The following is the substance of a note of Mr.
S. on this passage.
Ed.
The people of New England have so often
been assured by their orators and select men, of
the superiority of their religious and moral habits,
their patriotism, and their intelligence, that
it appears from many of the newspapers of that
quarter, that they are perfectly satisfied of its
truth. Like the lawyer in the play, they have
so often repeated, “I am an honest man,” that
they have not only convinced themselves, but
persuaded a great many other people to believe
it. The latter, with good natured credulity mistook
every repetition of the same tale, for a proof
of its authenticity, without considering that it
was but the authority of men praising themselves.
No one in America has hitherto it seems, thought
it worth while to repress, the hitherto harmless
vanity of these poor people; and the claim has
been tacitly allowed, not because it was believed
to be true, but because it was looked upon as the
innocent delusion of credulous men, who having
been cured of their belief in witches and other
imaginary beings, had made themselves amends
by indulging a new set of preposterous fancies.
The silence hitherto preserved with respect to
this diverting claim, is however no proof that
any such superiority exists. Many things have
been denied that were true; and many things
that are false, remain uncontradicted. To escape
being questioned is no demonstration of truth,
and what remains for a long time undisputed, is
not therefore indisputable.
Nevertheless, such is the influence of assertions
often repeated, that the weakness of human nature
is seldom able to resist it. Experience every
day demonstrates that if men hear continually
the same thing, they confound the repetition
with evidence, and mistake every reiteration
for an additional proof of its truth.
But after all the most general and universal
delusion, is, that which men practise upon themselves.
They weave their sophistries, till their
own reason is entangled; and repeat their falsehoods
till they are credited by themselves; by
often contending, they grow sincere, and by long
searching for proofs, come at last to believe they
have found them. When arrived at this desperate
stage of perverted reason, there remains
scarce a hope of reasoning them from their delusion;
but like the spider caught in the net woven
by himself, they are destined to remain the monuments
of their own self destruction.
Without entering any farther into these deep
speculations, I will conclude the subject with remarking,
that I cannot help looking upon this
locating, and taking as it were, such quiet possession
of an unauthorised and unacknowledged
pre-eminence, over their honest unassuming
neighbours, as altogether analogous to other parts
of the conduct of the people of New England to
the sister States. Finding nobody in possession,
they seem to have squatted down upon the public
reputation, as they did upon the land, without
enquiring particularly whether it belonged to
them or not. Remaining a long time unmolested
in their occupation, they grew at last to consider
themselves the lawful possessors of the soil,
and to talk of their farms, and their estates, as if
they had actually held them by legal possession.
[It cannot be sufficiently regretted that so
many local prejudices, springing out of mere geographical
distinctions, should have arisen in this
country, to lay the foundation of national antipathies
and national disunion. The pernicious
distinctions of Eastern, Middle, and Southern
States, seem to have laid the seeds of a precious
harvest of ill blood, between the people of these
sections, more especially since the claim made by
the great representative of New England in the
late Congress, to such a preeminence in “religion,”
“moral sense” and “intelligence” over
his neighbours. Such a claim, where it escapes
ridicule and contempt, will excite emotions of
jealousy and ill will, and lead perhaps to a lasting
dislike. There is in human nature a principle
which prompts us to repel any airs of superiority,
that are considered ill founded, and men
feel the same ill natured satisfaction in stripping
away these borrowed feathers, that they do in
unmasking the sly hypocrisy of a knave, or the
blustering cowardice of a bully.
Ed.
