The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1857-03-12

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adornmcnts of a rich and copious eru,lition
are not at all necessary to the successful
prosecution Of the inquiry which urge you
to pursue. When you have bid a,licu to
your beloved masters, who while they en-
lightenc1 your minds, have also won your
affections, YOU will have acquired sufi-
clent degree of polite learning for every
purpose Of mere ornament or establishment,
and may at once throw your intellectual
powers into great useful and practical
studies and pursuits with conqucrng truth
fulness and activity. Some of the men
themselves who framed the Constitution
were destitute of the rrfnemcnts Of educa-
tion and unadorned with the Gr,ces Of elc.
giant learning. They were all, however,
solid misses of SCUM, sense, wisdom and
patrotism-coiiossai men of the noiicst
mould. capable Of performing the great
work Of their political redemption, and of
providing metIinl for securing the liber-
ties of their descendants; and it is not Ia
bc supposed that such men would devise
plan sor such a purpose too aLstruse or pro-
found in its principles for the comrrehcu-
sion of any honest mind. Men Of plain
truth themselves, they wrought out sys-
TEN in the simplicity of truth, unencum-
bcrcd with the distractions of metaphysical
politics, or the ponlerous nonsense Of Wis
ionary theorists. They were cminently
practical men, and had NIL of us before them
in the minis eye, in the midst Of their
gigantic Ial'ors. The cxigcncics Of future
generations were in their vivid contcmpla-
| tl"n, and the hight of their wisdom struck
far down into the time to come Tie
! Whole vast scope of political science WAS
comprrhcn'lcd l'y them. onl they fully re-
aIizc'! ,''c i'n'n"nsi!y "f .!..;r great mission
And wf'M d. they leave u'nlomc necessary
! to It's full cons,Imma;ion Wat mistakes
did they commit in their immortal agency:
" hat powers did the Constitution they
adopted. confer upon tire government it Gre
, ;ueI which sh"ull l.a-c lcrn withheld -
What restraints dill it impose upon that
government Which were not wise and salu-
tnry? What voice i'll all their posteritv
has been heard in accusation? What ,n-
litical philosopher has suggested improve.
ments i'll their schcmcs2 None. 1t stands
as it stood wien first r5cctc'l, uninreach-
ell by their postcrity, noble monument of
the political wisdom, sagacIty and patriot.
ism of lis authors, and thus it wiil stand
forever. unless the sclti>I,ness Of passion the
violence OF E.ct.on and the mistakes of ir-
n"rance disIonor and overthrow it. can.
not define II !"!lcr vocation for your pursuit
:lan the study ID the Federal Constitution.
Within itself it is glorious to contemplate
1t. 1t rises to the fullest expectation of the
| mind lis Il finished system Of government
III lis. practical results, and, if unubstructcd
on It's gIorious mission Of u,livers:I, civil,
political "n,t religious emancipation, it will.
fulfill the hopes of the heart of the patriot
and p!ilanthrorist Of every cline. DI;,-
z'nS forth light for the lulilical guidance
of men that shall slime with tlc calm and
ceascless lustrc of the sun, if not shaken
from It's orbit by the earthquake storms of
I'n'n'Sn passion, ambition ana f:.na,irism, it
will pour its rpcncd splendors upon world
i'll political darkness, and crown it finally
with the richest political blessings. Tile
extravagance OF fancy cannot more than
portray its excellence, or the soberness of
reason scarcely defend its Completeness
but to fnlfill1hat vocation patrotically and
with success, tho Constitution should not
only be stu !ie'l abstractedly rs torpid
mass of political power, imposing in Theory
and grand in Imagination. It,Nust also be
contemplated ia the practical light of the
government wlrirh it has projected and Or
ganizcd, in its-reations to fle different de-
partmcn'al branches Of that government
Executive, Legislative AND Judicia.,sin the
control Of the +nntnal relations of cacl, one
Of these to the other, and in its relations to
the separate state sovercignties from wllief
it RECEIVES all its vitality. That degree of
attainment IN the knowIedge.of tue consti
tutio9 which would enabIesau ingenious
mind to ge,sralize on the subject with a
pleasing: grace, wiH confer upon you the
4 mastery OF tliesublime practical political les
sons which itSsjntera'ed to teach. You must
come down from the. stills. Of pompous gen.
eraliies to,le solid co&moa sense. of par.
ticdlafs. 10 ..o4aes' iledo Of prosecuting
tthe inquiry ea": be satisfactory or successful
4 Tho skin the asfatomist 4ht,st be- ooxsrted.
;. and Che PRECISION and patient tempe, Of the
fden,enstrator invoked Tie general gov
y eminent and, the sovereign States, under
the. cons.ik.,ion, present. the agur. Of a
giant 1 s9ast eropotsigfs whose: peculiar