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.

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 ob servance 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.

Shiloh, and in their governmental capacity sent Phineas and ten princes to treat; preparing for immediate war in case of their failure. Joshua's last public act was to convene the assembly of the people, and to make a covenant with them before the Lord. When the Levite's wife had been abused by the people of Gibeah, the “whole congregation of Israel" met, and resolved upon war against the tribe of Benjamin.

It is true that brief directions were early given for the conduct of their king, but with a cautious avoidance to recommend such an officer. And when the nation at last demanded one, Samuel earnestly and displeasedly remonstrated, with a forcible and careful explanation of the nature of the government they were requiring. And he only ceased at the command of God, who distinctly attributes their monarchical tendency to the spread of irreligion, asserting that they were not rejecting the authority of Samuel, but of himself, Jehovah; and he orders the prophet to comply with their foolish wish, saying, "Hearken unto the voice of the people," but only after solemn protest. Even then, it was the nation, assembled in convention, that chose Saul, as they afterwards chose David. So they repudiated the heir, Rehoboam, who refused to agree to the sort of Magna Charta which they demanded of him, and chose Jeroboam instead.

The whole organization, indeed, of the Israelitish government, as intended by God, was of the very freest and most popular kind. God told them to be free, gave them the means of being free. In proportion as they remained free, they were happy; the chronicles of their kings are red with blood, or black with crime. Yet among their kings, David and Solomon who were selected, one by God and the other by his father, on the ground of individual merit, and not by the hereditary right which afterwards prevailed, were the best of the kings. The surrender of this freedom which God had given to the Jews, was substantially the surrender of their prosperity and virtue. At once they ceased to be freemen, and to be virtuous. Moses and Samuel, in foretelling to the nation the evil results of the renunciation