peace and good order, of government and religion, the only solid foundations of civil liberty. Thus, the will o individuals is still left free; the abuse only of that free will is the object of legal punishment. Neither is anv

restraint hereby laid upon freedom of thought or inquiry; liberty of private sentiment is still left; the disminating, or making public of bad sentiments, destructive of the ends of society, is the crime, which society corrects. A man may be allowed to keep poisons in his closet; but not publicly to vend them as cordials. And, after some additional reflections, he concludes with this memorable sentence : "So true will it be found, that to censure the licentiousness, is to maintain the liberty of the press."

§ 448. The remaining clause, secures "The right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition for a redress of grievances, a right inestimable in itself, but often prohibited in foreign governments, under the pretence of preventing insurrections, and dangerous conspir acies against the government.

It

§ 449. This would seem unnecessary to be expressly provided for in a republican government, since it results from the very nature of its structure and institutions. is impossible, that it could be practically denied, until the spirit of liberty had wholly disappeared, and the people had become so servile and debased, as to be unfit to exercise any of the privileges of freemen.

§ 450. The next amendment is, "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." One of the ordinary modes, by which tyrants accomplish their purposes without resistance, is, by disarming the people, and making it an offence to keep arms, and by substituting a regular army in the stead of a resort to the militia, The friends of a free government cannot be too watchful, to overcome the dangerous tendency of the public mind to sacrifice, for the sake of mere private convenience, this powerful check upon the designs of ambitious men.

§ 451. The importance of this article will scarcely be

doubted by any persons, who have duly reflected upon the subject. The militia is the natural defence of a free country against sudden foreign invasions, domestic insurrections, and domestic usurpations of power by rulers. It is against sound policy for a free people to keep up large military establishments and standing armies in time of peace, both from the enormous expenses, with which they are attended, and the facile means, which they afford to ambitious and unprincipled rulers, to subvert the government, or trample upon the rights of the people. The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpations and arbitrary power of rulers; and it will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them. And yet, though this truth would seem so clear, and the importance of a well-regulated militia would seem so undeniable, it cannot be disguised, that among the American people there is a growing indifference to any system of militia discipline, and a strong disposition, from a sense of its burdens, to be rid of all regulations. How it is practicable to keep the people duly armed without some organization, it is difficult to see. There is certainly no small danger, that indifference may lead to disgust, and disgust to contempt; and thus gradually undermine all the protection intended by this clause of our National Bill of Rights.

§ 452. The next amendment is, "No soldier shall in time of peace be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner; nor in time of war, but in a man ner to be prescribed by law." This provision speaks for itself. In arbitrary times it has not been unusual for military officers, with the connivance, or under the sanction of the government, to billet soldiers upon private citizens, without the slightest regard to their rights, or comfort

§ 453. The next amendment is, "The enumeration n the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny, or disparage others retained by the People."

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The object of this clause is to get rid of a very common but perverse misapplication of a known maxim, that an affirmation of a power in particular cases, implies a negation of it in all other cases; and so, on the other hand, that a negation of a power in some cases, implies an affirmation of it in all others not denied. The maxim, when rightly understood, is perfectly sound and safe; but it has often been abused to purposes injurious to the rights of the people; and therefore the present clause was wisely inserted to prevent any such false interpretations and glosses of the Constitution.

§ 454. The next and last amendment, which has not been already considered, is, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the People." This amendment follows out the object of the preceding; and is merely an affirmation of a rule of construction of the Constitution, which, upon any just reasoning, must have existed without it. Still, it is important as a security against two opposite tendencies of opinion, each of which is equally subversive of the true import of the Constitution. The one is to imply all powers, which may be useful to the National Government, which are not expressly prohibited; and the other is, to deny all powers to the National Government, which are not expressly granted. We have already seen, that there are many implied powers necessarily resulting from the nature of the express powers; and it is as clear, that no power can properly arise by implication from a mere prohibition. The Government of the United States is one of limited powers; and no authority exists beyond the prescribed limits, marked out in the instrument itself. Whatever powers are not granted, necessarily belong to the respective States, or to the people of the respective States, if they have not been confided by them to he State Governments.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

Concluding Remarks.

§ 455. WE have now reviewed all the provisions of the original Constitution of the United States, and all the Amendments, which have been incorporated into it. And here, the task, originally proposed in these Commentaries, is brought to a close. Many reflections naturally crowd upon the mind at such a moment; many grateful recollections of the past; and many anxious thoughts of the future. The past is secure. It is unalterable. The seal of eter-. nity is upon it. The wisdom, which it has displayed, and the blessings, which it has bestowed, cannot be obscured; neither can they be debased by human folly, or by human infirmity. The future, is that, which may well awaken the most earnest solicitude, both for the virtue and the permanence of our Republic The fate of other republics, their rise, their progress, their decline, and their fall, are written but too legibly on the pages of history, if, indeed, they were not continually before us in the startling fragments of their ruins. Those republic's have perished; and have perished by their own hands. Prosperity has cnervated them; corruption has debased them; and a enal populace has consummated their destruction. The people, alternately the prey of military chieftains at home, and of ambitious invaders from abroad, have been some times cheated out of their liberties by servile demagogues sometimes betrayed into a surrender of them by false patriots; and sometimes they have willingly sold them for a price to the despot, who has bidden highest for his victims. They have disregarded the warning voice of their vest statesmen; and have persecuted and driven from office their truest friends. They have listened to the councils of fawning sycophants, or base calumniators of the wise and the good. They have reverenced power more in its high abuses and summary movements, than in

its calm and constitutional energy, when it dispensed bles sings with an unseen, but a liberal hand. They have surrendered to faction, what belonged to the common interests and common rights of the country. Patronage and party, the triumph of an artful popular leader, and the discontents of a day, have outweighed, in their view, all solid principles and institutions of government. Such are the melancholy lessons of the past history of republics down

to our own.

§ 456. It is not my design to detain the reader by any elaborate reflections addressed to his judgement, either by way of admonition or of encouragement. But it may not be wholly without use to glance at one or two considerations, upon which our meditations cannot be too frequently indulged.

§ 457. In the first place, it cannot escape our notice, how exceedingly difficult it is to settle the foundations of any government upon principles, which do not admit of some controversy or question. The very elements, out of which it is to be built, are susceptible of infinite modifications; and theory too often deludes us by the attractive simplicity of its plans, and imagination by the visionary perfection of its speculations. In theory, a government may promise the most perfect harmony of operations in all its various combinations. In practice, the whole machinery may be perpetually retarded, or thrown out of order by accidental mal-adjustments. In theory, a government may seem deficient in unity of design and symmetry of parts; and yet, in practice, it may work with astonishing accuracy and force for the general welfare. Whatever, then, has been found to work well by experience, should rarely be hazarded upon conjectural improvements. Time, and long and steady operation are indispensable to the perfection of all social institutions. To be of any value, these institutions must become cemented with the habits, the feelings, and the pursuits of the people. Every change discomposes for a while the whole arrangements of the system. What is safe, is not always expedient; what is new, is often pregnant with unforeseen evils, or attracts only by imaginary good