PUBLIC LIBRARY 664663 A ASTOR, LENO" AND R 1933 L DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA, TO WIT: BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the eleventh day of March, in the thirty-fifth year of the Independence of the United States of America, A. D. 1811. Jacob Franklin Heston of the said District, hath deposited in this Office, the Title of a Book, the right whereof he claims as Author, in the words following, to wit: "Moral and Political Truth; or reflections suggested "by reading History and Biograghy. By Jacob Franklin "Heston. It is the duty of every one to search dilligently "after truth; to listen dispassionately for its sake; and to "condemn no man until he has been fully and charitably heard. "Let no one, therefore, pass sentence on this book, until he "has read it; nor on its author, until his motives, circum"stances and objects, have been candidly and impartially con"sidered." In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States intitled, “ An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies during the times therein mentioned," And also to the Act, entitled, " An Act supplementary to an Act, entitled, an Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts and Books, to Authors and Proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned. And extending the Benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching, historical and other prints." (L. S.) D. CALDWELL, DEDICATION. TO THOMAS JEFFERSON, ESQ. LATE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, &c. &c. SIR, IN dedicating this book to you, I have many reasons to expect, that I shall escape the censures, which the authors of dedicatory addresses so generally, and so justly, deserve. If you had not retired from office into the peace of private life, this address might have afforded some pretext, perhaps, to charge me with motives, very different from those by which I am actuated. But sir, you neither wear a crown, nor hold an office; and therefore, the base incentives by which dedicators are so often influenced, cannot with any plausibility be imputed to me. Indeed, if you were still in office, such reproaches could not be believed; because it could not be supposed that I am ignorant of a character, which is known to all the rest of my fellow citizens. It it now B obvious, I believe, that no eulogium could induce you to grant favours to the unworthy; nor the omission of it to withhold them from merit. Hence, sir, if you were still in office, it must be evident that I would not, if I were seeking promotion or gain, inscribe my productions to one, from whom no more could be obtained by that means, than could be obtained without. Besides, as so fit an occasion, for an address of this kind, has seldom, or perhaps never, occurred before, I ought not to be judged by common criterions. I have addressed you, sir, on the present occasion, not only for the purpose of expressing my gratitude for the services which you have rendered to mankind; but for the honour of publicly declaring my intire approbation of your public and private life. I may not perhaps, be informed of all your private transactions; but I give them this approbation, with the fullest confidence ; because your political and official conduct has given the most unequivocal proof, that your private life has been laudable and correct. He who preserves an unsullied virtue in the highest stations, and in the greatest prosperity, as well as under the pressure of the greatest difficulties, would certainly act with propriety in every sphere in which he could be placed; for whoever with virtuous firmness uniformly resists the stronger temptations, would surely not yield to the weaker. You will observe, sir, that I do no more at present, than adopt the easiest method of participating in the honour of another's merit. For, by adopting the works and sentiments of others, we seem to share in their fame; though we have neither the wisdom with which their plans were devised, nor the prudence or fortitude by which they were executed. And it is thus, sir, by this approbation of Your policy, that I seem to share in the honour of it. But, independent of the high gratification and honour, which I derive from this public acknowledgment of my approbation and regard; if the tendency of this book is consistent with the design of writing it, to whom could I offer the homage of its dedication, with that propriety with which it is now offered to you. For, you were not only the first to make a prompt and manly declaration of independence; but you have uniformly evinced, on all occasions since, the most incorruptible attachment to liberty, and the most disinterested desire to extend and preserve it for the benefit of the human race. Under your administration the most obvious defects of the constitution were removed; and its best principles strengthened and preserved. Under you, the friends of liberty, cheerfully and unanimously united for its defence; and by you it was protected from foreign and domestic foes. Under you, the diabolical spirit of despotism was suppressed; and by your firmness, some of the would be tyrants of our country, were driven from our shores. In short, under your wise, lenient, and pacific administration, we enjoyed the most unexampled prosperity, and "witnessed the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated, where reason is left free to combat it." After so many heart saddening instances of the infamous and cruel success of monarchs; and amidst so many shocking examples of political turpitude and apostacy, it it peculiarly grateful to the mind, to behold, in this happy country, wisdom triumphing over folly, virtue over vice, and truth over falshood. It must, indeed, be the sweetest consolation, amidst these melancholy instances of political, immoral, and infernal deception; to behold a great and incorruptible statesman, scorning the baubles and temptations of ambition, trampling on the spirit of tyranny and oppression, and, with a firm heart and capacious mind, protecting his country from the evils which threaten it, and preserving its freedom, peace, and prosperity. At least, to a mind possessed of honest sensibility, I cannot imagine what could afford a higher gratification, than to see a good man always successful, when he is struggling with such glorious and invincible integrity, to discharge the most sacred of duties: especially, when he bears down before the tide of his good fortune, the extreme cruelty and depravity of a despotic or monarchical spirit : for as history proves that there is nothing more cruel than the success of that spirit; so nothing should give us more joy, than to see it successfully opposed. Hence, sir, while I have beheld your success, I have felt the liveliest gratification; and have imbibed the pleasing hope, that your great example would limit the ambition of others; and stimulate your successors to walk in your path. |