U   -U
OF
THE REPUBLICS OF SOUTH AMERICA, MEXICO,
AND OF THE OLD WORLD;
APPLIED TO
THE PRESENT CRISIS IN TIIE UNITED STATES.
11~\~~e
Shall we, upon the footing of our land,
Send fair-play orders, and make compromise,
Insinuation, parley, and base truce,
To arms invasive?"
I vas:'t2       <.t','Se                 lH 
NEW YORK:
EDWARD WALKER, 114 FULTON-STREET.
1855.
u
/y ".
i I 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855,
BY EDWARD WALKER,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern
District of New York. 
9tit~ati'lell
THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED TO
ALL
WHO  LO V E  AM E RICAN            I NS TITUTIONS,
AND DESIRE TO SEE THEM PERPETUATED
eo Liens te 3fbiblg,
AND
DESOEND IN THEIR PURITY TO FUTURE  GENERATIONS.
:I
i3
71 
"Breathes there a man with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said     This is my own, my native land?"
SCOTT.
I Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity,
religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that
man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these
great pillars of human happiness-these firmest props of the duties of
men and citizens."                                        WASHINGTON. 
PUBLISHER'S PREFACE.
FOR some time past, the publisher of this work has entertained the idea of presenting to the citizens of the Union, a
volume devoted to national interests. Mlaturing his plans,
he laid them before a number of friends-gentlemen distinguished alike for their patriotism, social standing, and
wide-spread reputation-and they were cordially endorsed
as the promise, if carried out, of supplying a, book really
needed at this present crisis.
The gentlemen selected to write the various chapters,
were chosen with reference to their ability to treat upon the
subjects committed to their especial charge; and the publisher indulges the belief that their labor, careful research
and investigation, joined with their conscientious desire to
accomplish a work of so momentous interest, will be #ppreciated by every patriotic and reflective mind.
The subjects treated of concern not only the statesman
and politician, but every American citizen, however humble or exalted-whether native or naturalized. They extend over a vast range of valuable facts and historical illus 
PUBLISHER'S PREFACE.
trations pertaining to the rights and immunities of citizens
under a republican government.  The present anomalous
state of political parties throughout the country suggests
a reason for the appearance of the work; and in the
endeavor to meet this exigency it has been carefully prepared.
As a nation, we are essentially eclectic in character,
receiving constant accession to our numbers from all parts
of the civilized globe. It is, therefore, of the first importance to the integrity and security of our free institutions,
that the balance of power in the republic should be sedulously guarded; that a spirit of nationality should rule in
the councils of our government; and that the element of
foreign political faith, as well as foreign manners and customs, be carefully precluded from vitiating our national
morals,-the proud distinction of a free people consisting
in its public virtue, which is the animating and sustaining
principle of true democracy.   It is not enough that we
glory in our boasted liberties,-we must be jealous of their
integrity-must learn wherein consists their security, their
defences, and their danger.
It was a maxim of one of the " early heroes of liberty,"
that "none could love freedom heartily but good men; the
rest love not freedom but license, which never hath more
indulgence than nnder tyrants." This fact is amply sustained by the testimony of all history. The knowledge
which we acquire at our own expense is undoubtedly the
6 
PUBLISHER'S PREFACE.
most efficacious, but that which we learn from the misfortunes of others is the safest, inasmuch as we receive instruction without pain or danger to ourselves.
The "Voice to America" is not the product of any
clique; it enforces the opinions of no one party; it has
not been prepared under the auspices, nor has it received
the sanction, of any set of men organized for political
purposes; but the publisher has been cheered on in his
purpose, in the confident assurance that, notwithstanding
sectiona Ifeeling, and the specious pretences of fanaticism
and political partisanship, there is yet a sufficient number of
true-hearted Americans, pledged for the defence and preservation of the inestimable privileges conferred upon our
common country, under the aegis of a glorious constitution.
The book, therefore, goes forth to the worlds claiming only
the deference due to honestly-expressed opinions. It relies
alone, for success, on the truth of its arguments, and the 
sacredness of its mission.
NEW YORE, August, 1855.
17 I.  
CONTENTS.
Page
5
13
27
35
53
73
83
97
133
141
149
167
179
191
201
215
229
237
245
261
273
283
291
299
PREFACE.......................................................
THE UNITED STATES-RETROSPECTIVE AND PROSPECTIVE...............
THE ANCIENT REPUBLICS-EARLY CIVILIZATION......................
SPARTA AND ATHENS............................................ THE FALL OF ROME..............................................
ITALIAN LIBERTY IN THE MIDDLE AGES............................
fTHE ANGLO-SAXON RACE AND FREEDOM............................
HEROES OF THE FOUNDERS OF LIBERTY.............................
THE BOUNDARIES OF COUNTRIES, HOW ESTABLISHED....................
ROMANISM AND FR      EEDOM.........................................
EFFECTS OF ROMANISM AND PROTESTANTISM ON CIVILIZATION..........
THE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE......................................
RELIGIOUS TOLERATION..........................................
THE BIBLE THE CHARTER OF LIBERTY.............................
PRINCIPLES AND PERILS OF OUR COMMON EDUCATION.................
THE POLITICAL POWER OF THE POPE...............................
EVILS OF MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS EXCLUSIVELY OF FOREIGNERS.......
DEMORALIZING INFLUENCE OF DEMAGOGISM..........................
-WHAT CONSTITUTES THE RIGHT TO VOTE?............................
FALLACY OF SUPPOSING AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS NEED NO SAFEGUARDS...
NATURALIZATION LAWS OF THE UJNITED STATES......................
UNITED STATES AND IMMIGRATION.................................
TE CITIZEN OF A REPUBLIC.....................................
AMERICAN NATIONALITY.......................................... 
CONTENTS.
Page.
315
323
329
337
345
355
363
373
NECESSITY OF AMERICAN HIABITS AND PRINCIPLES....................
RIGHT OF THE MAJORITY TO RULE................................(
FREEDOM FPOM FOREIGN INFLUENCE...............................
ORIGIN OF POLITICAL POWER......................................
MEXICO AND THE SOUTH AMERICAN REPUBLICS......................
AMERICA THE THEATRE OF THE GREAT DEMONSTRIATION...............
SECRET SOCIETIES, THEIR USE AND ABUSE............................
TV AMERICAN REPUBLIC, THE HOPE OF TEE WORLD................
APPENDIX.
L-Secret Societies and Oaths.............................................. 881
IL-Relations of the Pope to the Civil Power,................................ 385
IIL-Foreigners and the Elective Franchise..................................888
IY.-Religious Toleration-Heretics and Romanist Graveyards................ 391
V.-Mllitairy in the Church,....................................... 3892
VL-American Nationality,.................................................. 393
VII.-Am erican Elections.................................................... 395
VIII.-What causes Election Riots,................................... 895
IX.S-Golden Maxims of Washington,......................................... 397
X.-Maxims and Opinions of Eminent Statesmen, etc........................ 899
10 
A
-: VOICE TO AMERICA.
THE UNTED STATES-RETROSPECTIVE AND
PROSPECTIVEF
"With America, and in America, a new era commences in human affairs. This era is distinguished by free representative governments, by entire religious liberty, by improved systems of
national intercourse, by a newly-awakened and unconquerable spirit of free inquiry, and by a diffusion of knowledge through the community, before altogether unknown and unheard of."
DANIEL WEBSTER.
WHEN the inhabitants of the old Thirteen Colonies arose against
the despotic and mercenary aggression of England, they were three
millions of people, mostly scattered farmers. They inhabited a strip
of the Atlantic seashore a half-wild territory between the Alleghanies and the ocean about one thousand miles long, and a hundred
and fifty miles wide, and containing only six towns of any size, three
of which had less than ten thousand inhabitants, and none over twenty thousand. It is true that they were an enterprising, industrious,
honest, intelligent community —a happy and flourishing nation in
fact, though not in form. But whatever were the precise point of
prosperity to which they had then attained, it was in spite of the
discouragements of their supreme government that they attained it;
for the agriculture, manufactures, and commerce of the colonies were
capriciously controlled and restricted for the advantage of English
speculators; and the laws and constitutions of the little republics
were constantly attacked and insulted by the placemen of the English
administration, for the sake of enforcing arbitrary schemes of govern 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
ment, fit only for tributary slaves. Navigation acts, stamp acts, writs
of assistance, prohibitions of the manufacture of iron, the manufacture
of cloths, of hats, of every thing which Englishmen wanted to manufacture, and endless other troublesome and unrighteous enactments,
perplexed and annoyed the provinces. Yet the new nation, which,
under the name of the United States of America, spoke itself into
being by the Declaration of Independence, contained all the elements
of a healthy, powerful, and vigorous life.
With the fervent sympathy of the majority of the people, but with
lukewarm aid or timid indifference from very many; with overwhelming fears and doubts on the part of some of the wisest and best
men of the day, and even in spite of the venomous treasons and intestine wars of the Tory population, the new commonwealth agonized
through the seven years of the revolutionary struggle, fainting and
almost torn in pieces, and achieved what seemed at the moment to be
a fruitless independence.
At the end of that war it was indeed a nation in name, and one in
form; but it had little of actual national life. It was repeatedly on
the extreme verge of falling into fragments-into anarchy; of returning to a monarchical form of government. One hundred and seventy millions of dollars in money had been actually spent in the war,
and that when money was worth nearly twice as much as it is now,
and when the nation was not one-twentieth as rich as at present.  The
country had been ravaged through and through: crops had been destroyed, towns and houses burned. The inhabitants were sick, disabled, demoralized, fled; manufactures had been encouraged but little; commerce was stagnant, or even utterly dead; disbanded and immoral soldiers roamed up and down, unable to obtain work, or to get
their wages, even in the good-for-nothing continental money, which
was worth sometimes three cents on the dollar, sometimes nothing,
and of which one hundred dollars were once given for a mug of cider.
The central government was everywhere despised and abused-a beggarly, strengthless shadow.  It labored under an immense home and
foreign debt, which it could not pay; it was an importunate and un
12. 
UNITED STATES-PETROSPEC(LTIVE AND) PROSiPECTIVE.  13
welcomie beggar for home aind foreigat loans, unsuccessfully, because
it could not meet its former engagements; its requisitions upon the
States were neglected or refused; it was even bullied in its own hall
by a sergeant's squad of unpaid- mutineers dunning for their wages,
against whom the militia of Philadelphia declined to protect it, except
in case of actual assault and battery.
The States quarrelled with each other about Ilands, or insulted and
encroached on the miserable central government.  There arose in
manay of them, within a few years after the termination of the war,
lhome insurrections of their- own.  The whisky insurrection in Pennsylvania; Shays' insurrection in Massachusetts, with the risings that
preceded it; a similar mob in New Hampshire, which, for a time, besieged the legislature and courts of that State; the general disorganization of the western country, and other such tumults, showed the
unsettled and anarchic condition of men's minds, as well as their
poverty and distress.  Wise men, the revolutionary fathers of the
country, communicated to each other their apprehensions of the loss
of our nationality, almost at its birth. Despondency weighed upon
the best of the patriots of the day, and with painful forebodings they
speculated upon the probabilities of many republics-of a monarchy
-of a retreat beneath the English power,
The native sense of the country, however, was at last aroused to the
exigencies of the ease, and the people, responding to the call that
emanated from the Virginia Legislature, deputed that great and wise
assembly which created the Constitution of the United  States-a
frame of government the nearest perfection which the world has ever
seen; by the operation of which the nation was at once invigorated;
under which it forthwith sprang out into that unparalleled career of
growth, whose constantly increasing speed has already made all the
world astonished spectators, and which seems to possess an immortal
vigor equal to any emergency.
Within less than three-quarters of a century of national life under
this constitution, the United States of America have arisen to a prouder
height of physical strength and of moral power, than has ever been
2
I 
A VOICE TO AMIERICA.
occupied by any other nation in the world.  The allotted life of a inal
covers a period equal to the whole existence of our mighty empire.
Men are this day alive and well who voted for the adoption of the
Constitution, and for Washington in 178.  At the end of the IRevolutionary WAar, we numbered about three millions of people   as
many as now inhabit the single State of New York;  now we are
twenty-five millions. Then we had nine hundred thousand square
miles of territory; now we have three millions of square mileshalf of North America- three times as much as France, Great
Britain, Ireland, Austria, Prussia, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Holland, and Denlmark-a domain as large as the RPoman Empire ever
was; a territory by the side of which the possessions of the proudest European dynasties are "but a patch on the earth's surface."*
European distances are steps to ours; European rivers are brooks.
It is as far across the United States from New York to San Francisco as from London to Ispahan, in P-ersia; from New  York to
New Orleans is as far as from Paris to St. Petersburg, or from London to Constantinople.. The Mississippi is twice as long as the Danube; the Ohio is six hundred miles longer than the Rhine; the
Hudson is navigated, within the State of New York, a hundred and
twenty miles - a distance greater than the length of the Thames.
Nor is this vast expanse in danger of falling apart by its own
weight: it is knit the tighter as it expands, by the iron bands of
the railroad and the telegraph. Our country extends through every
healthy climate.   Avoiding the inhospitable wastes of the Arctic
snow, and the fever-haunted jungles of the tropic zone, it stretches
from the cold and bracing mountain air of New England and Oregon,
to the everlasting spring of the sunny South. Within our limits is
found every tree of the forest, from the towering pines of Maine, and
the more gigantic cedars of California, four hundred feet high; the
northern oak, the birch, the beech, and the other hardy woods of its
kindred forests, to the live-oak of the south, the cypress, and the magnolia, the orange, the cocoanut, the banana, and the palmu.   We
* Webster's Letter to Hulsemann.
14 
UNITED STATES-RETPOSPECTIVE AND PROSPECTIVE.  15
grow alike the corn, flax, and wheat of temperate regions, and the
sugar and cotton, the rice and indigo of the south.  From the bosom
of the earth we dig all the precious and all the usefulpminerals: gold
comes from California at the rate of seventy-five millions of dollars a
year; pure copper is blasted or chopped out from the mines at Lake
Superior by the ton together.  There is lead enough in Wisconsin to
supply the world; iron is piled into mountains in Missouri, and its
ores are found in the majority of the States; and the coal of single
States-Ohio and Pennsylvania-is sufficient to furnish all the earth
with fuel for thousands of years.
Nor are our treasures inaccessible.  There is only one of the great
divisions of the earth-Europe-which has  a greater proportion of
seacoast to the square mile than Northl America. The shore-line of
the United States, on the two great oceans and the Mexican Gulf, is
eighteen thousand miles.  The land is pierced through and through
with enormous rivers, upon which we possess forty-nine thousand
miles of steamboat navigation, together with  thirty-five hundred
miles of shore on the sides of the great northern lakes. Five thousand miles of supplementary artificial navigation by canals  completes this most enormous amount of internal water conveyance.
Within the single State of New York there are three thousand miles
of navigable inland waters. Besides the innumerable ordinary roads,
we are netted and woven together by twenty thousand miles of completed railroads, and thirteen thousand miles more, now in process of
completion. Upon these inland routes a capital of one thousand millions of dollars is invested in the gigantic transfers of our internal trade
and travel.
We have not been idle in improving the advantages of our situation.  Our wealth and industry-our credit and commerce, both at
home and abroad, have enlarged to an immeasurable extent. At
the close of the Revolution we had possibly seven hundred and fifty
millions of dollars' worth of real and personal estate; now we have
at least fifteen thousand millions of dollars' worth, besides fourteen
hundred millions of acres of public lands-enough  to give a large
r 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
farm to every man, woman', and child in the nation.  Then, our ambassadors were besieging European capitalists and governments for a
hundred thousand dollars; now, the nation distributes at once forty
millions of surplus revenue; bears four hundred millions of debt without feeling it, and sells the privilege of lending to her at six and tell
cents for every dollar that she will condescend to borrow.  Then, we
had no manufactures; now, we have more than five hundred millions
of dollars invested in manufactories, whose annual productions are
worth more than a thousand millions of dollars.  Our cotton manufactories alone, while tlhe Eng-ish millmel confess that the business in
Great Britain has reached its very utmost capacity of development,
are now employing eighty millions of capital, are using thirty-five
millions of dollars' worth a year of raw material, and turning out a
yearly product worth seventy millions of dollars, and yet are steadily increasing, while we compete with our English rivals in our own
market, and all over the world.  Then, we had neither commerce
nor shipping; now, it is not long since we dismantled a national warship to send her, laden with the superabundance of our rich fields, to
stay the faminel in Ireland.  Of the same overflowing plenty we have
imparted to the starving people of Greece, of Madeira, of tihe Azores.
Our cotton crop, besides supplying the immense home demand just
stated, is sent across the sea at the rate of eleven hundred millions of
pounds a year, and, after being manufactured, supplies the primary
human necessity of clothing to all nations, from the tropic to the pole,
from the Englishman to the Chinese.
The extent of the shore line of the United States, on the Atlantic,
Pacific, and the Mexican Gulf, is about twelve thousand miles. The
northern and southern boundaries amount to at least six thousand
more; making, in all, eiyhteen thousand miles-equal to three quar ters of the distance around the world.
Now we have the largest mercantile marine on earth.  Fourteen
hundred steamers, measuring five hundred thlousand tons, and seven teen thousand sail vessels, registering four and a half millions of
tons burden, besides carrnying a portion of our enormous mass of inter
16 
UNITED STA-TES —— tETPOS?ECTItVE AiND PROSPEC'TVE. 17
nal exchanges, ase bringing yearly from abroad three hundred millions of tons of foreign, and carrying away two hundred and eighty
millions of domestic merchandise.
These vast totals, indicating such limitless resources and such
superhuman energy, and demonstrating only the aggregate of the
resources in territory and riches wielded by our population, constituting the greatest force on earth, yet only refer to physical power,
and dlo not by any means give a comprehensive view even of that
power.*   iowever important our pecuniary wealth and material
power at this present moment may be, as securing to us a high
station and commanding influence in the great commonwealth of
nations, there are other departments in our national life, of profoundly
greater significance. The state of our intellectual, social, and moral
development, after all, is of infinitely more importance than our property per head, or our annual revenue. These mere acquisitions may
easily depreciate in value.  Our vast mass of wealth naturally tends,
of itself, to be scattered and lost. It is the mind and the soul which
inform and impel the people of our country, which constitute their
real chiaracter, which alone can determine their lasting prosperity,
even in respect to dollars and cents, and which certainly are the only
basis upon which can be raised or maintained a collective or individual character which can justify our national pride, or command the
respect of strangers.
Our condition in these respects the intelligence and morality of
our native population; the social condition of the nation-is such as
to inspire every patriotic heart with an exultation infinitely loftier and
purer than any boasts of riches or displays of strength. The right
training of our citizens for their duties to God and the State, has ever
been a principal object of our government. It is true that the main
regulation of this subject, and the direction of the chief expenditure
The statistics of the machinery employed in manufacturing-a very important and significaut item-although actually collected, are kept strangely concealed
in the Census Office; nor is there any adequate estimate, yet comp-led, of the total
machinery of all kinds owned and used in the United States. 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
for it, rests in the States individually; yet the Federal Government
alone, doing what it could constitutionally do, has given outright, for
educational purposes, fifty-three millions of acres of land, which, even
at tile minin mum Government price, are worth nearly seventy millions
of dollars. Of public funds alone, besides the much greater amount
paid by individuals, there are paid for education annually, in the
United States, at least seven and a half millions of dollars. There is
no child so poor or vile as to be excluded from a good school educa tion; and if any children miss it, the fault is that of their parents or
themselves. In our schools are taught, not only the rudiments of
literature, but pure morals, and the elements of a just and manly char acter. Entire freedom in true and right thought is encouraged;
and the result of our school systems, which are confessedly the best
extant, is such as fully to uphold their claim to superiority. In those
parts of the country where they have reached their completest devel opment, only one native in four hundred is unable to read or write.
In the far northern State of Maine, there are more children at school,
in proportion to the population, than in any other state, kingdom,
or country whatever. [In the whole United States, the proportion
of school-going youth is only exceeded by that in Deninark, where
attendance is enforced by law.)
The tone of our national life throughout is such as to maintain the
intelligent independence and self-controlling activity, which our citizens learn in their childhood.  No policeman, or spy, or uniformed
soldier prohibits our people fromn discussing the measures of government. We are not holden by force to follow the commands of hereditary despots.  We consider and inquire to our heart's content what
we would have the government do, and then vigilantly watch its execution. No such broad political freedom was ever heard of before,
either in Greece or Rome, in Switzerland or England. The diffusion
of current information, and of intercourse among our citizens, has increased to a corresponding extent. The fecundity and ability of our
newspaper press is without parallel. The best and brightest talent of
the day is increasingly employed in this business. In 1775, t!ierwere,
18 
UNITED STATES-PRETROSPECTIVE AND PIROSPECTIVE.  19
thirty-five new espape  in the whlole country.  That number is now
more th)an equalled in each of four single towns, and in two of them
it is tripled.  In the whole country there are twenty-two hundred
newnspapers, circulating a hundred and fifty millions of copies annually;
and of periodicals of all kinds, more than twenty-seven hundred, circulating nearly four hundred and thirty millions of copies a year. A
single Ameriean lmonthly circulates more copies than all the magazines
of Great Britain together. Our Post-office Department, which, upon
its re-establishment after the Revolution, enumerated about seventyfive post-offices, along a few coast-routes of some two thousand miles,
upon which it was thought remarkable that the mail came through
from New York to Philadelphia in three days, now numbers twentyfive thousand post-offices, and sends its m.aii-bags over two hundred
and twenty thousand miles of roads.  Seventy years since, steamboat
speed was impossible; and railroads were not even conceived of in
dreams.  Now our letters hurry along the water, in steamboats, at
twenty miles an hour, and fly across the land, by railroad, at fifty
miles an hour.  But that is not enough for our restless people.  It
will not do to wait for time, or to measure space.  So forty-two
thousand miles of telegraph bring Maine and Louisiana-New York
and St. Louis, within moments of each other, for the merchants who
cannot let their messages lag along on lightning trains.  Nay, the
intervening space of the Atlantic Ocean is to be annihilated.  The
wires are now being prepared for the ocean line, between Newfoundland and Ireland; and the unreasonable philosopher, Faraday. not
content that messages will be delivered in New York three hours
before they are dispatched  at Liverpool, is grumbling in England
because there is to be an actual delay of two minutes.
The same keen and disciplined, but tremendous energy which has
driven us so swiftly onward in our career of material prosperity, and
which is vet surging hither and thither across the continent in accumulating waves, has operated alike in all departments of human
action. Not only have we excelled in the mnere organization of
human industry and the gathering of riches, but Americans have 
20'
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
stood pre-eminent in ever-y domain of oriinal thought, in evelry
sphere of labor, physical or mental.  It would be too long a story
to enumerate-the hdating of our exploring seamen; the exhaustless
fertility and practical adaaptedhess of our myriads of inventors, the
triumphs of our mechanics, who have surpassed the world in makilng
whatever can be made, that r9quires beauty, strength, or skilful hand ling. Their enormous clippers dash through the billows of every
sea, and their engineers go abroad to construct monster railroads for
foreign powers.   Their brass clocks tick within the households of
every nation, from England to China; their pistols are arming the
officers and soldiers of all civilized troops.
In science and literature, even more than in such conquests over
the material world, has our career been rapid and our attainment
glorious.  In all those departments of literary labor which are related
to-the present needs and future progress of humanity-in theology,
ethics, law, politics,'political economy, education, natural sciences,
history; romance, poetry-we are at least fully abreast of the very
foremost.
Even in the fine arts, hitherto always the latest blossom of civilizations which have been refining for centuries, we have risen up suddenly to the highest position.  Our sculptors and painters are rivalling
the modern masters of artistic Italy, amidst the very shrines of the
muses, and the homes of the arts.
In all the realms of thought, both elegant and profound, we have
quietly surprised the elder nations;out of supercilious contempt and
thorough ignorance, into admirinug acknowledgment.  A quarter of a
century ago, the assumption was coolly anud currently made throughout Great Britain, that English writers were sure of the monopoly of
the American market for an indefinite period. Since English authors
were gooet enough, why should ve meddle with pen, ink, and paper, as
long as we could be busy in raising ra, material to support the man   fac ng m-onop,olies of Ma,nchlester and Leeds?  It was taken for
granted that we could not write either prose or poetry worth reading.
"We have changed all that."  the works of Story and Kent, and 
UNITED STATES-RETPROSPECTIVE AND PROSPECTIVE. 21
in general our Reports of Decisions in Law, Equity, and Admiralty,
areautL'hority in English courts.  Dwight and Edwards in Theology,
Preseott and Bancroft in History, Sparks and Irving in Biography,
are text-books on both sides the Atlantic.  Wvithin the last twenty
years, more than one thousand- editions of American bboks have been
published in Englanmd, numberi4ng at least six millions of copies, and
six-and-ahhalf millions of volumes.   Single American books have circulated Qutside of the United States, in ten and twelve languages, in
fifteen and twenty and twenty-five successive editions, to the amount
of half a million, a million, and a million and a half of copies.
" Wlo reads an American book?" jeered Sydney Smith, a quarter
of a century ago in the Edinburgh Review.   The question of the
clerical satirist must now be, to have any force -lWho does not read
American books?
Such statistics tell a proud story for our country. But it is not
merely in science, philosophy, or elegant literature, that American
thought is mioulding the opinions of the world.  Ever since the publication of the Declaration of Independence our statesmen have been
confessedly, for breadth and depth of thought, and for power of reasoning, the ablest of the age.  Were there three such men  outside of the
United States as Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun?,
Our public policy has put us at the head of the world's' progress in;
international law. We have taken the lead in asserting a righteous
equality among the great commonwealth of nations.  We compelled
England to discontinue kidnapping sailors by her piratical system of
impressment; we first stipulated by treaty not to allow of privateering
in time of war; we have successfully asserted the principle that free
ships make free goods.  Austria, at the imperative demand of our
Executives sulkily releases American citizens, irumprisoned on suspicion.
We first are moving to d',tron thestingy i'nonopo,ly, held by Denmark,
of the entrance into the BalticSea.  Is it not a conceded fact that the
European nations, at the very farthest, cannot do better thlan to take a
lesson in government fiom our Republic?  Is it not our example
which- is stinging and goading the restive democrats of Europe into
2 '-k 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
their desperate revolts and crushed, but not conquered, revolutions?
Have the despotic kings and emperors of that Continent more than
one thing to fear? is there mor,e than one ghost at their banquets?
They are haunted by American Freedom-if by naught else.
Reformers and revolutionists, tyrants and their victims, alike look
westward.  Kossuth exhausts all the miagic of his eloquence to engage
us for his dear, fallen HIungary; Russia is our very good friend-for
the time being-and would not grieve us for the world; EnDishmen
look to our administrative forms for examples to be imitated by the
imbecile red-tapists of Downing-street.  Blackwood's Magazine at last
admits that the truth of our power and progress fully equals all the
statements which have heretofore been considered "extravagant gasconade;" the Westminster Review terms our Republic "the pole-star
to which the eye of struggling nations turns," and, in a long article,
compares our effective and economical governmental methods with
the expensive follies of Victoria's administration; the Edinburgh Review, which has heretofore spoken so bitterly and scornfully, concedes
the full reality of our physical prosperity, and our present success in
literature and art, and foretells for us a splendid future in each and all.
Hitherto, the energies of our republic have been expended in
developing the immense resources of our extended territory.  We
have taken no position amongst the nations; our name, in fact, was
scarcely mentioned.  But the Russian war has summoned us to Europe; American diplomacy has made monarchs thoughtful; the
United States have come to be regarded, not merely as a great
nation, but as one to be courted and feared-a government capable of arbitrating in the affairs of the Old World, whose public
opinion is respected, and whose favorable decision is regarded as a
great moral power. Already, Europeans give us the possession of
this entire continent.  They apply the term American only to us.  A
Mexican, a Canadian even, is never, by thlem, called American; that
name they consider ours alone.  Europe, in fact, embraces the Monroe doctrine.  Every month sees our influence increasing.  Steam
communication between the two continents has reached an unparal
22 
UNITED STATES-RETROSPECTIVE AND PROSPECTIVE. 23
felled perfection, and yet is insufficient to meet the demands of our
business men.  A fortnight, a week, a day, lnay, an hour, is too long to
obtain information-ere long, the submarine telegraph will put America and Europe in momentary communication. All things tend to
give our country an immense preponderance in European affairs-a
preponderance whichl is now beginning to be felt, and is deprecated
by the despots and tyrants of the Old World.
Such have the United States been-such they are to-day. What
they will be a century from this time, is a question which it is beyond the power of human prescience to answer, except by estimate or
conjecture. Of our future, some few elements may be considered capable of reasonably reliable prophecy. That every ten years of our
future growth will surpass any preceding ten, is proved by our progress hitherto. The last decade of our physical and intellectual progress shows an advance greater than that of the preceding twenty
years, and greater than any other fifty years.  For territory, within
the coming century we m-ay have the entire continent of North America; for population, we shall have one hundred millions of people, not
of an effete and overgrown stock, like that hideous monster, thie Chinese race, but a people of vigorous youth, foremost in the blessings of
freedom, and still marching onward, in the pure light of civilization,
towards the highest human development.
The Anglo-American is the king of men. He possesses all the
powerful and commanding nature of thie Anglo-Saxon, the clear, cool
head, the sober, calculating mind, the regard for law, the obstinate adherence to justice; but fused and fired by the pure bright air of
America, and yet more by the wide freedom of American life, into the
go-ahead and tireless energy, which endures no delay and brooks no
opposition. The Anglo-American is the controlling type, the leading
element of our future population.
America in 1950 promises to be, what the folly of the misproud
Celestial so sillilv calls his stolid people-the Central Nation. Already we stretch forth our hands to Europe and to Asia, and control the commerce of two oceans, and modify tihe politics of two 
A VOICE TO AIMIERICA
continents.  Europe, inspired by our examiple, already smokes and
groans in the rising fermnent of revolutions.   We have opened  the
heretofore closed doors of distant Japan.  American conmmerce and
American civilization are striding inland, up the vast streams of the
great Asiatic rivers and across her tremendous steppes.  Even our
missionaries among the heathen are driven by the logical results
of Protestant Christianity to become founders of States and the
promoters of independent political action. The Christianized kingdom of the Sandwich Islands, was converted and liberalized bv Protestant missionaries.  A Christian civilization has gone fromi us to
commence the work of enlightening Africa, and has made a firm
lodgment within the small but vigorous Republic of Liberia. Our
missionary stations among the North American Indians, in'Turkey
and Armenia, in Clhina, have been the centres of a light which has
illuminated first the souls and then the minds of the barbarians, and
which is gradually transforming them into self-governing and dignified
communities.   We have joined the Atlantic and the Pacific by railroad; we shall repeat the junction by telegraph and by canal. Throned
between two oceans, we shall control the mercantile exchanges of the
world, and with them the civilization and the welfare of mankind.
It is not for us to rule with the barbarous violence of conquest.   It is
not for us to force a prostrating commercial system upon tributary
millions by war, to steal colonies everywhere, to speckle the world
with our garrisons, and then to boast that the drum-beat of our army
ever greets the rising sun.
For us there is a safer, a surer, a nobler road, to a more desirable
and enduring empire. Our destiny is to show the nations what is the
greatest amount of national and individual happiness and prosperitywhich is possible under laws free and enlightened, and with a people
self-governed and self-controlling.  In the quiet amd unaggressive fulfilment of that clestiny we wield the lever which shall move the
world.
A free and lofty humanity, seeling all that is good by every means
that is right-such is the ideal of man  and his life, which became
24 
UNITED STATES-RETROSPECTIVE AND PROSPECTIVE. 25
practicable in our empire for the first time.  That ideal life satisfies
all aspirations.  Men will come to us to enjoy those privileges under our broad banner for a time, but, ere long, they will assert their
right to enjoy them at home.  Before a century has passed, the United
States of America will stand peerless in strength and beauty, the pride
and excellence of the whole earth; the refuge of the oppressed; the
apostle of all truth; the freest, noblest, happiest, purest among the
nations; the crown and culmination of lhuman progress; the full
expression of human development, under the conditions of a national
existence based upon the eternal truths of Christianity,-maintained
by laws enacted by the wide consect. of0 all, restricting not one hair's
breadth th.ri ightful activity or happiness of any-invigorated and
intensified, by the untrammelled play of those infinite powers which
God has given to man, and whbich are as comprehensive as the universe of matter and of thought in which hlie exists.
0 
I*
-lp 
THE ANCIENT REPUBLICS:
A GLANCE AT EARLY CIVILIZATION.
"Out of history we may gather a policy no less wise than eternal, by the comparison and applica.
tion of other men's forepast miseries with our own like errors and ill-deservings."
SIR WALTER RALEIGII.
THE records of past ages are the inheritance of the present.  They
are a study fertile in interest and value. They form the great textbook, to which all make their appeal. It is in the classic ages we
seek for the most splendid triumphs of art-the purest modelswhether in sculpture or poetry, in philosophy, science, ethics, or law.
NVe gaze, through the dim vista of centuries, with deep and solemn
interest upon the ruins of those grand and colossal states and empires
which successively swayed the destinies of the world-the Assyrian,
the Egyptian, the Grecian, and Roman.  We are not only amazed at
their magnificence and splendor, but we are curious to know the
secret sources of their rise, progress, and decay. It is thus that
"history is philosophy teaching by example."
The Germans, who  are distinguished for their love of antiquarian
research, yet fail, with all their zeal and perseverance, to derive all
the advantages of which the study is susceptible. Their deductions,
Coleridge compares to the stern-lights of a ship, illuminating merely
the past; the true uses of history-its WNvarnings and teachings-are
comparatively forgotten. May not every government read, in the
experience of the ancients, its dangers, its destiny, and its duties?
And especially to every republican government, are not the fall of
the classic republics, and the sanguinary revolutions of France, full
of admonitory interest?  Let us extract the moral which the eventful
storly of the free States of antiquity suggests. A vast amount of labor 
A VOICE TO AMIERICA.
and learned research has been expended upon the history of the
ancient republics, but comparatively little is written or known concerning their social economy, which formed the great moral lever of
society. AVe propose to take a brief survey of the causes which
superinduced the overthrow of these renowned States. We shall
avail ourselves of the best recorded testimony, and the best judgments of historians and political economists. If it be an admitted
maxim of liberal government, that the safety and happiness of the
whole community is the true and only end of all government; and if
this is the basis of the republican form, and the converse of it, the
despotic-who among us is not fired with a generous enthusiasm as
he pores over the details of the heroic virtues, and lingers over the
philosophic maxims of the sages of antiquity? Who does not glory
in their brilliant though brief successes, or watch, with the sympathy
of suffering friends, their decline and fall?  The world is on the side of
liberty, and the history of its progressive development comprehends
the history of the race.  The advocate of freedomn is, therefore, the
friend of humanity.   But it must not be forgotten that between true
liberty and unbridled license, there exists as wide a distinction as
between virtue and vice. The latter is the bane of the former; they
have ever been antagonistic in their influences.
A mysterious system of causes has crystallized society into cycles,
in each of which some particular idea has become the dominant principle. These cycles are illustrated by the early idolaters of Canaan,
who had their Iconoclast in Abraham; by the sophists of Athens, and
their Aristophlanes; those of Rome, with their Lucian; the knightserrant of modern Europe, with Cervantes; the religious bigots of the
sixteenth century, with their polemical and philosophical scribes.*
Coleridge observes that "the Jewish theocracy was itself but a mean
to a further and greater end; and that the effects of the policy were
subordinated to an interest far more momentous than that of any
single kingdom or commonwealth could be." Liberty, civil and
political, has also had its confessors and noble army of martyrs, anad
*Dem. Rev., 1842.
28 
THE ANCIENT REPUBLICS.
the history of its heroic progress is filled with illustrious names and
deeds-Pericles, Cicero, and Ceesar; Tell, Wailace, and Washington;
Cromwell, MAIirabeau, and Napoleon.  These were, in the language of
an old dramatist, the planets of the ages in which they lived, and
illustrate their times.  It was for her sacred cause that the evermemorable events of Thermopylve, of the Punic wairs, of Marston
Moor, and the American war of Independence were enacted,-the
last named of which has this proud distinction: that it is guiltless of
wantonly shedding the blood of the innocent; and was triumphant
alike over tyranny and despotism, and the lawless passions of victors.
Taking a bird's-eye view of history, we see Coesar, the pagan, preparing the way for Christianity; Charlemagne, the barbarian, for civilization; and Napoleon, the despot, for liberty- yet presening the
anomalous character of the popular patron of aristocratical power.
The study of history is one of political and social progress.  In
the earliest ages, society was in a crude, chaotic condition, equally
removed from the luxuries and refinements, as well as the amenities
and courtesies which characterize it in modern times.  We discover
the germ  of popular or republican power  in Greece and Rome.
There was yet wanting in these republican States the great essential
of free institutions-self-government.  The intellectual force of Grecian character kept in check the revolutionary tendency of the fickle
populace, while in Rome the intellectual refinement of Greece tende.
rather to emasculate than invigorate the body politic. The historic
of these States-Greece and Rome-are, therefore, those of ouR instructors in the arts and sciences,-guides in literature and patterns
of intellectual excellence, rather than the models of political or social
ethics.  The history of the medieval ages which forms the connecting link between the remote past and the present-although comparatively barren of instructive teaching  is necessarily replete with
interest, being that of our more immediate ancestors, firom whom we
hI-ave derived our language, laws, and customs.  The feudal system of
the Middle Ages, with all that mnay be justly urged against it, for its
severe exactions upon popular freedom, was yet a necessity of the
29 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
times, while it superinduced a love of heroism, patriotism, and virtue.
A  romantic interest invests that long period of the world's eclipse;
for although the populace surrendered themselves to the thraldom of
superstition and ignorance, it was the proud era of Papal pomp and
magnificence,-of gorgeous cathedrals, splendid pageants, cloistered
learning, and the chivalrous exploits of the knights-errant. Society,
however, was in servile subjection.   Two  classes-lords, or feudal
barons, with their vassals, or serfs-constituted its great distinctions.
Feudalism accomplished nothing for popular progress.  Amidst the
brilliant constellation of genius which at length dispelled the lingering darkness, came forth the great spirits of Liberty. Then came
the great revolutionary eras of modern times- the English,- the
French, and the American. These tended, in each instance, to determine the true sources of power, and to reveal the long-hidden
truth, that freedom is the birthright of the race.  It was the American "Declaration of Independence" which gave the full solution of the
problem, and assigned it a place in thG common heart. It was that
modern "Magna Charta" which conferred upon the model republic of
the nineteenth century the full immunities and privileges of freemen.*
The great religious revolution originating with Luther and his
* "It is as a great, solemnpolitical act, that it demands our highest veneration.
What had the world ever seen that was equal, that approached to it? Go to
antiquity-to Greece, to Rome-travel over France, Spain, Germany, and the
w-hole of modern continental Europe,-all was comparative gloom; political science had not risen. Go to the isles of the sea-to Britain, then the freest of
nations; and Englishmen would proudly point you to their Magna Charta, as
their most valuable birthright, and the greatest bulwark of liberty whichl any
nation had raised. It was so. And yet how does it dwindle in contrast with
our Declaration of Independence, which was a greater era in the history of
ma;nkind, than Magna Charta was in the h.istory of England!  The latter was a
concession, extorted by armed barons from their sovereign.  It was what is
called a chacrter from the king, as the fountain of all right and power.  Hie wag
their lord and lmaster-the ultimate owner of all the soil in the kingdom; and
this was a grant-forced, it is true, but still a gWa?t-from his grace and favor,
allowing the exercise of some rights to his subjects, and consenting to some
limits to his royal prerogative.
"The former is not a grant of privileges to a portion of a single nation; it is
30
i 
THE ANCIENT REPUBLICS.
coadcljutors, however, gave to the world the first grand impulse towards
freedom, by bursting the shackles of ignorance and superstition. Up
to the middle of the seventeenth century, the nations of Europe were
at a low state of civilization.  A new era then dawned upon mankind,
by the discovery of the Western continent; and there the spirit of
religious and civil liberty found its temple and its home. There Liberty had a most bold and adventurous priesthood-men of heroism
and virtue, the pioneer-missionaries of the cross.
"The Puritans were men whose minds had derived a peculiar
character from the daily contemplation of superior beings and eternal
interests. Not content with acknowledging, in general terms, an overruling Providence, they habitually ascribed every event to the will of
the Great Being, for whose power nothing was too vast, for whose
inspection nothing was too minute. To know him, to serve him, to
enjoy him, was with them the great end of existence. They rejected
with contempt the ceremonious homage which other seats substituted
for the pure worship of the soul. Instead of catching occasional
glimpses of the Deity through an obscuring veil, they aspired to
gaze full on the intolerable brightness, and to commune with him
face to face. Hence originated their contempt for terrestrial distinctions. The difference between the greatest and meanest of mankind
seemed to vanish, when compared with the boundless interval which
separated the whole race from him on whom their own eyes were
constantly fixed. They recognized no title to superiority but his
favor; and, confident of that favor, they despised all the accomplishments and all the dignities of the world.  If they were unacquaintl
a IDEnCLAIATIO:N, by a wholeepcope, of what before existed, and will always existthe native equality of the ],:tnan race, as the true foundation of all political, of
altl hiuman institutions.  It was an ASSERnTION that we held our rights, as we hold
our existence, by no charter, except fronm the KaNG OF xINGS.  It vindicated the
dignity of our nature.  It rested upon this' one inextinguishable tru.th, whihel
never has been, and never can be wholly eradicated from the human heart,
placed as it is in the very core and centre of it by its Maker: tha.t man was not
made the property of man; that human  power is a trust for human  benefit,
and that when it is abused, resistance becomes justice and duty.' " —prague.
31 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
with the works of philosophers and poets, they were deeply read in
the oracles of God.  If their namnes were not found in the registers
of heralds, they felt assured that they were recorded in the Book of
Life. If their steps were not accompanied by a splendid train of
menials, legions of ministering angels had charge over them. Their
palaces were houses not made with hands; their diadems crowns of
glory which should never fade away! On the rich and the eloquent,
on nobles and priests, they looked down with contempt; for they
esteemed themselves rich in a more precious treasure, and eloquent
in a more sublime language,-nobles by the right of an earlier creation, and priests by the imposition of a mightier hand. The very
meanest of them was a being to whose fate a mysterious and terrible
importance belonged; on whose slightest action the spirits of light
and darkness looked with anxious interest; who had been destined,
before heaven and earth were created, to enjoy a felicity which should
continue when heaven and earth should have passed away.  Events
which short-sighted politicians ascribed to earthly causes, had been
ordainedon his account.  For his sake, empires had risen, and flourished, and decayed.  For his sake, the Almighty had proclaimed his
will, by the pen of the evangelist and the harp of the prophet.  lHe
had been rescued by no common deliverer from the grasp of no common foe. He had been ransomed by the sweat of no vulgar agonyby the blood of no earthly sacrifice.  It was for him that the sun
had been darkened, that the rocks had. been rent, that the dead hdl
arisen, that all nature had shuddered at the sufferings of her expiring
God!
" Thus the Puritan was made up of two different men-the one
self-abasement, penitence, gratitude, passion; the other proud, calm,
inflexible, sagacious. He prostrated himself in the dust before his
Maker; but he set his foot on the neck of his king. In his devotional retirement, he prayed with convulsions, and groans, and tears.
He was half maddened by glorious or terrible illusions.  He heard
the lyres of angels, or the tempting whispers of fiends. He caught
a gleam of the Beatific Vision, or woke screaming from dreams of
32 
TIlE ANCIENS iHE?UBLICS.
everlasting fire.  Like Vane, he thought himself intrusted with the
scep-tre of the miillennial year.   Like Fleetwood, he cried, in the bitterness of his soul, that God had hid his face from him.  But, when
he took his seat in the council, or girt on his sword of war, these
tempestuous workings of the soul had left no perceptible trace behind
them.  People iwho  saw nothing of the godly, but their uncouth
visages, and heard nothing from them  but their groans  and their
whining hymns, might la.ugh at them.  But those had little reason
to laugh who encountered them in the hall of debate, or in the field
of battle. These fanatics brought to civil and military affairs a coolness of judgmuent, and  an  immutability of purpose, which some
writers have thiought inconsistent with their religious zeal, but which
were in fact the necessary effects of it. The intensity of their feelings on one subject made them tranquil in every other.  One overpowering sentiment had subjected to itself pity and hatred, ambition
and fear. Death had lost its terrors, and pleasure its charms. They
lhad their smiles and their tears, their raptures and their sorrows, but
not for things of this world.  Enthusiasm had made  them Stoics,
had cleared their minds from every vulgar passion and prejudice, and
raised them above the influence of danger and of corruption. It
sometimes might lead them to pursue unwise ends, but never to
choose unwise means. They went through the world like Sir Artegle's iron man Talus with his flail, crushing and tram-pling down
oppressors-mingling with human beings, but having neither part
nor lot in human infirmities; insensible to fatigue, to pleasure, and to
pain; not to be pierced by any weapon, not to be withstood by any
barrier.
"Such we believe to have been the character of the Puritans.  We
perceive the absurdity of their manners. We dislike the sullen gloomn
of their domestic habits. We acknowledge that the tone of their
minds was often injured by straining after things too high for mortal
reach; and we know that, in spite of their hatred of Popery, they
too often fell into the worst vices of that bad system-intolerance
and extravagant austerity; that they had their anchorites and their
33 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
crusades, their Dunstans and their De Montforts, their Dominics and
their Escobars. Yet, when all circumstances are taken into consideration, we do not hesitate to pronounce them a brave, a wise, an
honest, and a useful body."*
But we ask-Where are the free nations of antiquity?
"Gone, glimmering through the dream of things that were,
A school-boy's tale, the wonder of an hour."
It has been said that no civilized nation has, at any period of its
history, so completely thrown off its allegiance to the past, as the
American. The whole essay of our national life and legislation has
been a prolonged protest against the domninion of antiquity. This
disregard of ancient precedent is quite consistent with the intrepid
daring and sagacious policy of the revered founders of our national
institutions. It would be impossible to institute any analogy between
the governments of the ancient republics and our own; yet we should
be willing to profit by the voices of antiquity-be warned by its errors,
and incited and sustained by its virtuous examples.
* Macaulay.
34 
SPARTA AND ATHENS.
"Unrivalled Greece! where every power benign
Conspired to blow the flower of human kind."
TiOMSON.
"The taste, love, and intuition of the Beautiful stamped the Greeks above all nations."
BULWER's ATHENS.
GREECE, with her matchless schools of learning and philosophy,
her arts and civilization, lustrous with the triumphs and trophies of
her splendor, has for twenty centuries ceased to exist, save in the imperishable monuments of her intellectual glory and a few broken columns of her once superb temples, her Parthenon, some of the beautiful creations of Phidias, as well as the classic Vale of Temp6, the rugged defiles of Thermopyle, and the towering heights of Areopagus.
We naturally ask whence did this mighty people derive the elements
of their greatness? Some, by a fanciful conceit, have suggested that
it was in part superinduced by the influences of climate and the scenery by which they were surrounded; that the physical geography
o f  Greece-a combination of sea and mountains-served  to make
it the cradle of a bold and free people; or, as Wordsworth apostrophizes it
"Two voices are there: ond is of the sea,
One of the mountains: each a mighty voice.
In both from age to age thou didst rejoice:
They are.thy chosen music-Liberty."
Such a theory is, however, manifestly untenable, as the abortive attempt, in modern times, to resuscitate Athens sufficiently attests.
"'Tis Greece, but living Greece no more!
So coldly sweet, so deadly fair,               We start, for soul is wanting there!"*
Leaving the solution of the problem with the ingenuity of the curious
* Byron. 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
in such speculative matters, we shall probably content the reader
by a rapid survey of the geographical limits of the Hiellenic States,
together with all outline sketch of their rise, progress, and decay.
Greece, bounded on the north by the Camnbunian mountains, which
separate it from Macedonia, on the south and east by the Algtan, on
the west by the Ionian sea, extended two hundred and twenty geographical miles in length by one hundred and forty in breadth. In
its salubrity of climate, variety and fertility of soil, it possessed advantages unequalled by any other country of similar extent. Situated
in the vicinity of the three quarters of the world, on three sides washed by the sea, and abounding with commodious ports and harbors,
its advantages for commerce and navigation were scarcely less conspicuous.   It was divided into Northern Greece, comprehending
Thessaly and Epirus; Central Greece or Ilellas, which included Attica with its Marathon, Megares, Boeotia with its Thebes, Platuea, and
Cheronea; and the southern peninsula, or Peloponnesus, containing
Arcadia, Achaia with its twelve cities, and Laconia with its Sparta.
Its jurisdiction also extended to groups of islands adjacent in the
Ionian and Eguean seas, as well as more extensive separate islands.
Greece was originally peopled by several insignificant races of
barbarians: among them two principal tribes claim our notice-the
Pelasgi and the Hellenes. These were of Asiatic origin, but of different dialects.  The Pelasgians settled in the Peloponnesus about
1800 B. C. Although rude in their origin, they are supposed to
have made some advances towards civilization, since they founded
the ancient states Argos and Sicyon; and to them are attributed
those marvellous monuments termed Cyclopian. They spread towards the north, founded Attica, made settlements in Thessaly, and
existed as a people for one hundred and fifty successive years.
The Hiellenes-subsequently so called from HIellen, one of their
chieftains-originally the weaker of the two tribes, made their first
appearance in Phocis, near Parnassus, under Deucalion. They afterwards invaded Thessaly, expelled from thence the Pelasgi, and subsequently drove them to Arcadia. The gradual spread of the various
36 
SPARTA AND ATHEN'.
branches of the Hellenic tribe over Greece was effected by several
migrations; after which they preserved the settlements they had already obtained, until the later migration of the Dorians and Heraclidse, about 1100 B. C.
PBesides these original inhabitants, colonies at the same early period
came into Greece from civilized countries,-fiom  Egypt, Phoenicia,
and Mysia. MAluch of their early attainments in domestic civilization
is to be traced to these foreign sources, as well as their mythological
and religious rites and observances.   These, however, became in
their adoption less Egyptian, Asiatic, or Thracian than Grecian.  To
their religious system, in part, is to be ascribed their progress towards
polished refinement. The ancient minstrels or bards contributed to
this end, by their dissemination of moral and religious sentiment,
diverting them from a love of barbarous warfare to the advantages
of civilized life. The oracles of Delphi, Dodona, and Olympia were
no less powerful to the same end. The necessity of consulting these
sanctuaries naturally led men to regard the oracles as the common
property of the nation; and thus these various tribes, who had been
hitherto strangers, met in peace; and hence arose spontaneously the
first idea of a commonwealth and a confederacy.
It was at Delphi that the most important and the most protracted
of these political reunions-that of the Amphyctions-occurred.   It
adopted the principle that none of the cities belonging to the league
should be destroyed by the others.  WVe now discover the germ of
the chivalric spirit of the nation, and the development of its youthful
vigor in the heroic ages. A love of daring adventure and heroic
exploit, not only individually but also in confederate bodies, led them
beyond the limits of their fatherland. These emprises of valor being
rehearsed by their bards, they thus acquired a national poesy such
as no other people possessed, and such as contributed to the fuller
development of the national genius. At this juncture, when the
combined Hellenic nations were ripe for some grand military expedition, came the memorable siege of Troy.   The most important result
of that war was the kindling of one common national spiiit-a spirit
3
3T 
A YVOICE TO AMERICA.
which even survived all the domestic feuds and animosities. This expedition, which lasted ten years, and was crowned with such signal su,cess, caused the iellenes to regard themselves ever after as one people.
Thie Trojan war was quickly followed by tempestuous times,internal strifes, and incursions from the ruder tribes of the North,
shook Greece during an entire century. The Dorians with their allies
strove to possess themselves of Peloponnesus, and, after repeated attempts, at length the lieraclidae succeeded in revolutionizing the
Hellenic States.  The territories of Argos, Sparta, Messene, and Corinth were wrested from the Achteans, who had hitherto inhabited
them.  The Achoeans expelled, in their turn, the Ionians, and formed the settlement called Achaia; while the fugitive Ionians were
received by their former kinsmen, the Athenians.
But among the consequences of this migration of the Hellenic races
must be reckoned likewise the establishment of Greek colonies in Asia
Minor-an occurrence of the highest import to their national development.   This colonization, commenced by the AEolian Hellenes, was
soon followed by the Ionians, and even the Dorians. Among the
effects of these migrations and wars was not only an interruption to
the progress of civilization, but even almost entirely the annihilation
of it; yet in this universal movement the foundation was laid of that
constitution of things which afterwards existed in Greece.* The
tribes which had migrated, as well as those which had been expelled,
remained at first under the dominion of their hereditary princes, some
for a longer, others for a shorter period.   In the two centuries, however, immediately subsequent to the migrations (B. C. 1100-900)
republican constitutions took the place of hereditary clanship in all
the Grecian countries, the distant Epirus excepted. These republics
continued to exist amid the various revolutions which happened, and
the love of political freedom became firom this time the national sentiment.  In this newly-constituted order of things, each city with the
territory around it formed a separate state, and fiumed its own constitution; hence there arose as many free states as cities.   Although
* Heeren's Researches.
38 
SPARTA AND ATHIENS.
thus parcelled out into a number of petty states, there existed a certain unity among the Hellenic race, a certain national spirit: this was
produced in part by their custom of attending the national festivals
and games; and this union was further promnoted by the Aimphlictyonic council, from which originated Grecian ideas of international
and judicial law. Even at this early period Sparta and Athens became distinguished for their superior constitutions and laws. These
two cities in fact constitute a leading essential in subsequent Grecian
history. We now approach a revolutionary era in the government
of Sparta.  The Achleans were previously governed by princes of the
house of Perseus;  the royal power was now divided between the
families of Procies and Eurvstbenes.   Soon the Dorians acquired the
conquest of many of the cities of the peninsula, and the Achanis became for a time their bondsmen.   The Spartans, however, ultimately
usurped authority over the whole country, which they continued to
retain. The records of the two following centuries, to the time of
Lycurgus, are filled with a series of belligerent engagements on the
part of the Spartans with their neighbors, the Argives.   Lycurgus
gave to Sparta about the year 800 that constitution to which she
was principally indebted for her subsequent splendor.  His laws were
not written, but conveyed in apophthegms, which were confirmed by
the oracle of Delphi. The principal object of the laws of Lycurgus
was to insure the existence of Sparta, by creating and supporting a
vigorous and uncorrupted race of men.  His grand maxim was, "that
children were the property of the State, to which alone their education was to be intrusted."
With the view of equalizing the two extremes of great wealth and
great indigence, he divided the lands into equal lots, proportioned to
the number of the inhabitants. This partition of the territory met
with violent opposition from the opulent, as might have been expected;
but such was the commanding influence of this great man, that li he triiunphed over all opposition.  Hle also appointed public tables, at which
all citizens were enjoined to eat together without distinction.  The diet
was simple, and each had to contribute his quota for the repast.  On
39 
A VOICE TO AMAlERICA.
these occasions of public feasting, the conversation was restricted to
topics wholly of an instructive kind.  Nenophon observes, "they
were schools not only of temperance and sobrietly, but also for instruction."  Soon after the time of Lycurgus, the Spartans increased
greatly their territory by their wars with the Messenians; and although a lopng interval elapsed before the former made any further
attempts at invasion, yet on the deposition of Demaratus, Cleonmenes,
his former colleague, was compelled to bear a part in the Persian
war.  That struggle, together withi the idea of supremacy in Greece,
which haC'L now taken its rise, introduced a series of political relations before unknown.'
It was at this epoch that the seeds of strife were sowni between the
rival republics of Snarta and Athen s.
The listory of Aihens durinjg'thiS period, observes Heeren, is rendered important rather  by com'estic revolutions, which gradually
tended to convert the State into a republic, than by external aggrandizement.  The situation and peculiarities of Attica, rendering it less
exposed than other parts of Greece to the attacks of wandering
hordes, favored the tranquil growth  of national prosperity.   The
history of Atliens, as a State, begins properly with Theseus  (temp.
1300 B. C.); although certain institutions, such as that of the Areopagus, the division of the people into nobles, husbandumen, and mechanics, may be traced to the colony of Cecrops. The last king was
Codrus, who by a voluntary sacrifice of his life rescued Attica from
the inroads of the Dorianrs, in 1068.  The period of the Archons
lasted till the year 752 B. C.  From that time until 682 no reiarlkable events occurred, except the internal commotions which  were
occasioned  by the oppressive exactions of the aristocratic party.
From this state of aiarchy Athens was rescued by Solon; a mnan to
whom not only Athens, but the whole human  race, are deeply in debted.  He efteted ithe happiess of his country, by remodelling
the constitution of the State.
Solon not only aimed to invest the administration of government
-Il Ieeren's. csarchles.
40 
SPARTA AND ATIHENS.
with the best intelligence and prudence of which he could avail
himself; but his code for private life was no less deserving commendation.   Unlike Lycurgus, he regarded polity as subordinate  to
morals.  Yet the reader need not be reminded, that the social condition of Greece, as compared with that of the modern ages, had little,
indeed, to boast.  Plato, Socrates, and other eminent philosophers and
sages, not only tolerated, but were even the avowed\ apologists of
polygamy, and its train of vices.  The legislation of Solon was soon
disturbed by the factious tyranny of Pisistratus, who obtained by
force of arms the government of Athens. This usurpation was again
succeeded by the return of Alcmaeonidse, who, aided by a Spartan
army, took possession of the city in 510.  This resulted in a modification of the Constitution. Clisthenes, with a view of quenching
party spirit by a new combination of the citizens, increased their
elective powers.
A struggle with the Spartans and the allies, who sought to reestablish monarchy in Attica, soon ensued; and yet the glorious success of the republic, in this her first effort in the cause of liberty,
gave fresh impulse to the national spirit. It was that which induced
Athens to unite with the Asiatic Greeks in the cause of freedom,
and which provoked the vengeance of the Persians; and yet, but for
that daring encounter, Greece would probably never have achieved
that greatness and renown which have signalized her in the history of
the wvorld.
It is, perhaps, sufficient for our purpose thus to sketch the outline
history of Sparta and Athens-the two most important of the Grecian
States; the others being  of subordinate interest.   Greece derives
her importance among the nations of antiquity, not only froma her brilliant successes in arms, her love of art and letters, and her liberal institutions, but also from her numerous colonies. These spread along the
shores of the Mediterranean and the Black seas. The history of early
civilization, thlerefore, owes mnuch to the efforts of Greece, for she
carried her influence east and west, far and wide.  This gives us the
clue to the sources of her opulence, sulprema(y, an,d plcendor.  These
41 
A VOICE TO AMIIERICA.
colonies, numbering over a hundred, had each its own peculiar form
of government,-showing a wonderful variety of political views among
these people.  "Of the Greek colonies, the most ancient, and in
many respects the most important, were those along the western coast
of Asia Minor, extending from the Hellespont to the boundary of
Cilicia.  Here, ever since the Trojan war, which first made these
countries generally known, the zEolians, Ionians, and Dorians had
planted settlements. These were the most important for trade. Here
likewise, in the native country of Homer, the father of Grecian civilization, of Alceus, and of Sappho, poesy, both epic and lyric, expanded her first and fairest blossoms; and hence, too, the Mother
Country herself received the first impulse of moral and cultivated
tastes."*
When almost all the Grecian States and colonies submitted to the
Persian yoke, Sparta and Athens alone boldly resisted it. The evermemorable battle of Marathon proved not only the superiority of
Athenian heroism, but was also the preservation of Grecian liberty.
After the fall of Miltiades, the history of Athens becomes that of eminent generals or demagogues: Themistocles and Aristides were the
real founders of the power of the Commonwealth. The former, in successfully accomplishing what Miltiades failed to achieve, made Athens
also a mighty maritime power. While the rival State was thus advancing in power, Sparta suffered from the insanity of one of her
kings, Cleomenes, and the arrogance of another, Leotychides. To
Themnistocles belongs the glory of frustrating the second Persian invasion of Greece, under Xerxes. However weak might have been
the national leagues, separately,-being bound together by common
interests and animated by the controlling spirit of the Grecian deliverer, they were irresistible. The great naval victory of Salamis
does not reflect greater glory upon the Greeks, than did the gallant
action of Leonidas with his three hundred Spartans: yet, as the plan
for the conduct of these engagements originated with Themiistocles,
the pre-eminent merit of their success is to be alone ascribed to his
* IJceren's Ancient Researchei.
42 
SPARTA AND ATHENS.
statesmanship and military skill. Further successes by the battles of
Plataea on the land, and of Mycale at sea, ending in the destruction
of the Persian fleet, expelled forever from the shores of Greece that
mighty foe.
Sparta at this time acquired a temporary ascendency, yet soon the
command was transferred to Athens; and not only was this the occasion of jealou,sy between these States, but it also had a decided
influence on all the subsequent relations of Greece. Then follows
about half a century of eminent prosperity to Athens: far different
was it with Sparta; there rude customs and laws arrested the development of genius; there men were taught to die for their country,
while in Athens they learned to live for it. The loss of Themistocles
was supplied by Cimon, who protracted the war against the Persians
in order to maintain the union of the States; while the death of
Aristides and the banishment by ostracism of Cimon, concurred in
elevating Pericles to the head of affairs, who for forty years swayed
Athens, without either being archon or member of the Areopagus.
Hiis administration was evidently of the democratic character, as that
of his predecessor was that of the aristocratic.
The idea of a perfect equality among the Grecian States is proved
to have been chimerical, since the minor independencies were
swayed by the more powerful; and even between these-Sparta and
Athens-an almost uninterrupted strife for supremacy existed. Sparta
was now doomed to be abased before the great Theban general,
Epaminondas.  In her distress, Sparta formed an alliance with Athens;
while Thebes entered into a compact with Persia. A sanguinary
struggle between Sparta and Thebes left Greece but an independence
proceeding from enervation; yet at the very time of the growing
power of Macedonia under Philip, she madly plunged into another
devastating civil war of ten years' duration, known  as the Phocian
war.  "The treasures of Delphi circulating in Greece, were as injurious to the country as the ravages which it underwent.  A war
springing out of private passions, fostered by bribes and subsidiary
troops, and terminated by the interference of foreign powers, was
43 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
exactly what was requisite for annihilating the scanty remains of morality and patriotism still existing in Greece."'*
The very first advance of Philip was a premonition of the fate of
Greece, although the eloquence 9f Demosthenes warded it off until
the second invasion.  The battle of Cheronea was the commencement of the Macedonian ascendency over the Grecian republics.
The history of Greece, from the accession of Alexander of Macedon
until the final subjection to the Roman power, it is scarcely necessary
to detail. At the decease of Alexander, Sparta had been humiliated
by defeat; while Athens remained the first State in Greece.   Frequent revolutions, civil commotions, and State intrigues and crimes,
mark her declining career. While Greece was thus passing into her
decadence, Roman strategy and Roman valor were striving for the
transfer of the supremacy.  Rome, taking advantage of the disorder
caused by the frequent factions and feuds which occurred between
the Acheans and Sparta, or Messene, conquered Macedonia; and at
the sack of Corinth, the light of Grecian freedom finally vanished.
Of all the great nations of antiquity, none, perhaps, boasts of such
a rapid and brilliant career as Greece; and her decline was as strangely
sudden.  It may well be asked, whence came the efflorescence of
Grecian mind in the age of Pericles? What was the element of
power that caused a handful of Greeks to overmaster the proud chivalry of the Persians? what the mighty spell which made the Hellenic arms the terror of the surrounding nations,-and won such
brilliant triumphs at Marathon, Salamis, and Platina, as to fill all
Greece with the exultant shouts of Liberty, and blazon the scroll of
history with the records of heroic glory?  Yet was her triumph as
brief as it w-as brilliant.  In a single generation, Grecian Liberty
reached its culmination, and in another century, its overthrow.  The
conflicting and diversified character of, Grecian society suggests a
clue.  Hers was a social amalgam: all the gradations of wealth and
poverty, as well as liberty and oppression, were among its elements.
Hence feud and faction, as well as military despotism, were among
* Heeren.
41 
SPARiP,T  AND Ar.iJENS.
the disturbing causes of the public weal. It has been eloquently
said, that Attic wisdom, Theban hardihood, and Spartan valor, could
not combine to save her; that very army which Greece had bred
and nourished, to reduce oriental pride, was turned, vulture-like, upon
herself. Thus Greece, with her battlements and towers, her glorious
triumphs in arts and arms, is hurled headlong fromn her giddy height,
-a parricide,-at once the shamie and pity of the world!
"When Greece with Greece,
Embroil'd with foul contention, fought no more
For common glory and for common weal;
But false to freedom, sought to quell the fire,
Broke the firm hand of peace and sacred love
That lent the whole irrefragable force,
And as around the partial trophy blushed,
Prepared the way for total overthrow."+
The Commonwealths of Greece were generally the scenes of popular commotion,-the tyranny of one part of:,the people over the other,
or of usurping demagogues over the whole.  Pericles, the noblest,
perhaps, of his class the world has ever seen, was yet a demagogue.
He sacrificed the last conservative institution of Athens for the
advancement of his own political power,-the dictatorship.   "It
cannot be denied that the Athenian democracy abused its absolutism,
and that the Athenian State made an unjust use of its supremacy
over the allies; and thus viewed, there is some truth in the assertion
of Isocrates, that the dominion of the sea was the source of all the
misery of Athens and Greece. But it is not fair to confine our views
to the abuse: what form of government, or what State, ever effected
so much in flie sam.e space of time for humanity, as Athens  and its
democracy, during the brief period of their meridian glory?  Pericles, Phidias, Polygnotus, Sophocles, Socrates, Plato, Demosthenes,
were the children of the democracy; and truly great must the public
spirit of that nation have been, which could foster, encourage, and
develop the genius capable of achieving their migdlty deeds." t
Thomson.       -       Taylor's Nat. list. of Society.
3*
45 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
Although the age of Pericles was the age of glory to Greece, yet
it was then, as Pliny remarks, that Greece lost her freedom; for then
she lost her virtue, and with it her love of art.  Shall we not heed
the admonitory teaching of an eminent classic historian,* when he
affirms that the occasion of the Peloponnesian war-the direst civil
calamity that befel Greece-was the alleged mutual rupture of the
thirty years' league between Athens apd Lacedawmon; but that the
true cause was, the jealousy of the latter at the growing superiority
of Athens.  Intestine feuds are the most implacable and d(leadly in
their influence and effects, and thlerefore most sedulously to be guarded
against in a confederacy of free States. A spirit of rivalry or jealousy, resulting from differences of opinion and local interest, are
among the evils to which they are 9xposed. The vaulting ambition
of Pericles for territorial acquisitions, is an illustration of this.
Webster, referring to Greece, observes: " Political science seems
never to have extended to their contemplation of a system, which
should be adequate to the government of a great nation upon principles of liberty.  They were accustomed only to the contemplation of
small republics, and were led to consider an augmented population as
incompatible with free institutions."  They sought to er.ect systems of
more perfect civil liberty, but the light of thie moral and mental
world of their time was not to be compared with that when our forefathers did the same.
The Peloponnesian war was succeeded by those protracted disasters
and civil commotions which tended to reduce and exliaust the Greeks,
and to destroy that bond of union once the palladium of their strength
and glory. It was at this crisis that Philip of Macedon, taking advantage of their disorder, made himself master of all Greece, by his
conrquest at Chmronea.
Grecian history has been presented in three aspects: that of Themistocles, in which the statesman was subordinate to the general;
that of Pericles, in which the general was subordinate to the statesman; and that of Demosthenes, in which the statesman acted inde
* Thucydlides.
46 
SPARTA AND ATIHIENS.
pendently of the general. The first is distinguished by its love of
military glory; the last, by its marvellous displays of Grecian eloquence-for it was the age of the ten famous Athenian orators:
"Those ancients, whose resistless eloquence
Wielded at will that fierce democracy,
Shook the arsenal, and fulmined over Greece
To Miaedon and Artaxerxes' throne."*
The golden age of Grecian heroism, art, and eloquence, was from
the era of Solon to that of Alexander.  From the reign of Alexander
to the extinction of taste in design and excellence in execution, not a
single name is recorded worthy of note, as meriting comparison with
the masters of the Grecian republic. The saime applies with equal
force to the Augustan age of Rome. Homer's great -epic was designed to exhibit the ill effects of division in a confederate power.
Virgil, on the contrary, flattered the oppressor of his country's liberty,
in his adulation of Augustus.
It is evident, therefore, that political liberty may consist with the
culture of the arts. Even the rugged Spartans delighted, for a time,
to embody and perpetuate their heroic achievements, by the chisel of
Bathycles; and the sacred inclosure of Amycle is no less memorable
as the depository of the earliest creations of Grecian sculpture.
It has been said there are few who, if asked in which of the States
of antiquity they would choose their own lot to have been cast, would
not name Athens-since nowhere was there so much good, because
nowhere was there so much freedom. Yet that freedom was constantly jeopardized, both by oligarchical conspirators, and by the
tyranny of the sovereign people. The glories of Marathon and Salamis are obscured when we remember that the same victories which
rescued the Athenian freeman but riveted the fetters of the Athenian
bondsman.  These two factions destroyed her greatest man, Socrates.
The altar of Athenian liberty is overthrown, and its ashes poured out,
bees, ue it burnt with alien fires.  Grecian polity differed from that of
* Milton.
47 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.'
our own times. It was far less expansive and comprehensive, pertaining merely to cities, rather than States or territories.   We  possess
little in common with the politics of the ancient fiee States.  Their
circumstances were widely dissimilar to ours, while theirs was a pagan
and ours a Christian faith. Nor can the virtues or the vices of their
age excite any other than a philosophic interest.  Yet, allowing for
this difference of circumstances and condition, there is exhibited
much that is suggestive and admonitory to be gleaned for the advantage of modern times.
Chenevix observes: "It wvas in Greece that mankind began the
new career which had a much greater affinity to true civilization
than any condition of society that could have been previously conceived.  It would be unjust to say that Asia, though luxurious, was
not civilized, but the characteristics of civilization in that continent
were so weak as to give but little tincture to the general mind. In
Greece, the best mode of social progress became predominant, and
may be traced in every province of thought, as sensuality gave place
to intellect, and men found that the powers and faculties of each
might be useful to the whole community."  The great conservative
principle or characteristic of civilization, as opposed to luxury, is
combination,-the conviction that more may be obtained by unity of
design and concert of action, than by the divided wills of multitudes,
however numerous. He continues: "The difficulties which the Greeks
had to overcome sufficiently taught this lesson, and turned their social
career into the path of true civilization. It was thus that they became the parents of European advancement, and that the legacies
which they have bequeathed remain at this day among its richest
treasures.
!' Since the independence of the United States, the North Americans principally followed the path which. had been traced out by their
British forefathers; and they were induced to continue in it because
thliey had many difficulties to oppose. But those difficulties, as in
ancient Greece, bespoke abundance more than poveirty; and promised
such easy fertility and greatness, that it may be questioned, notwitli
f 1-1
0 
SPARTA AND ATHENS.
standing the remembrance of past examples, whether civilization or
luxury will finally predominate. But this much may safely be conjectured: Should the social improvement of the United States terminate in luxury, their luxury, like their vanity, will be much more
European than Asiatie."*
Another authority remarks that history abounds in proofs  that
almost all the good which nations have possessed is to be attributed
to social progress; nearly all the evil, to luxury.  "It was by the corruption of civilization and the ascendency of luxury, that the fall of
Greece was caused,-that the armies which had triumphed under the
banners of intellect, were defeated when summoned away from their
pleasures.  It was because the influence of Lycurgus over the small
republic of his birth had banished from it all the means of sensuality,
that the power of Sparta, her domestic tranquillity, her good order
and virtues, lasted from the time of her lawgiver till the Achean
league; that, during five centuries, she was paramount in Greece, by
her abstinence.  It was immediately following the Periclean agewhich was that of Grecian luxury-that her moral decline commenced, in the age of Philip, or corruption, when her fall was completed. By civilization she made conquests; by her luxury she was
herself overthrown."
Bancroft observes: "The democracy of Athens, with all the imperfections in every part of its public service, with the abuses attending
its finances, and the corruption which finally turned the elective franchise into a source of personal revenue, maintains its dignity in the
eyes of the world; for there the elements of civil liberty were first
called into action. No tongue can adequately praise many of the
results of that State; and it would also be difficult to display the deficiencies in its organization, and the gross injustice of its foreign
policy. Our own confederacy does not more surpass the Grecian in
the extent of territory over which its liberties are diffused, than in the
excellence of the details of its laws."
The admirable maxim of Isocrates is worthy the attention of mod                     -* Chenevix on Nat. Char., 1S32.
49 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
ern times, because it requires, as the foundation of national prosperity
and obedience to law, the establisllment of the religious principle, as
the suiest guarantee for both. His advice to Demonicus respecting a
citizen was: "First exercise piety towards God, not only in sacrifices,
but also in the preservNation of oathls; for the former indeed may be
an indication of abundant wealth, but the latter is a proof of integrity
of character." The growing influence and contending interests of
political parties in their struggles for ascendency, may superinduce
the corruptions and treacheries which tarnish our national glory and
jeopardize our national stability; and thus we are in danger of reenacting the political immoralities and crimes of the ancient republics -repeating the history and calamities of those splendid yet
mournful examples of the past. The prerogatives of the Federal
government must be maintained inviolate-the majesty of its authority supreme.  In the multiplication of its constituent States there is
great tendency to a reduction of the central constitutional power. In
the desire for increasing territorial acquisitions, and a thirst for military renown, the harmony of the confederacy may also be fatally disturbed, and anarchy usurp its place. An instance of this we have
seen in the history of the Grecian republics. Severe and onerous
military services were sustained by the warlike and heroic citizens of
those ancient States, in consequence of this fostering, by the government, of an excessive desire for military power and conquest. A
military despot is surely no firiend to national or civil liberty; and
wherever the demagogue can take advantage of such social disorder,
he is sure to do so. It may be well to repeat the warning given to
us in the brilliant but terrible example of Athens,-it teaches us
that an insatiate lust of territory mnarks the overthrow of a free
State.
According to the political creed of Aristotle, the Grecian State was
antecedent to the individual citizen. He therefore possessed no inherent personal rights, and was only allowed such immunities as were
conferred by the State itself. Our commonwealth acknowledges an
opposite rule.  Both extremes are equally fatal to the liberties of a
50 
SPARTA AND ATHEiNS.
democracy;  the one tending to an oligarchy, the other to lawless
despotism.
Bulwer remarks: "As in despotisms, a coarse and sensual luxury,
once established, rots away the vigor and manhood of a conquering
people, so in this intellectual people (the Athenians) it was the luxury
of the intellect which gradually enervated the great spirit of the
victor race of Marathon and Salamis, and called up generations of
eloquent talkers and philosophical dreamers from the earlier age of
active freemen, restless adventurers, and hardy warriors.  The spirit
of poetry, or the pampered indulgence of certain faculties to the
prejudice of others, produced in a whole people what it never fails
to produce in the individual: it unfitted them-just as they grew up
into manhood exposed to severer struggles than their youth had undergone-for the stern and practical demands of life; and suffered
the love of the Beautiful to subjugate or soften away the common
knowledge of the Useful. Genius itself became a disease, and Poetry
assisted towards the euthanasia of the Athenians."
The fundamental essentials to the security of a free State, are religion, virtue, and intelligence in its individual citizens.  This is the
palladium of her strength, and the augury of her greatness and glory.
These three great weapons of our strength will form the surest bulwark of our defenge against the evils which may menace our national
security, arising from the incessant influx of foreign immigration and
foreign political influence.  Before the vestal purity and celestial light
of virtue, the shades of ignorance, superstition, infidelity, and crime
will flee away. With the true light of Divine revelation for our
guide, and the ample experiences of the past for our instruction, we
may, and we assuredly ought to present to the world, not a mere
problematical experiment, but an accredited and actual illustration of
the great fact of a mighty nation of self-governed freemen-a spectacle "grander, vaster, and more majestic than any thing ancient statesmen ever dreamed of." Is such a brilliant immortality to be conferred
upon these United States?
WVith the lapse of centuries, the lustre of Grecian intellect has
51 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
lost none of its splendor. It still towers in Olympian grandeur over
all the boasted achievements of intervening ages. hier proud trophies have defied the assaults of time; and, whether in sculpture,
eloquence, or in song-in military prowess, heroic virtue, or in her
love of liberty-her name has ever been a watchword  on the earth.
Not only was Greece the home of the graces, but it was here that
Freedom first erected her mountaini-throne. It was the triumph of
mind that gave the pre-eminent glory to Greece; and Greece was the
glory of the earth. What a galaxy of great men she gave to the
world-Pericles, Epaminondas, Socrates, Aristotle, Demosthenes, Homer, Plato, and Alexander-Titans among the race! What a wealth
of learning have they bequeathed to mankind! Classic Greece was
the great academy of science and song-our storehouse of philosophy,
ethics, poetry, sculpture, aesthetics, and architecture, as well as civilization and refinement. She was the first of the nations of antiquity
to assert the supremacy of intellectual empire. It is not surprising,
therefore, that her very name should have become talismanic, and
that her sages, philosophers, and poets should still be regarded as our
models, and thieir wisdom deemed oracular. Poetry still recognizes
her great high priest in Homer, Philosophy her Socrates, History her
Thucydides, Eloquence her Demosthenes, Art her Phidias, Justice her
Aristides, and Heroism her Leonidas. While, therefore, we do homage to Attic models in art, poetry, ethics, and philosophy, shall we
neglect the warning which her political errors and immoralities suggest?
52 
THi. FALL OF ROME.
'Alas I the lofty city I and alas I
The trebly hundred triumphs."
CuILDE HAROLD.
TIE seven-hilled city of the Cesars  once the capital of the
world, —the most potent and  the most opulent of the nations of
antiquity,-with her august pageants, her gorgeous temples, her
triumphal  arches, her Coliseum, her Forum, and all her colossal
achievements in arts and arms, is numbered with the past.  All that
remains of her eminent glory, is a splendid-ruin   a mighty and
majestic shrine, attracting pilgrim feet from all parts of the earth.
Her towering greatness, with her almost superhuman virtues,and
crimes, lives only on the scroll of history —a sublime illustration of
human power and human weakness. Of all the voices of the past,
Rome's eventful story is the most marvellous, thle most memorable,
and the most eloquent.
"Rome! thine imperial brow
Never shall rise.
What hast thou left thee now.
Thou hast thy skies!
Thou hast the sunset's glow,
Romne! for thy dower Flashing, tall cypress bow,
Temple and tower!"
The history of Rome exhibits a strange c6mpound of conflicting
elements of human character. It abounds with instances of the
generous and the heroic, the cruel and the base,-the patriotic and
the perfidious.  Hers were the extremes of wealth and poverty-of
a -s 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
ignorance and learning. Rome was the scene of the direst calamities and the most brilliant triumphs.  At one time devastated by a
fearful plague, which continued for more than two years, destroying,
in a single day, some two thousand human beings; at another, the
city was in great part consumed by fire, kindled by lightning,-while
these calamities were followed by famine.  The history of her government is, for the most part, one of despotic cruelty, strategy, and
crime-most of her rulers being corrupt and treacherous; yet were
there among them men of heroic and noble virtue.
The topography of Rome may be thus briefly described: Situate
on the bank of the Tiber (about seventeen miles from the sea, and
near its junction with the Arno), the city was built on seven hills, or
insulated heights, divided by little valleys. These hills are the Capitoline, Palatine, Ceelius, and Aventine. The others (Quirinal, Vitminal, and Esquiline) are promontories, jutting out towards the Tiber.
The Capitoline being so precipitous that it formed a natural fortress,
it became the citadel of Rome.
A reference to the map  of Italy will best exhibit its physical
geography. It will be seen that, like Greece, Italy is made up of
numerous valleys, pent up between high hills, each forming a country
and political community to itself. There is the Apennine range,
stretching from the southern extremity of the Alps across Italy, to
the edge of the Adriatic, thus separating Italy proper from Cisalpine
Gaul. Between them and the Alpine semicircle which forms the
northern boundary, is inclosed a wide plain, open only on the east to
the sea. One great river flows through its whole extent, being fed,
from the north and south, by numberless streams. Of course, this
well-watered plain was filled with flourishing cities, and often contended for by successive invaders. The geographical features of Italy
proper strikingly accord with its political divisions. "It is not one
simple ridge of mountains, leaving a broad belt of level country on
either side, but, as it were, a backbone, thickly set with diverging
spines of unequal lengthi,'running out from the main ridge, some
parallel to the backbone itself; in which latter case, the interval be
54 
THE FALL OF ROME.
tween their base and the Mediterranean has been broken up by volcanic agency; e. g., Vesuvius, and the Alban Iills, ten miles from
Rome."* WTe thus perceive the force of the remark of Napoleon,
that Rome was the spot best suited to be the capital of its empire.
The early history of Rome, like that of Athens, is based upon
tradition, made up in part of poetic fiction. The line of demarcation
between what is mythical and purely historic truth, it is difficult to
determine. This is, however, less essential to our purpose, since we
have to do with the later times of the Republic. During the first
two centuries or more subsequent to its foundation, the city of Rome
was under the rule of governors, or kings, of limited power and prerogatives. Its constitution originally somewhat resembled that of
England about the times of the three first Edward(s. The governing
body consisted of the three classes or tribes, divided into thirty curiae,
ten in each tribe.  Their assembly was called  Comitia  Curiata.
Besides this general body of citizens, there was a select council,
called the Senate, originally comprised of one hundred chief men of
the Ramnes. After the union of the Sabines, one hundred of the
Titienses were admitted; and though the Luceres always had votes
in the general Comitia, yet they had no representatives in the Senate
till the time of Tarquinius Priscus, who added a third hundred, called
Patres Minarum Gentium. The reign of this monarch is the Etruscan
period of Roman history. The buildings above and under ground,
the religion, the games then introduced, have all of them an Etruscan
stamp.  The next king, the sixth, was Servius Tullius, who belonged
neither to a royal nor patrician family, and who' promoted Latin
and Grecian customs. He revised the constitution, having brought
together, in some degree, the Populus and the Plebs, and made all of
them vote according to their property, in classes and centuries. The
last king was Tarquinius Superbus, who, with his family, was banished; and with him ended the monarchy, having lasted, according
to the legends, two hundred and twenty-five years. Then followed
the establishment of the Republic, at the head of which were two
* Arnold.
55
r 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
consuls-L. Junius Brutus and Tarquinius Collatinus.  The consular
government was annually elected.
The struggle for liberty, in which the new Republic was engaged
with the Etrusci and Latins, contributed to arouse that republican
spirit which subsequently became the main feature of Roman character. The party which had deposed the ruling family, now took
wholly into their own hands the helm of state; and the oppression of
these aristocrats became at length so galling, that, after the lapse of a
few years, it gave rise to a sedition of the Plebs,-the consequence of
which was the establishment of annually elected Presidents of the
People (Tribuni Plebis). Just previous to this (temp. 508 B. C.),
took place the first commercial treaty with Carthage, in which Rome
appears as a free State, although not as yet sovereign of all Latiuim.
The political constitution of Rome received further development in
the contests which now arose between the popular presidents and the
hereditary nobility.  The Tribunes, instead of confining themselves to
the defence of the people from the oppression of the nobles, soon
began to act as aggressors, which subsequently resulted in a complete equalization of rights.  An illustration of this state of things
is afforded by the trial of Coriolanus.
The more equitable distribution of the lands obtained by conquest,
among the poorer classes, was suggested by the ambitious attempts of
Cassius.  The well-known code of the "Twelve Tables" confirmed the
ancient institutions, and was in part completed by the adoption of
the laws of the Greek Republics, especially those of Athens. Yet, as
the commissioners appointed to draw up the laws were exclusively
Patricians, an occasion was given for usurpation, which could be frustrated only by a sedition of the people. By the laws of the "Twelve
Tables," the legal relations of the citizens were the same for all; yet
that code contained little or nothing in relation to any peculiar constitution of the State, whlile the government not only remained in the
hands of the aristocracy, who were in possession of all offices, but
the prohibition of marriage, according to the new laws, of Patricians
and Plebeians, interposed an insurmountable barrier between the two
56 
THE FALL OF ROME.,
classes. The consequence of this was, renewed attacks by the people
upon the privileged Patricians, especially as the power of the popular
leaders was now not only renewed, but even augmented-the only
limit to their authority being their unanimity of decision.
New dissensions arose between  the Patricians and Plebeians, one
of the causes of which was the exclusive participation of the formner
in the consulship, of which the Tribunes demanded the abolition.
This right of admission was not, however, extended to the Plebeians
till after a struggle annually renewed for eighty years. Meanwhile,
Rome was engaged in petty wars with the neighboring federate cities.
These contests continued almost uninterruptedly, and arose out of the
oppression, real or imaginary, which she practised uponi them.  The
cities sought every occasion for asserting their independence; and
the consequent struggles must have depopulated Rome, had not that
evil been diverted by the policy of increasing the complement of
citizens in admitting the freedmen, and not unfrequently even the
conquered, to the enjoyment of civic privileges.* Little as these
feuds, abstractedly considered, deserve attention, they become of high
interest, inasmuch as they were not only the means by which  the
nation was trained to war, but they also led to the foundation of
that senatorial power, whose important consequences will be exhibited
hereafter.
The last of these wars was that against Veii, the richest city in
Etruria. The siege of that place, which lasted nearly ten years
(404-395 B. C.), gave rise to the introduction, among  the Roman
military, of winter campaigning, and of pay. Thus, on the one
hand, the prosecution of wars more distant and protracted became
possible; while, on the other, the consequences were, increased taxation. About this time, Rome was reduced to ashes by the Gauls,
who pressed out of Northern Italy through Etruria, and possessed
themselves of the city, the Capitol only excepted.   One of the chief
heroes of this period was Camillus, the deliverer of Rome, who laid
a double claim to the gratitude of his native city, by overruling, after
* IIeeren.
57 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
his victory, the proposal of a general migration to Veii. Scarcely
was Rome rebuilt, ere the former feuds revived, springing out of the
poverty of the people, induced by the oppressive military taxation.
Licinius, the Tribune, at this juncture having decreed that no individual should hold more than a certain amount of the national lands,"
the people became eligible equally with the nobles to the office of
consul. The dictatorship, censorship, praetorship, and even the priesthood, quickly followed, as a matter of course.  Thus political equality
was conferred upon the Plebeians, with the Patricians; and the differences between them ceased, for a time, to form opposing political
parties.
We now approach the true heroic age of Rome. This was introduced by the Samnite war-an engagement far more important than
any in which Rome had previously been involved. In former contests her object had been to sustain her supremacy over her immediate neighbors; but in these latter wars, which continued for half a
century, she opened a way for the subjugation of Italy, and laid the
fotundation of her future greatness. In this period commenced the
practical illustration of the leading ideas of Rome upon the political
relations in which she placed the States and cities she subdued.
After the subjection of the Samnites, Rome, wishing to confirm her
dominion in lower Italy, became entangled in war with the Tarentines, who secured the alliance with Pyrrhus. In the first two battles
with this foreign prince, Rome was unsuccessful. In a subsequent
engagement at Beneventum, he was defeated, and compelled to evacuate Italy, leaving a garrison at Tarentum. That city soon afterwards
fell into the hands of the Romans, whose dominion became thereby
extended to the extremity of lower Italy.
The early expedient of Roman colonization served the double purpose of relieving the capital of its pauper population, and of peopling
her captured cities, as well as forming garrisons. This colonial system took its rise in the Samnite war, and ultimately embraced the
whole of Italy. Connected with it was the construction of military
highways, of which the Via Auppia, constructed B. C. 312, was one,
58 
THE FALL OF ROME.
and which, to this day, remains the lasting monument of Roman
greatness.  These colonies were not invested with the privileges of
Roman citizenship; they possessed their own civic government, but
had no share in either the Comitia or magistracies of Rome.  They
were obliged, however, to furnish tribute and auxiliary troops, and
were in other respects amenable to the Roman prafects or magistrates.
The constitution of Rome was at first essentially democratic, inasmuch as it conferred an equality of rights and immunities both for
the poor and the opulent.  It was yet a democracy so modified by
ingeniously contrived expedients, that, even considering the warlike
character of the people, it seemed well defended against the evils of
military despotism on the one part, and popular discord oni the other.
Without specifying in detail its various features, it may suffice to
state that it produced a senate, which at this epoch was the first
political body in the world. It is remarkable that the constitution
was in great part the result of experiment, no complete charter having ever been written.
The memorable war which took place between Rome and Carthage,
and which lasted twenty-three years (B. C. 264-241), although it cost
her much, was the first step in her splendid series of triumphs. Considering its important consequences, with the great heroes enlisted on
both sides, as well as the vastness of the struggle, an interest attaches
to it, surpassing that of any other age. The occupation of Messina
by the Romans gave rise to this war; it resulted in driving the Carthaginians from Sicily. Thus the conquest of Carthage gave its
pre-eminence to Rome. No monument of Carthage-the stupendous rival of the Romans-now remains to point out the ancient
splendor of that Republic.   That city, originally founded by a Tyrian colony about eight centuries prior to the Christian era, became
the capital of a powerful Republic, which continued upwards of
seven centuries; during which time it controlled the commerce of
the world.  Hier interval of peace, which lasted seventy years, was
the epoch of her glory-she was then the most renowned of the inde
59
7
r 
A VOICE TO AMERIICA.
pendent States of antiquity; but the love of conquest was the procuring cause of her ultimate overthrow.
When the Carthaginians resolved to have provinces instead of
factories, and garrisons instead of colonies, a large force became necessary in order to keep possession of the conquered lands. From
the time that a nation of merchants becomes a nation of princes, and
exchanges commercial pursuits for territorial possessions, it abandons
its proper strength for alien weakness, and fixes the limits of its own
duration. The spirit of party and faction scarcely appeared in Carthage, until after the Republic had yielded to the trial of conquest,
and the passion for territorial aggrandizement. The strength of Carthage in the war with Rome depended merely on its mercenaries
and its money: it was founded on sand and gold-dust; when the
tide of fortune turned, both were swept away.  There were, however, other elements of social demoralization among the Carthaginians, which tended in no small degree to their overthrow. Their
religion allowed the horrid rites of Moloch: they attempted to propitiate their deities by human sacrifices.  The immolation of infants
was carried to a fearful extent, even by their infatuated mothers.
To a flagrant and undisguised disregard of female honor has been
ascribed this frequency of infanticide.*
The conquest of Carthage inspired the Romans with arrogance,
and although, ostensibly, her constitution remained unchanged,
by it the power of the Senate acquired an undue preponderance.
An illustration of this was seen in her invasion of Sardinia, in the
midst of peace.  Rome's maritime power was also extended in the
Adriatic, and at the same time she formed her first political relations
with the Grecian States. In the mean time Carthage was endeavoring to atone for the loss of Sicily and Sardinia, by extending her
Spanish dominions.  Rome at this time numbered, in all Italy, an
army of eight hundred thousand men.  While Hannibal, who had
the command in Spain, was meditating a descent upon Rome, the
preparations she made for defence show that it was not believed
* Dr. Cooke Taylor.
60 
THE FALL OF ROME.
possible that he could execute his enterprise by the route which
he took.
The results of this war were, the destruction of the naval power
of the Carthaginians, and, notwithstanding her immense loss, a
great increase of the territorial dominion of Rome. Rome now presented the fearful spectacle of a great military Republic. Flushed
with the brilliancy of her achievements, she became a nation of
warriors, and to this cause may be ascribed her aspirations after
the dominion of the world. It demanded the most dexterous and
sagacious policy on the part of Rome to frustrate the powerful
alliances formed against her. The Roman Senate at this epoch
usurped almost unlimited control-despotic and oligarchical-and yet
it was the embodiment of the highest political wisdom. Notwithstanding the remonstrance of the Tribunes, war was declared against
Philip of Macedon. The Roman arms were led to conquest in the
east, by T. Quintius Flaminius.  He gained his victory more by
strategy than by feats of arms. As he had already gained over
the Achaean league, this brought Greece into a state of dependence
upon Rome. A system of espionage was carried on by Rome,
not only in the West, but also in the East, over Greece. The fall
of Carthage and Macedonia sufficiently exemplifies the political
rapacity of Rome.
The ambassadors or Roman commissioners were skilful in diplomacy and intrigue. By an artful policy, Rome procured the banishment of her most formidable foe, Hannibal, from Carthage, and
thus prevented his projected league with Syria and Macedonia.  A
contest then arose between Rome and Antiochus, who, at the battle of Magnesia, was compelled to accept conditions of peace, and
which reduced hirm to a state of dependence.
Within ten years, Rome had laid the foundation of her sway in
the East, and she soon became sovereign arbitress of the world from
the Adriatic to the Euphrates. The internal condition of Rome had
now become grossly immoral, and her political system no less corrupt.                 Venality and  perfi dy obtained the mastery, and with reck
4
61
r 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
less disregard of honor, she devastated all the States that opposed the
way to her universal dominion.
The civil broils under the Gracchi, to "the first use of power
which the emperors made," Mr. Merivale observes, "was  to control
the fiscal tyranny of the proconsuls and publicani. The revolution
of Drusus and the Gracchi opened the spoils of the world to the
Italians; but those of Julius and Octavius closed them again, and
restored them to their rightful owners. The luxuriance of Roman
oppression flourished but for a century and a half; but in that time
it created, perhaps, the most extensive and searching misery the
world has ever seen.   The establishment of imperial despotism
placed in the main an effective control over these petty tyrants; and
notwithstanding all the crimes by which it won its way, and the
corruptions which were developed in its progress, it deserves to be
regarded, at least in this important particular, as one of the greatest
blessings vouchsafed to the human race."
Sallust forcibly remarks that the Roman manners were precipitated at once to the depth of corruption, after the manner of a
resistless torrent. The era from which the rapid degeneracy is to
be dated, was the destruction of Carthage; yet, it cannot be doubted that the atheistical tenets attributed to Epicurus, tended in no
small degree to accelerate the subversion of Roman virtue and Roman liberty. A firm belief in the Divine superintendence of affairs
is the true guarantee of public and private virtue as well as of liberty. It was Atheism that slew a million and a half of people during the first French Revolution.  It was not Voltaire alone who
blighted all France with the curse of infidelity; France had previously ignored the Sabbath, desecrated her temples, and banished
her priesthood. It is evident from the lessons of all history, that
the Supreme Governor of the world holds nations as well as individuals to a strict moral accountability.
The historical student, in comparing the Athenian' Republic with
the Roman, will at once perceive the characteristic differences of the
races.  The polished Greek preferred the polite arts of life, while the
62
I 
THE FALL OF ROME.
sturdy Roman yielded to the instinct of his nature in love of martial exploits. With the former, genius and learning were the cynosure; with the latter, the ensanguined trophies of war. Except
during the age of the Republic, the records of Roman history boast
of few illustrious names in literature.  It was then that public virtue was sustained by public education; it was then that the heroic
fame of the Roman matrons passed into a proverb. No wonder that
rhetoric and poetry should then have attained such rare excellence;
or that the populace even should have been fired with emulation of
literary distinction; or that Sallust, and Cesar, Cicero, Lucretius,
Virgil, Horace, and Livy, became the master spirits of the age.  It
will be also remembered that the laws of the "Twelve Tables" of the
Decemvirs or ten Commissioners, were the product of the Republican intellect of Rome.
Though the temples of Rome are in ruins, these "Tables," which
Cicero declared, "contained more wisdom than the libraries of all
the Philosophers," are preserved intact, through the lapse of twenty
centuries, since they form the basis of the law and the jurisprudence of the civilized world.
The fate of the Republic seemed now to depend upon the success
of her Liberator-the elder Gracchus.  In his effort to establish a
yeomanry-the last expedient for reconciling the ceaseless discords
between the politicians and plebeians-he became the victim of the
brutal fury of the former.  "The election day for tribunes was  in
mid-summer; the few husbandmen, the only shadow of a Roman
yeomanry, were busy in the field, gathering their crops, and failed
to come to the support of their champion. He was left to rest his
defence on the rabble of the city, and though early in the morning
great crowds of the people gathered together, and though, as Gracchus appeared in the forum, a shout of joy rent the skies, which was
redoubled as he ascended the steps of the Capitol, yet when the patricians, determined at every hazard to defeat the assembly, came
with the whole weight of their adherents in a mass, the timid flock,
yielding to the sentiment of awe rather than of cowardice, fled like
63
0 
A VotICt T() AMJERiCA.
sheep before wolves, and left their defender, the incomparable Tibe  rius, to be beaten to death by the clubs of senators. Three hundred
of his most faithful friends were left lifeless in the market-place. In
the fury of triumphant passion, the corpse of the tribune was dragged
through the streets, and thrown into the Tiber."* The deluded no  bles flattered themselves into a belief that they had accomplished a
victory; that the senate had routed the people, but it was the aveng  ing spirit of their fearful wrongs, that had struck the first deadly
wound into the bosom of Rome.   The blood of their victim, like that
of other martyrs, but cemented his party. A succession of fearful in   surrections ensued, and the soldiers of the Republic becamer the cap  tives of their bondsmen, whose num;bers hid prodigiously increased.
Such were the horrors of this civil war in Sicily and Italy, that it
; is said a million of lives were sacrificed, and that Sicily suffered more
/ from its devastations than during the Carthaginian war.   Two evils
seemed to have resulted, unbridled license among the wealthy, and
the most degrading servitude of the bondsmen.  It was now that Ro   man citizens, by their own vote, consented to the degradation of be   coming paupers, their extreme poverty requiring that they should be
fed from the public table.  Discarding the pursuits of agriculture and
the industrial arts, the public treasury had to be supplied by plunder
of foreign countries, and thus Roman virtue and Roman valor were
exchanged for piracy and pillage.   At  this crisis the demagogue
darius became the chieftain of the oppressed poor.   The streets of
RPome and the fields of Italy again became  the scenes of massacre,
and the oppressed bondsmen witnessed the fearful destruction of their
oppressors.
They triumphed over Sylla, the leader of the opposite party, who, to
gain influence, conferred fireedom upon ten thousand of their number.
The subsequent insurrection of Spartacus failed, however, of its pro   posed result, for, when in sight of the Alps, the immense emigration,
which had already defeated the armies of four Roman generals, fell a
snare to its lust of plunder, and was thus overthrown. The defeat of
* Bancroft's Miscellanies.
64
0 
THE FALL OF ROME.
Spartacus took place at a moment when the Roman state was in jeopardy from foreign enemies, and from the fiercest domestic dislactions.  It was then that the haughty tyranny of her nobles was al its
greatest height, and when the degradation of its industrial classes was
most insupportable.  It was at this juncture, when the last glimmering light of liberty had vanished, that the dark reign of despotism
began.
Thus we see that oriental luxury was the parent, first of civil, then
of political despotism, and the train of its vices appear to us through
the lapse of time, in all their monstrous deformity. The reign of Roman luxury was gigantic in crime, for it would sacrifice ten thousand
gladiators with as much unconcern as the Spaniards exhibit at a
bull-fight.
"Despotism now became the government of the Roman empire.
Yet there was such a validity even in the forms of liberty, that
they were still in some degree preserved.  Two  centuries passed
away, before the last vestiges of Republican simplicity disappeared,
and the Eastern diadem was introduced with the slavish customs of
the East. Up to the reign of Diocletian, a diadem had never been
endured in Europe.  Hardly had this emblem of servility become
tolerated, when language also began to be corrupted; and, within the
course of another century, the austere purity of the Greek and Roman.
tongue, the languages of Demosthenes and of Gracchus, became for
the first time familiarized to the forms of oriental adulation. Your
imperial highness, your grace, your excellency, your immensity, your
honor, your majesty, then became first current in the European world;
men grew ashamed of a plain name, and one person could not address another without following the customs of the Syrians, and calling him rabbi, master.'"*
Previously, Roman citizenship constituted by far the smallest portion of her inhabitants. 1ter dependencies and allies were treated,
with very slight exceptions, as aliens, who were denied the right of
voting, &c. Hilerein consisted her safety, and her deviation from the
*- Bancroft's Misccllalcs.
65 
p
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
rule is proved to have been fraught with ruin. The same cause will
ever insure like results.
"The universal record of history teaches that all republics which
have risen and fallen, owe their destruction to foreign influence-unseen at first,-permitted till too strong for resistance,-at last fatal."*
During the greatest successes of Caesar, just after his defeat of
Pompey at Pharsalia, the Senate was crowded with aliens and soldiers,
instead of Roman citizens. Michelet remarks, the victory of Caesar
bore all the character of an- incursion of barbarians into Rome, and
into the Senate. In the commencement of the civil war, he had
given the right of the city to all the Gauls between the Alps and the
Po, and he raised to the rank of Senators a whole host of Gaulish
Centurions in his army, as well as soldiers. Thus the conquerors of
Pharsalia came to stammer  out Latin by the side of Cicero.  Thus
that body, once so august, was now under the control of the thriceelected Dictator. This Senate decreed a general celebration of his
various victories, during forty days. A bronze statue of him was to
be set up in the Capitol, inscribed "the demigod!"  His triumphant
processions, one for Gaul, another for Egypt, a third for Syria, and a
fourth for Numidia, bore him four times, in the highest state which
mortal could sustain, up to the temple where his image testified to
immortality, while to all classes of the people, revellings, games, and
fastings, were continued with unsparing prodigality. His fifth and
last triumph was that obtained over the sons of Pompey, of Munda.
The Senate still-entinued to lavish upon him every kind of extravagant homage, even acknowledging him as the Julian Jupiter, and ordaining a temple and a priesthood to be consecrated to his worship.
So fell the liberty, and so trembled the religion of Rome. There was
now but one man for those "that talked of Rome," to praise as their
sovereign, and to confess their deity.t
Thus by their vices were the Roman people brought to servitude,
not as they were unwilling, but as if bondage had become more acceptable to them than liberty.
t Elliot's Liberty of Rome.
66
. * Gov. Gardner of Mass. 
THE FALL OF ROME.
"But what more oft, in nations grown corrupt,
And by their vices brought to servitude,
Than to love bondage more than liberty?"
The almost superhuman influence which Ceesar exerted as Emperor
was, however, destined to a swift annihilation. His work of massacre
and spoliation had ceased, and now the retributions of Providence were
to follow. The story of his subsequent career to its end is already
familiar to the reader. With the accession of Octavius Caesar, who
assumed the title of Augustus and Emperor, may be said to have
ended the greatest commonwealth the world has ever seen, and the
commencement of the greatest monarchy. The empire of Rome was
extended over the whole globe; in Europe, it comprised Italy, Gaul,
Spain, Lusitania, Greece, Illyricum, parts of Britain and Germany;in Asia, Armenia, Syria, India, Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, and Media;-in Africa, Egypt, Numidia, Mauritania, and Libya.   But it was
under the tyranny of her praetoriau guards that the liberty of Rome
was sacrificed. There is a voice which yet speaks to us from Marius,
and Sylla, and Philippi.
The ruin of the free classes of Rome, and the consequent depopulation of the empire, appears to have been the specific malady of the
state, and under which it suffered dissolution.*   Gibbon forcibly
portrays the skepticism and its usual accompaniments, which obtained among the higher ranks of Roman society.  "It was indifferent to them what shape the folly of the multitude might choose to assume, and they approached with the same inward contempt, and the
same external reverence, the altars of the Libyan, the Olympian, or
the Capitoline Jupiter."
The Abb6e Lamennais asserts, "that in such a frame of society,
the human mind had nothing to rest upon. Despoiled of its faith,
and even of its opin!ons, it was drifted upon an ocean of uncertainty and
doubt. There was no more of paganism-no more of philosophy, unless you call by that name those idle vagaries with which the Romans
amused their leisure in the gardens of their villas, or under the porti
* Michelect.
67 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
coes of their palaces, but from which proceeded no guide to the conscience, no fixed rule of conduct. They descanted upon their gods only
to doubt their existence-on their duties, to elude them-on death, to
determine how life could be enjoyed most; and the whole was terminated by abandoning themselves, heedlessly, to the current which carried, pell-mell, the wrecks of social order, men, institutions, and the
empire itself." Montesquieu, and other reliable authorities, do not
essentially differ in their opinions.
Last, but greatest of all the causes that rendered the Roman people incapable of existing any longer as a Republic,' that made their
subjugation to the rule of some military adventurer inevitable, was
the universal spread of irreligion and profligacy.* This is disguised,
or lightly passed over by some modern writers; but no one can become familiar with the classics, without having it perpetually forced
upon his notice in a thousand different forms; no mistaken delicacy
should prevent us from dwelling and reflecting on the facts. They
teach the great moral, that, to preserve freedom, piety and virtue must
not be suffered to decay. The Romans, whose foreign conquest and
domestic concord Polybius witnessed, believed firmly in a future state
of rewards and punishment; hence, as Polybius remarked, camne the
probity that honorably distinguished their nation. The Romans of
Caesar's time had learned to Iook on such ideas as vain and ridiculous.
Among the Roman virtues, not the least conspicuous, was her sublime patriotism. It was this that added such august dignity to the
Roman character; but, with the loss of her virtues, came the fall of
the great commonwealth.
No people has ever been destroyed unless internal division has
first prepared the way for an invader. Nationality is of too strong a
power to be seriously affected by external attacks: its foes are in
its own household, and cliques and feuds are its most dangerous
enemies.
The armies of Joshua found the Canaanites an easy prey, for that
ancient people were split up into numerous principalities and tribes,
* Merivale.
68 
THE  FALL oF ROME.
though of common origin, language, and customs. Their several
kings or chieftains could resolve on no settled action against the invader; internal jealousies prevented a united action, and the several
nations were annihilated in detail.
Carthage, the mistress of the world when Rome was yet in its infancy, flourished peacefully so long as concord and unity influenced
her citizens in the common good, but faction wrested victory from her
brow, persecuted and banished the immortal Hannibal, and left her
palaces in ruins at the feet of her conquerors.
Rome, eternal Rome herself, felt the terrible evils of division.
Against such treason to the Republic, Cicero thundered in fearful eloquence, denouncing the Catilines and anarchists of the age who sought
to divide a united people. It was by such divisions that Caesar and
Pompey destroyed the Republic, and left it the prey of emperors.
Feuds and civil war delivered Italy to the barbarians, and the rival
houses of the Arsini, Colonna, Medici, &c., plunged her in medieval
darkness.   Poland shone among the nations, and drove back the
Moslems from the walls of Vienna, for she was then moved by one
principle, and patriotism had an existence in her midst.  But an evil
day came, and her nobles forgot their country, and thought but of
their own selfish interests. Then, what the mighty Turkish power
had failed to injure, trembled before a northern invader; Poland was
still the same nation, the same heroic people; but her soldiers were
slain, and her scythemen annihilated, because the bond of union, the
common action, was now no more.
History has graven on the granite columns of Time the incontrovertible maxim, "Union is Strength."  Ambition and Tyranny have
divined its import, and embraced the only course which could affect
it.  That course is, Diviser p)our reyner: (Divide, in order to reign.)
It is only by such a policy that liberty can be attacked; she is safe
against all foreign enemies; storms will pass harmlessly over her; but
dissension will induce rancor, and rancor, anarchy: thus the State is
quickly left to bemoan its loss of freedom, when it sees itself the prey
of ever-changing tyranmts.
4*
69
0 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
The loss of a firm national character, or the degradation of a nation's honor, is the inevitable prelude to her destruction. Behold the
once proud fabric of a PRoman empire, an empire carrying its arts and
arms into every part of the eastern continent; the monarchs of
mighty kingdoms, dragged at the wheels of her triumphal chariots;
her eagle waving over the ruins of desolated countries: where is her
splendor, her wealth, her power, her glory? Extinguished forever.
Her mouldering temples, the mournful vestiges of her former grandeur, afford a shelter to her muttering monks.  Where are her statesmen, her sages, her philosophers, her orators, her generals? Go to
their solitary tombs and inquire. She lost her national character, and
her destruction followed. The ramparts of her national pride were
broken down, and Vandalism desolated her classic fields.*
Thus has the mighty mother of nations fallen-with all her pride
of beauty, her majestic power, her intellectual greatness, and her sublime patriotism!
"Ah, eloquence, thou wast undone, Wast from thy native country driven,
When tyranny eclipsed the sun,
And blotted out the stars of heaven!"
Yet the world ceases not to do homage to her lost virtues, as well as
her triumphant exploits in arts and philosophy; and in all coming
time, will there be found admiring multitudes who will delight to
gaze up into those bright blue skies, which inspired the muse of Virgil, to linger amid the ruins of her Forum, so memorable for the stupendous eloquence of Cicero, and to bend before that Temple of Liberty, in which Rienzi vowed to her protection in her last asylum.
"Her ruined columns stand sublime,
Flinging their shadows from on high;
Like dials which the wizard Time
Had raised to count his age gone by."
Other great cities of past ages may attract us-Thebes, Babylon,
*Maxcy.
170
0 
THE FALL OF ROME.
Persepolis, and Nineveh-but Imperial Rome awes us with a solemn
sense of her mighty mind, as well as her magnificence.  It is the
genius loci of the great capital that invests it with such deep and
absorbing interest.  " It is because she was the lawgiver of the
nations; parent of institutions that give civility and development to
society; inveitress of the arts that establish right through reason;
source of that social wisdom which is civil power,-that the all-imperial city sits throned in the ever-during reverence of the mind, girt
with a divinity invisible, perhaps, to the frivolous, but irresistible to
the thoughtful mindled."
'/1 
I 
ITALIAN LIBERTY IN THE MIDDLE AGES.
"The sea, that emblem of uncertainty,
Changed not so fast, for many and many an age,
As this small spot."
WHEN the irruption of the Teutonic tribes into the Roman Empire
had plunged Europe in barbarism, the first attempt at the establish'
ment of order and government was the creation of the feudal system.
"The establishment of the feudal system  had a powerful  and
striking influence upon European civilization. It changed the distribution of the population. Hitherto, the lords of the territory, the
conquering population, had lived united in masses more or less
numerous, either settled in cities, or moving about the country in
bands; but, by the operation of the feudal system, these men were
brought to live isolated, each in his own dwelling, at long distances
apart."*
No system has been so powerful in checking democratic liberty as
feudalism. Leaguing with the throne or the Church, as circumstances
rendered necessary, it consolidated power, and became,; as it were, an
integral part of government. The people, ignored by it, were only
used to add vis inertice to the pretensions and encroachments of their
oppressors.
But one country refused its adoption. Whilst the rest of Europe
was developing feudality, Italy barred its progress beyond the Alps,
and created those asylums of individual liberty, the various Republics, which it is now our intention to examine.
The Italian Republics of the Middle Ages demand the serious
attention of our citizens, suffering, as they did, from like attack with
ourselves, and succumbing eventually beneath those evils which
* Guizot. 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
equally affect us, and which, if unchecked, will ultimately prove our
ruin.  The Italian commonwealths arie vortlihy the love and esteem of
our citizens; for they prese:ved all that then remained of democracy,
and shielded libertv from destruction during the most critical period
of European affairs. We do not propose to give a history of all or any
of these States, but, glancing at their origin and prosperity, to study
those causes which destroyed freedom, and thus, from the misfortunes
of Italy, to inculcate a warning to America.
The municipal government which Rome had established throughout
the empire, had taken deep root in Italy, and having flourished during
many centuries, offered a firm barrier- to the progress of feudalism.
This system had existed too long for Italy to unite as one nation.
Each large city had a government peculiar to itself; and the smaller
towns which sprung up around them, entering into alliance for mutual
defence, formed the nucleus of a republic.
Venice seems to have been one of the earliest States which developed the republican form of government.  The hordes of Lombards
which devastated Italy in the sixth and seventh centuries, succeeded
in establishing their power in the north and south, but failed on the
Lagunes, at the extremity of the Adriatic. As early as the time of
Attila, these marshes had been the refuge for the rich citizens of vari,)us towns, fleeing from the JHuns and other barbarous tribes.
"A few in fear
Flying away from him, whose boast it was
That the grass grew not where his horse had trod,
Gave birth to Venice."
In course of time, a large population found a home on the various
islands, supporting themselves by the making of salt, fishing, and the
commerce of the various rivers whose mouths form the Lagunes.
"Like thie water-fowl,
They built their nests among the ocean-waves."
The barbarians, not possessing any vessels, left these refugees unmolested; and they maintained their independence under the adminis
74 
ITALIAN LIBERTY IN THE MIDDLE AGES.
tration of tribuines, named by the inhabitants of the various islands.
Each island frmeld a separate State, and thus jealousies and disputes
ariose, until, at length, they united themselves into one, republic, electing an asserffbly and a chief, to whom they gave the name of' Doge.
In 809, during a war with Pepin, they made choice of the island of
the Rialto as their capital, and, twenty years later, transported thither
the body of St. Mark, whom they chose as their patron saint.
In the' south, the republics of Gaeta, Amalfi, and  Naples  had
successfully resisted the attacks of Lombards and Saracens, and covered the Levant with ships of merchandise.   To Amalfi is due the
glory of the invention of the mariner's corpass, the establishment of
the order of the Knights Hospitalers of Jerusalem, and the preservation of the pandects of Justinian.  Naples and Amalfi both suecumbed to the Normans, under Roger II., in the beginning of the
twelfth century.
"When, towards the end of the eleventh century, the Westelm
world took up the dispute with the Saracens for the sepulchre of
Jesus Christ, Venice, Pisa, and Genoa had already reached a high
point of commercial power.  These three cities had more vessels on
the Mediterranean than the whole of Christendom besides. They
seconded the Crusaders with enthusiasm. They provisioned them
when arrived off the coast of Syria, and kept up their communication with the West.  The Venetians assert that they sent a fleet of
two hundred vessels, in the year 1099, to aid the first crusade. The
Pisans affirm that their archbishop, Daimbert-who was afterwards
Patriarch of Jerusalem-passed into the East with a hundred and
twenty vessels. The Genoese claim only twenty-eight galleys and
six vessels. But all concurred with equal zeal in the conquest of the
Holy Land; and the three maritime republics obtained important
privileges, which they preserved as long as the kingdom of Jerusalem
lasted."*
Such was the prosperity of the Italian Republics when Frederic
Barbarossa determined to abolish their freedom, and render Italy an
* Sismondi.
75
.1 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
integral part of the German Empire. The small towns quickly per ceived that their only safety was in joining some one of the great
cities, and making common cause against their oppressor.  Thence
arose the Guelph and Ghibeline parties, which distracted the penin sula with civil war during several centuries.
The two party-cries, which seem to us insufficient to account for
the sanguinary proceedings which desolated Italy, represented two
important principles.  The Emperors of Germany were determined
to vanquish the democratic institutions of the Italians, and, by granting certain immunities to different cities, obtained their assistance
against the Guelphs, who asserted their independence of the Emperors,
and found a willing ally in the Papacy, then in the height of the
struggle to rid itself of the temporal power.
Notwithstanding the civil commotion which threw the entire country into one camp or the other, Italy presented a ma-gnificent picture
at the close of the thirteenth century. The authority of the popes
and emperors having become suspended, numerous petty independent
republics had arisen: the country was filled with cultivated plains
and valleys, the proprietors advancing capital and sharing the harvests; immense canals were constructed for purposes of irrigation, of
which the _haviglio Grande of Milan still bears testimony to the science and perseverance of seventy-eight years. The cities began to
construct and perfect those wonderful works of art, which the lapse of
six centuries still sees drawing the steps of travellers to Florence, Genoa, and Venice: the towns were surrounded with fortifications, and
the streets paved with flag-stones. Magnificence and taste combined
to raise and beautify the palaces of Italian citizens, at a time when
the nobles and princes of the rest of Europe thought but of security
and defence. Sculpture, both of bronze and marble, flourished under
the chisels of the forerunners of Michael Angelo; the "Gates  of
Heaven" of the Baptistery at Florence were cast, whilst Cimabue and
Giotto revived painting, Casella, music, and Dante gave to the world
his glorious poem.  History was studied, and written with elegance
and truth by Giovanni Villani and others, whose records bear testi
&6
4 
ITALIAN LIBERTY IN THE MIDDLE AGES.
mony to the flourishing state of their country, and its happiness under
the blessings of self-government. The manufactures of Italy, particularly in stuffs and arms, excited the astonishment and cupidity of the
northern nations; the Tuscan and Lombard merchants trafficked in
the East and West, bartering their goods to the people, and lending
money to the nobles at large interest: the banking and monetary
system of Europe was established by them. The laboring classes
were in similar prosperity; each gained largely, and spent but moderately, for manners were yet pure, and luxury had not as yet affected
virtue.
But this prosperity was doomed, and the dissensions of the various
republics soon surrendered liberty to the uncontrolled power of such
despots as the Visconti and the Medici. War broke out in 1282, between Genoa and Pisa, which continued with various success until the
year 1284.
The history of Florence, "that land where the poet's lip and the
painter's hand are most divine," presents more objects of importance
than any other republic of the Middle Ages. Previous to her subjection to the Medici, she was free, active, and independent, the protectress of Italian liberty, the nurse of art and science. There was an
immeasurably greater degree of democratic liberty in her midst than
elsewhere. Venice was an oligarchy, whilst a powerful aristocracy
predominated more or less in the other republics.
"Florence was the Athens of Italy.  The genius displayed by some
of its citizens,-the talent and intelligence in business to be found
even in the mass of the people,-the generosity which seemed the
national character, whenever it was necessary to protect the oppressed
to defend the cause of liberty,-raised this city above every other."*
Discord broke out, however, in 1378; the lower orders demanding
a more complete equality with the higher' classes. The constitution
became at this time entirely democratic; the people were sovereign,
and the nobles were excluded from the government. The seeds of
anarchy and oppression were, however, in her midst,-the'citizens
* Sisnmolrdi.
77 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
were divided into twenty-one different corporations of arts or trades,
from seven of which, termed arti mnaygiori, the magistrates might
alone be chosen. From these sprung the-Albizzi and Ricci, rival
houses, and eventually the Medici, who, from popular leaders, became
the absolute sovereigns of the republic.
The disputes between the higher and lower orders of the citizens
broke out with renewed intensity in 1378. The poorer classes of artisans flew to arms, and made themselves masters of the city. -A
carder of wool, Michele Lando, marched at the head of the people,
carrying in his hand the gonfalon or national standard, when suddenly
the citizens proclaimed him gonfalonier. Hie restored peace and security to the State, and ordained that in future the chief magistracy
should consist of three members of the major arts, three of the minor,
and three of the ciompi or wool-carders. But this state of order and
freedom did not long exist: in 1381 the people were deprived of
power, and the family of Albizzi then directed the republic for fiftythree years. This house governed the State prosperously; Florence
attained an unexampled degree of prosperity, setting a limit to the
ambition of the powerful Gian Galeazza Visconti, Ladislaus, king of
Naples, and Filippo Maria, duke of Milan.
"No triumph of an aristocratic faction ever merited a more brilliant place in history. The one in question maintained itself by the
ascendency of its talents and virtues, without ever interfering with the
rights of the other citizens, or abusing a preponderance which was
all in opinion."*
The family of the Medici having obtained the leadership of the
people by advocating popular doctrines, now intrigued to build up the
fortunes of their house, and Cosmo de Medici became the rival of the
Albizzi. Driven from the city in 1433, he was recalled the following
year, and the Albizzi expelled.
Had there been any patriotism in the Italian nation at this periodhad any common course of action or policy existed, or union of the
different republics been effected-Italy could have cleared the Penin
* Sismondi.
78 
ITALIAN LIBERTY IN THE MIDDLE AGES.
sula of foreign armies, and driven the French, Germans, Spaniards,
and Swiss, with countless Condottieri, beyond the Alps. The great
republics of Milan, Venice, and Florence, could not, however, consent to this forgetfulness of rivalry, and the two latter refused to admit Milan into such a union. Italy, therefore, soon became a prey,
not merely to foreigners, but to her own citizens, and the various republics fell into the hands of those rich families, whose only object
was self-aggrandizement.
Cosmo de Medici resolved to effect that, in which the family of the
Bentivogli had been successful in Bologna, —the subjugation of the
State to his rule, and that-of his descendants. In this he eventually
succeeded, and henceforward we can no longer regard Florence as a
republic, but as a duchy,-glorious, magnificent, and powerful, it is
true, but a State in which democratic liberty did not exist, even in
name, where the pride of a dominant family was the first, the only
consideration. Florence had been the least selfish of all the Italian
republics: she had opposed the oppressive power of the German emperors, assisted her weaker neighbors against their tyrants, and been
the guardian of liberty, generally, in Italy. But she fell, because in an
evil hour she followed a selfish policy, and forgot the good of the
whole in her private jealousies.
There was a gleam of hope, however, when, in 1494, Florence expelled the Medici, after they had governed the city during sixty years.
Three parties aspired to power. The Piaynoni, headed by the famous
Savonarola, a monk, who demanded a democratic constitution; the
Arabbiati, who aspired to hold the same aristocratic power as that
formerly held by the Medici; and the Bigi, the partisans of the Medici,
who kept studiously in retirement. These three parties became so
evenly balanced in the balia or national council of 1494, that "Savonarola took advantage of this state of affairs to urge that the people
had never delegated their power to a balia, which did not abuse their
trust.' The people,' he said,'would do much better to reserve this
power to themselves, and exercise it by a council, into which all the
citizens should be admitted.' His proposition was agreed to, and a
179 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
general council was formed, and declared sovereign on the 1st of July,
1495; it was invested with the election of magistrates, hitherto chosen
by lot, and a general amnesty was proclaimed, to bury in oblivion all
the ancient dissension of the Florentine republic."*
But the popular voice proved inconstant, and Savonarola's influence
quickly gave way to that of the Arabbiati, who arrested him, and put
his partisans, the Piagnoni, to flight.  Pope Alexander VI. dispatched
messages to Florence, ordering the monk to be put to death, with his
two disciples, Buonvicino and Marruffi, and they were accordingly
burned alive, after suffering those excruciating tortures which preceded their execution.
With the aid of the Spaniards, in 1512, the exiled Medici returned
to Florence; but they had lost every republican feeling, and all sympathy of the Florentines. Their only object was to raise money for
themselves, and for those Spaniards who had assisted them in regaining their tyrannical power. In 1569, Pope Pius V. granted the title
of Grand-Duke of Tuscany to Cosmo de Medici, a youth of nineteen:
seven grand-dukes of that family reigned in Florence, the last of whom,
Gian Gastone, died in 1737.  Thereafter, Florence, once the first on
the scroll of liberty and fame, was scarcely mentioned in Europe.
The little republic of San Marino, which has existed as an independent State since the fifth century, contains, at the present day, but
four thousand inhabitants. Whilst her once powerful and magnificent
neighbors no longer exist, and, what is remarkable, under the very
eaves of the Vatican, she still preserves her laws and freedom.  San
Marino has its nobles and plebeians, fromn whom the legislative council of sixty members is chosen by universal suffrage. There is also
an Upper Chamber, called the Council of Twelve, two-thirds of whom
are renewed every year; and two capatini, who form the executive.
A supreme magistrate, who is invariably a stranger, administers justice, and is elected for three years. The revenues are about $6,000,
and the armed force consists of forty men. The Republic pays great
attention to letters, and supports a college which contains some fifty
* Sismondi.
so 
ITALIAN LIBERTY IN THE MIDDLE AGES.
students. The Italian traveller, M. Valery, informs us the usual complaint is heard about the aristocracy, for it appears that a few rich
families have managed to keep all political power in their own hands.
Another complaint is of a still more serious character-non-resident
strangers, unnaturalized, have become possessors, by purchase, of the
greater part of the little State. The republicans of San Marino must
obviate such a crying treason, or they will soon cease to exist as a
separate nation.
Florence, the brightest gem in Freedom's coronet, fell from her
high estate, because she kept not guard over liberty.   It was an
easier struggle to vanquish the aristocratic Venice and Genoa, with
the many minor States, which followed their baneful examples; but
all alike are now fallen, and the mailed hand of foreign despotism
holds Italy in chains. In looking back upon the glorious era of the
Italian republics, the mind is almost lost in admiration of the power
exerted by these small commonwealths; of their intense love of liberty,
when the rest of mankind were sunk in comparative slavery, and their
glorious monuments in literature and the arts, at a period when Europe was in medieval barbarism. But a foe existed in their midst,
and the very principles which have worked the ruin of all other republics compassed their destruction. Shall not Italy be a warning
to other lands?
Neither the military hordes of the German emperors, the fearful
thunders of the Vatican, the impetuous onset of the Gallic knights,
nor the ceaseless ravages of the marauding Condottieri, could have
prevailed against Freedom, had the Italians remained true to themselves. But union did not exist-union had almost become impossible: the sacred name of Liberty was used as a mere party-cry, and
every man's hand was against his fellow. History declares with all
the majesty of divinity, for her voice is but the fulfilment of prophecy,
that conflicting principles and ceaseless agitation cannot exist in a
community without destroying its vitality. Nay, the language of
inspiration speaks in tones that man dare not gainsay-"A house
divided against itself cannot stand."
81 
* 
THE ANGLO-SAXON RACE AND FREEDOM.
"If there be any thing in the supremacy of races, the experiment now in progress will develop
It."-DANIEL WEBSTER.
NEXT to the divine instinct of religion, and scarcely less holy, is
love of country and of the family to which we belong. Blood is the
first and closest bond of life, endearing us, not only to our brethren,
but to the generous soil which is our common heritance. We know
not how it attracts us in sympathy, feeling, and disposition; but its
potency is none the less indisputable. It has been correctly remarked
that the family is the first state. Next to occupying the same land,
the best guarantee.of fellowship is speaking the same tongue. Further
bonds of union are established when our brethren share the same belief with us, worship at the same altars, meet at the same time and
places to perform the ceremonies of religion and settle the graver
affairs that agitate the whole community, and, generally, when they
feel and act as the members of one family or race can alone feel and
act if they would strengthen the circumstances of blood and common language. A people that is a stranger to such emotions, occupies
no position in the world's history, but becomes merely an instrument
in the hands of other and more earnest nations. A distinct and
sacred nationality is essential to the development of patriotism, as
the latter is essential to the growth of-virtue and freedom.'
I The American is a branch of the great Anglo-Saxon family. This
we hear every day. It is one of those trite definitions which trip
from the tongue on the smallest provocation. How many are there
who know any thing at all of the Anglo-Saxon family?  How many 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
are there who appreciate to its full extent the truth and glory of the
assertion? The number has been small, we believe, but it is swelling into magnificent proportions.  The day is at hand when twenty
millions of free-born sons of America shall rejoice in the boast that
they are Anglo-Saxons;-that day when the surging of turbulous
foreign races shall provoke dignified and decisive reprimand.
Where there are many conflicting elements of discord, it is not
easy to mention a subject of national importance without eliciting
ridicule and sarcasm. Anglo-Saxonism is particularly successful in
this respect. It is a theme which can scarcely be broached in general
society, without calling forth some silly sneer. Surrounded on every.
side by a mixed population, the American almost loses his own identity; but it is for a moment only.  The "time that tries men's souls"
leads him instinctively back to the great fountain-head of his being,
and heifeels at once the race to which he belongs. We purpose in
this chapter to devote ourselves, firstly, to a consideration of the AngloSaxon race en masse, and secondly, of that branch to which we belong.  We will preface our remarks with what a writer* of the 5th
century says of the Anglo-Saxons of his day: " They overcome all
who have the courage to oppose them; they surprise all who are so
imprudent as not to be prepared for their attack. When they pursue,
they infallibly overtake; and when they are pursued, their escape is
certain. They despise danger; they are inured to shipwreck; they
are eager to purchase booty with the peril of their lives. Tempests
which to others are dreadful, to them are subjects of joy.  The storm
is their protection when they are pressed by the enemy, and a cover
for their operations when they meditate an attack." It will be perceiv-ed how little the characteristics of the race have changed, and
how much we inherit in this present day from our early ancestors,
especially in the particulars of overcoming opposition, despising danger, and laughing at the fierce threatenings of the ocean.
The Anglo-Saxon race is undoubtedly of Scythian or Gothic origin.
A portion of this great family invaded Britain early as 300 years
Sidoniuts, Bishop of Clerimonit.
84 
THIE ANGLO-SAXON RACE AND FREEDOM.
before the Christian era, whilst it was in possession of the Cimmerians
or Celts. The Anglo-Saxons of that early day, who were called Bel gxe, from Belgic Gaul, whence they came, did lnot assimilate with
other tribes more readily than they do now. The Celts had to aban don their advantage, and at the time of Julius Cesar's invasion it
was the stern courage and inflexible bravery of the Gethe's descend ants, not the Cimmerians, that opposed his imperial legions.   Pinkerton supposes that the interior of the island was still in the posses sion of the WVelch or Britons, as they were called. All memory of
the Celts or Cimmerians who preceded the Welch in their occupation
of Britain was unknown to the Roman and Saxon writers.
The genuine Ang+o-Saxons, however, whence the present race is
descended, did not transport themselves to Britain until the fifth or
sixth century. They came from the Cimbric peninsula (now Denmark), and were branches of the great Saxon confederation which
had extended itself from the Elbe to the Rhine. The Anglo-Saxons,
Lowland Scotch, Normans, Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, Germans,
Dutch, Belgians, Lombards, and Franks, have all sprung from this
great Saxon confederation,* and may all be distinguished by the
terms Scytlhian, German, or Gothic. Their first appearance in the;
world's history was in that cradle of nations-Asia.    Here they
multiplied and extended their area of operations for several centuries.f
Amongst themselves their general appellation was Scolati; among
the Greeks, Scuthoi or Nomades. They are better known, however,
as Getse or Goths. The more advanced of the tribes were known to
the Romans as Germans.
We will here deviate for a moment to explain the meaning of
these various designations, and whence they are derived. Pliny
speaks of the Scythians as Sacassani, which was probably a corruption of Sakai-suna, or Sons of the Sakai, afterwards abbreviated into
Saksun or Saxon.: The name is supposed to come from the same
root as the Anglo-Saxon word seaxe, a sword. In the Persian book
of Kings the same people are called Ssakalib, or Ssaklib-sword' Pinkerton.    t Herodotus, Strabo.    ~ Miss Chandler.
5
85 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
lips;-the name being suggested in all probability by the Saxons'
fondness for that weapon, a fondness which the Anglo-Saxons of the
present day do not fail to manifest whenever they have an opportunity of getting to close quarters with an enemy. That they were a
warlike people is beyond doubt; for even the Roman name, German,
is derived from the old German ger, a spear, and mann, a man.
After leaving Asia the Saxons adopted a new name and abandoned
their Scythiall one. They called themselves Teutons, from Teut,
Tuisto, Tuisco, or Thiusco, who is said to have been one of the founders of the race, and who was worshipped after his death as a god.
The modern name  beutsch is derived from this, having passed
through the modifications, Dutsch, Dietsch, and Tentsch.
A Scandinavian branch of thle family settled in Scotland about
the same period that the BelgT emigrated to Britain. The members of this section of the Saxon stock are known in history by the
name of Picts, or Caledonians.  They are said to be the ancestors of
the Lowland Scotch and the Northern Irish-races that are distinguished from their Celtic countrymen by superiority of intelligence,
industry, and firmness of character.
We have thus briefly traced the origin of the Anglo-Saxon family,
and have shown whence it camne.  We will now prove that from
earliest time to the present it has been the consistent champion of
freedom, loyalty, and devotion. It cannot be disputed that the AngloSaxons were from the first, and are to the present day, fond of what
is delicately termed "annexation."  They were ever ready to purchase booty, as the learned Sidonius remarks, with the peril of their
lives. A brave people cannot resist the temptation of adventure, and
the peril which it involves is, perhaps, its greatest attraction.  A
notable illustration may be found in Jonathan's love for Cuba. If
that island could be acquired quietly and as a matter of course, no
one would trouble himself about it. But it is otherwise; and the
Anglo-Saxon principles of overcoming difficulties and vanquishing
opposition manifest themselves.  Those writers who recommend Jonathan to wait until Cuba, like a ripe pear, falls into the lap of her
86 
THE ANGLO-SAXON RACE AND FREEDOM.
American lover, display but little knowledge of the  Anglo-Saxon
character. Independently of this restless forme of character, however, there is the moral element, which governs and controls its
action.
If the Anglo-Saxon were a mere marauder, he would rest content
with acquisition and pillage.  But he does not do so.   The land he
has fought for, he chlerishles.  It is thereafter his land;' a pait of
himself, and to.be regarded from the elevation of his fireedom-loving,
noble mind.  He may have acquired it by the sword, but be'retains
it by the law, and by a man-to-man faith and affection. Wltei(soever
thle An,lo-Saxou pioneer goes, fhefights first  tlen builds his chapel,
his courthouse,. his schools, and his "stores.  IIe do.s not ltl(  to
forget civilizatlioni, but'to exclude barbarism.  All the RLoman writers
expressed their astonislhmnent at the moral sternness and rectitude of
the Teutonic character. The reverence with which they treated woman was even a matter of surprise.  Tacitus says: "They think their
women possess something inherent and foreseeing."  Is it not just
occasion of pride, that in our day this chivalric feeling still remainis,
andl forms a proverbial characteristic of the American character?
Wherever Freedom is found, there is woman emancipated.  England
is the freest country in Europe, and there the position of woman is
little inferior to what it is in our own land.  Aniong- the  iancient
Britons (or Celts) marrinage was unLnowii.  MIcii and w)nait  live(l
together promiscuously, like beasts of the field.  The Ang01lo-Saxons,
on the contrary, viewed the custom with abhorrence, and weqe strict
in the observance of the marriage vow. Some of their earliest laws,
at least the earliest of which any record is known to exist, relate
especially to the crime of adultery.   It was looked upon as miost
heinous, and received the severest punishment of the Anglo-S:lxotcode. In religion, the same wide difference existed between the
two races   The Celts.adhered to their Druidic worship, a1(1'llandoned their souls to the charige of the priests.  The Angolo-Slx'ons,
on the contrary, r'ayed to their inytlologoical (gols vithl iuldividlual
87 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
fervcor, and were content to manage their own conscience, and let
others do the same.  For a while the lRonish religion gained the
ascendency in Europe, and Celt and Saxon alike obeyed its tenets.
But later, ere the voice of Luther shouted sternly through the darkness of Popery, the Anglo-Saxon Wickliffe had proclaimed liberty
of conscience.  The Celts, on the contrary, adhered to the old traditions; and even in this day of generally diffused theological knowledge, tlhe Celtic races are obedient to the blind dictates of the Holy
See.
Thus we perceive, that to the earliest Anglo-Saxons we are indebted not only for the lasting characteristics of our race, but for that
inherent reverence for the gentler sex, and toleration of religious
opinion, which  characterize  the Amnerican people of the present
century.  But this is not all.  The Anglo-Saxons loved fair play, and
could understand no trial that was not based on general principles of
equity and justice.'In the reign of Ethelred, the following law was
passed: "Let there be gemoto in every wapen]ace;  and le twelve
of the eldest thegres go out with the gerefa, and swear on the
relics which shall have been given into their hands, that they will
condemn no innocent man, nor screen any  that is guilty."*  In
other words: "Let there be courts in every district, and let the
sheriff summob twelve men to try all prisoners;" our  own prized
trial by jury!  If we had inherited nothing but this boon from our
ancestors, it would be sufficient to endear the race to the present and
to all after generations.
If our space permitted, we could dwell on the memorable deeds
of famous Anglo-Saxons. But we have proved sufficient to Satisfy
the skeptic, that Freedom is not a new word, but an old idea, derived
and retained from the earliest pages of their history. We will add
to these remarks the final sentence of King Alfred's will. It needs
no comment. " It is just that the English should forever remain as
free as their own thoughts."
Turning to our own history, we find that the Anglo-Saxon element
* Sharon Turner.
88 
THIE lTGLO-SAXON RACE AND FREEDOM.
has ever been the potent one. Our present greatness and our future
progress alike depend on it. The singular purity of the AngloSaxon stock, particularly in the Eastern States, has been a matter of
surprise with some writers; a moment's reflection, however, explains
the circumstance. Oppression or intolerance of any kind was so inimical to the character of the Anglo-Saxon, that it became unbearable. Always preferring a certain to an uncertain remedy, he detached himself from the land of his birth, and sought, on the shores
of America, a home, free and filled with promise. Privation, sufferings, and hardships were, to his sturdy nature, mere items arrayed
against a grand total. The future nerved him for the present, and
he had unbounded confidence in his own inherent will. The New
England colonies were founded by such men; stern almost to fierceness, but patient, brave, and elevated in their social and moral
thoughts. The counties in England whence they came were chiefly
those which refused the domination of the Danes and Normans.
Additions were afterwards made from the north of Ireland and the
Scotch Lowlands; but, as we have before intimated, these were either
Anglo-Saxon in their origin, or Pictish-a kindred Gothic race. The
last fifty years have witnessed the influx of hordes of Celts and of
inferior German tribes.  The effect has,been trouble and annoyance.
We must look to the pure American stock, and to the pure American
stock only, for the remedy of these evils.  It is indisputably true,
however, that-at this mcoment New England is miore -Anglo'Saxon, if
possible, than Old England.  "-The names found in a few pages of a
Boston Directory,- oI in the columns of advertisements in a newspaper, if compared.wvith the same number of English names, taken
equally at random, will show the far greater proportion of AngloSaxon names with us."*  According to an eminent historian,t the
old Puritan stock leavens the national character to the extent of twothirds of its aggregation. The other third could, we opine, be tracoed
to the same Anglo-Saxon fountain-head, if necessary.
The heading of this chapter intimates that the Anglo-Saxon is the
89
* Miss Chancller.
t Bancroft.. 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
only race capable of sustaining fireedom. We base that opinion on the
facts we have adduced, and on the additional one, that America is the
only country in the world that has sustained institutions perfectly free.
The history of the Anglo-Saxon race affords abundant material
for the reflective mind. It exhibits in an unusual degree the fact
that the national characteristics of a race do not change.
It may be objected that scarcely any modern people has not been
modified or changed by amalgamation with foreign blood, whether
by conquest, immigration, or otherwise; and in confirmation' of this
the English are sometimes cited. But the truth is, the Anglo-Saxons
never settled among the Celtre-as the Franks among the Gauls but drove them out, and, receiving continued accessions of their
countrymen froml the shores of the Baltic and adjacent islands'
repeopled the conquered territory.  The unhappy Britons (Celtie) in
their memorable appeal to Azetius, the Roman patrician, forcibly describe the kind of settlement the Teutons were making. "The barbarians," they say, "on the one hand, chase us into the sea; the sea,
on the other, throws us back upon the barbarians; and we have only
the hard choice left us of perishing by the sword, or by the waves."*
The Danes in the reign of Egbert and later, to the accession of
Canute, were but tribes of' the Angles or Saxons,-differingr only fiom
those already settled in England in the fact of being more civilized.
To the same race also belonged the Normans; but these latter never
intermixed with the conquered in the same manner as the Danas.
Introducing the feudal system into England they became a species of
caste, and kept themselves aloof from the mass of the vanquished.
Eventually the Norman stock became much thinned during the long
and bloody wars of the Roses. What remains of it in the English
aristocracy has become so softened in its characteristics by contact
with the people, that, except in the class distinctions of the feudal
system, it is no longer a separate element of the population. Even
this last fragment of Norman caste spirit is rapidly passing away.
History assists us in drawing certain conclusions from the ex                             - Bede.
90 
THE ANGLO-SAXON RACE AND FREEDOM.
perience of the world. In briefly recording the prominent events
attending the career of the race from which we are descended, it is
impossible to overlook the fact that the Anglo-Saxon race absorbs,
but does not assimilate with other races;-borrows nothinig( from
their sentiment; derives nothing fiomn their nationality.   Whlat  it
was a thousand years ago it is to-day; Civilization and Education
have not modified, but intensified its characteristic aspirations for
Freedom and the Institutions of Freedom.  The same unconquerable
energy; the same indomitable courage; the same inflexible deter  mination to accomplish destiny, individualize the Anglo-Saxon people
of to-day, as on the advent of the race under the victorious banners
of Hengist and Horsa.  The genius of the people has always been
manifest; their susceptibility for the highest achievements of the
human body or intellect, undeniable. Wherever they have penetra  ted, Freedom, Religion, Arts, Sciences, and Literature have found a
home.   Colonization, which has been a ruinous experiment with
every other nation, has prospered with the Anglo-Saxon, and for this
reason: The latter retain, no matter what the difficulty of doing so,
and cherish, their nationality. It is never laid aside or forgotten for
one moment, and always rIises superior to the circumstances by which
it is surrounded. The colonization of other nations has failed for the
reason, that the colonists, lacking force of character, have been too
anxious to assimilate with the people amongst whom they settled.
The Spanishl, French, Dutch (Hollanders), &c., have at various epochs
~n the world's history made successful attempts at settling on distant
shores, but after the small end of the wedge has been inserted, the
leverage has been thrown away by a degenerate imitation of the
worst characteristics of thILe people amongst whom they settled.  The
Anglo-Saxon stands alone in that repellent force which, concentred in
itself, throws off all inferior bodies, but ever widens with opportunity
to embrace what is most desirable and advantageous.   In a word, it
looks forwa'd, never backward; upward, but never downward. What
is beneath it, it passes by; what is above it, it aspires to, strives for,
and achieves!
91 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
We have remarked that the Anglo-Saxon absorbs other races, and
this too, without suffering any apparent deterioration.  Its character istics have not changed, because the infusion of one race with another
of stronger and better defined characteristics results in a general as similation of the infused with the people amongst whom they settle,
unless a spirit of caste prevail. Thus the Franks, after driving out
the Romans from Gaul, soon lost their national characteristics, and
became blended or lost in thle immense majority of the Gaels. Thus,
also, innumerable races may assimilate with the American, if, in their
earnestness for what is desirable, they imitate the characteristics of
the Anglo-Saxon. But if on the contrary they retain a spirit of
caste, establish clanships or race distinctions of any kind, as the Tartars in China, assimilation is impossible. The national spirit will
eventually drive them out. Before long the Tartars will cease to
exist in China. The present revolution numbers their days.
In all strongly individualized lines of descent, there is a persistency
of type which is not affected by an admixture of foreign blood. At
the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, thousands of French refugees
settled in England, but the controlling majority obliterated their
national peculiarities, and few traces now remain of their origin.
Races preserve their characteristics, but individuals assimilate. They
are absorbed into the dominant race-particularly if it be AngloSaxon.
The important consideration of race cannot be too vigorously impressed on the American mind. No other country in the world is
so besieged with opposing elements of caste, sect, and foreign nationality.  In the pulpit, in the senate, in the street, and in the home
circle, we find representatives of other races than our own..In the
majority of cases these representatives have imbibed a certain amount
of American sentiment, sufficient perhaps. for an easy passage through
politics or society, and are consequently in process of absorption. But
too frequently we find them tenaciously adhering to Old World doctrines of government, religion, and social life. It may not be easy to
abandon a life-long theory, but it should be no more difficult than
92 
THE ANGLO-SAXON RACE AND) FREEDOM.
abandoning the land of one's birth.  When the latter becomes imperative, the former should be absolute. The American, by attaching
due importance to every circumstance of race, learns precisely whence
freedom sprang, and inversely to appreciate his own glorious birthright, and to guard against encroachments from inimical sources. No
sentiment that is not thoroughly Anglo-Saxon can he entertain, for it
is his Anglo-Saxon principles that make him what he is. Montesquieu remarks in his  Spirit of Laws'-" The English (by which of
course is meant the Anglo-Saxon race) are the people who have best
known how to preserve in full vigor those three great things (principles), religion, commerce, and liberty." This important avowal
from such a philosopher should be studied word for word, and justified from the pages of history; as indeed it is briefly vindicated in
this chapter. If we ask ourselves why it is so, we shall find that it
is because in religion the Anglo-Saxon is always sincere in obeying
his own conscience without extraneous dictation.  Piety is an instinct
with him, not a sensual gratification, as in Southern lands; or an
intellectual exercise, as in Northern ones. He has no dependence
on any one but God and himself; and needs no mediator but his
own conscience. It is for the simple reason that the Anglo-Saxon is
no hair-splitting doctrinarian that he has preserved his firee religion.
Speak to him about his faith, and he may hesitate in its exact definition; but speak to him of his conscience, and he knows precisely what
you mean.  If we would learn the secret of his success in preserving
and fostering commerce, we must turn to that other source of his
greatness- his faith and confidence in the transactions of his fellowman.  He does to others as they should do to him.  He begins by
inviting confidence, and ends by securing it.  The Anmerican people
is the most trusting on the face of the earth, and the most enter prising for that reason.  The low vice of trading nations-meanness
is unknown to him.  He is shrewd enough in securing a good bargain, but he forfeits nothing of his integrity in doing so. The ad vantage hlie obtains is strictly a commercial one; bought at no sacri fice of independence or morality, but such an advantage as hlie would
93 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
appreciate in others, if they could gain it over him.   The same
characteristics are the features of his political history. HIe is free,
loves freedom, appreciates it, and asks every one to come and share it
with him. A little less confidence in the miscellaneous guests he has
invited to his home might be desirable.   It would be well if he
noticed the peculiar characteristics of races, and remembered that
they were inevitably the result of local circumstances, which, although
they may be changed or removed, are for the most'part difficult to
eradicate.
But these things the American should never forget
That the Anglo-Saxon race is the only one which has proved itself
capable of sustaining free political institutions;
That the representation of the people, of the whole people, is of
Teutonic origin, and can be traced up to the earliest time of the race;
That the government of the Anglo-Saxons (and also of the Danes
and Northmen) was never monarchical; the chieftainship was never
hereditary.  A chief had power only in the field.  The battl'e over,
he was but a simple warrior, claimiiig. no immunity and no superior
portion of the booty taken in battle;
That the chief was chosen by universalsuffrage.  Alfied the Great
caine to the throne not in virtue of his' birth-though de facto king
of the Heptarchy, he was not so de jure.  The Saxon constitution
never thought of divine or hereditary right: that absurd fiction  was
the result of tyrannous combination and Rome;
That the Representative system is purely Anglo-Saxon. It was
not instituted by Edward the First, but merely revived by him after
it had long lain in abeyance. The king was struggling against his
Norman barons, and in his necessity claimed the assistance of his
Saxon people;-they remembering former constitutional rights redemanded and once more obtained them.  This national assemblage
of the representatives of the people was called in the legal Norman
French of the time, Paerler le meat, signiifying to speak one's rmin.
T''lus freedom of tlhouglllt  rn  speel  was a recognized right amrnong
the Saxons.  The feudal system strove in vain to ignore it.  No other
94. 
THE ANGLO-SAXON RACE AND FREEDOM.
race in history has had any thing similar to this right. The republics
of ancient times were merely the aristocracy governing the plebs.
The nearest approach to it, however, was found in. the ilmmu)ities
enjoyed by the citizens of the Fiee-towns of Europe in the miidd(le
ages, as Antwerp, Bremen, Lubeck, &c.; but even here the suifiage
was limited, and lay in the hands of a few.
And, lastly, an American should demand  from every foreigner, as
an equivalent for the hospitality extended to him, a full recognition
of the supremacy of this same Anglo-Saxon race. There is nothing
degrading in the admissibn, for it is justified in the existence of the
very freedom he comes hither to enjoy; and it is essential, because
until he does acknowledge it, he is scarcely likely to imitate its virtues, its heroism, and its veneration for the institutions of fieedom.
Every man who cowmes to America with the'intention of cherishing
his own nationality, is an enemy to the Constitution, and abuses a
hospitality which should be sacred.  The existence of a population
thus disposed must be pernicious and dangerous.  It is calculated to
lessen the love of the American for his own home, and to render the
nation less imposing and distinctive in the eyes of foreign powers.
There cannot be a doub)t that Providence has selected the AngloSaxon race to spread the blessings of liberal institutions throughout
the world.  It is the only one, of modern times, which has been able
to colonize with success, a(nd fiftnly establish its character, its language, n-d its custons UponI the new territories.  What the English
have gained by the rights of discovery, or the aggressions of war,
America seems destined to organize and perfect.  It is therefore that
our country displays to the world a power and a success characteristic
of no other age or clime; a liberty, of which the Grecian and Ro man philosophers never dreamed, and which, next to Christianity in
effulgence, shines through the earth as the light of suffering humanity.
But this freedom is.thle victory, the hard-earned( conquest, of centuries
of struggles against oppression.  Men of other races, individuals of
other peoples, have declared the great principles of fireedom-have,
in.thousands of instances, died in their defenee-but the nations to
95 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
which these men belonged have made no universal response, but left
them exceptions, and not characteristic examples. Not so with the
Anglo-Saxon; the race has acted, and its heroes have embodied, only
what its heart cordially responded to-what was the very instinct of
its nature.
96 
THE HEROES OF THE FOUNDERS OF- LIBERTY.
"The present age is benefited by the experience of the past. We have in fruition what thousands
hoped for, and vainly suffered to possess."-GOETnE.
THE wisdom of king Solomon will ever be perpetuated in the one
declaration, "There is nothing new under the sun."  Homer remarks
that we always take the liberty of thinking ourselves wiser than our
ancestors.  Whatever we do, whatever idea illuminates our mind,
whatever progress we attempt, the conclusion always is, that we are
by so much abandoning the past and approaching a future more
radiant and ennobling than any preceding epoch of the world's history. It is doubtful, however, whether civilization, like the emblem
of eternity, be not in the form of a circle; whether we do not simply
diverge from a point, to converge to it afterwards. Modern philosophy embraces the idea that the earliest era of man's existence was
the most perfect; and that what we lost then, is but now being'slowly
recovered.
Be that as it may, there can be no reasonable doubt that the
modern idea of freedom is of very early inception. All freedom,
indeed, is the result of long agitated reform, based at first on an individual idea, permeating afterwards as a principle, and accomplished
finally as a necessity of the times.  Reforms usually commence with
argument, and end with bloodshed. The comparative few who think,
appeal to those who feel, and the two constitute leaders and revolutionists.
There is no error more common than that which attributes to the
principles of the war of American independence an original character.
Many well-informied meni entertain the belief that in the Declaration 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
of Independence were conveyed startling and entirely new ideas of
liberty, and that the men who achieved it were indebted solely to
the inherent greatness of their natures for a civil and political triumph, whose equal has yet to be found in the world. Whoever has
studied the history of the world-its constant yearnings for religious
and political freedom-and observed the slow but certain progress of
reform, needs scarcely to be told that this is an error. The American
war of independence consummated a preconceived idea; gave vitality
to a principle which has from time immemorial occupied the attention of thinkers. It was not a sudden, unexpected dispensation of
liberty; it was not a patriotic suggestion of the moment, but the
accumulated result of centuries of effort.
Wherever reform begins, revolution must, sooner or later, follow.
It will be objected, that England is an exception to this rule.  It
must be borne in mind, however, that the best revolutionary spirit of
England-that is, the spirit most tenacious of prerogative-left the
mother-countiry for America in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
It was the strong, stubborn Saxon spirit that had risen in rebellion
against the idiotic misrule of James, which first scaled the rocks of
Plymouth Sound, and explored the inviting banks of James River.
Congenial natures followed, and England rapidly lost the foremost
men of her time,-men who had been the centre of all reforms, and
who brought with them the most elevated opinions of the century.
In speaking of America as a new land, it should always be borne in
mind that, practically, it is as old, if not older, than any nation of
Europe.  The mere consideration of centuries is of little importance.
Intelligence and civilization are the characteristics which stamp manhood on a nation's brow.  The Chinese in their chronologies go back
far beyond the period when we are taught to believe the world was
created. It is said that in their school-books it is customary for the
teacher to insert a pencil-mark opposite the year in which the world
is popularly supposed to have been made. But notwithstanding
their extensive line of progenitors, the Chinese are the youngest, the
least inforimed, imost fivolous people on the face of the earth.
98 
THE lHEROES OF THE FOUNDERS OF LIBERTY.
The progress of humanity may be likened, says an eloquent writer,*
to the successive necessities of repairing the ancient homestead of
our fathers.  We  are unwilling to disturb the old framework, and
yet the decay of parts imperatively  calls for repairs.  But every
attempt to add and beautify, by comparison, discovers defects, and
the skill of the mechanic and artist stands in permanent requisition.
The homestead of our American forefathers was found too seriously
dilapidated to admit of repairs.  It was vacated, and  a new one
erected on the Atlantic shores of wild America.   But the men who
erected that homestead were no untutored pioeers. They knew precisely the defects of the old homestead, and avoided them-falling,
however, for a time, on others equally great and pernicious. Their
new house was, in all important respects, put in order with the best
of all judgments-that which had been tutored in bitter experience.
The perfection of earthly happiness is freedom, and that, as we
have before asserted, is the slow result of gradual reform. If we
penetrate the darkness of remote antiquity, we find minds of a superior order striking initial blows at the root of tyranny and oppression.
In Dr. Abbot's Egyptian Museum (New York) there is a remarkably
curious illustration of this fact. A rude artist of the earliest Egyptian period (3000 years B. C.), caricatures the priesthood for their low, 
fox-like cunning and rapacity. This exceedingly curious work of art
is executed on a tile, and was doubtless in its day a missile of some
weight. Thus we perceive that there were religious reformers even in
the days of the first Pharaoh. It is not unreasonable to suppose that
there were political reformers also.
The men who have made sacrifices in the holy cause of Freedom,particularly those who  come from the same stock as ourselves,are assuredly worthy of our best remembrance.  To them we are
indebted for the prosperous consummation of a free country. They
are not only our lineal ancestors, but the parents of our best and
most noble thoughts.  Without their example and their spirit, we
should be, even now, a colony, cursed with Church, State, and
* Ilistory of l)emnocracy) Vol. I. pago 3I.
"!.
_  I,: *.,. *. -_
*  I:1 @ i  
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
man-worship, and all the other imbroglio of monarchism. Unfortunately, the limits of our work prohibit any thing like a complete
sketch of the antecedent heroes of political liberty.  The most we
can accomplish is to select a few names, and present them as fingermarks along the track of history, for the admiration of the reader.
Our endeavor will be to make them, as far as possible, the representatives of their class and epoch, and briefly but explicitly to set
forth their claims to the consideration of the law-abiding people of
this country.
Our sketch is to illustrate the growth of those institutions which
we now enjoy in America. To do this with any thing like elaborateness, would compel us to epitomize the general history of the past.
Political heroes obtain their greatest attraction from the circumstances in which they were placed; and, indeed, would not be- interesting to a general reader, in the absence of such connecting information. Hence the necessity for dwelling with some detail on
events which were of vital importance to the early founders of American freedom. The antecedent history of America begins, of course,
with the Saxons. In this chapter we have commenced with Alfred
the Great, for it is only subsequent to the reign of that monarch that
Freedom began to be modernized.
For the record  of an able, patriotic, liberty-loving man, and the
people's beloved ruler, we cordially turn to the life of an early
hero. Instances of unselfish loyalty to constitutional liberty are so
scarce, that this imdel man may well be venerated. His merits were
not of a class order; he was good not merely as a king,-which
would scarcely concern us,-but as a citizen. In private as in public
life, he practised what he professed: "so happily were all his virtues
tempered together, so justly were they blended and so powerfully did
each prevent the other from exceeding its proper boundaries."*
ALFRED THE GREAT, youngest son of King Ethlelwolf, was born in
Berkshire, England, in 819.  At an early age he was taken by his
father to Rome, where he remained twelve months, but without ac
* Humne.
100
i                 - - 
THE IHEROES OF THE FOUNDERS OF LIBERTY.   101
quiring any kind of knowledge, save perhaps an insight into the
avariciousness of Romish priests, of which he afterwards made good
use. Pope Leo the Third, perceiving in the boy something of
promise more than was usually manifested, went through the playful
operation of giving him the royal unction. This consisted, so far as
we have been able to discover, in muttering a few prayers, accompanied with some theatrical ceremonies, in return for which the recipient was expected to make liberal grants of money and land-a
common sort of exchange in days of bigoted superstition.  Ethelwolf,
Alfred's father, returned to England to find his kingdom torn to
fragments by the ravages of the Danes. The incursions of these
desperate marauders continued with unabated fury to the day of his
death. If you can imagine a noble steed pursued by a band of
remorseless wolves, sometimes giving them battle with success, at
others fleeing from them with apprehension, you will have a good
idea of the condition of England in the year 800. Ethelwolf died,
and was succeeded rather summarily by his sons, Ethelbald, Ethelbert, and Ethelred. It was during the reign of the latter that Alfred
gave the first indication of his patriotism. Ethelred had unjustly
deprived him of a large patrimony, and beside this, kept him from a
thronewhich had been bequeathed to him by the will of his father,
Ethelwolf. Either of these reasons was sufficient, in those days, to
attract a band of eager warriors to his standard. The national danger, however, was from the continued irruptions of the Danes. To
put a stop to these, Alfred eagerly seconded all the efforts of his
brother Ethelred.   The nation's welfare, and not the individual's
right, was consulted for the first time in that rude age.
Reading and writing in those days were accomplishments of a high
order, and were seldom essayed except by members of the priesthood.
It is said that Alfred's enthusiasm for learning was first aroused by
hearing the Saxon bards repeat their wild lyrics. Himself a poet,
as he afterwards abundantly proved, he at once estimated the incomparable advantages of an education. Hle soon learnt to read, and
proceeded then to acquire a knowledge of the Latin language.  The 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
Roman poets and philosophers fired him with noble emulation, and
contributed in no small degree to the formation of a character naturally heroic. In the midst of his studies, he was called to the throne.
His first enterprises, like those of his predecessors, were; of course,
directed against the common enemy-the Danes. They were prosecuted with varied success. At one time, Alfred had so hemmed them
in, that they were glad to come to terms with him. A treaty was
entered into, by which the Danes stipulated to depart from the country; but the Danes were not remarkable for keeping their treaties,
and in this and other instances behaved perfidiously. Fresh hordes
came over to the assistance of their brethren, and Alfred found himself deserted, or surrounded by men who were too broken-spirited to
be available against a foe so savage and uncompromising. Under
such circumstances, he thought it best to retire for a while from the
contest, and await a more propitious moment to free his country
from the insatiate locusts who infested it. In the meanest disguise,
he sought refuge from the fury of his enemies. Hle concealed himself under a peasant's habit, and lived some time in the house of a
neat-herd whlo had been intrusted with the care of some of his
cows.
The Danes, discovering no traces of Alfred's whereabouts, concluded
that he had left the country, or was dead.  After a time, they gave
up the pursuit.  It was then that the fugitive king began to collect
some of his followers, and to hope seriously for an opportunity to free
his country. He ordered his subjects to hold themselves in readiness
against the enemy, gave them intelligence of his retreat, and suec
ceeded in gaining information of the strength and position of the
Danes. He was determined not to lose this final opportunity by
any rashness or false estimate of the power he had to cope with. In
order more fully to inform himself of the latter, he entered the camp
of the chief Dane, disguised as a harper.  Hle was an admirable
musician, and, it is said, possessed much native humor. By the
exercise of skill and wit, he succeeded in passing unmolested through
eveiry quarter. Shortly afterwards, hlie led his troops against the
102 
THE HEROES OF THE FOUNDERS OF LIBERTY.  103
enemy, and was completely successful. The Danes begged for peace.
Those who were already in the country he allowed to remain, on condition that they and their king should embrace Christianity. Firmly
established on the throne-which he filled for twenty-nine years-lihe
devoted himself to the glory and honor of his country, the propagation of religion, and the dissemination of knowledge. Centuries after
his death, he was known and spoken of as "England's darling." The
wonderfully balanced intellect of this great man, his holy impartiality in all matters submitted to his judgment, and the manifest love
of freedom evidenced in his whole career, entitle him to the fond
appellation. Speaking of Alfred, Gibbon says: "Amidst the deepest
gloom of barbarism, the virtue of Antoninus, the learning and valor
of Caesar, and the legislative genius of Lycurgus shone forth in that
patriot king."
Alfred was a pious, God-fearing man. Hle loved learning and
those who possessed it. Necessarily, the clergy or bishops were the
receptacles in which it lay. But, with singular clearness of vision,
Alfred hesitated to increase the power and influence of the bishops.
During his reign, they enjoyed fewer privileges and far less political
power than they had possessed in other reigns. Alfred preferred
making concessions to the people, rather than to the priests.  The
truth is, that Alfred, whilst he venerated religion and its milsters,
had none of that superstitious awe which usually accompanies inferior minds. The liberality of Alfred's views, and his constant distrust
of the temporal power of the Pope, lead us to agree with Dr. Pauli,
that he felt and thought more as a German than a Roman Catholic,
and that in his character were already to be traced the rudiments of
those opinions which afterwards showed themselves in the independence of Protestantism.
During the reign of Alfred, and for the first time in England, the
work of practical and political reform was commenced. The admnirable institution of trial by jury was put into execution on a thorough
basis. There were courts of appeal also established, at which twelve
fieeholders swore to administer impartial justice.  Lest corruption 
A VOICE TO. AMERICA.
should reach even the presiding magistrate, there was an annual meeting appointed for the inspection of police, for the inquiry into crimes,
the correction of abuses in magistrates, and the obliging of every person to show the district in which he was registered. There was still
another appeal in default of justice in these courts, namely, to the king
himself. He was overwhelmed with petitions from all parts of England, for the people rightly estimated the privilege of appealing to a
man of such strict impartiality. He was indefatigable in the dispatch
of these causes, but finding that his time would be entirely consumed
by their adjudication, he conceived the happy idea of obviating the
difficulty by correcting the ignorance or corruption of the inferior magistrates. He took care to have his nobility instructed in letters and
the laws;* he chose the earls and sheriffs from among the men most
celebrated for probity and knowledge; hlie punished severely all malversation in office,t and he removed all the earls whom he found unequal to the trust. The better to guide the magistrates in the administration of justice, he collected a body of laws for their study,
which long served for the basis of English jurisprudence, and was
the origin of what is now denominated the common law.t The result of these admirable precautions was perfect security to the individual, and a greater amount of freedom than had ever before been enjoyed.  So exact was the character of the inhabitants, and so unfailing the arm of justice, that it is said that Alfred, by way of bravado,
hung up golden bracelets by the wayside, confident that no man would
touch them.~ Under his beneficent rule, learning and literature took
firm hold of the minds of the people. He was himself an ardent student, and contributed in no small degree to the enlightenment of
the age in which he lived. That he might have time to attend to
his multifarious duties, he divided the day into three equal portions:
one was employed in sleep, and the refection of his body by diet and
exercise; another, in the dispatch of business; a third, in study and
devotion.H  Thus, although he often labored under great bodily in
* Asser.           t Le Miroir de Justice.
~ William of Malmsbury.         U Iume.
104
$ Hume. 
TIlE HEROES OF THE FOUNDERS OF LIBERTY.   105.
firmity,* this martial hero, who fought in person fifty-six battles by
sea and land,t was able during a life of no extraordinary length to acquire more knowledge, and even to compose more books, than most
studious men.  He died in the vigor of his age, and the full strength
of his faculties, A. D. 901, after a rieigni of twenty-nine years and a half.
In presenting to our leaders this sketch of the life of one of the
most interesting heroes of history, we do so in the belief that it is instructive and gratifying to trace to such a noble Saxon fountain-head,
the first indications of a political liberty which has since culminated
so practicably and sublimely in the American descendants of this
same Anglo-Saxon stock. It is contrary to our intention to take the
history of England as our only key to political freedom. Other nations have furnished their quota to the general aggregate. But it
cannot be too often impressed, or too tenaciously remembered, that all
the solid practical fuidamiental principles of freedom which  prevail
among us, have been transplanted from the mother country.  What.
ever may be the political jealousies which irritate the two nationsAmerica and England- and they are aggravated enough, there can
be no justification of national hatred. The English trace all their
political freedom to the Germanic element.  We must do the same.
The life of Alfred furnishes us with an illustration of the necessity for
this justice. To that illustrious hero we are indebted for the restitution of trial by jury, and the condensation of a legal practice, now
familiarized to us by the title of Common Law.
The necessity for reasonable brevity prohibits our dwelling on the
successive acquisitions of political freedom by the people. Only the
prominent triumphs can be glanced at.
The Saxon rule in England terminated with the death of Hlaroldthe last of the Saxon kings.  Feudal or Norman rule succeeded.   The
NOrmuans, a tribe of Northern Germaus,'after they had subdued the
provinces of the Roman Empire, established the feudal as the best
system of government.  Great change of circumstances rendered it
necessary for them to deviate from many of the established customs
t William of MalmsbnLr.
* Asser. 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
of their native Germany,.but they retained all those which were corn
patible with their new situation.'
The feudal government was simply a confederacy of independent
warriors. The chief or head of this confederacy was chosen from the
rest on account of his valor; his glory and strength consisted in the
number of suffrages he could thus command.  Under certain conditions of society the feudal system of government was undoubtedly
beneficial, especially when based, as was the Germanic, on theoretical
principles of liberty, which after all have only been more practically
applied in after generations. On the acquisition of fresh territory by
the chief, it was customary to apportion it out among the nobles who
had assisted in its conquest. The conditions imposed on the latter
were, that they should hold these grants in trust for the crown. If
military service were needed, they were required to repair to the field
with a certain number of retainers.  The peculiarity of their tenure
rendered it necessary for the nobles to maintain a large retinue. In
process of time these military establishments became immensely powerful. The nobles erected fortresses, castles, and other improvements,
and thus in an indirect way acquired a kind of hereditary right to the
lands which they merely held in trust. At length this hereditary
claim became recognized, and all that was asked from the nobles was
occasional military assistance when it was needed, and at other times
the payment of some trifling dues. Thus the authority of the sovereign gradually decayed, and each noble, secure in his own territory,
became too powerful and too dangerous to be turned out by an order of the sovereign. The interests of the nobles being reciprocal,
there was no possibility of obtaining a combination against any one
of the body.  But, on the other hand, there was a certaintyof a strong
combination against the sovereign if he sought in any way to encroach on the privileges of the nobles.   Such an instance occurred
in the reign of King John, and resulted in the humiliation of the
monarch and the triumph of thie nobles.  There is an old saying,
that when rogues fall out honest people get their rights.  In the case
of the Magna Charta this was signally illustrated.
106 
THE HEROES OF THE FOUNDERS OF LIBERTY.,107
This important document, to which the Anglo-Saxon race owes so
much of its freedom, renders it necessary for us to introduce that cantemptibly weak prince, King John, to our readers as one of the heroes
of political liberty. He was the instrument wielded by the strong
arm of right, and although paltry and insignificant in himself, was
important to the triumph of the moment. In dignifying King John
even with this importance, we feel some reluctance. But he was the
man who conceded, who had the power to concede the Great Charter.
The barons who extorted that great national boost from him, were in
no respect greater heroes than he. They were actuated by purely
personal motives, exactly as he was.  The concession of the Great
Charter affords another illustration of the truth of the dogma, that
"out of evil cometli good."
King John, having disgusted his people with his cowardice and
duplicity, succeeded in offending the Pope, for which piece of pleasantry he was excommunicated.  In those days of superstition and
Pope-worship, an excommunication from Rome was a grave calamity.
For a while John tried fiercely to retaliate, but he was already so odious
with his people, that he could obtain but little sympathy. He was
compelled to bow submission to the Papal supremacy. With the
usual instincts of a coward, he was not content with submission. iHe
thought it necessary to conciliate. Amongst other monstrous things,
he assigned his kingdom to the Pope, and relinquished all claims to
ecclesiastical power. Having secured, as he imagined, the powerful
influence of the Pope, he determined to revenge himself on his barons,
imagining, with perfect justice, that they were not well disposed towards him. Contemptible natures always nourish some idea of revenge, if at any future time they think they may have an opportunity
to gratify it. Petty persecutions and gross outrages were the weapons used byJohn.  The barons rebelled.  The king desired to know
what they wanted. They sent a schedule containing a list of their
principal demands. It was no sooner showed to the king than he
burst into a furious passion. He asked why they did not demand from
him his kingdom, and swore that he would never grant them liber 
A. VOICE TO AMERICA.
ties, which, if granted, would make him a slave.  Neither daunted
by the fury nor the oath of the king, the barons forthwith levied war
against him.  The besieged him in his castle, and drove him to such
straits, that he was  at length left with a poor retinue of seven
knights. Ile was compelled to submit at discretion.
Between Windsor and Staines, in England, is a green spot called
RPunnymede: it has changed but little since the days of King John,
and the Englishman points to it with reverence as one of the shrines
of political liberty.' It was there that King John met the Barons, and
signed and sealed the famous deed called the Great Charter.   We
need scarcely refer to this document at length.  It is sufficient to
say, that it restored many Saxon laws and usages (which had, under
the Norman rule, sunk into abeyance), and for the first time extended
equLal rights to the vassals as to the lords.  It is generally esteemed
tie foundation of modern political liberty, and was so considered by
the early founders of our own republic, who made repeated reference
to it in time of trouble.  At all events, it has remained for some
centuries the most quotable text of Liberty, and to the present day
serves as the basis of more comprehensive legislation.
Ncations, like individuals, experience emotions of gratitude. Give
them something they can value, and they will prize it thankfully for
centuries. The Magna Charta was a great boon; unquestionably
radical in its day, sufficient in its operations, and liberal in its provisions. For several subsequent centuries nothing more was asked.
The people were content to enjoy what they had, and to prepare
themselves for more. It is in these periods of civil rest that consummate ideas of political fireedom dawn in the future of history.
Men have time to think. They arrive at certain fixed principles of
justice and liberty. When the time conmes for enunciating these
principles, they have acquired all the weight and importance of privileges, and must inevitably be conceded as such. Thus, after the
signing of the Magna Charta by John, we find a period of thoughtful
repose.  The ideas promulgated in that instrument were fenrmenting
in men's minds.   Many heroes-lacking only the stamp of success
108 
THE HEROES OF THE FOUNDERS OF LIBERTY.  109
essayed with untimely zeal to extend the area of popular freedom.
The lives of these men afford ample material for the biographer, and
instructive lessons for the world.  Our limits prevent any special
reference to these worthies. Details must be sought in the contemporary works of history.  To the dispassionate republican, there will
always be an attraction in the lives of men who have striven for
liberty, even if the means they adopted were erroneous, and provoked
by hate and party zeal. William Wallace, Jack Cade, Monmouth,
Wat Tyler, and others, were men who raised a bold front against
oppression, and thus achieved a niche in the many-colored Pantheon
of Liberty.                I        I
Notwithstanding the concession of the Great Charter, Liberty had
two fundamental difficulties to contend with for a long time. First,
the feudal despotism of the nobles; and secondly, the gradual increase
of the Papal power. As an illustration of the former, we may refer
to the well-known incident of Lord Warren, who, when questioned
as to his title to certain lands, drew his sword, and said that was his
title, let who would dispute it. As an illustration of overspreading
Papal power, we have the exhibition of a great emperor,* clothed in
sackcloth and barefooted before the palace of the Pope, standing
there for three bitter winter days, suing for mercy.  These incidents
furnish us with an insight into the real possession of power in those
days, and indicate quite clearly the shoals and quicksands!:the frail bark Political Liberty was likely to strand. Against thes'
two evils then, Feudal and Papal power, the popular ~nr'es werelong directed. Men's thoughts invested them with a thousand',
shapes, and made  them more  horrible and momentous than they
really were.  In process of time it became quite plain, that whatever
advanced the authority of either was, on the whole, unfavorable to
the interests of mankind.   Any thing of a contrary tendency was
watched and examined with the greatest anxiety, for itgave the hope
of future improvement.
It is unnecessary to dwell on the evils of an aggravated feudal
* Henry IV. of Germany.
6 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
system, or how they were slowly removed.  It is sufficient for us to
mention the establishment of privileged or free cities, communities,
and corporations, which, in course of time, fostered a thriving cormmerce, and benefited the poorer class of the people, by drawing them
off from the retinues of the nobles. As these towns and cities increased in importance, so did the inhabitants.  They became materially leagued with the Crown, and the power of the Barons was thus
assailed from without.  In addition to this, the number of retainers
being diminished, their absolute power and political importance began
slowly to crumble.* In the war of the Holy Sepulchre, and afterwards in the wars of the Roses, the feudal Barons were decimated
and nearly exterminated. As they disappeared, the lower and middle classes obtained more importance and consideration. As for the
Papal power, that melted slowly but surely away in the brightening
light of knowledge.
In the interval which we are now bridging, liberal ideas were beginning to be entertained with some earnestness. There was a constant struggle between prerogative and privilege, for the people began to entertain a dim perception of their rights. Many concessions
were already made, and society settled down into well-defined limits,
to break beyond which would be dangerous. Burgesses were summoned by Leicester, at the close of the reign of Henry III. (1265), to
attend a parliament in London. These burgesses were selected from
an order of men who, up to that time, had been always regarded as
too mean to enjoy a place in the national councils.  It was Leicester's
policy to anticipate this concession, which the urgency of the people
had already made inevitable.  In the reign of Edward the III., the
knights of the shire and the burgesses emerged into a separate house,
and became what is now called the House of Commons. A vital prin ciple began to animate the mass-the principle of self-government.
Intelligence, spirit, and dignity inspired men with a knowledge of
their own importance.
In the reign of Elizabeth (and indeed in several earlier ones), we
Smt'4     elho  ain,8  ok
Smithli' Wealth of Nations, Bd Book.
.110 
THE HEROES OF THE FOUNDERS OF LIBERTY.  ill
Nd the monarch jealous of the privileges of the Commons, and claiming a royal prerogative in matters which the latter had taken under
their especial charge. Whatever concerned the royal prerogative was
considered by Elizabeth as forbl)i(dden ground, and sloe included witlhin this description every thing that related to religion, to her lp't1iecllar courts, and to the succession to the crown; she insisted, in her
own words, "that no bills touching matters of state or reformation i ii
concerns ecclesiastical should be exhibited."*  Pretensions of this
character were not likely to pass current with men who already had
a clear perception of their own rights and their own power. It was
evident that a collision must sooner or later take place betweecn the
queen and her "faithful commons," for notwithstanding Elizabeth's
remarkable popularity, there was a stern class of thinking men who
remained proof to her blandishments, and thought more of liberty to
the people than gallantry to the queen.
Such a man was Peter Wentworth.  In this uncompromising but
loyal old Puritan, we have a perfect type of the stock which peopled
the Eastern portions of our own country. Fearless, clear-headed, honest,
and loyal, he was not only capable of asserting the privileges of the
house, but of impressing others with the exactness of his definition of
them.  The event which drew Wentworth out was a commissioi
issued by the queen, directing the speaker to stop a discussion in the
house, and giving orders that in future "no bills concerning relignio:.
should be preferred or received into that house, unless the salie sliould
be first considered and approved of by the clergy." This interference
on the part of the queen elicited a speech firom Wentworth, in which he
maintained that the house was assembled to make or tlabrogate suel
laws as were for the sturety, safe-keeping, and enrichment of the noble realm of England.   It was necessary for this purpose to preserve
such advantages by free speech: without this it were a scorn and
mockery to call the parliament a place of free speech. It was nothing but  a very school of flattery and dissimulation, and so a fit place
to serve the devil and his angels in, and to glorify God and benefit
* Cobbett. 
A VOIOE TO AMERICA.
the commonwealth. Waxing still more bold, he went on to say,
"that to avoid everlasting death and condemnation, with the high
and mighty God, we ought to proceed in every cause according to
the matter, and not according to the prince's mind." In a similar
strain of independent protest and argument, the patriot dwelt on the
message of the queen, giving the house and her majesty some sound
advice and admonition. It was not altogether acceptable to either,
for, before Wentworth had finished, the house stopped him.  He was
sequestered for said speech, and had to answer for it before a special
committee.  All that passed is singularly noble.  "I do promise you
all," said the intrepid patriot, "if God forsake me not, that I will
never during life hold my tongue if any message is sent wherein God
is dishonored, the prince perilled, or the liberties of the parliament
impeached."  Wentworth was committed to prison; a fate which
did not surprise him.  In his examination before a committee, he
observed: "I do assure your honors, that twenty times and more,
when I walked in my grounds, revolving this speech, to prepare
against this day, my own fearful conceit did say unto me that this
speech would carry me to the place whither I shall sow go, and fear
would have moved me to put it out.  Then I weighed whether in
good conscience, and the duty of a faithful subject, I might keep
myself out of prison, and not to warn my prince from walking in
a dangerous course. My conscience said unto me, that I could not
be a faithful subject if I did more respect to avoid my own danger
than my prince's danger: herewithal I was made bold, and went for ward, as your honors heard; yet when I uttered these words in the
house, that there was none without fault-no! not our noble queen;
I paused, and beheld all your countenances, and saw plainly that
those words did amaze you all. Then fear bade me put out the
words that followed, for your countenances did assure me that not
one of you would stay me of my journey. But I spake it, and I
praise God for it."
Wentworth was committed to the Tower, but Elizabeth was far
too politic to allow such a man to become a martyr to the cause of
112 
THE HEROES OF THE FOUNDERS OF LIBERTY.   113
popular freedom. After a month's incarceration she remitted the
sentence.'the toadies of the house held fortth l;u'ely on the divine
leniency of the queen, with which Wentwortl may or may not have
been impressed.  Certain it is, that eleven years afterwards he was
so dissatisfied with further encroachments on  the privileges of the
house, that he prepared in writing a series of tough queries, which
he handed to the speaker. One of these was couched in the following words: "Whether there be any council which can make, add
to, or diminish from the laws of this realm, but only this council of
parliament." It was reserved for another century, in which other
men of Wentworth's calibre were the actors, to answer this vital
question. Much trial and tribulation were undergone before the
people's indignant negative was recorded in the bloody scrolls of
history.  To that period we will now hasten.
The most momentous political occtur'enee of tl,e sixteenth century
was that which provoked the document called the Petition of PRights.
This was the commencement of that memorable epoch, since denlominated the English Revolution, and which, resulting in the execution
of Charles the First, and the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, effected
in a remarkable degree the early characteristics of this country. It
was in this epoch that the word Puritan was first used.  It stood for
the appellation of three parties, all of them opposed to the intolerance of King Charles's reign. There were the political Puritans,
who maintained the highest principles of civil liberty; the Puritans
in discipline, who were averse to the ceremonies and Episcopal governent of the Church; and the doctrinal Puritans who rigidly defended the speculative system of the first reformers.*
During two preceding reigns, the English people, as we have seen,
had been gradually imbibing sentiments of enlarged political and
religious freedom.  Elizabeth, with a tact for which she was remnaikable, conceded what was necessary.   But imbecile James lacked
the talent and the inclination to appreciate the wants of his people.
In the midst of difficulties, dissensions, and civil commotions, and at a
* Hume. 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
time when practical common sense was especially demanded, he
wrote and published an elaborate work on the divine right of kings.
The object of this ridiculous production was, to prove that kings
could do no wrong; that their prerogative was from Heaven; and
that any encroachment on it was flagrant heresy! James's parliament soon became refractory.   Public disapprobation increased
with fearful rapidity.   The king endeavored to get on without a
parliament, and succeeded for a while in raising funds for the State
exchequer. But there was great indignation, and the grievances of
the nation were all converging to a crisis. King James died on the
27th March, 1625. Under his weak rule, the spirit of liberty had
grown strong, and had become equal to a great contest.-*
Charles I. succeeded to the throne. He was unlike his father
in many respects; but he was false, imperious, obstinate, narrowminded, ignorant of the temper of his people, unobservant of the
signs of the times,tf and firm in the determination to protect what he
conceived to be the prerogatives of the Crown. The spirit of reform
had grown strong and muscular, but he thought he could strangle it
withli his weak hands. Failing in this, he tried, as the next bestS thing,
to chastise it.  Parliaments were assembled  at the king's pleasure,
and dissolved the moment they were found to be intractable. In
consequence of the extreme difficulty with which the king raised
supplies, he determined to resort to the illegal process of imposing a
forced loan on the kingdom, thus subverting the entire object and
usofulness of the House of Commons.   Great numbers resisted this
l ijustifiabe imp1osition, for which they were immediately thrown into
prison.  Foiled in his pup,ose, thie king had once more to assemble
parliament, and as a necessary consequence, one of the first discussions was on the late illegal proceedings of the Crown.  The result
of their discussions was, the document called the Petition of Right,
so called because, although drawn up in the usual strain of a humble
petition, it had all the force of a law on the king's endorsement of
his concurrence.   This document, which is justly considered the
114
* Macaulay.
t Ibid. 
THE HEROES OF THE FOUNDERS OF LIBERTY. 115
second Great Charter of English liberty,-was drawn up by Sir Edward Coke in the eighty-third year of his age.  It was thm last act
of a brilliant judicial career, and is a lasting monument  to Coke's"
patriotism and genius.  It provided that no tax or loan might be
levied except with the concurrence of parliament; that no man
might be imnprisoned but by legal process; that soldiers might not
be quartered on people contrary to their will; and that no commissions be granted for executing martial law.* A few days after the
receipt of the petition, the king returned an evasive answer. A discussion immediately ensued in the House of Commons. Among the
eminent men who took part in it were Sir John Eliot, John Hampden, and John Pym; heroic names that adorn the brightest pages of
political history.
Sir John Eliot spoke with dignity and fervor. " His mind," says
Lord Nugent, "was deeply imbued with a love of philosophy and a
confidence in religion, which gave a lofty tone to his eloquence."
The effect of the debate was so seriously damaging to the king, and
particularly to his pampered minister, Buckingham, that he could no
longer withhold his consent to the Petition of Right. He gave it
with surly remorse, but with a mental reservation that he would be
avenged on the men who had extorted it from him. He again dissolved parliament, and determined to rule in his own right, without
their aid or assistance. Two days later, he committed Sir John Eliot
and other  memlbers to the Towelr, on a charge of high treason.
Servile courts sustained him in this flagrant breach of privilege and
violation of the Petition of Right. But he was inexorable, and Eliot
remainc,d in prison-doomed to die a martyr in the cause of political
liberty. After two years of wearisome confinement, his health began
to fail He petitioned for the privilege of a temporary release, that
he might recuperate his sinking energies.  But the king demanded
concessions from him which, as an honest, high-purposed man, he
could not make. Another year, passed in suffering and cruelty, terminiated his life.  Ho died in November, 1632.  The vengeance of
* Goodrich. 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
the kling continued  even after his death.   One of Sir John Eliot's
sons petiti.oned for the privilege of interring the body in a distant
county.   The king replied, "Let him be buried in the parish where
he died." Truly, Charles was one of those monarchs destined by
Divine Providence to hasten revolutions.
All the promises of the king were violated; the Petition of Right
forgotten; persecutions andl exactions of the worst kind inflicted,
particularly with regard to the Puritans. The king, who was a zealot
for Church discipline, looked upon the Puritans with all the concentrated bitterness and hatred of his treacherous nature. They were
forced to fly ifrIom tile country. They were whipped, imprisoned,
scourged, and mutilated.  " But the cruelty of the oppressor could
not tire out the fortitude of the victims. The mutilated defenders of
liberty again defied the vengeance of the Star Chamber,-came back
with undiminished resolution to the place of their glorious infamy,
and manfully presented the stumps of their ears to be grubbed out
by the hangman's knife."*
John Hampden was a member of the House of Commons, and,
like others before referred to, opposed the assessment of the forced
lorn.  That he did so from the highest patriotic motives, is beyond
question. The sum at which he was assessed was a mere trifle, and
he was a man of wealth. For this contumacy he was imprisoned
After the passing of the Petition of Right, he was released; and we
do not find him taking an active part in public affairs, until the government-that is, the king-again attempted an unwarrantable exaction. A writ was issued, commanding the city of London to man
and equip ships of war for his service. Similar writs were issued,
not only for the seaboard counties, but the inland ones. This excessive abuse of authority created the greatest excitement. No precedent could be found, in the legislation of any other king, for such an
oppressive system of taxation.
Buckinghamshire-of whichi county Hampden was a native-was
assessed for a ship of the value of four thousand five hundred pounds.
* Macaulay.
116 
THE HEROES OF THE FOUNDERS OF LIBERT-Y.  117
The individual portions of this assessment were necessarily small, but
every shilling subscribed towards the aggregate was the recognition
of a pernicious principle. Hampden at once refused to pay his portion, and determined at all hazards to bring the matter to a crisis.
Before this time, "he was rather of reputation in his own county,
than of public discourse or fame in the kingdom; but then he grew
the argument of all tongues, every man inquiring who and what he
was that durst, at his own charge, support the liberty and prosperity
of the kingdom."*
Hampden, as the representative of the people, tried the question
of the illegal assessment, in the Exchequer Chamber, before;1I the
judges of England.   The fear of court displeasure possessed the
belnch; only four of the judges had sufficient  courage to declare in
Hlampden's favor, although the law was clearly on his side.  The
remaining eight were in favor of the writ.  Thus, so far as the law
was concerned, justice was denied to Hampden, and, through his person, to the people. The result of this decision was, to place at the
disposal of the Crown the whole property of the English nation.t  A
defeated man receives but little consideration from a despot.   Hampden was not long in discovering that his person was scarcely safe from
the fury of the king. Opposed to violence, and desiring, of all things,
to save his country from the miseries of civil war, he determined to
flee to a distant land, where, at least, he would be beyond the reach
of oppressors. Beyond the Atlantic ocean, a few persecuted Puritans
had founded a settlement, in Connecticut. Thither he determined
to flee. He secured passage in a sailing vessel, and completed his
arrangoements for permanently vacating the land of his birth. Among
others who arrived at a similar determination, were Oliver Cromnwell
and(-l John Pym. This illustrious trio, so soon destined to convulse
society, were on the point of sailing, when an order from the kling
intercept,ed the vessel.  It seems that, although the king did not care
to crush IHaimpden whilst public feeling was in its present state, he
was yet unwilling to let him escape. He had sufficient penetration
6*
.1
t Macaulay.
. * Clarendon. 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
to know that the fearless nature of the man would soon display itself,
and he was content to wait.
In the next parliament, Hampden took his seat for his native shire,
and thenceforth devoted himself entirely to the affairs of the nation.
He was now unquestionably the most popular man in England. The
king affected respect for him, but hated him bitterly. A message
was sent to the House for fresh supplies. It was couched in the
usuial language of promise. Redress for grievances was the boon.
The Commons had experienced the king's treachery, and were determined, in this case, to get what redress they needed first. On the
next day, with an angry speech the king dissolved parliament. Such
an act indicated, with very impolitic clearness, that the king expected
the Commons to do precisely as he wished, or he would not allow
them to sit at all.
The necessities of the king, after a most inglorious campaign in
Scotland, compelled him to assemble parliament once more. On the
3d of November, i640, the Commons met. It is a memorable day
in history, being the first of what is now universally known as the
Long Parliament —a parliament which, as Macaulay forcibly expresses it, was destined to every extreme of fortune: to empire and
to servitude,-to glory and to contempt; at one time the sovereign
of its sovereign,-at another time, the servant of its servants, and the
tool of its tools. The first session of this memorable parliament was
spent in actively redressing public grievances.   All those who had
assisted in subverting the laws, including the judges who had officiated on Ilampden's trial, were tried.  The prime minister, Strafford,
was executed; and other prominent characters, to escape a similar
fate, fled the country in alarm.
The conduct of Hampden during this crisis was moderate, manly,
and peaceful.  He was opposed to extreme measures, apprehending
a reaction. He seemed disposed to soothe rather than excite the
public mind.* The king, humiliated and crest-fallen, had taken refuge from obloquy in Scotland.  IIl nlpden was dispatched by the
* Claren(i n.
11
118 
THE HEROES OF THE FOUNDERS OF LIBERTY. 119
parliament to visit him there.  During his absence, Measures of an
extreme character were enacted, and what Hampden had wisely
dreaded came to pass. A reactionary party sprung up, formined of
men who thought that enough had been done, and that possibly too
much might be attempted. Encouraged by these new manifestations, Charles returned.  All that was now necessary for the permanence of his crown was, that he should abstain from treachery, from
violence, from gross breaches of the law.*
This was expecting too much from a man so abject cowardly, and
treacherous. With his usual volubility he promised every thing,
and with his customary duplicity, violated all his promises.  Without
the slightest intimationi of displeasure, he impeached several of the
leading members of the house. Hampden and Pym were of course
among the number.  Such an instance of perfidious tyranny was
unparalleled.  The Hiouse of Commons refused to surrender their
members, maintaining that the impeachment coming from the House
of Peers was unconstitutional. Not to be defeated in his purpose,
the king, accompanied by two hundred soldiers of his guard, made a
descent on the house with the intention of seizing the contumacious
members by force.  They had been previously warned of their danger, and had fled to a populous district of London, where they were
sure of the sympathies of the citizens.  A proclamation was iss
by the king, directing that no person should harbor the fugitives,
but it caine too late.  The spark had been ignited, and the explosion
followed with fearful rapidity.
The tramp of armed citizens was heard in every corner of the
great city. All the societies turned out in battle array. A careful
watch was kept on every approach leading to the neighborhood in
whicl Hamnpden and Pym  lay.  Every one, from the youngest apprentice to the oldest merchant, was on the alert to avenge the insult
offered to their liberty. After a short delay the members were invited, in defiance of the king's proclamation, to attend their seats in
the House of Commons. The immense population of London turned
* Macaulay. 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
out en masse to escort them in triumph past the windows of the
palace.  "On the 11 ith January," says Macaulay, "the Thames was
covered with boats, and its shiores with a gazing multitude.  Armed
vessels, decorated with streamlers, were ringed in two lines from London Bridge to Westminster Hall.  The members returned by water
in a slip, mananed by sailors who had volunteered their services.
The tlitin bands of the city, under the command of the sheriffs,
marched along the Strand, attended by a vast crowd of spectators, to
guard the avenues to the House of Colminons, and thus with shouts,
and loud discharges of ordnance, the accused patriots were brought
back by the people whom they had served, and for whom they had
suffered."  On the day precedingo this great demonstration, the king
fled.  The excitement was not  cninded to London only.  rThroulghout the provinces the peopl)e were agitated ill a  lilie imanner.  Buckinghamshire dispatched a deputation of four thousand fireeholders
to defend the person of thieir beloved representative, and other counties did the same.  The crisis had indeed come.
It was evident that the king could no longer be trusted. The
only way to prevent his doing injury to the liberal cause, was to deprive him of the power.  A fearful struggle was inevitable.   The
king was already in the field with a numerous retinue.
!?.znpden was a man who loved peace, so long as peace could be
honorably maintained; but he was not a man to be daunted by the
flashing of hostile swords. He. had been the consistent advocate of
moderation.  Whilst the laws could be appealed to for redress, he
was content to depend on their efficacy.  Finding them utterly useless, he prepared to leave his country. Foiled in this endeavor, he
boldly faced the evils of the day. Almost exacting a representative
privilege, he took on himself the grievances of his countrymen, and
battled for them with unflinching valor. Thus when recent events
had made civil war imperative, we find Hampden  stepping into the
foremost place with unconscious activity and bravery. Hie placed a
large portion of his fortune at the service of parliament; raised,
armed, and, at his own expense, equipped a regiment of Buckingham
120 
THE HEROES OF THE FOUNDERS OF LIBERTY.
shire cavalry, and took his place at their head as colonel. Military
discipline-us-ually so obnoxious to civilians-fell on him like a garment.  Hae was ever on the alert, and never minissedl all opportunity
that might be improved by intrepidity and activity.  It is not easy
to do full justice to the admirable rapidity of Hampden's movements.
He was constantly in the saddle, and really seemed ubiquitous. A
lampoon aimed at him by a political opponent is immensely funny at
his incessant journeys between Windsor and the House of Commons.
He was constantly hurrying firom the field to the house.
It would be an endless task to recapitulate these events of the
civil war in which Itampden took a conspicuous part. It must suffice
that wherever there was an opportunity for displaying an unselfish
patriotism, there he was found.  Unhappily his career of usefulness
was not destined to be of long duration. On the 18th of June, 1643,
Hampden gathered his men at Chalgrove for the purpose of cutting
off the retreat of a band of cavaliers who had been on a foraging
excursion.  A fierce conflict ensued.  In the charge, Hampden receivedl his death-wounl-inidicted by two bullets in tL' shoulder.
With head drooping and hands leaning on his horse's neck, he rode
faintly firom the field of battle.  After several days of intense physial-a
suffering, the shadows of death thickened round his pillow. WVith
invincible fortitude he dispatched what public business most demanded
his attention.   When his last national duties were discharged, he
calmly prepared himself to die. He asked for the consolation of the
Holy Sacrament, and it was administered to him. When the hand
of death lay coldly on him, he murmured short prayers for the cause
in which he perished.   "Lord Jesus, receive my soul-O Lord, save
my country-O Lord, be merciful to"-.  In that broken sentence
passed away a man whose every act was one of unselfish patriotism
and unconscious virtue; a man whose life is of such refulgent brightness, that time will in vain seek to dim its lustre.
John Pym, who was intimately associated with Hampden in all
the important events of this epoch, was born of good parents in
Somersetshire, in the year 1584. He received his education at Ox
121
-A 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
ford, and at an early age received an appointment in the office of the
Exchequer.   He was distinguished for his eloquence, and knowledge
of the common law. He served in several parliaments during the
latter part of the reign of James I., as member for Tavistock, and in
all those held in the reign of Charles I.  He distinguished himself
by his zeal in defending the rights of the. people against the aggressions of royalty. In 1626 he was one of the principal managers of
the impeachment against Buckingham. After the opening of the
Long Parliament, Pym took an active part in the vigorous legislation
of that tribunal. He classed the grievances of the nation under three
heads: Privilege of Parliament, Religion, Liberty of the Subject.
The termination of this consideration resulted in the impeachment
and execution of Strafford. The latter was at one time attached to
the popular side, but became an apostate to the court.  When he
had determined on acting thus treacherously, he sent for Pym, and
endeavored by specious arguments to win him to a similar line of
conduct. Pym listened to him impatiently for a while, then turning
on him furi.usly said," You need not use all this art to tell me that
you are going to be undone: but remember, that though you leave
u   ow, I will never leave you while your head is upon your shoulder3."  He kept his word too.
To appreciate the services of Pym, it is necessary to realize the
peculiar characteristics of the age in which he lived. Government
was subverted by the treachery of the king, and the unscrupulous
co-operation of his minions. In the effort to restore the privileges
of parliament, and thereby the liberty of the subject, great personal
courage and invincible integrity were demanded. By intimidation
or by corruption, all the reformers were silenced, that were capable
of ignominious silence.  Only those who entertained genuine sentiments of patriotism,-men who recognized danger as an element of
their success,-were able to withstand the alternate bullying and
flattery of the court.  A conspicuous member of the House of Commons, like Pym, excited peculiar hatred. His life was in constant
danger. Any one of the many high-handed outrages of the king
122
i,.
-1 
THE HEROES OF THE FOUNDERS OF LIBERTY.  123
might have placed Pym's head upon the block.  But- he did not
swerve from the path of duty.  Threats and bribes were alike unavailing.'With fearless energy and burning eloquence, he denounced the
oppressors-never once looked back, but with eyes sternly fixed on
the future, righted what was wrong.   The impeachnments of the Long
Parliament  were conducted mainly by Pyim; and in consequence,
more tlan an ordinarv share of danger attended  his proceedings.
For tlize  and other reasons, he is justly estimated one of England's
-worthies, and one who in no slight degree contributed to the establishment of political liberty.
The hostilities between the soldiers of the people and the soldiers
of the king, now assumed the grave form of a civil war.  Charles,
as we have already stated, soughlt refuge inri the calmp of the Scotsa people thoroughly enamored of monarchical institutions, but influenced, at this crisis, by considerations of a religious character.  Had
Charles possessed the tact to conciliate their Presbyterian spirit, or
even to abandon some of his own Episcopalian dogmas, he could
undoubtedly have depended on the valor and loyalty of his Scotch
adherents. As it was, they basely sold him to the parliament.
At this stage of civil discord, there appeared a man who must ever
absorb attention.  Suddenly emerging from pursuits of a quiet agri cultural character, Oliver Cromwell darts through the pages of history
like a fierce meteor. It is only of late years that his real character
has begun to be understood. The patient industry and impartiality
of Carlyle have been effectual to rescue the memory of this great
hero from the obloquy with which it had so long been covered.
Oliver Cromwell was born at Huntingdon, England, in 1599.  Ile
was descended of a well-born family.   "I was by birth," said Crom well, in one of his speeches to parliament, "neither living in any
considerable height, nor yet in obscurity." Oliver's education was
commenced at the grammar-school of his native town, and completed
at Sydney Sussex College, Cambridge. He appears to have been
wild and roystering during the youthful portion of his life. In 1620
he returned home,.vas married, and took up his position as the re
.4, 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
spectable head of-a household.  About this time he became oppressed
by cov:-ictions of conscience almost amounting to insanity.   He sat
about retrieving some of his former errors; made himself bankrupt
by paying back sums of money he had formerly won at play; and
declared that he was ready to make restitution to any whom he had
wronged.  The persecuted Puritans found a welcome refuge beneath
his roof. In the third parliament of Charles I., he sat as the representative of his native town; and although not a prominent actor
in the events of that period, was a keen and anxious observer of what
transpired.
After the parliament had been dissolved, Cromwell returned to
St. Ives (a town in the vicinity of Huntingdon), and for five years
was a grazing farmer.  His demeanor was characterized by religious
severity. There is now no reasonable doubt for supposing that it was
insincere.  "He had certainly materials enough for reflection.  Not
to speak of the inward conflicts of his own mind-conflicts arising
from the views of truth he had been recently led to take-deep,
earnest, heaven-born impulses-society round him was raging like a
volcano. * * * * The writs of ship-money had been issued, and
Hampden had stood resolute in its refusal.   The thunder-storm was
rising."*
The moment for action arrived, and Cromwell, feeling himself inspired for great actions, did not longer hesitate. When the attempt
to seize the five members was made by Charles, he rushed at once
to the rescue. His influence, his purse, his sword, were at the nation's
call. He was appointed captain, and, soon after, colonel of the
sixty-seventh troop of the parliamentary forces.  But he was dissatisfied with the troops.  "They were," he complained,  "old decayed
servinlg-men, and tapsters, and such kind of fellows."  To organize a
different corps was with him a simultaneous thought and action.- The
members of this corps were men who, st,imnulated by similar religious
zeal as Cromwell, were prepared to understand and appreciate his
acts.  "I had rather have a plain russet-coated captain," hlie said,
* Triall.
124 
THE HEROES OF THiE FOUNDERS OF LIBERTY. 125
"that knows what he fights for, and loves what he knows, than that
which you call a gentleman, and is nothing else."  The terrible
"Ironsides" was the corps thus raised.
It is impossible for us to follow Cromwell in his military expeditions
against the royalists and other enemies of his country. Wherever
he appeared, victory crowned the day. His activity and decision
were marvellous, and in every kind of military tactic, it is doubtful
if England has ever had his superior.  Charles was decapitated, and
Cromwell appointed Protector.   Under his administration, popular
fieedom received much invigorating support.  Indeed, it must be a
matter of surprise with all dispassionate thinkers, how he could have
accomplished so much, surrounded as he was by jealousies, hatreds,
and intimidations. Hle appointed for judges the most upright and
distinguished men,-among others Sir Matthew Hale. Hie never in terfered with the courts of justice. In religion, he was as tolerant
as any man living in that age, and belonging to the Puritan party,
could be. l He promoted the arts and sciences, and helped, by deci sive legislation, to lay the foundation of a great nation. Usurpers
must be tyrants, but whilst they tyrannize, they try to conciliate. If
Cromwell were "a scourge of God," Charles had prepared the nation
for its infliction; and if Charles was a mild tyrant, Cromwell was
moderate as a despot.   Charles was beheaded to insure justice to
the people, and Cromvw-ell would have met with a similar fate, but
for his superior justice, vigor, and forethought. The hypocrisy of
Cromwell has been a standing theme with historians. But there is
no reasonable ground for supposing that he acted otherwise than
from conscientious conviction. The publication of his most private
letters indicate clearly, that what he professed in public, he believed
in private. A charge of hypocrisy is a common way of assailing
the reputation of a Puritan, particularly by ien  who believe in the pos sibility of wearing religion like a garment, for decency's sake.  Ie
must be strangely constituted who, while reading Cromwell's letters,
and there viewing his private life, can discern nothing in him but
* History of Democracy. 
A  VOICE TO AMERICA.
unmingled dissimulation.* The present age is doing him justice, spite
of kings, queens, and houses of lords. His memory is cherished, and
he may yet be invoked when the country which gave him birth is
convulsed in the throes of civil war and revolution.
One of the sincerest republicans of Cromwell's epoch, was that
illustrious man who afterwards wrote the sublime poem of "Paradise
Lost."  John Milton was Latin secretary to the new council of state,
and in every official act proved that he was the consistent advocate
od pocleaf\a ery.  T1o an extent he was a hero En tie cause.  That
sad calamity with which he was afflicted in the latter years of his life,
is said to have been produced by the severe devotion with which he
applied himself to the composition of a work entitled "Defensio pro
Populo Anglicano." Salmasius had written a defence of monarchy,
and particularly of Charles I., under the title of "Defensio Regis."
Milton's work was a reply to this, and exhibited so much learning
and fervid eloquence, that his opponent was completely overwhelmed.
Close application, midnight toil, and intense study were necessary for
the composition of this able defence of popular rights against monarchical pretension.  Milton was frequently told by his physicians that
it would result in blindness, but he was far too earnest to heed their
warning advice.  Total loss of sight was the result.  Hle was not
cast down even with this calamity. The moment he had recovered
from the first shock of its intensity, he set about writing another defence of the people of England.
On the death of Cromwell, Milton employed his pen with great
vigor to check the prevalent feeling in favor of the Restoration. Unable to do so, he sought refuge in the house of a friend. In the act
of indemnity which followed, his name found no exception. With
many others he was given into the custody of the sergeant-at-arms.
After a while he was released. In impoverished circumstances, he
sought the tranquil pleasures of poetic studies. To his withdrawal
from the political arena we are indebted for that lasting mnonumevt of
sublime genius, the "Paradise Lost."
* Triall.
126 
THE HEROES OF THE FOUNDERS OF LIBERTY.  127
Before quitting this prolific period of effort and achievement, it may
be profitable to refer to an invaluable document obtained after much
trouble from the government of Charles II. We refer to the Habeas
Corpus Act: arbitrary imprisonment became impossible after its passage. By this act it was prohibited to send any one to prison beyond
sea. No judge, under severe penalties, was permitted to refuse a
prisoner a writ of habeas corpus, on the issuing of which the jailor
was required to produce in court the body of the prisoner (whence
the name), and to certify the cause of his detention and imprisonment. If the jail lie within twenty miles of the judge, the writ must
be obeyed in three days, and so for greater distances. Every prisoner
must be indicted the first term after his comrnmitincnt, and brought to
trial in the subsequent term. And no man, after being discharged, can
be recommitted for the old offence.* The general freedom of the subject is thus secured. No man could be incarcerated on mere suspicion
or caprice. Cause had to be shown why he was detained, and he had
an early opportunity of appealing to a. jury for his discharge. The
Magna Charta, the Petition of Right, and the Habeas Corpus Act, completed the EL>iih Constitution, and gave an impetus to popular liberty,
which has been gaining in momentum from  that day to the present.
The Constitution of the United States is based on the principles of these
three great documents.  The struggles which wrenched them fiom the
iron claw of prerogative, must always be interesting to the American,
forming as they do the antecedent history of his own country.
All that is necessary for the completion of this chapter is the addition of one more great political triumph; need we say-the American
Revolution? The student of history, if he seek to trace and connect
the great chain of Anglo-Saxon triumphs, lights on this naturally as
the last and greatest of them all. It is a necessary sequence; a point
at which the mind rests, and expatiates with confidence and delight
In the Declaration of Independence is epitomized all those incontrovertible truths, which are at once the wealth and the glory of the
Anglo-Saxon race.
* Hume. 
A VOICE TO AM,ERICA.
In dealing with the preceding topics, we have been compelled on
several occasions to refer to the peculiar religious characteristics of
the times, and in glancing hastily at our history, we are confronted
with the same difficulty. The Puritans, as they were called, were men
who stamped the age with a peculiar individuality. They were not
only men who thought, but men who felt with the keenness of
thought. The grievous oppressions of the Star Chamber were not secret wrongs with such men, but intolerable public calamities, which it
were well to flee from. Their consciences, as well as their bodies,
were endangered. The Puritans everywhere fled, preferring the dangers and vicissitudes of a home in the wilderness, to the emasculate
freedom of their own native homes.
Arrived in the new land, they were under no apprehensions concerning their individual liberty. With no kingly foe to oppress them,
they were secure-at all events for the present. Their danger lay in
the possibility of religious dissension.  It was for their religion they
were obnoxious at home; they had been persecuted for it, and if they
now strove with more firmness than liberality to preserve it, some excuse can surely be made for them. The Puritans on board the Mayflower, before landing, united upon a compact in which they solemnly
covenanted with each other to combine into a civil body politic, for
their better ordering and protection, and to enact, constitute, and frame
such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices,
from time to time, as should be thought meet and convenient for the
general good of the colony. These just and equal laws would scarcely be considered so in the present day, but they had the advantage
of simplicity. The social compact thus entered into has generally
been looked upon as an extraordinary document. It marked with
boldness a circle of freedom, and recognized the great principles of
justice and equality.
The government of the colonists resembled a theocracy in its
form.  Every thing was,ubservient to the Churbch.  Deficiencies in
the legal code were avowedly to be remedied by "the Word of God,"
and public questions were more often determined from the pulpit than
0
128 
THE HEROES OF THE FOUNDERS OF LIBERTY.  129
the bench.  Nothing approaching liberty of conscience was permitted.  It was denounced as compaction with  the devil.  In 1648,
these acts of the Puritans appear to have been a little grievous.
Some of the colonists petitioned the session for their rights "as English subjects," and the petitioners expressed their opinion that the
Puritan government was an ill-compacted vessel.  In return for this
piece of criticism, the petitioners were fined, and  told, bluntly, to
mzimd their own business for the future.  Poitical authority was
entirely absorbed by the Church, and was hurled from the pulpit
with fierce ardor.  Every man who had the temerity to claim equal
political liberties, was persecuted in the courts, and denounced in the
clmrches.  Illdeed, ithe cithurch-memlbers generally appear to have
been pursued in a most remorseless manner.
The early settlers in Virginia were, at first, merely speculators,and singularly unfortunate they were in their speculation. When,
however, tho:tide of emigration began to flow steadily towards their
shores, they were recuperated with some of the best blood of the old
country.  It was a complaint in that colony that too many "gentlemen" were sent there.  In the first vessels dispatched by the London
company, there were but twelve laborers, four carpenters, and a few
other mechanics. The remainder of the one hundred and five passengers were "gentlemen."  The Virginians were Episcopalians, disposed
to be moderate and accommiodating.   But they too, like their brethren of Plymouth, thought a great deal of their consciences. The
first extant laws of Virginia relate more to the moral well-being of
the inhabitants, than their worldly prosperity. Virginia, together
with Maryland and the West India islands, adhered to the cause of
the king. Irritated by this, the government fitted out expeditions
against those places, and required from them an engagement to be
true and loyal to the commonwealth of England, as now constituted,
without king, and without House of Lords. In Massachusetts, after
the Restoration, a different difficulty was experienced.   It took the
worthy Puritans of that State a period of twelve months to fhake up
their minds whether or not they should proclaim King Charles II. 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
When they had concluded to do so, they published an ordination
prohibiting all unseemly or disorderly demonstrations of joy.
In a theological point of view, we find strange contrarieties in
the history of America, not the least being the palpable intolerance
which, for nearly a century, tyraninized over the hearts and minds of
its inhabitants.  But, on the other hand, this same history is the most
consistent in the world, so far as unhesitating resistance to royal prerogative was concerned. The settlers looked on their various charters
as the fundamental justification of all their acts.  "They contented
themselves with the powers conferred upon them by their respective
charters, without looking beyond the seal of the royal parchment for
the measure of their rights and the rule of their duties."* They
would on no account consent-to an appeal to England, not even
during the Commonwealth. All they would consent to, was to send
out commissioners to explain why they had not paid their debts.
They preferred settling every other difficulty amongst themselves, "on
consideration that if we should put ourselves under the protection
of parliament, we must then be subject to all such laws as they
should make; in which course, though they should intend our good,
yet it might prove very prejudicial to us."f
No kind of political concession was ever made by the Puritans,
either to the king's commission, when headed by Laud, or, subsequently, to the commissioners sent out by the Long Parliament. In
1672, when a custom-house was attempted to be established, the
Bostonians quietly evaded its exactions, and refused, in the most contemptuous manner, to pay any kind of attention to Randolph, or his
customs either. The ridiculous dilemma in which the latter found
himself, compelled him to return to England. Hie returned later,
armed with greater powers, and encountered the same resistance-as,
in turn, did the colonial governors appointed by the home government. The Puritans were, from first to last, thoroughly intractable.
They denied the justice of English prerogative, and fought for everv
inch of privilege in the sternest manner. They would not admit that
* John Quincy.                              t Winthrop.
130 
THE HEROES OF THE FOUNDERS OF LIBERTY.  131
England had any thing at all to do with them, and distinctly asserted
that there was not the shadow of pretext for her interference  in
American affairs. The same spirit, in the American Revolution,
inspired the courageous hearts of the citizens of all the colonies;
and the result was the triumph of freedom in the New World.
The sacrifices suffered, and the blood spilt by the HEROES OF THE
FOUNDERS OF LIBERTY had, at the appointed time, produced their
fruits. 
I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
THE BOUNDARIES OF COUNTRIES-HOW ESTABLISHED.
"Westward the Star of Empire takes it way,
The four first acts already past, A fifth shall close the drama with the day;
Time's noblest offspring is the last."
BISHOP  BERKELEY.
NATURE fixes her limits to all things. Her laws are too deeply
engraven on the world, to be transcended by any power less than her
own.   Mtan may be impelled by atmiition to compass certain ends,
but these impulsive sallies are harmoniously governed by the requirements of Nature; and what at the first promised  only antagonism
and consequent confusion, is found in the end to be tranquilly obedient to the most comprehensive and beautiful laws.
To one who will sit down reflectingly, with the world's map before
him, it will be apparent that Nature has from the beginning fixed
boundaries to every country; and furthermore, that these boundaries
are unalterable.  It is useless attempting to set aside her suggestions;
they are immutable.  Ahatever hint she has thrown out, carries with
it all the authority of a law. 1ier finger points to no great fact in
the formation of the world, that is not of itself, sufficient to give
shape to all human histories, and color to the events of a long procession of centuries.
The countries of Asia lie separated, either by long chains of towering
mountains, stretching away from point to point, until one is completely
walled in, and the rest walled out; or by vast deserts, uninhabitable
by man, trackless, bare of vegetation, destitute of animal life, and
altogether desolate.  Across these wastes, invading forces in any great
number would hardly come. Surrounded by them, a nation may
7 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
repose in all the security of massive walls and armed forts. They
are as fixed boundaries for a country, as if the population had caused
them to be placed there. Large inland seas offer a like security, as,
for instance, the Persian Gulf, lying between Arabia and Persia; the
Red Sea, between Arabia and Africa; the Caspian, between Circassia,
and Tartary; or the Japan Sea, dividing the peoples of two monstirously overgrown empires.
Asia, however, is thorouLghly cut up into principalities and dominions by her lines of mountains-the Great and Little Altai, separating
the colossal power of Russia fr'om  the vast Chinese Emnpire; the
Himalaya, keeping the Chinese Empire in turn distinct from India;
the Beloor mountains, lifting their shoulders between the same empire and Tartary the Independent; and the Itindoo Koosh, drawing
the line between Tartary and Afghanistan.  The whole face of that
quarter of the world has been thus accurately parcelled out to those
who dwell upon it.
In Africa the truth is no less plain.  The Barbary States can
extend no further south than to the great Desert of Sahara; Soudan,
beginning with the southernmost limit of the desert, stops at the barrier interposed by the Mountains of the Moon; the countries along
the western coast reach into the dim confines of Ethiopia, where all is
unknown in that land of the Sun.
Europe, peopled by a great variety of races, obeys minutely these
physical laws.  Her nations are so many, that smaller boundaries are
necessary, and become objects of grave political consideration. As
civilization advances from the East, it seems to grow correspondingly
jealous of its rights and privileges; rivers, lakes, channels, and mountains are impressed into her service. Behold the A1lps, lofty and
grand, walling in the independent little region called Switzerland, a
name that invariably summons the'word Liberty to the tongue.
There are the Pyrenees, eternal bounds for both France and Spain;
the Scandinavian chain, parting Norway and Sweden as naturally
as if that were the single purpose of their erection. There stretch
along the Carpathians, hemming in Austria fromn Prussia and Russia.
"I
134 
BOUNDARIES OF COUNTRIES.
We need bat to lan.e at tihe couiSe of the iimmortal Rhine, to
believe,;ith the great Napoleon, that naue i'aedaed it for the
eastern limit to France.  The Danube, with  i,s numer'ous mouths,
ferns a natural boun(a"yv to Turkey and her Principalities  against
Russia and Austria.  The RChine again performs its part' in dividing
one petty German kingdom from another; and the Tornea completes
the work for Sweden, against Russia, which the Gulf of Bothnia seems
to have left unfinished.   A narrow channel alone separates England
fiom France-two nations whose boast it is that they combinedly
stand in the fiont of the world.  Denmark is hemmed in by a couple
of channels, from both Norway and Sweden.   Sweden, in turn, rests
secure against Russia, with the Baltic and the Gulf of Bothuia interposed between them.
In all these national divisions, the hland of Nature is but too
appiarit le sig';I,:'os a:,USt everywhere be obeved.  Whoever
delierately opposes 1ae,, thinkin)' ly the force of his own will to
change these natural limits, is surely throwing himself upon a stone
that will in the end grind him to powder.
Poor PTl)-j(,   bas   ho;+;   ~leClar~',-  i.ies    all!  An open plain, she
became the prey of nations stronger than he:'self.  She has no mountaiiis to keep imperial Russia back; none to hold in check thle rulers
of Prussia; none to shut out the cruel forces of the more cruel House
of Hapsburg.  She encaimped on a broad plain; and there was she
stealthily surrounded and set upon by three robbers with crowns upon
their brows, and her nationality, bleeding and dying, torn limb from
limb. Yet let us hope that Poland has a future, and that the morning of her resurrection is approaching.
Plains are the proper teer tories of tyranny.  There the sarms of
sa nsriper may extend t'-Le.esives with ease, leaving no corner unoccupied iL, whiich patriotism might shelter or t:eason hide.  But moiintains, glens, more.ssc,  and lakes set bo,&e',s to co)nquest; and amidst
these is the imp,'egnable seat of Li-berty."  This is lamentably true
in the case of Poland.  On the other hand, the fieedom that has lived
through the storms of so many years, amidst the mountain-heights of
13
a 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
Switzerland, proves the justice of the observation.  And where have
men, single-handed, as it were, offered such bold, resolute, and defiant opposition to all the usurpations of tyranny, as in the mlountains of Scotland?  The tales of her heroes make one's blood tingle
with admiration.  The names of Wallace and Bruce, engraven on the
heart of every real lover of freedom, will live till the "last syllable
of recorded time." Their examples will never die, but the spirit of
Freedom wivhich breathes through them, will move forward in silence,
but with power, till the whole globe is finally encircled in its blessed
embrace.
On this Western continent, nations have as yet hardly settled themselves in their natural positions. As it is a comparatively new field
of operation, so must many things that are esteemed fixed in the
Old World, continue for a long time in a state of transition. Principles may be established, yet, from their very nature, they may keep
all persons in a state of perpetual activity.   Such are the principles
of popular liberty-offering freedom to every man, opening grand
fields for the exercise of his various powers, and inciting him to continued exertion.
The original thirteen States lay stretched along the Atlantic coast.
In their front was a vast ocean; in their rear an almost impenetrable
wilderness. Little did the early settlers think that small beginning
was to result, least of all to result so speedily, in the subjugation of a
broad continent to the purposes of a high civilization. Their first
thought was for their own protection.  They sought to command an
independent subsistence.  In industry, in heroic resolve and action, in
energy and persistent endurance, no people ever lived who were their
superiors. In taking wise thought for themselves, they seem never to
have forgotten the great and distinctive principles on which their political system was founded.   It was self-preservation; but that involved
somnething far more lofty than mere selfishness.  Periling their lives
and fortunes in defence of their convictions, they did not forget, in
the flush of success, the cause on which their very lives depended.
To men actuated by such principles, ordinary natural boundaries
136 
BOUNDARIES OF COUNTRIES.
could offer but trifling impediments in the work upon which they
were engaged. The spirit of their principles was expansive, perpetu ally enlarging its limits. Our fathers settled the whole of the im mense tract extending from Maine to Georgia. Every imaginable tie
held together the people at the extremes of the Union, equally with
those who were neighbors. The purpose that pervaded all hearts
alike, and cemented the union which a common interest had been
instrumental in forming, was one that readily leaped the widest
streams, and found its-way over the highest mountains. It was no
more to be controlled by the limits of natural bounds, than the silent
and mysterious passage of light could be checked by the impotent
ordering of man.
If now we direct our attention to the map of the United States, we
shall see that Nature had apparently set no limits to the growth of
this nation, save perhaps the Mississippi River, the Rocky Mountains,
or the Pacific Ocean. Our march was still westward, in obedience to
the inexorable law. Forests fell, as if by magic, before the ringing
axe of our sturdy pioneers. Broad fields lay extended in the sunlight,
where, but a short time before, wild beasts found their coverts and
hunted their prey. Acre after acre waved with the bending wheat
and rye, and gleamed with the yellow gold of ripening corn. Cabins
dotted the hillsides, and mill-wheels flashed in the running streams.
Hamlets grew and thickened. Villages everywhere gave a new life
and light to the landscape. Towns and cities sent up their busy
hum, and the air was alive with the sounds and voices of intelligent
and independent industry.
In an incredibly short time, State after State was added to the
confederacy, wheeling into the ranks with all the order and precision
of a military manoeuvre.  Each remained an independent power, yet
materially contributed to the strength of the confederacy.  The trou'bles that were so readily imagined for us, as a consequence of such
rapid and unexampled growth, all dissipated like dew before the
morning sun. Those who watched our course with critical eyes,
could not understand that the very spirit of our institutions begat
13 
VOICE TO AMERICA.
Larmony, and not discord;  that  it had no relation  to conquest,
nor even to a selfish ambition, but that it exerted itself rather upon
the convictions and feelings of men, than unpon either ltheir will or
their power of resistance.  It appealed only to ]nenl's volition, never
to their obstinaev.  It sought only to win over, never to compel.
The first fruit of such a spirit could not fail to be peace.
We kept growing at the same unparalleled rate continually.  We
reached the Mississippi and the Mexican Gulf. Hiere, said some of
our wisest statesmen, we will rest. "Thus far, and 1no farther." But
the great coil of events in our national history was only beginning to
run out. It would be a long time before we should come to the end.
The spirit of enterprise, the highest characteristic of the American
people, was nowise content to rest here. The great Mississippi poured
itself into the Gulf; but why could it not wash States on both shores
as well as on one?  Was that turbid current a sufficient limit for the
energies of fiee culture and free institutions?  The indomitable men
of the nation said No, and forward went the work of settling and
civilizing an entire continent.
Texas was with us, and became a part of us.  We founded a great
and powerful State on the Pacific shore, as if to be a new inducement
to draw us over the mountains and deserts that lay between.  Oregon
claimed a place by our side, her people and ours being one in sympathy, as they were in blood and education. And the great Western
and Northwestern Territories were finally partitioned out, receiving
their names and formis of government.  The inquiry was next made,Are not the.Rocky l'ountains a natural division for the country?
But the question seems suddenly to have answered itself. Already
we have crossed the Rocky Mountains.  We  have conquered them.
They are no longer impassable. We have friends, neighbors, sons,
brothers, who inhabit that far-off land.   The very ideas of boundary,
which they once so naturally excited in our minds, have fallen away
upon a nearer acqilaintanee with them, and now hardly exist at all.
This age of steam and lightning, of discovery and perpetual application, is performing incredible things in bringing distant places and
1:?,;
0 
BOUNDARIES OF COUNTRIES.
people together. It seems almost to keep abreast with sympathy
itself in the race.  The spirit that vitalizes it, tunnels  mjountains,
bnidgles our wvidest rivers, leaps deserts at a sin,gle bound, and stops
only with the vast ocean itself.  Our brethren in California  and
Oregon are not more distant from us to-day, than were  the early
settlers of Ohio but thirty years ago.  Nothing could have worked
such a revolution but a radical change, or progressiveness, in ideas.
Distance itself has not diminished, but its effects have been reduced
in estimation. We are put in closer communication this day with
our brethren on the far-off Pacific shore, than we formerly were with
the pioneers on our Western fionties.  Nothing has wrought this
great change but our own efforts. Our energy and enterprise have
accomplished all.  And what yet remains undone, the coming years
will certainly behold completely realized.
Perhaps with different institutions, some such natural barrier as the
Rocky Mountains  resent, would fix a final limit to their progress.
Under forms of governmient that hold men as mere subjects, such an
obstacle might prevail; but under ours, wherein each man is considered a citizen, such a chain of mountains but creates an additional
spur to enterprise.'ducated to the most liberal and comprehensive
habits of thought, our minds seem only to expand with the contemplation of these things, and our ideas sympathize with the geographic,al magnitude of our ivers, plains, and mountains.  Freedom may
perch upon the summits of that rocky chain, and descend thence
into the broad valleys on either side; but monarchy would be unable
to breathe so pure and bracing an atmosphere   They may stand as
landmarks,-searred, whitened, and time-honored; hut never need
they stand as limits either to civilization or the living spirit that
holds us together as a mighty people. On to the ocean! There
can be no natural boundary but its shore. There this great Republic
rests; there its ships anchor.  We are ready to accept no confines,
save those vast oceans that wash with their never-sleeping waves our
eastern and western coasts! 
In time, greater things are destined to be accomplished.  New
139 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
Mexico is ours; shall not the whole empire of Cortez be ours, not by
force, or conquest, or fraud, but in obedience to the same laws that
have extended our institutions across this continent? Will not that
enfeebled and enervate nation in time awake to the real blessings of
self-government, of industry, of enterprise, and of free institutions?
And Central America,-is there any hindrance to her many petty
powers throwing aside their differences, and coming peacefully and
hopefully under the influence of this large family of States? Cuba
was plainly intended by nature as the key to the great valley of the
Mississippi, and will yet be knocking at our doors, for the day cannot
be far distant when she will be free.
On the north, we see no reason why the great lakes interpose any
boundary between ourselves and Canada. We see not why all will
not yet become UNITED AMERICA. We are not able to understand
why an imaginary parallel of latitude should keep the spirit of free
thought back, dooming it to a tract that has been bounded and surveyed by the dictum of a purely arbitrary power. The new reciprocity treaty is a long step in the direction desired. The Provinces on
the east are separated only by lines that may be easily wiped out,
but not at all by any such great and deep differences in sympathy as
divide nations. Their natural interests are in common with our own.
Their mnodes of thinking continually assimilate to ours.  Their pursuits require the same perseverance and courage in order to attain
like results. And it can hardly be questioned that the logical course
of events will in due time bring themn also, peacefully and voluntarily,
into this extended federal compact.  OCur boundaries are wide apart,
and contain territory enough to sustain a countless population. Under
free institutions like ours, all may rise to the level of their true destiny;
individual selfishness and usurpation cease, and nothing but wishes
for the common good be in the ascendant. Who can clearly predict
the condition of our country in the far-off future? We are alive with
hope,-a hope that blazes with a brighter and still brighter illumination, lighting us along on the broad pathway of realization.
140 
ROMANISM AND FREEDOM.
v
"By the patriot's hallowed rest,
By the warrior's gory breast,
Never let our graves be prest
By a despot's throne."
PIEgRREPONT.
Tm  advocates of Romanism claim that she is the patron of learning
and of freedom!-the encourager of free thought, free opinion, and
free expression; and there are some favorite examples quoted to
maintain this monstrous proposition. The Magna Charta, the very
groundwork of freedom, is held up as the fruit of Catholic liberality,
and so continually announced in our Legislative Halls, from the
stump, and in fiaming editorials.  Unfolding the page of history, we
find that John, king of England, engaged in a controversy with the
Pope, which resulted in the king's yielding up his possessions to the
Hioly See, and receiving them back as a vassal. The proud Barons,
who at the time possessed no defined rights, could not brook the insults and degradation which were heaped upon them through the
weakness of their king, and solemnly demanded, for their protection,
what is now known as the Magna Charta. In the struggle between
the lords and the crown, the Pope took part with John against the
Barons, and brought tihe whole of his temporal and spiritual power
to defeat their demands. Against them Pope Innocent, from the Council of Lateran, thundered his bulls of excommunication:-" We will
have you to know, that in General Council we have excommunicated
and anathematized, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the
Holy Ghost, in the name of the Apostles Peter and Paul, and in our
owvn name, the Barons of England, witl' their partisans and abettors, 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
for poi,secuLtiing John, the illustrious King of England, who has taken
the cross, and is a vassal of the Roman Church, for striving to deprive
him of a kingdom, which is known to belong to the Roman Church."
The exa-nple of France, which has in modern times shaken off a
tyrannical monarchy, and made approaches towards republican institutions, has been held up  as a testimony that Romanism favors
liberty. The French people always resisted, more perseveringly than
those of any othl   Catholic country, the assumptions of Popely; to
France, the world is indebted, not only for Catholics imbued with a
true spirit of Christianity, but also for some of the most powerful
writers against the assumptions of the Holy See. The Kings of
France ever contended for the right of appointing their own Bishops,
and it was only under monarohs  tost deeply imbued with Romaniism
that France found her greatest tyrants.   Of late years, as the light
of true liberty has made encroachments upon the domain of despotism, it has modified the illiberality of darker times, and one of the
first fruits of the late popular revolutions in that country was the
separation of Church and State, and protection to every religious
belief. But France, liberal as her people naturally are, is yet too
much under the influence of Roman supremacy to be quoted as an
example of religious toleration.
It seems but yesterday that Rome herself woke from her long
night of slavery, and declaring herself free, her spiritual and temporal
despot, the Pope, fled from her walls, and took refuge in Gaeta.  The
regenerated Romans offered tb receive the Pope as their spiritual
head, but resolutely insisted on the abolition of his temporal power,
and that of his tyrannical cardinals. The overture was scorned, and
the work of their subjugation to despotism was assigned to France,
and, in spite of her Republicanism, the lingering slavery of priesteraft
was so wrought into the blood and bones of her rulers and her soldiery, that she accepted the work, marched her armies on Rome,
bombarded and carried the city by assault, and crushed  the new
Republic and the liberals of Italy in the dust.
'Maryland, settled under the auspices of Cecil Calvert, a Catholic,
l,t-2 
ROMANISM AND FREEDOM.
and by its charter granting popular liberty and religious freedom, has
been held up as an example of Catholic toleration.  The wily Bishop,
the innocent laynman, and the designing politician, can never sufficiently eulogize the liberality that characterized tihat Colonial government, where, in times of universal intolerance, men could live unmeolested in the enovlyment of the rights of conscience.  If this were the
result of thie d'Iect ilterference  of the Roman Church, had it been
voluntarily suggested by Lord Baltimore, then it certainly would
have been an illustrious example, and would have stood out a monument of light froml among the accLmulated darkness.  But history
shows, that neither the Church nor its adherents in any way'favored
the cause of liberty, so far as the early settlement of Maryland was
concerned.
If Lord Baltimore had been a Protestant nobleman, a Protestant
prince would have granted him a charter for a Protestant province.
If the king had been a Catholic, a Catholic proprietary would have
procured a charter for a Catholic province. This course of action
characterizes the history of the period.  The luminous and beautiful
exception of Maryland to the spirit of colonization of the seventeenth
eentury was owing to the hlqiVY coincidence of a wise and energetic
statesman receiving a charter fi-om  a Piote.t..nt monarch jealous of
his faith, and both statesnman and monarch compelled to pay deference to the progressive doctr,ines and political strength of the Independents of England, v, ho o:e then preparing the way for successful
revolution, rand thle final trilumph of universal liberty, in these American States.*
The claim that Romanism is in favor of free thought, free expression, and free opinion, is never urged by her votaries out of the United
States; the policy of doing it in1 this country, however, sometimes
becomes insupportable, and the leading Catholic presses occasionally
break foith in the following natural language:
"No good government can exist without religion-and there can
* See History of Democracy in the United States, Maryland, p. 199.
143 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
be no religion without an Inquisition, which is wisely designed for
the promotion and protection of the true faith."*
" For our own part, we take this opportunity to explain our hearty
delight at the suppression of the Protestant chapel in Rome. This
may be thought intolerant; but when, we ask, -Did we ever profess to
be tolerant of Protestantism, or to favor the question that Protestantism ought to be tolerated? On the contrary, we IHATE Protestantismwe DETEST it with our whole heart and soul, and we pray our aversion
to it may never decrease."t
In the United States toleration is claimed as a Papal virtue, because it is known to be harmonious with public sentiment.  Upon
the Continent of Europe all is different, and Romanism becomes the
strong right arm of despotism, and the enemy of every thing that is
free. Not the supporter of tyranny by inference of its enthusiastic
devotees, but by the powerful precepts of its written laws, sanctioned
by all the solemnities of tradition, and all the massive machinery of
the Church. Of the doctrines of the Council of Trent it is decreed,
"If any one shall presume to teach, or to think differently from these
decrees, let him be accursed." As late as 1832, the Church, through
Gregory XVII., in its famous Encyclical letter, pronounces, "From
that polluted fountain of indifference flows the absurd and erroneous
doctrine, or rather raving, in favor and in defence of liberty of conscience, for which most pestilential error, the course opened by that
entire and wild liberty of opinion, which is everywhere attempting
the overthrow of civil and religious institutions, and which the unblushing impudence of some has held forth as an advantage to religion."  "From hence arise those revolutions in the minds of men,
hence this aggravated corruption of youths, hence the contempt
among the people of sacred things, and of the most holy institutions
and laws; hence, in one wor& that pest of all others most to be
dreaded in a State, unbridled liberty of opinion."'
The establishment of the Inquisition in the sixteenth century was
t P',ttsburg Catholic Visitor, S1848,.
144
* Boston Pilot. 
ROMANISM AND FREEDOM.
for the avowed purpose of putting down free thought, free expression,
and free opinion.- Under its sway, enormities were committed which
make humanity shudder.  Under its administration John Louis Vivis,
a Spaniard of great learning and reputation, bewails the fate of moderate and charitable Catholics even in Spain; what must have been
the fate of avowed Protestants who came under its condemnation?
Says Vivis, in a letter to Erasmus, dated May 18th, 1534, " We live
in hard times, in which we can neither speak or be silent without
danger." In the forty-three years of the administrations of the first
four Inquisitors-General, which closed in the year 1524, they committed eighteen thousand human beings to the flames, and inflicted
inferior punishments on two hundred thousand persons more, with
various degrees of severity.  It was this work of thq Inquisition in
Spain, with a knowledge that the Spanish and French monarchs
meditated the extension over all Christendom of the Inquisition, that
seated Elizabeth firmly on the throne of England, and secured that
political toleration that led to the brightest triumphs of the Reformation.
Popish devotees are made to believe, and Protestants are constantly
told, that the Inquisition was not established by the Catholic Church,
and therefore the Church is not to be held accountable for any of its
acts; yet we find Saint Liguori, one of the most reverend of the
Fathers, says,  "Pope Paul III. established the General Inquisition at Rome, in
the year 1542, by his Bull 34, commencing with the words'Licet ab
initio.' "-(Ligor. de Prohib. Libro, p. 238.)  "In the General Congregation," continues the Saint, "of the holy Roman and Universal
Inquisition, held in the Apostolical Quirinal Palace, before our MOST
HOLY LORD, Lord Benedict, by Divine Providence the fourteenth
Pope, and before the most eminent.ad most serene doctors, the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, specially deputed by the holy
Apostolical See, General Inquisitors against heretical pravity."
(Ligor. de Rom. Pont., Dec. iii, p. 85.)
The fact that the Romish Church assumes to be infallible, of neces
145 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
sity makes her intolerant.  Her arrogant claim of supremacy above
all governments of the earth in things spiritual, must also of necessity
make her an enemy to free thought and action. The truth of this
position is clearly set forth in the Rhemish Testament, which urges
that "the blood of heretics is not called the blood of saints, no more
than the blood of thieves, man-killers, and other malefactors, for the
shedding of which, by order of justice, no commonwealth shall suffer."
-(Rhem. Test., Annot. u2)on Rev. xvii. 6.)
"Experience teaches," says Cardinal Bellarmine, "that there is no
other remedy for the evil but to put heretics to death; for the Church
proceeded gradually, and tried every remedy. At first, she merely
excommunicated them; afterward she added a fine; then she banished them; and finally she was constrained to put them to death."(Bellar?2. de Laicis, lib. iii. c. 21.)
Finally, as an utter refutation of the Claim  Romanismm makes to
fiee thought, free expression, and free opinion, we quote the language
of the General Council of Lateran, which says, "Let the secular
powers be compelled, if necessary, to exterminate to their utmost
power all heretics denoted by the Church." —(Gen. Coun. Lat., A. D.
1215f)
Such are the assumptions of this mighty religio-political organization, which, under the mild aegis of our Republican institutions,
sends forth both its deceived and its knowing disciples, to teach the
people of America, that it cherishes the fundamental principles of
Republicanism, denying for the time its most ancient doctrines, denying its practice through centuries, and seemingly holding in contempt
the intelligence of the American people, by claiming attributes so
utterly opposed to its practices and precepts. That the Jesuitical
foreign priest who was born under the system, nursed in its iniquities,
who has no home, no ambition, no future, no glory that does not centre
in Rome, should be willing to load his conscience down with mental
reservations, or being so utterly corrupt, from his early education, to
know nothing as right but the building up of his Church;-that
such a mnan should claim any thing and everv thing for Papacy, that
146 
ROMIANISM AND FREEDOM.
would palliate the opposition of the American mind to its despotic
and liberty-crushing requirements, is not strange; but the terrible
influence of Papal power is more awfully illustrated than in  any
other case, when it can make  a free and independent native-born
citizen, educated and enlightened, and accustomed in his earlv life to
think and act for himself, suddenly cease to have a mind of his own,
suddenly deny the truths of' history, suddenly discard the lessons of
his own experience, and the accumulated testimony of ages, and declare that in the Romish Church there is free thought and free expression, and support it by sophisms upon history, that upon examination bv the light of truth are dissipated, and leave the advocate in
the condition of a person who willingly lends himself to deceptions
of the grossest kind, or who, if sincere, must be passed upon as incapable, from ghostly influence, of announcing the truth.
No historical fact can be produced which will show that the Pope
of Rome has aided in any cause that might properly he termed oce
of freedom, or that any of his official councils, or any acknowledged
councils of the Church, have ever done any thing to enlighten the
people, anal encourage tLi.m  in the p)in ciples of self-government.
The present Pontiff may be presum-red to h,ave as enlarged views as
any of his predecessors, yet hle is as far remloved fromn encouraging
republican ideas as the most bigoted prelate of the dark ages.  He
represents, in this matter, not himself, but his Church; and acts only
in accordance with the spirit and dictates of the great religio-political
institution of which he is the head.  Pils IX. blessed the CzarI of
Russia, and the newly made Emperor of Austria, because they aided
in restoring him to his throne, from which he had been driven by t;e
republicans of Italy.  At the same time he cursed Piedonat an(1 o,, 3
glum because they asserted that the civil power   as supe ior il  civi
matte as tothe power of i  piet,s,  nd a,ttemated to escape f!'o01'i
some of the gallig- usurpations of loine.  Pius entered the hospitals,
filled with wounded republicans who had fallen in the attempt to give
liberty to the people, and poured out upon them his especial maledictions.  To the wounded French-those hieling tiroops who had been
147 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
employed to stifle liberty-he dispensed his blessing, and loaded theni
with rosaries, medals, and crosses of honor. Such was his treatment
to the men who had cruelly shot down his own subjects-his own
people! The bones of the martyrs of liberty were left to decay
upon the surface of the ground; and, in this nineteenth century,
travellers were disgusted in witnessing this savage cruelty, allowed
almost under the very walls of the Vatican. We repeat, that Pius IX.,
in these enormities, represents the principle of his Church; and were
he to act more liberal-more in accordance with the spirit of the
age-he would cease to be Pope; for Romlanism and freedom will
ever be at war.
148 
EFFECTS OF ROMANISM AND PROTESTANTISM
ON CIVILIZATION.
"The prosperity of a country is founded upon the intelligence of its inhabitants.  This intelligence
is dependent upon an enlightened religious belief; for the highest civilization is the result of the
purest Christianity."
THREE centuries ago, the people of the continent of Europe became
divided by the Reformation; those of the North embraced Protestantism, those of the South remained Romanist. The great powers sided
with Rome; the second-rate embraced the new faith. The former
held command over the most fruitful domains of the Old and New
World, and swayed the sceptre of ocean. Literature, science, and
the arts were theirs.  The latter, in comparison, had received but little
from Nature, and commerce and manufactures were scarcely known
amongst them. Such was the position of affairs in the sixteenth century. Let us now examine the transformation which these respective
countries have undergone.
At the period of the Reformation, Spain was the first among the
nations of Europe. By comparing its former with its present state,
we shall discover how much it has lost; and this loss is owing, if
not entirely, at least in part, to its religious faith. Never was a nation
so completely under the influence of Romanism as Spain.  She presented a brilliant picture in the sixteenth century; for the conquest
of Greniada had raised her to the pinnacle of wealth and prosperity.
While the nobility gave themselves up to the profession of arms, the
other classes enriched their country by assiduous labor.   On all sides,
irrigation, canals, and reservoirs distributed water over the remotest
and'i most barren tracts.  Agricuiilture was especially honored, whilst 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
industry and commerce added to the general prosperity. The development of trade was equal to that of industry. A minister of Philip
the Second, asserted, in an assembly of the Cortes, that at the fair of
lMecina del Campo, in 1563, business was transacted to the amount
of one hundred and thirty-two millions five hundred thousand dollars.
A multitude of tr ading vessels set sail every year from various ports,
conveying to Italy, Asia Minor, Africa, and the East Indies, the products of the national industry. Sculpture, architecture, painting, and
music were enshrined in her midst. The drama, epic and lyric poetry,
and history found worthy interpreters, names which will live forever.
The palaces of the Spanish ambassadors were in foreign countries the
resort of the most elegant society; and France, Italy, England, and
Germany sent their youth to Madrid to acquire Castilian manners
and politeness.
Towards the close of the fifteenth century, Spain, victorious over
the Moors, became the discoverer and mistress of the New World.
What a magnificent present!  What a gloriious futtre!  All peoples
looked to her as first amongst the nations, and sovereigns trembled at
her power.
WAhat was the condition of England at the period of the Reformation?  One-half of the land( was the property of the clergy; the
remainder belonged to the nobility.  Sixty-five thousand priests and
monks supported immense establishments by the moneys levied on
the people.  The land was cultivated to a comparatively small extent,
the gross agricultural product being under forty millions of dollars.
Her trade was small, compared to that of many nations on the continent, and commerce was scarcely known in her ports. Manufactures
were obtained-from other countries, and education of the people had
not yet commenced. Everywhere feudalism and priestcraft were triumphant, and divided the nation for their mutual benefit.
.England, under the benign influences of the Reformation, from
a fourth-rate power, soon took her station at the head of the nations
of the earth; and peoples once her superiors became dependent upon
her for protection and aid.  Her ships whitened every sea, and her
150 
RO0MANIISM AND PROTESTANTISM. i
drum-beat greeted the rising sun around the world. Her capitalists 
have covered Europe with railroads, and she has made laws to millions in Asia. She has her colonies in Af'ica, America, and a
rising empire in Australia.  What  the United States are eflecting
in the Western Hemisphere, she is accomplishing in the Old World.
Within eleven years, Spain effects the subjugation of Grenada,
discovers and conquers America, and establishes THE INQUISIToN!
At the summit of prosperity in the fifteenth century, behold her in
the nineteenth! See that spectacle of agony which cannot come to
an end;  that all-pervading confusion to which  no term  can be
assigned; the certain and progressive ruin of a nation that, for a
whole century, dictated laws to Europe; that inhabits the richest and
most fertile soil, perhaps, under heaven-but a nation so disheartened
that it feels itself perish, and watches its own decline with the resignation of a fatalist!
The clergy possess nearly one-thirdl of the entire surface of Spain.
As a consequence, one-twelfth of the inhabitants earn a livelihood b)y
smuggling, robbing, and begging; and it has been estimated that
three million Spaniards wear no shirt from want of money to purchase one. There are forty classes of vagrants, each class with a
specific, recognized name. There is an assassination for every four
thousand of the population.  Education is scarcely known, and there
is buit one pupil to every three hundred and fifty inhlabitants.  Interlsal
navigation, agriculture, and maiuti-etures are at a stand-still.' Such
is modern Spain, once the first, now the last of nations!  What is
the cause of this? what the origin of such utter misery and helplessness l Tyranny, answvers the politician; Romanism, says the Protestant,; the Inqcisit:ln, replies the historian.  But these three are
one.  Tyranny and  the Inquisition!  foutl offspring of blighting
Romanism!
During the past year, the Queen of Spain having presented to the
Pope a magnificent tiara of diamonds, the Pontiff returns an allocu- 
tion to the "Catholic Sovereign," and the gift of the body of St. Felix!   Thus has it ever been.  Spain parts with her wealth to Rome,
151
I 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
and receives in return- bones, putrefaction, and rottenness!  But
Rome has borne sway there too long. The Spaniards are now rising
against this frightful spiritual and civil tyranny; the dupes and tools
of the priesthood have fled the country like malefactors, and the sovereign herself obeys the dictates of her subjects. Rome is no longer
to hold Spain as her property, to farm and pillage it to benefit the
Papal treasury. She has fattened on it too long, and has left it, poor,
weak, uneducated, superstitious, low in civilization, the prey of countless factions.  But Spain is ridding herself of the cause of her misery
may we not hope, forever?
We address to the reader's conscience this twofold question: First,
is3 it not true that Spain, favored with the finest climate, placed at the
head of Europe, enriched with a world, but remaining Romanist, has
continued to decline and grow poorer, sinking at last into ignorance,
misery, and immorality?  Secondly, is it not true that England,
with a sterile soil, a cloudy sky, and starting from the lowest rank
among European nations, but having embraced Protestantism, is
now prosperous, enlightened, moral, and at the head of the civilized
world?
We find the relative influence of the two creeds fully developed in
the Republic of Switzerland. The Protestant cantons are more populous than the Romanist, and carry on a far greater trade.  The
latter are obliged to keep many holidays besides Sundays, and thus
agriculture is much neglected. The Cantons of Zurich, Basle, Geneva, Glaris, and Neufchatel, all Protestant, are distinguished above
the rest for their industry and mnanufactures. The people are not so
well educated in the Romish as in the other cantons. There are but
twenty-two presses in the former to eighty in the latter. Ten Protestant journals are printed to three Romanist.   In the Plapist cantons,
ignorance and misery go hand in hand, and distress the eyes of the
traveller.  The taste for processions, pilgrimages, and other acts of
devotion introduced by the mionkis, has encoutaged a spirit of'idleness which is the bane of trade and agiculture, and augments the
numbers of the poor. In the cantons where the peasants bow the
152 
ROMANISM AND PROTESTANTISM.
neck to the yoke of the clergy, men have lost all their energy, all
elevation of mind. Servile and taciturn as slaves, they have forgotten
their rights, and know nothing beyond the performance of a inechanical and unreasoning obedience. The Canton du Valais is celebrated
throughout Europe for its filth, superstition, and wretchedness. "Mange
pas les puces et les Protres" (eaten up by lice and priests), is the proverb applied to its inhabitants throughout Europe. The population
is behind the other cantons even in regard to agricultural operations
and the management of cattle. They are inferior in education,
knowledge, and science; ai d are specially idle, negligent, and dirty.
In the villages, at every door are seen horrible cretins, sickly, wretcied,
languishing, with an enormous head, lost in an immense goltre, their
faces swollen and livid, the eyes sunk under the thick and heavy lids;
the flabby cheeks, the half-opened lips, with the tongue hanging out,
and a filthy saliva round it. Some, scarcely covered with rags, lie
warming their limbs in the sun; others, seated on the laps of halfcretinized old women, resign their beards and heads to their inspection, or moodily count their beads, muttering Aves and Pater Nosters.
Medical men are decided that the causes of this deformed idiocy,
cre6tinimsm, are moral as well as physical; the neglect of education
leads to their imbecility.*  Children are left. to themselves, and exist
like beasts. They wallow in the mlire, seizing and devouring all they
find there.  In winter they pass whole days stretched in a room
warmed by a stove.  Drunkenness is the prevailing vice, and the
population is universally superstitious, insensible to their own interests, intractable and obstinate.
Romanism had a hard battle to fight in Germany at the time of
the Reformation. The North, represented by Prussia, became Protestant; the South, under the influence of Austria, remained Romanist.  In the latter, two powers, the government and the clergy,
have united in working the nation to their mutual advantage.  The
clergy, at first, strove to govern both the people and the nobles; but
Raoul Pochette, Vol. III. p. 392.  Lautier, Vol. II.. p. 204,
153 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
these resisted, and took the place coveted by the clergy. The civil
power is therefore master, only it reigns in the nation by the means
and tutoring of the Church.  A  compromise exists; the Church is
the instrument, the Government is the hand; but the instrument acts
according to its own aptitude, so that a harmonious concurrence
exists between the two powers. Rome has fashioned Austria, although
Rome obeys Austria, and the two forces have successfully enthralled
the nation, by depriving it of liberty and education.- Freedom of
thought does not exist: there are twelve offices for the revision of
books, and as many censors, at Vienna, Prague, and Milan.   The
advance of industry is stopped by an exaggerated prohibitive system;
her commerce in nowise answers to the extent of her monarchy, and
her internal trade is scarcely half developed.
There is no individual liberty; the subject is a simple tenant; he
cannot be more. The lords judge between their own subjects; they
may even judge in their own cause. Up to 1846, except in Hungary,
no peasant might emigrate, buy, sell, make a will, or marry, without
authorization;  he was, in fact, a minor, kept under by perpetual
legislative guardianship.
Gallicia, a country possessing all the elements of wealth, has remained barren, and frightful indigence bears sway. In the wretched
and repulsive-looking villages, narrow huts, formed of branches of
trees rudely kept together with osier bands, and covered with straw
and clay, surround a church. The other provinces of the empire are
in similar condition; religion and misery go hand in hand. There
is, as we before observed, no liberty of thought, no liberty of commerce, no individual liberty; but instead, drudgery for the peasants,
beating for the soldiers, humiliation for officials, and a villainous system of secret police.
The different professions are enrolled to serve as spies, as also are
the hiackney-coachmen.   Servants are called upon to tell what they
know of their masters and households; door-keepers, tradesmen, and
clerks render the same service. One-half of the people are spies
upon the other half.
164
i 
ROMANISM AND PROTESTANTISM.
Thanks to this abominable tyranny and vile superstition, Austria is
falling daily in opinion; the distrust and discontent which the governmeat excites, germinate like fertile seeds, and will one day bear bitter
fruits.
Whilst Austria extinguishes the light of knowledge and forbids
liberty of thought, Prussia, on the contrary, governs by means of that
light and liberty.
Prussia is a state in which instruction is very generally diffused
and watched over with the greatest care: the number of schools increases annually. There is no country where science and learning
are more encouraged, or cultivated with greater success, and the inhabitants have reached a high degree of moral and intellectual attainment.  Th. government pays the greatest attention to public
education, a-d tlha advancement of the,art sand sciences.  Freedom
is granted to all religious denominations. 
The result of Luther's reformation in Germany  was  liberty of
thought and opinion. No distinction was made between theological
and philosophical truth, and public disputations were held on all
subjects without opp-ositioD.  Nowhere has the human mind been
permitted to expand or express itself more freely than in Northern
Germany: Liberty of thought and Protestantism  are there united
by strong ties, and German Philosophy is the daughter of the Reformation. The language even has felt the benefit: Protestants were
the first to write it with intelligence, and this pure style is, in the
countries subject to Austria, called Lutheran German.
Agriculture is improving, manufactures increase, and trade flourishes.  In fifteen years, Prussia has expended a capital of fifty-four
million dollars in roads and railways.  Throughout  the country,
beautiful villages spring up on every side; the houses are,-well built,
and almost concealed by the thick covering of vine leaves. The
villagers universally wear bright, happy countenances, and their
courteous manners and picturesque costumes all bespeak the contentment and comfort which reign among them.
Such is Germany. In the South, Austria and her band of Romish.
165 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
States career in the darkness of material despotism, without consciousness of the noble destiny of man.
In the North, Prussia, and her company  of Protestant nations,
bldssed with increasing liberty, bask in the bright light of knowledge,
in ceaseless speculations after God and immortality.
Romanist Belgium and Protestant iolland having been alternately
united and separated, cannot be so entirely different from one another
as the countries we have already compared. During the last half
century alone, Belgium has been successively under the rule of Infidel France, of the Protestant Netherlands, and of its own Romanist government. These powers have each left an impression, and
thus have modified the contrast which strikes us so forcibly elsewhere.
In the eighteenth century, Belgium passed under the dominion of
the French, then much irritated against priestcraft; Belgians must
in a measure have shaken off the same yoke, and lost some of their
prejudices. If this were not an advance in good, it was at least a
step out of evil.
But it was especially from 1815 to 1830, under a Protestant government, that Belgium received abundantly the treasures of freedom
and civilization. Agricultural colonies were established, and flourished; institutions for the poor were founded; a general increase of
population and comfort ensued, and commerce received a great
development.
The advantages on the Romanist side, as regards soil and climate, are very considerably in favor of Belgium in comparison with
Holland.  The former has a fertile soil, generously endowed by nature; a ray of sunshine covers it with abundant crops; it possesses
mines of lead, copper, iron, alum, sulphur and calamine, quarries of
marble, freestone, limestone, &c.
In Holland, instead of these natural riches, we find water! water
everywhere. While Brussels, the capital of Belgium, rests upon a
rock, Amsterdam is built in the midst of the floods, on thirteen million stakes.  What have the Belgian Catholics done with their fertile
156 
ROMANISM AND PROTESTANTISM.
land in comparison with what the Dutch Protestants have made of
their marshes?
Belgian agriculture is, at the present time, greatly below that of
Holland.  -Travellers are struck with the wisdom  with which  the
Dutch cherish every thing which tends to the improvement of that
science. Their laborers enjoy an amount of comfort which contrasts
strongly with the poverty of Flanders; their dwellings are well kept,
their clothes are clean and substantial; all things bespeak ease and
prosperity. There are scarcely any paupers amongst them, whilst in
Belgium they form a seventh of the population.
Since 1830, educational and scientific institutions have greatly
fallen off in the latter country. What the Priesthood could not control, they willingly allowed to decay; they direct, at least partially,
all primary instruction, not only as to religion and morals, but in
every branch of education. In Holland, they take not the slightest
part in public instruction; they do not even visit the schools; sectarianism is not allowed to enter, but the master is charged to teach his
pupils the rules of morality and the truths of the Gospel.
The preponderance of the Romish clergy in Belgium is a bad
omen for the future; all things converge towards a moral and intellectual subjugation: the Jesuit system of education is greatly dreaded,
for it aims at nothing less than the extinction of all free-will and
spontaneous action. Belgium has greatly retrograded since her disruption with Holland, whilst the latter has steadily progressed in
freedom and civilization.
Romanists are fond of citing France as proof positive of the civilizing influence of their faith: but France is not Papal; if she be
any thing in ethics, she is hDeist.  We admit at the same time that
somie provinces, like Brittany, for instance, are really under  the
influence of the Popish clergy. We shall compare these districts
with those localities in which Protestantism  has  many adherents.
The Huguenots in France were in a similar position to that of the
Irish Romanists.  Both were persecuted by their respective governments;  We know to what depths of misery the Irish Papists sank;
S
15 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
their neglect of agriculture, their idleness, their fiightful poverty
Is the same sight offered to us by the equally persecuted Protestants?  Gradually excluded firom court employnments, and from almost
all civil posts, they applied themselves to agriculture, trade, and manufa(ctures.  The vast plains they possessed in B6arn, and  the Westeirn provinces, were covered  with rich  harvests.  In  Languedoc,
the cantons peopled by them became the best cultivated and the
most fertile, often in spite of the badness of the soil.  In Guyenne,
they took possession of almost the whole wine trade. In the two
governments of Biouage and Oleron, a dozen Protestant families had
the monopoly of the trade in salt and wine. The wealth of Alenton
passed through their hands; and the Protestants of Rouen carried on
an immense commerce, especially with the Dutch.  Those of Caen
sold to the English and Dutch merehants the linen and woollen cloths
manufactured in Normandy.  It is to the Protestants that France
owes her commerce at Bordeaiix, La Rochelle, and the Norman ports.
In fine, nearly all the silk, cotton, linen, and paper manufactures were
supported by;- them, and their tanneries in Touraine were renowned
throughlout the' whole of Europe.
This magnificent prosperity was annihilated by Romanism at the
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.  England, IHolland, Germany,
and Denmark all received  the flying Huguenots.   The American
colonies were largely benefited by the refugees.   The uncultivated
banks of the James River were  by them  transformed into fields
covered with rich harvests.  All Virginia  admired  the flourishing
state of their model farms in the environs of Mannikin. In the
State of New York, the founders of New La Rochelle, recoiled from
no fatigue that might render productive the virgin land on the shores
of the East River.  Men, women, and children unceasingly labored
until they convcrted a wilderness into a smiling landscape; and in
South Carolina they reared magnificent plantations on the banks of
the Cooper. The agricultural colony on the banks of the Santee surpassed all others in the same province, although the refugees were
unaccustomed to that kind of labor. 
158 
ROMANISMI AND PPROTESTANTISM.
The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685, had its reaction
in the fearful atrocities of the French Revolution of 1792.  But a
great Protestant element exists still in France, and we can compare
their comparative prosperity with that of the Romanists.  In Paris,
the average personal tax paid by all the inhabitants is six dollars and
twelve cents; the average paid by the Protestants is seventeen dollars; that is to say, the fortunes of the Paris Protestants are, at the
present time, nearly three times that of their Romanist countrymen. Throughout the length and breadth of France, the Protestant departments are the most industrious, most wealthy, and pay the
highest taxes to the government. The six departments which supply the primary schools with the largest amount of pupils, are those
containing the largest number of Protestants. The six depairtments
numbering the smallest number of pupils are precisely those which
are exclusively Romanist populations.
The Reformed Faith is making progress throughout France. At
the same time, we must not ignore the fact that in many parts of the
country Romanism is very powerful, especially with the court. Services rendered necessarily demand favors in return. Hence the decree
placing education in the hands of the priests. The occupation of
Rome is oft-times cited as a proof of Gallican support of the Holy
See, but there were far too grave political reasons to prompt such a
procedure for us to suppose that the French Government was, and is
guided by mere faith, or reverence for a system which the Napoleons
have always made subservient to their own purposes. As a nation,
France is simply Deist; and to this state has she been reduced by
centuries of priestly domination and Romish superstition.
In no country do the effects of Romanism and Protestantism so
strike the observer as in Ireland. Here, as elsewhere, the fruitful
South has fallen to the lot of the former, and the Reformation displays its power in the comparatively barren North. The effect upon
the Irish of the bad direction which the priest gives to their minds,
is a prostration of their moral force, annihilating all their intellectual
faculties, and blunting even the consciousness of- misfortune and desire
159 
A VOICE TO AMIERICA.
to put an end to it. Ireland is peopled with poor; mendicity seems
almost the national characteristic. The Irish beggars are the Lazzaroni of England.
The Romish population of Ireland live in huts, the walls of which
are made of mud and flints, or of old and almost rotten planks; the
roof is composed of a layer of clods, spread over the laths. Generally, no windows are to be seen.  Light enters only by means of the
door, or a hole made in the roof, which serves as a chimney. In this
same damp shed live, pell-mell, two, three, and sometimes four generations of human beings.  The sow seems a member of the familylying in the corner, surrounded and petted by the children. In these
miserable abodes the Irish Romanists pass their lives, except when
engaged in agrarian outrage, or resistance to the laws of the land.  For
centuries have they existed in this manner; and when patriotic indi
viduals attempt a reformation of so horrible a state of things, the priests
denounce the philanthropists from the altar, and cause their deluded
congregations to lie in wait to assassinate them.  Such is Papal Ireland!
The Irish of the North, living under the same laws, "tyrannized (?)
over by the same government," show exactly a contrary picture. They
devote themselves to manufactures and trade, and their linens surpass
all others. The growth and manufacture of flax was commenced by
Protestants, and has been maintained by them ever since. Belfast is
a remarkable example of the prosperity of the Protestant towns of
the North. There are special hospitals for the blind, deaf and dumb,
fever patients, lunatics, the feeble; with asylums for penitent girls, liberated convicts, domestics out of place, and women out of work.
There are sixteen Protestant chapels to two Romanist; and the
inhabitants are almost all Protestants, and merchants. The houses
are well built, large, and convenient.  Lovely villages are scattered
through the country, well-built cottages stand in the midst of gardens
profuse in flowers, the inhabitants are well dressed, and an air of contentment and happiness pervades every thing.
As it is in prosperity, so is it in education and morality. Three fourths of the crimihals of Ireland are RPomanists, and education is
160 
ROMANISM AND PROTESTANTISM.
scarcely known among them. In order to remedy such a frightful
state of crime and ignorance, the English Government has lately established schools and colleges, where religion as a study is rigorously
excluded; thus endeavoring to supply the wants of a mixed population, and eventually end sectarianism. Rome anathematizes these
institutions, naming them the "Godless colleges," and denounces from
the altar those enlightened parents who permit their children to frequent them.
There is not an election in which we do not find instances of priests
threatening from the altar those who voted for a Protestant candidate.
The fearful riots which result from this interference are only quelled
by the intervention of an armed force.  Everywhere the Romanists
are deficient in knowledge and wealth.  They are the uneducated,
the miserable, the servants of their own land.   In short, turn where
you will, the result is the same.  The difference between Romanism
and Protestantism is known by the appearance of every parish, every
village, every house and cottage in the land.
Italy! Italy! Mistress of the World! the glory of Europe!  She
had decked herself with the master-works of the human mind, like
a queen adorning her brow. Michael Angelo was her architect;
Raphael, Titian, and Da Vinci were her painters; Dante, Petrarch, and
Aiiosto sang her praises. For her, Genoa and Venice unladed their
rich argosies; emperors and kings were her willing vassals. Italy,
possessing in her bosom the Infallible Head of the Church; Italy,
enjoying the pure influence of Romanism, and never suffering from
heresy,-surely Italy must give high proofs of the blessed influence
of the Papacy; but the Eternal City! Imperial Rome! is in ruins!
Half her streets are deserted; wretchedness and filth reign triumphantly. The glory of the City of the Sea, Venice, is gone; Genoa is
fallen; Florence is in tears! Italians are distracted and desolate, the
prey of ever-changing tyrants!
It is to Popery alone we must attribute the shame of the actual
state of Italy. It is the work, the legitimate offspring, the exclusive
pupil of the Papal power.   Whatever Popery is able to accomplish,
161. 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
has been accomplished in Italy. No opposition has been offered
there. On the contrary, Popery has been enthroned; princes and
people have bowed before it, as an idol; and the Head of Romanism, armed with a triple tiara, held as infallible. The Roman Caiphas, accepted as vice-God, has prepared and consummated this
tremendous ruin.
But there is a bright ray of hope for this glorious country of the
past. Sardinia is waking up to liberty, and manfully striding on in
the road to freedom. Rome is in agony; her ministers fume, her
Pontiff threatens excommunication and interdict. But bravely do
Sardinia's king and people bear such Middle-Age threats; and the
secularization of the property of the Church, the appointment of
bishops by the government, the annihilation of the monasteries, all
go bravely on. Italy's salvation is in the North; and we trust ere
long to see a magnificent empire rising up, embracing Sardinia, Lombardy, and the lesser States, and setting free the city of RienziEternal Rome herself.
But in order to appreciate the struggle between modern Romanism
and Protestantism, we must leave Europe. Here they are both embarrassed in their movements by too many old established customs
and prejudices. Providence has given them a vast arena, where each,
being surrounded by its own deeds, will be judged by them alone.
The Church of Rome and the Reformation have each, in America, a
world in which to try their civilizing power,-a duel which has heaven and earth for witnesses. America is a country of the future. She
is a virgin, fertile, and extensive land. She has not, by degrading
laws, closed the doors upon truth. Neither has she proscribed error;
all forms, religions, governments, are admitted. Truth, eternal truth,
will alone prevail. 
A magnificent armament, under the banners of imperial Spain,
arrives in South America. The strength and chivalry of Europe land
amidst wondering spectators. They march from victory to victory.
Untold treasures fill the coffers of the Church.  Rome, in intoxication, sings countless Te Deums.
162 
ROMANISM AND PROTESTANTISM.
A few men land, one by one, on the shores of North America;
poor, humble, and unknown. They bring with them but one bookthe Bible. They open it on the strand; and begin forthwith to build
up the new city, on the plan of the book recovered by Luther.
Hearken to the sound of the axe. The emigrant fells the primeval
oak in the virgin forests; the sweat inundates his brow. With toil
and trouble he builds an unknown hut, near a running stream. The
traveller scarce deigns to turn his head towards this humble dwelling,
where the noise of the axe and hammer mingles with the chant of a
psalm. But if, a few years later, he pass again by the same spot, he
sees, by a sort of social miracle, in the place of the hut, a mighty empire rising from the earth. The poor emigrant has conquered a world!
In this immnense arena the lists are opened between two religions.
The doctrines of the Council of Trent have received, for the display of
their strength, South America There the founders are not isolated
individuals, but on the contrary, according to Romanist principles, an
association already formed. A powerful empire, with all its resources,
comes to take possession of the soil. Rich valleys and fertile plains
seemn to demand the living energy which would give birth to new
empires. In order that the trial may be more decisive, Romanism
alone is allowed to approach these shores. The civilization of the
natives, which might have embarrassed her actions, disappears. Nothing remains but mighty nature, who, in her solitude, invites man to
crown her with vast ideas, projects, innovations, kingdoms, gigantic
as herself. But man remains motionless, bound by an invisible force.
Throughout the entire continent of South America, it is impossible
to enforce the observance of the most simple law or police regulation.
The insolence of the inhabitants renders them hostile to every kind of
control. Morals are in a state that makes us blush for humanity;
manufactures are scarcely known;  commerce languishes, or is in the
hands of foreigners; society is utterly demoralized, and anarchy reigns
supreme.  From the Isthmus to the Horn, wherever Rome has planted
her Faith, civilization flies. Revolution succeeds revolution, but no
good  results fiom  the change.  South America is one vast moral
163 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
charnel-house. Mexico, even, which should receive some beneficial
influence from the neighboring states, is paralyzed by the priesthood,
in alliance with despotism. Cuba, the brightest jewel in the bosom of
ocean, for which nature has done so much and man so little, is ground
down and cursed by this overwhelming spiritual tyranny.  Priestcraft
pillages her, and military despots put her to death. Rome, wherever
supreme, reduces society to chaos.
What a magnificent contrast in the Protestant North!  Forests
have given place to fruitful fields; cities spring up on every side;
railroads stretch to remotest points; commerce brings to her the
wealth of the old world; Science bridges her rivers, works her roads
and canals; the Arts enshrine themselves in her midst; and Literature carries her glory into far-distant climes.  Her  Faith and her
Progress are one and inseparable; the dignity and independence of
man, his self-reliance, have wrought this.  Protestantism settled her
finest States-it breathes through and animates her constitution; her
forefathers were the everlasting enemies of Rome and tyranny. Instead of ignorance, we find education more diffused than in any other
part of the world; a school is as necessary to a village as houses;
and every succeeding year strives to surpass the last in improving instruction.
The mind fails to grasp the FUTURE of such a people.  When we
see the progress accomplished in so short a period; plenty everywhere and misery nowhere; churches, schools, towns, manufactories,
rising on all sides, as if by enchantment; forests cleared away almost
as soon as discovered; a hardy population, active, persevering, eager
for knowledge, and ever advancing, we are almost tempted to give
history the lie, when we think how much has been done in so short a
time.
Romianism, opposed to all social and. commercial progress, is deiended by its subjects with the specious remnark that the change proves
nothing against the Church, because man is not made for this world,
and, therefore, it makes but little difference whether he be free, happy,. prosperous, or otherwise, so long as he is an acceptable mem
164 
ROMANISM AND PROTESTANTISM.
ber of the Papal communion.  This is the favorite argument to make
the Irish people contented with the misery they suffer by the priestridden degradation in their native land. Another class of the defenders
of the Papacy admit the commercial and social degradation of Papal
nations, but assert that their decline in temporal prosperity is due to the
change of the great routes of navigation. It is true that America and
England obtained access to the East Indies around the Cape of Good
Hope, but this route is, and was, open to Spain, Portugal, and all Romanist countries. No recent discoveries have altered the route to
South America; nearly the whole of that trade was hers, for her colonie, eleven times the area of the mother country, were equal to India i fertility; rivers were more numerous and mineral productions
far superior.  England, and in fact the whole of Europe, could never
reach the South American Continent as quickly as Spain, for the northeast trade-winds were in her favor, and those nations would always be
compelled to take a southern course to reach the Gulf of Mexico.
Portugal and Spain obtained a vast continent, besides possessions in
the West Indies and North America. No change in navigation could
possibly affect the development of these immense acquisitions; but,
as we have seen, ill government and superstition have left them a
wilderness, and the very name of Spain an execration.
But granting, for the sake of argument, that the carrying trade has
been transferred, surely the loss of commerce cannot have plunged
Spain, Portugal, and Italy into such moral debasement and political
annihilation as they are now suffering. The asserters of so monstrous
a proposition would make us believe that no country can prosper without commerce, which is palpably ridiculous. But if their argument
be correct, why should Protestant Hlolland differ so materially from
the above-mentioned countries? She has lost the greater part of her
commerce and colonies, yet we see no such moral debasement, no such
reducing of man to the level of the brute as we find with them.
Protestantism found the world in medieval barbarism; feudalism
and tyranny triumphant; mankind in slavery and ignorance. She
has disenthralled the people, blessed them with literature and science,
8*
165 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
raised them to the virtue and dignity of MEN. Under her benign
auspices they have learned the blessings of liberty, the charms of intellect, the triumphs of fiee government. She has given them a
world, and taught them how, flom a primeval forest, to carve out the
glories of a rising empire, the terror of despotism, the star of hope to
all nations. She has burst the barriers of three thousand years, and
opened China to commerce and the West.   She has forced Japan to
obey her becliests, and carried her faith into the polar zone. She has
invented railroads, telegraphs, steam-engines, and countless appliances
to benefit humanity.  Her myriad presses carry heaven-born thought
into far-off climes; she commands the ocean, and commerce is obedient to her. Man, disenchained man, stands forth as sovereign of
the universe, a being after the image of God.
166 
THE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE.
'  The small voice within
Heard through gain's silence, and o'er glory's din.
Whatever creed be taught, or land be trod,
M.an's conscince is the oracle of God."
BYRO..
THE American mind declares itself in favor of the right of every
man to worship God after the dictates of his own conscience. It
acts upon the constitutional dictation, that "no  religious test shall
ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under
the United States." That in the first article of the Amendments of
the Constitution it is declared, "that Congress shall make  no law
respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Leaving every individual'free to establish his own
standard of qualification, and to vote for or against those who hold
certain religious principles, or political views, as each one may see
right in his own eyes.  The war the American mind wages is for the
freedom of religious opinion; it only opposes the tyranny of priestcraft a tyranny which educates its slaves that the Church is infallible, superior in authority to the civil power, and that unquestioned
obedience is the highest duty of the layman. The American mind
demands that the people of this country, whether native or alien, be
brought to consider principalities and powers as entitled to consideration, only as they are creations of the Constitution and the laws.
That they be imbued with the spirit of independence, and regard the
principle of equality as an article of living political faith; that they
obey no authority, recognize no titles, save those which emanate from
the civil power; that they admit no right to command on the part
I 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
of any Church, and no duty of obedience on the part of the laity;
that they see no peculiar sanctity in priestly robes, unless accompanied by the superior sanctity of those who wear them; that all
deference to Church dignitaries is but the voluntary homage of the
heart to exalted virtue; that there is no divinity hedging in a king,
and a mitred bishop, even of the See of Rome, is but a man, entitled
to respect only as a man, and to extraordinary consideration, only as
his Christian graces shine with a lustre superior to those of common
men.
The Pope of Rome claims to be the vicegerent of God, and infallible; that all power on earth, spiritual and temporal, is given him by
Divine appointment; that all countries and governments belong to
him, and are either subject to his will and command, or in a state of
criminal rebellion; that all authority in Church and State which
does not profess to be under him, and act in strict-conformity to his
commands, is unlawful and wicked; that all religious opinions different from the dogmas of the Romish Church are heretical, and that
those who profess them are heretics with whom  no faith should be
kept, whether plighted by contract or by oath; that it is the highest
duty of all Romanists to extirpate this heresy and these heretics by
sword, fire, and fagot; and by the same means to bring the political authorities to submit to the Pope in all things, and every human
being to profess, and conform to the Romish faith; and to these ends
they intend to devote their time, their labor, their energies and
powers, and even expend their lives, which would be glorious martyrdom. It is because of the entertainment of such a belief that Romanism is opposed, and the influence of foreigners, who blindly and
passively consent to such doctrines, dreaded; for all modern history
teaches us, that the fairest portions of the earth have been ravaged
with fire and sword to sustain these monstrous doctrines of a religion
political institution.
It is true, that Romanism has not attempted for many years, save
in its recent manifestoes against Sardinia, to assert its political and
temporal power outside of the Papal dominions; but still, in its con
168 
THE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE.
stitution and principles, it adheres to these and all its other assumed
powers. It has renounced none, nor will it do so. None of her
exemplary children repudiate any of them, and if they did, they would
be brought to recant by priestly visitation, or else have the spiritual
thunder of excommunication denounced against them.  For no higher
offence than simply refusing to violate tle most sacred enactments
regarding church property existing in the State of New York, the
trustees of the church of St. Louis, Buffalo, and its entire congregation, were placed under ban.  The Bishop of the diocese published
the pains of excommunication against themn, and held their names up
to infamy and reproach.   The marriage sacrament was refused, and
the priest forbidden to minister at the altars.
The assertion of the full extent of the assumed power by the Papal
Church only slumbers, because the condition of human affairs-the
light, liberty, and moral power of the world, will not suffer it to be
put into execution. It is not the advance and elevation of principle,
of morals, and Christian charity in that Church, and among its priesthood, which has purified it for the time being of these enormities.
Let the state of the world favor it, and other Gregorys and Innocents
would arise to enforce the powers of the Papacy in their utmost amplitude, and their most inexorable spirit. She believes that she is to
be coeval with man, and ultimately to have his whole and perfect
obedience. She has seen the great flux and reflux of her authority
through many centuries, and she is looking forward patiently through
other centuries in confidence, when her strength in full tide is to come
to her again.  Ever watchful, the priesthood, for whom mainly this
wonderful edifice has been constructed, and been progressing to perfection in its way for fifty generations, will patiently bide their time;
and when it comes, if come it ever does, they will move with a policy,
a courage, and a perseverance to command.success;  and the grandest
and most awe-inspiring scenes of the Papal drama will be again reenacted on the theatre of the world.
But whether it is the destiny of man to revolve back to Papal
supremacy in all his affairs or not, that is the consummation to which
169 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
the whole priesthood devote themselves, their time, their energies,
and their lives. That is their one great object; compensating and
supplying the subjects of their affections, hopes, and ambitions;
taking the place of wife, children, friends, and country; wealth, social position, station, honors, fame, and distinction in the arts, sciences,
politics, and war. This ascendency, now partially lost, is their glorious
tradition, and to regain it is the permanent, immutable, ever-present
policy of the Papacy in all its parts. That the Pope is a hierarch,
and they a portion of the hierarchy, is a part of the education, mind,
soul, and personal identity of every member of the priesthood; and
not less so, that the business and ends of their lives and labors is to
expend themselves according to times and circumstances, for the
restoration of the authority and splendor of both; and never to be
disheartened or discouraged, whether or not there be any perceivable
result. These are objects for which, in this country, the foreign
priests especially labor.  They summon every Papist, upon his reaching our shores, to his fealty, and hold them United and faithful to
their religion, their priest, and their sovereign hierarch. They get
possession of all the children they can, by means of schools, and their
parents, where even but one of them is a Romanist, and they attend
and keep these children from the cradle to the grave.
The dying find it to the interest of their eternal welfare to give the
Church liberally of their worldly treasure; and thus in every country
it absorbs within its coffers a large share of the wealth of its devoted
congregations. With signal flexibility and cunning it has addressed
itself to the ruling power, and paid it court adulation, or used other
means to win it; and when won, it may do what it will, on condition
that it becomes subservient to the peculiar views of this priesthood
and its hierarchy. They know that in our country the main-spring
of political power is the ballot-box, and the object of their unceasing
efforts is there to collect and consolidate strength. The members of
all other sects divide in their politics and votes, but foreign Romanists
never, and the priest thus has in his hands their absolute will, and it
becomes a matter of calculation how this tremendous engine of power
170 
THlE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE.
can best be used to build up, not the interests of America nor the
happiness of the people, but the ever-absorbing pretensions of the
Papal Church.
The possession of this voting power is denied, and so is every
working principle of the Church denied, where a fiank acknowledgment would operate against its interests; but the fact that our most
unscrupulous office-seekers are constantly paying court to the priests,
and in every possible way endeavoring to build up the interests of
their Church, tells its own tale, for where the carcass is, there will be
the buzzards also, and where there are votes to be purchased, there
will be the demagogue and the trading politician.
But the organs of the Papacy printed among us, occasionally thrown
off their guard by some unexpected success, sometimes let us into
their plans and future aspirations. We occasionally have the boldest
avowals of the intention of usurping our government, of destroying
our liberties, and shaping every thing to the standard of priestly ambition. Denying, as all true Americans do, the Divine right of any
human being to govern, the chief organ of Romanism therefore ridicules the permanency of our institutions, and breaks out in the following rhapsody:  "Are your free institutions infallible? Are they founded on Divine
right? This you deny.  Is not the proper question for you to discuss,
then, not whether Papacy be or be not compatible with Republican
government, but whether it be or be not founded in Divine right?
If the Papacy be founded in Divine right, it is supreme over whatever be founded only in human right, and then your institutions
should be made to harmonize with it, and not it with your institutions. The real question then is, not the compatibility or incompatibility of the Catholic Church with democratic institutions, but is the
Catholic Church the Church of God? Settle this question first. But
in point of fact, democracy is a mischievous dream, wherever the
Catholic Church does not predominate, to inspire the people with
reverence, and to teach and accustom them to obedience and authority; The first lesson for all to learn, the last that should be for
iTi 
A VOICE TO AMIERICA.
gotten, is-to obey. You can have no government where there is
no obedience; and obedience to law, as it is called, will not be long
enforced, where the fallibility of law is clearly seen and freely admitted.  But is it the intention of the Pope to possess this country?
Undoubtedly. In this intention he is aided by the Jesuits, and all
the Catholic prelates and priests. That the policy of the Church is
dreaded and opposed by all Protestants, infidels, demagogues, tyrants,
and oppressors, is also unquestionably true. Save then, in the discharge of our civil duties, and in the ordinary business of life, there is,
and can be no harmony between the Catholics and Protestants."*
"The time has come when Catholics must begin to make their
principles tell upon the public sentiment of the country. Heretofore
we have taken our politics from one or another of the parties which
divide the country, and have suffered the enemies of our religion to
impose their political doctrines upon us; but it is time for us to begin
to teach the country itself those moral and political doctrines which
flow from the teachings of our own Church. We are at home here,
wherever we may have been born; this is our country, and as it is
to become thoroughly Catholic, we have a deeper interest in public
affairs than any other of our citizens. The sects are only for a day;
the Church forever. We care little how the elections go, for that is
a small affair; but we can never, as Catholics, be indifferent to the
moral principles which enter into the laws and shape the public
policy of the country."*
These extracts, so characteristic of the arrogance of the Priest,
avow most distinctly all the ambitious designs imputed to the Roman
priesthood. The proposed discussion of the great practical political
questions is announced, that this country itself may be taught the
moral and political doctrines which flow from the teachings of the
Church, and may become thoroughly Roman-all other sects being
for a day, and that Church forever; and that our Republican institutions may be altered to conform to the Papacy, by its principles
* Brownson's Re,view.
172 
THE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE.
being made to enter into the laws and to shape the public policy of
this country all this is here boldly avowed;  and also that every
Jesuit, Prelate, and Priest, who is faithful to his religion, will aid the
Pope, their hierarch, to possess himself of this country. The means
by which they expect to achieve all this, is by the slow and cautious
movements, the profound dissimulation and arts, which have ever
characterized the operations of this priesthood, to get possession of
the political power by controlling the ballot-box. Whether they
ever succeed or not, that is their sleepless effort; and so subtle are
they in their operations, that thousands are unconsciously made
their agents who would never knowingly submit themselves to
any such purposes of mischief. The priesthood are encouraged by
their own strong faith, that, if they do not succeed in this century,
their successors may in the next, for their system is, never to relinquish a foothold gained. They do not build humble cabins or
perishable houses for their services; their edifices, composed of granite
and iron, are planted deep in American soil, their names indicate
promised supremacy, and the States in which they are erected are
called, with arrogant assumption, "provinces of the Holy See."
Whatever may be the result of these great projects, the future can
alone reveal, but their prosecution is utterly opposed and hostile to
the design, spirit, and practical ends of our system and institutions.
In carrying out this vast plan of aggression, no respect is paid to
the laws of any country that interfere with the general plan.  The
ends justify the means. Thus we see the Grand Council of Bishops
sitting in Baltimore in 1829, solemnly passing the following as a
fundamental rule of the Church:
"Whereas lay trustees have frequently abused the right granted to
them by the civil authority, to the great detriment of religion and
scandal of the faithful, we most earnestly desire that in future no
church be erected or consecrated, unless it be assigned by a written
instrument to the Bishop in whose diocese it may be erected for the
Divine worship and use of the faithful, wherever this can be done."
Now these Bishops, mostly foreigners, inflated with the idea of
173 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
their infallibility, thus deliberately demanded, wherever it could be
done, the violation of the whole spirit of our constitution and laws,
and have acted upon this treason ever since, and would probably have
carried it on under the secrecy of their movements, had it not been
dragged to light by the appeal to the civil laws of some few independent trustees, who denied that their Bishops must rule them in
temporal matters.
So persevering, indeed, are these Bishops, that in the State of New
York, even before the special law confining church property to the
ownership of trustees had been fairly spread upon the statute books,
Bishop Hughes dedicated in Brooklyn, the church of "St. Mary, Star
of the Sea," and in his sermon announced to his congregation, that
that very church did not in its titles conform to the civil laws of the
land! and that the Trustee system was "uncatholic and heretical;"
and the inference in the minds of his congregation of course followed,
that no faith was necessarily to be kept with such laws.*
The American has no hostility to the Roman Church as a system
of religious faith, notwithstanding he conscientiously dissents from
its essential dogmas and doctrines. IHe makes no war against the
religion of any sect. It is only in its political phases, and its spiritual connection inseparably blended with them, that he opposes
the Church of Rome. To that extent, all true lovers of liberty
have the constitutional right to animadvert upon it. Its efforts to
connect itself with the politics of the country, not for the sake of
office; but for the purpose of controlling the officers to its own
will and advantage; to imbue them with the spirit and doctrines
of its peculiar faith,-these are the things, so comprehensive in their
hostility to our system of civil and religious fireedom, to which alone
the American expresses his determined hostility. The union of politics and religion, of Church and State,. have ever proved themselves
to be the direful curses of man; and in every pulsation of the heart,
* See Tribune of Monday, April 30, 1855, and other New York daily papers,
for Report of Bishop Hughes' Sermon upon the occasion of consecrating the
church known as " St. Mary, Star of the Sea," Brooklyn, New York.
174 
THE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE.
in every ray of reason, in every emotion of the soul, the true and*
patriotic American, will make war against every and any religious
association, which seeks to bring about an alliance so much to be
dreaded.
Our ancestors came to this New World to enjoy, themselves and
their posterity forever, perfect civil and religious freedom, and the
right of inquiry, thought, and the expression of opinion upon subjects,
short of invasion of the rights of others, unfettered as the winds of
heaven. The divorce of Church and State, of politics and religion,
of temporal and spiritual affairs, they have provided for in our constitutions, and it was intended to be absolute, complete, and forever.
In the scheme of the hierarch of Rome and his emissaries-spread
and spreading over the face of this country, to revolutionize silently
and stealthily this order of things-they now have at their command
an immense army of voters, perfectly trained to do their bidding. At
every election, local or general, this mighty force is made to act with
a view, present or remote, to the grand objects of those who control
it. The certain and promptest way to get large accessions-accessions which, in another generation, may give them the mastery at
the polls-is, to permit no restriction upon emigration, or upon the
faculty of the immigrant to vote and exercise a full share of political
sovereignty. All attempts to put upon them any restriction will
meet the inflexible opposition, the anathemas of every Roman priest,
and probably of almost every Romanist in America.
All this host of foreign Romans, now here and coming, are
brought up to the confessional, at least once a year, to make a full
avowal of their sins, by whispering them into the priest's ear, and
whoever omits it is to be excommunicated, and if he die, is not to
be allowed Christian burial. This is the function of the priesthood,
which brings up before it all the liegemen of the Papal empire,
and bows all in utter subjection and submission to it. When the
noviciate for the first time, with convulsive excitement, breathes into
the ear of the ghostly father the deep and criminal secrets of the
heart, the soul is enslaved forever; a chain of adamant is thrown
175 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
.around it, and that chain is held by this priest. Even then he may
grant or withhold absolution and forgiveness. Such are the mighty
spells which Romanism brings over all her sons and daughters; and
those who work them, control not only their acts and conduct, but
their thoughts and emotions. And how often is this puissance of the
priesthood exhibited strikingly in our country. Bands of rude and
stormy foreign Romanists, who have traditionary feuds, are loitering
in the same neighborhood. They meet in bloody affray. The civil
officer of the law interposes and is unheeded. He calls to his aid a
large constabulary force, which is laughed to scorn by the infuriated
mob.  The military is summoned to uphold the civil authority, and
blank cartridges are fired among the combatants, but no more regarded than the whistling of the winds. At length death-dealing
bullets begin their fatal office, and men fall, but the fight still rages.
Lo! the priest makes his appearance, the contending mass of men
pause at once, and give attention.  He speaks a few words, the tempest of excited passion ceases, and savage men are subdued as children
under the rebuke of an invisible power.  These men all vote; but is
it not the madness of folly to say, that their wills, when under such
control, are represented at the polls?
There are numerous Romanists, natives of these States, who possess
every element pertaining to good citizens, men who are every way
able to assume the responsibility of self-government, and discharge
with honor every political privilege imposed upon them; but these
men, educated in this country of light and liberty, of the Bible and
free schools, are not representatives of the Romanists of Europe.
The immigrant is radically imbued with the spirit of decayed dynas ties; he was never taught that he had rights and an individuality.
On the contrary, his whole history has been one of humiliation; he
was made to feel that he formed an insignificant part of a great allgrasping institution, claiming the whole earth's sceptre, spiritual and
temporal. The trembling worshipper at the foot of a hierarchy, and
the Pope a hierarch.  Such are the notions the Romanist immigrant
brings to our land, and, under the guidance of the priests that foster
176 
THE RIGHTS OF CONT SCIEENCE.
him, cherishes while here as his life's blood. It is the influence of
this false education (profanely called religious) against which the
true American declares eternal war.*
"Among lukewarm partisans and ardent antagonists, a small number of believers exist, who, in defence of their faith, are ready to brave
all obstacles, and to scorn all dangers. They have done violence
to human weakness, in order to rise superior to public opinion. Excited by the effort they have made, they scarcely know where to stop.
They look upon their contemporaries with dread, and recoil in alarm
friom the liberty which their fellow-citizens enjoy. They are at war
with their age and country, and they look upon every opinion which
is put forth, as the necessary enemy of their faith."t
Such men, in demanding liberty of conscience for themselves, deny
it unto others; and the step is rapid from intolerance to persecution.
But our Constitution, in guaranteeing perfect religious freedom to all,
will not justly be charged with abjuring its principles, if it compel
these bigots to award the same deference to the opinions of others,
which they enjoy for their own.
The determination on the part of any Church to force its faith
upon another-the tendency to proselytize at all hazards-is certain
to lead to a state of anarchy in which liberty cannot exist. When
such views are openly avowed and acted upon by any creed, it becomes necessary, for the safety of others, either to prevent its residence in our midst, or so to fence about and confine it within the
strict bounds of legality, as to render it incapable of mischief. Religion is a question on which we cannot legislate; it is a matter
concerning the individual, not the mass. But if the creed of any
party attempt to control temporal affairs by means of a so-called
* At the last celebration of St. Patrick's day in New York city, the Irish
guests (intoxicated with zeal by an inflammatory speech of one of the several
priests present on the occasion) announced themselves as supporters of Amierican freedom and the hierarchy.  It would be difficult to imagine one mind
supporting two things more directly antagonistic; yet the announcement was
perfectly consistent with the gentlemen's ideas of American liberty.
t De Tocqueville.
177 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
spiritual power, thie Constitution of our country is only carrying out
its high and holy mission, by restraining their ambitious views with
wholesome and necessary coercion. The framing of laws to bring
about this coercion, however, would not only be difficult, but almost,
if not quite, impossible.  It is, therefore, necessary that the citizen
should have correct opinions, and that the desired effect should be
produced by the force of public opinion, rather than by written laws.
178 
RELIGIOUS TOLERATION.
"True religion
Is always mild, propitious, and humane;
Plays not the tyrant, plants no faith in blood;
But stoops to polish, succor, and redress,
And builds her grandeur on the public good."
MILLER.
THE opposition which exists in the mind of every American against
oppression, causes a dislike to any and every institution, no matter
what may be its name, that is the support of the oppressor. In
looking over European countries, the larger portion of their inhabitants are found to be sunken into the lowest depths of ignorance and
semi-barbarism. They have no defined rights, and are the uncomplaining servants of aristocratic rulers. Upon one subject alone they
seem thoroughly instructed, and that is, to render slavish obedience
to the priests, and the ceremonies of the Roman Church. Hearing a
service on the Sabbath-day conducted in a dead language, and studiously debarred from all the ordinary channels of information so
common in America, their minds are literally in the chains of ignorance, and to keep them there confined is brought to bear the whole
machinery of the Roman Church. One of the most vital principles
of our government is religious toleration; the American, whatever
may be his creed, shrinks from any imposition upon the conscience,
and hence it is that the grossest abuses may creep into our body
politic, if profanely sanctioned by the garb of religion, and for that
reason it is difficult and delicate to discuss the causes of this European
degradation, because it is at once urged by the Jesuit and the demagogue, that any determination of the citizens' of this country to make
a distinction between the political and religious character of the 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
Roman Church, is an attack upon the rights of the conscience, alnd
at once the cry of persecution is raised.  Whatever may be the excitement, the work has to be done; it is the duty of the true Romanist
as well as the true Protestant to examine this subject dispassionately
and come to a perfect understanding, for upon it rests at this moment, more than upon any other thing, the perpetuity of our friee
institutions.
The enthusiastic lover of liberty has heretofore argued, that under
the bright rays of religious toleration, the minds of our most ignorant
naturalized citizens would insensibly be enlightened, and that the
most bigoted would gradually become converted to charity, and that
the beauty of our political system would thoroughly absorb their
affections, to the exclusion of any fondness for anti-republican sentiments and oppressive political institutions. But, so far from this
being the case, the experience of the last few years develops the
melancholy fact, that men born in this country, and deservedly
honored for their general intelligence, can sometimes, under the
severe discipline of Romish institutions, be brought to support them
with all the enthusiasm and Jesuitical casuistry that characterizes the
uneducated European or the designing ecclesiastic. It is but recently
that a gentleman of national reputation, in making a defence of the
Pope and his authority upon the floor of Congress-a gentleman who
is possessed of great knowledge and a keen sense of truth when
treating of civil or general matters-boldly announced that the Pope
had no political power, that he never meddled himself with governments, but confined his authority to religious matters alone.  But
even while the echoes of his voice were vibrating in our national
Capitol, the news from the Italian States announced, that the Pope,
finding he could not arrest the progress of liberal opinions in Sardinia,
had issued a "Bull," releasing all RPomanists of that kingdom from
allegiance to their civil rulers!
We  find also that gentlemen in our various Legislatures, who
ordinarily love the truth and respect the lessons of history, proclaimirg that the Roman Church is the friend and encourager of free
-180 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
institutions, while they know, and often from personal observation
too, that the people of the Papal States are the most degraded, and
the farthest removed from freemen, of any other government of the
world; and that in all Papal countries, oppression and decay are
paramount, just in proportion as they acknowledge the influence of
the Romish power.
To the ingenuous American mind, these strange misrepresentations of history for the purpose of defending the Roman Church are
hard to understand, and they can only be accounted for on the principle, that that Church seizes upon the imagination and the will of
its adherents, and blinds them to the plainest truths, and makes them
unresisting instruments for the propagation of the most pernicious
errors.
In no Romanist country is there any real religious toleration; seveneighths of our emigrants are brought up and educated to believe
that such toleration is an unpardonable sin.  Sunken in poverty,
and suffering from the severest oppression, they leave their native
countries and seek a home on American soil; but, do they leave
behind themn the errors of their early education? Are they forever
freed from the presence and baleful influence of their political priests t.
Certainly not. - So far from this being the case, we find the Jesuit
follows in their footsteps, and, taking advantage of the freedom of
Protestant institutions, manages to exert a power over the minds and
consciences of our immigrant population, as perfect as if they lived
under monarchical governments. The American, perceiving this
evil, and noticing its political character, denounces it from the stump,
through the press, and attempts to counteract it at the polls; instantly the cry is raised by the wily Jesuit and the office-seeking
demagogue, of religious intolerance, and people, who never breathed
one breath of Christian charity, who, as an act of religious faith, denounce all who differ from them as heretics and heathen-people
who are prepared, at any moment they can grasp the power of the
State, to punish freedom of thought with imprisonment and death,
go forth in the highways and byways denouncing American citizens,
9
181 
RELIGIOUS TOLERATION.
who desire to protect the purity of their institutions from the evils of
this foreign influence.
In America alone is enjoyed in the fullest sense the right to worship God according to the dictates of the conscience. Americans
conceived and put in practice such toleration; but while it is freely
enjoyed here by the Romanists, and demanded as a right, still it is
not accorded to Americans in Romanist countries, and this illiberal
spirit finds advocates and meets with justification in the organs of
Romanism, and the gross inconsistency seems to be unnoticed.
The Island of Cuba is the resort of hundreds and thousands of our
citizens, either as mariners, merchants, or invalids; among the latter
are many who visit the island to die, and yet to this day there is no
Protestant chapel, nor clergymen to give spiritual instruction. Any
attempt to hold Protestant service calls forth the interference of the
police; and it was only recently that an English Bishop, visiting
Havana, was denied the privilege of celebrating religious service in
the house of the British Consul.
There is no American Protestant chapel in Mexico, and it would
be impossible to establish one.
In Italy, the central country of Romanism, with the exception of
the Pope-denounced kingdom of Sardinia, no religious service could
be held by an American Protestant minister, unless it were in the
house of the American Consul, and under the American flag.
In Romanist Spain and Austria, the war upon Protestants amounts
to a total exclusion under all circumstances.
In Portugal, the penal code, promulgated  as recently as 1852,
punishes with imprisonment and fine all who engage in acts of
worship not of the Romanist religion.
American Protestants are exposed to insult and maltreatment in
Mexico, Central America, all South America, Cuba, Porto Rico, Spain,
Portugal, Austria, and nearly all of Italy, if they do not kneel when
they meet a procession bearing "the Host," although they may conscientiously deem the act idolatrous, and contrary to the word of
God. The records of every year are filed with details of outrages
182 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
perpetrated, for the reason above given, upon Americans travelling
abroad.
The right, in many Romanist countries, of quietly depositing in the
mother earth the remains of the dead, is denied to American Protestants, and the living have had to carry the deceased many hundred
miles, to find a resting-place under the aegis of less bigoted governments. Where the privilege is granted, it is attended, as in some
parts of Italy, with the degrading condition that the burial shall take
place at unseasonable hours-and American Protestants have been
unceremoniously thrust into the earth as if they were brute beasts,
to avoid exhumation and insult from the imbruted populace, who
were thus inflamed against the religion of the deceased by the
bigoted priests.
A few years ago, a highly respectable American merchant had the
misfortune to lose a beloved wife, whom he had taken to the Island
of Cuba for the restoration of her health. Abandoned by all the
people who surrounded him, he was compelled in an obscure spot to
dig a grave with his own hands, and with difficulty succeeded in
procuring the help of two negroes, to assist him in the melancholy
task of consigning all that was once so cherished to its mother earth;
and yet these Africans, pagan-born and besotted in ignorance, had
been taught to fear for their lives, if it were known to the authorities
they had assisted in the "burial of a heretic!"
Mr. Wise, late U. S. minister to Brazil, states, that Mr. Tudor, our
Charge6 to that government,-the successful negotiator of a treaty
of amity and commerce, and the representative of the greatest Republic in the world,-was indebted to the British legation for a
sanctuary for his corpse, and but for this charity, the Romanist government of Brazil would probably have spurned the body of Mr. Tudor
from its dominions, the hatred of heretics extending even into the
grave. Mr. Wise establishes himself in his new residence, he has
his family around him, he has been accustomed to advocate and to
grant religious toleration. Hle is tne minister plenipotentiary of a
great nation, and should command respect; but the Sabbath comes,
183 - 
RELIGIOUS TOLERATION.
he hears the bells chiming for church, dismay seizes upon him and
his household, and he exclaims, in the true sense of his deprivation,
"Where am I and my family and American friends to attend Divine
worship? There is no ground here consecrated for us! We  are reminded on this Lord's day of our homes in our own blessed, happy
land of universal tolerance in religion, but here, by treaty in a land
of commercial friends, we have no religious allies, and are indeed
'strangers in a strange land!' If their God is our God, their country
is not ours to worship in!"
In all Protestant countries, Romanists enjoy the liberty of religious
worship. Everywhere they may fill not only magisterial, but even
political offices. O'Connell, the champion of that Church, was a
member of the British Parliament! Examples of the same liberality
can be found in the governments of Prussia, Holland, Sweden, Denmark, and the United States. Toleration is the fiundamental spirit
of the organic law. Not an example can be quoted where the religious worship of the Romanist Church is impeded in a Protestant
country, as that of the Protestant is, in Rome, Naples, Florence,
Milan, Madrid and Lisbon, and the South American States.
The mass of the people of France are tolerant, but the Roman
clergy are restless under their loss of power, and watch with unceasing energy to restore their fortunes by giving their influence to the
usurper of the nation's liberties. Napoleon III. found the priests his
most willing tools, and the first to forgive his falsehoods and his
pejuries.* Their political influence was bought at the price of the
imperial recognition of their religion; the effect is already felt.
Without any repeal of fundamental laws, Protestantism is discouraged, its schools under various pretexts successively suppressed, and
its publications prohibited.
In Austria, all Protestant meetings require the sanction of the
police; the government thus prevents them, without appearing to
* "May he (Louis Napoleon) be blessed, this man of God, this great man, for
it is God who has raised him up for the happiness of our country."-Bis7hop of
Chaons' Address to his Clergy, September, 1854.
184 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
prohibit; and those persons who have presumed to publish or propagate the Bible, have been banished at the instigation of the Romish
clergy.
In Spain but one religion is professed, and none other is permitted
in any shape.  To be a Spaniard implies necessarily to be a Romanist.
He who dares to forsake that faith is by law banished, lest the poison
of his heresy should spread contagion, while those who have tempted
him from his early faith are liable to imprisonment.  Hitherto the
traveller was looked upon as an exception; but as Spain decays in
political power, as she sinks into contempt among the family of
nations, Papacy grasps her soul more firmly, and her priest-ridden
government decrees, that even the "traveller" is no longer permitted
"to profess any but the Romanist religion;"? and the American Protestant, while residing in Spain, must hide his religious sentiments,
and, when dead, must be cast as some foul thing into an obscure,
and, by the Spanish people, what is considered a dishonored grave.
Tuscany is notorious, and Naples infamous for its intolerance.
The Madiai persecution, which roused the sympathy of the Protestant
world, and yet found defenders among the foreign Papists of this
country, is but a single instance of many, that, in spite of the secrecy
of Jesuit police, and the depths of Italian dungeons, find their way
before the judgment-seat of enlightened Christendom. Naples, where
nature appears in its most glorious forms, and where man alone is
base,-Naples, which in days of yore coped with the haughty Pontiffs
of Rome, the decrees of the Council of Trent, and trampled upon
Papal Bulls,-now lies prostrate in the dust. Violent, bigoted, and
profligate, her people violate every precept of morality, yet observe
every ceremonial of religion They are the degraded vassals of intolerance, without alleviation, and without hope.
At last we penetrate into the "imperial city," and reach Rome
itself. If other countries have admitted unjustifiable Papal claims,
if other countries have harbored the Inquisition, it was here the
haughty thunders were launched. Here intolerance reigns supreme
Here it had its birth, here it has made its throne.  Here it was that
185 
RIELIGIOUS TOLERATION.
Gregory XIII. rejoiced over the slaughter of the Huguenots, and
ordered a Te D)eum to be sung, with illuminations for the people,
and, for the benefit of posterity, a medal in brass commemorative of
the glorious event! Here it is, in our own day, where the Pope, in
a studied allocution, congratulates Christendom because Spain relapses into the intolerance of bygone centuries. When New Grenada,
not a year ago, by decrees established a free press, free education, and
tolerance in religion, from Rome comes another allocution, condemning such fearful approaches to "hated liberty," which are denounced
"as horrible and sacrilegious war against the Romish Church;" and
her citizens are stimulated to open rebellion against their rulers by
the Pope's annunciation, that he " declares utterly null and void all
the aforesaid decrees, which have been enacted by the civil power."
The Pope knows, "That wherever religious liberty exists, it will, first
or last, bring in an established political party; wherever it is suppressed, the Church Establishment will, first or last, become the engine of despotism, and overthrow, unless it be itself overthrown, every
vestige of political liberty."*
The cause of this intolerance is fundamental with the Roman
Church; it cannot alter its character without losing its individuality. Styling itself "Infallible," its claims cannot be set aside. Its
intolerance, its ministers say, arises from authority; it is therefore
legitimate, and to yield would be sacrificing to licentiousness. Nor
do the advocates of Romanism claim the virtues of liberality so much
admired by the true-hearted American. They are willing to enjoy
the advantages of liberty, and shelter their institutions under the
broad folds of our tolerant flag. The Jesuits themselves, a proscribed
class of political priests even among most of the countries devoted to
Romanism, find here a foothold, and, from the unsuspicious character
of our people, scarcely call forth an observation to their ulterior designs, of sapping our liberties and changing the character of our institutions. Yet all this toleration on our part meets with no response
* Justice Story.
186 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
from the Romanist hierarchy or people. The hierarchy hate and fear
it; the lay members, if they cherish any admiration, dare not express
it. Hence we find that no minister at Washington representing a
Romanist  country acknowledges the superior Christian liberality
of our government, nor has it ever been officially reciprocated or
commended. The Romanist journals published in America never
advocate religious toleration; on the contrary, they threaten, if their
cherished doctrines gain the ascendency, that toleration will cease;
and special care is taken by the priests, who are with few exceptions
foreigners, to cultivate and encourage among our immigrant Romanist
population, the same bitter hostility to the "heretic" that characterized
their chief education in their native land. The American, in consideration of these facts, finds no difficulty in distinguishing between the
abuse of the name of religion, and religion itself. He strips the
matter of its complications, and, giving to the conscience full liberty,
opposes political tendencies and practices calculated to destroy our
Republican institutions; he opposes a political system despotic in its
organization, anti-republican in its tendencies, and at utter war with
the simplicity of our whole government.
It is only as a hierarchy, as a religio-political institution, having
vast political projects, and organized for political action, and because
its principles, purposes, and operations are utterly inimical to popular
and American constitutional liberty, to all civil and religious freedom,
that the true American stands up in opposition to it. Until American Romanists call their general councils, and purge their system
of its interior and harsh ecclesiastical despotism; until they join
together as a body, and demand the same toleration for American
Protestants abroad, that Romanists everywhere receive in America;
until they announce to the Pope and the world that his supremacy
is only spiritual, and out of his Papal dominions in Italy, he, nor his
priests, have right to interfere in politics or temporal affairs; that
they owe him or his hierarchy no duty or obedience incompatible
wvith their fuill and perfect allegiance to the United States, or any of
the States, or that is hostile to any of the principles of their govern
187 
RELIGIOUS TOLERATION.
ments; that they are opposed to, and will ever resist the union of
Church and State, and any mixing of their affairs; until they bid',
and will compel their priesthood to cease their meddling with the
government and politics of the country, with a view to shape its laws
and policy for their ulterior purposes, and to desist from their efforts
to control the entire Romanist vote of America;-Until these things
are done, no native American, no true friend of liberty, wherever
born or whatever be his religion, can conscientiously cease his opposition to this great religio-political institution; for the very spirit
of self-preservation requires, that war be waged as much  upon an
aggressive religious power, as upon an aggressive civil power, for
both are equally hostile to our Republican institutions.
Religion is a question between man's conscience and his God. No
government can interfere with it, except to guarantee perfect freedom
to all, in the exercise of that faith which each has seen fit to embrace;
or to prevent a persecuting system of proselytism, which history shows
us has been the characteristic of every religious sect in all ages. A
government guaranteeing toleration to every Church, has the right to
compel them to tolerate each other.
Religion is perfectly distinct from, and cannot possibly be any part
of, political government. The former regards not the present world,
but looks to a future state. The latter regulates the affairs of time,
but leaves untouched those of eternity. There is an impassable gulf
between them-one that mankind  can never bridge.  When  the
attempt has been made, it has invariably met with a calamitous issue.
"In Europe, Christianity has been intimately united to the powers
of the earth. Those powers are now in decay, and it is, as it were,
buried under their ruins. The living body of religion has been
bound down to the dead corpse of superannuated polity. Cut the
bonds which restrain it, and that which is alive will rise once more."*
Shall such be the result in our country? This is the question
which Americans have to answer, and to answer ere it be too late.
Let them arise and tell the priestly hierarchies that when they
* De Tocqneville.
188 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
attempt to subjugate the temporal to the spiritual power, and, by
means of uncontrolled influence over the minds of their followers,
peril the peace of the community, hinder the operation of the laws,
and, by their acts, proclaim the Constitution a dead letter, toleration
becomes impossible; for toleration would then be treason to the
country.
9*
189 
i 
THE BIBLE THE CHARTER OF LIBERTY.
Out from the heart of nature rolled
The burthens of the Bible old,
The Litanies of nations came
Like the volcano's tongue of flame;
Up from the burning core below
The Canticles of Love and Woe."
EMERSo0.
THE BIBLE is the charter of human liberty, and in the teachings
of that sacred volume are to be found the glad tidings that all men
are fiee and equal, not only before each other, but in the sight of
God. So long as the Scriptures were confined to the few, so long
as its pages were closed to the multitude, so long the world rested in
darkness, and oppression existed throughout all lands.   From  the
time of the invention of printing, and the consequent circulation of
the Bible, do we date the commencement of those struggles against
despotism which finally resulted in the establishment of our free
government.
It cannot be controverted, that the Bible was the cause of the
early revolutions that startled kings from their thrones, and shook
the foundations of the Vatican. It taught men the rights of the
citizen, and these led them to examine the claims of rulers. It questioned traditions and authorities, and rejected them if not in accordance with the humble but sublime teachings of Christ. Finding
that the Creator looked upon all men with equal favor, all laws not
in conformity with this principle were pronounced unauthorized and
unjust. The inculcation of the direct confession of sins to the Throne of
Grace, swept away at a blow the assumptions of priestcraft, and made
man responsible for his actions to his own conscience and his God.
Multitudes, who before the reading of the Scriptures were debased, 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
made self-reliance the prevailing feature of the age. The light thilat
poured into the civilized world, overwhelmed society with new views
and aspirations. Every page of the sacred volume strengthened the
minds of the reformers, and shed a lustre over the memories of the
martyrs who had through all time died in defence of liberty. The
very foundations of society rocked to the centre; the divine right of
kings, and the profane assumptions of priests, were scoffed at.
In England, and on the Continent, the standard of rebellion was
raised, and thousands, filled with new-born zeal, fearlessly asserted
the glorious promises of man's regeneration. The triumphs of humanity, of civilization, and of Christianity, which are the boasts of
the nineteenth century,  tou(ld have been unknown, and the pall
of the dark ages would still be upon us, were it not for the free
circulation of the Bible. This great truth has always been acknowledged with the greatest solemnity by our Revolutionary fathers.
Washington and his compatriots entered upon no serious duties, without the reading of the Scriptures, and an humble acknowledgment
of dependence upon Divine Wisdom for instruction in council, and
strength in the hour of battle.   In all hours of suffering, in the
darkest days that tried men's souls, it was the encouragement held
forth in the sacred volume that kept our sires from despondency,
and strengthened their arms in the noble thought, that their cause
was sanctioned by the God of battles. The original demands of the.
men, whose siifferings and martyrdom form so large a page in the
early struggles for human freedom, was, that the Bible might be
made free, and that its teachings might illume the hearts and consciences ofall men.
The question, then, comes home seriously to every conscience, Can
our present form of government exist if the Bible be excluded from
the public eye? Are those persons who fear its influence, and do all
in their power to suppress its circulation, friends to liberty? Are
those of our citizens who consent to be deprived of the Bible, and
avoid its pages as if they were possessed of contagion, capable of
self-government? We can imagine individuals who may be good
192 
THE BIBLE THE CHARTER OF LIBERTY.
citizens without the enlightenment of the precepts of the Holy Book,
but we cannot conceive of a nation prospering without sensibly feeling and acknowledging their influence.   Man  is a religious being,
and upon that immortal principle rests the security of all human
rights; he must therefore either have his morals cultivated by his
own intelligent pursuit of good from the fountain of truth, or he
must consent to put himself in ecclesiastical servitude, and have his
conscience controlled by others.
The American is distinguished from all other people, because he
thinks for himself, and thus displays the possession of the very
essence of self-government.  He reads the Bible, learns from its
precepts the distinctions between right and wrong) that all men are
equal in the sight of Heaven, that he nmust love his neighbor as himself, and that he alone is res?onsible to God for his acts.  This high
state of intellectual and mnoral culture never was obtained in perfection except under American institutions, and the accomplishment of
it was heralded as the greatest triumph of humanity from the bondage
and oppression of ages.
Any doctrine, therefore, that teaches the suppression of the Bible,
must be inimical to liberty-must be treason to the preservation of
the Republican character; and whether it is advocated by the avowed
skeptic, or more dangerously urged under the guise of religion, in
both cases the pernicious tendency is the same.  Infidelity would
strike at the foundations of all liberty, by destroying the authority
which sanctifies its existence: religion, falsely so called, would accomplish the same object, on the ground that the individual is not in
matters of conscience capable of deciding ftr!    A'
The country has been agitated about the reading of theS~.ipires
in our public schools. The Romish priests have protested against
such an enormity, and the usefulness of the noblest institution of
our country has been impaired and imperiled, in the effort to drive
the book from the teacher's desk.  In many cases our American
populations have yielded to the assumption, that certain American
children could be injured by hearing its Divine precepts, instead of
193 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
taking the position, that children reared in such bigotry were in the
hands of those who neither sympathized with nor understood our
institutions; for it is certain beyond contradiction, that those who
persist in such strange exclusiveness have still lingering in their
minds a reverence for absolutism not in accordance with universal
liberty.
Charles Carroll of Carrollton, a Romanist, and one of the signers of
the Declaration of Independence, is constantly quoted as an evidence
of the liberty-loving spirit of his Church. That he was a patriot and
loved his country there cannot be a doubt; but when he associated
himself with Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, and other fathers of
the Revolution, he surrendered, at the very commencement of his
political career, the identity of Romanism on the altar of universal
toleration, else he could not have participated in the stirring and
glorious scenes enacted around him. Had he retained the spirit, if
he ever possessed it, that would banish the Bible from the public
eye, he would have solemnly protested against the reading of the
Scriptures at the openings of the convention that adopted the Declar       ation of Independence, and if it had been persisted in, he would have
thrown up his seat and his solemn duties, and retired in indignation,
announcing to the astonished patriots about him, that he was afraid
to hear that book read in his presence-that in so doing he would be
disobeying the orders of his ghostly father;-it was because Charles
Carroll did not thus act, because he repudiated such control of his
conscience, that he did sign the immortal Declaration of our Indep      pendence, and engraved his name upon a monument that will cause
4o  be remembe'ed wtfh honor as long as virtue is cherished among
mankind.
The Council of Trent decrees, "That no Bible shall be held or read
exceptby priests-tbat no Bible shall be sold without a license, ex        ey....
cept upon the pains and penalties of that mortal sin that is neither
to be forgiven in this world or the next."*  By the priests of the
* See Father Paul Sarpis' History of the Council of Trent.
191: 
THE  BIBLE THE CHARTER OF LIBERTY.
Romish Church it is, therefore, denied to their congregations, and
innumerable instances have occurred of the Bible being seized and
publicly burned in this country when found in the possession of
Romanists. In Europe, in Piedmont and Tuscany, imprisonment and
persecution are even now meted out for such a crime.
Some years ago a society termed the Christian Alliance was formed
in the city of New York, the object of which was to circulate the
Bible without note or comment, in the prevailing language in different Papal  countries.    The labors of this society produced the
greatest consternation at Rome, and in 1844, Gregory, the then
reigning Pope, fulminated a bull against this association, of which
we give a single extract:
"Moreover, venerable brothers,pe recommend the utmost watchfulness over the insidious measures and attempts of the Christian
Alliance, to those who, raised to the dignity of your order, are called
to govern the Italian churches, or the countries which Italians frequent most commonly, especially the frontiers, and parts whence
travellers enter Italy. As these are the points on which the sectarians have fixed to commence the realization of their projects, it is
highly necessary that the bishops of those places should mutually
assist each other zealously and faithfully, in order, with the aid of
God, to discover and prevent their machinations.
"Let us not doubt but your exertions, added to our own, will be
seconded by the civil authorities, and especially by most influential
sovereigns of Italy, no less by reason of their favorable regard for
the Papal religion, than that they plainly perceive how much it
concerns them to prostrate these sectarian combinations. Indeed, it
is most evident from past experience, that there are no means more
certain of rendering the people disobedient to their princes than rendering them indifferent to religion, under the mask of religious
liberty. The members of the Christian Alliance do not conceal this
fact from themselves, although they declare that they are far from
wishing to excite disorder; but they notwithstanding avow that, once
liberty of interpretation attained, and with it what they term liberty
195 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
of conscience among Italians, these last will naturally soon acquire
political liberty."
Here is palpably revealed the natural connection and alliance between the political despotism of the Papal See, and the oppressors of
the people of Europe. The only object of the Christian Alliance was
to give the Holy Scriptures to the people of Italy. How quick it
excited the fears of the Pope, how conscious was the prevailing
power at Rome, that wherever the light and power of that volume
was admitted, that religious liberty, and rebellion against the assumptions of crafty priests, would follow, that the civil and religious
despots were the natural enemies of the Bible, and hence was invoked
the aid of those hated enemies of mankind, the ruling sovereigns, to
aid in the work of suppressing the acred volume.
The last official act known to the world of Gregory XVI. was
dated May 8th, 1844, in which for the second time he expresses his
dread of the circulation of the Scriptures. With more elaboration
than is usual in such documents, the Pope points out all the dreaded
evils, and renews his orders to his subordinates, to assist each other
in zealously carrying out his decrees. Among other things his Holiness says,  "Subsequently, when heretics still persisted in their frauds, it became necessary for Benedict XIV. to superadd the injunction that no
versions whatever (of the Bible) should be suffered to be read but
those which should be approved of by the Holy See, accompanied by
notes derived from the writings of the Holy Fathers, or other learned
Catholic authors."
"As for yourselves, my venerable brethren, called as you are to
divide our solicitude, we recommend you earnesftly in the Lord, to
announce and proclaim, in convenient time and place, to the people
confided to your care, these apostolical orders, and to labor carefully to
separate the faithful sheep from contagion of the Christian Alliance,
from those who have become its auxiliaries, no less than those who
belong to other Bible societies, and from all who have any communication with them. You are consequently enjoined to remove from
196 
THE BIBLE THE CHARTER OF LIBERTY.
the hands of the faithful alike the Bibles in the vulgar tongue which
may have been printed contrary to the decrees above mentioned of
the sovereign Pontiffs, and every book proscribed and condemned,
and see that they learn, through your admonition and authority, what
passages are salutary, and what pernicious and mortal. Watch
attentively over those who are appointed to expound the Holy Scriptures, to see that they acquit themselves faithfully according to the
capacity of their hearers, and that they dare not, under any pretext
whatever, interpret or explain the holy pages contrary to the tradition
of the Holy Fathers, and to the service of the Catholic Church."
"Let me know, then, the enormity of the sin against God and his
Church which they are guilty of who dare associate themselves with
any of these societies, or abet them in any way.  Moreover, we confirm and renew the decrees recited above, delivered in former times by
apostolic authority, against the publication, distribution, reading, and
possession of books of the Holy Scriptures translated into the vulgar
tongue."
Without commenting upon the spectacle here exhibited, of the
assumed infallible head of the true Church denying the Holy Scriptures to the mass of mankind, or attempting in any way to dispute
the authority for so doing, every true American, whatever may be his
creed, must ask the question, "Could our peculiar institutions flourish
under such a system? and are those persons, in this country or Europe, proper citizens for a republic, who will submit to such dictation?" It cannot be disguised, that liberal principles, and the behests
of the Pope, here meet in eternal opposition. One or the other power
must give way. On the continent of Europe, wherever Romanism
has undisputed sway, the Bible is indeed a proscribed book. In
many Italian states, and almost under the very shadow of the dome
of St. Peter's, families are imprisoned for being found with the sacred
volume in their possession; delicate women are incarcerated in dungeons, and their husbands and brothers consigned to the lingering
death of the galleys.
A few examples of Bible burning have been afforded even in our
197 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
glorious country, and  "the faithful" have quietly yielded  up the
volume, to be consigned by the Jesuit to the flames. Thanks to our
institutions no civil punishment has followed, but what have been the
more terrible denunciations of the Priest upon the guilty the world
will never know. This is the spirit that the American wars againsthe cannot find it sanctioned by any commendable toleration, because
it is sanctioning wrong. iHe cannot believe it to be in accordance
with any religious sentiment, for the conscience enlightened by reason
revolts at such tyranny-the question then again recurs, Are individuals capable of self-government who will yield up unresistingly,
and from any plea, or by the dictation of any power, this most sacred
right of reading, not only the Hioly Scriptures, but any book of morals
that has made its impress upon the world.
The Sacred Scriptures are not only the Divine revelation of a
life to come, and the Guide for the life present, but also the great
Conservator of morals, and the basis of all true social virtue and
happiness.  In the quaint words of Jeremy Taylor, the Bible is "the
ligature of souls, and the great instrument of the conservation of
bodies politic." Montesquieu justly observes, that " the principles of
Christianity deeply engraven in the heart, would be infinitely more
powerful than the false honor of monarchies, the human virtues of
republics, or the servile fears of despotic states." We know, and,
what is better, we feel inwardly that religion is the basis of civil
society, and the source of all good and of all comfort.* All history
conclusively proves, that wherever the Bible was possessed by the
people, virtue and civilization advanced;-wherever it was not, the
converse was no less true. A spurious civilization may exist without
the faith of Christianity, but it is a civilization that opposes no check
to idolatrous superstition and cruelty, and the most flagrant immoralities and crimes.
The moral effects of the Bible are illustrated in the history of the
Jewish race; since their superiority over the heathen nations is mainly
* Burke.
198
I11 
THE BIBLE THE CHARTER OF LIBERTY.
to be ascribed to their possession of the Divine Oracles.  Since the
introduction of Christianity, the influence of its Divine precepts on
society is still more marked, in mitigating the honors of war, in suppressing the iniquitous and sanguinary rites of heathenism, and the
gladiatorial combats, which, according to Lipsius, sometimes cost
Europe fiomn twenty thousand to thirty thousand lives in a month.
But the influence of the Bible is to be sought for, not so much in
the councils of princes, as in the debates or resolutions of popular
assemblies, in the conduct of governments towards their subjects, or
of states and sovereigns towards one another, of conquerors at the
head of their armies, or of parties intriguing for power at home
(topics which almost alone occupy the attention, and fill the pages
of history), as in the silent course of private and domestic life, and
in the yet more private regulations of the heart.* Here have ever
been its great triumphs.  The fact of its inculcating self-government
renders the Bible the great essential in a state where the people are
invested with the sovereign power.
The presence of the Divine Oracles sanctified the councils of our
patriot fathers alike in times of war and peace. It was to the Bible that
they made their appeal in all emergencies, in the tented field and in
the legislative hall. It was to this fact that we may ascribe the noble
testimony of history, which asserts that our Revolutionary struggle
was unstained by a single crime. It was to the same source that we
trace the pure patriotism and self-sacrificing heroism and faith of the
revered founders of our free institutions; and it is in a like jealous
regard and cherishing love for the Bible, as our national text-book of
civil and religious liberty, as well as of Christian faith, that we confidently rest all our hope for the prosperity and perpetuity of our
great Republic. Shall we lightly esteem so precious a boon? Shall
we ever forget that it comes to us with the sacred insignia of Divinity,
baptized with the blood of ancient saints and worthies, and all fragrant
with celestial Truth? Shall we forget that it has passed through the
* Paley's Evidences.
199 
VOICE TO AMERICA.
fires of persecution all unscathed, and that its soul-entrancing truths
sustained confessors and martyrs who suffered to the death to transmit
to us, their descendants, the inestimable treasure? Can we be free,
we would again ask, if we suffer ourselves to be deprived of the
Scriptures? and are those friends of liberty and free institutions who
would proscribe their circulation among the people?
-200 
THE PRINCIPLES AND PERILS OF OUR COMMON
EDUCATION.
Education is the cheap defence of nations."-EDMUND BURKE.
THE wisest must govern.  This truth has been the basis of all the
governments in the world, from the Patriarchs to the Presidents. It
is a text upon which a whole circle of sermons has been preached.
It has supplied the arguments of the absurd monarchist, Filmer; the
aristocratical aspirations of Thomas Carlyle; of the ravings and reveries of all the red republicans in the world.  In the rude times
when men were gathered into tribes, the old men, as wisest, ruled the
band; not very strinently, but with all the authority of the tribe.
This primitive mode of governing has descended down, among stavages, to the Wittenagemote (" witty men's meet," "wise men's meeting") of tfie Saxons, and to our Indian contemporaries.
Monarchs, whether autocratic or constitutional, usurping or hereditary, have asserted the same principle. Great rulers, such as Julius
Cxsar, Oliver Cromwell, and Napoleon Bonaparte, who grasped supreme power because they knew they could use it; and petty tyrants,
who abused it bbcause the people were supine and ignorant, have
asserted the same claim-the right of the wisest to govern.
The feudal governments of Europe are set on a like foundation.
The wealthy and (so-called) noble aristocracy-whose power, and
whose intention to keep it, are alike and almost equally represented
by Alexander the Autocrat, and Victoria the constitutional Queenmake appeal to this principle in their very name. An "Aristocracy"
is, literally, a Best Governminent-a Government by the Wisest. 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
Not that these rulers have always deliberately claimed that they,
individually, were wisest among men; but they have done it for themselves as officers, in their formal documents.  They say, "In our wisdom;" and, "Of our free grace and mere motion," and such things.
These forms at least defer to the common consent of mankind that
the wisest ought to govern, by taking the name of wisdom; just as
vice acknowledges the supremacy of virtue, by pretending to be virtue.
Republics-Greek, Italian, Swiss, German, French, American-have
alike proclaimed the same universal maxim, with so loud a voice that
we need not stop to repeat their words.
The only difference amongst all these different rulers has been in
their answers to the question, Who are the wisest?  The king, the
emperor, the holy czar-say the monarchists.  The  king and his
nobles-say the feudalists. The nobles, said the oligarchic Venetians.
The people said, and still say-The people.  So say we.   But precisely at this point is a common and enormous  omission. "The
people ought to govern," is the loud cry of all our politicians. But
there can be no reason wnuy they ought to govern, unless that they
are wisest-because they are wise enough to govern. It is with the
nation as it is with the individual. When a man is old enough,
knows enough, to take care of himself, then hlie moay take care of
himself. Until that time, he is under more or less restraint. And a
nation not wise enough to govern itself, will as surely work out its
own destruction, as an inexperienced boy in the sole charge of a
great estate would unwisely waste and lose it.
Our politicians happen in fact to be right.  But that is only because
our people have been wise enough to govern. The presumption has
always been, that each voter has been intelligent enough and upright
enough to be intrusted with the power. The exceptions have been
so few as to serve only to prove the rule. But of late years, the
exceptions have increased so rapidly, especially by immigration of
ignorant and immoral foreigners, that this presumption of intelligence can hardly any longer be said to exist. The politicians continue to cry, "Let the people govern!"  But the trouble is not now
2.02 
PRINCIPLES OF OUR COMMON EDUCATION.
lest the people shall govern.   That they will always do.   They will
never, in this country, suffer the sceptre to pass out of their hands.
But the trouble now is, to keep them wise enough to govern well.
They are not in the case of the boy who is not old enough to manage
his estate; but they are in the case of the man who is in danger of
ruining his estate by falling into evil courses.
The American Republican theory is not merely that the people
should govern; it is, first, that the people are the wisest; and second,
and only by virtue of this wisdom, comes the other truth which we
hear so often, The people must govern.
For abundant proof of our position, let us look to the practice and
precepts of those founders of the Union and fathers of American liberty-the first settlers of the thirteen colonies. In the early times of
the various colonial commonwealths, only members of churches were
admitted, in some of them, to the exercise of the electoral franchise,
for the declared reason that the body of the people ought to consist
of honest and good men. Decent and reputable conduct as members
of society was also a recognized requisite of those admitted to vote.
The written constitutions, and the whole spirit of the frame of government of all the early colonies, is conclusively in point. The
strong, clear-minded men who established them, saw plainly the abso lute necessity of admitting none to the freeman's privilege of govern ing the State, except such as were duly qualified in intellect and
morals for that high responsibility. They set their standard of quali fication higher than would now be endured. They required, until
public sentiment compelled a change, both the ownership of prop erty, that the voter might the more sensibly feel the effects of his
own governing, and church-membership, that he might be approved
a man of pure heart and life, and as one not about to endanger their
peculiar semi-theocratic institutions.  That their application of the
principle was extreme and mistaken, may be allowed; but the demon stration is not less conclusive, but rather more so, of the strength and
clearness of their conviction that only safe men well-qualified men should conduct the affairs of the State.
a
203
11
r 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
Since this is our theory, and has been our practice, as it ought to
be, is in some measure, and as we hope it will be again, evidently it
is the very profoundest and most absolute necessity of the State, if it
desires to be a righteous, prosperous, and happy State, to foresee its
future, and to secure to itself the means of a prosperous and progressive life, by raising up well-trained citizens for the next generation.
The nation, during one generation, must prepare the next; just as a
provident man of business during one season is making arrangements for his investments and enterprises during the next; or as a
farmer, while cultivating one crop, makes that crop help prepare for
the next, and thus preserves and improves the value and productive
power of his land.
The children of the present age are the nation of the future, and
properly educating them for wise and right action as men, is not only
the very greatest responsibility of our adult generation, but it is also
a necessity as plain and indispensable as that a man should preserve
his life now, in order to be alive next year. The training of the
children is the whole basis of our republic; the one thing needful,
without which all our other pains and trouble for perpetuating our
Union must come to naught; the primary source and condition of
all that is desirable in our peculiar national life, if any such we
have.
The American common-school education is the essential condition
of all that is valuable in our American citizenship and polity. It
is consistent with them; a part of the same machine-as one particular wheel is of its own engine, and of no other. It differs from
other commol-school educations, precisely as our people differ from
other people, and our institutions from other institutions. American school education, as fostered and enforced by our government, is
intended to train citizens fit to uphold our State; men wise enough
to govern. They must be intelligent; possessed of minds free, active,
stored with the fundamentals of knowledge, and with as much as
possible of the superstructure. Yet they must be so trained, morally
and religiously, as to keep their intellects and their passions subject
204 
PRINCIPLES OF OUR COMMON EDUCATION.
to their regard for right, Christianity, and the law.*  They need the
widest freedom, that they may manage and discuss their political
business with the confident courage which distinguished the founders
of the republic. They need the utmost wisdom, that they may make
few mistakes themselves, and may profit by the examples of others.
They need the most thorough and deeply-founded conviction of the
supremacy of God and the sanctity of His great laws, and of the
moral and human laws based thereon, in order that they may not
pass from freedom to riot; that their own stability as law-abiding,
honest, and upright citizens may be sufficient to guard and guide
them in the wide freedom of our constitution, and to bring them to
the strenuous support of that constitution when attacked or violated
by the ignorant or the wicked.
That such is the true relation of our common-school training to the
State, seems proved by the mere statement of the case. That such
was in fact its scope and purpose, and that they have ever been so
regarded by our wisest men, needs little proof. The histories of the
early settlements, and the documentary evidence of their records, are
alike conclusive of the question.  The fact is notorious, that the education of the young engaged a very large share of the solicitude of
the first Americans.  The Virginians established, in 1621, the first free
school in America. The first in Boston was set up in 1635.
It is repeatedly declared iL the records of the colonies, that it is the
legal duty of all parents and guardians to give religious and other
instruction to the children under their care, and to train them up in
some learned profession or other employment profitable for themselves
and the commonwealth. In 1642, it was declared, by solemn enactment, that all children must be educated, and that it was "barbarism"
not to have a knowledge of the principal laws of the State.
Indeed, recognition of the absolute and fundamental importance
of education, enforced and paid for by the State, raising the scholar
to that standard of moral and intellectual ability and acquirement
* For relation of Christianity to the State, see Girard will case.  Also, Webster's Works, Vol. VI. p. 133, &c.
10
205 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
which prepare him for safe and reliable citizenship, are conclusively
evident in the earliest legislative records of the New England States.
The same solemn recognition is embodied, in one form or another,
in all the State constitutions, from Maine to California, at this day.
A monument of the same belief also remains, in the power which
has from the beginning been granted to thle selectmen, of apprenticing, for labor and education, all children neglected by their parents
or guardians. This regulation has, most unfortunately, fallen into
very general disuse; but its importance and meaning are none the
less evident.
Such is our American idea of common education: a careful and
thorough training for all purposes of government and self-government. A comparison with it of the character of European education,
and of its results upon the population subjected to it, will serve to
exhibit contrasts seldom considered, but extremely important.
The greatest difference between the two systems arises from the
difference in their objects. Americans are free, and the freedom of
our American law  ust be mnade up for by a corresponding increase
in the beercise of sel-control by the individual.  Therefore, it is a
principal and direct object of our education, to train our youth to
independent  and cal(eful th glt.  They think on public business,
and  m..man.(~o      pubnllic b nsiness-an eimploymenrt which demands  the
widest intelligence. They are trained to feel it not only a privilege,
but a duty, to take a direct and active interest in thle government of
their country.
But it is an equally direct object of the European  educational
systems-more especially of the Continental, but measurably also of
the English system-to prevent the people from examining the government or its measures, or from concerning themselves at all with
them.  The Prussian school-system-tlie most liberal on the Continent-has of late years been fbund too liberal for the purposesbf the
Government, and has been gradually shorn of its best features, until
now it is, like all the rest, merely an adjunct of despotic power; a
great machine, from which are turned oqt ready-made subjects-not
ik
206 
PRINCIPLES OF OUR COMMON EDUCATION.
ready-made men. The reading-books of the schools of the Austrian
dominions are arranged to teach submission to tyranny. In them
the children read, in so many words, that subjects must behlave
towards their sovereign like faithful slaves towards their master, because their sovereign is their master, and has power over their property as well as over their lives. Intelligent consideration of political
matters, or any consideration of them, would shake the seats of the
kings; and for self-preservation's sake, therefore, they carefully keep
such matter of investigation as much as possible out of the people's hands. More than that: lest they acquire too free a habit of
thought elsewhere, they not only prohibit a direct trainiing for the
duty and habit of govenming, but they prevent the study in a free
manner of any thing else.  Lest scholars should learn the intelligent
study of politics, they are prevented from the intelligent study of any
thing. They are not taught to think for themselves for their own
good, but only to believe what is taught them, in order to subserve
the bad purposes of others. Intellectual debasement always brings
moral and social debasement along with it. The victims of this education for ignorance are not only miserably besotted in mind, but
brutishly savage and heathenish in manners. Their whole character
is the natural consequence of such training in youth. Mutual confidence and helpfulness, the reliance of our citizens upon the kindness
and honesty of others, the social fiiendship and good fellowship which
are the very texture of so much of our daily life, are things unknown
in Europe, and strange and incomprehensible to Europeans travelling
here.
In Furope, everybody distrusts everybody.  It was a principal
-reason for the tralsitoy ise urity   of the malny constitutional govern -ments established in cr3many and elsewh-ere, in the years 1848-50,
that, of the numerous little cliques of politicians and theorists who
were at work, none trusted any other; nor did any man trust his
fellow.  There is none of that feeling which causes our miinorities
to submit peacefully to the measures of the majority, and even to
assist, in good faith, their support and full accomplishment. A Eu                                                      *   * H..*Of 
207 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
ropean nation would almost necessarily pass firom the excitement of
our Presidential elections, into an armed revolution. The eagerness
with which the Irish and Germans gather into exclusively national
armed bands in this country, their promptness in rising into mobs,
their brutal fights among themselves, are plain indications of the passions which boil in their minds, very near to overflowing.
Thus far it has been shown:
1. How our peculiar Ameri'can education is the basis of our peculiar Amlerican nationality andl fire(,doim.
2. I-ow the aims of American education and European education
are diametrically opposite.
It remains to consider:
1. What the actual influence of foreign population is upon our
schools; and,
2. What measures are needed to secure our schools in their proper
condition.
1. The actual inftuence of foreign population upon our schools.
Considering the character of most European training, and its influence upon the minds of its victims; considering also their besotted
subservience to their Romish priests, or else the rampant infidelity and
lawless, riotous, and licentious tendencies of those not so subservient,
it is easy to see how little community of thought and feeling can subsist between the two classes of people, European and American. The
Europeans are studiously kept ignorant and servile, and are deformed
with the vices which accompany servile ignorance.  They are bigoted,
false, selfish, cunning, and revengeful. They are governed by fear;
and, like passionate children, they seize every occasion to violae laws
which are only kept over them by force, aind to indulge the passions
whitch are only subdued by terror.  How can such meii coalesce with
our law-making, law-abiding, and self-controlling men? Our laws are
so free that only such men as ours can properly use or safely endure
their freedom. Our thoughtful people see that their own self-control must make up for the absence of stringent laws, a standing army,*and the heavy pressure from above of despotismn and an armed and
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'   -    r    *~' 
..'     ~   N
iI
208
I
I'I,.
$ - 7,', 
PRINCIPLES OF OUR COMMfON EDUCATION.
disciplined aristocracy.  Liberl al laws, and a corr es])o2di?Jyy careful
self-yov,erit;,aeint by 1te izdividlual, are the dclistinguislinig dignity and
prerogative of our fieemien.  But the verv freedom which we use to
increase our moral power of governing ourselves, the foreigner seizes
as an opportunity to indulge his ingrained antipathy to law, his fero- 
city, and his appetites.  Our population is so intelligent as to recognize
the necessity of a universal Christian and democratic education, without regard to sects.  The foreigner, under the control of PRomish
priests, regards it even as his duty, to insist upon the exclusive propagation, in all schools where lhe can secure it, of hAis special sectariLanism, or his own atheism, if he has renounced the Romish Church.
The character of the actual educational operations of our foreign
population has, in fact, been precisely such as we have shown that it
must be. In Detroit, in Cincinnati, in New York city-wherever they
could muster strength enough to hope for success-they have begged,
bargained, and bullied to get their hands upon the money of the
State, for the propagation of their religious dogmas. Failing in that,
they have, by the like means, attempted to destroy in our national
schools their national significance and value, by driving out from
them all religious instruction or influence. The demands of the atheistical Germans have been of a similar character.  More than one
meeting of these people has formally resolved that the legal enforce- 
ment of the observance of the Christian Sabbath, and the giving of
any religious instruction in schools, ought to cease; and with besotted
blindness, while making these absurd demands, they have also called  -
upon the Government to provide everybody with property and labor.
This is a like treachery with that of those villains who ask a nlight's
lodging, and then set fire to the house, for the sake of plunder.
The liberal grants by the British government to the College of
Maynooth, while they have had no effect in mollifying the Irish
priests' opposition to popular education in Ireland, have acted as a
stimulus to the preparation of Jesuit priests for this country, who,
headed by Bishop Hlughes and his confederates, are, as we all know,
constantly interfering with the operation of our school-system, and
0() 
A VOICE TO AMIERICA.
endeavoring, under the plea of religious scruples, to secularize them
and destroy their usefulness.  We also sufier from  the outside influence of Austria, where, in 1829, was instituted "the Leopold Foundation," the direct object of which was to supply money for the support
of foreign teachers for American children. From this propagandist
society have been received the immense sums of money that have
been paid for Romanist teachers, and for schoolhouses, in communities
entirely Protestant; and to Austria we must look for the solution of
the oft-repeated question among  our Protestant rural populations,
"How do the Romanists manage to get funds to pay for their buildings and support their priests?"
What the result of the success of this speckled army of disorganizers and bigots would be, it requires no prophet to foretell. Every
professedly religious body, would grasp at the State funds with the
intensely bitter, selfish, and spiteful rivalry of sectarian quarrelers.
The strongest would snatch the most, and would try to secure all.
American -free common-school educat,ion-tbat'invaluable institution
which has been, and is, the life-blood of the Union, the nucleus and
sou'ce of all our liberty and all our happiness would be bandied
about, like a bone in a pack of snarling curs. The keystone of the
State would be knocked out of the arch; and the solid architecture
of the iron men who founded our commonwealth would be demolishlied, to make room for the crude fancies and foggy dreams of infidel Germiian mietapihyvsicians-the  imost visionary and unpractical of
menl-or for the cunn,,ing ircLnelcrie(s of a subtle priestlhood, striving
to rear the Iiquisit'oe-' and convents of thie t',omlisli Church on the
ruins of our State. At the very best, our young men and young women would have passed the forming years of their lives in a discipline calculated to develop intellect, but to smother morals and religion together. All the strength of oir republic would be sapped.
Like the image in Nebuchadnezzar's drean, whose feet were part of
iron and part of clay, we should totter upon a failing and incongruous
basis. The first stone thrown at us, would prostrate our country in
iriremediable ruin.
210
i.
I 
PRINCIPLES OF OUR COMMION EDUCATION.
2. What measures are needed in order to preserve oyr schools inA
their proper condition?
Only  the religious belief underlying  and interweaving all the
thoughts and habits of our people, co-operating with intellectual elevation and habits politically discreet, have held us together hitherto.
The elements of disunion are today fermenting more deeply and dangerously than ever. Questions of policy, and of sectional prejudice,
have agitated the nation quite enough for its health.  If these questions are to be determined without any other judges than cunning
intellect and unbridled passion, the death of our Union is at hand.
If they are to be determrined by men believing and seeking to practice right and justice, the Union may yet endure.   But if they are
to be so determined, it can be in no other way than by the graduates
of our common schools, brought up under an education based upon
Christianity, and teaching freedom of body, heart, and lumind, democracy, and, above all, Christianity, without sectarianism.
There is no doubt what is necessary for the. security of our education and of our country.  It is high  time that the distinctive
Christianity of our State polity, and the Christian and political character of our public-school education, were re-established and restored
to their former footing, there to be maintained.  Trial by jury is an
excellent custom.  Taxation according to representation is a very true
principle. Popular election and the ballot-box are the best possible
mode of choosing rulers.  But neither custom, principle, nor ma-  -
chinery will help a rotten nation. Unless we are able to handle our
instruments, we shall turn out but a bungling piece of work. These
good things are only good by virtue of skill in the hands of the user.
Unless we know how to use our blessings well, we shall turn them
into curses.  Our common schools are the only medium of the requisite education.  These must be kept American in spirit, American in
practice, American thoroughly, everywhere and always.   The fanatics or the fools who would destroy our liberties by ousting from our
schools the sources and preservatives of those liberties, with a wisdom
like that of a man who should burn his own home over his head to
211 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
warm his fingers, must be rebuked and silenced.  Our schools must
remain public, free, democratic, unsectarian, and Christian. There is
room for no hesitation about the matter; the case is urgent.  As
surely as we trifle with this blind giant, Ignorance, he will repay us
with such a destruction as Sampson brought upon the Philistines.
He is even now feeling about to grip the pillars of our State.   Having them once in his grasp, he will overthrow our national edifice,
and crush us among the falling fragments.
Perhaps the most significant, comprehensive, and useful  measure
which could be taken in order to the accomplishment of the purposes
set forth in this chapter, would be an educational qualification for
voting,-the requirement that every voter should read intelligibly, in
English, our State and National Constitutions. This single requirement, of reading, is probably the best, although, of course, very imperfect, as all such tests must be. Any such test must be capable
of quick and easy application, and must also determine the possession
of an essential requisite. Reading is a ready manode of estimating a
man's literary acquirements.  A more elaborate inquiry would be so
tedious in the application, as to be practically inconvenient.  Ability
to read can be proved in a moment.  And one who can read, is able
to use the most extensive and important source of information in the
~world, namely, printed matter.
The enforcement of such a rule would be attended with many
advantages. It would shut out from the polls the most degraded
and dangerous class of voters, native or foreign.  The men who  are
most easily bought or fooled would not then be worth buying.  Iinmigrants would be under a strong temptation to learn English, and
to learn to read; of which two attainments the first would be of great
value in assimilating them to our' own people, and the second as a
main step forward in their progress towards intelligent freedom.  A
most important benefit, also, to be derived from the operation of this
educational test, would be its effect upon our schools. The children
of foreigners, now the most ignorant and inaccessible of our youthful
population, would at least learn to read.  Their fathers would also
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learn, in order to vote; and as much as they learned themselves, so
much it is safe to conclude that their children would be greatly
benefited. Education, moreover, would thus once more be definitely
recognized and significantly honored by the State; and the possession and exercise of political power would once more be publicly
declared conditional upon the possession of the ability to use such
power. The declaration would not be very perfect; the test proposed
is not. But probably it is the best that circumstances will admit of.
Its adoption would, at least, make a renewed and important public
assertion of our hereditary State policy, namely, the restriction of the
governing power to those fit to use it.
The principle of demanding that religion, though free from sectarianism, should be carefully excluded from our common-schools, is
not of American origin.  "Education, without religion," says a great
authority, " merely transforms an ignorant brute into a clever fiend."
True religious feeling is the basis of all useful education. It is the
wholesome check upon that power which man acquires through the
acquisition of knowledge.   "Knowledge is power, but it is neither
wisdom nor virtue;"* and these two qualities, so necessary to the very
existence of society, can only be implanted by religious faith. The
prevalence of the Epicurean philosophy dlid much  to destroy the
Romana Empire; and, in later years, the teachings of Voltaire and
Rousseau removed the only checkl which restrained the French nation
from those frightful excesses which form so dark a picture in the history of mankind.   The "Goddess of Reason" has ever been insufficient to direct either individuals or multitudes; and the first step
towards the restoration of order in France, was the recognition of the
Divine power in the governmnent of the world.
As the cherished sentiments of thousands of our naturalized and
alien citizens become known to the Americain people, it is discovered
that we not only have the Romish priest, industriously at work to
suppress the Scriptures, but that we have organized societies of
avowed infidels and atheists, who openly proclaim that there is no
* Alison.
213 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
liberty where even moral, much less religious, restraints prevail, and
that the perfection of society is accomplished, when the unregenerated
passions of the heart alone control human action.*
The experience of other nations presents warnings to the American,
of the necessity of constantly insisting upon the moral training of our
youth.  We want no dogmas, no "isms," but we want the Scriptures
free. That they might be so, our forefathers made a home in the
wilderness, and left the heritage to the present generation. Shall we,
in the prosecution of our school-system, allow it to be emasculated of
its chief strength, because of the demands of the priests of a corrupted religion, or because we are required to do so by foreigners
who openly declare war upon religion itself?  It is for the Americans
who truly love their country to decide.
* See published statements of the principles of various German Societies
throughout the Union.
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' The Ronmish Clurch  has always ranged herself on the side of Despotism."-GUIZOT.
IT has lately become the fashion for party men and journalists to
assert that the influence of the Papal See on political affairs no longer
exists; that history proves her power to have been on the wane
during many past years; that the march of intellect and spread of
education have forced her to relinquish coercive power; and that the
resumption of her former influence is impossible.  We are constantly
told by prelates, priests, and politicians, that the supremacy of the
Pope in temporal affairs "is not an established doctrine of the Roman
Church; it is simply a 8enenntia in ecclesia- an  unadjudicated question, without positive authority, and incumbent upon no one's faith;
that a Romanist may believe what he pleases on the subject, and
be a good Churchman still." Those, on the contrary, who, relying
on the authority of the Fathers of that Church, receiving the declarations of the priesthood themselves, and accepting the explanation of
the Roman press, maintain a different opinion, are accused of bigotry
and intolerance, or stigmatized as enemies to liberty. It becomes us,
therefore, to examine these pretensions, and, having seen their import
in other ages, to inquire if they have been relinquished, or, as is
strenuously urged, become obsolete.
In order to a full appreciation of this momentous question, a glance
at the origin and progress of Papal assumption is necessary, so that
a full idea of the arrogance of Rome may be realized.
Systems which are longest in their growth, are most lasting in
their effects.  This is peculiarly the case with that politico-religious
organizationi-Romanism: commencing in the first centuries of the 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
Christian era-a period when the whole known world was in a state
of transition-it has steadily progressed from infancy to robust manhood: accurately observing cause and effect, it quickly learnt to control events, and mould men and monarchies to its will.  What was
originally conferred as a favor, it quickly arrogated as a right; and,
when princes remonstrated, or jurists denied its claims, forgery was
resorted to in defence of its usurpations, and absolution and preferment were the rewards of assassins who removed its opponents.
In the struggle between the Eastern and Western Empires, the
See of Rome early rejected the Byzantine yoke, thus asserting a right
to resist governments.  In becoming temporal princes, the Popes declared that a union could exist between the temporal and spiritual;
and, at the election of Pepin to the throne of France, arrogated the
power of u2mpires in political disputes.  Thus, gradually establishing
authority by precedent, the Papacy matured its policy, until Hlildebrand placed a climax on the growth of six centuries.*
This famous Pontiff is regarded by all historians as the master
mind of his age, and the architect of the Romish Church.  His great
antagonist, Henry IV., Emperor of Germany, found the armies of the
empire powerless against the Eternal City, and was compelled to
listen to the Pope as he fulminated interdicts against his kingdom,
and excommunication against himself. Nor did the Papal emissaries
confine their operations merely to Germany. In England, they imnposed and collected taxes without the consent of the authorities, and
frequently raised insurrections by their extortions. So extravagant
became their demands in France, that the civil power was forced to
interfere, and St. Louis decreed the "Pragmatic Sanction," curbing
the power of the Papacy in his kingdom. In fact, monarchy was in
rebellion, and what could not be acquired by force, Rome resolved
to gain by wiles.
The thirteenth century saw the struggle commence between the
people and Feudalism. But the Papacy early understood that Liberty would be death to its pretensions, and therefore allied itself with
* Gregory VII., A. D. 1073.
216
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POLITICAL POWER OF THE POPE.
Tyranny.  The  Barons, who  had  extorted  MAGNA CItARTA from
John, were excommunicated by the Pope, and a war of extermination commenced against the Albigenses. This people, in the enjoyment of political and religious freedom, were under the protection of
the Count of Toulouse, who, on his refusal to abet the designs of
the Papacy, was excommunicated, and his destruction resolved
upon.
Every expedient was resorted to in order to detach their protectors
from this unfortunate people; and the Pope showed the policy of
Rome towards her opponents, in the following memorable words
We  advise you, according to the precepts of the Apostle Paul,
to use cunning in your dealings with the Count, which, in the present case, should rather be deemed prudence.   It is expedient to attack those separately who have broken the unity of the Church; to
spare the Count of Thoulouse for a season, treating him with wise
dissimulation, in order that the other heretics may be more easily
destroyed, and that we may crush him at our leisure when he stands
alone."*
But treachery was not the only weapon which Rominanism found
useful to adopt. Henry VII., Emperor of Germany, was assassinated
by order of Pope Clement V., poison being administered to him in
the Eucharist, from the hands  of his Dominican confessor.   But
crimes become virtues in a creed which asserts the maxim-" The
end justifies the means."
Religion has always given place to policy when Romanismn has
been forced to an alternative.  The Duke of Guise was assassinated
by order of his sovereign; yet, notwithstanding his opposition to the
HIuguenots of France, and his being the leader of the Romanist party,
the Pope justified the assassination on the ground of political expediency. But the most memorable instance of Papal duplicity is
shown in the treatment of Philip II. of Spain, one of the greatest supporters of the Romish See that history can produce.  Rome, however, feared his power, and secretly sought the alliance of Elizabeth
* Pope Innocent III. to the Abbot of Citeauix.
21'7 
A VOICE TO AI:ERICA.
of England, advising her to assist the insurgents against Philip's
authority in the Netherlands. When this sovereign had resolved on
war with England, the Pope sent information to Elizabeth of the plan
forming for her destruction, together with copies of letters he had
received from the king relative to the Armada. The whole history
of the Papacy is full of such instances as these; and neither succeeding centuries nor the progress of civilization have produced a
change.
The history of Westphalia, in 1649, was the triumph of Protestantism and free opinions. The Papacy then ceased to have any
direct       political influence in the affairs of Europe; henceforward it
was no longer to maintain authority by the aid of arms and the civil
power; but to struggle for present existence and prospective influence
by craft and cunning. It may be said of this system
"It was not for an age, but for all time."
Romanism has weapons suited to every cycle. It adapts itself to
every people; it conforms to and supports every government; but in
despotism, monarchy, and republicanism, its aim is still unchanged.
Tyrannizing in barbarism, fawning in the sixteenth century, intriguing
in the nineteenth. Tolerant where forced, it persecutes where possible. Liberal in England and America, autocratic in Spain and Austria.  Truly," tout chefin m6ne a Rome."*
The weapons which the Papal hierarchy now wields in free countries, are admirably suited to the organization of its ministers. Celibacy of the priesthood gave power to the Papacy, and maintains its
influence. Family and country have no ties on the Romish clergy,
and the Popes have always been convinced that celibacy is the great
bond which unites all portions of the Papal dominions. Rome therefore enjoys exclusive possession of every feeling which can render her
ministers good subjects or good citizens. Pius IV. comprehended the
immense value of an unmarried clergy. Though he violently condemned the administration of the eucharist in both kinds, he relaxed
"* Every road leads to Rome."
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4.
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POLITICAL POWER OF THE POPE.
the prohibition, at the instance of the Emperor Maximilian, and per mitted the cup to be given to the laity ill Germany. But on the
point of celibacy he was inflexible; for he was justly convinced that
it was the great bond by which all the portions of Papal domination
were united, and that, if it should be relaxed, the entire edifice would
fall in sunder.
A very necessary element of success, is the command of funds;
and here the Romish Church is aided by the celibacy of her priesthood. "The clergy is a family which can never perish; its wealth
therefore remains with it forever; and, as it is not a family to increase,
government should restrict its power of acquiring additional wealth."
(Montesquieu.) Rome shows her appreciation of such restrictions,
by treating them as sacrilege; and governments, in asserting their
independence of Papal tyranny, have found it necessary to first curb
its financiering proclivities. A government which neglects legislative
enactments on so momentous a subject, will eventually find the Romish
Church capable of any resistance, and bidding defiance to the laws.
We are at a loss to understand how men, otherwise far-seeing, can
speak of Rome as powerless for evil. Are any of her means of action
restrained? Is she less wealthy? Are her followers materially diminished, or less devoted? Is her alliance with governments perilled?
Or has she become meek and lowly, and forgotten her former arrogance? In every country we see her bishops and priests leading a
strong party, whose alliance is sought, and opinions pandered to, by
party-men of different shades of opinion.  In England, the Popish
Parliamentary league is feared and hlated by every ministry. In
France, their alliance is gained by the government, in return for
almost supreme ecclesiastical power. In Germany, Rome educates
in the schools, and Jesuits bear sway in the cabinet. She attempts
to arrest the march of freedom in Sardinia; and strives to stifle its
rise in Spain. Is it egotism which induces Americans to deny her
influence in this republic, and are they blind to passing events in
their own country? What, then, is the explanation of demagogues
flattering the Papal hierarchy; what the meaning of the riots of our
219
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A VOICE TO AMEIRICA.
foreign population; and for what purpose is so much property in the
hands of the priesthood, and in their hands alone? The fact is obvious, that the means Rome formerly possessed, she has not parted with.
She is as powerful for evil as in the days of Innocent III.; and, when
the situation warrants it, she will know where to find another Hildebrand.
We are not alone in this conviction. The historian, Macaulay,
holds the same opinion, in the following language:
"The Papacy remains-not in decay, not a mere antique, but full
of life and youthful vigor. The Catholic Church is still sending forth
to the furtherest ends of the world, missionaries as zealous as those
who landed in Kent with Augustin; and still confronting hostile
kings with the same spirit with which she confionted Attila."
There is a fundamental mistake made by would-be philosophers of
the present day, which may lead to very disastrous consequences.
Viewing the want of education in Romanist countries, and the unintellectual character of their inhabitants, they imagine the Papal
priests to be participators in this ignorance, whereas the contrary is
the case. The RPomish priests, as a body, are educated, scientific, and
refined. They number men among them eminent in every branch
of literature, and especially in political philosophy. This fact is one
which should cause them to be regarded with greater fear, since they
are prepared beforehand for every emergency. Their education is
instilled into them with, and becomes a part of, one great controlling
aim-the supremacy of their order.
Rome formerly worked by what may be termed physical means.
She was a species of equipoise-a political umpire between contending governments. But this influence has departed, and Rome adapts
herself to the age. She educates her ministers to meet the times;
and her followers are trained to make every action of their lives,
every phase of their existence, subservient to a fixed policy. Seated
in the midst of the civilized world, accurately marking every change
of the political horizon, Rome awaits her moment, and, when the
success of one or other political party is wavering in the balance.
220
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POLITICAL POWER OF THE POPE.
she throws in the immense weight of her followers, and bears down
all opposition.  Politicians laugh at our fears, and deride our assertions; yet these same men are courting that party whose influence
they deny. Why is it that public men are so courteous to, and
apologistic of, the Romish Church? It is because they know it to be
an undivided power, —no two policies there, no factions, no North
and South, but a party one and indivisible. Whigs and Democrats
may contend, "isms" may come in contact, and a "National party"
be rent by fanatics, but Roie is unchangeable. There are no divisions
there; she commands, and countless thousands obey. No wonder,
then, our public men are so deferential to such a power, though at
the same timhe denying its existence to the country. Will America
thus be treated by her representatives?
The oft-repeated assertion of the Papal See not claiming temporal
supremacy, is one calculated to bring about the most disastrous results.
Legislators in this, as in other countries, are unceasing in the propagation of this error; and even Romanists themselves assert a doctrine
which is entirely opposed to the spirit and affirmation of their hierarchy.  From the ninth century to the nineteenth-from Gregory VII.
to Pius IX.-the doctrine of that Church has been, the elevation of
the spiritual over the secular.  This right is not asserted as a consequence of the spiritual power, but as of divine origin.  Thus Hildebrand, in excommunicatimg Henry IV., uses the language, "Ex _parte
omnipotentis Dei."  The same Pontiff asserts that "kings and princes
are bound to kiss the feet of God's vicegerent. He has a right to
depose emperors. His sentence can be annulled by none, but he
can annul the decrees of all." Successive Pontiffs were unceasing in
maintaining this doctrine, and constantly asserted that governments
held their authority from the Romish See. Pope Boniface VIII.
addresses Philip le Bel of France in the same arrogant language:
"We would have thee to know that in things spiritual and temporal,
thou art subject to us." In fact, throughout the whole range of the
Papacy, from Hildebrand downwards, such has been the declaration
of the so-called successors of St. Peter.
221 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
In A.D. 1414, the Council of Constance declares: "The laity have
no jurisdiction and power over the clergy." And the Council of
Trent, in 1545, asserts: "The exemption of clerical persons has been
instituted by the ordination of God, and by canonical institutions."
(Sess. 25, chap. 20.)
It was in the early ages of the Papacy that Rome found her most
critical moments; and such decrees as the above were necessary, not
merely to acquire additional power, but to retain what she already
possessed. Many national Churches were almost independent of
Rome, particularly that of France. Under the leadership of such
men as Bossuet and Fenelon, backed by the enormous power of
Louis XIV., France successfully resisted the encroachments of the
Romish See, and even gave a name to all such opposition, namely,
Gallicanis}n.  But this independence of Rome is now only history;
the Papal hierarchy of the present day is ultramontanist throughout,
and the Church recognizes the Pope as infallible and supreme in all
matters. Rven France herself owns to the annihilation of her national
Church. The Count of Montalembert thus speaks, in 1852:
"Let us all labor, according to the measure of our meekness, to
maintain her (the Romish See) in this dignity, in this sovereign independence. We are entering upon the age of the regeneration of
Catholicism, which will console us for all the outrages, all the defections, it has had to endure since the revival of paganism, four hundred
years ago."
The ultramontane doctrine, as enunciated by Bellarmine, and
defended by the Jesuits, is now, in fact, the faith of the entire
Romish clergy and Church. Bellarmine thus illustrates his position:
"The Pope, as Pope, although he has not any merely temporal
power, bath, nevertheless, in order to a spiritual good, the supreme
power of disposing of the temporal concerns of all Christians." (Bellarmine, chap. vi.) 
Again:
"' The clergy cannot be punished by political judges, neither be in
222
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POLITICAL POWRER OF THE POPE.
any way brought before the judicial chair of the secular magistrate...
The Pope has redeemed the clergy from the obedience due to princes;
therefore kings are no more the superiors of the clergy." (Bellarmiine, chap. 28.)
Another of the Fathers of the Romish Church is even more explicit.
Baronius, in speaking of the supremacy of the Papal power, observes:
"All those who take from the Church of Rome, and from the See
of St. Peter, one of the two swords, and allow only the spiritual, are
branded for heretics." (Baronius, Ann. 1053, ~14.)
Political partisans and unscrupulous demagogues may assert that
the march of civilization has caused Rome to relinquish these claims,
but there never was a time when her pretensions have found more
numerous or abler champions than at present. The doctrine is triumphant throughout the entire Papacy, and in Protestant countries
it is pertinaciously asserted.
To be convinced that this ultramnontane power of the Popes is
truly the belief of every faithful Romanist, we need only look to the
writings of Brownson, in our own country. The opinions of his
Review are endorsed by the Romish hierarchy throughout the States,
and he therefore speaks the creed of his Church.
"There is, in our judgment, but one valid defence of the Popes, in
their exercise of temporal authority in the middle ages over sovereigus, and that is, that they possess it by divine right, or that the
Pope holds that authority by virtue of his commission from Jesus
Christ, as the successor of Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, and visible head of the Church."......   "As the denial of the spiritual authority soon leads to a denial of the temporal, so the denial of the
temporal soon leads to the denial of the spiritual. When we found
democracy even by nominal Catholics embraced in that sense in which
it denies all law, and asserts the right of the people, or rather of the
mob, to do whatever they please, and making it criminal in us to
dispute their infallibility, we felt that we must bring out the truth
against them, and if scandal resulted, we were not its cause. The re
223 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
sponsibility rests on those whose obsequiousness to the multitude made
our opposition necessary."
"The Pope has the right to pronounce sentence of deposition against
any sovereign, when required by the good of the spiritual order."
(Brownson's Reviewv, vol. i., p. 48.)
"The power of the Church exercised over sovereigns in the middle
ages was not a usurpation, was not derived from the concession of
princes, or the consent of all people, but was, and is, held by divine
right, and whoso resists it, rebels against the King of kings and Lord
of lords." (Ibid., p. 47.)
"She (the Church) bears by divine right both swords, but she exercises the temporal sword by the hand of the princes or magistrates.
The temporal sovereign holds it subject to her order, to be exercised
in her service, under her direction." (lbid., p. 60.)
"The spiritual is not only superior to the temporal, but is its sove.
reign, and punishes its law." (Ibid.)
We consider this the most open-mouthed, bare-faced assertion of
the temporal supremacy of the Popes over free governments and universal suffrage of which it is possible to conceive, and this asserted
too in a country which has separated Church and State, fearing the
encroachments of the spiritual power. Has this man sworn to maintain the Constitution of the United States?  Can Jesuitry reconcile
his words with such an oath?
But this doctrine is developed in its utmost elaboration in the Eternal
City.  The Civilta Cattolica is a journal published at Rome  under
the auspices of the Pontiff, and its views and opinions are received by
the Romanists throughout the world as the effusions of the Holy See.
In the course of a late article, this paper thus speaks:
"What are the limits of the power of coercion?  There are but
two, which, in fact, comprehend all others, namely, means and aim....
What then are the limits of the Church's means? There are none
except the limits of human power, and of the divine assistance by
which the Church is comforted. As the Church commands the
spiritual part of man directly, she therefore commands the whole
224 
POLITICAL POWER OF THE POPE.
man, and all that deplends on mtan...... From the darkness of the
Catacombs she (the Church) dictated laws to the subjects of the emperors, abrogating decrees, whether plebeian, senatorial, or imperial,
when in conflict with Catholic ordinances.... Did the Christian emperors become insolent? The Church armed against them their very
electors. To every rampant heresy the Church knew how to oppose
the power either of the peoples or of their princes; and when these
supports seemed at last to have been snatched from her by a universal rationalism, behold! there is a sudden turning back of both;of the nations, fearing an unbridled royal power, and proclaiming the
necessity of a supreme spiritual power; of the princes, beginning to
understand, at the light of a bloody communism, that the principles of the Church are a firmer foundation for their thrones than
bayonets, which mzust always be intrusted to a part of the people....
The conclusion is, therefore, that there are no limits to the exercise
of the coercive power of the Church, either in view of her means or
of her aim." (Civilta Cattolica, No. cxi., 2d Series, vol. viii.,
Nov., 1854, pp. 273-282.)
This, we take it, is proof positive of the assumptions of Rome in
regard to the civil power, but lest our readers should suppose these
would not be enforced, we will give a further extract from the same
article:
"Petty politicians may conclude that the Church has  lost her
power, because she does not enlist artillery, cavalry, and infantry;
but the truth is, that the artillery, cavalry, and infantry of the Catholics are in the hands of the Church, inasmuch as in her hands are
the mind, the reason, and the power of every true Catholic." (Civ.
Cat., ibid.)
Such is the arrogance, such the declarations of the See of Rome in
the nineteenth century; nor is it probable that she will surrender pre tensions which have been successfully asserted through ten centuries. 
It was by this authority, Paschal II., in 1099, deposed Henry IV. of
Germany; Innocent III., in 1210, deposed Otho IV.; Gregory IX.,
in 1239, excommunicated Frederick II., and absolved his subjects
225 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
from their allegiance; Innocent IV., in 1245, pronounced sentence
of deprivation against the same Frederick; Boniface VIII., in 1302,
thundered forth against Philip le Bel of France the famous bull
Unam, Sanctam, containing the most extravagant assertions of the
power of the Holy See; Paul III., in 1536 and in 1538, deposed and
damned Henry VIII. of England, and absolved his subjects from their
allegiance; Pius V., in 1570, uttered a bull against Queen Elizabeth,
in which, "out of the fulness of apostolic power," he deprived her of
"her pretended title to the kingdom," and released her subjects from
"all manner of duty, dominion, allegiance, and obedience." In virtue
of this same power, Spain is now impeded in her progress of reform,
and Sardinia is expecting shortly to be excommunicated.
A bull of the Pope was the death-blow to the revolution of Poland
in 1830; like interference caused mischief to the Republics of Florence, Genoa, Venice, and was the origin of the wars of the Sonderbund in Switzerland in 1847. No struggle has ever taken place in
favor of popular liberty, in any Romish country, but it has invariably
met with opposition from the priesthood.
We are at an utter loss to understand how Americans can be misled by assertions in their own country relative to Rome, when events
of such magnitude are passing in Europe. Spain is struggling to
throw off the overwhelming influence of the Church, yet Rome abates
not one of her pretensions. Sardinia, too, is entering upon her own
regeneration and that of Italy, but the Eternal City is straining every
nerve in opposition, and the country is daily fearing to be laid under
interdict. It is the duty of Americans to keep pace with these events,
and the favorers of the Papacy would then meet with small consideration at the hands of our citizens.
The Sardinian government, having become enlightened by the
spread of education and free opinion, entered upon a course of beneficent reform under the auspices of the late king, Carlo Alberto. His
benevolent designs were frustrated by Austria and Rome, and himself compelled to abdicate.  His son, Victor Emanuel, has steadily
pursued the policy of his father; but, as is invariably the case, the
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POLITICAL POWER OF THIE POPE.
Romish Church places itself in opposition to the movement, and Sardinia is all but racked with civil war. The property of the clergy
amounts to eighty millions of dollars a year, but is so unequally distributed, that the government has been obliged to pay two hundred
thousand annually for the support of the lower orders of the clergy.
Between eight and ten thousand monks and nuns, inhabiting more
than six hundred monastic establishments, enjoy an annual revenue of
nearly half a million of dollars. Such enormous ecclesiastical wealth
is felt to be a drain on the prosperity of the country, and the government finding it in the way of reform, has lately legislated upon it.
This calls forth the fierce opposition of the clergy, and the Pope thus
speaks of the decrees of the Sardinian government:
"We reject and condemn not only all and each of the decrees of
that government, hurtful to the rights and authority of religion, of
the Church, and of the Holy See, but likewise the law lately proposed.
We declare all these acts to be absolutely null and void." (411Aocution of Pope Pius IX., in Jan., 1854.)
At the close of the Revolution, the Established Church of England
still held ecclesiastical sway over the Episcopalians of America, and
John Wesley had direction over the rapidly increasing denomination
of Methodists. But the members of these Churches being Protestants, at once followed the example of the government, in separating
from "foreign influences," and the spiritual power of foreign ecclesiastics. This was done without injuring the cause of true religion,
and was in strict accordance with the spirit of our institutions. The
communicants of the Romish Church have alone persevered in their
foreign allegiance,-an obedience at war with good citizenship, and,
although denominated spiritual, is for all practical purposes a political despotism.
We appeal to our readers. Is it patriotic, is it right to abstain ifrom
binding this enormous, this ever-increasing power, simply from fear
of being accused of religious persecution? When we find the sceptre
and the crosier so bound together, that we cannot tell where one begins
and the-other ends, is it not the duty of every true American to crush
227 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
such a fearful hierarchy, such an overwhelming influence?  We are
surrounded by countless thousands of foreign Romanists, who, in their
superstition, believe the priest to be a demigod;  the priests, in their
turn, have no volition apart from their diocesan; and the bishops reverence the Pope as God's vicegerent, in temporal as in spiritual matters. The mind fails to conceive a system more suitable to attain
power, and yet we are told that we should not fear the Pope.
While we are thus unconscious of danger, Rome is ever working;
her clergy throughout the different States are amassing untold wealth;
they are allying themselves with various parties, and rendering assistance to demagogues; they are studying the weak points in our political fabric, and the defects in our constitution; and when they are
strongest and we weakest, they will strike with a force, telling us but
too strongly, that while we slept, Rome was ever watchful.
NOTE.-See Appendix, "Relations of the Pope to the Civil Power" —a Letter
from 0. A. Brownson, the chosen champion of Romanism in America.
228
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EVILS OF MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS EXCLUSIVELY
OF FOREIGNERS.
" An army, to be efticient, should have but one purpose, ecourage but one object. This-makes
the mass invincible-the individ hals heroes." —ANTaOiY WAY'XE.
OF the many evils arising from the want of a proper appreciation
of the peculiarities of our institutions, one of the most pernicious is
the formation of foreign and unnaturalized citizens into military companies savoring of the nationality of the countries from which they
have emigrated.  Although the tendencies of our government are
eminently republican, giving free liberty of action and of conscience,
still there are certain obligations, tending to its maintenance untrammelled by a foreign proclivity, which are due to the people at large,
and to the laws under which this liberty is guaranteed. The moulding of the minds of our citizens on an American basis, through American surroundings, and by American examples; should be the aim of
every one who desires to retain the material which shall insure the
perpetuity of our institutions. That material is founded in veneration
for habits and customs of a purely American bias, irrespective of the
individualities of any other country, and without regard to the sentiments of any other nationality.
The organization of foreigners into separate regiments, and even
companies, is entirely subversive of the fundamental principles on
which this republic is established. It was in order to annihilate all
foreign influence and tyranny, that our country asserted its independence, and took its rank among the governments of the world, not
merely as an assemblage of free and independent States, but as one
indissolubly united people, bound to each other by the same hostility
11 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
to tyranny and love of liberty; and actuated by the same principles
and motives.  It is only in this union, that our republic can hope to
exist; and every thing that does not tend to preserve this unity, is
disastrous in its nature, and should be resolutely discountenanced.
Can it be said that organized bands of armed men unacquainted
with our language, will produce the desired result? regiments having
foreigners for their component parts, their officers drilling them in
a foreign language?
The object for which the militia is formed is, to protect the country
from foreign invasion, and from internal riots. Is it likely that in
time of war these regiments of foreigners would be of the same service as when all speak the same language? Would they be likely to
take up arms against the country of their birth, in the event of our
becoming involved in a war with that country?  It is well known
that numbers of the German population of Williamsburg, New York
city, and elsewhere, hae threatened to arm themselves, in order to
prevent the enforcement of a law which was distasteful to their feelings and opposed to their supposed interests. Would the German
companies of those localities obey the summons, if they were ordered
to put down this armed resistance to our laws? It is possible that
the very men who have made this threat, are those who belong to
some military organization, and depend upon the muskets which our
authorities have placed in their hands as citizen-soldiers, to enable
them to carry their threat into execution.
Thus it will be seen that, if a foreign military organization  be
inimical in a national point of view, it is positively destructive on
social grounds. The peace and order of our country, so long as they
exist, are ever at stake; nor can it be otherwise, in the nature of things.
The interminable hordes of emigrants who seek our large cities, constantly firequent the same localities, which renders them exclusive; so
that an American entering certain neighborhoods, would fancy himseif in Germany or Ireland. The denizens have little communication
with the outside world,-have their own papers, clubs, and gathermgs,-and are practically a distinct people. Laws may be enacted,
230 
MILITARY ORGANIZAT'ION OF FOREIGNERS.   231
affecting, as they believe, their rights; these laws they refuse to obey.
The municipal authorities order force to compel obedience; but force
can be met by force, since military companies exist, composed of the
rioters themselves. Thus bloodshed may ensue. We have had pain
ful examples of this fact in late years.  It was only on the last anniversary of St. Patrick's Day in New York, that such a probability was
frieely discussed in the papers, and looked for with forebodings by our
peaceable citizens. Is not this sufficient to open the eyes of our
legislators to the crying evils of such organizations, and to induce
the authorities to constitute them illegal?
Let us, for a moment, strip the subject of its dangerous results, and
view it as a matter of taste. The plea of emigration to this country
is, tyranny. The tools of power, whether through compulsion or
choice, are the soldiers,-who are pleasing to the rulers by their
pliant subserviency-and hateful to the people by their uniforms, their
badge of office. Accustomed to view the soldier, and his constant
presence, wfah  a feeling of dread,-uncertain at what momenit  his
power might be exercised on him,-the foreigner has little of ease or
security associated in his reminiscences of their tinselled trappings.
In the hovel, the dwelling, or the palatial residence, they are always
present; in village, town, or city, they are ever tramping.  Their acts
are servile, and their impulse tyrannical.  Associated in the minds of
the people with cruelty and oppression,-bearing on their persons the
livery of tyranny, and enforcing its mandates with an undisguised
zest,-the foreigner is happy to flee their presence, and escape their
power. And yet, in spite of these associations, and the dread inspired
by them, they form themselves into volunteer companies, on their
arrival here, and adopt the very uniforms which have oppressed them
with fear, thus wilfully assuming the badge of tyrants. The folly (we
might use a stronger expression) of this taste must be apparent to all
who think about the matter, and is one of such peculiar import, that
we seek in vain a reasonable excuse for its adoption. It is so much
at variance with all our conceived notions of the impulses which
govern the human breast, and is so glaring in its inconsistency, that 
A VOICE TO AMIERICA
we are forced to reflect upon it with some degree of apprehension,
and look with a feeling of dread at its ultimate operation.
These foreign-accoutred regiments are found in every large city
throughout the Union.  There is not a single petty nationality in
Germnany but has its military representatives amongst our citizensoldiers-German in blood, feelings, language, and dress; German
in their officers and organization. France has given us facsimiles of
those troops who perpetrated the atrocities of the sanguinary demagogues of her first revolution-troops who, in 1848, stormed Rome
and annihilated the Italian republic. Austria presents us with the
counterparts of those ruffians who, under the butcher Haynau, lwhipped delicate women to death, and waded knee-deep in blood through
the plains of Italy and Hungary.  Even contemptible little Hessewhose hireling soldiery became so odious to our forefathers in the
Revolution, and were the laughing-stock of their English comradeseven Hesse has her representatives among our military. But, worst
of all, Americans, forgetting the glorious traditions of their country,
and relinquishing every claim to self-respect, adopt the livery of a
foreign prince-that same uniform which their forefathers used so
badly at Saratoga, Trenton, and Yorktown.
We are at a loss to understand how Americans can suffer such
outrages of all decency, such contempt for the historical associations
of the Revolution. Where is the Executive, that such atrocities are
permitted?  If these foreigners must become soldiers, why are they
not compelled to wear the uniform of the United States-that dark
gray and blue, which military men tell us is most suitable for such
purposes?  But no! our feelings must be outraged to meet the views
of political hacks, who pander to the prejudices of these foreign co horts, for vile party ends. Is the Eagle thus to be insulted in her own
eyrie?
There is a motive, an intention in foreigners banding themselves
together in military companies.  Accustomed in their own country
to see the soldiery paramount to the civil power, they hasten to clothe
themselves in the same garb of power here, under the impression that
232
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k
I 
MILITARY ORGANIZATION OF FOREIGNERS.
they thus elevate themselves above the citizen, perfectly unconscious
of the great principle of our government-that the civil power is paramount to all other.  Should any question be mooted in coming time,
in which their jealousies and prejudices are enlisted against the patriotism of this country, we shall bitterly rue our shortsightedness in
placing arms in the hands of men, who cannot appreciate our institutions, and are ever ready to follow demagogues in their insidious attaclks on the country and the Constitution. We have, in fact, removed a great incentive to virtue, by giving them the power to commit wrong.
We cannot look upon the armed confederacy of foreigners, clothed
in a uniform fashioned upon a foreign model, without, to say the least,
a thought of its impropriety, and the entirely anti-American phase
which it presents. It is certainly due to the feelings of citizens of this
country who guarantee to foreigners the liberties they enjoy under
our laws, that some degree of respect should be paid to their sentiments, in the adoption of a uniform (if foreign companies must be
formed), which will not insult their vision, nor interfere with their.
desire of having a citizen-soldiery, entirely American in appearance
and feeling, although its individuals may be of foreign birth.
There is a reason of great moment, which characterizes these pecu liarly constituted companies as dangerous. By their means priest craft is enabled to maintain a strong hold upon the mind and im pulse of our foreign population, and even to effect results which are
contrary to the Constitution and aim of. our government. The found ers of this Republic wisely ordained that religion and politics should
not be associated together. Although no one religion is recognized
by our laws as paramount to another, yet no one will deny that this
country is essentially Protestant-Protestant in its foundation, in its
principles, in its impulse and education, and opposed to all con nection of Church and State. Were no other proof of its Protest antism required, it could be found in its liberality towards the religi ous sentiments of the people, in allowing them freedom of thought
and'opinion in the matter of sect or tenet. Were it a Roman Catho
233 
A2 VOICE TO AMERICA.
lie country, all other denominations, years ago, would have been, by
the thunders of the Vatican, "crushed out," and driven from its face,
even though it required the aid of an Inquisition or an auto da fe.
What then shall we say to the priesthood using the military for church
display, and making the Flag of our Union bow in obsequious reverence to the Host? We are at a loss to understand by what authority a mitred priest could command the attendance of regiments at the
consecration of the Cathedral of St. Louis in 1834, when, amidst the
thunder of American artillery, the Stars and Stripes were lowered in
idolatrous veneration. Such scenes as these, not meeting with the
merited rebuke from the people that their gravity demanded, are consequently persisted in, and we find a parallel atrocity repeated in the
city of Brooklyn, oni the festival of Corpus Christi.
"The ceremonies took place at the German Romanist Church, lo cated in Montrose Avenue, Brooklyn, in that section of the late city
of Williamsburg known as'Dutch Town.'   The neighborhood being
almost exclusively German, the characteristics of Fatherland are visible in-many respects, of which this is one most prominent. The day
wore the appearance of the Sabbath. Labor was at a stand; the
holiday-suit was donned, and the principal portion of the people
flocked to the church to participate in the services. A military company of the locality, under command of one Captain Maerz, thoroughly armed and equipped, with a full band, was on the ground. At 10
o'clock the church was filled to attend mass, and hear the discourse
for the occasion. During mass, and at certain intervals, while the
organ was playing, and the choir and congregation chanting, the
military company, DRAWN UP IN LINE IN FRONT OF THE ALTARS presented arms, and then followed in quick succession the roll of the
drums, the sound of trumpets inside of the church, and loud discharges
of fire-arms outside of the church. This was repeated several times
during the services. The church was decorated with evergreens, and
the altar with flowers. The edifice was filled to its utmost capacity
by the congregation. At the close of the semi-military services, the
military were marched into the street, and formed in front of the
234 
MILiTARY ORGANIZATION OF FOREIGNERS.
church.  Some further ceremonies, including a discharge of fire-arms
at the side of the church, closed the services of the morning. The
band of music playing-the military proceeded to their quarters, followed by an immense throng of spectators."*
These are not exceptional instances, but proofs among many others
of the determination of the Roman hierarchy to obtain power, and
hold influence over the minds of its bigoted followers, by any and
every means within its complicated machinery.
The Romish Church is far-seeing-it sows to-day, knowing that a
future generation will reap the bitter fruit. Gradually accustoming the
public to the spectacle f the military in alliance with ecclesiasticism,
they will ultimately claim this innovation as a right, and our soldiers
will be looked upon as part of the religious power, and the natural
defenders and supporters of the priesthood. This is Rome's aim, and
yet our legislators, yea, we ourselves neither complain nor resist.
Who are the commanders of these regiments and companies? can it
be that they willingly accord their permission to such conduct, and
consent to the arms and accoutrements of the State being employed
for such purposes?  What would be thought of the Episcopalians,
Baptists, or Methodists, calling out the military to assist in their religious services, and proclaiming "peace andl good-will towards men"
at the point of the bayonet? The idea, even, is ridiculous; and yet
we permit the Romanists to persist in an abuse which we would
immediately and deeply resent in any Protestant denomination.
We contend that such proceedings are not merely in defiance of
the feelings of a large majority of the people of the country, but are in
direct opposition to the fundamental principles and spirit of our gov ernment. The Executive is the only authority vested with power to
call out the military, yet here we see a professedly religious body
asserting equal power, and forming an imperium, in imperio.  How
is it possible to make such regiments lose their national charac teristics, surrounded as they are with a foreign, and to them kindred
population, and controlled by a foreign priesthood?  They have
* See the New York Tribune, June 9th, 1855.
235 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
brought the bigotries of Papal Germany with them, and Protestant
America, instead of passing laws for the restriction of these military
abuses, by her guilty silence tacitly consents to the arrangement.
The wish of all men who have been oppressed, it would be supposed, would be to forget the uniforms and machinery of the land of
their oppression, especially its political ones, and to banish from their
sight all that can remind them of a former tyrant, most especially
when they are the recipients of the blessings of Republican institutions.
As long as these foreign organizations exist, the public mind will be
kept in a ferment, and we shall be constantly startled by the announcements of disagreements between these foreign troops, and American
officers, commanding divisions. Ere we are aware of it, discord will
ensue, and blood will be shed,-the fearful consequence of which
cannot be comprehended. The evils existing which are complained
of, and the terrible catastrophes which loom up in the future, could
all be avoided, if every State would pass laws requiring the citizensoldiery to wear uniforms sanctified by American associations-loved,
because they have only been worn in defence of freedom, and never
disgraced as the livery of foreign potentates or mercenary slaves.
236
II 
DEM'ORALIZING INFLUENCE OF DEMAGOGISM.
"For his thoughts were low,
To vice industrious, but to nobler deeds
Tim'rous and slothful; yet he pleased the ear."
~~~~~~(                     MILTON.
~ of the most pernicious characters brought forth by the abuse
of free institutions is the Demagogue. Hiis business is to obtain
office and honors by corrupting the people. This degradation of candidates for office, acts upon the voters. The good and true men are
not appealed to; th6 scramble is to secure the suffrages of the ignorant and licentious, which are always for sale. A controlling minority
of the "sovereigns," in this country, acquire a love for adulation,
quite equal to that possessed by the rulers of the Old World, and instead of bestowing their favors with judgment and regard to the
good of the community, they are to be solicited by gross flattery,
or purchased with a given price. The true standard of merit, private worth, and acknowledged capacity, is lost in personal considerations; and the Demagogue rides into office, not because he has
shown attention to any useful business, but because he has blown
his own trumpet, degraded himself among his constituency, and won
the character, among the thoughtless, of being the best fellow in the
State. The slime of his contact can be traced among the members
of the bar, on the bench, in the pulpit, in our legislative assemblies.
The Demagogue is the professed worshipper of the sovereign people.
He is a fawning sycophant at the foot of power,-ever grovelling
on his knees in the dust, ready to do any act, however debased, perform any service, however wrong, if he can but win the patronage and smiles of his deity. Change the relations of the Demagogue
11* 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
from a republican to monarchical government, and he would still be
the same, and, true to his ruling passion, worship the fountain of
power. It is the Demagogue who labors to retard the improvement
of society, who endeavors to break down the self-imposed restraints
so necessary to make a good citizen; who tells the vicious that they
are good-the ignorant that they are wise; who, in short, demoralizes
society, by always appealing to the passions instead of the reason of
the people, who represent the sovereign power. 
The lust of office which generally seems to be the strongest in
the minds of persons least capable of filling them with honor, gives
rise to demagogism; and/the people, occupied by the various avocations of life, are apt, as far as the government is concerned, to allow assumed (self-elected) leaders to do their thinking. The sublime privilege granted to freemen, of choosing their public servants
is thus trifled with, and hence arise most of the glaring evils in the
working of our free institutions. We often witness in members of
our legislative bodies, an appalling recklessness with regard to their
pledges made before election, and also in their private life. We
find at Washington, as well as in our State capitals, an infinitely
lower standard of morals among public men, than is demanded of
the same individuals in the communities in which they reside.
The regime of the Demagogue is secured through different causes,
all, however, subversive of the strength of our free institutions.
The neglect of intelligent voters to attend the polls, and a general
indifference to the machinery which brings candidates before the
people, are perhaps among the most pernicious. Americans who
thus trifle with the sacred privileges of their birthright, excuse
themselves upon the ground, that the business of politics is distasteful, and the associations around the ballot-box and the unworthiness
of candidates cause them to stay at home. The consequences of
this criminal apathy are becoming every day more apparent in the
acknowledged utter incapacity of a large majority of our public men,
and in the disgraceful scenes that attend the carnivals of every legislative body.
238
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DEMORALIZING INFLUENCE OF DEMAGOGISM.   239
The chief source of demagogism, however, is the constant  ingress into our country of ignorant foreigners, not always destitute
of literary cultivation, but entirely without any practical knowledge
of our institutions  The Demagogues proclaim, through the pen and
fiom the stump, that our republican form of government can only
exist by virtue of intelligence and morality among the governed,
and in the next breath they tell the undisciplined and ignorant immigrant, that he has the capacity and the right, from the day he
lands upon our shores, to sit in judgment upon the claims of our
candidates for office, and to participate in all the privileges enjoyed
by Americans, who add to their birthright and descent the disci.
pline acquired from law-abiding habits, and a life-long practice in the
science of self-government.   The foreigner may  have democratic
opinions, but the American has a democratic character as well as
democratic opinions; and both these qualities are essential to make
a person fit to perform, intelligently, the duties of American citizenship.
The Demagogue, finding that the priest has an uncontrolled power
over the immigrants, seeks to secure his influence, that he may obtain the support of his priestly authority at the polls. The proposition is, "Secure me office, and I will secure you the interests of your
church." The effect is seen in the action of our legislative bodies,
who grant exclusive privileges and enormous donations to the Romish Church, while they rudely deny the same privileges and donations to Protestant denominations.  And why?  Because no Protestant clergyman can control the votes of his parishioners.  No
fireeman accustomed to judge for himself will submit even to advice,
unasked, mulch less dictated to, in a matter purely political. Innumerable instances might be given of the invidious special legislation
referred to, either accomplished or attempted. Our readers will
remnember the struggle made by this spirit of demagogism, direct ed by priestcraft, to break up the unity of the public school sys tem of the State of New York, and to throw a large part of the
money advanced by tax-payers, and appropriated for the education 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
of all the children of the State, into the hands of foreign ecclesiastics,
to be used by them for sectarian and proselyting purposes. The
Romish priests obtained a few years ago, from the Common Council
of New York city, a grant of thirty-two lots of land without any consideration whatever! while at the same time, a Protestant Benevolent
Association, for much less valuable property in the immediate vicinity, was made to pay thirty-eight thousand dollars. When Bishop
Hughes opened his Cemetery at Newtown, he obtained a special
ordinance, exempting those who used it from the necessity of obtaining "permits" from the City Inspector, such as are demanded
from individuals of all other denominations when they bury the
dead. This special legislation in favor of Romish priests will be
found to have taken place in almost every State. It is the substantial reward which that cunning hierarchy seek, in exchange for their
political influence; and they will be able to traffic it off at high
prices, as long as the people are too supine to eject the Demagogues
from the public service, and to find, and employ in it, only the honest
and capable.
But the Demagogue does not confine himself to this quiet tampering with the priests, who hold the reins over so many of the immigrating population.  They aspire also to win the "most sweet
voices" of the strangers, by appealing immediately to their vanity and
their passions. Our immigrant population having never felt in
their native land, any other relation towards the established laws,
than that of the oppressed to the oppressor, and having been habitually compelled to a blind, yet unwilling obedience, understand
therefore by liberty, only the power to set the restraints of the law
at defiance, and to violate its commands with impunity. Arriving
in the United States, they are at once seized upon by the Demagogue. He flatters them with the wildest delusions as to their value
in this country, and as to the motives of their coming, which he
impudently perverts, even in defiance of their own knowledge. He
informs them, that to them the country is indebted, not only for
its freedom, but for its wealth.  He ascribes to them and their pre
240
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DEMORALIZING INFLUENCE OF DEMAGOGISM.  241
decessors in their westward journey, the vast internal improvements
of our land; as if, forsooth, Irishmen had dug and built our thousands of miles of canals, and our tens of thousands of miles of railroads, had tunnelled our mountains, and bridged our rivers, out of
pure benevolence and kindness, to assist our helpless nation! He
informs them that their coming here is a voluntary tribute to our
republican institutions; that, instead of being accidentally related to
our form of government, as, according to the Demagogue, the natives
are, they, the immigrants, occupy the superior position of those who
select with great care the form of government under which they
choose to live.
Readily swallowing such pleasant flatteries, the gullible foreigner
loses all respect for the men or thejstitutions of his adopted country. Every necessary prescription of the law is resented; its power,
although the legitimate will of the majority, is as odious as if emanating from his European rulers, and never having learned any selfrestraints, he neither can nor will make nor appreciate the sacrifices
which freemen are daily called upon to make for the sake of the
public weal.
Amongst the natives of his own country, our Demagogue does
not find so fertile a field for the exercise of his snaky gifts. Yet,
even there, as there are always many less wise than the wisest, the
Demagogue, although he may not be able to cram his patients with
such gross concoctions as he serves up to the degraded foreigner,
contrives to accomplish much evil by dexterously gilding the pill he
administers.   Whatever may be the weakness of his audience, what ever their error; whether they are right or wrong, he preaches their
doctrine.  Vox populi, vox Dei, he cries-the people's voice is God's
voice: he demonstrates to them that they must be right, and mod estly intimates that his complete conviction of that fact makes him
the only fit man to accomplish their will. They may safely trust in
him, and in his servile obedience, until there shall appear something
or somebody offering a higher bribe.
The American Demagogue is a shameless monster, without par 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
allel, without compeer. He stands alone in the infamy of his con-l
duct, solitary in the sublime prostitution of his intellect, in the utter
corruption of his heart. His is the double guilt of the sinner, who
sins against clear light. Born in a nation peculiarly founded, and
maintained by disinterested patriotism, he considers the love of country only narrow-mindedness, and almost thinks it treason to be proud
of being born a citizen of the Republic. In a commonwealth, of
which integrity and disinterested public spirit are the very life, he
lives without principle or patriotism, whiffling about at every wind
of political doctrine, and outwardly bowiug with supple knees to the
popular idol of the hour, while all the time, careless either of the
nation or of right, the secret devotion of all his little selfish heart is
expended in the idolatrous worship-of his own purposes. Believing
nothing, he puts on by turns the semblance of belief in every thing.
He manufactures facts, statistics, history, philosophy, religion to order, to suit his customers. He has passions always at command.
Tears or smiles are squeezed out, to suit the occasion, and the doctrine of the day "commands his hearty support and consistent advocacy," as did the doctrine of yesterday, and as also will the doctrine of to-morrow.
At the magnetic touch of interest he flies, like a telegraphic
dispatch, back and forth from one end to the other of the longest
and most divergent lines of belief.  Is a law popular? it is precisely what he always knew was needed. Does it become unpopular? he had always considered it oppressive, unconstitutional,
and unnecessary. He would sacrifice the well-being of the nation
for an office; the prosperity of the whole commonwealth, and his
own conscience into the bargain-no great addition, to be surefor a better salary or a fat job. He would defame his native land
to secure an election; he would spit on the graves of his forefathers
to gain a vote. For the base support of foreign priests, the votes
of besotted immigrants, he will falsify history, and belie the fame of
a thousand heroes. To gain such an object, he can find but one
American who  was distinguished in our Revolutionary struggle,
242
i. 
DEIMORALIZING INFLUENCE OF I)EMAGO(GISM.   243
and he would name as that one, Benedict Arnold!  He would
announce that the brunt of that fearful strife was borne by foreigneis, and that our Revolutionary battles were won for us by the
personal prowess of Lafayette, of Montgomery, of De Kalb.
Do our naturalized citizens murmur at any restraints upon their
actions, at any laws and legal prohibitions, unusual to them —the
Demagogue seizes the occasion, and eagerly strives to ride into
office.   He inflames the brutal rage of the mob; he goads angry
men to murder and sedition; he shrinks not from awaking all
the horrors of licentiousness and anarchy, from stirring up whirlwinds of baleful passions, if only his own dear objects may be
attained by the crimne.   It is always easier to persuade to evil
than to persuade to good. Poor human nature needs very little
impulse in the path of wrong. Our laws and constitutions are
not made as iron fetters and shackles are made, to grip and chain
the ferocious violence of stubborn felons or murdering  maniacs
they are made to guide the wise and congenial conduct of men
seeking to do right. The Demagogue takes advantage of this to
pervert the privilege of goodness into an occasion of crime; to
the downward tendency of all the lower and viler parts of men's
nature; to the exaggerated passions and blind brutality, the foolish
prejudices and dogged obstinacy, of all the dregs o.f the community,
of the untaught, the vicious, and the lawless; to the fearfiul mo mentum of this mass of dangerous and explosive elements, the Dem agogue lends all the energies of his being.   He throws all his
weight to sink the fortunes of his country; he drags downward
with all his might, towards the destruction of his native land. With
the recklessness of the madman, but with more method in his mad ness, and therefore more dangerous effect, he "casts firebrands, arrows,
and death." He cares not if he witness the conflagration of the
whole Republic; for he intends to fill his own pockets by the thefts
which he hopes to commit with impunity during the confusion.
God has not left any evil without providing a remedy, although
hlie often leaves men to use it. The dark portrait which we have 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
drawn, is not that of a necessary incubus upon our body politic.
The Demagogue, the scourge of republics, only exists by sufferance. When the good and true men of the nation arise and
act, this villain is crowded off the stage. It is now as it was in
the homely but inspired parable of the Scriptures: "While  the
husbandman sleeps, the enemy sows tares." It is only when the
right men neglect their duty, and leave their posts vacant, that
the Demagogue can occupy'the scene of action; can perform his
fantastic tricks, and concoct his unprincipled schemes; can marshal his foolish regiments, and accomplish his vile undertakings.
He lives by sufferance, and although his guilt is his own, yet honest men must remember that upon them rests the responsibility of
permitting his sin to succeed. Upon their heads, after all, will lie
the fearful responsibility of having, by criminal supineness, permitted the enactment of all the wickedness which Demagogues perpetrate.
244
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WHAT CONSTITUTES THE RIGHT TO VOTE?
"The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the republican model of gorernment, are justly considered as deepl, perhaps as finally, staked on the experiment intruisted to
the hands of the American people. "-WASIsNGTON.
ALL human rights are either natural or acquired.  They  must
either reside in the individual, co-equal with his life and the varied
faculties of his nature, or becomne delegated to him by concession, by
compromise, or by some specific compact to which he is a legitimate
party.
Natural fights are absolute and inalienable: they rely on no presumptions of an arbitrary character, but are fully prescribed and ordained with the existence of man.. Whether exercised or not, a man
cannot, by any enactment, be divested of their proper and positive
possession. They may be yielded to the unlawful encroachments of
other men, but the concession is merely temporary, and cannot be
considered to invalidate the individual's privilege of resuming their
exercise at such time as he may think proper.
All men, says the Declaration of Independence, are born free and
equal; they possess certain inalienable rights, such as life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness. These are their natural endowments, and
by no lawful process can they be taken from them. The Bill of
Rights, which was adopted by the Colonial Deputies at Philadelphia,
previous to the Declaration, declared that the people were entitled to
life, liberty, and property; and that they had never ceded to any
sovereign power whatever a right to dispose of either, without their
consent.
These inheritances, therefore, belong to us by nature.  One man
possesses them as largely as another.  Factitious circumstances can 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
not enlarge their limits, nor can oppression and usurpation contract
them.   Wherever a human being is to be found, there these rights
of necessity exist. They owe nothing of their strengthli to conventional usages and laws, nor are they sustained in any fuller force because they may happen to commend themselves to the approbation
of enlightened men. They are rooted in the individual, and cannot
by any violence be wrested fromn his nature: they are anong the
necessary conditions of his being.
Acquired rights exist by a different tenure.  They hold their title
either by concession, by compromise, or by compact. Their prerogative is more nicely deffed.  Certain limits bound them, beyond
which their progress is forbidden. They are described with accuracy,
and secured by due processes of legal enactment.  Of such are the
privileges of the subject, or the citizen.  The former holds his by virtue of a kingly concession or compromise; ill either case admitting the
subject to rights and prerogatives which he does not naturally possess.The latter enjoys his by virtue of his compact with the general authority of which he is a component part.
It is only of the rights of the citizen that we propose to speak in
this place-all others being foreign to the subject under consideration
-and not of the natural, but of the acquired, rights of the citizen.
As the human race is constituted, its entire history illustrates the
imperative necessity of some method of social organization.  Left to
themselves, all things would immediately relapse into a condition of
misrule and barbarism. Certain powers must be vested in certain individuals, from whomi, by a reverse process, all acts of authority are
to emanate. Influences which one individual wvould not permit any
indifferent person to exercise over himself-and is interests by a consent, either expressed or implied, he freely allows some other person
to exert without protest or opposition,
Hence arise forms of government that give character to the deeds
of men, and shape the destiny of nations. Hence ensue decrees,
edicts, proclamations, and laws. These evidences of authority testify
eyerywhere to the admitted necessity of some ruling and guiding
0
246
ii
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WHAT CONSTITUTES THE RIGHT TO VOTE?
power. They are an expression of the opinion of all men, that a controlling authority of some character is demanded by every cons'deration of human welfare.
There can exist but two general forms of government, let the specific titles of the various kinds of authority be what they may. Every
government must be either arbitrary or constitutional.  Every thing
that tends to usurpation, or that operates to defraud individuals of the
enjoyment of their natural rights, no matter in what cause or name
professed, belongs to absolutism and  arbitrariness.   Some governments style themselves constitutional, whose very constitutions are
arbitrary in themselves, and do not receive their vitality from any cooperation of the popular will. Their practices give the lie to their
professions, proving them what they wish to avoid seeming to be.
Principles strike their root much deeper than professions, and by their
natural fruits their true character is understood.
Constitutional or voluntary forms of government derive their authority from the immediate consent of the governed; that is the only
source of their power. They are but the emphatic expression of the
popular will, and, as that will changes its direction, must they alter
the direction of their authority.
The American Government is of the strictly constitutional form.
No powers reside in it but those delegated by the people, who are its
founders. It derives no authority from usurpation, but the whole of
it fiom voluntary cession. Its existence and its strength alike depend
upon the spirit and intelligence of those who give it vitality and sup port. Its powers are every one carefully described and defined. Its
prerogatives have a fixed and unalterable limit. The natural rights
of man are not invaded by any of its usurpations, but are retained in violate by the individual, and guarded from aggression with a jealous
watchfulness.
Indeed, the question is seriously agitated under this auspicious form
of government-l-How much is it profitable for a man to be gov erned?. HIow far is it best for him to yield up his own rights in the
name of the welfare of the whole? Where shall the dividing line be
241 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
drawn that is to separate the control of one's self from the control of
a voluntarily constructed authority? From the discussion of such a
question various conclusions have, at different times, been arrived at;
and, among others, that "that is the best government which governs
mien the least."  This seems almost to have become  an aphorism;
and the spirit of the idea is by no means inoperative in the general
workings of our political system.
Under our government no man is a subject-all men are citizens;
because it is never acknowledged that the government, deriving its
existence primarily from the individual, is superior in itself to its origin. In the nature of things, it could not be. A citizen is in no
manner a subjeic, nor can a Subject be a citizen.  However specious
may be the reasoning that seeks to make the two characters seem
compatible with one another, their differences are too wide to be reconcilable.   The  subject makes concessions that the citizen would
not admit. The subject lacks inherent power, not because he has
delegated it to another, but because he never yet was allowed its p5ossession or exercise. By the citizen it has been vested in other hands
for the very purpose of its more safe and careful administration; reverting to him after stated intervals, to-be again trusted to other dypositaries for the same general purpose of a healthful and'constitutional exercise.
Citizenship, therefore, implies no ordinary privileges. Its possession
argues from the individual directly to the government. It connects
the man with all the operations of the laws and the whole scope of
public institutions, and associates himn in close relations with whatever
belongs to the common welfare. It removes the many tendencies to
selfishness and egotism in his permitted pursuits, and makes him large,
comprehensive, and generous in his conduct and views. It widens
the sphere of individual sentiment and action, so that a man may at
the same time be true to his own interest, and not forgetful of the
vast and complicated interests of the whole.
In fine, citizenship can be enjoyed only where men are free. In
any other condition, the character of the possession at once is changed,
,D 4 8 
WHAT CONSTITUTES THE RIGHT TO VOTE?. 249
being held on terms that impliedly declare the government to be arbitrary, and the people to be subjects. It belongs only to institutions
that are democratic in their nature, and to states of society in which
men are the arbiters of their own rights and fortunes.
For the possession of such prerogatives there certainly should be some
rigid and absolute qualifications.   To put one's self in direct relatonship with the moral and social interests of a great nation, it should be
insisted that there exist certain preliminary conditions.  Such a relationship should not be rashly entered upon, nor without serious thought
of the mutual result to both the individual and the mass. The government, relying on the intelligence and understanding of each one
of the vast number that contribute to its character, it must be seen
that no single violation of the conditions of such a connection  can
pass without its proper share of wrong to the whole.  If the individual forgets his duty as a party to the general compact, the rest are
defrauded of that moral and political security for which'they had a
perfect right to hold him responsible.  If he neglect the obligations
of his oath and pledge, the rest are so far losers by his act of repudi ation. If he be a tool in the designing hands of those who intrigue
for the overthrow of political freedom, the entire nation is to that de gree involved in the web of fear and insecurity.
The origin of all government is property; the manner in which
that property is held determines its form. If the lands of a commu nity have but one possessor, it is an autocracy; if partitioned by a few,
an aristocracy; if the inherent right of the whole people, this forms
a democracy. Res-republica, common-wealth, represent, not merely
the form, but the basis of government.
Man is entitled to sustenance and protection from that society in
which nature places him at birth. There are, however, certain causes
which may compel him to forsake one community for another. What
relation do his acquired privileges bear to the rights of the new so ciety?
A stranger can only acquire property in a foreign community by
permission of the owners-that is, the state.  But in acquiring this, 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
is he necessarily entitled to all the privileges of the natives? Because
he has forsaken the land of his birth, is the land of his adoption compelled by any law, human or divine, to place him on a perfect equality
with her own children? Bvy the political constitution of the new society he may enjoy all their privileges, but; in the nature of things,
he has not, and never can have, such a right to them as the sons of
the soil. That which is granted as a favor, can never be asserted as
a right.
In a republic the power is in. the hands of the whole people, for the
entire land is theirs. For convenience in legislation they appoint men
to represent their interests, hence the representative is the servant of
the represented. This is obvious: no man can represent the interests
of others unless delegated so to do; this power conferred necessarily
subjects him to the will of those who bestow the office. Hence no man
has a right to office,.which it may be in the power of others to refuse.
Representatives having  to be chosen, there arises a momentous
question-What gives the right to vote.)   We  have shown that
where the right to property belongs to all, power is universal; therefore, suffrage must be uni,versal.  But we must define this, in regard
to men who have not a born-rigit in the country, but simply one of
tolerance or permission.
Government takes cognizance of the entire property of the country,
that is to say, the land and its products belonging to the sons of the
soil-the entire community decide (by representation or otherwise)
in the general interest.  Strangers arriving in their midst receive as a
gift a certain portion of that which is the right only of the nativeborn.  Is it logical to assert that this gift carries with it the right to
vote, or, in other words, to legislate for those who have just granted
what it was in their power to refuse? Such an argument is monstrous, yet it is one which we hear constantly asserted.
Escape from the then existing systems of European government, as
well as from its religious hierarchies, prompted our forefathers to settle what were termed the American colonies. In process of time
they achieved a separate nationality in regard to other countries, a
250.
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WHAT CONSTITUTES THE RIGHT TO VOTE?
federation of states to themselves, in which each state was independent of the others.
"The character of our people was admirably calculated for setting
the great example of popular government.  They were accustomed
to representative bodies and the forms of free government; they understood the doctrine  of the division of power  among  different
branches, and the necessity of checks on each.  The character of our
countrymen, moreover, was sober, moral, and religious."*
This portraiture forms an obvious opinion on claims set up by demagogues and others in favor of the so-called rights of our foreign population. The entire body of emigrants to this country for many years
past, with but few exceptions, never exerte   itecontrol over
any government whatsoever: are we then to li~old that such men can
appreciate and properly wield the electoral power in a country, the
political constitution of which is so difficult to understand?   Besides,
is the moral character of these emigrants calculated to remove any
fears we may entertain relative to the uses to which they will put
this novel power?  We take it experience is very much inclined to a
negative.
There is no principle in the Amnerican Constitution which guarantees land or political power, by vote or otherwise, to forciga citizens.
These men do not leave Europe as did the first settlers of this continent; they are, in fact, dissimilar in every respect.  Europe disgorges
a surplus population-people she can best afford to lose: they arrive
in forme pauperis, and our authorities permit them to reside.  In
process of time they begin to have a stake in the country, and maybe
lose their ancient prejudices; they are permitted to vote at elections.
But they have not, and never can have, the same right, either to one or
the other, which a native-born citizen possesses.
At various periods in our history laws relative to naturalization have
been passed, exacting, in some instances, but two years of residence in
the country. Circumstances might then have justified so short a probation, but, at the present time, not merely has the class of emigrants
* Webster.
251 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
changed, but the country itself has been radically modified: it has, in
fact, assumed a nationality that it did not formerly possess. Demagogues enunciate a monstrous proposition in asserting this republic
to be one of composite races.  It is not.  The Republic of the United
States is Anglo-Saxon in all its bearings: other peoples may arrive,
but they must be gradually absorbed, and, in process of time, become
amalgamated with, and lost among, the predominant race. Ethnology
and history both assert this fact, and the senseless opponents of it are
merely perpetuating the evils of caste, in pandering to the prejudices
of various nationalities. - It is the province and duty of the patriot to
discountenance such endeavors.
The objection is frequently advanced that in thus debarring a
whole class, men are k.ept out, whose aim in adopting American citizenship is to enjoy a political freedom, which experience tells them
can only be found here. But it would be scarcely possible to enumerate all these exceptional instances; suffice it to say, the legislature
might be permitted to admit such cases to citizenship, especially
where services have been rendered to the country, or additions to its
glory. This is fully consonant with the democratic principle; but, in
any case, it is much better for the country to lose the advantage of
sifll instances, than to receive with them the immense masses who are
fast making universal suffrage a mockery and delusion.
The hordes of emigrants who yearly crowd our shores, seek us, not
to obtain a voice in government, but a certainty of life, food, and per,nal freedom, which they never before enjoyed.  If, like thie adder
warmed into life by the peasant, they get prosperous, and turn upon
their benefactor; or, listening to the voice of vile demagogues and
designing politicians, they raise tumult and civil discord in the land,
then surely native-born citizens have a natural and a constitutional
right to curb such disorder, and to legislate so as, in future, to prevent any doubt as to whether an American have a nationality or not.
In America, no man becomes a citizen through the influence of
either money or titles. It was a wise act of our forefathers, when
they abolished titles, except such only as might be the expression of
252
1,e
I 
WHAT CONSTITUTES THE RIGHT TO VOTE?
simple respect; and it has conduced more effectually to the ctmplete
political equality of all classes of citizens than many measures about
which vastly more has been said. It taught the people the truth,
that there was in America nothing greater than citizenship itself; and
weaned them rapidly from the foolish inclination, that is no part of a
high and self-reliant manhood, to bestow honor upon the emptiest of
human pretensions.
Citizenship, if it involves the serious responsibilities that exist along
with its possession, presumes-or, at least, should presume-certain
fixed qualifications. If the elector be ignorant of those responsibilities, assuredly he cannot be supposed to assume them; and if he fails
to assume them, it is proper that he be refused the use of the electoral franchise until such time as his ignorance has yielded to a more
profound understanding of his obligations.  Nothing can be plainer
than this. And yet there are Americans, who should know better
what is the priceless worth of our institutions, who seek to throw
open every means of access to a privilege that should be guarded
with so watchful a care, and affect indifference to qualifications of
such momentous importance,-men seemingly careless of the true
character of the liberty which we profess, and ignorant of the certain
consequences of licentiousness and misrule that are to follow close
upon any laxity of electoral obligations. Such men need to study
more thoughtfully the meaning of our government, and the true
spirit and character of its institutions.
Any native-born citizen, on attaining the age of twenty-one years,
and having taken the oath of allegiance to the Constitution and fidelity to the laws, is admitted to all the privileges of the electoral franchise. He has the right to vote on all questions affecting the common
interest, and by the deposit of his ballot throws his individual influence into the scale of political affairs. He is licensed to assist in the
regulation of the highest and the lowest interests that pertain to the
welfare of the nation. Et[e may make the power of his influence felt
throughout all the affairs of state. Law and order are intrusted to
his hands for preservation.   The  general  intelligence will either
12
253 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
advance or retrograde, according to the power of his vote and example. The public peace and prosperity depend upon the manner in
which his privilege as an elector is exercised. The national character
is elevated or depressed, as his own character is made to impress itself
upon its existence.
Gaining so exalted a right on such easy terms, unless some steps
be taken to secure the elector's intelligent appreciation of his privileges and responsibilities, his individual gain must of necessity be the
country's loss. An ignorant and degraded citizen can be only a bad
citizen;. and a bad citizen, assuredly, is worse than none. We had
better all remain peaceful subjects, than become irresponsible andc
licentious citizens.
WVhat, then, should those qualifications be for possessing and enjoying the electoral privilege?  This is the important question that so
immediately concerns all the free citizens of America. It presents
itself to us at this day, demanding a thoughtful but speedy answer.
That there should be certain fundamental qualifications, of a general
and disciplinary nature, attached to the privilege of voting, we do not
see how any intelligent American can doubt. The more extended the
responsibilities, the greater should be the precautions to make them
appreciated and understood. The more valuable the character of the
possession, the more positive the need of its being impressed on the
mind of every one who is admitted to it as a participator:
In the first place, it seems necessary to insist on some degree of
familiarity with the principles and working of our constitutional form
of government. The native-born citizen acquires this in the course
of his education from his youth up. Even if not much given to
reflection, and to the habit of tracing results back to their original
causes, he nevertheless is placed and kept within the circle of those
ever-recurring events which mark the movements of our political system; and even imperceptibly, and unconsciously to himself, he is
taught by them lessons of the highest importance to the better understanding of the institutions that surround him.   The very atmosphere that he breathes is conducive to his progress in the right
254
I 
WHAT CONSTITUTES THE RIGHT TO VOTE?
direction. All his associations are pregnant with the instruction of
which he has so much need.
The alien knows nothing of these things. What acquaintance he
obtains with the principles of constitutional freedom, must be had
only through the instrumentality of his own studious and persistent
efforts.  Nothing  comes  to him  by mere force of education, or
through the facile medium of early associations. In a strange land,
he is himself an utter stranger. He may understand that here his
physical condition is susceptible of the largest possible improvement,
and yet he may remain in the grossest ignorance of the vital truths
and principles by whose agency alone that improvement is so firmly
secured. Such strange things present themselves to our observation
daily.
Unless the elector has a clear apprehension as well of the character
as of the workings of the institutions under which he lives, it can
hardly be supposed of him that he is truly capable of exercising the
electoral franchise. The possession of that privilege should of necessity presuppose a certain degree of intelligent capacity both to employ
and enjoy it. Unless that capacity is present, there remains so much
more of ignorance to be overcome by the superior intelligence of the
rest, and they are losers to the extent of that ignorance over the popular mind.
In the second place, no man should be an elector, possessing its
various powers and privileges, who has not already asserted and
proven his decided preference for free institutions over all others, and
is not willing to live perpetually under the active operation of the
principles in which they are rooted. It mnaybe replied, we admit,
that the elector's oath, taken at the'time of becoming a participator
in the privilege of the electoral franchise, is prima facie evidence of
such a preference and willingness; yet, as the details of our political
affairs have from time to time exhibited themselves on the surface, it
is by no means so well established, that behind that solemn asseveration there lurks NO DANGEROUS RESERVATION. -We have had abundant
proof in our own day, that the oath of the freeman is too often for
255 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
gotten,-vitiated by the force of secret compacts,-nay, scouted,
denied, and derided, by men to whom in safety its administration
should have been refused. We have had not a few most melancholy
reminders of the insecurity that attends the too fiee and unguarded
gift of its power, to those who had no proper estimate of its use or
value. These warnings appeal directly to the cause of liberty and a
free government, and have no connection with considerations of mere
personal safety or personal prejudice.
It seems to be the most natural and reasonable of all demands
conceivable, that he who is about to have a part in the operations of
government, should in his heart be firmly attached to that government.  Less than this condition, is an abrogation of all conditions.
If a man be ready to bind himself, it is presumable that his attachment is beyond question for the object with which he desires to make
the engagement. And to attach one's self to a cause, instead of a
mere interest,-a cause the most holy and lofty of all that absorb
the thoughts or exercise the emotions of the human race, because it is
co-ordinate and co-equal with the great truths of Christianity itself,Is properly indicative of enthusiasm. It is an open confession that
thie generous impulses outrun the slower movements of calculative
reflection, and that the man has grown energetic in behalf of that
cause, rather through the quickening warmth of his irresistible convictions, than through the calmer and steadier influence of reasonings
which he cannot put aside.
In the next  lace, all voters shloulld possess at least aI fair share of
il',",[}~a inteliig'enceenouglh, celrtcfinoy, to enable them-to distinguish
:ie 4ifiference between the American and other forms of government,
and to know the uses and meaning of law, the general rights of individuals, the sacredness of life and property, and the ordinary object
and scope of free institutions. Such men are not naturally to be
looked for among the masses of those who  are not yet able to read
and write, nor do they abound ill quarters where the controlling influences are anti-American, Jesuitical, and dangerous to liberty. The
very object of freedom, we know, is to elevate the character of the
256 
WHAkT CONSTITUTES THE RIGHT TO VOTE?
masses; yet the necessity is absolute that there should be some degree of elevation with which to begin the experiment.
If it be admitted that intelligence and ignorance alike are to be incorporated into the system of our institutions, it requires no prophet's
eye to see that those institutions must, in a fearfully brief space of
time, become changed in their character. They are capable of elevating men from the degradations of ignorance, if allowed the influence that was inherent in them at their establishment; but, in an
altered condition, they may become the most powerful engines of
licentiousness and misrule, by which, ignorant and vicious men permit
themselves to be moved.
A certain standard of general intelligence ought to be demanded by
the popular voice for those who aspire to the privileges and pbwer of
electorship. The danger of laxity here is plain to the most superficial
observer. It is only tearing away the ordinary safeguards of freedom,
opening a road for the aggressions of depravity, paying premiums for
the perpetual presence of anxiety and fear, and suffering the general
interests and welfare to relapse into the unfathomable depths of degradation.  There can be no laxity, with safety, in' a state of actual
freedom.  Vigilance is the corner-stone of the whole fabric.
And,' lastly, the participator in a free government, like that of America, ought to have some definite understanding of the true ainms, and
the extended influence of the system under which he lives. It is incumbent on him, as a valuable citizen, that he know, not simply-the
theory of that system, but something, also, of its lofty purposes, its
far-reaching influences, and its marvellous power in the great work
of regenerating and exalting the human race. If, in such a knowledge as this he has no deficiency, he is secretly conscious that he has
risen by progressive steps, from being a mere observer of disconnected
facts, to the higher conditions of a true philosopher.
A familiar understanding of these purposes is what every American
should possess.  He ought to know that a free government exists for
some other end than simply what is to be found centering in itself;
that its proper aims can never be selfish, and never limit themselves
25'7 
A VOICE TO AMEiICA.
to the elevation of a few over the many; that it has for its scope the
welfare of every citizen, however degraded and however humble, within its territorial boundaries; that its object is purely the elevation of
the masses, who, in turn, must reflect their character  and its varied
influences upon its name and institutions; that the perpetuation of
truth, and not of falsehood, is the natural result of its manifold operations; and that its works will not cease from their living and
spreading influence, till that influence shall have made the peaceful
circuit of the world.
These are grand objects to attain, and must excite both the admiration and enthusiasm of all who possess the capacity to comprehend
them. And if they belong, of such a plain necessity, to the government that has true freedom for its permanent foundation, what a
weighty responsibility attaches to every individual who is permitted
a share in the transactions of that government! Hiow earnest ought
all to appear in hastening forward purposes which are fraught with
such beatific consequences to the whole human race! What a necessity rests on all citizens alike, to see that these grand aims are not
perverted by either the ignorance or wilfulness of any, who seek to
be admitted to the same free privileges with themselves!
That the true worth of the electoral franchise too often suffers from
degrading uses, it is impossible to deny. Proof of it is offered us on
every side. It is bestowed where it should have been withheld: it
courts the acceptance of the incompetent, instead of demanding that
they first qualify themselves for being invested with its inestimable
gifts: it is losing its character for dignity, by being literally thrust
upon men in no wise fitted for the performance of any of its functions.
The high characteristics of citizenship must manifestly relax their
claims to general respect, when ignorant foreign immigrants are
made voters before they can so much as understand their relations to
the laws or to the people at large. We are undeniably going backwards, when we admit men to be electors, who cannot distinguish between a blind and sullen obedience to statutes, and an active and
258 
WHAT CONSTITUTES THE RIGHT TO VOTE?   259
intelligent co-operation with the principles on which proper restrictive
enactments are founded. It is a dangerous policy to make voters of
men who think that freedom from European servility should be
marked by an irresponsible delirium of license here.  It degrades the
general standard to which the condition of electorship should aspire
to hold itself fixed. Such men grow suddenly exhilarated in the free
atmosphere into which they have come, and contract exaggerated
ideas of liberty, that are never borne out by the reality of their subsequent experience.   Demagogues flatter these naturalized voters,
and they are delighted;-if, afterwards, honest men should tell them
the truth, they could neither endure them, nor the institutions in whose
name they profess to speak.
In itself considered, and setting aside these multiplied abuses to
which so priceless a gift as the electoral franchise is subjected, American Citizenship is invested with a dignity that transcends in intrinsic
importance, any and all the titles that foreign courts have it in their
power to bestow; themre is, in reality, no condition that may successfully claim to be its equal.
From the citizen, in his individual character, emanate influences
that reach alike the government and the world. By his power, is
circumseribed the welfare of associated masses and multitudes. He
feels the glory and the shame of his country, for that country has the
sources of its existence in him; he stands the immediate representative
of the government and the citizen, and happily illustrates the nicely
adjusted relationship of each to the other.
By the very name Citizen is fairly implied both honor and honesty, purity and morality. He should fear only what is wrong, and
aspire to nothing but what is right. He must be impressed with the
number and magnitude of his responsibilities, feeling the weight of
the trusts he has received, both from his country and from God.  He
cannot fail to see that his own free system of government, that degrades none, but seeks to exalt all alike, is the light and illumination
of the world; that it most truly represents the cause of freedom and
equal rights; that it abnegates selfishness, and has within the reach 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
of its influence the welfare of the entire human race. Hle must be
deeply impressed with the greatness of his mission, knowing it to be the
mission of the government in which he is an active participant. Hiis
reflections can be in no manner allied to levity, for they must tell him
perpetually of a work, whose mighty results are to be carried steadily
forward to the end of coming time
I
260 
FALLACY OF SUPPOSING THAT AMERICAN INSTITU
TIONS NEED NO SAFEGUARDS.
"Eternal vigilance s the price of liberty."
IT appears to be an almost universal truth, that those who are in
possession of the full desire of their hearts, betray extreme carelessness in securing for that possession an adequate protection.. severe
experience seems needed to discipline men into habits of prudence,
self-control, and precautionary foresight. Any advantage, if not acquired by personal sacrifice, generally fails to carry with it those impressive lessons of discreetness which are the surest securities against
either its invasion or decay.
Americans of the present generation have been peculiarly liberal in
relation to their political privileges.  Holding them in a measure
cheap, because so easily attained, they have hitherto failed to see the
need of dispensing them to others with a prudent hand, or of hedging
them about with such restrictions as would place them out of reach
of questionable influences. Liberty has a tendency to make men's
heart's large and generous, and to give the utmost latitude to thought.
With a practical knowledge of the manifold blessings of freedom ingrained in their very natures, it is hardly possible for them to desire
less ample endowments for those whom they find deprived of them
altogether.
The actual aim of our free institutions is universal brotherhood.
Whether acknowledged or not as the purpose of our political organization, this, nevertheless, is the vital spirit that imparts all power and
energy.  And yet it is not to be argued as a consequence of this
12*
I 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
truth, that so grand an attainment will be reached any the sooner, or
that its blessings will be secured in any greater degree, by laxity in
the  ar(e of these institutions, and a mistaken generosity in extending
the power of directing their operation. By indifference of this sort,
their character must suffer degradation; and when that result is
reached, the true end of their existence is perverted, if not entirely
destroyed. Free gifts are assuredly evidences of large possessions;
and multiplied acts of generosity are proofs of deep sympathy with
those who  are so unfortunate as to be destitute.   But there are
always limits to such deeds, beyond which they cease to be beneficial, and become means of injury or mischief.
If absolutism feels the necessity of protecting itself against the
inroads of men who deny the lawfulness of its claims, how  much
more sensibly must that necessity be felt by the friends and supporters
of constitutional freedom. The former fears conspiracies, machinations, and the outbursts of rebellion. The latter have to guard continually against indifference to privileges,-an indifference which
soon is followed by licentiousness and riot,-eventually leading to a
tyranny far more fearful than that of any one-man power.  Liberty
is apt to be careless, from its very inclination to generosity.  Unsparing in favors to all, it dreams not of ingratitude from its recipients.
The law seems to be entirely in its own favor, removing all those
sources of anxiety in which absolutism is so prolific; and yet other
causes of fear are known to spring up plentifully under a certain
complication of circumstances, which nothing but the utmost prudence and firmness can hope to remove.
There is nothing that Americans should guard with so watchful an
eye as their country's liberty. They cannot be too jealous in its care.
They cannot hope to enjoy freedom and slothfulness together. Liberty has its own unchangeable price, which is vigilance unceasing.
It is good to dilate on the blessings of freedom, but the reflections
are idle and the words are empty harangues, when freedom has no
sentinels on its farthest outposts, and careless defenders in its citadel.
If they who hold priceless possessions are indifferent to their preser
262 
NECESSITY OF INSTITUTIONAL SAFEGUARDS.    263
vation, where shall men be found to volunteer protection for that upon
which they set, as yet, no value? If the free are not watchful, how
can we hope to find a guardian for liberty among tihe oppressed?
None ought to be so capable of understanding what freedom is
worth, as those to whom its riches have fallen by inheritance. A
proper estimate of its value is not to be expected from others. To
them it is still an unreal speculation-a dim and far-off vision. They
have heard, perhaps, of its reality, and come to settle their calm convictions upon its truth.  Still, it is practically unknown to them, and
from it they have never been able to derive any personal advantage.
But- Americans have no excuse to plead for their ignorance. Under
the protection of free and constitutional laws they are secured in the
possession of both life and liberty.  Themselves the original power
in the State, they impart character and direction to all the operations
of government. Holding certain inalienable rights, they are free to
attain happiness after their own desires. All pursuits, of a proper
character, lie wide open to their ambition in every direction; and
they may boast that theirs is the noblest country and the freest
nation on the face of the earth.
There are, therefore, no reasons why such large privileges should
ever suffer from diminution.  If they unfortunately do, the fault lies
at the door of those who should have been their most ardent champions. They must rehearse their misfortunes to none but their own
ears, and brood in silence over the loss that might have been turned
to their immeasurable gain.
Facts are imposing authorities in the disposition of theories and
suppositions. Nothing is better calculated to open the eyes of the
blind, or to unstop the ears of the deaf, than these most stubborn and
irresistible things. Upon them, all reasoning is based; and from
them logical conclusions are unerringly deduced. From them alone
we are able to understand the real position, both of our free institutions
and the dangers by which these are surrounded. They will tell us the
plainest truths of our national welfare, and enable us, better than all
else, to comprehend the chart by which our national course is guided. 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
In dealing with this subject, we do not propose to enter very
deeply into statistics, yet it may be well to illustrate the points to
which we wish to call general attention. We desire to establish
three distinct statements; and friom their tenor may be inferred the
particular dangers to which our free institutions are at this day most
threateningly exposed:
I. The foreign voters, who are proved to be ignorant and in every
way incompetent, are admitted to the enjoyment of the electoral
franchise.
We, who never knew what a blind and passive obedience to law
is, can form no adequate idea of the recklessness and delirium which
seize hold of so many foreign immigrants the moment they put foot
upon our shores. We admit that some of them are men of intellectual culture, while it will niot be denied that too many are persons
of the most degraded character, and destitute even of the most meager
attainments. The ignorance, however, from which Americans experience the greatest cause for distrust, is that which relates to the nature
and spirit of republican institutions. These they do not seem either
able or inclined to comprehend. -They scout all ideas Qf obedience,
because they claim that here they are free. Liberty and lawlessness
are with them one and the same thing. Hitherto, they have never
borne any intelligent relation to the existence or execution of law,
but have occupied the places of unreflecting persons, accustomed, in
passive silence, to bear the burdens with which they were weighed
down. Coming to a country like America, and hearing the most
exaggerated and extravagant stories of its ample freedom for all men,
without a thought of their responsibility to the nation sustaining the
fabric of this glorious freedom, they conclude that here the field of
license lies open, and that any sort of restraint is powerless and illegal against unbounded indulgence.
Heretofore, all their feelings have been marshalled against government; for it was established upon their oppression, and never exercised
its functions for their interests or welfare. They have lost that high
and self-reliant sense of mnanhood, under its operation, which gives to
264 
NECESSITY OF INSTITUTIONAL SAFEGUARDS.    265
men the clearest ideas of true freedom, and enables them to understand their relation to freedom. The result naturally follows, that
these same feelings of antagonism to government and law are brought
with them to the land which they have chosen as their future home.
They breathe the same spirit of hostility as before, to whatever has a
tendency to impose upon their careless action a healthy restraint.
Not comprehending  the meaning of self-government, they  know
nothing of the spirit of conservatism by which our free system is
upheld, and are ready to enter with recklessness upon any changes
'vhich demagogues hold out as beneficial.
Lacking religious sentiment of any description, they become the
easiest dupes, as they are the most dangerous fanatics.  They are ever
ready for change, nay, for revolution, rather than continue in peaceful
quiet, obedient to law, and evenly pursuing their own highest interests.  As are their sympathies in the lands of their birth, so are they
here: as are their hatreds there, so do they betray themselves here.
All ideas of law are confounded with mere physical force, and they
have no definite conception whatever of the true aim of legal enactments.
Such are the people flocking to our shores by tens of thousands,
and admitted, even welcomed, to the privileges of citizenship. The
direct tendency of such an addition to our roll of voters, is the unmistakable degradation of the electoral franchise. Such gross ignorance
could produce no other result. We have a large proportion of such
voters in the country, answerable for the operation of our political institutions, and directly concerned in the character of their influence,
both at home and abroad.
In 1832, at the time of the Presidential election, there were sup posed to be fifteen thousand foreign voters in America; in 1840, they
were computed at fifty-four thousand, comprising one forty- sixth of
the whole number of electors; while in 1852, the foreign vote was
known with accuracy to be one hundred and eighty-eight thousand,
or had risen to one-seventeenth of the electoral body.   In other words,
the foreign vote had nearly multiplied itself by twelve, since 1840, 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
while the aggregate vote of the country has not multiplied itself by
three! The moral lies in the figures.
During the past five years, it is calculated there has been a steady
immigration at the rate of three hundred thousand persons a year, or
about one thousand per day! Out of each thousand, it is safe to consider at least one hundred and fifty to be voters.  The great mass of
these men is composed of all the ignorance, poverty, lawlessness, and
general degradation, that could be induced to emigrate to America.
They come to the ballot-boxes side by side with those who have been
bred fiom their youth to a perfect familiarity with and respect for free
institutions, and are too often found ready to become the servile tools
of demagogues, even more reckless and unprincipled than themselves.
These are the men we permit to help fashion our laws, give tone
to general society, infuse energy into the spirit of our political organizations, and protect us and all our dearest interests from destruction
or decay. With no knowledge of our Constitution, they never interest themselves to understand its meaning.  They do not comprehend
what is the scope of law, nor are they conscious of the existence of
any check or responsibility that may hold them to its observance.
It is time this threatening danger be averted. The evil increases
by continuance, and daily becomes more and more difficult of remedy. Unless efficient and timely safeguards are interposed by the
vigilant watchmen of freedom, it will have acquired an imposing magnitude, capable of overawing the most energetic efforts for its subjugation.
iIL Our institutions are alarmingly menaced, by the aggressions of
e Romish priesthood.
We are well aware that much has been said on this subject; but with
the practices and professions of that priesthood before our eyes, we insist that it is impossible to warn the people of America too frequently
against the arts by which their liberties are sought to be subverted.
It is not for Americans to raise the rallying cry of persecution. Every
religious body should be left free to the enjoyment of its own worship,
and the publication of its own creeds. Uncharitableness belongs not
266 
NECESSITY OF INSTITUTIONAL SAFEGUARDS.   267
to the spirit of our system. Interference with the convictions of conscience, is sternly forbidden by the whole history and tenor of our
political tustoms.
But when religion forgets the holy cause of its mission, and, in the
name of designing men, is inoculated with selfishness and ambition,
and a spirit of arbitrariness in direct conflict with freedom, both of
conduct and conscience-when it lays off the unsoiled robes of peace
in which it has been clad, and girds on the sword in order to wage
worldly conflicts-it seems then as if, with its own pure character, it
had divested itself of its former claims to our reverence, and entered
the field wi-th all the greedy desires, deceits, artifices, and hot passions,
that disfigure the character of man.
If the devotees of the religion of Christ once give over the singleness of their calling for the sake of comnpassing ends which are purely
ambitious and worldly, they deserve to be met with the prompt rebuke that such conduct so richly merits. No reproofs can be too
severe for their hypocritical practices. No opposition can be too unbending for their attempted usurpations. They are to be checked at
the outset in a career that promises nothing but danger to the free
government that affords them its indulgent protection.
That there are truly and devotedly pious members of the Romish
priesthood in America, we shall not take it upon ourselves to deny;
still their zeal burns only for the Church, whose faithful servants they
are, while the tenets and practices of that Church are undeviatingly
hostile to freedom. These facts are well supported. The professions
of the temporal head of that Church are openly at war with free in stitutions.  iHis words are swift witnesses of his hostility to any polit ical system that secures liberty of conscience to the worshipper. IHe
insists that the Church, and the Romish Church alone, is the source
of all temporal as well as spiritual authority, and that to its tyranni cal behests and decrees the State should bow in silent submission. In
America, the people form the State; and hence the people must be
brought beneath a yoke that takes away every thing like individual
freed6m, and offers in return nothing but the most degrading servility. 
A VOICE TO AM]ERICA.
On such conditions, no free State could ever hope to stand. Its
history would pass out of the light, into a darkness that would en shroud it from the eyes of the world, forever. The rock oivwhich it
stranded would always be marked, but, in the wide waste of the
seas, no fragments of the noble structure would afterwards be found.
It would be ingulfed in a vast whirlpool, that never gives back to
the eye any tokens of the ruins with which its voracious appetite is
gorged.
It would be easy to extend beyond the limits of our work, examples of this hostility of the Romish Church to liberty; volumes of
confessions might be collected from the lips and pens of both priests
and press, all going to establish beyond question their undying hatred
to the freedom of the individual. The great writer and defender of
Romish doctrines in this country, in his Review, frankly confesses as
follows:
"I never think of publishing any thing in regard to the Church,
without submitting my articles to the Bishop for inspection, approval,
and endorsement." And after this important admission, he declares
(with the Bishop's authority, of course,) that "Protestantism of every
form has not, and never can have, any riyhts where Catholicity is triumphant."*
Daniel O'Connell, in one of his speeches in parliament, gives like
testimony: "I declare my most unequivocal submission to the head
of the Church, and to the hierarchy in its different orders. If the
Bishops make a declaration on this bill, I never would be heard speaking against it, but would submit at once, unequivocally, to that decision. They have only to decide, and they also close my mouth; they
have only to determine, and I obey. I wish it to be understood that
such is the duty of the Catholics."t
* Brownson's Review.
t Spotskniskay, recently a Rotnish priest, officiating in Paterson, was denounced as a heretic, and excommunicated by Bishop Hughes, of New York
city, because he went to hear a Protestant minister lecture on Popery, a thing
the priest declares he could do in Poland without censure, "but could not do
a, in this land of liberty without expulsion from his Church."
268 
NECESSITY OF INSTITUTIONAL SAFEGUARDS.   269
By this kind of evidence of the proscription of all kinds of indi vidual liberty in the individual, the spirit of animosity to American
institutions, that directs the action of Romish priests, is laid open to
public inspection. It is bitter and deadly in its operation, to the last
conceivable limit. It affects to be quiet, when quiet is for its interest,
yet never hesitates to trample ruthlessly on all law, and all liberty,
when its increased power permits it so to do with impunity. By a
process of astonishing accretion, it builds up a power within the State,
the ostensible purposes of which  are to overshadow every combina tion of opposing influence, and to subvert and defy all the forces of
the civil government.   It demands of its votaries a pledge totally
vitiating their solemn oaths as freemen, and offers their united politi  cal influence to that party which shall show itself most supple to its
insinuating address.
Against such a power there is great need that Americans should
secure proper protection. Whether it seek to effect its objects by
fraud or force, by stratagem or violence, it should be resisted in sea  son, and resisted energetically to the end. The existence of such a
power, aiming to reach political advantage under the professions of
devotion to religion, is both alarming in its tendencies, and incompat  ible with the spirit and character of free institutions.
IIL We stand in great danger of losing our liberties, from a growing
indifference to the exercise of our own rights as voters at the polls.
In itself considered, this point is not strictly to be regarded as of
an aggressive nature; but when viewed in connection with the other
two, it assumes a magnitude and importance calculated to arrest the
attention of the most careless and unreflecting. It implies a state of
things within, in perfect co-operation with the dangerous designs from
without; a previous preparation, that promises more certain success
to the destructive plans by which republican liberty is besieged.
It is not necessary to our present purpose, to speculate on the
causes of such supreme indifference, on the part of freemen, to the
safety of their high privileges; enough that a truth so melancholy is
forced on our attention. The fact is palpably plain. The results 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
betray themselves on all sides-in an inferior grade of public func tionaries; in the impudent  presumptions of demagogism; in the
greater abundance of examples of intrigue; and in the general deterioration of that healthy influence which properly belongs to a nation
of intelligent freemen.
Many of the best men of America refuse to go to the polls, while
the worst never fail to avail themselves of their privilege. It is impossible that -this should long remain so, without a gradual change,
for the worse, in the character of our government. What is most
needed at the polls, is the constant expression of the opinion and will
of the discreet and temperate portion of the community. It is only
upon the sentiments of the more intelligent and sober citizens, that a
republic like ours can hope to build a reputation for extended usefulness; or a renown that will bear its name, like a blessing, to every
quarter of the habitable globe.  Their common country has  a right
to demand their most zealous services in her behalf. She appeals to
them in the name of that ample protection which her laws afford;
she warns them by considerations of fear, of comfort, of happiness,
and of obedience to their sincerest convictions of duty. If they give
over their efforts on her behalf, what will all other efforts be worth?
If they are careless of the safety of her noble institutions, to whom
can she-look with the hope of ever finding for them either advocates
or defenders?
We do not claim that the complete vote of our more intelligent
citizens would be capable of paralyzing the force of that ignorance
which has of late years been making such astounding progress at the
ballot-box. We would not venture, as yet, to hope as much; but the
influence of that vote would give an impulse to the cause of enlightened fieedom, such as has not been felt since the days of the heroic
founders of the Republic. It would awaken loftier resolves in the
breasts of many who now but help to confirm the secret decrees of
demagogism. It would inspire the masses with more noble sentiments respecting liberty, with the wand of whose living spirit they
have hardly yet been touched. It would shake off drowsiness and
270 
NECESSITY OF INSTITUTIONAL SAFEGUARDS.   271
indifference to matters of the highest concern. It would put the
plotting enemies of freedom to rout, and her guilty and silent betrayers to shame. It would work a mighty miracle of renovation in all
branches of government-in its character, in its policy, in its influence, and in its world-wide reputation.
Unless the better class of citizens do step forward with alacrity, to
preserve our institutions from the fearful evils to which their supineness may expose them, there can remain but little hope for us in the
future as a nation of intelligent freemen. Unless they interest themselves individually in all the elections, from those of the highest
importance down to those of the lowest, it may not be long before
their interference may come very sadly too late. They should see
for themselves, what are the fearful penalties of supineness in the
cause of their own liberties. They should understand what a crime
they areguilty of, when, in disgust with the low party tactics of the
day, they relinquish their right to trample the obnoxious system
under foot. They must be made to feel that safety was never yet
known to be found in inaction; that it is intelligence and virtue alone
that can preserve the State; that the ballot-box-so powerful both
for good and for harm-carries within itself the most effectual remedy for all evils; and that if they cease to wage perpetual warfare
against tyranny, ignorance, and usurpation, there will remain to them
but a share in that general misfortune, of which they have been the
equally guilty authors, and in which they must abide as silent and
uncomplaining sufferers.
It behooves the American people to make seasonable provision
against their external dangers and internal fears. Every human
heart beating quick at the name of Freedom, calls on us to guard
with sleepless vigilance the high trust that is committed to our
hands. Untold generations, in the far-off future, implore us to relax
no effort, and to forego no exertion, in order to secure its priceless
blessings to the people of all coming time. 
I 
THE NATURALIZATION LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES.
"Then the chief captain came and said unto him,' Tell me, art thou a Roman 2'  He said,' Yea.'
And the chief captain answered,'With a great sum obtained I this freedom;' and Paul said,' BUT I
WAS FREE BORN.' "-ST. PAUL.
IT is clearly necessary, in order to the preservation of the laws and
institutions of every country, that its own citizens, who love and obey
those laws, should reserve to themnselves the exclusive power of modifying them. If, however, they choose, they may of course admit to the
participation in that privilege, any persons born and educated in for
eign lands. The obvious condition of such admission is the possession
of such qualifications for citizenship as are required of the natives;
namely, a good moral character, a certain amount of habituation
to the laws of the land, and such a love and respect for those laws as
will make the new-comer a citizen not in form only, but in heart and
soul; not merely a receiver of favors from the country of his adoption, but a true and faithful adopted son.
In monarchies, where the mass of the people have no influence upon
the conduct of the home or foreign affairs of the nation, there is often
no mode of admitting aliens to full citizenship; and wherever there is
such a mode, it is tedious and formal. Even in England, the freest
of European governments, an alien can only be naturalized by a
special act of Parliament in his favor.
The United States of America, on the contrary, as if with a benevolent, generous trust in the good-will of the human race, has ever
extended the right hand of fellowship to all the world, and has opened
the doors of her temple of freedom to all comers, with a liberality
wholly without precedent or parallel. The only delay necessary, before
admission to the enjoyment of all the privileges of our intelligent and
w 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
educated native freemen, is that of a five years' reidence; the only
forms are the reasonable declaration of intentions of naturalization,
the obviously indispensable one of abjuring all foreign allegiance, and
swearing to be a faithful citizen of this country.
We proceed to give a careful analysis of the Naturalization Laws
of the United States, and also of the several States. There is no
Constitutional guarantee to aliens of any right to naturalization, although such an impression extensively prevails. The Constitution
only says, that Congress may establish a uniform rule of naturalization. It is, therefore, of course, entirely practicable to refuse, if we
please, the privilege of citizenship to aliens on any terms, and thus
to confine their political capacities within the United States to the
exercise of such rights of State citizenship as tile several States may
choose to give them. But, as has been before remarked, a contrary
and very expansively liberal policy has uniformly prevailed in this
respect.
The first Naturalization Act for the United States was approved in
1790; and was so liberal in character, as to show the desire then prevailing to attract population to our unsettled territories.  It demanded
for admission to citizenship, proof before any court of record (that is,
any court having a clerk and official seal), of good character, and of
residence in the United States during two years preceding the application, and residence in the State where it was made during one year
so preceding. In 1795, however, a more stringent law was passed,
requiring, "the usual oaths," proof of good character, a declaration
of intentions three years in advance of admission, five years' residence in the country, and one year in the State, and also, that the
applicant is "attached to the principles of the Constitution of the
United States, and well disposed to the good order and happiness of
the same." In 1798, the terms of residence were again lengthened to
fourteen years in the country, and five years in the State, and the
intention of naturalization was required five years in advance; besides that, the forms of record of admission were made more expansive and full, various registrations required, and naturalization was
274 
THE NATURALIZATION LAWS.
refuised to citizens and natives of nations at war with the United
States. 
In 1802, an act establishing ruies for naturalization was passed,
which has been so little modified that the law, as substantially in
force from that time to this, may be stated together, as in force at
present. The alien, then, who now desires to become a citizen of the
United States, must appear before a State common law court of record,
or a circuit or district court of the United States, or the clerk of one
of those courts, at least two years (since 1824, from 1802 to 1824,
three years) before admission to citizenship. There he must swear or
affirm, that he honestly intends to become  a citizen of the United
States, and to renounce all allegiance to any other sovereignty.
This preliminary having been performed, the applicant must, at the
end of the two years, take the oath or affirmation so promised; and these
proceedings are entered by the clerk upon the records of the court.
The applicant must also prove, before his naturalization, to the satisfaction of the court, that he has resided in the United States at least
five years, and in the State, where the court is held at least one year;
and that during that time he has behaved like a man of good moral
character, attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United
States, and well disposed to the good order  and happiness of the
same. Residence must be proved by the oaths or affirmations of
two citizens of the United States; the oath of the applicant being
inadmissible. IHe must, if he has borne any title or belonged to any
order of nobility, renounce it, and the renunciation is to be recorded.
No applicants from any country at war with the United States are
admissible. Minor aliens, residing here three years next before their
coming of age, and continuing to reside here after that time, are ad missible without the previous declaration of intention, on compliance
with tihe other provisions of the law. Aliens resident here before
1812, and sufficiently proving that fact, and also continued subse  quent residence up to application, are also admissible without declara  tion of intentions. Widows and children of persons having made
declaration of intentions, and having died before naturalization, are
25 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
considered citizens upon taking the oaths prescribed by law; as also
are minor children of naturalized persons, if dwelling within the
United States; persons born without the limits of the United States,
whose fathers were citizens at the time of their birth; and women
legally capable of naturalization, married to citizens of the United
States.
In only two of the States, Indiana and Wisconsin, does there appear to be any express and separate provision for the admission of
aliens to State citizenship. In these States, aliens twenty-one years
old, having declared their intention of becoming citizens of the United
States, and having, in Indiana, a residence of one year in the country,
and six months in the State, may become voters.  In the remainder
of the States, it is merely provided that those seeking to become
voters shall, besides occasional property and other qualifications, have
been citizens of the United States, or of the State where the application is made, for terms varying from the instant of their arrival, as in
Utah and Wisconsin, and ten days in New York, to two years. Very
generally, it may be said that in five years from entering the country,
any foreigner may be a voting citizen of the United States.
Naturalization, as we already have stated by implication, is not a
right vested in foreigners. No man coming to our shores firom abroad,
has any natural indefeasible title to the exercise of the voting power,
any more than he has to draw a thousand dollars out of one of our
banks to get a start in business. It is a privileye conferred, not a
right conceded. Accordingly, the Constitution, giving Congress, if it
chooses, the power to establish naturalization laws, says nothing of
aliens, except what is restrictive. It forbids aliens from being President or Vice-President.   It requires a long citizenship for members
of Congress.
The danger to be apprehended from carelessness in this particular, has been foreseen by our best men. The following extract from
the writings of Thomas Jefferson, one of the wisest and most farseeing of the great men who have influenced the politics of our country, fully sustains the views here taken of the essential significance of
276 
THE NATURALIZATION LAWS.
naturalization laws, and of the dangers to our country, fr'om laxity in
making or administering them.   He says: "But are there no inconveniences to be thrown into the scale against the advantages expected
from a multiplication of numbers by the importation of foreigners?
It is for the happiness of those united in society to harmonize as much
as possible in matters, which they must of necessity transact together.
Civil government being the sole object of forming societies, its administration must be conducted by common consent. Every species of
government has its specific principles. Ours, perhaps, are more peculiar than those of any other in the universe. It is a composition of
the freest principles in the English Constitution, with others derived
from natural reason. To these nothing can be more opposed than
the maxims of absolute monarchies. Yet from such we are to expect
the greatest number of emigrants.  They will bring with them  the
principles of tile governments they leave, imbibed in their early youth;
or, if able to throw them off; it will be in exchange for an unbounded
licentiousness, passing, as is usual, from one extreme to the other. It
would be a miracle were they to stop precisely at the point of temperate liberty. These principles, with their language, they will transmit to their children. In proportion to their numbers, they will share
with us the legislation. They will infuse into it their spirit, warp and
bias its directions, and render it a heterogeneous, incoherent, distracted
mass."
Have not these predictions been fulfilled? Have we not already
amongst us an Irish nationality, a German nationality, a French nationality, a Dutch nationality, an Italian nationality? Has not our
legislation already been "warped and biased" by their influence.
Have they not already, to a great extent, "infuised their spirit" into
it, and are they not trying to make the infuision stronger?
The right and duty of government, enjoyed by the free citizens
of the United States, and by them now granted to aliens at the
rate of nearly one hundred. thousand a year, is one of the most
weighty responsibilities imposed upon man. This grave and lofty
power, the citizens of the United States have usually shown them                                13
27 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
selves well able to appreciate and to use. But whether they have
done wisely in granting to aliens such free admission to their birthright privilege, may well be doubted. The citizenship of this country should only be conferred upon those who will become useful and
reputable citizens. Such was in fact the design of those who enacted
our naturalization laws. It was not intended to permit our glorious
and free institutions, to be altered at the ignorant pleasure of men
brought up under monarchies, and drilled out of self-control.  It was
intended to admit only those who would make good citizens, and  no
others; and to admit them on proof of their fitness: five years' residence has hitherto been deemed sufficient, and certain testimony to
good behavior and attachment to Republican principles.
1. The defects of our present naturalization laws.
The term of five years, with honorable exceptions, is not sufficient
to prepare a foreigner to assist in governing this country.  The mass
of emigrants are from the lower classes of the European populations.
To the limited natural powers and low grade of moral and  mental
nature, which are the results of the depressed physical and social colndition of their ancestors for so many generations, they add the unhappy results Qf a political education, expressly contrived to unfit
them for the exercise of such rights as those of our citizens. They
are kept from thinking, discussing, or acting. The attempt to do
either of these things is punished  as sedition-rebellion-treason.
So, what is here a right and a duty, is there a crime. Moreover, they
learn to hate a law which always foices them from without, and
rejoice in the only liberty they can conceive of, which is riot and
licentiousness. Coming here, then, not only with the need of learning
to be wise freemen, but of unlearning early education, and that most
often at an age past the easily moulded character of childhoodwhen the strength and fixity of adult age has hardened their prejudices and increased their obstinacy;-coming here under such  a
double and triple disqualification, is it to be supposed that in five
years of the life which they lead here, they can understand our institutions sufficient to make their political intelligence and trustworth
278 
THE NATURALIZATION LAWS.
iness equal to that of Americans born and educated?  If the plain
statement of such a case as this is not proof enough, no arguments
could avail. Without inquiring what term of years is suffic,ient for
the purpose of training aliens to American freedom, it is at least perfectly clear that a longer term should be required than the present
one.
The present naturalization law confides to clerks of courts-insignificant assistant officers; men  unknown  and irresponsible -  the
important duty of judging upon the fitness of candidates for citizenship. As the law now reads, all the forms of admission may be
complied with, either before one of the proper courts, or before the
clerk of one of them. It is not well that such vitally important trusts
should be confided to such subordinate officials. They are too much
tempted to dispatch the business for the sake of the fee, and to admit
the voter, for the same purpose, without sufficient scrutiny of him or
his qualifications.
2. Loose modes of administering the law.
The merest apparent formal compliance with the statutory requirements has, for a long time, been quite sufficient to secure citizenship to the applicant. Few persons need to be reminded how rife
are cases of firaudulent admission, in violation even of the resident
clause of the law.  Impudence  and false stealing by the claimant,
and frequently a guilty complicity, or at least a guilty sufferance on
the part of the admitting authority, have availed to admit thousands
on thousands of aliens to the full exercise of the rights of citizenship within a year —nay, of a month-after their arrival on our
shiores. However satisfactory the usual proof of residence and character may be to clerks of courts, who are intent upon their fees, or
securing votes for a coming election, it is perfectly certain that, in
very many cases, this proof is such as would be entirely unsatisfactory to a judge, if offered in court, in regular course of law. Nor
is the inquiry usually conducted with the care and seriousness which
its importance demands. If there be ever any value in forms, it
is when they are used to impress upon weak or ignorant minds,
279 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
the weight of a great truth, or the importance of a solemn duty.
The hasty and careless performance of a ceremony, whose hurried
administration commonly turns it into mere rigmarole, is not a safe
or decent mode of creating citizens for a great republican empire.
It degrades and cheapens our national privileges in our own eyes,
as well as in those of the recipient. No ignorant man is likely to
consider that responsibility very dignified, which he undertakes at
the mere solicitation of a politician, by the payment of a few shillings or of nothing at all, and by the swearing of a few indistinct
oaths, administered by a careless understrapper, in a side-room or
dirty office.
There can, of course, be no reasonable objection to the admission
of aliens to the full enjoyment of our citizenship, provided only they
be fit for the trust. It would be a sad departure from the lofty
ground of benevolent and impartial justice and freedom, upon which
our government is founded, to proclaim, that hereafter the accident
of birth alone shall determine the political power of all inhabitants
of the United States, and that none coming from without their limits,
good or bad, shall ever acquire the rights within them which our
nation has ever held to be fundamental rights of man. That would
be an unworthy political bigotry. But it is time that our naturalization laws, and the administration of them, were put upon a safer
footing.
Foreigners should be required to show, that they have, at least,
been here a sufficient time to permit them to learn the duties of an
American citizen. They should be required, not only, as now, to
prove the vague generalities of the statute-that they "have behaved
as men of good moral character, attached to the principles of the
Constitution of the United States, and well disposed to the good order
and happiness of the same"-but to give, as in the case of residence,
some tangible proof, aside from an oath, that they are capable of
intelligent attachment to our institutions. They should be required to
show, in the presence of the authority admitting them, that they can
speak and read reasonably well, the language in which was originally
280 
THE NATURALIZATION LAWS.
written the Constitution of the United States. And, lastly, the duty
of admission, and the attendant examinations, should be confided only
to men whose weight and dignity of character, and high official trust,
prove them capable of appreciating the importance of the duty, and
of performing it honestly. No official of lower grade than the judge
of a State court of record, should be allowed to determine upon the
qualifications or admissibility of aliens, applying for the important
trust of citizenship of the United States.
281  
UNITED STATES AND IMMIGRATION.
"In proportion to their numbers, they will share with us the legislation. They will infuse into it
Cheir spirit, warp and bias its directions, and render it a heterogeneous, incoherent, distracted mass."
JEFFRSON.
FOR three-quarters of a century, a great, steady, and increasing
stream of Europeans has flowed westward, across the Atlantic Ocean,
into the United States. Commencing at the rate of one or two thousand a year, it now averages four hundred thousand annually.
The causes of this great modern exodus are easily understood.
They have always been moderate circumstances, poverty, misfortune,
crime, or political offences in Europe; and the hopes of better days,
more wealth, peace, ease, freedom, and happiness here.
Of late, special causes have given a great stimulus to the movement. The barbarous evictions of poor cotters in Ireland; political
reactions, and consequent oppressive government measures, on the
Continent; the unsettled horizon of the European future, which is
cloudy with the shadows of continued wars; the organized operations
of governments and private individuals to send hither the paupers
and criminals who accumulate in their almshouses and jails,-have,
for the last few years, powerfully co-operated with the universal
instinctive desire after profit, peace, and freedom.
Of European emigrants to the United States, the great majority are
'from what are there termed "the humbler classes."  They are usually agricultural laborers or mechanics, and include only a' very small
proportion of persons educated, or of easy fortune.   There is also
among them an entirely disproportionate excess of absolute paupers,
hospital patients, and criminals-a fact due to the organized expatriation of such persons, above alluded to. 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
The statements which follow will furnish a competent general view
of the number, character, source, distribution, and moral and educa tional condition of the foreign immigration into our Union.
There are now in this country about three millions of persons born
without the territories of the United States; and of foreigners and
their descendants born within the United States, about four millions
Of these three millions, more than four-fifths have come since 1830,
and considerably more than half since 1840 The annual addition
to the number-which was, in 1790, about two thousand-was, in
1820, nearly five thousand, and after that time rapidly increased, until
it ranged at twenty-seven thousand in 1830, eighty-four thousand in
1840, one hundred and forty thousand in 1845, two hundred and
eighty thousand in 1850, and rose to its greatest number thus far,
during the year 1854-about four hundred  and sixty thousandwithout any indications having as yet appeare(i that the maximum'has been reached.
Of the four millions of foreigners and their descendants, Ireland
has usually sent a larger portion than any other one country, and
Germany the next greatest.  For the last year or two,, however, the
German contingent has been fast increasing, and, in 1854, was more
than double the Irish, and nearly half of the whole.
These four millions belong, by birth or immlediate descent, to the
undermentioned countries, in the following round numbers, which are?
however, nearly correct:' To Ireland, about one million; to England,
Scotland, and Wales, more than half a million (making a total from
the British islands of about one million five hundred and seventy
thousand); to Germany, nine hundred thousand; to the remainder of
North America-namely, Mexico, West Indies, and Canadas-about
two hundred thousand; to France (including Belgium), seventy-five
thousand; to Switzerland, twenty-five thousand; to Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway, and Denmark), twenty-four thousand; to Asia, Afica,
and East Indies (about three-fourthls of all being Chinese), twenty
thousand; to the south of Europe (Spain, Portugal, Italy, Saldinia,
Greece, and Turkey) twelve thousand; to South America, fifteen hun —
284 
UNITED STATES AND IMMIGRATION.
dred; to Russia and the Sclavonic races, fourteen hundred. Probably
seventy-five thousand have entered the country besides, whose birthplaces are not recorded.
Of the immigration during 1854-the largest for any one year
thus far-we furnish the following analysis, on the same principle of
classification with that just given. It will be observed that, of some
nationalities-the Chinese, Scandinavian, and Swiss particularly-a
very large proportion has arrived during the year. From Ireland,
one hundred thousand; England, Scotland, and Wales, fifty-four
thousand (British islands, therefore, one hundred and fifty-four thousand); Germany, two hundred thousand; remaining parts of North
America, and West Indies, nine thousand; France and Belgium, thirteen thousand five hundred; Switzerland, eight thousand; Scandinavia, four thousand; thirteen thousand Chinamen; south of Europe,
two thousand eight hundred.
The port of New York receives about two-thirds of the entire
number of immigrants; New Orleans and Boston half of the remainder; and Philadelphia, Baltimore, and other Atlantic ports,
and, for the last few years, California, the rest. Landing in large
cities, a great proportion of the whole remain there, to fill almshouses
and hospitals-to beg, sicklen, and die.  Of the immigration in 1850,
there remained in our forty largest towns, forty in the hundred of the
whole number of Irish, and thirty-six in the hundred of the immigrant Germans. The remainder distributed themselves throughout
the country, the Irish especially gathering along the lines of the
newer internal improvements, for work, and living a vagrant, rowdy
life, which keeps their children from being educated, and themselves
from being civilized; while the Germans, and in particular the Hollanders and Scandinavians, devote themselves to trade or farming.
The foreign population gather principally into the northern range of
States-the Eastern, Middle, and Northwestern; there being about
thirteen foreigners in every hundred inhabitants in the first and last
sections: while in the Middle States-where the vast congregation
in and about New York, however, is the principal cause of the
13*
285 
A. VOICE TO AMERICA.
high average-there are twenty foreigners to the hundred inhabitants.
What amount of property the foreign incomers bring to the United
\States, it is impossible to estimate. The average of their wealth, as
,well as of their morals, has declined for many years; indeed, nearly
as their numbers have increased.  There are individuals, and occa  sionally companies, who bring with them capital enough to establish
them in business; but this is an exception and not a rule, and an ex  ception more unfrequent now, when so many actual paupers are sent
over, who arrive with no money, no clothing, and hardly any rags,
and who forthwith fall a dead weight upon the public and private
charities of the land. If, however, we suppose that there has been an
average of ten dollars of capital added to that already in the country,
by each immigrant, the whole addition of wealth would amount to
thirty millions of dollars. But there will be no balance left upon
deducting from this, or from twice as much, the expenses, public and
private, of supporting and imprisoning the paupers and criminals of
the number, and the amounts withdrawn from circulation here, and
sent to Europe to help out the poverty at home. What these amounts
are it is as difficult to state, as to tell the entire property of the im  migrants; a few items, however, will suffice to show that their aggre  gates must be enormous. In four years, from 1848 to 1851 inclu  sive, the English Commissioners of Immigration alone, made a return
of sums sent back from America, within their knowledge, amounting
to a total of fourteen millions of dollars, which up to this time is un  doubtedly swelled to at least thirty millions. Considering then what
must have been remitted since 1790, not to England only, but to Ire  land, Germany, France, and other parts of Europe, it is not difficult
to see that even to make this amount good, it would have been ne  eessary for immigrants to bring with them twenty dollars per head,
besides earning or paying for their living from the day of arrival.
Suppose them to have brought, all told, even a hundred millions of
dollars, remittances at the rate of thirty millions to England alone in
eight years would soon exhaust that. But besides this, there must be
286
4VI 
~
UNITED STATES AND IMMIGRATION.
considered the expense of pauperism and crime-items also incapable
of satisfactory investigation. Some idea of their extent may perhaps
be gathered from the fact, that aside from all public and private charities, the expenditure for public support of paupers of foreign birth,
within the United States, during the single year ending June 1st,
1850, even by the imperfect returns gathered, was over one million
four hundred thousand dollars.
The paupers so relieved were sixty-eight thousand five hundred in
number, while the number of paupers of American birth relieved in
the same way was sixty-six thousand four hundred; namely, one seventh as many in proportion to the entire number.
Of the expenses incurred in repressing or punishing the crimes of
immigrants, only an extensive and laborious search could supply any
account. But criminal proceedings are expensive, and many criminal prosecutions are brought against foreigners.  Of the whole number of criminals convicted during the year ending June 1st, 1850,
twelve thousand eight hundred were natives, and thirteen thousand
seven hundred foreigners; about, as before, seven times as many in
the hundred as those of our own population.
That these items of public expenditure, together with the drawbacks already stated, would exhaust more than any amount which
immigrants may have brought into the country, is very certain.
Lastly, a few numbers showing the educational comparison between
the foreigners and natives, are indispensable in order to a due comprehension of their tendencies and capacities, when domesticated
with us.  Of the whole number of native whites in the United States,
then, one in five is attending school; of the foreign population, only
one-third as many-one in fifteen.  Of natives, of school age, viz;, between five and fifteen, eight in ten are at school; of foreigners of same
age, only five in ten. Of the whole number of native whites, about four
and a half out of every hundred cannot read or write; of foreigners,
nine out of the same number —twice as many. Of natives over twenty
years of age, eight and a quarter in the hundred cannot read or
write; of foreigners, fourteen and a half in the hundred.
287 
A- \V)ICE TO AMERICAA.
The prospect of' future immigration, however, demands some consideration.   There seems  to be no reason  why  the exodus  fromn
Europe to America should not yet gtow and continue. Even if the
remainder of the Irish population should stay at home, there are millions and'millions on the Continent who will complete the yearly
number of immigrants.  So far as material interests are concerned,
greater and greater inducements are offered by the increasing wealth,
enlarged capacity, and demand for labor within our own country. We
have abundance of room and of riches. Such inducements have
already operated upon so many of the over-crowded and povertystricken European nations, that it is quite certain that they will continue to operate. And on the other side of the Atlantic there are not
wanting impulses to co-operate with the attiaotions here.  The future
of the European nations is stormy and dark. Revolutionary principles are seething under the apparently smiooth surface of her political
aspect, and before long, despotism, analchvy, and liberty will be struggling together; wars and rebellions exert their disorganizing and
unhappy influence, and increasing crowds will flee from the home
misery to the foreign peace upon our' territory.  Europe then, crowded
with people, oppressed with poverty, containing much  sterile land,
and doomed to the horrors of complicated and obstinate wars, will
long send vast and vaster yearly bands to share our free peace, our
rich and boundless lands, and our quiet wealth.  We shall, apparently, also continue to receive the refuse of almshouses, and the felon garbage of prisons, shipped hither wholesale by European governments
and societies.
During the periods of ten years, from  1810 to 1850, the successive
totals of immigration have arisen from one hundred and fourteen
thousand to two hundred and four thousand seven hundred and eighty
thousand, and lastly, one million four hundred and forty thousand.
Within the ten years now passing, viz., from 1850 to 1860, all the
facts and probabilities indicate that we shall receive four millions of
European immigrants of the poorest, and most worthless class of the
population. What the increase will be beyond that time, we have
288
I 
UNITED STATES AND IMMIGRATION.
no means of estimating. But this number is sufficient to show the
vast and increasing importance of the movement, and the certainty of
the speedy operation of such a mass of humanity upon our own peo  ple in some way, either for good or evil.
We have not here the time nor the space to consider fully the sig   nificance of this great movement of the European population.  But
none can fail to see that an annual irruption into this country of half
a million people, who are shown by the merest arithmetical compu   tation to be twice as ignorant as we are, and (perhaps in consequence)
seven times as lawless, and seven times as helpless and sick, is a move   ment of great power.  Whether its results are or will be good or evil,
of what modifications they are susceptible, what means should be
used to modify them, are questions which we discuss in another place.
There is, however, one single phenomenon of such vast importance,
and so closely connected with our subject, that it may properly be
alluded to in this place. This is the suicidal political action of nat   uralized immigrants. Whatever may be the object of foreigners en   tering our country, and our nation-whether they come for peace, for
freedom, or for wealth-it is beneath the protection of our national   ity, our Constitution, and our laws, that they seek that object. The
whole fabric of that Constitution and those laws was erected, and has
been and is maintained by free political action, by the intelligent
voice of our people, appointing what they thought good. The laws
so established and sustained have raised us to a position of such
strength and wealth, that we are able to offer an asylum to the op   pressed of all nations. This has been freely accepted, and accepted
in the majority of cases, until lately, with thankful hearts, and a pro   per acquiescence in the established institutions of the laud.
..    But, within a few years, an ominous change in the demeanor of
.ur foreign beneficiaries has appeared.  They seem to be steadily
seeking to overthrow our own institutions, whenever those institutions
happen to conflict with the prejudices or hatreds engendered in their
own minds in the darkness of their native despotisms. The wise
Sabbath laws which are so general in our commonwealths, are a
289 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
living evidence of the intimate connection of Christianity with their
fundamental  policy.   That connection is the very basis of their
strength and durability. But a band of atheistical Germans, thinking that in this country there is no need, even outwardly, either to
fear God or to regard man, get together and call upon the government to abrogate all laws enforcing the observance of the Christian
Sabbath.
Our established, wise, and unsectarian mode of distributing State
money to public schools, without regard to any religious denomination, is a great obstacle to the Jesuitical views of foreign priests, who
desire to control the education of native youth, and unsuspectedly to
prepare the way for the complete supremacy of the Romish Church
over our free State. All the open and secret arts of the most intriguing class of men in the world are set in motion to secure the
discontinuance of this practice, and to effect the distribution of public money to schools distinctly Romanist, for uses wholly sectarian,
anti-republican, and anti-American.
This is not the place to enter into any extended exposition of the
necessary tendencies and results of such conduct. But the broad
fact stands plainly out, that the masses of our foreign population are
determined to move steadily forward in a line of their own, without
regard to the laws or feelings of the people who have sheltered them.
Armed rebellion or secret plot-bribery or bullying-all modes of
action or coercion, however wicked, or unconstitutional, are to be
unscrupulously seized and remorselessly wielded, to complete their
foolish and disorganizing purposes. This suicidal and unaccountable course of conduct, if allowed to be carried through, will sink the
vessel that carries themselves and their fortunes. It is the senseless fury of the maniac who attacks his best friend with the same
tiger-like ferocity which he displays to his worst enemy. It would
necessarily terminate our present glorious and happy era of constitutional law. It would substitute for it one of two things-either
an utter anarchy, such as they have striven to create at home, or a
centralized despotism, which they have escaped by fleeing hither.
290 
THE CITIZEN OF A REPUBLIC.
The elements
So mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world, "This was a man."
SHAKESPEARE.
REPUBLICANISM, the noblest form of earthly government, demands
th] exertion of the highest moral and intellectual faculties of man.
The establishment of a Republic is a work of comparatively easy
accomplishment, its maintenance is a struggle of immense magnitude:
the former requires but the hand of a warrior or legislator; the latter
necessitates the heart and arm of the entire people. Autocracy may
flourish with a nation sunk in ignorance and slavery; Monarchy
fearlessly surrenders the destinies of an empire to the guidance of a
few; but Democracy is the vox populi, vox ]Dei, and only acts when
every citizen has spoken.
As FEAR is the controlling principle of Despotism-HONOR of a
Monarchy,-so VIRTUE is the mainspring, the life-blood of a Republic.
This vital principle of democracy is the individual influence of each
citizen upon public affairs: it is not the mere exercise of political
power, but the every-day walk and conversation of one whose example causes others to do well; for, "No deed of a good citizen is
useless; for even by his attention, his appearance, his nod, his silence,
or his step, he may avail something."
This political virtue, so necessary to a good citizen, and without
which no republic can long exist, includes patriotism, integrity, and
self-denial. In proportion as these principles influence a democracy,
the commonwealth is prosperous; but when they are forgotten, the 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
State becomes a prey to selfish passions, party feuds, and civil com motion, and is fast travelling the road to anarchy and despotism.
Patriotism is not the mere love of country, nor its object the tinsel
of present glory.  Far nobler are its aims, for its visions are prospec tive, and its aspirations invoke the future. The patriot lives not for
himself, but for posterity; he works not to aggrandize, but to establish;
he sacrifices the chances of success, if trammelled by the possibility
of failure. He gives "his hand and his heart" to the defenrce of the
republic, without regard to ties of blood or kindred, and never lends
his countenance to any, who, through ignorance or passion, propose
measures at variance with freedom, or inimical to the peace of the
country. He is the uncompromising foe of demagogues.
"An honest man's the noblest work of God."  Where  shall we
find a better illustration of this maxim, than in the citizen of a Republic? Clothing himself in integrity, he cares not if rulers threaten
or the masses rage; emulating the virtue of an Aristides or a Cato,
neither the eulogies of the multitude, the charms of popularity,
the threats of enemies, nor the entreaties of fiiends can move  his
decision. His first, his only thought, is for his country: personal
motives cannot sway him; patriotism has told him how to act, no
consideration can induce the contrary. He refuses the emoluments
of office as an inducement to venality; titles and honors he scorns,
for he looks not to outward applause, but to inward satisfaction.  His
aim is, his country: his motto-Incorruptible.
"Luxury is the death of a Republic."* This vice is utterly opposed to the spirit of democracy, for it is the deification of self, and
forgetfulness of the general good.  The Carthaginians, unconquered
by the Romans, fell before the luxuries of Capua. Athens flourished
when  wealth increased and manners remained virtuous;  but the
Republic of Solon, Aristides, and Plato, fell, when her citizens
sought their individual pleasures, and forgot their duty to the
State. Not the immortal eloquence of a Demosthenes, nor the
terrors of Philip at her gates, could relight the flame of patriot                           * Montesquie-,u.
292. 
THE CITIZEN OF A REPUBLIC.
ism, which had shone so triumphantly at Salamis  and Marathon.
Athens, the beautiful, the glorious, the mothler of the arts  and
literature, the soul of that Greece whose fame will flourish through
admiring ages; even Athens, adjudged the penalty of death to those
of her citizens who proposed devoting the moneys of the theatres
to the defence of the Republic. Rome, the republic of Brutus and
Cato-that empire which has given the world the brightest examples
of patriotism, integrity, and self-denial-fell through luxury. As
Demosthenes in Greece, so Cicero in Rome, found his eloquence
powerless against the ambition, the selfish passions of the aristocracy.
The empire of the Ctesars inaugurated luxury, and the masculine
vigor of her Horatii, her Cocles, and her Cincinnatus forever departed. Well might Tacitus depict the energy, the sobriety, the
manliness of the Germans, and describe the certain fall of his country,
unless she returned to the ancient virtues of the Republic. Luxury
had destroyed every bond of sympathy between provinces and individuals, and Goths, Visigoths, Vandals, and Franks only completed
what the Romans themselves had begun.
What then shall we say to those of our countrymen, who, in spite
of the warnings of history, the testimony of philosophers, the antecedents of their country, nay, of their allegiance to the Republic, are
seeking to introduce the luxury of an aristocracy in our midst?
What means this aping of the exclusiveness of courts, this creation of
a factitious, privileged class?  Does mere wealth confer social supremacy? is the falsity of caste consonant with the truth of democracy?
The abhorred relics of feudalism, leading America back to the medioeval ages, should meet with the undying hate of the true citizen, and
their partisans should be consigned to universal obloquy and reproach.
Perish forever such arch-treason to the Republic, for our existence is
only possible in equality!
Luxury is not necessarily associated with trade and commerce: a
country may safely foster the latter, if due precaution be taken to
avoid the former.  The mere fact of becoming rich, will not affect
the virtue of the citizen, if he still view as a principle above every other
293 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
consideration the well-being of the community at large. But, when
men amass large fortunes, and, retiring from their fellow-citizens into
a species of luxurious cliquism, attempt the formation of an upper class
in the midst of that equality without which democracy is an impossibility, the aegis of patriotism must be raised against the treason, and
hydra-headed oligarchism be met with that hostility which can alone
insure the safety of the Republic. The true citizen purges his soul of
all selfishness, and lives and labors but for his country.
The true, the only check to luxury is in religion, education, and
public opinion, inducing men to seek the welfare and prosperity of the
country rather than their own profit and interest, more especially
when these two are in opposition. Memorable are such examples in
all ages, and bright the instances in our own history. It is disinterestedness which gives the superiority to republicanism over every
other government; only in republicanism does this self-denial exist,
for there alone is it possible. The object of all religion, whether true
or false, is to govern human passions, to mould the human will.
Armed with the authority of its divine origin, its province is to subdue human nature-finding mankind in a state of warfare, it seeks to
harmonize the discordant elements and bless the world with peace.
Society, the association of man with his fellow-man, is the offspring of
religion.
Education inculcates the laws of this association, those checks which
society has imposed for its own safety. Religion must, therefore, be
a necessary part of all education, since man's passions are as inimical
to the peace of the State, as they are hurtful to his own happiness.
But religion and education are insufficient  to perpetuate unity,
peace, and concord. THistory gives many instances of agitators, honest,
but misguided in their intentions: such can only be withstood by the
force of public opinion. All attempts, therefore, to control this free
expression are hurtful to the freedom of a country.  The citizen must
avail himself of this power, whenever the national liberties are assailed; his animadversions upon agitators and their measures are the
power of VETO, exerted in right of his sovereignty.   When the citizen
294 
THE CITIZEN OF A IREPUBLIC.
comns in collision with such, he must freely upbraid their fickleness
and expose the fallacies of their opinions; nor will hlie be intimidated
from boldly lifting up his voice against all rash or perilous public
measures, no matter how much odiumn he may incur, nor how many
outrages he may have to face.  "Neither the depraved fury of a
threatening populace, nor the frown of an angry tyrant, can move
the firm purpose of a just man, whlo is established in his opinions."
The citizen should beware of all those measures which beget divisions in free States, and endanger harmony and prosperity. HIe must
be in continual remembrance that he is a freeman, and scorn to ally
himself with any who have not proved themselves firm firiends of the
Republic, or shown themselves unwavering supporters of the Constitution. Despising factious opposition, he will yield on minor points,
so as not to refuse his aid to the party which, in essentials, is clearly
in the right.  Socrates was explicit on this subject: "The citizen
should endeavor to persuade his countrymen of the views he cherishes
himself, if he can; but, if this be impossible, let him follow their commands." Thle very perpetuity of a Republic depends upon the concord of those in whom the legislative power is vested.
The citizen will submit himself unreservedly to the magistrates.
"To show honor to others is often more praiseworthy than to be
honored one's self:" he will recognize the power of the commonwealth in the ministration of the judge; and, so far fiom withholding
obedience, he will esteem it an honor to obey. Nor should this reverence be paid from regard merely to the office, but, if possible,
through esteem for the excellence of personal virtue, which has elevated the magistrate to power.  Therefore, should the magistrate be
wise and virtuous in order to be reverently obeyed. "Obedience
prepares men for empire."
There are certain acquirements which it is the duty of every citizen to possess.  Such is a knowledge of history, for by this he learns
the dangers through which his own and other countries have passed,
and observes how certain policies inevitably lead to certain results.
From history, he finds examples of the good and great in all ages, for
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A VOICE TO AMERICA.
tifies his soul with their virtues, and leaves their memory "a rick legacy unto his children." Most especially should he apply himself to
the study of the resources of the Republic; acquiring every detail
relative to her agriculture, manufacture, and commerce-the capabilities and deficiencies of the State-her relations with foreign powers,
the numbers of the people, and the popular feeling on public subjects.
These acquirements the citizen will find indispensable, since otherwise he cannot legislate in the general good: he must reflect that
when the Senate assembles, he is responsible for their decrees.  Armed
with these acquirements, he will be enabled to select those who are
most capable of legislating beneficially, and will be prepared at all
times to meet and controvert the designs and sophistries of traitors
and agitators. There is no higher glory on earth than in a citizen
faithfully serving his country: in the eloquent language of Cicero,
"Of all things human, there is nothing more glorious or more excellent than to deserve well of the Republic."
"The acquisition of honors is to be esteemed praiseworthy," yet
should offices not be sought for, nor refused, unless they exceed the
citizen's merit.  Hle must not disdain copanionship and counsel in
them, nor fall into the mistake that his duty to the country is discharged when his term of office expires. Aristides and the Roman
Cato were seldom in office, yet their republican virtues ceaselessly influenced the citizens.
Self-denial is the highest effort of moral courage. The citizen is
as likely to err in false modesty, as in following the dictates of ambition.  Hec should, therefore, accurately weigh the advantages which
may accrue to the State by his accepting office, and no consideration
of self-interest should induce him to refuse that which his countrymen require him to assume.  In this tespect, he will model  himself
upon the examples of Cincinnatus, Brutus, and Washington-heroes,
who lived but for their country-in whose breasts ambition found no
place-men who on their brows bore the proud boast of the Roman
orator-"Mens conscia recti."
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THE CITIZEN OF A REPUBLIC.
How shall we sufficiently reprehend the conduct of those of our
countrymen who forget the glorious traditions of their native land,
and become courtiers in foreign climes? Ansaldo Ceba, the illustrious citizen of the Genoese republic, observes: "With foreign princes
we think the citizen will be wise not to cultivate much intimacy.
When he happens to meet them, he should certainly show them  all
honor, by signs of respect and reverence; but this should suffice.
Nor should he hold any other language with them, than courtesy or
necessity may require.  But, at the same time, if accident bring
them together, or he be in any manner provoked by them, let him
with noble resentment give such gentlemen to understand, that his
republic loves liberty, and that hlie is ready to offer his property and
his life to preserve it."
Far different is the conduct of many of our countrymen, when
surrounded by all the pomp and circumstance of kings and aristocrats. Unmindful of their antecedents and the precious reminiscences
of their distant land; ignoring the slight which they are thuds casting
on the republic; unobservant of the obloquy which the titled valets
of Europe rejoice to cast on democracy, when Americans are thus
seen worshipping that system which their ancestors fought and bled
to throw off,-these republican-trained courtiers, these bourgeoisgentilshommes and Potiphars, bedeck themselves in the livery of monarchical servitude, and, like Themistocles at Persia, almost turn
traitors to their country, quickly losing even the appearance of republican virtue.  Returning to their native land, they retain and move in
a European atmosphere. Claiming the friendship or acquaintance
of this or that noble lackey or aristocratic debauchee, they affect an
air of superiority, establish in their salons the etiquette of courts, and
smile with ineffable contempt on democratic institutions. Our paintings and sculptures are false to art, because, forsooth, these travelled
coxcombs have lounged in the shadow of the Louvre, or played the
minion at Florence. Music has lost its charms, since here it is obtainable by all. Our literature may possibly be tolerated, but it becomes
secondary to the productions of other people.  America is voted vul
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A VOICE TO AMERICA.
gar by her own children, and the horrible putrescence of European
decay is inoculated into our democratic system.
Not so acted the first envoys of this Republic. In refusing court
to monarchs, they gained respect for themselves and alliance for their
country. In the utmost simplicity of dress and manner, they demanded and obtained more true esteem than the proudest nobles of
Europe-and left behind them the memory of their simple virtues,
which our modern diplomats seem careful not to copy.
Americans! will you thus deny your birthright, defame the memory of your fathers, and inspire contempt for their country in the
hearts of your children?  Oh, distant, immeasurably distant, be the
day when such principles shall become general! Where is the divine
afflatus of those heroes, who, inspired by universal democracy, rose
majestically with the people, and towered, giant like, amidst their
aristocratic foes?  Where are Franklin and Adams-meteors, flashing across the blackness of European diplomacy? Where those
ancient senators, whose eloquence, echoing through the forum, found
emphasis in the hearts of the people? Where those citizens, who
loved the Republic above property, family, yea, life itself; whom agitators dared not use-before whose inflexible honesty, demagogues
feared and trembled?
We must recall the ancient days. We must return to first principles, and study models of former years.  Our children must be
prepared with more than Spartan care, and taught how bright and
glorious is their inheritance,-how hollow the joys which are but the
gratification of the senses. The standard of republican virtue must
everywhere be raised-selfishness be uprooted from every spirit-patriotism no longer remain a high-sounding name; but the maxim be
written in every breast-My country, everywhere and at all times,the Republic, one and indivisible,-America, above all things.
298 
AMERICAN NATIONALITY.
" It is true we should become a little more Americalized."-GENERAL JAcKsoN.
THE national characters of the leading nations of the world are
clearly defined and understood. The sturdy, thoughtful, grumbling
Englishman-the  lively, fickle  Frenchman-the  proud and grave
Spaniard-the reflective and metaphysical German, are as well distinguished by these titles, as the Indian, the Arab, and the European
by their complexions.
This nationality is stamped on the individuals of the nation and
on its policy. As are the inhabitants, so are their rulers and their
measures; and the home and foreign operations of the government
usually take more or less shape from the character of the people who
support them.
In the United States there is a distinct individual nationality. The
leading characteristic of the Anglo-American is energy: he is the
energetic American. His energy is not only continuous in operation,
but wise in its aim; his enterprises, whatever they be, are admirably
contrived, energetically commenced, obstinately adhered to, and perseveringly supported.
There are other qualities which assist in forming our national character. Of these we need only enumerate,-first, shrewdness in business, enterprise, and skill; the results of which, surpassing the slow
business methods of the Old World, lead strangers to stigmatize us
as mere money-getters  and speculators.   Secondly,  rominance  and
ideality, which are not merely evinced in our literary pursuits, but
have given impetus to the actions of our citizens to no inconsiderable
extent.. A sentiment of romantic enterprise has, from the first, deeply 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
imbued the minds of our people, especially those pioneers of civilization-the hunter and backwoodsman of the West.  Thirdly, hope.
Other nations may glory in the Past, but we are the people of the
Future. To futurity we look, and as time unfolds the mysteries ofpromise,
surrounding countries behold with astonishment our progress, and even
we ourselves are compelled to wonder.
Such are a few of the principal characteristics of Americans.  Our
nationality is distinct and strong, but, hitherto, it has impressed but
little of itself upon the policy of our government.
There is no nation of any considerable importance on the fice of
the earth, that has not its own distinctive policy. Circumstances may
give that policy a shape, but it is the native energy of the nation which
gives it emphasis before the world. Great Britain has her policy,
which is called British, and France has long entertained her own.
The policy of Russia has been traditionary from generation to generation. Even Austria understands the significancy of the term, and
puts forth her policy in a shape which puzzles all Europe's diplomacy.
The policy of Germany is to keep aloof from a war which threatens to
become general. Spain is sullenly determined not to loose her hold
on Cuba, and thus her policy is known.
All announce their public purpose but America. With her, the
national opinion does not yet seem to have become sufficiently defined to take expression. It has not yet so strongly centralized its
many elements, as to assume a name. We are drifting about on an
open sea, without national compass or rudder. Circumstances alone
define the national character; a predetermined sentiment neither
governs it, nor gives it shape. We exist but to study the purposes of
other nations, having none to contemplate of our own. A great
people, we are unwilling to announce ourselves a peculiar nation. In
the front of the world in power, we are yet behind all others in a
published policy.  Fortune seems to guide us unresistingly on her
own course, while we merely profit by the temporary and irregular
favors she sees fit to throw in our way. We rather thrive by the
mistakes of others, thcni by any fixed resolutions of our own.
300 
AMlERICAN lNATIONALITY.
The picture is none too broad for truth.  It has been repeatedly
drawn by the course of our rulers, and as often silently acquiesced in
by the people.  The popular mind has long been so wrongly bent,
that the question has come to be seriously debated, whether America
shall be American, or shall become an indescribable fusion of all the
nationalities on the face of the earth!  Designing and ambitious men,
whose care is for themselves before their country, declare that America
is for the world; that the sentiment of an enlarged and comprehensive
humanity is to put aside and replace the glowing and vitalizing spirit
of nationality; that while other countries havTe been bigoted, illiberal,
or tyrannical, there is no room on the soil of America for sentiments
like these to flourish; and that we are to announce no particular
affection for our country simply for its own sake, and the sake of our
fellow-citizens, but to consider that all the world has both equal rights
and equal affections here with ourselves.
This is a most specious and hollow-hearted doctrine.  It would give
but a negative character to any country, and make it the dupe of
despots, and the football of the nations. It implies nothing less than
a complete abnegation of individuality for a State, and insists on the
formation of a composite national character which is neither one
thing nor another.  They who advocate it with such ignorant zeal,
forget that its foreign beneficiaries are armed with a national spirit
that refuses through life to be dispossessed of its position. They are
insensible to the truth that the emigrants who arrive here never give
up their love for their native land, and are never expected to make
so unnatural a sacrifice; and that one of the most notable  provisions of our noble Constitution, forever shutting out the possibility
of a naturalized citizen's reaching the Presidency, was an honorable
tribute, on the part of its framers, to a sentiment everywhere to be
respected.
It is a false and baseless plea, that if America's mission is for
humanity, it cannot, therefore, sustain a separate and distinct nationality of its own. E        xcept through an individual organization of all its
vario        us   elements, a  nation cannot in the first place enjoy any per                                14
301 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
manent existence; and except, again, through the projectile force of
that separate organism, it cannot hope to make the influence of
its existence anywhere perceived. Without energy, no nation can
even keep its place in history.  There must needs be an earnest concentration of all the faith, all the hopes, all the affections, and all the
ambition of its people around some particular objects, or the nation
falls away from its organic strength, and the desires and hopes of
humanity must turn elsewhere for their realization. From a truth so
apparent there is no possible escape. That nation only is the truest to
humanity at large, which never forgets to be true to both liberty and
humanity in itself. It may not go abroad in search of objects for
its beneficence, unti] it has first acquired for its own people the power
to bestow the coveted blessing.
In the conflict of parties, and confusion of tongues of this. present
time, there comes to the ear one voice, louder than all others. It
speaks with an emphasis, and a meaning that is unmistakable.  Every
syllable promises the inauguration of a new era. Every word inspirits
our faltering hopes.  It seems undeniable that the period has arrived
in our history, when we are to make a stand for a character and a
policy that shall be entirely American.   It is indeed a happy omen,
and we hail it as we daily hail the glorious advent of the morning
sun. The national mind is fully awake. The popular heart beats
high and healthily.  Patriotism  rouses itself from its long sleep of
forgetfulness, and liberty once more smiles serenely on lher votaries.
This sudden uprising of the popular sentiment, strikes vigorous
blows at the slothful inefficiency of character, which our country has
succumbed to, under the long-continued lead of partisan administrations. It insists on the establishment and perpetuation of a spirit of
true nationality, above the reach of political factions and juntos, and
removed from the influence of either fawvning or flattery.  Something
like this was certainly needed. America was rapidly becoming a
mark for the opposition and intrigues of other nations, rather than the
steady director of an imposing and self-sustaining power of her own.
]ler liberality was fast degenerating into a patient and good-natured
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AIERIC-AN NATIONALITY.
sufferance of all evils, instead of asserting that inlheenit force of resistance, whichli  at the very first lifted her to rank among the nations.
Her generosity was relapsing into a disease, whose ulcerous spread
threatened the final health of the entire body politic.
Under these circumstances, any movement on the part of the people to destroy and put out of sight the effete existence of a corrupting partisanship, is one which appeals with an eloquent tongue to the
heart of the nation.  It must command the profoundest attention, and 
excite the deepest sensibilities of those whose desires are patriotic.
The sentiment of nationality demands, at this juncture, a more strenuous advocacy than it has ever received since the days of the Revolution. There exists an urgent need for impressing it on the hearts of
the whole people.  This day must we assert an American origin, an
American spirit, and an American policy, or the opportunity may be
gone forever.
In the first place, we cannot treasure too carefully all those peculiar
features whether of character, custom, or opinions, that are so distinctively our own. That which lies around us, we ought to incorporate
into our being, so that it may do its natural work. Even our various
idiosyncracies of national character are worth preservation, if only
because they are Am'erican.  The recollection of them, may some day
suddenly fire a train of patriotic impulses, which will terminate in the
most noble deeds.
But, above all, our opinions should receive the tincture of a truly
national tone.  They should all tacitly refer to the existence of a
country, whose grand characteristics we each of us seek to reflect.
An Englishman will remain an Englishman as long as he lives; and
not more in his habits than in his expressed opm ions.  France, and
her glory, is the touchstone to which Frenqhrn en nndeviatingly apply
their thoughts; and these give it a shape and color that characterize
it all over the world.  So it is with the people ofother countries universally.  No matter how the national sentiment first took form; it
exists, and works by a process as secret as it is difficult of analysis.
And so it should be with ourselves.  A true Aimerican cannot con
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A VOICE TO AMERICA.
sistently hold similar political opinions with an Englishman; nor
ought he at any time to entertain the idle hope of bringing about
their reconciliation.  Between liberty and any form or degree of absolutism, there is fixed an impassable gulf.  It must remain so forever.
If the American's opinions borrow their tone from the institutions
of his country, they will be large, generous, and comprehensive, while
they lose none of that local spirit which should give them both life
and energy. They will stand as the representatives of humanity everywhere, yet never put off the national vestments in which they are
clothed. They may belong to the world, and still remain rooted in
American soil. They may strike boldly for universal liberty, and
still consecrate themselves to the welfare of that particular country
whose existence they represent. In all respects they will be original
and peculiar, free from the taint of old political systems, and clear of
alliance with tyrannies and despotisms.
In estimating the true extent of such a national feeling upon the basis.
of the records of our more recent political history, the results at which
we are forced to arrive are almost too astonishing for belief. If it be
seriously inquired whether there is any real need of reviving the sentiment of nationality, our only reply is-" Come  and see!"  And
what do we see?  A  people patiently submitting to the control of
men, who, long ago, have sunk the sentiment of patriotism in the
slough of partyisra; rulers ambitious always for themselves, but rarely
for their country; the government kept artfully in the hands of those
whose sworn fidelity to political cabals and factions outweighs the
thought of duty to that land, within whose limits all parties and all
opinions are tolerated; public men holding high offices of trust from
the people, abusing their trust without a blush of shame, and converting the administration of government into a game of chance, in
which the players are incited by passion, by unworthy ambition,
by lust for individual powver, and even by malice and revenge; the
wishes of the people forgotten and neglected; the hopes of the nation unnoticed, and the name of America receding from that height
30 I' 
AMERICAN NATIONA LITY.
of influence to which it once attained, and losing the bright lustre
which once radiated in every direction over the civilized world.
Our politics have degenerated into quibbles and personal quarrels.
Exalted motives do not enter as an element into their direction. The
country has fallen a long way behind the party in the race. Individual success is paramount to the general welfare. The triumph of a
faction, through the election of its candidates, is considered before the
glory of the nation. Measures receive their full share of discussion,
but the great principles of national existence never.   The  fuiture
seems to be unregarded, and the past is wholly blotted out.  It has
come to be supposed, that public men may be never so selfish, never
so destitute of any great national idea with which to inspire their
conduct, and never so devoted to the single interests of the political
organization to which they have promised allegiance,-and still the
nation will take abundant care of itself. Under a popular form of
government it cannot be so: a deep and strong national sentiment
must correct, combine, and subordinate all other sentiments, or it will
inevitably fall back into a secondary position, to be shaped and controlled by them.  There is no help against so serious a catastrophe.
We need but to become attentive observers, to discover that there
is such a national sentiment in the breasts of Americans, God-given
with their existence.  But it is, as yet, hardly more than the germ of
what should long ago have exhibited the proportions of a vigorous
plant. It is scarcely more than the love of home, with the untold
associations that cluster about its name.  It exists, but it needs culture. It must be drawn out, developed, strengthened, and healthily
matured. Hitherto, opportunities have not been offered. Circumstances have been extremely unpropitious. The sentiment has brokenr
its strength upon objects unworthy of its attachment, and been fwned
upon by sycophants to whom patriotism is i forgotten word. It has
been addressed by politicians who failed to comprehend its character,
and basely deluded by the appeals of those who sought its aid for
mean and unholy ends.
But,; distorted and misused as it has been, it still maintains its
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A VOICE TO AMERICA.
inherent vigor and virtue.  Its surface has been sullied, but with
time the taint will wear away. The original sentiment remains
intact.  As we remarked before, it needs only more propitious circumstances and influences to give it character and definiteness. Such
names as Jackson and Clay possess the power to draw it out into
expression, because no men  have lived who were more American
than they. They knew no country save their own. They were of
ourselves,-the natives of our own soil,-fresh, large, and original;
and to such men the American heart will instinctively attach itself,
because in their very persons they worthily represent our country and
its noble institutions.  This impulsive attachment, therefore, betrays
the existence of the national sentiment, and tells too plainly what is
required to impart to it energy of action.
When this great national idea takes complete possession of a
people, rooting itself so deeply in their hearts as to defy dislodgment,
it will not brook even the most trifling opposition on its own soil. It
is a power dwelling with the masses, that cannot be provoked or
insulted with imnpunity.' It claims an imperial sway, and exacts the
deference demanded by despotism. Nothing is so large that it cannot embrace it; nothing so trifling that it cannot invest with undying
glory. It stands for its own right, and feels itself strong enough to
be secure. Those who underrate its consequence, must fall beneath
its power; those who seek to bring it into contempt, shall themselves
one day be held up to universal scorn and detestation.
It has been claimed that, as we cannot expect our foreign population to forget the ties that hold them to their native land, and to
enter into close relationship with a sentiment for which they possess
no qualifications, we ought therefore so far to submit to a modification of our national preferences as to accommodate ourselves to their
unfortunate situation. This is the doctrine, though it is not, perhaps,
quite so plainly announced. But, by what authority are we bidden
to put off our own nationality, and go peddling it about to aliens,
strangers, or outcasts? Who commands us to exchange the immortal memories of Bunker Hill, of Trenton, of Saratoga, and of
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AMIERICAN NATIONALITY.
Yorktown, for the mess of pottage which they bring from other
shores?  What power is it that dares to exercise such authority-but
the shameless and irresponsible power of party, that forgets country,
that forgets all things, save only its own selfish success?
Our foreign population, as a body, were never induced to come to
American shores from the simple love of liberty, or its institutions.
It is no deep attachment to us, or our principles, or to the spirit and
genius of our government, that brings them here.  They can confess
to but one motive; and that, the hope of bettering their fortunes.
They come to receive more money for their labor, to provide more
liberally for the necessities of their families, to hoard wealth, and to
be beyond the reach of tyranny.
And is it not enough, then, that America offers them the free
enjoyment of all these privileges?  Is it not enough that each family
may have a farm in the heart of our rich domains, on the simple condition of their taking possession? Is it not enough that our laws are
as efficient to protect their lives and their property, as to protect our
own?  Is it not enough, that we freely open to them all the avenues
to wealth and happiness that lie open to our own citizens? Is it not
enough, that we do all this for them, and do it, not in a grudging
spirit, but out of a deep sympathy with their past misfortunes and
unhappiness?-that henceforth we stand between them and want,between them and their former oppressors,-between them and all
the  world?
Must we be expected to surrender our entire nationality to them,
and to allow them to inoculate it with their customs, tastes, opinions,
manners, and prejudices? Must we be asked to give up all that we
hold most dear, because, forsooth, in the nature of things, it cannot
be as dear to them? Must our hospitality become the means of its
own destruction, and our generosity prevent the noble objects for
which it is put forth?
A thousand times, No! We may say to our foreign population,
both in sympathy and sincerity, that they are no more than our
guests, we neither compelled nor invited them to come among us,
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A VOICE TO AMERICA.
and we do not insist that they shall remain; we offer them equal
protection with that given to our own citizens, and equal opportunities for improving their condition. But it is for them to assimilate
their ways of thinking to ours; not for us to go over to them.  If
they are dissatisfied with our opinions, they are free to return again
whence they camne.  But they shall never assume the management
of our public affairs while they are yet foreign to us in spirit; and
we will insist on exercising the right of passing upon their qualifications to a citizenship so fraught with high responsibilities. Short of
this point, it is idle to think of stopping.  To pause midway, is to
invite untold disaster.
In this country, the predominating race is the Anglo-American.
It was that invigorating blood, which reddened the battle-fields of the
Revolution.  That race has stamped its mind upon the nation, and
given it permanent character. That mind has built up our liberal institutions, through which passes the course of all our national thought.
It is the same heart that sends the life-giving blood through all the
members of the vast political body.  If other races have united with
it, they have, of necessity, merged their individualities in its overpowering current; they have forgotten themselves, and fallen in with the
wide stream of American life and manners. It remains for the original
Anglo-Americans alone, therefore, to go forward with the work of impressing all national sentiments with their own hold and free peculiarities.  They are the dominant race, to whom the possession of the
continent has manifestly been delivered. Their native spirit belongs
to thle soil. It has been strengthened through the storms of war, and
it will be nurtured in the long sunshine of peace.  Its sceptre will
not depart; and it steadily refuses to acknowledge on its own ground
any power coequal with its own.
The national policy of our country must, above all things, be decided and strong, since the nature and objects of our commonwealth
are so widely distinct from the policies of other nations. As a lonely
settler among savages must fortify his home, and keep watch and ward
against the insidious foe, so must our Republic preserve itself with
308 
AMIERICAN NATIONALITY.
scrupulous care against the infectious assaults of foreign elements,
incompatible with its prosperity or even with its existence. America
demands the careful preservation of whatever has given us our national prosperity.  Americans must be Americans; Americans must
govern America.
Under ordinary circumstances, a truth so obvious as this would
hardly need  assertion.  But the true basis of our national existence
and success, has for some years been studiously ignored and kept out
of sight by a set of wily politicians, who, reckless of the means  employed, have only sought their private advantage. These agitators
have pandered to the violent and lawless tendencies of a brutal foreign immigration, for the sake of their votes. To win them, they
have loudly proclaimed that America is the great receptacle for all
fugitives; scarcely making a distinction between fugitives from justice, and fugitives from oppression. They have sought to convince
these strangers that they had legislative rights in this country;
and by such delusive appeals have, to a very great extent, succeeded in managing the foreign vote, which, in the balanced condition of parties, became a preponderant power. These operations have
resulted in preposterous assumptions on the part of the immigrant
population, in the degradation of the average character of our own
rulers, and, to a lamentable extent, in forgetfulness of the true characteristics of our nationality.
But a true nationalism, although not inconsistent with the broadest
philanthropy, is altogether opposed to this spurious cosmopolitanism.
The laws and foundations of our American freedom are peculiar and
separate; nor is any man fitted to govern under them, without an
experimental training in them. This fallacious pretence of political
benevolence, which studiously avoids mentioning either nationality or
patriotism, and which enlarges with many windy generalities upon the
human race, the equality of man, and the brotherhood of nations, is
the merest sophism. Every man has some equal rights, among which
are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.   But th-se must be
sought by means not inconsistent with the general good.   Nor has
14'
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A VOICE TO AMERICA.
the crinminal equal rights with the lawful citizen. Hle has forfeited
them. Nor has the beggar, who does not own a foot of land nor a
suit of clothes7 in fact7 equal rights with the millionaire. He has not
the right to use as much money or estate, until he gets them. lHe
has the right to earn them, if he can, and then to use them. His
attempt to use them without that preliminary, is robbery, or swindling. Degrees of intelligence and morality also determine what extent
a man's rights shall have, in practice.  What  rights he is fit to use,
he may have. This false cosmopolitanism which would grant equal
rights in all respects to the ignorant and the wise, the barbarous and
the enlightened —wlhich would at once confer equal political privileges
upon the educated, intelligent, and law-abiding American, and upon
the foreign pauper and foreign criminal-upon the German, the Irishman, and by parity of reasoning upon the Croat, the Turk, the Chinese,
the Hindoo, the Hottentot, the Australian, the Andaman Islander,
who crawls on all-fours like a beast, and has neither clothes, language,
nor God, cannot meet with too severe a reproof, or too summary a
condemnation. As well talk of equal liberty to the philosophic
statesman or the lawyer, intrusted with the destinies of millions of
men or the interest of millions of capital; and to the idiot, who cannot put his food into his mouth, nor hide his nakedness.
Such dangerous principles, have been so industriously inculcated,
and have been so greedily accepted by the foreign population; such
a criminal apathy in regard to the preservation of political purity and
the election of good men has prevailed among native citizens; and
foreign emissaries, lay and clerical, are pushing such extended and
powerfully contrived enterprises to grasp the control of our educational
centres, our political organizations, all the springs of our national
life, by schools, hierarchies, and the filthy dregs of European prisons
and almshouses, that a great question is this day up before the people
of the United States for determination-new at least in form, if not
in substance. Under the guidance of a truly patriotic feeling we
must answer it. Clear-mindedl and true-hearted Americans are to-day
called upon to decide a question thie most momentous that has ever
310 
AMERICAN NATIONALITY.
stirred the heart of the nation, since the struggle at its birth. It is
no minor question of dollars and cents, no dispute between sections
of the country, no dreaming discussion of abstractions or political
theories, no question whether this, or that, or the other political measure
will benefit the State; but a question that underlies all these, the
decision of which might possibly obviate any necessity of examining
them-it is, Are we to have a policy at all e  Shall our American
Empire, as established with its broad and deep foundations and its
noble superstructure, cemented with the blood  and the prayers of
so many great and good men, yet exist?  Or shall it be mangled
and corrupted, perverted and defiled, to suit the diabolic ends of lay
and priestly plotters, either native or foreign born?
Here is a duty sublime enough to gratify the desires of the noblest.
The appeal is made to the true sons of America.  Shall our native
land become a sink for the pollution of the civilized world? Shall
our government, organized with a most complex and delicate machinery, expressly to be directed by the highest grade of intelligence,
be controlled by the bungling hands of the foreign boor, or the meddlesome cunning of the foreign priest?  Shall its wheels be clogged
and embarrassed by shipments of men, sent hither, apparently, for no
other reason than the deliberate intention of at once relieving Europe,
and embarrassing us?
Let our freemen reflect. The pure stream of our nationality may
perhaps endure the infusion of a little foreign matter without perceptible injury. Yet there is some injury; and a continuance of this may
corrupt the whole. Our power of resisting such influences is doubtless great, but that is no reason for the wanton abuse of it.
What then does the Republic now demand of Americans? The'
answer is easy. It is not any new or strange doctrine; it is only to
restore the principles of action which heretofore have guided our best
and greatest men. It is to rule our own country as Washington and
the Revolutionary Fathers would have it ruled; to cultivate and develop that strong and good nationality which has already carried us
so nobly onward as a nation-to Americanize America.
311 
A VOICE TO AMERICA
What were the opinions of the Father of his Country as to the
character of foreigners, and the probable consequences of employing
them here?
He speaks as foIIows: "These men have no attachment nor ties to
the country, further than interest binds them."  "I do most devoutly
wish that we had not a single foreigner amnong us, except the Marquis
de La Fayette." "My opinion with respect to immigration is, that
except useful mechanics and some particular descriptions of men or
professions, there is no need of encouragement."
" It is not thile policy of this country to employ aliens where it can
be well avoided, either in civil or military walks of life."  "It does
not accord with the policy of this government to bestow offices, civil
or military, upon foreigners, to the exclusion of our own citizens."
Even for outpost service, among the rank and file of the army,
Washington could trust none but Americans.  "l ie therefore orders,"
reads a general order dated Cambridge, Ileadquarters, July 17, 1775,
"that, for the future, none but natives of this country be placed on
guard as sentinels on thle outposts."
Can any  one doubt what Washington would now say, were he
alive, as to the demands of an enlightened and nationalized patriotism
in the present juncture. And it is well known that his sentiments
and apprehensions were shared by his venerable coadjutors in founding this Republic.  The profound and wise intellect of Daniel Webster perceived the same dangers, when he said, ten years since, "There
is an imperative necessity for reforming the Naturalization Laws of the
United States."
There is, then, urgent occasion for the re-assertion of a strong and
distinctive nationality by all true citizens of our Republic.  In despite of the certain and venomous opposition of the demagogues, who
will struggle violently, when "their craft.is in danger;" in despite of
the anger and bull-headed resistance of the ignorant foreigners who
have been trained by demagogues to imagine that the cherished firanchises of American freemen are equally theirs; in spite of obloquy
and invective, the time has come for the sons of America to stand
312 
AMERICAN NATIONALITY.
shoulder to shoulder in the defence of her free and enlightened Constitution, in opposition alike to the open and to the concealed attacks
of ruthless foes.
First, and chiefest of all, we must keep the privilege of citizenship
as a precious and honorable gift only for those approved worthy of it.
Let us not confer it upon the ignorant or the vile. Let us not cast
pearls before swine.  Why should we lavish upon the rude and vicious
stranger the birthright of our fliee citizens? In so doing, we nourish
in our bosoms the viper that prepares to give the fatal sting. When
the immigrants are fit for citizenship, then let them have it. Up to
that time, let them rest secure in the refuge which we will give them,
and be satisfied with their safety. We must educate them first, nationalize them next, but naturalize them only, last of all.
We are also called upon to select and to elect as our rulers, not
the men who bluster and prate of their principles and their devotion
to the country, or the professional politicians who want office, but the
purest and best men, without regard to their situation or business.
They cannot, without dishonor, refuse the voice of their country. We
can have them if we will. In the exercise of the powers of government by such men, we should soon see the safety of our institutions
replaced upon its accustomed basis.  Americans would again rule
America, as in days gone by; and while our great distinctive political beliefs would mark the character and conduct of our empire, we
should continue to offer protection and freedom to all, and citizenship
to the best.
We must maintain the peculiarities of our social and civil life.
We must maintain our Christian character as a nation. We must
still enforce the observation of the Christian Sabbath. We must
continue scrupulously to preserve the Church and the State separate
from each other.  We must again avow and maintain the Christianity of our public education.   Shall children be taught here in
heathen schools?  Shame on the defenders of such a measure!
313 
I, 
NECESSITY OF AMERICAN HABITS.AND PRINCIPLES.
"This lovely land, this glorious liberty, these benign institutions, the dear purchase of our fathers,
are ours; ours to enjoy, ours to preserve, ours to transmit.   Generations past and generations to
come, hold us responsible for the sacred trust. Our fathers from behind admonish us with their
anxious paternal voices, posterity calls out to us from the bosom of the future, the world turns hither
its solicitous eye,-all, all conjure us to act wisely and faithfully in the relation which we sustain."
WEBSTER.
AMERICANS are frequently reminded that national sympathies are
not to be eradicated; that the Scot cannot be expected to bury those
recollections which the songs of Burns so sadly recall; nor can the
exiled German shut out from his heart the feelings that will rise
and swell at the mention of Fatherland, or the Swiss forget his wild
mountain-home.   These  appeals come with irresistible power to
every mind, and with none do they plead more loudly than with an
American.
We freely concede the force of these appeals; for our heart would
be false to its own instincts if it did not acknowledge their power.
We would never ask our foreign friends, who seek amongst us an
asylum from tyranny, or a home in which they may better their condition, to forego and keep out of sight any of those endeared associations which give life its chief sweetness, and throw around it the
highest charm.  These recollections are sacred.  They can never be
torn from the human heart; and that would be but a wretched profession of liberty which allowed itself to interfere with their existence.
Rather would a true liberty feed and foster these deep emotions,
underlying, as they do, natures of the finest quality and the noblest
capacity.
But is it conceded, as yet, that such sentiments as these ought to
supplant principles that embrace the happiness of a world in their
comprehensiveness? Do those who plead so touchingly for the exile, 
A VOICE T'O AM3ERICA.
believe that he is to make no surrender of any of his feelings, nor
even of any of his prejudices, in exchange for the inestimable privileges he here seeks to enjoy? Why has he left home, kindred, and
friends, if not to avail himself of an advantage that is to outweigh
every other? And are we to expect that such advantages are to be
put aside for the sake of ministering to the pleasures of memory?that our fundamental principles are to be held as nothing, in order
that emotions which stir an individual heart may have free course,
even to the building up among us of new nationalities?  With all
due respect to the feelings by which our new foreign friends profess
to be so deeply moved, such a course is absurd on their part, and
inimical to our interests.
We might, very naturally, discourse of the duty of naturalized
citizens to adopt our habits and principles, before we thought of
what the advantage would be to them. But our address is not now
so much to those foreigners who come into our midst simply for a
home and its many untold comforts, as it is to that portion who have
become what is termed 1"naturalized;" that is, who, like plants removed to another soil, are there to take root and thrive in common
with all things else which that soil produces. They deliberately
declare their intention to throw off all allegiance to, and connection
with, foreign potentates, and bind themselves with a solemn oath so
to do. As soon as the requisite period of probation has elapsedwhich is, indeed, a most indulgently brief one-by complying with
certain forms, they are admitted to all the rights, privileges, and immunities of American citizens. From that hour they stand on just
the same footing with a native of the soil.  Our laws throw around
them the same sufficient protection-which, indeed, they did not fail
to do before-the same opportunities lie before them for bettering
their worldly circumstances, and the same field is allowed them in
which to expand and develop their individual characters.  Our richly
endowed public schools are thrown open to their children, that they
may go in with the sons and daughters of our citizens, and become,
like them, candidates for any of the public trusts which may in after
316 
AMERICAN HABITS AND PRINCIPLES.
years be imposed upon them. They find no restraint thrown upon
their accustomed modes of worship, but are at liberty to do exactly
as their consciences may dictate. In every direction, they find liberty in its largest sense. The single restraint upon it is, that what
they enjoy shall in no wise conflict with the enjoyments of others.
It is upon this simple principle of concession, of regard for the rights
and privileges of our fellow-creatures, that all government exists; and
without such mutual concession, a government could not stand for a
day.
Such being the position of naturalized citizens, and such the liberality of the gifts bestowed, it may well be inquired whether their
very first duty is not to put themselves in the way of acquiring our
habits, and obtaining the most intimate knowledge of, and insight
into, our principles. The inquiry seems most natural. Indeed, the
wonder rather is, why it should be made at all; for, were it not for
the strange course that popular events have taken, within a few years
in this country, in reference to naturalized citizens, it would seem
egregious to ask such a question at all. When an alien relinquishes
his obe(ience as a subject, and puts on the al!egiance which we owe
our country, he in fact becomes one of ourselves, and is supposed, by
the very act, to declare that he admits his duty to be the same with
ours.
What else can this declaration which he has made, and this oath
which he has taken, be supposed to mean? If it have no meaning,
then what the necessity of going through such a ceremony at all?
But if the forms are invested with any thing like a purpose; or any
intention is thought to lurk within their limits, what can that purpose
and intention be? Hiow shall we know, except by means of the very
plain language which the alien, who is about to become naturalized,
takes voluntarily upon his lips?
WVe should regard with the utmost aversion a native citizen who
openly, or even by his conduct, professed to set at naught the solemn
oath by which he bound himself to perform the duties of a citizen.
We should brand such a person as a traitor to his country and its
317 
A. VOICE TO AMERICA.
interests, and he would receive nothing but the anathemas and execrations of every true patriot. Naturalization is not simply a onesided case of promising; it is a matter of mutual obligation, wherein
a citizen receives quite as much as he gives. It is a contract which
cannot be dissolved except with the consent of both the parties concerned. Those two parties are-the great public on the one side, and
the individual man on the other.
No man understanding the rights and duties of American citizenship, ever could have thought he was at liberty to light or overlook
the requirements of a citizen. To imagine he may proceed so far as
he finds it for his interest, but that when he is called on to make some
few sacrifices for the sake of duty, he will retreat within his own selfishness, disregard all the demands of the common interest upon him,
and still call on government-which is with us but the expression and
execution of the common welfare-fo protect him intact from harm,
is impossible  and preposterous.   No  popular  government  could
ever exist for a day on such a basis.  The ground on which our political institutions rest is, that the general interest ought to take the
place of that merely individual. Every citizen, freely agreeing to
this, is most certainly assured that his private interests will be abundantly protected; and whatever concessions it may be needful for him
to make in view of the public benefit, will be sure to return with large
interest. All private rights being merged in those of the many, the
former acquire a new strength, are able to sustain themselves, and
never fear conflict with those of any individual.
We are hardly able to conceive how the majority of our naturalized citizens look at these things in a different light from this. Those
of them who may not do so, have yet the alphabet of political freedom to learn. They have still to be taught, perhaps by hard experience, that each individual can be free only where all are free; that
respect for others' rights by no means implies a loss of one's own privileges; and that mutual concessions, instead of depriving any of individual liberty, are rather the means whereby that liberty may become
larger and more expansive.
318 
AMERICAN HABITS AND PRINCIPLES.
When a foreigner, for the first time, styles himself an American
citizen, he feels that he has come into possession of certain privileges
that were never his before. He is a new man, in more respects than
one; he has cast off old alliances, and put on broad and new responsibilities. Henceforth, our schools are his schools; our public hlalls,
our rights at the ballot-box, our claims upon the protection of law,all are his as much as they are our own. It is but fair to suppose
that he has come into this new arrangement, not with the sole idea ot
personal and selfish advantage, but rather out of love for the principles of our system. He must have an affection for those principles,
because they allow him, as well as others, to pursue his own highest
happiness without hindrance of any description.
If this, then, be the case-and it most assuredly ought to be with
every honest naturalized citizen on our soil-how obvious are the advantages that will grow out of the immediate adoption by those citizens, of our peculiar habits and modes of thought? What a blessing it is to them, to come at once into a close and hearty realization
of those principles for which they have professed so much affection!
How much richer, and broader, and deeper will be their share of our
common inheritance, if they acquire an early possession, undivided by
the lines of any selfish reservations, and retained with all the singleness of feeling which belongs to the native born?
Taking the case of our common schools, for example, every naturalized citizen must feel that there is open to him a privilege which
no other nation has ever offered to its people. In these schools, so
amply endowed at the public cost, he finds instruction from well-qualified teachers for all his children. There they may be taught the necessary branches of an education, which in after-life they can expand
to any limit. They sit on the same benches with the children of our
most worthy citizens.  No ideas of quality or rank are allowed to
throw up the least barrier between them. They study from the same
books, and are placed in the same divisions and classes. They compete for the same rewards, and are alike honored by the commendation of instructors and the appreciation of the public.
319 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
Could any educational system be devised that would give wider
freedom, or more extended privileges than this? Is there the least
room for any man, however bigoted, to find fault with a plan of such
generous comprehensiveness? If a naturalized citizen honestly wish
to enjoy the boasted privileges which our institutions extend him, and
bringing his children to the same enjoyment with himself, to have
their minds educated and adapted to the realization of all our national
advantages-both civil and social-by what more easy and direct
method can it be done, than by taking advantage of our common
schools?  If the foreign-born parent was first led, through pure admiration for our country and its institutions, to leave the place of his
birth for our more favored land, assuredly he must be doubly anxious
to secure for his offspring every one of those inestimable privileges,
which, till now,- he has never enjoyed. Hie will be watchful, lest
some of them may be accidentally overlooked.  Every thing that lies
open for the common benefit, he will be specially strenuous to have a
share in.  Intellectual advantages he will be particularly earnest in
his endeavors to obtain; and all facilities for better comprehending the
principles and working of our system of government, he will not only
take quick advantage of in his own person, but will likewise introduce
his children to, at the earliest moment within his power.
So far, we have only looked at the manner in which a naturalized citizen should show himself consistent with the professions made
at the time of his assuming citizenship. There is a point beyond
this; it is the way in which such a newly-made citizen can acquire
an absolute advantage, by instantly conforming to the spirit of our
institutions, and to our peculiar modes of thought. If the foreigner
have had the sagacity to recognize, previously, the advantages of our
system, it certainly cannot be very necessary, at this late day, to rehearse to him what he already knows. Of course it must be supposed he had pondered this matter well before he took the first step;
but having once joined the bands of brotherhood with us, he cannot
be too forward or too earnest in adapting himself, wholly and heartily, to those institutions, the high blessings of which he seeks to enjoy.
320 
AMIERICAN HABITS AND PRINCIPLES.
It would seem, too, most natural that a stranger who had determined to (ast his lot with ours, should throw all his sympathies into
the same channel withli our own,-should closely scrutinize our habits,
our principles, our institutions,-and show himself behind no other
citizen in transfusing the spirit of his new nationality into his own
individual feelings and thoughts. He must remember that ours is a
government of the people; of that large community he counts but
one. All public affairs rest, for their maintenance and security, upon
the popular will.  If the people are friivolous, thoughtless, guided by
any less serious' motive than the single one offered by a sober and
deliberate judgment, then the. general interest must suffer accordingly. As one of the people-as a citizen among his fellow-citizens —
our naturalized friend cannot fail to perceive that whatever is done
by the popular voice, directly affects himself.  Hence he is interested
in all our laws, our customs, our habits of thought, and our institutions.  He cannot remove himself away from our midst, and deliberately declare that whatever.may transpire, is all the same to him.
He cannot conscientiously hold himself aloof, and say that he cares
neither for this nor that law. As a citizen, he must care for every
public transaction that bears upon the general welfare.  Having once
adopted certain responsibilities-invested at the time of his acquiring
citizenship-it is out of his power, so long as he remains a citizen, to
lay them aside on any pretence whatever.
The sooner, too, he enters with his whole soul into the spirit of our
American life, the sooner hlie will learn to love the new possession
that has become his own.  It will be easier for him, then, to note and
understand the practical working of many things that before were
little better than enigmas.  As his interest increases, his affection
will deepen.  As he feels his own share of the common responsibility
enlarge, hlie will likewise find the confidence of his new fellow-citizens
abounding.  Instead of being suspiciously pushed aside or overlooked,
he will find himself openly welcomed, whilst thousands of generous
hearts respond to the anxious beatings of his own.
But let the naturalized citizen keep back these spontaneous im
3 , 1 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
pulses of his better nature; let him say to himself, "I will enjoy the
full protection of their laws, but never will I subscribe to their spirit
or principle," and matters immediately assume a very different aspect.
Adopting such a course, he cuts himself off from his own rights, and
forfeits every further claim, either to the protection or the respect of
all true Americans.
If such a one league with others similarly disposed, and place
himself at the direction of any man, or body of men, to compass measures that are calculated to subvert the fair and open workings of our
political system; if this new organization, stretching from city to city,
and from State to State, bind together its cords, and weave over and
over its network of conspiracy, till it is thought that no human power,
social or political, can break it in sunder; if these men attack, stealthily, our common-school system, determined, by cajolery, by supplication, by art, or, finally, by force, to overthrow this bulwark of liberty,we are necessarily compelled to look about us in absolute dismay,
hardly prepared for a demonstration of such magnitude and power,
and perfectly at a loss to understand what may be the object aimed at.
But the reaction will inevitably arrive. It must come, where all men
are free; nor can it long be delayed, where the people are the watchful and jealous guardians of their own liberties. It is but the fulfilment of the old law, that "they who sow the wind shall, in due time,
reap the whirlwind."
This it is that has called into life the active and repellent spirit of
Americanism which is to-day sweeping, with the power and majesty
of a tempest, over the length and breadth of our land. Such unnatural and underhanded demonstrations were the only ones that could
summon forth this giant resistance to the enemies of Amenbrican liberty.  The naturalized citizen should read the lesson carefully, and
ponder it with diligence; for it teaches him but too emphatically
what is the deep meaning of those principles which Americans profess, and how completely ingrained they are in every true American
heart.
322 
THE RIGHT OF THE MAJORITY TO RULE.
"And sovereign Law, the world's collected will,
O'er thrones and globes elate,
Sits empress-crowning good, repressing ill."
MAN was created for society: the necessity of laws for governing his
relations to his fellows is, therefore, co-existent with his nature. No
community ever existed, however savage or degraded, which did not
acknowledge some of the elements of government.  The products of
the chase-the earth-hole used as a habitation-even the rude knife
and spear, have their acknowledged owners, and any infringement of
these rights, results in personal conflict. A little reflection leads us
to the conclusion, that we have no individual rights which can be
separated from our relations towards others; for if selfishness could
swallow up the whole being, then self-government was the original
law, and man, in the enjoyment of the purposes of his existence, should
live alone, and exterminate those about him; yet this is not the case.
The practical effect of such an assumption would result in destruction
of the individual; he would be outlawed even by savages, as quickly
as he would be arrested and imprisoned among civilized people. A
desire then for government grows out of the necessity of our being: it
is an appetite as positive as that for food.
The time necessarily occupied by the individual members of every
community, in procuring subsistence, suggests, as a matter of economy
and expediency, the delegation of the management of government to
one or many; and upon this necessity arise, not only the first forms of
organized society, but, from the manner in which this authority is
delegated, springs every possible form of government.
Numberless absurd theories, sanctioned by "great names," have 
A VOICE r'V AMERICA.
been proposed to account for the first formation of government.
Some declare it to be of Divine origin, and consequently a compact
between the people and divinely appointed rulers. Opposed to this
proposition, are those who believe it to be simply an agreement
among the people themselves.
To say that government exists by Divine power, is true in the general sense of all things existing by the same cause; but we are not to
stop at the threshold of inquiry by such a misapplication of a truism.  We are to consider how far that same Divine Authority decreed
that man should be left to choose and fashion his political relations.
The advocates of the Divine origin of government have always been
the idolatrous worshippers of absolutism, and no outrage has ever been
committed by tyrants upon the people, that has not had the profane
endorsement-Divinely chosen rulers can do no wrong.  But the wisdom of those fathers of our country who established the American
RPepublic rejected such a theory, finding no Divine sanction for oppression and wrong, and therefore set vigorously to work to extend
the blessings of rational freedom, and to build up fortresses against
encroaching power.
In the history of nations  and individuals which have passed
away, the idea that the only legitimate end of government is the
public good, was confined to the breast of the philosopher, or announced at the sacrifice of life by the patriot and reformer.  The organized power of the oppressor was more than equal to the undiscipled assertors of so great a truth;  but in our day, the example
the American people have set of the beauty of the practical workings of this truth, has already had the effect to make its adoption
almost universal, not only among, reflecting minds, but among the
governed of the great bulk of every enlightened population.  To
the people the importance of cherishing this idea, that government
is an implied contract, and not a Divine right, can hardly be estimated. Its simple conception is the beginning of political wisdom:
a clear and comprehensive idea of it in the mind of each individial, is one of the best safeguards of our own free institutions.
324 
THE RIGHT OF THE MAJORITY TO RULE.
Having decided that government is a compact, its operation, if
consistent, must be to effect the greatest good to the greatest number.  Hence it is evident that the rule of the majority is the clearest expression of the cherished principle.  To say that this rule is
an imperative necessity, is harsh and unsatisfactory; but to say that
to pursue some determinate plan for a general happiness among
the contradictory interests, opinions, and feelings of society-this
rule of action is the most admirable, and most in harmony with
those great general laws which bind together both the physical and
moral world-then we shed light upon the reason of the rule, foir
that the principle grows out of the very nature of the best form of
political existence.
The rule of the majority is the only one calculated to secure the
happiness of the whole, for there is rarely an exception in an intelligent community where the majority is not competent to take the
best possible care of its own interests; and the minority, having the
full benefits of the prevailing laws, will be found, on examination,
rather to sacrifice opinions and feelings than things of vital importance. In the practical working of this principle in our government, it is noticeable that however the people may be agitated upon
any question-however, for the moment, the minority may feel
aggrieved-the majority never becomes permanently fixed; for in the
constant changes of our rulers, every possible opportunity is afforded
to correct errors or soften opposition, and the clamorous minority of
to-day in a few short months finds itself triumphantly borne aloing
on the breeze of popular favor.  The keen and searching inquisition
under which every scheme of public policy passes in a republican
government, before it becomes "a law," may be said to test its value
and practicability before it has a vital application.  A  universal
agreement of opinion would soon degenerate into apathy, and apathy
would pave the way for the foot of the oppressor. The opposition,
therefore, of the minority is just as essential for the full understanding of our rights, as is the approbation of the majority necessary
to give them legal force. The clash, ill fine, of the minority and
15
325 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
;the majority, so far from marring the great design of civil institutions, contributes directly to advance it.
In its every-day workings, we find society insensibly separates
into three divisions-the very rich, the people made comfortable )by
X daily-industry, and the poor. Now the majority must ever be found
among those who are successful laborers, and it will never yield to
the assumptions of the wealthy, nor to the unreasonable desires of the
very poor. Here then we find the rock against which vainly beat
the pretensions of the parvenu, and the distinctions among those
who would even demolish society for personal gain. And it will be
found, that notwithstanding the public mind is occasionally clouded
by threatening storms, or suffers from absolute outbreak, the solid
interests of all are carefully guarded; for this conservative majority
is constantly recruited from the ranks of those who, but a short time
previously, were among the poor; whilst the pretensions rich, in the
vicissitudes that attend the holding of property when no exclusive
privileges are granted, sink out of sight before they can do any mnate rial injury by the misapplied use of their wealth.
It is remarkable that a government of the majority has constantly
set limitations upon the exercise of its own authority. The ruler,
therefore, of a republic is constantly surrounding himself with  re straints; while the ruler of a monarchy, a single individual, is con stantlv extending the gratification of his powers, and thus affords
the best illustration of the fitness of the majority to rule.  Consti tutions, however, when majorities govern, are' after all only written
checks and limitations upon the actions of men, and are created by
their powers without reference to the fact, whether they shall in the
future fall into the party in the majority or in the minority.  This
conduct, so magnanimous, has its moral effect upon the minds of
men, for it is rarely that a faction attempts to violate the funda mental law; or if ventured upon, it quickly retraces its steps. There
are always in every majority a large number of persons who will
not sacrifice to party what belongs to the country, and these indi viduals are ever ready to abandon an oppressive majority, and by
3-i6 
THE RIGtIT OF THIE MAJORITY TO RULE.
going over to the minority, restore the balances of the written con
stitution.
Il the history of our government it will be found that repeated
attempts have been made by the legislatures of our States to violate
their respective constitutions, and even that of the Federal Government. Eveiy instance has proved abortive. So many people have
instantly resented such an attempt, and abandoned the presumptuous
party in power, as to render it incapable of doing injury, and the
sober second thought of these revolutionists themselves, has caused
them finally to seek redress only through the legitimate channels of
the laws.
In the Federal Government the advantage afforded the minority
is permanent. Much as the States may differ in relative size or
population, they are equal in the Senate. The veto of the Executive operates as a check in favor of the minority, for its immediate
effect is always to defeat the will of the majority of the legislature.
Another class of checks grows out of the distribution of the government into departments, thereby separating interests which are common to all its parts from those which are exclusively local.  Another very important security against excessive accumulation of power
is the confinement of the Federal Government to the exercise of such
powers as are expressly given to it by the constitution, and the retention of the remaining portion of sovereignty in the hands of the
State Government.
Such are a few of the most prominent instances of the radical
importance and effective character of the checks or limitations which
our majority constantly imposes upon the exercise of its own authority. They are yet more strongly illustrated in the formation of the
constitutions of the new States, which, though founded upon the
principle of universal suffrage, yet judiciously impose limitations upor
the power of the majority, wherever believed to be necessary for the
public weal.
Yet all these checks and limitations, however wisely contrived,
skilfully arranged, and harmoniously operative, are mere machinery.
327 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
Notwithstanding the wisdom of its arrangement, and the applicability
of its construction, the instrument requires a judicious and energetic
hand to wield it. Indeed, its very complexity and delicacy make the
proper handling of it an impossibility to the ignorant. Neither our
own, nor any other free government, could flourish or exist, unless
controlled by checks and restraints exterior to, but necessary to the
well-working of its machinery. The real safety of our governmentits true security against oppression on the part of the majority, or
rebellion from the minority-is no mere contrivance, no balancing of
class against class, no reliance in selfish interests. It is something
stronger, safer, wiser than any or all of these: it is the uprightness
and wisdom of an educated and Christian nation insuring the justice
of the majority's decision, and the acquiescence of the remainder in
their judgment.  This, therefore, requires wisdom in our statesmen;
it is this makes our country peaceful, happy, and prosperous, and prevents the wanton abuse of the constituted forms of government by a
victorious majority.   It is these moral checks which remove  any
apprehension on the part of the minority, and obviate any vindictive
or illegal action, or even a passive resistance to measures honestly
intended to promote the well-being of the whole community, however
much they may fail to meet the views of a part. Such measures
must be maintained or opposed, not from sinister or selfish motives,
but from the unfeigned conviction that their retention or alteration
will be for the good of the greatest number.
Such is the course of every true citizen whose patriotism is not a
mere name.  A contrary action on a question pregnant with such
mighty results, is certain to lead eventually to anarchy and revolution.  From parallel scenes of civil discord —the oppression of the
weak, the tyranny of the many-there is a certain and dread alternative,-an alternative destroying every hope of liberty, blighting the
virtues of the soul and the powers of intellect, enthralling man in all
the darkness of mental slavery, but an alternative in which relief
may still be found-an irremediable, a hopeless despotism.
32& 
FREEDOMl FROMI FOREIGN INFLUENCE.
" Our virtues
Live in the interpretation of the times."
SHAKS'EARE.
IT is a preposterous assumption that any single class of our citizens
are exempted from their civil responsibilities by reason of the religion
which they may happen to profess. We are not able to understand
why all the members of our vast commonwealth are not equally
bound and equally interested in the preservation of the general
safety.  We  cannot comprehend the rule by which one man must
offer all his resources for the public good, while another, because
of a different religious profession, may remit every exertion on the
same behalf, as to him alone seems equitable or agreeable.  American citizens should permit no religious creed to teach them forgetfulness of their common country. They should spurn alliance with
every cause which leads them to forego their love for the equal
rights of all men. If they cannot stand together upon the broad
platform of liberty for the' whole human race, there is no hope left
that humanity shall be benefited.
Strange times, indeed. have we fallen upon, that demand of us a
demonstration, to any portion of the American population, of the
necessity of the duty of their most zealous support of the free system
of government under which they live. Mighty revolutions must
assuredly have been wrought in public sentiment, when American
citizens are discovered to be forgetful of their obligations to the
sacred cause of republican truth, and wilfully derelict to the high
duty they owe to the country whose sufficient protection they are
proud everywhere to claim. No domestic influence, germinating
here on the blessed home-soil, could ever have been potent to pro 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
duce a state of things so alarmingly fraught with mischief. It could
have arisen from the operation of none of those healthy principles
with which our fathers wisely set in motion this comprehensive system of peace. Alien hatred is its real author, and foreign interference is its malicious progenitor. It was produced on a distant soil,
and it is diligently sought now to be domesticated on this. It bears
the brand of foreign iniquity on its forehead, and stands confessed a
monster of too hideous a mien to be the product of the clime whose
breezes all whisper of freedom.
We will not pause to undertake the proof of what is already so
transparently obvious, namely, that both Catholic and Protestant
Americans are bound by an equal engagement to sustain the liberties
of that country whose appointed guardians they are. It is a duty
from which, while members of the great body of freemen, they can
neither ask nor expect a release. The obligation is stamped too
deeply on their souls; it is ingrained with their nature, by the process of their early education; and he must, in truth, cease entirely to
be an American-openly cast off his allegiance altogether, and forswear both the rights and the privileges of citizenship-who hopes,
by any method, to absolve his conscience from the religious duty he
owes to the country, either of his birth or adoption.
But consenting, for the moment, to set the question of duty aside,
we are left to estimate the measure of interest that should lead every
citizen, of whatever religious creed, to strive to maintain American
freedom intact from the taint of foreign influence.  Interest is sometimes a powerful advocate, when duty cannot find a tongue. Fear
often persuades, and moves to action, when a loftier motive feels its
power paralyzed and gone.
The better to understand the nature and extent of this common
interest, it is necessary first to study the character of that influence
from abroad, by whose threats and usurpations our free institutions
are subjected to peril. The grounds of fear must be accurately ascertained, before the alarmed heart instinctively puts forth all its energies for preservation.
330 
FIEEDlOM FROM FOREIGN INFLUENCE.
No nation can achieve either character, influence, or power, unless
it be founded and compacted on some particular principle. Monarchy
builds on the principle that one man is better than his fellows, and
possesses therefore an hereditary right to rule.  Republicanism cherishes the heaven-born idea that ALL MEN ARE EQUAL, and not only
equal, but free-capable of self-control, and the safe direction of their
own concerns and interests; and, so dearly has this grand idea been
cherished, that it has become an incorporated principle in the political
system, and been employed as the corner-stone of the entire edifice
of republicanism.  Here, at the commencement, all absolute forms of
government are at open issue with democracy. There is a fatal incongruity between them from the beginning. And not only so, but it is
not possible for the influence of one of them to falter in its active
progress, until it shall have finally succeeded in outrooting the other
from existences
Foreign potentates are not blind to truths of such magnitude,
looming ominously from the lessening horizon of their future.  They
understand that inactivity is destruction; that silent acquiescence is
worse than destruction; for it is a humiliating confession of wrong, to
the syllables of which they have never fashioned their lips. They start
up with awakened fears and renewed energies. Watching the constant changes that occur in the political sky, they draw themselves
secretly into closer companionship, each hating the other with the
full measure of his heart's power, but hating the new influence even
mnore. Considerations of safety weigh down thoughts of mere policy,
and they swear to forget the smaller evils in the face of one they
esteem far greater. It is selfishness that is working at the bottom;
but this selfishness is destined to perform an important work,-for it
wvill be the most active element in the destruction of every system of
government where Church and State are connected. The prophecy,
even now, is in the progress of a literal fulfilment.
Opposing republicanism on grounds like these, it is little to be
expected that foreign powers will abate a jot or tittle of the intensity
of that spirit of hatred which uniformly characterizes their action.
331 
A VOICE TO AA,ERICA.
Nor do they at any moment give evidence of its relaxation.  If
America but crosses the Gulf-Stream, their swiftest ships are on her
track.  If she treats with a nation like Texas, they are there to
whisper words of disaffection and discouragement. Our name is
employed as a term of ridicule and reproach abroad, and our soil is
considered only a fit lazar-house for the reception of all cases of
political disease. We are styIed the Botany Bay of the world,
accepting every ingredient that is offered to help build up a wild and
incongruous nation; and into our lap are poured the paupers, the
convicts, the lazaroni, the assassins, and the vermin-eaten rabble,
whose presence is a source of peril to governments whose duty it is
to make proper provision for them. We contribute of our bounty to
famishing nations, and yet are styled the most avaricious and grasping of any on the face of the earth.   Our march forward is one of
peace alone; yet are we charged with a spirit of piracy which befits
only a nation wholly barbarous. If our representatives abroad convene to confer upon the highest interests of their common country,
spies dog their steps, falsehoods hunt clown their true purposes, their
government is spoken of as an outlaw, and secret pledges are circuiated to destroy its growing influence by whatever means, and at
however great a hazard.
But this is only a superficial view of tile matter. It is not altogether
abroad-it is even on our own soil that foreign powers seek chiefly to
do the work, the performance of which they have undertaken. Knowing that if a battery is to be silenced it must be carried by a vigorous
assault, and that in order to destroy a fortification a breach must first
be made in the walls, they direct all their secret forces against that
government which stands sponsor  for free and liberal institutions.
To cripple its powe, to weaken its energy, to obstruct and overthrow its matured purposes, to turn its very forces against itself, and
thus give it the name of an insane suicide,-these are the objects
that are sought with such  an  unmistakable eagerness,  and  the
accomplishment of which wvould fill the world with the jubilations
of tyranny.
332 
FREEDOM FROMI FOREIGN INFLUENCE.
To carry forward so gigantic a purpose, there is need of the cooperation of an equally gigantic power. Such ends are wrought but
through the aid of mighty instrumentalities. Secrecy is likewise
required to insure success, to mask the almost resistless energies of
an attempt of such magnitude. Where was a power endowed with
qualifications of so peculiar a character to be found? At whose
bidding would it start up, mailed in its coat of impenetrable armor,
and exclaim-" Here am I 1"
The needed power was already in existence. It was the ultramontane party of the Romish Church, whose Pope and prelates sprang
forward with an alacrity that showed how welcome was the work.
That Church holds almost complete ascendency in the Old World;
her emissaries are prowling everywhere; she sustains an army of
secret laborers-sappers and miners of true freedom-whose toils are
never relaxed by favor, and never relieved by sleep; her temporal
head is ambitious only of rule, and her myriad children are commanded only servile and unqualified obedience. Her whole history
is at war with fiee aspirations of any kind or grade.  Her principles
are those of high-handed usurpation.  The rack and the thumb-screw
have been her barbarous instruments of discipline,-the bloody Inquisition has been the secret but terrible source of her power,-and the
Confessional still remains the silent engine of its perpetuation.
Foreign rulers, as a body, acknowledge the supremacy of that
gigantic despotism. It is one which engulfs all others, making their
assumptions appear even trifling in comparison with its own. Hence
they consider its decrees inviolable. From its high court they expect
no appeal. They, therefore, have plotted with it, and the fruits of
their machinations they promise to the Mother Church. The head
of that Church understands the plan, and forthwith sets himself to
divide and conquer the fair realms of Liberty. The means are ample,
and are all ready to his hand.  Emigrants are coming in long and
unbroken processions to America, all, or nearly all, the sheep of his
fold.  This vast mass will he secretly and silently congregato on our
soil, not for the pure and lawful purposes of religion, but for the more
15*
333 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
easy and rapid spread of his power, and the gratification of the foreign
potentates who form the bulwark of his sovereignty.
Hle delegates faithful messengers, who are appointed shepherds of
his spreading flocks. Patiently and quietly they go about their
work, carefully avoiding any irritation of the popular mind, seeking
no conflict with any existing power, enduring in silence whatever
reproach or contumely may overtake them, and striving continually
for the attainment of a single end, the political as well as the spiritual
supremacy of the Pope. This countless array of immigrants, though
they may hate their former rulers never so intensely, nevertheless
acknowledge obedience to the Pope and his prelates. That connection it is not even thought of dissolving. Yet the rulers are but ready
instruments in the hands of this Pope,-the Arch-Priest who is skilfully intriguing for the perpetuation of their power, as well as his
own. The connection which holds their interests together, is one that
cannot be dissevered.
By such a complex process is the overthrow of our institutions
sought to be compassed. Tyranny first drives its beggared population from the land, to inhabit one of the fairest and freest promise:
the Pope is the ally of tyrants, because it is through them alone that
his ambitious ends are reached; and adherence to the Church of
which the Pope is the visible head, is the first condition needed to
bring the success of both Popery and tyranny to its desired culmination. They are joined in an indissoluble league, and the same principle vitalizes both. In that union they will stand or fall together.
Popery is a political system; cunningly constructed, and energetically
kept in ceaseless operation. Its ambition enclasps the globe. Its
aims circumscribe all nations and all people. It works secretly, when
openly might be dangerous; but for evermore it works.  Its efforts
know no relaxation. It is a gigantic scheme of despotism; first
sapping the course of firee thought, and then appealing to the superstitious fears of the heart, whose sentiments are rendered unhealthy
by its enchaining wiles.
No wonder that the foreign powers who seek our destruction,
334 
FREEDOM FROM FOREIGN INFLUENCE.
should apply for aid to the head of a system like this. They must
have been forgetful of their own purpose, if they had passed it by.
No wonder that they consent so unanimously to do the Pope's bidding, if he will but engage to perfbrm a service in which they crave
his effective assistance. Hle serves, by this means, both himself and
them.  He strengthens their power, and adds enormously to his own.
If he can but rule in America, his supple minions will be no less
satisfied than himself. They do not desire a new empire; they care
nothing for further self-aggrandizement, or the baubles of an authority
that cannot fail to prove troublesome rather than profitable; they do
not seek to erect a new despotism, whose head they may, some day,
become themselves: they only wish that there may be no America.
This beacon-light of the world does but throw into deeper shadow
the realms over which they bear rule. They would have it extinguished forever; and Popery has seriously undertaken the task, determined here, on American soil, to make its final stand, and fight
its last battle. That great conflict, we firmly believe, is to be fought
out in our own day.
This is the nature of that foreign influence, exerted on our
soil, which has awakened such alarming fears in these present times.
The mask has been torn away; the monster stands exposed before
us.  So far as Romanism is only religious, it has equal rights with
every other form of worship, and every other creed in existence; but
the moment its aims become political, and it seeks aspiringly to
bring the State in subjection to the Church, that moment it deserves,
as a system, to be scouted from existence, and its pharisaical leaders
to be deprived of that freedom whose interests they have so basely
been laboring to betray.
To check the inroad of such a system of despotism, Americans of
all creeds are urged, by every possible consideration of safety, to
apply themselves without delay.   Anmeicant  Catholics  miiay enjoy
their religion, but they should  never allow themelves to the uFel for
the betrayal of their frieedom. They must see, as the rest of us, that
the- reign of Romanism in this country through its deputed repre
335 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
sentatives, is a relapse into the power of the self-same tyranny fioin
which they have escaped.  It must be plain, that whatever might be
the loss to Protestants by the overthrow of our liberties, it would
certainly be an equal misfortune to Catholics. Their interest is a
common one with ours. We have no rights to lose by so appalling
a misfortune, the privation of which would  not cripple  and injure
them as well.  All are bound up in one common destiny.  All must
know that they are to rise or fall together.
The words of Washington burn in our mlelnories at thoughts like
these:  "Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence, I conjure
you to believe me, fellow-citizens, the jealousy of a free people ought
to be constantly awake; it is one of the most baneful foes of a republican government."  And the expressed fears of Jefferson must not
be forgotten: " I hope we may find some means, in future, of shielding ourselves from foreign influence,-political, commercial, or in
whatever form  it may be attemnpted.  I wish there were an ocean
of fire between this and the Old World."  And Madison added:
"Foreign influence is a Grecian horse to the republic; we cannot be
too carefal to exclude its enztraice."  Warnings like these are not to
be passed lightly by.  Events have abundantly shown the far-seeing
sagacity of the fathers of the republic, and irrefragably prove that
their fears were founded in wisdom.  Americans  must at this day
give such warnings due heed, be their creed what it may. When
liberty is menaced from without, it should arouse us all like the
sound of a fire-bell in the night.
336 
THE ORIGI' OF POLITICAL POWER.
"For what is freedom, but the unfettered use of all1 the powers which God, for use, has given?"
COLE,RIDGE.
NATIONAL prosperity arises necessarily and only from intelligent
freedom. Nations have ever been prosperous and strong, in proportion to their appreciation and wise use of liberty.  All the Divine
teachings, whether by revelation or by human example, have shown
that the true basis of civil and political liberty-the true source and
organization of civil and political power-are divinely ordained.  The
greatest happiness is always attained by those who live in closest observance of all the divine laws of life; and this is true of the divine law of political organization, as much as it is of the divine laws
of bodily health or social happiness.
To fulfil these conditions of happiness, men must think. Just as
much as they are left to their own guidance, just so much they need
to possess and to use the power of quickly discerning between right
and wrong, truth and falsehood. From this truth it follows that we
Americans, who live in the enjoyment of a freer exercise of our faculties, and under less restraints than are experienced by any other nation, need more than any othler the full possession, and constant
and active use of a thoughtful and foreseeing intelligence.
The true basis of political power is the consent of the people gov erned; and in proportion to the wisdom of that consent is the wis domn of the government, and the happiness and prosperity of the
nwhole.  It is a melancholy fact which might be adduced in reply to
this statement, that so vast a majority of the human race has dwelt
contentedly in da rkness and chains.  But though  true, it does not 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
militate against our argument. It only shows that their consent has
not been wisely given. Nor has any such nation ever attained to a
true prosperity, or a true happiness. It is the consent of the governed which has upheld all human governments, and the refusal
or withdrawal of it has always overthrown thenm. As the nation, so
is the government. The men have always made the ruler-not the
ruler the men.   The ruler has held his place by virtue of being an
exponent of the national spirit; by being such a man that the national mind found in his actions its fullest and freest expression.
This expression of the national mind, which has always controlled
even the direst tyrannies, has found its freest, safest, and most dignified manifestation in our republic, the best form of government yet
established on earth,-which arose, by the force of necessity, above
forms and precedents, and whose vigor and vitality are sustained by
a stern adherence to the original principle upon which it was constructed,-where the majority speaks for the whole, without tyranny,
and the minority acquiesces without rebellion- and the glorious
result is a peaceful and happy unanimity.
That the will of the governed, according to the design of the
Almighty, should constitute the substance of the government, is
proved by the fact that aspirations after political freedom  are an
integral part of the human mind as created by God. Ignorance, as
we have remarked, may obscure this glowing thought, and may
apparently quench its light; but the capacity for desiring and enjoying liberty is yet alive, and the innate longing sometimes bursts forth,
like an unsuspected volcano, beneath the very feet of the tyrants who
thinkl that they have trodden out every spark of the sacred fire.  We
need not prove this assertion to Americans.  Every American feels
the truth of it, and will recognize the principle in full operation as he
looks into his own heart, or observes the actions of his fellow-citizens.
But God has revealed the truth of free political principles in other
ways than by this indistinct and feeble natural light.  The revelation
is implied often and necessarily, throughout the Biblical history of
the. Jewisli constitution and its workings; and it is once, at least,
338 
THE ORIGIN OF POLITICAL POWER.
absolutely commanded to be proclaimed regularly, in so many words.
No allegiance was swvorn to any human ruler. The code revealed by
God to Moses, was submitted to the people, according to the forms of
pure dlemocracy, and by them accepted and deliberately agreed on.
"All that the Lord hath said," was their promise, "we will do, and
be obedient."  At the semi-centennial jubilee, there was a ceremonious constitutional proclamation of freedom.  At those periods it was
expressly commanded, in words whose noble meaning and associations are sacred in our own land, to "proclaim liberty throughout all
the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof."* The whole Mosaic code
was essentially popular in character. It was calculated to develop
individual well-doing, and to permit only a minimum of litigation.
The country was subdivided into the same sort of local jurisdiction as constitutes our "townships," and which is well known to be
the strong and essential basis of all the machinery of our own republican government. The people elected their own "selectmen," or
municipal rulers.  "Judges and officers," ran the command, "shalt
thou make thee in all thy gates." There were captains of tens, and
of fifties, and hundreds, and thousands; and important disputes, upon
appeal, were only occasionally, and in the last resort, to be decided
by the leader of the nation.  The general scheme of government,
aside from their municipal authorities, consisted of the leader for the
time being, a chief magistrate or judge, like Joshua; the great Sanhedrim, or assembly of the princes, instituted by Moses and discontinued under Herod; and the great Assembly of the People, which
wielded a supreme and predominating power. Popular movements
even controlled the divinely appointed leader, thus nullifying the
divine command. The Israelites forced Aaron to make them an idol.
They all refused to enter Palestine, upon the report of the spies,
although Mloses desired them to do so.
When three of the tribes appeared to be designing to secede and
establish a new commonwealth, the rest of the nation assembled at
* These words were cast upon the old bell that hung in the State-House, in
Philadelphia, at the time of the Declaration of Independence.       --
339 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
Shiloh, and in their governmental capacity sent Phineas and  ten
princes to treat; preparing for immediate war in case of their failure.
Joshua's last public act was to convene the assembly of the people,
and to make a covenant with them before the Lord. When the
Levite's wife had been abused by the people of Gibeah, the "whole
congregation of Israel" met, and resolved upon war against the tribe
of Benjamin.
It is true that brief directions were early given for the conduct of
their king, but with a cautious avoidance to recommend such an
officer.  And when the nation at last demanded one, Samuel earnestly
and displeasedly remonstrated, with a forcible and careful explanation
of the nature of the government they were requiring.   And he
only ceased at the command of God, who distinctly attributes their
monarchical tendency to the spread of irreligion, asserting that they
were not rejecting the authority of Samuel, but of himself, Jehovah; and he orders the prophet to comply with their foolish wish,
saying, "Hearken unto the voice of the people," but only after
solemn protest. Even then; it was the nation, assembled in convention, that chose Saul, as they afterwards chose David. So they repudiated the heir, Rehoboam, who refused to agree to the sort of
Magna Charta which they demanded of him, and chose Jeroboam
instead.
The whole organization, indeed, of the Israelitish government, as
intended by God, was of the very freest and most popular  kind.
God  told them to be free, gave them the means of being free.  In
proportion as they remained free, they were happy; the chronicles
of their kings are red with blood, or black with crime.   Yet among
their kings, David and Solomon who were selected, one by God and
the other by his father, on the ground of individual merit, and not
by the hereditary right which afterwards prevailed, were the best of
the kings. The surrender of this freedom which God had given to
the Jews, was substantially the surrender of their prosperity and virtue.
At once they ceased to be freemen, and to be virtuous. Moses and
Samuel, in foretelling to the nation the evil results of the renunciation
340 
THE ORIGIN OF POLITICAL POWiTER.
of their liberty, emphatically stated that God would be displeased at
the measure, and would not hear them; that such renunciation was
especially hateful to him; that it aggravated all their guilt since they
came out of Egypt. The Hebrews were often and long in the practice of the true principles of civil liberty. Their Creator was their
teacher, and their souls were elevated and purified by the virtue and
prowess of their valiant chiefs and inspired prophet-poets-Moses,
Joshua, Gideon, Samuel, David, and Solomon. When they forsook
those principles, courage and success failed them together; and they
were conquered and dispersed into endless exile, by Assyrian and
Babylonian armies.
Thus it appears, both by the prosperous obedience and the fatal
disobedience of the Jews to the divinely given free organic law of
their national existence, that God revealed plainly and emphatically
the truth, that the will of the people constituted the government;
that precisely as that will was upright and wise, or degraded and
foolish, the government was good or bad, and the commonwealth
prosperous or unprosperous.
The whole of profane history is full of examples proving the same
point.  By  the actual choice of the nations, or by their satisfied
acquiescence,. have the great majority of rulers been chosen. The
Spartans chose their kings by vote for their ability to govern, to lead in
war, to conquer. The Athenian, and, indeed, all the Greek States,
elected their ordinary rulers, and likewise the leaders who commanded their armies in extraordinary emergencies.   Romulus was
elected, as were his immediate successors. And when Tarquin undertook to govern despotically, Brutus and his fellow-freemen taught
the tyrant a lesson, and established the Roman Republic. The popular
will of the Romans chose not only their annual consuls, but also a
dictator, putting the whole government for the time being into the
hands of a Camillus or a Scipio, because only such a man could
perform what the nation desired. The Franks and the Saxons, the
Goths and Vandals, chose their leaders on the field of battle, or
in the camp; selecting the men who could lead most successfully
341 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
the national army, and so guide the popular will to fulfilment. The
great Tartar tribes, the Huns who came into Europe, and the enormous hordes who from time to time have ravaged and conquered Asia,
all in like manner chose their leaders on account of their fitness so
to administer the concerns of the nation as to fulfil its wishes. The
Turks and Saracens, while they made conquests, were commanded
by chiefs chosen by the nation, or acquiesced under as suitable to
govern it.   The  French  dynasties  have  repeatedly perished for
incapacity, and stronger men have founded others, with the consent
of the people. Neither Meroveus, Pepin, nor Hugh Capet, could
secure the inheritance of their throne to incapable men. All the
warlike leaders who descended upon the west and south of Europe,
from Scandinavia, during the early part of the Middle Ages, were
appointed by their followers, as were, indeed, the kings of the Scandinavian kingdoms. But the citations of individual cases would be
endless. Always it has been either the actual selection of the people,
or their satisfied acquiescence, which has supported the government.
This popular appointment or permission may most often have been
injudiciously made,-the acquiescence may have been that of the
most stupid folly or sottish cowardice, —but such has been the case.
Emperors, kings, hereditary and usurping rulers, the governors of
republics and monarchies and oligarchies alike, all have rested upon
the support of the people. Whenever the government has.become
sufficiently disagreeable to the people to excite them to the proper
point, it has fallen helplessly before their wrath.  The thrones of tyrants are proverbially unsafe. Most true was that bitter and famous
jest of Dionysius with his flatterer: the sword hangs over the tyrant's
head by a single hair.
Freedom and intelligence have ever secured strength and respect to
nations and to their members. The close phalanx of the Greeks, few
in numbers but strong with the generous discipline of fieedom, mowed
down as grass the great Persian hosts. It was for such a reason that
Cyrus the Younger trusted more in this ten thousand Greeks, than in
all -his Asiatic hosts; and in that immortal retreat of which Xenophon
342 
THE ORIGIN OF POLITICAL POWER.
was first leader and then historian, through a thousand miles of hostile country not an enemy ventured to oppose them in battle array.
The proud consciousness of such powers stimulated Agesilaus, with
only thirty-six Spartans, and neither money nor influence, to levy war
against Artaxerxes, the monarch of all Asia. Such powers carried
Alexander and his Greeks conquering through a continent. Such
power enabled the small Swiss republics to beat off the repeated attacks of the Austrian empire, and made the Dutch victorious over the
veteran Spanish infantry, although commanded by the best generals in
Europe.  Such power has made England the first among the nations.
Such power enabled the Old Thirteen Colonies to resist her; and is
making the empire of which they were the nucleus, first her rival,
and then her superior. Free nations have never been conquered or
resisted but with the extremest difficulty. No monarch could overcome Greece or Rome, as long as Greece and Rome were free. But
with their loss of freedom declined their power; and in proportion
as they became enslaved and debauched at home, they were impotent
abroad. The Romans, who trode down more kingdoms than any other
single people, in losing liberty lost both vigor and virtue, and lived
ignobly, content with panern et circenses-1" bread and the circus."
Thus liberty has not only strengthened the strong, and fortified
the souls of the valiant, but it has always and everywhere breathed
courage even into the timid, and supplied the feeble with strength.
We have shown, then, that God, in three revelations, has revealed
the truth, that government is properly the free exercise of the will of
the people:
I. By the consciousness of the truth, existing in the soul of all.
II. By express inspired revelation to the Jews, and by definitely
establishing such institutions among his own chosen people.
III. By revelation to human reason, through the lessons of history.
Alan, therefore, was created by God to be free. As lie created
man upright, so He breathed this principle of fireedomn into his soul.
And every disuse or loss of its exercise is owing, as all of our human
imperfections are owing, to the "many inventions" that men have
343 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
"sought out."  Liberty is a right given by God to every individual
man.   Free political institutions are of immediate divine origin.
They are God's appointed means of insuring the utmost freedom of
each citizen, together with the utmost prosperity and peace of the
State.  They are the gift of God; and when  men refuse that gift,
they suffer the consequences.   Freedom is the life and strength of
the individual and of the State.  Its prosperous exercise demands
intelligence and union. Many causes have retarded its extension.
Physical force has predominated in the earth. The apostles of freedom have been silent or destroyed. Yet the basis of freedom exists
in every human heart; and wherever human nature is elevated,
morally and intellectually, to a sufficiently lofty position, there free
political institutions must necessarily follow.
Free government is the legitimate government of the world. It
is the one form of State authority which is founded upon the everlasting justice of God, which appeals to the universal conscience and
consciousness of men.   By virtue of the immortality of truth, we
are bound to hope and expect that it will finally become the sole and
universal government which shall exist on earth.
344 
MEXICO AND THE SOUTH AMERICAN STATES.
"Progress, the growth of power, is the end and boon of liberty.  Without this, a people may have
the name, but want the substance and spirit of freedom."-CnAXNING.
THE republics of Mexico and of Central and South America, when
compared with the great Anglo-American republic, instead of presenting any analogy, exhibit a striking contrast in their political,
social, and moral aspects. The question naturally suggests itself,
What has produced this marked dissimilarity?  What have been the
procuring causes that have rendered those States, possessing territoies more extensive and more fertile than those of the United States
at their original settlement, so weak and powerless? The problem is
not of difficult solution.
Avarice and rapacity marked the career, in South America, of the
colonial system of Spain. The interests of the colonists were sacrificed; the spiritual tyranny of the Inquisition suppressed all freedom
of thought or action; and crushing monopoly stifled all attempts at
domestic industry or commerce, —for it even denounced death against
all who were detected in trafficking with foreigners,-whilst the vines
and olives of Mexico were rooted out, that its inhabitants might be
compelled to draw their supplies from Spain; and the wheat which
the colonists were forbidden to export, was applied to fill up the
marshes. Not only did the Romish priesthood control the bodies
and souls of the Mexicans, but the crafty policy of old Spain kept
them in the grossest ignorance and degradation.
"Still promising
Freedom, itself too sensual to be fiee,
Poisons life's amities, and cheats the soul
Of faith, and quiet hope, and all that lifts
And all that soothes the spirit."-CoLEaxRIDG 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
It was remarked by the Duke of Wellington, that, in all his experience with Spanish official men, acquired during the Peninsular war,
he met with hardly a single manl whose abilities rose above the mean
est order of mind. If this be their national characteristic, no wonder
they prefer to perpetuate ignorance.
The specious and subtle policy of Spain failed, however, in great
part, of its accomplishment. Much of the precious metals became
diverted to other countries, as fast as they were robbed from the
natives of Hayti, Mexico, and Peru. Yet vast were the treasures
that flowed into the exchequer of the haughty and sanguinary Spaniards. The cupidity of Spain seems only to have been equalled by
her perfidy and cruelty. In order to retain conquests, the natives
were exterminated.  The spirit of her government was tyranny; the
discipline of her Church, persecution; her moral of trade, monopoly.
The long duration of these fallacies rendered them, in Spanish wisdom, venerable. The Spaniards believed the precious treasures of the
New World exhaustless. They imagined their power invincible:
their ambition and pride exceeded all limits.  But her haughty spirit
was doomed to quail before her rivals; and the pomp and chivalry
of Spain, like her wealth and power, became the sacrifice required of
her political crimes.
In order to a right estimate of Mexican character, it will be necessary to refer to the characteristics of the Aztec race prior to the
conquest of Cortes.* Our historian, Prescott, here comes to our aid.
After speaking of the romantic and legendary features of the conquest, he remarks:
"Yet we cannot regret the fall of an empire which did so little to
promote the happiness of its subjects, or the real interests of humanity. Notwithstanding the lustre thrown over its latter days by the
glorious defence of its capital, by the mild munificence of Montezuma,
and the dauntless heroism of Guatemozin, the Aztecs were emphatically
* The ancient Mexicanos were descendants of the Aztecas; they assumed the
name of Mexicos, from Mexictl, that of their chief idol. Prior to the arrival of
the Spaniards, they lived under a kind of oligarchical government.
346. 
MEXICO AND THE SOUTH AMERICAN STATES.   347
a fierce and brutal race, little calculated, in their best aspects, to excite
our' siympatlhy and regard.  Their civilization, such as it was, was not
their own, but reflected, perhaps imperfectly, from a race whom  they
had succeeded in the land. It was, in respect to the Aztecs, a generous graft on a vicious stock, and could have brought no fruit to perfection. They ruled over their wide domains with a sword, instead
of a sceptre.  They did nothing to ameliorate the condition or in any
way promote the progress of their vassals.  Their vassals were serfs,
used only to minister to their pleasure, held in awe by armed  garrisons, ground to the dust by imposts in peace, by military conscriptions in war.
"The Aztecs not only did not advance the condition of their vassals, but, morally speaking, they did much to degrade it. How can
a nation, where human sacrifices prevail, and especially when combined with cannibalism, furthler the march of civilization?  How  can
the interests of humanity be consulted, where man is levelled to the
ranks of the brutes that perish? The influence of the Aztecs introduced their superstition into lands before unacquainted with it, or
where, at least, it was not established in any great strength.  The
ex'iple of the capital was contagious.  As the latter increased in
opulence, the religious celebrations were conducted with still,more
terrible magnificence-in the same manner as the gladiatorial shows
of the Romans increased in pomp with the increasing splendor of
the capital. Men became familiar with scenes of horror, and the
most loathsome abominations. Women and children,-the whole
nation,-became familiar with and assisted at them.  The heart was
hardened; the manners were made ferocious; the feeble light of civilization, transmitted from a milder race, was growing fainter and
fainter, as thousands and thousands of miserable victims, throughout
the empire, were yearly fattened in its cages, sacrificed on its altars,
dressed and served at its banquets! The whole land was converted
into a vast human shamble!  The empire of the Aztees did not fall
before its time."
"The American Indian has something peculiarly sensitive in his 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
nature.  He shrinks instinctively from the rude touch of a foreign
hand. Even when this foreign influence comes in the form of civilization, he seems to sink and pine away beneath it.  It has been so
with the Mexicans.  Under the Spanish domination, their numbers
have silently melted away. Their energies are broken. They no
longer tread their mnountain-plains with the conscious independence
of their ancestors. In their faltering step, and meek and melancholy
aspect, we read the sad characters of the conquered race."
The earliest insurrection of modern Mexico against Spanish rule,
occurred in 1809, headed by Hidalgo and Allendo. Its real object
was not, however, the establishment of a republic, but an abortive
attempt to reserve to Ferdinand VII. a portion of his dominions,
whose sovereignty in Spain had been alienated to France. Su.bsequent commotions took place, when something like a democratic
basis of government was projected, but rejected by Iturbide, who, in
1822, was declared emperor by the people, but who, before a new
order of government could be organized, was, as he deserved to be,
deposed and banished;-he was but a military usurper.
In 1824, Mexico became a republic, and a federal constitution was
adopted. General Victoria was elected the first President, and he
has been succeeded by such men as Pedraza, Guerrero, Bustamente,
Santa Anna, Herrera, and Paredes, as Presidents or Dictators, at best,
with scarcely an exception, rival military adventurers.   Actuated by
no higher motives than those of personal aggrandizement, they manifested no patriotism above party purposes, and but little conscience
above self-interest. Having no hold upon the affections of the people, they relied upon no security except military rule, and this was
made subject to the greatest treachery, or to the greatest cunning.
We have a glimpse of her political condition in the following:
"The unfortunate, miserably governed Mexico, when she emerged
from her revolution, had in her history nothing of representative government, habeas corpus, or trial by jury; no progressive experiment
tending to a glorious consummation; nothing but a government callgin t' I-elf frc, be)}ith tl~e le~t!,...:; L-!, i.cc, o;.i *n lh c(wo'l.   She
348 
MEXICO AND THlE SOUTH AMERICAN STATES.   349
hlad collected, since her independence, three hundred millions of dollars, and had unprofitably expended it all in putting up one revolution
and putting down another, and in maintaining an army of forty
thousand men, in time of peace, to keep the peace."*
The pictures we have of social life in Mexico are revolting to contemplate.  The Mexicans are, as a people, a nation of swindlers,
thieves, and murderers.  Their vacillating government has proved
false to every sacred trust, has impoverished the country, debased the
people, countenanced crime, engendered civil war, and tolerated
treason.  It has ignored all progress, neglected education, and discouraged  domestic industry.  The only party that thrives in the
midst of all this im-at desolation, is the Romish priesthood. To them
belongs a large portion of the real wealth of the country. There
are in the city of Mexico alone, some eight hundred secular, and
about two thousand regular Romish clergy. They take care of the
money, and do their utmost to get it, even from the most abject, at
the expense of suffering need. It is said there is more gross licentiousness and vice in Mexico than in any other country on the globe.
The Romish Church has nowhere so corrupt a priesthood. What
moral lesson are we to gather, then, from the republic of Mexico?
Is it not surprising that it has existed so long-so racked with discordant elements, and so effete and demoralized with crime?
Peru is believed to have been founded about the middle of the
twelfth century, by Manco Capac, the first of the race of the Incas.
The Peruvians were in advance of other aboriginal tribes, having
acquired some proficiency in architecture, sculpture, mining, agriculture, etc. They knew something of the arts, for they constructed
suspension bridges over frightful ravines, although they had no implements of iron; but their forefathers could move blocks of stone as
huge as the sphinxes and Memnons of Egypt, and had an acquaintance with astronomy, several of the useful arts, and various domestic
manufactures.  They were pagans, and  the ruins of their numerous temples and palaces are yet to be traced. The great Tern
* Daniel Webster.
16 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
ple of the Sun at Pachacamac, the palace and the fortress of the
Incas, were connected together, so as to forln one great building,
about a mile and a half in circuit. Their code of civil and religious
laws were favorable to morals; and they did not, like others, sacrifice
human  victims to propitiate their deities.   On  the arrival of the
Sl)aniards, in 1524, lluana Capac, the reigning Inca, and  the fourteentli of his order, was made prisoner and perfidiously put to death
by Pizarro, the discoverer of the country, although the poor captive
had paid, according to the stipulation, as much gold for his ransom
as would fill the place of his confinement!  Although Pizarro founded
the city of Lima, and had thought himself secure, yet several insurrections ensued with various success, until the surrender and execution of
the last of the Incas, in 1562, when the Spanish rule was establ)lished.
The Sta-e founded by Pizarro remained a dependency on the Spanish crown un-til the year 1782, when an outbreak occurred, and the
standard of independence was reared, around which the iyttives rallied
with great spirit, and in great numbers.  For two years the war
continued with alt,:rnate success;  the enterprise, however, finally
suffciered defeat.  But these eff)rts were triumphant  in 1817, under
General San Mai-tin; and in July, 1821, the independence of Peru
was solemnly proclaimed, with San Martin as Protectoi.  This office
he resigned, after constituting -a Congi-ess; but its inefficiency soon
bec.ame ap)parent. In 1823, the patriots were defeated, the Congress
dissolved, anarchy predominated, and Lima again surrendered to the
Spanish troops.  They were, sli tly afterwards, partially dispossessed
by Bolivar, and the Chilians; but Peru, though fieed fi-om Spanish
subjuga.tion), was like a vessel tossed by every casual wave, unsafe,
and exposed to conflicting dangers.
The history of Upper Peru, better known  as Bolivia, a name it
derives from its great deliverer-Bolivar-is briefly told.  Previously
to the battle of Ayachuco, in 1824, it formed a part of the viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres; but General Sucre, at the head of the repul)licaus, having then defeated the royalist troops, the independence
of the country was effected; and in the followingo year, at the request
350 
MEXICO AND THE SOUTH AMERICAN STATES.   351
of the people, Bolivar drew up its constitution.   Soon, however,
domestic factions sprung up, the purity of his motives were questioned, and he was suspected of aiming at a perpetual dictatorship. He
gave, however, a noble denial to these unjust imputations, by quelling
the disturbances that affected the State, and then retiring to privLate
life.  For a time he was recalled to the exercise of the chief authority,
till 1830, in which year his death occurred. The government is still
in the hands of a President; and it may be said this republic is, of
all those of South America, the best as to its internal quiet and
prosperity, for most of them are, indeed, republics but in name.
It is needless to fatigue the reader with historic details of tho several
independent States and Confederacies of Central and South America.
Grouping them together, we may sum up the whole by saying, that
they have been but experiments towards freedom, and, without exception, unsuccessful experiments. Knowing comparatively little of the
sweets of real liberty, they seem to be not very ambitious for its
attainment; but a sluggish supineness renders them insensible to its
value.  An amusing illustration of this occurred not many years ago
at Chili.  At a dinner given to some officers of an American vessel on
the fourth of July, one of our officers gave as a toast, " General Washington," when a Chilian followed with "The hundred Washingtons of
South America!" In the republics of South America, which preserve the blood and the indolent pride of the Spaniards, constitutions
are destroyed hourly, by the will of some Dictator; and the people,
after a transient appearance in the career of civilization, fall back
into the darkness of barbarism, and are not even conscious that they
have been free for a day. Society, in short, stumbles at the first step
it attempts to take forward, and falls helpless at the entrance of that
path in which modern civilization springs forward, radiant and
proud, to the goal.*  While we, in common with the civilized world,
have been constructing our railroads and steamships, many of the
natives of these States pursue the barbarous custom of travelling on
the back of a man, or of a mule, and thus pursue journeys of several
* Malte-Brun. 
A VOICE TO AMIERICA.
days across a stony and rugged country. Every species of social
and moral degradation seems to prevail.  The principal occupation
of the wealthier class consists in doing nothing; that of the majority
something worse-surrendering themselves to filthiness and vice.
It has been already intimated that the superior progress in civilization of the United States is the fruit of the Protestant faith. It is
to the refining, elevating, and hallowing, influences of a pure Christianity, that we trace the high developments of social and civil order
to which Protestant America has attained.  The Bible is the bulwark of a nation's safety and success. Need we proofs, we have the
fact amply illustrated in the comparative civilizations of the northern
and southern portions of our own continent.
A few men land, one by one, on the shores of North America, poor,
humble, and unknown; they bring with them but one book, the Bible;
they open it on the rocky strand, and begin immediately to construct
their infant community or commonwealth in accordance with its sacred order, subordinating all to its claims. Their sympathies and aims
are one in the common fiith, and hope of its teachings.  Amid the
frosts of winter, and on a rugged, sterile soil, yet are they all undis
mayed.
"See the calmness and boldness of these men: we discover in the
constitution of this rising empire, the fire of Luther united with the
coolness of Calvin. Fancy pictures the scene all glowing with Christian beauty and heroism; with the sound of the axe and hammer,
mingles the chant of a psalm. Their firm faith in the favor of their
God renders them indifferent to dread of the desolate wilderness.
The light of Heaven sanctifies their toil; and by a sort of social miracle the wilderness, and the solitary place, is made to blossom as the
rose.  Where once was the rude wigwam of the savage, we now behold thousands of cities, towns, and hamlets, filled with the abodes of
peace and plenty.
"Look we on another picture.  The proud monarchy of Spain sends
her stately viceroy and armament, accompanied with the sanctions and
pomp of Rome, to a country and a clime of luxuriant fertility, and which
352 
MEXICO AND THE SOUTH AMERI\AN STATES.   353
is known to abound in the precious metals. As if to render the contrast
of circumstances the more convincing, nature herself seems to echo
to her Maker's voice. In order that the test may be the more decisive,
every physical advantage seems to be in favor of the mission of Romianism.  But while all around is'grand and gigantic, glowing with
exuberant life and fertility, man is here in weakness, imbecility, and
vice. He is under the vassalage of a spiritual thraldom, which effectually prevents the development of his moral and intellectual nature.
To all the noble incentives to action he is alike indifferent; he is the
victim of supineness, indolence, and immorality.
"What  means this wondrous sterility in a new world, except that
the idea brought thither had given elsewhere all its fruit; that Romanism, essentially conservative during three ages, has lost power of
impulse-the creative spirit; and that, henceforth, she is incapable of
giving to the wide expanse the word alone pregnant of a new social
world; that her soul, imprisoned in the cathedrals of the rnedieva]
ages, has no longer the strength of divine tempests to purify chaos and
baptize continents.
"Let these nations of the South do what they will, they end inevitably by realizing in their government the ideal which they have inscribed on their state religion, that is, absolute power. All they can
do is to change dictators, and thus we see them succeed in nothing
but in tightening the bands of their thraldom. Progressive punishment! South America lies as it were at the foot of a vast upas-tree,
ever distilling its torpor, while the trunk, rooted in another continent,
remains visible."*
"The Spaniards, in spite of unexampled barbarities, which have
covered them with lasting shame, have not succeeded in exterminating the Indian race, nor even in hindering their sharing their rights.
The Americans of the United States have attained this double result,
with a wonderful facility; quietly, legally, philanthropically, without
bloodshed, without violating, in the eyes of the world, any of the
great principles of mnorality."t
t De Tocqueville.
* M. Ouinet. 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
If respect for its laws be the test of the morality of a country, tho
South American States will be found miserably bankrupt in this particular: for hardly a day passes that is not the witness of the exectu tion of some political offender, while "the United States of North
America," writes M. De Tocqueviile, "is, I think, the only country
upon earth, where, for the last fifty years, not a single individual has
been put to death for political crimes.  There is not a single manufactory in Buenos Ayres that takes advantage of the products of the
soil: thus the country grows poorer and poorer.* It is the same in
all the republics of South America.   The laws are wholly inoperative to suppress crime, consequently vices of the most hideous and
revolting character obtain to an alarming extent.  The social relations of life are in a state of moral putrefaction-the most extreme
licentiousness prevails, and society exists only in name; its phases are
as dark and degraded as in pagan lands. What a fearful responsibility, then, must attach to that pretended system of religion which,
having absolute will over the minds and property of the people, can
sanction and perpetuate such a state of things!
The South American "republics" teach the people of the United
States the evils of a corrupt religion connected with the State, and
the fearful consequences of intestine broils. Every month witnesses
a revolution in some one of these distracted countries; and in the
objectless struggles, neighbors and relatives imbue each other's hands
in fraternal blood. Military executions constantly take place, and the
Patriot, and the ignorant victim of designing usurpers, are shot like
dogs, and consigned to the earth. The imagination cannot comprehend the future of these couitries; they seem every year to fall lower
and lower in the scale of civilization. Arts, commerce, and the fiuits
of peace are decaying away.   Nothing flourishes, but the processions
-the feast-days-the pomps and ceremonies of the Roman Church.
* M. D'Orbigny.
354 
AMERICA, THE THEATRE OF THE GREAT
DEMONSTRATION.
' Into the full enjoyment of all which Europe has reached only through such slow and painful
steps, we sprang at once, by the Declaration of Independence, and by the establishment or free
representative government; government, borrosving more  or less from the models of other free
States, but strengthened, secured, and improved in their symmetry, and deepened in their foundation, by those great men of our own country, whose names will be as familiar to future times as
if they were written on the arch of the sky."-WEBsTER.
IT must strike every reflective mind, that ours is no history of
mere chance, or even of simple fortune.   This gigantic country,
stretched between so many parallels of latitude, its shores washed
by the two great oceans of the world, its past so wonderful, its present so great with mighty promises,-this America does not exist
without  a purpose, as if the careless hand of Chance had originated it, with no designed place among the other countries of the
world; and no grand promise to perform for the regeneration of mankind. It is not possible, even for him who affects to disbelieve in
the providence and the power of a God, to imagine that an existence like ours ever sprung out of the chaos of accident, or was the
unlooked-for fruit of circumstances which never felt the guidance of
a Supreme, controlling hand.
That we are specially deputed to begin and to carry out successfully the greatest social and political problem in the world's destiny,
is enough to fill the breast of every man with hope-felt determination, for it commands our thoughts, our energies, and our faith.  The
sooner our citizens recognize this feeling, the speedier and the more
energetic must be the steps in that great demonstration in which we
are certainly the accredited principals.  If individuals h.ave a destiny
marked out for them, suited to the inclinations and endowments of
their-natures,-must it not be equally true that nations, made up 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
of vast masses of individuals, with all these same endowments and
inclinations, have as large a share in the plans of that Providence
which both rules and loves the world?
In our country, all things are new; and we ought heartily to thank
God for having.cast our lot, with this mighty experiment, too, in our
keeping, in a locality where the fetters that belong to an old and
effete society are not known.   We  often speak of our vast virgin
soil, hiding nutriment enough in its bosom to sustain the entire
population of our globe; but have we not as good cause to boast
of that fresh and virgin-like way of thought, and that childlike and
impulsive style of sentiment, which hitherto has made the despots
and proud nobles of the Old World regard us with ineffable disgust,
but which is now beginning to challenge real respect and admiration
eve'ywhere?
Yes,-let us thank God that with us, in this experiment on which
we have entered, all things are new. Let us sing praises that we
are neither hemmed in by any other tyranny than what we are free
to impose upon ourselves, nor made timid by any of those eternal
suspicions which rob older nations of their energy and their peace.
It is sufficiently apparent to even the least attentive observer, that
the masses of Europe are fast growing restive under the old yokes
and dominions; that the instinctive sentiment of manhood is rapidly
rising and overgrowing every other idea in the breasts of the governed; that the millions of silent subjects in Europe are expectant
of a dawn that shall call on them to rise from their sleep to the freedom of a glorious day. Who can tell how much of this is the natural result of our own quiet and dignified example? Or who will say
how much these events in the world have, under God, been hastened
by the steady and silent illumination which we  have been offering
for now three-fourths of a century? Such things as these are evidences enough of the depth of the sentiment of freedom, native in
all breasts; as well as of the strength of that influence which our
own country must of necessity exert wherever her institutions are
generally known.
.356 
THE GREAT DEMONSTRATION.
The past history of the world points with an unerring finger to
America as the nation where all its old, and bloody, and unhappy
experiences, are to be spoken of only as things belonging to darker
times, to clouded intellects, and corrupt hearts; where what was
bad is forever to be put behind us, and what is good is forever to
allure us along; where oppression shall cease to be the law, and
freedom no longer be the exception; where those true and lofty sentiments which belong to the human race, are henceforth to be allowed
room for indefinite expansion; where government is to cease to be a
crushing process upon the integrity of the heart and intellect, but is
to take its very root and sustenance in the intelligent consent of those
who are governed; and where the great truth, that peace is the natural political condition of the human family, and love is the loftiest
and most absolute law, is to be not simply propounded, but proved.
Such are the important truths to the existence of which we, as a
people, are to testify.  This is the time for us to bear willing testimony, as we are the nation to whom the responsibility has been intrusted.  Whether we will or no, our destiny, our history, our nature, our geographical position, our very inclinations,-all conspire
to point us to our duty.
If we will but take the map aid glance at the present geographical boundaries of our country, we shall see in a moment what a wide
field for carrying forward this great political experiment we are in possession of. We people a variety of climates, such as no other nation
on the face of the earth ever held direct ownership in.  Our soil is
calculated to furnish all the productions needed for the comfort and
sustenance of man. We lie between the extreme latitudes of the
temperate belt of the earth's surface,-a position of infinite consequence, when considered in connection with the world's past history;
for it has been said with truth, that in none but temperate climates
have the great deeds of human history been performed. The statemnent is well worth serious thought: it is, that nations only that are
occupants of the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere, ever
governed the world.
16*
35T
0 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
Let us see how such a statement is supported by facts:
Below the tropic of Capricorn, there is hardly enough of Africa to
attract notice. South America lies chiefly between the two tropics,
and has never brought forward any special claims either on the world's
notice or admiration. Within the Arctic Circle, there is no better
hope held out to the world; nor, in fact, has it ever been at all different through the whole course of history. Only one almost eternal
winter reigns, against the long torpor of which men have but a very
brief time to make provision, and during which term, all life, whether
physical or spiritual, seems wrapped in fatal lethargy.
Now, if we leave these two extremes of the earth's surface, and
come within the limits that geographically form the temperate zone,
we find, in the first place, Asia, with a population of from five to six
hundred millions, swarming, like bees in a busy hive. What great
events in the drama of the world's history has  not Asia brought
forth? On her prolific soil was set the cradle of mankind; there
Christ was born, there he delivered his message of love to mankind,
and there was he at length crucified. There, too, were the great and
powerful cities of antiquity; there lived and reigned David and Solomon; there spake the Apostles and the Prophets. The arts first
saw their existence there-and sciqce, and learning, and religion.
In Asia, commerce first made men restless and energetic, and drove
them to seek shorter routes to the parts of the world beyond them.
In Europe, the illustration is still more complete. There, exists a
population numbering about two hundred and fifty millions, of various races and languages. In resources of every description-physical, intellectual, or purely spiritual-that population is astonishingly
rich. We need but rehearse their deeds, to convince our reader
of the vast native superiority of such a people over all others of the
Old World.   We have only to mention the names of Greece and
Rome, to start in every mind the right thoughts on this subject. Of
the world's great poets, who has not heard of Virgil and Homer?
Of her orators, to whom are*not the names of Demosthenes and
Cicero familiar?   Who has not yet heard of Plato? of Socrates? of
358 
THE GREAT DEMONSTRATION.
Aristotle? of Alexander. And to whose ears are not the sounds of
both Caesar and Brutus like "household words?"
But such an historical recital is needless. Every intelligent American citizen is well aware of the truth of these things, and how forcibly
they bear on the point which we design to illustrate. All tend to show
that over this belt of the temperate zone have passed, from the beginning, the power, the energy, and the promise of the world's final
exaltation and redemption.
Exactly within this same favored limit, lies our own country. The
United States of North America form a new nation in the history of
the world. We are a people, likewise, whose government, both in its
form and principles, is wholly peculiar. Nothing like it has the
world ever seen or known before. In developing the details of such
a form of government, we certainly have shown ourselves, thus far,
both apt and energetic —shrinking from no responsibilities, and rising
to the heights of heroism itself by the mere force and fulness of faith
in our destiny. Hiaving sprung from a race peculiarly educated, by
means of the experiences of the generations gone before, we were
first fitted, by this wise dispensation of Providence, for the reception
of the broad and deep principles which pertain to our civil existence.
We have, then, to say, in the first place, respecting ourselves, that
though perhaps as yet behind some of the European countries in particular fields of science, or literature, or general learning, we may,
nevertheless, challenge the whole world in fair comparison with our
people for general intelligence, for intellectual activity, for practical
learning, for bold and comprehensive thought, and for striking and
energetic action. The Americans combine elements in their charac ter that no people, as a whole, ever possessed before.  No sooner
does a new or progressive idea become born in their brain, than it
is forced into the notice and approbation of the world.
See how we cut the waters of rivers thousands of miles long, and
plough our way majestically across the stormiest ocean of the globe.
Count up the almost interminable lines of railroad over which steam
is made to whirl us every day, and destined yet to lace a continent
359. 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
many times across.  See with what overwhelming yet steady energy
we tunnel mountains, skirt fearful precipices, fly over rolling prairies,
and drive on with a noise of thunder to the extreme boundaries of
the broad continent.  All this, too, the work of a small cycle of
years. And our experiments with electricity-what amazing wonders have been wrought in the briefest breath of time   The world
may well look on astonished, though it hardly fills us at home with
the same emotion.  We comfiprehend now the answer to the sublime
question put to Job: "Canst thou send lightnings, that they may
go, and say unto thee,'Here we are a"  And we feel that this is
all but an experiment as yet, and so toil earnestly on after new victories, and the achievement of still grander successes. We are not yet
content with this; we are content with nothing. Our action is fully up
with our national motto, that watchword of the future-" Onward!"
We have conquered earth, air, water, and lightning successively.
We have taught mankind how all things were at the first designed
for their happiness and comfort, and that nothing was wanting but
ingenuity and energy to unlock the hidden treasures of a globe.
Our material greatness is not paralleled by that of any nation in
existence. Wealth has flooded our coffers, and enabled us generously to offer a helping hand to the less fortunate ones of the world.
Power has consequently increased, until we are acknowledged to be
one of the great nations of Christendom-a nation on which are fixed
the eager eyes of all mankind.  And, to carry out the point still further, our population has increased in a ratio that seems really incomprehensible. The mind itself is hardly rapid enough to keep pace
with the facts thus presented. It cannot be very long, at the present
ratio of increase, before we shall have a population on our soil denser
even than that which makes old China the standing wonder of the
earth. And this crowded and busy people, alive to the vanquishment
of time, space, and matter, must be the people from whose midst will
go forth the manifold influences that are to subjugate all men and all
things to their high sway. We do not contend that this new government will be in any way related to the tyrannies that have hith
360 
THE GREAT DEMONSTRATION.
erto cast nothing but gloomy shadows over the hearts of mankind;
nor that it is to seize hold of men and compel them to obey, or even
to believe; but that in such a government will reside the spirit and
essence of freedom, more than any other element,-that it will bring
all men eventually out of political darkness into a world of mental
light,-that it will succeed everywhere in establishing and vindicating individual manhood,-and that, with their native rights restored
to them, men will at once feel new responsibilities, and assert their
true claims to all that is high, and great, and holy in their nature.
This is plainly our mission. Is it not one of unsurpassed grandeur,
both in itself and its results? Power for ages has gradually been
moving westward, exactly through this geographical belt of the earth.
Each successive step has been attended with still more important
results.  Every westward remove of this power has been marked
with the burning of a still brighter light, and has left behind it a
still more luminous track for mankind to gaze upon.  It has now
struck the Atlantic shore of North America, and, in a space of time
almost incredible, has pushed its rapid way to the Pacific boundary.
When it leaps that ocean, it gets back on its old ground again, and
thus in its course the highest form of civilization has girdled the
world.
Young and vigorous as America is, its youth and vigor are not to
be wasted in dreams. Nor is there much fear, either, that such will
be the case. Some timidly caution us against going "too fast," professing ignorance of where our destiny may lead us. That, however,
seems plain enough to a mind possessed of true faith. Our course is
clear; our mistakes are soon corrected by the aid of experience; our
successes overwhelm the warnings of the hopeless, and bid us on.
We see, then, that the United States offer the field for the fair
trial of this great experiment of man. The experiment is,-to learn
whether men are of more worth than things; and if autocracies,
and monarchies, and all tyrannies,-disguise them as you may,are not violent usurpations of the very laws of existence. Upon
our fortunes rests the destiny of the world. Our success and our
361 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
example are making all peoples restive; our moral strength is more
powerful than fleets, more dreaded by tyrants than unnumbered men
in arms. We are to conquer, but not by the sword. We are to
subjugate, but not by violence. All nations are to come under the
sway of our principles, but never are they to pass under any yoke.
All is to be freedom and light, and the eye is to see as clearly as at
the noonday. Whatever is done, will be done in the direction of a
single purpose: and that is, the emancipation of our race. We are
not working for mere wealth; nor position; nor social consideration;
but while laboring for all these, we are insensibly helping on the
great cause, and solving the grand problem of a world's freedom.
America —not even yet thinly populated-is the battle-field where
the contest is waged between the armies of freedom and tyranny,
Every sign points to this imposing fact. Here. the last great onset
must be made by the phalanxes of darkness, bigotry, illiberality, and
bondages of all descriptions; and, under God, if AmericanIs are but
true to themselves and their principles, here will occur a glorious
victory for freedom and truth-a victory having the regeneration of
man for its object, and the happiness of the universe for its result.
*
362
I 
SECRET POLITICAL ASSOCIATIONS,
THEIR USE AND ABUSE
"A proper secrecy is the only mystery of able men: mystery is the only secrecy of weak and
conning onesl."-CHESTERFIELD.
"A fool's mouth is his destruction."-SOLOMON.
A GREAT outcry has, of late, been raised against the use of Secrecy
in political organization and action. It seems to be taken for granted
that a secret mode of-operation is sufficient to condemn the operator
and his work, with all honest men. The prevailing mode of discussing the question is so very shallow and insufficient, that we shall here
attempt to put it in its proper light, by considering the principle of
secrecy in human action, and secret practices in American politics.
Very little argument is needed to prove, in general, that Secrecy,
in itself, is of an indifferent quality, neither right nor wrong; and
that it is only the use or abuse of it which renders it good or bad.
Christ himself expressly enjoined secrecy in the performance of good
deeds, with a force which he could not express, except by the Oriental
hyperbole of commanding that the left hand should not know the
doings of the right. Neither such actions, nor the personal religious
exercises of his disciples, were to be spoken of or known farther than
was unavoidable. Such concealment was. practised by the Great
Master himself. Again; how many human beings would like to be
deprived of the use of secrecy? What would become of the shrewd
enterprises of business men, if they could not keep their secrets until
they are ripe?  How endurable would it be to men in general, to 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
know that all their memories and all their hopes-the faults they
would fain forget, and the plans they would fain pursue-were to be
seen and known of all men? As long as there are individual in terests and human imperfections, so long must secrecy be all indis pensable ingredient of human life.  If the world were perfect-which
would make it heaven-secrecy would be needless.  Until then, it is
not only proper and useful, but absolutely indispensable; although,
like every thing else, it may be perverted to wrong uses.
Without further inquiry into a truth so abstract, and so unlikely
to be denied, the proposition may now be laid down, that Reforms
(real or pretended) directed ayai?st powerful existiny interests, beygin
with Secrecy.  Secrecy was the cradle of Christianity-the greatest
Reform movement the world ever saw. Christ himself trusted in his
Divinity; and knew that before his time no hands would be laid on
him.  Yet how often did he conceal himself from his enemies, once
even by a direct exercise of miraculous power? And after his death,
it is a fact as notorious as any in the whole range of history, that
without a practice of concealment more elaborate and profound,
perhaps, than any other ever known, the new-born faith would have
been exterminated from the face of the earth, simply by the nmurder of every professor of it. For years and years together, every
discoverable Christian had forthwith to choose between apostasy
and death. The reason is clear. Christianity was held to be at
enmity, first with the established religion of the Jews, the most
ferocious and unrelenting of bigots, and afterwards with the Roman
Imperial Power, the greatest existing interest on earth.* At the beginning, the weak young twig had to be hidden from the destruction
with which all the powers of the earth menaced it. But as it grew
up into a noble tree, it threw off its cloak of secrecy. It retains it,
however, even to the present day, in countries under the domination
9f savage Paganisms, or scarcely less savage Romanism.
The lesser reform movements before the great Protestant Reforma
* De Quincy, Hist. and Crit. Essays, vol. ii. Secret Societies, p. 338.
364 
SECRE~ POLITICAL ASSOCIATIONS.
tion in the sixteenth century, and indeed that Reformation itself, took
more or less refuge in secret investigation and secret communion;
and for the same reason, viz., that open profession would have endangered the whole movement.   Luter, proclaiming aloud his earliest
doubts of the Romish doctrines, would have suddenly and silently
disappeared. Indeed, it was only a like disappearance into the
friendly concealment of the Wartburg, that saved him from the
actual gripe of the iron-handed Church of Ronrie. Wicliffites and
Hussites, wherever they could be hunted out, followed the fiery path
to Heaven trod by their bold teachers, whose Reformations were substantially quenched in blood.
The Poin,shl Church is a secret organization.  It distinctly claims,
and always attempts (and has too often succeeded), to over-influence
and thoroughly control and direct all civil governments. For this
purpose, as well as for thpurpose of retaining a good hold upon the
people at large, its constitution has always been essentially secret.
It, has operated through mystic forms.  It uses an unknown- tongue
in its ritual.  It wields a secret influence through the confessional.
It centralizes its power in the hands of one man, and so proceeds that
the masses of lay members, who  are the basis of that power, are
utterly ignorant of the mode of its use.  The two great instruments,
moreover, of the Romish Church-tl* two griping talons which serve
it as his two great claws serve the lobster, to seize, hold, and crush
its victims-are the Jesuits and the Inquisition.  The Jesuit claw is
for governments and nations, the inquisitorial claw for individuals
It is unnecessary to show how secrecy is the very life and breath of
these wicked engines. They could no more live or work without it,
than a fish could breathe without water.
This secret plotting of the Romish Church, and the secret manoeuvring of its two ministering spirits, have become so notoriously and
undisputedly believed, that they serve to supply some of the commQonest and most forcible words of the English tongue. Seek out a
name for some false and treacherous proceeding; for some revoltingly
tyrannical piece of oppression under forms of legal inquiry; or for
365 
VOICE TO AMERICA?
the man guilty of such things;-the proceedings, you say, are  a
Jesuitical plot; or they are an Inquisitorial proceeding.   The man is
a Jesuit; a crafty, Jesuitical fellow.  Fasten those names on him or
his schemes, and whatever an ill none can do, is done.
Yet notwithstanding this secret character-perhaps we should say,
according to it-the Romish Church has invariably soughtto destroy
all secret organiizations not professedly subordinate to it, by arms spiritu1 a-id temporal-sometimes by cursing, and sometimes by burning.
Thl, Fireemasons were excommunicated by a Bull of Clement XII.
Freemasonry has been the crime for which many victims of the
Roman Inquisition have died in the fire, or suffered torture and confiscation. The purely literary or philosophical Illuminati and Rosi.eCrucians in Germany, the Carbonari in Italy and France, the Freemasons and Odd-Fellows everywhere, have operated under open
opposition, and even actual persecution. *
To leave organizations distinctively religious-The Illuminati and
Rosicrhcians, although they proposed only philosophical investigations, or the moral and intellectual improvement of their members,
yet used doctrines so liberal as not to be orthodox in the estimation
of established governments; and therefore necessarily worked secretly,
as long as they existed.  The United Irishmen, who aimed at establishing an independent government in Ireland, worked in the profoundest secrecy; were a terrible bugbear'to the English government,
and were finally suppressed by it.  The Italian Carbonari, as well as
their successors who are yet seeking the freedom of Italy, held their
lives in their hand. They existed, as they yet exist, only because
the Romish despots of the Peninsula could not find them. Patriot
Republicans, seeking the freedom of Hungary, yet live amidst the
oppressive and penetrating espionage of Austrian soldiers and Austrian pettifoggers, solely by secrecy. The bullet, or the hangman's
rope, would be their portion within the day of their discovery.
But it is needless to multiply instances. In religious, politicoreligious, and political movements alike, for purposes good or bad,
in every case when they have directly or indirectly opposed strong
366 
SECRET POLITICAL A SSOCIATIONS.
constituted interests, secrecy has been an element.  Especially, it is
hardly possible to name  an important political enterprise, successful
or not, which has not been nursed under a secret shadow.   Our own
history informs us, that the C(onvention whtich, f-racned the Coristitution
of the Uti&ted States s#t Wit!, CLOSED DOORS fi'omi the 25tlh of May,
to the 17 th of September f.ollowing.
Few words, indeed, are more ifamiliar to the reader of history, than
)iot andcl conspiracy.  We barely suggest the English Revolution of
1688; the Irish revolutionary efforts fiomil 7l80 to 1848; the various
French Revolutions; the Hungarian Revolution; the Italian, German,
and other Continental Revolutions of 1848; the periodical pop-gun
revolutions of Mexico and Southl America; and our own Revolution
of 1776.  The beginnings of such enterprises, according to the Greek
fable, must be hidden, as the baby Jupiter was on Mount Ida, otherwise they will be swallowed up by the powers that be; as Saturn,
the constituted authority of the period, swallowed up all Jupiter's
little brothers and sisters; and for a like reason.   The old monster
knew that it was foretold that one of them should supersede him.
But when the new-born power has strength enough to proceed
openly, it does as Jupiter did-it vigorously assaults and dethrones
the wicked Titans.
In the political management of the present day, more peaceful
phases of the spirit which operated the bloody plots of old times, yet
prevail.  Secret political machinations are perhaps as numerous, and
as harmful, in our free nation, as in any other.  Our parties originate
in secret scheming, and are managed by secret scheling.      lho
knows the facts of the political life of any leading politiciarin of the
present century?-bhow he secured a nomination; arnaniged with the
"fiiends" of this or that rival; secured the support of tiii or that
leading newspaper?  Mackenzie's notorious'Collection of Letters is a —
series of confidential communications passing among the set of New
York politicians, of whom Martin Van Buren was one.  It furnishes
a great mass of details relating to the mingled threads of their personal and political fortunes, as unreservedly discussed amnong them
36,7 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
selves.  That collection, embracing many documents referring to the
lives and fortunes of Van Buren, Iloyt, Swartwout, B. F. Butler, Cam   brcleng, and the numerous tribe of their allies and followers, furnishes
the best illustration ever yet piublisle(l, oe the spirit and practice of
American l)]iticians.  A,(I throughout the long and tortuous series
of transactions of wNhich it tieca-ts, it is secrecy always, and inviolable,
which is assumed to be the cloak and necessary medium of all the
enterprises and combinations.
WTas it open management that organized the opposition that lat   terly arose against Washington's administration, under the name of
the Republican party?  Was it open management that nearly made
Aaron Burr President of the United States? Is it open management
that at the present day presents candidates for the suffrages of Ameri   can free,cen? Did open management nominate Polk or Pierce for
the Presidency? Who knows, indeed, how his own State Governor
was nominated and chosen; how many sly bargains and private
schemes were contrived and executed to complete the present organi   zation of any State Legislature? Who knows even the precise mode
in whichnwere selected and appointed the municipal government of
his town or city, and the business committees under it, or even the
officers of his school district? Who knows precisely how are origin   ated and carried through such measures as the Nebraska Bill; the
Collins Mail Appropriation; or any other of the public or private
measures that yearly are enacted by Congress? Who knows how the
State Legislature is guided; or how the vote in town meeting or city
council, for or against a sewer or a park, is arranged? It is not
claimed that nobody knows, by any means. A few know; and these
few take very good care not to tell.  The main body of voters DO
NOT KNGC,V how or why the men for whom they vote, were set up for
.fr. iage.
It is true that the old political parties, in their "nominating con  ventions," proceed with open doors; speeches are made, and resolu  tions adopted, but all this machinery amounts to nothing more than
the mere publication of the acts of secret committees, the moving
368
I 
SECRET POLITICAL ASSOCIATIONS.
cause and reason for tte resolves being unknown and unseen. When
the great elections are pending, does not each party have its secret
agents in Washington-meeting  in dark  conclave-flooding  the
country with sealed packages?  And does not the party in power
carefully keep the key of the Post-office? Is not then the finger
pressed on the lips?  "Say nothing!"  "Keep dark!"  These and
other cabalistic words, w'th all " the mvsterious inuendos of conspiracy,
arc uttered with low toiins and sti-o]        i eal Ireath; and all justified,
commended, practised, and  applauded.  What, then, is there so
strange in the practice of the American party, desiring to keep its
own secrets?
Secret management, by the retention of these "State secrets " in
the hands of a few astute men, who handle the caucus and convention machinery, the parties through it, hnd the nation through the
parties; is the whole essence of political operations in the United
States.  Indeed, our political parties belong to the most perfcct species of secret organizations, because the rank and file of the ariii
do not know its leaders.
The conclusions thus far reached in this chapter are these:
I.' Secrecy is indifferent in itself, and good or bad according to the
ue which is made of it.
2. Secrecy is oftennecessary in the beginnings of reformatory enterprises which interfere with established interests.
.3. Secrecy is an establishlced and universal element in the usual
course of Americani politics.
The American Party is young.  It has grown to its present stature
by the spontaneous gathering of the people to its standard, rather
than by the efforts of any apostles. Its strength has come voluntarily from either of the two great parties, or from the increasing host
of political sectarians or neutrals.  The active enmity of all these it
naturally would and did incur. The masses of these established
organizations were not altogether opposed, as the success of the new
369 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
comer shows, to its principles: but the leaders of them were in the
unhappy case of a sleeping cur whose tail is pinched. They jumpedup in a fury, and barked at all creation. But they did no execution,
because they did not know where the trouble came friom. Under
such irritating circumstances, it is perfectly natural that they should
indulge in condemnations of the very practices which are the basis
of their own influence. People seldom relish being attacked with
their own weapons. Their editorial yokefellows were in the same
difficulty, and were further annoyed at the slight put upon their professional importance. They could not discover the facts about this
new movement, either for their personal gratification, for paragraphs
and editorials in the paper, or for the use of " the party.". They considered that they had a prescriptive right to know every thing first,
and to fell it or not, at their discretion; and here was something of
which they seemed doomed to know nothing, first or last, except by
its results. So they very generally joined in the outcry. It was to
be expected that editors, shut out from all participation, would revile
an organization that they knew nothing about; and that politicians,
with their legs knocked from under them by invisible blows, should
cry out in distress as they fell into the pit which their own hands
had prepared.
No one doubts, however, that the safety ensuing upon this mode
of action has, in fact, saved the American ]arty from very great dangers, if not from destruction. It has confounded and confused all
measures of opposition. If there had in the beginning been open
proselyting, importunate grasping after disciples, and all the ordinary
"advertising department" of new enterprises, would not the usual
party discipline have sufficed to keep the new party down, and the
old ones together?  There would have been a great blustering show
of argument for some, and of threats and promises for others. But
these accustomed weapons'were useless, because the enemy was invisible. There may have been very many errors in the practical details
oP the plans adopted to secure this secrecy. It is not necessary to
claim perfection for human productions. But this secret mode of
370
,It 
SECRET POLITICAL ASSOCIATIONS.
operating, if the history of our political parties is authority, is in itself
proper and defensible.
Secrecy is not a necessary constituent principle of the American
Party.   Secrecy is an old abuse-an established vicious practice of
the old parties. It was a temporary necessity of the new party. But
if the American Party has any mission in this respect, it is to break
up the secret mode of operating, and to introduce a new and open
mode of political action. It proposes to destroy the old irresponsible
despotism which has been exercised over the masses of the people,
and to introduce the present generation, for the first time, to a free
democratic practice in self-government. The American Party proclaims the New Era of Government by the Intelligent Action of
American Freemen. This is now, in effect, a new principle. This
Intelligent Action is a necessary constituent principle of the new
party. And by just so much as the members of it are more intelligent, by as much the permanent maintenance of the secret mode of
operation is less practicable. Accordingly, the approaching end of
this state of things is shown by the many and significant secessions,
and threats of secession, which  are already dividing the Party in
various States. Now, therefore, the American Party needs carefully
to consider whether henceforward an open activity-a new thing in
American politics-is not its necessary condition of success. This
"unprecedented attraction" will be much  more potent than the veil
of a concealment which, after all, is enticing to the weak-minded
rather than attractive to the wise.
The American Party has not been organized to take advantage of
secrecy, as if it were a newly discovered method of political operation.
It has been organized to work against secret political organizations,
namely, the old political parties, and the Romish Church. It does
not attempt to introduce an unjustifiable new mode of political
management; it proposes to destroy an unjustifiable old mode. It is
already contrasted with the old parties by its free and bold avowal
of that secret mode of operation which they used without avowing it.
It now has an opportunity to cast away even this avowed secrecy, and
3l 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
to enlist our voters into a great and new party-a united, intelligent,
free and open organization of American freemen, expressing their
own views and wishes as to the government of their own country;
when that shall have been accomplished-America will be redeemed,
not from Popish Jesuits only, but from political Jesuits as well.  Then
will be inaugurated the dominion of true political freedom; of which
there is practically none, to-day, in these United States.
372 
THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC, THE HOPE OF THE WORLD.
"The preservation of the sacred fire of Liberty, and the perpetuation of the Republican model
of government, were considered by its founders as  finally staked on the experiment intrusted to
the hands of the American people."
WsSHINGTON.
OuRs is a period in the world's history, when great and important
events crowd on the attention almost too rapidly to admit of properly
studying them, or of estimating their consequences. The Present
seems to be in league with the Future, to put to open shame the
deeds of the Past.  Events have run together so hurriedly for the last
half century and more, that it would appear as if the time had arrived
for their unravelment. Where the torpor of indifference has lain
with its benumbing influence, symptoms are now beginning to be
pereptible of returning consciousness and animation.  The oppressed,
whose energies have long been worn with the chain, are ready to
herald the first ray of light in their prisons, with peans that shall
reach the heavens.  The weary-hearted  are once  more recruiting
their strength, with the hope that the beautiful dream of their souls
is about to find its happy realization. The blind are again groping
about in their cells, calling for the aid of their deliverers. All things
are made to feel the influence of the new spirit that rules the age.
The nations of the earth seem to be hurrying forward for the adjustment of accounts long overlooked and forgotten.  All are eagerto present their claims, and to receive, as soon as may be, the share
that in equity is their own. Topics are now in discussion, that, but
a short while ago, were left out of the category altogether. Interests
that, till now, never presumed to thrust themselves from the oblivion
in which they were buried, are now openly canvassed. Rights now
find a tongue, that heretofore have been unnoticed and unknown, for
I'T 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
want of any one to advocate and plead for them.  The times are
wonderfully changed. A revolution has been wroughlt. The sword
has not done it,-though the sword has been sheathed but little during
this long interval; but it is the silent work of awakened and intelligent public opinion, which no power is able to withstand. It cannot
be cajoled from its position; it cannot be bribed; once fixed, it cannot be driven from its place by either force or fear.
For years, the continent of Europe has been the theatre of revolutions, succeeding one another with a rapidity truly astonishing.
France seems, from the beginning, to have been the furnace in which
all the fires have originated. One ruler has given place in Paris to
another, till it has become difficult to keep the various changes in
mind.  Thrones have been erected and overthrown, as if they were
but the baubles and playthings which the greater Napoleon affected
to consider them.
Italy has given signs of regeneration.   Throughout  her line of
States, from time to time, encouraging voices have been heard in the
name of liberty, and now and then her people have risen upon their
usurpers, to wrest fron them the power they have so wrongfully
exercised.  From far-off shiores, the flame has been seen burning in
that classic land; and hopes have been entertained that it was  a
bright and lasting illumination.   But sulch hopes have all been cast
down.  With Austrian swords at their throats, and French bayonets
at their breasts, it was scarcely to be expected that the people of Italy
could succeed in so unequal a contest. A guard is quartered now
in every house; but no military surveillance can imprison those
expansive ideas, or the spirit of those vital principles, that spread so
mysteriously over the face of a land.  No power is sufficient to overawe thdse deep and scarcely audible mutterings, which presage the
earthquake by which all things are destined to be shaken.
The struggle of Hungary for independence adds a new and bright
hapter to the book of the world's history.  It was an unsuccessful
effort; and some may conclude that its failure established the worth lessness of the cause contended for: but the very unhappiness of the
374 
TIlE HOPE OF TIHE WORLD.
issue has had the effect to draw upon that people the sympathies
of libertyv-loving hearts everywhere, and their example has been recorded as one worthy of imitation, wherever the sound of freedom
has been heard. Hungary reposes; but we believe that hers is the
rest which recruits the strength, and precedes other and more earnest
efforts in the cause for which her energies have been exhausted.
She fell by treachery, more than by the combination of foreign enemies; and when her tattered ensigns are lifted again from the dust,
the wish of all American hearts will be, that they may lead on her
armies to the speedy and successful achievement of her freedom.
The German States from time to time have felt the throes of this
mighty convulsion.  Of all others, they seemed  the least likely to
resist the current of liberal ideas. They were the earliest to hail the
light that came dancing over the earth, and welcomned it with hearts
that had been tutored to the love of liberty. Great things were expected of them, and great things should have been performed. But
the spirit was not universal. It had not yet struck deep root in the
common heart. The masses had not yet gone far enough in that
school of bitter experience which inculcates high resolves in man.
The existing order of things carried a preponderating influence which
was hard to overcome. The ancient and time-honored barriers it was
difficult to remove; but another and a far mightier obstacle was, the
close and compact union of absolutism in its own defence. Monarchy
was made to feel that- upon this one effort might forever depend its
existence. The conspiracy was successful. The weary ones, whose
faith had been so enduring in behalf of their holy cause, succumbed
to the pressure they could no longer resist, and took up their abode
in foul prisons,-wandered, sad-hearted, abroad, to eat the bread of
exiles, —or laid down and died, desponding forever of freedom.
If we scan the history of Europe for the last few years, it will
offer us little else than a confused record of struggles and repulses, of
efforts and disappointments, of hopes and fears, of popular outbreaks
and tyrannical usurpations. Sometimes, indeed, the rulers, trembling
for their immediate safety, have granted concessions, in order to ap
35
0 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
pease the popular clamor; but on regaining power, all these concessions have been blotted out, and tyranny has become more exacting
than ever. In this, absolutism was only true to its own nature. As
soon as it was safe to lay aside the mask, it never failed to exhibit its
true character in all its hideous proportions. Not once has it offered
gifts to the people, which it did not, at the time, resolve to take back
arain, with usurious interest.
Austria, Prussia, Russia, France-what else can the eye fasten itself
upon in scanning the history of their more recent acts, but records of
murder, of imprisonment, of fines,nad confiscations, of banishment,
of leagues against liberty, of cruelty and tyranny in all their multiplied forms?  Where is the hope to-day that their people are lmakling
themselves ready to go forward with the conflict that will reward
them with freedom?  How many of the population'of those empires
are languishing abroad at this moment, dying lingering deaths far
from home and friends, rather than swear away the freedom of their
consciences at the dictation of crowned conspirators! Who shall tell
the number, or the acuteness of their sufferings? Who shall estimate
the depth of that grief which seems able to consume both body and
soul together?
Europe is now a seething caldron. The great game of the kings,
carried on so long with impunity, at last appears to be completely
blocked. The rulers are at a stand. Events have mastered ambitious men; and the extended laws of cause and effect, running silently
through a course of centuries, at length seem about to vindicate their
supreme authority. Politics is now another name for confusion. Ministers study and scheme how they may extricate their royal masters
from their dilemma, and give over their efforts with exclamations of
mortification  and despair.   The rulers grasp their sceptres more
firmly, fearing that it cannot be long ere they must give them up
forever.  Cabinets have grown timid, and dare not assert with former
boldness the policy of their several courts. There is a manifest want
of confidence everywhere. Armies are called into service, till there
are scarcely any men left to recruit them. The treasuries are de
376 
THE HOPE OF TIHIE WORLD.
pleted by enormous drafts, and bankruptcy and ruin threaten nations
that but yesterday were prolific in resources.
But in the midst of this inextricable confusion, certain signs are
beginning to betoken the increasing interest which foreign countries
take in our national welfare.  We see, from time to time, symptoms
of a more decided leaning to republicanism.  Here and there sturdy
words are spoken-at the right time and in the right place-in our
behalf. The spirit and principles of our government find admiring
friends where it was least to be expected. Our institutions are criticised and commented on in an appreciative temper, and without that
rancor and prejudice which was once so certain to be excited, by the
mere mention of our name.
It is too important a truth for any of us to overlook, that the
American Republic is the home of Liberty, and the final hope of the
world.  Tihrough!he efficacy of her example  and her teachings,
must redemption finally come.  W7'e hold the treasure in our own
keeping; we are the trustees of a possession that is to enrich mankind. On our soil dwells that living spirit, which is, in time, to
overthrow error, tear away the deceits of usurpation, deprive tyranny
of its power, and everywhere animate the human soul with the belief
that freedom was coeval with its birth.
If the world may not hope in us, then all hope is in vain. The
experiment of a free government is one with which we have made
ourselves familiar. With the institutions which belong to such a form
of government, we have an acquaintance that is practical, and thus
the more valuable.  Their spirit has infused itself into our habits,
our customs, and our ways of thought. If these privileges are worthy
to be perpetuated, none ought to be more eager and earnest in the
performance of such a work, than we who have so freely enjoyed
them; and it should therefore be a labor'of love with us, to publish
their sings to the world.
Foreign rulers'no doubt regard us with jealousy, convinced that
our system is incompatible with the secure existence of their own.
It must be so, in the very nature of things. The work of Repubfi
377 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
canism is a silent one, because it deals with the understanding alone.
Other systems put forth military power, to crush out opposition by
brute force, and to secure acquiescence by fear. But true Liberty
has no such murderous weapons in her armory. The means by
which she works are those that soonest disarm tyranny, and bring
usurpers to confusion. She appeals not to prejudice, but to reason.
She overcomes opposition, not with opposition, but with the teaching
of sublime truths that cannot be resisted.
Americans should not forget their invaluable trust. They should
be as true as their forefathers to the hope which is committed into
their keeping.  Through menace, and artifice, and open opposition,
they should walk undaunted; holding their way with the resoluteness that will take them out of the reach of fear, and vindicating by
every act of their lives those immortal truths which form the broad
basis of our national existence.
~ Above all things, sectionalism is to be frowned upon as the worst
enemy known to the republic. Let it come from what quarter it
may, the heart that harbors the thought of it without fear, and without regret, is nowise worthy of the stamp of the American name.
They who cherish it with the hope thereby of raising their individual
fortunes, will certainly be classed with the Arnolds and Iscariots of
our race.
It is a monstrous thing, that after so many years of national prosperity, the men can be found who dare openly excite one portion of
our people against the other. Ilonest differences of opinion are to
be'looked for, and open expressions of those differences are a necessary consequence; but to excite treason, to inflame sectional prejudices, to build up barriers between one State and another, to breed a
swarm of pestilential sentiments that threaten to infest the land like
a plague,-is to put one's self without the pale of honorable American
citizenship, and beyond the reach of honest men's consideration.
If we  are to possess a nationality of our owu,I we must become
one people. There can be no strength to the national character, if
its forces are dissipated by domestic divisions. Unless we are able
378 
THE HOPE OF TIIE WORLD.,
to stand together, we must straightway fall in pieces.  The moment
unity begins to relax, disease and death set in with all their ravaging
train. Differences should exist only as spurs to efforts of greater
patriotism. If they take hold on the character of citizenship itself,
qualifying its value and demeaning its rank, they become mischiefs
instead of aids, and ought to be silenced, even at the cost of the
greatest sacrifices.
In so vast an area as that comprised within the limits of the United
States, it would not be at all strange if there were a great diversity of
interests. It is to be expected that, on rnumberless subjects of local
concern, the inhaoltants; of the different sections should entertain directly opposite opinion-s.  Nothling is potent to counteract the effect
of these divisions, and to draw together the widely separated interests
of our extended country, but some sentiment that shall take a deeper
root in the heart than mere interest, and control all other influences
by its superior power. We look in vain to'any other sentimnent for
the performance of this work, than that of love for one's country.
Once fixed in the heart, there is no supplanting it. It is strong
enough to shape all the affections and interests that are recorded in
the list of our common humanity.
And if other people are to be found whose hearts beat quick at the
mention of their country's name, Americans have reasons a thousandfold stronger for laying all their nobler feelings on the altar of patriotism. We are addressed by considerations such as appeal to no
other people on the face of the earth; we have entered on an experiment without a parallel in the history of the world; we are seeking
great and hidden truths; we hold the hopes of all liberty in our
hands; and the wise men of other nations are watching the course of
our star with both jubilant and prayerful emotions. Surrounded by
such stern realities, and weighed down with these vast responsibilities,
imposed by Heaven itself, he must utterly fail to understand his true
relations to his fellow-men, or even to discern the meaning of his own
existence, who remains indifferent to the great circumstances that
beset his situation.
379 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
There is no safety for us, except in unity of feeling and harmony
of action. We must learn to consider the whole country as dear to
our hearts as any single part of it; to forget the too ready feelings
which promote distrust and alienation; to cherish every true and
noble sentiment that enfolds within its embrace the welfare of the
whole of our common country; to cultivate feelings of brotherhood
and peace; to hold steadily up to contemplation the one idea of our
high American name and nationality.
No consideration should be allowed to take precedence of a spirit
of patriotism.  Our country before all things, should  be both the
sentiment and the motto.  Union as well as liberty, should be on
every one's tongue. Nationality as well as freedom, should vitalize
the thought of every one's heart.  No great good can be permanently
secured, except by generous and oft-repeated sacrifices. No human
institutions can hope for stability, unless they are founded  in the
deepest human conviction of their necessity, and sustained by the
perpetual heroism of those to whom their value is apparent. We
must either be brethren, or become aliens to the memories of the
past.  We must sink jealousies in nobler considerations, or lose sight
of all the promises of our glorious future. We must earnestly determine to be nothing but AMERICANS,-knowing no greater name,
and resolved that there shall be no greater nation,-and at once the
bright inheritance becomes ours, and our grandest hopes leap forward
to their swift realization.
380 
1.
SECRPET SOCIETIES AND OATIIS.
JUDGE GAYLE, of Alabama, formerly a Whig member of Congress,
and a prominent man in his State and elsewhere, has written an able
letter to some of his personal fiiends, from which we make the following extracts, bearing upon the political topics of the day. After
considering and endorsing the platform of the American  party as
maintaining the great principles of free government, he gives reasons
which ought to commend his views to all good citizens.
This remarkable party was formed some eighteen months since, to correct the
flagrant abuses which had crept into public affairs, and which threatened the
most serious consequences to the union of the States and the government. The
arts of demagogues, and the corrupt practices of the two great parties of the
country, had trained the public mind to regard with indifference, if not with
approbation, the advancement of men without merit to the high and responsible
trusts of the govermnent, which had hitherto been reserved as the reward of
experience, of wisdom, of tried patriotism, and of elevated and enlightened
statesmanship.
Each of these parties professed to have some good principles, it is true, but
all observing men witnessed, with disgust, the total disregard and abandonment
of these principles in disgraceful and revolting scrambles for office.
The extraordinary increase of the foreign population had been witnessed with
concern by all considerate Americans. Tides of immigration had wafted to our
shores, in almost countless numbers, the people of all nations and all countries
-of all grades, classes, and conditions-from the haughty Briton to the grovelling, besotted Chinaman; from the high-toned, educated gentleman, to the ignorant serf and convicted felon: all demanding and all alike admitted (none are
a +
4,     n   IX+
17* 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
ever rejected) to the privileges of the ballot-box, thereby filling our hlialls of
legislation with men of their own choice, and exerting a commanding influence
in the passage of laws for the government of this American country of ours.
They had seen these people occupying, as they are constantly doing, extensive districts of country in large communities to themselves-having but little
intercourse with our citizens, without which they can never acquire the true
American impression of our government, or imbibe the true spirit of our laws.
They had seen them form separate societies and associations, and organizing
into large military bcdies, to the exclusion of our people, showing an aversion
to incorporate with them, or to assume the American character, and evincing
a preference for the manners, habits, customs, and institutions of their respec
tive nations.
They had seen them convene in large political assemblies, and with characteristic arrogance demand changes in our constitution and laws to suit the peculiar views in which they had been trained and educated from infancy.
And above all, and worse than all, they had witnessed the degradation of the
country in our national legislature, by the passage of laws conferring upon unnaturalized foreigners the full right of suffrage in the territories, and all the
other rights, privileges, and immunities which form the priceless heritage ofthe
native-born citizen, in total disregard of the Constitution, which confers on
Congress the power to pass uniform naturalization laws only.
The allegiance of these aliens is wholly due to the crowned heads of the
countries from which they emigrated. They have no right to claim the protection of our government, or to petition for a redress of grievances. In case of
war with the nations to which they belong, as alien enemies, they would be liable to be seized under the laws of Congress, to have their goods confiscated, and
themselves imprisoned or sent out of the country. And yet it is upon these
people, composed, as a large majorirty are known to be, of the vicious dregs of
European society, that authority is conferred of controlling the ballot-box, and
of exercising the high and responsible functions of our territorial governments.
The right of suffrage has also been conferred on aliens in some of the States.
Now, if the foreign population has, at this early period of our history, acquired such commanding influence in our national and state legislatures, it requires no prophetic sagacity to predict that the day is not distant when they
will control the destinies of this great republic.
This idea has strongly and universally impressed itself upon the public mind,
and given rise to that truly noble and patriotic sentiment that "Americans shall
rule America."  This sentiment proclaims the existence of that intense American feeling and love of country which is a surer safeguard of our liberties than
all our constitutions, and which can never more than partially animate the bosom of the foreigner, because nature has given him the same inspiration for his
own native land.
The correction of these and other abuses, to the dangers of which no one can
be indifferent, was the principal inducement to the formation of the American
382 
APPENDIX.
party.  They saw that they had their origin mainly if not entirely in our naturalization laws. A million and a half of American voters have banded together
in one great political brotherhood to cause these laws to be repealed or modified; and roused and animated as they are by the feeling just stated, you can
no more defeat them, in their purposes, than you can suppress the feeling
itself.
The feature of this remarkable American party that has been deemed most
assailable, and accordingly has been attacked with the greatest violence and
rancor, is the secret or private character of its organization. Jacobin club, secret conspiracy, underground party, dark-lantern party, and such like epithets,
have been unsparingly applied to it.  These are very ugly names, intended to
awaken popular prejudice, and to render an object hideous which is otherwise
comely enough.
The party is composed of numerous societies or councils, dispersed through
the country, and established at localities to suit the convenience of its members.
These localities are made public, the times of meeting are made public, their
membership is public, and, what is of more importance, the result of their deliberations is made public.  These councils, or societies, to accomplish the great
objects of their institultion, went sedulously to work, and their joint efforts, in
an incredibly short space of time, have enabled them to lay before the public,
thie great principles, to the support of which they stand pledged before the
Amuerican people.  Their consultations, as to the details of their platform, were
necessarily private; but when their great work was done, they submitted it to
public inspection, and if well done, the public will not take the trouble to inquire into the process by which it was accomplished.
The simple question is, are these private associations, formed for great public
purposes, hostile in their tendency, as they are asserted to be, to the free institutions of our country, and to the true spirit of the Constittltion?
Tie right of the people peaceably to meet together and to consult upon public affairs, whether their meetings are private or public, whether in the form of
private societies or public assemblies, has never before been questioned in this
country, even during periods of the highest political excitement and exasperation.
As evincive of the jealousy and apprehensions of the fathlers of the republic,
they classed the right of the people peaceably to assemble (privately or publicly
and without restraint) with the right of petition, religious freedom, the freedom
of speech and of the press, and in the first articles of the amendments of the
Constitution, prohibited Congress from passing any law to abridge them in any
manner whatever.
These have always been revered by the enlightened friends of free government, as among the great elements of human liberty, and it is to be regretted,
that, without reflection it is hoped, they or any of them should be denounced
by persons of standing and character, as hostile to our free institutions.
If there is truth in history, private political societies have ever proved them
383 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
selves the natural enemies of tyrants, and the natural and indispensable allies
of republics. In despotisms they are resorted to by necessity, and in free governments through choice, as being more efficacious and convenient in compassing the objects proposed, whether they look to the improvements in government or to the correction of abuses. Since the accession of the house of Brunwick to the English throne in 1714, these private associations for all purposes,
whether political, commercial, religious, or any other, have been of universal
prevalence. They are so interwoven with the business of the people, in all its
branches, that they have become a part of their social organization, and if any
attempt were made to restrain them, a blaze would be kindled throughout England that it would be difficult to extinguish.
But of all countries in the world, they are most prevalent in the United States,
especially those of a political character. They are the peculiar and exclusive
machinery which have kept our political parties in motion during the entire
period of our existence as a nation. This will be acknowledged by all, and
denied by none. All the platforms that have ever been formed by these parties
have been the result of private and secret meetings, of secret consultations and
deliberations; and the mere matters of detail employed in their formation are
never known, and never sought tobe known, except at the instance of impertinent curiosity.
Pending our presidential elections, these societies are formed throughout the
country under the name of clubs. They are as numerous as the cities, towns,
villages, hamlets, and neighborhoods of the whole country, and all affiliated in a
common brotherhood. The information of each is rapidly and secretly communicated to the others, and all their schemes, plans, and contemplated movements are as carefully withheld from the public as are the plans of hostile
armies from each other. These periodical organizations are very much on the
plan of those of the American party, and they are quite as secret in their character. No one has ever blamed or censured them for this, for it is obvious'that
without them success would be hopeless. It is therefore too late in the day to
denounce private political associations, and anathemas come with a bad grace
from those who invented, and have alWays resorted to them.
But the American party administer oaths to their members. This, in the
opinion of its enemies, is very horrible, and the Billingsgate vocabulary is too
meagre to supply appropriate epithets for its condemnation. It is, they say,
anti-republican and anti-democratic. This accusation has been as inconsiderately made as that against the secret character of the order. If oaths are taken
to bind men to a course of conduct that is moral, charitable, and benevolent in
its purposes, or if they are taken to bind thenm to the support of the great principles of liberty as contained in the Constitution of the United States, such
oaths cannot be regarded as either wicked, immoral, or unlawful. They are required to be taken by all public officers to support the Constitution, and it is
not perceived that there is any thing wrong in requiring the members of a political party to come under the obligations of an oath to support the great princi
384 
APPENDIX.
ples contained in the same instrument, such as the right of petition, the liberty
of speechl and of the press, the purity of the ballot-box, &c., which are among
the cardinal principles of the new party, and it is devoutly wished that they
may be faithfully maintained, even if it be by the instrumentality of oaths.
But it is said that the members are required to swear that they will be governed by the decisions of the majority, and particularly in the nominations of
candidates for office. The answer to this is, that any member dissatisfied with
any of the principles or regulations of the party is at liberty to withdraw from
the order, and he becomes immediately released from any oath he may have
taken.
The charge of religious proscription is not to be combated by argument or inferences. It is a fact to be determined by the platform itself. Conspicuous
among the articles of that instrument is-" the protection of all citizens in the
legal and proper exercise of their civil and religious rights and privileges, and
the maintenance of the right of every man to the full, unrestrained, and peaceful enjoyment of his own religious opinions and vWorship."
Thus, gentlemen, you have my views and opinions briefly and hastily expressed, though deliberately formed, of the character, principles, and objects of
the American party. They have been derived entirely from its own publications, and conversations with its members. I am not a member of the order,
and have no connection with it beyond a lively sympathy in its efforts to establish and maintain the great conservative principles it has adopted.
I am respectfully your obedient servant,
JOHN GAYLE.
II.
RELATIONS OF THE POPE TO THE CIVIL POWER.
Letterfrom 0. A. Brownson.
BOSTON, Tuesday, Jute 12, 1855.
MIY DE.Pr. SIRm: I have received this moment yours of the 7th instant, with its
inclosure. I am a little at a loss to determine what course to take. There are
no numbers of my Review wherein I have maintained the civil authority of
the Pope in this country; but as there are several numbers in which I have
discussed the relations of the two orders-temporal and spiritual-I think I
shall, upon the whole, best answer your wishes by sending them. I will therefore order my publisher to send you all the numbers of 1853 and 1854.
You will find in the articles entitled the " Two Orders," January, 1855, " The
Sirual notfor the Temporal," April, and "The Spiritual Supreme," July, of
385 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
the same year, the statement of my doctrine on the subject; and in " You Go
too Far," January, 1854, "The Temporal Power of the Popes," April, 1854, and
" Uncle Jack with his  ekphew," for October of the same year, my explanations
and defence of my doctrine.
May I ask you to read these articles in the order in which I have named them?
If you will, although you will doubtless find much which, if a non-Catholic,
you will object to, I am sure you will find no such doctrine as I am accused of
holding. The subject I treat has been much obscured by controversy, and I am
liable to misapprehension by those who have not studied it somewhat profoundly from the Catholic point of view. I treat the subject only under certain aspects,
and for Catholics, and many of the terms I use have in Catholic theology a technical sense, which those not familiar with that theology may misapprehend. I
say this in excuse of those who have misrepresented me.
I claim-and never have denied for the Pope, out of the Ecclesiastical States
of which he is the temporal sovereign-lno temporal or civil jurisdiction, power,
or authority, properly so called. The only power the Pope has in this country,
is his power over Catholics as the spiritual head of the Church. It is purely a
spiritual power, and can be exercised only for a spiritual end, and even then
only over Catholics, for the Church does not judge those who are without.
Mr. Brownson is here asserting the usual doctrines of his Church
in those countries in which his creed is in the minority. The Church
DOES judge those twho are without, else wherefore the Athanasian
curses?
In matters purely temporal, I, as a Catholic, owe no obedience to the Pope,
because he has received from Jesus Christ no authority as a temporal sovereign
over me.  He cannot make or unmake the rights of the sovereign or the duties
of the subject-abrogate the former or absolve from the latter.
This paragraph is entirely annulled by the succeeding portion of
the letter, and history stamps falsehood upon such assertions.
Thus far, all Catholics, whether the so-called ultra-Montanes, or the so-called
Gallicans, are agreed. The dispute lies not here. All agree that the State is
supreme and independent in its own order-that is to say, in the temporal order.
But what In maintain is, that the temporal order is not supreme and independent,
btut, in the very nature of things, subordinated to the spiritual, since the end of man
-the end for whic?, God made him, directs and' governs him by his providence
lies ic, the spiritual, not in the temporal.  Every man who believes any religion
at all, whether Catholic or non-Catholic, does, and must admit this; for it is
only saying that we must obey God rather than mail, and live for the Creator
rather than the creature. This premised, I think I can state to you, in a few
words, the doctrine I do really hold.
386 
APPENDIX.
The italics are Mr. Brownson's own.   The inference drawn from
them immediately after, is worthy the followers of Loyola, but Protestants cannot, will not admit it.  If "the State is supreme and independent,"-what does the writer intend by its being "subordinated
to the spiritual?"-" Much learning doth make thee mad."
Inasmuch as the temporal order is subordinated to the spiritual, it follows that
the State is un)der the laws of justice, consequently the prince holds his powers as
a trust, not as an indefeasible right, and therefore forfeits them when he abuses
them, and loses his right to reign. This is the common doctrine held by all of us
Americans, and all Catholic doctors teach and always have taught it. It lies at
the foundation of all true liberty, and is the only doctrine that can ever justify
resistance to the temporal powers. This right of resistance of power, when it
becomes tyrannical and oppressive, I take it for granted, is held by every
American.
But here is a difficulty.  The Church, following the Holy Scriptures, makes
civil allegiance a religious duty, and says with St. Paul (Rormans viii. 1, 2):
"Let every soul be subject to the higher powers, for there is no power but
from God. Therefore, hlie that resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of
God, and they that resist purchase damnation to themselves." Here you see
I am forbidden by the law of God to resist the power, and commanded, on peril
of damnation, to obey. Here is my conscience bound to obedience, and my
conscience as a Catholic can be released only by a declaration of my Church, as
the divinely appointed director of conscience, that the prince of tyranny and
oppression has forfeited his right, fallen from his dignity, and ceased to reign.
What I claim for the Pope, as visible head of the Church, is the power to release my conscience from this religious bond, and to place me at liberty to resist
the prince become a tyrant. This is all I understand by the dispensing power.
The power itself, everybody, not a tyrant or a slave, asserts.  The American
Congress of 1776 asserted it, and deposed George iII.  The only difference is,
some give it to thie people, some to the individual; and I claim it for the Church,
and the Pope as head of the Clhurvchl.
So that the Church has, necessarily, " an indefeasible right" to
control the secular power, as seemeth it best; and constitutes itself
a judge in all matters between the State and the ecclesiastical power.
Mr. Brownson claims the same right to resistance on behalf of his
Church, which the whole body of Americans possess; but he forgets
that the right to resistance, when invested in a whole nation, is
scarcely so liable to abuse, as when the sole prerogative of one man
-be he Pope, or aught else.
38'T 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
The Pope does not in this exercise a civil power or jurisdiction, and it is called his temporal power only because it is a power exercised over temporal sovereigns, or in relation to the obligation of the subject to obey the prince. But
even here the Pope does not relieve from civil allegiance, for that the prince had
forfeited by his tyranny. IHe releases the subject only from the spiritual or religious obligation, superadded by Christianity to the civil, and this only in case
of the Catholic conscience.
TIe Pope is the proper authority to decide for  me wvhether the Constitutior of
this country is or is not repugqaant to the laws of God.  If he decides that it is
not, as he has decided, then I am bound in conscience to obey every law made
in accordance with it; and under no circumstances can he absolve me from my
obligation to obey, or interfere with the administration of government under it,
for the civil government is free to do according to its constitution whatever it
pleases, that is not repugnant to the laws of God or to natural justice. That it
is free to do more than that, I presume no man in this country will pretend.
Again the italics are the author's. We forbear to criticise, but we
say to our fellow-countrymen-behold these opinions, the sanctioned
tenets of the Romanist party in our republic; for Mr. Brownson
"never publishes any thing, until he has first submitted it to the
bishop." There is a sword hanging in terroerem over our heads, and
it merely awaits the verdict of a mitred prince, to raise civil war in
our midst, and desolate the Union throughout its wide extent.
I have made these remarks to aid you to understand the doctrine of the
articles to which I have called your attention.
You are a stranger to me, but I take you to be a serious-minldedl man, and a
lover of truth and justice; as such I have addressed you.  I have no doctrine
or opinions that I wish to conceal. I am a Catholic. As such, I aim to be true
to my God, and to my fellow-men.
I have the honor to be your obedient servant,
0O. A. BROWNSON.
HUGH J. DAvis, Esq., Warrenton, N. C.
III.
FOREIGNERS AND THE ELECTIVE FRANCHISE.
Less than ten dlays since, we had occasion to notice the manifesto of the Louisville Branch of the "Free Geruan" Union, and to point out the dangerous tendency of such anarchical organizations. We did not then anticipate that the ef
388 
APPENDIX.
fects of the principles they hold, aided by Irish violence at elections, would be
so speedily and fatally felt in that city.  It will not be possible, until more accurate details shall have been received with regard to the bloody occurrences that
have disgraced Louisville, to decide adequately in what proportion the guilt of
murder, arson, and riot is to be divided between the native and foreign population. If the telegraphic reports prove to be accurate, a general understanding must have existed between the Germans and Irish, previous to the election,
that they would go armed during the day, and prevent Americans, by every
means, from approaching the polls. The first outrage was committed by a body
of Irish or Germans, as early as nine o'clock in the morning. The next attack
was made upon Americans, several of whom were wounded, by Germans, who
fired upon them from their houses and a brewery in which they had intrenched
themselves. It is not stated that any provocation was given; but exasperation
-perhaps inflamed by drink-at the aefeat of their ticket, was probably the
main cause of the violence which these ruffians had recourse to. They reaped,
however, bitter fruits from their mad folly. A crowd of Americans assembled,
burned the brewery, and after a conflict of considerable duration, sacked several houses. Up to this time, although some persons had been wounded, it does
not seem that any one was killed. The scene of slaughter commenced in a different part of the city at a later hour, and was again initiated by a gang of Irish.
From this time the riot assumed the dimensions of a street battle. The Irish,
who had been guilty of the last assault, intrenched themselves in houses, where
they were besieged by a crowd of Americans, infuriated at the crime that had
bleen committed, and the tumults of the night did not end until a large number of lives had been lost, and several blocks of houses had been burned. On
the day after the election, the excitement still continued, and at the last accounts
yesterday, renewed outbreaks were feared during the coming night. Many
foreigners were, however, leaving the city, and there is little doubt that a complete victory has been gained over them by their antagonists.
Pitiable is the lot of most foreigners that land on our shores. They emerge
suddenly from subjection to tyrannical rule, and habits of slavery that generations have stereotyped, into that paradise of the depraved and unthrifty, the
possession of active political rights. The story is familiar to every one, of the
Irishman, who, after regarding for some time with wonder a threshing machine,
cr;ed out, " Ye're bloody sthrong, but ye can't vote."   The Irish, alas, can vote;
so can the Germans, and between them they are acquiring, in the hands of demagogues more iniquitous than themselves, a control of elections in many of our
States, of which it is time that Americans should be wearied and ashamed.
Eight months ago, the subject of amending our Naturalization Laws was brought
before Congress, by Senator Adams of Mississippi. Reference was made, at the
time, in our columns, to the able speech which he made on that occasion, and
hopes were entertained that the measure he proposed would be dispassionately
discussed, and, with some necessary amendments, adopted by Congress. It
fell, however, to the ground. Politicians are afraid to meet boldly, either in
389 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
Congress or the State Legislatures, the embarrassments which this question, so
important for the future interests of the country, presents.   They dread the
local opposition which advocacy of manly and patriotic measures of reform would
subject them to, and shrink from being ostracised by foreigners, whose opposition at the polls might prevent their re-election to office. The wisdom of the
proposal that the term of residence of aliens should be prolonged, before they
are perinitted to enjoy every right of Americans born, is recognized by provident, far-sighted Americans of all parties; but this cowardly fear of losing
votes, on the part of aspirants for office, opposes more than any thing else an
effectual obstacle to proper legislation. The indiscreet manner, too, in whichl
foreigners have been confounded by many with the power they wield, and. the
intermingling of religious elements in all Native American parties that have
hitherto existed, have tended to delay, if not totally hinder, an impartial examination of the question, what rights it is expedient to bestow upon persons born
abroad.
It is the duty of the people and government of the United States to welcome
to our shores those who come here with a claimn upon our hospitality, and to
the home for themselves and education for their children, which we can so easily afford to bestow. It is also a bounden obligation to act towards them the
part of kind protectors, shielding them by our laws, permitting them to hold
property, and to transfer it to their children, and even to acquire such control
over the soil as they can secure by the labor of their hands. These privileges,
however, which the immigrant has a right to look for, and which our laws theoretically give, are poisoned, and rendered practically nugatory by the premature addition, indiscriminately, of the right of suffrage. The poor Irishman or
German encounters, as he lands in our seaports, a monster who is legally authorized to obstruct with a frequently impassable barrier his pathway to the
happy home to which he is entitled, and where he might enjoy abundantly the
products of the soil, and become a frugal, sober, and industrious denizen of
the land.  This monster is 1olitical temptation.  The hard-handed, humblyconditioned Irish laborer, as well as the clodhopper socialist from Germany, both
sink into corruption by our own fault, more than by theirs. They are at once
instructed that they may vote in six months, a year, or less, if fraud is emnployed to attain the object. They are taught to consider themselves an army of political invaders, are enlisted either in infidel associations, or under the banners
of rum-selling middle-meil, and made to reinforce the vast floating condottieri
between parties, which often at elections turns the scale in favor of the highest
bidder or the latest payer, and wrests pledges from candidates in favor of infidel encroachments, or impunity to do wrong. Foreigners who-if their consciences were not drugged by the fatal right to vote before they know the
A B C's of our political alphabet, or can distinguish between liberty and license,
excitement and disorder, or comprehend the secret of acquiescing in the will of
the majority-might become eventually themselves, or through their children,
good citizens, are enticed by the glitter of golden bribes to remain in large
390 
APPENDIX.
towns and cities, where they spend freely what has been easily got, acquire
habits of debauchery, and a ternlate between riotous indulgence, the almshouse, and our prisons. The neglected offspring of such, brought up with
their heads in the public-school, and their bodies in the gutter, ripen into that
unnaturally shlrewd, depraved, dangerous race of infidel bullies, fearing neither
God nor man, whose vocation is to seduce others to sin and misery, and increase
as widely as possibly the realms of moral ruin.
Every little while, some solemn wartling, like the recent riot at Louisville,
troubles the minds of thinking men, and points forward to that period of civil
discord by which we may some day be convulsed, if a remedy is not applied to
the evil created by our present naturalization laws; but unfortunately the age
is too peculiarly one of excitement for any single event to leave a lasting impression. Yet if citizens will look back twenty-five years, to a time when disorders that are common now were regarded as impossible, and will then reflect
upon the consequences of a like decline, for another quarter of a century, they
will be convinced of the danger of delay, and of the rapidity and strength that
anti-American influence is acquiring in the country.
bAew York Journal of Conbmnerce, Aug. 5, 1855.
IV.
RELIGIOUS TOLERATION-HERETICS AND ROMANIST GRAVE                                 YARDS.
P. Sharkey, Esq., of Jackson, Miss., writes to the Southern Mercury as follows, giving an incident of the War of 1812-15, in which
he served:
To the Edlitor of tve fercury:..                 5, 1
As there has been a great deal said about ancient Catholicism, and old files
hunted up to prove their hostility to the Protestants, and as I am a man of but
little ancient reading, and a little on the Young Atericanl order, I will content
myself by referring back to 1815, after the battle at New Orleans.
I belonged to the Mississippi Militia, and was encamped on a French Catholic
farm above New Orleans. After the battle was over, several of our men died
by wounds and sickness, as they had been placed at Chef Menteur, where there
was not one foot of dry land to stand or lie on, only as they would gather flags
and make beds to lie on. We were some distance above New Orleans, and
having no way of conveyance to a grave-yard, we proposed to bury our dead on
the back or out-post of the farm. Went to dig a grave, without knowing the
391
Jitly 25, 1855.
p 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
hostility the Catholics had to heretics.  The owner of the land came down and
forbid us from burying our corpse. HIe appeared to be very much enraged,
crying out, "Sacre fungas! de American heretic no be put on my land."  We
said we must bury the man.  He replied-" Me no care; dere is de Mississippi
river; throw him in de river." We soon made him leave, and when we went
to bury our dead we always had our guns. Jo. Templeton was one of our
Warren soldiers who shared the fate of the balance that were buried there.
We were discharged at that place, and came home. Letters followed us from
our friends, stating that as we left all the dead were taken up and put in the river
by the owner of the land; as though a dead heretic could hurt a live Catholic.
Now I refer to any man that was belonging to Hinds' Dragoons, or the Mississippi Militia, for the facts of this and the report that followed us. I will refer to a few by name: Esq. McDonald, of Madison; Richard and Battle Harrison, of Jefferson; Haley Cotton, of Leake, as they were there, and know the
facts as well as myself.
P. SHARKEY.
The above letter is from one of the most substantial and well
known citizens of the State of Mississippi, and what is the fact developed? This: a lay member of the Romish Church is so fired
with hatred towards Protestants, that he denies a burial-place to the
brave and patriotic men who came from an adjoining State to repel
an invading foe. Men who died in battle -in defending the home of
the Romanist, have their bones dug up from their mother earth, and
thrown contemptuously into the Mississippi, as if their dust defiled the
land.  Innumerable examples, where the Romish priests have undisputed sway, displaying the same feeling, constantly occur all over
the world.
V.
MILITARY IN THE CHURCH.
The enthusiastic in the faith that American institutions need no safeguards,
contend that the illuminating influence of Protestantism will, in this country,
destroy the pagan rites of the Romish Church so common in Europe.  We find,
however, that this is not the case. The heathen custom of inaugurating statues,
so common among the Greeks and ancient Romans, maintains its place in a
church claiming to be Christian, and situated in enlightened America, and in
the city of New York.
392
4 
APPENDIX.
At the Church of the Redeemer (German Romish), on Sunday, the 12th of
August, 1855, " a statue of the Virgin was inaugurated with the celebration of
High Mass. Some time before the hour for the commencement of the services,
the body of the church was densely crowded, but the gallery was attainable to
the lucky possessor of a sixpence, and was very comfortably roomy.  Occupying the front central seats was a military band, and behind them a companyone of the German rifle companies, we believe-in uniform.  Up the side aisles,
at short intervals, were the banners of various Catholic and benevolent societies.
Festoons of flowers and leaves, arranged very tastily, ran from pillar to pillar
all the way up the church, each bearing the name of a saint.
"The large altar-piece was decorated, to use thie choice expression of the announcement,'in a manner particularly beautiful.'  Flowers and leaves were
profusely used from top to bottom, and over all ran a covdon bleu, inscribed with
the prayer,'I Regina sine labe conceFts, ora pro nobis.'
"In the centre of this high altar-piece, in a white-draped niche stood the
statue of the Virgin, bearing the infant Redeemer in her arms.  The material is
not mentioned, and of course could not be distinguished: we suppose it is of
wood. The announcement above quoted, says it is' of exquisite beauty.' It is
very brilliantly painted. The robe is blue, fringed and starred with gold. The
statue was encircled by a halo of gas-burners, arranged in sFtar-shaped groups,
and all the candles were burning at its feet. Mass was celebrated very finely.
There is, or was on Sunday, a fine choir at the church, and the band assisted."
Here we have the introduction of foreign military companies, as part of the
pageant of a professedly religious ceremony.  We would have every reflecting
American to ask himself, What is the meaning of this association? and what
right have troops, organized by the State, to connect themselves thus with the
church?
VI.
AMERICAN NATIONALITY.
The " stars and stripes," the glorious emblem of the Union, form a parallelogram, with six white and seven red parallel stripes, denoting the union of the
original Thirteen Colonies, with a blue square in the upper corner, next the
flag-staff, cutting off four red and three white stripes, and containing thirty-one
white stars, representing the number of States in the Union, combined in one
large star, symbolizing the "many in one" of the national motto, "I Epluribu8s
,unum.."
The great Union Flag was hoisted on the 2d day of January, 1776, at Cambridge, by General Washington.  Lieut. Carter wrote from Charlestown Heights,
393 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
January 26th, 1776: "The King's speech was sent by a flag to them on the 1st.
In a short time after they received it, they hoisted a Union flag (above the Continental, with thirteen stripes) at Mount Pisgat; their citadel fired thirteen guns,
and gave the like number of cheers."  And Gen. Washington wrote from Cambridge, on the 4th of the same month, to Col. Joseph Reed: "The speech I
send you. A volume of them was sent out by the Boston gentry, and, farcical
enough, we gave great joy to them, without knowing or intending it; for on
that day-the day which gave being to the new army-but before the proclamation came to hand, we had hoisted the Union flag, in compliment to the Colonies. But, behold! it was received in Boston as a token of the deep impression
the speech had made upon us, and as a signal of submission. So we hear, by
a person out of Boston, last night. By this time, I presume they begin to think
it strange that we have not made a formal surrender of our lives." Thus we
have an acknowledgment of the presence of the stripes, and a device resembling
the British Union Jack. This latter, instead of being above the stripes, was probably in the place now occupied by the blue square and the white stars. From
this it would appear that the Great Union Flag of the Colonies was the British
flag modified by drawing six white stripes through the red field, thus making
thirteen red and white stripes, representing the rebellious Colonies in Union.
This flag probably was originated by the Committee of Conference, appointed
by Congress, and composed of Dr. Franklin, Mr. Lynch, and Mr. Harrison; and
the idea of such a modification of the British flag is not only simple but certainly a very natural one, when we consider the circumstances and history of
the times.
The necessity for a change of the emblem of union was apparent; and the
thirteen Colonies readily suggested the idea of a constellation of stars. Consequently wefilnd that the constellation Lyra was actually under consideration.
and was used on passports. June 14, 1777, Congress passed the following:
"Resolved, that the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white: That the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation." It appears that the first act of Congress changing the flag was on the 13th of January, i794, when it was enacted, "That from
and after the 1st day of May, A. D). 1795, the flag of the United States be fifteen
stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be fifteen stars, white in a blue
field." The stars were arranged in a circle indicating eternal union. This was
the flag of the United States during the war of 1812-14. In 1818, the flag of the
United States was again altered, and, as we are informed, on the suggestion of
the Hon. Mr. Wendover, of New York, a returfi was made to the thirteen stripes;
as it was anticipated the flag would become unwieldy if a stripe were added on
the admission of each State; and, moreover, by the plan proposed, the union
of the old thirteen States, as well as the number of members composing the
existing Union, would be presented by this flag of the United States. Mir. W.
also proposed the arrangement of the stars in the union in the form of a single
star. In this there was a departure from the original design, as the perpetuity
394 
APPENDIX.
of the Union ceased to be indicated by the flag, as it had previously been in the
circle of stars, except so far as indicated by the several stars forming one large
star. The resolution of 1818 was as follows: " That from and after the fourth
day of July next, the flag of the United States be thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be twenty stars, white in a blue field.
And that, on the admission of a new State into the Union, one star be added
to the union of the flag; and that such addition shall take effect on the fourth
day of July next succeeding such admission."
VII.
AMERICAN ELECTIONS.
There was a time, we remember, when the good order and decorum of American Elections was a common proverb, at home and abroad.  That time, we fear,
has passed, or is passing away. Not that the American people have grown, or
are growing less attached to the principles of peace and propriety, nor less capable of self-government, nor the government of their passions and prejudices,
but rather because of the introduction into our popular contests of a strange
element, that is inherently inimical to Americanism in every leading impulse and
aspiration. This pestilent influence, within a very few months past, has been
fearfully provocative of bloodshed and strife, in some of the most populous cities
of the Union.  New Orleans, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and places nearer home,
have, each in its turn, been made the scene of a sanguinary strife, generally
growing out of nefarious attempts by Irish and Germans-but chiefly Irish-to
interfere withl American meetings, and American freedom of speech, in cases
where it so happened neither those meetings nor that speech were shaped to
accord with the sentiments, opinions, or beliefs, of a set of men, who are, of
late years, but too prone to acknowledge the civil and political privileges they
enjoy here (but which they never were permitted to enjoy "at home") by shooting down Americans in their own streets, and blowing their brains out, whenever they have the audacity to assemble together. Louisville, in Kentucky, it
is grievous to see, is now passing through the same ordeal.-.Y. Y. Express.
VIII.
WHAT CAUSES ELECTION RIOTS
Is the low education of our foreign population. The musket and the bayonet
are the exponents of the law in foreign cities; and what we bow to here, in
395 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
deference and obedience, as "law"-as the will of the najority-in other countries is bowed to under the prick of the bayonet. Hence, when among such a
people, the prick of the bayonet is removed, the law, or the will of the majority that makes the law, is resisted by riot, row, or murder. In Louisville, Kentucky, for example, the Americans beat on election-day; but the foreigners
there, instead of doing as Americans do, submit to the majority, in the absence
of the bayonet, shoot from their houses Americans in the streets!  If the division in-Louisville had been between Whig Americans and Democratic Americans, the moment the result was known it would have been acquiesced in, with
general submission; but the indignant foreign population in Louisville do, just
as they would do-when they dare-in Paris, or Berlin, or Vienna; that is, appeal to the musket and fight.
It is this spirit of resistance to law, to the majority, and to the declared will
of that majority, which makes republican government almost impossible over
sea-a minority that will not submit to a majority, but prefers a fight, as in
Louisville; and hence a result so deplorable.
These numerous riots that we are having, wherever American interests come
into political conflict with the interests or passions of foreigners, only go to
show that government is a trade, which a foreign population cannot learn by
instinct, but must be educated in by long training.   Votin  is a very simple
act, but it means and embodies the idea of governilnent, and government is a
science, which an Irishman, who cannot read, or a German, who knows not our
language, and customs, and traditions, cannot learn in a single day.  Indeed,
the education of our foreign population is far easier, if we may so express ourselves, than their qineducation.  To unlearn what they know is their first duty;
and it takes years and years, but it is much harder work to unlearn than to
learn. Jury trials, habeas corpuses, &c., are all Greek to them; but all these
they can learn.  What they have to unlearn, however, is harder than Greek,
and that is, armed resistance to law, to government, to majorities. The prick
of the bayonet is not half so formidable to an American as the writ of the constable; but this necessity of feeling the prick of thy bayonet before they yield,
they must all unlearn. Revolutions are wrought here, not in arms, but with
bits of paper in the ballot-boxes. Minorities have no rights against laws constitutionally passed, and constitutionally expounded and executed, while majorities, even, have no rights, under laws unconstitutionally passed, or unconstitutionally executed. These are very hard problems for foreigners to solve,
but we Americans solve them. We often learn, too, that submission to wrongs
is oftener wiser than armed resistance by force. When we are whipped election-day, we lament our bad luck, and try it again, but seldom or never fight,
unless attacked by force. The loss of the anti-American candidate for Congress,
in Louisville, led to shooting Americans in the streets, and, of course, to the
subsequent fearful retribution.
Foreigners, if they were wise, would, themselves, call for a long training for
their countrymen, before they gave them the right of governing at the ballot
396 
APPENDIX.
boxes. Men can no more be good soldiers after a day's enlistment, than good
voters without training. Government is a curious piece of human mechanism,
which untaught fingers may spoil, but which they can never safely touch. A
foreigner may be as wise as Humboldt in philosophy, but as ignorant as a babe
of the mechanism of the government of the United States of America. Twenty-one years are wisely demanded of us Americans to live, to think, to look on,
to hear, and to talk, and to see, and to study, before we vote. Thousands of
ifreigners vote fraudulently who have been in the country scarcely a year, and
hundreds of thousands that cannot read the Constitution of the United States
;n the language in which its makers wrote it. —. Y. Express, Akug. 10, 1855.
IX.
GOLDEN MAXIMS OF WASHINGTON.
-- Let us have a government by which our lives, liberties, and properties, will
be secured."
"The government of the United States, though not actually perfect, is one of
the best in the world."
"It is among the evils, and perhaps not the smallest, of Democratic governments, that the people must feel, before they will see: when this happens, they
are roused to action."
"If we mean to support the liberty and independence which it has cost us so
much blood and treasure to establish, we must drive far away the demon of
party spirit."
"As there can be no. harm in a pious wish for the good of one's country, I
shall offer it as mine, that each state would not only choose, but absolutely compet their ablest men to attend Congress, that public abuses may be corrected."
"The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally
staked on the experiment intrusted to the hands of the American people."
" There are four things which I humbly conceive are essential to the well
being-I may even venture to say, to the existence of the United States as an
independent power:  "1. An indissoluble union of the states under one federal head.
"2. A sacred regard to public justice.
"8. The adoption of a proper peace establishment.
"4. Prevalence of a pacific and friendly disposition among the people of the
United States, making them forget their local prejudices and politics, &C."
18
39'7
40k 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are
particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriot.  How
many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practise
the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public
councils!  Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence, I conjure you to
believe me, fellow-citizens, the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly
awake, since Izistory and experience prove thatforeign infuence is one of t7he most
banefvl foes of republican government. But that jealousy, to be useful, must be
impartial, else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided,
instead of a defence against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation, and
excessive dislike for another, cause those whom they actuate to see danger only
on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other.
Real patriots, who may resist the intrigues of the favorite, are liable to become
suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people to surrender their interests.
"The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is, in extending
our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as
possible.  So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulifilled
with perfect good faith. Here let us stop.
" Europe has a set of primary interests which to us have none or a very remote relation.  Hence, she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the
causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it
must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial ties in the ordinary
vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her
friendships or enmities.
"The unity of government which constitutes you one people, is a main pillar
in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquillity at
home, your peace abroad, of your safety, of your prosperity, of that very liberty
which you so highly prize.   But as it is easy to foresee that fromn different
causes, and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices
employed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truthl-as this is the
point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and
insidiously) directed-it is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate
the immense value of your national union to your' collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment
to it; accustoming yourselves to think and to speak of it as a palladium of your
political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in
any event be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of
every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble
the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.
"For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. Citizens by
birth or choice of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate
398 
APPENDIX.
your affections. The name of American, which belongs to you in your national
capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you
have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You h]lave, in
a common cause, fought and triumphed together. The independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels and joint efforts, of common
dangers, sufferings, and success.
"But these considerations, however powerfully they address themselves to
your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those which apply more immediately
to your interest. Here, every portion of our country finds the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the union-of the whole."
X.
MAXIMS AND OPINIONS OF EMIINENT STATESMEN, ETC.
'-Hearken not to the unnatural voice, which tells you that the people of
America, knit together, as they are, by so many cords of affection, can no longer
live together, as members of the same family; can no longer continue the mutual guardians of their mutual happiness; can no longer be fellow-citizens of one
great, respectable, and flourishing empire. Hearken not to the voice which
petulantly tells you that the form of government recommended for your adoption, is a novelty in the political world; that it has never yet had a place in the
theories of the wildest projectors; that it rashly attempts what it is impossible
to accomplish. No, my countrymen; shut your ears against this unhallowed
language. Shut your heart against the poison which it conveys. The kindred
blood which flows in the veins of American citizens, the mingled blood which
they have shed in defence of their sacred rights, consecrates their union, and
excites horror at the idea of their becoming aliens, rivals, enemies.  And if
novelties are to be shunned, believe me, the most alarming of all novelties, the
most wild of all projects, the most rash of all attempts, is that of rending us in
pieces, in order to preserve our liberties, and promote our happiness.
" But why is the experiment of anll extended republic to be rejected merely
because it may comprise what is new?  Is it not the glory of the people of
America, that, whilst they have paid a decent regard to the opinions of former
times and other nations, they have not suffered a blind veneration for antiquity,
for custom or for names, to overrule the suggestions of their own good sense,
the knowledge of their own situation, and the lessons of their own experience?
To this.manly spirit posterity will be indebted for the possession, and the world
for the example, of the numerous innovations displayed on the American theatre,
in favor of private rights and public happiness."-,Jares Madison.
399 
A- VOICE TO AMERICA.
"When your lordships look at the papers transmitted to us from America;
when you consider their decency, firmness, and wisdom, you cannot but respect
their cause, and wish to make it your own.  For myself, I must declare and
avow that in all my reading and observation (and it has been my favorite study,
1 have read Thucidydes, and have studied and admired the master-states of the
world), I say I must declare, that for solidity of reasoning, force of sagacity, and
wisdom of conclusion, under such a complication of difficult circumstances, no
nation, nor body of men, can stand in preference to the General Congress at
Philadelphia.  I trust it is obvious to your lordships, that all attempts to inmpose a servitude upon suchi men, to establish despotism over such a mighty
continental nation, must be vain, must be fatal."-EExtractfrons Xf,7. Pitt's speec
in the British Parliament, Jan. 20, 1775.
"What is patriotism  Is it a narrow affection for the spot where a man was
born?  Are the very clods where we tread entitled to this ardent preference
because they are greener? No, sir, this is not the character of the virtue; and
it soars higher for its object. It is an extended self-love, mingling with all ther
enjoyments of life, and twisting itselfwith the minutest filaments of the heart. It
is thus we obey the laws of society, because they are the laws of virtue.  In their
authority we see, not the array of force and terror, but the venerable image of
our country's honor.  Every good- citizen makes that honor his own, and cherishes it not only as precious, but as sacred.  lie is willing to risk his life in its
defence, and is conscious that he gains protection while he gives it.  For what
rights of a citizen will be deemed inviolable when a state renounces the principles that constitute their security?  Or if his life should not be invaded, what
would its enjoyments be in a country odious in the eyes of strangers, and dishonored in his own?"I-Fisher.Anzes.
" The imperishable records of our grand crusade against despotism are emblazoned upon the scroll of Time, and are unsurpassed by the loftiest exploits of
RPoman or Grecian heroism.  The entire world watched with intensest interest
the successes of our revolutionary progress, and that which many had considered
problematical, has long since become matter of historic truth. To the people of
the United States has been assigned the glorious work of effecting and proclaiming the triumph of freedom.  More than half a century has tested its
stability and its power, affording a sufficient augury of its brilliant future."Webster.
" It cannot be denied, but by those who would dispute against the sun, that
with America, and in America, a new era commences in hunian affairs.  This
era is distinguished by free representative governments, by entire religious liberty, and by improved systems of national intercourse, by a newly-awakened
and an unconquerable spirit of free inquiry, and by a diffusion of knowledge
through the community, such as has been before altogether unknown or unheard of. *  *  *  If we cherish the virtues and the principles of our fathers,
400 
APPENDIX.
Heaven will assist us to carry on the work of human liberty and human happiness." —Ibd.
"The spirit of union is particularly liable to temptation and seduction  in
times of peace and prosperity." —Jbid.
"If we are true to our country in our day and generation, and those who
come after us shall be true to it also, assuredly we shall elevate her to a pitch
of prosperity and happiness, of honor and power, never yet reached by any
nation beneath the sun."-Ibid.
" The spirit of liberty, growing more and more enlightened, and more and
more vigorous from age to age, has been battering for centuries against the
solid battlements of the feudal'system. All that could be gained from the imprudence, snatched from the weakness, or wrung from the necessities of
crowned heads, has been carefully gathered up, secured and hoarded, as the
rich treasures, the very jewels of liberty. The popular and representative right
has kept up its warfare against prerogative with various success: sometimes
writing the history of a whole age in blood, sometimes witnessing the martyrdoms of Sydneys and Russels: often baffled and repulsed, but still gaining on
the whole, and holding what is gained with a grasp which nothing but the
complete extinction of its own being could compel it to relinquish."-Ibid.
"The first object of a free people is the preservation of their liberty; and liberty is only to be preserved by maintaining constitutional restraints and just
divisions of political power."-Ibid.
"Under the present Constitution, wisely and conscientiously administered,
all are safe, happy, and renowned. The measure of our country's fame may
fill our breasts. It is fame enough for us all to partake in he} glory, if we will
carry her character onward to its true destiny. Not only the cause of American
Liberty, but the cause of Liberty throughout the whole earth, depends in a
great measure on upholding the Constitution and Union of these States.  Let
it be a truth engraven on our hearts, let it be borne on the flag under which
we rally in every exigency that we have one country, one  Constitttion, one
destiny." —ibid.
"This glorious Liberty-these benign institutions, the dear purchase of our
fathers, are ours-ours to enjoy, ours to preserve, ours to transmit. Generations
past and generations to come hold us responsible for the sacred trust."-Ai.
"I have no fears for the permanency of our Union, whilst our liberties are
preserved. It is a tough and strong cord, as all will find who will presumptuously attempt to break it. It has been competent to suppress all the domestic
insurrections, and to carry us safely through all the foreign wars with which we
have been afflicted since it was formed, and it has come out of each with more
Ltrength and greater promise of durability. It is the choicest political blessing
401 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
which, as a people, we enjoy, and I trust that Providence will permit us to trans
mit it, unimpaired to posterity, through endless generations."-Hery Clay.
"The Constitution of the Unmied States.-Like one of those wondrous rocking
stones reared by the Druids, which the finger of a child might vibrate to its centre, yet the might of an army could not move from its place, our Constitution is
so nicely poised and balanced that it seems to sway with every breath of opinion,
yet so firmly rooted in the hearts and affections of the people, that the wildest
storms of treason and fanaticism break over it in v ain."-R. C. Winathrop.
"A divine right to govern ill, is an absurdity: to assert it, is blasphemy. Pretensions to a divine right have been generally carried highest by those who have
had the least claim to the Divine favor. Liberty is to the collective body what
health is to every individual body. Without health, no pleasure can be tasted
by man; without liberty, no happiness can be enjoyed by society." —Bolingbroke.
"Which is the most perfect popular government?' That,' said Bias,' where
the laws have no superior.''That,' said Thales,'where the inhabitants are
neither too rich nor too poor.''That,' said Anacharsis,' where virtue is hlionored and vice detested.' That is the the best government which desires to make
the people happy, and knows how to make the people happy. Neither the inclination nor the knowledge will suffice alone, and it is difficult to find them
together.  Pure Democracy, and pure Democracy alone, satisfies the former condition of this great problem. That the governors may be'olicitous only for the
interests of the governed, it is necessary that the interests of the governors and
the governed should be the same. The interests of the subjects and rulers never
absolutely coincide till the subjects themselves become the rulers; that is, till
the government be either immediately or mediately democratic." —Macaulay.
" Our own country, though happily exempt,-and God grant that it may long
continue se,-from the troubles of Europe, is not exempt from the influence of
the causes that produce them. We too are inspired, and agitated, and governed
by the all-pervading, all-inspiring, all-agitating, all-governing spirit of the age.
What do I say.  We were the first to feel and act upon its influence.  Our revolution was the first of the long series that has since shaken every corner of
Europe and America. Our fathers led the van in the long array of heroes, martyrs, and confessors, who have fought and fallen under the banner of liberty.
The institutions they bequeathed to us, and under which we are living in peace
and happiness, were founded on the principles which lie at the bottom of tlhe
present agitation in Europe.  We  have realized what our contemporaries are
laboring to attain. Our tranquillity is the fruit of an entire acquiescence in the
spirit of the age: We have reduced the action of government within narrower
limits, and given a wider scope to individual liberty, than any community that
ever flourished before.
402 
APPENDIX.
"We live, therefore, in an age, and in a country, where positive laws and
institutions have comparatively but little direct force. But human nature remains the same. The passions are as wild, as ardent, as ungovernable, in a
republic, as in a despotism.  What then is to arrest their violence?  I answer in
one word, Religion."-Edward Eve?ett.
"Let no one accuse me of seeing wild visions, and dreaming impossible
dreams.  I am only stating what may be done, and what will be done.  We
may most shamefully betray the trust reposed in us-we may most miserably
defeat the fond hopes entertained of us. We may become the scorn of tyrants
and the jest of slaves. From our fate, oppression may assume a bolder front of
insolence, and its victims sink into a darker despair.
"In that event, how unspeakable will be our disgrace-with what weight of
mountains will the infamy lie upon our souls. The gulf of our ruin will be as
deep as the elevation we might have attained is high. How wilt thou fall from
heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! Our beloved country with ashes for
beauty, the golden cord of our Union broken, its scattered fragments presenting
every form of misrule, from the wildest anarchy to the most ruthless despotism,
our " soil drenched with fraternal blood," the life of man stripped of its grace
and dignity, the prizes of honor gone, and virtue divorced from half its encouragements and supports-these are gloomy pictures, which I would not invite
your imaginations to dwell upon, but only to glance at, for the sake of the warning lessons we may draw from them.
" Remember, that we can have none of those consolations which sustain the
patriot who mourns over the undeserved misfortunes of his country. Our Rome
cannot fall and we be innocent. No conqueror will chain us to the car of his
triumph-no countless swarm of Huns and Goths will bury the memorials and
trophies of civilized life, beneath a living tide of barbarism. Our own selfishness, our own neglect, our own passions, and our own vices, will furnish the
elements of our destruction. With our own hands we shall tear down the stately
edifice of our glory.  We shall die by self-inflicted wounds."-G. S. Billiard.
": We less need new laws, new institutions, or new powers, than we need on
all occasions, at all times, and in all places, the requisite intelligence concerning
the true spirit of our present ones; the high moral courage under every hazard,
and against every offender, to execute with fidelity the authority already possessed; and the manly independence to abandon all supineness, irresolution,
vacillation, and time-serving pusillanimity, and enforce our present mild system
with that uniformity and steady vigor throughout, which alone can supply the
place of the greater severity of less free institutions.
" To arm and encourage us in renewed efforts to accomplish every thing on
this subject which is desirable, our history constantly points her finger to a most
efficient resource, and indeed to the only elixir, to secure a long life to any popular government, in increased attention to useful education and sound morals,
403 
A VOICE TO AMERICA.
with the wise description of equal measures and just practices they inculcate on
every leaf of recorded time. May we not all profit by the vehement exhortation
of Cicero to Atticus:'If you are asleep, awake; if you are standing, move; if
you are moving, run; if you are running, fly!'
"All these considerations warn us-the gravestones of almost every former
republic warn us-that a high standard of moral rectitude, as well as of intelligence, is quite as indispensable to communities, in their public doings, as to
individuals, if they would escape from either degeneracy or disgrace." —evi
Woodbury.
"The prosperity of the United States is the source of the most serious dangers
that threaten them, since it tends to create in some of the confederate states that
over-excitement which accompanies a rapid increase of fortune; and to awaken
in others those feelings of envy, mistrust, and regret, which usually attend upon
the loss of it. Yet the Americans of the United States must inevitably become
one of the greatest nations in the world. The continent which they inhabit is
their dominion."-De Tocguevis.
404
0 
VALUABLE
NATIONAL STANDARD WORKS
PUBLISHED BY
EDWARD WALKER,
114 FULTON-STREET, NEW YORK.
I.
A VOICE TO AMERICA;
OR, THE MODEL REPUBLIC, ITS GLORY OR ITS FALL; WITH A REVIEW OF
THE CAUSES OF THE DECLINE AND FAILURE OF THE REPUBLICS
OF SOUTH AMERICA, MEXICO, AND OF THE OLD WORLD;
APPLIED TO THE PRESENT CRISIS IN THE UNITED
STATES.
One volume, 12mo., about 400 pages, cloth gilt, $1.25.
CONTENTS OF THE WOREX:
The United States-Retrospective and Pros   pective.
The Ancient Republics-Early Civilization.
Sparta and Athens.
The Fall of Rome.
Italian Liberty in the Middle Ages.
The Anglo-Saxon Race and Freedom. 
The Heroes of the Founders of Liberty.
The Boundaries of Countries - how estab   lished.
Romanism and Freedom.
The Effects of Romanism and Protestantism
on Civilization.
The Rights of Conscience.
Religious Toleration.
The Bible, the Charter of Liberty.
The Principles and Perils of our Common
Education.
The Political Power of the Pope.
Demoralizing Influence of Demagogism.
Evils of Military Organizations exclusively
of Foreigners.
What Constitutes the Right to Vote?
Fallacy of supposing American     Instit utions
need no Safeguards.
Naturalization Laws of the IUnited States.
United States and Immigration.
The Citizen of a Republic.
American Nationality.
Necessity of American Habits and Principles.
The Right of the Majority to Rule.
Freedom from Foreign Influence.
Origin of Political Power.
Mexico and the South American Republics.
America the Theatre of the Great Demon   stration.
Secret Societies-their Use and Abuse.
The American Republic the Hope of the
World.
Appendix.
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405 
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It is a work unique in its character, and of intrinsic value as a standard authority for the
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408
I1