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ADDRESS.

SOCIETY, in the progress of civilization, is broken into classes of men of more or less relative influence; and these classes are composed of individuals, no two of whom bear the same exact relation to the whole community.

The sublime conception of the natural equality of man, consecrated by philanthropy and freedom, and itself the sustaining pillar of both, does not indicate an actual or even possible uniformity in the condition of life.*

There is no equality in the faculties of men; no equality in corporeal strength; no equality in genius, talents or intellectual powers of any kind. The moral principle runs through every degree of sensibility, till it sinks to the point of perpetual congelation. Education, disposition, health, opportunity, conduct and consequently character, the great artificer of human fortune, or at any rate of human happiness, are displayed in every possible variety. On the race-course of human life there is difference in the start and the speed, and of course at every point on the field. What is called

*The same statesmen who declared in the Constitution of Massachusetts, that all men are born free and equal, provided that only those should have the right of voting, or of being elected, who possessed a certain amount of property.

accident, because it is difficult to find a cause, or trace its operation, determines to a great degree the position of the individual or its consequences. A power unseen and inscrutable regulates the unaccountable vicissitude, as if to demonstrate, that in the social as in the natural world,

"All nature's difference keeps all nature's peace."

Such are the elements of the social system in every association of men, in every period of human history.

What are its objects? Wealth, honors, fame cannot be equally distributed. Their very character depends on their comparative exclusiveness. What to any man would be the value of property, if all men were equally rich? Nothing. Poverty and wealth are but comparative terms; and an exact equality of condition in the whole society, if it were possible for a moment to conceive of it,→ would confound the business of life. could buy, no man would labor. motive, and exertion without reward. please; let it be gathered upon the sea-shore, as if every beach was the sand of Pactolus; there would be but one blank and sterile waste in an uncultivated world; and the glittering grief of actual poverty in its caverns of gold.

No man could sell, no man Industry would be without a Multiply this wealth as you

What are the honors of life? If they mean any thing, they mean that he who wears them is better than his neighbor. They are the tributes of the world's respect to the world's benefactors; acknowledgments of the existence and the exertion of some superior faculty or power of body or of mind.

Fame, that prolongs life even in this world beyond the confines of the grave; existence in the admiration of mankind; life in other's breath; the desire of it, the noble mind's distinguishing perfection, the inspirer of great thoughts, of gallant actions, patriot sacrifice, devoted philanthropy; what is it but that tribute of

esteem, regard, admiration from their fellow-men, which places Franklin, Arkwright, Watt, Fulton, and their kindred spirits, on an elevation above the rest of the world. Distinction is the prize of life, and courted only because in its great lottery there are so many blanks. But in all games of chance or skill, if one wins another loses. Success cannot be universal, and some must be disappointed. Disappointment begets envy, and envy complaint. There is no such dissatisfaction in the distribution of the common benefactions of Providence. There is never any complaint that a man breathes too much air or drinks in too much light. When blessings are to be had for the asking, the possession of them creates no jealousy. It is individual exertion and the consequences of it, that seem to make distinctions in life personal affairs, and to cause on one side an unhallowed pride, offensive and contemptible, and on the other an unreasonable hostility, equally criminal. Neither exertion nor the success of it, should generate these feelings.

By a law of human nature, which, like gravitation in the natural world, keeps society in its determinate order, motives are held out for individual effort, and peculiar benefits are promised to successful competitors. The operation of these motives, and the fulfilment of these promises produce that inequality of outward condition, which is inseparable from the formation of civilized society. If a seeming chance has any thing to do with the result, the circumstances are more complicated and inexplicable. To change this order of nature, to alter the diversified condition of human life; to bring its hills and valleys into one uniform plane, by levelling upward or downward; or to irradiate its whole surface with the same sun-light of fortune, is a task as gigantic, and probably as useless, as to equalize the temperature of the zones, or reform the geological structure of the globe.

It is impossible not to perceive in that arrangement which throws mankind into distinct classes, the same beauty of design which marks every operation of the Supreme Intelligence. We trace the

products of the natural world from the humble spire of grass, to bush, vine or tree in all the magnificence of its foliage; from the lowly flower, that "wastes its sweetness on the desert air," to the golden fruit that hangs in the gardens of our modern Hesperides. All unite in one voice of harmony and praise. All contribute to the perfection of the great whole. It is the same in the world of human life. Classes exist in society also. Each class has its own part to perform in the general concert. The profound researches of the Philosopher, the comprehensive policy of the Statesman, the illimitable enterprise of the Merchant, the contributions of professional men to health, order, and religion, are concerted parts of one grand harmony; while the great majority of our fellow-beings, the immense mass of men in one mighty association of intelligent Labor, resemble the

"Great ocean, strongest of creation's sons;
Unconquerable, unreposed, untired,

That rolls the deep, profound, ETERNAL BASS

OF NATURE'S ANTHEM, and makes music, such
As pleased the ear of God."

Distinctions arising from a natural order of things, or from the acquired character of individuals in a state of society, where the general good forms the leading object of all political arrangement, are not subjects of complaint. They enter intimately into that order, by which "one star differeth from another star in glory." What should be done, and all that can be done, is to preserve the relations of individuals in society from those artificial contrivances, which in all ages of the world, with too much success, have set up false standards of honor, distinction and glory; have sacrificed the many to the few; have retarded individual progress and repressed exertion; have subjected industry and virtue to the influence of family and fortune; and broken the elastic spirit of freedom by the imposition of unjustifiable power.

Such imposition has extensively operated in the establishment of an hereditary right of power, aristocratic privileges of birth, perpet

uation of property in particular families, arrangement of castes, and more than all, in the power of making war, which by some strange perversity of human fortune has not belonged to the people whose blood and treasure are expended in its operations, but to some arbitrary ruler, for whose ambition or pleasure they are wasted. War has been the great enemy of the natural rights of man.

"There the shout

Of battle, the barbarian yell, the bray

Of dissonant instruments, the clang of arms,
The shriek of agony, the groan of death,

In one wild uproar and continuous din
Shake the still air."

All this in its excess, and in proportion to its prodigality of excess, is victory, and victory, in the insane imagination of a ruined world, is the climax of glory.

But war, whether in victory or defeat, degrades and subjugates the mass of the people.

"Kings it makes Gods, and meaner creatures kings."

It multiplies tyrants and ruins men. It might be supposed that the arts of civil life, and especially the mechanic arts, or some of them, would flourish in a state of war. Undoubtedly they do; but the men and the horses of the camp are about upon a par. The artisan is used, not respected. From its rank luxuriance, a crop of heroes spring up, who consume every green thing in the quiet days of peace. The Mechanic may indeed become a soldier, and acquire as he often has done, distinguished honor in the field. By doing so he changes his character. He leaves his proper employment, which is to build up the community, and becomes the artificer of ruin.

War, as a substitute in a nation for that principle of self-preservation which, in an individual, is the first law of nature, and of that personal honor, without which existence is not a blessing, and as a means of preserving among a people, a high love of country predomi

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