exercise it with prudence and integrity. The people's appointing their own rulers will be no security for their good government and happiness if they pay no regard to the character of the men they appoint. A dunce or a knave, a profligate or an avaricious worldling, will not make a good magistrate because he is elected by the people. To make this right of advantage to the community, due attention must be paid to the abilities and moral character of the candidate. This is a consideration that concerns this people at large, as all have a voice in the election of our rulers, either personally or by their representatives. But upon this occasion it is proper to observe that it especially concerns the members of the honorable Council and House of Representatives here present, by whom the councillors for the ensuing year are this day to be elected. And I shall not, I hope, be thought to go beyond my line of duty1 if I say that the electors ought not to give their votes at random, or from personal or private views. They act in this business in a public character, by virtue of power delegated to them by the people, to whom, as well as to God, the origin of all power, they are accountable for the use they make of it. Nor can they answer it to either, or even to their own consciences, if, through interested or party views, they advance to the council-board men unqualified for the important duties of that station. At such a critical time as the present, the want of wisdom or integrity in that House may be attended with the most fatal consequences. The advice of Jethro in the text demands the consideration of all those who are to bear a part in the elections of this day: "Provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness." There never was a time when such men were more necessary at that board than the present. Nor would I entertain an opinion so dishonorable to my country as to suppose there are not such men in it; though I cannot, at the same time, entertain an idea so flattering as to suppose there are not many among us who fall far short of this character. It belongs to the present electors to distinguish, so far as they can, these characters one from the other, and to give their votes only for the former. Whoever considers the part which this Board has in legislation, — their authority in directing the military and naval force of the state, their being invested with the supreme executive power, and, in some important cases, with a supreme judicial power, will be sensible that great wisdom, integrity, and fortitude are necessary for the right management of these powers. Should they be committed to men of small abilities and little knowledge,-men unacquainted with the nature of government, and with the circumstances of this state, men void of integrity, of narrow, contracted views, governed by ambition, avarice, or some other selfish passion, men of no fortitude and resolution, of dastardly, effeminate spirits, should such men, I say, be intrusted with the great and important powers vested in the Council, what could be expected but that their public conduct would bear the marks of their ignorance, weakness, effeminacy, and selfishness, to the great injury and dishonor, if not to the ruin, of the Commonwealth? And though such men may be as fond of this station as those who are best qualified for it, and perhaps much fonder, yet it would be so far from rendering them truly honorable, that it would only render them the more infamous, by bringing into public view their vices and defects, while the electors of such men would fix an indelible stain upon their own characters, and inherit the curses of the present and future generations. But men who have themselves been honored by the unbiased suffrages of their country must surely be too wise and virtuous thus to prostitute their votes; and it may, I hope, be taken for granted that knowledge and integrity, the fear of God, and a public spirit, will govern in the ensuing election, and such men be raised to the council-board as will do honor to that respectable station, to their electors, and themselves.1 I now beg leave, with all due deference and submission, to suggest a few things that may reasonably be expected of a General Court, composed of such men as the text describes, by the people who have invested them with this power and authority. It may be expected that they will give due attention to the public affairs committed to their care. By accepting a seat in either House, a man does, implicitly at 1 COUNCILLORS FOR 1780. For the old Colony of MASSACHUSETTS BAY: † Hon. JAMES BOWDOIN, Esq.; JABEZ FISHER, Esq.; JOSIAH STONE, Esq.; ABRAHAM FULLER, Esq.; Hon. SAMUEL NILES, Esq.; For the late Colony of NEW PLYMOUTH: † Hon. ROBERT TREAT PAINE, ESQ.; Hon. BENJAMIN WHITE, Esq. ↑ Not of the Board the last year. - Ed. least, solemnly engage to attend to the business which is there to be transacted. Nor do I see how he can with any propriety be called a man of truth who, after such engagement, neglects that business for the sake of going to his farm, his merchandise, or his pleasure. It appears to me that such neglect argues great unfaithfulness in the delinquents, and it may be attended with very pernicious consequences. Individuals may, and often do, plead in excuse for this, that the business may be done without them; but they ought to remember that every one has an equal right to excuse himself by this plea, and if all should do so, the concerns of the public must be wholly neglected. But it may be justly expected that our civil rulers will take due care to provide for the public defence. Notwithstanding the great exertions we have already made, and the great things which God has done for us, we must still contend with the enemies of our rights and liberties, or become their abject slaves. And it depends in a great measure upon our public rulers, under God, whether we shall contend with success or not. It is by their seasonable and prudent measures that an army is to be provided and furnished with necessaries to oppose the enemy; and it must be the wish of every true American that nothing may be omitted which can be done to support and render successful so important a cause, a cause so just in the sight of God and man, which Heaven has so remarkably owned, and all wise and good men approved, a cause which not only directly involves in it the rights and liberties of America, but in which the happiness of mankind is so nearly concerned, for in this extensive light I have always considered the cause in which we are contending. Should our enemies finally prevail, and establish that absolute dominion over us at which they aim, they would not only render us the most miserable of all nations, but prob ably be able, by the riches and forces of America, to triumph over the arms of France and Spain, and carry their conquests to every corner of the globe; nor can we doubt but that they would carry them wherever there was wealth to tempt the enterprise. The noble spirit of liberty which has arisen in Ireland1 would be instantly crushed, and the brave men who have appeared foremost in its support be rewarded with an axe or a halter. The few advocates for this suffering cause in Britain would be hunted and persecuted as enemies to government, and be obliged in despair to abandon her interest. And in every country where this event should be known the friends of liberty would be disheartened, and, seeing her in the power of her enemies, forsake her, as the disciples of Christ did their Master; so that our being subdued to the will of our enemies might, in its consequences, be the banishment of liberty from among mankind. The heaven-born virgin, seeing her votaries slain, her altars overthrown, and her temples demolished, and finding no safe habitation on earth, would be obliged, like the great patron of liberty the First-born of God, to ascend to her God and our God, her Father and our Father, from whom she was sent to bless mankind, leaving an ungrateful world, after she had, like him, been rejected and despised of men," in slavery and misery, till with him she shall again descend to reign and triumph on earth. Such might be the consequence should the arms of Britain triumph over us. Whereas, if America preserves her freedom, she will be an asylum for the oppressed and persecuted of every country; her example and 1 Towards the close of the American war there sprang up in Ireland a large party, who declared that no power on earth could bind Ireland but its own king, lords, and commons. January 1, 1800, the separate legislature of Ireland being suppressed, its legislative union with Great Britain was effected. — ED. |