of law, the office of John Dickinson, and in two years was admitted to the bar. He first settled in Reading, but soon removed to Carlisle, where he became quite eminent as a counsellor, and had much practice previous to the Revolutionary struggle. In 1775, by the unanimous voice of the General Assembly, he was elected, with Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Willing, to the second Continental Congress, and was re-elected in the next year, when he affixed his name to the Declaration of Independence. In 1778, he removed to Philadelphia, where he continued to reside for the remainder of his life.

From his distinguished talents and unremitting industry, Mr. Wilson rose higher and higher every year in the estimation of a discerning public, and was soon considered as at the head of his profession. In 1782, he was again elected to Congress, and in 1787 he was one of the delegates to the convention that met in Philadelphia to form our present Constitution. He took an active part in the debates, and by some was considered as the ablest member of that distinguished body. In the latter part of the same year, he was elected to the State Convention of Pennsylvania that met to ratify the Constitution. As he was the only member of the State Convention that had had a seat in the General Convention, he was, of course, the most prominent member in it, and with consummate ability defended the Constitution from the attacks of its enemies.

On the 4th of July, 1788, Mr. Wilson was selected to deliver the oration at the famous procession formed at Philadelphia to celebrate the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, and in October of the next year was appointed by Washington one of the Judges of the Supreme Court as first organized under the present Constitution ;' in which office he continued till his death. In 1790, the Law professorship of the College of Philadelphia was established, and Mr. Wilson was appointed the first professor. The course of lectures which he delivered in this and the two succeeding years were published in his works. He was now the acknowledged head of the Philadelphia bar

Washington, in his letter on the occasion, thus wrote: "Regarding the due administration of justice as the strongest cement of good government, I have considered the first organization of the judicial department as essential to the happiness of the people and to the stability of the political system. Under this impression, it has been with me an invariable object of anxious solicitude to select the fittest characters to expound the laws and to dispense justice." At the head of this department, deemed by himself so important, he placed that learned jurist, incorruptible patriot, and Christian statesman, JOHN JAY, of N. Y., and nominated as his associates JAMES WILSON, of Penn., JOHN RUTLEDGE, of S. C., WILLIAM CUSHING, of Mass., ROBERT HARRISON, of Md., and JOHN BLAIR, of Va.

2 Published in 1804 in three volumes, octavo.

-learned as a man, profound as a lawyer, and distinguished for his attainments in political science. In private life, too, he was warmly esteemed for his social and domestic virtues, as well as for his incorruptible integrity. He continued to exercise the duties of his office till the year of his death, which took place on the 28th of August, 1798, at Edenton, North Carolina, while on a circuit in his judicial character.

THE EXCELLENCE OF OUR CONSTITUTION.

It is neither extraordinary nor unexpected that the constitution offered to your consideration should meet with opposition. It is the nature of man to pursue his own interest in preference to the public good; and I do not mean to make any personal reflections when I add, that it is the interest of a very numerous, powerful, and respectable body to counteract and destroy the excellent work produced by the late convention. All the officers of government, and all the appointments for the administration of justice and the collection of the publie revenue, which are transferred from the individual to the aggregate sovereignty of the States, will necessarily turn the stream of influence and emolument into a new channel. Every person, therefore, who either enjoys, or expects to enjoy, a place of profit under the present establishment, will object to the proposed innovation; not, in truth, because it is injurious to the liberties of his country, but because it affects his schemes of wealth and consequence.

I will confess, indeed, that I am not a blind admirer of this plan of government, and that there are some parts of it which, if my wish had prevailed, would certainly have been altered. But, when I reflect how widely men differ in their opinions, and that every man (and the observation applies likewise to every State) has an equal pretension to assert his own, I am satisfied that anything nearer to perfection could not have been accomplished. If there are errors, it should be remembered that the seeds of reformation are sown in the work itself, and the concurrence of two-thirds of the Congress may, at any time, introduce alterations and amendments. Regarding it, then, in every point of view, with a candid and disinterested mind, I am bold to assert that it is the BEST FORM OF GOVERNMENT WHICH HAS EVER BEEN OFFERED TO THE WORLD.

cure.

THE PEOPLE THE SOURCE OF ALL POWER.

Oft have I viewed, with silent pleasure and admiration, with what force and prevalence, through the United States, the supreme power resides in the people; and that they never part with it. It may be called the Panacea in politics. There can be no disorder in the community but may here receive a radical If the error be in the legislature, it may be corrected by the constitution; if in the constitution, it may be corrected by the people. There is a remedy, therefore, for every distemper in government, if the people are not wanting to themselves; but for a people wanting to themselves, there is no remedy. From their power, as we have seen, there is no appeal; to their error, there is no superior principle of correction.

There are three simple species of government: Monarchy, where the supreme power is in a single person: Aristocracy, where the supreme power is in a select assembly, the members of which either fill up, by clection, the vacancies in their own body, or succeed to their places in it by inheritance, property, or in respect of some personal right or qualification: a Republic or Democracy, where the people at large retain the supreme power, and act either collectively or by representation. Each of these species of government has its advantages and disadvantages.

The advantages of a Monarchy are strength, dispatch, secrecy, unity of counsel. Its disadvantages are tyranny, expense, ignorance of the situation and wants of the people, insecurity, unnecessary wars, evils attending elections or successions.

The advantages of Aristocracy are wisdom, arising from experience and education. Its disadvantages are dissensions among themselves, oppression to the lower orders.

The advantages of Democracy are liberty; equal, cautious, and salutary laws, public spirit, frugality, peace, opportunities of exciting and producing the abilities of the best citizens. Its disadvantages are dissensions, the delay and disclosure of public counsels, the imbecility of public measures, retarded by the necessity of a numerous consent.

A government may be composed of two or more of the simple forms above mentioned. Such is the British government. It would be an improper government for the United States, because it is inadequate to such an extent of territory,

and because it is suited to an establishment of different orders

of men.

What is the nature and kind of that government which has been proposed for the United States by the late convention? In its principle, it is purely democratical; but that principle is applied in different forms, in order to obtain the advantages, and exclude the inconveniences, of the simple modes of government.

If we take an extended and accurate view of it, we shall find the streams of power running in different directions, in different dimensions, and at different heights; watering, adorning, and fertilizing the fields and meadows through which their courses are led; but if we trace them, we shall discover that they all originally flow from one abundant fountain.

IN THIS CONSTITUTION all authority is derived from the PEOPLE.

THE ANTI-SLAVERY CHARACTER OF THE CONSTITUTION.

With respect to the clause' restricting Congress from prohibiting the migration or importation of such persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, prior to the year 1808, the honorable gentleman says, that this clause is not only dark, but intended to grant to Congress, for that time, the power to admit the importation of slaves. No such thing was intended; but I will tell you what was done, and it gives me high pleasure that so much was done. Under the present confederation, the States may admit the importation of slaves as long as they please; but by this article, after the year 1808 the Congress will have power to prohibit such importation, notwithstanding the disposition of any State to the contrary. I consider this as laying the foundation for banishing slavery out of this country; and though the period is more distant than I could wish, yet it will produce the same kind, gradual change, which was pursued in Pennsylvania. It is with much satisfaction I view this power in the general government whereby they may lay an interdiction on this reproachful trade: but an immediate advantage is also obtained; for a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each

Article I, Section IX. The migration or importation of such persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight; but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation not exceeding ten dollars for each person.

person; and this, sir, operates as a partial prohibition: it was all that could be obtained. I am sorry it was no more, but from this I think there is reason to hope that yet a few years, and it will be prohibited altogether; and, in the mean time, THE NEW STATES WHICH ARE TO BE FORMED, WILL BE UNDER THE CONTROL OF CONGRESS IN THIS PARTICULAR, AND SLAVES WILL NEVER BE

INTRODUCED AMONGST THEM.

So far, therefore, as this clause operates, it presents us with the pleasing prospect that the rights of mankind will be acknowledged and established throughout the union.

If there was no other lovely feature in the constitution but this one, it would diffuse a beauty over its whole countenance. Yet the lapse of a few years, AND CONGRESS WILL HAVE POWER

TO EXTERMINATE SLAVERY FROM WITHIN OUR BORDERS.

GEORGE WASHINGTON, 1732-1799.

GEORGE WASHINGTON, the third son of Augustine Washington, and the first President of the United States, was born at Bridge's Creek, in the County of Westmoreland, Virginia, on the 22d of February, 1732, and died at Mount Vernon on the 14th of December, 1799. lowing are the chief incidents of his life :—

1

EVENTS.

The fol

His birth, in Westmoreland County, Virginia.
Death of his father, at the age of 49 years.

His brother Lawrence obtained for him a midshipman's
warrant, in the British Navy.

Surveyor of Lord Fairfax's lands on the Potomac River.
Military Inspector, with the rank of Major, to protect
the frontiers of Virginia against the French and In-
dians.

He sailed for Barbadoes, with his brother Lawrence.
Adjutant-General.

Commissioner to the French on the Ohio.

I give not an extended biography for two reasons: first, to do any justice to the subject, it would occupy too much space; and second, the lives of Washington are so numerous as to be accessible to any one. Read lives by Marshall, Ramsey, Weems, Edmunds, Guizot (translated by Reeve), Headley, Irving, Bancroft, Sparks; also, an admirable book, entitled "Maxims of Washington-political, moral, social, and religious-collected and arranged by J. F. Schroeder, D. D.," 1 vol. 12mo. Consult, also, North American Review," li. 169, xlvii. 318, xxxix. 467; "American Quarterly, xv. 275, xvii. 74; "Methodist Quarterly," ii. 38; also, read Eulogies by Hamilton, Jay, Ames, Mason, &c.