first settlement to this day. When we look back to the handful of obscure adventurers and persecuted outcasts who formed our small beginnings, and compare their humble dwellings, scattered thinly along the coast, with the great and flourishing empire that now stretches in pride and beauty far and wide over half the continent, we cannot but feel that the history of the world offers no example, in any way parallel, of a rapid and extensive development of all the elements of national prosperity. When we contemplate the condition of the country at this very time; population proceeding in the same steady untiring progress,wealth augmenting in a still more rapid ratio,--every branch of industry animated by the highest degree of activity and enterprise,— agriculture and commerce supplying the markets of the world with our products,-manufactures rapidly rivaling the most perfect establishments of Europe,-improvement in science and learning, education, morals, and religion, the object of general attention and solicitude;-when we contemplate this state of things, we cannot doubt, that the causes to which we have owed our prosperity are still as busily at work as they have ever been before. What they are, it might not be safe, even in reference to our own country with which we are most familiar, to attempt to say. When we venture to assign, as one of them, the character of our Government, the sages of Europe smile in conscious superiority at our simplicity, and assure us that we have become what we are in spite of our institutions, and not in consequence of them. When we hint at the fixed religious principles, the stern morality, the persevering industry of the pilgrim fathers of New-England, who have formed the kernel of the whole population of the Union, we are scornfully told that the mass of the original settlers were, after all, the refuse of the British jails. The only principle of our success, which is readily admitted by our friends abroad as real, (it being one which confers no credit upon us) is the immense extent of our territory; although, if this circumstance alone could make a people prosperous, it is not easy to see why civilization should not be as active on the vast central plateaux of Tartary and Mexico, as it is in the valley of the Mississippi. But whatever may be the cause, such at all events is the effect. We are undoubtedly at a period of our national existence corresponding with the youth of a vigorous and healthy individual, when the body is daily developing new resources in all its parts, and possesses an elasticity which enables it to throw off without difficulty VOL. XXXVI.-No. 78.

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almost every principle of evil that may be introduced into it. We say not this to encourage a reckless confidence, or a disposition to bold and hazardous experiments on our political institutions. We are well aware that the strength and buoyant spirits, which betray to excess, may be themselves the very causes of ruin. We would rather in ordinary times allay than exalt the sentiment of national pride, which so easily runs into presumption. But when the crisis is actually upon us,-when the hour of danger has come, and many good and wise men are perhaps too prone to despond, and even despair of the Republic, it may then be well to remind them and ourselves, that if the trial is likely to be severe, our political Constitution, as we have reason to hope, is strong enough to enable us, with the favor of Providence, to go through this and many other trials of equal severity, should it be our fortune to encounter them, with safety.

Let the friends of the country, therefore, in their several spheres of action, meet the crisis with a cheerful, resolute spirit, and with the calm and steady courage that belongs to freemen and Christians. Let no differences of opinion upon minor questions,-no personal or sectional preferences be permitted to deter any one from a zealous and cordial co-operation in the great and good work of securing the Union. Among the private citizens, the Union party within the State of South Carolina occupy the post of peculiar honor and danger, and should receive our warmest sympathy. They have now a glorious opportunity of displaying in the face of the country, of the world, the noblest civic virtues. But whatever may be done by individuals within or without the State, the result will, after all, depend in a very great degree, as we have already said, upon the temper and conduct of the General Government. It is therefore with real satisfaction, that we find the Administration exhibiting, thus far, the union of firmness and discretion which the occasion requires. We are no partisans, political or personal, of General Jackson. We have in no way contributed to his elevation; and although, as journalists, we have taken no part in the recent contest, we have felt it to be our duty, as individuals, to oppose his re-election. But he is now the Chief Magistrate of the country. The people look to him to carry them safely through the present season of alarm and peril, and in all the suitable measures which he may take for this purpose, the friends of the country, without distinction

of party, will give him their support. The maxim which ought to direct his course was distinctly stated by himself three years ago, in terms which cannot be surpassed for precision or energy, and which ought at this period to be the watchword of every citizen. THE FEDERAL UNION,-IT MUST

BE PRESERVED.*

Since this article was prepared, and while it was going through the press, new events have occurred, which render the crisis still more interesting. The Legislature of South Carolina, in pursuance of the recommendation contained in the Ordinance of the Convention, are engaged in passing several acts, the substantial purport of which is to make it a penal offence for the officers of the General Government to execute the Revenue laws within that State. On the other hand, the President of the United States, on the 10th of December, published a Proclamation, in which, after explaining at length his views of the relation established by the Constitution between the General and State Governments, he declares his determination to cause the laws to be executed, if necessary, by force. It is not probable that either party will recede, without a struggle, from the ground thus taken. The immediate occurrence of actual collision between the General and State Governments, however much to be deplored, seems, therefore, to be inevitable. The duration and results of this conflict will depend upon the degree of countenance which Carolina may receive from other States, particularly at the South. We look with some apprehension to the proceedings of Virginia, where the first movements are less satisfactory than we could have wished. We cannot now enlarge upon the President's Proclamation, and shall probably have occasion to return to the subject hereafter. This paper, the composition of which is attributed to the Secretary of State, is written with great ability and in a very bold and determined tone. In some of the doctrines, particularly those which represent the States as having never been politically independent of each other, and the Constitution as having been the work of the aggregate mass of the people of the United States, and not of the States as distinct communities, we do not concur, for the reasons which we have stated in the present article; and we consider it unfortunate that they were introduced, as they will naturally tend to alienate the Southern States from the General Government, and dispose them to countenance the pretensions of Carolina. In the doctrines of the Proclamation, so far as it affirms that the United States are now one people under a common Government,that the acts of this Government are the supreme law of the land, and that this must at all events be executed, we heartily concur. firm tone of this document suits the occasion as well as the personal character of the President; and if the measures by which it is to be followed up are conceived in a corresponding spirit, properly tempered with discretion, and an affectionate regard for our mistaken brethren of South Carolina, we cannot permit ourselves to doubt, that the ultimate effect of the struggle will be to confirm and perpetuate our institutions, rather than to bring them into danger.

The

ART. IX.-Ornamental Printing.

The Token and Atlantic Souvenir. A Christmas and New Year's Present. Edited by S. G. GOODRICH. Boston, 1833.

We remember to have seen an amusing tale, which represented Cicero, who had in some unexplained way returned to earth, as lost in wonder at the various inventions and improvements of the Germans; and if the perturbed spirit of the venerable ancestor of Mr. Oldbuck, the rival of the fame of Faust and Caxton, could be made visible to us, he would be scarcely less astonished, on learning what advances have been made in his own important art. This art has not unjustly been regarded as the mother of all subsequent reform; but its charity has not been forgetful of its own claims; and it is itself perhaps the best example of the general superiority of modern arts over those of former times. All this is well; it is fortunate that typography can thus adapt itself to the demands of luxury; for there are many at the present day who would hardly be induced to read at all, excepting by the magic of a beautiful edition and if Mr. Irving's Sketch-book had been printed in black letter, with illustrations similar to those which formerly adorned the primer, it would have found but a cold welcome in the fashionable world. The author of Waverley intimates a doubt, whether such appliances are proper in order to induce people by their attractions to do, what they would not do from a sense of duty; but it is certainly better, that duty should be done from an inferior motive, than not performed at all. Men may be allured to the study of natural history by beautiful forms and golden plumage, rather than the deep things of comparative anatomy; but it is well if in any way, they can become conversant with nature. The beautiful fictions of Sir Walter Scott have attracted many to the study of history, who, but for them, would have cared very little for the past.

In this point of view, independently of other merit, the annuals of the last few years are not without their value; but there is another, in which they assume a character of more importance. The fine arts are not apt to flourish in a young and prosperous community: like many other luxuries, if they

have not the transparent atmosphere and brilliant sun to bring them to perfection, they must be quickened into life by the artificial heat of the conservatory. Painters and sculptors find no encouragement to fix their residence on the Arkansas or the Yellow Stone; and even near the Hudson and the Charles, the ordinary demands of the publisher would by no means animate the engraver to the highest efforts of his art. No one doubts the importance of these arts in giving a grace and ornament to life; it is even believed that they aid society in its progress to liberality of feeling and refinement, by making men familiar with the beautiful. Whatever tends to introduce them where they might not otherwise have appeared, at least so early; whatever aids their progress to perfection, ought certainly to be regarded with an eye of public favor.

It would be difficult to enumerate the modes of industry, exhibited in works like these: the reason why so few have yet been published, is probably the difficulty of combining those modes with the requisite degree of skill. A publisher must first be found, who is willing to risk large sums on the doubtful venture of the public taste; an editor, apt to perceive the shiftings of the fashionable gale, and skilful to trim bis sail, so as to float gallantly before it. The brilliant creations of the painter must not be wanting, nor the laborious talent of the engraver, with his slow and patient toil; and when to these we add the separate tasks of the printer, the binder, and a host of others, each endeavoring in his own vocation to surpass all those who have gone before him, we shall have an illustration of the division of labor, superior to those of Say and Adam Smith.

The art of the engraver, in particular, required in this country some such encouragement as this. Before the publication of these annuals was begun, a marvellous change had been accomplished, as any one who remembers the finest prints of forty years ago will readily perceive; but, owing to the extemporaneous manner in which most works are of necessity issued from the press, and the importance of rendering them as cheap as possible, there were no means of urging the engraver to the highest efforts of his art, or of recompensing him for making them. His calling is not that of a copyist merely; it combines some of the highest qualities of that of the painter; and the difficulty of succeeding in it is apparent from the smallness of the number of engravers, who have risen to