[55] LETTER VII.
Thus happily mistaken was the ingenious, learned, and patriotic lord
Belhaven, in his prediction concerning the fate of his country; and
thus happily mistaken, it is hoped, some of our fellow-citizens will
be, in their prediction concerning the fate of their country.
Had they taken large scope, and assumed in their proposition the
vicissitude of human affairs, and the passions that so often confound
them, their prediction might have been a tolerably good guess. Amidst
the mutabilities of terrestrial things, the liberty of United America
may be destroyed. As to that point, it is our duty, humbly, constantly,
fervently, to implore the protection of our most gracious maker,
“who doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men,” and
incessantly to strive, as we are commanded, to recommend ourselves to
that protection, by “doing his will,” diligently exercising our reason
in fulfilling the purposes for which that and our existence were given
to us.
How the liberty of this country is to be destroyed, is another
question. Here, the gentlemen assign a cause, in no manner
proportioned, as it is apprehended, to the effect.
The uniform tenor of history is against them. That holds up the
_licentiousness_ of the people, and _turbulent temper_ of some of the
states, as _the only causes_ to be dreaded, not the conspiracies of
federal officers. Therefore [56], it is highly probable, that, if our
liberty is ever subverted, it will be by one of the two causes first
mentioned. Our tragedy will then have the same acts, with those of the
nations that have gone before us; and we shall add one more example to
the number already too great, of people that would not take warning,
not, “know the things which belong to their peace.” But, we ought not
to pass such a sentence against our country, and the interests of
freedom: Though, no sentence whatever can be equal to the atrocity of
our guilt, if through enormity of obstinacy or baseness, we betray the
cause of our posterity and of mankind, by providence committed to our
parental and fraternal care. There is reason to believe, that the
calamities of nations are the punishments of their sins.
As to the first mentioned cause, it seems unnecessary to say any more
upon it.
As to the second, we find, that the misbehaviour of the constituent
parts acting separately, or in partial confederacies, debilitated the
Greeks under The Amphictionic Council, and under The Achæan League. As
to the former, it was not entirely an assembly of strictly democratical
republics. Besides, it wanted a sufficiently close connection of its
parts. After these observations, we may call our attention from it.
’Tis true, The Achæan League was disturbed by the misconduct of some
parts, but it is as true, that it surmounted these difficulties, and
wonderfully prospered, until it was dissolved in the manner that has
been described.
[57] The glorious operations of its principles bear the clearest
testimony to this distant age and people, that the wit of man never
invented such an antidote against monarchical and aristocratical
projects, as a strong combination of truly democratical republics. By
strictly or truly democratical republics, the writer means republics in
which all the principal officers, except the judicial, are from time to
time chosen by the people.
The reason is plain. As liberty and equality, or as well termed by
Polybius, _benignity_, were the foundations of their institutions, and
the energy of the government pervaded all the parts in things relating
to the whole, it counteracted for the common welfare, the designs
hatched by selfishness in separate councils.
If folly or wickedness prevailed in any parts, friendly offices
and salutary measures restored tranquility. Thus the public good
was maintained. In its very formation, tyrannies and aristocracies
submitted, by consent or compulsion. Thus, the Ceraunians, Trezenians,
Epidaurians, Megalopolitans, Argives, Hermionians, and Phlyayzrians
were received into the league. A happy exchange! For history informs
us, that so true were they to their noble and benevolent principles,
that, in their diet, “_no resolutions were taken, but what were
equally advantageous to the whole confederacy, and the interest of
each part so consulted, as to leave no room for complaints!_”
[58] How degrading would be the thought to a citizen of United America,
that the people of these states, with institutions beyond comparison
preferable to those of The Achæan league, and so vast a superiority in
other respects, should not have wisdom and virtue enough, to manage
their affairs, with as much prudence and affection of one for another
as these ancients did.
Would this be doing justice to our country? The composition of her
temper is excellent, and seems to be acknowledged equal to that of any
nation in the world. Her prudence will guard its warmth against two
faults, to which it may be exposed—The one, an imitation of _foreign
fashions_, which from small things may lead to great. May her citizens
aspire at a national dignity in every part of conduct, private as well
as public. This will be influenced by the former. May _simplicity_
be the characteristic feature of their manners, which, inlaid with
their other virtues and their forms of government, may then indeed
be compared, in the Eastern stile, to “apples of gold in pictures
of silver.” Thus will they long, and may they, while their rivers
run, escape the contagion of luxury—that motley issue of innocence
debauched by folly, and the lineal predecessor of tyranny, prolific
of guilt and wretchedness. The other fault, of which, as yet, there
are no symptoms among us, is the _thirst of empire_. This is a vice,
that ever has been, and from the nature of things, ever must be, fatal
to republican [59] forms of government. Our wants, are sources of
happiness: our irregular desires, of misery. The abuse of prosperity,
is rebellion against Heaven; and succeeds accordingly.
Do the propositions of gentlemen who object, offer to our view, any of
_the great points_ upon which, the fate, fame, or freedom of nations
has turned, excepting what some of them have said about trial by jury;
and which has been frequently and fully answered? Is there one of them
calculated to regulate, and if needful, to _controul_ those tempers and
measures of constituent parts of an union, that have been so baneful to
the weal of every confederacy that has existed? Do not some of them
tend to enervate the authority evidently designed thus to regulate and
controul? Do not others of them discover a bias in their advocates to
particular connections, that if indulged to them, would enable persons
of less understanding and virtue, to repeat the disorders, that have
so often violated public peace and honor? Taking them altogether,
would they afford as strong a security to our liberty, as the frequent
election of the federal officers by the people, and the repartition of
power among those officers, according to the proposed system?
It may be answered, that, they would be an additional security. In
reply, let the writer be permitted at present to refer to what has been
said.
The principal argument of gentlemen who object, involves a direct
proof of the point contended for by the writer of this address, and as
[60] far as it may be supposed to be founded, a plain confirmation of
Historic evidence.
They generally agree, that the great danger of a monarchy or
aristocracy among us, will arise from the federal senate.
The members of this senate, are to be chosen by men exercising the
sovereignty of their respective states. These men therefore must be
monarchically or aristocratically disposed, before they will chuse
federal senators thus disposed; and what merits particular attention,
is, that these men must have obtained an overbearing influence in their
respective states, before they could with such disposition arrive at
the exercise of the sovereignty in them: or else, the like disposition
must be prevalent among the people of such states.
Taking the case either way, is not this a disorder in parts of the
union, and ought it not to be rectified by the rest? Is it reasonable
to expect, that the disease will seize all at the same time? If it is
not, ought not the sound to possess a right and power, by which they
may prevent the infection from spreading? And will not _the extent_ of
our territory, and the _number_ of states within it, vastly increase
the difficulty of any political disorder diffusing its contagion, and
the probability of its being repressed?
From the annals of mankind, these conclusions are deducible—that
confederated states may act prudently and honestly, and apart foolishly
and knavishly; but, that it is a defiance [61] of all probability, to
suppose, that states conjointly shall act with folly and wickedness,
and yet separately with wisdom and virtue.