Litchfield enquirer., 1842-11-03

them the laws the institutions, the usages.
 and the religion as well us the language of ttlc parent state; mt our ances ors appear
 to have acIed ftoln first to last by the rule of
 contraries. It IS scarcely possible to con-
 ctive stronger contrast than we present in
 our form of government, and in all our laws ard feelings, in regard 10 wealth, to our fa- ther land. It is a counterfeit presentment of two brohers." Tine earliest efforts of
 Mr. Jefferson in Virginia, were directed to the abolition of entaiS ard the law of primo geniture, aud there is not now, believe, a solitary state in the Union, in which they are permitted to exist. A writer on real pro- perty, who has collated the luws of all the states, remarks, "tbat it is the general, if not the universal policy of the law, to make the whole of il mans property liable for the pay- ment of all his debts, both during his life and after his death" They are as uniform. too, in prohibiting the perpetuation of pro-, perty in families by any other form or in- strunent. The general rule is that all re- straints upon the alienation of property. that exceed the life of person living and twenty one years after, are utterly void. After death the propetiy which a men leaves is first appropriated to the payment of his debts, and then distributed equally among his heirs. The unrighteous preference of males over females, in the distribution of our estate, which prevails elsewhere, has shared with us the fate of other relics of barbarism, The privilege of making wills and disposing Ot ones estate as he p!easeS, with some re- strlctions, still remains, and may it ever re- main; but such is the inf1u-nce of public opinion, and so universal the diffusion of cor rect principles aud feelings on this subject, that the instances are rare in which it has been attempted to make grossly unequal distribution. Here there is no hereditary nobility-no transmission of titles-no ack- nowledged distinction of cFisses
 These laws and customs have been in cx. is'ence among us for more than hundred years, and have exerted their Legitimate in-
 luence upon the people. And what have been their effects? The result is, that though there have been estates in the hands of a single family that would make dozen Ger man kingdoms, they have nearly all disap- peared. Under such laws as ours, it is al. most impossible that n fortune can remain in the same family for three generations: it is impossible that it shall remain of the same magnitude. So notorious is the fact, that it has passed into current proverb. So deep. pervading and certain, is the effect of this system, that the most enthusiastic champion of perfect equality has been able 10 desire nothing s"ay""d it, except the wild project ot distributing all property, on the death of the owners, among the whole community Our experience assures us however, that the most princely fortunes revert the common stock quite fast enough without any other contrivance than such laws as have stated, and that great leveler, who comes sooner or later to all men, and places all men on a perfect equality.
 There are instances, it is true, in this country, of enormous individual wealth. frequent instances Of independent individu- al fortunes. But who are they that possess them, and whence did they derive them ?- From some old ancestors, who won broad lands and proud titles Mthe field of battle- Or in the Senate-at the bar--or the count- inghouse? If you look for such inherited fortunes as these, you will discoveTthat they were long since dismembered = that with every revolution of the seasons they are di- mnishing-and in very few instances can ore of their descendants call the roof tree of his fathers house his own. No! These are the fruits of individual industry, skill or enterprise. And you can seldom trace their history farther back than to find them conr- manding trading slOop to the West Indies. purchasing fur in small quantities on the frontiers, or selling excellent groceries at a first rate stand for business. They are self- made men--the architects of their own for. tunes; and yield u thousand fold more re. spect to such us they, than can ever feel for one who owes his wealth and his standing in the world, to the mere accident of birth {: and ] feel too, when their names are uttered in the marts of commerce, and the country rings from side 10 side with the story of their success. that though we have no titles higher than that Of Captain, which is given to the PresIGent--no others except those that glitter ha folds nt nur nnfin Aar Snoe this is the country-not for the poor man not for the rich man-but for MAN.
 very important and striking fea ture in our political and social system, which is in- deed the inevitable result of our institutions and laws, is. that there is no arislocracy among us-not even an arisiOcracy of wealth. An aristocracy cannot exist without peculiar and exclusive privileges and rights, recog- nised, sanctioned and upheld by law. There cannot be, in this country. even . confedera- cy or combination among the rich men to acquire peculiar privileges. They have none to defend. There. is TO cIanship, no esprit du corps among them. They are not like inc hereditary nobles of Europe, whose names are enrolled in a heraidic college set apart from the rest of mankind, designated by titles, marked by badges of honor, bound together by intermarriages, by community of interests and of feelings, a distinct order in tho state j; nothing of all this, and they are as mutable besides as tine notes that float in the summer air. Death is ever busily at work ia Remembering all 0vergrown for- tunes. Mistortunes. too-and, alas they
 have rained thick and fast dnring the last twelve years-do their share in the cease
 less work of diffusion. The rich man of to- day is the poor man of tomorrow. And
 while from these causes, multitudes are pas- sinu out. thousands are in the iAnd nassinsr