the throng, should ask a Grecian
whether he did not fear that some daring military chieftain, covered
with glory, some Philip or Alexander, would one day overthrow the
liberties of his country, the confident and indignant Grecian would
exclaim, No! no! we have nothing to fear from our heroes; our
liberties shall be eternal. If a Roman citizen had been asked whether
he did not fear that the conqueror of Gaul might establish a throne
upon the ruins of public liberty, he would have instantly repelled the
unjust insinuation. Yet Greece fell; Caesar passed the Rubicon, and the
patriotic arm even of Brutus could not preserve the liberties of his
devoted country. The celebrated Madame de Stael, in her last and
perhaps her best work, has said that in the very year, almost the very
month, when the president of the Directory declared that monarchy
would never show its frightful head in France, Bonaparte with his
grenadiers entered the palace of St. Cloud, and, dispersing with the
bayonet the deputies of the people, deliberating on the affairs of the
state, laid the foundation of that vast fabric of despotism which
overshadowed all Europe.

I hope not to be misunderstood; I am far from intimating that General
Jackson cherishes any designs inimical to the liberties of the
country. I believe his intentions to be pure and patriotic. I thank
God that he would not, but I thank Him still more that he could not if
he would, overturn the liberties of the Republic. But precedents, if
bad, are fraught with the most dangerous consequences. Man has been
described, by some of those who have treated of his nature, as a
bundle of habits. The definition is much truer when applied to
governments. Precedents are their habits. There is one important
difference between the formation of habits by an individual and by
government. He contracts it only after frequent repetition. A single
instance fixes the habit and determines the direction of governments.

Against the alarming doctrine of unlimited discretion in our military
commanders, when applied to prisoners of war, I must enter my protest.
It begins upon them; it will end on us. I hope our happy form of
government is to be perpetual. But if it is to be preserved, it must
be by the practice of virtue, by justice, by moderation, by
magnanimity, by greatness of soul, by keeping a watchful and steady
eye on the executive; and, above all, by holding to a strict
accountability the military branch of t