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ed to every custom that could possibly operate against its realization. Reason, and the genius of our institutions, directed us to follow an opposite course. Governments, to be sustained and perpetuated, must be followed up by manners, fashions, customs and laws, congenial to their peculiar principles; or they become degenerated, perverted, and turned from their original end and spirit. The manners of a people under a monarchy ought to be the reverse of those under a republic: and vice versa. But we were willing to adopt a democracy, and at the same time cherish all the appendages peculiar to a monarchy: and the consequence now is, that while the government is republican, society in its gene. ral features, is as regal as it is in England. The tendency of so unnatural a state of things is twofoldeither the government must tend to reform the people to simplicity; or the vices of the people must result in deteriorating the government. It is like a watch, constructed partly of jewels, and partly of metal-the attrition wears out the latter, because it is the softer substance, and a general derangement of the whole machine is the consequence.

The revolution of 1776, therefore, is, I contend, not yet fully accomplished; and all that part which relates to a moral change, remains to be effectuated; that of "76, merely being a political one-a separation of governments, without such a separation of manners, as is necessary to give the former permanence, and full effect. To come down to particulars : let us begin with law and local politics. The retention of the common law system of Great Britain, was a vital error in our infant jurisprudence; being a gothic system of crude and barbarous customs, as inconsistent with the equality of our government, as the creation of an order of nobility. To

this error, was added the still greater one of the adoption of the statute laws of that realm, so far as to admit them as conclusive precedents in our courts. In local polity, our error was still greater. Several of the states adopted the old royal charters of Elizabeth, Charles 1. and Charles II., as state constitutions; many of which remain to this day, a stigma on our reason, and a sarcasm upon our liberty. We fell into the same fatal delusions, in respect to education and literature. Nothing new was suggested; or if suggested, never allow. ed to take root. Oxford and Cambridge, in England, were the models of our literary institutions; and a system of education devised in the midnight of the dark ages, was adopted as the routine of instruction for a free people, in a boundless range of country sparsely populated, in the meridian era of the nineteenth century; when science and intellect had outrun the sublimest conceptions of the greatest geniuses of half an age ago! In minor seminaries-in those schools, where the great body of the people receive their knowledge, and form their principles-the school books of London, constituted the sole fountain of instruction: a fountain tainted with lessons that inculcated a love of the king, or reverence for the nobility, and a passion for pomp, show, and regality. Of late years, this blemish has happily been removed; and in our popular seminaries, always the most important, an American system of school literature has been successfully introduced, congenial to the free spirit of our institutions. This reformation was long resisted by prejudice and aristocracy; and nothing but time, enterprise, and persever. ance, have succeeded in superseding so irrational a system-a system equally at war with knowledge and liberty; for of what use is a genealogy of kings, lords,

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and dukes, to an American; or how can it conduce to his happiness, or his freedom? The same prejudice now operates against a reform, equally desirable, in our general literature; which is still IMPORTED exclusively from England: as if she only possessed a climate formed by nature for the happy developement of intellect and taste-a climate peculiar to herself, and denied to all other nations. The prejudice against American authors and their productions, is but a part of that great infirmity, which has stigmatized us by the inconsistencies and contradictions already alluded to. A partiality for our own offspring is a natural affection, and a laudable weakness; and in relation to the literature of nations, the same preferences ought to be cherished, as the means of happiness, and the safeguards of liberty. Whoever contemplates the load of trash that inundates this country from the book-shops of England, and reflects upon the fact, that when a neglected American author transports himself to London, his works are sought with eagerness, and devoured with avidity, will confess to the truth, that it is the place where he writes, and not the quality of his writings, that stamps him with genius, or gives sterling currency to his wit. The prodigious influence of literature, upon the minds and manners of a people, makes it of incalculable importance, that it should emanate from American minds -minds imbued with the love of liberty, and animated by a spirit congenial to that which pervades our constitution, and is calculated to advance our glory!

The importance of having the habits and manners of a people correspond to their government has never been duly appreciated by American statesmen: for it extends even to that system of manufactures which receives the name of American, as a sign of pre-eminence.

Our manners and habits should all conduce to happi. ness, simplicity, and independence! TITLES should be totally abolished; and personal distinctions reduced so as to admit of easy access to all. Forms, pomp, grandeur, luxury, and expense, on a magnificent scale, ought to be discouraged. What is called "good socie ty," is a regal fungus upon our social system; engendered by a desire to imitate foreign luxuries. In this regard, we have not yet commenced our American revolution. The whole field lies wide spread before us. Let it not be imagined that I am inimical to good breeding, refinement, literature, taste, all that ease and polish which renders social intercourse the charm of life. I am only inimical to the exclusive assumption of "good society," by the rich, and the vain, the stockholders, and the idle. It should be the aim of a genuine philanthropy, to impart the benefits of good breeding to all the members of the human family, if practicable. This may be done by diffusing the blessings of education; by qualifying the working classes to mix with and converse with the more cultivated, polished, and refined. If ignorance and rudeness are made the pretext for a separation of classes, and a distinction of ranks, remove the causes, and let the barriers of separation be broken down, by the omnipotent lever of intellect; at least so far, as congenial knowledge spreads her influence over the mind of the community, and assimilates in a bond of brotherhood those now repellent prejudices, which sunder man from man, as if an animal of another species, whose approach was incompatible with honour, safety, happiness, and even existence.

The prejudice of occupation cannot long endure, after the influence of education has approximated closer the extremes of society. Merit will always attach to

industry and labour, when blended with the social and intellectual virtues, in despite of pride, wealth, and vanity; and contempt will as invariably follow personal uselessness and mental impotence, however gilded with the external trappings of fortune. Instinctive admiration pays the spontaneous homage of applause to all who overcome the obstacles of life, by vigour, industry, energy, and intellect. "A brave man struggling with the storms of fate," presents a spectacle of the sublime, which kindles universal applause! Whilst enervated grandeur, on its throne of state, or bed of roses, excites little other emotion than pity and contempt. As it is mind that makes the man, we have but to combine intellect with labour, and the task of equal happiness is completed: teach those who toil, how to think, and toil will no longer be degrading, however humble, or however poor.

To some, this consummation of a civilized age may appear visionary. But let it be remembered that at one period, all the improvements which subsequently arose, were adjudged impossible. Time and mind áre the creators of human destiny, which accomplish more than miracles, and produce revolutions that only fail to astonish, because they enlighten.

It is only under the dark and hush policy of silence, that abuses can expect to continue, extortion to thrive, capital to luxuriate, and monopoly to expand. With the Bible locked up in a dead language, and science mystified into a being of the upper skies, as unapproachable to the people, aristocracy and priestcraft would rule the world with a sceptre of iron, and yoke the souls, as well as bodies of the people, in eternal servitude. The effort of capital and power, is always on the side of ignorance in the people, and injustice in the principles and

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