ous liberty, to their full extent; but the
strong hand of the spoiler has borne us into a strange land, yet has He of
His great goodness given us to behold those best and noblest of his gifts
to man, in their fairest and loveliest forms; and not only have we beheld
them, but we have already felt much of their benignant influence. Most
of us have hitherto enjoyed many, very many of the dearest rights of
freemen. Our lives and personal liberties have been held as sacred and
inviolable; the rights of property have been extended to us, in this land
of freedom; our industry has been, and still is, liberally rewarded; and
so long as we live under a free and happy government which denies us not
the protection of its laws, why should we fret and vex ourselves because
we have had no part in framing them, nor anything to do with their
administration. When the fruits of the earth are fully afforded us, we do
not wantonly refuse them, nor ungratefully repine because we have done
nothing towards the cultivation of the tree which produces them. No, we
accept them with lively gratitude; and their sweetness is not embittered
by reflecting upon the manner in which they were obtained. It is the
dictate of sound wisdom, then, to enjoy without repining, the freedom,
privileges, and immunities which wise and equal laws have awarded us--nay,
proudly to rejoice and glory in their production, and stand ready at all
times to defend them at the hazard of our lives, and of all that is most
dear to us.

But are we alone shut out and excluded from any share in the
administration of government? Are not the clergy, a class of men equally
ineligible to office? A class of men almost idolized by their countrymen,
ineligible to office! And are we alone excluded from what the world
chooses to denominate polite society? And are not a vast majority of the
polar race excluded? I know not why, but mankind of every age, nation, and
complexion have had lower classes; and, as a distinction, they have chosen
to arrange themselves in the grand spectacle of human life, like seats in
a theater--rank above rank, with intervals between them. But if any
suppose that happiness or contentment is confined to any single class,
or that the high or more splendid order possesses any substantial
advantage in those respects over their more lowly brethren, they must be
wholly ignorant of all rational enjoyment. For what though the more humble
orders cannot mingle with the higher