Clinton's introductory discourse. 35 



Mental, in many cases, acts directly the reverse of corporeal, vision, 

 and magnifies objects, not in proportion to their propinquity, but in the 

 ratio of their distance. This obliquity of the human mind springs from 

 a variety of causes, and operates in a variety of directions. It inces- 

 santly magnifies the talents and morals of the past, at the expense of the 

 present times, and its wanderings never appear in a more striking view 

 than in its judgments of men. By its magic influence the dwarf of 

 antiquity starts up into a giant; and like the phenomenon called the 

 Mirage, it translates the men and the things of this earth to the skies. 

 These remarks are made, not to depreciate those who have gone before 

 us, but to warn us not to depreciate ourselves. The panegyrics which 

 have been pronounced upon the works of some of our predecessors, 

 appear strange when we consider their writings with an unprejudiced 

 mind : and, perhaps, the same observation may, without arrogance, be 

 applied to many of the divines, the physicians, the jurists, and the states- 

 men whose praises have reached us through the organ of tradition, and 

 whose memories have descended to us adorned with the laurels of genius: 

 but let not this discourage exertion — what they are to us, many of you 

 will deservedly be to future generations ; and the pious feelings of pos- 

 terity may cherish your worth with" equal ardour, and embalm you in 

 their hearts with equal affection. 



The spring which was given to the human mind; the improvement 

 which seminaries of education produced; and the general, extensive, 

 and augmented popularity of intellectual illumination, paved the way for 

 those political discussions which ushered in the American revolution, 

 and finally dismembered the British empire. The study of the law, as 

 a liberal profession, necessarily leads to investigations with regard to 

 the origin of government, the constitutions of states, and the objects of 

 jurisprudence. The influence of this profession upon the political 

 e rents of the times could not escape the sagacity of Burke: he assigns 



