant than five hundred. It gives more of the appearance of equality among citizens ; and that they like. I am ap prehensive, therefore perhaps too apprehensive that the government of the States may, in future times, end in a monarchy. But this catastrophe, I think, may be long delayed, if in our proposed system we do not sow the seeds of contention, faction, and tumult, by making our posts of honor places of profit. If we do, I fear that, though we employ at first a number and not a single person, the number will, in time, be set aside; it will only nourish the foetus of a king (as the honor able gentleman from Virginia very aptly expressed it), and a king will the sooner be set over us. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 2$ It may be imagined by some that this is a Utopian idea, and that we can never find men to serve us in the executive department without paying them well for their services. I conceive this to be a mistake. Some existing fact present themselves to me which incline me to a contrary opinion. The high sheriff of a county in England is an honorable office, but it is not a profitable one. It is rather expensive, and therefore not sought for. But yet it is executed, and well exe cuted, and usually by some of the principal gentlemen of the county. In France, the office of counsellor, or member of their judiciary parliament, is more honor able. It is therefore purchased at a high price; there are, indeed, fees on the law proceedings, which are divided among them, but these fees do not amount to more than three per cent on the sum paid for the place. Therefore, as legal interest is there at five per cent, they, in fact, pay two per cent for being allowed to do the judiciary business of the nation, which is, at the same time, entirely exempt from the burden of paying them any salaries for their services. I do not, how ever, mean to recommend this as an eligible mode for our judiciary department. I only bring the instance to show that the pleasure of doing good and serving their country, and the respect such conduct entitles them to, are sufficient motives with some minds to give up a great portion of their time to the public, withou 1 * the mean inducement of pecuniary satisfaction. Another instance is that of a respectable society whc have made the experiment and practiced it with succesr now more than a hundred years. I mean the Quaker* It is an established rule with them that they are not ttf 26 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. go to law, but in their controversies they must apply to their monthly, quarterly, and yearly meetings. Com mittees of these sit with patience to hear the parties, and spehd much time in composing their differences. In doing this, they are supported by a sense of duty and the respect paid to usefulness. It is honorable to be so employed, but it was never made profitable by salaries, fees, or perquisites. And, indeed, in all cases of public service, the less the profit, the greater the honor. To bring the matter nearer home, have we not seen the greatest and most important of our offices, that of general of our armies, executed for eight years to gether, without the smallest salary, by a patriot whom I will not now offend by any other praise ; and this, through fatigues and distresses, in common with the other brave men, his military friends and companions, and the constant anxieties peculiar to his station? And shall we doubt finding three or four men in all the United States with public spirit enough to bear sitting in peaceful council, for, perhaps, an equal term, merely to preside over our civil concerns, and see that our laws are duly executed ? Sir, I have a better opinion of our country. I think we shall never be without a sufficient number of wise and good men to undertake and exe cute well and faithfully the office in question. Sir, the saving of the salaries, that may at first be proposed, is not an object with me. The subsequent mischiefs of proposing them are what I apprehend. And, therefore, it is that I move the amendment. If it be not seconded or accepted, I must be contented with the satisfaction of having delivered my opinion frankly and done my duty. SAMUEL ADAMS. 2/ Adams, Samuel, an American orator and patriot, born in Boston, Mass., Sept. 27, 1722; died there Oct. 2, 1803. At the beginning of the disputes between the colonies and the mother country he was a tax collector in his native town, and a well-known character in consequence. As the troubles increased he took so active a part in fomenting opposition to Great Britain that he was especially excluded from General Gage's proclamation of amnesty in June, 1775. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress, a Signer of the Declaration of Independence, and a member of the con vention ratifying the Constitution of Massachusetts. From 1794 to 1797 he was governor of that State. His oratory was of the impetuous, fiery order, and more immediately effective, therefore, than the more well-considered, tempered utterances of some of his illustrious contemporaries. In his famous speech on American Independence, which he deliv ered in Philadelphia, Adams styled the English " a nation of shopkeepers." As the oration was translated into French and published in Paris it is extremely likely that Napoleon was indebted to Samuel Adams for his use of the famous phrase. AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. Countrymen and Brethren : I WOULD gladly have declined an honor to which I find myself unequal. I have not the calmness and impar tiality which the infinite importance of this occasion de mands. I will not deny the charge of my enemies, that resentment for the accumulated injuries of our country and an ardor for her glory, rising to enthusiasm, may deprive me of that accuracy of judgment and ex pression which men of cooler passions may possess. Let me beseech you, then, to hear me with caution, 28 SAMUEL ADAMS. to examine your prejudice, and to correct the mistakes into which I may be hurried by my zeal. Truth loves an appeal to the common-sense of man kind. Your unperverted understandings can best de termine on subjects of a practical nature. The positions and plans which are said to be above the comprehen sion of the multitude may be always suspected .to be visionary and fruitless. He who made all men hath made the truths necessary to human happiness obvious to all. Our forefathers threw off the yoke of Popery in religion ; for you is reserved the honor of levelling the popery of politics. They opened the Bible to all, and maintained the capacity of every man to judge for him self in religion. Are we sufficient for the comprehen sion of the sublimest spiritual truths, and unequal to material and temporal ones? Heaven has trusted us with the management of things for eternity, and man denies us ability to judge of the present, or to know from our feelings the ex perience that will make us happy. :f You can dis cern," they say, " objects distant and remote, but cannot perceive those within your grasp. Let us have the distribution of present goods, and cut out and man age as you please the interests of futurity." This day, I trust, the reign of political protestantism will commence. We have explored the temple of royalty, and found that the idol we have bowed down to has eyes which see not, ears that hear not our prayers, and a heart like the nether millstone. We have this day restored the Sovereign to whom alone men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven, and with a propi- SAMUEL ADAMS. 2() tious eye beholds his subjects assuming that freedom of thought and dignity of self-direction which he be stowed on them. From the rising to the setting sun may his kingdom come ! Having been a slave to the influence of opinion early acquired, and distinctions generally received,! am ever inclined not to despise but pity those who are yet in darkness. But to the eye of reason what can be more clear than that all men have an equal right to happi ness? Nature made no other distinction than that of higher and lower degrees of power of mind and body. But what mysterious distribution of character has the craft of statesmen, more fatal than priestcraft, in troduced ? According to their doctrine, the offspring of per haps the lewd embraces of a successful invader shall, from generation to generation, arrogate the right of lavishing on their pleasures a proportion of the fruits of the earth, more than sufficient to supply the wants of thousands of their fellow-creatures ; claim authority to manage them like beasts of burden, and, with su perior industry, capacity, or virtue, nay, though dis graceful to humanity, by their ignorance, intemper ance, and brutality, shall be deemed best calculated to frame laws and to consult for the welfare of society. Were the talents and virtues which Heaven has be stowed on men given merely to make them more obedient drudges, to be sacrificed to the follies and am bition of a few? Or, were not the noble gifts so equally dispensed with a divine purpose and law, that they should as nearly as possible be equally exerted, and the blessings of Providence be equally enjoyed by all? Away, then, with those ab- 3O SAMUEL ADAMS. surd systems which to gratify the pride of a few debase the greater part of our species below the order of men. What an affront to the King of the universe, to maintain that the happiness of a monster, sunk in debauchery and spreading desolation and murder among men, of a Caligula, a Nero, or a Charles, is more precious in his sight than that of mil lions of his suppliant creatures, who do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with their God ! No, in the judgment of Heaven there is no other superiority among men than a superiority in wisdom and virtue. And can we have a safer model in forming ours? The Deity, then, has not given any order or family of men authority over others ; and if any men have given it, they only could give it for themselves. Our fore fathers, 'tis said, consented to be subject to the laws of Great Britain. I will not, at present, dispute it, nor mark out the limits and conditions of their sub mission; but will it be denied that they contracted to pay obedience and to be under the control of Great Britain because it appeared to them most beneficial in their then present circumstances and situations? We, my countrymen, have the same right to consult and provide for our happiness which they had to pro mote theirs. If they had a view to posterity in their contracts, it must have been to advance the felicity of their descendants. If they erred in their expectations and prospects, we can never be condemned for a con duct which they would have recommended , had they foreseen our present condition. Ye darkeners of counsel, who would make the prop erty, lives, and religion of millions depend on the SAMUEL ADAMS. 31 evasive interpretations of musty parchments; who would send us to antiquated charters of uncertain and contradictory meaning, to prove that the present gen eration are not bound to be victims to cruel and un forgiving despotism, tell us whether our pious and generous ancestors bequeathed to us the miserable privilege of having the rewards of our honesty, indus try, the fruits of those fields which they purchased and bled for, wrested from us at the will of men over whom we have no check. Did they contract for us that, with folded arms, we should expect that justice and mercy from brutal and inflamed invaders which have been denied to our supplications at the foot of the throne ? Were we to hear our character as a peo ple ridiculed with indifference ? Did they promise for us that our meekness and patience should be insulted ; our coasts harassed, our towns demolished and plun dered, and our wives and offspring exposed to naked ness, hunger, and death, without our feeling the re sentment of men, and exerting those powers of self- preservation which God has given us? No man had once a greater veneration for Englishmen than I en tertained. They were dear to me as branches of the same parental trunk, and partakers of the same re ligion and laws; I still view w r ith respect the remains of the Constitution as I would a lifeless body which had once been animated by a great and heroic soul. But when I am aroused by the din of arms ; when I be hold legions of foreign assassins, paid by Englishmen to imbrue their hands in our blood ; when I tread over the uncoffined bodies of my countrymen, neighbors, and friends ; when I see the locks of a venerable father 32 SAMUEL ADAMS. torn by savage hands, and a feeble mother, clasping her infants to her bosom, and on her knees imploring their lives from her own slaves, whom Englishmen have allured to treachery and murder; when I behold my country, once the seat of industry, peace, and plenty, changed by Englishmen to a theatre of blood and misery, Heaven forgive me if I cannot root out those passions which it has implanted in my bosom, and detest submission to a people who have either ceased to be human, or have not virtue enough to feel their own wretchedness and servitude! Men who content themselves with the semblance of truth, and a display of words, talk much of our obliga tions to Great Britain for protection. Had she a sin gle eye to our advantage? A nation of shopkeepers are very seldom so disinterested. Let us not be so amused with words ; the extension of her commerce was her object. When she defended our coasts, she fought for her customers, and convoyed our ships loaded with wealth, which we had acquired for her by our industry. She has treated us as beasts of burden whom the lordly masters cherish that they may carry a greater load. Let us inquire also against whom she has protected us? Against her own enemies with whom we had no quarrel, or only on her account, and against whom we always readily exerted our wealth and strength when they were required. Were these colonies backward in giving assistance to Great Brit ain, when they were called upon in 1739 to aid the expedition against Carthagena? They at that time sent three thousand men to join the British army, although the war commenced without their consent SAMUEL ADAMS. 33 But the last war, 'tis said, was purely American. This is a vulgar error, which, like many others, has gained credit by being confidently repeated. The dispute between the courts of Great Britain and France re lated to the limits of Canada and Nova Scotia. The controverted territory was not claimed by any in the colonies, but by the crown of Great Britain. It was therefore their own quarrel. The infringement of a right which England had, by the treaty of Utrecht, of trading in the Indian country of Ohio, was another cause of the war. The French seized large quantities of British manufactures and took possession of a fort which a company of British merchants and factors had erected for the security of their commerce. The war was therefore waged in defence of lands claimed by the crown, and for the protection of British proper ty. The French at that time had no quarrel with America, and, as appears by letters sent by their com- mander-in-chief to some of the colonies, wished to re main in peace with us. The part therefore, which we then took, and the miseries to which we exposed our selves, ought to be charged to our affection to Britain. These colonies granted more than their proportion to the support of the war. They raised, clothed, and maintained nearly twenty-five thousand men, and so sensible were the people of England of our great exer tions, that a message was annually Sent to the House of Commons purporting, " that his Majesty, being highly satisfied with the zeal and vigor with .which his faithful subjects in North America had exerted them selves in defence of his Majesty's just rights and pos sessions, recommends it to the House to take the same 34 SAMUEL ADAMS. into consideration, and enable him to give them a proper compensation." But what purpose can arguments of this kind an swer? Did the protection we received annul our rights as men, and lay us under an obligation of being miserable ? Who among you, my countrymen, that is a father, would claim authority to make your child a slave be cause you had nourished him in infancy ? Tis a strange species of generosity which requires a return infinitely more valuable than anything it could have bestowed; that demands as a reward for a defence of our property a surrender of those inesti mable privileges to the arbitrary will of vindictive tyrants, which alone give value to that very property. Political right and public happiness are different words for the same idea. They who wander into metaphysical labyrinths, or have recourse to original contracts, to determine the rights of men, either im pose on themselves or mean to delude others. Pub lic utility is the only certain criterion. It is the test w r hich brings disputes to a speedy decision, and makes its appeal to the feelings of mankind. The force of truth has obliged men to use arguments drawn from this principle who were combating it, in practice and speculation. The advocates for a despotic government and non-resistance to the magistrate employ reasons in favor of their systems drawn from a consideration of their tendency to promote public happiness. The Author of Nature directs all his operations to the production of the greatest good, and has made human virtue to consist in a disposition and conduct SAMUEL ADAMS. 3$ which tends to the common felicity of his creatures. An abridgement of the natural freedom of men, by the institutions of political societies, is vindicable only on this foot. How absurd, then, is it to draw arguments from the nature of civil society for the annihilation of those very ends which society was intended to pro cure! Men associate for their mutual advantage. Hence, the good and happiness of the members, that is, a majority of the members, of any State, is the great standard by which everything relating to that State must finally be determined; and though it may be supposed that a body of people may be bound by a voluntary resignation (which they have been so in fatuated as to make) of all their interests to a single person, or to a few, it can never be conceived that the resignation is obligatory to their posterity; because it is manifestly contrary to the good of the whole that it should be so. These are the sentiments of the wisest and most virtuous champions of freedom. Attend to a portion on this subject from a book in our own defence, writ ten, I had almost said, by the pen of inspiration. " I lay no stress," says he, " on charters ; they derive their rights from a higher source. It is inconsistent with common-sense to imagine that any people would ever think of settling in a distant country on any such con dition, or that the people from whom they withdrew should forever be masters of their property, and have power to subject them to any modes of government they pleased. And had there been expressed stipula tions to this purpose in all the charters of the colonies, they would, in my opinion, be no more bound by them, 2-1 36 SAMUEL ADAMS. than if it had been stipulated with them that they should go naked, or expose themselves to the incur sions of wolves and tigers." Such are the opinions of every virtuous and en lightened patriot in Great Britain. Their petition to Heaven is, " That there may be one free country left upon earth, to which they may fly, when venality, luxury, and vice shall have completed the ruin of lib erty there." Courage, then, my countrymen, our contest is not only whether we ourselves shall be free, but whether there shall be left to mankind an asylum on earth for civil and religious liberty. Dismissing, therefore, the justice of our cause, as incontestable, the only question is, What is best for us to pursue in our pres ent circumstances? The doctrine of dependence on Great Britain is, I believe, generally exploded; but as I would attend to the honest weakness of the simplest of men, you will pardon me if I offer a few words on that subject. We are now on this continent, to the astonishment of the world, three millions of souls united in one cause. We have large armies, well disciplined and appointed, with commanders inferior to none in mili tary skill, and superior in activity and zeal. We are furnished with arsenals and stores beyond our most sanguine expectations, and foreign nations are waiting to crown our success by their alliances. There are in stances of, I would say, an almost astonishing Provi dence in our favor; our success has staggered our enemies, and almost given faith to infidels; so we may truly say it is not our own arm which has saved us. SAMUEL ADAMS. 37 The hand of Heaven appears to have led us on to be, perhaps, humble instruments and means in the great Providential dispensation which is completing-. We have fled from the political Sodom; let us not look back, lest we perish and become a monument of infamy and derision to the world. For can we ever expect more unanimity and a better preparation for de fence; more infatuation of counsel among our ene mies, and more valor and zeal among ourselves? The same force and resistance which are sufficient to pro cure us our liberties will secure us a glorious indepen dence and support us in the dignity of free, im perial States. We canrrot suppose that our opposi tion has made a corrupt and dissipated nation more friendly to America, or created in them a greater re spect for the rights of mankind. We can therefore expect a restoration and establishment of our privi leges, and a compensation for the injuries we have received from their want of power, from their fears, and not from their virtues. The unanimity and valcr which will effect an honorable peace can render a fu ture contest for our liberties unriecessary. He who has strength to chain down the wolf is a madman if he let him loose without drawing his teeth and paring his nails. From the day on which an accommodation takes place between England and America, on any other terms than as independent States, I shall date the ruin of this country. A politic minister will study to lull us into security, by granting us the full extent of our petitions. The warm sunshine of influence would melt down the virtue, which the violence of the storm 38 SAMUEL ADAMS. rendered more firm and unyielding. In a state of tran quillity, wealth, and luxury, our descendants would forget the arts of war and the noble activity and zeal which made their ancestors invincible. Every art of corruption would be employed to loosen the bond of union which renders 'our resistance formidable. When the spirit of liberty which now animates -our hearts and gives success to our arms is extinct, our numbers will accelerate our ruin and render us easier victims to tyranny. Ye abandoned minions of an infatuated Ministry, if peradventure any should yet remain among us, remember that a Warren and Montgomery are numbered among the dead. Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say, What should be the reward of such sacrifices? Bid ns and our posterity bow the knee, supplicate the friendship, and plow, and sow, and reap, to glut the avarice of the men who have let loose on us the dogs of war to riot in our blood and hunt us from the face of the earth? If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquillity of servitude than the animating con test of freedom go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen ! To unite the supremacy of Great Britain and the lib erty of America is utterly impossible. So vast a con tinent, and of such a distance from the seat of empire, will every day grow more unmanageable. The motion of so unwieldy a body cannot be directed with any despatch and uniformity without committing to the SAMUEL ADAMS. 39 Parliament of Great Britain powers inconsistent with our freedom. The authority and .force which would be absolutely necessary for the preservation of the peace and good order of this continent would put all our valuable rights within the reach of that nation. As the administration of government requires firmer and more numerous supports in proportion to its extent, the burdens imposed on us would be. exces sive, and we should have the melancholy prospect of their increasing on our posterity. The scale of officers, from the rapacious and needy commissioner to the haughty governor, and from the governor, with his hungry train, to perhaps a licentious and prodigal viceroy, must be upheld by you and your children. The fleets and armies which will be employed to si lence your murmurs and complaints must be supported by the fruits of your industry. And yet with all this enlargement of the expense and powers of government, the administration of it at such a distance, and over so extensive a terri tory, must necessarily fail of putting the laws into vigorous execution, removing private oppressions, and forming plans for the advancement of agriculture and commerce, and preserving the vast empire in any tol erable peace and security. If our posterity retain any spark of patriotism, they can never tamely submit to such burdens. This country will be made the field of bloody contention till it gain that independence for which nature formed it. It is, therefore, injustice and cruelty to our offspring, and would stamp us with the character of baseness and cowardice, to leave the sal- 4O SAMUEL ADAMS. vation of this country to be worked out by them with accumulated difficulty and danger. Prejudice, I confess, may warp our judgments. Let us hear the decision of Englishmen on this subject, who cannot be suspected of partiality. " The Ameri cans," they say, " are but little short of half our num ber. To this number they have grown from a small body of original settlers by a very rapid increase. The probability is that they will go on to increase, and that in fifty or sixty years they will be double our number, and form a mighty empire, consisting of a variety of States, all equal or superior to ourselves in all the arts and accomplishments which give dignity and happiness to human life. In that period will they be still bound to acknowledge that supremacy over them which we now claim? Can there be any person who will assert this, or whose mind does not revolt at the idea of a vast continent holding all that is valuable to it at the dis cretion of a handful of people on the other side of the Atlantic? But if at that period this would be unreas onable, what makes it otherwise now? Draw the line if you can. But there is still a greater difficulty." Britain is now, I will suppose, the seat of liberty and virtue, and its legislature consists of a body of able and independent men, who govern with wisdom and justice. The time may come when all will be reversed; when its excellent constitution of govern ment will be subverted; when, pressed by debts and taxes, it will be greedy to draw to itself an increase of revenue from every distant province, in order to ease its own burdens; when the influence of the crown, strengthened by luxury and a universal profligacy of SAMUEL ADAMS. 4! manners, will have tainted every heart, broken down every fence of liberty, and rendered us a nation of tame and contented vassals; when a general election will be nothing but a general auction of boroughs, and when the Parliament, the grand council of the nation, and once the faithful guardian of the State, and a ter ror to evil ministers, will be degenerated into a body of sycophants, dependent and venal, always ready to confirm any measures, and little more than a public court for registering royal edicts. Such, it is possi ble, may, some time or other, be the state of Great Britain. What will, at that period, be the duty of the colonies? Will they be still bound to unconditional submission? Must they always continue an appen dage to our government and follow it implicitly through every change that can happen to it? Wretched condition, indeed, of millions of freemen as good as ourselves ! Will you say that we now gov ern equitably, and that there is no danger of such revo lution ? Would to God that this were true ! But you will not always say the same. Who shall judge whether we govern equitably or not? Can you give the colonies any security that such a period will never come? No. The period, countrymen, is already come! The calamities were at our door. The rod of oppression was raised ever us. We were roused from our slumbers, and' may we never sink into repose until we can convey a clear and undisputed inheritance to our posterity ! This clay we are called upon to give a glorious example of what the wisest and best of men were rejoiced to view, only in speculation. This day presents the world with the most august spectacle 42 SAMUEL ADAMS. that its annals ever unfolded millions of freemen, deliberately and voluntarily forming themselves into a society for their common defence and common hap piness. Immortal spirits of Llampden, Locke, and Sidney, will it not add to your benevolent joys to be hold your posterity rising to the dignity of men, and evincing to the world the reality and expediency of your systems, and in the actual enjoyment of that equal liberty, which you were happy, when on earth, in de lineating and recommending to mankind? Other nations have received their laws from con querors; some are indebted for a constitution to the suffering of their ancestors through revolving cen turies. The people of this country, alone, have for mally and deliberately chosen a government for them selves, and with open and uninfluenced consent bound themselves into a social compact. Here no man pro claims his. berth of wealth as a title to honorable dis tinction, or to sanctify ignorance and vice with the name of hereditary authority. He who has most zeal and ability to promote public felicity let him be the servant of the public. This is the only line of dis tinction drawn by nature. Leave the bird of night to the obscurity for which nature intended him, and expect only from the eagle to brush the clouds with his wings and look boldly in the face of the sun. Some who would persuade us that they have tender feelings for future generations, while they are insen sible to the happiness of the present are perpetually foreboding a train of dissensions under our popular system. Such men's reasoning amounts to this : Give up all that is valuable to Great Britain and then you SAMUEL ADAMS. 43 will have no inducements to quarrel among yourselves ; or, suffer yourselves to be chained down by your ene mies that you may not be able to fight with your friends. This is an insult on your virtue as well as your common-sense. Your unanimity this day and through the course of the war is a decisive refutation of such invidious predictions. Our enemies have already had evidence that our present Constitution contains in it the justice and ardor of freedom and the wisdom and vigor of the most absolute system. When the law is the will of the people, it will be uniform and coherent; but fluctuation, contradiction, and inconsistency of councils must be expected under those governments where every revolution in the min istry of a court produces one in the State such being the folly and pride of all ministers, that they ever pur sue measures direcily opposite to those of their pre decessors. We shall neither be exposed to the necessary con vulsions of elective monarchies, nor to the want of wisdom, fortitude, and virtue, to which hereditary suc cession is liable. In your hands it will be to perpetu ate a prudent, active, and just legislature, and which will never expire until you yourselves lose the virtues, which gave it existence. And, brethren and fellow-countrymen, if it was ever granted to mortals to trace the designs of Providence,, and interpret its manifestations in favor of their cause, we may, with humility of soul, cry out, " Not unto us, not unto us, but to thy Name be the praise ! " The confusion of the devices among our enemies, and the 44 SAMUEL ADAMS. rage of the elements against them, have done almost .as much toward our success as either our councils or our arms. The time at which this attempt on our liberty was made, when we were ripened into maturity, had ac quired a knowledge of war, and were free from the in cursions of enemies in this country; the gradual ad vances of our oppressors enabling us to prepare for our defence; the unusual fertility of our lands and clemency of the seasons ; the success which at first attended onr feeble arms, producing unanimity among our friends and reducing our internal foes to acquiescence these ,are all strong and palpable marks and assurances that Providence is yet gracious unto Zion, that it will turn :away the captivity of Jacob. Our glorious reformers when they broke through the fetters of superstition effected more than could be expected from an age so darkened. But they left much to be done by their posterity. They lopped off, indeed, some of the branches of Popery, but they left the root and stock when they left us under the domi nation of human systems and decisions, usurping the infallibility which can be attributed to Revelation alone. They dethroned one usurper only to raise up another; they refused allegiance to the Pope only to place the civil magistrate in the throne of Christ, vested with authority to enact laws and inflict penal ties in his kingdom. And if we now cast our eyes over the nations of the earth, we shall find that, in stead of possessing the pure religion of the Gospel, they may be divided either into infidels, who deny the -truth ; or politicians who make religion a stalking horse SAMUEL ADAMS. 45 for their ambition; or professors, who walk in the trammels of orthodoxy, and are more attentive to tra ditions and ordinances of men th'an to the oracles of truth. The civil magistrate has everywhere contaminated religion by making it an engine of policy ; and freedom of thought and the right of private judgment, in mat ters of conscience, driven from every other corner of the earth, direct their course to this happy country as their last asylum. Let us cherish the noble guests, and shelter them under the wings of a universal tolera tion! Be this the seat of unbounded religious free dom. She will bring with her, in her train, industry, wisdom, and commerce. She thrives most when left to shoot forth in her natural luxuriance, and asks for human policy only not to be checked in her growth by artificial encouragements. Thus, by the beneficence of Providence, we shall be hold our empire arising, founded on justice and the voluntary consent of the people, and giving full scope to the exercise of those faculties and rights which most ennoble our species. Besides the advantages of liber ty and the most equal Constitution, Heaven has given us a country with every variety of climate and soil, pouring forth in abundance whatever is necessary for the support, comfort, and strength of a nation. With in our own borders we possess all the means of sus tenance, defence and commerce; at the same time, these advantages are so distributed among the differ ent States of this continent, as if nature had in view to proclaim to us : Be united among yourselves and you will want nothing from the rest of the world. 46 SAMUEL ADAMS. The more northern States most amply supply us with every necessary, and many of the luxuries of life ; with iron, timber, and masts for ships of commerce or of war; with flax for the manufacture of linen, and seed either for oil or exportation. So abundant are our harvests, that almost every part raises more than double the quantity of grain requisite for the support of the inhabitants. From Georgia and the Carolinas we have, as well for our own wants as- for the purpose of supplying the wants of other powers, indigo, rice, hemp, naval stores, and lumber. Virginia and Maryland teem with wheat, Indian corn, and tobacco. Every nation whose harvest is precarious, or whose lands yield not those commodi ties which we cultivate, will gladly exchange their superfluities and manufactures for ours. We have already received many and large cargoes of clothing, military stores, etc., from our commerce with foreign powers, and, in spite of the efforts of the boasted navy of England, we shall continue to profit by this connection. The want of our naval stores has already increased the price of these articles to a great height, especially in Britain. Without our lumber, it will be impossible for those haughty islanders to convey the products of the West Indies to their own ports; for awhile they may with difficulty effect it, but, without our assist ance, their resources soon must fail. Indeed, the West India Islands appear as the necessary appendages to this our empire. They must owe their support to it, and erelong, I doubt not, some of them will, from SAMUEL ADAMS. 4/ necessity, wish to enjoy the benefit of our protec tion. These natural advantages will enable us to remain independent of the world, or make it the interest of European powers to court our alliance, and aid in pro tecting us against the invasion of others. What argu ment, therefore, do we want to show the equity of our conduct ; or motive of interest to recommend it to our prudence? Nature points out the path, and our enemies have obliged us to pursue it. If there is any man so base or so weak as to prefer a dependence on Great Britain to the dignity and hap piness of living a member of a free and independent nation, let me tell him that necessity now demands what the generous principle of patriotism should have dictated. We have no other alternative than independence, or the most ignominious and galling servitude. The legions of our enemies thicken on our plains; desola tion and death mark their bloody career; while the mangled corpses of our countrymen seem to cry out to us as a voice from heaven : " Will you permit our posterity to groan under the galling chains of our murderers? Has our blood been expended in vain ? Is the only benefit which our constancy till death has obtained for our country, that it should be sunk into a deeper and more ignominious vassalage? Recollect who are the men that demand your submission, to whose decrees you are invited to pay obedience. Men who, unmindful of their rela tion to you as brethren; of your long implicit sub mission to their laws; of the sacrifice which you and 48 SAMUEL ADAMS. your forefathers made of your natural advantages for commerce to their avarice ; formed a deliberate plan to -wrest from you the small pittance of property which they had permitted you to acquire. Remember that the men who wish to rule over you are they who, in pursuit of this plan of despotism, annulled the sacred contracts which they had made with your ancestors; conveyed into your cities a mercenary soldiery to com pel you to submission by insult and murder; who called your patience cowardice, your piety hypocrisy/ 7 Countrymen, the men who now invite you to sur render your rights into their hands are the men who have let loose the merciless savages to riot in the blood of their brethren ; who have dared to establish Popery triumphant in our land ; who have taught treachery to your slaves, and courted them to assassinate your wives and children. These are the men to whom we are exhorted to sacrifice the blessings which Providence holds out to us; the happiness, the dignity, of uncontrolled free dom and independence. Let not your generous indignation be directed against any among us who may advise so absurd and maddening a measure. Their number is but few, and daily decreases; and the spirit which can render them patient of slavery will render them contemptible ene mies. Our union is now complete; our Constitution com posed, established and approved. You are now the guardians of your own liberties. We may justly ad dress you, as the decemviri did the Romans, and say, *' Nothing that we propose can pass into a law without SAMUEL ADAMS. 49 your consent. Be yourselves, O Americans, the au thors of those laws on which your happiness depends." You have now in the field armies sufficient to repel the whole force of your enemies and their base and mercenary auxiliaries. The hearts of your soldiers beat high with the spirit of freedom; they are ani mated with the justice of their cause, and while they grasp their swords can look up to Heaven for assis tance. Your adversaries are composed of wretches who laugh at the rights of humanity, who turn re ligion into derision, and would, for higher wages, direct their swords against their leaders or their country. Go on, then, in your generous enterprise with gratitude to Heaven for past success, and confi dence of it in the future. For my own part, I ask no greater blessing than to share with you the common danger and common glory. If I have a wish dearer to my soul than that my ashes may be mingled with those of a Warren and Montgomery, it is that these American States may never cease to be free and inde pendent. 4 5O OTIS. Otis, James, a famous American orator and patriot, born at West Barnstable, Mass, February 5, 1725, died at Andover, Mass, May 23, 1783. He was an ardent lover of liberty, and in 1761 came into general notice by his eloquent plead ing against the " Writs of Assistance " which the officers of the customs had applied for. Continuing active in his re sistance to oppression he was largely instrumental in causing the Stamp Act Congress to be called in 1765. Threatened with arrest for his bold course he, yet remained constant in his support of the principles of liberty and in 1767 resigned his office of judge advocate and renounced all government employment. His oratory was of a passionate strain and his vehemence more than once harmed the cause he had at heart. As the result of an assault upon him in 1769 the remainder of his career was passed under a mental cloud. AGAINST " WRITS OF ASSISTANCE." SPEECH DELIVERED BEFORE THE SUPERIOR COURT IN BOSTON, FEBRUARY, 1761. MAY it please your honors, I was desired by one of the court to look into the books, and consider the ques tion now before them concerning Writs of Assistance. I have, accordingly, considered it, and now appear not only in obedience to your order, but likewise in behalf of the inhabitants of this town, who have presented another petition, and out of regard to the liberties of the subject. And I take this opportunity to declare that, whether under a fee or not (for in such a cause as this I despise a fee), I will to my dying day oppose with all the powers and faculties Gc-d has given me OTIS. 51 all such instruments of slavery on the one hand, and villainy on the other, as this writ of assistance is. It appears to me the worst instrument of arbitrary power, the most destructive of English liberty and the fundamental principles of law, that ever was found in an English law book. I must, therefore, beg your honors' patience and attention to the whole range of an argument, that may, perhaps, appear uncommon in many things, as well as to points of learning that are more remote and unusual ; that the whole tendency of my design may the mere easily be perceived, the con clusions better descend, and the force of them be bet ter felt. I shall not think much of my pains in this cause, as I engaged in it from principle. I was so licited to argue this cause as Advocate-General; and because I would not, I have been charged with deser tion from my office. To this charge I can give a very sufficient answer. I renounced that office, and I argue this cause from the same principle ; and I argue it with the greater pleasure, as it is in favor of British liberty, at a time when we hear the greatest monarch upon earth declaring from his throne that he glories in the name of Briton, and that the privileges of his people are dearer to him than the most valuable prerogatives of his crown; and as it is in opposition to a kind of power, the exercise of which, in former periods of his tory, cost one king of England his head and another his throne. I have taken more pains in this cause than I ever will take again, although my engaging in this and another popular cause has raised much resentment. But I think I can sincerely declare that I cheer fully submit myself to every odious name for con- 52 OTIS. science' sake; and from my soul I despise all those whose guilt, malice, or folly has made them my foes. Let the consequences be what they will, I am deter mined to proceed. The only principles of public con duct that are worthy of a gentleman or a man are to sacrifice estate, ease, health, and applause, and even life, to the sacred calls of his country. These manly sentiments, in private life, make the good citizen; in public life, the patriot and the hero, I do not say that when brought to the test, I shall be invincible. I pray God I may never be brought to the melancholy trial; but if ever I should, it will be then known how far I can reduce to practice principles which I know to be founded in truth. In the mean time I will proceed to the subject of this writ. Your honors will find in the old books concerning the office of a justice of the peace precedents of gen eral warrants to search suspected houses. But in more modern books, you will find only special warrants to search such and such houses, specially named, in which the complainant has before sworn that he suspects his goods are concealed; and will find it adjudged that special warrants only are legal. In the same manner I rely on it, that the writ prayed for in this petition, being general, is illegal. It is a power that places the liberty of every man in the hands of every petty officer. I say I admit that special writs of assistance, to search special places, may be granted to certain persons on oath ; but I deny that the writ now prayed for can be granted, for I beg leave to make some observations on the writ itself before I proceed to other acts of Parlia ment. In the first place the writ is universal, being OTIS. 53 directed " to all and singular justices, sheriffs, consta bles, and all other officers and subjects"; so, that, in short, it is directed to every subject in the king's do minions. Every one with this writ may be a tyrant; if this commission be legal, a tyrant in a legal manner, also, may control, imprison, or murder any one within the realm. In the next place, it is perpetual ; there is no return. A man is accountable to no person for his doings. Every man may reign secure in his petty tyranny, and spread terror and desolation around him, until the trump of the archangel shall excite different emotions in his soul. In the third place, a person with this writ, in the daytime, may enter all houses, sihops, etc., at will, and command all to assist him. Fourthly, by this writ, not only deputies, etc., but even their menial servants, are allowed to lord it over us. What is this but to have the curse of Canaan with a witness on us ; to be the servant of servants, the most despicable of God's creation? Now one of the most essential branches of English liberty is the freedom of one's house. A man's house is his castle ; and while he is quiet, he is as well guarded as a prince in his castle. This writ, if it should be declared legal, would totally annihilate this privilege. Custom house officers may enter our houses when they please; we are commanded to permit their entry. Their menial servants may enter, may break locks, bars, and everything in their way; and whether they break through malice or revenge, no man, no court can in quire. Bare suspicion without oath is sufficient. This wanton exercise of this power is not a chimerical sug gestion of a heated brain. I will mention some facts. 54 OTIS. Mr. Pew had one of these writs, and when Mr. Ware succeeded him, he indorsed this writ over to Mr. Ware ; so that these writs are negotiable from one offi cer to another ; and so your honors have no opportunity of judging the persons to whom this vast power is delegated. Another instance is this : Mr. Justice Wai- ley had called this same Mr. Ware before him, by a constable, to answer for a breach of the Sabbath day acts, or that of profane swearing. As soon as he had finished Mr. Ware asked him if he had done. He re plied : " Yes." " Well then," said Mr. Ware, " I will show you a little of my power. I command you to permit me to search your house for uncustomed goods" ; and went on to search the house from the gar ret to the cellar, and then served the constable in the same manner ! But to show another absurdity in this writ, if it should be established, I insist upon it that every person, by the I4th Charles II., has this power as well as the custom house officers. The words are : " It shall be lawful for any person or persons author ized," etc. What a scene does this open ! Every man prompted by revenge, ill-humor, or wantonness, to inspect the inside of his neighbor's house, may get a writ of assistance. Others will ask it from self-de fence; one arbitrary exertion will provoke another, until society be involved in tumult and in blood. . . [John Adams says that after this exordium Otis continued under four several headings which he gives thus taking the exordium as the first :] 2. " He asserted that every man, merely natural, was an independent sovereign, subject to no law but OTIS. 55 the law written on his heart and revealed to him by his Maker, in the constitution of his nature, and the in spiration of his understanding and his conscience. His right to his life, his liberty, no created being could rightfully contest. Nor was his right to his property less incontestable. The club that he had snapped from a tree, for a staff or for defence, was his own. His bow and arrow were his own; if by a peb ble he had killed a partridge or a squirrel, it was his own. No creature, man or beast, had a right to take it from him. If he had taken an eel, or a smelt, or a sculpin, it was his property. In short, he sported upon this topic with so much wit and humor, and at the same time with so much indisputable truth and reason, that he was not less entertaining than instructive. He asserted that these rights were inherent and inaliena ble ; that they never could be surrendered or alienated, but by idiots or madmen, and all the acts of idiots and lunatics were void, and not obligatory, by all the laws of God and man. Nor were the poor negroes for gotten. Not a Quaker in Philadelphia, or Mr. Jeffer son in Virginia, ever asserted the rights- of negroes in stronger terms. Young as I was, and ignorant as I was, I shuddered at the doctrine he taught; and I have all my life shuddered, and still shudder, at the consequences that may be drawn from such premises. Shall we say that the rights of masters and servants clash, and can be decided only by force? I adore the idea of gradual abolitions! but who shall decide how fast or how slowly these abolitions shall be made? 3. " From individual independence he proceeded to association. If it was inconsistent with the dignity $6 OTIS. of human nature to say that men were gregarious ani mals, like wild geese, it surely could offend no delicacy to say that they were social animals by nature; that there were natural sympathies, and, above all, the sweet attraction of the sexes, which must soon draw them together in little groups, and by degrees in lar ger congregations, for mutual assistance and defence. And this must have happened before any formal cove nant, by express words or signs, was concluded. When general councils and deliberations commenced, the ob jects could be no other than the mutual defence and security of every individual for his life, his liberty and his property. To suppose them to have surrendered these in any other way than by equal rules and general consent was to suppose them idiots or madmen, whose acts were never binding. To suppose them surprised by fraud, or compelled by force into any other compact, such fraud and such force could confer no obligation. Every man had a right to trample it under foot whenever he pleased. In short, he asserted these rights to be derived only from nature and the Author of Nature; that they were inherent, inalienable, and indefeasible by any laws, pacts, contracts, covenants, ^r stipulations which man could devise. 4. "These principles and these rights were wrought into the English Constitution as fundamental laws. And under this head he went back to the old Saxon laws, and to Magna Charta, and the fifty confirma tions of it in Parliament, and the executions ordained against the violators of it, and the national vengeance which had been taken on them from time to time, down to the Jameses and Charleses; and to the Petition of OTIS. 57 Right and the Bill of Rights and the Revolution. He asserted that the security of these rights to life, liberty and property had been the object of all those struggles against arbitrary power, temporal and spiritual, civil and political, military and ecclesiastical, in every age. He asserted that our ancestors as British subjects, and we, their descendants, as British subjects, were entitled to all those rights, by the British Constitution, as well as by the law of nature and our provincial char ter, as much as any inhabitant of London or Bristol, or any part of England; and were not to be cheated out of them by any phantom of * virtual representa tion,' or any other fiction of law or politics, or any monkish trick of deceit and hypocrisy. 5. " He then examined the acts of trade, one by one, and demonstrated that if they were considered as rev enue laws, they destroyed all our security of property, liberty and life, every right of nature, and the English Constitution, and the diarter of the province. Here he considered the distinction between 'external and in ternal taxes,' at that time a popular and common-place distinction. But he asserted that there was no such distinction in the theory, or upon any principle but * necessity.' The necessity that the commerce of the empire should be under one direction was obvious. The Americans had been so sensible of this necessity, that they had connived at the distinction between ex ternal and internal taxes, and had submitted to the acts of trade as regulations of commerce, but never as taxa tions, or revenue laws. Nor had the British Govern ment till now ever dared to enforced them as taxations or revenue laws. They had lain dorman in that charac- 58 OTIS. ter for a century almost. The Navigation Act he al lowed to be binding upon us, because we had consent ed to it by our own legislature. Here he gave a history of the Navigation Act of the ist of Charles II., a plag iarism from Oliver Cromwell. This act had lain dor mant for fifteen years. In 1675, after repeated letters and orders from the king, Governor Leverett very candidly informs his Majesty that the law had not been executed because it was thought unconstitutional, Par liament not having authority over us." WASHINGTON. 59 Washington, George, the first President of the United States, born at Pope's Creek, Westmoreland Co., Va., Feb. 22, 1732, died at Mount Vernon, Va., Dec. 14, 1799, His career, so familiar to every one, need not be summarized here. He possessed fewer oratorical gifts than many of his less illustrious contemporaries, but on the few occasions upon which he was called to address an audience he spoke with both dignity and impressiveness. The most memorable of these occasions were signalized by the Farewell Address to his brother officers, and his First Inaugural, delivered in New York in April, 1789, FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS. DELIVERED IN NEW YORK, APRIL 30, 1789. Fellow-Citizens of the Senateand of the House of Representatives. AMONG the vicissitudes incident to life, no evenf could have filled me with greater anxieties than that of which the notification was transmitted by your order, and received on the fourth day of the present month. On the one hand, I was summoned by my country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love, from a retreat which I had chosen with the fond est predilection, and, in my flattering hopes, with an immutable decision as the asylum of my declining years; a retreat which was rendered every day more necessary as well as more dear to me, by the addition of habit to inclination, and of frequent interruptions in my health to the gradual waste committed on it by time ; on the other hand the magnitude and difficulty of the trust to which the voice of my country called 60 WASHINGTON. me, being sufficient to awaken, in the wisest and most experienced of her citizens, a distrustful scrutiny into his qualifications, could not but overwhelm with de spondence one who, inheriting inferior endowments from nature, and unpracticed in the duties of civil administration, ought to be peculiarly conscious of his own deficiencies. In this conflict of emotions, all I dare aver is that it has been my faithful study to collect my duty from a just appreciation of every cir cumstance by which it might be affected. All I dare hope is, that if, in executing this task, I have been too much swayed by a grateful remembrance of former in stances, or by an affectionate sensibility to this tran scendent proof of the confidence of my fellow-citizens, and have thence too little consulted my incapacity as well as disinclination for the weighty and untried cares before me, my error will be palliated by the mo tives which misled me, and its consequences be judged by my country, with some share of the partiality in which they originated. Such being the impression under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station, it would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being, who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that his benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a govern ment instituted by themselves for these essential pur poses, and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute, with success, the func- WASHINGTON. 6 1 tions allotted to his charge. In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own; nor those of my fellow-citizens at large less than either. No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which con ducts the affairs of men, more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have ad vanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency. And, in the important revolu tion just accomplished, in the system of their united government, the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities, from which the event has resulted, cannot be compared with the means by which most governments have been estab lished, without -some return of pious gratitude, along with a humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seems to presage. These reflections, arising out of the present crisis, have forced them selves too strongly on my mind to be suppressed. You will join with me, I trust, in thinking that there are none under the influence of which the proceedings of a new and free government can more auspiciously commence. By the article establishing the Executive Depart ment, it is made the duty of the President " to recom mend to your consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." The circumstances under which I now meet you will acquit me from en tering into that subject further than to refer you to the great constitutional charter under which we are 62 WASHINGTON. assembled ; and which, in defining your powers, desig nates the objects to which your attention is to be giv en. It will be more consistent with those circum stances and far more congenial with the feelings which actuate me, to substitute, in place of a recommenda tion of particular measures, the tribute that is due to the talents, the rectitude, and the patriotism which adorn the characters selected to devise and adopt them. In these honorable qualifications, I behold the surest pledges, that as, on one side, no local preju dices or attachments, no separate views nor party ani mosities, will misdirect the comprehensive and equal eye which ought to watch over this great assemblage of communities and interests so, on another, that the foundations of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality ; and the pre-eminence of a free government be exem plified by all the attributes which can win the af fections of its citizens and command the respect of the world. I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love for my country can inspire ; since there is no truth more thoroughly established than that there exists, in the economy and course of nature, an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness between duty and advantage between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which heaven itself has ordained and since WASHINGTON. 63 the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the republican model of government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment intrusted to the hands of the American people. Besides the ordinary objects submitted to your care, it will remain with your judgment to decide how far an exercise of the occasional power delegated by the fifth article of the Constitution is rendered expedient, at the present juncture, by the nature of objections which have been urged against the system, or by the degree of inquietude which has given birth to them. Instead of undertaking particular recommendations on this subject, in which I could be guided by no lights derived from official opportunities, I shall again give \vay to my entire confidence in your discernment and pursuit of the public good. For I assure myself that, while you carefully avoided every alteration which might endanger the benefits of a united and effective government, or which ought to await the future les sons of experience, a reverence for the characteristic rights of freemen and a regard for the public harmony will sufficiently influence your deliberations on the question how far the former can be more impreg- nably fortified, or the latter be safely and more ad vantageously promoted. To the preceding observations I have one to add, which will be most properly addressed to the House of Representatives. It concerns myself, and will therefore be as brief as possible. When I was first honored with a call into the ser vice of my country, then on the eve of an arduous 64 WASHINGTON. struggle for its liberties, the light in which I contem plated my duty required that I should renounce every pecuniary compensation. From this resolution I have in no instance departed. And being still under the impressions which produced it, I must decline, as inap plicable to myself, any share in the personal emolu ments which may be indispensably included in a per manent provision for the Executive Department ; and must accordingly pray that the pecuniary estimates for the station in which I am placed may, during my con tinuation in it, be limited to such actual expenditures as the public good may be thought to require. Having thus imparted to you my sentiments, as they have been awakened by the occasion which brings us together, I shall take my present leave, but not with out resorting once more to the benign Parent of the human race, in. humble supplication, that, since he has been pleased to favor the American people with op portunities for deliberating in perfect tranquillity, and dispositions for deciding with unparalleled unan imity on a form of government for the security of their union and the advancement of their happiness, so his divine blessing may be equally conspicuous in the en larged views, the temperate consultations, and the wise measures on which the success of this govern ment must depend. WASHINGTON. 65 FAREWELL ADDRESS. ISSUED SEPTEMBER IQ, 1796. Friends and Fellow-Citizens. THE period for a new election of a citizen to ad minister the executive government of the United States being not far distant, and the time actually ar rived when your thoughts must be employed in desig nating the person who is to be clothed with that im portant trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the pub lic voice, that I should now apprise you of the reso lution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made. I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to be assured that this resolution has not been taken without a strict regard to all the considerations ap pertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful citizen to his country ; and that in withdrawing the tender of service, which silence in my situation might imply, I am influenced by no diminution of zeal for your future interest, no deficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness, but am supported by a full conviction that the step is compatible with both. The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the office to which your suffrages have twice called me have been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty and to a deference for what appeared to be your desire. I constantly hoped that it would 66 WASHINGTON. have been much earlier in my power, consistently with motives which I was not at liberty to disregard, to re turn to that retirement from which I had been reluct antly drawn. The strength of my inclination to do this, previous to the last election, had even led to the preparation of an address to declare it to you ; but ma ture reflection on the then perplexed and critical pos ture of our affairs with foreign nations, and the unani mous advice of persons entitled to my confidence, impelled me to abandon the idea. I rejoice that the state of your concerns, external as well as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of in clination incompatible with the sentiment of duty or propriety, and am persuaded, whatever partiality may be retained for my services, that, in the present cir cumstances of our country, you will not disapprove my determination to retire. The impressions with which I first undertook the arduous trust were explained on the proper occasion. In the discharge of this trust, I will only say that I have, with good intentions, contributed toward the or ganization and administration of the government the best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was capable. Not unconscious in the outset of the inferior ity of my qualifications, experience in my own eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of others, has strength ened the motives to diffidence of myself; and every day the increasing weight of years admonishes me more and more that the shade of retirement is as ne cessary to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied that if any circumstances have given peculiar value to my services, they were temporary, I have the consolation WASHINGTON. 67 to believe that, while choice and prudence invite me to quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it. In looking forward to the moment which is intended to terminate the career of my public life, my feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledg ment of that debt of gratitude which I owe to my be loved country for the many honors it has conferred upon me; still more for the steadfast confidence with which it has supported me; and for the opportunities I have thence enjoyed of manifesting my inviolable at tachment, by services faithful and persevering, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal. If benefits have re sulted to our country from these services, let it al ways be remembered to your praise, and as an instruc tive example in our annals, that under circumstances in which the passions agitated in every direction, were liable to mislead, amid appearances sometimes dubi ous, vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging, in situations in which not infrequently want of success has countenanced the spirit of criticism, the con stancy of your support was the essential prop of the efforts, and a guarantee of the plans by which they were effected. Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to my grave, as a strong in citement to unceasing vows that heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence ; that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the free Constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained; that its adminis tration in every department may be stamped with wis dom and virtue; that, in fine, the happiness of the people of these States, under the auspices of liberty, 3-1 68 WASHINGTON. may be made complete by so careful a preservation and so prudent a use of this blessing as will acquire to them the glory of recommending it to the applause, the affection, and adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it. Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude for your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and the apprehension of danger, natural to that solicitude, urge me, on an occasion like the present, to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to recommend to your frequent review, some sentiments which are the re sult of much reflection, of no inconsiderable observa tion, and which appear to me all-important to the permanency of your felicity as a people. These will be offered to you with the more freedom, as you can only see in them the disinterested warnings of a parting friend, who can possibly have no personal mo tive to bias his counsel. Nor can I forget, as an en couragement to it, your indulgent reception of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion. Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every liga ment of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment. The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independ ence, the support of your tranquillity at home, your peace abroad; of your safety, of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed, to weaken in your minds the WASHINGTON. 69 conviction of this truth; as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of in ternal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness ; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it ; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may sug gest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts. For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. Citizens, by birth or choice, of a com mon country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of American, which be longs to you in your national cap'acity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any ap pellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same relig ion, manners, habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed togeth er; the independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels, and joint efforts of common dangers, sufferings, and successes. But these considerations, however powerfully they address themselves to your sensibility, are greatly 70 WASHINGTON. outweighed by those which apply more immediately to your interest. Here every portion of our country finds the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the union of the whole. The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, protected by the equal laws of a common government, finds in the productions of the latter great additional resources of maritime and commercial enterprise and precious materials of manufacturing in dustry. The South, in the same intercourse, bene fiting by the agency of the North, sees its agriculture grow and its commerce expand. Turning partly into its own channels the seamen of the North, it finds its particular navigation invigorated; and, while it con tributes^ in different ways to nourish and increase the general mass of the national navigation, it looks for ward to the protection of a maritim'e strength, to which itself is unequally adapted. The East, in a like intercourse with the West, already finds, and, in the progressive improvement of interior communications by land and water, will more and more find a valuable vent for the commodities which it brings from abroad, or manufactures at home. The West derives from the East supplies requisite to its growth and comfort, and, what is perhaps of still greater consequence, it must of necessity owe the secure enjoyment of indispensable outlets for its own productions to the weight, influ ence, and the future maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the Union, directed by an indissoluble com munity of interest as one nation. Any other tenure by which the West can hold this essential advantage, whether derived from its own separate strength, or WASHINGTON. /I from an apostate and unnatural connection with any foreign power, must be intrinsically precarious. While, then, every part of our country thus feels an immediate and particular interest in union, all the parts combined cannot fail to find in the united mass of means and efforts greater strength, greater re source, proportionably greater security from external danger, a less frequent interruption of their peace by foreign nations; and, what is of inestimable value, they must derive from union an exemption from those broils and wars between themselves, which so fre quently afflict neighboring countries not tied together by the same governments, which their own rival ships alone would be sufficient to produce, but which oppo site foreign alliances, attachments, and intrigues would stimulate and imbitter. Hence, likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establish ments which, under any form of government, are in auspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty. In this sense it is that your union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other. These considerations speak a persuasive language to every reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance of the Union as a primary object of pa triotic desire. Is there a doubt whether a common government can embrace so large a sphere ? Let ex perience solve it. To listen to mere speculation in such a case were criminal. We are authorized to hope that a proper organization of the whole with the auxiliary 74 WASHINGTON. an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish govern ment presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government. All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plaus ible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and ac tion of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force ; to put in the place of the delegat ed will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the commun ity; and, according to the alternate triumphs of dif ferent parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests. However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterward the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion. Toward the preservation of your government, and the permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite, not only that you steadily discountenance WASHINGTON. 73 that with Great Britain, and that with Spain, which secure to them everything they could desire, in re spect to our foreign relations, toward confirming their prosperity. Will it not be their wisdom to rely for the preservation of these advantages on the Union by which they were procured ? Will they not henceforth be deaf to those advisers, if such they are, who would sever them from their brethren and connect them with aliens? To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a government for the whole is indispensable. No alli ance, however strict, between the parts can be an ade quate substitute ; they must inevitably experience the infractions and interruptions which all alliances in all times have experienced. Sensible of this momentous truth, you have improved upon your first essay, by the adoption of a constitution of government better calcu lated than your former for an intimate union, and for the efficacious management of your common con cerns. This government, the offspring of our own choice, uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation and mature deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its powers, unit ing security with energy, and containing within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a just claim to your confidence and your support. Respect for its authority, compliance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamen tal maxims of true liberty. The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government. But the Constitution which at any time exists, till changed by 74 WASHINGTON. an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish govern ment presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government. All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plaus ible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and ac tion of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force ; to put in the place of the delegat ed will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the commun ity; and, according to the alternate triumphs of dif ferent parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests. However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the pov/er of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterward the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion. Toward the preservation of your government, and the permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite, not only that you steadily discountenance WASHINGTON. 75 irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of innova tion upon its principles, however specious the pretexts. One method of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the Constitution, alterations which will impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown. In all the changes to which you may be invited, remember that time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true charac ter of governments as of other human institutions; that experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country; that facility in changes, upon the credit of mere hypothesis and opinion, exposes to perpetual change, from the endless variety of hypothesis and opinion; and remember, especially, that for the ef ficient management of your common interests, in a country so extensive as ours, a government of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of lib erty is indispensable. Liberty itself will find in suck a government, with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. It is, indeed, little else than a name, where the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine each member of the society within the limits prescribed by the laws, and to maintain all in the secure and tran quil enjoyment of the rights of person and prop erty. I have already intimated to you the danger of par ties in the state, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and 76 WASHINGTON. warn you in the most solemn manner against the 'baneful effects of the spirit of party generally. This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed ; but, in those of 'the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy. The alternate domination of one faction over an other, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and coun tries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual ; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this dis position to the purpose of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty. Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which, nevertheless, ought net to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it. It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against an other, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. WASHINGTON. 77 It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government it self through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another. There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the gov ernment and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This within certain limits is probably true; and in governments of a monarchical cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is cer tain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume. It is important, likewise, that the habits of think ing in a free country should inspire caution in those intrusted with its administration, to confine them selves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one de partment to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments into one, and thus to create, what ever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is 78 WASHINGTON. sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositaries, and constituting each the guardian of the public weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern ; some of them in our coun try and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are de stroyed. The precedent must always greatly over balance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit which the use can at any time yield. Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indis pensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firm est props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to re spect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let is simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of re ligious obligations desert the oath which are the instru ments of investigation in courts of justice? And let GEORGE WASHINGTON, WASHINGTON. 79 us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric? Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion, should be enlightened. As a very important source of strength and secur ity, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occa sions of expense by cultivating peace, but remember ing also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disburse ments to repel it, avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertion in time of peace to dis charge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon pos terity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear. The executions of these maxims belongs to your rep resentatives, but it is necessary that public opinion should co-operate. To facilitate to them the per- 8O WASHINGTON. formance of their duty, it is essential that you should practically bear in mind that toward the payment of debts there must be revenue; that to have revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleas ant; that the intrinsic embarrassment inseparable from the selection of the proper objects (which is always a choice of difficulties), ought to be a decisive motive for a candid construction of the conduct of the government in making it, and for a spirit of ac- quiesence in the measures for obtaining revenue, which the public exigencies may at any time dictate. Observe good faith and justice toward all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be that good policy does not equally enjoin it? It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and, at no distant period, a great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt that, in the course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advan tages which might be lost by a steady adherence to it? Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every senti ment which ennobles human nature. Alas ! is it ren dered impossible by its vices? In the execution of such a plan nothing is more es sential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments ifor others, should be excluded; and that, in place of WASHINGTON. 8 1 them, just and amicable feelings toward all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges to ward another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosi ty or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interests. An tipathy in one nation against another disposes each mere readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and in tractable, when accidental or trifling occasions of dis pute occur. Hence frequent collisions, obstinate, enven omed, and bloody contests. The nation, prompted by ill-will and resentment, sometimes impels to war the government, contrary to the best calculations of policy. The government sometimes participates in the national propensity, and adopts through passion what reason would reject; at other times it makes the animosity of the nation subservient to projects of hostility instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives. The peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of nations, has been the victim. So, likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and fusing into one the enmi ties of the other, betrays the former into a participa tion in the quarrels and wars of the latter without ade quate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others which is apt doubly to injure the nation mak- 82 WASHINGTON. ing the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and by ex citing jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are with held. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or de luded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation) facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding with the appearance of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable defer ence for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation. As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduc tion, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils ? Such an attachment of a small or weak toward a great and powerful nation dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter. Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens) the jeal ousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign in fluence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. But that jealousy to be useful must be impartial; else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a defence against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign na tion and excessive dislike of another cause those WASHINGTON. 83 whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots who may resist the in trigues of the favorite are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the ap plause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests. The great rule of conduct for us in regard to for eign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engage ments, let them de fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. Europe has a set of primary interests which to us have none, or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to impli cate ourselves by artificial ties in the ordinary vicis situdes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities. Our detached and distant situation invites and en ables us to pursue a definite course. If we remain one people under an efficient government, the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance ; when we may take such an atti tude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when bel ligerent nations, under the impossibility of making' acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giv ing us provocation; when we may choose peace or war, as our interests, guided by justice, shall counsel. 84 WASHINGTON. Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situa tion? 'Why quit our own stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rival- ship, interest, humor or caprice? It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of^the foreign world; so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infi delity to existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs,. that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them. Taking care always to keep ourselves by suitable establishments on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraor dinary emergencies. Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are * recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand ; neither seeking nor granting ex clusive favors or preferences; consulting the natural course of things ; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing; establishing (with powers so disposed, in order to give trade a stable course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to enable the government to support them) conventional rules of intercourse, the best that present circumstances and mutual opinion will permit,. WASHINGTON. ?$ but temporary, and liable to be from time to time aban doned or varied, as experience and circumstances shall dictate ; constantly keeping in view that it is folly in one nation to look for disinterested favors from an other; that it must pay with a portion of its indepen dence for whatever it may accept under that charac ter ; that, by such acceptance, it may place itself in the condition of having given equivalents for nominal favors, and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from na tion to nation. It is an illusion, which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard. In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish; that they will control the usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But, if I may even flatter myself that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some occa sional good; that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism ; this hope will be a full recompense for the solicitude for your welfare, by which they have been dictated. How far in the discharge of my official duties I have been guided by the principles which have been delineated, the public records and other evidences of my conduct must witness to you and to the world. To myself, the assurance of my own conscience is, that 86 WASHINGTON. I have at least believed myself to be guided by them. In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, my proclamation of the twenty-second of April, 1793, is the index of my plan. Sanctioned by your approv ing voice, and by that of your representatives in both Houses of Congress, the spirit of that measure has continually governed me, uninfluenced by any at tempts to deter or divert me from it. After deliberate examination, with the aid of the best lights I could obtain, I was well satisfied that our country, under all circumstances of the case, had a right to take, and was bound in duty and interest to take, a neutral position. Having taken it, I deter mined, as far as should depend upon me, to maintain it, with moderation, perseverance, and firmness. The considerations which respect the right to hold this conduct, it is not necessary on this occasion to de tail. I will only observe that, according to my un derstanding of the matter, that right, so far from be ing denied by any of the belligerent powers, has been virtually admitted by all. The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred, without anything more, from the obligation which justice and humanity impose on every nation, in cases in which it is free to act, to maintain invio late the relations of peace and amity toward other nations. The inducements of interest for observing that conduct will best be referred to your own reflections and experience. With me a predominant motive has been to endeavor to gain time to our country to set- WASHINGTON. 8/ tie and mature its, yet recent institutions, and to pro gress without interruption to that degree of strength and consistency which is necessary to give it, human ly speaking, the command of its own fortunes. Though, in reviewing the incidents of my adminis tration, I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Al mighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indul gence; and that, after forty-five years of my life dedi cated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest. Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and actuated by that fervent love toward it, which is so natural to a man who views in it the native soil of himself and his progenitors for several generations, I anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fel low-citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free government, the ever-favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers. 88 JOHN ADAMS. Adams, John, second President of the United States, born in that portion of Braintree, Mass., now known as Quincy, October 19, 1735, died there, July 4, 1826. During the unquiet period immediately preceding the American Rev olution he stoutly defended in print the right of the colonies to rebel, and his speech following what is known as " The Boston Massacre " is a fair specimen of his eloquence. He was popular as an orator, and although his style is grandiose at times it was effective in his day, and his speeches make stirring reading at the present even. An interesting view of his character may be obtained from the " Familiar Letters of John Adams and his Wife," INAUGURAL ADDRESS. MARCH 4, 1797. ' WHEN it was first perceived in early times, that no middle course for America remained, between un limited submission to a foreign legislature and a total independence of its claims, men of* reflection were less apprehensive of danger from the formidable powers of fleets and armies they must determine to resist, than from those contests and dissensions which would certainly arise concerning the forms of gov ernment to be instituted over the whole and over the parts of this extensive country. Relying, however, on the purity of their intentions, the justice of their cause, and the integrity and intelligence of the peo ple, under an overruling Providence, which had so signally protected this country from the first, the representatives of this nation, then consisting of little more than half its present numbers, not only posi- tion to them; with all the bells ringing to call the town together to assist the people in King Street, for they knew by that time that there was no fire; the people shouting, huzzaing, and making the mob whis tle, as they call it, which, when a boy makes it in the street is no formidable thing, but when made by a. multitude is a most hideous shriek, almost as terrible as an Indian yell ; the people crying, " Kill them, kill them. Knock them over," heaving snowballs, oyster shells, clubs, white-birch sticks three inches and a. half in diameter; consider yourselves in this situa tion, and then judge whether a reasonable man in the soldiers' situation would not have concluded they were going to kill him. I believe if I were to reverse the scene, I should bring it home to our own bosoms. Suppose Colonel Marshall when he came out of his own door and saw these grenadiers coming down with swords, etc., have thought it proper to have ap pointed a military watch; suppose he had assembled Gray and Attucks that were killed, or any other per son in town, and appointed them in that situation as, a military watch, and there had come from Murray's barracks thirty or forty soldiers with no other arms, than snowballs, cakes of ice, oyster shells, cinders,, and clubs, and attacked this military watch in this, manner, what do you suppose would have been the feelings and reasonings of any of our householders? I confess, I believe they would not have borne one- half of what the witnesses have sworn the soldiers IO6 JOHN ADAMS. bore, till they had shot down as many as were neces sary to intimidate and disperse the rest; because the law does not oblige us to bear insults to the danger of our lives, to stand still with such a number of peo ple around us, throwing such things at us, and threat ening our lives, until we are disabled to defend our selves. Foster, 274 : " Where a known felony is attempted upon the person, be it to rob or murder, here the party assaulted may repel force with force, and even his own servant, then attendant on him, or any other person present, may interpose for preventing mis chief, and if death ensue, the party so interposing will be justified. In this case nature and social duty co operate." Hawkins, P. C, Chapter 28, Section 25, toward the end : " Yet it seems that a private person, a fortiori, an officer of justice, who happens unavoidably to kill another in endeavoring to defend himself from or suppress dangerous rioters, may justify the fact in asmuch as he only does his duty in aid of the public justice." Section 24 : " And I can see no reason why a per son, who, without provocation, is assaulted by another, in any place whatsoever, in such manner as plainly shows an intent to murder him, as by discharging a pistol, or pushing at him with a drawn sword, etc., may not justify killing such an assailant, as much as if he had attempted to rob him. For is not he who attempts to murder me more injurious than he who JOHN ADAMS. IO/ barely attempts to rob me? And can it be more justi fiable to fight for my goods than for my life? " And it is not only highly agreable to reason that a man in such circumstances may lawfully kill another, but it seems also to be confirmed by the general tenor of our books, which, speaking of homicide se defendo, suppose it done in some quarrel or affray. Hawkins, p. 71, 114: "And so, perhaps the kill ing of dangerous rioters may be justified by any pri vate persons, who cannot otherwise suppress them or defend themselves from them, inasmuch as every private person seems to be authorized by the law to arm himself for the purposes aforesaid." Here every private person is authorized to arm himself ; and on the strength of this authority I do not deny the inhabitants had a right to arm them selves at that time for their defence, not for offence. That distinction is material, and must be attended to. Hawkins, p. 75, 14 : " And not only he who on an assault retreats to the wall, or some such strait, beyond which he can go no further before he kills the other, is judged by the law to act upon unavoidable neces sity ; but also he who being assaulted in such a manner and in such a place that he cannot go back without manifestly endangering his life, kills the other with out retreating at all." Section 16: " And an officer who kills one that in sults him in the execution of his office, and where a private person that kills one who feloniously assaults JOHN ADAMS. him in the highway, may justify the fact without ever giving back at all." There is no occasion for the magistrate to read the Riot Act. In the case before you, I suppose you will "be satisfied when you come to examine the witnesses and compare it with the rules of the common law, ab stracted from all mutiny acts and articles of war, that these soldiers were in such a situation that they could not help themselves. People were coming from Royal Exchange Lane, and other parts of the town, with clubs and cordwood sticks; the soldiers were planted by the wall of the Custom House ; they could not re treat; they were surrounded on all sides, for there were people behind them as well as before them ; there were a number of people in the Royal Exchange Lane ; the soldiers were so near to the Custom House that they could not retreat, unless they had gone into the brick wall of it. I shall show you presently that all the party concerned in this unlawful design were guilty of what any one of them did; if anybody threw a snowball it was the act of the whole party; if any struck with a club or threw a club, and the club had killed anybody, the whole party would have been guilty of murder in the law. Lord Chief-Justice Holt, in Mawgrige's case (Keyling, 128), says: " Now, it has been held, that if A of his malice pre pense assaults B to kill him, and B drawls his sword and attacks A and pursues him, then A, for his safe ty, gives back and retreats to a wall, and B still pur suing him with his drawn sw.ord, A in his defence kills JOHN ADAMS. I(X> B ; this is murder in A. For A having malice against B, and in pursuance thereof endeavoring to kill him, is. answerable for all the consequences of which he was the original cause. It is not reasonable for any man that is dangerously assaulted, and when he perceives * his life in danger from his adversary, but to have liber ty for the security of his own life, to pursue him that maliciously assaulted him; for he that has manifested that he has malice against another is not fit to be trust ed with a dangerous weapon in his hand. And so re solved by all the judges when they met at Seargeant's Inn, in preparation for my Lord Morley's trial." In the case here we will take Montgomery, if you please, when he was attacked by the stout man with a stick, who aimed it at his head, with a number of peo ple round him crying out, " Kill them, kill them." Had he not a right to kill the man? If all the party were guilty of the assault made by the stout man, and all of them had discovered malice in their hearts, had not Montgomery a right, according to Lord Chief-Justice Holt, to put it out of their power to wreak their malice upon him,? I will not at present look for any more authorities in the point of self-defence ; you will be able- to judge from these how far the law goes in justifying- or excusing any person in defence of himself, or tak ing away the life of another who threatens him in life or limb. The next point is this : that in case of an un lawful assembly, all and every one of the assembly is guilty of all and every unlawful act committed by any one of that assembly in prosecution of the unlawful de sign set out upon. IIO JOHN ADAMS. Rules of law should be universally known, whatever effect they may have on politics; they are rules of common law, the law of the land; and it is certainly true, that wherever there is an unlawful assembly, let it consist of many persons or of a few, every man in it is guilty of every unlawful act committed by any one of the whole party, be they more or be they less, in pursuance of their unlawful design. This is the policy of the law ; to discourage and prevent riots, in surrections, turbulence, and tumults. In the continual vicissitudes of human things, amid the shocks of fortune and the whirls of passion that take place at certain critical seasons, even in the mildest government, the people are liable to run into riots and tumults. There are Church-quakes and State-quakes in the moral and political world, as well as earth quakes, storms, and tempests in the physical. Thus much, however, must be said in favor of the people and of human nature, that it is a general, if not a uni versal truth, that the aptitude of the people to mutin ies, seditions, tumults, and insurrections, is in direct proportion to the despotism of the government. In gov ernments completely despotic that is, where the will of one man is the only law, this disposition is most prevalent. In aristocracies next; in mixed monarch ies, less than either of the former ; in complete repub lics the least of all, and under the same form of gov ernments as in a limited monarchy, for example, the virtue and wisdom of the administrations may gener ally be measured by the peace and order that are seen among the people. However this may be, such is the imperfection of all things in this world, that no form JOHN ADAMS. Ill of government, and perhaps no virtue or wisdom in the administration, can at all times avoid riots and dis orders among the people. Now, it is from this difficulty that the policy of the law has framed such strong discouragements to secure the people against tumults; because, when they once begin, there is danger of their running to such ex cesses as will overturn the whole system of govern ment. There is the rule from the reverend sage of the law, so often quoted before : i H. H. P. C. 437 : " All present, aiding and as sisting, are equally principal with him that gave the stroke whereof the party died. For though one gave the stroke, yet in interpretation of law it is the stroke of every person that was present, aiding and assist- ing." i H. H. P. C. 440 : " If divers come with one assent to do mischief, as to kill, to rob or beat, and one doeth it, they are all principals in the felony. If many be present and one only give the stroke whereof the party dies, they are all principal, if they came for that purpose." Now, if the party at Dock Square came with an in tention only to beat the soldiers, and began to affray with them, and any of them had been accidentally killed it would have been murder, because it was an unlaw ful design they came upon. If but one does it they are all considered in the eyes of the law guilty ; if any one gives the mortal stroke, they are all principals here, therefore there is a reversal of the scene. If you are .112 JOHN ADAMS. isatisfied that these soldiers were there on a lawful de sign, and it should be proved any of them shot with out provocation, and killed anybody, he only is answer able for it. First Male's Pleas of the Crown, i H. H. P. C. 444: "" Although if many come upon an unlawful design, and one of the company kill one of the adverse party in pursuance of that design, all are principals; yet if many be together upon a lawful account, and one of the company kill another of the adverse party, without any particular abetment of the rest to this fact of "homicide, they are not all guilty that are of the com pany, but only those that gave the stroke or actually abetted him to do it." i H. H. P. C. 445 : "'In case of a riotous assembly to rob or steal deer, or to do any unlawful act of violence, there the offence of one is the offence of all the com pany." In another place, i H. H. P. C. 439 : " The Lord "Dacre and divers others went to steal deer in the park of one Pellham. Raydon, one of the company, killed ;the keeper in the park, the Lord Dacre and the rest xDf the company being in the other part of the park. Yet it was adjudged murder in them all, and they died for it." And he quotes Crompton 25, Dalton 93, p. 241 : " So that in so strong a case as this, where this nobleman set out to hunt deer in the ground of ;another, he was in one part of the park and his com pany in another part, yet they were all guilty of mur der." JOHN ADAMS, II> The next is : Kale's Pleas of the Crown, i H. H. P. C. 440:' " The case of Drayton Bassit ; divers persons doing an unlawful act, all are guilty of what is done by one." Foster 353, 354 : " A general resolution against all opposers, whether such resolution appears upon evi dence to have been actually and implicitly entered into by the confederates, or may reasonably be collected from their number, arms or behavior, at or before the scene of action, such resolutions so proved have al ways been considered as strong ingredients in cases- of this kind. And in cases of homicide committed in consequence of them, every person present, in the sense of the law, when the homicide has been involved in the guilt of him that gave the mortal blow." Foster : " The cases of Lord Dacre, mentioned by Hale, and of Pudsey, reported by Crompton and cited by Hale, turned upon this point. The offences they respectively stood charged with, as principals, were, committed far out of their sight and hearing, and yet: both were held to be present. It was sufficient that at the instant the facts were committed, they were of the same party and upon the same pursuit, and un der the same engagements and expectations of mutual defence and support with those that did the facts." Thus far have proceeded, and I believe it will not. be hereafter disputed by anybody, that this law ought, to be known to every one who has any disposition to- be concerned in an unlawful assembly, whatever mis chief happens in the prosecution of the design they set out upon, all are answerable for it. It is necessary we 114 JOHN ADAMS. should consider the definitions of some other crimes as well as murder; sometimes one crime gives occa sion to another. An assault is sometimes the occa sion of manslaughter, sometimes of excusable homi cide. It is necessary to consider what is a riot. I Hawkins, ch. 65, 2 : I shall give you the definition of it: Were there not more than three persons in violence, for the accomplishment of any design what ever, all concerned are rioters/' Were there are not more than three persons in Dock Square? Did they not agree to go to King Street, and attack the main guard? Where, then, is the reason for hesitation at calling it a riot? If we cannot speak the law as it is, where is our liberty? And this is law, that wherever more than three per sons are gathered together to accomplish anything with force, it is a riot. i Hawkins, ch. 65, 2 : " Wherever more than three persons use force and violence, all who are concerned therein are rioters. But in some cases wherein the law authorizes force, it is lawful and com mendable to use it. As for a sheriff [And. 67 Poph. 121 ], or constable [3, H. 7, 10, 6], or perhaps even for a private person [Poph. 121, Moore 656], to assemble a competent number of people, in order with force to oppose rebels or enemies or rioters and afterward, with .such force actually to suppress them/' I do not mean to apply the word rebel on this oc- JOHN ADAMS. 11$ casion; I have no reason to suppose that ever there was one in Boston, at least among the natives of the country; but rioters are in the same situation, as far as my argument is concerned, and proper officers may suppress rioters, and so may even private persons. If we strip ourselves free from all military laws, mutiny acts, articles of war and soldiers' oaths, and consider these prisoners as neighbors, if any of their neighbors were attacked in King Street, they had a right to collect together to suppress this riot and com bination. If any number of persons meet together at a fair or market, and happen to fall together by the ears, they are not guilty of a riot, but of a sudden af fray. Here is another paragraph, which I must read to you : i Hawkins, ch. 65, 3 : " If a number of persons being met together at a fair or market, or on any other lawful or innocent occasion, happen, on a sudden quarrel, to fall together by the ears, they are not guilty of a riot, but of a sudden affray only, of which none are guilty but those who actually began it," eta It would be endless, as well as superfluous, to exam ine whether every particular person engaged in a riot \vere in truth one of the first assembly or actually had a previous knowledge of the design thereof. I have endeavored to produce the best authorities, and to give you the rules of law in their words, for I desire not to advance anything of my own. I choose to lay down the rules of law from authorities which cannot be dis puted. Another point is this, whether and how far 3l6 JOHN ADAMS. a private person may aid another in distress ? Suppose a press-gang should come on shore in this town and assault any sailor or householder in King Street, in order to carry him on board one of his Majesty's ships, and impress him without any warrant as a seaman in his Majesty's service; how far do you suppose the in habitants would think themselves warranted by law to interpose against that lawless press-gang? I agree that such a press-gang would be as unlawful an as sembly as that was in King Street. If they were to press an inhabitant and carry him off for a sailor,, would not the inhabitants think themselves warrant ed by law to interpose in behalf of their fellow-citi zen? Now, gentlemen, if the soldiers had no right to interpose in the relief of the sentry, the inhabitants would have no right to interpose with regard to the citizen, for whatever is law for a soldier is law for a sailor and for a citizen. They all stand upon an equal footing in this respect. I believe we shall not have it disputed that it would be lawful to go into King Street and help an honest man there against the press-master. We have many instances in the books which authorize it. Now, suppose you should have a jealousy in your minds that the people who made this attack upon the sentry had nothing in their intention more than to take him off his post, and that was threatened by some. Suppose they intended to go a little further* and tar and feather him, or to ride him (as the phrase.: is in Hudibras), he would have had a good right to/ have stood upon his defence the defence of his lib erty; and if he could not preserve that without the JOHN ADAMS. 1 1/ hazard of his own life, he would -have been warranted in depriving those of life who were endeavoring to deprive him of his. That is a point I would not give up for my right hand nay, for my life. Well, I say, if the people did this, or if this was only their intention, surely the officers and soldiers had a right to go to his relief; and therefore they set out upon a lawful errand. They were, therefore, a law ful assembly, if we only consider them as private sub jects and fellow-citizens, without regard to mutiny acts, articles of war, or soldiers' oaths. A private person, or any number of private persons, has a right to go to the assistance of a fellow subject in distress or danger of his life, when assaulted and in danger from a few or a multitude. Keyl. 136: " If a man perceives another by force to be injuriously treated, pressed, and restrained of his liberty, though the person abused doth not com plain or call for aid or assistance, and others, out of compassion, shall come to his rescue, and kill any of those that shall so restrain him, that is manslaughter." Keyl. : " A and others without any warrant impress B to serve the king at sea. B quietly submitted, and went off with the press-master. Hugett and the others pursued them, and required a sight of their warrant; "but they showing a piece of paper that was not a suf ficient warrant, thereupon Hugett with the others -drew their swords, and the press-masters theirs, and so there was a combat, and those who endeavored to rescue the pressed man killed one of the pretended press-masters. This was but manslaughter ; for when Il8 JOHN ADAMS. the liberty of one subject is invaded, it affects all the rest. It is a provocation to all people, as being of ill- example and pernicious consequences." Lord Raymond, 1,301. The Queen versus Tooley, et al. Lord Chief- Justice Holt says : "The prisoner {i.e. Tooley) in this had sufficient provocation; for if one be impressed upon an unlawful authority, it is a sufficient provocation to all people out of compassion; and where the liberty of the subject is invaded, it is a provocation to all the subjects of England, etc. ; and surely a man ought to be concerned for Magna Charta and the laws; and if any one, against the law, im prisons a man, he is an offender against Magna Charta." I am not insensible to Sir Michael Foster's observa tions on these cases, but apprehend they do not invali date the authority of them as far as I now apply them to the purposes of my argument. If a stranger, a mere fellow-subject, may interpose to defend the lib erty, he may, too, defend the life of another individu al. But, according to the evidence, some imprudent people, before the sentry, proposed to take him off his post ; others threatened his life ; and intelligence of this was carried to the main guard before any of the pris oners turned out. They were then ordered out to relieve the sentry; and any of our fellow-citizens might lawfully have gone upon the same errand. Th^.y were, therefore, a lawful assembly. I have but one point of law more to consider, and that is this : In the case before you I do not pretend to prove that every one of the unhappy persons slain JOHN ADAMS. 119 was concerned in the riot. The authorities read to you just now say it would be endless to prove wheth er every person that was present and in a riot was concerned in planning the first enterprise or not. Nay, I believe it but justice to say some were perfectly in nocent of the occasion. I have reason to suppose that one of them was Mr. Maverick. He was a very worthy young man, as he has been represented to me, and had no concern in the rioters' proceedings of that night ; and I believe the same may be said in favor of one more at least, Mr. Caldwell, who was slain; and, therefore, many people may think that as he and per haps another was innocent, therefore innocent blood having been shed, that must be expiated by the death of somebody or other. I take notice of this, because one gentleman was nominated by the sheriff for a juryman upon this trial, because he had said he be lieved Captain Preston was innocent, but innocent blood had been shed, and therefore somebody ought to be hanged for it, which he thought was indirectly giving his opinion in this cause. I am afraid many other persons have formed such an opinion. I do not take it to be a rule, that where innocent blood is shed the person must die. In the instance of the French men on the Plains of Abraham, they were in nocent, fighting for their king and country; their blood is as innocent as any. There may be multitudes killed, when innocent blood is shed on all sides; so that it is not an invariable rule. I will put a case in which, I dare say, all will agree with me. Here are two persons, the father and the son, go out a-hunting. They take different roads. \20 JOHN ADAMS. The father hears a rushing among the bushes, takes it to be game, fires, and kills his son, through a mis take. Here is innocent blood shed, but yet nobody will say the father ought to die for it. So that the gen eral rule of law is, that whenever one person has a right to do an act, and that act, by any accident, takes away the life of another, it is excusable. It bears the same regard to the innocent as to the guilty. If two men are together, and attack me, and I have a right to kill them, I strike at them, and by mistake strike a third and kill him, as I had a right to kill the first, my killing the other will be excusable, as it happened by accident. If I, in the heat of passion, aim a blow at a person who has assaulted me, and aiming at him I kill another person, it is but manslaughter. Foster, 261, 3 : " If an action unlawful in itself is done deliberately, and with intention of mischief, or great bodily harm to particulars, or of mischief indis criminately, fall it where it may, and death ensues, against or beside the original intention of the party, it will be murder. But if such mischievous intention doth not appear, which is matter of fact, and to be collected from circumstances, and the act was done heedlessly and inconsiderately, it will be manslaugh ter, not accidental death; because the act upon which death ensued was unlawful." Suppose, in this case, the mulatto man was the per son who made the assault; suppose he was concerned in the unlawful assembly, and this party of soldiers, endeavoring to defend themselves against him, hap- JOHN ADAMS. 121 pened to kill another person, who was innocent though the soldiers had no reason, that we know of, to think any person there, at least of that number who were crowding about them, innocent ; they might, na turally enough, presume all to be guilty of the riot and assault, and to come with the same design I say, if on firing on those who were guilty, they accidental ly killed an innocent person, it was not their fault. They were obliged to defend themselves against those who were pressing upon them. They are not answer able for it with their lives; for on supposition it was justifiable or excusable to kill Attucks, or any other person, it will be equally justifiable or excusable if in firing at him they killed another, who was innocent; or if the provocation was such as to mitigate the guilt of manslaughter, it will equally mitigate the guilt, if they killed an innocent man undesignedly, in aiming at him who gave the provocation, according to Judge Foster; and as this point is of such consequence, I must produce some more authorities for it : i Hawkins, 84 : " Also, if a third person, acci dentally Happen to be killed by one engaged in a com bat, upon a sudden quarrel, it seems that he who killed him is guilty of manslaughter only," etc. H. H. P. C, 442, to the same point; and i H. H. P. C., 484, and 4 Black, 27. I shall now consider one question more, and that is concerning provocation. We have hitherto been considering self-defence, and how far persons may go in defending themselves against aggressors, even by taking away their lives, and now proceed to con- 122 JOHN ADAMS. sider such provocations as the law allows to mitigate or extenuate the guilt of killing, where it is not justi fiable or excusable. An assault and battery commit ted upon a man in such a manner as not to endanger his life is such a provocation as the law allows to re duce killing down to the crime of manslaughter. Now, the law has been made on more considerations than we are capable of making at present; the law consid ers a man as capable of bearing anything and every thing but blows. I may reproach a man as much as I please; I may call him a thief, robber, traitor, scoun drel, coward, lobster, bloody back, etc., and if he kill me it will be murder, if nothing else but words pre cede; but if from giving him such kind of 'language I proceed to take him by the nose, or fillip him on the forehead, that is an assault; that is a blow. The law will not oblige a man to stand still and bear it; there is the distinction. Hands off; touch me not. As soon as you touch me, if I run you through the heart, it is but manslaughter. The utility of this distinction, the more you think of it the more you will be satisfied with it. It is an assault whenever a blow is struck, let it be ever so slight, and sometimes even without a blow. The law considers man as frail and passion ate. When his passions are touched, he will be thrown off his guard, and therefore the law makes allowance for this frailty considers him as in a fit of passion, not having the possession of his intellectual faculties, and therefore does not oblige him to measure out his blows with a yardstick, or weigh them in a scale. Let him kill with a sword, gun, or hedge-stake, it is not murder, but only manslaughter. JOHN ADAMS. 123 Keyling's Report, 135. Regina versus Mawgrige. "Rules supported by authority and general consent, showing what are always allowed to be sufficient provocations. First, if one man upon any words shall make an assault upon another, either by pulling him by the nose or filliping him on the forehead, and he that is so assaulted shall draw his sword and immedi ately run the other through, that is but manslaughter, for the peace is broken by the person killed, and with an indignity to him that received the assault. Be sides, he that was so affronted might reasonably ap prehend that he that treated him in that manner might have some further design upon him." So that here is the boundary, when a man is as saulted and kills in consequence of that assault, it is but manslaughter. I will just read as I go along the definition of assault : i Hawkins, ch. 62, i : " An assault is an attempt or offer, with force or violence, to do a corporal hurt to another, as by striking at him with or without a weapon, or presenting a gun at him at such a distance to which the gun will carry, or pointing a pitchfork at him, or by any other such like t done in angry, threatening manner, etc. ; but no words can amount to an assault." Here is the definition of an assault, which is a suf ficient provocation to soften killing down to man slaughter : i Hawkins, ch. 31, 36: "Neither can he be 124 JOHN ADAMS. thought guilty of a greater crime than manslaughter, who, finding a man in bed with his wife, or being ac tually struck by him, or pulled by the nose or filliped upon the forehead, immediately kills him, or in the defence of his person from an unlawful arrest, or in the defence of his house from those who, claiming a title to it, attempt forcibly to enter it, and to that pur pose shoot at it," etc. Every snowball, oyster shell, cake of ice, or bit of cinder, that was thrown that night at the sentinel, was an assault upon him; every one that was thrown at t^ie party of soldiers was an assault upon them r whether it hit any of them or not. I am guilty of an assault if I present a gun at any person; and if I in sult him in that manner and he shoots me, it is but manslaughter. Foster, 295, 296: "To what I have offered with regard to sudden rencounters let me add, that the blood already too much heated, kindleth afresh at ev ery pass or blow. And in the tumult of the passions, in which the mere instinct of self-preservation has no inconsiderable share, the voice of reason is not heard ; and therefore the law, in condescension to the infirm ities of flesh and blood, doth extenuate the offence." Insolent, scurrilous, or slanderous language, when it precedes an assault, aggravates it. Foster, 316: "We all know that words of re proach, how grating and offensive soever, are in the eye of the law no provocation in the case of voluntary JOHN ADAMS. 1 25 homicide ; and yet every man who hath considered the human frame, or but attended to the workings of his own heart, knoweth that affronts of that kind pierce deeper and stimulate in the veins more effectually than a slight injury done to a third person, though under the color of justice, possibly can." I produce this to show the assault in this case was aggravated by the scurrilous language which preced ed it. Such words of reproach stimulate in the veins and exasperate the mind, and no doubt if an assault and battery succeeds them, killing under such provo cation is softened to manslaughter, but killing with out such provocation makes it murder. 126 PATRICK HENRY. Henry, Patrick, a celebrated American orator and pa triot, born at Studley, Hanover Co., Va., May 29, 1736 ; died at Red Hill, Charlotte Co., Va., June 6, 1799. Adopt ing, the profession of law, he quickly secured a large prac tice, and in May, 1765, was elected to the House of Bur gesses. The news of the passage of the Stamp Act had just been received in America and Henry at once introduced before the House resolutions "condemning the Act as un constitutional and a menace to liberty, supporting them by a speech of the most impassioned eloquence which made him famous from that moment. Other notable speeches of his are those on " The Bill of Rights," " A Nation not a Federation," " Liberty or Empire," The somewhat extrav agant judgment of some of his American contemporaries classed him as the greatest of orators, but without going to such lengths it may be said that his place is with the great est. Henry was five times governor of the State of Vir ginia, but declined all public office after 1786. "GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH." DELIVERED IN THE VIRGINIA CONVENTION, ON A RESO LUTION TO PUT THE COMMONWEALTH INTO A STATE OF DEFENCE, MARCH 23, 1775. Mr. President : No MAN thinks more highly than I do of the patri otism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentle men who have just addressed the house. But dif ferent men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not^De thought disrespectful to those gentlemen, if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I PATRICK HENRY. PATRICK HENRY. I2/ shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without re serve. This is no time for ceremony. The question before the house is one of awful moment to this coun try. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery ; and in propor tion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfil the great re sponsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offence, I should consider my self as guilty of treason toward my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings. Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren, till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those, who, having eyes, see not, and hav ing ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth ; to know the worst, and to provide for it. I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British Ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the house. Is it that 128 PATRICK HENRY. insidious smile with which our petition has been late ly received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets, and armies necessary to a work of love and reconcilia tion ? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be rec onciled, that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation ; the last argu ments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, What means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission ? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us : they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British Ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose ta them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capa ble; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find, which have not been already exhausted ? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves longer. Sir, we have done everything that could be done, to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned ; we have remonstrated ; we have supplicat- PATRICK HENRY. 1 29 eel; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyran nical hands of the Ministry and Parliament. Our pe titions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplica tions have been disregarded ; and we have been spurn ed, with contempt, from the foot of the throne. In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon, until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left for us ! They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house ? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual re sistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot ? Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. Three mil lions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are 9 130 PATRICK HENRY. invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat, but in submis sion and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston ! The war is inevitable and let it come. I repeat it, sir, let it come. * It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentle men may cry, Peace, Peace but there is no peace. The war is actually begun ! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of re sounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish ? What would they have ? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God ! I know not what course others may take ; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death ! PATRICK HENRY. 131 "WE, THE PEOPLE" OR "WE, THE STATES" ? DELIVERED IN THE VIRGINIA CONVENTION,, JUNE 4, 1778, ON THE PREAMBLE AND THE FIRST TWO SECTIONS OF THE FIRST ARTICLE OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. Mr, Chairman : THE public mind, as well as my own, is extremely uneasy at the proposed change of government. Give me leave to form one of the number of those who wish to be thoroughly acquainted with the reasons of this perilous and uneasy situation, and why we are brought hither to decide on this great national ques tion. I consider myself as the servant of the people of this Commonwealth, as a sentinel over their rights, liberty, and happiness. I represent their feelings when I say that they are exceedingly uneasy, being brought from that state of full security, which they enjoy, to the present delusive appearance of things. Before the meeting of the late Federal Convention at Philadelphia, a general peace and a universal tran quillity prevailed in this country, and the minds of our citizens were at perfect repose ; but since that per iod they are exceedingly uneasy and disquieted. When I wished for an appointment to this convention, my mind was extremely agitated for the situation of public affairs. I conceive the Republic to be in ex treme danger. If our situation be thus uneasy, whence has arisen this fearful jeopardy? It arises from this fatal system; it arises from a proposal to change our government a proposal that goes to the Si 132 PATRICK HENRY. utter annihilation of the most solemn engagements of the States a proposal of establishing nine States into a confederacy, to the eventual exclusion of four States. It goes to the annihilation of these solemn treaties we have formed with foreign nations. The present circumstances of France, the good offices ren dered us by that kingdom, require our most faithful and most punctual adherence to our treaty with her. We are in alliance with the Spaniards, the Dutch, the Prussians; those treaties bound us as thirteen States, confederated together. Yet here is a proposal to sever that confederacy. Is it possible that we shall abandon all our treaties and national engagements? And for what ? I expected to have heard the reasons of an event so unexpected to my mind, and many others. Was our civil polity, or public justice, endan gered or sapped ? Was the real existence of the coun try threatened, or was this preceded by a mournful progression of events ? This proposal of altering our Federal Government is of a most alarming nature; make the best of this new government say it is com posed of anything but inspiration you ought to be ex tremely cautious, watchful, jealous of your liberty; for, instead of securing your rights, you may lose them forever. If a wrong step be now made, the Republic may be lost forever. If this new government will not come up to the expectation of the people, and they should be disappointed, their liberty will be lost, and tyranny must and will arise. I repeat it again, and I beg gentlemen to consider, that a wrong step, made now, will plunge us into misery, and our Republic will be lost. It will be necessary for this convention to PATRICK HENRY. 133 have a faithful historical detail of the facts that pre ceded the session of the Federal Convention, and the reasons that actuated its members in proposing an en tire alteration of government and to demonstrate the dangers that awaited us. If they were of such awful magnitude as to warrant a proposal so extreme ly perilous as this, I must assert that this convention has an absolute right to a thorough discovery of ev ery circumstance relative to this great event. And here I would make this inquiry of those worthy char acters who composed a part of the late Federal Con vention. I am sure they were fully impressed with the necessity of forming a great consolidated govern ment, instead of a confederation. That this is a con solidated government is demonstrably clear, and the danger of such a government is, to my mind, very striking. I have the highest veneration for those gentlemen; but, sir, give me leave to demand what right had they to say, " We, the People " ? My polit ical curiosity, exclusive of my anxious solicitude for the public welfare, leads me to ask who authorized them to speak the language of "We, the People," in stead of " We, the States " ? States are the charac teristics and the soul of a confederation. If the States be not the agents of this compact, it must be one great consolidated national government of the people of all the States. I have the highest respect for those gentle men who formed the convention; and were some of them not here, I would express some testimonial of es teem for them. America had, on a former occasion, put the utmost confidence in them a confidence which was well placed; and I am sure, sir, I would 134 PATRICK HENRY. give up anything to them ; I would cheerfully confide in them as my representatives. But, sir, on this great occasion, I would demand the cause of their conduct. Even from that illustrious man, who saved us by his valor, I would have a reason for his conduct; that liberty, which he has given us by his valor tells me to ask this reason, and sure I am, were he here, he would give us that reason: but there are other gentlemen here who can give us this information. The people gave them no power to use their name. That they exceeded their power is perfectly clear. It is not mere curiosity that actuates me; I wish to hear the real, actual, existing danger, which should lead us to take those steps so dangerous in my conception. Disorders have arisen in other parts of America, but here, sir, no dangers, no insurrection or tumult, has happened; everything has been calm and tranquil. But notwithstanding -this, we are wandering on the great ocean of human affairs. I see no landmark to guide us. We are running we know not whither. Dif ference in opinion has gone to a degree of inflamma tory resentment in different parts of the country, which has been occasioned by this perilous innovation. The Federal Convention ought to have amended the old system ; for this purpose they were solely delegat ed: the object of their mission extended to no other consideration. You must therefore forgive the solici tation of one unworthy member to know what danger could have arisen under the present confederation, and what are the causes of this proposal to change our government. PATRICK HENRY. 135 "A NATION NOT A FEDERATION." DELIVERED IN THE VIRGINIA CONVENTION ON THE EIGHTH SECTION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. Mr. Chairman : IT is now confessed that this is a national govern ment. There is not a single federal feature in it. It has been alleged, within these walls, during the de bates, to be national and federal, as it suited the arguments of gentlemen. But now, when we have heard of the definition of it, it is purely national. The honorable member was pleased to say that the sword and purse included everything of consequence. And shall we trust them out of our hands without checks and barriers? The sword and purse are essentially necessary for the government. Every essential requisite must be in Congress. Where are the purse and sword of Vir ginia? They must go to Congress. What is become of your country? The Virginian government is but a name. It clearly results, from his last argument, that w r e are to be consolidated.. We should be thought unwise, indeed, to keep two hundred legisla tors in Virginia, when the government is, in fact, gone to Philadelphia or New York. We are, as a State, to form no part of the government. Where are your checks? The most essential objects of government are to be administered by Congress. How, then, can the State governments be any check upon them? If we are to be a republican government, it will be con solidated, not confederated. 136 PATRICK HENRY. The means, says the gentleman, must be commens urate to the end. How does this apply ? All things in common are left with this government. There being* an infinitude in the government, there must be an in finitude of means to carry it on. This is a sort of mathematical government that may appear well on paper, but cannot sustain examination, or be safely re duced to practice. The delegation of power to an ade quate number of representatives, and an unimpeded reversion of it back to the people, at short periods, form the principal traits of a republican government. The idea of a republican government, in that paper, is something superior to the poor people. The govern ing persons are the servants of the people. There, the servants are greater than their masters ; because it in cludes infinitude, and infinitude excludes every idea of subordination. In this the creature has destroyed and soared above the creator. For if its powers be infinite, what rights have the people remaining? By that very argument, despotism has made way in all countries where the people unfortunately have been enslaved by it. We are told, the sword and purse are necessary for the- national defence. The junction of these, without limitation, in the same hands, is, by logical and mathematical conclusions, the description of despotism. The reasons adduced here to-day have long ago been advanced in favor of passive obedience and non- resistance. In 1688, the British nation expelled their monarch for attempting to trample on their liberties. The doctrine of Divine Right and Passive Obedience was said to be commanded by Heaven it was incul- PATRICK HENRY. 137 cated by his minions and adherents. He wanted to possess, without control, the sword and the purse. The attempt cost him his crown. This government demands the same powers. I see reason to be more and more alarmed. I fear it will terminate in despot ism. As to his objection of the abuse of liberty, it is denied. The political inquiries and promotions of the peasants are a happy circumstance. A foundation of knowledge is a great mark of happiness. When the spirit of inquiry after political discernment goes forth among the lowest of the people, it rejoices my heart. Why such fearful apprehensions ? I defy him to show that liberty has been abused. There has been no re bellion here, though there was in Massachusetts. Tell me of any country which has been so long without a rebellion. Distresses have been patiently borne in this country, which would have produced revolutions in other countries. We strained every nerve to make provisions to pay off our soldiers and officers. They, though not paid, and greatly distressed at the conclu sion of the war, magnanimously acquiesced. The de preciation of the circulating currency very much in volved many of them, and thousands of other citizens, in absolute ruin; but the same patient fortitude and forbearance marked their conduct. What would the people of England have done in such a situation ? They would have resisted the government, and murdered the tyrant. But in this country no abuse of power has taken place. It is only a general assertion, unsupport ed, which suggests the contrary. Individual licen tiousness will show its baneful consequences in every country, let its government be what it may. 138 PATRICK HENRY. But the honorable gentleman says responsibility will exist more in this than in the British Govern ment. It exists more in name than anything else. I need not speak af the executive authority. But con sider the two houses the American Parliament. Are the members of the Senate responsible? They may try themselves, and, if found guilty on impeachment, are to be only removed from office. In England the greatest characters are brought to the block for their sinister administration. They have a power there, not to dismiss them from office, but from life, for mal practices. The king himself cannot pardon in this case. How does it stand with respect to your lower house? You have but ten. Whatever number may be there, six is a majority. Will your country afford no temptation, no money to corrupt them? Cannot six fat places be found to accommodate them ? They may, after the first Congress, take any place. There will be a multiplicity of places. Suppose they cor ruptly obtain places. Where will you find them to punish them? At the furthest part of the Union; in the ten miles square, or within a State where there is a stronghold. What are you to do when these men return from Philadelphia? Two things are to be done. To detect the offender and bring him to pun ishment. You will find it difficult to do either. In England, the proceedings are openly transacted. They deliver their opinions freely and openly. They do not fear all Europe. Compare it to this. You cannot detect the guilty. The publication from time to time is merely optional in them. They may pro long the period, or suppress it altogether, under pre- PATRICK HENRY. 139 tence of its being necessary to be kept secret. The yeas and nays will avail nothing. Is the publication daily ? It may be a year, or once in a century. I know this would be an unfair construction in the common concerns of life. But it would satisfy the words of the Constitution. It would be some security were it once a year, or even once in two years. When the new elec tion comes on, unless you detect them, what becomes of your responsibility? Will they discover their guilt when they wish to be re-elected? This would sup pose them to be, not only bad men, but foolish men, in pursuit of responsibility. Have you a right to scrutinize into the conduct of your representatives? Can any man, who conceives himself injured, go and demand a sight of their journals? But it will be told that I am suspicious. I am answered, to every ques tion, that they will be good men. In England, they see daily what is doing in Parliament. They will hear from their Parliament in one thirty-ninth part of the time that we shall hear from Congress in this scat tered country. Let it be proposed, in England, to lay a poll tax, or enter into any measure, that will injure one part and produce emoluments to another, intelli gence will fly quickly as the rays of light to the people. They will instruct their representatives to oppose it, and will petition against it, and get it prevented or redressed instantly. Impeachment follows quickly a violation of duty. Will it be so here ? You must de tect the offence, and punish the defaulter. How will this be done when you know not the offender, even though he had a previous design to commit the mis demeanor? Your Parliament will consist of sixty- 140 PATRICK HENRY. five. Your share will be ten out of the sixty-five. Will they not take shelter, by saying they were in the minority that the men from New Hampshire and Kentucky out- voted them? Thus will responsibility, that great pillar of a free government, be taken away. The honorable gentleman wished to try the experi ment. Loving his country as he does, he would not surely wish to trust his happiness to an experiment, from which much harm, but no good, may result. I will speak another time, and will not fatigue the committee now. I think the friends of the opposition ought to make a pause here; for I can see no safety to my country, if you give up this power. THE BILL OF RIGHTS. DELIVERED IN THE VIRGINIA CONVENTION OTST THE ADOPTION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITU TION, JUNE 14, 1788. Mr. Chairman : THE necessity of a Bill of Rights appears to me to be greater in this government than ever it was in any government before. I have observed already that the sense of the European nations, and particularly Great Britain, is against the construction of rights being re tained which are not expressly relinquished. I repeat that all nations have adopted this construction that all rights not expressly and unequivocally reserved to the people are impliedly and incidentally relinquished to rulers, as necessarily inseparable from the delegat- ;ed powers. It is so in Great Britain; for every pos- PATRICK HENRY. 14! sible right, which is not reserved to the people by some express provision or compact, is within the king's pre rogative. It is so in that country which is said to be in such full possession of freedom. It is so in Spain, Ger many, and other parts of the world. Let us consider the sentiments which have been entertained by the people of America on this subject. At the Revolu tion, it must be admitted that it was their sense to set down those great rights which ought, in all countries, to be held inviolable and sacred. Virginia did so, we all remember. She made a compact to reserve, ex pressly, certain rights. When fortified with full, adequate, and abundant representation, was she satisfied with that represen tation? No. She most cautiously and guardedly re served and secured those invaluable, inestimable rights and privileges which no people inspired with the least glow of patriotic liberty ever did, or ever can, abandon. She is called upon now to abandon them and dissolve that compact which secured them to her. She, is called upon to accede to another compact which most infallibly supersedes and annihilates her present one. Will she do it? This is the question. If you intend to reserve your inalienable rights, you must have the most express stipulation; for if implication be allow ed, you are ousted of those rights. If the people do not think it necessary to reserve them, they will be supposed to be given up. How were the congression al rights defined when the people of America united by a confederacy to defend their liberties and rights against the tyrannical attempts of Great Britain? The States were not then contented with implied reserva- 142 PATRICK HENRY. tion. No, Mr. Chairman. It was expressly declared in our Confederation that every right was retained by the States, respectively, which was not given up to the government of the United States. But there is no such thing here. You, therefore, by a natural and unavoidable implication, give up your rights to the general government. Your own example furnishes an argument against it. If you give up these powers, without a Bill of Rights, you will exhibit the most absurd thing to man kind that ever the world saw a government that has abandoned all its powers the powers of direct taxa tion, the sword, and the purse. You have disposed of them to Congress, without a Bill of Rights without check, limitation, or control. And still you have checks and guards; still you keep barriers point ed where? Pointed against your weakened, pros trated, enervated State government ! You have a Bill of Rights to defend you against the State government, which is bereaved of all power, and yet you have none against Congress, though in full and exclusive posses sion of all power! You arm yourselves against the weak and defenceless, and expose yourselves naked to the armed and powerful. Is not this conduct of un exampled absurdity? What barriers have you to op pose to this most strong, energetic government. To that government who have nothing to oppose. All your defence is given up. This is a real, actual defect. It must strike the mind of every gentle man. When our government was first instituted in Virginia, we declared the common law of England to be in force. PATRICK HENRY. 143 That system of law which has been admired and has protected us and our ancestors is excluded by that sys tem. Added to this, we adopted a Bill of Rights. By this Constitution some of the best barriers of human rights are thrown away. Is there not an additional reason to have a Bill of Rights ? By the ancient com mon law the trial of all facts is decided by a jury of impartial men from the immediate vicinage. This paper speaks of different juries from the common law in criminal cases; and in civil controversies excludes trial by jury altogether. There is, therefore, more oc casion for the supplementary check of a Bill of Rights now than then. Congress, from their general powers, may fully go into the business of human legislation. They may be legislative in criminal cases, from trea son to the lowest offence petty larceny. They may, define crimes and prescribe punishments. In the defi nition of crimes, I trust they will be directed by what wise representatives ought to be governed by. But when we come to punishments, no latitude ought to be left, nor dependence put on the virtue of representa tives. What says our Bill of Rights ? " that exces sive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflict ed." Are you not, therefore, now calling on those gen tlemen who are to compose Congress to prescribe trials and define punishments without this control? Will they find sentiments there similar to this Bill of Rights? You let them loose; you do more you de part from the genius of your country. That paper tells you that the trial of crimes shall be by jury, and held in the State where the crime shall have been 144 PATRICK HENRY. committed. Under this extensive provision, they may proceed in a manner extremely dangerous to liberty; a person accused may be carried from one extremity of the State to another, and may be tried not by an impartial jury of the vicinage, acquainted with his character and the circumstances of the fact, but by a jury unacquainted with both, and who may be biased against him. Is not this sufficient to alarm men? How different is this from the immemorial practice of your British ancestors and your own ! I need not tell you that, by the common law, a number of hun- dreders were required on a jury, and that afterward it was sufficient if the jurors came from the same county. With less than this the people of England have never been satisfied. That paper ought to have declared the common law in force. In this business of legislation, your members of Congress will lose the restrictions of not imposing excessive fines, demanding excessive bail, and inflict ing cruel and unusual punishments. These are pro hibited by your Declaration of Rights. What has dis tinguished our ancestors? That they would not ad mit of tortures, or cruel or barbarous punishment. But Congress may introduce the practice of the civil law, in preference to that of the common law. They may introduce the practice of France, Spain and Ger many of torturing to extort a confession of crime. They will say that they might as well draw examples from those countries as from Great Britain, and they will tell you that there is such a necessity of strength ening the arm of government that they must have a criminal equity, and extort confession by torture, in PATRICK HENRY. 145 order to punish with still more relentless severity. We are then lost and undone. And can any man think it troublesome, when we can, by a small inter ference, prevent our rights from being lost? If you will, like the Virginia government, give them knowl edge of the extent of the rights retained by the peo ple, and the powers of themselves, they will, if they be honest men, thank you for it. Will they not wish to go on sure grounds? But if you leave them other wise, they will not know how to proceed; and, being in a state of uncertainty, they will assume rather than give up powers of implication. A Bill of Rights may be summed up in a few words. What do they tell us ? That our rights are reserved. Why not say so? Is it because it will consume too much papier? Gentlemen's reasoning against a Bill of Rights does not satisfy me. Without saying which has the right side, it remains doubtful. A Bill of Rights is a favorite thing with the Virginians and the people of the other States likewise. It may be their prejudice, but the government ought to suit their geniuses ; otherwise its operation will be unhappy. A Bill of Rights, even if its necessity be doubtful, will exclude the possibility of dispute ; and, with great sub mission, I think the best way is to have no dispute. In the present Constitution they are restrained from issuing general warrants to search suspected places, or seize persons not named, without evidence of the commission of a fact, etc. There was certainly some celestial influence governing those who deliberated on that Constitution; for they have, with the most cautious and enlightened circumspection, guarded 146 PATRICK HENRY. those indefeasible rights which ought ever to be held sacred! The officers of Congress may come upon you now, fortified with all the terrors of paramount federal authority. Excisemen may come in multi tudes; for the limitation of their numbers no man knows. They may, unless the general government be restrained by a Bill of Rights, or some similar re striction, go into your cellars and rooms, and search, ransack, and measure, everything you eat, drink, and wear. They ought to be restrained within proper bounds. With respect to the freedom of the press, I need say nothing; for it is hoped that the gentle men who shall compose Congress will take care to infringe as little as possible the rights of human na ture. This will result from their integrity. They should, from prudence, abstain from violating the rights of their constituents. They are not, however, expressly restrained. But whether they will inter meddle with that palladium of our liberties or not, I leave you to determine. LIBERTY OR EMPIRE? PELIVERED IN THE VIRGINIA CONVENTION, JUNE 5, 1788. WHAT, sir, is the genius of democracy? Let me read that clause of the Bill of Rights of Virginia which relates to this : " CLAUSE III. That government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit, protection and PATRICK HENRY. 147 security of the people, nation, or community. Of all the various modes and forms of government, that is best which is capable of producing the greatest de gree of happiness and safety, and is most effectually secured against the danger of maladministration; and that whenever any government shall be found inade quate or contrary to those purposes, a majority of the community hath an indubitable, unalienable, and in defeasible right to reform, alter, or abolish it, in such manner as shall be judged most conducive to the pub lic weal." This, sir, is the language of democracy that a ma- jority of the community have a right to alter gov ernment when found to be oppressive. But how different is the genius of your new Constitution from this! How different from the sentiments of free men, that a contemptible minority can prevent the good of the majority ! If, then, gentlemen standing on this ground are come to that point, that they are willing to bind themselves and their posterity to be oppressed, I am amazed and inexpressibly astonished. If this be the opinion of the majority, I must submit ; but to me, sir, it appears perilous and destructive. I cannot help thinking so. Perhaps it may be the re sult of my age. These may be feelings natural to a man of my years, when the American spirit has left him, and his mental powers, like the members of the body, are decayed. If, sir, amendments are left to the twentieth, or tenth part of the people of America, your liberty is gone forever. We have heard that there is a great deal of bribery practiced in the House 148 PATRICK HENRY. of Commons in England, and that many of the mem bers raise themselves to preferments by selling the rights of the whole of the people. But, sir, the tenth part of that body cannot continue oppressions on the rest of the people. English liberty is, in this case, on a firmer foundation than American liberty. It will be easily contrived to procure the opposition of one- tenth of the people to any alteration, however judi cious. The honorable gentleman who presides told us to prevent abuses in our government, we will assemble in convention, recall our delegated powers,, and punish our servants for abusing the trust im posed in them. Oh, sir! we should have fine times, indeed, if, to punish tyrants, it were only sufficient to assemble the people! Your arms, wherewith you could defend yourselves, are gone; and you have no longer an aristocratical, no longer a democratical spirit. Did you ever read of any revolution in a na tion, brought about by the punishment of those in power, inflicted by those who had no power at all? You read of a riot act in a country which is called one of the freest in the world, where a few neighbors can not assemble without the risk of being shot by a hired soldiery, the engines of despotism. We may see such an act in America. A standing army we shall have, also, to execute the execrable commands of tyranny ; and how are you to punish them ? Will you order them to be punished ? Who shall obey these orders ? Will your mace- bearer be a match for a disciplined regiment. In what situation are we to be ? The clause before you r gives a power of direct taxation, unbounded and un- PATRICK HENRY. 149 limited an exclusive power of legislation, in all cases whatsoever, for ten miles square, and over all places purchased for the erection of forts, magazines, arse nals, dockyards, etc. What resistance could be made ? The attempt would be madness. You will find all the strength of this country in the hands of your ene mies; their garrisons \vill naturally be the strongest places in the country. Your militia is given up to Congress, also, in another part of this plan ; they will therefore act as they think proper: all power will be in their own possession. You cannot force them to re ceive their punishment : of what service would mili tia be to you, when, most probably, you will not have -a single musket in the State ? For, as arms are to be provided by Congress, they may or may not furnish them. Let me here call your attention to that part which gives the Congress the power " to provide for organ izing, arming and disciplining the militia, and for gov erning such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States; reserving to the States, respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the dis cipline prescribed by Congress." By this, sir, you see that their control over our last and best defence is un limited. If they neglect or refuse to discipline or arm our militia, they will be useless; the States can do neither, this power being exclusively given to Con gress. The power of appointing officers over men not disciplined or armed is ridiculous; so that this pre tended little remains of power left to the States may, at the pleasure of Congress, be rendered nugatory. ISO PATRICK HENRY. Our situation will be deplorable indeed: nor can we ever expect to get this government amended, since I have already shown that a very small minority may prevent it, and that a small minority interest ed in the continuance of the oppression. Will the oppressor let go the oppressed? Was there ever an instance? Can the annals of man kind exhibit one single example where rulers over charged with power willingly let go the oppressed, though solicited and requested most earnestly? The application for amendments will therefore be fruit less. Sometimes the oppressed have got loose by one of those bloody struggles that desolate a country; but a willing relinquishment of power is one of those things which human nature never was, nor ever will be capable of. The honorable gentleman's observations respecting the people's right of being the agents in the formation of this government are not accurate, in my humble conception. The distinction between a national gov ernment and a confederacy is not sufficiently dis cerned. Had the delegates who were sent to Phila delphia a power to propose a consolidated government instead of a confederacy ? W 7 ere they not deputed by States, and not by the people? The assent of the peo ple, in their collective capacity, is not necessary to the formation of a federal government. The people have no right to enter into leagues, alliances, or confedera tions ; they are not the proper agents for this purpose. States and foreign powers are the only proper agents for this kind of government. Show me an instance where the people have exercised this business. Has PATRICK HENRY. it not always gone through the Legislatures? I refer you to the treaties with France, Holland, and other nations. How were they made? Were they not made by the States? Are the people, therefore, in their aggregate capacity, the proper persons to form a confederacy? This, therefore, ought to depend on the consent of the Legislatures, the people having sent delegates to make any proposition for changing the government. Yet I must say, at the same time, that it was made on grounds the most pure ; and, per haps, I might have been brought to consent to it as far as to the change of government. But there is one thing in it which I never would acquiesce in. I mean the changing it into a consolidated govern ment, which is so abhorrent- to my mind. The honorable gentleman then went on to the figure we make with foreign nations; the contempti ble one we make in France and Holland, which, ac cording to the substance of the notes, he attributes to the present feeble government. An opinion has gone forth, we find, that we are contempti ble people ; the time has been when we were thought otherwise. Under the same despised government we commanded the respect of all Europe; wherefore are we now reckoned otherwise? The American spirit has fled from hence; it has gone to regions where it has never been expected; it has gone to the people of France in search of a splendid gov ernment, a strong, energetic government. Shall we imitate the example of those nations who have gone from a simple to a splendid government? Are those nations more worthy of our imitation? What can 152 PATRICK HENRY. make an adequate satisfaction to them for the loss they have suffered in attaining such a government for the loss of their liberty? If we admit this con solidated government, it will be because we like a great, splendid one. Some way or other we must be a great and mighty empire; we must have an army, and a navy, and a number of things. When the American spirit was in its youth, the language of America was different; liberty, sir, was then the pri mary object. We are descended from a people whose government was founded on liberty; our glorious forefathers of Great Britain made liberty the foun dation of everything. That country is become a great, mighty, and splendid nation; not because their government is strong and energetic, but, sir, because liberty is its direct end and foundation. We drew the spirit of liberty from our British ancestors; by that spirit we have triumphed over every difficulty. But now, sir, the American spirit, assisted by the ropes and chains of consolidation, is about to convert this country into a powerful and mighty empire. If you make the citizens of this country agree to become the subjects of one great consolidated empire of America, your government will not have sufficient energy to keep them together. Such a government is incom patible with the genius of republicanism. There will , be no checks, no real balances in this government. What can avail your specious, imaginary balances, your rope-dancing, chain-rattling, ridiculous ideal checks and contrivances ? But, sir, " we are not feared by foreigners; we do not make nations trem ble." Would this constitute happiness or secure lib- PATRICK HENRY. 153 erty? I trust, sir, our political hemisphere will ever direct their operations to the security of those objects. Consider our situation, sir; go to the poor man and ask him what he does. He will inform you that he enjoys the fruits of his labor, under his own fig tree, with his wife and children around him, in peace and security. Go to every other member of society; you will find the same tranquil ease and content; you will find no alarms or disturbances. Why, then, tell us of danger, to terrify us into an adoption of this new form of government? And yet who knows the dan gers that this new system may produce ? They are out of the sight of the common people ; they cannot fore see latent consequences. I dread the operation of it on the middling and lower classes of people; it is for them I fear the adoption of this system. I fear I tire the patience of the committee, but I beg to be indulged with a few more observations. When I thus confess myself an advocate for the liberty of the peo ple, I shall be told I am a designing man, that I am to be a great man, that I am to be a demagogue ; and many similar illiberal insinuations will be thrown out : but, sir, conscious rectitude outweighs those things with me. I see great jeopardy in this new government. 1 see none from our present one. I hope some gen tleman or other will bring forth, in full array, those dangers, if there be any, that we may see and touch them. I have said that I thought this a consolidated government; I will now prove it. Will the great rights of the people be secured by this government? Suppose it should prove oppressive, how can it be altered? Our Bill of Rights declares that "a ma- 154 PATRICK HENRY. jority of the community hath an indubitable, un- alienable and indefeazible right to reform, alter, or abolish it, in such manner as shall be judged most conducive to the public weal." I have just proved that one-tenth, or less, of the people of America a most despicable minority may prevent this reform or alteration. Suppose the people of Virginia should wish to alter their govern ment; can a majority of them do it? No; because they are connected with other men, or, in other words, consolidated with other States. When the people of Virginia, at a future day, shall wish to alter their gov ernment, though they should be unanimous in this desire, yet they may be prevented therefrom by a despicable minority at the extremity of the United States. The founders of your own Constitution made your government changeable ; but the power of chang ing it is gone from you. Whither is it gone? It is placed in the same hands that hold the rights of twelve other States, and those who hold those rights have right and power to keep them. It is not the particu lar government of Virginia; one of the leading fea tures of that government is that a majority can alter it when necessary for the public good. This gov ernment is not a Virginian, but an American govern ment. Is it not, therefore, a consolidated govern ment? The sixth clause of your Bill of Rights tells you " that elections of members to serve as represen tatives of the people in assembly ought to be free, and that all men having sufficient evidence of perma nent common interest with and attachment to the com munity, have the right of suffrage, and cannot be PATRICK HENRY. 1 55 taxed, or deprived of their property for public uses, without their own consent, or that of their represen-' tatives so elected, nor bound by any law to which they have not in like manner assented for the public good." But what does this Constitution say? The clause under consideration gives an unlimited and un bounded power of taxation. Suppose every dele gate from Virginia opposes a law laying a tax; what will it avail? They are oppressed by a majority; eleven members can destroy their efforts : those fee ble ten cannot prevent the passage of the most oppres sive tax law ; so that, in direct opposition to the spirit and express language of your Declaration of Rights, you are taxed, not by your own consent, but by people who have no connection with you. The next clause of the Bill of Rights tells you " that all power of suspending law, or the execution of laws, by any authority, without the consent of the representatives of the people, is injurious to their rights, and ought not to be exercised." This tells us that there can be no suspension of government or laws without our own consent; yet this Constitution can counteract and suspend any of our laws that con travene its oppressive operation; for they have the power of direct taxation, which suspends our Bill of Rights; and it is expressly provided that they can make all laws necessary for carrying their powers into execution; and it is declared paramount to the laws and constitutions of the States. Consider how the only remaining defence we have left is destroyed in this manner. Besides the expenses of maintain ing the Senate and other House in as much splendor 156 PATRICK HENRY. as they please, there is to be a great and mighty Presi dent, with very extensive powers the powers of a king. He is to be supported in extravagant magnifi cence ; so that the whole of our property may be taken by this American Government, by laying what taxes they please, giving themselves what salaries they please, and suspending our laws at their pleasure. I might be thought too inquisitive, but I believe I should take up very little of your time in enumerating the lit tle power that is left to the government of Virginia, for this power is reduced to little or nothing; their gar risons, magazines, arsenals, and forts, which will be situated in the strongest places within the States; their ten-mile square, with all the fine ornaments of human life, added to their powers, and taken from the States, will reduce the power of the latter to nothing. The voice of tradition, I trust, will inform posterity of our struggles for freedom. If our descendants be worthy the name of Americans, they will preserve, and hand down to their 'last posterity, the transactions of the present times; and, though I confess my ex clamations are not worthy the hearing, they will see that I have done my utmost to preserve their liberty ; for I never will give up the power of direct taxation but for a scourge. I am willing to give it condition ally; that is, after non-compliance with requisitions. I will do more, sir, and what I hope will convince the most sceptical man that I am a lover of the American Union; that, in case Virginia shall not make punctual payment, the control of our custom houses, and the whole regulation of trade, shall be given to Congress, and that Virginia shal] depend on Congress even for PATRICK HENRY. 157 passports, till Virginia shall have paid the last farth ing, and furnished the last soldier. Nay, sir, there is another alternative to which I would consent; even that they should strike us out of the Union and take away from us all federal privileges, till we comply with federal requisitions: but let it depend upon our own pleasure to pay our money in the most easy man ner for our people. Were all the States, more terri ble than the mother country, to join against us, I hope Virginia could defend herself; but, sir, the dissolution of the Union is most abhorrent to my mind. The first thing I have at heart is American liberty; the second thing is American union; and I hope the people of Virginia will endeavor to preserve that union. The increasing population of the South ern States is far greater than that of New England; consequently, in a short time, they will be far more numerous than the people of that country. Consider this, and you will find this State more particularly in terested to support American liberty and not bind our posterity by an improvident relinquishment of our rights. I would give the best security for a punc tual compliance with requisitions; but I beseech gen tlemen, at all hazards, not to give up this unlimited power of taxation. The honorable gentleman has told us that these powers, given to Congress, are ac companied by a judiciary which will correct all. On examination, you will find this very judiciary op pressively constructed, your jury trial destroyed, and the judges dependent on Congress. . . This Constitution is said to have beautiful features; but when I come to examine these features, sir, they 158 PATRICK HENRY. appear to me horribly frightful. Among other de formities, it has an awful squinting ; it squints toward monarchy; and does not this raise indignation in the breast of every true American? Your President may easily become king. Your Senate is so imper fectly constructed that your dearest rights may be sacrificed by what may be a small minority; and a very small minority may continue forever unchange ably this government, although horribly defective. Where are your checks in this government? Your strongholds will be in the hands of your enemies. It is on a supposition that your American governors shall be honest, that all the good qualities of this government are founded ; but its defective and imper fect construction puts it in their power to perpetrate the worst of mischiefs, should they be bad men; and, sir, would not all the world, from the Eastern to the Western Hemisphere, blame our distracted folly in resting our rights upon the contingency of our rulers being good or bad? Show me that age and country where the rights and liberties of the people were placed on the sole chance of their rulers being good men, without a consequent loss of liberty! I say that the loss of that dearest privilege has ever fol lowed, with absolute certainty, every such mad at tempt. If your American chief be a man of ambition and abilities, how easy is it for him to render himself ab solute ! The army is in his hands, and if he be a man of address, it will be attached to him, and it will be the subject of long meditation with him to seize the first auspicious moment to accomplish his design ; and, PATRICK HENRY. 1 59 sir, will the American spirit solely relieve you when this happens? I would rather infinitely and I am sure most of this Convention are of the same opinion have a king, lords, and commons, than a govern ment so replete with such insupportable evils. If we make a king, we may prescribe the rules by which he shall rule his people, and interpose such checks as shall prevent him from infringing them; but the President, in the field, at the head of his army, can prescribe the terms on which he shall reign master, so far that it will puzzle any American ever to get his neck from under the galling yoke. I cannot with patience think of this idea. If ever he violate the laws, one of two things will happen; he will come at the head of the army to carry everything before him ; or he will give bail, or do what Mr. Chief- Justice will order him. If he be guilty, will not the recollection of his crimes teach him to make one bold push for the American throne? Will not the immense difference between being master of everything and being ig- nominiously tried and punished powerfully excite him to make this bold push ? But, sir, where is the existing force to punish him? Can he not, at the head of his army beat down every opposition? Away with your President ! we shall have a king : the army will salute him monarch ; your militia will leave you, and assist in making him king, and fight against you : and what have you to oppose this force ? What will then be come of you and your rights? Will not absolute despotism ensue? l6o HANCOCK. Hancock, John, a distinguished American patriot and orator, born in that portion of Braintree, Mass., now known as Quincy, January 12, 1737 ; died there, Octobers, 1793. He inherited a large fortune and rose to prominence as a merchant in Boston, becoming a member of the colonial legis lature in 1766. The skirmish between the rabble and tb<* soldiers, since known as " The Boston Massacre," occurred in 1770, and Hancock's oration at the funeral of the vic tims was so strongly condemned that his arrest was sought by the authorities. Like Samuel Adams he was exempted from the free pardon offered to rebels in 1775. In that same year he was chosen President of the Continental Con gress, and he was the first one to sign the Declaration of Independence. He was the first governor oe the State of Massachusetts, aud save for a two-years interval, was re-elec ted annually until his death. ORATION ON THE BOSTON MASSACRE. DELIVERED MARCH 5, 1 774- MEN, BRETHREN, FATHERS, AND FELLOW COUN TRYMEN, The attractive gravity, the venerable ap pearance of this crowded audience ; the dignity which I behold in the countenances of so many in this great assembly ; the solemnity of the occasion upon which we have met together joined to a consideration of the part I fcm to take in the important business of this day, fill me with an awe hitherto unknown, and heighten the sense which I have ever had, of my unworthiness to fill this sacred desk. But, allured by the call of some of my respected fellow citizens, with whose request it is always my greatest pleasure to comply, I almost HANCOCK. l6l forgot my want of ability to perform what they re quired. In this situation I find my only support in assuring" myself that a generous people will not severely cen sure what they know was well intended, though its want of merit should prevent their being able to ap plaud it. And I pray that my sincere attachment to the interest of my country, and hearty detestation of every design formed against her liberties, may be ad mitted as some apology for my appearance in this place. I have always, from my earliest youth, rejoiced in the felicity of my fellow men; and have ever con sidered it as the indispensable duty of every member of society to promote, as far as in him lies, the pros perity of every individual, but more especially of the community to which he belongs ; and also, as a faith ful subject of the state, to use his utmost endeavors to detect, and having detected, strenuously to oppose every traitorous plot which its enemies may devise for its destruction. Security to the persons and prop erties of the governed is so obviously the design and end of civil government that to attempt a logical proof of it would be like burning tapers at noonday to assist the sun in enlightening the world; and it cannot be either virtuous or honorable to attempt to support a government of which this is not the great and principal basis ; and it is to the last degree vicious and infamous to attempt to support a government which manifestly tends to render the persons and properties of the governed insecure. Some boast of being friends to government; I am 162 HANCOCK. a friend to righteous government, to a government founded upon the principles of reason and justice; but I glory in publicly avowing my eternal enmity to tyranny. Is the present system, which the British administration have adopted for the government of the colonies, a righteous government or is it ty ranny? Here suffer me to ask (and would to heaven there could be an answer), what tenderness, what regard, respect or consideration has Great Britain shown, in their late transactions, for the security of the persons or properties of the inhabitants of the colo nies? Or rather what have they omitted doing to destroy that security. They have declared that they have ever had, and of right ought ever to have, full power to make laws of sufficient validity to bind the colonies in all cases whatever. They have exercised this pretended right by imposing a tax upon us without our consent; and lest we should show some reluctance *at parting with our property her fleets and armies are sent to enforce their mad pretensions. The town of Boston, ever faithful to the British crown, has been invested by a British fleet, the troops of George III. have crossed the wide Atlantic, not to engage an enemy, but to assist a band of traitors in trampling on the rights and liberties of his most loyal subjects in America those rights and liberties which, as a father, he ought ever to regard, and as a king he is bound in honor to defend from violation, even at the risk of his own life. Let not the history of the illustrious house of Bruns wick inform posterity that a king descended from that HANCOCK. 163 glorious monarch, George II., once sent his British subjects to conquer and enslave his subjects in Ameri ca. But be perpetual infamy entailed upon that vil lain who dared to advise his master to such execrable measures ; for it was easy to foresee the consequences which so naturally followed upon sending troops into America to enforce obedience to acts of the British Parliament which neither God nor man ever empow ered them to make. It was reasonable to expect that troops who knew the errand they were sent upon would treat the people whom they were to subjugate with a cruelty and haughtiness which too often buries the honorable character of a soldier in the disgraceful name of an unfeeling ruffian. The troops, upon their first arrival, took possession of our senate house and pointed their cannon against the judgment hall, and even continued them iheie whilst the supreme court of judicature for this province was actually sitting to decide upon the lives and fortunes of the king's subjects. Our streets nightly resounded with the noise of riot and debauchery; our peaceful citizens were hourly exposed to shameful insults, and often felt the effects of their violence and outrage. But this was not all: as though they thought it not enough to violate our civil rights they endeavored to deprive us of the enjoyment of our religious privi leges; to vitiate our morals, and thereby render us deserving of destruction. Hence the rude din of arms which broke in upon your solemn devotions in your temples on that day hallowed by heaven and set apart by God himself for his peculiar worship. Hence impious oaths and blasphemies so often tor- 6-1 164 HANCOCK. /turecl your unaccustomed ear. Hence all the arts which idleness and luxury could invent were used to betray our youth of one sex into extravagance and effeminacy, and of the other, to infamy and ruin ; and did they not succeed but too well? Did not a rev erence for religion sensibly decay? Did not our in fants almost learn to lisp out curses before they knew their horrid import? Did not our youth forget they were Americans, and regardless of the admonitions of the wise and aged servilely copy -from their ty rants those vices which finally must overthrow the empire of Great Britain? And must I be compelled to acknowledge that even the noblest, fairest part of the lower creation did not entirely escape the cursed snare? When virtue has once erected her throne within the female breast it is upon so solid a basis that nothing is able to expel the heavenly inhabitant. But have there not been some, few indeed, I hope, whose youth and inexperience have rendered them a prey to wretches whom, upon the least reflection, they would have despised and hated as foes to God and their country? I fear there have been some such unhappy instances, or why have I seen an honest father clothed with shame ; or why a virtuous mother drowned in tears? But I forbear, and come reluctantly to the transac tions of that dismal night when in such quick succes sion we felt the extremes of grief, astonishment and rage ; when heaven in anger, for a dreadful moment, suffered hell to take the reins; when Satan with his chosen band opened the sluices of New England's HANCOCK. 165 blood, and sacrilegiously polluted our land with the dead bodies of her guiltless sons ! Let this sad tale of death never be told without a tear : let not the heaving bosom cease to burn with a manly indignation at the barbarous story through the long tracts of future time : let every parent tell the shameful story to his listening children until tears of pity glisten in their eyes and boiling passions shake their tender frames ; and whilst the anniversary of that ill-fated night is kept a jubilee in the grim court of pandemonium, let all America join in one common prayer to heaven that the inhuman, unpro voked murders of the 5th of March, 1770, planned by Hillsborough and a knot of treacherous knaves in Boston, and executed by the cruel hand of Preston and his sanguinary coadjutors, may ever stand on his tory without a parallel. But what, my countrymen, withheld the ready arm of vengeance from executing instant justice on the vile assassins? Perhaps you feared promiscuous carnage might ensue, and that the innocent might share the fate of those who had performed the infernal deed. But were not all guilty? Were you not too tender of the lives of those who came to fix a yoke on your necks ? But I must not too severely blame a fault which great souls only can commit. May that magnificence of spirit which scorns the low pursuits of malice, may that generous compassion which often preserves from ruin even a guilty villain, forever actuate the noble bosoms of Americans ! But let not the miscreant host vainly imagine that we feared their arms. No ; them we despised ; we dread 1 66 HANCOCK. nothing but slavery. Death is the creature of a pol troon's brains; 'tis immortality to sacrifice ourselves for the salvation of our country. We fear not death. That gloomy night the pale-faced moon, and the affrighted stars that hurried through the sky, can witness that we fear not death. Our hearts which, at the recollection, glow with rage that four revolv ing years have scarcely taught us to restrain, can witness that we fear not death; and happy it is for those who dared to insult us that their naked bones are not now piled up an everlasting monument of Massachusetts' bravery. But they retired, they fled, and in that flight they found their only safety. We then expected that the hand of public justice would soon inflict that punish ment upon the murderers which by the laws of God and man they had incurred. But let the unbiased pen of a Robertson, or perhaps some equally famed Ameri can, conduct this trial before the great tribunal of succeeding generations. And though the murderers may escape the just resentment of an enraged peo ple; though drowsy justice, intoxicated by the poi sonous draught prepared for her cup, still nods upon her rotten seat, yet be assured such complicated crimes will meet their due reward. Tell me, ye bloody butchers ! ye villains high and low ! ye wretches who contrived as well as you who executed the in human deed! do you not feel the goads and stings of conscious guilt pierce through your savage bosoms ? Though some of you may think yourselves exalted to a height that bids defiance to human justice; and others shroud yourselves beneath the mask of hypoc- HANCOCK. 167 risy, and build your hopes of safety on the low arts of cunning, chicanery, and falsehood; yet do you not sometimes feel the gnawings of that worm which never dies ? Do not the injured shades of Maverick, Gray, Caldwell, Attucks, and Carr, attend you in your solitary walks; arrest you even in the midst of your debaucheries, and fill even your dreams with terror? But if the unappeased manes of the dead should not disturb their murderers, yet surely even your obdur ate hearts must shrink, and your guilty blood must chill within your rigid veins, when you behold the miserable Monk, the wretched victim of your savage cruelty. Observe his tottering knees, which scarce sustain his wasted body; look on his haggard eyes; mark well the death-like paleness on his fallen cheek, and tell me, does not the sight plant daggers in your souls? Unhappy Monk! cut off in the gay morn of manhood, from all the joys which sweeten life, doomed to drag on a pitiful existence without even a hope to taste the pleasures of returning health ! Yet Monk, thou livest not in vain ; thou livest a warn ing to thy country, which sympathizes with thee in thy sufferings; thou livest an affecting, an alarming instance of the unbounded violence which lust of power, assisted by a standing army, can lead a traitor to commit. For us he bled and now languishes. The wounds by which he is tortured to a lingering death were aimed at our country ! Surely the meek-eyed charity can never behold such sufferings with indifference. Nor can her lenient hand forbear to pour oil and wine 1 68 HANCOCK. into these wounds, and to assuage, at least, what it cannot heal. Patriotism is ever united with humanity and com passion. This noble affection which impels us to sacrifice everything dear, even life itself, to our coun try, involves in it a common sympathy and tenderness for every citizen, and must ever have a particular feeling for one who suffers in a public cause. Thor oughly persuaded of this, I need not add a word to en gage your compassion and bounty towards a fellow citizen who, with long protracted anguish, falls a vic tim to the relentless rage of our common enemies. Ye dark designing knaves, ye murderers, parri cides! how dare you tread upon the earth which has drank in the blood of slaughtered innocents, shed by your wicked hands? How dare you breathe that air which wafted to the ear of heaven the groans of those who fell a sacrifice to your accursed ambition? But if the laboring earth doth not expand her jaws; if the air you breathe is not commissioned to be the minis ter of death; yet, hear it and tremble! The eye of heaven penetrates the darkest chambers of the soul, traces the leading clue through all the labyrinths which your industrious folly has devised; and you, however you may have screened yourselves from human eyes, must be arraigned, must lift your hands, red with the blood of those whose death you have procured, at the tremendous bar of God ! But I gladly quit the gloomy theme of death and leave you to improve the thought of that important day when our naked souls must stand before that Being from whom nothing can be hid. I would not HANCOCK. 169. dwell too long upon the horrid effects which have already followed from quartering regular troops in this town. Let our misfortunes teach posterity to guard against such evils for the future. Standing armies are sometimes (I would by no means say generally, much less universally) composed of persons who have rendered themselves unfit to live in civil society; who have no other motives of conduct than those which a desire of the present gratification of their passions suggests; who have no property in any country; men who have given up their own liberties and envy those who enjoy liberty; who are equally indifferent to the glory of a George or a Louis ; who,, for the addition of one penny a day to their wages would desert from the Christian cross and fight under the crescent of the Turkish sultan. From such men as these what has not a state to fear? With such as these usurping Caesar passed the Rubicon; with such as these he humbled mighty Rome and forced the mistress of the world to own a master in a traitor. These are the men whom scep tred robbers now employ to frustrate the designs of God and render vain the bounties which his gra cious hand pours indiscriminately upon his creatures. By these the miserable slaves in Turkey, Persia, and many other extensive countries are rendered truly wretched, though their air is salubrious and their soil luxuriously fertile. By these, France and Spain, though blessed by nature with all that administers to the convenience of life, have been reduced to that con temptible state in which they now appear; and by these, Britain but if I was possessed of the gift of I/O HANCOCK. prophecy I dare not, except by divine command, un fold the leaves on which the destiny of that once powerful kingdom is inscribed. But since standing armies are so hurtful to a state, perhaps my countrymen may demand some substi tute, some other means of rendering us secure against the incursions of a foreign enemy. But can you be one moment at a loss? Will not a well-disciplined militia afford you ample security against foreign foes ? We want not courage; it is discipline alone in which we are exceeded by the most formidable troops that ever trod the earth. Surely our hearts flutter no more at the sound of war than did those of the im mortal band of Persia, the Macedonian phalanx, the invincible Roman legions, the Turkish janissaries, the gens d'armes of France, or the well-known grena diers of Britain. A well-disciplined militia is a safe, an honorable guard to a community like this, whose inhabitants are by nature brave, and are laudably tenacious of that freedom in which they were born. From a well- regulated militia we have nothing to fear; their in terest is the same with that of the state. When a country is invaded, the militia are ready to appear in its defence ; they march into the field with that for titude which a consciousness of the justice of their cause inspires; they do not jeopard their lives for a master who considers them only as the instruments of his ambition, and whom they regard only as the daily dispenser of the scanty pittance of bread and water. No, they fight for their houses, their lands, for their HANCOCK. 171 wives, their children, for all who claim the tenderest names, and are held dearest in their hearts ; they fight pro aris et focis, for their liberty, and for themselves, and for their God. And let it not offend if I say that no militia ever appeared in more flourishing con dition than that of this province now doth; and par don me if I say, of this town in particular. I mean not to boast; I would not excite envy, but manly emulation. We have all one common cause; let it, therefore, be our only contest who shall most contribute to the security of the liberties of America. And may the same kind Providence which has watched over this country from her infant state still enable us to de feat our enemies. I cannot here forbear noticing the signal manner in which the designs of those who wish not well to us have been discovered. The dark deeds of a treach erous cabal have been brought to public view. You now know the serpents who, whilst cherished in your bosoms, were darting their envenomed stings into* the vitals of the Constitution. But the representatives of the people have fixed a mark on these ungrateful monsters, which, though it may not make them so secure as Cain of old, yet renders them at least as infamous. Indeed, it would be affrontive to the tutelar deity of this country even to despair of saving it from all the snares which human policy can lay. True it is that the British ministry have annexed a salary to the office of the governor of this province, to be paid out of a revenue raised in America without 1 72 HANCOCK. consent. They have attempted to render our courts of justice the instruments of extending the authority of acts of the British Parliament over this colony, by making the judges dependent on the British administration for their support. But this people will never be enslaved with their eyes open. The moment they knew that the governor was not such a governor as the charter of the province points out, he lost his power of hurting them. They were alarmed; they suspected him, have guarded against him, and he has found that a wise and a brave people, when they know their danger, are fruitful in expe dients to escape it. The courts of judicature, also, so far lost their dig nity, by being supposed to be under an undue influ ence, that our representatives thought it absolutely necessary to resolve that they were bound to declare that they would not receive any other salary besides that which the General Court should grant them; and if they did not make this declaration, that it would be the duty of the House to impeach them. Great expectations were also formed from the art ful scheme of allowing the East India Company to export tea to America upon their own account. This certainly, had it succeeded, would have effected the purpose of the contrivers and gratified the most san guine wishes of our adversaries. We soon should have found our trade in the hands of foreigners, and taxes imposed on everything which we consumed; nor would it have been strange if in a few years a company in London should have purchased an exclu sive right of trading to America. HANCOCK. 1/3 But their plot was soon discovered. The people soon were aware of the poison which, with so much craft and subtility, had been concealed. Loss and disgrace ensued : and, perhaps this long-concerted mas terpiece of policy may issue in the total disuse of tea in this country, which will eventually be the saving of the lives and the estates of thousands. Yet while we rejoice that the adversary has not hitherto prevailed against us, let us by no means put off the harness. Restless malice and disappointed ambition will still suggest new measures to our in veterate enemies. Therefore, let us also be ready to take the field whenever danger calls ; let us be united and strengthen the hands of each other by promoting a general union among us. Much has been done by the committees of correspondence for this and the other towns of this province toward uniting the in habitants; let them still go on and prosper. Much has been done by the committees of correspondence, for the houses of assembly, in this and our sister colo nies, for uniting the inhabitants of the whole conti nent for the security of their common interest. May success ever attend their generous endeavors. But permit me here to suggest a general congress of deputies from the several houses of assembly on the continent as the most effectual method of estab lishing such an union as the present posture of our affairs require. At such a congress a firm foundation may be laid for the security of our rights and liberties; a system may be formed for our common safety, by a strict adherence to which we shall be able to frustrate any 1/4 HANCOCK. attempts to overthrow our Constitution; restore peace and harmony in America, and secure honor and wealth to Great Britain even against the inclinations of her ministers, whose duty it is to study her wel fare ; and we shall also free ourselves from those un mannerly pillagers who impudently tell us that they are licensed by an act of the British Parliament to thrust their dirty hands into the pockets of every American. But I trust the happy time will come when, with the besom of destruction, those noxious vermin will be swept forever from the streets of Boston. Surely you never will tamely suffer this country to be a den of thieves. Remember, my friends, from whom you sprang. Let not a meanness of spirit un known to those \vhom you boast of as your fathers excite a thought to the dishonor of your mothers. I conjure you by all that is dear, by all that is honor able, by all that is sacred, not only that ye pray, but that ye act; that, if necessary, ye fight, and even die, for the prosperity of our Jerusalem. Break in sun der, with noble disdain, the bonds with which the Philistines have bound you. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed, by the soft arts of luxury and effemi nacy, into the pit digged for your destruction. De spise the glare of wealth. That people who pay greater respect to a wealthy villain than to an honest, upright man in poverty, almost deserve to be en slaved; they plainly show that wealth, however it may be acquired, is, in their esteem, to be preferred to virtue. But I thank God that America abounds in men who are superior to all temptation; whom nothing can HANCOCK. 175 divert from a steady pursuit of the interest of their country ; who are at once its ornament and safeguard. And sure I am I should not incur your displeasure if I paid a respect, so justly due to their much honored characters, in this place. But when I name an Adams, such a numerous host of fellow patriots rush upon my mind that I fear it would take up too much of your time should I attempt to call over the illustrious roll. But your grateful hearts will point you to the men ; and their revered names in all succeeding times shall grace the annals of America. From them let us, my friends, take example ; from them let us catch the divine enthusiasm; and feel, each for himself, the god-like pleasure of diffusing happiness on all around us; of delivering the oppressed from the iron grasp of tyranny; of changing the hoarse complaints and bitter moans of wretched slaves into those cheerful songs which freedom and contentment must inspire. There is a heartfelt satisfaction in reflecting on our exertions for the public weal which all the suffer ings an enraged tyrant can inflict will never take away; which the ingratitude and reproaches of those whom we have saved from ruin cannot rob us of. The virtuous asserter of the rights of mankind merits a reward which even a want of success in his endeav ors to save his country, the heaviest misfortune which can befall a genuine patriot, cannot entirely prevent him from receiving. I have the most animating confidence that the pres ent noble struggle for liberty will terminate glor iously for America. And let Us play the man for our HANCOCK. God, and for the cities of our God ; while we are using" the means in our power, let us humbly commit our righteous cause to the great Lord of the universe, who loveth righteousness and hateth iniquity. And having secured the approbation of our hearts, by a faithful and unwearied discharge of our duty to our country, let us joyfully leave our concerns in the hands of him who raiseth up and putteth down the empires and kingdoms of the world as he pleases; and with cheerful submission to his sovereign will devoutly say, " Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no meat ; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls; yet we will rejoice in the Lord, we will joy in the God of our salvation.'' PAINE. 177 Paine, Thomas, a famous Anglo-American patriot, orator and free-thinker, born at Thetford, Norfolk, England, Jan. 29, 1737 ; died at New Rochelle, N.Y., June 8, 1809. He emigrated to America in 1774, and finding employment in Philadelphia, put forth early in 1776 the pamphlet " Com mon Sense," which was a leading factor in final triumph of the American cause. Between December of that year and December 1783, appeared the sixteen numbers of his publi cation " The Crisis," in the first of which occurs the famous phrase, "These are the times that try men's souls." He was one of the most popular men in the colonies at this time, and was made secretary to the Committee on Foreign Affairs by Congress in 1777, and later sent on the mission to France with Laurens. In 1792 he was elected a member of the French National Convention, but was presently thrown into prison by Robespierre, escaping the guillotine by acci dent. In 1802, when he returned to the United States, his. former popularity had vanished, very largely on account of his publication of his " Age of Reason," and he died in obscuity. Paine had many of the orator's qualifica tionsreadiness, skill in arranging his facts, keen satire,, an abundance of wit, and a knowledge of the human heart. SPEECH IN THE FRENCH NATIONAL CON VENTION. DELIVERED JULY 7, 1795- CITIZENS, The effects of a malignant fever with which I was afflicted during a rigorous confinement in the Luxembourg have thus long prevented me from attending at my post in the bosom of the convention, and the magnitude of the subject under discussion, 1 78 PAINE. and no other consideration on earth, could induce me now to repair to my station. A recurrence to the vicissitudes I have experienced, and the critical situation in which I have been placed in consequence of the French revolution, will throw upon what I now propose to submit to the convention the most unequivocal proofs of my integrity and the rectitude of those principles which have uniformly in fluenced my conduct. In England I was proscribed for having vindicated the French revolution, and I have suffered a rigorous imprisonment in France for having pursued a similar mode of conduct. During the reign of terrorism I was a close prisoner for eight long months, and re mained so above three months after the era of the loth Thermidor. I ought, however, to state that I was not persecuted by the people either of England or France. The proceedings in both countries were the effects of the despotism existing in their respec tive governments. But, even if my persecution had originated in the people at large, my principles and conduct would still have remained the same. Principles which are influenced and subject to the control of tyranny have not their foundation in the heart. A few days ago I transmitted to you, by the ordi nary mode of distribution, a short treatise entitled '" Dissertation on the First Principles of Government." This little work I did intend to have dedicated to the people of Holland, who, about the time I began to write it, were determined to accomplish a revolution in their government, rather than to the people of PAINE. 179 France, who had long before effected that glorious object. But there are, in the constitution which is about to be ratified by the convention, certain articles, and in the report which preceded it certain points, so repugnant to reason and incompatible with the true principles of liberty as to render this treatise, drawn up for another purpose, applicable to the present oc casion, and under' this impression I presumed to sub mit it to your consideration. If there be faults in the constitution it were better to expunge them now than to abide the event of their mischievous tendency; for certain it is that the plan of the constitution which has been presented to you is not consistent with the grand object of the revo lution, nor congenial to the sentiments of the individ uals who accomplished it. To deprive half the people in a nation of their rights as citizens is an easy matter in theory or on paper, but it is a most dangerous experiment and rarely prac ticable in the execution. I shall now proceed to the observations I have to offer on this important subject; and I pledge myself that they shall be neither numerous nor diffusive. In my apprehension a constitution embraces two distinct parts or objects, the principle and the prac tice; and it is not only an essential but an indispens able provision that the practice should emanate from and accord with the principle. Now I maintain that the converse of this proposition is the case in the plan of the constitution under discussion. The first arti cle, for instance, of the political state of citizens {vide. Title II of the Constitution) says : 180 PAINE. " Every man born and resident of France, who, being twenty-one years of age, has inscribed his name on the civic register of his canton, and who has lived afterward one year on the territory of the re public, and who pays any direct contribution whatso ever, real or personal, is a French citizen." I might ask here, if those only who come under the above description are to be considered as citizens, what designation do you mean to give the rest of the peo ple ? I allude to that portion of the people on whom the principal part of the labor falls, and on whom the weight of indirect taxation will in the event chiefly press. In the structure of the social fabric, this class of people are infinitely superior to that privileged or der whose only qualification is their wealth or terri torial possessions. For what is trade without mer chants? What is land without cultivation? And what is the produce of the land without manufactures ? But to return to the subject. In the first place, this article is incompatible with the three first articles of the declaration of rights, which precede the constitution act. The first article of the declaration of rights says : " The end of society is the public good ; and the institution of government is to secure to every indn yidual the enjoyment of his rights." But the article of the constitution to which I have just adverted proposes as the object of society, not the public good, or in other words, the good of all, but a partial good, or the good only of a few ; and the con- PAINE. l8l stitution provides solely for the rights of this few to the exclusion of the many. The second article of the declaration of rights, says : " The rights of man in society are liberty, equality, and security of his person and property." But the article alluded to in the constitution has a direct tendency to establish the converse of this posi tion, inasmuch as the persons excluded by this inequal ity can neither be said to possess liberty nor security against oppression. They are consigned totally to the caprice and tyranny of the rest. The third article of the declaration of rights says: " Liberty consists in such acts of volition as are not injurious to others." But the article of the constitution on which I have observed breaks down this barrier. It enables the liberty of one part of society to destroy the freedom of the other. Having thus pointed out the inconsistency of this article to the declaration of rights I shall proceed to comment on that part of the same article which makes a direct contribution a necessary qualification to the right of citzenship. A modern refinement on the object of public reve nue has divided the taxes or contributions into two classes, the direct and the indirect, without being able to define precisely the distinction or difference be tween them, because the effect of both is the same. 1 82 PAINE. Those are designated indirect taxes which fall upon the consumers of certain articles on which the tax is imposed, because, the tax being included in the price, the consumer pays it without taking notice of it. The same observation is applicable to the territorial tax. The land proprietors, in order to reimburse them selves, will rack-rent their tenants : the farmer, of course, will transfer the obligation to the miller by enhancing the price of grain ; the miller to the baker, by increasing the price of flour; and the baker to the consumer, by raising the price of bread. The terri torial tax, therefore, though called direct, is in its con sequences indirect. To this tax the land proprietor contributes only in proportion to the quantity of bread and other provi sions that are consumed in his own family. The de ficit is furnished by the great mass of the community, which comprehends every individual of the nation. From the logical distinction between the direct and indirect taxation, some emolument may result, I al low, to auditors of public accounts, etc., but to the people at large I deny that such a distinction (which by the way is without a difference) can be productive of any practical benefit. It ought not, therefore, to be admitted as a principle in the constitution. Besides this objection, the provision in question does not affect to define, secure, or establish the right of citizenship. It consigns to the caprice or discretion of the legislature the power of pronouncing who shall or shall not, exercise the functions of a citizen; and this may be done effectually, either by the imposition of a direct or indirect tax, according to the selfish PAINE. 183 views of the legislators, or by the mode of collecting the taxes so imposed. Neither a tenant who occupies an extensive farm, nor a merchant or manufacturer, ^ who may have em barked a large capital in their respective pursuits, can ever, according to this system, attain the pre-emption of a citizen. On the other hand, any upstart who has by succession or management got possession of a few acres of land, or a miserable tenement, may exulting- ly exercise the functions of a citizen, although per haps neither possesses a hundredth part of the worth of property of a simple mechanic, nor contributes in any proportion to the exigencies of the state. The contempt in which the old government held mercantile pursuits, and the obloquy that attached on merchants and manufacturers, contributed not a little to its embarrassments and its eventual subversion; and, strange to tell, though the mischiefs arising from this mode of conduct are so obvious, yet an article is proposed for your adoption which has a manifest ten dency to restore a defect inherent in the monarchy. I shall now proceed to the second article of the same title, with which I shall conclude my remarks. The second article says : " Every French soldier who shall have served one or more campaigns in the cause of liberty is deemed a citizen of the republic without any respect or refer ence to other qualifications." It should seem that in this article the committee were desirous of extricating themselves from a dilem- 1 84 PAINE. ma into which they had been plunged by the preced ing article. -When men depart from an established principle they are compelled to resort to trick and subterfuge, always shifting their means to preserve the unity of their objects ; and as it rarely happens that the first expedient makes amends for the prostitution of principle, they must call in aid a second of a more flagrant nature to supply the deficiency of the former. In this manner legislators go on accumulating error upon error, and artifice upon artifice, until the mass becomes so bulky and incongruous, and their embar rassment so desperate, that they are compelled, as their last expedient, to resort to the very principle they had violated. The committee were precisely in this predicament when they framed this article; and to me, I confess, their conduct appears specious rather than efficacious. It was not for himself alone, but for his family, that the French citizen at the dawn of the revolution (for then indeed every man was considered a citizen) marched soldier-like to the frontiers and repelled a foreign invasion. He had it not in his contemplation that he should enjoy liberty for the residue of his earthly career, and by his own act preclude his off spring from that inestimable blessing. No ! He wished to leave it as an inheritance to his children, and that they also might hand it down to their latest posterity. If a Frenchman who united in his person the character of a soldier and a citizen was now to re turn from the army to his peaceful habitation, he must address his family in this manner : " Sorry I am that I cannot leave to you a small portion of what I have PAINE. 185 acquired by exposing my person to the ferocity of our enemies and defeating their machinations. I have helped to establish the republic, and, painful the re flection, all the laurels which I have won in the field are blasted, and all the privileges to which my exer tions have entitled me extend not beyond the period of my own existence !" Thus the measure that has been adopted by way of subterfuge falls short of what the framers of it speculated upon; for in conciliating the affections of the soldier they have subjected the father to the most pungent sensations by obliging him to adopt a generation of slaves. Citizens, a great deal has been urged respecting in surrections. I am confident that no man has a greater abhorrence of them than myself, and I am sorry that any insinuations should have been thrown out against me as a promoter of violence of any kind. The whole tenor of my life and conversation gives the lie to those calumnies and proves me to be a friend to order, truth, and justice. I hope you will attribute this effusion of my senti ments to my anxiety for the honor and success of the revolution. I have no interest distinct from that which has a tendency to meliorate the condition of mankind. The revolution, as far as it respects myself, has been productive of more loss and persecution than it is possible for me to describe or for you to indemnify. But with respect to the subject under consideration I could not refrain from declaring my sentiments. In my opinion, if you subvert the basis of the revo lution, if you dispense with principles and substitute expedients, you will extinguish that enthusiasm and 1 86 PAINE. energy which have hitherto been the life and soul of the revolution; and you will substitute in its place nothing but a cold indifference and self-interest which will again degenerate into intrigue, cunning, and ef feminacy. But to discard all considerations of a personal and subordinate nature, it is essential to the well-being of the republic that the practical or organic part of the constitution should correspond with its principles ; and as this does not appear to be the case in the plan that has been presented to you it is absolutely necessary that it should be submitted to the revision of a com mittee who should be instructed to compare it with the declaration of rights, in order to ascertain the dif ference between the two and to make such alterations as shall render them perfectly consistent and compat ible with each other. RUTLEDGE. l8/ Rutledge, John, an American statesman and orator, born in Charleston, S. C., 1739 ; died there, July 18, 1800. He was educated for the law in London, and establishing himself in his native city in 1761 he soon became prominent in professional and public affairs. He was a delegate to the Stamp Act Congress in 1765, and on this occasion made a spirited defence of the principles of colonial union, and also urged resistance against foreign oppression. He was a member of the first Continental Congress, and was termed by Patrick Henry, " by far the greatest orator in that body." His State chose him its governor and com- mander-in-chief of its army in 1779, and at the end of the American Revolution he was elected to Congress and was among the framers of the Constitution. In 1795 he became Chief-justice of South Carolina. Among his more notable speeches is the one delivered before the General Assembly of South Carolina, in January, 1782. SPEECH TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. [Governor Rutledge delivered the following speech to the Gen eral Assembly of South Carolina, met at Jacksonburgh, in that State, on Friday, the eighteenth day of January, 1782. It evinces his unwearied zeal and attention to the interests of the colonies, and presents a vivid picture of the perfidy, rapine, and cruelty which distinguished the British arms in the southern campaign. HONORABLE GENTLEMEN OF THE SENATE, MR. SPEAKER AND GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF REP RESENTATIVES, Since the last meeting of a general assembly the good people of this State have not only felt the common calamities of war, but from the wanton and savage manner in which it has been prosecuted they have experienced such severities as 1 88 RUTLEDGE. are unpractised and will scarcely be credited by civi lized nations. The enemy unable to make any impression on the northern States, the number of whose inhabitants and the strength of whose country had baffled their re peated efforts, turned their views towards the south ern, which a difference of circumstances afforded some expectation of conquering, or at least of greatly distressing. After a long resistance the reduction of Charleston was effected by the vast superiority of force with which it had been besieged. The loss of that garrison, as it consisted of the Continental troops of Virginia and the Carolinas, and of a number of militia, facilitated the enemy's march into the country and their establishment of strong posts in the upper and interior parts of it, and the unfavorable issue of the action near Camden induced them vainly to im agine that no other army could be collected which they might not easily defeat. The militia, commanded by the Brigadiers Sumter and Marion, whose enterprising spirit and unremitting perseverance under many difficulties are deserving of great applause, harassed and often defeated large par ties ; but the numbers of those militia were too few to contend effectually with the collected strength of the enemy. Regardless, therefore, of the sacred ties of honor, destitute of the feelings of humanity, and determined to extinguish, if possible, every spark of freedom in this country ; they, with the insolent pride of conquer ors, gave unbounded scope to the exercises of their tyrannical disposition, infringed their public engage- RUTLEDGE. 189 ments, and violated the most solemn capitulations. Many of our worthiest citizens were, without cause, long and closely confined, some on board of prison ships, and others in the town and castle of St. Augus tine, their properties disposed of at the will and caprice of the enemy, and their families sent to different and distant parts of the continent without the means of support. Many who had surrendered as prisoners of war were killed in cold blood ; several suffered death in the most ignominious manner, and others were de livered up to savages and put to tortures under which they expired. Thus, the lives, liberties, and proper ties of the people were dependent solely on the pleas ure of British officers, who deprived them of either or all on the most frivolous pretences. Indians, slaves, and a desperate banditti of the most profligate characters were caressed and employed by the enemy to execute their infamous purposes; devastation and ruin marked their progress and that of their adher ents, nor were their violences restrained by the charms or influence of beauty and innocence ; even the fair sex, whom it is the duty of all, and the pleasure and pride of the brave to protect, they and their tender offspring were victims to the inveterate malice of an unrelenting foe ; neither the tears of mothers nor the cries of infants could excite in their breasts pity or compassion; not only the peaceful habitation of the widow, the aged, and the infirm, but the holy temples of the Most High were consumed, in flames kindled by their sacrilegious hands. They have tarnished the glory of the British arms, disgraced the profession of RUTLEDGE. a soldier, and fixed indelible stigmas of rapine, cruel ty, perfidy, and profaneness on the British name. But I can now congratulate you, and I do most cor dially on the pleasing change of affairs which, under the blessing of God, the wisdom, prudence, address, and bravery of the great and gallant General Greene, and the intrepidity of the officers and men under his command, have happily effected. A general who is justly entitled from his many signal services to hon orable and singular marks of your approbation and gratitude, his successes have been more rapid and complete than the most sanguine could have expected ; the enemy, compelled to surrender or evacuate every post which they held in the country, frequently de feated and driven from place to place, are obliged to seek refuge under the walls of Charleston and on isl ands in its vicinity. We have now the full and abso lute possession of every other part of the State, and the legislative, executive, and judicial powers are in the free exercise of their respective authorities. I also most heartily congratulate you on the glorious victory obtained by the combined forces of America and France over their common enemy ; when the very general who was second in command at the reduction of Charleston, and to whose boasted prowess and highly extolled abilities the conquest of no less than three States had been arrogantly committed, was speedily compelled to accept of the same mortifying terms which had been imposed on that brave but un fortunate garrison; to surrender an army of many thousand regulars, and to abandon his wretched fol lowers, whom he had artfully seduced from their al- RUTLEDGE. IQl legiance by specious promises of protection which he could never have hoped to fulfil, to the justice of mer cy of their country: on the naval superiority estab lished by the illustrious ally of the United States a superiority in itself so decided, and in its consequences so extensive, as must inevitably soon oblige the enemy to yield to us the only post which they occupy in this State : and on the reiterated proofs of the sincerest friendship, and on the great support which America has received from that powerful monarch a monarch whose magnanimity is universally acknowledged and admired, and on whose royal word we may confident ly rely for every necessary assistance : on the perfect harmony which subsists between France and America : on the stability which her independence has acquired, and the certainty that it is too deeply rooted ever to be shaken; for, animated as they are by national hon or, and united by one common interest, it must and will be maintained. What may be the immediate effects on the British nation, of the events which I have mentioned, of their loss of territory in other parts of the world, and of their well-founded apprehensions from the powers of France, Spain, and Holland, it is impossible to fore tell. If experience can teach wisdom to a haughty and infatuated people, and if they will now be govern ed by reason, they will have learnt they can have no solid ground of hope to conquer any State in the Union; for though their armies have obtained tem porary advantages over our troops, yet the citizens of these States, firmly resolved as they are never to re turn to a domination which, near six years ago, they RUTLEDGE. unanimously and justly renounced, cannot be sub dued; and they must now be convinced that it is the height of folly and madness to persist in so ruinous a war. If, however, we judge, as we ought, of their future by their past conduct, we may presume that they will not only endeavor to keep possession of our capital, but make another attempt, howsoever improbable the success of it may appear, to subjugate this country : it is therefore highly incumbent upon us to use our most strenuous efforts to frustrate so fatal a design ; and I earnestly conjure you, by the sacred love which you bear to your country, by the constant remembrance of her bitter sufferings, and by the just detestation of British government which you and your posterity must forever possess, to exert your utmost faculties for that purpose by raising and equipping, with all possible ex pedition, a respectable permanent force, and by mak ing ample provision for their comfortable subsistence. I am sensible the expense will be great ; but a mea sure so indispensable to the preservation of our free dom is above every pecuniary consideration. The organization of our militia is likewise a subject of infinite importance : a clear and concise law, by which the burdens of service will be equally sustained and a competent number of men brought forth and kept in the field when their assistance may be requir ed, is essential to our security, and therefore justly claims your immediate and serious attention : certain it is that some of our militia have, upon several occa sions, exhibited symptoms of valor which would have reflected honor on veteran troops. The courage and RUTLEDGE. IQ3 conduct of the generals whom I have mentioned; the cool and determined bravery displayed by Brigadier Pickens, and, indeed, the behavior of many officers and men in every brigade, are unquestionable testi monies of the truth of this assertion. But such be havior cannot be expected from militia in general, without good order and strict discipline ; nor can that order and discipline be established but by a salutary law steadily executed. Another important matter for your deliberation is the conduct of such of our citizens as, voluntarily avowing their allegiance and even glorifying* in their professions of loyalty and attachment to his Britannic Majesty, have offered their congratulations on the success of his arms, prayed to be embodied as loyal militia, accepted commissions in his service, or en deavored to subvert our constitution and establish his power in its stead ; of those who have returned to this State, in defiance of law, by which such return was declared to be a capital offence, and have bettered the British interest, and of such whose behavior has been so reprehensible that justice and policy forbid their free re-admission to the rights and privileges of citi zens. The extraordinary lenity of this State has been re markably conspicuous. Other States have thought it just and expedient to appropriate the property of British subjects to the public use; but we have for borne even to take the profits of the estates of our most implacable enemies. It is with you to determine whether the forfeiture and appropriation of their property should now take place : if such should be your 194 RUTLEDGE. determination, though many of our warmest friends have been reduced, for their inflexible attachment to the cause of their country, from opulence to inconceiv able distress, and, if the enemy's will and power had prevailed, would have been doomed to indigence and beggary, yet it will redound to the reputation of this State to provide a becoming support for the fam ilies of those whom you may deprive of their property. The value of paper currency became of late so much depreciated that it was requisite, under the powers vested in the executive during the recess of the Gen eral Assembly, to suspend the laws by which it was made a tender. You will now consider whether it may not be proper to repeal those laws, and fix some equitable mode for the discharge of debts contracted whilst paper money was in circulation. In the present scarcity of specie it would be difficult, if not impracticable, to levy a tax to any Considerable amount, towards sinking the public debt, nor will the creditors of the State expect that such a tax should at this time be imposed; but it is just and reasonable that all unsettled demands should be liquidated, and satisfactory assurances of payment given to the pub lic creditors. The interest and honor, the safety and happiness of our country depend so much on the result of your de liberations, that I flatter myself you will proceed in the weighty business before you with firmness and temper, with vigor, unanimity, and despatch. BOUDINOT. 195 Boudinot (bb'-di-not), Elias, a noted American pa triot and philanthropist, born at Philadelphia, May 2, 1740 ; died at Burlington, N. J., Oct, 24, 1821. He was an active supporter of the American cause during the Revolutionary period, and was president of the Continental Congress in 1782. For ten years he was director of the Mint, and he was the first president of the American Bible Society. He was a liberal benefactor of benevolent and literary institu tions, and wrote several works which attracted no small share of attention in their day. He also won popularity as a public speaker and his Oration Before the Cincinnati is still read. ORATION BEFORE THE CINCINNATI. [This oration was delivered by Mr. Boudinot at Elizabeth town, New Jersey, agreeably to a resolution of the State Society of the Cincinnati, on the Fourth of July, 1793.] GENTLEMEN, BRETHREN, AND FELLOW CITIZENS, Having devoutly paid the sacrifice of prayer and praise to that Almighty Being by whose favor and mercy this day is peculiarly dedicated to the commem oration of events which fill our minds with joy and gladness, it becomes me, in obedience to the resolu tions of our Society, to aim at a further improvement of this festival by leading your reflections to the con templation of those special privileges which attend the happy and important situation you now enjoy among the nations of the earth. Is there any necessity, fellow citizens, to spend your time in attempting to convince you of the policy and propriety of setting apart this anniversary for the 7- 196 BOUDINOT. purpose of remembering with gratitude the unexam pled event of our political salvation. The cordial testimony you have borne to this insti tution for seventeen years past supersedes the neces sity of an attempt of this kind; and, indeed, if this had been the first instance of our commemorating the day, the practice of all nations and of all ages would have given a sanction to the measure. The history of the world, as w r ell sacred as profane, bears witness to the use and importance of setting apart a day as a memorial of great events, whether of a religious or political nature. No sooner had the great Creator of the heavens and the earth finished his almighty work and pro nounced all very good, but he set apart (not an anni versary, or one day in a year, but) one day in seven for the commemoration of his inimitable power in pro ducing all things out of nothing. The deliverance of the children of Israel from a state of bondage to an unreasonable tyrant was per petuated by the eating of the Paschal Lamb and en joining it to their posterity as an annual festival for ever, with a " remember this day, in which ye came out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." The resurrection of the Saviour of mankind is com memorated by keeping the first day of the week, not only as a certain memorial of his first coming in a state of humiliation, but the positive evidence of his future coming in glory. Let us then, my friends and fellow citizens, unite all our endeavors this day to remember, with reverential gratitude to our supreme Benefactor, all the wonder- BOUDINOT. 197 ful things he has done for us in a miraculous deliver ance from a second Egypt another house of bondage. " And thou shalt show thy son on this day, saying this day is kept as a day of joy and gladness, because of the great things the Lord has done for us, when we were delivered from the threatening po\ver of an in vading foe. And it shall be a sign unto tliee, upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in thy mouth, for with a strong hand hast thou been delivered from thine ene mies : Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in its season, from year to year, forever. When great events are to be produced in this our world, great exertions generally become necessary; men are therefore usually raised up, with talents and powers peculiarly adapted to the purposes intended by Providence, who often by their disinterested ser vices and extreme sufferings become the wonder as well as the examples of their generation. The obligations of mankind to these worthy char acters increase in proportion to the importance of the blessings purchased by their labors. It is not then an unreasonable expectation which, I well know, generally prevails, that this day should be usually devoted to the perpetuating and respectfully remembering the dignified characters of those great men with whom it has been our honor to claim the intimate connection of fellow citizens, men who have purchased our present joyful circumstances at the invaluable price of their blood. But you must also acknowledge with me that this subject has been so fully considered and so ably IQ8 BOUDINOT. handled by those eloquent and enlightened men who have gone before me in this honorable path, that had their superior abilities fallen to my lot I could do but little more than repeat the substance of their obser vations and vary their language. Forgive me, ye spirits of my worthy, departed fel low citizens! patriots of the first magnitude, whose integrity no subtle arts of bribery and corruption could successfully assail ; and whose fortitude and persever ance no difficulties or dangers could intimidate, whose labors and sufferings in the common cause of our country ; whose exploits in the field and wisdom in the cabinet, I have often been witness to during a cruel and distressing war! Forgive, O Warren, Montgom ery! and all the nameless heroes of your illustrious group! Forgive, that I omit on the present occa sion to follow the steps of those compatriots who have preceded me, but had rather spend this sacred hour in contemplating those great purposes which animated your souls in the severe conflict, and for which you fought and bled! Were you present to direct this day's meditations, would you not point to your scarred limbs and bleed ing breasts, and loudly call upon us to reward your toils and sufferings by forcibly inculcating and improv ing those patriotic principles and practices which led you to those noble achievements that secured the blessings we now enjoy? Yes, ye martyrs to liberty! ye band of heroes! ye once worthy compatriots and fellow citizens! We will obey your friendly suggestion, and greatly prize that freedom and independence, purchased by your BOUDINOT. 199 united exertions, as the most invaluable gem of our earthly crown ! The late revolution, my respected audience, in which we this day rejoice, is big with events that are daily unfolding themselves and pressing in thick suc cession, to the astonishment of a wondering world ! It has been marked with the certain characteristics of a divine overruling hand, in that it was brought about and perfected against all human reasoning, and apparently against all human hope; and that in the very moment of time when all Europe seemed ready to be plunged into commotion and distress. Divine Providence, throughout the government of this world, appears to have impressed many great events with the undoubted evidence of his own al mighty arm. He putteth down kingdoms and he set- teth up whom he pleaseth, and it has been literally verified in us that " no king prevaileth by the power of his own strength." The first great principle established and secured by our revolution, and which since seems to be pervad ing all the nations of the earth, and which should be most zealously and carefully improved and gloried in by us, is the rational equality and rights of men as men and citizens. I do not mean to hold up the absurd idea charged upon us by the enemies of this valuable principle, and which contains in it inevitable destruction to every government, " that all men are equal as to acquired or adventitious rights." Men must and do continu ally differ in their genius, knowledge, industry, integ rity, and activity. 200 BOUDINOT. Their natural and moral characters their virtues and vices their abilities, natural and acquired to gether with favorable opportunities for exertion, will always make men different among themselves, and of course create a pre-eminency and superiority one over another. But the equality and rights of men here con templated are natural, essential, and inalienable, such as the security of life, liberty, and property. These should be the firm foundation of every good govern ment, as they will apply to all nations at all times and may properly be called a universal law. It is apparent that 'every man is born with the same right to im prove the talent committed to him, for the use and benefit of society, and to be respected accordingly. We are all the workmanship of the same divine hand. With our Creator, abstractly considered, there are neither kings nor subjects, masters nor servants, otherwise than stewards of his appointment, to serve each other according to our different opportunities and abilities, and of course accountable for the man ner in which we perform our duty. He is no respect er of persons; he beholds all with an equal eye; and, although " order is heaven's first law," and he has made it essential to every good government, and ne cessary for the welfare of every community, that there should be distinctions among members of the same .society, yet this difference is originally designed for the service, benefit, and best good of the w r hole, and not for their oppression or destruction. It is our duty then, as a people, acting on principles of universal application, to convince mankind of the truth and practicability of them by carrying them into BOUDINOT. 201 actual exercise for the happiness of our fellow men,, without suffering to be perverted to oppression or li centiousness. The eyes of the nations of the earth are fast open ing, and the inhabitants of this globe, notwithstand ing it is 3,000 years since the promulgation of that invaluable precept, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," are but just beginning to discover their brotherhood to each other, and that all men, however different with regard to nation or color, have an es sential interest in each other's welfare. Let it then be our peculiar, constant care and vigi lant attention to inculcate this sacred principle, and to hand it down to posterity improved by every generous and liberal practice, that while we are rejoicing in our own political and religious privileges we may with pleasure contemplate the happy period when all the nations of the earth shall join in the triumph of this day, and one universal anthem of praise shall arise to the universal Creator in return for the general joy. Another essential ingredient in the happiness we enjoy as a nation, and which arises from the princi ples of the revolution, is the right that every people have to govern themselves in such manner as they judge best calculated for the common benefit. It is a principle interwoven with our constitution, and not one of the least blessings purchased by that glorious struggle, to the commemoration of which this day is specially devoted, that every man has a natural right to be governed by laws of his own mak ing, either in person or by his representative; and 2O2 BOUDINOT. that no authority ought justly to be exercised over him that is not derived from the people, of whom he is one. This, fellow citizens, is a most important, practical principle, first carried into complete execution by the United States of America. I tremble for the event, while I glory in the sub ject. To you, ye citizens of America! do the inhabitants of the earth look with eager attention for the success of a measure on which their happiness and prosperity so manifestly depend. To use the words of a famous foreigner, " You are become the hope of human nature and ought to be come its great example. The asylum opened in your land for the oppressed of all nations must console the earth." On your virtue, patriotism, integrity, and submis sion to the laws of your own making and the govern ment of your own choice do the hopes of men rest with prayers and supplications for a happy issue. Be not, therefore, careless, indolent, or inattentive in the exercise of any right of citizenship. Let no duty, however small or seemingly of little importance, be neglected by you. Ever keep in mind that it is parts that form the whole, and fractions constitute the unit. Good gov ernment generally begins in the family, and if the moral character of a people once degenerates their political character must soon follow. A friendly consideration of our fellow citizens who by our free choice become the public servants and BOUDINOT. 203 manage the affairs of our common country is but a reasonable return for their diligence and care in our service. The most enlightened and zealous of our public servants can do little without the exertions of private citizens to perfect what they do but form as it were in embryo. The highest officers of our government are but the first servants of the people and always in their power: they have, therefore, a just claim to a fair and candid experiment of the plans they form and the laws they enact for the public weal. Too much should not be expected from them; they are but men and of like passions and of like infirmities with ourselves; they are liable to err, though exercis ing the purest motives and best abilities required for the purpose. Times and circumstances may change and accidents intervene to disappoint the wisest measures. Mis taken and wicked men (who cannot live but in troubled waters) are often laboring with indefatig able zeal, which sometimes proves but too successful, to sour our minds, and derange the best-formed sys tems. Plausible pretensions and censorious insinua tions are always at hand to transfer the deadly poison of jealousy by which the best citizens may for a time be deceived. These considerations should lead to an attentive solicitude to keep the pure, unadulterated principles of our constitution always in view; to be religiously careful in our choice of public officers; and as they are again in our power at very short periods lend not too easily a patient ear to every invidious insinuation 2O4 BOUDINOT. or improbable story, but prudently mark the effects of their public measures and judge of the tree by its fruits. I do not wish to discourage a constant and lively attention to the conduct of our rulers. A prudent suspicion of public measures is a great security to a republican government; but a line should be drawn between a careful and critical examination into the principles and effects of regular systems after a fair and candid trial, and a captious, discontented, and censorious temper, which leads to find fault with every proposition in which we have not an immediate hand, and raise obstacles to rational plans of govern ment without waiting a fair experiment. It is generally characteristic of this disposition to find fault without proposing a better plan for consideration. We should not forget that our country is large, and our fellow citizens of different manners, interests and habits; that our laws, to be right, must be equal and general. Of course the differing interests must be combined, and brotherly conciliation and forbearance continually exercised, if we will judge with propriety of those measures that respect a nation at large. While we thus enjoy as a community the blessings of the social compact in its purity, and are all endeav oring to secure the invaluable privileges purchased by the blood of thousands of our brethren who fell in the dreadful conflict, let us also be careful to encour age and promote a liberality and benevolence of mind toward those whom they have left behind, and whose unhappy fate it has been to bear a heavier proportion of the expensive purchase in the loss of husbands, BOUDINOT. 205 parents, or children, perhaps their only support and hope in life. Mankind, considered as brethren, should be dear to each other; but, fellow citizens, who have together braved the common danger, who have fought side by side, who have mingled their blood together, as it were in one rich stream, who have labored and toiled with united efforts to accomplish the same glorious end, must surely be more than brethren it is a union cemented by blood. I can no longer deny myself the felicity, my be loved friends and fellow citizens, members of a So ciety founded on these humane and benevolent prin ciples, of addressing myself more particularly to you on a day which in so peculiar a manner shines with increasing lustre on you, refreshing and brightening your hard-earned laurels, by renewing the honorable reward of your laborious services in the gratitude of your rejoicing fellow citizens. Methinks I behold you on the victorious banks of the Hudson, bowed down with the fatigues of an active campaign and the sufferings of an inclement winter, receiving the welcome news of approaching peace and your country's political salvation with all that joy of heart and serenity of mind, that become citizens who flew to their arms, merely at their coun try's call, in a time of common danger. The \var-worn soldiers, reduced to the calamities of a seven years' arduous service, now solemnly pause and reflect on the peculiarity of their critical situa tion. The ravages of war had been extended through a country dearer to them than life, and thereby pre- 2O6 BOUDINOT. vented that ample provision in service, or reasonable recompense on their return to private life, that prud ence required and gratitude powerfully dictated. They thought that the distresses of the army had before been brought to a point ; " that they had borne all that men could bear; their property expended; their private resources at an end; their friends wearied out and disgusted with incessant applica tions." But another trial, severer than all, still awaits them; they are now to be disbanded and a separation to take place more distressing than every former scene ! Till now the severe conflict was unseen or unattended to. Poverty and the gratitude of their country are their only reward. True, they are to return to their friends and fellow citizens with blessings on their heads. The general liberty and independence are now secured, but yet want and dire distress stare many in the face. They are to return to wives and children, long used to de pendence on the cold hand of charity, in hopes of a sure support from the success of the common cause, when their husband, father, or child returned glorious from the field of conquest. Alas! these flattering hopes now are no more. Their country's exhausted treasury cannot yield them even the hard-earned pittance of a soldier's pay. Being urged on one hand by the subtle poison of in flammatory, violent, and artful addresses under the specious mask of pretended friendship (the last expir ing effort of a conquered foe), warned on the other hand by the experience, wisdom, and rational conduct BOUDINOT. 2O7 of their beloved commander, their father and long- tried friend, they solemnly deliberate. Some guardian angel, perhaps the happy genius of America, ever attendant on the object of her care, raises the drooping head, wipes the indignant, falling tear from the hardy soldier's eye, and suggests the happy expedient ! Brotherly affection produces brotherly relief the victorious bands unite together they despise the in famous idea they refuse to listen to the siren's song they form the social tie they cast in the remaining fragment of their scanty pay, and instead of seizing their arms and demanding their rights by menace and violence they refuse " to lessen the dignity or sully the glory they had hitherto maintained. They deter mined to give one more proof of unexampled patriot ism and patient virtue, rising superior to the pressure of their complicated sufferings, and thereby afford an occasion to posterity to say, had that day been wanting, the world had not seen the last stage of political perfection to which human nature is capable of attaining." The glorious certainty of peace, purchased by their sufferings and perseverance, now rouses the patriotic fire. They again rejoice in the event; they unite in a firm, indissoluble bond, " gratefully to commemorate the event which gave independence to America, to inculcate to latest ages the duty of laying down in peace arms assumed for public defence in war, to continue their mutual friendship, which commenced under the pressure of common dangers, and to ef fectuate every act of beneficence dictated by a spirit 2O8 BOUDINOT. of brotherly kindness to any of their number and their families who might unfortunately be under the ne cessity of receiving them;" and by this unanimous act establish this sacred truth, " that the glory of soldiers cannot be well completed without acting well the part of citizens." This, gentlemen, is your origin as a Society the source from whence you sprang, and this day we are carrying on the work first begun in these social prin ciples. With a heart filled with unfeigned gratitude to the Author of all our mercies, and overflowing with the most affectionate friendship toward you, suffer me to congratulate you on this seventeenth anniversary of our happy independence. Long, long, even to the remotest ages, may the citizens of this rising empire enjoy the triumph of this day; may they never forget the invaluable price which it costs, as well as the great purposes for which it was instituted, and may a frequent recurrence to the first principles of our constitution on this anniversary be a constant source of security and permanence to the rising fabric ! May the rights of man and the purity of a free, energetic, and independent government be continually cherished and promoted by every son of Cincinnatus ! May the remembrance of those worthy heroes, once our beloved companions, whose lives they did not hold dear when required for their country's safety, ani mate us to preserve inviolate what they purchased at so high a rate! May we, by the uniform conduct of good citizens and generous, faithful friends, show ourselves worthy of such valuable connections! EOUDINOT. 209 Long, long may you live to enjoy the reward of your labors, in the exercise of the duties of this hon orable anniversary; and after a long life of services to your country, usefulness