that the people should choose such a house, and the house such a council, as represented their sentiments faithfully. How could the juries be other than whigs, when nine tenths of the people were such; or how could they punish as crimes what they deemed upright and lawful resistance to illegal measures? The house and board were whigs, the grand juries and petit juries were whigs, towns were whigs, the clergy were whigs, the agents were whigs, and wherever you found people you found all whigs;'-and so much the greater the folly as well as the guilt of those who attempted to crush them. One of the most elaborate of these essays gives an account of the destruction of the tea, and vindicates it on the ground of its necessity. The committees of correspondence are admitted to be powerful agents for uniting the people, and the strongest barriers of liberty; but are said to exercise no powers except those delegated to them by the people, and to hold themselves always amenable to them.

But the author of Novanglus hastens to the question of right, and evidently delights to dwell on it; conscious that it was the foundation of the controversy and the strong hold of his cause. He asserts that the colonies were no part of Great Britain; for when that kingdom was formed by the union of England and Scotland, they were not parts of either, nor have they ever been annexed to the realm by act of parliament and their own consent. The parliament is supreme over those dominions only which are represented in it. The necessity of one general superintending power for the regulation of trade is admitted, and this necessity has induced the colonists to acquiesce in the exercise of this power by parliament, but no such power is necessary for any other purpose. Inconvenience may indeed result from the want of a body, by which the burdens requisite for the common defence and security may be duly apportioned, yet it would be not only inconvenient but unjust that this should be done by one of the parties alone, by a parliament ignorant of the wants and resources of America, and interested to lay on it the heaviest share of the burden. Admitting this want however to be a defect in the constitution, which can be endured no longer, surely it must be supplied by the common consent of all whose interests are to be affected by the change. Instances are adduced to shew that the right of parliament to regulate the internal concerns of the colonies had not been

admitted by them, and that its right to raise a revenue here had always been constantly and strenuously denied. The idea that subjection to that body is involved in allegiance to the king, is controverted, and allegiance proved to be due to the person of the sovereign only and not to the parliament or to the crown.

He then enters into a learned and minute investigation of the manner in which England acquired its authority over Wales and Ireland, and shews it to be founded, as far as it has any just foundation, on compact with those countries. But where and when was any compact made with America? He disclaims for the colonies the idea of any further independence than had always been enjoyed by them, and laughs at the charge of rebellion. Those are rebels who resist the supreme authority, but it is no crime to resist oppression. What if it be treason to subvert established government? It is the ministry and their adherents who are attempting to subvert it; the people are struggling for its support. He denies that the English are united in favor of parliament, and appeals to the resolutions of the colonists to shew how united they are against it. With characteristic boldness he spurns the thought of danger,-if England will appeal to the sword, Americans will not stand still to be butchered, their militia will learn discipline, the ruin of the commercial towns may exasperate, but cannot subdue the country,-the Canadians and savages may perhaps be their friends; if not they do not fear them as enemies,-in a land-war, this continent might defend itself against the world, and let come what will, any thing is better than unqualified subjection. The last of these essays is dated April 17, 1775. Two days afterwards hostilities commenced at Lexington, and put a stop to the publi cation.

The essays of Massachusettensis are written with great ingenuity and address, and in an ornamented and polished style; those of Novanglus are distinguished by clearness and force of reasoning, copiousness of illustration, vehemence of manner, and occasional traits of genuine and original humour, which remind us of Dr. Franklin. Both are admirably adapted to their object, and cannot be read without emotion even now. What intensity of feeling must have been excited by them at the time of their publication? The private history of their authors gives them a peculiar interest. Vol. IX. No. 2.

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Engaged in the same pursuits, and highly distinguished among all their associates, they had been friends from their youth up. They habitually addressed each other by their christian names, Jonathan and John, and Mr. Adams, in allusion to one of the most engaging portions of scripture history, frequently expressed the wish that his name had been David, as an emblem of their affection. They early embraced different political opinions; but until the year 1774, notwithstanding the general prevalence of a bitterness of party spirit, such as has not been seen in our days; amid contentions, which seemed to snap the bands of society asunder, the attachment of these two men, among the most active, zealous and eminent of their respective parties, remained unbroken. But at last the sword was drawn to separate brother from brother, and friend from friend. The following account of their parting is from the preface by Mr. Adams.

We continued our friendship and confidential intercourse, though professedly in boxes of politics, as opposite as east and west, until the year 1774, when we both attended the Superior Court in Falmouth, Casco-bay, now Portland. I had then been chosen a delegate to Congress. Mr. Sewall invited me to take a walk with him, very early in the morning, on the great hill. In the course of our rambles he very soon begun to remonstrate against my going to Congress. He said " that Great Britain was determined on her system; her power was irresistible and would certainly be destructive to me, and to all those who should persevere in opposition to her designs." I answered, "that I knew Great Britain was determined on her system, and that very de termination determined me on mine; that he knew I had been constant and uniform in opposition to all her measures; that the die was now cast; I had passed the Rubicon; swim or sink, live or die, survive or perish with my country, was my unalterable determination." The conversation was protracted into length, but this was the substance of the whole. It terminated in my saying to him, "I see we must part, and with a bleeding heart I say, I fear forever; but you may depend upon it, this adieu is the sharpest thorn on which I ever sat my foot." I never conversed with him again 'till the year 1788. Mr. Sewall retired in 1775 to England, where he remained and resided in Bristol.'

In 1788,[*] Mr. Sewall came to London to embark for Hali* Mr. Adams was then ambassador from the United States at the Court of Great Britain.

fax. I inquired for his lodgings and instantly drove to them," laying aside all etiquette, to make him a visit. I ordered my servant to announce John Adams, was instantly admitted, and both of us forgetting that we had ever been enemies, embraced each other as cordially as ever. I had two hours conversation with him in a most delightful freedom upon a multitude of subjects. He told me he had lived for the sake of his two children; he had spared no pains nor expense in their education, and he was going to Halifax in hope of making some provision for them. They are now two of the most respectable gentlemen in Canada. One of them a Chief Justice; the other an Attorney General. Their father lived but a short time after his return to Amer. ica; evidently broken down by his anxieties and probably dying of a broken heart. He always lamented the conduct of Great Britain towards America. No man more constantly congratulated me, while we lived together in America, upon any news, true or false, favourable to a repeal of the obnoxious statutes and a redress of our grievances; but the society in which he lived had convinced him that all resistance was not only useless but ruinous."

These productions confer high honour, not only on their authors, but on those to whom they were addressed. Recollect the time when they were written. Argument, remonstrance, expostulation, all amicable modes of controversy, were exhausted; Boston was filled with troops designed to enforce the edicts of the government, and the Americans were ready for the conflict, and only waiting for the first blood to be shed by their enemies to sanction the last measure of resistance, an appeal to arms. The storm was just bursting, and what is it that we hear? Not the sullen mur. murs, not the mutterings of vengeance, which ordinarily precede the tempest of civil commotion, but the still small voice of reason. Instead of the ravings of fanaticism, or speculalative rant about the perfectibility of human nature, and its exemption from all political control,-arguments found ed on justice, established usage and expediency are addressed to the public, and urged, on both sides, by men well able to estimate their effect, with an evident persuasion that they would influence the minds and conduct of the people.

MISCELLANEOUS JOURNAL.

Preface to the Selecta Principum Historicorum, published by

WYTTENBACH.

[Translation. Continued from p. 206.]

Ir will be as unnecessary, as it would be tedious, to state my reasons for selecting the particular passages which I have from the five authors above mentioned. It can scarcely be conceived, how much time I have spent in making a choice, and in deliberating whether I should take this or that passage; at one time rejecting parts which I had just transcribed, and at another, making additions of new matter; and, after all, doubting whether I should not still take some other parts, which charmed, and as it were, fastened themselves upon me. In choosing such as I have, it has been my aim to take those passages which would please, at the same time that they would be useful to learners; and I had regard particularly to such as were easy to be understood, or would afford delight from their elegance, and instruction from their weight of matter, or would conduce to an accurate knowledge of the particular genius of the author. I have frequently chosen an author's Exordium; because an accurate examination of that, like opening the vestibule of a temple, displays the work itself to our view; and because I had observed that young persons, who attempted to master an author by their own efforts, were often deterred from prosecuting their design by the difficulties they encountered in the commencement of his works from the peculiarities of a style, to which they had not been accustomed. From Plutarch I have selected two entire lives, those of Demosthenes and Cicero; which above all others are most intimately connected with whatever relates to elegant literature.

In the works which we have of the ancients, it now and then happens that we find expressions which are either corrupted, or obscure from other causes; and this makes them hard to be understood at all by pupils, and not easy to be