106 Extracts from the Journals. [Jan., 



measures to sever onr Union, or to apply the torch to the altar of 

 our liberties. To " rule or ruin," is their motto. Such men are 

 dangerous members of society; and but for the conservative virtue 

 which rests in the great body of the people, there is no telling 

 what might be the disastrous consequences to the harmony of 

 society, the integrity of the Union, and the permanency of our 

 free institutions. But by the history of the past we are taught 

 the important lesson, that public virtue may linally yield to public 

 vice, when the latter is constantly presented in a fascinating garb, 

 and uniformly sustained by the powers of eloquence. 



There are others, who, not only profess to be, but really think 

 themselves patriots; yet who are so lured by the spoils of ofhce, 

 or the glitter of fame, that, ignorantly or unconsciously, they 

 hesitate not to do, in their public capacities, what might be, and 

 oftentimes is, seriously detrimental to the public interests. Such 

 persons — and there are many such, as the most superficial observer 

 must have remarked — are little less dangerous and little more to 

 be trusted than those who, to gain their ends, wilfully and reck- 

 lessly, trample upon right, justice, law and the constitution. 



Such persons — as of the two classes just designated — while 

 they are the most dangerous enactors and administrators of law, 

 are, at the same time, the very men who, in a democratic govern- 

 ment, are most apt to succeed to high stations. " Republics," it 

 is said, " are ungrateful," — it is illustrated, as fully as otherwise, 

 by the fact that, in republics, the intelligent and virtuous, who 

 are ever modest and unpretending, but who are really the most 

 capable of serving their country, are permitted to remain in the 

 obscurity of private life; whilst the ignorant or designing and 

 corrupt, who are ever bold and arrogant, are chosen as the makers 

 and executors of law. Within the last few years how many 

 examples have we had to the contrary ? How many illustrations 

 in confirmation of it. 



The developments of the times are exhibiting to us the import- 

 ance of chosing our rulers upon different principles. Corruption 

 in high places admonishes us of the necessity of rigidly excluding 

 the corrupt and vicious from a participation in the affairs of state. 

 The pure in heart and able in mind are such only as should take 

 charge of and represent the interests of a great nation of freemen. 

 Let them be ambitious, if it must be; but let their ambition be 

 such as was that of the pure patriot and eminent statesman, Ha- 

 milton, who, when charged with being ambitious, replied that he 

 was; but that his whole ambition was to deserve well of his 

 country. This is a noble sentiment; and one which should never 

 be lost sight of by those who are chosen to public stations by the 

 suffrages of the people. When this shall be the case, then, and 



