as the animating spirit of the cause. My work was
begun and prosecuted under this controul:--and with the accompanying
satisfaction that no charge of presumption could, by a thinking mind, be
brought against me: though I had taken upon myself to offer instruction
to men who, if they possess not talents and acquirements, have no title
to the high stations which they hold; who also, by holding those
stations, are understood to obtain certain benefit of experience and of
knowledge not otherwise to be gained; and who have a further claim to
deference--founded upon reputation, even when it is spurious (as much of
the reputation of men high in power must necessarily be; their errors
being veiled and palliated by the authority attached to their office;
while that same authority gives more than due weight and effect to their
wiser opinions). Yet, notwithstanding all this, I did not fear the
censure of having unbecomingly obtruded counsels or remonstrances. For
there can be no presumption, upon a call so affecting as the present, in
an attempt to assert the sanctity and to display the efficacy of
principles and passions which are the natural birth-right of man; to
some share of which all are born; but an inheritance which may be
alienated or consumed; and by none more readily and assuredly than by
those who are most eager for the praise of policy, of prudence, of
sagacity, and of all those qualities which are the darling virtues of
the worldly-wise. Moreover; the evidence to which I have made appeal, in
order to establish the truth, is not locked up in cabinets; but is
accessible to all; as it exists in the bosoms of men--in the appearances
and intercourse of daily life--in the details of passing events--and in
general history. And more especially is its right import within the
reach of him who--taking no part in public measures, and having no
concern in the changes of things but as they affect what is most
precious in his country and humanity--will doubtless be more alive to
those genuine sensations which are the materials of sound judgment. Nor
is it to be overlooked that such a man may have more leisure (and
probably will have a stronger inclination) to communicate with the
records of past ages.

Deeming myself justified then in what has been said,--I will continue to
lay open (and, in some degree, to account for) those privations in the
materials of judgment, and those delusions of opinion, and infirmities
of mind, to which