other, was organized upon a purely war principle; though, to the credit of its founder be it spoken, with the view of defending its own territories, and not of encroaching upon the dominions of others. What was the first great stroke of policy adopted by the Lacedæmonian lawgiver to secure the supremacy of the martial spirit? What did he primarily aim to accomplish by his extraordinary enactments in relation to food, currency, education, honesty, and labour of all sorts? A Lacedæmonian happening to be at Athens when the court was sitting, was informed of a man who had just been fined for idleness. "Let me see the person," exclaimed he, "who has been condemned for keeping up his dignity!" What was the philosophy of the black broth, the iron money, the consummate virtue of successful theft, the sublime dignity of idleness? It was the war system, entrenching itself, where alone it could be safe, on the ruins of commerce! The annihilation of trade, and all its inducements, and all its incidents-the extermination of the mercantile spirit, root and branch-this was the only mode which the sagacious Lycurgus could devise for maintaining the martial character of Sparta. Plato, who knew something of the practical value of commerce, if it be true that it was by selling oil in Egypt that he was enabled to defray the expenses of those travels and studies, by which he prepared himself to be one of the great lights of the world, bore witness to the wise adaptation of this policy to the end to be accomplished, when he declared that in a wellregulated commonwealth, the citizens should not engage in commerce, because they would be accustomed to find pretexts for justifying conduct so inconsistent with what was manly and becoming, as would relax the strictness of the military spirit; adding, that it had been better for the Athenians to have continued to send annually, the sons of seven of their principal citizens to be devoured by the Minotaur, than to have changed their ancient manners, and become a maritime power. It is this irreconcilable hostility between the mercantile and the martial spirit, which has led heroes, in all ages, to despise and deride the pursuits of trade-from the heroes of the Homeric age of ancient Greece, with whom a pirate is said to have been a more respected character than a merchant, to him of modern France, who could find no severer sarcasm for his most hated foes, than to call them "a nation of shopkeepers." But, from the discovery of the new world, the mercantile spirit has been rapidly gaining upon its old antagonist; and the establishment upon these shores of our own Republic, whose Union was the immediate result of commercial necessities, whose Independence found its original impulse in commercial oppressions, and of whose Constitution the regulation of commerce was the first leading idea-may be regarded as the epoch, at which the martial spirit finally lost a supremacy which, it is believed and trusted, it can never re-acquire. I honour the advocates of peace wherever they may be found; and gladly would I hail the day, when their transcendent principles shall be consistent with the maintenance of those organized societies which are so clearly of Divine original and sanction; the day, when "All crimes shall cease, and ancient fraud shall fail, Peace o'er the world her olive wand extend, And white-rob'd Innocence from Heaven descend.” In the mean time, let us rejoice that the great interests of international commerce are effecting practically, what these sublime principles aim at theoretically. It is easy, I know, to deride these interests as sordid, selfish, dollar-and-cent influences, emanating from the pocket, instead of from the heart or the conscience. But an enlightened and regulated pursuit of real interests is no unworthy policy, either on the part of individuals or nations, and a far-sighted selfishness is not only consistent with, but is often itself, the truest philanthropy. Commandments of not inferior authority to the Decalogue, teach us, that the love of our neighbour, a duty second only in obligation to the love of God, is to find its measure in that love of self, which has been implanted in our nature for no unwise or unwarrantable ends. Yet, gentlemen, while I would vindicate the commercial spirit from the reproaches which are too often cast upon it, and hail its triumphant progress over the world as the harbinger of freedom, civilization and peace, I would by no means intimate an opinion, that it is not itself susceptible of improvement that it does not itself demand regulation and restraint. The commercial spirit has rendered noble service to mankind. Its influence in promoting domestic order, in stimulating individual industry, in establishing and developing the great principle of the division of labour-its appropriation of the surplus products of all mechanical and all agricultural industry for its cargoes-its demand upon the highest exercise of invention and skill for its vehicles-its appeal to the sublimest science for its guidance over the deep-its imperative requisition of the strictest public faith and private integrity-its indi rect, but not less powerful operation in diffusing knowledge, civilization and freedom over the world-all conspire with that noble conquest over the spirit of war which I have described, in commending it to the gratitude of man, and in stamping it with the crownmark of a divinely appointed instrument for good. But that it requires to be tempered, and chastened, and refined, and elevated, and purified, and Christianized, examples gross as earth, and glaring as the sun, exhort us on every side. May you all be inspired with the ambition of securing for our own country and for our own city, so far as in you lies, some share in that noble tribute which was paid by the celebrated Montesquieu, a century ago, to the land of our Fathers :"They know (said he, speaking of the People of England) better than any other people upon earth, how to value, at the same time, these three great advantages, RELIGION, COMMERCE and LIBERTY!" THE HONOURABLE ROGER B. TANEY, CHIEF-JUSTICE OF THE UNITED STATES. I HAD the pleasure of seeing the Chief-Justice at Baltimore, in July: he was from home and occupied; but on my being presented, immediately accompanied me to his house, and indulged myself and my Doctor with an interview. I asked many questions relating to the forms of government, to legal institutions, the tendency of certain political questions then pending, &c. The Judge explained all with that professional clearness and precision which make the most intricate matter easy, and that courteous patience which encourages the ignorant to further inquiry. I thought there was great originality in all his remarks; his opinions were his own, and exhibited much breadth and power of thought, and an entire freedom from prejudice. In speaking of several distinguished men, he alluded particularly to Mr. Webster, of whom he said, " Mr. Webster, when animated, is the first of living orators." In political principle he is firmly attached to the Democratic band, and was appointed by General Jackson to the offices of Attorney-General of the United States in 1831; of Secretary of the Treasury in 1833; and of Chief-Justice in 1835. When in Court he has the appearance of an invalid; he is thin, and pale, and stoops, and looks as if his midnight lamp had waned less often on his slumber, than on severe and laborious study. He looks, in fact, like the Chief-Judge of all the Land; like him upon whose anxious head reposes the trust of millions, and presses the daily and the nightly burthen of ceaseless responsibility. But this delicate, and care-worn, and almost suffering aspect, disappears in society, and his manners and conversation are cheerful and animated: so kind, so familiar did he seem, so well at once to know me, that I still reproach myself for not seeking his friendship before I was already on the wing for England. But, as if penetrating my thoughts, he said on parting, "I knew well who you were in Washington, and I often wished to call upon you; I was then much harassed with professional business, and could not; but remember, Madam, when you return among us, that I shall claim my privilege of renewing and encouraging this intercourse between us. And may Heaven be your guide across the ocean, to your home, and to your country!" How truly was this benediction in accordance with that spirit of affectionate good will so universal in the Catholic Church;-for the present head of the Law in America, the Fountain of Justice, the Moderator appointed by the Constitution between the citizen and the ruler, the Judge of the Chief-Magistrate himself, should the President be arraigned of High Treason;-Roger B. Taney, Chief-Justice of the United States, is a professor of the Roman Catholic Religion. He is attached with fervent zeal to that ancient, learned, and enduring Faith, whose disciples have excelled all others in divine and human knowledge, and he is a native of that Catholic Maryland whose glorious destiny appointed her the first among believing nations to engraft religious freedom upon civil law, and thus to render her code of Christian Jurisprudence the theme of praise, and the model of imitation for all the People of the Earth. 89 THE HONOURABLE JOHN M'LEAN, ASSOCIATE-JUSTICE IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES. 99 "IF you Whigs make a President, in 1848," said I one day to a friend, "let it be Judge M'Lean.' "Do not wish that, Mrs. Maury," was the reply; "Judge M'Lean is canonized; if he were taken away from the Supreme Court, where is the Guardian of the Constitution?" Such was the compliment paid to the virtue and talents of this good and great man by one of the most eminent of the Whig leaders, and his public and private life, presenting one fair page of integrity and honour, fully justify the words. I frequently visited the Supreme Court, sometimes spending many hours in listening to the able advocates engaged in the business going on; and, before I had ever been presented to Judge M'Lean, was honoured by his protection, and gratified by his notice. My little son was, on general occasions, my only escort; he attended me to my seat, and then took leave, generally returning every hour to inquire if I was ready to retire. I was thus alone in the Court, and might probably have felt somewhat embarrassed, being unknown, and in the midst of strangers: but Judge M'Lean entering at once into the delicacy of my position, always bowed to me from the Bench, as well on my departure as on my entrance. The compliment was the more gratifying, because M'Lean was usually at that time the presiding Judge on the Bench. Immediately, by this recognition, I felt myself in the society and under the protection of the graceful and benignant Judge, and no words can express the relief afforded me by this most delicate and refined attention; the impulse of a heart filled with that charity which surpasses comprehension. was, In 1829, when General Jackson was elected to the Presidency, Mr. M'Lean was the Postmaster-General; " and he "said Charles J. Ingersoll, "the very best Postmaster that the country ever had; he discharged the office with industry, punctuality and economy, and displayed great ability in the arrangements. Judge M'Lean employed many females, in *This arrangement took place in consequence of some causes coming before the Court, in which Judge M'Lean had had much previous opportunity of obtaining information. |