The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1836-1851, 1850-05-21
THE CONSPIRACY OF FANATICIsM


secret enemies. She is compelled to be forever
ON the watch, and the condition Of her exist
ence is eternal vigilance If she falls asleep but
for brief period, she will awake like Gulliver,
bound to the earth BY invisible ligaments. Am.
bition and avarice, the love of power, and the
love of gold, are perpetually prepared to assail
her slunlbers; hypocrisy and pretence lying in
wait to practice their deceptions; and the sell
fish is always warning against the social prin.
ciple. Those who Aatter themselves that by
establishing free Institutions they have perpetual
ted the blessings of freedom, and that the first
struggle once over. there is no longer any
necessity for exertion to preserve what they
have acquired, will find at last, that though the
outward forms liberty may remain, the sub
stance has gradually been frittered away, eav-
ing nothing but the shadow behind. The
Temple of Freedom is, in this respect, like all
material fabrics-subjeeted to the dilapidations
OF time; and if the occupants are not careful to
watch its decay, and repair its damages, it will
become at length a,weatherbeaten, rick kety ruin,
incapable of afFording shelter or protection from
the inroads Of man, or the elemeuts of nature
The people Of United States having-at the
cost Of long suffering and many sacrifices
won for themselves the inestinable privilege Of
.seH-govenment, promptly set about avai!ing
themselves of their newly-acquited freedom,
and sought to perpetuate it by the adoption of
a Constitution securing to all citizens the bless.
-ings of liberty aud equality. For this purpose
they deputed their wisest and most virtuous
citizens s-men who had been the most efficient
instruments inthe attainment of independence
to form written bond Of union, specific in
its principles, plain in its provisions, simple in
its words, and level with the comprehension of
every man Of ordinary intellect, that all might
distinctly know their rights and their duties, as
at one and the same time, sovercigns and citi-
.zers. This being done, they adopted it MS their
guardian and guaranty, Of their own free will,
and set themselves down under their own vine
and fg-tree, to enjoy in peace what they had
won by war and secured by wisdom, They
believe they had done all that was necessary,
and that their word would last for ages.
This Constitution went quietly into opera.
tion, and under its fostering influence, the pco-
pie Of the United States have distanced all their
contemporaries, and enjoyed degree of happi.
ness and prosperity without parallel in the
history ofmankind They have increased and
multiplied seven-fold; they have expanded over
a territory twice greater than that of Rome,
when called the mistress of the worldand where
ever they have gone, they carried with them the
blessings of Christianity, civilization and liberty.
One might suppose bond ofnnion, which had
led to such glorious aud beneieent results,
would, ere this, have been coasecrated by time
to eternity; that it would have become so So.
cred and venerable in the eyes of all who shared
in this unparalleled prosperity, that no citizen
of the United States would dare to Lift his hand
or his voice against it, or bear even to listen to
amy blasphemops demonstrations upon that
which has showered down so many blessings
on their heads; One might hope, at least, that
.4he names appended to that instrument would
have saved it from being denounced, as it has
teen, repeatedly and openly, of late years, by
}anaticism, as "a gross violation of the law of
liod and the rights Of nature"
At their head stands the name of Washing.
ion "a man now universally recognized by eve-
~ Christian people and every sect, rs the purest
most perfect example of public and private vir-
tue presented by any age or nation--a man
hailed with one voice and one heart by twenty
miiiio,,s of freemen, by the highest and noblest
nf all tiles that of Father of his Country
Among them IS Franklin, WHOSE wisdom and
philanthropy appear IN every page of his wri-
tings, and every action of his life. There, too,
we find Madison The Sage. and Hamilton the
Cicero, Of his countsys Rutledge and Pinckney
Of the e9ssh;; and Dayton, Livingston, Sherman,