304 HISTORY OP the light of day— concealing them beneath the well-known covering of another species, to render them impregnable against the shafts of recognition ; here our co-operation terminates, and we must henceforth regard them with pity for their errors, as the lamentable victims of the machinations of a diseased and erroneous imagination. We should review with careful candor their mistaken policy and notions, and learn from their practi- cal example that, although error may flourish for a time, and even seem to overshadow the principles of justice, yet without any stable foundation, it falls at last by the weight of its own superstructure, and its retainers and supporters become the wanton victims of their own cupidity. The result which, in this instance, placed the finishing touch upon that sad picture, the final triumph of truth over error^ can but strengthen our faith in the tenacity with which Americans still adhere to the principles of our free institutions- — a fixed and nerving principle, graven deep in the heart, a stream deep and pure, which, although its surface may become ruffled by the breath of discord—although for a time its noble destiny may seem perverted and forgotten— yet it possesses a principle which, m the end, will work its signal triumph,
