WHENCE ARISES THE HUMILITY OF GREATNESS. "Faint yet pursuing." It is an acknowledged fact, that the truly great are always humble. This humility proceeds from comparing themselves, not with others, but with the capabilities of their own nature. The man who is self-satisfied, believing he has become all that he might be, whatever he has achieved, is not truly great. The highest class of minds have ever felt a sense of discouragement after the completion of their most praiseworthy works. again into song, laboring to reveal the thoughts which at first seemed inexpressible. They are striving on; striving ever, after the unattainchi, lamenting continually their inability to reach that towards which they are gradually advancing. The most exalted Christian feels constantly the same humility. He does not seek to delineate the form of his Redeemer, or describe in lofty verse the perfection of humanity. No, a still nobler task is his; he strives to become himself a representa tion of the Saviour. While mankind admire the likeness of their Divine Master, his heart efter When Leonardo da Vinci had finished his paint-sinks within him. He knows how far he has falea ing of the Last Supper, the world were astonished below the perfection of which his nature is capaat its excellence. The unimaginative, who had ble, as displayed in the sinless model once oferes never even pictured to themselves the disciples of to man. But does the Christian despair! No, he our Lord, wondered at beholding the striking indi- makes nobler efforts after that which he can eriy viduality manifested in their representation. They reach in Heaven. where these indefinite aspirations which are flig C. T. L could not conceive of the creative power, which | O! how animating is the thought of that state. could endow, with characteristic life, those who had slept for centuries. The young painters viewed with delight, the exaltation of which their art was capable, and were lost in astonishment at the magic skill with which each colour was made to contribute to the general beauty and harmony. With different feelings did Leonardo regard this touching scene. The fire of inspiration had left his eye; and his noble brow was darkened with sadness. When that splendid picture had been completed, excepting the head of our Saviour, he threw down his pencil in despair. The mind which could display in the countenance of the favorite disciple, such inimitable loveliness, believed itself incapable of portraying the divine lineaments of the Redeemer. And now, that the labor of years was completed, he was still dissatisfied; for his discerning eye did not compare it with the works of others, but the bright ideal in his own creative mind. TO A HIGHLY GIFTED ENGLISH WRITER. My Friend, it is not love I ask of thee, With similar feelings, Milton must have contemplated that noble poem, which has been the wonder of ages. The mind which originated such sublime thoughts, could never have been satisfied with itself. We behold his Paradise in all its glowing beauty, and wonder at the genius which could endow its inhabitants with such surpassing loveliness. But Milton's description of Adam when untainted by sin, could not reach the sublimity of his conception of a perfect man. The poet must always lament the inability of language to express his glowing thoughts. He longs for a mental daguerreotype to transfer, with a glance of light, an exact impression of the beings of his mind. But the consciousness of his inefficiency to do himself justice, does not drive him to despair for the height of the standard to which men aspire, is one great cause of the excellence they achieve. The painter seizes his pencil again and again, determined that if he cannot entirely realize his noble conceptions, he will endeavor to approach them more nearly. The poet breaks forth' If it elicit valued thoughts like thine, I scorn to know the coquette's heartless pride. Affection's sacred tear, or thrilling sigh, And from the careless world's rough visitings Find for thy spirit food and calm release. Oft have I wandered, thro' thy gifted page With throbbing pulse, with smile, or tearful eye. With its low touching note thy sympathy, And richly too I prize that art divine That doth fair semblance of the lov'd retain, My feeble genius hath not breathed in vain. Sisterly influence,-friendship refined, That would this valued gift incite from thee,- LOVE SKETCHES. BY MISS JANE T. LOMAX, OF VIRGINIA. On the vapor the sunset staineth, The loveliness cannot remain, And the gems that the night-dew raineth, From all that this world hath sweetest, troubled by battling with trials and disappointments; but as they used to be in the glow of unwearied expectation; old fears flit before us, altered into pleasures, and old hopes return bathed in tears. Ah! could we read by starlight, the hearts we consider so calm and callous in daily companionship, how much more kindly would we judge the motives around us; how often, in the minds we believe coldest, might we see the strong working of some secret sorrow, or the still ravage of some painful remembrance, buried dark and afar from careless eyes, and only revealed to those holy ones which shine down on us from heaven! The sisters' thoughts were busy, as thoughts will be when some valued blessing is about to pass away. Their destinies were to be divided now, for the first time; and though not to be widely separated, they both felt that what they had once been to each other, they never could be again. With one, new associations were forming stronger and dearer even, than the lovely links of sisterly affection; but as the bride glanced at her companion, the future, with all its happily tinted visions, failed for awhile to soothe, and the familiar joys she was forsaking, seemed more precious than ever. The other's look was composed, but it was the calmness of feeling, too entirely subdued to gain refuge in outward grief. She had no sweet, tremulous anticipations, garnered up in the hereafter, no tenderness promising to repay, a thousand fold, the unnumbered ties it severed. Hers was the one trouble for which the lip has no expression, the gentlest sympathy no solace. For all other trials there are many comforts; for the deceived And young Hope that so fervently yearneth, in love, this world affords no relief. We lose the But springeth to droop and to fall. balm friendship might have bestowed, in parting The sisters were together, together for the with the spirit of confidence; and when pleasures, ist time in the happy home of their childhood. like flowers, lie withered around us, prayer brings he window before them was thrown open, and only the last and saddest wisdom of mourning-to he shadows of evening were slowly passing from suffer and be still. It is not affection alone, we ach familiar outline on which the gazers looked. relinquish, in quitting love; we bid farewell to so They were both young and fair; and one, the many hopes, clinging like tendrils round that relder, wore that pale wreath the maiden wears but liance; we break so many pure and fervent beliefs, nce. The accustomed smile had forsaken her whose perfect trust returns not; so much faith in p now, and the orange flowers were scarcely the professions of others, flies from us, that bewilshiter than the cheek they shaded. The sisters' dering doubts hover over us, which, no after expeands were clasped in each other's, and they sat rience can dissipate; suspicions gather, and we ilently, watching the gradual brightening of the have nothing to refute them ;-till life is saddened rescent moon, and the coming forth, one by one, of by premature cautiousness, and the soul grows he stars. Not a cloud was floating in the quiet weary with the depressing knowledge of decepsky: the light wind hardly stirred the young leaves; tion. Poor Edith! and the air was fraught with the fragrance of early There were gay friends about the sisters later spring-flowers. It was the hour when reverie is that evening, and kind wishes were whispered to deepest, and fantasics have the earnestness of truth, the bride by those whose voices she loved, till the when memory is melancholy in its vividness, and glow of hope and happiness revisited her check, we feel, “almost like a reality," the presence of and her brow was no longer sorrowful beneath that hose who may bless our pathway no more. The garland so pale with prophecies. Mordante's gaze oved, the lost followed Edith with affectionate solicitude, and he appeared surprised at her unruffled quietness and gather around us, not as they are, chastened and self-command. He had anticipated some passionate So many, yet how few!" demonstration of the woe pressing so heavily upon brief life is, and to number every instance she could her; he could scarcely believe suffering existed remember; of those who had died young, who shall beneath a smile so placid and a manner so com- blame one but a "little lower than the angels, posed. There was no visible sign of sadness, for pining to be at peace with the pure in heart! none of the petulance sometimes betraying the wound within; for her tone was kinder and softer than usual, and she was more than ordinarily interested in promoting the enjoyment of others. He judged, as men ever judge women, by the exterior tokens which evince so little of the inner truth; and with all his high-toned feeling and habit of observation, he could not trace, nor comprehend that mingling of pride and self-forgetfulness, which make the mystery of a woman's love. "Edith is looking beautiful this evening," he said to his bride, "and as tranquil as if the occurrences of the last few weeks had been already forgotten." The sister sighed; the depth of her own devotion taught her to read more truly the secret history of another's. The first afflictions of existence are the most terrible to bear; and who may paint the full wretchedness of that young mourner, as, in the solitude of night, her sufferings found utterance, and the repressed emotions of several hours flowed forth unrestrained, melting the sweet hopes of her youth, to tears! In There are great ordeals which seem to engross all our faculties of endurance, and having passed their stern tribunal, we appear to acquire an additional share of patience for the common and lesser vexations that await us. It is as if our appointed portion of trial had been at once bestowed, and in the test of one lasting disappointment, we lose the capability of being annoyed and excited by any lighter evils. It was thus with Edith; and as time glided on, her calmness settled into a second nature, and she bore with redoubled equanimity, those trivial, but perplexing and constantly recurring cares, which attend every hour of a woman's career. losing the earnest anticipations of future happiness, she relinquished no share of her sympathy with the gay and blest around her; and the warm affections, which, under different circumstances, might have brightened and hallowed her own lot, went forth, unchilled and chastened into holier light, to shed their sunshine upon others. Her loneliness of thought was subdued, though not changed; for she had learned that unceasing selfcontrol, which is one of the blessings of grief. And when past impressions would rush unbidden back, when the sound of music would recall some pleasant dream she had lost; or the mention of a name too well remembered, would make her cheek grow pale, there was no utterance of that mental pain; the recollection and the regret went by unspoken. And if, sometimes, at these moments, she looked upward to the stars and sighed for the rest beyond them-if it were a pleasure to her to think how I'LL FLY TO THE COUNTRY. BY ARCHÆUS OCCIDENTALIS. I'll be with you in the morn Diving into the glades; When the ploughman gives rest to his team, And when the orb of day His bright course has fulfill'd; And the laverock is still'd, POETRY FROM SCHILLER. "How sweet and rapturous, 'tis to feel Ourself exalted in a lovely soul, To know our joys make glow another's cheek, W. J. T THE GAY FLOWER AND THE WITHERED LEAVES. I had placed a bright flower on my bosom, I believed that the fragrance so blest, Not the idols that men fondly cherish, Not the happy and gay, who in splendor are living, C. L. T. OUR RELATIONS WITH ENGLAND. Enquiry into the validity of the British claim, to the right of visitation and search of American vessels suspected ance with the established principles of the maritime code, and altogether incompatible with the free use of the seas for lawful purposes. The author has treated his subject in a dignified manner, and with a force of argument perfectly convincing and conclusive. In Europe, where the intrigues of nations are So often witnessed and well understood, this question has attracted much attention: so much, that two of our Ministers there, have felt themselves called on to vindicate, by book and pamphlet, the motives, principles and considerations which have operated with their government in withholding its assent to the apparently very reasonable propositions of England, and to which the chief maritime powers of Europe saw no objections. In a former No. of this journal, it was shown why this country will not, and it is now our object to show why it ought not, to give its assent. circumstance will permit, the grounds upon which We propose to review, as faithfully as time and to be engaged in the African slave-trade. By Henry Wheaton, L.L.D., Minister of the United States at the the United States object to give British cruisers Court of Berlin.-Author of "Elements on International upon the high seas, the right of visiting and searchLaw." Philadelphia: Lea and Blanchard; 1842. ing our merchantmen. From a dispassionate and We have, before, expressed our opinion of this fair consideration of these, it can, we think, be ook. We read it through at a single sitting, and shewn, that though America be never so earnest, aid it down with feelings of pleasure and of pride and doubtless she is earnest, in her wishes to supride, that it is the production of an American press the slave-trade, she cannot accede to the proitizen abroad, and pleasure to find, that the hasty positions of Great Britain, for several reasons, each views taken some months ago in this journal, of in itself sufficient to justify her in the stand which she he law-points involved in the question, are fully has taken. These reasons are derived from the ustained by Mr. Wheaton, himself an eminent conduct of Great Britain, as well with regard to slavriter on International Law. He reviews the very and the slave-trade, as to the right of search. History of the African slave-trade, going back to The sympathy of the English people for the negro he time when Great Britain fastened the plague- slave, no one doubts: but as to the philanthropy of pot upon this country, and obtained, by the Asiento the English government, though it be never so exaltontract with Spain, the privilege of supplying his ed and great in the eyes of some; yet, when we come Catholic Majesty's dominions in America, with closely to examine it, we shall find it to be like ,800 negro slaves annually for thirty years. Fuller's Irish mountain, with a bog on the top of it, On the accession of Charles II., it was repre- in which she has constantly endeavored to swamp ented to him that the British plantations in Ame- the commercial prosperity of America. Before enica required a greater yearly supply of servants; tering upon this examination, it may be well to ad "his majesty did," says Davenant," publicly glance at the right by which this country has reavite all his subjects to the subscription of a new fused its assent to the terms of the Christian oint-stock for recovering and carrying on the trade League.' o Africa:" p. 9. One of the last petitions made by Virginia (1773) o the throne of England, was a prayer, beseechng the parent state to wipe away this leprous spot rom the land, and to curse it no longer with the dious traffic in human flesh. Massachusetts had, is early as 1645, abrogated the buying and selling of slaves, except those taken in lawful warfare; and o those she guarantied the privileges allowed by the aw of Moses. But this humane statute was nulliied by the mother country, who now has hoisted the black flag and turned renegade herself; and like all true ones, is for showing no quarters. That no nation has the right, except by treaty, to visit or interrupt in times of peace, the vessels of another on the common and appropriated parts of the ocean, is an undisputed principle of maritime law, and one which has been publicly acknowledged by every naval power of Christendom. The first time that a mutual right of search was ever proposed, was, Mr. Wheaton tells us, by Great Britain to France in 1814:-to which Prince Talleyrand replied, that France never would admit any other maritime police than that which each power exercised on board of its own vessels.' In 1817, Great Britain, for $2,000,000,* pur Mr. Wheaton proves conclusively, that the pre-chased from Spain the treaty of Madrid, which, ensions now set up by Great Britain, are at vari VOL. VIII-49 * £400,000. tance. among other things, granted a mutual right of American government is to its citizens the gosearch. And the first vessel that was brought in, vernment is theirs, created by them for their own for condemnation under it, was declared, in Eng- benefit'; and they require of their rulers, who are land, to afford a precedent of the utmost impor- but their servants, to be just, before they are permitted to be generous. They view the African With this precedent' in his pocket, Lord Castle-slave-trade with great abhorrence, and desire its supreagh hastened to the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, pression. But their maritime rights and interests, where he proposed to the assembled powers "the the safety of their ships and sailors, are far more general concession of a reciprocal right of search:" dear and important to them, than the bondage or P. 43. liberty of wild Ethiopians to whom they owe noThis proposition was peremptorily and unani- thing but sympathy and such pity as a Christian mously rejected in the names of France, Austria, people may bestow upon the heathen in his blindRussia, and Prussia. Count Nesselrode stated ness. We will take care that none of our citizens that it appeared to the Russian Cabinet, that there shall rivet the shackles of slavery upon the savages were some states whom no consideration would of Africa. If the subjects of other nations will induce to submit their navigation to a principle of commit this sin, it is no concern of ours. And such great importance as the right of visitation though we view it with pity and horror, we cannot, and search:' ib. the more especially when the means proposed are The records of the Supreme Court of the United so inadequate to its suppression, consent to give States, and of the prize-courts of England, show away those great conservative principles upon that these enlightened and august tribunals have which the peace and welfare of our country defully recognized the principle and based their de- pend-upon which the merchant relies for the cisions upon it, that no nation has the right-ex-protection of his ships and goods, the seaman for cept by treaty to visit, or in any manner to inter- the safety of his person and the security of his rupt upon the high seas, the vessels of another in times of peace.† The same principle has been felt, acknowledged, and acted upon by all nations. England has openly avowed and practically confessed it; else we cannot perceive why she should have purchased, at such a great price from Spain and Portugal what already and of right, belonged to her. Nor can we conceive why the mutual concession of the right of visitation and search, should have been made an article of the 'Christian League,' but for the fact that Great Britain felt it to be a power which she could not justly exercise except bytreaty. Language,' says Talleyrand,' was given to man to conceal his thoughts' and while the language used to our Minister by Lords Palmerston and Aberdeen denied the right of our flag to protect our vessels from visitation and search, it exposed their thoughts, and led them virtually to confess the right, when they asked for its surrender. liberty. We view with Christian sympathy and regret, the hosts of murdered Chinese who prefer instant death at the mouth of British cannon, to the slow poison of a British drug. But to interfere between these two nations, let their quarrel be never so unrighteous and the war unholy, would not be more foreign to the purpose, intent and object for which this government was created and is maintained, than it would be to interfere in the dealings between Africa and other nations. All that we can do as a nation in behalf of the people of that afflicted land, is to help them to right when they suffer wrong at the hands of our citizens, and to observe, in our dealings with them, the golden rule. Of this desire and this intention on our part, it becomes us to give Africa and the world an earnest, by maintaining on her coasts, armed ships to enforce right and prevent wrong. And this we have done, though hitherto Charity begins at home. The first duty of the not to a sufficient extent. Walsh's Appeal. In the case of the Marianna Flora, a Portuguese vessel captured in 1821 and brought to trial as a pirate for firing into an American cruiser, the Supreme Court of the United States expressed the opinion that men-of-war when cruising for pirates and slave-traders, have no right to visit and search a vessel, though suspected of being a pirate. They must ascertain this by means short of detention and visitation. About the same time there was another vessel captured as a pirate, by an American cruiser in the West Indies. It was fully proved before the United States Court in which she was tried, that her boats had been engaged in acts of piracy, though there was no evidence against the vessel herself. There were no means of ascertaining, which of the crew were in the boats, and guilty and innocent were discharged together. The owners then brought suit against the commander of the man-of-war, and recovered damages of him to a large amount on account of the capture. The last words of the apostles of liberty, to us, their children and followers, were to keep aloof from European politics and wars, and to form no tangling alliances.' It is against the spirit of our institutions, and the genius of our people, that we should interfere in any manner, between kings and their subjects; or that we should allow them any right to intermeddle with the rights, or goods, ot" persons of our citizens. The precept of our fathers, the policy of the country, and the uniform practice and example of the government are all against it And with the American people, these reasons are sufficient why we should not become a party to the Quintuple Alliance, nor give to the high contracting powers, the right to visit and search our merchantmen. But they may not be sufficient in the eyes of |