would be propriety and justice in the dedication of it to this distinguished statesman, and through him to the American people.

The compiler, diffident of his own ability to do adequate justice to the subject, has called to his aid some of the most eminent authorities to sustain the inviolable sanctity of the law, and to impress upon Americans a reverential attachment to the Constitution, as in the highest sense the palladium of American liberty; so that their judgment, as well as their affections, may be enlisted on the side of the Constitution, as the truest security of the Union, and the only solid basis on which to rest the private rights, the public liberties, and the substantial prosperity of the people composing the American Republic.

He will next have recourse to the authority of the universally esteemed and lamented Justice Story, as to the high responsibilities of the people, and the proper means of guarding the inestimable rights they now enjoy. In reference to the Constitution of government he says: “It must perish, if there be not that vital spirit in the people, which alone can nourish, sustain, and direct all its movements. It is in vain that statesmen shall form plans of government, in which the beauty and harmony of a republic shall

be embodied in visible order, shall be built up on solid substructions, and adorned by every useful ornament, if the inhabitants suffer the silent power of time to dilapidate its walls, or crumble its massy supporters into dust; if the assaults from without are never resisted, and the rottenness and mining from within are never guarded against. Who can preserve the rights and liberties of the people, when they shall be abandoned by themselves? Who shall keep watch in the temple, when the watchmen sleep at their posts? Who shall call upon the people to redeem their possessions, and revive the republic, when their own hands have deliberately and corruptly surrendered them to the oppressor, and have built the prisons or dug the graves of their own friends? This dark picture, it is to be hoped, will never be applicable to the Republic of America. And yet it affords a warning, which, like all the lessons of past experience, we are not permitted to disregard America,

free, happy, and enlightened as she is, must rest the preservation of her rights and liberties upon the virtue, independence, justice, and sagacity of the people. If either fail, the republic is gone. Its shadow may remain with all the pomp, and circumstance, and trickery of government, but its vital power will

have departed. In America, the demagogue may arise as well as elsewhere. He is the natural, though spurious, growth of republics; and, like the courtier, he may, by his blandishments, delude the ears and blind the eyes of the people to their own destruction. If ever the day shall arrive, in which the best talents and the best virtues shall be driven from office by intrigue or corruption, by the ostracism of the press, or the still more unrelenting persecution of party, legislation will cease to be national. It will be wise by accident, and bad by system."

"In every human society," says the celebrated Beccaria, "there is an effort continually tending to confer on one part the height of power and happiness, and to reduce the other to the extreme of weakness and misery. The intent of good laws is to oppose this effort, and to diffuse their influence universally and equally ;" and Montesquieu declares that, “In a free state, every man, who is supposed a free agent, ought to be concerned in his own government; therefore the legislative power should reside in the whole body of the people, or their representatives. The political liberty of the citizen is a tranquillity of mind, arising from the opinion each person has of his safety. In order to have this liberty, it is requisite the govern

ment be so constituted, as that one man need not be afraid of another. The enjoyment of liberty, and even its support and preservation, consists in every man's being allowed to speak his thoughts, and lay open his sentiments."

The compiler will next propose to his fellow-citizens the advice of a profound philosopher, as to the proper mode of preserving the independence of the mind, which is alike applicable to every free born American citizen, and points out the means by which the native talent, the integrity of heart, and the indomitable spirit of the people, guided by patriotism, will be rendered available in the preservation of the purity of the government, and of their own liberties. It is submitted, that a copy of this edition of the Constitution be in the possession of every citizen capable of reading and understanding the meaning of language, before whom the following instructions of Locke would then be placed :

"Reading is for the improvement of the understanding."

"The improvement of the understanding is for two ends: first, for our own increase of knowledge; secondly, to enable us to deliver and make out that knowledge to others."

"I hope it will not be thought arrogance to say, that perhaps we should make greater progress in the discovery of rational and contemplative knowledge, if we sought it in the fountain-in the consideration of things themselves-and made use rather of our own thoughts than other men's to find it; for I think we may as rationally hope to see with other men's eyes, as to know by other men's understandings. So much as we ourselves consider and comprehend of truth and reason, so much we possess of real and true knowledge. The floating of other men's opinions in our brains makes us not one jot the more knowing, though they happen to be true. What in them was science, is in us but opiniatrety; whilst we give up our assent only to reverend names, and do not, as they did, employ our own reason to understand those truths which gave them reputation. Aristotle was certainly a knowing man, but nobody ever thought him so, because he blindly embraced, or confidently vented, the opinions of another. And if the taking up another's principles, without examining them, made not him a philosopher, I suppose it will hardly make any body else so. In the sciences, every one has so much as he really knows and comprehends; what he believes only, and takes upon trust, are but