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assertion be made by the one party, and such precise negation by the other, as distinctly to state the facts to be ascertained. The judges of fact can then accurately determine on its existence; and, that done, the judges of law can apply the rule. Every case, so adjudged, will serve as a rule for cases which may afterward arise; and thus the general principles of natural justice, the maxims of ancient usage, and the positive injunctions or inhibitions of legislative providence, are extended to the infinite variety of human actions and relations; so that liberty and property are secured. Nor is it, as many have hastily supposed, an evil, that law is es pensive to suitors: for, as far as the suitor himself is concerned, by deterring him from litigation, it strengthens, if his cause be good, the sentiment of benevolence, and enforces, if bad, the duty of justice. By lessening the number of suits, it diminishes the causes of discord. Trifling injuries, which, if unnoticed, would soon be forgotten, may, by a vindictive spirit, be made the subject of controversy, and separate families for more than one generation. Moreover, this great expense of law is a great public economy: for when cheap lawyers, multiplying trivial causes, crowd tribunals with a host of jurors, parties, witnesses, and their needful attendants, many fields lie uncultivated, many workshops are neglected, and habits of idleness and dissipation are acquired, to the manifest injury and impoverishment of the republic.

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might he not, at length, be exposed, from indulging the habit of loose thinking, to the danger of loose acting? It requires accuracy of investigation and clearness of perception to distinguish right from wrong, when, in doubtful circumstances, self interest is concerned. A man, therefore, may easily be induced to do wrong, in compliance with what he feels to be his interest, when he thinks it may be right; especially, when he thinks that those who are to judge may be prevailed on to decide in his favor. Is there not, on the other hand, reason to suppose, that he whose course of life has led him to scenes of sharp inquiry; who has listened to arguments of precise logic; who has participated in decisions of legal strictness; is there not reason to believe, that this man will use a diction more concise, possess a judgment more acute, and observe a more correct line of conduct?

These probable, or, at least, possible effects of forensic accuracy, may be increased, or diminished, or destroyed, by the ever-varying circumstances of our civil and social condition. Nay, their very existence may be questioned, or attributed to other causes. Talents and habits of observation must be exercised to make the due investigation. But there is one important consequence which cannot easily be overlooked or assigned to any other cause: I allude to the value of property in this State; and merely mention it, because detailed observations would be tedious-perhaps invidions. Permit me, however, to notice the more prominent reasons why it must produce that effect, in the political associations of mankind. It is evident, at the first blush, that a purchaser of land will give more for a good than for a doubtful title; and it is equally evident that titles must be less secure where scope is given to declamation, than where strict practice and close logic are required. If we look a little nearer,

shall perceive a more extensive consequence. The creditor who is certain of getting speedily what is due to him, provided the debtor possess sufficient property, will be more liberal of credit than where the recovery of debts is tedious and uncertain. But credit is equivalent to money, and, like money, not only enhances the price of property, but, obviating the want of money, becomes, to the nation in which it prevails, a substitute for that intrinsic value, part of their capital stock, which would, otherwise, be sent abroad to procure the precious metals.

Is it a suggestion of fancy: or am I warranted in supposing that rigid practice of law may give somewhat of precision to general modes of thinking; that it may even render conversation less diffusive, and therefore more instructive; that the accuracy of forensic argument may communicate vigor to parliamentary debate; that the deep sense and grave deportment of the bench and bar may have imparted to our character more of solidity than it would other-we wise have possessed? This city was long the head quarters of a British army; and familiar intercourse with officers, many of whom were men of family and fashion, while it gave, perhaps, a little of that lustre and polish which distinguish the higher ranks of society, could not but dispose young people to levity and mirth, more than is suited to the condition of those who must earn their living by their industry. Man is an imitative animal. Not only his deportment, his language, and his manners, but even his morals depend, in a great degree, on his companions. Let us suppose two individuals, of twin resemblance as to intellectual disposition and power, one of them frequently attending on courts of strict practice, the other on those where lengthened declamation wears out tedious days on questions of trifling import: would not the latter slide into a loose mode both of thinking and speaking; might he not conceive that to talk long is to talk well; might he not attend too much to the melody of periods, too little to the precision of thought;

Indulge me, gentlemen, while on this subject, in another observation. The more strict and regular is the practice of law, the greater is our certainty that the guilty will be punished; and, of necessary consequence, that the innocent will be protected. The law, when it is a terror to evil doers, is the safeguard not only of property but of life, and of that which wise and virtuous citizens value more than life-it is the protector of liberty. Where the law is supreme every one may do what it permits without fear;

and from this happy condition arises that habit | of order which secures the public peace. But when any man, or association of men, can exercise discretionary power over others, there is an end of that liberty which our fathers enjoyed, and for which their sons bled. Whenever such an association, assuming to be the people, undertake to govern according to their will and pleasure, the republic which submits; nay, the republic which does not immediately subdue and destroy them, is in the steep downhill road to despotism. I cannot here, gentlemen, help congratulating you on the high standing of our city during late events, and adding my feeble approbation to the full applause so justly bestowed on its magistrates. To say more might look like adulation. To say less would be a want of gratitude.

called Quakers, and their equality of civil con dition, with what they supposed to be the luxury and aristocracy of men to whom manors had been granted, and who were the masters of slaves. The citizens of New York, however, believed that the comparative prosperity of Pennsylvania might more naturally be attributed to circumstances more evident, and of less doubtful operation. Without acknowledging either a moral or civil superiority, they believed that nature had given them as good a climate, a better soil, and a more favorable situation; but their country had been from the beginning, a theatre of war, and stood in the fore front of the battle. New York was, like Joseph, a victim of parental kindness. Not, indeed, that her brethren, like his, were disposed to sell or kill the favorite child; but that their enemy endeavored to subdue her, as the means more effectually to annoy them. The only accurate solution of such questions is made by time. For as experience is the ground-work, so is time the test of political reasoning. At the end of seven years from the period when the estimate mentioned was made, by the first Congress, another severe hurricane of war had ̧ blown over our State, and laid it in ruins. Our frontier settlements had been broken up, and a part of our capital reduced to ashes. Our citizens were banished or beggared, and our commerce annihilated. Whatever doubts, therefore, may have been entertained as to the accuracy of proportions taken in 1775, there was no doubt left in 1783, but that we were below the ratio assumed when the war begun. In 83 less than eight-and-twenty years, from that time, the census was taken on which the representation in Congress is apportioned. And according to the ratio thereby established,

Among the singularities of our history, is the slow progress of population, previous to the year 1783, compared with that of other States. Jamestown, in Virginia, was founded in 1607, Quebec in 1608, New York in 1615, New Plymouth in 1620. Thus, in the short space of fourteen years, these different plantations of mankind were made. The settlement of Pennsylvania was undertaken full sixty years later: and yet at the commencement of the war for defence of our rights, one hundred and fiftyfive years after the first settlement of New Plymouth, and only ninety-four years after the first settlement of Pennsylvania, the population, according to the congressional estimate, was, of

The Eastern States, exclusive of Vermont, nearly as
That of New York, Vermont, and New Jersey,
That of Pennsylvania and Delaware,
And that of Maryland and Virginia,

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82

64

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has gained. In respect to Virginia, however, | so as to amount in 1810 to 786,804. The census the variation may arise from those colonies of 1790 gave to New York only 314,142 white which have left the ancient dominion to people inhabitants; being to Pennsylvania, even then, southern and western States. It may be well, only in the proportion of near three to four. therefore, to confine our view to a comparison The increase in ten years was 77 per cent., in of this State with her sister Pennsylvania. In the next ten years 65 per cent. (or in the whole July, 1775, the Congress estimated the popula- twenty years, 192 per cent.), so as to amount in tion of Pennsylvania and that of New York, 1810 to 918,699: being to Pennsylvania, in the then including Vermont, in a proportion of proportion of seven to six. And now let a three to two, which gives to glance be cast at the position of lands which have been settled in those two States within. the last twenty years. They are separated from each other by the river Delaware, for more than fifty miles, and then only by a mathe

Pennsylvania, New York,

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but by the late apportionment of representatives, matical line, for more than two hundred miles.

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So that in the space of twenty-eight years of peace, from 1783 to 1811, Pennsylvania has lost seven in thirty, and New York has gained seven in twenty, on their relative proportion: and this, too, without including Vermont. Finally, the matter may be examined in a still more simple point of view, and speaking in round numbers, if the estimate of 1775 be considered as tolerably accurate, Massachusetts has increased one half, Pennsylvania has doubled, and New York quadrupled, since it was made. Excuse me, gentlemen, for dwelling so much on a calculation which may appear to some as mere amusement. It shows by conclusions, which, founded on arithmetic, cannot be questioned, that the growth of this State was impeded only by the wars in which it has been so often, so deeply, and so disastrously engaged. From 1614, when Fort Orange, now Albany, was built, to 1810, when the last census was taken, there are seven terms of twenty-eight years. During the first six terms, which ended in 1782, we had not attained to more than onefourth of our present condition. It has already been observed, that the settlement of Pennsylvania began in 1681, but as it may be contended that antecedent settlements in Delaware and New Jersey facilitated the undertaking of Mr. Penn, we may go back a few years, and suppose it to have commenced in 1670, from which time to that in which the last census was taken, there are five terms of twenty-eight years. In the first four, Pennsylvania attained to one half of her present condition, and had acquired more by one half than we had in six. But in the last term they have little more than doubled, while we have quadrupled. But it may be said that no reliance ought to be placed on the estimate made by Congress in 1775, and that comparisons drawn from proportions then assumed, are not convincing. It may be well, therefore, to test the question by a standard whose accuracy cannot be denied. The census of 1790 gave to Pennsylvania 424,099 white inhabitants. The increase in ten years was 38 per cent., in the next ten years 34 per cent. (or in the whole twenty years 85 per cent.),

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It may be asserted, without danger of contradiction, that along this extensive frontier, New York is more thickly settled than Pennsylvania. Without contending, therefore, as to civil or moral advantage, it can hardly be denied that a soil and climate which have attracted such great population in the last term of twenty-eight years, would have thickly settled the State long ago, had it not been for a political cause, which, while it retarded the population of New York, promoted and accelerated the population of Pennsylvania. The political cause, unhappily for us, again brought into operation, was war with the possessor of Canada. It has already been noticed, that in the last ten years our number has increased 65 per cent. This city has in that period, nearly keeping pace with the aggregate, increased 60 per cent. But the western district has increased at the rate of 175 per cent. If we add the counties of Montgomery, Essex, Clinton, and Franklin, so as to embrace the whole northern frontier, the rate of increase is 163 per cent.; the amount upwards of 261,000, whereas that district, those counties, and this city excepted, the ratio for the rest of the State was only 20 per cent.; and the amount little more than 75,000. In effect, near 262,000 out of not quite 373,000, our total increment, belonging to our northern and western country; so that seven-tenths of that growth, which we beheld with astonishment and exultation, was the produce of a country now exposed to the chance and disasters of war. Nearly one other tenth was in the capital. This, gentlemen, is neither the place nor the occasion to inquire into the policy, much less the justice of those measures, by which we are distressed. Bowing with deference to the national government, I am willing to suppose, that in so far as regards the United States, the war may have been be gun, and is now carried on justly, wisely, happily; but for us, most unhappily. Every member of this society is, undoubtedly, disposed, by every proper exertion, and every possible sacrifice, to support the honor and independence of our country. But he must be void of discernment who does not perceive, that war with the greatest naval power is no happy condition for a commercial people. Whether America will eventually rejoice in trophies gained, territory acquired, and privileges torn from an ene

my subdued, or whether she shall weep for de- | happiness, but as the outworks to the citadel feats sustained, dominion lost, and rights sur- of our liberty? And, finally, that we should, rendered, must depend, under God, on the man- as the best means of effecting those objects, sc ner in which this war shall be conducted, and arrange our concerns, as that the management the wisdom and integrity of the negotiations by of public affairs be entrusted to men of wisdom, which it shall be concluded. But, whatever firmness, and integrity? I will venture to add may be the feelings of our sister States, whether the idea that, in any political change which they, as events may indicate, shall clothe them- circumstances may induce, we should respect selves in scarlet, or in sackcloth, cur house the example of our predecessors, the Six Nawill, in all probability, be a house of mourn- tions, and not be persuaded to ask for a king, ing. that he may go out before us, like the other nations, nor submit to the sway of hereditary nobles. It would be a fatal delusion, if, for the military vigor of one institution, or the political cunning of the other, we should surrender that freedom which ennobles man. Nor would it be less fatal, that, with a view to simplicity and unity, we should permit the consolidation of too great a mass: for history teaches that republican spirit is liable to ferment, when in a large vessel, and be changed to the corroding acid of despotism.

It is by the light of history and geography that we discern the interests of a country, and the means by which they can best be pursued, and secured. Am I mistaken in concluding, from the foregoing details, which may, I fear, have been tedious to you, that we should encourage husbandry, commerce, and useful arts, as the great columns which are to support the fabric of our wealth and power? That we should promote order, industry, science, and religion, not only as the guardians of social

NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

The following speech on the resolutions of Mr. Ross,* relative to the free navigation of the Mississippi river, was delivered, by Mr. Morris, in the Senate of the United States, on the twenty-fourth of February, 1803.

MR. PRESIDENT: I rise with reluctance on the present occasion. The lateness of the hour forbids me to hope for your patient attention. The subject is of great importance, as it relates to other countries, and still greater to our own: yet we must decide on grounds uncertain, be

* The treaty of 1795, between the United States and Spain, sccured to the citizens of the former the free navigation of the river Mississippi, and a privilege of deposit in the island of New Orleans, for three years; the privilege to be continued after the expiration of the three years, provided, during that time, it was found not to be prejudicial to the interests of Spain. And it was also stipulated, that if it should not be continued there, an equivalent establishment should be assigned at some other place upon the bank of the Mississippi.

During the month of October, 1802, the Intendant of New Orleans issued a proclamation, prohibiting the citizens of the United States from depositing their merchandise at New Orleans, without assigning any other equivalent establishment, according to the articles of the treaty.

Pending those affairs, Mr. Ross submitted to the Senate the subjoined resolutions: Resolved, That the United States of America have an indisputable right to the free navigation of the river Mississippi, and to a convenient deposit for their produce and merchandise in the island of New Orleans:

That the late infraction of such their unquestionable right le an aggression, hostile to their honor and interest:

cause they depend on circumstances not yet arrived. And when we attempt to penetrate of reason, aided by all the lights which expeinto futurity, after exerting the utmost powers rience could acquire, our clearest conceptions are involved in doubt. A thousand things may happen, which it is impossible to conjecture, and which will influence the course of events. The wise Governor of all things hath hidden the future from the ken of our feeble understanding. In committing ourselves, therefore, to the examination of what may hereafter arrive, we hazard reputation on contingencies we

union to hold a right so important by a tenure so uncertain:

That it materially concerns such of the American citizens as dweil on the western waters, and is essential to the union, strength and prosperity of these States, that they obtain complete security for the full and peaceful enjoyment of such their absolute right:

That the President be authorized to take immediate possession of some place or places, in the said island, or the adjacent territories, fit and convenient for the purposes aforesaid, and to adopt such measures for obtaining that completo security, as to him, in his wisdom, shall seem meet:

That he be authorized to call into actual service any number of the militia of the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio, and the Mississippi territory, which he may think proper, not exceeding fifty thousand, and to employ them, together with the naval and military force of the Union, for effecting the object above mentioned:

That the sum of five millions of dollars be appropriated to the carrying into effect the foregoing resolutions, and that the whole or any part of that sum be paid or applied on warrants, drawn in pursuance of such directions as the President may from time to time think proper to give to the

That it does not consist with the dignity or safety of this secretary of the treasury.-Annals of Congress, 1803.

cannot command. And when events shall be
past, we shall be judged by them, and not by
the reasons which we may now advance.
There are many subjects which it is not easy
to understand, but it is always easy to mis-
represent, and when arguments cannot be con-
troverted, it is not difficult to calumniate mo-
tives. That, which cannot be confuted, may
be misstated. The purest intentions may be
blackened by malice; and envy will ever foster
the foulest imputations. This calumny is
among the sore evils of our country. It began
with our earliest success in '78, and has gone
on, with accelerated velocity and increasing
force, to the present hour. It is no longer to
be checked, nor will it terminate but in that
sweep of general destruction, to which it tends
with a step as sure as time, and fatal as death.
I know, that what I utter will be misunder-
stood, misrepresented, deformed and distorted;
but we must do our duty. This, I believe, is
the last scene of my public life; and it shall,
like those which have preceded it, be performed
with candor and truth. Yes, my noble friends,
[addressing himself to the federal senators
him, we shall soon part to meet no more.
But, however separated, and wherever dis-
persed, we know that we are united by just
principle and true sentiment-a sentiment, my
country, ever devoted to you, which will ex-
pire only with expiring life, and beat in the
last pulsation of our hearts!

and delight of life: she learns that those eyes, which beamed with sentiment, are closed in death; and his lip, the ruby harbinger of joy lies pale and cold, the miserable appendage d a mangled corpse. Hard, hard indeed, must be that heart, which can be insensible to scenes like these; and bold the man who dare present to the Almighty Father a conscience crimsoned with the blood of his children!

As

Yes, sir, we wish for peace; but how is that blessing to be preserved? I shall repeat here a sentiment I have often had occasion to express. In my opinion, there is nothing worth fighting for but national honor: for, in the national honor is involved the national independence. I know that a state may find itself in such unpropitious circumstances, that prudence may force a wise government to conceal the sense of indignity. But the insult should be engraven on tablets of brass, with a pencil of steel. And when that time and chance, which happen to all, shall bring forward the favorable moment, then let the avenging arm strike home. It is by avowing and maintainnearing this stern principle of honor, that peace can be preserved. But let it not be supposed, that any thing I say has the slightest allusion to the injuries sustained from France, while suffering in the pangs of her revolution. soon should I upbraid a sick man for what he might have done in the paroxysms of disease. Nor is this a new sentiment: it was felt and avowed at the time when these wrongs were heaped upon us, and I appeal for the proof to the files of your secretary of state. The destinies of France were then in the hands of monsters. By the decree of heaven she was broken on the wheel, in the face of the world, to warn mankind of her folly and madness. But these scenes have passed away. On the throne of the Bourbons is now seated the first of the Gallic Cæsars. At the head of that galnant nation is the great, the greatest man of the present age. It becomes us well to consider his situation. The things he has achieved compel him to the achievement of things more great. In his vast career, we must soon become objects to command attention. We, too, in our turn, must contend or submit. By submission we may indeed have peace, alike precarious and ignominious. But is this the peace which we ought to seek? Will this satisfy the just expectation of our country? Let us have peace, permanent, secure, and, if I may use the term, independent-peace which depends not on the pity of others, but on our own force. Let us have the only peace worth having a peace consistent with honor.

Mr. President, my object is peace. I could assign many reasons to show that this declaration is sincere. But can it be necessary to give this Senate any other assurance than my word? Notwithstanding the acerbity of temper which results from party strife, gentlemen will believe me on my word. I will not pretend, like my honorable colleague, Mr. Clinton, to describe to you the waste, the ravages, and the horrors of war. I have not the same harmonious periods, nor the same musical tones; neither shall I boast of Christian charity, nor attempt to display that ingenuous glow of benevolence, so decorous to the cheek of youth, which gave a vivid tint to every sentence he uttered; and was, if possible, as impressive even as his eloquence. But, though we possess not the same pomp of words, our hearts are not insensible to the woes of humanity. We can feel for the misery of plundered towns, the conflagration of defenceless villages, and the devastation of cultured fields. Turning from these features of general distress, we can enter the abodes of private affliction, and behold the widow weeping, as she traces, in the pledges of connubial affection, the resemblance of him whom she has lost for ever. We see the aged matron bending over the ashes of her son, He was her darling; for he was generous and brave; and therefore his spirit led him to the field in defence of his country. We can observe another oppressed with unutterable anguish; condemned to conceal her affection; forced to hide that passion, which is at once the torment

No.

A gentleman near me, Mr. Jackson, has told us the anecdote of an old courtier, who said, that the interest of his nation, was the honor of his nation. I was surprised to hear that idea from that gentleman. But it was not his own. Such is that gentleman's high sense of his personal honor, that no interest would induce him to sacrifice it. He would not permit

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