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To strike down those whom Fate some joy allows,

And young life's radiant pride first in the grave to house.

If a kind heart, that bled at every wo;

A soul as glorious as the star-gemmed sky;
A form as proud as walked the heavens below;
A mind that could upon itself rely,
True in its balance, in its purpose high;

And manners winning as a woman's; truth
Pure as a vestal's holy chastity,

And the rich promise of ingenuous youth,

Could have availed thee aught, 'gainst Death's marauding ruth;

Thou hadst not died, my lost, my sainted friend!
Nor I been called in wo to bend o'er thee,
And marvel much that agony could rend,
In life's last strife, thy wasted effigy,-
Nor had I trembled fearfully to see

Thy loved face covered by the coffin-lid,-
Nor almost prayed that I might cease to be,
As the dull clod and shelving gravel slid
Into the narrow grave, that thee for ever hid!

Not since that day have I found one to love,
Nor one whom I might ask again to share
The wants and hopes that might my spirit move,
My faults to chide with chiding I could bear:
Ah me! the golden days were passing fair
We spent together in the solitude

Of our united hopes and common care

When we would o'er the self-same sorrow brood, And by love's sympathy the sorrow still elude.

I read the volumes we together read

The wit we loved, the wisdom we'd admire -
But ah! I think not now, since thou art dead,
The sage so wise, nor half so sweet the lyre;
The song fires not that once our souls could fire;
It wanteth something now - perchance thy voice,

Chanting, melodious as an angel choir,

With tones all musical and cadence choice,

The strains that bade us weep, burn, muse, hope, or rejoice.

With the full strength of those most trustful hours,
I clung to thee, nor felt that thou couldst die !

I loved with that strong faith that e'er o'erpowers
All fear or thought of future misery:

The present was enough for me, and I

Deemed, while near thee, the days that had begun
So cloudless, still must hold their cloudless sky-
But oh, too soon thy life's bright sands were run!
One friend was called away, and nigh heart-broken one!

THE LEGISLATURES OF THE PRESENT YEAR.

WHEN the result of the late Presidential election was known, the Democratic party seemed, as if by common consent, to agree upon the necessity of a more particular attention to the local affairs of the States themselves. It was evident that, after all, no great harm could be done by the Whig powers at Washington, under the restraints of a good constitution, and the immediate prospect of disunion among their own leaders. The Democratic members of Congress stood to their arms during the Extra Session, said little, showed no disposition to throw unnecessary obstacles in the way of the Administration, though they rallied with splendid and overpowering ability of argument and eloquence in defence of the Constitution itself whenever it was attacked. The sound policy of this mode of proceeding has been thoroughly proved. Every State in succession now wheels into the Democratic phalanx, under the guidance of that good common sense on which we must rely for the preservation of a good government and our liberties. High responsibilities now devolve on the legislatures of all these States. Of the mode in which these should be discharged, with special reference to one of the most important branches of their duties, we shall perhaps best convey our ideas by confining our view to one of them, the first in population, wealth, and influence-the "Empire State" of New York.

In our own State we are again in the ascendency, and there is no reason to question the good effects of a temporary absence from power. Parties, like men, learn much in adversity that is useful to them.

One of the causes which lost us the control of affairs in this State is now obvious to every one. It was that system of logrolling, by which the support of every local interest was bargained for by our Legislature, at the expense of the general good. It became so universally the ground work of every practice in legislation, not only in New York, but in every internal improvement State, that it would seem to have been the only system adapted to the habits and circumstances of the time. Allied as it was to the extension of a vast paper-money engine, then in the zenith of its power, it was impossible to withstand it, and both parties for a time vied with each other in their encouragement of the practice. But the times are changed. Their habits and circumstances no longer remain as they were during the existence of a great moneyed institution, used for purposes of fraud and corruption, and opposed by a host of smaller ones, which attempted to control it

by the use of similar means. It is not probable, now, that a logrolling system would be practicable, even if there existed the disposition to put it again in practice. The State is without means or credit to warrant even the conception of schemes which should operate upon all its parts by appeals to the cupidity of each. A financial report modelled upon the plan of a Law, or a Biddle, or a Ruggles, would fall to the ground without believers or even readThe community has been so effectually roused from its past delusions, and has been taught such a bitter lesson from experience, that Humbug must find some newer expedient to practise with any success upon its credulity.

ers.

The example of Pennsylvania is close at hand. A sovereignty possessed of vast resources, much real wealth, a frugal and industrious population, and a name and reputation, is beggared and reduced to the position of one of the half-civilized nations of South America. Banks and internal improvement have brought her to this degradation. Men living without labor, or without other exertion than that used in contriving schemes for the employment of paper money instead of real wealth, controlled everything. The homely maxims of " Poor Richard" were forgotten. Fashion, by which is meant more than the capricious power which governs modes of dress, or manners, or social usages-fashion put plain, slow-paced honesty aside, and enabled cunning to take her place. There was a time, when to doubt the policy of undertaking a great work, until one was enabled to count the cost, was to pronounce one's-self a laggard in patriotism and enterprise. To question the utility of a grand canal which would not pay to keep itself at work, was called a narrow-minded ignorance. And to urge the possibility of the commonwealth being driven into dishonest but necessary bankruptcy, was denounced as the malignity of Loco-Focoism. Still the bankruptcy has approached already dangerously near: and the sober second-thought of the people in this State will not disregard the warning.

It is, after all, a question between the two old antagonist principles of government. On the one hand that portion who disbelieve in the capability of men for self-government, who regard the ability to overreach others by any exertion of intellect as a legitimate exercise of human ingenuity, and who look with contempt on all slow, patient, and honest toil, will tell us that ways and means may be devised by which all our grand projects may be carried on without embarrassment. The debt may be shoved off one generation more, or the people may be taxed so as not to perceive it, or the mechanic may be made to contribute his mite while the capitalist reaps his harvest. All these and many more

things will be promised. Our financiers will not spare their wit, nor their eloquence, nor their pens, to prove to us that two and two can be made to produce five. All the interests which have grown up under the past abuses will be active in their exertions to maintain an existence. There will be appeals without number to conservatism, to the necessity of maintaining existing contracts, of conciliating vacillating political interests, and to the love of a show of patriotic enterprise at other people's expense.

On the other hand, they who rest their faith upon the broader and surer basis of truth and honesty, whose keener vision goes beyond the limits of the day or year, who prefer the integrity of their country to its seeming prosperity, will ask and demand a change of policy in conformity with these immutable principles, as well as with the exigences of the times. To arrest all useless schemes, to establish the credit of the State, to ensure ourselves a release from increasing obligations which we cannot fulfil, and to leave to a future generation a state of affairs untrammelled and within their own control, is so imperatively the duty of all concerned, as to leave no doubt of its fulfilment.

By the one system, it is true, the legislator has the effects of the exercise of his power often within his reach. He provides a bank for a knot of political friends, or a canal for a particular interest, or a place for an adherent, or a local improvement for his own estate. And these are sins easily forgiven. To know how to commit them well, is often thought a proof of ability and a title to distinction. But such men are naturally most jealous of each other, and if, as now is undeniably the case, the loaves and fishes are too few for a division, they will hardly attempt to make them sufficient by a miracle.

An honest legislation has none of these allurements to offer. The immediate effect of an economical administration of affairs is injurious to all who thrive by the profligate expenditure of the State's money. Local interests are wounded. Many good and honest men are threatened with loss of employment and the means of support. The good resulting from this is remote and general; and the legislator, when called on to pronounce a decision, is reluctant to appear to do evil that good may come.

But, sooner or later, a remedy becomes necessary: and it is very certain that, to postpone the evil, only renders the matter more difficult of cure. Perhaps a half-century may pass before as favorable a time presents itself again for the adoption of a radical and efficient change of policy. At the commencement of the session of the ensuing legislature of this State, there will be a current debt of some two and a half millions to be provided for, outstanding VOL. X., No. XLIII. — 7

contracts to the amount of seven millions more, and a prospective debt of fifteen millions for the completion of the enlargement of the Erie Canal. Here is debt enough to contemplate for any one but a financier of the Whig school, whose very element is an atmosphere of debt, without even regarding the lateral canals, and the great Northern and Southern Rail Roads. Of the $7,000,000 said to be under contract, much can probably be set aside without violation of faith, or injustice to any party concerned. And the rest may be all promptly arranged to the satisfaction of all who have claims to equitable relief. Let it once be understood that the State, under prudent and honest management, is determined at all hazards not to go beyond her means, and the necessity of the case will soon bring out the mode of carrying her will into execution by direct taxation rather than by the use of credit, if necessary, according to the views already sufficiently stated in a former article of our present Number. It requires courage and firmness of purpose. And these qualities are not, we trust, to be looked for in vain in a Democratic Legislature.

Besides these considerations, drawn from the exigency of the occasion, there are others which, were measures of public policy governed by motives of pure integrity and stern morality, would be irresistible. Nothing tends to corrupt the honesty of each member of a community, to sap the very foundations of justice and truth, to destroy all faith in the honesty of mankind, to inculcate a belief in the maxim of Talleyrand, that "language was given to man to conceal his thoughts," and to convert civil society into an arena for the exercise of cunning and deceit, more than the practice of a government upon a dishonest creed. Reckless men say it matters little what a future generation may receive from the hands of the present. Bad men openly advocate the use of all present means and credit, to the utter disregard of those who are to come after us. The public purse is fair plunder, according to their maxim, because, say they, "if we do not plunder it others will." All this disorganizes society, impairs true credit, and checks legitimate business, for it destroys the confidence of mankind among themselves. "Your Loco Foco legislators will be no better than ours," say the Whigs. "They will need the use of the public money as much as we did." And it must be admitted with regret, there are those, among our ranks, too powerful both in numbers and the habitual tact of party management, who believe and practise on the same doctrine.

Will the legislatures of 1842, the representatives of "the sober second-thought," merit this imputation, or will they give the lie to it by a bold and determined policy, decided in character, and

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