bly, the brief interval of time, between his departure from his Alma Mater, and assumption of the many responsibilities and, at all times, highly exciting duties, of a political journalist. We now see him in a character entirely new, and, one, for which we hesitate not to affirn., the amiability of his character-the unsophisticated and yielding temper of his feelings and affections, almost entirely unfitted him. The heart of Maynard, had been made in a mould, and imbued with a spirit, as gentle as those emotions, which were the invariable accompaniments and unhesitating prompters of all his actions. He had formed his idea of human nature, not from a survey of its existing, but of its ideal condition. He had looked upon humanity, as it was before, and not after its. fall; and the soul of poetry, which prompted his own moods, was quite too generous and gentle, to conceive of either storms or serpents in that sweet Eden, which his fancy had filled with existences, not merely immortal, but young and beautiful and innocent to the last. What had such a creature to do with politics and political partizanship—that warfare of peevish spirits and petty ambition, where patriotisn becomes a by-word and jest-furnishing the sign post for beer house and brothel—and where ruffianism and guile are almost certain of success in the conflict with honest devotion, shrinking modesty, and that high-souled truth that will not prostitute its own pure impulses, for all the honors and distinctions of an immoral and diseased condition of society! We have hitherto studiously forborne, as unnecessary to our narration, any reference-more than one purely occasional-to the condition of political parties in the State of South-Carolina, during all this period; and our reference now shall be as cautiously sparing as may be consistent with the requirements of our memoir. Designing this publication, as we do, simply, as the memorial of one, who had iu him much that might have taught, and won, and coinmanded-and who had already done something towards the attainment of this promise-we would carefully suppress and exclude all such matter as might be merely local and fleeting in its interest, or offensive in its expression. We would preserve the memory of our friend as a son of Carolina-one, who, if spared for the realization of those pledges which his early career had given, would have conferred honor upon her, and whose labors, even now, are not altogether unworthy to be enshrined in the memories of her children. For these reasons we would desire to avoid that rank and prolific growth-the parties of the day-and though from the nature of Mr. Richardson's employments during the most active period of his life, this hope be entertained in vain, we shall yet so far as practicable, abridge his "Remains" by excluding whatever may not seem purely abstract and general in its application. The condition of parties in South-Carolina, separating, as they did, the people at large upon a topic the most terribly exciting, and the interest of which, we regret to say, has not .even now altogether subsided, it was deemed necessary that an exponent of the doctrines and desires of the Union Party should be established in Sumter District-a highly intelligent division of the State, and one, in which parties were, in a numerical sense, pretty equally divided. The opposite, or Nullification Party, had already the vantage ground afforded them by the use of a press in the little village of Sumter; and the "Southern Whig," a journal embodying the politics of the former party, was established under the direction of Mr. Richardson, and in great part through his own personal activity. He had now entered upon a new sphere, and one to which his whole previous life had been foreign and unfamiliar. He was now to enter into the arena-to combat 1 not principles, so much as persons-for who does not know that the war of political partizanship, whatever may be its character at the commencement, overlooks, in a little while, the abstract grounds upon which the conflict began, and identifying measures with men, forgets the doctrine in the teach er? Of this, Maynard seems, at the outset, to have had but little idea. His nature had been too generously-too gently constituted; he was quite too unsophisticated-too untaught in the habits of human collision, to regard it as at all difficult 30 to discuss the workings of a problem in government or morals, with guiding principles, and according to the dicta of college rules, with an even temper, and without violation of the bounds and limits of the most rigid decorum. Thus, having in his very first paper devoted several columns to the consideration of the principles of a distinguished statesman, embodied in a theory which has lately "rung from side to side" of our country, he addresses him a private letter, accompanying his public analysis, in which, while he regrets that his own convictions do not permit his recognition of the doctrine which he opposes, he entertains the hope that his course may not lose him those good regards and that friendly interest which had always been avowed for his fortunes by the person whom he addresses and whose opinions he reviews. The original of this letter may well merit preservation, as an illustration of that manly candour and general and stern adherence to principle, which formed no less a feature of the intellectual, than the moral existence of our subject. The following is a copy of the communication here referred to. "Respected and Dear Sir: "I take the liberty of sending you the 'Sumter Whig,' devoted to principles which I believe possess your sanction, with, perhaps, a single exception. After as impartial an in vestigation of the subject as my understanding is capable of "With respectful remembrance of your kindness, "I am, Dear Sir, very sincerely, &c." It is not often that public men, in their career of personal ambition, urged on by party impulses-solicitous of the one object, and reckless af the character of those means employed in its attainment-observe a courtesy, so elevated, so becomingly honourable as this. Most of our partizan editors would smile at this juvenile consideration of the feelings of others-this deferential regard to authority and age. They would scarce scruple, strong in their supposed notions of the right, and devoutly zealous for the combination of men or interests for which they speak, to assail motives, no less than opinions. It was not so with our friend. He had no suci hostility to men; and his opposition to measures, while his convictions were the result usually of a close and rigid examination of the subject, in all its parts, was urged with all the deference of one, who felt that he might yet be wrong. The trait which this little epistle discloses, to our mind, speaks largely for the graceful delicacy of his. It embodies the modesty of youth, while it indicates the confidence of character-by which, we mean, an enlightened sense, solicitous for the truth, and placing the pursuits and enquiries of its intellect, not less under the charge of a pure and proper morality, than of the lights of its own reason and experience. In his twentieth year, and shortly after he had undertaken the cditorship of the Southern Whig, he was appointed by the Union Party of Sumter District, one of the delegates to the Baltimore Convention, convened for the nomination of the President and Vice President, of the United States,where, along with the members from South-Carolina, generally, his vote appears recorded for the present incumbent of the former office, and Mr. Barbour, of Virginia, in the lat ter. From Baltimore, after the adjournment of the Convention, he proceeded to Washington, and attended closely to the proceedings of both branches of Congress, as may be inferred from the well written letters, which he furnished for his journal from that city-a portion of which, as they descrioe in.part, the manner, style, spirit and character of some of the leading members of those two bodies, we have pre- . served in this collection. They are highly graceful as mere specimens of composition, but the reader will discover many yet higher attributes in the bold, froc, thought, the critical acumen, and frequently just opinions, which distinguish them throughout. We may add, that there are permitted to appear rather too many of those prejudices, which Southern youth at a very carly period, are taught to imbibe, against Northern men and institutions.-A marked bias, running E |