scene of his mission was laid. But he interfered not with established authorities; to have done so, would have been to put the doctrines which he proclaimed upon the issue of a contest with political institutions. The object of his mission was of far greater importance than to overthrow the evanescent establishments of the day, on which the caprice of men was working perpetual changes. It was to establish principles which, though prescribing only the limits of moral duty, were ultimately to infuse themselves through the whole structure of society and government, and make them both subservient to purposes of beneficence and justice.

During century after century, excepting for brief intervals, the world too often saw the beauty of the system marred by the fiercest intolerance and the grossest depravation. It has been made the confederate of monarchs in carrying out schemes of oppression and fraud. Under its banner, armed multitudes have been banded together, and led on by martial prelates to wars of desolation and revenge. Perpetrators of the blackest crimes have purchased from its chief ministers a mercenary immunity from punishment. It has been made the pretext, by religious sects of almost all denominations, for extirpating differences of opinion by fire and sword; hurling Charity, the first of the virtues, from her throne, and raising up Intolerance, the most odious of the vices, in her place. Such, in the hands of man, have been the abuses of a system which was designed to eradicate from the human breast all "envy, hatred, and uncharitableness!" Nearly two thousand years have passed away, and no trace is left of the millions who, under the influence of bad passions, have dishonored its holy precepts; or of the far smaller number who, in seasons of general depravation, have drunk its current of living water on the solitary mountain or in the hollow rock. But its simple maxims, outliving them all, are silently working out a greater revolution than any which the world has seen; and long as the period may seem since its doctrines were first announced, it is almost imperceptible when regarded

as one of the divisions of that time which is of endless duration. To use the language of an eloquent philosophical writer, "The movements of Providence are not restricted to narrow bounds: it is not anxious to deduce to-day the consequence of the premises it laid down yesterday. It may defer this for ages, till the fulness of time shall come. Its logic will not be less conclusive for reasoning slowly. Providence moves through time as the gods of Homer through space; it makes a step, and years have rolled away. How long a time, how many circumstances intervened before the regeneration of the moral powers of man by Christianity exercised its great, its legitimate function upon his social condition; yet who can doubt or mistake its power?"1

Amid the advances in science and in social improvement, which have been briefly considered, our own country has sprung into existence not by slow development, but, as it were, at a single bound. The foundations of her destiny, whatever it shall be, have been laid in an era of intellectual, social, and political agitation unequalled by any other in the history of our race. If she has shared largely in the fruits of the labors of other nations, she has also been a bountiful contributor to their social prosperity and happiness. Her own greatness has been wrought out as much by force of the inventions as by the industry and enterprise of her own citizens. It is true, there are few countries in Europe which have not added something to her wealth and her numbers, or to the scientific principles which her citizens are applying with an assiduity that transcends all precedent and mocks all calculation, on the great theatre of her development. But she has amply repaid the debt, through the genius of a single man,2 by uniting them in bonds of intercourse, which are gradually eradicating national antipathies, and which are constantly rendering more manifest the great truth, which reason

1 Guizot, General History of Civilization in Europe, p. 28.

2 Fulton.

and revelation have hitherto taught in vain, that the true policy of nations consists in cultivating the arts of peace.

But whatever may be the issue of the experiments now in progress in government, in science, and in the useful arts, upon the external policy or the internal condition of nations; whatever obstacles may for a time oppose and defeat the triumph of enlightened principles, -whether ancient prejudices shall again revive and ripen into collision, bringing in their train the conquest of provinces, the overthrow of armies, the deposition of monarchs, and the abolition of thrones, — or whether a period of enduring tranquillity has even now begun to dawn upon the inhabitants of the earth, happily, gentlemen, the cause of Science fears no impediment either from political agitation or discord. Her triumphs, as rapidly as they are achieved, are, by the instrumentality of the press, written down in all languages, and the record treasured up in a thousand places of safety. If any deluge of vandalism shall overwhelm and bury in ruins the stores of knowledge which she has accumulated in one quarter of the globe, the same treasures will be preserved in others. Thus will the point, at which in all future time the researches and discoveries of each generation shall have their termination, become the starting-place of their successors in the career of improvement. Nor has she anything to fear from dissension among her own followers. Her empire is without bounds. Her domains know no geographical demarcations. Her votaries, wherever they are to be found, are citizens of the same great commonwealth; pursuing the same high objects; obeying the same honorable impulses; distracted by no party feuds; ambitious of no other triumphs but to carry the victorious arms of knowledge and truth into the dominions of ignorance and error.

APPORTIONMENT OF MEMBERS OF CON

GRESS.

LEGISLATURE OF NEW YORK.

1842.

In the Assembly, the following Resolutions of Protest against the act of Congress "for the apportionment of Representatives among the several States, according to the sixth census," were under consideration:

"Whereas the Congress of the United States, at its present session, has passed a law entitled "an act for the apportionment of Representatives among the several States according to the sixth census," which act provides that the said Representatives shall be chosen by districts composed of contiguous territory, no one district electing more than one Representative; and whereas the Constitution of the United States declares that the times, places, and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed by the legislatures of the several States, reserving to Congress the power by law to make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing Senators; and whereas the principal ground on which the reservation of this power to Congress was urged when the Constitution was submitted to the States for adoption, was that it was indispensable to enable the general government to provide for its own safety and preservation, in case the States should neglect, refuse, or be unable to provide for the election of Representatives; and whereas a majority of the thirteen original States, by solemn public acts, objected to the provision by which the power was conferred, and declared themselves in favor of such an amendment to the Constitution as should restrain Congress from any interference with the regulations of the States for the election of Representatives, unless the States should neglect, refuse, or be unable to make such regulations; and whereas the States have continued for more than half a century in the undisturbed enjoyment of the right given to them by the Constitution to prescribe the times, places, and manner of choosing their Representatives in Congress, and have faithfully fulfilled that high trust, and no public exigency has arisen to call for the interposition of Congress to overrule them in its exercise:"Therefore, Resolved, (if the Senate concur,) That, in the opinion of

this legislature, the interference of Congress in a matter peculiarly of State concern, under no circumstances of public necessity, is unjustifiable, a violation of the spirit of the provision of the Constitution under which the right of interference is asserted, and at variance with the intention of its framers.

"Resolved, (if the Senate concur,) That, in the opinion of this legislature, the act aforesaid is the fruit of an arbitrary and dangerous exercise of power in Congress, and an invasion of the rights of the States, each of which ought to be left, in its own independent judgment, to prescribe such regulations for the choice of its Representatives as may be dictated by the wishes and convenience of its own citizens. Resolved, (if the Senate concur,) That our Senators in Congress be instructed, and our Representatives requested, to use their influence to procure a repeal of the said act.

"Resolved, (if the Senate concur,) That, in the opinion of this legislature, the interference of Congress with the choice of Representatives in the different States, without being justified by any of the circumstances against which the provision of the Constitution authorizing its interposition was particularly designed to guard, can only be viewed as the evidence of an alarming disposition in the Federal legislature to encroach upon the just rights of the States, and that early and efficient measures ought to be taken to provide against the repetition of the evil by an amendment of the Constitution of the United States.

"Resolved, (if the Senate concur,) That, in pursuance of the object expressed in the last resolution, the following amendment, which was proposed by the convention of the State of New York when the Constitution of the United States was ratified, ought to be engrafted as a permanent provision upon that instrument, viz:

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Congress shall not make or alter any regulation in any State, respecting the times, places, and manner of holding elections for Senators or Representatives, unless the legislature of such State shall neglect or refuse to make laws or regulations for the purpose, or from any circumstance be incapable of making the same, and that in those cases such power shall only be exercised until the legislature of such State shall make provision in the premises: provided that Congress may prescribe the time for the election of Representatives.'

"Resolved, (if the Senate concur,) That the Governor of this State be requested to communicate a copy of these resolutions to the Governor of each of the other States of the Union, with the request that they may be laid before the legislatures thereof, respectively.

"Resolved, (if the Senate concur,) That the Secretary of State be directed to transmit a certified copy of these resolutions to each of the Senators and Representatives in Congress from this State."