will always be liable to error and imposition Where there is a free press, the people must be intelligent, or it will give power to the few, to take away the liberties of the many. In many parts of the country, the press is the sole agent in the formation and publication of opinion; and so long as there is corruption in it, there is fear that it will be a strong engine of evil. This will certainly be its influence, unless the people are intelligent enough to detect its errors, and virtuous enough to be untouched by, its corruption.

And lastly, men should know who are the conscientious and enlightened friends and supporters of our free institutions. It is obvious to all, that many are seeking places of power, not for the people's good, but for their own. It is likewise as true, that many have the appearance of honesty and patriotism who possess neither of these necessary qualities in a public candidate. How then shall the people judge who are worthy of their support and their country's honours? How shall they be able to discriminate between the man of worth and capability, and the man who is a zealous pretender, but who will, either by his wickedness or weakness, betray his constituents? How shall the people know who are the guardians of the laws and constitution, and the faithful advocates of their rights? How shall the people know who to entrust with their property and their liberties? To all these questions we answer, "by being intelli, gent."

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SECTION IV.

DUTIES WHICH WE OWE TO EACH OTHER.

MAN loves to commune with his fellow-men; and he is led by an instinctive natural desire to associate with his species. Society, with him, is to be the source of all the love which he feels, of all the love which he excites, and therefore, of almost all the desires and enjoyments which he is capable of feeling. The boy hastens to meet his playmates, and man to communicate his thoughts to man. "Were I in a desert," says an eloquent author, "I would find out where within it to call forth my affections. If I could do no better, I would fasten them on some sweet myrtle, or seek some melancholy cypress to connect myself to; I would court their shade, and greet them kindly for their protection. I would cut my name upon them, and say they were the loveliest trees throughout the desert. If their leaves withered, I would teach myself to mourn; and when they rejoiced, I would rejoice along with them." The heart cannot live alone; to love and be beloved is the first natural desire of all. To society, man owes the strength, the perfection, and the happiness of his nature. In society are developed all those

noble faculties which place man at the head of creation; which make him at once the head, the heart, and the tongue of all. Says Seneca, the great Roman moralist: "Make us single and solitary, and what are we? The prey of other animals, and their victim-the prey which would be most easy for them to seize, the victim which would be most easy for them to destroy. Those other animals have, in their own strength, sufficient protection. If they be born to live apart, each has its separate arms to defend it. Man has no tusks or talons to make him terrible. naked; but weak and naked as rounds him and protects.him. submits to his power all other living things, and not the earth merely, which seems in some measure his own by birth, but the very ocean, that is to him another world of beings of a different nature. Society averts from him the attack of diseases-it mitigates his suffering when he is assailed by them -it gives support and happiness to his old ageit makes him strong in the great combat of human life, because it leaves him not alone to struggle with his fortune.”

He is weak and he is, society surIt is this which

But however great and numerous the blessings of society may be, the social union does not take its rise from views of self-interest; it forms, from the constitution of human nature, a necessary condition of man. It is not the wants and necessities of his animal being which create his social feelings; for he is determined to society by his very nature, by instinct, and by innumerable principles which have

a reference to his fellow-creatures.

Man must have the sympathy of man; he always wishes to infuse his thoughts and feelings into the minds and hearts of others, and to share the thoughts and feelings of those other minds and hearts. There is scarcely a moment of our existence in which the social affection does not influence our hopes and our fears, our resolutions for the future, and our remembrance of the past. On the society of his fellow-beings, man, as his Creator has made him, is ever ready to pour out the affections of his heart; to society he is ever ready to give the strength of his arm, and the light of his mind; and to society, he always flees for sympathy in his sufferings, companionship in his rejoicings, and aid in his necessities. Thus, the all-wise Creator has made the gratification of this social affection the great benefactor and protector of man.

The God of nature, who has made it delightful for man to associate with his fellow-men, and his happiness to be active in this association, has likewise directed him how to act amid these innumerable and responsible relations which he sees between him and the fellow-beings around him. These directions or laws from the Creator have made human life (when it is worthy of that name) to consist in the exercise of duties. He who lives

best, discharges these duties best.

And as it is

necessary for all of us to be frequently reminded of our duties, I shall now state a few of those which men owe to each other in society.

And first, some of the duties which come under the general name of Justice. The word justice denoting that disposition which leads us, in cases where our own temper, or passions, or interests are concerned, to judge and to act without being biased by partial considerations.

We should be just towards the property of others. This implies honesty in all our dealings with men. It is right that we should have a proper regard for our own interest; but in promoting it, we should never interfere with the interests and rights of others. Security of property is the great incentive to industry, and the original cause of wealth. He who would take what belongs to another, does all that he can do towards destroying the rich and populous earth which we behold, and in banishing the intellectual sciences, and arts, and systems of civil and moral polity, which distinguish the civilized man from the savage. The certainty that we shall enjoy the fruits of our own labours, is the first cause which operates as the civilizer of man; and he, who, like the robber, would appropriate to himself the property of others, is doing all that his hand and heart can do in sending man back to the condition, the life, and sufferings of the savage. If there was not respect to the property of others, there would be no wealth to support, and no industry to be supported; no bounty to cheer, and no penury to be relieved; but there would be one general penury, and one common struggle for that scanty morsel which would alone remain for