country was freed by the final accomplishment of revolution, society did not have to be reconstructed from its foundation; that only a form of government had to be framed, and that immediately; and, as if from a goal on the race-course, the young giant started on his career. Let us suppose, not that our fathers, from the imperious necessity of their position, or from a depraved appetite for destruction and overthrow, had uprooted the whole foundations of the social state,-but that, with an aim to be thorough in their work, stimulated by some degree of political hatred, they had banished all they could of British origin, save their language and their blood. To narrow the hypothesis to a single illustration, let us imagine that, when the last band of British soldiery left the shore, the American people had cast after them, into the sea, the whole body of the law of England; and had then turned to construct for themselves, out of nothing, a jurisprudence upon which to found the social and political relations of the country,- think you that in less than three-quarters of a century this country could have reached its present height? Think you that, without history to draw from,— without precedent and ancient usage,-- without an unwritten law from the expansive principles of which public and private rights could derive definition and adjustment,-you would have seen this harmonious development of society that is now going on? Think you that the public and international relations of the country could have acquired that dignity which now belongs to them; and that the new republic, of a little more than sixty years' standing among nations, could have spoken, as it has lately spoken, to the parent State, in terms of an absolute equality, and with a moral power which may supersede the use of arms?" This oration is entitled The True Uses of American Revolutionary History. George Ticknor, the son of Benjamin Curtis, was born at Watertown, Nov. 28, 1812; was a graduate of Harvard College in 1832, when he gave a literary disquisition on the importance of independent criticism on the growth of national literature; and was a student in the Dane Law School. He completed his studies for the profession in the office of Charles P. Curtis, at Boston, and was admitted to the Suffolk bar in August, 1836. He married, Oct. 17, 1844, Mary Oliver, daughter of the late Mr. Justice Story. This lady died April 28, 1848. He married a second time, at Patterson, N. J., Nov. 6, 1851, Louise Adale Mystrom. He is a counsellor-at-law; was a representative for Boston in the State Legislature from 1840 until the year 1844, and has been a member of the school-committee at different times. Mr. Curtis has prepared more works, for the practical use of the public, as author and editor, than any one of his generation at the Suffolk bar; and has indicated, by his intense devotion to the legal profession, that he loves the pursuit. It was the opinion of Justice Story, regarding his treatise on the Rights and Duties of Merchant Seamen, that it is written with great ability, accuracy and learning, and is by far the most valuable work on that subject now in existence. The digest of the decisions of the courts of Common Law and Admiralty, two volumes of which were prepared by Mr. Curtis, is a monument of patient industry. He prepared, also, a digest of cases in the American and English Courts of Admiralty. His American Conveyancer, being divested of the general technicalities of the law, is of great utility to business men. His treatise on the Law of Patents for useful inventions in this country, and the remedies for infringement, is invaluable to the profession and the proprietors of all useful inventions. The Equity Precedents, supplementary to the treatise of Justice Story, ever aids the law student. His tract on the true issue of the question relating to the demolition of the convent at Charlestown, entitled The Rights of Conscience and Property, is written with eloquence and power. The most interesting production of Mr. Curtis, to the lovers of literature in all professions, and to the general reader, is the treatise on the Law of Copyright in Books, Dramatic and Musical Compositions, Letters and other Manuscripts, Engravings and Sculpture, as administered in England and America, with some notices of the History of Literary Property. We know not how more suitably to revive an interest in this work, than to cite the opinion of the North American Review, and to advise the printing of a new edition, as it is unknown to our public libraries: "The author has avoided the dry and merely technical manner which writers on subjects relating to the law seem to consider a matter of professional etiquette to adopt. Apart from the interest which every man of letters may be supposed to feel in a discussion of copyright, he will find in Mr. Curtis' work ample scope for literary taste. Many curious and valuable details of literary history are introduced, and the notes are enriched with copious illustrations, drawn from biographies, criticisms and judicial decisions, embodied in the most agreeable manner, collected nowhere else." In the winter of 1849 Mr. Curtis commenced the delivery of a course of twelve lectures on the History of the Constitution of the United States, which were closed Feb. 7, 1850. The last of the lec tures, the subject of which was on the strength of the constitution, was published. They evince a profound knowledge of the philosophy of government, a patriotic spirit, and great research. HORACE MANN. JULY 4, 1842. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES. HORACE MANN was born at Franklin, in Massachusetts, May 4, 1796. He was mostly self-educated, being of limited funds. He , entered Brown University in advance of the customary period, where he graduated in 1819, and gave the valedictory address, on the improvement of the human species in dignity and happiness, and became a tutor from 1820 to 1822. "A teacher with whom I partly fitted for college, Master Samuel Barrett, an itinerant schoolmaster and a profound linguist," says Mr. Mann, "in hearing the Eneid, the select orations of Cicero and the four evangelists, in Greek, never took either grammar or text-book into his hand; and he would have considered it an indignity, if a pupil had offered him one, by which to set the next lesson. I know that this ability of his inspired one of his pupils, at least, with sentiments of respect towards him, with conceptions of excellence, and with an ardor for attainment, such as all the places and prizes ever bestowed, and a life of floggings into the bargain, would never have imparted. I well remember that, when I encountered a difficulty, either in translation or syntax, and was ready to despair of success in overcoming it, the mere thought, how easy that would be to my teacher, seemed not only to invigorate my effort, but to give me an enlargement of power, so that I could return to the charge, and triumph." Mr. Mann prepared for the legal profession at the Law School in Litchfield, Conn., and read law in the offices of James Richardson and Josiah J. Fiske, counsellors-at-law, in Dedham. In 1828 Mr. Mann was elected a representative of Dedham, which station he honorably filled for several years; was at the same period a counsellor at the bar. It was at about this period that the Hon. Edward Dowse, of Dedham, remarked of Horace Mann, that if his talents were equal to his ambition, he would become a member of Congress. In 1836 he became a resident of Boston, where he was elected for Suffolk to the State Sen ate, of which he was chosen president in that year, and until 1839. He was the Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education, from its establishment, June 29, 1837, until 1848; and was successor to John Quincy Adams, as member of Congress for Norfolk, from that period. He displayed the same persevering energy in political life that rendered him so eminent in education reform, and was elected for Norfolk to the next term. Horace Mann has been one of the most vigorous originators of philanthropic enterprises in New England. When in the Legisla ture, he was the principal advocate and projector of the State Lunatic Hospital, at Worcester, in the year 1831, and wrote all its earlier reports. He was an energetic workman in the temperance reformation, and was president of the Suffolk County Temperance Society; and, in 1834, published remarks on the comparative profits of grocers and retailers, as derived from temperate and intemperate customers. Mr. Mann was one of the first members of the State Legislature who made a speech in favor of the railroad enterprise. He was active in effecting the law abolishing the sale of lottery-tickets. One of our periodicals said of him: "There is not a town or a school-district in Massachusetts in which his influence has not been felt; there is not one which has not largely profited by the spirit which he has excited, and by the improvements which he has introduced. Many new school-houses have been erected, and old ones much improved; appropriations of money to the purposes of education have greatly increased; seminaries for teachers have been established." Indeed, Mr. Mann originated the Normal Schools, patronized by the Legislature, in 1838. Improved systems of instruction and discipline have been introduced; the number of scholars is multiplied, and they are far more regular in their attendance at school; — and, finally, an interest in the subject has been aroused, which promises still more brilliant results. All this has been effected with the assistance of a few individuals, and especially by the liberality of the late Hon. Edmund Dwight, of Boston, who supplied large funds for the enterprise. Mr. Mann traversed towns, cities and villages, lecturing with his best energies,— urged the special regard of the Legislature, wrote letters, essays, circulars and reports, infusing his own enthusiasm into every active mind within his grasp. Moreover, he visited, in 1842, the principal cities in Great Britain, Germany, Holland, Belgium, returning by the way of France, urging forward the moral reform. Gov. Everett, in remarking on the benefit of education in its broadest sense, at a public festival where Horace Mann was present, on turning towards him, said, "I need not enlarge upon its importance; but there sits the person the very apostle of this uninspired gospel, Horace Mann-who has told you, over and over again, that education is the great interest of every class in this community." The Edinburgh Review says of Mann's twelfth report, "This volume is, indeed, a noble monument of a civilized people; and, if America were sunk beneath the waves, would remain the fairest picture on record of an ideal commonwealth." We regard the four years' administration of Gov. Everett as the noblest era in the annals of the old Bay State since the times of Gov. Hancock, it having been the period of founding an organization of popular school education, and the completion of the great Western Railroad. Shortly after the establishment of the State Board of Education, which owes its origin to his indomitable decision, he advanced the forthcoming sentiment, in a speech at Faneuil Hall, after remarking, Talk of public buildings, sir! Let the plain brick school-house go down, and, though we pile our hill-tops with structures that surpass the time-defying solidity of Egyptian Thebes, or the immortal gracefulness of Corinth or Athens, they will but stand the gorgeous monuments of our shame!" "Education! -When we feed that lamp, we perform the highest social duty; if we quench it, I know not where (humanly speaking, for time or for eternity),— - 'I know not where is that Promethean heat, It may truly be said of Horace Mann, that he was a principal founder of the new system of public school education in Massachusetts, which is the glory of New England. Our State, instead of sending to ancient fatherland for counsel and plans of operation, has become the guiding star of all Europe, and foreign kingdoms are rapidly adopting the school system of the old Bay State. The demand for Mr. Mann's State productions was so rapid, that they are all taken up. The twelve first annual reports on education, written by our apostle, will ever be in demand, and should be published in a permanent form at the expense of the State, and given to every member of a school-committee and every school-teacher. He has published Lectures on Education, in one volume. He was editor of the Common School Journal, from its establishment in 1838, and of the Revised Statutes of the State. He was |