and, above all, the distribution of intestate estates among all the descendants of the deceased. This was indeed a signal triumph over the prejudices in favor of primogeniture. It constituted a fundamental principle in their policy; and, by its silent, but irresistible influence, prevented the undue accumulation of estates in a few hands, so that the introduction of a colonial nobility became absolutely impracticable. Henceforth, the partible nature of estates was so fixed in public opinion, that it broke down every attempt to perpetuate entails; and left the mass of our landed interests, as we now find them, in the possession of the yeomanry in fee simple. While this great law of descents exists, it will for ever prevent the establishment of any arbitrary power. The government, that once admits it into its code, may remain in form a monarchy, or an aristocracy; but it will follow the impulses of public opinion, and find its surest protection in the advancement of popular principles.

Thus broad, thus elevated, was the early legislation of our forefathers. If we except from it that portion, which was tinged by the bigotry and superstition of the times, we shall find it singular for its wisdom, humanity, and public spirit; and admirably adapted to the wants of a free, simple, and intelligent people.

Among the most striking acts of their legislation are those, which respect the cause of learning and education. Within ten short years after their first settlement, they founded the University at Cambridge, and endowed it with the sum of four hundred pounds; a sum, which, considering their means and their wants, was a most generous benefaction. Perhaps no language could more significantly express the dignity of their design, than their own words. "After God had carried us safe to New-England," said they, "and we had builded our houses, provided necessaries for our livelihood, reared convenient places for God's worship, and settled the civil government; one of the next things we longed for, and looked after, was to advance learning and perpetuate it to posterity, dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to the churches, when our present ministers shall lie in the dust." They were not disappointed in their hopes. By the blessing of Providence, this little College, planted by their hands, and nursed by their care, has flourished. Already she counts nearly six thousand in her matriculations. She still stands erect, in the midst of her offspring, clothed with her ancient glory and matron dignity, and lovelier by her age. Our

* 1 Hist. Collect. 240.

hearts still yearn towards her; our thoughts still kindle at her praise; our prayers still rise for her prosperity. We may smile at the early charge made by the royal commissioners, that "it may be feared this College may afford us many schismatics to the Church."* But we proudly proclaim their reluctant confession, that by her means there was "a scholar to their minister in every town or village" in Massachusetts.†

But the truest glory of our forefathers is in that system of public instruction, which they instituted by law, and to which New England owes more of its character, its distinction, and its prosperity, than to all other causes. If this system be not altogether without example in the history of other nations (as I suspect it to be, in its structure and extent), it is, considering the age and means of the projectors, an extraordinary instance of wise legislation, and worthy of the most profound statesmen of any times. At the distance of centuries it stands alone and unrivalled. Europe has not ventured as yet to copy its outlines; nor could they be copied in a despotism, without undermining its foundations. England herself, where letters and learning have so long held the highest rank, is but just beginning to think seriously of a system of national instruction; and her statesmen are now gathering admiration at home from schemes of public education, far, very far short of what her own poor, feeble, neglected colony established, at the starting point of its political existence. Yes, it was in this system of public instruction, that our fathers laid the foundation for the perpetuity of our institutions, and for that growth of sound morals, industry, and public spirit, which has never yet been wanting in New England, and, we may fondly hope, will for ever remain her appropriate praise. Yes, in the year 1647, they ordered every township of fifty householders to maintain a public school at public expense; and every township of one hundred householders to maintain in like manner a grammar school, to instruct youth, and fit them for the University," to the end," say they, in this memorable law, "to the end, that learning may not be buried in the graves of our forefathers, in Church and commonwealth." And this was done by them, when they had just made their first lodgment in the wilderness; when they had scarcely found leisure to build, I do not say, fair dwellings, but humble cottages for their own shelter and safety. were poor and unprotected, persecuted and in peril

*3 Hutch. Collect. 421.

† Ibid. 413.

When they they could

then look forward with a noble disregard of present enjoyments, and forgetting themselves, provide the bread of life for their posterity. This system has never been broken in upon; it still stands, in its substance, on the pages of our statute book, an enduring record of wisdom and patriotism. Under its blessed influence our youth have grown up. They have received early instruction in their rights and liberties, and, as the law itself requires, "not only in sound literature, but in sound doctrine." It is here, that industry has learned the value of its own labors; that genius has triumphed over the discouragements of poverty; that skill has given polish, as well as strength, to talent; that a lofty spirit of independence has been nourished and sustained; that the first great lesson of human improvement has been taught, that knowledge is power; and the last great lesson of human experience felt, that without virtue there is neither happiness nor safety.

I know not what more munificent donation any government can bestow, than by providing instruction at the public expense, not as a scheme of charity, but of municipal policy. If a private person deserves the applause of all good men, who founds a single hospital or college, how much more are they entitled to the appellation of public benefactors, who, by the side of every church in every village, plant a school of letters. Other monuments of the art and genius of man may perish; but these, from their very nature, seem, as far as human foresight can go, absolutely immortal. The triumphal arches of other days have fallen; the sculptured columns have crumbled into dust; the temples of taste and religion have sunk into decay; the pyramids themselves seem but mighty sepulchres, hastening to the same oblivion, to which the dead they cover have long since passed. But here, every successive generation becomes a living memorial of our public schools, and a living example of their excellence. Never, never may this glorious institution be abandoned or betrayed by the weakness of its friends, or the power of its adversaries. It can scarcely be abandoned or betrayed, while New England remains free, and her representatives are true to their trust. It must for ever count in its defence a majority of all those, who ought to influence public affairs by their virtues or their talents; for it must be, that here they first felt the divinity of knowledge stir within them. What consolation can be higher, what reflection prouder, than the thought, that in weal and in woe our children are under the public guardianship, and may here gather the fruits of that learning, which ripens for eternity?

There is another topic connected with the settlement of this country, which may not be passed over upon this occasion. At the very threshold of the enterprise, a nice question, both in morals and public law, must have presented itself to the consideration of conscientious minds. How far was it lawful to people this western world, and deprive the Indians of that exclusive sovereignty over the soil, which they had exercised for ages beyond the reach of human tradition? Men of deep reflection, and especially men who felt a serious, religious accountability for their conduct, could not be presumed to pass over such a subject without weighing it with scrupulous delicacy. It did not escape the attention of our forefathers. They met it, and discussed it with a manly freedom. They sought neither to disguise their own opinions, nor ot conceal the real difficulties of the inquiry.

In ascending to the great principles, upon which all human society rests, it must be admitted, that there are some, which are of eternal obligation, and arise from our relations to each other, and our common dependence upon our Creator. Among these are the duty to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before God. There are others again, which are merely founded in general convenience, and presuppose some regulations of society, or conventional law. The rights belonging to this latter class are coëxtensive only with the nations, which recognise them; and, in a general sense, cannot be deemed obligatory upon the rest of the world. The plain reason is, that no portion of mankind has any authority, delegated to it by the Creator, to legislate for, or bind, all the rest. The very equality of original rights, which every argument presupposes, excludes the notion of any authority to control those rights, unless it is derived by grant or surrender, so as to bind others in conscience and abstract justice.

We are told in the Scriptures, that in the beginning God gave man dominion over the earth, and commanded him to replenish and subdue it; and this has been justly said to be the true and solid foundation of man's dominion over it. But this principle does not lead to the conclusion, that any particular person may acquire to himself a permanent and exclusive interest in the soil; much less, that any single nation may appropriate to itself as much of the surface as it shall choose, and thus narrow down the common inheritance, and exclude all others from any participation in its

* 2 Bl. Com. 2.

products for the supply of their own wants. If any right can be deduced from this general grant of dominion to man, it is of a far more limited nature: the right to occupy what we possess during the time of possession, the right of mere present enjoyment; which seems to flow as much from the consideration, that no one can show a better right to displace us, as from the consideration, that it affords the only means of any enjoyment. But where shall we find, independently of maxims derived from society, the right of any nation to exclude others from cultivating the soil, which it does not itself choose to cultivate, but which may be indispensable to supply the necessities of others? Where is the principle, which withdraws from the common inheritance, and gives to a few, what the bounty of God has provided for all? The truth is (though it is a truth rarely brought into discussion among civilized nations), that exclusive sovereignty or ownership of the soil is a derivative right, resting upon municipal regulations and the public law of society; and obtaining its whole validity from the recognitions of the communities, which it binds, and the arm of power, which encircles and protects it. It is a right founded upon the soundest policy; and has conduced, more than almost any human achievement, to create the virtues which strengthen, and the refinements which grace civilized life. But if general consent should abolish it to-morrow, it would be difficult to say, that a return to the patriarchal or pastoral state of nations, and the community of property, would be any departure from natural right.

When this continent was first discovered, it became an object of cupidity to the ambition of many of the nations of Europe. Each eagerly sought to appropriate it to itself. But it was obvious, that, in the mutual struggle for power, contests of the most sanguinary nature would soon intervene, if some general principle were not adopted, by the consent of all, for the government of all. The most flexible and convenient principle, which occurred, was, that the first discovery should confer upon the nation of the discoverer an exclusive right to the soil, for the purposes of sovereignty and settlement. This principle was accordingly adopted, and became a fundamental doctrine in the code of legal ethics, by which the European governments regulated their acquisitions. No European subject was permitted to interfere with it; and the possession acquired under it was deemed absolute and unquestionable. In respect to desert places, the principle, as one of peace and equality of benefits, is not perhaps obnoxious to censure. But in