disgrace, is, in a most important sense, the consequence of his own conduct. Born a pauper, he may thus die the possessor of millions-a farmer's boy, he may reach the highest station in the republic with no external title to consideration, the treasures of his mind may be the richest legacy of the present age to posterity. On the other hand, with a fortune for his patrimony, he may sink to the level of the poorest day-laborer -graceful and accomplished, the pride of a proud family, the favorite of beauty, and the idol of fashion, he may perish without a friend, on a pallet of straw, in the garret of an almshouse; still more, blessed with the best gifts of nature, the best opportunities of education, the fairest prospects of usefulness"bearing his blushing honors thick upon him"-he may live to see himself a reprobate and an outcast.

It is in this perfect liberty of making himself what he chooses to become, that our institutions confer upon the individual, or, rather, do not wrest from the individual, the highest prerogative of his nature-what may be rendered the greatest blessing of his existence, or will prove, by his own fault, the cause of his misery and ruin. An arbitrary government, on the contrary, prescribes not only an unequal distribution of political power, but, for most practical purposes, its effect is to counteract the influence of moral distinctions, to repress the tendencies of nature, and to doom individuals to penury or affluence, to offices of dependence or to elevated stations, not according to their merit, as tested by fair competition, but solely with reference to accidental circumstances. Thus the heir of a throne may be a profligate spendthrift and an abandoned libertine; and yet a mitred bishop shall place the crown upon his head, the laureate shall hymn his praises, and all ranks and classes implore blessings on his reign; while the poorest subject of his realm, however meritorious, is suffered to pass his life in wretchedness, and to end it in despair. Thus, too, talents combined with learning and integrity, may only render a plebeian odious and suspicious, while a moderate share of these distinctions will raise a patrician to the pinnacle of fame,

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or, perhaps, the utter want of them will constitute the chief qualification of a prime minister or a pensioned favorite.

Examples of such moral outrage are becoming rare. The spirit of our institutions, already diffused far and wide, has aroused individuals to a perception of what is due to talents and character, as well as nations to a sense of their political rights; so that now merit is every where emerging from obscurity, and worthlessness retreating from the stations, where it had so long withstood the public frown. But it is still easy to perceive, that, wherever absolute establishments, whether civil or religious, exist, the individual may struggle in vain to acquire the influence and estimation, which amongst us to deserve is to possess.

The age, too, as well as the country in which we live, is propitious to self-improvement. So far as public opinion does not cringe to the power that would overawe, nor is seduced by the flattery that would debase it, there is nothing more honorable or more honored than individual exertion, in any and every department of usefulness. There never was a period in the history of human improvement, when so much was attempted or effected by the labors of individuals. In science, in literature, and in the arts, conspicuous examples of arduous efforts and encouraging success adorn the present age. Many an individual of our times, believing with Sir William Jones that whatever had been attained was attainable by him, has burst the chains of prejudice, has conquered difficulties, has withstood temptations, has acquired habits of self-control and self-application, and has persevered to the accomplishment of all that ambition could virtuously desire, and earned a fame which posterity will venerate.

Individual competition is the most powerful incentive to exertion; at the present day how vastly enlarged is the field of its exercise! From the extension of commerce, and bymeans of the press, every event, every discovery, every experiment, every plausible undertaking of every individual in any one civilized country is speedily published in every other. Inquiry

is excited-criticism becomes active-every thing is brought to the test of philosophical analysis and practical proof-defects are exposed-improvements are suggested-ignorance is rebuked-sophistry is refuted-useful inventions are scattereduseful knowledge is diffused-discovery treads on the heels of discovery and while each individual scarcely finds himself without a rival, he perceives the wisdom of converting rivalry into a source of encouragement and confidence.

It is thus that individuals throughout the world, are at the present moment stimulating each other forward in the race of true glory. It is by this wide-spread emulation that they are brought to realize their various powers, and the unprecedented means of influence which are placed within their reach. The striking events, fresh in the memory of the present generation, what are they but the efforts of individuals, roused to action by powerful motives within and without them, and exhibiting throughout their career of wild ambition or virtuous self-devotion, in their merits and in their faults, the indelible impression alike of the times and of the men? I do not mean to say that it is the only praise of Napoleon that he was the great man of great occasions; but it is to hazard little to assert that he did homage to the spirit of the age in his institutions that whatever is laudable in his taste, his ambition, his designs, and his achievements, bears the character of the age -and that it is the severest censure of his errors to pronounce them a libel on the age. Elevated by extraordinary events to the height of military glory-possessing as an individual the greatest power for good or evil which was ever allotted to a mortal-he seemed, as if incapable of moral perception, to shut

his

eyes to the prospect of brilliant usefulness which the world saw spread before him, and rushed in madness and in folly to the consummation of his earthly destiny, leaving it for biography to unveil his motives, and for history to record his crimes.

"He left the name, at which the world grew pale

"To point a moral, and adorn a tale."

In respect to the recent revolution in France, what does it illustrate so strikingly as the atrocious stupidity of one individual, the fugitive and almost forgotten monarch, and the mag nanimity, the wisdom, the disinterestedness, the exalted patriotism of another individual, the brightest living example of the glorious distinctions of our country and of the age? Here has been a notable proof that the rank of a king can no longer screen the guilt of the individual, and that an individual may refuse a crown, and yet exert a greater influence over government and people, than was ever yielded to the arms or diplomacy of allied sovereigns.

Perhaps the sequel of this Revolution will strikingly show, that from the want of other individuals like Lafayette, that is, from the want of individuals whose opinions have been moulded, whose habits have been formed, whose hopes have been excited, whose very taste has been inspired by a political system such as Lafayette contributed to establish, by a train of circumstances such as those by which he was surrounded, and by examples such as he witnessed in America, what has been already gained in France may be recklessly and shamelessly lost. Can any thing be more plain, than that in France the project of "a republican king" has been proved as great an absurdity in fact, as it was declared to be in terms? Under the present constitution of the government, has any evil become more apparent, than its incompatibility with the advancement or even the political security of individuals, in whom more than any others the country has had occasion to manifest its confidence, and upon whom it is anxious to bestow its honors ?

At the time of the first delivery of this lecture, the French Revolution was but just achieved. It was hailed here as well as in France as a succesful triumph of the popular will. La fayette had been seen to re-assume his commanding station at the head of the National Guard. Having gained alike the

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ear of the king and the hearts of the people, generously, ardently, and sincerely devoted to the promotion of their mutual interests, it seemed as if neither could soon or ever become so far insensible to the value of his services, as to seek to detract aught from his standing or his fame. But notwithstanding the Revolution, the government of France continued hostile to republican principles and a republican policy; and for obvious reasons the presence, the advice, the entreaties, the remonstrances of their vigilant guardian and faithful champion soon became as obnoxious to Louis Philippe as to Charles the Tenth. It was not for Lafayette to degrade or dishonor himself. It was not for him to play the part of a sycophant and courtier. He could not but regard the king as equally with himself the servant of a common sovereign, the people; and as owing like himself the highest personal and official allegiance to the constitution which they had both subscribed, and to the liberal principles, which they had pledged themselves to each other to support. It was for Lafayette again to experience that it was in vain for him to attempt to be an American in France. It was for him, as I may say, to instruct us most impressively, that it is in vain, and worse than in vain, any where out of America, for an individual to trust himself as a political reformer to the purity of his motives, the weight of his character, and the lustre of his fame. Lafayette had but recently come to America; and here, from village to village, from city to city, from state to state, he had been accosted by the throng of free and happy citizens, who were ready and eager to honor him as the friend of their fathers, and the disciple of their Washington. He came here in his old age to wit- ̈ ness the success of the cause, for which he had sacrificed the blood and treasure of his youth; and he returned to France re-animated with the hope of doing something at least, that might prepare the way for establishing in the land of his birth the political system, which he had seen thus richly blessing the country of his adoption. The popular feeling in France responded to his design; and the precipitous self-destruction