PUBLISHER'S PREFACE
In presenting the following work to the American
public, no apologies are offered. We live under a
Government which tolerates liberty of thought and
freedom of the press, and in this expression of our
honest views and feelings upon a subject relating to the
general welfare of the country, we are but exercising
a right which belongs to every American citizen.
Observation and experience has taught us, that no man's
opinions and principles gain favor with the world by
empty apologies and useless excuses; but, that they are
generally received or rejected, as they should be,
according as they possess merit or demerit. It is a
pleasing reflection, that the age of proscription for
opinion's sake, is past, we trust, never again to return;
and that the unrestricted interchange of thought and
sentiment, which is permitted by the liberal genius of
