must content ourselves with one further; and on this, important as it seems to us, we must compel ourselves to be brief.

We think, then, that no one can fail to be impressed with the lesson of candor and consideration towards rulers, which the late solemnities, taken in connexion with former events, so powerfully teach us. We shall not be suspected, we trust, of advocating any thing like a slavish subserviency to their views, or a goodnatured blindness to their errors. And, indeed, if we were guilty of these egregious faults, we could make our defence good against the worse half of the charge, by a reference to the spirit of the body of the people around us, to the tone of our elections as often as they are repeated, and of our every day newspapers. In such circumstances, the faults in question must be the faults of bold men, and not of the obsequious, or easy tempered. But we are very ready to say, if any body cared for our saying it, that we plead not guilty. We pay all due reverence to that good and wise maxim, that the citizens of a republic should vigilantly inspect the conduct of their rulers. But we are angry, that we and others of our age, should have been taught in very boyhood, as our families and friends leaned to one side or the other, to lisp with abhorrence the names of Adams or of Jefferson; names now so sacred, as almost to be profaned, by being mentioned in such a connexion. We have no respect for popular clamor, in this country nor any other, and having 'put away childish things,' we are resolved for the sake of our own dignity, not to say duty, never again to yield to it, nor to suffer our children to be brought up with these absurd prejudices.

But we do urge the consideration of duty in these matters. We urge it upon parents in the education of their children; we urge it upon freemen in the exercise of suffrage, and of the liberty of speech and of writing; we urge it upon men, in the regulation of their own minds. And we say, on this subject, the least that can be said,-that the same candor, the same impartial consideration, nay, the same christian good will are due in the judgment of public men, that are due, in the judgment of private men. And there is danger, let us add, from the very nature of our institutions, that these will not be rendered.

There is danger, in the incessant change of officers in the government, and the party excitements which attend their election, that their arduous duties and the trial of their integrity,

will not be regarded with that friendly consideration and earnest intercession to Heaven for them, which it concerns us to feel and to make. Their official measures, their integrity or their delinquency, are liable to be regarded with feelings of anger or exultation, rather than with charitable judgment and pious solicitude; while, at the same time, the brief term of their service scarcely permits them to be long enough before the public, to acquire from their fellow citizens, any strong personal at

tachment.

We have but little respect, indeed, for the sentiment of loyalty, which has always seemed to us one of the most fictitious of all sentiments, directed, as it is, merely to office, and not at all to personal merit; yet it does, undoubtedly, acquire considerable strength from the time it has to grow, from the long association of ideas, and the progressive sympathy of succeeding generations. And we suspect, that when the prayer for majesty is offered among its subjects, it secures a more general and hearty assent, than when it is offered for a magistrate, who is elected in the turmoil of political contentions, and is soon to pass away with the changing favor of those who exalted him. If this be true, then we have a danger to guard against. We deem it not too much to say, that a religious consideration, yea, and sympathy, too, ought to be felt for those who hold exalted and responsible offices. They have weighty cares, and burdens of perplexity and solicitude. They are servants of the people, and have fewer of the prerogatives of real independence and lordship, than most of those who look up to them. They have troubles as many and great as other men, and oftentimes many more and greater. And yet they are commonly looked upon as set aside from the usual claims of candor and sympathy, and the earnestness of prayer to heaven for its grace and consolation. They are regarded with a severe or an envious eye. We hardly deal to them the measure of republican justice. The cares and trials of majesty are said to gain double sympathy. But we have reversed the rule; and that, too, in regard to lawgivers who come from among ourselves.'

The history of the two illustrious individuals, to whom we have already referred in this connexion, affords striking illustration of the remarks which we have now offered. The time has been when their names were the watchwords of strife and anger; when one portion of the people were far more ready

to vent curses, than to invoke blessings for them; and the other part, their political friends,—not their personal, but their political friends,-entertained a feeling much more akin to violent partiality or selfish partisanship, than to that reasonable friendship, and that grave respect, which all now admit were due to them. As they passed over the theatre of public employments, they were visited with few affectionate regards and sympathies, with few honest and earnest prayers. But they have lived to an old age; they have dwelt long in the public mind; the agitating disputes, the selfish interests which were connected with them, have passed away; and now, when they have gone down to the grave, the nation has mourned for them, and has resorted to the solemnities of religion, as if it was fit with these to consecrate their memory.

We would not exaggerate the feeling which has attended their obsequies. There has been no deep grief on this occasion, and there has been no call for it. They have died in the course of nature. They have put off the burdens of age, when those burdens were becoming insupportable. They had finished their work. They could do no more for their country. They lived to see their country's prosperity. They lived to hear the voice of their country's jubilee; and, as if the measure of their happy fortunes was full, as if they had said, 'Now let thy servants depart,' they departed in peace. They departed together, and at an hour the most fit, the most select in all time, to hallow the exit of men such as they were.

There is, then, no deep grief; but there is a heartfelt veneration for them, there is a feeling, pervading all classes of the people, that scarcely falls short of religious enthusiasm; there is a generous candor and forgetfulness of minor blemishes of character; there is a voice of sincere eulogy rising up from every quarter of the land; and the offering of pious gratitude ascends to heaven, as the story of their memorable lives is recounted.

And in all this, is there not a lesson and an admonition for us? Who can help regretting that, a portion of all this feeling could not have been given to solace, to aid, to reward those toils and cares, which are now the themes of universal eulogy? Wherein have their claims changed? wherein, but to the jaundiced eye of political jealousy? wherein, but as the voice of popular favor always is changing?

The ingratitude of republics has long been a theme for the

satirist and the moralizer; and we fear there is but too much justice in the selection. We would call upon a reasonable and high-minded people, if our communities are composed of such, not to be just and generous to the dead alone. We would demand that the principles of justice, yea, and of religion, too, should be introduced into our political opinions and actions; that freedom should not be made an apology for fickleness and inconstancy; that the love of country should not be made an excuse for railing and calumny; that patriotism should not be a cloak for anger, and revenge, and selfishness, and every evil passion. It is time to set up a new, a purer, a more religious standard of political obligation. It is as wrong to injure and calumniate a public man, as it is to distress and slander a pri

vate man.

Nor let us think to make compensation for the wrong, by solemn processions, and eulogies, and monuments. It would be little to him who had spent half of his life in the service of his country, and found injustice, and calumny, and poverty, for his reward, while living; it would be little to him, if his name were lauded through all ages. What was it to Socrates, that he was afterwards celebrated among the people that put him to death? And to those patriots and patriarchs of the land, whom the grave has just hidden from among us, and removed from all mortal concerns, what is it, that they are now justly revered? What to them, are all these official orders, and laudatory speeches? What to them are these crowded halls and listening assemblies? What to them are these solemnities, and temples clothed in mourning? Can the breath of eulogy, or can the roar of cannon reach them now? No. Once, the slightest of all these demonstrations would have cheered the labors and anxieties of public responsibility; but now, they are all in vain! We may raise their monuments as high as heaven; but we cannot lift one iota of the burden that once rested upon them. We may write their names among the stars; but they will only the more strongly contrast with the words of calumny, which have been written against them on earth. We may embalm their memories for all future time; but alas! no embalming, no oil of consecration, no skill of Egyptian art, can avail to blot out the injuries of the past. We speak with no party feeling, for it is one of the fortunate circumstances attending this great moral lesson that all parties

are implicated alike. We speak with no party feeling, but with a far more deep and solemn emotion, when we say, what inconsistency, what absurdity is this! For we ask again, wherein have the claims of these men changed? And yet there are multitudes in this land, who once thought no language of indignity or execration too strong, to be applied to the very men, whom they now join to honor with every testimonial of respect, and every expression of eulogy! What absurdity, did we say? nay, rather will we say, what magnanimity! What a happy influence of time, the teacher of wisdom! What a propitious example of the softening and subduing of old prejudices! What a triumphant evidence of the redeeming power of our institutions, of the good and safe result of freedom and intelligence among the people! Thus may it ever be, that good and wise sentiments shall conquer; that just and true principles of freedom, shall prove to be the safe, the fortunate, and the prosperous! Thus, while the judgments and mercies of God are passing over us, may the people ever grow in wisdom and moderation, in piety and virtue!

Notices of Recent Publications.

18. The Literary and Scientific Class Book, embracing the leading Facts and Principles of Science. Illustrated by Engravings, with many difficult Words explained, &c. selected from the Rev. John Platt's Literary and Scientific Class Book, and from various other Sources, and adapted to the Wants and Condition of Youth in the United States. By Levi W. LEONARD. Stereotyped by T. H. Carter & Co. Keene, N. H. John Prentiss, 1826. pp. 318.

This book has been partly compiled, and partly abridged, written, or, as the appendix says, abstracted, for the purpose of presenting selections on familiar and important branches of knowledge in the form of reading lessons for the common schools. It contains one hundred and thirtyfive lessons, generally in prose, but sometimes in poetry, which is selected with uncommon taste. They are upon many of the subjects, which are most interesting to the mind of a young person, and contain much information that is useful to all, and especially to those whose education