that this State should have been twice the seat of that parricide insurrection. To me it appears the natural consequence of our present situation. The Constitution of the United States, founded on the broad basis of reason, and erected with an almost divine justice through all its parts, the policy of the Executive government, flowing from the just conviction, that the measures she pursues are the only ones, which can ever save a tottering state from sharing in the miseries of Europe, require only to be understood, to obtain respect. But without education, without some improvement by learning the natural powers of man, this the majority of our people cannot do. It is well known that the fostering hand of our State government has not yet been extended to the improvement of our youth in learning, and hence they are a prey to the arts of those designing men who thus gnaw the vitals of society. The thick cloud which has so long hung over the political hemisphere of Europe, threatening to burst in destructive torrents and sweep in one general deluge the happiness of the greater part of mankind, seems now to be passing off, and some rays of hope shoot forth. I am now at Belmont, my father's country retirement, pursuing my studies in the law."

June 2. William E. Channing in Richmond to Shaw at Quincy. "I assure you I was struck with the sublime precepts of Christianity, when I began the study of the Bible. I was struck, too, with observing how far I had deviated from them. I found that I had not a pure, a humble, a pious or a char

itable heart. I saw how Christian charity differed from what I used to call benevolence. Everything was new to me. I thank you for your books. I beg you to write early."

June 8. Thomas B. Adams in Philadelphia to Shaw at Quincy. Speaking of a recent excursion to the South: "I was accompanied in my visit to Mount Vernon by Mr. and Mrs. Johnson and Thomas. We passed two nights there very happily, and received from the General and Mrs. Washington a most cordial welcome. Owing to the excessive heat of the weather, I could not make the usual tour, with which the General often favors his guests, that is, some eight or ten miles walking about his grounds. I am by no means confident, that the prospects from the heights of Quincy would suffer by a comparison with those of Mount Vernon."

June 16. From Shaw at Quincy to Walter in New York. "The many favorable elections throughout the United States which have lately taken place, should gladden the heart of every one, who takes any interest in his country's welfare. With so extensive a territory as ours, it would be but an Utopian idea, to suppose that all of its population would be of one heart in the support of government. There always have been, and always will be, in every nation, ambitious, artful and disappointed men to delude, and others, weak enough to be deluded. They treat the Administration as the Caffrarians of Africa do their god; worship him when the weather is fair, but be very angry with him, if the weather be unpropi

tious. It is thought that General Heath would not have had so many votes for Governor, in Massachusetts, had not his memoirs been made the subject of several strictures in the newspapers, which were excessively severe.

"Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot,
That it do singe yourself. We may outrun
By violent swiftness, that which we run at,
And lose by overrunning."

On Wednesday I went in company with the President to attend the funeral of our late Governor Sumner. I never saw before such a concourse of people. I have not time to give you a particular account of the funeral. I will enclose a description of it in a newspaper.

"He was mild and gentle, and the elements so mixed in him That nature might stand up and say to all the world, this was a

June 16. Thomas B. Adams in Philadelphia to Shaw at Quincy. "I have thought for some time past that politics are but a remote branch of my trade (law), and though I am not indifferent on any subject particularly interesting to the public, I feel but little respecting generality of political news and unascertained reports. The news from Europe of late has roused me in a degree, because it is of a complexion rather different from my expectation. I did think that the French armies would not meet with an effectual check from the Imperial troops. I rejoice to find the fact otherwise. It is much to be wished, that this reverse of fortune on the French side may be followed up by others of equal magnitude; for my opinion coincides with yours,

that what has already happened, will do little towards humbling the great nation, considering that arts, and not arms, are the chief weapons of war, which they wage against the present establishments of the world."

June 27. From S. Ewing, in the same city. Among several authors he had recently perused, "Southey's Poems are charming. Let Godwin talk of the power of education. Let him in his enthusiasm pronounce all men equal at their birth. Let him say that Shakespeare might have been Humphrey Marshall, and Marshall, Shakespeare. I shall not believe it. The Almighty does not leave every thing to chance and education. He affixes the seal of genius on some more than others. He endues them with a heavenly spark, which, however smothered by the barbarity of a savage world, and the tyranny of despotism, will burst into a flame that will be felt."

July 23. From T. B. Adams to Shaw at Quincy. "People here are very angry at the Bostonians for impeding commercial intercourse with them in consequence of the rumors of the yellow fever, as prevalent in this city. Coming in the stage this morning, I heard some Quakers complain of its being a hasty and illiberal measure. I judge not between you."

This month. From Shaw to William E. Channing in Richmond, Va. "If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men's cottages, princes' palaces, and I should long since have written to you, the

neglect of which has not been owing to a want of inclination, but absolute necessity. I spend my time here, much to my advantage, and, of course, much more to my enjoyment, than in Philadelphia. Here my chief company are books. The society of these is delightful to me. They are persons of all countries and of all ages, distinguished in war, in council and in letters; easy to live with, always at my command. They come at my call, and return when I desire them. They are never out of humor, and they answer all my questions with readiness. Some present, in review before me, the events of the past. Others reveal the secrets of nature. These teach me how to live, and those how to die. This beautiful account of my books is quoted from Petrarch. The Fourth of July was celebrated throughout Massachusetts, this year, with uncommon enthusiasm.

"No one can be more pleased with Southey, as a poet, than I am, and I generally consented to your observations; but I would ask you, whether you ap prove of his making so conspicuous a figure of Joan d'Arc? Don't you think, too, in his miscellaneous poetry, he talks excessively about the religion of nature, preferring it to revelation ? An instance,

'Let others go to the house of prayer,
But he to the woodland strays.'

Mrs. Morton has published lately a poem, which she calls the Virtues of Society, founded on the story of Harriet Auckland, and intended to have made one of the books of her Beacon Hill. It is very handsomely dedicated to Mrs. Adams."