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DEVOTED TO POLITICKS AND BELLES LETTRES.

VOL. I.

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WE observe that a correspondent of the Daily Advertiser's has proposed, as an amendment to the federal Constitution, "to render the President ineligible a second time"

The writer has not offered his reasons for this suggestion, but, to any man of observation and reflection, it will appear evident that the tenure of the office of President as regulated by our constitution, as it now stands, is the worst of all possible modes. An article either that he should be ineligible, as proposed, for a second term, or that he should hold his office during good behaviour, would undoubtedly re-, lieve us from the incalculable evils which arise from the present system.

The general experience of mankind has taught us, that the love of power is one of the strongest features in the human character, There is another, scarcely less prevalent, and that is, the love of glory. When a people are establishing political institutions, it behoves them to calculate on being ruled by men, and not demigods; they must expert in their rulers the predominant passions of men, and ci-, ther contrive to render them subservient to the publick good, or so to restrain them as to prevent publick Injury from their operation.

There may be, in one age, a Cincinnatus, and, some thousands of years afterwards, there may be a Washington-men who prefer the retirement of private life to the consequence

attached to exalted station; but, where we find two such magistrates, we may find thousands, who are governed by very different motives. Without alluding particularly to our experience in this country, we may take it for granted, that when an individual is placed at the head of a nation, he will wish to continue so, as long as possible. If the constitution positively limits his term of office to a certain period, and interdicts his re-election, then there is a strong probability that, as he cannot perpetuate his power, he will seck for glory, which he can only derive from the approbation of the world. He will be under no temptation to forfeit this, by acts of corruption, by sacrifices to the profligate and ignorant; for their suffrages will be of no use to him, when his constitutional term of office has expired.

So if elected during good behaviour, the very condition on which he holds his office must always operate on his mind, as a powerful motive to uprightness of conduct. He is secure in his station, unless he be convicted of

misdemeanours or crimes; he can have no inducement to court the vicious, or corrupt the mercenary multitude. He is subject to no tribunal but that which decides by law and testimony; he hopes nothing and he fears nothing from popular caprice. He is placed in a situation in the highest degree favourable to the practice of virtue-much to gain, and nothing to lose, by a course of undeviating integrity.

What is the natural consequence of our present plan? An individual is chosen President of the United States for four years, at the expiration of which, he is a candidate for

BOSTON, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1814.

re-election; and this recurrence to the suffrages of the people was considered a safe check upon his administration, as his success must depend on the opinion that his official conduct has produced on the minds of a majority of the electors.

This plan, so far from presenting inducements to correct and faithful conduct, has a

directly opposite tendency. It tempts a President to become a demagogue, a partizan, a pliant instrument of whatever passions and prejudices are either naturally predominant among the people, or can be excited by him and-his party to suit their own ambitious views. We are not disposed to say that the mass of the people, or a majority of them are constitutionally partial to bad, and hostile to good men, were they suffered to act according to their understandings, independent of all extraneous influence But this never will be the case, where so much depends on the popular voice; and it is not uncharitable to say, that men's vices are ever more easily roused to action, than their virtues. If the object of a President,chosen for four years, be re-election, and we ought never to calculate on any thing else, he cannot safely rely on the integrity of his conduct for the accomplishment of his hopes If he does not choose to create a party for himself, rivals will create a party against him, and he will be superseded. Thus the President becomes the leader of a party, and, in a competition for power, his chance of triumph will be decidedly the greatest, by heading that which is formed by the agency of passion and ignorance, rather than reason and virtue.

NO. LII.

short space of four years, and see that tiré tenure of his exalted station would depend on the support he should secure, before the next appeal to the popular voice. He must reconcile it to his mind to retire from office, at the close of his first term, or use the means which readily presented themselves to secure a second triumph. He was not President of the United States a year, a month, nor even a day! He enlisted at once as the head of a faction, a faction which he and his friends had rendered

too formidable, to leave him one independent thought for his country's welfare. They looked to him for countenance; they were lost to him, if he refused it; he became at the same time their patron and their slave.

We presume there is not a well informed man in the country who believes, if Mr. Madison had not been constitutionally eligible a second time to the Presidency, that he would have descended to the measures, which he adopted during his first four years' administration; or that he would have done such violence to what he well knew to be his duty to his country, if, when once chosen, he had forever afterwards been independent of all parties, secure of living and dying President of the United States, unless deposed for miscon-* duct by a regularly constituted tribunal. The tendency of such a principle is to give free and unbiassed scope to the virtue of him who possesses inherent integrity; and even to make a man correct in conduct, who is in heart devoid of political morality, by removing from him every temptation to act the demagogue, and placing before him a powerful motive to act the patriot-his personal glory.

There are other important circumstances We are fully persuaded, that to render the which likewise deserve consideration. In or- president ineligible a second time would be a der that the chief magistrate of the nation great improvement in our constitution; but should be enabled to discharge his duties with that higher advantages still would result from effect, we have given him, and always must a choice, during good behaviour. It was give him, a considerable degree of what is thought to be a very important object, by called executive patronage. Were he indethose who formed our federal constitution, pendent of the competitions of faction, he that our plan of government should contain, would feel himself at liberty to exercise this within itself, a system of checks and balances. power for the purposes of giving energy to It was thought this grand desideratum was obgovernment; but, in the precarious standing tained, by the construction of three distinct of a political combatant, he must be prompt-branches in the legislative department, indeed to employ it solely to form and strengthen his party. It will be used for corruption, and the corruptible will be fond of extending it, not for the publick good, but that their own want of principle may stand the better chance of reward Thus the ambition of the President encourages the venality of the people, and the venality of the people cherishes the ambition of the President. What prospect has simple, unassuming rectitude, resting only on its own basis, in a conflict with two such powerful principles ? We have seen to our sorrow.

We are among those who deplore the course Mr. Madison has pursued; we consider it owing to his measures that our unhappy country has been buried from the pinnacle of prosperity to calamity and disgrace: but we most candidly avow it as our conviction, that his measures may be attributed as much to the defect of our system of election, as to any peculiar depravity in the man. The spirit of faction raged at the time he was first chosen President. He had but to look forward the

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pendent of each other, but whose respective concurrence was necessary to the establishment of any law. Experience has proved that. these checks exist only in theory, and have disappeared in practice. The reason is, that, though chosen in different forms, and under the name of President, Senators, and Repre-sentatives, they all derive their authority from the same source, and very nearly at the same time. The predominant passion of the day will take the ascendant in every branch, and the only jealousy that exists, is that between majority and minority. We may therefore expect to find, with a rare exception, the president, majority of the senate, and of the house of representatives of one political party, and a minority in the senate and house of represen

tatives of another. What then becomes of our boasted checks and balances? The minority have no power, but the liberty of speech, and not always that. The party, headed by the president, and prevailing in the other legislative branches, becomes the government as

the United States; the ties of sect do away every distinction of names, and our famous complex system becomes one of the simplest governments in the world.

Let the authority of the President be established on another basis; let it be durable while that of the other branches is subject to frequent change, and we shall see that jealousy, that disposition to check, that attachment to prerogative, rights and independent character, which give security to the liberties of the people. Our chief magistrate would then be above the control of any faction; the senate would, as at present, equally represent the views and interests of the several states, and the house of representatives would be governed by the existing impressions of the body of the citizens. Such an arrangement would undoubtedly introduce an esprit du corps into the respective branches, instead of that spirit of party which now makes their majorities one body; and that esprit du corps would bring into action those mutual checks, that rivalship and circumspection, which it was intended to establish by our constitution.

GENERAL REGISTER.

BOSTON, SATURDAY, DEC. 24, 1814.

FOREIGN. The Sultan of Turkey has recently effected an important change in the organization of his government, by establishing a considerable regular military force on the European system of enlistment and discipline. Hitherto the Sultan, though a tyrant himself, has generally been more or less the slave of other tyrants, the chiefs of his jannizaries. If this revolution can be maintained, he will be able to act more independently, but whether that will ameliorate the condition of the Turks or not, must still depend on the disposition of the reigning despot. The first measures of the invigorated authority of the Grand Seignior have been the decapitation of two of his pet

ty tyrants.

On the 27th of October the Academy of

Sciences and Fine Arts at Ghent celebrated

their Anniversary; when the American Ministers were unanimously elected members,

and invited to attend the exercises, and share in the festivities of the occasion.

Monte Video, in Buenos-Ayres, South America, which has long been the strong hold of the Royalists in that section of the country, capitulated to the Buenos Ayreans or Independents on the 23rd of last June. This event, says a letter from that place," is considered a death blow to the monarchical system, in this part of the world."

The Vengeur 74, with a Reet of transports and 3000 men, was ready for sea at Plymouth, England, on the 25th of October, and the Suitan, 74, with another fleet, at Cork, was ready on the 29th; both bound to America.

On the 21st of October, the Amphion frigate, with five transports was spoken, bound to Bermuda. They left Cork the 7th of September. In the latter part of November, five vessels arrived at Quebeck from Cork; three with about 400 troops, officers, seamen, artificers, &c.; the others laden with naval stores, flour, clothing, and goods.

At our last dates from Halifax, an expedition of from 2 to 3000 men was fitting out from that place. It is conjectured their destination is to reinforce the garrison at Castine.

DOMESTICK. General Jackson, whom we mentioned in our last, as having taken

mediately afterwards departed for New Or

eans.

About the first of December, the British barges in Doboy Sound, Georgia, captured fourteen of our coasters, one of which was retaken by the commander.

December 7th. Most of the enemy's ves-
sels descended the Rappahannock. They had
not effected any considerable damage, nor did
they sustain any loss, except 18 privates, de-
serters or prisoners, who have been sent on
to Washington. The number landed, which
was stated at 2560, is now reduced to 500,

among whom were eight companies of blacks,
50 each, in uniform, said to be Virginia and
Maryland negroes, trained at Tangier Island.
An English officer remarked that their object
in this descent was to harass the militia, and
that after pursuing that policy for a few weeks,
they should return to winter quarters. Such
is the nature of this war-a handful of men
can keep a whole state in continual alarm
and preparation for defence.

His Excellency LEVIN WINDER is reclected
Governour of the state of Maryland, by a large
majority.

The returns of votes for Representatives to
Congress from this commonwealth have been
examined, and it appears that seventeen fed-
eralists are chosen and one democrat. the
Hon. Albion K. Parris, of the 7th Eastern
District. There is no choice in the 4th and
6th Eastern Districts. In the former the

federal candidate had a plurality of nine votes,
candidate had a plurality of fourteen votes,
scattering 23 : in the latter, the democratick
scattering 52.

The United States' frigate Constitution,
Capt. STUART sailed from this port, on a

cruise, last Saturday.

It has been rumoured and feared that the

United States' sloop of war Wasp, has been

taken.

We know of nothing yet, either to contradict or confirm the report.

We understand that the Hon. WILLIAM

EUSTIS, late Secretary at War, has been nom-
inated by the President, as Minister to Hol-

land;

and BENJAMIN W. CROWNINSHIELD

Esq. as Secretary of the Navy.

CONGRESS. The military Conscription Bill passed in the House, by a majority of on12.

ly

A bill from the Senate is before the House,
authorizing the President to appoint a Vice

Admiral, and two Rear Admirals, and has had
two readings.

It can scarcely be necessary that we insert among our articles of Domestick Intelligence the following account from Washington. "The Treasury remains pennyless; and the affairs of the nation, I am sorry to say, are daily going from bad to worse. Where they will end, Heaven only knows."

LITERARY AND MISCELLANEOUS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE BOSTON SPECTATOR.

Sir,

DURING the present interruption of almost every kind in business, of which I experience my share, I feel myself disposed to employ some part of my leisure in becoming a correspondent to your paper, if you are willing to accept of such aid as I can afford. The title I have assumed, appeared to me suited to ing like Cicero, or of partaking his immortal my purpose; not that I have any idea of writfame, but because by taking some aphorism, or detached sentiment from his works, I may, without further ceremony, indulge myself in subject, philosophical, political, moral, or rereflections and observations on almost any

ligious.

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tutional variety in the degree of acuteness and THERE is undoubtedly a considerable constienergy, with which it pleases heaven to endow the intellect of different persons; but mental acquirements, is probably less owing the variety, which we constantly discover in

to an irreversible decision of nature, than to accidental circumstances, in which the operations of our will are principally concerned. We often apologize for the barrenness of our minds by useless and unfounded regrets on the parsimony of nature. in her allotments of intellectual capacity, when the fault is wholly our own, in not making the best improvement of the powers she has bestowed. It is very seldom we see an instance of the amazing reach of the human soul, because we seldom see its utmost energies exerted. There have been few men in the world like Sir William Jones, because few are disposed to labour with his perseverance, or fasten their thoughts upon subjects with his zeal.

Memory is the grand reservoir of the understanding, and more, than we are aware of,

The subject of a General Bankrupt Law is depends on the proper discipline of this facu

before a select committee.

The National Bank bill, passed in the Sen-
ate, has been reported in the House, with sev-
committee of the whole.
eral amendments, and is again referred to a

Several additional Tax bills have passed;
&c. is now under consideration.
a bill laying duties on certain Manufactures,

HARTFORD CONVENTION. On the
assembling of this body, the Hon. GEORGE
CABOT, of this town, was unanimously elected
President, and the Hon THEODORE DWIGHT,
STRONG of Hartford opened the session by
of Hartford, Secretary. The Reverend Dr.
prayer, and it was voted that the Reverend
gentlemen, who officiate as chaplains to the
General Assembly of Connecticut, and the
Rev. Dr. PERKINS, of West-Hartford. shoul
be invited to officiate daily, in turns, as
chaplains to the Convention, during their ses-
sion.

The Honourable J. Roberts has been re

ty. Those, who are considerably advanced in life, are informing us of the distinctness of infantile or youthful impressions, while recent objects and occurrences make but a faint impression, and are easily obliterated. It is therefore generally supposed, that Memory is strongest in early life. This I believe to be altogether a mistake. In infancy our sphere of observation is very contracted. We fix our minds on comparatively but few objects. For want of experience, almost every thing we see is wonderful, and therefore interests us deeply. At a later period, we are seldom surprized, and our thoughts are therefore seldom intensely engaged. I remember the appearances which preceded the "dark day" in 1780 distinctly, because I thought it the precurser of the day of judgment-I can scarcely recollect the garb of nature, as the total eclipse approached in 1806, because I knew what was about to happen, understood the cause, and was not astonished. Could a person of eighty years of age experience any

Florida, placed a garrison in that city, and im. nia, to serve for six years from the 4th of | thing that would so engage the mind, and ar possession of Pensacola, the capital of West elected a Senator of the US from Pennsylva

March next.

rest the attention, as does the first shock of an earthquake we witness in infancy, there can be no doubt but it would leave as strong and distinct an impression. We remember our first lesson in a language, which we study at school, better than any other; because our feelings are more abstracted from every thing else, and more absorbed in acquiring it.

Every person who has been entrusted with the education of youth must have observed, that success in acquiring knowledge is by no means proportioned to what seems to be the scale of natural capacity. One hears the voice of the instructor, understands the terms he uses, but takes no interest in the information he would communicate, and makes no progAnother, not better endowed with quickness of perception, drinks in every word, and stores up every idea.

ress.

Intense application of thought is to some painful, to others perhaps impracticable; but in general, it is a voluntary state of mind, and may be acquired by resolution. It is not desirable to devote our attention exclusively to a few favourite objects of pursuit, for this would both abridge our pleasures and our usefuiness; but we cannot too highly estimate, nor too diligently cultivate the power of mental abstraction-the power of withdrawing the attention from every thing but that which ought to engage us at the moment. However we employ our mind, let us employ it con amore, with a passionable fondness, and we shall seldom fail of success. One of the greatest philosophers in the world required nothing of his pupils for years, but the habit of close and silent attention, and would not suffer thom to speak, until they had first learnt to listen and think.

Sudden to heaven
Thence weary vision turns; where leading soft
The silent hours of love, with purest ray
Sweet Venus shines; and from her genial rise,
Where daylight sickens till it springs afresh,
Unrivalled reigns, the fairest lamp of night.

Thomson's Summer, line 1692, &c.

THE subject naturally invited Thomson to frequent allusions to the science of ASTRONOMY, in his beautiful poems-The Seasonsand he seems to have possessed no inconsiderable knowledge of its principles There is however a singular confusion of expression, to say the least, in the passage we have quoted, and we are both surprised that Thomson should commit such a blunder, and that the world, to this day we believe, have suffered it to pass without criticism.

The plain astronomical doctrine contained in the passage appears to be this, that Venus, the evening star, rises in the west, in the evening, and shines until daybreak in the morning! It would be difficult to embrace more crrours in so few words. There is no mode of interpreting them that will reconcile the whole to truth. It would be too far-fetched for even a poet to say, she rose in the west, because her motion in her orbit is from west to east. For in that sense, she does not rise, or rather retire from the sun but 47 degrees eastward and then will appear, every evening, to go westward till her inferior conjunction with the sun. If we are to suppose that. by her rise, he only means that, when evening star, she is discovered first in the west," when daylight sickens," then he will find it difficult to make her shine until dawn o light; for she cannot appear above the western horizon four hours after sun set, at her greatest eastern elongation, which will not bring "the spring of day light", even in London, and when the ights are the shortest.

A poet is not bound to be an astronomer, it most of my cotemporaries. I have continued is true; but from an author of celebrity, under my peaceful walks, although alone, and indulno obligation to touch what he does not under-ged my propensity for writing, without flatterstand, we have a right to expect sense. A ing myself that I should have many readers, writer may use terms according to their com- after rejecting a subject almost exclusively mon acceptation, or scientifick import, but we popular. can find no construction, that enables us to comprehend, how "Venus reigns, unrivalled, the fairest lamp of night, from her genial rise, when daylight sickens, till it springs faresh.”

DR. PARK,

ETYMOLOGIES.

Perhaps some of your readers will be grati-
in part from the Gentleman's Magazine.
fied by seeing the following Etymologies, taken
CULPRIT. This is a corruption from the
French, qu'il paraite, i. e. make it appear, or
let it appear if thou art not guilty. The term
is pure French, and bias the prisoner plead for

himself, and make his innocence appear.

BUMPER. This word is derived from Bum,
bard, or Bombard, in latin, Bombardus, a great
gun; and thence applied to a large flaggon,
black-jack, or full glass. Thus the Lord
negligent in keeping out the mob,
Chamberlain says to the porters, who had been

"You are lazy knaves:
And here ye lie, baiting of bumbards, when
Ye should do service."
SHAK. Hen. VIII
QUANDARY. From the French, qu'en dirai-
je? What shall I say, or do?

and was anciently applied by the Indians of
YANKEE. This word is a "native American,"
our forests to the white inhabitants, east of
Hudson's river. When, pointing to their set-
tlements, the red men would exclaim, "there
live the Yankoos"-that is-a people brave,
invincible, never to be conquered!
Your's,

ANTIQUARIAN.

THE WRITER, N. XXXII.

To return to the subject of antiquity, upon which I had proposed to myself to treat in this day's paper.

It may be observed, that the few remaining writings of the ancients which have fortunately come down to us; some entire and mag nificent works of art; with the splendid ruins of vast temples and cities, are unfading and imposing monuments of the existence, in

early times, of a wonderful race of men.

astonishing objects of human art and human The Pyramids of Egypt are not the less Jabour, for being so often described and so often referred to. Their stupendous magnitude has been measured; their triumph over design in building them, as well as the perthe power of time has been proved; but the eludes the inquiry of the most curious and son, or power by whom they were reared, sagacious mind; and the period of their erection is so far hidden in the obscurity of time, as to mock the researches of the learned traveller or antiquarian.

Almost every thing in Egypt is calculated to excite wonder. The magnitude of her works of art have been equalled by no other country, and are surpassed by the majesty of nature alone. The ruins of Egyptian Thebes, whilst they display the mighty efforts of Time in desolating the feebler works of this wonderful people, exhibit monuments of magnificence and durability, which Time consecrates, but cannot destroy. The following description, and remarks respecting this ancient city, are from Bossuet's eloquent discourse on Universal History.

"One palace above all is admired, whose "remains seem to have subsisted only in or"der to efface the glory of all the greatest "productions of human power and skill. "Four alleys, extending farther than the eye can follow them, and terminating at each

end with sphinxes of a composition as rare, "as their size is remarkable, serve as avenues "to porticoes whose height astonishes the be"holder. What magnificence, and what ex"tent! Indeed, of all those who have de"scribed the prodigious edifice, no one has "had time to make the tour of it, nor are "they even certain of having seen the half of ❝ it. A hall, which apparently stood in the "midst of this superb palace, was supported "by a hundred and twenty columns, o six "fathoms in thickness, and lofty in proportion, "and intermingled with obelisks which so "many ages have not been able to lay low. "So well did Egypt know how to impress

Ir we look into antiquity, we shall find an ample field for entertainment, and may derive not only pleasure, but some profit to the mind from exploring the archives of former ages; made more enticing as they are obscured by time, or concealed by mystery. It is difficult however to persuade many of the present generation to direct their studies to days of yore, they are so entirely occupied by the passing events of their own times. The science, or at least the theme of politicks, is the taste of the present day; and all ranks, orders, and degrees of men are so occupied by this sole object, that no other can be obEven women are infected with this prevailing truded upon them with any hope of success disorder; and you may often find ladies who, from their conversation, appear to know as much about the affairs of state, as of their own household; who talk with the same fluency upon diplomatick forms, as of the form of a bonnet, and argue with equal warmth on the rights of war, or the right of dower. Every body is inquiring for news, and eager to catch the first report and be the earliest to From Egypt we may pass to Rome, and spread it. The subject of a secret session, of view the wonders of another race of men, who despatches, or of a cabinet council, are explor-existed ages after the former had become ed or conjectured, with as much interest and eager curiosity, as were the Eleusinian mysteries; and the opening of the mail is attended with the same impatience and solicitude, as were the responses of Apollo at Delphos, or the Sybiline oracles

For myself, I have enjoyed a quiet and repose, unknown to those who embark on this tempestuous sea of politicks, by keeping aloof from the vortex which has swallowed up the

the character of immortality on all her "works.' And Sonnini, a French traveller, describes some porticos of a prodigious elevation, one of which was of the height of one hundred and seventy feet by two hundred feet

breadth.

venerable from her antiquity; and which
have now for ages been added to the cata-
logue of ancient ruins. Rome however has
produced nothing so stupendous as the works
of Egypt.
The greatest as well as the most
useful inonuments of Roman power and gran-
deur, seems to be their immense highways.
The via appia, or Appian road, extended from
the city 350 miles to Brundusium (now Bria-
dici) and was paved or flagged through the

whole extent with square blue stones (or marble). Much of this splendid work still remains entire. In architecture, their theatres were the most remarkable for size, and in some instances for elegance. The one built by Pompey, for the purpose of entertaining the people with shows, is said to have contained 80,000 persons. But the extravagance, and immense riches of the Roman people, ncxt to their military fame, are distinguishing traits in the character of this illustrious people. Mar. cus Licinius Crassus entertained the people with a feast which was served up on ten thousand tables. The debts of Curio, an extrava gant young nobleman in the time of Julius Cæsar, amounted to £500,000 sterling, which were paid by Cæsar to engage Curio to his party. Esopus, a celebrated tragedian and friend of Cicero, acquired by his profession £200,000 sterling; and it was a son of this person, who was said to have dissolved a pearl worth eight hundred pounds, and drank it off to the health of his mistress; and Pliny adds that he presented each of his guests with a cup of equally costly materials. Several of the richest of their senators received from their estates an annual income of four thousand pounds of gold, equal to £160,000 sterling, without computing the stated provision of corn and wine, which, had they been sold, might have produced one third as much more. A freedman under Augustus, we are told by Gibbon, left 3600 yoke of oxen, 250,000 head of smaller cattle, and 4116 slaves.

The people were frequently entertained with shows of wild beasts and combats of gladiators, provided at the expense of some individual senator or consul, who wished to procure the favour of the people, or reward it. Immense sums were squandered in this kind of sports. Cicero frequently mentions these shows, and in a letter to Milo he speaks of one then preparing by Milo, which is supposed to have cost £250,000 sterling, and this was not the first that had been given by this same Milo.

And ran to help him; but his latest strength
Fail'd;-prone upon his sheaves he fell at length:
I strove to raise him; sight and sense were fled,
Nerveless his limbs, and backward sway'd his head.
Seth pass'd; I call'd him, and we bore our Sire
To neighbouring shades from noon's afflictive fire:
Ere long he 'woke to feeling, with a sigh,
And half unclosed his hesitating eye;

Strangely and timidly he peer`d around,
Like men in dreams whom sudden lights confound;
Is this a new Creation ?-Have I pass'd
The bitterness of death?'-He look'd aghast,
Then sorrowful;- No ;-men and trees appear;
'Tis not a new Creation,-pain is here:

From Sin's dominion is there no release?
Lord! let thy Servant now depart in peace.'
—Hurried remembrance crowding o'er his soul,
He knew us; tears of consternation stole
Down his pale cheeks:- Seth!-Enoch !-Where
is Eve?

'How could the spouse her dying consort leave?'

"Eve look'd that moment from their cottage-door
In quest of Adam, where he toil'd before;
He was not there; she call'd him by his name ;
Sweet to his ear the well-known accents came;
'Here am I,' answered he, in tone so weak,
That we who held him scarcely heard him speak;
But, resolutely bent to rise, in vain
He struggled till he swoon'd away with pain.
Eve call'd again, and turning tow'rds the shade,

Helpless as infancy, beheld him laid ;
she sprang, as smitten with a mortal wound,
Forward, and cast herself upon the ground
At Adam's feet; half-rising in despair,
Him from our arms she wildly strove to tear
Repell'd by gentle violence, she press'd
His powerless hand to her convulsive breast,
And kneeling, bending o'er him, full of fears,
Warm on his bosom shower'd her silent tears.
Light to his eyes, at that refreshment, came,
They open'd on her in a transient flame;

And art thou here, my Life! my Love!' he cried,

Faithful in death to this congenial side? Thus let me bind thee to my breaking heart, 'One dear, one bitter moment, ere we part.'

Whilst we are upon extravagance, we cannot let so fair a subject as the ladies, pass without notice. We are told that the robes of the Roman fair were so costly, that even one suit was considered as a rich and valuable legacy, even when left to a wealthly citizen. And well it might be, if we may believe Pli-Leave me not, Adam! leave me not below; ny the elder, who says he saw a lady, Lollia Paulina, in a dress, which, including her jewels, was worth above £300,000 sterling, (Lib. ix. 35).

Yet notwithstanding this parade of wealth and gaudy show of riches we enjoy some conveniences which were unknown to the ancients; for, as some witty author observes, Cleopatra never owned a pair of stockings,

and Julius Cæsar had not a shirt to his back.

POETRY.

SELECTED.

DEATH OF ADAM.

[We have already copied some short passages from MONTGOMERY'S "World before the Flood" as specimens of elegant poetry. We shall conclude with a longer extract, which embraces an interesting scene, beautifully described]

"ERE noon, returning to his bower, I found Our father labouring in his harvest-ground, (For yet he till'd a little plot of soil, Patient and pleased with voluntary toil ;)

But O how changed from him, whose morning eye Outshone the star, that told the sun was nigh! Joose in his feeble grasp the sickle shook ;

I mark'd the ghastly dolour of his look,

With thee I tarry, or with thee I go.'.
She said, and yielding to his faint embrace,
Clung round his neck, and wept upon his face :
Alarming recollection soon return'd,
His fever'd frame with growing anguish bura'd ;
Ah! then, as Nature's tenderest impulse wrought,
With fond solicitude of love she sought
And make the pillow easy to his head;
To sooth his limbs upon their grassy bed,
She wiped his reeking temples with her hair;
She shook the leaves to stir the sleeping air;
Moisten'd his lips with kisses; with her breath
Vainly essay'd to quell the fire of Death,
That ran and revelled through his swollen veins
With quicker pulses, and severer pains.

"The sun, in summer majesty on high,
Darted his fierce effulgence down the sky,
Yet dimm'd and blunted were the dazzling rays,
His orb expanded through a dreary haze,
And circled with a red portentous zone,
He look'd in sickly horror from his throne;
The vital air was still; the torrid heat
Oppress'd our hearts, that labour'd hard to beat.
When higher noon had shrunk the lessening shade,
Thence to his home our father we convey'd,
And stretch'd him, pillow'd with his latest sheaves,
On a fresh couch of green and fragrant leaves :

Here, though his sufferings thro' the glen were known,

We chose to watch his dying bed alone, Eve, Seth and L-In vain he sigh'd for rest, And oft his meek complainings thus express'd: - Blow on me Wind! I faint with heat! O bring 'Delicious water from the deepest spring ;. Your sunless shadows o'er my limbs diffuse, Ye Cedars wash me cold with midnight dews. -Cheer me, my friends! with looks of kindness 'cheer;

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Whisper a word of comfort in mine ear;

Those sorrowing faces fill my soul with gloom; This silence is the silence of the tomb, Thither I hasten; help me on my way; 'Q sing to sooth me, and to strengthen pray !' We sang to sooth him ;-hopeless was the song, We pray'd to strengthen him ;-he grew not strong. In vain from every herb, and fruit, and flower, Of cordial sweetness, or of healing power, We press'd the virtue; no terrestrial balm Nature's dissolving agony could calm. Thus as day declin'd, the fell disease Eclipsed the light of life by slow degrees: Yet while his pangs grew sharper, more resign'd, More self-collected, grew the sufferer's mind; Patient of heart, though rack'd at every pore, The righteous penalty of sin he bore ; Not his the fortitude that mocks at pains, But that which feels them most, and yet sustains. 'Tis just, 'tis merciful,' we heard him say; Yet wherefore hath He turn'd his face away?

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I see Him not; 1 hear Him not; I call ;

:

My God! my God! support me, or I fall.'
"The sun went down, amidst an angry glare
Of flushing clouds, that crimson'd all the air ;
The winds brake loose the forest boughs were torn,
And dark aloof the eddying foliage borne ;
Cattle to shelter scudded in affright;
The florid Evening ranish'd into night:
Then burst the hurricane upon the vale,

In peals of thunder, and thick-vollied hail ;
Prone rushing rains with torrents whelm'd the land,
Our cot amidst a river seem'd to stand;
Around its base, the foamy-crested streams
Flash'd thro' the darkness to the lightning's gleams.
With monstrous throes an earthquake heaved the
ground,

The rocks were rent, the mountains trembled round;
Never since nature into being came,

Had such mysterious motion shook her frame;
We thought, ingulpht in floods, or wrapt in fire,
The world itself would perish with our Sire.

“Amidst this war of elements, within
More dreadful grew the sacrifice of sin,
Whose victim on his bed of torture lay,
Breathing the slow remains of life away.
Ere while, victorious faith sublimer rose
Beneath the pressure of collected woes;
But now his spirit waver'd, went and came,
Like the loose vapour of departing flame,
Till at the point, when comfort seem'd to die
For ever in his fix'd unclosing eye,
Bright thro' the smouldering ashes of the man,
The saint brake forth, and Adam thus began."
To be concluded in our next.

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VOL. I.

DEVOTED TO POLITICKS AND BELLES LETTRES.

BOSTON, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1814.

NO. LIII.

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BEFORE this war was declared, there was a class of men in the United States, who believed it would be a mere frolick,-an entertainment at tilt and tournament, in which General Wilkinson and a hundred other heroes by parchment and seal, had only to take the field, deck their brows with laurels, and send their trophies to the capitol in Washington, and dictate a new code of national law to the Eng lish. There is no such dupe now in the Union. War is universally thought and felt to be a serious national calamity; and as distress produces sober reflection and inquiry, we presume a large majority of our fellow-citizens are now persuaded that this calamity might well have been avoided. Such men, it is but natural to suppose, would wish, if possible, to be secured against the recurrence of such an evil.

Are they then ready to exert themselves zealously in favour of the only measures, which can promise us so happy an effect? Before we can guard ourselves against events which we deplore, we must understand their real, original cause, and then endeavour to apply the remedy.

ed. There must therefore be some other
method adopted, to render the man unpop-
ular, whose private character is the admiration
of all who know him, than to stigmatize him
in his individual capacity. But a foreign pow-wholesome, and stable character.
er is a kind of being which may be calumniat-
ed and blackened with impunity. Hence, in
every period of history, we find that in pop-
ular governments, designing men, who aspire
to power, which their reputation will not give
them, pitch on some foreign nation-that one,
which from any accidental circumstance gives
them an opportunity to play upon the passions
and arouse the prejudices of the people.
They create a faction, by pretending injury
and inflaming resentment. Good rulers will
not be the instruments of such passions; they
therefore become objects of jealousy, and
criminal by imputation.

him above the reach of its control, and free
from every temptation to be its instrument.
In no other respect need his prerogatives be
extended, to give our government a new,

It is so potorious, that we freely appeal to the consciousness of the most determined advocate of our present rulers, whether, in the revolution of publick opinion, which drove federalists from the administration, their individual characters have not always been untouched. Whether, from the day that President. Washington made a treaty of amity and commerce with Great Britain, she has not been the incessant object of attack, by those who were then a minority; whether, at every political election, the only objection offered against federal candidates, has not been that they were not hostile to that nation; and whether, had it not been for prejudices against her, federalists would not now have been in power, and our country exempted from this unnecessary conflict?

We have glanced at this subject before; but it cannot be too frequently repeated, nor too strongly urged, that this miserable< this scourge and disgrace of our country, grew out of the constitution of our govern ment; it was but the natural operation of machinery, which exists in some of the leading principles of our political institutions, as We do not pretend that a nation is never they were submitted to a first experiment. obliged to go to war, in defence of her liberty Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, and the cabal and rights our doctrine only extends to thiswhom they directed, with whom they acted, that where there is a frequent and general frequent and general and whom at ast they served, rever loved rotation in office, men who do not deserve conwar for its own sake, more than the most pa-fidence will wish to obtain it. That they will cifick man in the nation; nor were they the

dupes of those doctrines which they professed. But they were ambitious of power, and not scrupulous of the means of obtaining it; and such men are to be found in all ages and in all countries. It will therefore lead us to very false conclusions and unavailing views, if we identify the measures which have brought us to our present situation with the individuality of Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, or any other

man.

To perceive the real origin of our misfortunes, let us suppose our republick restored to peace, and its publick concerns administered by men of distinguished talents and unimpeachable integrity. In such a state of things the unprincipled, aspiring demagogue makes no figure. But his case is not hopeless. The tenure of every publick office, except in the judiciary department, is, by the constitution, of short duration, and becomes, at short intervals, the gift of the multitude.

In order to supersede good men, it would

be absurd to address the reason and sense of the people. Their passions must be excited; they must be enraged.

But virtue ever possesses a venerable character; it bears such an ascendancy over the human mind, that it cannot be directly assail

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always have a strong motive to excite a hos

tile spirit, against some foreign power, as the
most promising method of exciting a distrust
of upright patriots, by whose fali they expect
to rise. Whether it be admitted or not, that
the cause of our present war may be traced in
these principles, is it not obvious, that when-
ever our country may be best with a virtuous
administration, and peace, there must be, in
the very nature of our government, a constant
tendency to unnecessary war, as long as the
tenure of our highest offices is subject to fre-
quent change? If so, it deserves serious con-
sideration, whether an alteration in this res-
pect, is not much to be desired.

There is a serious objection to rendering
every publick office as permanent, as its duties
are faithfully discharged-It is not however
that the mass of the people are in every case
the best judges of merit; or popular suffrage
the best mode of trial. It is because such a
multiplicity of tribunals would be necessary,

The subject of amending the Constitution of the United States is now every where freely discussed. We are confident, that the more such an alteration is considered, the more evident will appear its advantages; and instead of abridging, it would give security to the rights of the people. It would be found that a President, subject only to a legal tribunal, would have infinitely less scope to play the tyrant, than a President elected as the head of

a dominant party.

MR. RANDOLPH'S LETTER.

WE presume this production will receive a full and formal reply, either from the gentleman, to whom it was addressed, or others, who are at leisure to discuss its contents. It is in many respects interesting, and the respectability of the writer requires that it should be treated with that decorum, which is due to him, as an individual, and that seriousness, which the importance of the subjects, he has rather promiscuously introduced, demands.

Randolph, that the present war originated, on In this quarter, we fully believe with Mr. our part, in very bad policy and very bad principles. We are likewise much disposed to believe, that the manner, in which the hostile intentions of our goverment were carried into effect, led naturally, directly, and perhaps we may add justifiably, to the severe character which the contest has assumed. We cannot

therefore work up our feelings to that resent

ment, which would be well merited, were the measures of the enemy purely aggressive. We cannot but regard those who wantonly began the war, as responsible both for the calamities our own rulers have inflicted upon us, in the prosecution of it, and the suffering we sustain, from the exertions of a foe, whom we could not expect to attack with impunity.

We regret that men, in Virginia, who are sincere friends to their country and to us, should experience distresses which they, individually, have not deserved. But having with all our might endeavoured to avert this evil from them, as well as the full portion to which our government have exposed us, we owe it to ourselves to attend to the first of all human obligations, self-preservation.

Mr. Randolph makes a pathetick appeal to the eastern states, in behalf of Virginia: Will we abandon her in her hour of peril? It is not in our power to defend her. We would not leave her to the fate she has courted, and still courts, from a vindictive policy. Virginian rulers have blasted our prosperity, exhausted us of our strength; we are unable to stand alone in this illfated contest, much less

defend the mistress of the Union.

as would render the system too complex and
expensive. Besides, as the grand evil to be Did not Virginia assist Massachusetts dur-
obviated in republicks is Faction, if there being the Revolutionary struggle? We would
any where in the government a sufficient ask Mr. Randolph whether the cause of Inde-
check to its influence the principal danger pendence was not as dear and interesting to
disappears. Let the chief magistrate of the Virginia as to Massachusetts? We struck
Union be constituted this check, by placing the first blow for American liberty; the histo-

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