The benign influences of society, the exercise of politeness and reason,
inspire polished and agreeable manners; yet, in the midst of these, we
find men who think barbarity to be one of their rights; and they abuse
their fellow-creatures without pretext, and commit murder without
necessity, which is a degree of ferocity below that of the carnivorous
animals; for they destroy life only when impelled by the motives of
hunger. Societies of men are institutions of nature, and they are founded
upon the principles of mutual obligations. Society relapses into barbarism
when the golden rule of "doing as we would be done by" is violated; when
individual liberty is lost; and when man treats his fellow-man as property
under the right of force, and therefore without legal relations.
Constitutions are the indices of the education and the aspiration of
nations, and they keep pace with the onward march of intelligence. These
become altered and modified, as the intellect and hearts of men expand;
and it is nothing but bigotry that believes in the inviolability, the
perfection of the doctrines and tenets of men in the present or the past.
The wise man, says the old proverb, often changes his opinion, the fool
never.