EVERY thing, which respects the hap­piness of human society, is interesting. The pro­gress of reason and taste, the various changes in civil government, considered in relation to this, are not more pleasing to the curious, than important in the science of humanity. To inquire minutely into the causes, which, from its institution, have contin­ually varied the face of society, would be a task too arduous to engage. These afford ample materials for historical researches, and philosophic investigation. You will not expect the speaker of the day to enter a field so large, or to invite your attention to so copi­ous a subject. It is my design to shew the connection of civil government with manners and taste. And here, the inexperience of youth, attended with a debility of body, would ask the benevolence of my Fathers and Fellow-countrymen.

THERE is a fitness in all the economy of nature. It extends through the different orders of creation, from the most exalted intelligence, down to the mean­est [Page 6] reptile that creeps in the dust. This is called, The fitness of things. We discover it, not only in the laws of the material system, the growth of veg­itables, and the life of brutes; but, in the oppera­tions of the human mind. These are grounds for rational inquiry. Moral causes control all natural ef­fects. And their influence, in society, depends on principles as firmly established, as the constitution of things. The laws, therefore, which regulate the change in civil government and manners, are as fix­ed and as certain, as those, which regulate the revo­lutions of nature.

WHEN we compare the rudeness of ancient times with the refinement of the present age, a field is open for candid investigation. How one generation may become wise, by the wisdom of a former, is easy to determine. But, how the whole group of human beings should emerge from native ignorance, and rise to elegance in taste, is a problem harder to solve. This, however, may be generally ascribed, to the natural growth and improvement of the intellectual powers; and, particularly, to the aids of civil gov­ernment. This is the guardian of human rights. Laws are grafted on the peculiar nature of those, over whom they are exercised. Hence, according to the original constitution of society, they are con­nected with manners and taste. This connection lays the foundation of national happiness. This is the principle, which regulates political law.

THE principles of government have an influence on manners and taste. The spirit of its different forms gives a different complexion to the habits and genius of a people. This is deduced from facts and the history of national police. Simplicity of man­ners characterized the ages of the Patriarchs; pro­fusion [Page 7] and luxury, the reigns of the Babylonian and Persian kings. The States of Greece were as dis­tinguished, for their patriotic virtues, under their Solon, Lycurgus and Aristides, as for their perfidy and vices, under the successors of Alexander. The Ro­man soul, in the time of the Republic, was the seat of greatness; under the Emperors, it was the sink of every passion, which was mean or sordid. Let us consider the round of dissipation, in which the sub­jects of a Turkish despot continually walk; the jealous cruelties of a Venetian aristocrat, [...] the constant fidelity of a republican Swiss. Were it needful, we might say, the virtues of American cit­izens would be strangers, in the gaudy realms of eas­tern monarchs, or in the dominions of European kings. Were it needful, we might say, the vices of those countries would be vagabonds, in this free and independent commonwealth. But, modesty for­bids.

GOVERNMENT, being connected with the constitu­tional taste and manners of a people, improves with the progress of refinement. No nation ever com­menced a political existence, and expired, under the same constitution. Science and a knowledge of things enlarge the mind, and direct its views to more noble objects. Refinement and the Arts introduce a senti­ment in taste, and a decorum in manners, worthy the dignity of a rational soul. The passions and the powers of imagination grow up to maturity, before the judgment and solid sense. Men enter into the beauties of descriptive, before they reason justly, in the connection of cause and effect. They are poets and orators, before they are philosophers and poli­ticians. The savage, though ignorant of the prin­ciples of civil government, and the operations of na­ture, [Page 8] yet feels warmly the affections of the heart, and the ties of blood. In a similar stage of civiliza­tion, government partakes of the same feeble, though expressive powers. It rests, solely, on the acts of native sympathy and persuasion—its views terminate in self-defence. Each individual assumes the prerog­ative of redressing his own private wrongs—the sword becomes the minister of justice, and the arbi­ter of right.

LAWS, in their origin, like society, were rude and [...]. Their seeds were sown in the constitu­tion of man. Warmed by the influence of the so­cial sun, they sprang-up. They have grown in eve­ry climate; and their branches have born a fruit more salutary to human kind, than even the air which they breathe, or the other elements on which they live.

THE original state of man was a state of universal strife and perpetual war. Individuals were so ma­ny independent sovereignties, continually at variance with each other. These interfering claims not only endangered the rights of personal safety, but the pro­gress of rational happiness. The natural reason of mankind, therefore, pointed-out mutual associations, as their only safety; and a common deposit of a cer­tain share of their natural rights, as the proper mean of securing the rest. These surrendered rights ex­isted somewhere; they existed in the body of the community, vested in some person or persons, as the bond and seal of their union. This was the origin of delegated power. These were the rude begin­nings of that policy, which has so liberally conduced to the happiness and respectability of society, and which now wears the name of civil government. Hence, government comprizes those rights, which [Page 9] individuals of a community have thrown into com­mon stock, and vested in a political head. And as it neglects the use of these, or assumes the exercise of more, in the same ratio, does it verge towards ef­feminacy or usurpation. In what form, it first exist­ed, whether these rights were vested in the whole community, in a part, or in one person alone, let the curious solve. It is sufficient to my present de­sign, to observe, that it now exists in as many forms, as there are nations on the globe. For [...] I am to account.

WE need not distort the features of government, into the monstrous shapes of monarchy, aristocracy and democracy, which are found, in their purity, scarcely in nature, or among the societies of men. For myself, I know of no elementary forms of gov­ernment, other than those, which arise from the con­stitutional taste and manners of nations. Power, being originally in the people, is delegated by their consent; and it is the part of their united wisdom to determine, by whom, and in what manner, it shall be exercised. Hence, forms of government vary with taste. And this is as various, as the several sta­ges in the progress of civilization, or the countries inhabited by men. Our own observation and the ex­perience of mankind assure us, that civil policy has ever found its interest, in conforming to the prevail­ing sentiments and disposition of its constituents— This is its nature, and this is according to the moral fitness of things. The nations, which overspread Europe, in the fifth and sixth centuries, were bent on military, and inveloped in scenes of war. Their civil constitution, which was the famous feudal syst­em, breathed the same warlike spirit. In the an­cient simplicity of times, we have examples of a [Page 10] whole tribe's convening together with their leader, to consult on affairs of common importance. In the same country, after the revolving of a few centuries and their consequent improvements, we find the like powers residing in the king alone. We next find them shared by the most eminent and distinguished in the nation. They were next distributed to a third order, in the legislature. And, we now find the same powers forming a constitution, justly admired by an enlightened nation. Such have been the pro­gressive effects of civilization and taste.

THE jurisprudence of a refined people would ap­pear as ridiculous, as uninteligible, to the unciviliz­ed. The savage, whose form of government is as simple as his manner of life, reposes with confidence his rights, in the bosom of his chief, or in the coun­cil of his fathers. He knows not the distinctions in civil policy, neither does the simplicity of his society require them. But civilization naturally gives birth to intriguing politicians, and the schemes of ambi­tion for dominion and fame. It was on this ground, that the several branches in civil government were first introduced. To check the natural progress of usurpation, and to circumscribe the designs of an as­piring mind, as men grew in the habits of social life, it was found necessary to vest, in one body, the right of making laws; and in another, the power of executing them. The system of checks, there­fore, becomes more necessary and complicated, in proportion as society advances in refinement. Hence, we find those in a republic, which are unknown in the cabinet of kings. To balance these checks with delegated perogative; so as to preserve the rights of the people, and yet to throw a suitable weight in­to [Page 11] the scale of government to give it energy and force, is the grand secret of legislation.

LEST I should prejudice the philosophic mind, or lead its inquiries from the line of truth, in justice to my subject, permit me here to remark; that the dif­ferent systems of jurisprudence, which the several nations of the world have adopted, may, in part, be ascribed to physical causes, as well as to the reas­on of things. The climate, and the natural qualities of the soil, produce a surprising effect on the human constitution. These combined have introduced that distinguished variety, in the descendents of Adam, which has led some to doubt their common original. They have not only differently modified the coats of the skin, and the organs of the body, but the texture of the mind. They have not only cloathed the African with a tawny garbe, but obscured the brightness of his intellect. They have not only grossly organized the bodily system of the polar in­habitants, but constituted their minds of the grosser materials of passive insensibility. And, they have not only endowed the inhabitants of the temperate zones, with the nicer symetry of external form; but, with the richer ornaments and elegance of the mind.

IN the warmer climates, the soil is either very barren, or very productive. And such is the gen­ius of its inhabitants. Vices are its spontaneous growth, and passions are breathed in the warm dif­fusions of the air. Thus influenced by native pa­thos, and a lively imagination, society is subject to frequent and alarming changes. And this has been eminently the case with the southern parts of Asia, a theatre of the most astonishing revolutions, which the political world has ever experienced. But, in [Page 12] the colder regions of the north, the whole animal, as well as vegitable tribes wear a coaser stamp. Men are void of the finer sensibilities, which intwine the nerves of social affection▪—Too insensible to feel oppression—too indolent to grasp at dominion, or to aspire after the cultivations of taste, their manner of life is inoffensive; and their rules of governing, though few, are seldom invaded. But to leave extremes. In the temperate climates, in which we live, nature seems to have combined her powers, to aggrandize the intellectual world, and to complete the circle of rational enjoyment. Here she has planted her gar­den, adorned with the richest fruits, and the finest flowers, which can either improve the taste, or please the fancy, of intelligent beings. And here she has prepared a banquet for reason.

SUCH is the philosophy of nature. These causes contribute, to produce a variety, in the constitution­al taste and manners of nations; and this variety is the ground of that difference, in jurisprudence and civil government, which they severally present.

FROM the same sourse, are the reasons, why sim­ilar actions have been esteemed morally right, in one country, and morally wrong, in another. In Tarta­ry, it is considered a mark of filial piety and moral virtue in children, to expose their parents grown [...] [Page 13] those, who feed on human flesh. Such are the ef­fects of climate or taste.

MORE thoroughly to investigate the connection of civil government with manners and taste, and shew their reciprocal influence; let us, for a moment, draw aside the curtain, and view them struggling in those scenes of barbarism, which claim the tears of humanity. On the demolition of the Roman em­pire, the victorious tribes, like all conquering na­tions, not only dictated their principles of civil poli­cy, but sowed the seeds of their barbarous taste, in the very vitals of their more civilized captives. These, in contempt of social fitness, soon sprang up, and became more powerful than former habits of propriety. The luminary of science, whose resplen­dence had been so conspicuous in the meridian of ancient glory, declined below the mental horizon. Reason fell asleep on the ruins of intellectual im­provement, and every passion of an uncultivated mind roved without restraint. We shall not, then, be surprised at the phrenzy, which rendezvoused all Europe at Palestine; or alarmed at the extravagance of bigoted opinion. ^* Jurisprudence suffered equal­ly with sentiment. Civil magistrates were vested with powers, too feeble to enforce their laws—too small to command respect. ^† Perhaps the state of so­ciety [Page 14] was never more deplorable, than during the ninth, tenth and eleventh centuries. Mankind had lost their original independence and simplicity of manners; but had not yet acquired that sense of pro­priety, which results from a just conception of things. Not comprehending the moral government of nature, they were ready to suppose, the established order of things might be reversed, to gratify some favorite prejudice or passion. Their appeals to the decision of Heaven, by ordeal and by combat, and the sanction given them, by judicial authority, at once shew the bigotry of taste, and the depression of civ­il law. ^‡

TOWARDS the close of the eleventh century, so­ciety had arrived at its lowest point of debasement. From this period, it presents a more pleasing pros­pect to the friends of man. Reason, by degrees, threw off the mass, in which she had been for cen­turies entombed, and began to put on some feat­ures of humanity. Several causes contributed, joint­ly, to the revival of jurisprudence, and to the im­provement of taste. The establishment of commu­nities, or cities corporate, in Italy, led the way to [Page 15] these interesting events. The knowledge, which the Italians had acquired, in navigation, introduced them to the notice of the west, and to the commerce of the east. And, by their intercourse with these nations, they had acquired some faint ideas of ra­tional dignity and human independence. These led them to persevere in obtaining charters of liberty for their cities, or large towns, which charters soon made their way into Germany and France. To these we owe the first ideas of political union and muni­cipal right. Next followed the return of science, and the institution of the learned professions, which have rendered such essential services to the common­wealth of manners. The passion for the adventures of chivalry was not more romantic in its nature, than beneficial in its consequences to the progress of reason and taste. It was moved by the powers of sympathy, and the feelings of the human heart. It refined the points of honour and natural justice. It gave rise to that delicacy in sentiment, and refine­ment in taste, towards the support of which, an im­partial friend to virtue would even dare to compli­ment the sensibilities of the fair.

FROM these sources, government and manners acquired original virtues and permanent force.— These have enabled them to triumph over barbarous usage, and to demonstrate to the political philoso­pher, that their progress depends on their mutual aid. This has clothed nations and kingdoms with grandeur and resplendence. It has made the children of nature citizens of refinement! We have heard of its effects, and we have seen its influence, united with the purity of our own country.

THE connection of civil government with manners and taste is the point, on which the scale of national [Page 16] happiness turns. When this balance is destroyed, ei­ther by the too bold strides of the one, or by the rapid progress or decline of the other, convulsions ensue, and such convulsions as rend the political soul. These have made tottering states and jaring empires! We have heard of the dissolution of eastern monar­chies; we have heard of the fall of Rome and our own age has witnessed the commotions of Eu­rope. These all proceeded from the same cause. And whether an ally-nation has not pushed its civil government one step farther than its social state al­lows, admits a rational doubt. Where the princi­ples of representation are too imperfectly understood, to be quietly enjoyed, a popular constitution is gen­erally attended with alarming innovations.

I NEED not spend time, to prove the equality of men, or the unalienable rights of humanity. You, my country-men, feel their reality. They are a sacred deposit in the bosom of every American.

LET us, therefore, digress, for a moment, to con­sider the country in which we live.

ENJOYING a happy temperature of climate, it possesses the bounties of nature, with few of her inconveniences. A rich variety of soil invites the labours of the husbandman; a salubrity of air, the inquiries of genius. Being unknown to the other nations of the globe, till within three centuries past, it seems to have been designedly removed, by the Au­thor of creation, from the seat of tyrants, in order to become the nursery of freemen.

HAVING been settled, not two centuries ago, by colonies from Europe chartered by the king of Great Britain, who claimed the soil by right of discove­ry, it enjoyed peace with the parent-country, dur­ing the first hundred and fifty years. The years [Page 17] 'sixty four and 'sixty seven were destined to open the plot of that grand drama, whose issue was the e­stablishment of American independence, and the down-fall of British usurpation. Several acts of Parliament, among which were the famous "stampt act," and an act imposing duties on tea, and other articles of domestic use, justly alarmed the Ameri­cans. These, together with the stationing of an ar­my, at BOSTON, to inforce their unwarranted ex­actions, were considered a signal to rally to the standard of arms, and to seek an assylum under the banners of Liberty. Lexington became a scene of blood;—carnage and human gore spread their clotted garments, on Bunkers'-hill! There groanings were heard, to the extremities of New-Hampshire and Georgia. The natural sympathy of the mind kind­led in the American bosom a universal glow of patriotism, which needed but the following aggres­sions of Britain, to burst into conflagration. Pro­vincial assemblies, and conventions of the states, served to animate and confirm the united body. There is something in reason, which commands the attention of rational beings! All seemed inspired with that universal soul, which breathes its influence around creation. The period had now arrived, which was to decide the fate of Americans. Inde­pendence, or slavery, was the only alternative. In attempting to describe the magnanimous anxieties of this eventful crisis, I should efface their impression, from the memory of those who felt them. Suffice it to say, that, on the fourth of July 'seventy-six, in defiance of the thunders of British omnipotence, to the astonishment of an admiring world, and to the universal joy of the American people, as by an ordinance from Heaven, Congress declared these Unit­ed States "FREE AND INDEPENDENT!"

[Page 18]THIS is the day, fellow-citizens, which we cele­brate. Let us remember it, with grateful hearts, to that Being, who said; "Let there be light, and there was light." Let us cherish the invigorating flame, which then burned in the bosom of our fa­thers and patriots, and hand it glowing to posterity. This is the day, which calls forth the sublime feel­ings of independence, and the congenial flow of A­merican souls. We do not celebrate the romance of departed heroes, but the atchievements of our fathers. We do not celebrate the feasts of heathen Gods, but the anniversary of reason. We do not commemorate the building of thrones, or the coronation of kings; but, we commemorate the na­tivity of a nation, that memorable day, on which three million people were born to freedom! Let us remember, we are no longer subjects of ghastly tyr­anny; but the citizens of an unalianable common­wealth!

HERE let us pause. A declaration of rights was not all. They were to be obtained, by bloody con­flict and manly exertion. I will not attempt to paint the horrors, which, at this omenous moment, stood on every side the American cause. It is sufficient to say, that the same undaunted fortitude and greatness of soul, which dwelt with the patriots of 'seventy-five, still found a welcome residence with the heroes of 'seventy-six, and 'seventy-seven. In view of inde­pendence, property and even life was deemed too mean a sacrafice to purchase so glorious a prize. I might mention the bloody tragedy of Bunkers'-hill, the bold invasion of Canada, the surrender of Burgoyne, the battle of Brandy-wine, and the cap­ture of Cornwallis. But these are fresh, in the [Page 19] memory of you all. These, with other equally dis­tinguished events, ushered in the full and quiet pos­session of American independence!

WHILE we repeat our thanks to the actors, in these scenes of tragic distress, can we, fellow freemen, partakers of the same human nature, repress our tears of sympathy for those, who poured out their bleeding lives, to save our common country? Where are our fathers and brethren, who fell at Bunkers'-hill? Where are WARREN and MONTGOMERY? Cold and bloody on the field of death! Let us intomb them, in the lasting memory of our country; let us spread over them the laurels of everblooming gratitude; and may the glorious cause, in which they fell, be an eternal monument to their fame!

AFTER the peace of 'eighty two, on the change introduced into the federal economy, new ground was opened, for the exercise of American talents. To adjust the interests of the several states, and to originate a constitution, which should embrace the manners and genius of so extensive a people, requir­ed stretch of wisdom in the cabinet, equal to their former prowess in the field. These, however, guided by the same principle of fitness, and the influ­ence of Heaven, they were enabled happily to effect. A constitution, which guaranteed to the people equal rights and epual privileges, and yet preserved a suit­able dignity in government, was a phenomenon in the political world, as well as the ornament of an enlightened people. Its opperation has evinced the justness of its principles. By a steady adherence to these, United America has become proverbial for prosperity, so far as she is known on the habitable globe. Her civil and commercial interests have in­creased, beyond the most sanguine computations.— [Page 20] Her arts and sciences have flourished, without a pre­cedent. Her foreign relations have become equally respectable. Since the establishment of her inde­pendence, she has entered into treaties of mutual advantage, with all the considerable powers of Eu­rope, not to mention those with the states of Bar­bary, and the western savages. Herself the garden of nature, she has become preeminent among the na­tions of the world. We may truely say, "he hath not dealt so with any nation." Here, the Genius of civil and religious liberty first found an assylum. And here this celestial fugitive enjoys a most sacred retreat, embosomed in the arts and the virtues of peace.

THOUGH misunderstandings with France now ag­itate the public mind; yet, relying on the Arbiter of nations, we may, at least, hope, and even expect, an honorable accommodation, by the wisdom and integrity of our federal government. We have a man at helm, who has grown grey, in the services of his country, and in the applauses of his countrymen. Nevertheless, should farther aggressions require de­cision, it belongs to us, Americans, who have faught for our rights, to exclude from the rank of citizen, him, who will not defend his country against these lawless invaders.

IT is of importance, that we adhere firmly to the principles of federal union, and to the spirit of our constitution. These are the palladium of our liber­ties. Free elections are the life of a representative government. When these are corrupted, then is the constitution subverted. And these are corrupt­ed, when electioneering news-papers become the or­acles of popular truth; when groveling candidates stoop to the detestable arts of bribery, duplicity and [Page 21] solicitation; and, when men in public trust sacri­fice candid opinion, on the alter of popular caprice. When this, I say, is the case, public virtue has on­ly a name. But, may this never be the case with these United States! May it never be said, they once were free, they once were independent! May they possess themselves, and brand with infamy the wretch, who would dare to seduce them from reli­gious purity and moral justice. May they continue, in reality, as well as in name, United America, till the kingdoms of the world shall be lost, in the king­dom of the Ancient of days!

WE have seen aspirers after tyranic dominion, and friends to faction, in the very bowels of our union. We have seen Catalines in miniature, and despots in infancy. But, let not such think to shake the prin­ciples of our constitution. They are as firm, as the foundations of the earth, or the pillars of Heaven! Let national virtue, therefore, be our watchman, on the walls of this American Jerusalem. This shall se­cure us against the insinuations of European intrigue. And, let our days of public election be as sacred to the investigation of truth and patriotism, as sabbaths to the worship of God! Let us set these, a seal on our liberties, and shew to the world; "that a nation can be governed, and yet be free."

I SHOULD do violence to original virtue, and to my own feelings, should I pass, in silence, the man, who has been our shield in war, our council in peace, GEORGE WASHINGTON, the illustrious patron of his country. The calm serenities of a pure unclouded mind shall still attend him, through the shadowy vale of declining age. The plaudits of an admiring world [...] ever remain, a diadem to his memory, in the crown of hoary justice. The choir of guardian ser­aphs, [Page 22] who have protected him, through the perils of life, shall pitch their tents, in calm repose, a­round his venerable head, and softly tune their harps, to breathe his praise.

WHILE we congratulate, with a cordial embrace, our brethren returning from the slavery of ALGIERS, we can not, fellow-freemen, forget that distinguish­ed friend of man, the MARQUIS FAYETTE. Though envious kings may confine him, with bolts and with bars; yet, his love of liberty shall be known and revered, so far as the empire of freedom ex­tends. His virtues, too luxuriant to flourish in European soil, shall vegitate even in a dungeon. They shall be nourished by the Genius of kindred souls! Re­member, he fought for the fourth of July; and let us not pass the solemnities of this joyful day, with­out visiting his chains with a sympathy of affect­ion.

WHILE we dwell on the superlativly happy condi­tion of United America, it is but just to feel for the miseries of the eastern continent. The true spirit of freedom and the noble sentiments of independence have just made their way, into two quarters of the globe. The other quarters are not yet prepared to entertain these celestial guests. Europe is still strug­ling with right; Asia is the seat of despots, and Af­rica, the commonwealth of tyrants.

BUT, from the present eventful period, may we not indulge the hope, that the field of blood may soon be converted into the garden of peace; and the whole rational family partake, with us, the bless­ings of the fourth of July. May we not pursue the pleasing analagy of events, to that auspicious day, when the connection of civil government, with man­ners [Page 23] and taste, shall be complete, in the happiness of nations; and when a universal jubilee, to the rights and liberties of men, shall be proclaimed and enjoyed, throughout the confederated world. Then shall "the morning stars," again, "sing to­gether, and all the sons of men shout for joy."