As a subject for the
remarks of the
evening, the
perpetuation of our
political
institutions, is
selected.
In the great journal
of things happening
under the sun, we,
the American People,
find our account
running, under date
of the nineteenth
century of the
Christian era.--We
find ourselves in
the peaceful
possession, of the
fairest portion of
the earth, as
regards extent of
territory, fertility
of soil, and
salubrity of
climate. We find
ourselves under the
government of a
system of political
institutions,
conducing more
essentially to the
ends of civil and
religious liberty,
than any of which
the history of
former times tells
us. We, when
mounting the stage
of existence, found
ourselves the legal
inheritors of these
fundamental
blessings. We toiled
not in the
acquirement or
establishment of
them--they are a
legacy bequeathed
us, by a once hardy,
brave, and
patriotic, but now
lamented and
departed race of
ancestors. Their's
was the task (and
nobly they performed
it) to possess
themselves, and
through themselves,
us, of this goodly
land; and to uprear
upon its hills and
its valleys, a
political edifice of
liberty and equal
rights; 'tis ours
only, to transmit
these, the former,
unprofaned by the
foot of an invader;
the latter,
undecayed by the
lapse of time and
untorn by
usurpation, to the
latest generation
that fate shall
permit the world to
know. This task
gratitude to our
fathers, justice to
ourselves, duty to
posterity, and love
for our species in
general, all
imperatively require
us faithfully to
perform.
How then shall we
perform it?--At what
point shall we
expect the approach
of danger? By what
means shall we
fortify against
it?-- Shall we
expect some
transatlantic
military giant, to
step the Ocean, and
crush us at a blow?
Never!--All the
armies of Europe,
Asia and Africa
combined, with all
the treasure of the
earth (our own
excepted) in their
military chest; with
a Buonaparte for a
commander, could not
by force, take a
drink from the Ohio,
or make a track on
the Blue Ridge, in a
trial of a thousand
years. At what point
then is the approach
of danger to be
expected? I answer,
if it ever reach us,
it must spring up
amongst us. It
cannot come from
abroad. If
destruction be our
lot, we must
ourselves be its
author and finisher.
As a nation of
freemen, we must
live through all
time, or die by
suicide.
I hope I am over
wary; but if I am
not, there is, even
now, something of
ill-omen, amongst
us. I mean the
increasing disregard
for law which
pervades the
country; the growing
disposition to
substitute the wild
and furious
passions, in lieu of
the sober judgment
of Courts; and the
worse than savage
mobs, for the
executive ministers
of justice. This
disposition is
awfully fearful in
any community; and
that it now exists
in ours, though
grating to our
feelings to admit,
it would be a
violation of truth,
and an insult to our
intelligence, to
deny. Accounts of
outrages committed
by mobs, form the
every-day news of
the times. They have
pervaded the
country, from New
England to
Louisiana;--they are
neither peculiar to
the eternal snows of
the former, nor the
burning suns of the
latter;--they are
not the creature of
climate-- neither
are they confined to
the slave-holding,
or the non-slave-
holding States.
Alike, they spring
up among the
pleasure hunting
masters of Southern
slaves, and the
order loving
citizens of the land
of steady
habits.--Whatever,
then, their cause
may be, it is common
to the whole
country.
It would be tedious,
as well as useless,
to recount the
horrors of all of
them. Those
happening in the
State of
Mississippi, and at
St. Louis, are,
perhaps, the most
dangerous in example
and revolting to
humanity. In the
Mississippi case,
they first commenced
by hanging the
regular gamblers; a
set of men,
certainly not
following for a
livelihood, a very
useful, or very
honest occupation;
but one which, so
far from being
forbidden by the
laws, was actually
licensed by an act
of the Legislature,
passed but a single
year before. Next,
negroes, suspected
of conspiring to
raise an
insurrection, were
caught up and hanged
in all parts of the
State: then, white
men, supposed to be
leagued with the
negroes; and
finally, strangers,
from neighboring
States, going
thither on business,
were, in many
instances subjected
to the same fate.
Thus went on this
process of hanging,
from gamblers to
negroes, from
negroes to white
citizens, and from
these to strangers;
till, dead men were
seen literally
dangling from the
boughs of trees upon
every road side; and
in numbers almost
sufficient, to rival
the native Spanish
moss of the country,
as a drapery of the
forest.
Turn, then, to that
horror-striking
scene at St. Louis.
A single victim was
only sacrificed
there. His story is
very short; and is,
perhaps, the most
highly tragic, if
anything of its
length, that has
ever been witnessed
in real life. A
mulatto man, by the
name of McIntosh,
was seized in the
street, dragged to
the suburbs of the
city, chained to a
tree, and actually
burned to death; and
all within a single
hour from the time
he had been a
freeman, attending
to his own business,
and at peace with
the world.
Such are the effects
of mob law; and such
as the scenes,
becoming more and
more frequent in
this land so lately
famed for love of
law and order; and
the stories of
which, have even now
grown too familiar,
to attract any thing
more, than an idle
remark.
But you are,
perhaps, ready to
ask, "What has this
to do with the
perpetuation of our
political
institutions?" I
answer, it has much
to do with it. Its
direct consequences
are, comparatively
speaking, but a
small evil; and much
of its danger
consists, in the
proneness of our
minds, to regard its
direct, as its only
consequences.
Abstractly
considered, the
hanging of the
gamblers at
Vicksburg, was of
but little
consequence. They
constitute a portion
of population, that
is worse than
useless in any
community; and their
death, if no
pernicious example
be set by it, is
never matter of
reasonable regret
with any one. If
they were annually
swept, from the
stage of existence,
by the plague or
small pox, honest
men would, perhaps,
be much profited, by
the
operation.--Similar
too, is the correct
reasoning, in regard
to the burning of
the negro at St.
Louis. He had
forfeited his life,
by the perpetuation
of an outrageous
murder, upon one of
the most worthy and
respectable citizens
of the city; and had
not he died as he
did, he must have
died by the sentence
of the law, in a
very short time
afterwards. As to
him alone, it was as
well the way it was,
as it could
otherwise have
been.--But the
example in either
case, was
fearful.--When men
take it in their
heads to day, to
hang gamblers, or
burn murderers, they
should recollect,
that, in the
confusion usually
attending such
transactions, they
will be as likely to
hang or burn some
one who is neither a
gambler nor a
murderer as one who
is; and that, acting
upon the example
they set, the mob of
to-morrow, may, and
probably will, hang
or burn some of them
by the very same
mistake. And not
only so; the
innocent, those who
have ever set their
faces against
violations of law in
every shape, alike
with the guilty,
fall victims to the
ravages of mob law;
and thus it goes on,
step by step, till
all the walls
erected for the
defense of the
persons and property
of individuals, are
trodden down, and
disregarded. But all
this even, is not
the full extent of
the evil.--By such
examples, by
instances of the
perpetrators of such
acts going
unpunished, the
lawless in spirit,
are encouraged to
become lawless in
practice; and having
been used to no
restraint, but dread
of punishment, they
thus become,
absolutely
unrestrained.--Having
ever regarded
Government as their
deadliest bane, they
make a jubilee of
the suspension of
its operations; and
pray for nothing so
much, as its total
annihilation. While,
on the other hand,
good men, men who
love tranquility,
who desire to abide
by the laws, and
enjoy their
benefits, who would
gladly spill their
blood in the defense
of their country;
seeing their
property destroyed;
their families
insulted, and their
lives endangered;
their persons
injured; and seeing
nothing in prospect
that forebodes a
change for the
better; become tired
of, and disgusted
with, a Government
that offers them no
protection; and are
not much averse to a
change in which they
imagine they have
nothing to lose.
Thus, then, by the
operation of this
mobocractic spirit,
which all must
admit, is now abroad
in the land, the
strongest bulwark of
any Government, and
particularly of
those constituted
like ours, may
effectually be
broken down and
destroyed--I mean
the attachment of
the People. Whenever
this effect shall be
produced among us;
whenever the vicious
portion of
population shall be
permitted to gather
in bands of hundreds
and thousands, and
burn churches,
ravage and rob
provision-stores,
throw printing
presses into rivers,
shoot editors, and
hang and burn
obnoxious persons at
pleasure, and with
impunity; depend on
it, this Government
cannot last. By such
things, the feelings
of the best citizens
will become more or
less alienated from
it; and thus it will
be left without
friends, or with too
few, and those few
too weak, to make
their friendship
effectual. At such a
time and under such
circumstances, men
of sufficient talent
and ambition will
not be wanting to
seize the
opportunity, strike
the blow, and
overturn that fair
fabric, which for
the last half
century, has been
the fondest hope, of
the lovers of
freedom, throughout
the world.
I know the American
People are much
attached to their
Government;--I know
they would suffer
much for its
sake;--I know they
would endure evils
long and patiently,
before they would
ever think of
exchanging it for
another. Yet,
notwithstanding all
this, if the laws be
continually despised
and disregarded, if
their rights to be
secure in their
persons and
property, are held
by no better tenure
than the caprice of
a mob, the
alienation of their
affections from the
Government is the
natural consequence;
and to that, sooner
or later, it must
come.
Here then, is one
point at which
danger may be
expected.
The question recurs,
"how shall we
fortify against it?"
The answer is
simple. Let every
American, every
lover of liberty,
every well wisher to
his posterity, swear
by the blood of the
Revolution, never to
violate in the least
particular, the laws
of the country; and
never to tolerate
their violation by
others. As the
patriots of
seventy-six did to
the support of the
Declaration of
Independence, so to
the support of the
Constitution and
Laws, let every
American pledge his
life, his property,
and his sacred
honor;--let every
man remember that to
violate the law, is
to trample on the
blood of his father,
and to tear the
character of his
own, and his
children's liberty.
Let reverence for
the laws, be
breathed by every
American mother, to
the lisping babe,
that prattles on her
lap--let it be
taught in schools,
in seminaries, and
in colleges; let it
be written in
Primers, spelling
books, and in
Almanacs;--let it be
preached from the
pulpit, proclaimed
in legislative
halls, and enforced
in courts of
justice. And, in
short, let it become
the political
religion of the
nation; and let the
old and the young,
the rich and the
poor, the grave and
the gay, of all
sexes and tongues,
and colors and
conditions,
sacrifice
unceasingly upon its
altars.
While ever a state
of feeling, such as
this, shall
universally, or
even, very generally
prevail throughout
the nation, vain
will be every
effort, and
fruitless every
attempt, to subvert
our national
freedom.
When I so pressingly
urge a strict
observance of all
the laws, let me not
be understood as
saying there are no
bad laws, nor that
grievances may not
arise, for the
redress of which, no
legal provisions
have been made.--I
mean to say no such
thing. But I do mean
to say, that,
although bad laws,
if they exist,
should be repealed
as soon as possible,
still while they
continue in force,
for the sake of
example, they should
be religiously
observed. So also in
unprovided cases. If
such arise, let
proper legal
provisions be made
for them with the
least possible
delay; but, till
then, let them, if
not too intolerable,
be borne with. There
is no grievance that
is a fit object of
redress by mob law.
In any case that
arises, as for
instance, the
promulgation of
abolitionism, one of
two positions is
necessarily true;
that is, the thing
is right within
itself, and
therefore deserves
the protection of
all law and all good
citizens; or, it is
wrong, and therefore
proper to be
prohibited by legal
enactments; and in
neither case, is the
interposition of mob
law, either
necessary,
justifiable, or
excusable.
But, it may be
asked, why suppose
danger to our
political
institutions? Have
we not preserved
them for more than
fifty years? And why
may we not for fifty
times as long?
We hope there is no
sufficient reason.
We hope all dangers
may be overcome; but
to conclude that no
danger may ever
arise, would itself
be extremely
dangerous. There are
now, and will
hereafter be, many
causes, dangerous in
their tendency,
which have not
existed heretofore;
and which are not
too insignificant to
merit attention.
That our government
should have been
maintained in its
original form from
its establishment
until now, is not
much to be wondered
at. It had many
props to support it
through that period,
which now are
decayed, and
crumbled away.
Through that period,
it was felt by all,
to be an undecided
experiment; now, it
is understood to be
a successful
one.--Then, all that
sought celebrity and
fame, and
distinction,
expected to find
them in the success
of that experiment.
Their all was staked
upon it:-- their
destiny was
inseparably linked
with it. Their
ambition aspired to
display before an
admiring world, a
practical
demonstration of the
truth of a
proposition, which
had hitherto been
considered, at best
no better, than
problematical;
namely, the
capability of a
people to govern
themselves. If they
succeeded, they were
to be immortalized;
their names were to
be transferred to
counties and cities,
and rivers and
mountains; and to be
revered and sung,
and toasted through
all time. If they
failed, they were to
be called knaves and
fools, and fanatics
for a fleeting hour;
then to sink and be
forgotten. They
succeeded. The
experiment is
successful; and
thousands have won
their deathless
names in making it
so. But the game is
caught; and I
believe it is true,
that with the
catching, end the
pleasures of the
chase. This field of
glory is harvested,
and the crop is
already
appropriated. But
new reapers will
arise, and they,
too, will seek a
field. It is to
deny, what the
history of the world
tells us is true, to
suppose that men of
ambition and talents
will not continue to
spring up amongst
us. And, when they
do, they will as
naturally seek the
gratification of
their ruling
passion, as others
have so done before
them. The question
then, is, can that
gratification be
found in supporting
and maintaining an
edifice that has
been erected by
others? Most
certainly it cannot.
Many great and good
men sufficiently
qualified for any
task they should
undertake, may ever
be found, whose
ambition would
inspire to nothing
beyond a seat in
Congress, a
gubernatorial or a
presidential chair;
but such belong not
to the family of the
lion, or the tribe
of the eagle. What!
think you these
places would satisfy
an Alexander, a
Caesar, or a
Napoleon?--Never!
Towering genius
distains a beaten
path. It seeks
regions hitherto
unexplored.--It sees
no distinction in
adding story to
story, upon the
monuments of fame,
erected to the
memory of others. It
denies that it is
glory enough to
serve under any
chief. It scorns to
tread in the
footsteps of any
predecessor, however
illustrious. It
thirsts and burns
for distinction;
and, if possible, it
will have it,
whether at the
expense of
emancipating slaves,
or enslaving
freemen. Is it
unreasonable then to
expect, that some
man possessed of the
loftiest genius,
coupled with
ambition sufficient
to push it to its
utmost stretch, will
at some time, spring
up among us? And
when such a one
does, it will
require the people
to be united with
each other, attached
to the government
and laws, and
generally
intelligent, to
successfully
frustrate his
designs.
Distinction will be
his paramount
object, and although
he would as
willingly, perhaps
more so, acquire it
by doing good as
harm; yet, that
opportunity being
past, and nothing
left to be done in
the way of building
up, he would set
boldly to the task
of pulling down.
Here, then, is a
probable case,
highly dangerous,
and such a one as
could not have well
existed heretofore.
Another reason which
once was; but which,
to the same extent,
is now no more, has
done much in
maintaining our
institutions thus
far. I mean the
powerful influence
which the
interesting scenes
of the revolution
had upon the
passions of the
people as
distinguished from
their judgment. By
this influence, the
jealousy, envy, and
avarice, incident to
our nature, and so
common to a state of
peace, prosperity,
and conscious
strength, were, for
the time, in a great
measure smothered
and rendered
inactive; while the
deep-rooted
principles of hate,
and the powerful
motive of revenge,
instead of being
turned against each
other, were directed
exclusively against
the British nation.
And thus, from the
force of
circumstances, the
basest principles of
our nature, were
either made to lie
dormant, or to
become the active
agents in the
advancement of the
noblest cause--that
of establishing and
maintaining civil
and religious
liberty.
But this state of
feeling must fade,
is fading, has
faded, with the
circumstances that
produced it.
I do not mean to
say, that the scenes
of the revolution
are now or ever will
be entirely
forgotten; but that
like every thing
else, they must fade
upon the memory of
the world, and grow
more and more dim by
the lapse of time.
In history, we hope,
they will be read
of, and recounted,
so long as the bible
shall be read;-- but
even granting that
they will, their
influence cannot be
what it heretofore
has been. Even then,
they cannot be so
universally known,
nor so vividly felt,
as they were by the
generation just gone
to rest. At the
close of that
struggle, nearly
every adult male had
been a participator
in some of its
scenes. The
consequence was,
that of those
scenes, in the form
of a husband, a
father, a son or
brother, a living
history was to be
found in every
family-- a history
bearing the
indubitable
testimonies of its
own authenticity, in
the limbs mangled,
in the scars of
wounds received, in
the midst of the
very scenes
related--a history,
too, that could be
read and understood
alike by all, the
wise and the
ignorant, the
learned and the
unlearned.--But
those histories are
gone. They can be
read no more
forever. They were a
fortress of
strength; but, what
invading foeman
could never do, the
silent artillery of
time has done; the
leveling of its
walls. They are
gone.--They were a
forest of giant
oaks; but the
all-resistless
hurricane has swept
over them, and left
only, here and
there, a lonely
trunk, despoiled of
its verdure, shorn
of its foliage;
unshading and
unshaded, to murmur
in a few gentle
breezes, and to
combat with its
mutilated limbs, a
few more ruder
storms, then to
sink, and be no
more.
They were the
pillars of the
temple of liberty;
and now, that they
have crumbled away,
that temple must
fall, unless we,
their descendants,
supply their places
with other pillars,
hewn from the solid
quarry of sober
reason. Passion has
helped us; but can
do so no more. It
will in future be
our enemy. Reason,
cold, calculating,
unimpassioned
reason, must furnish
all the materials
for our future
support and defence.--Let
those materials be
moulded into general
intelligence, sound
morality, and in
particular, a
reverence for the
constitution and
laws: and, that we
improved to the
last; that we
remained free to the
last; that we
revered his name to
the last; that,
during his long
sleep, we permitted
no hostile foot to
pass over or
desecrate his
resting place; shall
be that which to
learn the last trump
shall awaken our
WASHINGTON.
Upon these let the
proud fabric of
freedom rest, as the
rock of its basis;
and as truly as has
been said of the
only greater
institution, "the
gates of hell shall
not prevail against
it."