A second motive, then, for stirring up all the moral power of this nation at this time, is found in the danger which threatens our own liberties. This suggestion I am aware, will be ridiculed by many, and regarded by most as the offspring of a terrified imagination Let those who choose, cry, 'Peace, and safety,' and fold their arms and wait for the march of events. But if the people sit still, and look calmly on, while the Indians are abandoned to their fate, in violation of the most solemn national compacts, what security have we that the same government which deliberately breaks its treaties in the face of heaven and earth, will not ten, or twenty years hence, find some plausible pretext for turning its power and patronage against the constitution itself? And if it should, how long, think you, will these paper and parchment bulwarks of ours stand? How long will it be a blessing to be born and live in America, rather than in Turkey, or under the Autocrat of all the Russias ?

Do you tell me that there is no possible danger-that no man, or number of men, will ever dare to assail our free and glorious institutions. Let the history of past republics, or rather let their tombstones decide this point between us. -So it would have been said, when Washington and Jefferson were at the head of affairs, that nobody would ever dare to disinherit, or enslave the Indians, protected as they are by almost a hundred and fifty treaties. And yet it is about to be done. And how much better is our parchment, than theirs? If such encroachments, acquiesced in, do not prepare the way for putting shackles upon our children, they must be protected by higher munitions than constitutional bulwarks. This I am willing to leave upon record, and run the risk of its being laughed at, fifty years hence.

A third motive for earnest remonstrance at the present crisis, is found in the grand experiment which we as a nation are now making, before the whole world, of the superior excellence and stability of republican institutions. How many thousand times has the parallel been proudly drawn

by our statesmen and orators, between this country and every other nation under heaven. How triumphantly has it been proclaimed in the ears of all mankind, that here, at least, all the rights of the weak as well as the strong have found a sure protection. But let the stroke which is now impending, fall upon the heads of the poor defence. less Indians, and who will not be heartily and forever ashamed of all this boasting? Who will ever dare to say anoth er word about the partition of Poland? Who in a foreign land, will ever hereafter be willing to own that he is an American? How will all the enlightened friends of free institutions in other countries mourn over this indelible stigma upon our national character; and how will the enemies of equal rights triumph in our disgrace. Verily, ‘we are made a spectacle to the world and to angels and to men.'

The last motive which I have time to mention, and can but just allude to, is, that there is a just God in heaven, and that sooner or later his wrath will wax hot against the na. tion that tramples upon the rights of its defenceless and im ploring neighbors. Tell me not of your twelve millions of people of the exploits of your armies and navy-of the unparalleled growth and inexhaustible resources of the coun try. What will all these avail when God shall come out of his place to make inquisition for blood?' Prouder and migher nations than this have fallen, and how can we expect to escape, if we use oppression and exercise robbery, and vex the poor and needy?'

The Cherokees and Choctaws cannot, indeed, resist our arms. They lie at the mercy of their white neighbors. They are like little trembling flocks of kids, surrounded by lions. But though they are too weak to meet us in the field, they are not too weak to lift up their cries to heaven against us. Though they are too few to defend their country against our rapacity, there are enough of them to ap pear as swift witnesses againt us' in the Court above; they will assuredly have the right of testifying secured to

and

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them there, however they may be restricted and oppressed in courts below. Their numbers are more than sufficient to bring down the judgments of God upon their cruel oppres、 Who then will make up the hedge and stand in the gap before Him for the land, that He should not destroy it?' The crisis is awful, and the responsibilities of our rulers and of the whole nation are tremendous! The Lord is a holy God, and he is jealous!

1

EXTRACT FROM A SPEECH,

ON THE EXPEDIENCY OF PASSING LAWS, FOR CARRYING INTO EFFECT, THE TREATY CONCLUDED BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND THE UNITED STATES, IN THE YEAR 1794.

BY FISHER AMES.

To expatiate on the value of public faith may pass with some men for declamation—to such men I have nothing to say.. To others I will urge--can any circumstance mark upon a people more turpitude and debasement? Can any thing tend more to make men think themselves mean, or degrade to a lower point their estimation of virtue, and their standard of action?

It would not merely demoralize mankind, it tends to break all the ligaments of society, to dissolve that mysterious charm which attracts individuals to the nation, and to in. spire in its stead a repulsive sense of shame and disgust.

What is patriotism? Is it a narrow affection for the spot where a man was born? Are the very clods where we tread entitled to this ardent preference because they are greener? No, sir, this is not the character of the virtue, and it soars higher for its object. It is an extended self-love, mingling with all the enjoyments of life, and twisting itself with the minutest filaments of the heart. It is thus we obey the laws of society, because they are the laws of virtue. In their authority we see, not the array of force and terror, but the venerable image of our country's honor. Every good citizen makes that honor his own, and cherishes it not only

as precious, but as sacred. He is willing to risk his life in its defence, and is conscious that he gains protection while he gives it. For what rights of a citizen will be deemed inviolable when a state renounces the principles that constitute their security? Or if his life should not be invaded, what would its enjoyments be in a country odious in the eyes of strangers and dishonored in his own? Could he look with affec. tion and veneration to such a country as his parent? The sense of having one would die within him; he would blush for his patriotism, if he retained any, and justly, for it would be a vice. He would be a banished man in his native land.

I see no exception to the respect, that is paid among nations to the law of good faith. If there are cases in this enlightened period, when it is violated, there are none when it is decried. It is the philosophy of politics, the religion of governments. It is observed by barbarians—a whiff of tobacco smoke, or a string of beads, gives not merely binding force, but sanctity to treaties. Even in Algiers, a truce may be bought for money, but when ratified, even Algiers is too wise, or too just, to disown and annul its obligation. Thus we see, neither the ignorance of savages, nor the principles of an association for piracy and rapine, permit a nation to despise its engagements. If, sir, there could be a resurrection from the foot of the gallows, if the victims of justice could live again, collect together and form a society," they would, however loath, soon find themselves obliged to make justice, that justice under which they fell, the fundamental law of their state. They would perceive, it was their interest to make others respect, and they would therefore soon pay some respect themselves to the obligations of good faith.

It is painful, I hope it is superfluous, to make even the supposition, that America should furnish the occasion of this opprobrium. No, let me not even imagine that a republican government, sprung, as our own is, from a people enlightened and uncorrupted, a government whose origin is right,