wretchedness. And if we are so blest while in our youth to believe they cannot be the causes, but simply conducives to happiness, let us look for the true cause which only can produce this effect, which is the professed object of us all. The experience of others we read, we profess to believe, yet how seldom do we profit. Where shall we find that for which we seek? Can our station in life give it? No. It must be an adaptation of ourselves to our various conditions-a principle withinwhich can reconcile us to every change in our lot, to that poverty which one of old has placed in the jaws of his fabled Orcus, which to many seems not "placed in," but the jaws themselves, as well as comparative affluence. Peace of mind, contentment, resignation-that which will enable the merchantman to maintain a calm tranquillity of spirit, whether the stormy winds may have dashed his richly laden ships upon the hidden rocks, or he sees their sails distended with the favoring breeze; that which," although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vine," shall render the mind of the husbandman as undisturbed as though the "fields were white for the harvest. It is that peace of mind which arises from right action, the sincere desire to discharge every duty enjoined upon us toward God, our fellow men, and ourselves. That contentment which springs from a confiding belief in the wisdom and sufficiency of that hand which controls our destiny. That resignation arising, not so much from the consciousness of utter inability in the least to change the decrees of Omnipotence, as much that is called resignation does, as in the rational belief in the prescience, for our everlasting happiness, of that Being who is the "Father of our spirits and the giver of life." He who possesses these, is blest with happiness earthly objects could never give. J. F. 1 SELECT PASSAGES FROM CICERO. STUDY OF NATURE.-Nor do I think that those questions of the natu ralists are to be rejected. For the consideration and contemplation of nature is, as it were, the natural food of mind and native genius. We are erected. We seem exalted. We look down upon human affairs. Dwelling in thought upon these high and celestial subjects, our own affairs seem trifling and hardly entitled to the least accouut. The investigation of things so great, and at the same time so occult, possesses a peculiar delight; and if any thing occurs which seems capable of explanation by us, the soul is filled with a most refined and peculiar joy. OPINION OF EPICURUS AND DEMOCRITUS.-Epicurus, when he follows Democritus, seldom fails. Although there are many things which I disapprove in both, and this especially, that since in the study of the nature of things there are two objects of inquiry, namely, the one, what the material is from which everything is effected, (efficiatur,) the other, what that power (vis) may be which equally effects each thing. They have discussed in full the question concerning the material, but have altogether overlooked the efficient cause. LITERARY NOTICES. THE MADISON PAPERS.-Correspondence of JAMES MADISON, and his Reports of Debates during the Congress of the Confederation, and his Reports of Debates in the Federal Convention. PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF CONGRESS. 3 vols. 8vo. HERE is a work long looked for, from the hand of one of the master minds of the revolution, and embodying the spirit of the illustrious author. If a longer time has been occupied in the publication of these volumes than our impatience can excuse, we have at least the satisfaction of seeing that they are well printed, and, under the supervision of the accomplished editor, Mr. GILPIN, no doubt most accurately and faithfully executed. Our only remaining regret is, that such a work, which should have been published in a form accessible to every freeman in the land, is held at a price which must limit its possession to comparatively a very small number. The government would have better consulted the public good, and the ascendancy of the truly republican doctrines of MADISON, by causing this great national work to be published in a cheap form, and distributed to at least every township and village in the Union. If this could have been done, even at the expense of retrenchment in the printing of some of the almost endless reports of congressional committees, we are constrained to believe, that much good would have been accomplished. Mr. MADISON took his seat in the Congress of the Confederation on the 20th March, 1780. His record of debates commences 4th November, 1782, and continues to the 21st June, 1783. He again resumes it in February, 1787, continuing it until the 2d May in that year, at which time he left Congress to attend the approaching convention at Philadelphia, which was to prepare the federal constitution. His record of the debates in this convention is full, extending from the first hour of the assembling of that body to the hour of its final adjournment. It is almost the only record existing of the discussions on that memorable occasion, and derives more than ordinary interest from the fact, that the true opinions of some of the prominent men of that day, which have often been perverted or misrepresented, are here faithfully portrayed by the hand of one of the most prominent actors. Great questions of constitutional power are here seen in their true form and aspect, by the help of the light which beamed upon the founders of the constitution; and well may it be for the country if all the differing political leaders in our republic, who waste their eloquence in latitudinarian constructions, or their metaphysical subtlety in splitting the hairs of restriction and limitation, shall, by common consent, go to this fountain-head of information, and, forgetting PARTY, learn to love, and live, and labor for their COUNTRY, as did MADISON and his illustrious compeers. Letters of MrS. ADAMS.—A volume with this title has appeared, which is peculiarly interesting at this time, when every relic of "the heroic age of American history" is eagerly grasped and anxiously secured. Additional interest attaches to the history of a woman of the revolution," one of those glorious mothers and sisters whose gentle support roused the faint-hearted, and urged on the brave in that great Let the zealous woman's-rights partisans read this, let them read the letters of ELIZA WILKINSON, and then, if they can, tell us that woman has no influence till contest. she mounts the rostrum in the senate-house, or, turning demagogue, harangues the populace from the stump! The great German poet, SCHILLER, "has described in contrast, with great felicity of style, the two principal aspects of human character, as determined by the difference of sex." We venture to quote a translation of his beautiful poem, [for the especial benefit of the party above mentioned, and our readers in general.] Honored be woman! She beams on the sight, To be gathered and twined in a garland of love. Man on Passion's stormy ocean Tossed by surges mountains high, Woman invites him with bliss in her smile, Man, with fury stern and savage, Woman, contented in silent repose, Than he with his science and flights of the mind. Coldly to himself sufficing Man disdains the gentler arts, It is hardened into stone. She, like the harp that instinctively sings, Whether sorrow or pleasure her sympathy try, In the realm of man's dominion Woman commands with a milder control, TURKEY AND THE TURKS. THE EASTERN QUESTION. JOHN REID, the author of "Bibliotheca Scoti Celtica," Sketches of Turkey," etc., etc., has recently published another work on Turkey, entitled "TURKEY AND THE TURKS, BEING THE PRESENT STATE OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE." It is a publication of peculiar interest, in the present critical condition of the Turkish empire, threatened by Egypt and the refractory Pacha on the one hand, by Russia on the other, and, worse than either, torn in pieces by intestine divisions. The author esteems the famous Hatti Scheraf, or constitution, the reform bill of Turkey, as the offspring of French alliance and a mere delusion; and he attempts to show, that the only chance of salvation to Turkey lies in the complete abrogation of the fundamental principle of Mohammedanism, that all unbelievers should be put to the sword, and the acknowledgment of the civil and religious liberty of all classes in the empire. It is, indeed, a critical period. The allied powers are ostensibly maintaining the integrity of the Ottoman Empire: what is the real motive, the secret of all this diplomatic game? England makes a treaty with Austria, Russia, and Prussia, excluding France, and hopes by this move to secure for itself the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf by opposing Mehemet Ali. France says, "No! The question for us is the supremacy of the Mediterranean." Thiers, the French minister, is bound to sustain the Pacha. Will England execute the treaty? The French Journal de Debats says: "It is not the French who are constantly in rivalry and collision with the English in the East. Who bribed and excited Persia to turn her army against the English? Who is endeavoring to rouse the tribes subject to England against that power? Who excited China? Who is advancing on the great plateau of Asia? Russia, Russia! Wherever the English turn to this eastern world, from which they derive their strength and their riches, they meet with this patient and silent, but inevitable and external barrier; and yet England would take Russia by the hand to open to her the way to Constantinople! History will not believe it." Report says that the Pacha has accepted conditions from the powers. This, however, is disputed. The great question then is, will they get out of their diplomacy without a rupture? If so, how? When we commenced, we did not think of a political disquisition; however, it is a matter in which the whole world are interested, as the peace of Europe is concerned. We should like to see the book mentioned at the head of this article in the hands of some of our American publishers. It is worth far more than many of the works so profusely multiplied by some of our publishers from the English press. Since the above was written, the rupture has occurred. Beyrout has been destroyed, and the consuls of the powers have withdrawn to their shipping. Whether this may occasion a permanent and real war between France and England, remains to be decided. EDITORS' TABLE. I. A. L. WHEREIN THE GODDESS DISCOURSETH OF CHANGE, ETC.; QUOTETH BYRON; AND APPEALETH TO THE READER. "ALAS! how changed since erst my feet Stood on this fairy earth! I see them not-nor longer greet Those men of Titan birth! Where now the brave of Grecian clime, Who fought-who bled-in former time; "I see them not-I cannot hear, Their shout, their battling cry, That quelled each recreant's rising fear; 'Tis strange-I see-we gods have slept: A nation into being crept? How strange it doth appear! "Wide spread, the beautiful-the bright In truth, it is a noble sight, To view from where I stand The lofty mount, the stretching plain, Each hill and valley low; The rivers reaching to the main, "What stream is this? Its rolling tide Outvies the Xanthian wave, Whose course was stayed by those who died, And found in it their grave. Had HUDSON rolled where Ilion stood, The Xanthian wave instead No pause had checked its swelling flood, |