Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1843-06-23

large city what would lie the scene pte.
sentedl Yonder is a volcano, flaming and
smoking, but shedding no light, moral or in.
tellectual. At IFS foot is the mine, yielding.
perhaps, sometimes, large gains TO capital
but in which labor is destined TO eternal and
unrequited toll, and rewarded only by penn.
ry aud beggary. The city is filed with arm
ed men; not free people, armed and COM
ing forth voluntarily 10 rejoice in a public
festivity but hireling troops, supported BY
forced loans, excessive inpositons on COM
merce, or taxes wrung from halffed and q
half clothed population. For the great there
are palaces covered with gold for the poor
there are novels of the meanest sort. There
is an ecclesiastical hierarchy enjoying The
wealth of princes but there are no means
Of education TO the people. Do public i'm
provements favor intercourse between place
and place So far from this, that the trav.
eller cannot pass from town to town, without
danger, every mile, Of robbery and assassi.
nation. | would not overcharge, or exagge-
rate this picture; but IFS principal sketches
are all too true.
And how does il contrast with the scene
now actually before usl Look round upon
these fields; they are verdant and beautiful.
well cultivated, and at this moment loaded
with the riches Of the early harvest The
hands which till them are free owners ofthe
soil, enjoying equal rights, and protected by
law from oppression and tyranny. Look 10
the thousand vessels in our sight filling the
harbors, or covering the neghborng sea-
They are the instruments Of profitable
commerce, carried on by men who know
that the profits of their hardy enterprise.
when they make them, are their own; and
this commerce is encouraged and regulated
by wise laws, and defended, when need be.
by the valnr and patriotism of the country.
Look 10 that fair city, the abode Of so muck
diiinsed wealth, so much general happiness
and comfort; so much personal indepen-
dence, and so much general knowledge
She fears 10 forced contributions, no siege
or sacking from military leaders or rival
factions. The hundred temples, in which
her citizens worship God, and in no danger
of sacriege. The regular administration of
The laws encounters no obstacle. The long
professions of children aud youth, which
you see this day issuing by thousands from
the free schools, prove the care and anxiety,
with which a popular government provides
Every where there is order; every where
there is security. Every where the law
reaches to the highest, and reaches TO the
lowest, TO protect him in his rights, and to-
restrain him from wrong; and over all how
ers liberty, that liberty which our fathers
fought, and fell for, on this very spot, with
her eye ever watchful, and her eagle wing
ever wide out spread.
| The colonies of Spain, from their origin
to the end were subject to the sovereign au-
thoriiy Of the kingdom. Their government,
as well as their commerce, was strict home
monopoly. IL we add TO this, the establish
ed usage Of filling important posts in the adj
minlstra:ion of the colonies, exclusively by
natives Of Old Spain, thus cutting off forev-
er, all hopes of honorable preierment from
every man born in the Western hemisphere,
causes enough rise up before MS at once, TO
account fully for the subsequent history and
character of these provinces. The Viceroys
and Provincial Governors of Spain were new
er at home, in their governments in Ameri-
ca. They did not feel that they were of the
people, whom they governed. Their official
character and employment have good deal
of resemblance to those of the Pro-consus
of Rome, in Asia, Sicily and Gaul; but OBJ
viously no resemblance to those of Carver
and Winthrop, and very little to those of the
Governors of Virginia after that Colony had
established a popular house of Burgesses
The English Colonsts of America, gene
rally speaking, were men, who we're seeking
new homes in a new world They brought
with them their families and all that was
most dear TO them. This was especially the
case with the colonisis of Plymouth and
Massachusetts. Many of them were educa-
ted men and all possessed their full share,
according TO their social condition, of the
knowledge and attainments of thai age
The distinctive characteristic of their SET
Element, is the introduction of the civilian
ton of Europe into wilderness, without
bringing with it the political institutions of
Europe. The arts, sciences, and literature
OF England came over with the settlers
That great portion of the common law,
which regulates the social and personal rela-
: tons and conduct ofmen came also. The Jury
came the habeas corpus came the testa-
meniory power came, and the law of inner
itance and descent came also, and except
that part oft which recognizes the rights
ofprlmogeniture, which either did not come
at all, or soon gave way to the rule of equal
partition of estates among children. But
the Monarchy did not come, nor the arts
tocracy, nor the church as an estate of the
realm. Political institutions were TO be
framed anew, such ms should be adapted to
the state ofihings. But it could not be doubt
full, what should be the nature and charac-
ter of these institutions. A general social
=, equality prevailed among the settlers, and
II ~ H.