opened something which he would have been very sorry not to have heard. It was a noble observation; and the practice which it implied, no doubt, contributed much to that deep knowledge of human nature, for which this great author is so much distinguished.

But it is not as a fine sentiment, or as a useful maxim, that I urge this mutual respect. I say it is a duty. I will listen to no language of haughty pretension, or fastidious taste, or over-refined doubt; I say it is a duty. I say it is a duty, most especially binding on all Christians; yes, binding upon all who make any pretensions to a belief in the religion of Jesus Christ. And remember, too, my brethren, that it is a duty which will one day be felt, which will enforce conviction through sanctions more commanding, through a judgment more awful, than that of the sages, or the preachers of this world. There is an hour coming when all worldly distinctions shall vanish away; when splendid sin, with all its pride, shall sink prostrate and cowering before the eye of the eternal Judge; when the modest merit that it could not look upon here, nay, when the virtuous poverty, that was spurned from its gate, shall wear a crown of honour; when Dives shall lift up his eyes, being in torment, and Lazarus shall be borne in Abraham's bosom to the presence of the angels of God; when the great gulf which shall separate men from one another, shall separate not between outward splendour and meanness, but between inward, spiritual, essential purity and pollution. Let the judgment of that hour be our judgment now. That which will be true there, is true here is true now. Let that severe and solemn discrimination find its way into this world. For it is written, "He that exalteth himself shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."

ON THE MORAL EVILS TO WHICH AMERICAN

SOCIETY IS EXPOSED.

ACTS xvii. 27: "And hath made of one blood all nations of men, to dwell on all the face of the earth."

THE principle of equality here stated, lies at the foundation of our political institutions. It is the first and main principle in our celebrated Declaration of Independence. I have heard some flippant disputers maintain, that that declaration is false; because, they say, men are, in fact, not "born equal." As if it could have been intended to assert, that all men are born with equal wit or wealth, or of equal strength or stature. The equality which we contend for in this country, is an equality, not of powers, but of rights. It is an equality before the law.

But this qualification being made, our assertion of the doctrine of equality is strong and emphatic. That which I have said in a former discourse is, in fact, a part of our political creed-"that, without any respect to external condition, one man has as much right to have his virtue and happiness regarded as another." The feeling which every human being entertains, that he has, in his welfare, as dear an interest at stake as any other man, is here perfectly respected. No man among us is allowed to say to any one of his fellow-citizens, "You are of a meaner class, and it matters little what becomes of you; you may be trodden under foot with impunity." The law spreads its protecting shield over the weakest and humblest man in the community, and it says to the highest and the haughtiest, "Thou shalt not touch a hair of his head, but by the judgment of his peers."

But the leading feature of our political condition is, that this law is ordained by the majority of the people. The law allows a certain freedom, and it imposes certain restrictions; but it is the majority that determines the extent of the one, and the limit of the other. This, I say, is the peculiar feature of our political condition. While, in most other countries, these points are determined by prescriptive usages, or by irresponsible orders of men, it is here left to the whole body of the people.

This state of things, of course, raises every individual in society to power and importance. Meanwhile, the collective body has already swept from its path all permanent hereditary distinctions. It has opened to merit a free course, by which it may rise to the highest places in society and government.

This principle of equality, thus obviously fitted to produce a direct and powerful effect on society, lends extraordinary force to another power of equal importance, in its bearing on our social character; and that is, the power of public opinion. Public opinion, in this country, is the aggregate of universal opinion. It is not the opinion of the rich and fashionable, nor of princes and nobles; it is the opinion of every

It

body. It is the opinion of every body, and it affects every body. It is like suffrage, universal, and avoiding all distinction. It is like the atmosphere, it presses every man, and on every side; and, what is especially worthy of consideration, like the atmosphere, it leaves men unconscious of its power. You move your hand easily and freely in the air, though philosophers tell you, that the weight of the air is equal to fifteen pounds upon every square inch of it. Let a vacuum be made on one side of you, and that invisible force, of which you are so insensible, would hurl you to the earth as with a thunderbolt. seldom happens, indeed, that a man is so circumstanced with regard to public opinion; and there is, too, a moral power which, against all opinion, can stand firm-" faithful found amidst the faithless." is such a power, but few men are conscious on how many lesser occasions it is necessary to exert it; how liable they are to be, not crushed indeed, but swayed from their integrity and independence, by those potent influences, assent and dissent, praise and dispraise, flattery and ridicule; and, above all, by the breath of the boundless multitude the mighty atmosphere of opinion that surrounds us! The effect of everything that is universal, is, in like manner, apt to be unperceived; and I think it the more important, therefore, to point out some of those dangers to our social character, which arise both from our equality, and from that public opinion to which it gives an almost despotic power.

There

I. And the first danger which I shall notice, and this arises particularly from our equality, is that of coldness and reserve in our manners. I may observe here, in entering upon these details, that our exposures in the respects which I shall mention, are only such as appertain to human nature in such circumstances. Thus, with regard to this trait of reserve, I shall venture to lay it down as an unquestionable fact, that the progress of nations towards equality has always been marked by it. England has long been the freest country in Europe. Its manners are proverbial for their reserve. I do not deny that there are other causes for this, but I have no doubt that the rise of the lower classes in the scale of society, is one. Nay, and it is observable, that with the more rapid steps of reform, this reserve has been more rapidly gaining upon the English character. It is remarked, that the higher classes are more and more withdrawing themselves from the amusements and sports of the common people.

A writer on the manners and customs of Spain, fifteen years ago, has, unintentionally, given a very striking illustration of the general position, on which I am insisting." The line of distinction," he says, "between the noblesse and the unprivileged class being here drawn with the greatest precision, there cannot be a more disagreeable place for such as are, by education, above the lower ranks, yet have the misfortune of a plebeian birth." We shall immediately see the reason of this. "An honest respectable labourer," he says, without ambition, yet with a conscious dignity of mind not uncommon among the Spanish peasantry, may, in this respect, well be an object of envy to many of his betters. Gentlemen treat them with a less haughty and distant air, than is used in England towards inferiors and dependants. A rabadan (chief shepherd), or an aperador (steward), is always indulged with a seat, when speaking on business with his master; and men of the first

Doblado's Letters.
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distinction will have a kind word for every peasant, when riding about the country. Yet they will exclude from their club and billiard table a well-educated man, because, forsooth, he has no legal title to a Don before his name."

The author here states important facts, but he does not give the reasons for them. Why, then, is it that the Spanish gentry treat their dependants with a less haughty and distant air, than the English? It is precisely because the line of distinction between them is drawn with the greatest exactness. And why is it, that those plebeians, who have the misfortune to be well-educated, are an exception to this liberal treatment! It is simply because, in cultivation and manners, they approach nearer to their superiors; it is because they have claims, which it is found necessary to resist by some means; and the natural barrier is

reserve.

All the defences of

But in this country there is no other barrier. birth and rank are broken down. Here, every man not only has claims, but claims which he is allowed freely to put forward. Hence, the guards against intrusion among us; the cautions and contrivances used to avoid intercourse with persons held to be inferior; the engagements pleaded, ay, and planned, to escape such fatal contact and contamination. Hence, the sensitive dread of being thought vulgar; and hence, for one reason, the decline of almost all the homely old domestic and village sports, lest they should bring with them that terrible opprobrium. An aristocratic state of society naturally produces courtesy, contentment, order; a republican, ambition, energy, improvement. I have seen a tree on the smooth and verdant lawn, which spread far its branches in unchallenged majesty to the sky, and whose outermost boughs nodded to the violets that grew by its side, and kissed the greensward beneath it, and in its shadow were the games and sports of a contented and cheerful peasantry; and I have seen a forest, whose intrusive underwood choked up the passages, and forced the loftier trees to stretch away from their companions, and tower up towards heaven; and there was neither space nor time there for games or sports.

This, no doubt, in the mouth of an adversary, would be thought a most invidious comparison. But I am prepared to accept the very ground on which it places us, and to defend it. If the agriculturist may hold it to be an advantage, that ten trees should grow where one grew before; surely, the humane political economist may value that condition which is favourable to the growth of men-to the growth of the many. So well am I satisfied with our institutions on this account, that I can afford to look fairly at the inconveniences and dangers that attend them. I trust, indeed, that much of the inconvenient under-brush will be cleared away from our paths, and that we shall see a fairer growth; in other words, that more perfect relations in society will spring up from the general and equal claims of all. In the meantime, we have less fawning and sycophancy among us than prevail in other countries. We have fewer parasitical plants in our forest state, than are found clinging around the oaks and elms of Europe. But it must not be denied, that we are sometimes chilled by the shadow of this thick growth of society; that we are too liable, each one to stand stiffly up for his rights; that we are liable to want gracefulness and amenity in our manners; that

we are exposed to have our hearts locked up in rigid and frozen reserve. A prince, or a nobleman, in a state of unbroken aristocracy, does not fear that his dignity or reputation will be compromised by the presence of an inferior in his house, or in his society. He is at ease on this point, because his claims stand on an independent basis; but with us, he who would hold a higher place, must obtain it from the general voice. He is dependant on suffrage as truly as the political aspirant. Hence, every circumstance affecting his position is important to him; and the circumstance that most immediately and obviously affects it, is the company he keeps. On this point, therefore, he is likely to be extremely jealous; and this, I conceive, to be one reason for the proverbial reserve of our national manners.

I have thus far endeavoured to unfold the danger on this point, to which I think that our situation exposes us. Let me now observe, that it is one of the most serious moral importance. There is an intimate connexion between the manners and feelings of a people. A cold demeanour, though it may not prove coldness of heart, tends to produce it. The feelings that are locked up in reserve are liable to wither and shrink, from simple disuse. He who stands in the attitude of perpetual resistance to the claims of others, is very apt to acquire a hardness and inhumanity towards them; he is liable to be cold, harsh, and ungracious, both in feeling and deportment; he is in the very school, not of generosity and love, but of selfishness, and scorn, and pride; and vainly might any Christian people boast of its intelligence, refinement, or freedom, if it fail thus of the essential virtues of the Christian religion.

The domestic affections are peculiarly liable to suffer under the same influence. "A poor relation," says an English writer, satirizing the manners of his countrymen-" is the most irrelevant thing in nature; a piece of impertinent correspondency; an odious approximation; a haunting conscience; a preposterous shadow, lengthening in the noontide of your prosperity; an unwelcome remembrancer; a perpetually recurring mortification; a drawback upon success; a rebuke to your rising; a mote in your eye; a triumph to your enemy; an apology to your friends." Where, I was ready to say, but in England-but I will generalize the observation-where, but in countries that give birth and insecurity at once to individual aspirings, could such a satire have been framed? Not among the wild Highlanders of Scotland: not among the barbarous chieftains of our own native forests; not, I think, with the same force at least, in Germany, in France, in Spain, or in Italy. I will not undertake to say how far the satire applies to our own people; but this I say, that we are very liable to deserve it; and I would warn my countrymen, could I speak to them, against this odious and barbarous treatment of their poor, and depressed, or uncourtly relatives, as against a sin worse than sacrilege and blasphemy! Religion, too, is liable to lose much of its expansion, generosity, and beauty, under the pressure of this national reserve. I have sometimes doubted whether a religion so cold, inaccessible, and repulsive, ever could have existed in any other country, as that which has prevailed in this. The manners of the country foster a peculiar reserve among us, an austerity, a sanctimoniousness, nowhere else to be found. The enthusiasm of the country, checked in every other direction, is checked in

* Elia.