property, by fraud. There is retributive justice even in this kind of wrong. It may be slow in coming, but it is pretty sure to come. The community find out, at last, who are wise and honest, and who have only pretended to be so. They learn that the latter have practised upon the maxim, All is right in politics;' a maxim fit only for the moral perceptions of Constantinople and Pekin. The public, at length, reject, with the decision which becomes them, the maxim, and those who maintain it.

395. If two persons engage in any unlawful transaction, each of them puts it in the power of the other, to disclose their common secret; and either of them may, in some cases, make a merit of doing so. The danger that this will be done, increases in proportion to the numbers who are concerned. This well known principle may be applied as truly in political life, as in ordinary criminalities. Suppose any unprincipled party should, at any time, happen to get the power of government into their hands; and suppose they should misuse this power; and should attempt to fortify themselves in the possession of it, by dishonorable and fraudulent means: In such case, there must be a great number of persons in the secret; there must be some presses under their control; many things must be said and done, which it would be ruinous to their purposes to have disclosed. But, as the motive to the union, was, in this, as in all other wrong doing, self-interest in each; the same motive may, and commonly does, introduce disunion. If their purposes are detected, or suspected, they endeavour to cast the blame on each other. Some of their number will court the approbation of an opposing party, by making known opinions, and facts, which will disgrace and overthrow their late associates. The war which arises among such bands of friends, has elements of hate, and vengeance, which never mingle in natural, and honorable hostility. It is of little importance what becomes of such politicians, provided they cease to be public agents. It is of immeasurable importance

to a self-governing community, not to elevate such politicians to power. Even a short reign of such men, tends to shake the public confidence in the duration of republican forms; and even to cause doubts whether civil liberty was intended for man. 396. It is not surprising that the intelligent and upright men of a republic, who have such adversaries to contend with, are sometimes drawn into error. They have a difficult, and responsible duty. They often see their useful and honorable purposes defeated by an influence, which it is as impossible to countervail, as to change the organs of human perception. They have other difficulties. When they are not disgusted by experience, and attracted to the quiet of private life, they must yield to the universal law of the system of being of which they are a part. They must move onward. There is no contentment in having acquired. They are sometimes blinded as to the character of the means, by which their own purposes are to be obtained. They come, at length, to place an inordinate value on what they have, and may have. They become anxious and agitated; they have distressing apprehensions. They see through distorting lenses. In the course of the onward action, they are, sometimes, suddenly deprived of the public favor, and see that others obtain it, whom they believe to be unworthy of it. They complain of the ingratitude of republics. They discern, at last, the worth, and the vanity, of political ambition. These things are evils. All together, they make up a very bad world; a world in which talent and integrity may fail to find their reward. But after all, they are mere moral evils. All of them are of man's own making. They are not to be charged to the system which he belongs to, but to his own misunderstanding, and perversion of it. It would be happy for our country, happier for its statesmen, if they could say with an eminent judge who enlightened and adorned the country of our ancestors: "I wish popularity; but it is that popularity which follows, not that which is run after; it is that popularity

which, sooner or later, never fails to do justice to the pursuit of noble ends, by noble means. I will not do that which my conscience tells me is wrong, to gain the huzzas of thousands, nor the daily praise of all the papers which come from the press: I will not avoid doing what I think is right, though it should draw on me the whole artillery of libels; all that malice and falsehood can invent or the credulity of a deluded population swallow. I can say with a great magistrate upon an occasion, and under circumstances, not unlike, Ego hoc animo semperfui, ut invidiam virtute partam, gloriam, non invidiam putarem.” (The unpopularity which may flow from an honest discharge of duty, I have always considered an honor, not a disgrace.)

397. If we might venture to counsel the young, as to their political duties, we should say to them, that the Government of your country does not belong to those who are called to administer it, but to them, according to their numbers, and to the citizens, not in office, according to their numbers. It is merely a partnership for the common good, in which some of the members are managers, by an election of the majority. Those in office may be wise and honest, and yet, seeing things as they must, from points of vision peculiar to their position, they may see and judge erroneously. Public officers may be very unworthy of the trust confided to them; they may be weak, or unprincipled, and may think of office, only as means for the gratification of selfishness. The corrective authority does, or soon will, reside in you. If you are dutiful to yourselves, you will study the nature of the Government under which you are to live. You will discriminate between those citizens who are office seekers, and those whom office seeks. You must ever bear in mind, that to strive for power is natural to man. That power can be had, for political purposes, only through the tenure of office. That the selection and elevation of individuals to office, rarely occurs but through the combination of numbers, that is, of a dominant party. That, one party excites and exasperates, its opponent party.

That inflamed parties, are, to some extent, insane, just as any individual under the influence of a vehement passion is lost to the influence of reason. Each party will strive to increase its adherents. Each will have its orators, its newspapers, its policy. Each will labor to prove the other to be wrong. They will impeach each other's wisdom, and integrity. The members of both parties may often disqualify themselves to see any object in its true light. Rational intelligence is the only remedy for such evils. The preservation of the existing forms of Government, and pure administration under them, are the objects confided to your care. In these you will find the security of all things, which are adapted to make of life, a blessing. It is deeply to be regretted, that so large a portion of intelligent citizens, in this country, hold it to be no part of their MORAL DUTY, to take an effective agency, and to use their just influence, in the preservation, and proper use of political power. This negligence is one of the threatening dangers of the republic. If the great mass of the community, who have no desire for office, were dutiful to themselves, there might be little cause for complaint; and no fear of wicked or indiscreet perversion of republican Government.

CHAPTER XL.

SOCIAL DUTIES.

Duties which public laws might enjoin, or of which such laws might aid the performance.

398. If the object intended has been accomplished, it has been shown, that a social state, if the natural one for men, and that it is capable of progressive improvement. It is not reasonable to suppose, that it is as perfect, anywhere, as it can be. Is there not something more to be done by legislative power, than has been, hitherto, done?

Most of the existing laws, are made to punish crimes, to provide remedies for breaches of contracts, to subject trespassers to the payment of damages, to give power to individuals to do some acts for their own benefit, or to provide for public expense, or security. As the Governments of this country are instituted for the common good, as there is no good so important as MORAL GOOD in this life, how does it happen that legislatures have never exercised their power for the purpose of PREVENTING moral evil? How does it happen, that they have done nothing for the encouragement, and support of the virtues, which adorn human life? Why do they leave it to individuals, at their own expense, and by their own labor, to carry on the great duty of bettering human condition?

399. Will it be maintained that the government of a Christian state, can do no acts constitutionally, to prevent pauperism, intemperance, and crimes? Ought they to satisfy themselves with providing, that there shall be learning, without providing for any teaching, as to the purposes to which learning is to be applied in social life? Is it inconsistent with the dignity of legislation to do any acts, in aid of the all-important knowledge, how human life should be passed? Public laws may and ought to provide, that property, arts, science, and labor, shall be applied to prevent human sorrow and misery, and to increase the blessings of life? However distant the day may be, when such purposes will be regarded as proper objects of the paternal regard of governments, that day will come. Meanwhile, there are no other means to advance social welfare, but those of individual exertion, and private munificence.

400. Pauperism. This subject, although one which is clearly within legislative power, and although one, which occasions great expense, yet, it is left entirely to individual agency, as to prevention. The causes of pauperism are partly of foreign, and partly of domestic origin. Government has the power to prevent the coming of foreign paupers. If State governments have it not, these, and the