be forgotten that diligence itself is but a subordinate quality, and
derives its chief value from the end to which it is directed and the
motives by which it is impelled. It is diligence in a good cause
only that is commendable. The first great maxim of human conduct,
that which it is all-important to impress on the understandings of
young men, and recommend to their hearty adoption is, above all
things, in all circumstances, and under every emergency, to preserve
a clean heart and an honest purpose. Integrity, firm, determined
integrity, is that quality which, of all others, raises man to the
highest dignity of his nature, and fits him to adorn and bless
the sphere in which he is appointed to move. Without it, neither
genius nor learning, neither the gifts of God, nor human exertions,
can avail aught for the accomplishment of the great objects of
human existence. Integrity is the crowning virtue--integrity is
the pervading principle which ought to regulate, guide, control,
and vivify every impulse, desire, and action. Honesty is sometimes
spoken of as a vulgar virtue; and perhaps that honesty, which barely
refrains from outraging the positive rules ordained by society for
the protection of property, and which ordinarily pays its debts and
performs its engagements, however useful and commendable a quality,
is not to be numbered among the highest efforts of human virtue. But
that integrity which, however tempting the opportunity, or however
secure against detection, no selfishness nor resentment, no lust of
power, place, favor, profit or pleasure can cause to swerve from
the strict rule of right, is the perfection of man's moral nature.
In this sense the poet was right when he pronounced an honest man
the noblest work of God. It is almost inconceivable what an erect
and independent spirit this high endowment communicates to man,
and what a moral intrepidity and vivifying energy it imparts to
his character. There is a family alliance between all the virtues,
and perfect integrity is always followed by a train of goodly
qualities, frankness, benevolence, humanity, patriotism, promptness
to act, and patience to endure. In moments of public need, these
indicate the man who is worthy of universal confidence. Erected on
such a basis, and built up of such materials, fame is enduring.
Such is the fame of our Washington, of the man "inflexible to ill
and obstinately just." While, therefore, other monuments, intended
to perpetuate human greatness, are daily mouldering into dust, and
belie the proud inscriptions which they bear, the solid granite
pyramid of his glory lasts from age to age, imperishable, seen afar
off, looming high over the vast desert, a mark, a sign, and a wonder
for the wayfarers through this pilgrimage of life.
A nice sense of integrity cannot, therefore, be too early cherished,
or too sedulously cultivated. In the very dawnings of life occasions
are presented for its exercise. Within these walls temptations
every day occur, when temporary advantage solicits a deviation from
the rule of right. In the discharge of the various duties which
you owe to your companions, let no petty selfishness be indulged,
no artifices practiced, by which you are to escape from your fair
share of labor, inconvenience or contribution, or any one deprived
of the full measure of whatever he may rightfully claim. Cultivate
singleness of purpose and frankness of demeanor, and hold in
contempt whatever is sordid, disingenuous, cunning or mean. But it
is when these peaceful shades shall have been left behind, and the
fitful course of busy life begun, that seductions will be presented
under every form by which inexperience, infirmity of purpose, and
facility of disposition, can be waylaid. Then is the crisis of the
young man's fate--then is the time to take his stand, to seize his
vantage ground. If he can then defy the allurements of cupidity,
sensuality and ambition, the laugh of fools, the arts of parasites,
and the contagion of improbity, then indeed, may he hope,
"In sight of mortal and immortal powers,
As in a boundless theatre to run
The great career of justice--
And through the mists of passion and of sense,
And through the tossing tide of chance and pain
To hold his course unfaltering."
You, my young friends, who are standing at the threshold, and
waiting with eager impatience the signal for entrance upon life,
must not think that I mean to alarm you with idle fears because
I thus warn you of the approaching conflict. The enraged bull
may close his eyes before he rushes upon his foe, but rational
courage calmly surveys danger, and then deliberately prepares and
determines to encounter it. Apprised of your peril, and armed for
the encounter, enter on your course with resolved hearts, and fear
not for the issue.
So sweet are the notes of human praise, and so abhorrent the tones
of reproach, that it is among the highest efforts of magnanimity
to pursue the straightforward course of duty, without being turned
aside by commendation or reproof, by flattery or calumny. Whatever
be our journey through life, like the princess in the eastern
tale, ascending the mountain in search of the wondrous bird, we
are sure to hear around us the confused sounds of blandishment and
solicitation, or menace and insult, until with many of us, the giddy
head is turned, and we are converted into monuments of warning to
those who are to follow life's adventure. Rare, indeed, is that
moral courage which, like the prudent Parizade, closes its ears
against the impression of these sounds, and casts not an eye behind
until its destined course be accomplished. Rare, however, as may
be this excellence, and in its perfection perhaps unattainable,
there can be no true dignity and decision of character without a
near approach to it. Let youth be ever modest, ever deferential
to the counsels, the suggestions and the claims of others. But in
matters of right and wrong, whatever be the lures, the taunts, or
the usages of the world, or whatever the supposed inconveniences
of singularity, let judgment and conscience always rule with
absolute sway. Carry this maxim with you through life, whatever be
the station you are to occupy, or the business you are to pursue;
and carry with it another kindred maxim--rely for success in your
undertakings, not on the patronage of others, but on your own
capacity, resolution, diligence, and exertions. Rise by merit, or
rise not at all. Suited as these injunctions are believed to be by
all, they are peculiarly addressed to those who, panting for renown,
are resolved to enter upon a public career, and long "to read their
history in a nation's eyes."
"O how wretched," exclaimed the Poet of Nature, "is that poor man
that hangs on princes' favors." Miserable is the condition of every
being who hangs on the favors of creatures like himself. Deserve,
and strive by desert, to win the esteem of your fellow-men. Thus
acquired, it decorates him who obtains and blesses those who bestow
it. To them it is returned in faithful service, and to him in aid
of the approbation of conscience to animate diligence and reward
exertion. Those too, who engage in public service, are bound to
cherish a hearty sympathy with the wants, feelings, comforts, and
wishes of the people--whose welfare is committed to their charge.
It is essential for the preservation of that confidence which ought
to subsist between the principal and the agent, the constituent
and the representative, that all haughtiness and reserve should
be banished from their intercourse. It sometimes happens that he
who has lived too constantly among books manifests a disgust in
an association with the uneducated and unrefined, which mortifies
and repels them. This is absurd in him, and unjust to them. It is
absurd, for he ought to know, and know well, those for whom, and
upon whom, he expects to act--they constitute in fact, one of the
first and most appropriate objects of his study; and it is unjust,
for not unfrequently under this roughness which shocks the man of
books is to be found a stock of practical information, in which he
is miserably deficient. Banish, then, all superciliousness, for it
is criminal and ridiculous. Honestly seek to serve your country, for
it is glorious to advance the good of your fellow-men, and thus,
as far as feeble mortals may, act up to the great example of Him
in whose image and likeness you are made. Seek also, by all honest
arts, to win their confidence, but beware how you prefer their favor
to their service. The high road of service is indeed laborious,
exposed to the rain and sun, the heat and dust; while the by-path
of favor has, apparently, at first, much the same direction, and is
bordered with flowers and sheltered by trees, "cooled with fountains
and murmuring with waterfalls." No wonder, then, that like the son
of Abensina, in Johnston's beautiful apologue the young adventurer
is tempted to try the happy experiment of "uniting pleasure with
business, and gaining the rewards of diligence without suffering
its fatigues." But once entered upon, the path of favor, though
found to decline more and more from its first direction, is pursued
through all its deviations, till at length even the thought of
return to the road of service is utterly abandoned. To court the
fondness of the people is found or supposed to be easier than to
merit their approbation. Meanly ambitious of public trust, without
the virtues to deserve it; intent on personal distinction, and
having forgotten the ends for which alone it is worth possessing,
the miserable being, concentered all in self, learns to pander to
every vulgar prejudice, to advocate every popular error, to chime
in with every dominant party, to fawn, flatter and deceive, and
become a demagogue! All manliness of principle has been lost in this
long course of meanness: he dare not use his temporary popularity
for any purposes of public good, in which there may be a hazard of
forfeiting it; and the very eminence to which he is exalted renders
but more conspicuous his servility and degradation. However clear
the convictions of his judgment, however strong the admonitions of
his, as yet, not thoroughly stifled conscience, not these, not the
law of God, nor the rule of right, nor the public good, but the
caprice of his constituents, must be his only guide. Having risen by
artifice, and conscious of no worth to support him, he is in hourly
dread of being supplanted in the favor of the deluded multitude by
some more cunning deceiver. And such, sooner or later, is sure to be
his fate. At some unlucky moment, when he bears his blushing honors
thick upon him--and well may such honors blush--he is jerked from
his elevation by some more dextrous demagogue, and falls, unpitied,
never to rise again. Can this be the lot of him who has been here
trained to admire and love high-minded excellence, and who has
been taught by high classical authority to regard with the same
fearless and immovable indifference the stern countenance of the
tyrant and the wicked ardor of the multitude, and who has learned
from a yet higher and holier authority to hold fast to "whatsoever
things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things
are just, whatsoever things are pure, to abhor that which is evil
and cleave to that which is good?" Believe me, however, this is no
fancy picture. The original may be found in the world every day. Nor
will it surprise those who have had occasion to see how the vain
heart is swollen, and the giddy head turned, how honesty of purpose
and manliness of spirit are perverted by popular applause. It is
but the first step that costs. Once yield to the suggestion that a
little deceit or prevarication, a slight sacrifice of principle and
independence, a compromise of conscience in matters not absolutely
fundamental, may be excused, when the immediate gain is obvious and
the end in view important, and the downward path becomes every day
more and more smooth until, in its descent, it reaches the very
abyss of vulgar, trading, intriguing, electioneering, office-hunting
politicians. If in this lowest depth a lower deep can be found, none
of us, I am sure, have the curiosity to explore it.
But is integrity sure to meet here its merited reward?
Unquestionably not. If it were, and the fact generally known, there
would scarcely be room for choice, and men would be honest from the
want of a plausible temptation to be otherwise. But it is not too
much to say, that in general, integrity has a tendency to promote
the interests of him who pursues it, and it is therefore recommended
to our adoption by prudence, not less than by principle. Success in
the acquisition of any intrinsic object is necessarily uncertain,
since it depends on contingencies which cannot be foreseen, and
which, if foreseen, are frequently beyond our power. It is not in
mortals to command success. No talent, no courage, no industry, and
no address can be certain to effect it. But when it is attempted by
cunning, disingenuous means, it is usually rendered more difficult
of attainment because of the complexity of the scheme and the
risk of detection and counteraction. Honesty, in the long run, is
therefore the surer policy. It is impossible to thrive without the
reputation of it, and it is far easier to be honest, indeed, than to
cheat the world into the belief of integrity where it is not. The
crooked stratagems, the arts, toils, concealments and self-denials,
which are necessary to carry on a successful imposition, are far
more onerous and painful than all the duties which a life of
probity enjoins; while the consciousness of an upright deportment
diffuses through the whole man that security and serenity which
infinitely outweighs all the advantages of successful cunning.
Nor, in recommending a spirit of independence, is it intended to
proscribe the acceptance of friendly aid, freely tendered, and
won by no mean solicitation. Children of the same common family,
we are bound to help each other in the trials and difficulties of
our common pilgrimage; nor should we ever be too proud to receive
from others that assistance which it is our duty to render to them.
Now such aid is not only more likely to be bestowed, but comes
with far greater effect, when there has been a manly and sustained
effort to do without it. The spindling plant which has always been
supported by a prop is not only unable to stand alone, but can
scarcely be sustained by props when the season of fruit arrives;
whereas, the slight assistance then bestowed on the hardy tree that,
self-sustained, has always braved the breeze, will enable it to bear
up under the heaviest and richest burthen. He who trusts to others
must necessarily be often disappointed, and the habit of dependence
creates a helplessness which is almost incapable of exertion.
Fancy dwells on expected aid, until it mistakes its own creations
for realities, and the child of illusion wastes life in miserable
daydreams, unable to act for himself, and confidently relying on
assistance which he is destined never to receive.
Deeply-rooted principles of probity, confirmed habits of industry,
and a determination to rely on one's own exertions constitute,
then, the great preparation for the discharge of the duties of man,
and the best security for performing them with honor to one's self
and benefit to others. But it may be asked what is there in such
a life of never-ending toil, effort and privation, to recommend
it to the acceptance of the young and the gay? Those who aspire
to heroic renown, may indeed make up their minds to embrace these
"hard doctrines;" but it may be well questioned whether happiness
is not preferable to greatness, and enjoyment more desirable than
distinction. Let others, if they will, toil "up the steep where
Fame's proud temple shines afar"; we choose rather to sport in
luxurious ease and careless glee in the valley below. It is, indeed,
on those who aspire to eminence that these injunctions are intended
to be pressed with the greatest emphasis, not only because a
failure in them would be more disastrous than in others, but because
they are exposed to greater and more numerous dangers of error. But
it is a sad mistake to suppose that they are not suited to all, and
are not earnestly urged upon all, however humble their pretensions
or moderate their views. Happiness, as well as greatness, enjoyment
as well as renown, have no friends so sure as Integrity, Diligence,
and Independence. We are not placed here to waste our days in wanton
riot or inglorious ease, with appetites perpetually gratified and
never palled, exempted from all care and solicitude, with life ever
fresh, and joys ever new. He who has fitted us for our condition,
and assigned to us its appropriate duties, has not left his work
unfinished, and omitted to provide a penalty for the neglect of
our obligations. Labor is not more the duty than the blessing of
man. Without it there is neither mental nor physical vigor, health,
cheerfulness, nor animation; neither the eagerness of hope, nor
the capacity to enjoy. Every human being must have some object to
engage his attention, excite his wishes, and rouse him to action,
or he sinks, a prey to listlessness. For want of proper occupation,
see strenuous idleness resorting to a thousand expedients--the
race-course, the bottle, or the gaming-table, the frivolities of
fashion, the debasements of sensuality, the petty contentions of
envy, the grovelling pursuits of avarice, and all the various
distracting agitations of vice. Call you these enjoyments? Is such
the happiness which it is so dreadful to forego?
"Vast happiness enjoy the gay allies!
A youth of follies, an old age of cares,
Young yet enervate, old yet never wise;
Vice wastes their vigor and their mind impairs.
Vain, idle, dissolute, in thoughtless ease,
Reserving woes for age, their prime they spend;
All wretched, hopeless to the evil days,
With sorrow to the verge of life they tend;
Grieved with the present, of the past ashamed;
They live and are despised, they die, no more are named."
If to every bounty of Providence there be annexed, as assuredly
there is, some obligations as a condition for its enjoyment, on
us, blest as we have been, and as we now are, with the choicest
gifts of heaven here below--with freedom, peace, order, civilization
and social virtue--there are unquestionably imposed weighty
obligations. You whom I now address will, in a few years, be among
the men of the succeeding age. In a country like ours, where the
public will is wholly unfettered, and every man is a component
part of that country, there is no individual so humble who has not
duties of a public kind to discharge. His views and actions have
an influence on those of others, and his opinions, with theirs,
serve to make up that public will. More especially is this the case
with those who, whatever may be their pursuits in life, have been
raised by education to a comparative superiority in intellectual
vigor and attainments. On you, and such as you, depends the fate
of the most precious heritage ever won by the valor, preserved
by the prudence, or consecrated by the virtue of an illustrious
ancestry--illustrious, not because of factitious titles, but
nature's nobles, wise, good, generous, and brave! To you, and
such as you, will be confided in deposit the institutions of our
renowned and beloved country. Receive them with awe, cherish them
with loyalty, and transmit them whole, and, if possible, improved,
to your children. Yours will, indeed, be no sinecure office. As the
public will is the operative spring of all public action, it will
be your duty to make and to keep the public will enlightened. There
will always be some error to dispel, some prejudice to correct,
some illusion to guard against, some imposition to detect and
expose. In aid of these individual efforts, you must provide, by
public institutions, for diffusing among the people that general
information, without which, they cannot be protected from the
machinations of deceivers. As your country grows in years, you must
also cause it to grow in science, literature, arts, and refinement.
It will be for you to develop and multiply its resources, to check
the faults of manners as they rise, and to advance the cause of
industry, temperance, moderation, justice, morals, and religion all
around you. On you too, will devolve the duty which has been long
neglected, but which cannot with impunity be neglected much longer,
of providing for the mitigation, and (is it too much to hope for in
North Carolina?) for the ultimate extirpation of the worst evil
that afflicts the southern part of our confederacy. Full well do
you know to what I refer, for on this subject there is, with all of
us, a morbid sensitiveness which gives warning even of an approach
to it. Disguise the truth as we may, and throw the blame where we
will, it is slavery which, more than any other cause, keeps us back
in the career of improvement. It stifles industry and represses
enterprise--it is fatal to economy and providence, it discourages
skill, impairs our strength as a community, and poisons morals at
the fountain-head. How this evil is to be encountered, how subdued,
is indeed a difficult and delicate inquiry which this is not the
time to examine nor the occasion to discuss. I felt, however, that
I could not discharge my duty without referring to this subject, as
one which ought to engage the prudence, moderation, and firmness of
those who, sooner or later, must act decisively upon it.
I would not depress your buoyant spirits with gloomy anticipations,
but I should be wanting in frankness if I did not state my
convictions that you will be called to the performance of other
duties unusually grave and important. Perils surround you, and are
imminent, which will require clear heads, pure intentions and stout
hearts to discern and overcome. There is no side on which danger
may not make its approach, but from the wickedness and madness
of factions it is most menacing. Time was, indeed, when factions
contended amongst us with virulence and fury, but they were, or
affected to be, at issue on questions of principle; now Americans
band together under the names of men, and wear the livery and put on
the badges of their leaders; then the individuals of the different
parties were found side by side, dispersed throughout the various
districts of our confederated republic, but now the parties that
distract the land are almost identified with our geographical
distinctions. Now, then, has come the period foreseen and dreaded
by our Washington--by him, "who more than any other individual,
founded this, our wide-spreading empire, and gave to our western
world independence and freedom"--by him, who with a father's
warning voice, bade us beware of "parties founded on geographical
discriminations." As yet, the sentiment so deeply planted in the
hearts of our honest yeomanry, that union is strength, has not
been uprooted. As yet, they acknowledge the truth and feel the
force of the homely but excellent aphorism, "United we stand,
divided we fall." As yet, they take pride in the name of "the
United States"--in the recollection of the fields that were won,
the blood which was poured forth, and the glory which was gained in
the common cause, and under the common banner of a united country.
May God, in His mercy, forbid that I or you, my friends, should
live to see the day when these sentiments and feelings shall be
extinct! Whenever that day comes, then is the hour at hand when this
glorious republic, this once national and confederated Union, which
for nearly half a century has presented to the eyes, the hopes and
the gratitude of man a more brilliant and lovely image than Plato
or More or Harrington ever feigned or fancied, shall be like a
tale that is told, like a vision that hath passed away. But these
sentiments and feelings are necessarily weakened, and in the end
must be destroyed, unless the moderate, the good, and the wise unite
to "frown indignantly upon the first dawnings of every attempt to
alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble
the sacred ties which now link together its various parts." Threats
of resistance, secession, separation have become common as household
words in the wicked and silly violence of public declaimers. The
public ear is familiarized with and the public mind will soon be
accustomed to the detestable suggestion of _disunion_! Calculations
and conjectures, what may the East do without the South, and what
may the South do without the East, sneers, menaces, reproaches, and
recriminations, all tend to the same fatal end! What can the East do
without the South? What can the South do without the East? They may
do much; they may exhibit to the curiosity of political anatomists,
and the pity and wonder of the world the _disjecta membra_, the
sundered, bleeding limbs of a once gigantic body instinct with
life and strength and vigor. They can furnish to the philosophic
historian another melancholy and striking instance of the political
axiom that all republican confederacies have an inherent and
unavoidable tendency to dissolution. They will present fields and
occasion for border wars, for leagues and counter-leagues, for the
intrigues of petty statesmen, the struggles of military chiefs,
for confiscations, insurrections, and deeds of darkest hue. They
will gladden the hearts of those who have proclaimed that men
are not fit to govern themselves, and shed a disastrous eclipse
on the hopes of rational freedom throughout the world. Solon in
his code proposed no rational punishment for parricide, treating
it as an impossible crime. Such with us ought to be the crime of
political parricide--the dismemberment of our "fatherland." _Cari
sunt parentes, cari liberi, propinqui, familiares; sed omnes omnium
caritates patria una complexa est; pro qua quis bonus dubitet mortem
oppetere, si ei sit profuturus? Quo est detestabilior istorum
immanitas qui lacerarunt omni scelere patriam, et in ea funditus
delenda occupati et sunt et fuerunt._