forever closed if once he offends the only power which can open it to him. Every kind of compensation is refused him, even that of celebrity. Before he published his opinions he imagined he had partizans-but no sooner has he declared them openly than he is loudly censured by his opponents, while those who think with him, without having equal courage to give expression to their thoughts, hold their peace and abandon him. He yields at length, oppressed by the daily efforts he has been making, and subsides into silence, as if he were tormented with remorse for having spoken the truth."

5. The existence of negro slavery, and the conduct of our people in reference to it, is a sad blight on our social condition and prospects.

Slavery was first introduced into the American colonies against the will of the colonists generally, and in spite of their active resistance. When the revolution separated them from the parent country, it was universally acknowledged as an evil and a wrong, and there was a general understanding that it should be gradually extinguished. This was done in more than half the States, and was fast advancing in the rest, when a new generation inherited the possessions of their fathers. The making of money now became the ruling passion; and the gains of slavelabor were esteemed of more importance than the inalienable rights of thousands of our fellow men. Political men also were too intent on their own advancement to obstruct their progress by listening to the cry of the oppressed; and by degrees the whole nation was becoming tolerant towards slavery-and behold the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power, and they had no comforter.

At length the efforts of the Colonization Society began to awaken the sympathies of the nation in behalf of the slave; and now a man loudly proclaims himself the advocate of the oppressed and by a singular concurrence of influences, becomes very conspicuous. But what is his character, and what qualifications does he bring to the work? Smarting under injury, and swollen with a spirit of self-adulation that seems almost like insanity, and incapable of appreciating the proprieties and decencies of civil society, he exhausts the stores of the English language for a vocabulary of abuse to reform the nation with. Others who engage in the same work become infected with something of the

* Democracy in America, Vol. II. p. 160, 161.

same spirit; and one of the best of causes is rendered intolerably odious by the abusiveness, and self-complacency, and disregard of the established order of society, manifested by some of its more prominent advocates. Their abuse is returned with equal violence, (for it is always true that they who take the sword must perish by the sword;) men become enraged by false accusations and unmerited insults-moral violence gives occasion to physical and Lynch-courts and mob champions come in to defend that which is utterly indefensible.

As the result of the contest we have now the mortifying spectacle of men professing to be saints, the disciples of Jesus Christ, on the one hand excusing and palliating and even defending American slavery, and on the other attacking it with a spirit and language more appropriate to a brawler in the streets than to a defender of great moral principles and an advocate of human rights. It is all wrong, and shows a state of public conscience that must be anything but pleasing to a God of purity and love. I would not pass indiscriminate censure. Many abolitionists are men of great purity of motive, temperate in their language, calm, and disinterested as well as indefatigable in the pursuit of their object, and every way worthy the entire respect of all good men; and the same is true of many of the opponents of their measures. I only speak of the general aspect of the controversy as it has appeared to me. I am happy to believe that a better spirit on both sides is now fast gaining the preponderance; and that ere long all good men will unite to do justly and love mercy, and to walk humbly, in respect to this exciting subject.

Finally, Our government has not guarded with sufficient care the sacred honor of the nation, in the fulfilment of its treaties, particularly in respect to the aborigines of the country.

The violation of public faith is properly regarded as the last step in national degeneracy. Governments notoriously profligate in their morals generally, guard this point with peculiar care, because they know that if the honor of the nation cannot be trusted, there is an end of all confidence, and other nations can deal with them only as they deal with pirates and outlaws. But the most solemn treaties have been violated by the United States. The poor Indians have been torn from lands guarantied to them by treaty after treaty, and allured or driven to a distant wilderness, under a promise that if they would go there, they should be no more molested. But what are such promises worth? Scarcely has the Indian had time to construct his wig

wam in the desert of his exile, before the State government is clamoring for his removal, and the general government has the same right and may have the same inducement to violate the public faith for Arkansas, that it had to do so for Georgia.

I mention the evils here specified, not as universal, for happily there are numerous exceptions to all of them, and many ameliorating features of each, (and indeed except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should already have been as Sodom, we should have been like unto Gomorrah ;) but I allude to most of these evils as being very general, and to a considerable extent characteristic of our social condition. Now when we compare such a moral atmosphere as this with the opportunities which God has given us for the highest advancement in all that is good, who but must feel the applicability to us of the affecting passage in holy writ: What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? wherefore when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? And it is not the mere existence of these evils, nor even their general existence that is so alarming-but the alarming fact is the very great apathy, the want of conscience, the want of shame which the whole nation exhibit under them. III. What then must be done in the present crisis? How can our condition be bettered?

1. Men of principle and piety must interest themselves in the political affairs of the country.

If God has given to a religious man political influence, he is just as much responsible for it as he is for wealth or talent or any other gift. If he has given us the privilege of choosing our own rulers, it is our duty to see that our public offices are filled with capable and honest men. If we neglect our duty, and in consequence of our neglect bad men bear rule, we are responsible for the mischief done; and if we suffer through misgovernment, we do but suffer the natural effect of our own sins. Why has God permitted such a form of government to be established, and established too in the first instance by religious men, if not for the very purpose of giving men of principle an entire and unobstructed field for the exertion of their influence? And why should they refuse to exert an influence,-why withdraw entirely from this wide open field, as if a republican government were the devil's own legitimate possession with which no worshipper of God had any right to interfere? How seldom do we hear even a prayer for our rulers, though the Bible expressly enjoins

So.

it on ministers of the gospel always to pray for all that are in authority! (1 Tim. 2: 2). In monarchical governments it is not In England you can enter neither church nor dissenting chapel without hearing the sovereign prayed for by name, and the same is true on the continent generally; but in this country alone, in the only country where the people can exert a direct influence on their rulers-the apostolic injunction is almost totally neglected! It is a sin against God, and treason to our country, and treachery to the great interest of free institutions throughout the world, thus to disregard the rulers of our own choice, and who are directly responsible to ourselves. Already have we felt the rod of Heaven's indignation for our culpable neglect, and unless we repent we shall feel it more and more. Providence has showered down his bounties on us with an unsparing hand, but in spite of this bounty we have contrived to bring ourselves to the extremity of pecuniary distress and the very verge of universal bankruptcy. No calamities are so intolerable as those which God permits an infatuated people to inflict on themselves, as the whole Jewish history witnesses.

2. All men of influence must unite to help forward the cause of universal education.

Here is our only hope. If the Democracy is to rule, as it surely must in this country, then the democracy must be enlightened and well principled, or it will speedily run into reckless anarchy, and end in military despotism, as it did in France. To effect this purpose in such a country as ours, so extensive, so free, so rapidly filling up from its native population, swarming with emigrants from the old world, and withal so excitable, adventurous and headstrong, all men of influence must unite. Much is already done, but by how few is it done, in comparison with the whole number who ought to be at work! and how little is accomplished in comparison with the actual wants of the country! If all would work, the whole might be done; but while scarcely one in ten does anything, none are safe. Who will excuse himself from taking a part in this work? The man who does so, does it at his own peril. If such an one were on the wide ocean in a leaking ship, would he refuse to work at the pump, because he was a passenger forsooth, and not a sailor?

3. The whole nation must repent and forsake its wrong doings.

In the wrong doings of this nation, all the citizens either by actual participation or passive acquiescence, have been more or

less implicated, and every one has work for repentance. Repentance secures the favoring smile of heaven, reformation, the necessary result of true repentance, removes our evils and our dangers. If each one will reform one, the whole work will be completed; but while each waits for another, nothing is done. Every citizen is bound to feel a share of responsibility in what is done by the mass, and no man who enjoys the privileges of this country can withdraw himself from an interest in its public affairs, and be innocent or safe. In answering the question, Who must repent and forsake wrong doing? let every citizen of the United States be told, THOU ART THE MAN.

CONCLUSION.*

I have thus endeavored, honestly though feebly, to give expression to my views respecting the destinies of our country, our defects, and the duties of her citizens at the present crisis. Never have I had such glowing and burning impressions of the immense importance in the world's history of the position which we hold, of our capabilities for working out the most glorious results that human eyes have ever witnessed, such irrepressible desires to exert every power which God has given me, to help forward this great work-as while abroad examining the institutions of the old world† and comparing them with our own. Our national character is now in its forming state, and our destiny, the temporal and eternal destiny of millions yet unborn, the emancipation of a world, the decision of the great question of coercion or self-government, of physical force, or moral power, for ages yet to come, depends on its being formed aright.

And it is here at the West, especially, that this character must

The substance of this Article was originally written as an address to the students in the Colleges of Marietta and Hudson, Ohio. The concluding part, with but little alteration, is retained as an appeal to the young men of the whole country.

[Our readers are aware that Professor Stowe was commissioned by the Legislature of Ohio to examine the various systems of education adopted in Europe, and to collect such information as he might deem useful to the State in regard to this general subject. He did so, and made an able and interesting report to the Legislature in Dec. 1837, which we have noticed. See Repos. Vol. XI. p. 517. April, 1838.-ED.]