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American mind and faith repose with as much confidence and safety as the expositions contained in the "Federalist, an incomparable commentary of three of the greatest statesmen of their age,” in the extraordinary judgments of the supreme judicial tribunal, and the solid wisdom embodied in the constitutional commentaries of those who have imparted dignity and purity to the moral ermine which ornaments that august tribunal?

Nor can the American people look to any source more entitled to their confidence, for an exposition of the essential principles of our Government, and, consequently, those which ought to shape its administration, than to the farewell address of the "Father of his country," (contained in this compilation,) and to the principles proclaimed by the "Fathers" of the memorable Declaration and of the immortal Constitution, when respectively "called upon to undertake the duties of the first executive office of our country."

Thomas Jefferson declared those principles to be-“Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; for having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little, if we countenance a political intolerance, as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none; the support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns, and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies; the preservation of the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet-anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad; a jealous care of the right of election by the people; a mild and safe corrective of abuses which are lopped by the sword of revolution, where peaceful remedies are unprovided; absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the majority, the vital principle of republics, from which is no appeal but to force, the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism; a well-disciplined militia, our best reliance in peace and for the first moments of war, till regulars may relieve them; the supremacy of the civil over the military authority; economy in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burthened; the honest payment of our debts, and sacred

preservation of the public faith; encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid; the diffusion of information, and arraignment of all abuses at the bar of the public reason; freedom of religion; freedom of the press; and freedom of person under the protection of the habeas corpus; and trial by juries impartially selected. These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of our sages, and blood of our heroes, have been devoted to their attainment: they should be the creed of our political faith; the text of civic instruction; the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust; and should we wander from them in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps, and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety."

James Madison, equally pursuing the principles of the Constitution, declared the purposes of Government to be:

"To cherish peace and friendly intercourse with all nations having correspondent dispositions; to maintain sincere neutrality towards belligerent nations; to prefer, in all cases, amicable discussion and reasonable accommodation of differences, to a decision of them by an appeal to arms; to exclude foreign intrigues, and foreign partialities, so degrading to all countries, and so baneful to free ones; to foster a spirit of independence, too just to invade the rights of others, too proud to surrender our own, too liberal to indulge unworthy prejudices ourselves, and too elevated not to look down upon them in others; to hold the union of the States as the basis of their peace and happiness; to support the Constitution, which is the cement of the Union, as well in its limitations as in its authorities; to respect the rights and authorities reserved to the States, and to the people, as equally incorporated with, and essential to the success of, the general system; to avoid the slightest interference with the rights of conscience, or the functions of religion, so wisely exempted from civil jurisdiction; to preserve, in their full energy, the other salutary provisions in behalf of private and personal rights, and of the freedom of the press; to observe economy in public expenditures; to liberate the public resources by an honorable discharge of the public debts; to keep within the

requisite limits a standing military force, always remembering that an armed and trained militia is the firmest bulwark of republicsthat without standing armies their liberty can never be in danger, nor with large ones safe; to promote, by authorized means, improvements friendly to agriculture, to manufactures, and to external as well as internal commerce; to favor, in like manner, the advancement of science and the diffusion of information, as the best aliment to true liberty; to carry on the benevolent plans which have been so meritoriously applied to the conversion of our aboriginal neighbors from the degradation and wretchedness of savage life, to a participation of the improvements of which the human mind and manners are susceptible in a civilized state. As far as sentiments and intentions such as these can aid the fulfilment of my duty, they will be a resource which cannot fail me. But the source to which I look for the aids which alone can supply my deficiencies, is in the well-tried intelligence and virtue of my fellow-citizens, and in the counsels of those representing them in the other departments associated in the care of the national interests. In these, my confidence will, under every difficulty, be best placed, next to that which we have all been encouraged to feel in the guardianship and guidance of that Almighty Being whose power regulates the destiny of nations, whose blessings have been so conspicuously dispensed to this rising republic, and to whom we are bound to address our devout gratitude for the past, as well as our fervent supplications and best hopes for the future."

The citizens of these United States were blessed with the virtue, the fortitude, and the perseverance to achieve their independence as a nation; their patriotism and valor, both by sea and on land, brought them, with increased honor, through the "second war of independence," and through all the trials and difficulties by which they have, from time to time, been environed, both as respects their foreign and domestic relations; and it is only necessary for them to have “light” as regards the fundamental law, and the operations of the Government, to enable them to judge of the fidelity of those whom they periodically intrust with the power which alone belongs to themselves as a nation of freemen, the proper use and application of which power is so vitally necessary to the preservation of their

own liberties and best interests, and the perpetuity of our institutions.

"Light, true light in the mind," says Locke, "is or can be nothing else but the evidence of the truth of any proposition; and if it be not a self-evident proposition, all the light it has, or can have, is from the clearness and validity of those proofs upon which it is received. To talk of any other light in the understanding, is to put ourselves in the dark, or in the power of the Prince of Darkness, and by our own consent, to give ourselves up to delusion; for, if strength of persuasion be the light which must guide us, I ask how shall any one distinguish between the delusions of Satan and the inspirations of the Holy Ghost?"

Subtleties and authoritative corruscations have been repudiated by pure and true-hearted sages and statesmen; the advice of some of the most profound of whom, has been characterized by the simplicity of manner and of language in which they have borne witness to truth. Judge Story has remarked, that “ upon subjects of Government it has always appeared to me, that metaphysical refinements are out of place. A constitution of government is addressed to the common sense of the people, and never was designed for trials of logical skill, or visionary speculation."

Of a constitution so wisely contrived, so strongly raised, and so highly finished, it is hard to speak with that praise which is justly and severely its due: the thorough and attentive contemplation of it will furnish its best panegyric. To sustain, to repair, to beautify this noble pile, is a charge intrusted principally to the people and their constitutional representatives, in all the branches of the Government.

If honor and confidence, in a pre-eminent degree, are, with a portion of their power, conferred by the people upon the Chief Executive Magistrate, the guardianship of the national honor is in no less a degree conferred upon their representatives in the two Houses of Congress, the intrinsic dignity of whose official character, in every moral point of view, transcends that of every other legislative assembly, in so much as our Constitution excels that of every other human government; and while the Constitution, practically animated by the people, thus confers honor and dignity

upon Congress, to them it is given to stand by the Constitution, in spirit and in truth, inflexibly maintaining its principles-the principles of union, of liberty, of justice, of domestic tranquillity, of common defence, and of the general welfare. The Constitution and the Government, thus reciprocally animating and being animated, illustrates the beau ideal of good government-one of the choicest gifts of God to man.

The protection of the liberty of the United States of America is a duty which they owe to themselves, who enjoy it; to their ancestors, who transmitted it down; and to their posterity, who will claim at their hands this, the best birthright, the noblest inheritance of mankind.

To conclude, in the language of Judge Story—

“If, upon a closer survey of all the powers given by the Constitution, and all the guards upon their exercise, we shall perceive still stronger inducements to fortify this conclusion, and to increase our confidence in the Constitution, may we not justly hope, that every honest American will concur in the dying expression of Father Paul, may it be perpetual !'

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