David Daggett

“ Can a Court be a shield against the proud oppressor when a daring leader can crush them with his nod? Be not deceived my fellow citizens—no nation hath yet made such an experiment without feeling its bitter and dreadful effects. See the revolutionary tribunals of France—See in them a melancholy picture of corrupt courts and unprincipled judges—The cruelty of that nation hath appeared no where more infernal than through their forms of law and in their sanctuaries of justice—a corrupt judgment seat is the greatest curse with which a people can be punished. ”

“ But it may be asked, where is your proof that the sentiments and theories which you have been describing, in fact, have an existence? Where is your proof, Sir, that the modern Literati are attempting to extract sun-beams from Cucumbers—to travel without exertion—to reap without sowing—to educate children to perfection—to introduce a new order of things as it respects morals and politics, social and civil duties, and to establish this strange species of credulity? I reply—those who have not yet become Cosmopolites, need no proof. ”

“ Have they not, with you, houses and lands, character and liberty to defend?—Have they not wives and children, whose happiness is near their hearts?—And do they, indeed, labour and toil, to forge chains and fetters for their children, and children's children, that their names and memories, may go down to future generations, covered with the bitterest curses. ”

“ An appeal may be made to every man not bewildered in this new and destructive madness—he may be asked who among these men stand-forth with fair claims to public confidence? Where among them, can be found the polished scholar—the able civilian, the enlightened judge? Do we see in a single individual an assemblage of talents united with virtue sufficient to qualify him for the seat of justice? ”

“ An indispensable part of this philosophical, and polite, and genteel, and pretty education was, to travel into foreign countries, and there reside long enough to forget all the early habits of life—to forget all domestic connexions—to forget the school-house where he was first taught his New-England primer—to forget the old fashioned meeting-house where he was first led to worship God, and especially to forget his native country, and to remember only, but remember always and effectually, that he was a polished cosmopolite, or citizen of the world. ”

“ Let the people of Connecticut look at their tribunals of justice. Are they not filled with men of incorruptible integrity? Where has innocence received a more ample protection? Is not the transgressor punished, and are not the wrongs of the injured redressed? Are not our mild laws executed in mercy, and is not justice awarded with impartiality to individuals? Can you look at the seat of justice and say "iniquity is there?" Dare any man say that the judges of our high Courts are not upright, intelligent and learned? ”

“ If, however, by liberty and equality is intended, the power of acting with as much freedom as is consistent with the public safety—and that each man has the same right to the protection of law as another, there is no controversy; but these terms, as now explained, advocated and adopted, mean the power of acting without any other restraint, than reason, and the levelling all distinctions by right or wrong, and thus understood, they are of rather too suspicious a character for men, of ordinary talents, to admit.
But these principles extend still farther—their grasp is wider. ”

“ Let such remember, that when the Ethiopian shall change his skin, when the Leopard shall change his spots, and when bitter fountains shall send forth sweet water, then will those who flatter the people with their tongues, and deceive them with their lips seek their happiness. Such are some of the measures resorted to by those who have sworn in their wrath that Connecticut shall be revolutionized. Finding all these ineffectual, and that the good sence and virtue of Connecticut has hitherto opposed an inseparable barrier to all their plans, they now exclaim Connecticut has no Constitution. ”

“ But in France, for many years, these speculations in agriculture, the mechanic arts, education, morals and government, have been adopted and pursued. It is there declared and established, by law, that ancient habits, customs and manners, modes of thinking, reasoning and acting, ought to be ridiculed, despised and rejected, for that a totally new order of things has taken place. All those rules of action which civilized nations have deemed necessary to their peace and happiness, have been declared useless or arbitrary, unnecessary or unjust. ”

“ The merchant, with his thousands, can seek a shelter—to the mere bird of passage, who has no "abiding country and who seeks none to come," it is of little moment whether stability or confusion predominate, but to the former who is enchained to the State, peace and order is of inestimable value.
What, my fellow citizens, is the attempt now making? What is the language of those who advocate universal suffrage? It is nothing less than an effort to rest from the farmers of Connecticut that controul over the elections which is their only fortress of safety. ”

“ Again, say modern theories, men are all equal, and of course no restraints are imposed by society—no distinctions can exist, except to gratify the pride of the ambitious, the cruelty of the despotic. Hence it is the plain duty of every individual, to hasten the reign of liberty and equality. ”

“ There is another, who, for more than twenty years has been employed in the first offices in the gift of his country, and whose probity and talents are second to those of none of his contemporaries. Among these are many who must enjoy the affection and veneration of their countrymen while superior worth is regarded. Against these men the cry is raised—not the cry of the oppressed, for God knows no man in Connecticut is oppressed, but the cry of those who pant for office, and who can rise only on the ruins of others. ”

“ Especially we are told, (and the system of education now adopted in the great gallic nursery of arts, is entirely on this plan) that the prejudices of education, and an inclination to imitate the example of parents and other ancestors, is the great bane of the peace, dignity and glory of young men, and that reason will conduct them, if not fettered with habits, to the perfection of human nature. Obedience to parents is expressly reprobated, and all the tyranny and despotism in the world ascribed to parental authority. ”

“ The clamor against this principle, is the clamor of those who wish to see the State revolutionized—it is the clamor of those turbulent spirits which delight in confusion and which pull down and destroy with a dexterity which they never shew in building up. ”

“ If indeed there is no Constitution, then the oath which has been administered in your freemen's meetings for twenty years, by which each man has sworn "to be true and faithful to the Constitution" of the state, is worse than impious profanation of the name of God—then your judges, magistrates and jurors have stripped men of their property, condemned some to Newgate and others to the Post, the Pillory and the Gallows without a warrant, and are therefore murderers.—O thou God of order in this our condition!!! ”

“ That all, in any way, connected with the government, are constantly plundering the Treasury—amassing wealth—becoming independent—and thus establishing an abominable, cruel, wicked, despotic and devilish aristocracy, which is to continually enlarge its grasp, till it shall embrace all the valuable interests of America, and leave the people "destitue, afflicted, tormented." ”

“ To those who respect the authority of God it is a matter of no small moment that those who rule over men should be just, ruling in the fear of God nor will men, accustomed to revere this solemn declaration, lend their aid to elevate men of vicious and corrupt lives, without some dismay.
It is not enough to tell us that men will be selected of more virtue and talents than those now in power—such a pretence is vain—no man in his senses will regard it—no man makes such a pretence but for wicked purpose. ”

“ Hence, in all parts of the world, speculatists were mounted in balloons, with the whole apparatus of living and dying, and were flying through the Heavens, to the utter astonishment and mortification of those poor illiterate wretches who were doomed to tug and sweat on the earth. To be sure this method of travelling was somewhat precarious.—A flaw of wind, regardless of the principles of this machine, might destroy it, or, by the giving way of one philosophical pin, peg or rope, it might be let into the sea, or dashed against a rock, and thus its precious contents miserably perish. ”

“ Some of our citizens, in the height of political prosperity, are seeking to destroy an order of things which has prevailed an hundred and fifty years, and throw themselves into the arms of projectors and reformers. Is there nothing unaccountable in such conduct? Is there nothing calculated to excite indignation? My fellow citizens, shall any considerable portion of the people of Connecticut subject themselves to the reproach which rested on an ancient people? ”

“ A noisy or seditious individual has obtained a lucrative office—an ambitious leader is in the char of state satiating his pride, or like Abraham Bishop gratifying his passion for ignoble pelf, upon his thousands.—He drives his carriage by his industrious neighbor who has toiled for him at an election, cracks his whip, and laughs at the folly of his dupe, and will laugh till he may need his services again, and then he will again cringe and bow and flatter and gull. ”

“ That they have unloosed bands, is not denied—that they have destroyed the strongest ligaments by which individuals and societies were connected, is not denied, but that the cause of genuine liberty is promoted, I do deny. Is there a single country in Europe, in which their arms have triumphed, less oppressed, or less wretched now than ten years ago? ”

“ It is no part of the writer's design to hunt vice from its guilty retreat, to expose before an insulted people, the horrid features which distinguish certain individuals who challenge popular applause, or to attach private character, but justice demands that men who boldly claim to be the rulers of the free and happy state of Connecticut, should be known. The men who are to stand in the places of our Trumbulls and our Ellsworths should not shrink from public investigation. ”

“ If they found in Egypt those who were bowing down to onions and leeks, have they rendered them any essential service, by telling them henceforth to believe in the liberty and equality of man—in the perfectability of human nature, and in the eternal sleep of death. ”

“ Another project urged, with great vehemence, is, to displace all our present rulers—by those, is meant our legislators in the general and state Government—our judges and magistrates of every grade. That such is a darling object with those who seek to revolutionize Connecticut, there is no doubt. Is such a measure wise? Who are these rulers? A candid observer must reply, they are men in whose hands power has been wisely placed by the people, and who have never abused that power, men of unquestionable talents and of spotless fame. ”

“ How do we judge as to the propriety of any course of life except by observation, experience or history? We see industry and integrity rewarded with competence or wealth—we see intemperance and sloth followed with disease, loss of reputation and poverty. ”

“ No essential changes in our government have ever taken place—formed by men who knew the important difference between liberty and licentiousness, it has been our shield— our strong tower—our secure fortress.—To the calls of our country we have ever been obedient—No state hath more cheerfully met danger—no state hath more readily or effectually resisted foreign aggression. ”

“ Has there not been a constant succession of able and wise men in that branch of the administration of Connecticut? For more than a century we have preserved an unexampled prosperity.—shall we hazard our interests on the speculations of zealous partizans who are constantly bewildering themselves and their followers in new schemes?
Another project is that of universal suffrage. The streets resound with the clamour that men are deprived of the invaluable privilege of choosing their rulers, and the people are invited to extend this privilege to all who pay taxes and do military duty. ”

“ Before you consent to yield up the institutions of your wise and pious ancestors, Count the Cost—Before you admit universal suffrage Count the Cost—Before you submit to the mischievous doctrine of district elections, Count the Cost.—Before you reject from office the men whom your hearts approve, Count the Cost, the great cost of weak and wicked rulers.—Before you consent to be governed by men whose impudence, and vice constitute many of their claims to promotion, Count the Cost. ”