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NEW PUBLICATIONS.

ARTS AND SCIENCES.

Eaton's Chemical Instructer. A New Edition. With Additions and Improvements. Albany, N. Y. 12mo.

BIOGRAPHY.

The Life of Theobald Wolfe Tone, Founder of the United Irish Society, and Adjutant General and Chef de Brigade in the Service of the French and Batavian Republic.. Written by Himself, and continued by his Son, William Theobald Wolfe Tone; with a brief Account of his own Education and Campaigns under the Emperor Napoleon. 2 Vols. Washington. P. Thompson. 8vo.

DRAMA.

The Acting American Theatre. No. I. Containing a Portrait of Mr Francis, as Sir George Thunder, in "Wild Oats." Price 37 cents. Philadelphia. A. R. Poole.

HISTORY.

Sketches of Algiers, Political, Historical, and Civil, containing an Account of the Geography, Population, Government, Revenues, Commerce, Agriculture, Arts, Civil Institutions, Tribes, Manners, Languages, and Recent Political History of that Country. By William Shaler, American Consul General at Algiers. Boston. Cummings, Hilliard, & Co. 1826. 8vo. pp. 310.

LAW.

Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court, and in the Court for the Trial of Impeachments and the Correction of Errors, of the State of New York. By E. Cohen, Counsellor at Law. Vol. IV. Albany, N. Y. 8vo.

MEDICINE.

Observations upon the Autumnal Fevers of Savannah. By W. C. Daniel, M. D. 8vo. Savannah.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Recollections of the Last Ten Years, passed in occasional Residences and Journeyings in the Valley of the Mississippi, from Pittsburg and the Missouri to the Gulf of Mexico, and from Florida to the Spanish Frontier; in a Series of Letters to the Rev. James Flint, of Salem, Massachusetts. By Timothy Flint, Principal of the Seminary of Rapide, Louisiana. Boston. Cummings, Hilliard, & Co. 1826. 8vo. pp. 395. By Nonius Nondescript, Esq. Nos. I. and II.

The

Price 12. Washington, D. C. P. Thompson.

Remarks, Critical and Historical, on an Article in the Forty-seventh Number of the North American Review, relating to Count Pulaski. Addressed to the Readers of the North American Review. By the Author of "Sketches of the Life of Greene." Charleston, S. C. C. C. Sebring. 8vo. pp. 37.

Oration delivered before Captain J. H. Byrd's Company of Volunteers, on the Fourth of July, 1825, at Kingston, Lenoir County, N. C. By H. B. Croom, Esq. Newbern. 1826. 8vo. pp. 12.

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This oration is not particularly distinguished in any way from the usual patriotic effusions on similar occasions. The following extract is, perhaps, as dignified and original as any part of it. Soldiers! you have reason to be proud of the character in which you stand. You are not the Pretorians of an Emperor; the Janisaries of a Sultan; the mercenaries of any tyraut. You are the free citizens of a free state, voluntarily enrolled for the purpose of fitting yourselves to perform more effectually the duties enjoined by the Constitution; which are no less than 'to repress insurrection and repel invasion;' the most useful and important services, certainly, that any military has been called to perform. Persevere in these efforts, and you will deserve well of your country. It was, in part, by her brave militia that Greece freed her soil from the pollutions of the Persian host; and you should be fitted to assist in our country's defence, against those foreign foes, who may one day attempt ber independence, for the destruction of those noble institutions by which she is distinguished, and which afford an example so dangerous to despots of the European continent."

POEMS.

Leisure Hours; a Series of Occasional Poems. Boston. Cummings, Hilliard, & Co. 12mo.

POLITICAL ECONOMY.

Summary of the Practical Principles of Political Economy; with Observations on Smith's Wealth of Nations, and Say's Political Economy. By a Friend of Domestic Industry. Boston. Cummings, Hilliard, & Co. 8vo. pp. 88.

THEOLOGY.

Professor Stuart's Sermon, at the New Meeting-House in Hanover Street, Boston. Boston. 8vo.

Unitarianism, "Sound Doctrine;" a Sermon, preached in Waltham, at the Ordination of the Rev. Bernard Whitman, February 15, 1826. By Nathaniel Whitman, Minister of Billerica. Published by request. Cambridge. Hilliard & Metcalf. 8vo. pp. 36.

AMERICAN EDITIONS OF FOREIGN WORKS.

Christian Researches in Syria and the Holy Land, in 1823 and 1824, in Furtherance of the Objects of the Church Missionary Society. By W. Jowett, A. M. One of the Representatives of the Society, and late Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge. Boston. Crocker & Brewster, and Others. 8vo. pp. 364.

Interest made Equity; being a Republication of the Article on the Subject of Interest, contained in the Supplement to the Encyclopedia Britannica, from the pen of Mr Mac Culloch. Boston. 12mo.

The History of Christ as recorded in the Four Gospels, arranged by the Rev. Dr Doddridge, and divided into Sections and Verses. With Questions appended to every Section, and an Index at the Close, for the Use of Sabbath Schools, Bible Classes, and Families. Portland. William Hyde.

Johnson's Treatise on Derangements of the Liver, Internal Organs, and Nervous System; Pathological and Therapeutical. Philadelphia. 8vo.

Published on the first and fifteenth day of every month, by HARRISON GRAY, at the office of the United States Literary Gazette, No 74, Washington-Street, Boston, and CUMMINGS, HILLIARD, & Co., Boston, for the Proprietors. Terms, $5 per annum. Cambridge: Printed at the University Press, by Hilliard & Metcalf.

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The Constitution of 1776. By a Member of the Staunton Convention. Winchester, Va. 8vo.

WHEN We consider the circumstances under which the constitutions of the older members of our confederacy were formed; their insignificance in point of wealth and population, compared with their present condition; the jealousy of executive power, which oppression had generated in the minds of the people; together with their inexperience in the art of government; we are naturally led to inquire, whether they may not have erred in the establishment and distribution of the powers of government, and framed institutions fitted for petty districts, rather than powerful states. These circumstances undoubtedly had some effect, and their influence is particularly manifest, in the exorbitant power confided to the legislative branch of government. In some of the states, its ascendancy is so great as to reduce the executive almost to a cipher. In Virginia, for instance, the governor is chosen by the senate and house of delegates, and has no voice in the enactment of laws, nor in the appointment to the most important offices, these rights being vested in the legislature. This, indeed, is the extreme case, but in all the states its share of power is extravagant. The jealousy of power in the hands of individuals, has shown itself in several of the states, by limitations of the term of the judicial office. In New Jersey and Ohio, the judges of the highest courts are appointed for seven years; in Connecticut and Rhode Island, for one. And, in these instances, to aggravate the evil, they are chosen by the legislature. In some of the constitutions, the inexperience of

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the framers has led to an injudicious mixture of the powers of different departments. In New Jersey, for instance, the governor is president of the upper branch of the legislature, with a casting vote in their proceedings, and this same branch, with the governor at their head, is a court of appeals, in the last resort, in all causes of law. From want of reflection on the rapid growth of our population, no limits have been assigned, in some of the states, to the increase of the house of representatives. Most of them, indeed, have made judicious regulations to prevent its number from becoming excessive. Of the consequences of omitting to confine it within reasonable limits, our own state is the most striking example. A similar want of foresight in regard to the changes which might take place in the relative character and importance of the different classes of citizens, has in one of the states, Virginia, confined the right of suffrage to freeholders, and the effects are such, that a reformation is loudly demanded. The apportionment of senators, one to each county, in the case of Georgia, and one to each senatorial district, made indivisible by the constitution, in the case of Louisiana, exposes the people to the chance of a very unequal division of political power, as the growth of the population may vary greatly in different parts of the state. In Virginia, the evil is increased by the extension of a similar mode of apportionment to the house of delegates.

While we look with regret on such defects in our political institutions, we rejoice in the reflection, that no violence, no outrage on established order is required to remedy them; that they provide the means of their own improvement, and of adaptation to existing circumstances, in the right of amendment secured to the people. There is nothing, in which we have more reason to exult, on a comparison of our condition with that of the states of Europe, than in the facility of redressing public grievances. As the consequences of a dangerous ambition, or a neglect of duty in our rulers, are prevented by the right of frequent election, so the growth of political abuses may be stopped, by plucking their root from the constitution. We need not bring our rulers to the block, nor drive them from our shores, in order to shake off the weight of tyranny, nor are we compelled to tear up the foundations of government, that we may correct the defects of our political edifices. Corruption is not allowed to intrench itself within established forms, and shelter abuses under the venerable shield of the constitution. Though warmly attached to our republican institutions, as the fruit of our fathers' toils, and the foundation of our own prosperity, we value them the more, that

they claim not to be immutable. It is no small part of their merit, that they are flexible to the wants and wishes of the people.

While, however, we rejoice that we have a legal means of remedying defects in our frames of government, and are thereby exempted from the dread of those political convulsions, which, in Europe, have made bloodshed and anarchy synonymous with reform, we should remember, that it is only a deliberate and cautious use of the privilege that can preserve its worth. We shall pollute the fountain, if we are always dabbling in its waters. The very facility with which our forms of government can be moulded to suit our pleasure, should make us careful, lest our rude handling destroy the beauty of the image. The tampering of quacks will be as fatal to our political as to our physical constitutions. Our governments will soon be beyond amendment, if the habit of frequent alteration is once established. Let us follow the example of our national legislature, and approach with reverence the ark of our political salvation. While the world is rife with projects of constitutional reform, the object of which is the attainment of the good that we have already grasped, let us guard against a fondness for political experiments, which may endanger the loss of our advantages and our reputation. Let us consider, that constitutions must be radically good, which have carried us through public poverty, party ferments, and an exhausting war, and are still carrying us on in a career of unexampled prosperity; that they were formed at a time, when oppression had kindled an ardent love of liberty, and a fixed determination to secure it on a solid basis; when toil and danger had awakened men's energies, and a long series of common sufferings had given birth to a remarkable unity of purpose, opinion, and feeling; when repeated aggressions had led men to reflect much on their natural and civil rights; when all the talent of the country had been called forth, to defend its liberties in the field, and keep alive the spirit of the people, and bring into action the resources of the nation; that they were formed on a model, which, though not fitted for precise imitation, has, in its theory, much of a republican character, and of sterling excellence, the English constitution. With this our countrymen were well acquainted, from their long subjection to English dominion, and the attention which they had been compelled to bestow upon its principles, in their numerous contests with the mother country. By selecting from hence what was good in itself, and suited to their condition, and adding what their own experience and a wide observation of ancient and modern republics had taught them was advantageous,

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