In BOSTON, JUNE ,7, 1802

OFFICERS.

By ABIEL ABBOT

PRINTED BY RUSSELL AND CUTLER,

1802.

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Excerpt Pg. 17 How to commit NATIONAL SUICIDE:

"What then would that government deserve to have said of it, which should level the bulwarks of the country on every side ; prepare an easy ingress and egress for every plunderer, who might be tempted by the defenceless state of the country to ravage it ; demolish its forts on the land, and sink, or fell, or give to the worms its wooden walls by sea; disband its necessary troops; empty its treasury; and choke the grand channel of resource, its commerce; which should even seem to invite the citizens to bite and devour one another with impunity by barring the sacred doors of public justice, or by delivering the keys of them to dependent judges. This some might call State suicide."

Abiel ABBOT, ( b. 1765; 1859.) He was graduated at Harvard in 1787, taught in Phillips Andover academy until 1789, In 1794 he was tutor of Greek in Harvard. STD. 1838, Harvard.

Page numbers in the original are shown in brackets as [ 2 ]

The following begins the original text:

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FOR no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it—

is an observation, adduced in the Apostle’s discourse to the Ephesians, vth. ch. 29th. v. with the particular design, to enforce the duty of a tender and vigilant action in husbands for their wives. At the same time, it is an indirect assertion of that great law of nature, few preservation, which is a subject, suggested by the present military anniversary.

THE principle asserted in that text is that every man has a disposition, woven into his constitution by the hand of his Creator, to preserve his being. This disposition or passion, is the law of his nature; and, correctly understood, is paramount to all other laws. This principle, differently modified, is discernible through the works of God. Inert matter is endowed with it, tending for preservation to the grand centre. The

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vegetable kingdom manifests a selfish concern for preservation, and even intimates the design of defence; the bush sends out a thorn to guard the rose. The tribes of animals discover the principle in higher perfection. Every species is furnished with peculiar armor, and with instinct to employ it on every necessary occasion. The paw, the horn, the sting, are trained to battle, and are ever exerted to repel or annoy the assailant. When active defence is less possible, as in the turtle, the animal shrinks into his firm castle, in hope to brave the danger, which he can neither defeat nor escape.

BUT in man, this principle appears in the highest perfection, directed by superior wisdom and supported by superior power. It is the grand principle, which sustains the human world, as essential to the general preservation, as gravitation to the consistence of the material universe. Human sagacity can imagine no substitute, that should operate with equal effect. A certain portion of vigilance and exertion is necessary to support the parts of the human world; by this law it is diffused through the whole extent, in proper measure, and made to bear at every point with a force just equal to the desirable effect. How vain then is that philosophy, which is a virtual denial of this law; which inculcates a neglect of self, and a superior vigilance for extraneous being ;—

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which despite partial attachment to kindred and to country, enjoining and vaunting a futile benevolence to beings beyond the reach of private influence. What is this, but to let the human world in that same rushing chaos, in which the Epicureans fancied the atoms of the material world, before they chanced to fall into their present beautiful and magnificent arrangement.

WE may consider the law or duty, suggested by the text, in a personal and also in a social view. Considering it in a personal view, two observations are important.

1 st. As man has not the right of disposing of his life.

SUICIDE is a crime even more nefarious, than murder ; because a man’s own life is to him a more sacred charge, than the life of another; and because a man cannot be defended against himself. A similar distinction of the grades of guilt is observed in the civil code. Theft is a crime of secondary magnitude; but theft from the tenters of the clothier and the pits of the tanner is capital. Property in these situations is necessarily exposed to the plunderer, and therefore demands the guard of stronger terrors.

THE text seems to assert the impossibility of suicide, perpetrated by a man in his right mind.— The sentiment is just; and there can never be a doubt of the madness of a felo.de-se, judging by

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the facts alone.. This concession however is not intended an apology for the deed in every case. There is a frantic, and, if the term be allowed, there is a sober madness. Absolute frenzy suspends the accountability of man; there is often no security against it, and no remaining self power to direct or restrain it. Accident or disease may extinguish the light of the soul, and in the dark the fatal deed may be executed. In that case, suicide is not to be considered in a moral light ; it is accident.

THERE may be a sober madness, the result of reasoning pride, stimulated by ungoverned passions. But the atrocity of suicide is in no degree diminished by madness, effected by the habitual perversion of reason, which brings a man to atheism, while there is demonstration of Deity, and to believe in annihilation, while the proofs of immortality are clear, as the sunbeams.

To guard the sacred trust of life, we must shun the poison of skepticism. Unhinge the soul from principles; efface the awe, which is felt by the sense of Deity; deny the object of christian faith or even imagine the joys of the future state distributed, without reverence to character and desert, and the fortress of life is carried.— Then a mans rash hand shall be raised against his own existence so soon as real or imaginary misfortunes render him weary of it.

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2.—A MAN may not expose his life to be taken by another.

THE force of this observation is naturally felt, and, in its general tenor, needs no remark or enforcement. The sensibility and vigilance of a man are ever tremblingly awake to defend his life from assault. With the least apprehension of danger, he fortifies himself with locks by night, and with arms by day. He is patient of watching and fatigue, and lavish of treasure; for all that a man hath will he give for his life. (a) What then will you think of the man, who exposes himself a mark for a sportsman to fire at, whether in whim or in anger? Is he not insane? Will you not consider him with the felo-de-se, and pity him as the subject of frenzy, or turn with disgust and horror from him, as the subject of sober madness ?

DUELLING has more advocates, than murder, or suicide; but it is difficult to see with what argument. The evils resulting from it are of wider extent and often of deeper malignity. It is the whim of the duellist to stab his friend; to select for his sacrifice the filial prop of declining years; to snatch the husband and father from a dependent and unoffending family, and thus to plunge them in distraction and lasting wretchedness. And for what? The answer gives another feature of duelling. For a misplaced word; for a word too

(a) job, ii. 4.

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much, or too little; for any thing, and for no thing. Such are the occasions of most duels, of which we hear. The veriest trifles have been thought serious enough, to put life in contest; and offences the most incidental stains upon honor deep enough, to be wasted away with blood,— Honor! What is that honor, which muss be supported by duelling? Which demands, like Molock, its human victims? Is it a thing estimable? What virtues does it assemble and exercise ?— What benefits does it achieve? If these questions must have their answer, may it not be said that it implies cowardice oftener, than true courage, and meanness of spirit more than magnanimity? It certainly implies a heart, inexorable to the calls of friendship and the cries of humanity.

" BUT character is dearer than life." What is that character worth, which requires the defence of the sword? If this be all that can save it, there is room for suspicion that it is not of the best kind. It is time to drop this antiquated plea for duelling, a relic of the age of chivalry. In that day of darkness, the accused threw the gaunt let to the accuser, and the event of combat was thought a certain decision of guilt and of innocence. Contemporary with this savage judiciary was the trial by ordeal; by which the accused appeased to Heaven to attest his innocence by walking blindfold over hot bars of iron. By

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what fatality has duelling survived the trial by ordeal? They are equally absurd; had their origin in the same dark age; and should have been buried together among the same soul rubbish. It is a noble sentiment, " character is dearer than life ;" but to die, as a fool dieth, cannot save it.

"BUT what shall be done, when reputation is aspersed by malicious slander, and sensibility is. outraged by open indignity? Must we remain tame and passive under injuries of the keenest point." This is not necessary. Trifles ought ever to be passed in a dignified silence ; for better is he that ruleth his spirit ,than he that taketh a city.(b) But if injuries have been with design inflicted, sufficiently serious to require the resort, there are legitimate and honorable means of defence and retaliation. The law is open, and there are deputies ; let them implead one another.(c) Which is most magnanimous, to be witness, judge, and executioner in your own cause ; or to refer it to a dispassionate tribunal?.

THE case is clear; duelling is absurd, and with all its horrors, ridiculous, as the salve of an injured reputation, the only light, in which it is ever defended. The substance of character is virtue, and the stamp of it public opinion. A duel, as it is prohibited by the laws of God and of society, far from sustaining, is the forfeiture of both.

(b) Prov. xvi. 32. (c) Acts, xix. 38.

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TO regard this subject simply as absurd and ridiculous is not enough ; duelling claims to be considered in the more solemn light, as a flagrant crime. Not to enlarge on this point, it may be remarked that a challenge is only a fashionable invitation of a man to give to his enemy or friend a fair opportunity to murder him; and to accept the challenge is to reciprocate the guilt. A duel is murder and suicide in heart ; terminating fatally is one or both in act:. For to give and take life, without the awful call of law and right, can certainly deserve no milder names. Viewed in this just light, with what indignation ought society to pursue the duelist; and what fearful judgement awaits him at that tribunal, from Which there is neither escape nor appeal. The sentence is already announced—No murderer bath eternal life. (d)

AS New-England has not wholly escaped tincture from corrupt opinions and manners of elder states, and of some parts of our own country, possibly some military gentlemen may think the preacher intruding upon the privilege of the profession of arms. But these observations are so strictly among the duties of his own profession, that to have omitted them on this subject might have been more criminal in him, than flattering to them.

*I John iii. 15

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IT remains to consider the principle of self preservation in a social view.

SOCIETY itself is an emanation of this principle. It was sound by experience that the weak were not secure from the stronger, nor the simple from the more subtle. The earnings of the industrious were frequently plundered; liberty was wrested from the free ; and life itself was the victim of lawless and malicious power. These evils led to the social compact. It was first a family combination, in which the several individuals concentrated their force to be disposed for the common preservation by the wisdom of the patriarch. This association was soon enlarged and became national, embracing the families of one or of several tribes, as hostile power grew formidable. They deposited their strength in an administration by one, a few, or many, accordingly, as the royal, aristocratic, or popular form of government seemed to them the most secure and least oppressive.

SELF preservation, considered in the social light, implies duties from the individual to the community, and from the community to the individual. In the individual it is naturally and justly exerted with a force strong or weaker in proportion to the distance from himself of the objects, which engage it, embracing kindred, country, and human kind; like the stone cast into the bosom of the peaceful lake, whole

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undulations, at first strongly marked, grow fainter and fainter, as their circle enlarges, till they reach the most distant shores. At first his object is the security of a family. To this the call of nature and of revelation is alike loud, He, that provideth not for those of his own house, hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.(e)

TO this endeared circle however, it is not confined; it next embraces country, and then is called patriotism. The subject of its genuine influence pursues the true interests of his nation with steady zeal and manly exertion. He feels a portion of the sacred enthusiasm, which animated the captive patriot in Babylon, when he exclaimed— If I forget thee, 0 Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.(f)

THE love of country is a noble passion. It becomes the humblest station, and, without it, the most exalted man is the most infamous. It may be equally efficient in the gown and in the cuirass; and equally honorable, exerted by the citizen, the magistrate, or the soldier. It implies much; it is piety, ever awake against atheistic and libertine principles and manners, those certain miners of the fabric of society. In an elective government, it is vigilance and activity at all times, and particularly on the great occasions of elevating men to office. Then it will not

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neglect privilege and duty, through the considerations of private convenience or business, nor be diverted from the best men, by bribery in any of its forms of allurement or of terror. It is sub million in the citizen to elected authority, without a captious and complaining humor; yet tempered with an independence, which will speak and be heard, when there is treachery, whether in the humble or in the high. In the magistrate, it is integrity, and impartiality, and magnanimous policy, planning with extensive views for the good of the country, without a secret selfish seeking of profit or of honor to the public injury.

THESE are the duties, which the law of self preservation requires from the individual to society. Society, in return, is obligated to protect him in the peaceful enjoyment of life and property from foreign enemies and domestic outlaws. Government is the arm of society to ensure the blessing. Thus the whole community becomes centinel to preserve the individual ; which suggests the remark, that in society alone we can render the most perfect compliance with the great law of our nature.

MULTITUDINOUS are the benefits resulting from society. Yet they are not so many or so perfect, as a theorist might anticipate. It is not always the case that government discharges its duty. Its policy is sometimes rash, and some

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times pusillanimous; sometimes proud, and sometimes mean. Governments indeed have been seen at times actuated by the same prejudices, caprices, and even madness, which in individuals have resulted in duelling and suicide.

WHEN a State, relying on its resources and prowess, wages war from trifling cause, to secure precedence to an ambassador; to avenge an incidental indecorum offered to its flag; or even to secure an advantage by sea or land, to which perhaps its right is doubtful, and which, if attained, is not worth the cost; or especially if it be to make a common cause with a favorite belligerent nation, while both policy and obligation demand neutrality; what is this but for legislators, in the long robes of peace, to enter the lists, like private madmen, and to whelm in their own indecent quarrels the millions of their countrymen, whom it was their duty to have secured from the calamity. This is State duelling.

IT is not suggested that war is never necessary; there are times, when it is a sacred duty. Government is solemnly charged with the defence of the country. It is their office to discern danger afar off, and in season to cast the shield over their charge. Never may they remit their vigilance; never may they slight the means of defence. They may not wait till they see hostility in bodily shape moving towards them; they

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must stand prepared for contingencies ; be so guarded, that they cannot be surprized; and so armed, that they may never tempt an assailant to try his fortune among them. They should be provident, as the head of a family, who will not slumber, before the lives and treasure of the household are secured with bolts and bars, and, in the moment of special danger, with faithful sentinels ; for he judges well that the expense of these is a cent, compared with the loss, which may be incurred without them. What then would that government deserve to have said of it, which should level the bulwarks of the country on every side ; prepare an easy ingress and egress for every plunderer, who might be tempted by the defenceless state of the country to ravage it ; demolish its forts on the land, and sink, or fell, or give to the worms its wooden walls by sea; disband its necessary troops; empty its treasury; and choke the grand channel of resource, its commerce; which should even seem to invite the citizens to bite and devour one another with impunity by barring the sacred doors of public justice, or by delivering the keys of them to dependent judges. This some might call State suicide.

IT is lamentable that war is at any time necessary; that small States are envious, and the great ambitious, and all by mutual jealousy dii7 posed to frequent rupture. It were a

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consummation devoutly to be wished that national differences might be adjusted by the force of enlightened reason and fair justice, and that in no case the appeal might be made to the sword— which determines not superior right, but superior power. Yet while the disposition of governments remains, as it has generally been since the commencement of distinct communities, it is absolutely necessary that the most virtuous and pacific state should hold the sword in one hand, while invitingly it extends the olive-branch in the other.

THE sword of government is her soldiers.— Old and wealthy States support their standing armies. Our young and prudent country relies on her militia. If this be composed of enlightened freemen, of the lovers of law and of order, of men, who estimate their birthright, it is the best defence in the world. In the day of battle, their wives and children, their houses and lands, are hostages with their country that they will be faithful and valiant. The danger is that their guns will rust in the season of peace; that while pressed by no necessity, they will lose the pride of discipline and become impatient of subordination; and thus will require more, than to be levied, when their country has instant need of their service. But the hand, which wields this sword, we trust will preserve it bright.

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THE present is not a time to relax attention to the soldiery of the country. Peace indeed has :been proclaimed in Europe ; we felicitate humanity on the occasion. Yet it is by no means certain what influence the event may have upon America. Such is the internal state of a formidable nation in Europe, that domestic policy, if not ambition, may kindle the flame of foreign war, to draw from the bosom of the country and to amuse and employ men, dangerous to the ruling power. In the case of war renewed in the old world, the same or greater arts may be practised, and, it is possible, more successfully to render the United States a party. Should the peace be permanent, it may occasion the emigration or exile of a numerous body of men, who may prove turbulent citizens or hostile neighbors. In any event, we need the awe and support of a militia, which can suddenly assume the front, the order, and determination of veterans.

If necessity shall compel the nation to arms, to defend our hearths and our altars, let NewEngland again be sound the foremost and the firmest guard of the country. Let her embattled troops renew the glory of the war for independence, and receive from the future Washington, as they did from the dear sleeping hero, the praise of being his chief confidence,

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MASSACHUSETTS has ever paid a laudable attention to her militia. The Commander in Chief, by his general orders and animating presence at general reviews, renders to the troops and the country eminent .service. It deserves special remark that the government of the State has honored with peculiar regard, for more than a century and a half, the respectable company, whose solemnites are this day celebrated; has cherished it as a school of military talent, exercise, and subordination. The rule of alternate command and submission, peculiar to the company, is truly republican. Here the hoary veteran, who has commanded his thousands in the day of battle, and whose casts are ensigns of service to his country, submitting with pleasure to the order of his junior in arms, gives an example of subordination, which should crimson the cheek of the malcontent in the ranks of the militia.

We congratulate the Captain, the subaltem Officers, and Privates, of the Antient and Honorable Artillery Company, on the return of their joyful anniversary, the hundred and sixty third in order. The preservation of your company in respectability to this day evinces an honorable constancy in a good purpose, and an independence of that spirit of change and demolition, which marks the age, in which in your hands we live. In your hands

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is reposed a sacred trust of no small consequence to the good of the country. The savor, with which you are regarded both by government and the eye of the public, gives you high influence, as military men. Ye are a city set on an hill, which cannot be hid; let your light shine around you.— With propriety and confidence, it will be expected from a military association, which is honored and patronized by the State, and which is venerable by the many patriotic and christian characters, recorded in its muster roll from age to age, that it be an example to the soldiery of the country; an example not only in promptitude and correctness of exercise and discipline ; but also in principles and manners, as soldiers and as men. The Commonwealth must rely not less upon the principles, than the arms of her soldiers. To you the friends of the country look for an example of enlightened patriotism ; of cheerful submission to law ; of affectionate respect for civil authority; and of the deepest reverence for piety, the only impregnable bulwark of of rights and felicity. From you the friends of humanity may expect an influence, which need be exerted by military gentlemen of approved courage and character, to.. discountenance, to stigmatize the savage practice of duelling. Inspire the generous youth of the Capital with noble and virtuous sentiments. Bid them imitate the true bravery of the great

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Turenne, who would meet his challenger no where, but in the breach of death, to which duty permitted them to repair. Bid them imitate the greater Washington, whose sword, ever drawn in the cause of his country, was never stained in a private quarrel; who, once betrayed into an indecorum, a singularity in his glorious life, prevented a duel by a magnanimous acknowledgement. Gentlemen, may your company long maintain its charter, its respectability, and a just influence in the state. In the time of peace, may you be preparing for war.; and in the time of war, be distinguished among the best enlightened and bravest defenders of your country.

AFTER all that has been said to this respected auditory, on personal and social preservation, the .necessity of the means is humiliating. These splendid ensigns of blood and slaughter, the sword, the halberd, and the thundering cannon, show the degeneracy of human nature. Whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts ?(g) But the time will come, O speed it, Almighty love and grace, when this nature shall be renovated and become just and gentle.; when, in the lofty language of prophesy, the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. The sucking child shall play on the

( g ) James ch. iv . v. I

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hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice den.(h) Let us cherish the gospel in our hearts, and supplicate its extension through the world. This, this is the charm, which alone can soothe the hostile passions, and of the whole world form one country, one holy city, one affectionate brotherhood. Its influence shall spread, till are seen what its heavenly heralds song—GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST, AND ON EARTH PEACE, GOOD WILL TOWARD MEN.

Major GEORGE BLANCHARD, Lieutenant.

Mr. JONATHAN LORING, Ensign.

Gen. JOHN WINSLOW, Treasurer.

Capt. THOMAS CLARK, Clerk.

Mr. JOSHUA GARDNER,

Mr. ELISHA DAVENPORT,

Mr. BENJAMIN WEST,

Mr. WILLIAM JEPSON,

Mr. JAMES PHILLIPS, Captain.

Mr. WILLIAM ALEXANDER, Lieutenants

Mr. JOHN HOWE, jun. Ensign.

Gen. JOHN WINSLOW, Treasurer.

Capt. THOMAS CLARK, Clerk.

Mr. MELZAR HOLMES,

Mr. PETER OSGOOD,

Mr. EDWARD B. WALK.R,

Mr. DAVID DEVENS,