IT 
etary system, so unfathomable in extent, and skill that, great as were 
Newton’s discoveries into them, they seemed to his mind only a few 
pebbles on the shore of an ocean. 
Passing from the consideration of what has been done mostly in private 
life in the use of science, I shall next advert to some evidence of the at- 
tention of the General Government to the same subject, and which have 
been not only gratifying to its friends, but creditable and useful to the 
country. 
In a new quarter of the globe, and under the pressure of wars, na- 
tional debts, and numerous internal improvements, it is natural that less 
attention should be bestowed on the regular encouragement of science 
by any government. But that this has been the result of special circum- 
stances here, rather than serious doubts in the many concerning the ex- 
pediency of yielding such encouragement on subjects of an important 
public character, can hardly be questioned, if we take a slight retrospect 
of what has been done in this matter in particular cases. Our people, 
when at peace, have not, as some suppose, thought wholly of felling forests, 
or raising cotton, or catching fish and whale, and the beaver and buffaloe, 
nor have they been engrossed entirely in party feuds as to Presidents and 
tariffs, or in the amusements and profits of banking and distributions. 
On the contrary, mingled with these, not only have they in private life 
encouraged liberally other objects, connected with education and science, 
but at times have made their governments do it ; deeming it right in 
several instances, some on a small and some on a larger scale, to push 
the public, no less than private, energies into measures of that character. 
The powers of government, to be sure, are with us, in many respects, 
limited by written constitutions, which ought, till altered, religiously to 
be respected. But all republican governments being made for the people 
at large, and with a view to advance their interests and wishes, it is 
proper, that when the people themselves are intelligent and friendly to 
letters and science, they should seek to advance them in and by the in- 
strumentality of constitutions and laws, and all other public auxiliaries, 
no less than by private efforts. Constitutions are but means for progress 
as well as security, and are usually adapted to both ; but if found too 
stringent for the age, can and will be amended. Hence, when our Fa- 
thers sought to diffuse intelligence more widely among the whole, they 
brought the combined power of the whole to co-operate with the liberal- 
ity of the few, and in most of their constitutions imbodied expressly 
some provisions for this object; maintaining in several States, through 
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