Our subject is GOVERNMENT AND MAN. We proceed to consider it in a
three-fold aspect, inquiring

I. _What is good government?_
II. _What constitutes rebellion against such government?_
III. _What is the duty of each citizen when rebellion exists?_




I. _What is a good government_?



No citizen looks for an absolutely perfect form of nationality--of law.
But we have a right to ask for good government. We have been accustomed to
think that it depends more on administration than on principle; and the
line of the poet, "That which is best administered, is best," is a
proverb, to the sentiment of which we too freely yield. No doubt a
government with bad statutes and wrong laws, may be so administered as to
produce a tolerable degree of national comfort and development for a
season; while a Constitution perfect in its theories and principles, may
be so maladministered as to corrupt and distract, impoverish and
demoralize, a people. And yet, I agree with an old patriot of the past
century who said, "There is no foundation to imagine that the goodness or
badness of any government depends solely upon its administration. It must
be allowed that the ultimate design of government is to restrain the
corruptions of human nature; and, since human nature is the same at all
times and in all places, the same form of government which is best for one
nation is best for all nations, if they would _only agree to adopt_ it."