ing, and how to avoid it is the object of our immediate and anxious inquiry; but, if removed to a moderate distance, it loses its formidable aspect, and dwindles into comparative insignificance. This wild judgment with respect to present and future objects encourages all the vices that deform the human character. It is this which makes the sluggard prefer poverty and contempt, to wealth and respectability; which persuades the drunkard to indulge in excess with the certainty of losing health and reputation, and of becoming the object of universal disgust and abhorrence; which induces the voluptuary to plunge others with himself into the depths of infamy and sin; and which leads millions of moral beings to postpone the concerns of eternity for the enjoy ments of the hour. What we apprehend to be near, is magnified by all the powers of the imagination; while we force our selves to believe remote objects enveloped in clouds of uncertainty. But as a portrait is useless, when the living person is present to our view; so I need not attempt to describe that which is felt by every mind, and which it requires all the power of religion to overcome. Of this propensity the magistrate may the more profitably take advantage, as it is peculiarly strong in those who most frequently expose themselves to the penalty of law ; men unaccustomed to reflect, and prone to seize on temptation, equally regardless of the crime, and its distant consequences. A light punishment, therefore, which follows an offence without delay, strikes greater terror, than one immensely more severe, if it is to be inflicted at some future period. Thus by al prompt administration of justice, the good of the community is promoted with the good of the offender; a happy concurrence, which the wise and benevolent legislator will always strive to obtain. When punishment accompanies transgression, and the connexion between them appears inseparable, the penalty is considered as more just, both by the sufferer, and the public. If the people once form an opinion that the laws are too rigorous, all the good to be expected from them is entirely prevented. Pity is necessarily excited for the transgressor; and where this passion prevails, justice will not long maintain its authority. The offender, who has been soothed by the voice of compassion, feels half recompensed for his sufferings, and quite justified in the conduct, which brought them upon him. But if he is led from the very act to the place of punishment, all will see the wisdom of the law, which condemns him, and popular compassion will not operate to disarm justice of its terrors. For a short time after an offence is committed, all transgressors, but the most abandoned, feel a compunction for their violation of the laws. This time should be seized as the moment for the infliction of punishment to the best advantage. But if the decisions of conscience are suffered to be neglected and forgotten before those of law are denounced, punishment will answer no purpose to the sufferer, but to make him the more incorrigible. Another fundamental requisite to the happy regulation of a community, is, that the execution of the laws be rigorously exact. It would be hardly necessary to touch upon this part of the subject, were it not an opinion embraced by vast numbers of our countrymen, that, provided the quiet of individuals, and of the public, is not directly and wantonly disturbed, it is a matter of no serious concern what else is done; that all of fences, which do not immediately accomplish this end, are mere venial trifles; and that it is the part of a prudent, and especially of a good-natured magistrate to pass them over in silence. No doctrine can be better fitted to train up villains systematically from the cradle, than this. The truth is, no regulation established by proper authority, however insignificant it may appear, should be violated, no ordinance despised, no injunction disregarded with impunity. ly engraven on the heart of every moral agent. At what time does the physician choose to heal a disorder? As soon as it is perceived? or after the functions of life are nearly suspended? At what time is the obstinacy of children most easily subdued? When the seeds of disobedience begin to sprout? when they are first caught in the neglect of their duty? or after they are rooted in vice, and their tempers have become ungovernable? The offender will find great reason to rejoice that he was punished in the first instance of transgression; and that, by a temporary inconvenience or mortification, he is probably withholden from doing what would have occasioned him years of remorse, and stigmatized him with indelible infamy. It is an invaluable blessing to have the dividing line between what is blameworthy and what is laudable, plainly and exactly drawn. It is an unspeakable. privilege to have those, to whose care the execution of the laws is entrusted, zealous to fix the precise meaning of every statute. But where some of the laws are enforced, and some neglected; where some are dead, some expiring, and many in a declining state, the man is beside himself, who expects a cheerful obedience to the rest. He, who has frequently violated any law with impunity, soon justifies himself in the violation of every other, and at length becomes so hardened as to trample on every ordinance, both human and divine. If transgressors are punished in the beginning of their wickedness, we may hope for reformation. There is a progress in villany. No man ever committed murder, or treason, or burglary, as his first offence; and few men ever would commit these enormous crimes, if their first offences were properly reprehended. There is a regular and almost imperceptible gradation in iniquity, from the mischief practised by the truant school boy, to the hardy adventures of the high-handed assassin. It is not a dictate of common sense, or sound experience, to use correction after the offender has become incor- But the whole system of jurigible. Obsta principiis, is a risprudence should be shielded maxim, which ought to be deep from contempt; and were other considerations laid aside, this is abundantly sufficient to compel the greatest exactness. A contempt of the laws is a formidable enemy to government itself; an enemy, which is the more dangerous, as it cannot be met; which declines all fair and honourable war, and vanquishes by the magic of popular prejudice. A little relaxation in the distribution of justice makes way for more; a few despised regulations prepare the mind to despise the rest, till the whole code becomes the object of neglect and ridicule. A statute-book of contemned laws is fit only for inscriptions on the tomb of departed government. It is a volume of satires more poignant than those of Juvenal or Persius; satires on the legislators, the magistrates, and the people; satires, which not only cause a momentary vexation, but inflict upon the general happiness a severe and lasting wound. Again, it is necessary to the harmony of society, that the execution of the laws be uniform and impartial. If the administration of justice is unsteady; if it vibrates from energy and rigour, to laxness and indolence, and is at one time scrupulously exact, and at another foolishly negligent; nothing permanent and salutary can be expected. And if a dignified impartiality does not characterize the judicial proceedings, it is most plain that there can be no confidence in the rulers, and that government will become the object of distrust and aversion. Yet it is a notorious and glaring fact, that in no country under heaven, are the rich punishVol. II. No. 7. Ss. ed for what are denominated the smaller kinds of offences. From their elevated situation in life, their example is dreadfully contagious. But if those, who think that the possession of property licences and sanctions their crimes, were properly humbled at the footstool of justice, their example would no longer contaminate society. And if the lower classes of the people saw that no man was superior to the laws, they would acquiesce with much greater alacrity in proper restraints, and all ranks would much more heartily engage in sacrificing individual gratification to the public welfare. Whoever is in the least acquainted with the state of morals in our country, cannot but confess that much depends upon the execution of the laws. Who does not know that national calamities are the legitimate offspring of national vice and abandonment? And who will not acknowledge that our nation ought to be purified from sin, that the judgments, which hang over us, and which we so justly deserve, may be averted? Look around for yourselves, and consider this matter. Take a view of the fashionable vices only which now prevail; of those practised by the great, the splendid, the honourable, in situations where temptation ought to meet with a firm and an indignant repulse; and then judge what are the crimes perpetrated by those who are debased through the example of superiors; who are unenlightened by education, uninfluenced by a fear of disgrace, and destitute of every restraining prinsiple. Contemplate the extensive prevalence of profaneness. See the earnest endeavours of wicked men to dishonour the name of God; to invent blasphemies hitherto unthought of; and to gain themselves laurels in the war against Heaven. Hear curses uttered by children unconscious of their meaning; and see the hoary driveller, with one foot in his grave, muttering execrations against his Maker and Preserver. View the drunkard, forfeiting all claim to human society, destroying his intellectual powers, and committing a sure though lingering suicide; a suicide, destroying at the same time his body and his soul. Listen to the midnight orgies of the gaming table, where robbery is legalized by the tribunal of honour, where cheating is elevated into a liberal profession, and where the grand strife is, who shall decoy most adventurers, and sacrifice them to the rapaciousness of the banditti. See the Sabbath, which ought to be a day of rest, of worship, and of instruction in holy things, converted into a day of sloth, a day of visiting, a day of unhallowed amusement, a day of feasting and riot, and, preeminently, a day of sin. See men among our Senators, Judges and Governors, foolish and mad enough to go openly and shamelessly to murdering each other in a duel; and all this under laws, which profess to guard life as a thing sacred, and under a religion, which proclaims "peace on earth," and declares, that "whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." See adultery proved in our courts, time after time, for the purpose of obtaining a divorce, and the adulterers suffered to go at large, detested indeed by good men, but unpunished for their crimes, and totally unnoticed by the magistrate. See the seducer practising every fiend-like artifice; committing deliberate, reiterated perjury; destroying the hopes and happiness of brothers, sisters, and parents; and enhancing his guilt by offering up others with himself at the shrine of pollution. In a part of the world where the gospel has been preached from generation to generation; among a people more favoured by Heaven than any other from the fall of man to the present time, brothels are instituted, supported, defended. Rise up, O Babylon, thou mother of harlots, and blush for our enor mities. Thy crimson abominations whiten into innocence, when compared with the more aggravated offences of a Christian land. In this state of things, when every honest man wishes that the laws should have all possible efficacy, much dependence must be placed upon our rulers. Imagine to yourselves all our countrymen, who hold offices in the magistracy, assembled, from the President of the United States, to a Justice of the Peace, or a Grand Juror, and addressed on this important subject by some venerable civilian, like a Hale, or a Mansfield, skilled equally in law and in human nature. "My friends, and countrymen," would he not say? "use great diligence, that in all your behaviour, your example be such as may be considered a safe pattern for imitation. Transgression of the laws in a magistrate, is like open wickedness in a minister of the gospel; it prevents all the good he might otherwise have done, and produces evil which no repentance, no exertions, can repair. "When obliged to inflict punishment, let it be seen that jus tice occupies the first place in your breast, and a dignified clemency the second; act the part of a friend, and a father, not of an illiberal, unfeeling tyrant. "Neither covet nor avoid pop ularity. Be apt to distrust your own talents in governing, when brought into competition with those of your neighbours. If they are better qualified to hold places of trust, be willing that they should be preferred. Always remember that the man who is elevated by the intrigues of a faction, is never respected by his friends, nor by his enemies; and what is worse, he seldom does his duty as a wise and faithful magistrate. "Never fall into the foolish error of considering less important offices as dishonourable. View the man, who does this, as possessed of a weak mind, and as worthy of no office, of no confidence. Rectitude of conduct, and a just sense of dignity, will render any office honourable. "Remember your respective oaths of office. Meditate upon them by night and by day. Consider the engagement into which you have entered, as it really is; an engagement which Jehovah, the Lord God of Hosts, is called to witness. Resolve to act agree ably to this momentous obligation. If this be not your intention, stand off. "Procul, O proful, este profani." Touch not the holy thing with polluted hands. You had better withdraw like cowards from the performance of your duty, than imprecate upon yourselves that divine vengeance, which you are predetermined to deserve. "Consider yourselves as always responsible to your country. Tho' she may not be able to detect and punish, you are still respon sible. You are entrusted with a charge of more value than any worldly possession; a charge of incalculable importance to the present generation, and to pos terity: you are to purify the public morals; you are to guard our youth against the numerous temptations, which lie in wait to devour them. Like the great Roman magistrate, consider your country as addressing you in the most solemn and impressive manner. Let each one of you hear the "quid agis, Marce Tulli," as applied to himself, and let him ponder well how he shall return a satisfactory answer to this most sacred demand of his country. If "Above all, consider your selves as responsible to God. He instituted civil government; he has given rules for the regu lation of your conduct; he has appointed you his vicegerents on earth; and as your conduct shall prove, so will be your allotments in the day of retribution. you connive at iniquity; if you violate your oaths; if you barter your salvation for a mess of pottage," for a miserable gust of present popularity; if you enlist under the arch revolter, and assist in withdrawing men from alle: giance to God, destruction is even now uncovered to receive you. But if you strive to co-op |