e; and there being
constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be by force of public
opinion to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it
demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame,
lest, instead of warming, it should consume.

It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country
should inspire caution in those intrusted with its administration to
confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres,
avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach
upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers
of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of
government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power
and proneness to abuse it which predominates in the human heart is
sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity
of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing
and distributing it into different depositories, and constituting each
the guardian of the public weal against invasions by the others, has
been evinced by experiments ancient and modern, some of them in our
country and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary
as to institute them. If in the opinion of the people the distribution
or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong,
let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution
designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this in
one instance may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon
by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always
greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit
which the use can at any time yield.

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity,
religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man
claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great
pillars of human happiness--these firmest props of the duties of men
and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought
to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their
connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked,
Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if
the sense of religious obligation _desert_ the oaths which are the
instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us wi