will terminate, is known only to the Great Ruler of events; and, confiding in His wisdom and goodness, we may safely trust the issue to Him, without perplexing ourselves to seek for that which is beyond our ken; only taking care to perform the parts assigned. to us, in a way that reason and our own consciences approve. POLITICAL IMPROVEMENTS IN EUROPE. A spirit for political improvement, seems to be rapidly and extensively spreading through the European countries. I shall rejoice in seeing the condition of the human race happier than ever it has hitherto been. But I shall be sorry to see, that those who are for prematurely accelerating those improvements, were making more haste than good speed, in their innovations. Born in a land of liberty; having early learned its value; having engaged in the perilous conflict to defend it; having, in a word, devoted the best years of my life to secure its permanent establishment in my own country; my anxious recollections, my sympathetic feelings, and my best wishes are irresistibly attracted, whensoever in any country I see an oppressed nation unfurl the banners of freedom. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. My greatest fear has been, that the nation would. not be sufficiently cool and moderate, in making arrangements for the security of that liberty of which it seems to be possessed. 1790. ANARCHY AND TYRANNY. There is a natural and necessary progression, from the extreme of anarchy to the extreme of tyranny; and arbitrary power is most easily established, on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness. REPUBLICANISM. Republicanism is not the phantom of a deluded imagination. On the contrary, laws, under no form of government, are better supported, liberty and property better secured, or happiness more effectually dispensed to mankind. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. That the Government, though not actually perfect, is one of the best in the world, I have little doubt. DEMOCRACY. It is among the evils, and perhaps not the smallest, of Democratical Governments, that the people must When this happens, they are roused to action. Hence it is, that those kinds government are so slow. feel, before they will see. EVILS OF DEMOCRACY. It is one of the evils of Democratical Governments, that the people, not always seeing, and frequently misled, must often feel before they can act right; but then evils of this nature seldem fail to work their own cure. MONARCHY. I am fully of opinion, that those who lean to a Monarchial Government have either not consulted the public mind, or that they live in a region, which, (the levelling principles in which they were bred being entirely eradicated,) is much more productive of monarchial ideas, than is the case in the Southern States, where, from the habitual distinctions which have always existed among the people, one would have expected the first generation, and the most rapid growth, of them. I am told, that even respectable characters speak of a Monarchial Form of Government, without horror. From thinking proceeds speaking; thence to acting is often but a single step. But, how irrevocable and tremendous! What a triumph for our enemies to verify their predictions! What a triumph for the advocates of Despotism, to find, that we are incapable of governing ourselves, and that systems founded on the basis of equal liberty, are merely ideal and fallacious! 1786. It is a little strange, that the men of large property in the South, should be more afraid that the Constitution will produce an Aristocracy or a Monarchy, than the genuine democratical people of the East. 1788. NOBILITY AND KNIGHTHOOD. It appears to be incompatible with the principles of our national Constitution, to admit the introduction of any kind of Nobility, Knighthood, or distinctions of a similar nature, amongst the citizens of our republic. HERALDRY AND REPUBLICANISM. It is far from my design to intimate an opinion, that Heraldry, Coat-armor, &c., might not be ren dered conducive to public and private uses with us; or that they can have any tendency unfriendly to the purest spirit of Republicanism. On the contrary, a different conclusion is deducible from the practice of Congress, and the States; all of which have established some kind of Armorial Devices, to authenticate their official instruments. |