368 THE YOUNG AJIERICAN

hero. That is his nobility, his oath of knighthood, to succor the helpless and oppressed ; always t0 throw himself on the side of weakness, of youth, of hope; on the liberal, on the expansive side, never on the defensive, the conserving, the timorous, the lock-and-bolt system. More than our good-will we may not be able to give. We have our own afiairs, our own genius, which chains each t0 his proper work. We cannot give our life to the cause of the debtor, of the slave, or the pauper, as another is doing; but to one thing we are bound, not to blas- pheme the sentiment and the work of that man, not to throw stumbling-blocks in the way of the aboli- tionist, the philanthropist; as the organs of influence and opinion are swift to do. It is for us to confide in the beneficent Supreme Power, and not to rely on our money, and on the state because it is the guard of money. At this moment, the terror of old people and of vicious people is lest the Union of these states be destroyed : as if the Union had any other real basis than the good pleasure of a major- ity of the citizens to be united. But the wise and just man will always feel that he stands on his own feet; that he imparts strength to the State, not re- ceives security from it; and that if all went down, he and such as he would quite easily combine in a new and better constitution. Every great and memorable community has consisted of formidable