Civil and religious liberty are enjoyed under our constitution, in their fullest extent. The right of personal liberty, the right of personal security, and the right to acquire and enjoy property, could not have been more effectually secured. The constitution breathes throughout the spirit of liberty. Civil and religious freedom are effectually secured, both by the national and state constitutions.

Equality is a prominent feature of our government. Equal rights and privileges, so far at least as the constitution is capable of conferring them, are enjoyed in this country. No distinctions are created by birth or property. The rich and poor, as it regards political power, are placed on the same level.

But the excellence of our system of government affords, of itself, no effectual security for its permanence. No human institution, whatever inay be its qualities, contains, within itself, the principle of self-preservation. It would be unwise, therefore, to trust to the intrinsic excellence of our institutions. It is the duty of every citizen to watch the approaches of danger, and to apply the means necessary to the preservation of our liberties.

Among the dangers to which our government is exposed, are the indifference and apathy of the people. It is a common maxim among the people of this country, that "the price of liberty is eternal vigilance;" and the acknowledged truth of this maxim, as well as the venerable source from which it originated, commends it to universal observance. Open assaults upon our free institutions can never be successful; and they are not to be expected. If our political fabric ever falls, it will not be by the hands of the avowed enemies of liberty; but by the insidious attacks of its pretended friends, whose real motives will be concealed under professions of regard for the public good.

Power, wherever it is exercised, is ever liable to abuse. To the people is reserved the right to apply the corrective. But if there be no disposition to apply it, the remedy is of no avail. Political power is given to the people to be used; and he who neglects to do so, violates an important trust. Bad laws in a free government cannot long exist, but by the consent of the people themselves. Bad men are ever ready to exercise their rights, while many of our best citizens slight their privileges. But he who has a proper sense of his duty, will on every occasion cast his power and influence into the scale of the government; and that citizen who refuses to perform his duty in this respect, does, tacitly at least, consent to the disorders that prevail in the body politic.

Human nature is the same in all countries and in all ages.-Ambition and the love of power reign predominant in the human

breast; and there are not wanting those in our country, who, though among the loudest in their protestations of attachment to republican principles, would march over the liberties of the people, to secure the power and honors of royalty.

Another source of danger is the spirit of party. The opinion is often expressed, that parties hold a salutary check upon each other, and that their existence gives security to our political institutions. But it must be evident to all who have observed the effects of party spirit among us, that the evils flowing from it overbalance all the good which it can produce. Where freedom of opinion and of speech is tolerated, parties must necesarily exist to some extent; but their existence should be founded upon difference of opinion merely.

But party spirit, when unrestrained, becomes intemperate and revengeful; and it is then that its pernicious effects are seen. Parties, while contending for power, forget right, and lose sight of the public good. The rights of the minority are disregarded. Men, for difference of opinion, are made the subjects of proscription and persecution. In this state of things the strife is for men, without regard to principle; and candidates for public favor, who can hold out the most powerful inducements to their supporters, are most certain of success. And our periodical elections, instead of enabling the people to correct abuses, will prove a fruitful source of difficulty and contention.

The following paragraphs, from the pen of the revered Washington, are given in confirmation of the above remarks:

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Party spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.

"The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and, sooner or later, the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation on the ruins of public liberty.

"Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind, (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight,) the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party, are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discour age and restrain it."

Let it not be supposed that there exists no cause for present apprehensions of danger to our free institutions. A spirit of insubordination to the constituted authorities and laws of the land, already prevails to no inconsiderable extent. Of the effects of this spirit, our country has witnessed some deplorable exhibitions. The right of trial by jury has been infringed. Punishment for alleged crimes has been inflicted, without having been preceded by even the forms of a legal trial. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, has been violated. The right of persons freely to speak, write and publish their sentiments on all subjects, has been assailed; not, as yet, by the enactment of any law to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech and of the press; but under such an implied sanction of public sentiment, as to authorize the presumption, that such a law would meet the hearty approval of a large portion of community.

The indifference with which these infractions of the laws of the land are regarded, evinces a disordered state of the public mind, which is ominous to the liberties of this country. When outrage and crime are permitted to go unpunished, there can be no security to life or property. And whenever there shall cease to be virtue in the people sufficient to vindicate the laws, and maintain their supremacy, liberty will not long survive.

The most effectual security against these and other dangers to which the government is liable, is an enlightened and virtuous public sentiment. This is, perhaps, the only enduring support to a free government. To enlighten the public mind has ever been considered the surest means of perpetuating the blessings of civil and religious freedom. Ignorance and liberty cannot long subsist together; for when men do not understand the rights which the government confers, they are incapable of maintaining these rights, or of detecting the artifices of crafty and designing demagogues, who seek to attain their sinister objects by misleading and deceiving the ignorant.

EDUCATION is the hope of this republic--the grand means by which the people of these United States are to transmit the blessings of liberty to their descendants. It gives strength and stability to the government, by increasing the moral and intellectual power of the nation; and as it forms the basis of national as well as social happiness, the general diffusion of its benefits is an object that demands the regard of every citizen.

It should be one of the first objects in the education of our youth, to cause them to fix a proper estimate upon the value of free institutions. They must be early made to know that their individmal happiness, no less than the happiness and prosperity of the

nation, depends upon the preservation of these institutions. Unless this be done, it is not to be expected that the welfare of their country will be to them an object of deep solicitude. Those who have never learned to appreciate the privileges enjoyed under a free government, cannot be presumed to feel it their duty to submit to any great sacrifices to preserve them.

It is highly important that this principle be inculcated in early ly life. The great mass of our young men have grown up and come to years of maturity, without having had their attention called to this subject. They commence their political existence without a proper sense of the value of the government in which they are to take a part, and without a sufficient knowledge of its principles, to enable them to discharge intelligently the duties of freemen. They exercise their political privileges, merely because they are privileges--often without any definite object in view, unless it be to promote the schemes of a certain party or individual to whose fortunes they may have become attached.

Patriotism, too, is a principle that should be seduously inculcated, and universally cherished. Genuine patriotism is that ardent love of country which will induce the citizen to make all needful sacrifices to promote its welfare. And what is better calculated to inspire this sentiment, than a frequent recurrence to the vicissitudes that mark the history of our country? The hardships and dangers that attended its settlement; the political character of the colonies; the oppressions of a tyrannical government; the spirit and firmness with which these oppressions were resisted, and which characterized those who achieved our independence; and the wisdom which planned that system of government under which it is our peculiar privilege to live; are subjects, the contemplation of which will inspire the youthful breast with a disinterested zeal for his country, that will govern his conduct in after life. Acting under its sacred impulse, the welfare of his country, and the perpetuity of its institutions, will be the objects of his highest ambition. And if the gift of office should, perchance, be bestowed according to merit, and he should be promoted to a seat in the public councils, he would legislate, not for the benefit of any individual or party, but for the benefit of the community.

Education must be united with religious principle. It is not enough that the citizen understands his duties. Knowledge, unless it be properly applied, answers no valuable purpose; if improperly used, it may be productive of great evil. Where the love of virtue does not govern the conduct of men, violations of the laws will be frequent, and the rights of individuals are unsafet In a corrupted state of the public morals, bad men are mos

likely to obtain the public offices; unjust laws will be enacted; and civil and religious liberty endangered, if not totally destroyed.

On this subject, also, we may profit by the admonitions of the patriot whose name we have before mentioned:

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connexions with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion.-Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

"It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it, can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?

"Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened."

Let every citizen be governed by these sentiments. Let education be properly encouraged, and its benefits be extended to all. Let our youth be instructed in their duties as members of society, and as citizens of a free government; and let them be taught to appreciate the blessings enjoyed under our invaluable constitution. Let every citizen feel himself individually responsible for his moral and political influence, and act with reference to the general good; and our republican institutions are safe. "Let America be good, and America will be happy;” and, whatever has been the fate of former republics, she will stand an enduring witness to the truth, that MAN CAN BE GOVERNED AND

YET BE FREE.