of the age. Like the great processes of nature, in the epochs of creation; the influences which are to produce the regeneration of Russia will be gradual in their working. The old formation will slowly yield to the action of a new spirit. Silently, and unseen, it will penetrate the fibres of the people; when a deep heaving commotion will complete the change and shake the national foundations from their accustomed place. The old, decayed, and worn out elements, will be swept away in the storm, and will be succeeded by new forms of beauty and life. Such a social revolution is imminent for Russia, and with her for the whole Slavic family. The emancipation of Russia is an essential condition of the emancipation of Europe, and thus of the future harmonious and progressive activity of the European world." able to the taste and cultivation of the enlightened citizens of Petersburg, at the same time that we feel confident that under such officers as now manage its affairs, it must continue to extend its sphere of operations and enlarge its capacities for good. The Poems of Charles Churchill in Three Volumes, from the press of Little & Brown have been sent to us by Mr. A. Morris. The work is uniform with the excellent series of the British Poets which this enterprising Boston house have been engaged in publishing for some months past, and which we have already commended to our readers. Churchill was a singular compound of the bully and the litterateur, a clergyman by profession and a sad sinner in practice, the dread of small dramatists sad players and the reproach of good men among whom he A YEAR AMONG THE TURKS. Or Sketches of Travel moved. His character has been well delineated by the in the European and Asiatic Dominions of the Sultan. Edinburgh Review in an article attributed to Macaulay, By Warington W. Smyth, M. A. Redfield. New where the reader will also find a somewhat tart criticism York. 1854. [From J. W. Randolph, 121 Main of the notes to his Poems by Mr. Tooke. Street. Mr. Smyth is an Englishman, and a descendant of the celebrated John Smith of immortal memory, the patronymic having suffered a change of equivalent vowels since the brave old days of Jamestown. It may be inferred from his place of birth and the existing relations between England and Turkey, that his account of the Mussulman is favorable. Mr. Smyth's feelings towards the followers of the Sultan are very different from those of his great ancestor when he cut off the memorable "three Turks' heads" which appear upon the John Smith arms. He looks upon them in the most catholic spirit, and is prompt to recognise their excellencies in all things. One great advantage Mr. Smyth certainly possesses over most of those who hurriedly prepare books to meet a sudden rush of popular interest-he writes very pure English and is evidently a scholar. HISTORY OF OLIVER CROMWELL and the English Commonwealth, from the Execution of Charles the First to the Death of Cromwell. By M. Guizot. Translated by Andrew B. Scobel. In Two Volumes. Philadelphia: Blanchard & Lea. 1854. [From A. Morris, 97 Main Street. A work on Cromwell by Guizot must of necessity be worthy of the reader's attention. The present volumes form the earliest portion of a complete treatise on the English Revolution, and have been rendered into Euglish with commendable accuracy and elegance. We beg to acknowledge the receipt of the "first Annual Report of the Board of Directors of the Petersburg Library Association," setting forth the condition and prospects of that noble institution, whose usefulness and value we have already had occasion to recognise. From this Report it appears that there are 3,200 volumes in the Library, that during the last winter a course of ten lectures were delivered weekly in the public hall and that the whole number of members of the Association is 340. We rejoice at the prosperity of a literary enterprise so honor David Davidson, Esq., of New York city has sent us some exquisite specimens of colored oil engravings, executed after the patent process of Baxter, which we think the finest things of the kind we have ever seen. Among them are fruit and flower pieces of the most faithful and beautiful character, views of Lake and River Scenery, ilustrations of art in the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, and copies of celebrated paintings by the old masters. Of the latter the Descent from the Cross, from Ruben's immortal picture, is worthy of being hung up in a cabinet. Mr. Davidson is the American agent for these engravings, and is prepared to furnish them in such quantities as may be desired. They are for sale in all the principal cities of the Union, as will be seen by a reference to his advertisement on the Messenger cover. Mr. A Morris has in press and will shortly publish a work of fiction from the pen of a young lady of this city, whose occasional contributions to our periodical litera ture have attracted the notice and secured the commen dation of foreign critics. The novel is entitled "Alone." The scene is laid in Richmond, and the characters are taken from our native society, so that in one respect at least the work will be entitled to a favorable reception— as a home book. We have been honored with the perusal of some sheets of the story, from which we augur as The volume will be ready in a few abundant success. The fourth volume of Putnam's beautiful edition of the works of Addison has just reached us through A. Merns of this city. We have already referred to the excellence of this edition in point of arrangement and completeness and we do not doubt it will find a ready acceptance a the hands of the reading public. The present volume contains a large portion of the papers of the Spectator One more volume remains to complete the series, an this will be given, we learn, at an early day.. PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT THREE DOLLARS PER ANNUM-JNO. R. THOMPSON, EDITOR. VOL. XX. RICHMOND, JUNE, 1854. WORKS OF CALHOUN,* The volume before us furnishes a worthy sequel to the former labours of its distin NO. 6. source and trace its devious wanderings toward the great ocean of knowledge, was at once the natural impulse and the necessary law of his mental organization. To powers peculiarly adapted to his enterprize, he added as the fruits of studious thought and labe gui-hed author. The last of the rich pro-rious experience, in public affairs, a know ness forms an ornament well fitted to sur relations both abstract and concrete, which ledge of the science of Government, in its few ever possessed in an equal-none in a greater-degree. It has been the misfortune of most emi ductions of his intellect it embodies and embalms the ripe experience and profound spec ulation of his previous life. Elaborated with all that exactness which a rigid discipline of the faculties enabled him to attainthis the crowning monument of his great- nent writers, upon the theory of GovernTo knowledge of practical legislation with the ment, that they have failed to combine a spirit of speculative enquiry. Locke's "Treatise upon civil government," was composed its pages glow with the last rays of his de- in the quiet seclusion of a literary sanctum. clining but still unclouded intellect. To the The invaluable labours of Montesquieu mark completion of this task was consecrated the the wisdom of the philosopher, without atlatest inspiration of his genius, and like the testing the abilities of the practical statestraditionary responses of the Sybils, the man. The celebrated essay of De Lolme mount the peerless marble of his fame. sesses a mournful interest from the fact that volume of its revelations is the more to be of Junius, "a performance deep, solid and though pronounced upon the high authority entire acquaintance with the workings of the ingenious," was written by a foreigner whose English Constitution was derived from the necessarily superficial observations of a transient visit. To this objection, at least, the work of Mr. Calhoun is not liable. He laid He ascended appreciated, because the oracle which gave them utterance is stamped with the seal of an eternal silence. The voice which echoed the teachings of his wisdom is hushed; but the living spirit of his genius still breathes through these pages, and weaves its spell of conviction in the mind of the reader. For the successful accomplishment of the task so aside the garb of boyhood to be invested with faithfully executed in the work before us, no the powers of a legislator. man could have pledged abilities of a higher from the modest road of citizenship. to the or more peculiarly appropriate order than the second office in the gift of his country, through great political philosopher of Carolina. An- the several grades of representative, senaalysis was the peculiar province of his intel-tor, and minister. For thirty years he lived lect. His mind was a vast crucible in which in contact with the institutions of which he every idea was resolved into its constituent elements-subjected to the infallible test of machinery of our federal system evolved wrote; and every revolution of the complex truth, and arranged with all the accuracy of! some new principle-some hidden clue to scientific investigation. To trace every stream the mystery of Government,-which, under of thought back to the fountain from which the powerful lens of his intellect, kindled its sparkling waters sprung-to ascertain its into a blaze of discovery. The opportuni the Constitution and Government of the United States. ties for observation thus afforded are amply *A Disquisition on Government and a Discourse of sufficient to relieve this Disquisition from the imputation of mere theorism. It forms the common altar upon which speculation and By John C. Calhoun. Edited by Richard K. Cralle. VOL XX-41 experience combine to offer votive incense world attaches the greatest value. In every to truth. community, Government affects the interests The early history of Mr. Calhoun striking and consequently claims the attention of a ly illustrates the force of that attractive pow-greater number than any other object of puber, in political ambition, which induces the lic solicitude. To the political institutions great majority of young Americans to ex- all eyes are directed as the ultimate source change the closet for the forum,-to prefer of happiness or misery. Public station afthe civic wreath in its rude simplicity to the fords the widest field for human usefulness, myrtle of Erator, or the jewels of Calliope. and consequently presents the greatest inHis powers were philosophical rather than ducements to human ambition. Political amforensic. Nature endowed him with the bition must be the ruling influence in every wand of Philosophy. The accident of birth State, unless absolutism places its objects bearmed him with the mace of authority. Had yond the possibility of attainment, or corrup his lot been cast in the days of Athenian tion plunges them beneath the dignity of glory, his teachings might have graced the genius. History verifies this assumption. Academy and the Grove. Had he lived when In France, despotism has for ages closed the fame of Roman literature was only ex- every avenue to political advancement; high celled by the valour of Roman arms, he might talents are not with her the passports to exhave added another page to a history adorn- alted station. True she has had her moed by the learning of a Quintilian and the ments of convulsive freedom; but, even then, genius of a Seneca. Such was not his des anarchy has driven virtue from the places tiny. His course was moulded to suit the which tyranny had vacated. Disgusted with exigencies of the time in which he lived-of the bacchanalian revels of genius without the people whom he was to serve. The in-virtue, and liberty without restraint, honourgenious theories of ancient learning were able ambition has sought repose in the tranexploded. The human mind had ceased to quillity of private circles, or distinction in grope in pursuit of things unattainable to the more secluded walks of science. What human reason. Bacon had dethroned Aris- has been the result? Literature acknowled totle. The system of utility had overthrown ges herself indebted to France for some of the dogmas of the schools. The object of her greatest triumphs. Science does homage Philosophy was no longer to elevate man to to her for some of the most brilliant trophies a position from which he could look down of the human mind; but philanthropy revolts with contempt upon the evils inseparable from her touch, as the inveterate foe to libfrom humanity. Efficacious relief, not sub-erty, the deadly enemy of social progress. lime indifference, was its aim. The time had The sun of to-day finds her political prepassed when its barren inquiries and fruitless pects where they were left centuries ago by speculations upon mental phenomena, bound- the imperious rule of Charlemagne. Her ed the aspirations of honourable ambition. annals are emblazoned with the names of In the eyes of modern philosophy, ability is men eminent in the halls of learning-dis the highest test of merit. He deserves most tinguished in all the useful arts. But we at the hands of Philanthropy whose services seek in vain for the name of a single citizen, conduce most to alleviate the sufferings,-to Guizot perhaps excepted, whose history supply the wants, to gratify the tastes of claims for him all the high qualities of states mankind. Scholastic pedantry may affect to manship. Richelieu combined the jugglery regret the absence from our literature of the of unscrupulous priestcraft, with the prover grave dissertations of Zeno-and the stately bial hypocrisy of Machiavellian policy. Maz passages of Plato. But the world has ceased arin atoned for the absence of devotion to need, and mankind ceased to reward the the best interests of France, by servile subservices of the disciples of either. Individ- mission to the edicts of imperial authority ual ambition is coloured by public sentiment. Necker was a political banker who transfer Great abilities invariably seek noble objects. red the tactics of his profession from the That will always be the subject of the warm- counting-house to the cabinet. Bailly com est competition to which the opinion of the promised for the want of statesmanlike abili ty, by the possession of honesty of intention purpose from the hearts of the people. The and firmness of purpose; amply endowed philosophy of other nations may have adwith the boldness to execute, he only needed vanced farther into the arcana of nature. Pothe talents to design. In Mirabeau, the im- etry may have plumed its pinions to more becillity of the statesman is concealed by the lofty flights in other lands; but in the noble brilliancy of the orator. Talleyrand was a science of legislation-in all the varied acministerial magician-a political wizard who complishments of statesmanship-in social sought to baffle cabinets and councils by the "stale devices" of paltry subterfuge, or the "worn out tricks" of an antiquated diplomacy. progress, and political improvement, to rival America is to lead the world, To this national taste for public station are we indebted for much of the success which has characterIn England, where the road to public office ized the administration of our national affairs, has been to a certain extent thrown open to It has brought together the intelligence—the merit of every grade, the importance of po- virtue-the purity-of the country, to act in litical ambition to the welfare of the state is the most perfect concert, and the most honfully attested. A place in Parliament or a ourable emulation to promote its welfare and seat upon the Treasury bench, is an honour, advance its dignity. It has illustrated our to which the humblest citizen need not fear annals with the moral grandeur of Washingto aspire,-which the loftiest intellect may ton-the prophetic sagacity of Jeffersonnot affect to despise. The same genius which the transparent logic of Madison and Hamilhas thrown such a halo of glory around her ton-the ponderous eloquence of Websterliterary and scientific history, has lent its aid the dauntless intrepidity, the fearless invec to educate her sons to the offices of freedom- tive of Clay-the deep wisdom, the high to reform ancient abuses-to explode mod- resolve, the senatorial dignity of Calhoun. ern errors. Literature has volunteered its Its existence is the natural consequence of assistance to government, science has been free institutions-its duration can only be the handmaid of legislation. Newton did measured by their permanence, or endanger. not think the measure of his reputation com- ed by their downfall. plete until his presence in Westminster Hall The two works of Mr. Calhoun, immedi had thrown the eloquence of his great name ately under our notice, are so inseparably against the usurpations of the Stuarts. Ma- connected both in subject-matter and in mode caulay did not attain the full stature of his of treatment, as to justify us in regarding the fame until he had added the laurel of suc- one as the preliminary of the other-the cessful statesmanship to the garland of un-"Disquisition" as the preface to the "Disrivalled authorship. In our own country the course on the Constitution." The former is universal prevalence among all young men the demonstration of a great moral problem of a desire to mingle in political circles, and the latter is the corollary which results with participate in the public councils, has been the accuracy of truth, with the infallibility made the subject of derision by some, of re- of intuition. Both are eminently charactergret by many. That it furnishes the occa- istic of the mind of the author. And upon sion for neither, we think a moment's reflec- this consistency between the works and their tion will prove. The institution most essen- author, we apprehend will be founded the tial to public happiness, is surely entitled to objections of those who deny the correctness command the highest abilities furnished by of his reasoning. The charge of abstractionthe public mind. Government here attracts ism is one from which the admirers of Mr. the greatest talents to assist in its adminis- Calhoun have always found it their duty to tration, because its honours are open to all-defend their leader. There is a class of perwhile they cannot be despised by any. The sons who profess to be startled by every contingency of noble blood cannot afflict our proposition not verified by the ordinarylegislative bodies with the curse of heredi- teachings of every-day-life, who reject as tory idiocy. Nor has the spirit of faction false every deduction not sanctioned by the yet succeeded in expelling purity of inten- positive experience of passing events. tion from the public councils, or honesty of was this disposition, a little darkened by ig norance, and a good deal perverted by preju- The legislator who seeks to remedy the evils. dice, which pressed the fatal cup to the lips of the State, without investigating their ori of Socrates, and rewarded the zeal of Gali- gin, is guilty of the same fallacy committed leo with the penalties of torture. By such by the ignorant quack who applies the knife, persons this volume will be rejected as the caustic and the bandage before the probe abounding in theory, but barren in fact has defined the seat of the injury. Despite teeming with solutions of metaphysical phe- the prejudices of the multitude, theory is nomena, but destitute of the practical wis- never to be dreaded when the facts upon dom of experience. To this we reply, that which it is based are correctly ascertained. the nature of some subjects is such as to re- Speculation is only dangerous when it seeks quire the application of the strictest rules of to ascertain premises; never when it draws metaphysical analysis. The "Essay upon conclusions. In the one case it may be dethe conduct of the Human Understanding," ceived by the fallibility of human observacould hardly have survived its author, had tion; in the other it can only be misled by he not occasionally elevated his thoughts to the treachery of human reason itself. a region beyond the unaided comprehension Of that sort of speculation which reasons of the vulgar. Nor is it probable that Butler from known facts to irresistible conclusions, could ever have constructed his great argu- which starting from the vantage-ground of ment upon the analogies of religion, had he established phenomena, and following the not sometimes allowed the piercing glance of elusive thread of truth in all its mazy windhis mental vision to penetrate the surface ings through the labyrinth of error, emerges which limits the range of superficial obser- into the cloudless daylight of discovery, this vation. To this style of treatment, specula- volume furnishes many striking illustrations. tions upon the science of Government pre- It is profoundly metaphysical and still emisent claims of peculiar force. The necessity nently practical-metaphysical because the for government, springs exclusively from the moral constitution of man. Society alone, without the restraints of law-without the sanction of a controlling power, would suffice to meet the requirements of his physical na ture. nature of his subject imposed that necessity upon its author-practical because by the crystallizing process of intense thought the whole theory of government has been compressed into a form alike accessible to all. Were men insensate beings-mere The great difficulty in the solution of the blocks of wood, endowed with vitality; or im- problem of government, is to find the proper ages of stone, gifted with the power of mo- place between the powers of the ruler and tion, government would be a useless encum- the rights of the ruled. To secure the requibrance-law a superfluous appendage. As site amount of power to the government, and it is the spiritual organization of the human at the same time reserve to the people the system, which originates the necessity of re- privilege of self-protection, is the great obstraint-so must the peculiar character of tacle to be encountered. Power, without that system furnish the criterion for its ex- restraint, results in tyranny. Liberty with ercise when once established. The creature out control, degenerates into anarchy. The is usually the type of the creator. As gov- practical result is the same in either caseernment is the offspring of the moral consti- the tendency of both is towards centralism. tution of men-in accordance with the na- The former reaches at a single bound the ture of that constitution will its administra- goal to which the latter must eventually tion be tinged by the hues of prejudice and come. Anarchy finds its necessary antidote passion, or enlightened by the purer rays of in the same despotism which results directly reason and of right. To do justice to the from the abuse of unbridled power. efficacy of his art, the physician must under-ters not where this authority may be lodged. stand the source and character of the disease If it is not liable to the checks of wholesome which affects his patient. To heal the mala- restriction, the weakness of human nature dies of society, the statesman must ascertain renders it liable to perversion. The same the causes in which they originate, and the frailty in the moral organization of mankirc circumstances by which they are modified. which renders restraint necessary, ensures It mat |