transpired which will hereafter fill an important page in the world's history. The commercial world has experienced a revulsion almost without a parallel. You, gentle reader, even in this quiet abode of the arts and sciences, have felt its influence. You have seen your acquaintances who welcomed the last New Year in the full enjoyment of all the blessings which wealth or competence could bestow, leaving their much-loved homes, and surrendering to the stern executor of the law their most valued treasures; you have seen their lovely families thrown at once from the heights of fashion and influence to the retirement and quiet of the humbler walks of life.

You have watched with anxious delight the progress of free principles in our world; you have seen our political neighbors burst the bands of an odious domestic or foreign tyranny; you have trembled lest the oppressor might yet crush the valiant asserters of equal rights.

This little community of ours has experienced changes equally momentous to the parties concerned. The stern command of an irresistible power has perhaps blasted the hopes of some of our associates by their untimely separation from this Institution; the onward progress of college life has deprived us of many friends with whom we have often held sweet converse, while it has added to our number others equally worthy of a place in our affections.

Whether the year on which we are soon to enter will present equal or greater changes or not, it belongs not to us to say. We cannot part with a friend, though now old and near his exit, who has witnessed many a happy hour of our lives; who has furnished to us much of "the sparkling cream of all time's blessedness," without some regrets, yet we can hail his new and blooming successor with a hearty welcome.

Reader, whoever thou art, we wish you a HAPPY NEW YEAR.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

"For therefore remaineth a rest," (we are not responsible for the quotation,) has been returned through the post office.

Does t inquire "Quid Nunc ?" Why, rejected of course.

We are at a loss whether more to admire the simplicity or the decency of "A true story." The manuscript might have been more legible if the writer had been less sparing of his paper: we have returned it through the post office for him to decipher.

We had intended to publish "F.'s" poetry with some corrections; but upon examination we have found the metre so faulty that we are compelled to decline the piece.

"A Sketch" and "Night Musings" are declined.

"Clairvoyance" was received too late for insertion in the present number. We have accepted it with much pleasure. Will the author favor us again? "Lines to a shooting star," are under consideration.

We refer "L. U." to the Epilegomena.

Some of our correspondents would gain credit to themselves, and confer a favor upon us, by attending to orthography, punctuation and chirography. We have on file manuscripts which might easily be mistaken for facsimiles of Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Those who have communications for the February number, will please send them in as soon as possible.

HISTORY Seems to be divided into great epochs, which constitute, as it were, boundary marks in human affairs. In opening the records of the past, we find here and there a period, in which all the latent energies of society have been called into exercise; when there appears to have been a general breaking up of long established customs; when questions of deep and momentous interest have been agitated and decided, and great advances made towards truth in every department of knowledge. Such a period sends its influence far into the future, and stamps its character on succeeding ages with the certainty of an over-ruling destiny. When nations have been aroused from the lethargy of despotism, by the progress of revolution; when systems of government, venerated from antiquity, have by some extraordinary concurrence of events been overthrown; the consequences are so potent, for good or evil, that the lapse of centuries fails to counteract them. The chasm which such commotions make in the political world, can never be closed-they establish principles, which become too deeply interwoven with the frame work of society, to be easily eradicated.

These remarks may apply to the period which embraced the American Revolution. This may justly be considered as the most important event of modern times. It commenced a new

era in political science. It created new interests, new forms of government, and new laws, not only in the particular nation where it took place, but in all those which by contiguity, vicinage, or any other relation, were embraced in the same general system of policy. Its influence, mighty and irresistible, pervades every modification of civilized society; and it is, perhaps, no exaggeration to say, that in its results, are involved the highest interests of mankind. The government which arose out of this Revolution, has been properly characterized as a great experiment, whose progress is watched by the enlightened world, with

intense solicitude. Its fate will be considered as a decisive trial of the principles upon which it is founded. If it fails, the idea. which has been so industriously promulgated by the advocates of kingly prerogatives, that it contains some inherent and destructive property, the natural workings of which must necessarily result in its downfall, will be with reason confirmed; and the nations of the earth will go back, and voluntarily submit themselves to the hopeless despotism from which they had begun to emerge. This soul-stirring truth has been so often repeated, and many times under such unfortunate circumstances, that it has lost much of its original force, and has fallen in some degree to a level with the common place declamation of the times. But it is, nevertheless, a truth-and one too which should sink deep into our hearts; which should induce every man to forget those selfish considerations which are apt to control his actions, and make him a patriot, in its highest, holiest sense. The ark of political liberty is in our hands we are responsible for its preservation. If through our neglect it fall in pieces, who shall rebuild it?

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Every revolution, political or moral, should be an object of study. Such events form important eras in the advancement of society-they break in upon its uniform progress, and by violence arrest the attention of men. They are periods pregnant with danger and hope-periods, in which the concentrated mind of millions is in action, operating with fearful rapidity and energy, and evolving results which must continue to exist with the authority of established principles, until swept away by still mightier convulsions. To investigate the causes of these unnatural movements of society, and to trace out their legitimate effects, is the duty of the statesman and philosopher. It is from the experience of the past only, that he can obtain that wisdom, which will be a safe guide through the uncertainty of the future. tunately, it happens, that the revolution which has done more than any other to advance the interests, and promote the happiness of mankind, stands upon a clear and perfect basis. Its causes are not alone written in the records of the British parliament, but are inscribed upon the hearts and memories of living men. They have occupied the attention, exercised the talent, and engaged the laborious industry of the patriot and philanthropist in every civilized nation of the world.

For

It is not our intention, therefore, again to go over this ground. It is simply our object, at the present time, to notice some of the characteristics and features of this struggle, and some of the circumstances which prepared the way for, and introduced it, controlled it in its progress, and which have mainly contributed to make it what it thus far has been, a blessing to the world.

Among the many points of difference, which distinguish the American Revolution from all those which have preceded or fol

lowed it, the most prominent, is the high character of its movers and conductors. If there is any circumstance connected with our struggle for liberty, which can afford us just pride, and give us an enviable rank among those nations which have established their independence by similar means, it is this. We can look back upon the origin of our national existence, without being pained by any reflections, which must necessarily cloud the glory of that triumph. It was a period, unsullied by those scenes of violence and reckless ambition, which seem to be almost the universal attendants of such important events. Previous to this time, the word revolution only conveyed the idea of an explosion of the worst passions of our nature-the mad acts of restless politicians, who after having paid their obsequious and unsuccessful court to royalty, with disappointed hopes, were determined to overthrow the government, which had refused to lend itself to their interested purposes. But we search in vain for such motives, among the eminent actors in that revolution, which from dependent colonies has converted us into a great and powerful nation. They stood far above personal ambition. They had higher objects. They aimed to establish those principles of rational liberty, which should for ever secure to mankind the peaceful enjoyment of their natural and just rights. They were not desperadoes of fortune, who, conscious of having little to lose, were ready to hazard all upon the cast of a single die ;--they were men who had firmly planted their feet upon justice, and were resolved to perish in its defense, rather than yield to the arbitrary exactions of an omnipotent parliament. Under these guides, three millions of people, with slender resources, with no regularly organized government, and with no disciplined army, were enabled successfully to cope with the most formidable empire of the world, and to establish their freedom upon a sure and permanent basis.

Such ancestors we may be proud to compare with the noblest characters of antiquity. In our Washington and his compatriots, we have more than a Leonidas-more than a Solon. In them we see more real wisdom, more pure and disinterested patriotism, than in any of the numerous heroes, whose deeds have been transmitted to us on the pages of pagan history. They possessed the true Spartan bravery-the unflinching integrity of the Athenian. They left us indeed no propitious Lares, no titled nobility; but their independence of spirit, simplicity of manners, and nobleness of purpose-the home-spun robe of republicanism.

But it would be unjust to attribute the success of our revolution, entirely to the distinguished character and zealous exertions of those who were destined to be placed at its head. It is, perhaps, a peculiarity of this revolution, that it was immediately produced by the general action of the people, who had united for the accomplishment of real and specific objects. It is a singular fact,

that almost every other revolution has originated in individual ambition, has been controlled by individual exertion, and individuals only have experienced its benefits; while the great mass have rendered themselves subject to additional burdens.

It is easy for designing men, insinuating themselves by artifice and false pretenses into public confidence, to keep states and empires in perpetual agitation; but all the people gain by such revolutions is a change of masters. It was by his pretended friendship for the people and hatred of tyranny, by his professed zeal and enthusiasm in the cause of liberty, that the notorious Cromwell was promoted to the chief command of the armies of Britain; and his first act after his elevation, was the most rash and arbitrary recorded in English history.

By similar protestations, and an apparent ardor in the service of the republic, Bonaparte raised himself to the summit of power in France. The people gathered around his standard, as that of a deliverer, and confidently expected the establishment of a government, which would secure to them those privileges, of which they had been deprived by the strong hand of power. How sadly were they disappointed! Instead of fixing the republic upon a firm foundation, he aimed at unlimited authority; and after filling all Europe with lamentation and mourning, and keeping the whole civilized world in a state of unexampled agitation and distress, for a period of years, he finally reached the throne of France, through the blood of millions of Frenchmen! Thus terminated a revolution, which had been ostensibly commenced, with the design of more fully securing the people in the enjoyment of their rights, by conferring supreme power on one man. And such has been the result of every effort to stop the encroachment of despotism, when the people have placed their entire dependence in the patriotism and integrity of their political leaders.

Thus many of the revolutions which have disfigured the pages of history, have been merely the outbreakings of political phrenzy and passion, without any definite principles of action, and without any higher object, than to gratify the ambition of some aspiring and popular leader. Originating in such motives, they have rolled on in blindness, scourging without improving, prostrating without building up. Liberty, peace, and prosperity, have not followed, but their pathway has been marked with blood, and with the wrecks of government, and anarchy has laid the foundation for a more deep-rooted despotism.

Such was not the course of our revolution. The grand movement was not made, until the consequences were fully anticipated and the ability to meet them tested. Its basis was not upon the whirlwind of passion, but upon that strong, yet well controlled enthusiasm, which the true principles of liberty always inspire. This feeling was not the growth of a day, which had