Bossuet remarks, that "If the Roman laws have appeared so sacred, that their majesty still subsists, notwithstanding the ruin of the empire, it is because good sense, which controls human life, reigns throughout the whole, and that there is nowhere to be found a finer application of the principles of natural equity."

Algernon Sidney adds, that "The Israelites, Spartans, Romans, and others, who framed their governments according to their own will, did it not by any peculiar privilege, but by a universal right conferred upon them by God and nature. They were made of no better clay than others; they had no right that does not as well belong to other nations; that is to say, the Constitution of every government is referred to those who are concerned in it, and no other has any thing to do with it.".

"Salus populi est lex suprema."

Judge Blackstone remarks, that "every man, when he enters into society, gives up a part of his natural liberty, as the price of so valuable a purchase; and, in consideration of receiving the advantages of mutual commerce, obliges himself to conform to those laws which the community has thought proper to establish. And this species of legal obedience and conformity is infinitely more desirable than that wild and savage liberty which is sacrificed to obtain it. For no man, that considers a moment, would wish to retain the absolute and uncontrolled power of doing whatever he pleases; the consequence of which is, that every other man would also have the same power, and then there would be no security to individuals in any of the enjoyments of life. Political, therefore, or civil liberty, which is that of a member of society, is no other than natural liberty, so far restrained by human laws (and no farther) as is necessary and expedient for the general advantage of the public. Hence, we may collect that the law, which restrains a man from doing mischief to his fellow-citizens, though it diminishes the natural, increases the civil liberty of mankind. And Locke has well observed, "where there is no law there is no freedom."

Socrates made a promise, with himself, to observe the laws of

nis country; but this is nothing more than what every good man ought both to promise and to perform: and he ought to promisə still further, that he will exert all his power, when constitutionally called upon, to compel others to obey them.

The compiler of this edition of our own venerated Constitution, to which he has with anxious labor prefixed a copious, and, he trusts, a faithful analytical index, believes that there are among his fellowcitizens many thousands of intelligent men capable of reading and understanding the great American charter of liberty, but who, without seeing and judging for themselves of "its limitations and its authorities," have, with a passive credulity, (which in other matters of comparative insignificance, would have been indignantly spurned,) reposed their faith, their birthright, and their safety, on the opinions of others, whose impassioned, and sometimes vituperative tones have appealed rather to the prejudices of the heart than to the integrity of the understanding.

Mr. Dallas has well said, that "the Constitution in its words is plain and intelligible, and it is meant for the homebred, unsophisticated understandings of our fellow-citizens." To this sentiment, the compiler is indebted for suggesting to his mind the idea of publishing this edition of the Constitution, with its accompaniments; and he therefore believed that there would be propriety and justice in the dedication of it to this distinguished statesman, and through him to the American people. X

The compiler, diffident of his own ability to do adequate justice to the subject, has called to his aid some of the most eminent authorities to sustain the inviolable sanctity of the law, and to impress upon Americans a reverential attachment to the Constitution, as in the highest sense the palladium of American liberty; so that their judgment, as well as their affections, may be enlisted on the side of the Constitution, as the truest security of the Union, and the only solid basis on which to rest the private rights, the public liberties, and the substantial prosperity of the people composing the American Republic.

He will next have recourse to the authority of the universally esteemed and lamented Justice Story, as to the high responsibilities of the people, and the proper means of guarding the inestimable * The 1st and 2d editions were dedicated to Mr. Dallas, and the 3d and subsequent editions, with his permission, to the people, &c.

rights they now enjoy. In reference to the Constitution of government he says: "It must perish, if there be not that vital spirit in the people, which alone can nourish, sustain, and direct all its movements. It is in vain that statesmen shall form plans of government, in which the beauty and harmony of a republic shall be embodied in visible order, shall be built up on solid substructions, and adorned by every useful ornament, if the inhabitants suffer the silent power of time to dilapidate its walls, or crumble its massy supporters into dust; if the assaults from without are never resisted, and the rottenness and mining from within are never guarded against. Who can preserve the rights and liberties of the people, when they shall be abandoned by themselves? Who shall keep watch in the temple, when the watchmen sleep at their posts? Who shall call upon the people to redeem their possessions, and revive the republic, when their own hands have deliberately and corruptly surrendered them to the oppressor, and have built the prisons or dug the graves of their own friends? This dark picture, it is to be hoped, will never be applicable to the Republic of America. And yet it affords a warning, which, like all the lessons of past experience, we are not permitted to disregard. America, free, happy, and enlightened as she is, must rest the preservation of her rights and liberties upon the virtue, independence, justice, and sagacity of the people. If either fail, the republic is gone. Its shadow may remain with all the pomp, and circumstance, and trickery of government, but its vital power will have departed. In America, the demagogue may arise as well as elsewhere. He is the natural, though spurious growth of republics; and, like the courtier, he may, by his blandishments, delude the ears and blind the eyes of the people to their own destruction. If ever the day shall arrive, in which the best talents and the best virtues shall be driven from office by intrigue or corruption, by the ostracism of the press, or the still more unrelenting persecution of party, legislation will cease to be national. It will be wise by accident, and bad by system."

In every human society," says the celebrated Beccaria, "there is an effort continually tending to confer on one part the height of power and happiness, and to reduce the other to the extreme of

weakness and misery. The intent of good laws is to oppose this effort, and to diffuse their influence universally and equally ;" and Montesquieu declares that, "In a free state, every man, who is supposed a free agent, ought to be concerned in his own government; therefore the legislative power should reside in the whole body of the people, or their representatives. The political liberty of the citizen is a tranquillity of mind, arising from the opinion each person has of his safety. In order to have this liberty, it is requisite the government be so constituted, as that one man need not be afraid of another. The enjoyment of liberty, and even its support and preservation, consists in every man's being allowed to speak his thoughts, and lay open his sentiments."

The compiler will next propose to his fellow-citizens the advice of a profound philosopher, as to the proper mode of preserving the independence of the mind, which is alike applicable to every freeborn American citizen, and points out the means by which the native talent, the integrity of heart, and the indomitable spirit of the people, guided by patriotism, will be rendered available in the preservation of the purity of the government, and of their own liberties. It is submitted, that a copy of this edition of the Constitution be in the possession of every citizen capable of reading and understanding the meaning of language, before whom the following instructions of Locke would then be placed:

"Reading is for the improvement of the understanding."

"The improvement of the understanding is for two ends: first, for our own increase of knowledge; secondly, to enable us to deliver and make out that knowledge to others."

"I hope it will not be thought arrogance to say, that perhaps we should make greater progress in the discovery of rational and contemplative knowledge, if we sought it in the fountain-in the consideration of things themselves—and made use rather of our own thoughts than other men's to find it; for I think we may as rationally hope to see with other men's eyes, as to know by other men's understandings. So much as we ourselves consider and comprehend of truth and reason, so much we possess of real and true knowledge. The floating of other men's opinions in our brains makes us not one jot the more knowing, though they happen to be

true.

What in them was science, is in us but opiniatrety; whilst we give up our assent only to reverend names, and do not, as they did, employ our own reason to understand those truths which gave them reputation. Aristotle was certainly a knowing man, but nobody ever thought him so, because he blindly embraced, or confidently vented, the opinions of another. And if the taking up another's principles, without examining them, made not him a philosopher, I suppose it will hardly make anybody else so. In the sciences, every one has so much as he really knows and comprehends; what he believes only, and takes upon trust, are but shreds, which, however well in the whole piece, make no considerable addition to his stock who gathers them. Such borrowed wealth, like fairy money, though it were gold in the hand from which he received it, will be but leaves and dust when it comes to use.

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"How many men have no other ground for their tenets than the supposed honesty, or learning, or number, of those of the same profession. As if honest or bookish men could not err, or truth were to be established by the vote of the multitude; yet this, with most men, serves the turn."

"All men are liable to error, and most men are, in many points, by passion or interest, under temptation to it. If we could but see the secret motives that influenced the men of name and learning in the world, and the leaders of parties, we should not always find that it was the embracing of truth, for its own sake, that made them espouse the doctrines they owned and maintained. This at least is certain, there is not an opinion so absurd which a man may not receive upon this ground. There is no error to be named, which has not had its professors; and a man shall never want crooked paths to walk in, if he thinks that he is in the right way wherever he has the footsteps of others to follow."

It is not hence to be inferred, however, that the opinions and the judgment of the wise and the good are to be disregarded, and more especially are we not permitted to treat with irreverence the political loctrines and maxims of the fathers of the republic, whose wisdom and counsel, and devoted patriotism, gave being to the Declaration of our independence and the Constitution of our country. In the fundamental principles of our Government, on what can the