To some or perhaps all of these questions, which, one after another, arise in the mind, young persons gradually obtain answers; but these are usually imperfect and confused. I propose, therefore, to proceed to describe government, its origin, nature, and necessity; its various forms in different parts of the world, and especially that form adopted in our own country. In the course of this delineation of government, I shall have occasion to exhibit the origin and sources of laws; the manner of their enactment; and the means by which they are made to regulate the conduct of mankind. [Illustration] EQUALITY. As some persons have fancied that society could realize a state of absolute liberty, so some have fancied that a state of _absolute equality_ could be attained. It is said in our Declaration of Independence, that “all mankind are created equal;” and this has often been taken as literally true. But absolute equality is as impossible as absolute liberty. In the first place, mankind are not born equal in respect to civil condition. Some, as the serfs of Russia, are born slaves; in this country too, in some of the states, certain individuals are born to servitude, while others are born to enjoy freedom. There are other grounds of inherent and necessary inequality. One person is born with a good constitution; another is sickly from the cradle. One person is endowed with a strong mind, another with a weak one. One person is gifted with beauty, another with deformity. One has natural grace, another awkwardness. The surface of the earth, thrown into hills and valleys, with mountains whose tops mingle with the clouds, and ravines that never see the sunlight――meadows that bloom with flowers, and deserts that know no living thing――plains and sloping hills, covered with forests――and rocky regions where no tree can root itself――all this diversity of nature presents not more inequality than the conditions in which mankind are born. The whole system of nature and providence, shows it to be the design of the Creator and moral governor, that there shall be diversity in human society, as well as in nature. Beside, even in those countries where there is the greatest freedom, and the nearest approach to equality in society, even there, mankind are neither born free nor equal, in the view of the law. If we take no account of slaves, still the children of white persons are not born free; they are under the control of their parents till they are twenty-one years old.