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that all who possess the privilege of knowing him, concur in these feelings and impressions of mine.

Judge Mason was called from the Bench to take the post of Secretary of the Navy in Mr. Tyler's Cabinet, and in his administration of this department he is said to have excelled. The officers of the service are universally attached to him.* He is the only member of Mr. Tyler's Cabinet who was invited to a seat in Mr. Polk's; and during the interval of his removal from the Navy Department and his return to it, he discharged the office of Attorney-General of the United States.

The Secretary of the Navy is, of course, a follower of the Democratic banner; but his views are not extreme, and he is entirely free from the narrow jealousies of party feeling. The south of Virginia is his home; he is the father of a numerous family, and the owner of slaves, who are happy in his service, and would not change it for their freedom.

THE HONOURABLE ABBOTT LAWRENCE, OF BOSTON.

How many delightful recollections are awakened by this name, and how many happy hours have I spent in the house and in the society of this accomplished gentleman and princely merchant. The author of his own fortunes, Mr. Lawrence makes the wisest and most liberal use of his wealth; his purse is ever open to aid in supporting public charities and improvements; in promoting objects of national usefulness and honour, and in adorning the metropolis of New England, the Corinthian pillar of the State, with institutions for the increase alike of her beauty and of her prosperity. Nor are his private benefactions on a less liberal scale; they are equally honourable to his heart, and becoming the position of so distinguished and influential a citizen of the Republic; he is as

* In corroboration of this remark I have extracted the following from a New York paper:

VISIT TO THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY.-A Washington letter, of the 14th instant, says :-A large number of the officers of the Navy, of all grades, were received by the Hon. J. Y. Mason, in his room, at the Navy Department, this morning. Never did man receive a heartier welcome, nor one more deserved. The juniors would have huzzaed if the seniors had given the command.

earnest to pour the oil and wine upon the wounded stranger by the way side, as he is to raise up enduring and useful monuments to science.* The residence of Mr. Lawrence is adorned with finished taste; no vulgar display of overloaded magnificence, but that subdued elegance and exquisite attention to comfort which the most refined of French authors describes as the chief attractions of luxury; books and sculpture are here the constant every day companions of the dwellers in those pleasant halls: and every domestic arrange

ment is faultless.

Mr. Lawrence has read and travelled much; he is well versed in the science of human life; has a thorough knowledge of statistics, and the.experience which he has derived from comparing the institutions and society of other countries, with those of America, renders his conclusions highly interesting. He formerly represented the city of Boston in Congress, but delicacy of health obliged him to resign this duty, to the great regret of his fellow citizens. He is of graceful address; the expression of his face highly intelligent and amiable, and his features very handsome. The American forehead is almost always well formed, and that of Mr. Lawrence clearly denotes the immense superiority of the intellectual over the physical nature. His language is well chosen, and his ideas always expressed with clearness; his politics are Whig; his religion Episcopalian. But the opinions he entertains on all subjects result from careful investigation and deliberate conviction. No bigotry, intolerance, party feeling or blind passion could ever darken a mind so patient in reflection, so scrupulous in inquiry, and so just and generous in its conclusions. The name of this excellent man and citizen is known and respected throughout the Union, and strangers esteem it a privilege to be admitted to his intimacy; they are ever justly appreciated and hospitably entertained.

Powers and Healy have each exerted their skill in pourtraying Mr. Lawrence; the one in marble and the other on canvass: both have been successful; but as I prefer form to colour, the chisel to the pencil, I admire the marble most.

It may be said that Mr. Lawrence has more repose of cha

* AMHERST COLLEGE.-Hon. Abbott Lawrence, of Boston, has recently made a donation of 1000 dollars towards the erection of a fire proof Cabinet and Observatory, which it is proposed to build on the hill in front of Amherst College. Amherst is a town nearly a hundred miles distant from Boston, where Mr. Lawrence resides.

racter than is usual in the men of America, for they are the most excitable of all nations; and this peculiarity in him may perhaps be traced to his early success in life, and to his comprehensive knowledge of the world; ere he had yet attained the meridian of life, wealth, honour, love, obedience, troops of friends had waited on him. During a recent visit to the Metropolis I had the pleasure of seeing the distinguished namesake of Mr. Lawrence of Boston, William Lawrence, Esq. of White Hall Place, London. We spoke of our mutual friend across the Atlantic. "He is indeed," said he, 66 a most remarkable man; one who would be striking in all companies: I recall with the greatest pleasure his visit to Ealing, when he and his family were in London." Certainly if these two admirable men are not related to each other they ought to be.

EXTRACTS FROM MR. LAWRENCE'S LETTER TO MR. RIVES ON THE TARIFF.

BOSTON, 16th January, 1846. There is a prevalent idea abroad, that the capital of the country will suffer exceedingly by a revulsion in its business, and that the tariff of 1842 has operated in favour of the capital, and not the labour, of the country. There can be no doubt that capital is generally profitably and safely employed, and well paid. The profits of capital are low when wages are low; but capital has usually had the power to take care of itself, and does not require the aid of Congress to place it in any other position than to put the labour in motion. Congress should legislate for the labour, and the capital will take care of itself.

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In Virginia and other Southern States, and even at the West, many persons have believed that the protective system was made by and for New England, and that New England, and particularly Massachusetts, could not thrive without it. Now this is an error; the South and West began the system of high protective duties for the purpose of creating a market for their produce, (although the principle of discrimination was recognized and established when the first tariff was enacted.) It is not true that we are more dependent on a protective tariff than the Middle, Western, or Southern States. Those States that possess the smallest amount of capital are the most benefited by a protective tariff. We have in New

England a great productive power; in Massachusetts far greater than any other, in state proportion to population. We have a hardy, industrious and highly intelligent population, with a perseverance that seldom tires, and we have also acquired a considerable amount of skill, which is increasing every day; besides, we have already accomplished a magnificent system of intercommunication between all parts of this section of the country by railroads; this is the best kind of productive power, having reduced the rate of carriage to a wonderful extent: this being done, we have money enough remaining to keep all our labour employed, and prosecute our foreign and domestic commerce without being in debt beyond the limits of our own State. Now, I ask, how we shall stand, compared with Pennsylvania, Ohio, Alabama, Georgia or Louisiana when the day of financial trial shall come? I do not deny that we shall suffer; but, as it has been in times past, we shall go into and come out of the troubles far stronger than any other State out of New England. It is not my purpose to present to you the balance sheet of Massachusetts, but it is due to her character and her dignity that she should stand before you in her true position. I have never advocated a protective tariff for my own or the New England States exclusively, nor have those gentlemen with whom I have been associated in this cause, at any time entertained a narrow or sectional view of the question. We have believed it to be for the interest of the whole country that its labour should be protected, and so far as I have had to do with the adjustment of those difficult combinations embraced in a tariff bill, I have endeavoured to take care that the interests of all the States were protected, whether they were large or small. I say now to you, and it should be said in Congress, and to the country, that Massachusetts asks no exclusive legislation. If Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio, the three great States, with Kentucky, Georgia, Missouri, Alabama and Louisiana, wish to try an experiment on iron, coal, hemp, cotton bagging, sugar, &c. &c., I am ready, as one citizen of Massachusetts, to meet it, and await in patient submission the result, which I doubt not will be found, within eighteen months, in the realization of all I have predicted. I say again, I would not, if I could, have a tariff made for Massachusetts alone. If, however, there should be a new one, let our interests, with those of every other in the Union, share that protection to which we are all entitled, and of which we claim our full share. I can with confidence assure

you, that we shall go upward and onward. We will work. If twelve hours' labour in the twenty-four will not sustain us, we can and will work fourteen; and at the same time feel that Congress cannot take the sinews from our arms, or rob us of the intelligence acquired from our system of public schools, established by the foresight and wisdom of our fathers.

THE HONOURABLE THOMAS H. BENTON,

MEMBER OF THE SENATE FOR THE STATE OF MISSOURI.

THE name of Mr. Benton is inseparably connected with that of Missouri. To him the West, the fair land of promise, is deeply indebted, for wisely and lovingly he has ever watched over her interests, and devoted his energies to her cause. None is more thoroughly versed in the circumstances, historical, political and actual, of her position, and with effective eloquence he has vindicated her rights; with lofty faith and hope he has anticipated the eventful future, and has traced, in hues of light, the dawn of that day when the American race shall be one name, one language, and one people, from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Mr. Benton has been, for a period of twenty-seven years, a representative in the Federal Government of the United States. He possesses much weight in the Senate, and is considered a man of excellent judgment, of bold and original views and of statesmanlike practice. He is attached to the

Democratic side, and is more of a sectional than of a party politician. The considerations of national power and extension are, perhaps, more highly estimated by Mr. Benton than those of wealth; he is the representative of a peculiar policy, arising naturally from the situation of an infant country, whose instincts, in the first stages of development, must be those of growth and occupancy. Mr. Benton, nevertheless, has too much experience and too much wisdom to indulge in extremes, and his expectations and demands on the Oregon Question were marked by great moderation.

In his public deportment, and especially when speaking, he has much senatorial dignity-is rarely excited; his action

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