[Pamphlets. American history]

28
cannot be sustained without a gradation of orders in the
state. Such a gradation is entirely inconsistent with the
condition of society in colonial settlements, carrying from
the mother country all the general principles of constitutional government. It belongs to the conception of aristocratical institutions to cluster round a court. The attempt which was made to introduce a distinction of orders into South Carolina, by the strange constitution
drawn up by Locke,-a sincere friend of liberty,-is a
melancholy illustration of the difference between practical statesmanship and theoretical philosophy. The arduous work of settling a remote wilderness,-of planting
human families in these world-wide spaces, —can proceed
upon no basis but that of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity; for we must not be deterred by any abuses, ancient or modern, from the use of these noble words.
Perverted as they have been, they draw their true meaning from the sacred depths of our common nature. Our
fathers wrested them, in a right acceptation, from an oppressive government, and we must not allow the guillotines or barricades of earlier or later days to dishearten
us from their assertion. What Warren and Prescott
won for us on Bunker Hill, we must not sacrifice to any
of the monsters either of anarchy or despotism, which
have brought reproach upon the name of liberty,-to
Robespierre or Ledru Rollin; to the real authentic Napoleon or to the shadow of a shade, which is attempting
to play emperor under the cover of his mighty name.
It remains a political problem, of which the next hundred years will probably furnish the solution, whether it