a clearer proposition than that it has been wisely dropped from their counsels. The loss we sustained by the first transformation of our national credit, from federal to state, would in the second, we think, be somewhat made up to us. All economical reasoning is doubtless in its favor; the double saving effected by it; first, the lower rate of interest at which such federal loan would be negotiated; and secondly, the premium it would bear in the market, would unquestionably, at a moderate calculation, remove from the country one half its present load of debt, converting the balance into active capital, for the support of its productive industry. Now against this strong argument stands what? Opinion!opinion, and nothing else. Fears, suspicions, local interests, and state jealousies; the same, in short, as once withstood and long delayed the political union of the states, to which they owe all their national prosperity; or, to take a nearer case, the same as withstood their financial union, when, in the year 1794, under the guidance of Hamilton and the influence of Washington, the scattered debts of the revolution were funded, and confidence restored at home and abroad; an event to which, as to the former, we may assign all our subsequent financial prosperity. The cases, it is true, are somewhat differenta debt of honor and a debt of expediency; but still the principle of both is the same-GOOD FAITH with the creditor—and the means the same-UNION ON THE PRINCIPLES OF EQUITY-and the end will be the same CREDIT RESTORED AT HOME AND ABROAD.

The sole question, then, for the statesman and the patriot, (we do not say the politician,) to ask himself in this matter, is, whether such means of equitable apportionment cannot be found and adequately secured. If they can, whether it be through the common property which the states hold in the national domain of two hundred and fifty millions of unsold acres of fertile land, or through any other adequate guarantee the debtor states may be enabled to offer a point into which we enter not then in our judgment is the question settled; for the economist will at once demonstrate what the financier will as quickly in figures exhibit, the financial advantages that would follow it, while the real statesman would at once recognise in it a new bond of unity to tie together divided states, a fresh pledge to the world and to posterity of an enduring American empire.

But for this question we have not now time. We content

ourselves with laying down the broad and undeniable proposition, that UNION has hitherto been our financial as well as our political ark of safety, and that the less Europe knows or hears of our separate independent sovereignties, and the more she knows and hears of our federal sovereignty, whether it be in the way of loans negotiated, or revenue laws nullified, or contested national boundaries taken possession of, the higher respect will they have for us as a nation, and the greater confidence will they place in us-the more willing will they be to lend to us in peace, and the less willing to meet us in war.

Our author's final summing up will be found, we think, marked with candor and good sense. The words of a banker and a creditor are not likely, it is true, to be those of a eulogist, but still less will they be found to be what those of some of his countrymen have been, debtors to us, at least for many civilities-those of a scorner. The work closes in these words: "On a review of the whole subject, we have seen the conduct of the states collectively in respect of former loans, and their punctuality in discharging them; we have seen the physical condition of the country, and the well founded prospects of still greater resources being derived hereafter from the improvement of the vast territory, yet to be cultivated; we have seen their prudent manner of managing their affairs, both in the frugal expenditure in the civil government generally, and in the application of their loans; and in a country in which the population so rapidly increases, it must be borne in mind, that if recourse must be had to taxation to defray the interest on their debts, the greater the number to assist in paying it, the lighter will be the burden upon each. We have seen, lastly, the general enterprising and industrious character of the people; such are good ingredients towards the establishment of national credit, and a considerable degree of confidence is due on these grounds to the engagements of the states generally. In the case of the northern Atlantic states, Massachusetts and New-York may be looked upon as entitled to the highest place in the scale. We have here realized wealth; an extensive trade; old established institutions; and a people to whom the general good character given to the citizens of the states more particularly applies. In instituting a comparison between the newer northern and the southern states, it may perhaps be affirmed, that, although the latter are richer, and possess more present means of meeting their engagements,

the northern states contain the elements of a more enduring prosperity."

In quitting our author and his reasonings, which we do with great respect, our summing up of the question must be in another strain; and our appeal made to higher motives than those of prudence.

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It is to Americans then we speak, and as Americans we speak, and as patriots we address them. If ever there was a hinging point in the moral fortunes of the American people, it is now; for now are we being weighed in the balancethe scales are equipoised, and a breath or one silent vote may turn the scale, and determine once and for ever whether the stamp upon our country's fame shall be one of base or sterling coin. Prompt to borrow and impotent to pay," is the sneer that has already been cast on our halls of popular legislation; and the assertion currently made and widely believed, that our political leaders are as "afraid to ask," as our people are "unwilling to give," the means of meeting the interest on debts created by their own acts, and expended for their own benefit. On this count, before the bar of christian Europe, and in the face of expectant millions, our country and its institutions stand now arraigned, and the judgment once passed is as fatal as it is irreversible. If one of condemnation, though resulting from the act of but a single member of the confederacy, the American flag droops for everno after repentance can efface the blot-no subsequent prosperity bring respect-no military trophies gathered under its paled stars ever clothe with honor a name once branded with commercial infamy. Nor is this all; not only is it the flag of America, but the standard of freedom, that will thus be trampled in the dust, for none other can ever march on to glory under that soiled banner; the experiment of selfgovernment and equal rights will be at an end, and in the estimate of scornful Europe put down as a mistake and a failure; and so far doubtless will they be in the right, in the conclusion that it can never be tried again under fairer auspices than it has been here tried, by the best of the AngloSaxon race, upon the richest of Anglo-Saxon inheritances.

ART. VI.-The Smithsonian Bequest.-Report of Mr. John Quincy Adams, from the select Committee appointed by the House of Representatives on the subject. Washington: March 5, 1840. pp. 155.

FEW of the congressional documents of this session present such strong claims to public attention, and to the earnest meditation of all thinking men, as the one before us. No decision having as yet been taken by Congress, upon the best mode of applying the legacy of the generous Briton, to the lofty purpose for which it was intrusted to the United States of America, it devolves upon all who feel an interest in the subject—and none of our readers are, we trust, indifferentto give it mature reflection; and we therefore fulfil an imperative duty in communicating the ideas and facts which study and some research have suggested, as tending to elucidate it. The execution of this trust, "involves considerations and principles other than those which usually regulate the legislation of Congress ;" and, since the well known bequest of Washington, no such event has required of it extraordinary action. We are daily becoming better acquainted with the nature and extent of our moral and intellectual wants, and what is due to our position as a nation, profiting by the honest labors of foreign savans and institutions, and hitherto making few returns for them, is likewise daily revealed to us by the press, which diffuses these through every quarter of this great country.

A stranger's benevolence now enables us to take the initiative, encouraging the hope that at no far distant day the foundations may be laid of an edifice, proportioned to the grandeur of the corner-stone, and commensurate with our own. In the preliminary deliberations of our national legislature, we discover a due sense of the magnitude of this event; and in the calling into its councils the specific experience of practical men, a becoming diffidence of its own competency to decide upon this important question - so important even, that it seems a proper subject for the deliberations of a scientific congress, convened expressly for the purpose. Had our own interest in the subject itself been insufficient to induce us to take part in the discussion, we could not have resisted the fresh impulse which we received from the eloquent appeals, vivid pictures, and noble sentiments of Mr. Adams's interest

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ing report, from which we shall proceed to extract such facts and statements as are necessary to explain the whole matter to our readers, and show its importance.

Eleven years ago there died in Genoa, an English gentleman of noble family and ample fortune, (one of that class of Rentiers Célibataires so numerous in England,) whose existence, but for the death of his heir without issue, would never have transpired on this side of the Atlantic, and whose name has now as fair a prospect of being perpetually remembered and honored, as that of any illustrious benefactor of the human race. The illegitimate offspring of a Duke of Northumberland and a gentlewoman, whom the bar-sinister upon his escutcheon will teach posterity to distinguish among the descendants of the Percys as one canonized by the gratitude of humanity, and to regret that no record should have been preserved of his life and virtues.

At his death, a will was found, dated eight years previous a simple and touching document, of which we transcribe such portions as relate to the matter before us:

I, James Smithson, son of Hugh, first Duke of Northumberland, and Elizabeth, heiress of the Hungerfords of Audley, and niece of Charles, the proud, Duke of Somerset, now residing in Bentinck street, Cavendish square, do this 23d day of October, 1826, make this my last will and testament."

Here follows the bequest of an annuity of one hundred pounds sterling to an old servant, and of the income of the remainder of his estate to his nephew, Mr. Hungerford, whose children are to inherit all the property after their father's decease:

"In case of the death of my said nephew without leaving a child or children, or of the death of the child or children he may have had, under the age of twenty-one years, or intestate, I then bequeath the whole of my property, subject to the annuity of £100 to John Fitall, (and for the security and payment of which I mean stock to remain in this country,) to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among

men."

This concluding paragraph sets forth explicitly what the testator expected from his legatee, the United States of