THE purpose of this paper is not to discuss the tenets designated under this title, but to show the absurdity of the alarm which they excite, or which it is pretended they justify. This may seem to be a work of supererogation. It is, indeed, hard to believe that any man of sense can entertain serious apprehensions upon this score. In the midst of the difficulties in which we are involved, and the real dangers by which we are threatened, to be frightened by such visionary evils indicates a very whimsical imagination, or, at least, a morbidly sensitive nature. By politicians we are aware the topic is used as a mere bugbear, or rather as a hackneyed electioneering theme. Writers who lack originality of thought, or ingenuity of reason, find this a very convenient subject for declamation. Deprive them of their slang (we cannot find a better word, though a coarse one,) about Loco-Focoism, Fanny-Wrightism, Agrarianism, and they would be very much at a loss. It would be almost a pity to cut them off from this fertile resource. But we should not calculate too strongly upon human reason. In the long run, in an enlightened community, its dictates will always prevail, and the "sober second thought of the people," in the philosophical language of President Van Buren, is perhaps "never wrong." But in the passion or delusion of the moment, evils may be inflicted which time cannot repair; and there are some maladies of sudden origin which are incurable. The very pertinacity with which political partisans, who, although they may want wisdom, are seldom without its bastard substitute, cunning, insist upon those topics is a proof that they are not without their effect. Spargere ambiguas voces, is a more effectual method of propagating alarms, than by bringing definite charges, or specific accusations. Suspicion is more hurtful than actual crimination; its very indefiniteness gives scope to the suggestions and fears of the susceptible imagination. We should never

altogether despise such appeals or prejudices, however irrational or absurd. The French revolution, according to Madame de Stael, was made by words. We cite the sentence for its apposite point, rather than for the truth of its application to the great political earthquake which shook European society to its foundation.

Now we happen to know, from actual observation, that the charge against the Democratic party of holding anti-social doctrines, and opinions subversive of the rights of property, has done much to prejudice it in the minds of many worthy and sensible persons. There is in every community a large class of men, and they form a most valuable portion of the population, who are averse to ultraism in every shape. Satisfied with their condition, they prefer the status quo, and are unwilling to sacrifice positive benefits to speculative ameliorations. All that they ask is tranquillity; that they may follow their pursuits, and enjoy domestic happiness, and the fruits of their industry, without molestation. They reverse the sentiment of the old Roman who preferred hazardous liberty (libertas periculosa) to the calm of slavery. Such persons are not to be contemned. Their influence in the community is salutary. They check the extravagance of more ardent spirits. They form the regulator of the political machine. They are the drag on the wheel of state. Their vis inertia gives stability to social institutions. They are the breakwater which stays the flood of popular commotion. Without them, we should, perhaps, be too prone to speculative changes; too ready to embark upon the ocean of untried experiment. Among this class, from temperament and mind, we do not count ourselves; nevertheless we know how to value it, and even to respect its prejudices. It is fortunate that we do not all think and feel alike. It takes many kind of people, says the vulgar adage, to make up a world. It is for the benefit of society that it contains adverse and contending elements. This keeps up a healthy, vigorous action; this prevents that lethargic stagnation, which is more than any thing else, unfavorable to its efficiency and improvement. Discors concordia is the law of the moral as well as of the physical world. It is chiefly amongst this class of persons that the apprehensions of which we have spoken, have been propagated with the greatest success. Secluded in their habits and ideas,

and isolated from the tumultuous existence of cities, the ferment of political effervescence is brought to their ears, magnified by distance, like the "sound of many waters." The roar of faction and the turmoil of political agitation are swelled by the gale which bears them along, until the retired mansion and the quiet hamlet are "frightened from their propriety." All this is so different from their tranquil existence,-jars so harshly upon the uniformity of their pursuits and habits,-that they feel uneasy and disturbed, nay, anxious and alarmed for the consequences. It is to these, and these

only, whose apprehensions are unfeigned, whose patriotism is undoubted, whose very prejudices are respectable, that we intend to address a few desultory and unpretending observations.

In the first place we must observe, that a great party should not be considered responsible for the opinions of all its members. This will be conceded without hesitation. "How foolish," exclaimed Charles V., "to expect all men to think alike, when the most cunning workman cannot make two watches go exactly together." We cite the substance of the sentiment. Admitting that some members of a party which comprises two-thirds of a great nation, hold irrational opinions, what does this prove? Certainly not that the essential and recognized doctrines of that party are wrong, and should be abandoned. Would it not be hard to charge the Federal party with holding principles utterly adverse to liberty, or with the design of overturning our republican institutions, because some of its members, and a goodly number, too, are at heart, if not confessedly, monarchists? Shall we take the opinions of the modern Sydney, as the Federal creed, or visit upon all, the doubts of Hamilton and the sneers of Morris? This would hardly be fair. We maintain, indeed, that the doctrines of Federalism are anti-republican in their tendencies; but it would scarcely be generous to assume or to assert, that they are so in the intentions of all those who hold them. In grave discussions, let us abandon the exaggeration of newspaper polemics, and both give and claim justice. Yet we hear every day the extravagances attributed to a few, ascribed to the whole body of the Republican party; and those who frankly adopt the opinions of Jefferson and of Madison, the philosopher and sage of American liberty, stigmatized by the most opprobrious epithets, and calumniated by the most ungenerous imputations.

It is a remark of Chateaubriand, that in a country where all men write and speak, we must make up our minds to hear patiently a great deal of nonsense. The human mind, in its infinite modifications, is prone to exaggerations and extravagancies; it has its day dreams, and its waking visions, its optical illusions, and spectral hallucinations. The most unsound theories are often the most plausible; sophistry is often more specious than truth. Talent and integrity are not always effectual guards against the approaches of falsehood; they do but lend strength and zeal to the seductions of error. Clear perception of truth is rarer than the ingenious defence of fallacy. It is more difficult to think justly than with brilliancy. Common sense is, after all, the most uncommon sense. To reason well is a rarer faculty than to reason much. For one man, whose deductions are uniformly sound, you will meet with a hundred whose opinions are striking in statement, and happy in expression. This world is one vast academy of Laputa, and that satire of the misanthropist has been drawn from truth. The race of projectors,

visionaries, and experimenters, is the most numerous, and will never be extinct. Where the reason is weak, and the imagination lively, there is no end to the abortive progeny of schemes and speculations. The mind teems with these "crotchets and maggots of the brain," like the "equivocal generation" of the slime deposited by the river of Egypt. We have but to look at the Patent Office for the exemplification of this, in mechanics. There is not a madhouse which has not some votary to the quadrature of the circle, the ascertainment of the longitude, or the discovery of perpetual motion. Throughout the civilized world there are constantly thousands who waste their whole substance, and exhaust their whole lives, in the effort to attain utterly unattainable ends. There are men who can scarcely creep, who are ever trying to invent means to fly. There is no end to the deliramenta of the human mind. There is no limit to the more than Chinese puzzles of the intellect. Why, then, should we object to a little theory in politics, or be surprised that human ingenuity or inventiveness should also take this direction? It is a subject which rises in importance above all others; which includes all others in its settlement. It is that which concerns the well-being, the improvement, the property, nay, the very lives of men. It is one which daily comes home to our "business and bosoms." The science of government is paramount to all others. It determines the character, the prosperity, the existence of nations, as well as of individuals. Without good government there is no security of possession, no protection of law, no permanency of enjoyment, no activity of industry, no developement of the faculties and capabilities of human nature. Shallow minds, we know, disparage the science of politics as one of impracticable speculations, and cite with ignorant exultation the famous couplet of Pope

For forms of government let fools contest;

Whate'er is best administered is best;

as if the poet seriously entertained the belief, that all the modifica. tions of social polity were equally good and that an essentially bad government could be so administered, in the long run, as to promote the highest prosperity of a people. One of this class of declaimers was once citing the remark of Fox, that he who caused two blades of grass to grow where but one grew before, was a greater benefactor to mankind, than the whole race of statesmen and politicians. "What would your two blades of grass avail you in Turkey," was the prompt reply. We make these observations to show that nothing is so well calculated to interest and excite the human mind as political speculations.

Nor should we think too lightly of this spirit of inquiry even in its extravagancies and aberrations. There are doubtless many discoveries to make in political science, as there are without cuestion,

many evils to be eradicated or at least mitigated in the social state. This spirit of investigation does not exist in vain, and is not, or will not be, without its fruits. The visions of the last age, have become the realities of this, and opinions which are now deemed absurd and impracticable, may to-morrow be adopted with success. There was a time, and that not far back, when religious tolerance was deemed a heresy in politics as in religion, and the separation of Church and State, the complete freedom of the conscience from legal fetters, is a very modern doctrine, and even now but partially adopted. Let us hear all sides, and listen patiently to all opinions. Truth will be winnowed by discussion from the chaff of error, and what is good and sound will abide for the instruction and benefit of those who are to come after us. Let the fullest scope be given to human inquiry, even should it to a certain extent shake the admitted belief, and unsettle the existing ideas of men. The attempt to fetter it but gives importance to error, and the force of resiliency to heresy. Much yet remains to be learned and done. There are still mysteries to be unravelled, and problems to be solved. We cannot feel much respect for him who can sit down and fold his hands in contentment with what has been achieved. It is true that in every state of society much evil will exist, much suffering will be inevitable. There will always be pangs which "neither kings nor laws can cure." At all times men have, and in all times they will, suffer many evils and oppressions. He who thinks that institutions can be contrived, which shall achieve the perfect happiness of mankind, is wofully mistaken, or rather labors under a fond delusion. It is the lot of human nature to suffer. "Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live, and is full of trouble." But let not these melancholy reflections deter us from unwearying efforts to meliorate the condition of humanity. Much can be accomplished, to which that which has already been done cannot compare in magnitude. There are all around us refreshing indications of progress and improvement, and who will limit the march of improvement? A spirit of inquiry has been aroused throughout the civilized world, which is directed to the social amelioration of man. When Beccaria first published his work against excessive pains and penalties, the idea of abolishing capital punishment, for even minor offences, was deemed preposterous. Now there are flourishing States, where it has been wholly abandoned and with advantage. There was a time, and that not far back, when, in the words of a late writer, to rot in a jail for debt, was something more than a mere figure of speech. Now the public attention which has been turned seriously to the condition of prisons, has rendered them more efficient by reforming their abuses; and the abolition of incarceration for debt has become a popular idea, having even been partially determined upon in a country, where the