THE CITIZEN OF A REPUBLIC,, WHAT ARE HIS RIGHTS, HIS DUTIES, AND PRIVILEGES, TRANSLATOR OF " EDWARDS LESTER, 39 66 AND ROYAL ATHENEUM OF FLORENCE. NEW YORK: PAINE AND BURGESS, 62 JOHN STREET. 1845. Phil 9045.1 1850 March 20 life of Francis Bowen увалися Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1845, by In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of TO THE HON. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. DEAR SIR,-You have placed me under very deep obligation by allowing me to dedicate to you this translation of Ceba's "Citizen of a Republic." I am sorry I cannot accompany the act with some token of respect commensurate with the veneration I was taught, from my childhood, to feel for your name. In earlier ages, when the publication of a book was regarded as an event of too much importance to be hazarded without the patronage of some powerful Prince, Authors were accustomed to fill up their dedications with extravagant, and often unmerited adulation. The poor Scholar, however, was compelled to wear the chain-the power of choice was not with him. It was enough for him if he could find some powerful Prince, who would pay the expense of publication, and shield the writer from the storm that gathered over the pathway of the Thinker. In those days and in those countries, where thought was a crime, and its free expression felony, this was often so signal a service, it could not but awaken in return the deepest gratitude. Let us pardon, then, the dedications of the age of the Revival of Letters. But Dedications have changed with the Ages. our times, and particularly in our Country, no author need wear the chain. We are free to think and to write as our own free impulses guide us, and we dedicate our books to whom we will. We do not feel that we have a right to expect any signal service from the men at whose feet we lay our offering-we do not consider them responsible for any of our opinions-we do not try to shield ourselves from private malice or popu lar indignation by taking shelter under their protection. We have only one object in view, in our Dedications. We tender the fruits of our toil, the dearest and best Offering we can make, to One to whom we love to show honor. He may have won our gratitude in achieving some great service for our Country; he may have wielded a strong arm in battle, or guided the public councils with wisdom and with patriotism; he may have enriched the national Literature, and left some undying scroll in her Historic Archives; he may have rebuked the crimes or the corruption of a degenerate age, and saved his country from impending danger. But if he has done some great work worthy of a noble Citizen, or devoted his life with fidelity to the service of the Republic, all good men will delight to honor him. Wher ever he goes the congratulations of the multitude attend his steps; they strew his pathway with roses, and throw |