The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1809-07-14

of his country. is q distressing state indeed.
o despair os preserving the federal union
of these republics. for AN indefinite length
of true without acknowledgements, is 70 lose
the highest hopes OF human society, the
greatest promise OF bettering It's condition
that the Efforts o. all generations have pro-
duced: The nlan OF sensibility who can con-
template without horror the dismemberment
Of tins empire, has not wel considered it's
effects. And yet / scarcely mirgle in soci-
ETY. for day without hearing it predicted,
md the prediction uttered with a levity bor-
dering OH indifference; and thas too by well
disposed men OF every political party. Hence
conclude that the subject has not been
examined with the attention it deserves
am uDt yet SO unhappy as to believe in
this prediction. But should be forced to
believe in If did not anticipate the use of
ot6er means than those We have yet en-
pioyed to perpetuate the union of the states.
~ hey must not he coercive means. Such
cnes in most cases would produce effects di
reetiy the reverse Of what would be Intended.
Our policy does not admit of standing armies !;
and vt it did, we could not maintain them
sufficiently numerous to restrain great bodies
OF freemen with arms in their hands. bin
ded by ignorance, heated by zeal and led by
facti"uS chiefs and if we could maintain
them strong eno6gh for that purpose, we all
know they would very soon overturn the go
vernnent they were intended to support.
With as Little prospect of success could we
rely upon Legislative means-that is, upon
laws against treason and misdemeanor, or
any othcrchapter of the criminal cude.-
oucr laws may sometimes intiMidate a chief
OF rebels. or a few unsupported traitors.
But whole geographical district of rebels,
a half nation of traitors would legislate a
ganst you. They would throw your laws
into one scale and their own into the other,
and toss in their bayonets to turn the scale.
No, the means to- be relied upon to hcfd
TINS benifcent union together, must apply d.
rectiy to- tho interest and convenience Of the
people; they must, at the same time, ena-
Die them to discern that interest, and he SEN
sib!e OF Ihat convenience. Ihe people must
become habituated to enjoy visible, paipsi,
bic, lncontestible good "a greater good than
they could promise themselves from any
Change. They must have information e.
nongh toperceive it, to reason upon it, to
Know why they enjoy it, whence it flows,
Now IT was attained. how it is to be preserv-
ed and how it may be lost. The people of
these states must be educated for their sta
ton, as members of the great community
lhey must receive republican education !;
De taught the duties and the rights of free
men that is, of American freemen; not the
tHdl are SO ny STARTS, Dy frenzy ana
In mobs; who would fill the forum at the
nod of Clodius, or the prytanehm at that of
Cleon; nor the freemen of one day in seven
years. who would rush together for sale at
the Hastings of Brentfnrd, and clamor and
bludgeon for a man whose principles and
person were to them alike unknown and i'm
regarded.
Each American freeman is an integral
member of the sovereignty he is Goes
tate OF the empire. carrying on its govern
ment by his delegates. The first right he
possesses, after that of breathing the vital
air, is the right ofbeing taught the manage
ment of the power to which he is born. 1t
is a serious duty of the society towards him,
an unquestionable right of the Individual
from the society.
In a monarchy, the education ofthe Prince
is justly deemed a concern OF the nation. 1t
is dore at their eXpence and why is it SOP
1t is because they are deeply interested in
his being well educated. that he may be u .
bic to administer the government well, to
conduct the concerns Of the nation wisely on
their own constitutional principles. My
! friends, is it not even more important that
our princes, Our millions Of princes, should
be educated for their station, than the single
prince of a monarchy? fla single prince
goes wrong. obstinately and incurably wrong,
he may be set aside for another, without o.
verturning the state. But if our sovereigns,
in their multitudinous exercise of power,
should become obstinate and incurable in
wrong, you cannot set them aside. But they
will set you aside; they will set themselves
aside; they will crush the stare and con-
vulse the nation. The result is, military des-
potism, disme UNDERWENT OF the great Repub-
lie, and, after Il sufficient course of deyassa-
ton by civil wars, the settlement Of few
ferocious monarchies, prepared to act over
again the same degrading scenes of mutual
encroachment and vindctive war, which
disgrace modern Europe aud from which
many writer's have told us, that mankind are
never to be free.
Our habits of thinking and even of rea-
soninS it must be confessed, are still borrow
ed from feudal principles and monarchical
establishments. AS nation, we are not mp
to our circumstances. Our principles in the
abstract, as wrought into our state and fe-
deral constitutions, are in general worthy of
the highest praise they do honor to the hu-
man intellect. But the practical tone and
tension of our minds do not we'll correspond
with those principles, We are like person
conversing in foreign language, whose idi-
ON is not yet familiar TO him. He thinks
in his own native language, and is obliged to
translate as he talks; which gives stiff
ness to his discourse and betrays certain
embarrassment which nothing can remove
bnt frequent exercise and long practice
We are accustomed to speak and reason, re-
lative to the peoples education, precisely
like the aristocyatlcal subjects of an Europe
an monarchy. kSome say, the people have