takes its character from his condition, his degree of knowledge, and his associations; and thus, it is true that the religious feeling, which operates in one state of society, and under one degree of light and knowledge, is not a safe example, to prove its probable influence under circumstances essentially different. So that, when we regard history as our instructor, in the development of the perceptions and character of men, and in the motives which actuate them, there comes a concomitant rush of altered circumstances, which are all to be considered and regarded. History, therefore, is an example which may teach us the general principles of human nature, but does not instruct us greatly in its various possible develop ments. What Dr. Johnson said, in his comparison of Dryden and Pope, is not inapplicable to this topic, "Dryden," said he, "knew more of man in his general nature, and Pope in his local manners." Dryden's sentiments, therefore, are the exemplar of human nature in general, Pope's of human nature as modified in particular relations and circumstances; and what is true of individual man, in this respect, is true, also, of society and government. The love of liberty, for instance, is a passion or sentiment, which existed in intense force in the Grecian Republics, and in the better ages of Rome. It exists now, chiefly, and first of all, on that portion of the Western Continent in which we live. Here, it burns with heat and with splendor beyond all Grecian and all Roman example. It is not a light in the temple of Minerva, it is not the vestal flame of Rome; it is the light of the sun, it is the illumination of all the con stellations. Earth, air, and ocean, and all the heavens above us, are filled with its glorious shining; and, although the passion and the sentiment are the same, yet, he who would reason from Grecian liberty, or from Roman freedom, to our intelligent American liberty, would be holding a farthing candle to the orb of day. The magnificent funeral oration of Pericles, over those who fell in the Peloponnesian war, is one of the grandest productions of antiquity. It contains sentiments and excites emotions, congenial to the minds of all lovers of liberty, in all regions and at all times. It exhibits a strong and ardent attachment to country, which true patriots always feel; an undaunted courage in its defence, and willingness to pledge and hazard all, for the maintenance of liberty. I cannot deny myself the pleasure of quoting a few passages from that celebrated address, in a translation, which I think much closer to the original Greek than that of Smith: "I shall begin first with our ancestors, to whom it is at once just and becoming on such an occasion as the present, that this honor of our commemoration should be paid; for the country which was ever their own home, they have handed down in the line of their successors to the present day, free through their valor. Both they indeed are worthy of our praise and still more our own fathers; for, having in addition to what they inherited, acquired, not without hardship, the dominion which we possess, they have transmitted it to us. "The greater portion of it indeed we ourselves, who are yet at the meridian of life, have still further augmented, till we have placed the city in all things in such a state of preparation that it is all sufficient in itself for war and for peace. "The warlike deeds by which all this has been effected, either by ourselves or by our fathers, in strenuously resisting the invasions, whether of barbarians or of Greeks, I omit, not wishing to enlarge upon them before the well informed; but by what conduct we have come to this condition, by what policy and by what manners these great results have been brought about, these I will set forth before the eulogy of the deceased, deeming these things not inappropriate to be spoken on this occasion; and that it will be beneficial to the whole assembly of strangers and citizens to listen to them. "For we enjoy a form of Government not emulating the laws of neighboring States, being ourselves rather a model to others than copying from them. It has been called by the name of DEMOCRACY, as being the govvernment not of the few but of the majority. It secures to all, under the laws, equality in their private controversies,—in proportion as a citizen is in any respect in good repute, he is preferred above others, not more on account of the class to which he may belong than his own merit; while, on the other hand as to poverty, no one qualified to serve the State is prevented from doing so by the obscurity of his condition. We perform our public duties on these liberal principles; and as to mutual supervision in reference to the daily course of life, we take no offence at our neighbor for following his own inclination, nor do we subject ourselves to the annoyance of austerities which are painful, if not injurious. In this panegyric of the state of things in Athens, there is a constant, though tacit contrast with the Spartan institutions and character. "While our private intercourse, therefore, is without offence in our public concerns, we mainly fear to act illegally, ever obeying the magistrates for the time being and the laws, especially such of them as are passed for the protection of the oppressed, and such, though unwritten, as cannot be broken without acknowledged shame. * * * * * "Having displayed our power in noble manifestations, and most assuredly not without witnesses, we shall be the admiration of the present age and of posterity, not needing in addition the eulogy of Homer, or of any other poet, whose descriptions will charm the ear at the time, but whose conception of deeds is at variance with the truth; but having forced every sea and every land to be accessible to our enterprise, and having everywhere planted, together with our settlements, eternal monuments of injuries and of benefits. Combatting, therefore, generously for such a city, and thinking it unjust that it should be wrested from them, these men laid down their lives; and, of those who survive, it behooves every one to be willing to labor and suffer for it. "Such, then, as it became the city, were the departed. As for those who remain, you may desire indeed a safer career, but you must not deign to cherish a spirit in any degree less resolute toward the enemy;-having regard not merely to the words of persons not wiser than yourselves, who may harangue you upon the honor of gallant resistance to the foe, but rather daily contemplating indeed the power of the State, till you become enamored of it; and when you have come to perceive its greatness, reflecting that brave men knowing their duty, and in their deeds shrinking from dishonor, have achieved it;-men who even, though they might fail in an enterprise, still felt that they ought not to deprive the country of the benefit of their valor, but lavished upon it the most precious offering. Thus giving their lives to the public, they received individually the praise that grows not old, and a most distinguished sepulchre, not so much that in which their bodies lie, as that in which their glory,―on every occasion of word or deed, shall be left in everlasting remembrance. "For of illustrious men the whole Earth is the sepulchre, and not the inscription alone of columns in their native land indicates it, but in countries also not their own, the unwritten memory which abides with every man of the spirit more than the deed. "Emulous of men like these,, do you also, placing your happiness in liberty, and your liberty in courage, shun no warlike dangers in defence of your country." How terse, how Doric, how well considered is the style of this unsurpassed oration! Gentlemen, does not every page, paragraph, and sentence of what I have read, go home to all our hearts, carrying a most gratified consciousness of its resemblance to what is near and dear to us in our own native land? Is it Athens, or America? Is Athens or America the theme of these immortal strains? Was Pericles speaking of his own country, as he saw it or knew it; or, was he gazing upon a bright vision, then two thousand years before him, which we see in reality, as he saw it in prospect? But the contests of Sparta and Athens, what were they in lasting importance, and in their bearing on the destinies of the world, in comparison with that ever memorable struggle which separated the American Colonies from the dominion of Europe? How different the result, which betided Athens, from that which crowned the glorious efforts of our ancestors; and, therefore, this renowned oration of Pericles, what is it in comparison with an effort of historical eloquence, which should justly set forth the merits of the heroes and the martyrs of the American revolution? The Liberty of Athens, and of the other Grecian Republics, being founded in pure democracy, without any principle of representation, was fitted only for small States. The exercise of popular power in a purely democratic form, cannot be spread over countries of large extent; because, in such countries all cannot assemble in the same place, to vote directly upon laws and ordinances, and other public questions. But the principle of representation is expansive; it may be enlarged, if not infinitely, yet indefinitely, to meet new occasions, and embrace new regions. While, therefore, the love of liberty was the same, and its general principle the same, in the Grecian Republics as with us, yet not only were the forms essentially different, but that also was wanting, which we have been taught to consider as indispensable to its security: that is, a fixed, settled, definite, fundamental law, or constitution, imposing limitations, and restraints, equally on governors, and governed. We may, therefore, inhale all the fullness and freshness of the Grecian spirit, but we necessarily give its development a different form, and subject it to new modifications. But history is not only philosophy, teaching by example; its true purpose is, also, to illustrate the general |