Page:Criticism on the Declaration of independence, as a literary document (IA criticismondecla00seld).pdf/41

 I think I have been able to show in the progress of this criticism, that we are indebted to the genius of the soft latitudes, for all the profitless abstractions in the fore part of the Declaration; and for some sounds at the end of it—and to the genius of the high latitudes for the remainder—that is to say, to the South, for that part which contains no ideas; to the North, for that which does. And as some of our confederates are ever and anon calculating the value of the Union; I will help them in this department of their mathematics to the following axioms. What value, the vague and inappreciable generalities at the commencement, and the sounding nonsense at the end, add to the Declaration; is precisely the value these members add to that Union. Secondly—the value of a leak to a ship, or the value of a road to ruin for young men, subtracted from any given minuend, the remainder is just the value in the Union which they do not bring to it. In fine the chivalry, the nullifiers and repudiators taken in the aggregate, do effect an accession to our strength, of an immense minus quantity.

But would I part with the chivalry fraction of our confederacy? By no means; certainly to be sure, no. There is an indefinite amount of swagger yet to be put forth, before this nation assumes among the powers of the earth, that equal station which its vanity covets. There is none to do this hut the chivalry, therefore they are necessary to this "glorious Union." Besides there is an invariable amount of indignation to be expressed for the sneers and insults offered to us from abroad. In this department of patriotism the chivalry excel. Indignation is natural to them,—they are born with it, and will snuff an insult where Thessalian hounds could not follow. The genius of the valorous latitudes, will come up from the swellings of its indignation, like a lion from the overflowings of Jordan—it will teach the presumptuous nations, by no means to lay their uncircumcised hands on any part of the continent connected with the "sacred honor of the sacred defenders of liberty and the rights of man."!!

Rights of man!!! These, if they are any thing, must be rights which exist, irrespective of government, and in despite of government human or divine. What valuable qualities rights can possess, which are not derived from the Divine or any human government, I apprehend is yet to be demonstrated. What they are, I could