Are we fully understood? We are not making wholesale, indiscriminate warfare; we are not struggling to deracinate root and branch every political argumentation and excitement whatever. Not at all. There are occasions when such deep and reiterated impressions are called for by the peculiar exigencies of the times; and we recollect to have met with the observation some where in Cicero. These deep and reiterated impressions we speak of, might have been necessary in England, when the fundamentals of the Constitution were to be overthrown by Charles, the parliament annihilated, the people enslaved, or papacy, with all its horrors, revived by James. They were necessary in America, when a wicked ministry would have imposed the most galling yoke of servitude upon the neck of the people. Indeed, any other condition of things would have been most unnatural, when the Anglo-Saxon spirit is considered. But, in removing one man from office, and placing in his stead another, in changing an old administration for a new one,-substituting a novel measure, which few understand, in the place of another, which none have taken the trouble to understand, in things of this sort, we say all this hurlyburly and confusion, this contesting every inch of ground, as if fighting pro aris et focis, is most ludicrous; we change the expression-most unnatural and abhorrent. An administration may be wicked and perverse, a representative corrupt, these are evils, but it is not possible that their limited powers, in a constitution balanced as ours is, can effect in any proportion the mischief which accrues, when the demon of party is roused from his lair, and begins to roar with his brazen lungs. The statesman's power with us to do good is unlimited; but when he begins to stray from that line, if the constitution be strictly enforced, he cannot perhaps go very far, or at least he could not, if our government were brought back to its proper basis.

There is, too, as Dugald Stuart expresses it, a vis medicatrix in the political, as in the organic world, which, by its inherent efficacy, if allowed to operate, will cure all minor evils.* Where is the patriot who does not heartily wish for

*Stuart thinks too much importance is attributed to the mission of the statesman; that society has within itself a tendency towards perfection; and that all the statesman has to do, is to remove the obstructions which counteract it. He thinks, also, that the success or failure of particular measures, are attributed to the statesman, when, in fact, they have very

a consummation such as this; when moderation shall prevail in the minds of the people, and in the councils of the country. Then, indeed, would our country become first among the nations of the earth, and mankind enthusiastically greet her, esto perpetua! Let the statesman regard alone the helm of State; let him divest himself of the degrading livery of party, and breaking to pieces its cords and fetters, be free; let him characterize his action by devotion to truth. and principle; let him watch with all anxiety and solicitude, each resource and department of the nation, content to leave the rest to be adjusted by the wants of society. Let these things be done, and we are inclined to think that more truth than is imagined will be found to be contained in what Hobbes has said: "that the wisdom of nature produces a perfect government." "We may venture to predict," says Hume, "that they are to be the most successful statesmen, who, paying all due regard to past experience, search for the rules of their conduct chiefly in the peculiar circumstances of their own times, and in an enlightened anticipation of the future history of mankind."

And here we should conclude this hasty and imperfect sketch, after making our best bow to the reader, and oraving most humbly his pardon for the length of time we have delayed, impelled onwards, perhaps rashly, by the ardor of composition. We feel inclined, too, to crave pardon for the many imperfections and defects with which the piece abounds, and which it is not difficult for even the writer's eye, as he goes along, to detect; but there yet remain a few general observations to be made, that the subject be brought to its natural conclusion. If we have, in any degree, been successful in producing a faithful representation of the great statesman, and the great man, there remains but another point, and our self-inflicted task is accomplished. Has the world ever realized the character? For, if otherwise, there remains but the skeleton or the corpse, without the life and the blood; the abstraction without the concretion in nature, a result little calculated to gratify our pride. But we would flatter ourselves that matters are not yet so deplora

different causes. He quotes, with approbation, the remark of a distinguished legislator to his son, when elected to a council of ambassadors, "Go and see quam pauca sapientia mundus regitur;" but as his book is not before us, and we have not seen it for a long time, we are not disposed by any

means to controvert.

ble; and that, although "searching out many inventions," man yet retains something of that perfection in which God created him, and which received so severe an injury in the shock of the fall. We agree with Cicero when he laments, that whilst every art and profession is filled, so few orators are to be found ;* and lament, too, that the statesmen are fewer than the orators; but in this lamentation, will not go further and acknowledge an entire negation.

We deem that, without looking back farther than almost our own immediate times, some brilliant and cheering illustrations can be obtained, which we will introduce here, if there be nothing odious in the implied comparison. A D'Agesseau, for example, who, amid all the corruptions of the times of Louis XIV., could remain with spotless integrity and devotion in his attachment to the interests of France; and who, whether in exile or in power, moved onwards the same great and pure spirit.* A Chatham, incorporated heart and soul with his country, and without an aim short of her true glory. A Jefferson, a Madison, a Hamilton,these were brilliant lights, but they shine no more among the living. Nor would it, perhaps, be impossible to find, even in our own times, men formed in a similar mould; although, doubtless it would seem objectionable, in an article of this nature, to give any particular example. We shall, however, presume upon the indulgence and good feelings of the reader, to notice a single one: a man, whose speeches have a place at the head of this article, although without intention to enter upon their merits; a man, reverenced and honored and "cast in iron," for the age in which he figures,-above its petty prejudices,-above its corruptions, he lives and breathes aloft in a pure atmosphere, and in the hearts of his countrymen finds a seat worthy of his highest aspirations. We shall, of course, be excused a tribute so well deserved; we shall be excused, too, the enthusiasm with which we dwell upon the name of a fellow-citizen, which has sounded

* Ex omnibus iis, qui in harum artium studiis liberalissimis sint doctrinis que versati, minimam copiam poëtarum egregiorum exstitissee. Multo tamen pauciores oratores, quam poëtæ boni reperientur. De Oratore. Opera tom. 2, lib. 1, p. 9. Editio prima Americana.

We recollect reading, some time ago, an excellent biographical sketch of the distinguished Chancellor, in the Carolina Law Journal, published in 1828, and extracted, if we remember aright, from some foreign periodical. There is also an article in relation to him, in some of the earlier volumes of the Southern Q. Review, we do not recollect which.

in our ears from the earliest infancy,-connecting itself with every thing that is chivalrous, and blending with the warmest recollections of boyhood. Without stain in the conflict of party, with an integrity which even calumny has not dared assail, with a heart, soul, life, devotion to his country's glory, an intellect vast and cultivated,—a firmness, patriotism and virtue, burning out amid the thick-clustering honors of his head,-who must not pause and admire such a man? Who?but, we forbear.

An immolation of self, and an impersonation of country, is the statesman. How bitter, then, and withering, was the sarcasm (had it been true) which was contained in the charge preferred against Demosthenes by his rival Eschines, that he had "greater regard for pruning his periods, than for the salvation of Greece." But it was not true. The aggrandizement of self must forever be despised; the individual glory-the individual fame-the individual honor-be lost sight of or amalgamated in that of country; and the great republican banner alone be erected and unfurled to the gale-"The greatest good to the greatest number." Of all virtues, devotion to our country is the most ennobling; and the poet who sang, "Dulce est mori pro patria," finds a responsive throb in every heart, where the pure fires of philanthropy are lit up and burn:

"Far dearer the grave or the prison,
Illumed by one patriot name,

Than the trophies of all who have risen
O'er liberty's ruin to fame."

And oh! our country, there was a Power--a Power from on high, that nerved thee in the dread hour of contest and revolution. It will shield thee yet; it will be present to preserve thee inviolate, amid the dangers which so thickly surround. May thy Temple be preserved from the unholy footsteps of the demagogue,-from the scourge of ambition, the desolation of party; may the fires upon thine altars be re-lit, and burn with a purer and a steadier lustre,-consuming, purifying and sending up to heaven alone, the incense of love and devotion. May the priest, as he enters to officiate in thy rites, put off his shoes and uncover his head, and be conscious that it is upon consecrated ground he stands: may he feel and realize to the full extent, that he is a "minister of God for good," and that his every action is regarded.

* Romans xiii. 4.

Amid ambition's airy but desolating schemes,-amid its plots and its devices,-its restlessness and its recklessness,-its blindness and its impiety; amid the triumphs of faction, the shouts of the victors, the desperation of the vanquished; amid the dominion of passion, immorality and vice, with a party for Cæsar, and a party for Pompey, and a party for Crassus, but no party claiming for Rome;-may there be found a redeeming spirit to disenthrall and regenerate,—to breathe upon thy escutcheon,--to cleanse thy leprosy,-to resuscitate and bring thee forth altogether lovely, to elevate thee to that niche in the world's great theatre, the wonder and the admiration of mankind; one prayer for thy existence and glory-one blessing upon those who have been faithful-one gloomy tempest about the heads of thy betrayers.

And, to thee, spirits of our fathers, would our thoughts ascend, to thee, who nurtured and guarded the infant days of Liberty, and tenderly watched her first essays at flight,to thee, noble ones, who resisted bondage, triumphed over power, and broke its chains,-we, a degenerate progeny, look up, and, like the man of Athens, would rouse ourselves and countrymen by the recollections of brighter days,pa sous ev Magata. Be present, high and exalted examples of patriotic virtue, be present, melancholy manes of those who sealed with their blood the compact of our freedom,-be present, ye of every country and age and clime, who have loved liberty and hated tyrants,-be present, that we may be cheered, in these our days of direst need, by your ever glorious example. And Thou, the great Ruler of the universe, in whose hands the "nations are," hear us when we deprecate thy gathering wrath, and invoke thy blessings upon our country. Strengthen-sustain; bless the true, nerve the patriot, arm the statesman, overwhelm with confusion. the crafty and corrupt,-and, if there be no impiety in the prayer a great statesman uttered,-if it be necessary, "and there remains a thunderbolt, let it descend upon the head of him who would ride to glory over the ruins of his country."