The following extracts will show the manner in which Bolingbroke writes of Oxford. Speaking of the peace, his Lordship says:

Bolingbroke had had less passion, and Oxford less scious of the purity of his intentions, and the uppolicy; if the Secretary of State had entertained rightness of his conduct. Bolingbroke may have greater respect for the opinions of the Premier, and detested Oxford to such an extent, as to have been the Lord Treasurer had paid more regard to the unwilling even to be tried with him; and he may wishes of his friends; if the friendly warning and have been too proud to distinguish before his enesage injunctions of Swift had been observed, they mies, between his own case, and that of the Lord might still longer have preserved their party in Treasurer. These, however, are excuses, founded power, and their friends in office, and themselves on feeling rather than reason, which serve to show in safety. the violence of his passions rather than the propriety of his course. The noblest spectacle which can be presented to the mind, is that of a great statesman, stripped of power, deserted by his friends, "The minister who was at their head showed pursued by his enemies, loaded with impeachments himself every day incapable of that attention, that and bills of attainder, and yet under all these accumethod, that comprehension of different matters, mulated misfortunes, sustaining the serenity of his which the first post in such a government as ours mind, and tranquillity of his temper; by the light requires in quiet times. He was the first spring of his own example, and the precepts of philosophy of all our motions, by his credit with the Queen, cheering his desponding followers, and by the unand his concurrence was necessary to every thing aided power of truth and justice, dispelling the we did by his rank in the State; and yet this man mists of slander, the clouds of adversity, and scatseemed to be sometimes asleep, and sometimes at tering to the winds the hosts of faction. Such a play! He neglected the thread of business, which spectacle might Bolingbroke have exhibited to the was carried on for this reason with less despatch world; but the exalted spirit, the expanded soul, and less advantage in the proper channels, and he the divine philosophy, the firm morality and fearkept none in his own hands. He negotiated, in- less integrity, were wanting. The man was not deed, by fits and starts, by little tools and indirect equal to the occasion. He fell to the ground, when ways, and thus his activity became as hurtful as he should have soared to the heavens. His flight his indolence." Again: "Instead of gathering excited at once the contempt of his enemies, the strength, either as a ministry or as a party, we daily pity of his friends, and the ridicule of the world. grew weaker. The peace had been judged with reason, to be the only solid foundation whereupon we could erect a Tory system; and yet, when it was made, we found ourselves at a full stand. Nay, the very work that ought to have been the basis of our strength, was in part demolished before our eyes, and we were stoned with the ruins of it. Whilst this was doing, Oxford looked on as if he had not been a party to all which had passed; broke now and then a jest, which savored of the inns of court, and the bad company in which he had been bred; and on those occasions where his station obliged him to speak of business, was absolutely unintelligible!"

It will be difficult for the warmest admirers of Bolingbroke to justify his connection with the Pretender. In the revolution which placed the House of Brunswick on the throne, the most enlightened and patriotic of both parties had concurred, and history does not record a public act more impres sive and solemn than the calm and determined manner in which the English people in 1688, changed, not their government, but their governors; expelled the fanatic James from the throne, and called the Prince of Orange to the helm of affairs. Little had occurred to diminish the joy of the nation at the expulsion of the House of Stuart, and none were anxious for its restoration but those whose principles were utterly at war with the genius of English liberty, and whose ultimate aim was the destruction of the English Constitution. There was nothing in the character of the Chevalier to excite the regret of the people at the overthrow of his House. His conduct was calculated rather to weaken the small party that still adhered to him, than to bring over the great body of the nation to his cause. He conducted himself like a man who thought, that all England was ready with open arms

From these extracts, it is plain that nothing can exceed the scorn, contempt and ridicule, with which Bolingbroke speaks of Oxford. Without entering into a comparative view of the personal abilities or political conduct of these great rivals, it cannot be denied, that on the most trying and eventful crisis in the lives of both, Harley exhibited a conscious integrity and moral intrepidity, which was in striking contrast with the assumed boldness and disgraceful flight of Bolingbroke. Shortly after George I. ascended the throne, the Whigs took the resolu- to receive him, when his only followers were a few tion of impeaching the Tory minister, and Boling- Jacobites, whose rashness and folly forever thwarted broke took the resolution of leaving England. The their own designs, and who received encourageapologies for his flight are plausible, and perhaps ment from the wealth and influence of the nation, at the time were satisfactory to his friends. He only by dark hints and ambiguous promises. There ought, however, to have stood his ground. The was neither wisdom in his councils, nor vigor in violence of faction cannot intimidate a inan con- his arms. A people whom it was his policy to

NATIONAL ADVERSITY.

surprise, he took every means to alarm. The se- all those consolations which philosophy affords. It crets of his cabinet were whispered at tea-tables is natural for a great mind, in adversity, to try to and in coffee-houses; the most important affairs soften and if possible to conceal its afflictions, and were transacted through mistresses and actresses. when shut out from the pursuits of ambition, to What then could have induced Bolingbroke to em- amuse itself with the pleasures of study. Pride bark his fortunes with such a miserable set of des- will not allow us to own that the world has made perate adventurers? He himself has made the con- us miserable; and that which others conceive to be fession-his party was oppressed, and called on evil, we try to persuade ourselves is good. Lord him for aid. It was not to relieve his country, but Bolingbroke was little disposed to acknowledge to sustain his party, that he engaged in treason that any thing his enemies might do against him, against his native land. The result was such as could give him the least uneasiness; and therefore might have been expected from the principles on he published, shortly after his return from banishwhich he acted. His new associates, who had se- ment, his "Reflections on Exile," a little treatise, duced him from his allegiance and duty, charged written very much after the style of Seneca, but at him with all the failures which their own rashness the same time, ingenious if not original, and eloand folly produced. Having fled from England quent if not profound.* under a charge of treason against the King, he was now accused of treason against the Pretender; and having already been deprived of all his honors by King George, he was now dismissed without ceremony from the service of the Pretender. Among the many advantages to be reaped from An inquiry into the effects which will probably result from a study of the lives of public men, none is so great or so useful, as the lessons of practical wisdom, and the maxims of private deportment, with which it usually fills the reflecting mind. What knowledge can be of greater service, than an acquaintance with the arts by which men have risen to power and fame; with the motives of their conduct, and the ground of their principles; with the good they have done, and the evil they have committed; indeed, with what they have left us to imitate, and what to avoid? And as great events differ rather in the occasions which they produce, than the causes from which they flow; as the springs of human action and the sources of human distinction vary in appearance rather than reality; as the moral sense of mankind in one age, is nearly the same in another, and what is estimable to-day is likely to be so to-morrow, we know no safer path for the young men of this Republic, either to follow or to eschew, than the footsteps of those who have advanced or retarded the great cause of public liberty and social improvement.

the present state of the country.

The present state of the country is eminently one of adversity. This no one will deny. The evidences thereof, meet us on every hand, and reiterate in our ears painful truths, with which we are already too well acquainted, and which we would fain drive from our minds. The newspapers, those swift winged messengers, which come to us from every part of our wide-spread country, all bring intelligence of losses and disasters, and of causes for disquietude and alarm; and the minds of reflecting men seem to have settled down under a melancholy consciousness, that the sun of our prosperity has been obscured by a cloud, whose murkiness and gloom hang above and around us. Commerce languishes. The operations of trade, formerly moving on easily and harmoniously and bringing in abundant wealth to the operators and to the country, have become deranged, embarrassed, and almost stagnant. Men, who were rich, have become poor; while others, who still have means, refuse to make new investments, or embark in fresh enterprises, On the downfall of the Oxford ministry, Lord because ordinary calculation cannot look beyond the gloom and uncertainty which envelope the chanBolingbroke was attainted of high treason, and was obliged, or rather chose, to fly in order to save his nels of trade. The precious metals, which constitute the true Money, are hoarded up in cold, mihead. The recent opposition, headed by Sir Robert Walpole, thirsted for the blood of those who serly stone vaults and iron chests, while the circuhad so long stood in their way to power; and, in lating medium, until very lately, has been almost the former days of England, there was but one step trash, viz. illegal shinplasters and suspended bank entirely, and is yet, in part, composed of miserable . from the cabinet to the scaffold. We will not enter into the merits of the accusation, which the new

paper.

The currency of the country, from being

ministers, flushed with victory, brought against their exceedingly inflated and plethoric, has been suddenly and greatly reduced, while property of all predecessors in office, nor follow Lord Bolingbroke kinds, which gradually went up with the increase any farther than we have done in the various schemes which he formed, while in exile for his own restoration, and the reëstablishment of his party. It is only necessary to state, that during his retirement to France, he of course sought for

VOL. VIII-100

*As a similarity between these remarks on the "Reflections upon Exile," and an essay which appeared some time since in the Western Monthly Magazine, may be observed, it is deemed proper to state that they are both from the same pen.-Ed. Sou. Lit. Mess.

of the currency and the fancied prosperity of the What effects will probably result herefrom? Are nation, has been left to follow, heller skelter, in the there still deeper depths into which we are to be downward path, to seek its level, presenting a plunged, and are our days of mourning and desmournful scene of confusion and difficulty. We pondency long to continue? "Watchman, what of are evidently in a transition state; and men, as yet, the night?"-Guided, we think, by the causality are unable to judge what the new formation will and comparison of our calm reflective hours, but be, or on what basis it will rest, or what security perhaps allured by the deceptive whisperings of it will afford for the future. Consequently, all the hope, we have arrived at the conclusion—“ the capital of the country, whether consisting in its morning cometh;" and that although there may be alluring gold and silver that jingle merrily to the darker scenes still to pass through, yet the nature ear, and glitters cheerfully to the eye, or, in the of the effects which are to follow our present adindustry and intellectual and physical ability of its verse circumstances, will ultimately be decidedly people,-whether in the richness and productive- BENEFICIAL. Let not the reader start at the seemness of its soil, or, in the immense advantages af- ing paradox! We are well aware, that the common forded by its extended line of sea coast,-its rail- attendants of "hard times" do not well accord with roads, canals, rivers, and other channels of intercom- the splendid figure which some have pictured to munication, whether in the freedom of its insti- themselves, as of the very life of national welltutions, or in the inducements held out and the op-being, and he who contents himself with reading portunities given to all its citizens to advance in the the book of adversity from the first page that prescale of human gradation, or in whatever else it sents itself, will find nothing written there, but may consist, labors, in all its efforts at any thing like tales of sorrow and distress-of baffled projects, productive agency, under great and weighty em- blighted hopes, ruined fortunes, and perhaps, of barrassments. Nor is this all. The national trea- broken hearts;-but, if he would only pass on to sury is empty-the general government is bank- the other leaves, there he would find pleasant and rupt, and we have seen its very servants fling at cheerful stories, growing more pleasant and cheerit, petty, notarial protests, reminding us of the ful as he advances, which would make him forgetfable of the ass, kicking the netted lion, with its ful of the woful past, and teach him that though dirty plebeian feet. Many of the individual states people might" sow in tears, yet they should reap in also are in a still worse condition, and the strength joy." However much we may regret the difficulwhich God gave them, has been so reduced by le- ties by which we are surrounded, and however gislative quackery (we make no party distinctions,) much we may wish they had never been, yet, since that many years must necessarily elapse, before we they are here, if we will but reflect, and look hopecan hope for their full recovery. But we need not fully but a little way into the future, we may come swell the catalogue of evils: they are written in to the belief that the declaration of holy writ, the consciousness of every heart, and meet the "blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be gaze of every eye. The state of the country is comforted," is true in more respects than one, and one of adversity. is as well the sentiment of philosophy as of christianity.

Strong in the belief of this sentiment, we now proceed to specify some of the benefits which result from National Adversity in general, the particular application whereof to our own country and times will naturally occur to every one's mind, and consequently, need not be by us, specially noted.

Here it might be well to inquire into the particular causes, both proximate and remote, of this state of things; but we have other purposes in view. Whether, therefore, it has resulted principally from injudicious legislation, and from being governed too much, or from overtrading and that vile spirit of speculation which has existed in every part of the land for some years past; or, from all these, and The first beneficial result that we notice, is the many other causes combined, we are careless to expulsion of the evils which are commonly engendetermine. It is sufficient to say, that whatever dered by long prosperity. What are these evils? may be the particular causes of our present na- A little thought shows us, that of the people who tional adversity, the general and pervading cause compose the nation, some catch a spirit like unto may be found in that want of vigilance and discre- that of the man in scripture, who said “Soul, thou tion, both on the part of rulers and people, which hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine has been superinduced by the existence of many ease and be merry ;" others, who still continue in years of almost uninterrupted prosperity;-this the walks of business, become inflated with vanity want of vigilance and discretion being manifested, and pride, and indulge in showy pomp and ridicuon the part of the people, not only in regard to the lous extravagance; some become profligate, licenbusiness of the government, but even to greater tious and corrupt; while others make a trade of extent in regard to their own private affairs. filling their own pockets from those of the vain and luxurious, and become narrow-minded, avaricious and miserly indeed, where the series of prosperous years is long continued, as it was, for

Leaving then the causes of our present unfortunate condition to shift for themselves, it becomes an interesting inquiry,-what is to come next?

lulled to sleep, or to become corrupted by the existence of prosperity, have been banished, that influence is certainly beneficial in an eminent degree, which recalls them from their exile and gives them a place in the hearts of the people.

the storm of adversity comes, deprived of the supports which gave them a show of strength, political opinions and theories are put to the proof, and according as they are found true or false, men will adopt or reject them.

instance, in one period of the history of ancient | spirit, truth and virtue of its members." If these, Rome, society becomes divided into scarcely more from the natural tendency of man's nature to be than two classes, the luxurious and corrupt on the one hand, the avaricious on the other. Under such a state of things, selfishness assumes almost universal sway; for to our minds the profligate spendthrift is quite as selfish as the miser. Philanthropy and patriotism are consequently banished,—a con- Another advantage is, that from adversity, peodition more to be dreaded than any we can imagine; ple learn political wisdom. In the halcyon, fairone, in which free institutions must perish, and in weather days of prosperity, every thing moves on which, the tyrant, who would protect the miserly with so much harmony, and with so much monotony in the hoarding of their gold, and the idle, in their too, the events of to-day differing from those of yes profligate expenditure, would be welcomed with terday, only in being of brighter hue,—that from day shouts of rejoicing. Now, if before such a period to day we read but the same lesson from the book of arrives, a nation becomes impoverished by adver- experience, and consequently remain comparatively sity, or rather, if her superfluities are thus re-ignorant of the things which make for the nation's trenched, the evils we have enumerated will be re- future welfare and peace. Political theories are moved, and their baleful consequences prevented. then formed, beautiful as dreams, and often of equalNor does the benefit stop here. The people ly as light, fantastic stuff, and when applied to the learn to practice the humble virtues, they before operations of government seem to work well, bedespised :-parents educate their children more for cause other influences continue prosperity in spite usefulness, and less for show ;—and on the part of of such make-weights and drawbacks. But when almost every body, there is a return to industry, frugality, economy, living within one's means, constant activity, cheerful labor, and untiring perseverance. The result is, things begin to brighten every day adds to the little store of comforts and consolations; and as the years roll on, those who But not only do we learn in adversity to distinwere in a measure overshadowed by the darkness guish between true and false theories; we also of night, begin to be cheered by the brightness of become expert in the use and application of true morning, and ultimately, in the full sunlight of political science, and are thus prepared to meet peace and plenty, arrive at the sensible conclusion, future difficulties as they may arise, or to foresee that by the kind aid which Providence extends unto all, there may be many a Job, "more blessed in his latter end, than in his beginning." It will easily be perceived, that where all the individuals of a state, under the influence of what are called the humbler virtues, thus advance steadily and surely on, until they attain a comfortable and sub- Another benefit is, that demagogues, the pecustantial, though not a showy and gorgeous wealth, liar curse of republics, are unmasked. Who has the state itself must just as steadily and as surely, not seen, in prosperous times, a class of men who and in the same ratio, advance to a high rank among flatter, and cajole, and excite the people merely for the empires of the earth. And with the recollec-purposes of self-aggrandizement; who worm themtion of this still in our minds, and glancing at the selves into the affections of the community, and courage, endurance, industry, frugality and other thence into office and high places, where they may advirtues of those noble men whose posterity we have vantageously feed upon the public funds, and bask in the fortune to be, we cease to be surprised at the the sunshine of popular or executive favor? Now, high rank we have attained in the scale of nations. in times of adversity, the people, awakened by the We plainly see, that if the virtues of our fathers perils which surround them, discover, though ever could have been entailed on their children without so much disguised, the artifices of these demathe possibility of alienation, there could be no limit gogues, and perceive their inability to safely conprescribed to our national strength and greatness. duct them through the difficulties which encompass But we need not stop with our own country if we and beset their way. The result is, these gentlewish to discover, how humble, but sterling virtues men have permission to retire to a well-deserved have accompanied the rise of nations, and showy, solitude. And on the other hand, when a state i but degrading vices, their decline and fall. The amid, or is threatened by, serious dangers, "great book, history, teems with illustrative examples, all characters, 'as has been well remarked by a disserving to establish the truth of the opinion, that tinguished writer of our own time' (De Tocque"the strength of a nation consists not so much in ville,) are then thrown into relief, as the edifices its possessions and pecuniary resources, as in the which are concealed by the gloom of night, are

and avoid them. How would the mariner be skilful in navigation, if he had never been in a storm? Or the pilot know how to avoid the shoals and sandbanks and rocks which may beset his way, if he had never been among them, and knew not what they were?

illuminated by the glare of a conflagration. At rest," are then put in motion, the storm passes such dangerous times, genius no longer refrains over-the clouds vanish, and then all hearts are from presenting itself in the arena: and the people, filled with gratitude and lovealarmed by the perils of their situation, bury their envious passions, and great names are then drawn from the urn of election."

of men.

And what a blessed thing Adversity is, in weakening the usually mighty force of local interests, conflicting opinions and discordant passions! Prosperity engenders many bad feelings in the hearts Under its influence, they become independent, proud and self-reliant, yet avaricious, envious and jealous, and consequently soon learn to contend about trifles, and to quarrel upon the slightest provocation. It is not difficult to perceive, how the same feelings may exist in different portions of a state, as well as among individuals. But when adversity comes, trifles, selfish considerations and local interests are forgotten in the consciousness of a common woe. Bones of contention are thrown aside, and the very sections of country between which there once existed so much of division and discord, so much of selfish, envious and jealous feeling, influenced by a sense of common and pressing danger, or by the sympathies excited by mutuality of suffering, become linked together in strong, fraternal bonds.

Convinced

That Heaven but tries their virtue by affliction; That oft the clouds which wrap the present hour, Serve but to brighten all their future days." We have thus recounted some of the important benefits resulting from National Adversity. However anamalous, at first blush, they may appear to be, yet, in reality, there is nothing in them peculiar or strange. They are governed by laws bearing direct analogy to many others, whose operations are exhibited through the whole face of nature. The waters of the swollen stream are turbid; if diminished, they become pure and pellucid. The excision of redundant limbs, though for awhile it may mar the beauty of the tree, gives strength and vigor to the remaining boughs; and so of other exhibitions profusely scattered throughout creation, and "known and read of all men."

It was a remark of Vicessimus Knox, that "there was undoubtedly a certain degree of magnitude, at which, when a state was arrived, it must of necessity undergo the alternative of being purged of its peccant humors, or falling into a nerveless langour and decline." And pursuing a train of thought suggested by the same author, but altered to suit our own nation and time, we add, that perhaps our own country has already reached that degree of magnitude, and is now, under the operation of Divine Providence, suffering the amputation of its morbid excrescences, for the salvation of its health and existence. It may lose some of its apparent wealth aud alluring splendor, but it will save and meliorate its morals and its liberty. Many who have made haste to be rich, may find themselves suddenly poor;-property may be reduced from a high and extravagant estimate, to something like a reasonable value, and many things, which we are wont to think of the utmost importance, may be swept away; but let them all go; for, freedom and virtue, and industry, and our precious, inestimable constitution, with all else that is excellent, shall survive the wreck, and emerge, like silver and gold, when tried by the fire, with new value and additional lustre.

There is yet another benefit of national adversity, which some may think more imaginary than real, but which we deem of more importance than any we have enumerated. We mean its tendency to recall the wandering mind of man, and to fix his attention and affections upon the Supreme Ruler of the universe; and this, on the well-recognized principle, that though "no chastisement for the present is joyous, but grievous, yet if the subject is' properly exercised thereby, it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness:" and that, when one has, as it were, wandered into a far country, and wasted his substance with riotous living, and the famine has come, and he would fain feed upon husks, and no man giveth unto him, he is naturally led to the resolution, "I will arise and go to my Father." Nations, as well as individuals, during prosperity, become vain, and wrap themselves in robes of fancied security, and a kind of independent self-sufficiency. Leaning confidently upon the comparatively frail supports of fleets and armies, and other contingencies of national defence, they forget the Power on high, by whose word "the strength of serried hosts is shivered," and the skeletons of thousands left to rot and bleach upon the battlefield; and by whose command the storms of ocean gather, and the "dwellers upon the sea" are wrecked and left to sleep beneath the wave. Calamity, by humbling their pride and self-sufficiency, and convincing them of their wants and comparative nothLa Grange, Dec. 25. ingness, destroys this forgetfulness, and thereby GENTLEMEN-Having lately, with affectionate secures the favor of Heaven. The causes which, delight, received the beautiful token of your friend"from danger, produce safety, and from trouble, ship, I am eager to have my acknowledgments con

A CITIZEN OF OHIO.

Chilicothe, Ohio, Oct. 6th, 1842.

LAFAYETTE.

The following letter was addressed by Lafayette to the Midshipmen of the United States Frigate Brandywine, who presented him with an urn on his arrival at Havre in that ship in 1825.-Ed. Sou. Lit. Mess.