their references to the events, characters, and expressions of Holy Writ, will be surprised to find how apposite they are, and what a mine was thus opened. Verily, the volume containing the most ancient literature of the world, is worthy of being called the Book of Books. Not wholly unaware of the disparagement, in which some have indulged, of the Old Testament scriptures, I am constrained to say, that the longer I live, and the more I ponder them, the profounder is my admiration and veneration of the unapproached dignity and simplicity of style of their historical and narrative passages, and of the beauty, splendor, and sublimity of the conceptions and imagery that glorify their strains of eloquence, poetry, and prophecy, breathing an influence that expands and lifts up the soul, and is felt to be inspiration.

In support of what I have said, in reference to the legislation of the first colonial age, allow me to fall back upon the judgment of one whose name is among the ornaments of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and the memory of whose genius and scholarship is fresh in the hearts of the older members. Francis. Calley Gray, in a notice of the compendium, made in 1641, of the laws of the Massachusetts colony, known as the "Body of Liberties," 1 says,

"Our ancestors, instead of deducing all their laws from the Books of Moses, established, at the outset, a code of fundamental principles, which, taken as a whole, for wisdom, equity, adaptation to the wants of their community, and a liberality of sentiment superior to the age in which it was written, may fearlessly challenge comparison with any similar production, from Magna Charta itself, to the latest Bill of Rights that has been put forth in Europe or America."

The early lawgivers of Massachusetts were, indeed, in advance of their times. Before we ridicule or reproach their legislation, it becomes us to see to it that those whom we choose to make and administer law, are equally in advance of our times.

The just formation of a body-politic which these Records have now been used to illustrate, demands attention in our day. Much remains to be done, even in the most advanced and enlightened nations. Much is being done. All the light that can be obtained is needed. Men everywhere are crying out for it. Agita

1 Massachusetts Historical Collections, vol. viii. Third Series, p. 191.

tion and change rule the hour. The future is felt to be subject to unknown and indeterminable influences, and to depend upon the wills or fortunes or lives of individuals, or the fluctuating conflicts of parties. Who can predict what is in store for Spain, France, Italy, the German States, or the northern kingdoms of Europe? The current of events seems to be working radical changes in Great Britain and Ireland, and the dependencies of that empire. Although, in many respects the most advanced of the old forms of political civilization, it can hardly be doubted that it is doomed to pass through momentous crises; for the whole structure of its constitutional system rests upon fictions that must give way, sooner or later, to truth and right. assumes that there are three estates essential to the composition of a nation, king, lords, and commons. The last only has a legitimate and permanent existence. The people are the whole of a country, so far as its government is concerned, and must finally vindicate their rightful claim to power.

It

The framers of the Constitution of the United States are justly regarded as among the wisest statesmen of all times; but they failed, in some points, in contriving their scheme of government, to estimate aright the action of the principles of human nature, or calculate their forces. They did not foresee the operation or even the existence of what are called national parties. The arrangement they made for the election of a President was soon found utterly impracticable for the end designed. The Amendment of 1803, introducing the plan that has been subsequently followed, was only carried by the decision of the then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nathaniel Macon, of North Carolina, who claimed the right, since conceded, of the presiding officer of that body, to vote when the House is not equally divided. His vote made the requisite two-thirds.

Indications are appearing that some further change may be demanded. The intermediate machinery of Electors is justly criticised; but great difficulty will be experienced, in contriving in any other way, to preserve the rights of the smaller States. So, also, on the elementary subject of suffrage, great enlargements have been recently made, but others are demanded. It is, indeed, evident that questions are impending that reach the foundations of political science. Let them be met, not with ridicule or

Having been

reproach, but with intelligence and fairness. brought to a higher stand-point, with a wider field of view than the Fathers, we ought to have a more liberal spirit; but for integrity of purpose, and independence of authority, for carefulness in deliberation, and firmness and courage in action, we may well study their example.

Pardon me for detaining you a moment longer, while summarily delineating the spectacle the early records of Massachusetts present.

Here, on a clear field, unoccupied by any organized society, with no pre-existent institutions to cumber the ground, but all as fresh as if never trodden by man before, the experiment of planting and constructing a civil government was fairly worked out. No external power was suffered to interfere, and no foreign precedents allowed to claim authority; no closet statesman or fanciful theorist formed the scheme; no lordly proprietor, or distant corporation, or board of trade, directors, or officials of any kind, dictated. The whole procedure was left, without let or hindrance, suggestion or influence, from any outside quarter, to the people on the spot. They were a select people for the work; intelligent, thoughtful, brave, and devout. They were settled in families, and comprised all the elements of a State. Although emigrants from the Old World, they trailed none of its arbitrary, outgrown institutions or usages after them. Conversant with all the learning of ancient and feudal forms, they applied none of it here. Having a new country to dwell in, they resolved to establish nothing but what facts, as they occurred, should prove to be necessary or desirable. Oglethorpe planned a social system for Georgia, John Locke drafted a contrivance of government for the Carolinas, Lord Baltimore superintended Maryland, William Penn Pennsylvania, and other proprietors and patrons their several settlements. Not so in Massachusetts: the Fathers of this colony followed no far-off light; they moved only as experience opened the way; they tried every step as they advanced, indulged in no theories or speculations, and held fast only what was found, in their view, to be good, and thus accomplished the great end of a stable, prosperous, powerful, and permanent commonwealth. All the essential features of our present security and happiness were stamped into the fabric of society during the period of the First Charter.

The early growth of Massachusetts was natural; and the matured result as complete, as of every natural growth; but, unlike the growths of nature in other things, there was, in this, no element of decay. The institutions planted during our first fifty years withstood a century of immediately subsequent provincial endurance; and as another century under the flag of our Union is approaching its completion, they are striking their roots deeper every day. The foundation here laid can never be moved; and we owe it to the men who laid it, that, in education, arts, wealth, and power, we hold a rank second to none in the Republic. The path, here opened, other Colonies and States have travelled, and all must travel, to reach the fruition of liberty, order, justice, and the rights of man.

Of the grand Epic, Time is writing, of the Regeneration of Nations, the old charter history of Massachusetts is the First Book.

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