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as to have a right to dictate to them his mode of belief? shall this free country set an example of persecution, which even the returning reason of enslaved Europe would not submit to? Will you bind the conscience in chains, and fasten conviction upon the mind, in spite of the conclusions of reason, and of those ties and habitudes which are blended with every pulsation of the heart Are you prepared to plunge at once from the sublime heights of moral legislation, into the dark and gloomy caverns of superstitiou ignorance? Will you drive from your shores and from the shelter of your constitutions, all who do not lay their oblations on the same altar, observe the same ritual and subscribe to the same dogmas? If so, which amongst the various sects into which we are divided, shall be the favored one? I should insult the understanding of this house to suppose it possible that they could ever assent to such absurdities. For all know that persecution in all its shapes and modifications, is contrary to the genius of our government, and the spirit of our laws; and that it can never produce any other effect, than to render men hypocrites or martyrs. When Charles V., emperor of Germany, tired of the cares of government, resigned his crown to his son, he retired to a monastery, where he amused the evening of his life in regulating the movements of watches, endeavoring to make a number keep the same time, but not being able to make any two go exactly alike, it led him to reflect upon the folly and crimes he had committed, in attempting the impossibility of making men think alike!

Nothing is more easily demonstrated than that the conduct alone is the subject of human laws, and that man ought to suffer civil disqualification for what he does, and not for what he thinks. The mind can receive laws only from Him of whose divine essence it is a portion: He alone can punish disobedience; for who else can know our movements, or estimate their merits? The religion I profess, inculcates every duty which man owes to his fellow-men: it enjoins upon its votaries the practice of every virtue, and the detestation of every vice; it teaches them to hope for the favor of heaven exactly in proportion as their lives are directed by just, honorable and beneficent maxims. This then, gentlemen, is my creed; it was impressed upon my infant mind, it has been the di

rector of my youth, the monitor of my manhood, and will I trust be the consolation of my old age. At any rate, Mr. Speaker, I am sure that you cannot see anything in this religion, to deprive me of my seat in this House. So far as relates to my life and conduct, the examination of these I submit with cheerfulness to your candid and liberal construction. What may be the religion of him who made this objection against me, or whether he has any religion or not, I am unable to say. I have never considered it my duty to pry into the belief of other members of this house: if their actions are upright and their conduct just, the rest is for their own consideration, not for mine. I do not seek to make converts to my faith, whatever it may be esteemed in the eyes of my officious friend, nor do I exclude any man from my esteem or friendship, because he and I differ in that respect. The same charity, therefore, it is not unreasonable to expect will be extended to myself, because in all things that relate to the State and to the duties of civil life, I am bound by the same obligations with my fellow-citizens; nor does any man subscribe more sincerely than myself to the maxim, "whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them, for such is the law and the prophets."

FISHER AMES ON THE BRITISH TREATY.

IF any should maintain that the peace with the Indians will be stable without the posts, to them I will urge another reply. From arguments calculated to produce conviction, I will appeal directly to the hearts of those who hear me, and ask whether it is not already planted there? I resort especially to the convictions of the western gentlemen, whether, supposing no posts and no treaty, the settlers will remain in security? Can they take it upon them to say, that an Indian peace under these circumstances, will prove firm? No, sir, it will not be peace, but a sword; it will be no better than a lure to draw victims within the reach of the tomahawk.

On this theme, my emotions are unutterable. If I could find

words for them, if my powers bore any proportion to my zeal, I would swell my voice to such a note of remonstrance, it should reach every log-house beyond the mountains. I would say to the inhabitants, wake from your false security. Your cruel dangers, your more cruel apprehensions are soon to be renewed: the wounds, yet unhealed, are to be torn open again. In the daytime your path through the woods will be ambushed. The darkness of midnight will glitter with the blaze of your dwellings. You are a father-the blood of your sons shall fatten your corn-field. You are a mother-the war-whoop shall wake the sleep of the cradle.

On this subject you need not suspect any deception on your feelings. It is a spectacle of horror which cannot be overdrawn. If you have nature in your hearts, they will speak a language compared with which all I have said or can say, will be poor and frigid.

Will it be whispered that the treaty has made me a new champion for the protection of the frontiers; it is known that my voice as well as vote has been uniformly given in conformity with the ideas I have expressed. Protection is the right of the frontiers; it is our duty to give it.

Who will accuse me of wandering out of the subject? Who will say that I exaggerate the tendencies of our measures? Will any one answer by a sneer, that all this is idle preaching? Would any one deny that we are bound, and I would hope to good purpose, by the most solemn sanctions of duty for the vote we give? Are despots alone to be reproached for unfeeling indifference to the tears and blood of their subjects? Are republicans unresponsible? Have the principles on which you ground the reproach upon cabinets and kings no practicable influence, no binding force? Are they merely themes of idle declamation, introduced to decorate the morality of a newspaper essay, or to furnish pretty topics of harangue from the windows of that state-house? I trust it is neither too presumptuous nor too late to ask, Can you put the dearest interest of society at risk, without guilt and without remorse?

It is vain to offer as an excuse, that public men are not to be reproached for the evils that may happen to ensue from their

measures.

This is very true, where they are unforeseen or inevitable. Those I have depicted are not unforeseen; they are so far from inevitable, we are going to bring them into being by our We choose the consequences, and become as justly answerable for them as for the measure that we know will produce them.

vote.

By rejecting the posts, we light the savage fires, we bind the victims. This day we undertake to render account to the widows and orphans whom our decision will make, to the wretches that will be roasted at the stake, to our country, and I do not deem it too serious to say, to conscience and to God. We are answerable; and if duty be anything more than a word of imposture, if conscience be not a bugbear, we are preparing to make ourselves as wretched as our country.

There is no mistake in this case, there can be none. Experience has already been the prophet of events, and the cries of our future victims have already reached us. The western inhabitants are not a silent and uncomplaining sacrifice. The voice of humanity issues ⚫ from the shade of the wilderness. It exclaims, that while one hand is held up to reject this treaty, the other grasps a tomahawk. It summons our imagination to the scenes that will open. It is no great effort of the imagination to conceive that events so near are already begun. I can fancy that I listen to the yells of savage vengeance, and the shrieks of torture. Already they seem to sigh in the west wind; already they mingle with every echo from the mountains.

WIRT ON THE TRIAL OF AARON BURR.

A PLAIN man who knew nothing of the curious transmutations which the wit of man can work, would be very apt to wonder by what kind of legerdemain Aaron Burr had contrived to shuffle himself down to the bottom of the pack as an accessory, and turn up poor Blennerhassett as principal in this treason. It is an honor, I dare say, for which Mr. Blennerhassett is by no means anxious; one which he has never disputed with Colonel Burr, and which, I am persuaded, he would be as little inclined to dispute on this

occasion, as on any other. Since, however, the modesty of Colonel Burr declines the first rank, and seems disposed to force Mr. Blennerhassett into it in spite of his blushes, let us compare the cases of the two men and settle this question of precedence between them. It may save a good deal of troublesome ceremony hereafter.

In making this comparison, sir, I shall speak of the two men and of the part they bore as I believe it to exist, and to be substantially capable of proof: although the court has already told us that as this is a motion to exclude all evidence, generally, we have a right, in resisting it, to suppose the evidence which is behind, strong enough to prove anything and everything compatible with the fact of Burr's absence from the island. If it will be more agreeable to the feelings of the prisoner to consider the parallel which I am about to run, or rather the contrast which I am about to exhibit, as a fiction, he is at liberty to do so; I believe it to be a fact.

Who, then, is Aaron Burr, and what the part which he has borne in this transaction? He is its author; its projector; its active executor. Bold, ardent, restless, and aspiring, his brain conceived it; his hand brought it into action. Beginning his operations in New York, he associates with him, men whose wealth is to supply the necessary funds. Possessed of the main-spring, his personal labor contrives all the machinery. Pervading the continent from New York to New Orleans, he draws into his plan by every allurement which he can contrive, men of all ranks, and all descriptions. To youthful ardor he presents danger and glory; to ambition, rank, and titles, and honors; to avarice, the mines of Mexico. To each person whom he addresses, he presents the object adapted to his taste: his recruiting officers are appointed; men are engaged throughout the continent; civil life is indeed quiet upon its surface; but in its bosom this man has contrived to deposit the materials which, with the slightest touch of his match, produces an explosion to shake the continent. All this his restless ambition has contrived; and in the autumn of 1806, he goes forth for the last time, to apply his match. On this excursion he meets with Blennerhassett.

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