The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-10-13
An ADDRESS
Delivered before the Society Of Alumni Of The
University Of Virginia, al rs Annual Meeting,
held in The Rotunda, on The 2Sh June, 1851,

Delivered before The Society OF Alumni ~ IN
University of Virginia, al IFS Annual Meeting
held in The Rotunda, on The 2Sh June, 1851,
BY JOHN RANDOLPH TUCKER.
I Mr. President AND GENTLEMEN OF THE SoCE
ETY. OF ALUMNI
Since last we met, another year has added it,
irrevocable record to the volume of the past
and our returning anniversary summons us to a
retrospect Ii assemblies us to renew in the
shades Of this great University, associations cher
ished in ur hearts and ever to be remembered
1t calls US from the busy avocations of life to
mingle in noble communion within these hon
ored walls, and to lay at the feet of our Alma
Mater, the thoughts, the prizes and the honors
of our ripper age. 1t is thus that external nature
acts upon the internal man. The constantly re
curing periods of its grand revolutions, stops
in the march of time, demand Of him, that amid
the active struggles Of his existence, he, too
should pause, ponder and reflect. The scene
before me, and the associations Of our anniver-
sary, present theme for this occasion.
| speak to young men of the South, to whom
in the future, her rights, her honor and her lib
critics, must be committed.
speak to the sons of Virginia upon the an
niversary of her nativity. Three quarters of a
century have passed, since first, upon the West
ern continent, went forth declaration of the
| lIeeuom VI people, TIE sovereignty ana lnue-
pendence of State Upon the Goth day of
june l776, Virginia, shaking from her the power
of the British crown, assumed her separate con-
dition Of sovereignty and independence, by the
establishment of a constitutional organism; a
step novel in the history Of the continent; full
Of momentous consequences to her own people
grand in its moral relations to that era and high
ly important in its political bearings upon the
present condition of our Unicn.
Can it, then, be deemed inappropriate TO SO
lect the subject for this occasion, before such
an audience, and within the halls of Virginia's
University, the relations of this great historical
event to the past and to the present? to consid
er its moral power and meaning then-its use
and politicel efficiency noU'
crave your attention to this important era il
the history of Virginia. speak for her gor,
4 and for her honor, to those who cannot refus,
to hear me- speak to young Virginians TO
! old Virginia.
i To ascertain what position the action of Vir
e gna occupies in the history of the progress o
free institutions it is necessary to answer thi
preliminary question, Wherein consists this pro
gross?
= think it will be found that there lie buried
in the heart of man, the elements of politica
history. He is made up of opposing principles
There sS duality and polarity in the consti
tuition of his moral being numerous instance.
of which might be mentioned, and will occur tC
every one.
But in no respect is this opposition NOR,
striking, than in his social and anti-social dispo
sitions His desires are gregarious. Isolation
+, is foreign TO his heart, and alien to his feelings
lie seeks association with his fellows, and find
in that alone the realization of his highest hopes
and the qualification of his most intense aflec
. tons.
But he is created with will: his o,on, an,
! not another's-a will which opposes restrain,
g and restively shrinks from control external t.
+ itself
y Now this desire for society, which can onl
be satisfied by subsection to its necessary re
" strants, and this impotence of all authority, bu
: his own free will, bring into play the social ant
{ anti-socia principles of mans nature principles
the opposition of which, time and custom ma,
impair, but can never entirely destroy Here
then, are two forces in opposition; two current,
of feeling flowing from the heart of man anC
meeting in convulsion in the stream of civiliza
ton; the secret springs of its every movement
its every revolution; and of the advancement OF
retrogradation of free institutions
The relations of these in society; their man
ifestations and its modes, and their respective
tendencies, can be easily indicated
No truth is clearer, than that ideas and feelings
seek outward manifestations in action Thus
after the formation Of society," these same pre-
| existent principles would necessarily be deve
oped The same desires which urged man into
society, would afterwards demand that its bonds
should be strengthened, and its powers be in.
creased; and the same jealousy which opposed
his entrance, would make him FESTIVE under the
imposito on of every new retrant upon his per.
feet freedom. The one principle manifests itself
in the increase Of social control: the other, in
the security of personal independence. The
one finds its best development in potoer the
other, in liberty. The one seeks to centralize
and consolidate the other, TO individualze and
to separate. The one looks to the action of the
mass the other, to the rights of the man.
The one, if left alone and without the counter
acting influence Of the other, would find it's nat.
ural consummation in deSpotiSn the other. I'M.
der like circumstances, in anarchy
Here, then, are the elements of that propress
for which seek; and here, the extreme tenden.
cies OF each centralsm or despotism: indiyi.
dualism TO anarchy. By the united action nj
these two extreme forces, we may find mem
resultant, the contamination of neither alone bu,
of both conjoined and it is only where each j.
80 distinctly and strongly manifested, as that
the struggle will be between well-matched and
Z equal opponents, that society is compatible with
the hoerty OF the individual, or confeder itior
consistent with the happiness and rghts of tn,
States composing it,
The most difficult problem in the science
government, is the proper arrangement to thes,
two forces. How is it to be accomplished
e How can the mass possess its power, withou
danger to the liberty Of the individual?
e have already in some degree indicated tn,
; answer to these questions. The two force,
= must each have distinct and papable nantes
) tation in the social organism. Society is tn,
7 multiple Of its separate interests. To speak the
: true voice Of the whole il must sound the ton,
Of each. It's strength must be the resultant Of
} Of the cordial co-wofking Of the various inter
ests Of which il is made up. II is only when lis
elements, so decomposed, are federated in the
! government; when eacb speaks its unit voice
and exercises its self-sustaining and inherent
will, ss essential to the action of the whole
that society can utter the foil toned power OF
it's moral energy to the world, and liberty co.
exist and be perpetuated.