glory, which laughs danger and death to scorn, when its least passion is awakened, becomes weak as childhood, when reminded of the claims of duty. Remind man that he has power to do something for his country, and he answers that the reach of his arm is small; that his voice cannot be heard far; that he can make no wide and deep impression upon his fellow men. But there is power somewhere; men cannot have it when united, if they have it not when apart: the cords which compose the sheet-anchor cable, are not singly as frail as the silkworm's thread. Where each has his portion of sovereignty, and where there is but one Power above him, let no man disclaim his duty.

So far from its being difficult for an individual to exert power in a free country, it is the greatest danger of such countries, that individuals can so easily gain power. The very indifference of which I have spoken, puts it within the reach of all who endeavor to obtain it. If they are ambitious, they will flatter suspicion to sleep; they will secure the confidence of the people by wearing a disguise; and when they are once trusted, they will make the state neglect its interests, till they have advanced their own. Whoever desires this power can have it. It requires not talent, but address-a kind of self-seeking instinct, like that which belongs to some of the

meanest animals in nature. What story does the history of all nations tell? it assures us, that while the many were inattentive to their rights and duties, their power was gradually made over to the hands. of one. It is true that the ambitious do not always succeed; but the reason is, not that they find any difficulty in gaining power, but that, in playing their desperate game, they sometimes risk it on the chance of a single throw, and thus it is lost forever.

Can it be that, if the selfish and unprincipled are uniformly successful, those who really desire the welfare of their country can gain no power? No! such is not the order of nature. They may not be so conscious of the result of their exertions, because they do not wish to bring all those results home to themselves; because they do not labor for themselves. Still, every good man exerts a power on others, the extent and importance of which, he does not know. There have been more instances than one, where a just and manly sentiment, expressed with the energy of conviction, has produced a wide and deep effect. Those who heard it have told it to their children, and they again to theirs; and thus, words which passed at the same moment from the lips and from the mind of him who spoke them, have gone down into the hearts of thousands, all of whom have been struck with their truth, and have

made them a maxim of their lives. No! there is ample power; confidence alone is wanting; and yet why should that be wanting, when we know that they who put their heart into any exertion, always carry it triumphantly through.

I was next to speak of the dangers of those who are born free. I might say at once, that they arise from neglecting these duties. Freedom implies duties as well as blessings; and they who neglect the one, cannot long enjoy the other.

One great danger is that of indifference to our free institutions. It is evident, that some of our best men hold themselves apart from all share in our civil concerns. I do not refer to their declining office; for, whatever may be the courtly language with which the servants of the people address their sovereign, no man is obliged to accept an office, when its duties can be as well performed by another. I refer to duties which no one can discharge by deputy. Such is the duty of sovereignty, and those who retreat from all interest in this, are doubtless false to their trust. For by so doing, they leave the field open to the ambitious and unworthy they leave not only the action of government, but all institutions of social life, at the mercy of others; they surrender all their establishments of benevolence, charity, and reform, to the hands most likely to destroy or abuse

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them; they see streams of false and depraving sentiment flowing every where, without making a single effort to heal the bitterness of their waters; they see a power constantly growing up behind the throne of the people's sovereignty, greater than the throne itself, and yet they stand apart, looking on with indifference or disdain. Perhaps they even advise others whom they can influence, to be equally forgetful of their duty.

Do they say that by taking an interest in such things they lose their serenity? that they are excited by opposition, and depressed by seeing the success of the undeserving? let them remember, that there never yet was a duty of any importance, which could be discharged without sacrifice, self-denial, and exertion. But it is only when men engage in these things from passion, and not from principle, that they are thus painfully excited. The right discharge of every duty brings with it rest to the soul; rest— not resembling the repose of stagnation, but the calm, self-purifying action of living waters. But when men enter upon these subjects with the violence of passion; when they consent to enlist in the rank and file of party; when they think only of party objects, and forget their duty as christians and as men, then they deserve to suffer; and their injured conscience avenges its own wrongs, by kind

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ling those fires of passion, which become the slow torture of their souls.

It is true, that every man who does his duty is liable to be slandered; and such attacks are painful, however despicable the source from which they proceed. But he, who, when on earth, endured all kinds of reviling, said, The things which proceed out of the mouth, they defile the man. A man cannot be permanently injured, but by what proceeds from his own mouth and his own heart. For your slanderer depends on you, to make good his charges; unless you choose to give evidence by your conduct against yourself, he cannot sustain his charges; they may deceive for a little while, but they will pass away. There have been those who were injured by slander; but they were those who broke out into ungovernable passion, and whose passion settled down at last into sullen disdain; they have been injured, indeed; but they have done against themselves what no one could have done against them. There is nothing more lofty, than the native independence of the human soul. No man has any power over your character or happiness, except what you choose to give him. The soul may be lord of its own castle, if it will; it can look down with calm defiance on all the enemies that surround it unless it will descend to combat with them, it is immeasurably above their reach.