one faculty was he less than remarkable; while the whole made up a complement of distinction and power denied, as we think, to any other man of his time. Reflect, how rare it is to find concentred in one man all the qualities of mind, of body, of temperament, which make a successful manager in war-times, and in those crises of affairs in peace, requiring the highest faculties of the captain. Reflect, how few of his contemporaries could, on any one prominent occasion, have supplied his place. Consider, how few men have the qualities which preserve the confidence of a party for years-how few could have held the undisputed leadership of a furious opposition for nearly a generation. Who else has ever done it? Consider, that with these qualities were blended a business capacity and knowledge of detail which qualified him for success in every department of practical affairs. Consider, that he showed a genius for diplomacy inferior to that of no man of the age; for his settlement of the sectional questions when they seemed impossible of adjustment, called for as high diplomatic ability as the treaties he negotiated. Consider that, as a jurist, notwithstanding the small attention he paid to the practice and study of law, he rose to the first rank at the eminent bar of his own State; and that, as an advocate, he had no peer in courts, where the most brilliant and eloquent orators of the country pleaded. Consider, too, that he led the policy of the country in every great measure from Madison, indeed, from the last Congress of Jefferson's administration, until he met the man of his destiny in Andrew Jackson; that in Democratic Congresses he carried almost every one of his leading measures, and was only defeated by the vetoes of the President from fixing upon the country almost the whole line of his policy-a policy so broad as to have embraced nearly the whole scheme of Federal administration. If we look at his measures, we find schemes so large -systems so broad-as to belong only to minds the most capacious; and, besides them, we see faculties of administration so extended as to embrace the fullest details of the bureau or the farm. No man ever had a busier invention in moulding measures, or a more active enterprise in prosecuting his purposes. And, when we add that, for thirty years, a greater body of intellect looked up to him in reverence or followed him with unhesitating confidence, than any man of his age attracted; that those who knew him longest were those who appreciated him the most highly; that senators and judges applauded him as loudly as the village zealots of his party at

the clubs; and that generation after generation of statesmen found him and left him at the post of unquestioned national leadership at the first post of effective influence on all questions, which, for the time, sank the clamors, and disbanded the organization of party; we begin to realize the error, which would degrade the intellect of such a man, from the highest class of the gifted sons of genius God has ever given to the earth. In the multiplicity of his accomplishments, in the versatility of his powers, in the grandeur of his schemes, in the strength of his intellect, in the loftiness and range of his ambition, in his sway over the intelligence of his country, and in the monumental measures of his policy, Alexander Hamilton, alone of his countrymen, approaches him."

We have further in this volume a contrast of Webster and Clay, the latter being awarded the superiority. Webster's speeches may outlive those of Clay. But the acts and measures of Clay are his lasting monument. "We think," says the author, "the judgment of posterity will be in favor of the intellect possessing the faculty of constructing great measures and schemes of statesmanship, and of those great executive energies which carried them into execution."

With this we heartily concur. The question was decided in the Compromise debate in the Senate. Clay conceived. Webster powerfully assisted in performing. Clay, made and started a ball. Webster impelled it with Herculean power. These great men have all gone. The first, unloved by the mass, died in solitude: but around his grave crowd thickly the sympathies which the sorrows of a great and passionate heart call out from the breast of the reflecting lover of his kind. We have dwelt with a species of fascination on this interesting sketch of his mournful life.

Over the lives of Jackson and Clay, two great parties stood mourners, and the sad wail of a nation was their fittest requiem. Over the last departed, men wept as if a dear friend had died. He was their idol, their political embodiment, and as the standard dropped from his nerveless grasp, the Whig party was no more.

ART. VIII.-CONSIDERATIONS ON SOME RECENT SOCIAL THEORIES. Boston Little, Brown & Co. 1853.

THE importance of the subjects discussed in this little volume, is the reason of our offering a few remarks and suggestions which have spontaneously grown out of its perusal. Our times are stirring; they portend events of great importance and fearful magnitude; no subject, how sacred soever its nature may be, is too holy for the most searching investigation and the minds of men are now prying into the subject-matter of human rights, with a zeal and a boldness, such as have never before characterized the inquiries of the human mind. This has led many, who are fearful of the stability of the existing state of things, to be afraid of the boldness of thought; and they would, if they dared to do so, arrest all investigation, unless it brought about results which met their approbation. But this cannot now, and we trust never will be the fate which is to come upon those bold minds which are so daring as to probe into the mysteries of all subjects of human investigation. He who fears the light will always avoid its brightness, lest he may not be able to withstand the disclosures and discoveries it may enable him to make.

The author of this little book has shown that he does not fear to discuss the most difficult and abstruse subjects that now engage the most powerful minds; and that he does not yield his assent to theories which, in his judgment, are not sustained by correct principles and sound reasoning. In the mode of treating the various subjects discussed by him, he exhibits a manly independence; and with most of his conclusions, the strict conservative would generally agree; yet he does not believe that mankind have arrived at a goal beyond which it is impossible for them to go. In this we heartily concur with the author; for we have always insisted that man was a being of progress-that society was progressive-and that these truths are caused by the improvement

of man, not only in the arts and sciences, but in those humane principles now embodied in the moral code of nations, by which their affairs, as nations, are regulated and adjusted.

It is not our design to write a review of the book at the head of this article, but we shall make it the text for some thoughts which have been suggested by its perusal; and we shall freely use the language of the author, in quotations from his valuable treatise. To enable the reader to comprehend the drift of our remarks, we here give the table of contents:"1. The People; 2. Liberty; 3. The Universal Republic; 4. Socialism; 5. Co-operative Associations; 6. The Future."

In the first chapter are discussed the various views that are now entertained by the popular leaders in Europe, such as Kossuth, Mazzini, Louis Blanc and others. The general idea embraced by these men is, that the people, irrespective of, and without the control of constitutions, are not only the source of all power, but have the right to do as they please; and they seem to think that such a state of things would effect that amongst the people which they so ardently desire -Liberty. They do not know, or they pretend not to know, that that people only are free, who can, and do place restraints upon themselves. Licentiousness is not liberty; for it will always generate anarchy and disorder. Ignorance is the parent of despotism-it has been so-and it will always be so.

: We commend to attention the conclusion of the first chapter, as containing sentiments to which we give our concurrence and sanction:

"It is the will of God-a will we may not understand nor question that progress should be very gradual; not visible from year to year, and only with difficulty to be seen from century to century. But this is no reason for discouragement. In all ages, there have been martyrs, who have died for the sake of the people, and who, in death have trusted that their labor would be blessed, though they could not gain the assurance while they lived. And their work was not performed, nor their blood offered in vain, for their example

has given animation to a constant line of followers. The cause of the people always claims undiminished effort. It appeals to the conscience of every man to do the work which has been entrusted to him. The people in many places are misled, troubled and exasperated. They are seeking for help. It is for us to help them, that they may help themselves. We cannot keep things as they are. The world may be regenerated by us not less than by others. In our impatience we may long for more rapid and wider results, than with our best efforts we can reach; but even our faintest exertion will count in this work of ages. We can do something at least for human suffering; and though successive centuries may pass away before the people shall be enlightened, and free and happy; yet we shall have helped the coming of that time, and God will remember though man forget."-Pages 20, 22.

This extract will give a good idea of the style of the author, and show that he is not one of those reformers who expect that as soon as a proposition for the removal of wrong is presented, it must be acted on, even though it might be productive of more evil than good, because of the haste with which the same might be carried out. All those reforms which have caused the mightiest revolutions, in enlightened nations, have been long in maturing. Gradually has one principle after another been elicited, by some daring and bold thinker-this has slowly settled down in the mass of thought -presently another was educed, and after startling the leaden repose of the human mind, it assumed its place in the rank of great principles, until there was produced such an accumulation of moral power, that nothing was needed but some master mind to take his stand upon that mass of principle and thought, and by the enunciation of some great truth, startle the world. When that truth was uttered, the combined powers of error and bigotry could not strangle it; because it was approved and sanctioned by those who had toiled and struggled through midnight darkness to reach the light of day.

Our author says, "that speaking of liberty in its social and political relation, there is meant that state in which a man