Motives of philanthropy may be assigned for this unwarrantable
interference, and weak men may persuade themselves for a moment that
they are laboring in the cause of humanity and asserting the rights of
the human race; but everyone, upon sober reflection, will see that
nothing but mischief can come from these improper assaults upon the
feelings and rights of others. Rest assured that the men found busy in
this work of discord are not worthy of your confidence, and deserve
your strongest reprobation.
In the legislation of Congress also, and in every measure of the General
Government, justice to every portion of the United States should be
faithfully observed. No free government can stand without virtue in the
people and a lofty spirit of patriotism, and if the sordid feelings of
mere selfishness shall usurp the place which ought to be filled by
public spirit, the legislation of Congress will soon be converted
into a scramble for personal and sectional advantages. Under our free
institutions the citizens of every quarter of our country are capable of
attaining a high degree of prosperity and happiness without seeking to
profit themselves at the expense of others; and every such attempt must
in the end fail to succeed, for the people in every part of the United
States are too enlightened not to understand their own rights and
interests and to detect and defeat every effort to gain undue advantages
over them; and when such designs are discovered it naturally provokes
resentments which can not always be easily allayed.
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