:

along with them, some times defaces and defeats his opinions; and are attributable rather to the soil than the soul of the au thor, whose sense did not often permit him to err in this maus ner, and whose spirit, once conscious of, would withhold its support or sanction from any sentiment savouring of injustice.

We met him, at this period, for the last time, in Washington. He was in excellent health, and his spirits were unusually buoyant. He was preparing for his return to Carolina, having been tasked to deliver an oration on the fourth of July, then near at hand;" and the high favour and applause which had so far attended his public career, and the tokens of which were particularly abundant at the seat of Government, with those who knew him, had olated him to the utmost. He was full of hope, sanguine in anticipation, and the numberless plans of public life, and literary achievement which he had designed, and which were unhesitatingly disclosed-for his nature had no concealments-though calculated, at that time, to make one smile at the profuseness and plenitude of his hope-unapprehensive of defeat and disappointment,-are full of melancholy consideration Who could have dreamed of so dark a set, for so bright a sun-who look for a tempest when the sky was without a cloud! We separated; and, a day or two before the close of June, he took his way home, and arrived barely in time to deliver his oration, which he put together in the course of a few hours before its delivery, while attending at the same time to the journal under his direction, the duties of which he had resumed immediately on his return.

now.

The measure of a convention of the Southern States, with the view to a consideration of their federal relations, having

*We have not been able to place our hands upon this performance, of which, those who were present at its delivery, speak in terms of the highest eulogy.

been suggested and discussed by several of the leading men of Carolina, was warmly taken up in his paper by Maynard, and it would be doing hita far less than justice, were we to doubt, that, but for his activity in the matter, the decision of the Union Party of the State, which finally adopted it, would never, or not then, at least, have been made. The aim was, if possible, to prevent the inefficient, and, most probably, the suicidal action of any one State, upon these relations; and, by referring the common evil and difficulty to the interests in common, enlist the action of a physical power, sufficient to give emphasis to any plan which might finally be decided upon for the attainment of a remedy. Some of the leading politicians of the Party in the lower division of the State, were opposed to the measure, apprehending a dissolution of the Union, and the formation of an entirely new confederation of interests purely Southern-an object supposed to be in the contemplation of many individuals of the opposite party. With this fear, the suggestion, though on the whole, rather popular with the greater portion of the party, was coldly received by some of those most active and distinguished in the direction of its affairs; and, accordingly, we find, that the measure, though fixed upon at last, was simply given into, after it had been adopted by the Union Party of Sumter District, without reference to any of the other divisions of the State: A preliminary convention of delegates, representing the State, only, being necessary to any ulterior arrangement of this nature, a meeting was called at Columbis, and, in obedience to the will of his constituents of Sumter, Maynard, though but twenty years of age, attended as a delegate from that section, the first session of the Union Convention, in September of the past year. He was, at this period, still engaged in the conduct of his journal, the politics of which, had, as was to have bren éxpected, involved him in several controversies of a

character rather unpleasing and troublesome than trying or terrible. Solicitous only to reform, he overlooked, in some respects, the capacity and character of the disputant, and in return for argument, he sometimes received abuse. A situation like this, was, of all others, the most mortifying to a man of the nice sensibility-the quiet spirit, and honest and confiding candour of Mr. Richardson; and his indignation at these assaults had no other effect than that of keeping his mind in a state of strong and feverish excitement. Ungenerous attack, mean and sneaking insinuations—a shameless obloquy and bitter malignity, wrought upon his temper in a thousand ways; and their effect upon his mind and his habits grew momently more and more visible to every eye. A sickly animation pervaded his whole system, and made him restlessly alive to every circumstance, which, at another period, would have been suffered to pass by him without any regard, or, at the utmost, with but a passing thought or smile, of scorn or indifference. Still, he did not complain, even to those most intimately dear to him; and though it was evident how deeply he felt the ungenerous nature of the warfare waged against him, a sense of pride—a true manliness, and a just appreciation of his own character forbade the idea of any reference to others for sustenance or sympathy. The iron was in his soul, yet he writhed not under its inflictions. He felt himself mistaken and misunderstood, by many of those whose opinions he could really esteem; while, on the other hand, he was daily the victim of assaults from quarters either too worthless or obscure to justify honorable consideration. To one, not conversant with the temper of political parties, and those too, of a Southern country, our regrets may savour somewhat of extravagance. It may be thought surprising that one whose character we have sought to describe, as peculiarly distinguished by its manly firmness, should at the same time, be so tenderly alive

to such indirect or base hostility; but when it is remembered, that true mani.ness of character is most usually allied to a sensibility as perpetually alivé, as the courage which is called to sustain it, must be active and enduring, the sufferings of his spirit, charged too with the paramount necessity of their suppression, will be readily understood.

In the beginning of October, in company with his father, the Honorable Judge Richardson, he went on a visit to the town and neighborhood of Columbia, chiefly with a political object. At that period of excitement, no talent, of whatever order, was suffered to rest in idleness; and the journey was taken in obedience to that almost imperative requirement of the popular voice, which, from its sometimes insulated position in the interior, looks necessarily for its knowledge of men and measures, alike, to those whose leisure and information will permit of such a practice. In the thickly clustered towns and villages of the Northern States, where newspapers and knowledge may be had on all hands and with little trouble, such a habit is unknown; but with the agricultural States, with a free population scattered at wide intervals throughout a territory, in one sense of the word, wild and uncultivated, no other means of popular enlightenment can be readily contrived. To adopt such a system is therefore incumbent upon all those who may desire the popular welfare-though, it sometimes happens in the end, as the present condition of South-Carolina, readily and unhappily attests, that, in the same way and through a like medium, error sometimes succeeds to ignorance, and usurps dominion over thie less presumptuous power, whose place she has taken.

The business of the political meeting which drew their attendance at Columbia, having been over, Maynard, thougla indisposed, commenced his return home in company with. his father. He had proceeded as far as the house of Mr. John Marshall, in Richland District, some fourteen miles

from Columbia, when his indisposition put uu, for the first time, a serious appearance, and it was found impossible for him to proceed further. Medical attendance was called; and the presence of four physicians about him, attested not less the alarming nature of the attack, than the deep interest of those around him; for his recovery.

During his illness, which, in spite of all cárc, was destinė ed to be fatal, attended closely by a father whom he had ever loved, and a sister in whom his best affections had been always confided, his spirits, previously oppressed or stimula ted, in extremes, returned in most respects to the more even tone of healthful equanímanity, even while the animal fires were most rapidly wasting; and, though, at occasional mo ments, his thoughts, reverting to the life of turmoil in which he had so recently been engaged, grew irregular with sud den hallucinations, yet, with a strong, and, under all circumstances, a singular exercise of the mental powers, he was enabled to bring back and restrain the rebellious spirits, and confine them to the dwelling, destined so shortly to be left forever vacant. His moments of delirium, few and soon bvercome, gave place, as the hour of dissolution drew near, to the guiding and fine reason which distinguished his intellect; and he sought, having a full consciousness of his fate; to soothe and compose the hearts of those who could do hothing for him. He spoke with serenity and mildnesswith a temper, no longer ruffled with the strifes to which he had been so lately subject, and the effect of which, was, in great part, the worst feature of his disease. The principies of the Christian Religion, which, with a singular direction for one of his youth, his mind had examined years before, he now repeated with a conscious triumph to those about him; as his own, and as forming that creed, which now brought serenity to his spirit. Though ambition was a marked and

*The most grateful evidenen of the truth of his da:laration in this respect,