overcome; but to conclude that no danger may ever arise would itself be
extremely dangerous. There are now, and will hereafter be, many
causes, dangerous in their tendency, which have not existed heretofore,
and which are not too insignificant to merit attention. That our
government should have been maintained in its original form, from its
establishment until now, is not much to be wondered at. It had many
props to support it through that period, which now are decayed and
crumbled away. Through that period it was felt by all to be an
undecided experiment; now it is understood to be a successful
one.--Then, all that sought celebrity and fame and distinction expected
to find them in the success of that experiment. Their _all_ was staked
upon it; their destiny was _inseparably_ linked with it. Their
ambition aspired to display before an admiring world a practical
demonstration of the truth of a proposition which had hitherto been
considered at best no better than problematical--namely, _the
capability of a people to govern themselves_. If they succeeded they
were to be immortalized; their names were to be transferred to
counties, and cities, and rivers, and mountains; and to be revered and
sung, toasted through all time. If they failed, they were to be called
knaves, and fools, and fanatics for a fleeting hour; then to sink and
be forgotten. They succeeded. The experiment is successful, and
thousands have won their deathless names in making it so. But the game
is caught; and I believe it is true that with the catching end the
pleasures of the chase. This field of glory is harvested, and the crop
is already appropriated. But new reapers will arise, and _they_ too
will seek a field. It is to deny what the history of the world tells
us is true, to suppose that men of ambition and talents will not
continue to spring up amongst us. And, when they do, they will as
naturally seek the gratification of their ruling passion as others have
done before them. The question then is, Can that gratification be