Phi Beta Kappa.

On the 22d of July, 1823, MR. CLINTON delivered the Annual Address before the Alpha of the PHI BETA KAPPA SOCIETY of Union College, of Schenectady, which is given below.

Address.

MR. PRESIDENT, and GentlemEN OF THE SOCIETY—

AN accepting the honor of your renewed invitations to appear at this place, I have not been insensible of your kind preference; and when you were pleased to intimate that the deep interest of science, in exhibitions of this nature, might be promoted by my coöperation, I considered it my imperative duty to yield a cheerful compliance. When I endeavor to enforce those considerations which ought to operate upon us generally, as men, and particu larly as Americans, to attend to the cultivation of knowledge, you will not, I am persuaded, expect that I shall act the holiday orator, or attempt an ambitious parade and ostentatious display, or a gaudy exhibition, which would neither suit the character of the Society, the disposition of the speaker, the solemnity of the place, or the importance of the occasion. What I say, shall come strictly within the purview of the Institution; shall be

comprised in the language of unvarnished truth, and shall be directed with an exclusive view to advance the interests of literature. I shall not step aside to embellish or to dazzle; to cull a flower or to collect a gem. Truth, like beauty, needs not the aid of ornament; and the cause of knowledge requires no factitious assistance; for it stands on its own merits, supporting and supported by the primary interests of society, and deriving its effulgent light from the radiations of heaven.

Man, without cultivation, differs but little from the animals which resemble him in form. His ideas would be few and glimmering, and his meaning would be conveyed by signs or by confused sounds. His food would be the acorn or locusts-his habitation the cave-his pillow the rock-his bed the leaves of the forest-his clothes the skins of wild beasts. Destitute of accommodations, he would roam at large, seeking for food, and evincing in all his actions, that the state of untutored nature is a state of war. If we cast our eyes over the pages of history, or view the existing state of the world, we will find that this description is not exaggerated or over-charged. Many nations are in a condition still more deplorable and debased; sunk to the level of brutes; and neither in the appearance of their bodies, or in the character of their minds, bearing a resemblance to civilized humanity. Others are somewhat more advanced, and begin to feel the day-spring from on high: while those that have been acclimated to virtue, and naturalized to intelligence, have passed through a severe course of experiments, and a long ordeal of sufferings.

Almost all the calamities of man, except the physical evils which are inherent in his nature, are in a great

measure to be imputed to erroneous views of religion, or bad systems of government; and these cannot be coexistent for any considerable time with an extensive dif fusion of knowledge. Either the predominance of intelligence will destroy the government, or the government will destroy it. Either it will extirpate superstition and enthusiasm, or they will contaminate its purity and prostrate its usefulness. Knowledge is the cause as well as the effect of good government. No system of government can answer the benign purposes of the social combinations of man which is not predicated on liberty; and no creed of religion can sustain unsullied purity, or support its high destination, which is mingled with the corruptions of human government. Christianity is in its essence, its doctrines, and its forms, republican. It teaches our descent from a common parent; it inculcates the natural equality of mankind; and it points to our origin and our end, to our nativity and our graves, to our immortal destinies, as illustrations of this impressive truth. But at an early period it was pressed into the service of the potentates of the earth; the unnatural union of church and state was consummated; and the scepter of Constantine was supported by the cross of Jesus. The light of knowledge was shut out from the general mass, and confined to the select organs of tyranny; and man was for ages enveloped in the thickest gloom of intellectual and moral darkness. At the present crisis in human affairs, we perceive a great and portentous contest between power and liberty-between the monarchical and the representative systems. The agonies and convulsions of resuscitating nature have agitated the nations, and before they are restored to their rights, and the world to its re

pose, the hand of famine, the scythe of pestilence, and the sword of depopulation, will fill up the measure of human calamity.

The present state of the world exhibits an extraordinary aspect. In former times it was the policy of the sovereign to encourage eminent merit in literature, science, and the arts. The glory that was radiated on intellectual excellence was reflected back on the government; but these dispensations of munificence were confined to the Aristotles, the Virgils, and the Plinys of the age. The body of the people were kept in a state of profound ignorance, and considered as the profanum vulgus; to be employed as hewers of wood and drawers of water, and to be used as beasts of burden or of prey, as the policy or the caprice of the despot should prescribe.

The revolution effected by the invention of printing has created a corps of literary men in the cities, the universities, the academies, the lyceums, and philosophical societies of the most arbitrary governments of Europe, which have exercised an influence over public opinion almost irresistible. Man is the creature of imitation and sympathy; and however callous the sovereign might be to public opinion, yet it predominated over his ministers, who in reality wielded the sceptre. The consequence was, that a more extensive diffusion of knowledge was promoted, and the blessings of instruction visited the cottage as well as the palace. Monitorial schools and religious societies were generally established, and the sunshine of mental and moral illumination penetrated the darkness which covered the nations. To know our rights is to assert them. The principles of the American revolution became the text-book of liberty, and its practical commentaries are to