sterile acre on the White Mountains, can be taken away with impunity, though by the most powerful, without the voluntary consent of the indigent owner, nor even be set apart for public purposes, without the same necessities and the same just compensation awarded as in case of the greatest.

To any man thus situated, any thing agrarian about property would be as ruinous, looking to the prosperity of himself and to his family in future, as it would be to the wealthy now. Political and civil rights being made equal, it becomes much better, no less for the poor but well-informed and enterprising, than for the cause of society and virtue at large, as well as the present safety of the rich, that the future acquisitions of property, power, and honor, should all generally be rendered proportionate to the future industry, good conduct, and improved talents of every individual.

Thus labor and capital here are made to have but one true interest, and to find that "self-love and social are the same."

The scourges of avarice, in its too great voracity for wealth or capital, will always be the irregular depredations on it of labor, if left badly paid or badly taught, and the true blessings of labor will be its honest and timely acquisitions of capital, if made able to learn and practise its appropriate duties as well as rights. Then, though steadfast and zealous in resisting the seductions of power, the timidities of sloth, the effeminacy of luxury, and the mercenary, sordid spirit of mere gain, the working classes will, at the same time, be careful to shape and crowd forward all their claims in subjection to order, and in the safe channels of law and well-regulated liberty.

It would hardly be necessary to advance any further arguments deduced from our history in proof of the peculiar importance, or indeed vitality, of sound morals, as well as sound education, in such a government as ours, at all times, and more especially in periods of increased peril. They, indeed, always constitute a power higher than the law itself, and possess a healthy vigor much be yond the law. Nor, under our admirable system, does the promotion of morality require any, as mere citizens, 29*

VOL. II.

to aid it, through political favor, to the cause of any particular creed of religion, however deep may be our individual convictions of its truth or importance beyond all the world can give or the world take away. Our public associations for purposes of government now wisely relate to secular concerns alone.

Surely, any of us can be the worthy descendants of the Puritans without being, after the increased lights of two hundred more years, puritanical, in the indulgence of bigotry, or in placing any reliance on the dangerous and it is hoped exploded union of church and state for public security.

On the contrary, the progress of temperance, the improvement in household comforts, the wider diffusion of knowledge as well as of competency in property, and the association, so intimate and radical, between enlarged intelligence and the growth of moral worth and even religious principle, with the advantages all mutually confer and receive, constitute our safest dependence, and exhibit a characteristic, striking, and highly creditable to our whole country, as well as in some degree to the present age. If, constantly reinforced by those exertions of the enlightened, the virtuous, and the talented, which they can well spare, and which duty, honor and safety demand, they seem to encourage strong hopes that the arm of the law will not hereafter be so often palsied by any moral indifference among the people at large, or in any quarter, as to its strength to guide as well as hold the helm.

At such a crisis, therefore, and in such a cause, yielding to neither consternation nor despair, may we not all profit by the vehement exhortations of Cicero to Atticus: "If you are asleep, awake; if you are standing, move; if you are moving, run; if you are running, fly."

All these considerations warn us-the grave-stones of almost every former republic warn us-that a high stan dard of moral rectitude, as well as of intelligence, is quite as indispensable to communities in their public doings as to individuals, if they would escape from either degeneracy or disgrace.

There need be no morbid delicacy in employing on this subject a tone at once plain and fearless. Much of

our own history unites in admonishing all, that those public doings should be characterized, when towards the members of the same confederacy, not by exasperations or taunts, but by mutual concessions, in cases of conflicting claims-by amicable compromises where no tribunal is provided for equal arbitration-by exact justice to the smallest as well as to the largest state; and, through all irritations and rebuffs, the more bitter often because partaking of the freedom of their family origin, by an inflexible adherence to that spirit of conciliation, and to that cultivation of harmony, through mutual affection and mutual benefits rather than force, which, honorable, if not always honored, formed and has hitherto sustained our happy Union.

Õམ་

INAUGURAL SPEECH OF GOV. MORTON,

OF MASSACHUSETTS,

JANUARY 22, 1840.

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate,

and of the House of Representatives:

In obedience to the declared will of the people of this commonwealth, I enter upon the duties of the office of their " supreme executive magistrate." And I seize the earliest opportunity to express the feelings of gratitude, with which their unsought suffrages have filled my breast. But I should do them, as well as my distinguished predecessor injustice, did I impute their choice to personal preference. Their purpose was higher and holier. It was the better establishment and the more perfect development of a great principle of civil politya principle founded in humanity, guided by benevolence, and looking to the ever progressive improvement and happiness of the whole human family-the democratic principle, which ever seeks to protect the weak, to ele

vate the depressed, and to secure the just and equal rights of all-a principle, which is in harmony with pure religion, that establishes the love of God as the first law of morality-a principle, which, by listening to the voice of reason as it breathes through the people, bows reverently before the dictates of justice, while it spurns at the despotism of man-a principle, which gives the highest security to property, by giving security also to labor, in the enjoyment of the fruits of its own industry— a principle, which is free from envy and narrow jealousy, and cheerfully acknowledges the benefits of cultivated intelligence and of experience, while it respects, as the paramount fountain of freedom and order, the collective will that includes all the intelligence of the community,the will of the people.

That so many of my fellow-citizens have, for so long a time, thought me worthy to be, in their judgment, the representative of such a principle, excites the deepest sensibility of my heart. If I may be able in any degree to carry it into practical operation, by reforming any abuses which may have crept into our system, or by guarding against the partial or inequitable action of any department of the government, I trust that I shall not wholly disappoint their reasonable expectations. Fidelity to the principle, and the devotion of my best powers to its full and fair execution, I freely pledge. In fulfilling this pledge with firmness and moderation, I shall always endeavor duly to regard the wishes, opinions, and rights of all.

We should not assume the high responsibilities of our respective stations, without a grateful and reverential acknowledgment of the unmerited mercy and bounty of that Providence which has vouchsafed to the people of our commonwealth an unusual degree of health and prosperity, and to the whole of our country a great abundance of the productions of nature and art. Never before did the earth, throughout our widely extended borders, in all its various products, yield so much for the use and sustenance of man. And if portions of our fellow-citizens are suffering from pecuniary embarrassments, or a derangement of the usual channels of business, it is not imputable

to any diminution of the exuberant resources of our country, nor to any radical defects in the structure of our government; but to the unjust and unequal action of our systems of currency; to that wild and reckless spirit of speculation which discourages honest industry and impoverishes many, while it enriches very few; and to those habits of individual extravagance, which wastefully consume the common stock, while they produce private profligacy and wretchedness. The benignant action of the laws of nature should teach us our dependence upon their Author; and the short-sighted and selfdestructive devices of man should lead us to distrust our own powers, and to seek direction from the only true source of wisdom.

There is no branch of sovereign power more important, or more difficult to be exercised, than the regulation of the currency. It extends to all the relations of life, and reaches the personal interest of every man in the community. The great and leading object of government ever should be, to establish and maintain a uniform and unchangeable measure of value. Every change in the common standard of value, whether it be caused by acts of the government, or of individuals, creates injustice. It affects inequitably all the relations of society, and infringes private rights. Every contract should be considered inviolable. Its obligation was deemed worthy of the special guaranty of the constitution of the United States. And yet every change in the currency, by increasing or diminishing circulation, essentially varies the obligation of contracts, and unrighteously affects the relation of debtor and creditor. An inflation of the cur rency diminishes the value of the circulating medium, enhances prices, and thus enables the debtor to discharge his debts with less intrinsic value than he contracted to pay. So a contraction produces an opposite effect, and enables a creditor to collect, for his debts, a greater value than he agreed to receive. These two conflicting interests would seem to balance and to neutralize each other. But in their influence upon society, such is not the fact. Debtors, especially those deeply involved, are stimulated to make strong efforts to inflate the currency, that they