should apply for aid to the head of a system like this. They must have been forgetful of their own purpose, if they had passed it by. No wonder that they consent so unanimously to do the Pope's bidding, if he will but engage to perform a service in which they crave his effective assistance. He serves, by this means, both himself and them. He strengthens their power, and adds enormously to his own. If he can but rule in America, his supple minions will be no less satisfied than himself. They do not desire a new empire; they care nothing for further self-aggrandizement, or the baubles of an authority that cannot fail to prove troublesome rather than profitable; they do not seek to erect a new despotism, whose head they may, some day, become themselves: they only wish that there may be no America. This beacon-light of the world does but throw into deeper shadow the realms over which they bear rule. They would have it extinguished forever; and Popery has seriously undertaken the task, determined here, on American soil, to make its final stand, and fight its last battle. That great conflict, we firmly believe, is to be fought out in our own day.

This is the nature of that foreign influence, exerted on our soil, which has awakened such alarming fears in these present times. The mask has been torn away; the monster stands exposed before us. So far as Romanism is only religious, it has equal rights with every other form of worship, and every other creed in existence; but the moment its aims become political, and it seeks aspiringly to bring the State in subjection to the Church, that moment it deserves, as a system, to be scouted from existence, and its pharisaical leaders to be deprived of that freedom whose interests they have so basely been laboring to betray.

To check the inroad of such a system of despotism, Americans of all creeds are urged, by every possible consideration of safety, to apply themselves without delay. American Catholics may enjoy their religion, but they should never allow themselves to be used for the betrayal of their freedom. They must see, as the rest of us, that the reign of Romanism in this country through its deputed repre

sentatives, is a relapse into the power of the self-same tyranny from which they have escaped. It must be plain, that whatever might be the loss to Protestants by the overthrow of our liberties, it would certainly be an equal misfortune to Catholics. Their interest is a common one with ours. We have no rights to lose by so appalling a misfortune, the privation of which would not cripple and injure them as well. All are bound up in one common destiny. All must know that they are to rise or fall together.

66

The words of Washington burn in our memories at thoughts like these: Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence, I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens, the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake; it is one of the most baneful foes of a republican government." And the expressed fears of Jefferson must not be forgotten: "I hope we may find some means, in future, of shielding ourselves from foreign influence,-political, commercial, or in whatever form it may be attempted. I wish there were an ocean of fire between this and the Old World." And Madison added: "Foreign influence is a Grecian horse to the republic; we cannot be too careful to exclude its entrance." Warnings like these are not to be passed lightly by. Events have abundantly shown the far-seeing sagacity of the fathers of the republic, and irrefragably prove that their fears were founded in wisdom. Americans must at this day give such warnings due heed, be their creed what it may. When liberty is menaced from without, it should arouse us all like the sound of a fire-bell in the night.

THE ORIGIN OF POLITICAL POWER.

"For what is freedom, but the unfettered use of all the powers which God, for use, has given ?" COLERIDGE.

NATIONAL prosperity arises necessarily and only from intelligent freedom. Nations have ever been prosperous and strong, in proportion to their appreciation and wise use of liberty. All the Divine teachings, whether by revelation or by human example, have shown that the true basis of civil and political liberty—the true source and organization of civil and political power—are divinely ordained. The greatest happiness is always attained by those who live in closest observance of all the divine laws of life; and this is true of the divine law of political organization, as much as it is of the divine laws of bodily health or social happiness.

To fulfil these conditions of happiness, men must think. Just as much as they are left to their own guidance, just so much they need to possess and to use the power of quickly discerning between right and wrong, truth and falsehood. From this truth it follows that we Americans, who live in the enjoyment of a freer exercise of our faculties, and under less restraints than are experienced by any other nation, need more than any other the full possession, and constant and active use of a thoughtful and foreseeing intelligence.

The true basis of political power is the consent of the people governed; and in proportion to the wisdom of that consent is the wisdom of the government, and the happiness and prosperity of the whole. It is a melancholy fact which might be adduced in reply to this statement, that so vast a majority of the human race has dwelt contentedly in darkness and chains. But though true, it does not

militate against our argument. It only shows that their consent has not been wisely given. Nor has any such nation ever attained to a true prosperity, or a true happiness. It is the consent of the governed which has upheld all human governments, and the refusal or withdrawal of it has always overthrown them. As the nation, so is the government. The men have always made the ruler-not the ruler the men. The ruler has held his place by virtue of being an exponent of the national spirit; by being such a man that the national mind found in his actions its fullest and freest expression. This expression of the national mind, which has always controlled even the direst tyrannies, has found its freest, safest, and most dignified manifestation in our republic, the best form of government yet established on earth,-which arose, by the force of necessity, above forms and precedents, and whose vigor and vitality are sustained by a stern adherence to the original principle upon which it was constructed, where the majority speaks for the whole, without tyranny, and the minority acquiesces without rebellion—and the glorious result is a peaceful and happy unanimity.

That the will of the governed, according to the design of the Almighty, should constitute the substance of the government, is proved by the fact that aspirations after political freedom are an integral part of the human mind as created by God. Ignorance, as we have remarked, may obscure this glowing thought, and may apparently quench its light; but the capacity for desiring and enjoying liberty is yet alive, and the innate longing sometimes bursts forth, like an unsuspected volcano, beneath the very feet of the tyrants who think that they have trodden out every spark of the sacred fire. We need not prove this assertion to Americans. Every American feels the truth of it, and will recognize the principle in full operation as he looks into his own heart, or observes the actions of his fellow-citizens.

But God has revealed the truth of free political principles in other ways than by this indistinct and feeble natural light. The revelation is implied often and necessarily, throughout the Biblical history of the Jewish constitution and its workings; and it is once, at least,

absolutely commanded to be proclaimed regularly, in so many words. No allegiance was sworn to any human ruler. The code revealed by God to Moses, was submitted to the people, according to the forms of pure democracy, and by them accepted and deliberately agreed on. "All that the Lord hath said," was their promise, "we will do, and be obedient." At the semi-centennial jubilee, there was a ceremonious constitutional proclamation of freedom. At those periods it was expressly commanded, in words whose noble meaning and associations are sacred in our own land, to "proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof."* The whole Mosaic code was essentially popular in character. It was calculated to develop individual well-doing, and to permit only a minimum of litigation.

The country was subdivided into the same sort of local jurisdiction as constitutes our "townships," and which is well known to be the strong and essential basis of all the machinery of our own republican government. The people elected their own "selectmen," or municipal rulers. "Judges and officers," ran the command, "shalt thou make thee in all thy gates." There were captains of tens, and of fifties, and hundreds, and thousands; and important disputes, upon appeal, were only occasionally, and in the last resort, to be decided by the leader of the nation. The general scheme of government, aside from their municipal authorities, consisted of the leader for the time being, a chief magistrate or judge, like Joshua; the great Sanhedrim, or assembly of the princes, instituted by Moses and discontinued under Herod; and the great Assembly of the People, which wielded a supreme and predominating power. Popular movements even controlled the divinely appointed leader, thus nullifying the divine command. The Israelites forced Aaron to make them an idol. They all refused to enter Palestine, upon the report of the spies, although Moses desired them to do so.

When three of the tribes appeared to be designing to secede and establish a new commonwealth, the rest of the nation assembled at

*These words were cast upon the old bell that hung in the State-House, in Philadelphia, at the time of the Declaration of Independence.