18 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
impure, who seek the association and the character as a mean, only, 
to accomplish other ends. Thus I have endeavored to present a 
brief outline of the moral constitution of every community, under 
every government, in every form of human association. 
The question is tfo n presented to all of us, who have properly 
considered our duty, and are truly desirous to promote both our 
own and the happiness of others, what course of conduct will 
most extensively diffuse and equalize the benefits of society, and 
promises most permanently to preserve and perpetuate its order? 
As a society we should see how the object of our particular at¬ 
tention is connected with the pursuits and enjoyments of man: 
what species of improvement will best promote his happiness, and 
how far we are associated in inter st with other engagements, with 
the sciences, and with every species of intellectual effort. 
The last century has presented an entire new era in the civil his¬ 
tory of the human race. The important, extensive and varied im¬ 
provement in the sciences, directly applicable to the physical em¬ 
ployment of mankind, has wrought a great ehange in the structure 
of society, and the relative position of its numerous pursuits. To 
take up any one of these and attempt to present its progress, with¬ 
in even that limit, eannot now be done. Nothing more will be at¬ 
tempted than a mere notice of the fact; a brief reference to the 
causes, and the expression of a desire that more general attention 
may be roused, to aid in the accomplishment of the particular object 
we have in view, which we think deeply interwoven with the safe¬ 
ty and prosperitv of all classes, peculiarly adapted to the present 
time and highly important to our country and government—the 
thorough education of the agriculturists and the laborer of every 
description. 
I feel myself required previous to such'notiee to trespass on 
your time, with a brief and very superficial review of historical 
events connected with the general diffusion of instruction in socie¬ 
ty, and the division of its classes. Although in some respects 
there must always be a resemblance, yet prominent causes, some 
of which will be named, have so materially affec'ed the civilized 
world as to change in a great degree the duties and obligations of 
civil life. 
The relations of private life—the obliga’ions of love to our 
neighbor, of adminisiering to his physical wants, of comfort under 
affliction, and all the particular calls of charitable feeling, are never 
varying duties, and alike in all ages and countries. The public re¬ 
lations however, are entirely different: the performance of a duty 
in one country, would justly be deemed a crime in another. 
The wonted order and government of society should never be 
suddenly or unnecessarily changed: every great convulsion impairs 
its moral aspect—real improvement is gradual, the result of due 
preparation. It is indeed admitted and true, that many beneficial 
changes have required violent and sometimes sanguinary efforts; 
but these have terminated beneficially, only when founded on the 
requisite preparation, and the necessity for violence has arisen sole¬ 
ly from the power of the combination interested in preventing such 
change. 
In the revolutions, and the attempts at revolution, within the last 
sixty years, an instructive and elucidating comparison might rea¬ 
dily be given. 
The result of the American revolution, compared with the at¬ 
tempts in most other countries, unprepared for them, and conduct¬ 
ed with merciless ferocity and carnage, ending in nothing but deso¬ 
lation and a change of masters, would on examination prove my 
declaration. 
It is not the duty ©r province of philanthropy and patriotism to 
desire a violent and sanguinary change in any government, without 
a popular intellectual preparation for it. 
Happily for us we can deliberately take any required retros¬ 
pect of events, and act upon such instruction, as thf-ir history pre¬ 
sents, without apprehension of injury, either to ourselves personal¬ 
ly, or the public institutions of our country. 
It is readily acknowledged, that in the imperfection of human 
character, the perversion of the principles of our institutions, and the 
prostration of the rights of individuals, bylawless and unregulated 
violence, has sometimes occurred even here: this affords evidence 
that although much has been done for the enjoyment of equal 
Tights and full protection, more is still required. 
The necessity of preserving the order of the community by fix- 
\ ed rules, must be understood and acknowledged by all. The dan¬ 
ger of correcting evils by hursts of public feeling, breaking out 
' into per.-onal violence, must be made apparent. 
These unhappy events we will have occasion to notice hereafter, 
and exhibit our views of the appropriate and only remedy'—unless 
indeed, the incorrigible depravity of man, renders this tiemendoua 
evil utterly remediless. If such an opinion be deemed probable, or 
even plausible, and we dare to cast our view to the future, a dark 
and boding cloud must be presented to the gloomy imagination, in 
which the disruption of society will be at first indistinctly seen, af¬ 
ter which it will appear lighted by the lurid and blasting blaze of 
maddened and maddening human passions: the scene closing with 
the exhibition of anarchy, carnage and desolation, terminating in 
the darkness of military despotism. If we rest upon historic com¬ 
parison only, and past experience affords 1 he sole foundation for 
hope, then indeed we are lost. I think however, we may shew a 
course of measures, imperatively required of us by every considera¬ 
tion of duty, which alone can revive and sustain a hope of protec¬ 
tion from this impending danger. 
But to proceed with the promised brief historical survey, which 
may indeed sound to the fastidious and critical hearer, too familiar 
for any required instruction in the way we propose to use it; and 
to the mere political economist, who regards nothing important, 
beyond the investigation of how the animal may be most conve¬ 
niently supported, it may appear wholly superfluous: yet I deem 
it necessary, as the connecting link by which the eourt-e of argu¬ 
ment can be better understood. If in the end the most distant 
probability shall be presented that the conclusion at which I arrive 
may be correct; we then confidently throw ourselves upon the 
whole community—the farmer, the mechanic, the merchant, the 
upright lawyer, the benevolent physician, the devout Christian mi¬ 
nister, the philanthropist of every denomination, we invite, we 
urge to investigate and decide whether the cause is worthy of their 
aid. 
Since the commencement of the Christian era, the entire con¬ 
stitution of society has been changed : a gradual and thorough ap¬ 
proximation of its various classes, has been produced within the 
last two centuries never before known in large communities ; greai 
and valuable improvements have placed the pursuits of life in new 
relations; they are not now what they were. 
The fundamental principles of the Christian religion, resting for 
their support upon the strictest morality, as well as creed, are also 
democratic in their tendency; while the private rights of individuals, 
according to the established constitutions of the society in which 
those rights are held, have been guarded by the most plenary sanc¬ 
tions; and the kingdom of the Son of Mon is declared not to be of 
this world, the disciples are cautioned against any thought of pre¬ 
cedence. In various other parts of scripture, equality of right, 
with proper submission to the powers that be, are inculcated by the 
divine teacher as moral precepts. The limited means then known 
and possessed for the diffusion of information, probably prevented 
the full effect of these principles on the organization of human 
society. Confined to oral instruction, and a restricted use of 
written precepts, with a community, the common mass of which 
must necessarily have been ignorant of letters, it eannot be sur¬ 
prising that in the promulgation of Christianity, such portions on¬ 
ly as were in accordance with the political views of rulers, should 
be most sedulously inculcated; its liberal principles stigmatized as 
errors, and the arm of civil power called in, to restrain the propa¬ 
gation of sentiments, feared as dangerous t o the existing authority. 
The mythology of paganism, yielding to the greater power of 
more correct principles upon the mind, had yet sufficient influence, 
aided by the interest, wealth and power of the rulers, to impair 
the purity of the new religion, to bewilder and mislead its most ar¬ 
dent. votaries in the mazes of the machinery introduced by its cor¬ 
rupted teachers. The deleterious habits of a profligate age, left 
their impression upon the professed followers of the cross. The 
corruption of all classes, and the enfeebling effect of their degene¬ 
racy, rendered them an easy prey to the hordes by which Europe 
was overrun, and the whole of its former enervated inhabitants 
were swept off, or changed in character. Nothing of the ancient 
world withstood this irruption; but the principles of Christianity, 
preserved, sustained and fostered by the devotion of its humble pro¬ 
fessors, and although impaired by its connection with govern. 
