The members of the convention aware of the difficulty of devising a federal compact of the character we have described, -feeling that they were engaged in "a perilous adventure of untried policy," appear to have been even too diffident of the success of their labours, and in some degree unconscious of the positive merit of their work. They were, however, sensible that it would have been scarcely possible, for human ingenuity to produce a plan, better suited to the temper and circumstances of the nation, more congenial with natural rights, or more favourable to the beneficial exercise of the energies, and to the full development of the resources of an infant people. We are decidedly of opinion that the work of the Convention deserves a much higher eulogium, than that body or even the authors of the Federalist, venture to pronounce upon it. We are led to espouse this sentiment, not from viewing it in the abstract alone, or in relation to the circumstances under which it was formed, but from the practical character which it has displayed since the commencement of its operations, and the capacity with which we believe it to be indued, not only to preserve liberty, but to provide for its own duration, and to accommodate itself, without losing its spirit, to the changes, which the national character and resources may undergo, in their advances to maturity.

We do not hesitate to assert that we regard the federal constitution of the United States, not only as the system best adapted to the genius and actual circumstances of the people, but as the nearest approach that has ever been made to the idea of a perfect government;- -as the clearest and most beneficial rule of conduct, both for the governors and governed, that was ever enjoyed by any country. The texture of it appears to us no less solid, than its parts are duly proportioned and skilfully combined; its foundations are obvious and fixed; it carries with it nothing of uncertainty or ambiguity, but presents on all sides, the most simple and determinate ideas to the mind. Independently of the ordinary means of self conservation with which every government, as such, should be en

a partnership in things subservient_only to the gross animal existence of a temporary and perishable nature. It is a partnership in all science; a partnership in all art; a partnership in every virtue, and in all perfection. As the ends of such a partnership cannot be obtained but in many generations, it becomes a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born. Each contract of each particular state, is but a clause in the great primeval contract of eternal society, linking the lower with the higher natures, connecting the visible and invisible world, according to a fixed compact sanctioned by the inviolable oath which holds all physical, all moral natures each in their appointed place."

dowed, it contains a principle of longevity of which but one other can boast, and upon which we are tempted to place the strongest reliance. The principle to which we refer, is this; that, as long as it continues to be in any degree well administered, its real character and tendency can never be mistaken; that it must be uniformly considered in the light in which we now represent it by all who enjoy its benefits, or who can in any manner comprehend the nature of a free and beneficent government. As long as the great majority of this nation retain a sense of their true interests, or any portion of political virtue, they must continue to cherish a system, which, of all practicable schemes of legislation, is the best calculated to secure the higher, as well as the subordinate ends for which men are united in civil society.

When the federal union was planned, there was but one opinion among all parties, with regard to the form of the government, by which it was to be cemented. "It is evident," says the Federalist, in the number which treats of the conformity of the plan to republican principles, "that no other than "the republican form, would be reconcilable with the genius. "of the people of America; with the fundamental principles "of the revolution, or with that honourable determination "which animates every votary of freedom to rest all our po"litical experiments on the capacity of mankind for self "government." The framers of the constitution could not have mistaken the dispositions of the people. They had indeed no option left them in this respect. The materials upon which they were to operate were wholly republican, and the constituent elements of a monarchy entirely wanting. It could have found here none of its essential supports; neither hereditary nor personal distinctions; no regular gradation of ranks nor aristocracy of wealth. Although the North American colonies were, from the period of their settlement, dependent on Great Britain, and subject to the authority of the British crown, their domestic government was virtually republican, as well as the spirit by which they had been invariably animated. The following remarks made on this subject by Mr. Adams, in his defence of the American constitutions, are strictly just. "The truth is, that the people have "ever governed in America; all the weight of the royal go"vernors and councils, even backed with fleets and armies, "have never been able to get the advantage of them. They "have always stood by their houses of representatives in every "instance, and carried all their points, and no governor ever "maintained his ground against a representative assembly.

"As long as he governed by their advice he was happy, and "when he differed from them, he was soon compelled to re"tire." The hereditary predilections of the American people were, as it may be well supposed, at the epoch when they undertook to form a constitution for themselves, greatly strengthened by the sanguinary struggle, in which they had been so recently engaged with the British monarchy.

They were not only predisposed by temper, but eminently fitted by their habits and morals, and from the circumstances of their condition, to receive and maintain a well constituted republic, in the true sense of the term. Their habits were those of the most enterprising and indefatigable industry;— their morals comparatively virginal; their wealth moderate and equally distributed; their cities small,their pursuits chiefly agricultural;-their territory of great extent; their distinguishing traits of character, sobriety, sagacity, courage, the

* Letter XX. The work of Mr. Adams mentioned in the text may be read with much advantage, on account of the erudite and accurate research which the author there makes into the history, and character, of all the gov ernments of note or importance, that have flourished at any period of the world. We must confess, however, that we toiled with much fatigue and impatience through this elaborate compilation. The style of Mr. Adams is exceedingly heavy and inelegant, and he is uniformly deficient in method. We observe with deep regret that this the doyen of our revolutionary patriots, and not the least meritorious of that venerable band, should still continue to wield the weapon of party-controversy, and to nourish those invenomed and corrosive jealousies which are scarcely pardonable under any circumstances, but eminently revolting, and disgraceful in one no longer engaged in the irritating strife of political rivalry, or capable of aspiring to public honours. Mr. Burke, in speaking of lord Chatham, remarks, that a fall from power,-like death-canonizes and sanctifies a great character, and that he felt himself therefore, divested of the privilege of censuring any part of the conduct of that illustrious statesman. It is thus, had we occasion to review the history of the federal administration, that we should feel with regard to president Adams, if we could discern in the tenor of his deportment during this the last and most solemn stage of his existence, not the fretfulness of disappointed ambition, and mortified vanity, but the stamp of that true greatness without a manifestation of which, the deposition either of an English minister or of an American chief magistrate, so far from "canonizing and sanctifying" his fame, serves to authorize a more rigid scrutiny into his faults, and to lay them open to severer animadversion. It is full time for the successor of General Washington to contemplate steadily, the example set by this incomparable model of all excellence, in his voluntary retirement. Turpe senex miles is a sound aphorism, particularly in reference to the warfare of faction or of envy. The well known precept of the poet, "solve senescentem," &c. should, also, be present to the memory, where not only the body but the mind betrays unequivocal symp. toms of superannuation.

A republic is the general name of all commonwealths, but is applied particularly to denote a government administered by the people at large, but administered with justice, not oppressive to any class of citizens, but impartially consulting the good of all. Aristot. Book III.

love of freedom, and of order. Such are the attributes, whichaccording to the dictates of reason, and the authority of the most eminent political writers,-may be said to render a people the best materials for wise and just legislation, and the fittest to be moulded into a free and flourishing commonwealth. The members of the Convention had every reason to rejoice that the nature of the materials, with which they had to deal, was such as not only to enable, but to compel them, to provide for their country, a frame of government, which, of all the forms into which human society can be thrown, is unquestionably the best.

The Federalist defines a republic to be," a government, "which derives all its powers directly or indirectly, from the "great body of the people, and is administered by persons "holding their offices during pleasure-for a limited period"or during good behaviour."

The writer adds, in explanation of this doctrine," that it is "essential to such a government, that it be derived from the great body of the society, not from an inconsiderable pro"portion, or a favoured class of it, but it is sufficient for it "that the persons administering it be appointed, either di"rectly, or indirectly, by the people, and hold their offices "by either of the tenures just specified." The members of the Convention adopted this theory as in itself the most natural and just; as the most efficacious for their purpose, and the most acceptable to their constituents. They made it the basis of all their arrangements, and are not, we think, to be qualified as visionaries, if they supposed, that it was well fitted to uphold a fabric of graceful proportions, and firm texture;

+ See Aristotle's Politics. Millar's View of the English Government, vol. iii. p. 326, &c. Aristotle bears frequent testimony to the aptitude of an agricultural population spread over a large territory, for the enjoyment of what he terms a Torua, or a mixed republic, the best of all forms of government. "The best kind of democracy," says this writer, "is that in which the people subsist principally by agriculture: the manners and habits of husbandmen are best adapted to counteract the evil tendency of democratic institutions. The licentious spirit which these institutions are apt to engender, will not effect, nor will their habits and propensities undergo, a change; those of them who have any seeds of ambition, will find themselves sufficiently gratified by the right of electing their magistrates, and of exacting an account of their administration. In a commonwealth consisting chiefly of husbandmen, families are scattered at due distances. The citizens justle not with each other. It is for this reason that a country of great extent, and which casily afforded room for the continual diffusion of colonies at wide distances from the capital, might be improved, fortified and embellished by agricul ture alone and its subservient arts, and might enjoy, under nearly a simple democratic form, the benefits resulting from mixed policy." Book VIII.

one which, if we may be allowed the phrase, might unite the stability of Egyptian, with the beauty of Grecian architecture.

They took as fundamental supports for their system the maxims, that all political power should emanate either mediately or immediately from the people;-that the depositories of that power should be responsible to the tribunal of public opinion;-and that all political institutions should depend for their continuance upon the will of the majority.* They selected these as the vital principles of their plan, not because they believed all other systems in which they might be wanting, either usurpations, or nusances, but because they deemed them to be most consonant to the true origin of society, and to the inherent privileges of our nature, and, when properly modified, and favoured by circumstances such as those in which this country was, and is placed, most efficaciously auxiliary to the universal and paramount truth, that "the welfare of the governed is the main end and aim of every good government."-They knew that the people of these states, situated as they were, after the recognition of their independence, had an undoubted right to choose and model a government for themselves, and to prescribe the conditions upon which they might consent to alienate any portion of their original sovereignty. It appeared to the Convention, not only agreeable to the dictates of abstract reason, and to the particular derivation of our government, but wise and salutary, to establish as one of these conditions, that the constitution should cease to exist, or that the whole sovereignty should revert to the people, whenever it should be the will of the majority: a will to be expressed however by a suitable organ, and

* See this point clearly demonstrated in Locke's treatise on government. † See Sydney and Locke passim for a complete demonstration of this topic. We cannot but heartily recommend these two writers, to the attention of our young countrymen. The perversion of their doctrines at the commencement, and during the paroxysms, of the French revolution, may have brought them into some discredit with the more timorous of the old and good school of politicians, but their writings are calculated to form disciples of another character than the demagogues of the French convention and of the Palais Royal. The discourses of Sydney concerning government, abound in the most enlightened and solid maxims of freedom,-in erudite illustrations most judiciously selected, and skilfully introduced. They are couched in a style far superior to the general standard of the age in which he wrote, and not unworthy, both as to coupiousness and elegance, of the best era of English composition. We place Harrington much below this great master. In England such a recommendation as the foregoing would be at this period, more than superfluous; but here it may be of some utility, by attracting to the works of the apostles and heralds of English liberty, the notice of such of the ingenuous youth of this country, as may wish to understand thoroughly the principles upon which our own scheme of freedom is built.