field, and destroyed his furniture and his invaluluable library, with all his legal decisions and records; and thus "the judicial and legislative wisdom of sixty years fell a sacrifice to the ruffian violence, of an hour." The Chief Justice and his wife saved their lives by a seasonable flight.

Without coming nearer home, this dose, I should presume, would cure you of a disposition to take the multitude for your guide, till a better system of education, than any yet pursued, shall, in all countries, teach them their duties, as well as their rights. At present, every where, they think most of their rights, and least of their duties. As a striking example of this, what a great privilege, what a glorious right, if properly exercised, is the elective franchise! This all men must admit; and all christians must admit, that in every act of our lives we should be governed by our duty to God, as well as to our country and mankind. But who among us, when he approaches the poll to put in his vote, consults his duty to God? Who reflects, for a moment, that he is accountable to God for the motive which guides his vote? To prove his fidelity to his party; perhaps to gratify his personal as well as party malignity; perhaps to please some intimate friend; perhaps to do no more than bow to custom and usage; perhaps to gratify some purely selfish wish or feeling; perhaps to court the favor of a party, and procure some office; perhaps to please some vile demagogue, on whose patronage he

more or less lives; perhaps for a bribe of silver or gold, or even rag-money, in his hand, or a bribe in his stomach, from the rum, gin or brandy bottle! These surmises, uncharitable as they may appear to some folks, do, in all probability, embrace a large portion, if not the bulk, of the votes given at any election; while the sole and only motive that should induce any man to vote, is entirely lost sight of. Scarcely any one asks himself who am I voting for? For men conscientiously devoted to God as well as their country? or for men destitute of all love and devotion to God, and all attachment to any thing or any body but themselves? Am I voting for men who have the capacity as well as the disposition to serve their country faithfully and effectually? Or for men who possess neither of these essential qualifications of a public servant? Am I voting for men who have studied the constitutions and laws of their country, and know what is necessary to be done, in order to preserve the former inviolate, and make the latter subservient to the freedom, prosperity and happiness of the people? Or am I voting for men not only ignorant of constitutional principles and the laws founded on them; but more ignorant, if possible, of every thing that ought to be known by a legislator, than the hogs in their pens, or the cattle in their fields?

As to the allusion we have made to rum, gin and brandy bribes, we will briefly state what once passed under our own observation. About

nine or ten years since we stopped at a country poll about twenty miles from Albany. We did not go there either to vote or to electioneer for votes; for we believe there is no man, dead or alive, who could say with truth, that we ever asked him to give a vote. But be this as it may, at the poll alluded to, we actually saw from twenty to forty, certainly not less than thirty young men, sell their votes for neither more nor less than from one to two or three glasses of rum, gin or brandy a-piece! The next morning after the poll closed, we saw a number of these precious youth laying in a state of intoxication, some in the bar-room, some on the piazza, and others on the bare ground, on the opposite side of the road. Nine years at least have passed away since we witnessed scenes so disgusting; and have we improved or not, in the interval? This question must be answered by those who know better than we do; for we have not been but once since at any poll.

Is it not time that these things should come to an end? And who are the authors of all this horrible corruption and profligacy? We answer, they are office-holders, or office-hunters. Let us then begin by establishing a constitutional principle, that no office-holder shall vote at all or be seen at the poll of an election. No office-holder would be seen there, if he had any sensibility or shame, because he must know, and if he has a spark of sensibility, must feel, that he stands there in the same predicament

that an interested witness stands before a jury. It is his interest, that his party shall prevail, in order that he may retain his office; and he ought, in that case to be like Cæsar's wife, not only pure, but unsuspected; and to be above suspicion, he should stay at home, and leave the people to vote independently, without any of his mercenary advice, or corrupt overtures : And as to office-hunters, could they be detected as readily as office-holders, in exerting a corrupt influence, they would be deserving of an equal degree of infamy.

We repeat here, what we have said before, that Heaven knows, we relate not these things in anger, but in sorrow. We have neither wish

nor interest to be gratified, by the success or defeat of either of the existing parties. That we do not court popularity is equally certain. The man who, when in the prime of life, and flushed with hope, and fond of applause, and crowned with much more of it than he deserved, never stooped for a moment to sacrifice a conviction of his mind, or a sentiment of his heart, for the sake of popularity, power, wealth, or fame; will certainly not be found thus stooping, when his head is covered with the frost of sixty winters, and he has seen so often, that popularity, like property, is almost every day "gained without a virtue, and lost without a crime." With the populace, indeed, from the banishment of Aristides, if not long before, to the present moment, the darling and the deified of to-day,

has been the deserted and despised of to-morrow: And this will ever be the case, till universal and sound education shall enable them to discriminate between merit and demerit, and divine grace, the only foundation of pure and lasting virtue, shall dispose them to do justice to merit in the selection of their rulers. We do not, therefore, write to please the people, but to promote their welfare and happiness. We have often told them the naked truth, for their good, and for their good alone, and dearly have we paid for it: And do we regret it? No, certainly not. We have done our duty: we have loved our fellow-men; we still love them; and would risk fame, and fortune too, if we had either, to be useful to them. The time, however, must soon come, when the hand which pens these lines the hand which first kindled the republican flame of '98, in the bosoms of the people of this state-shall wither in the dust; when the places that have known us, and that now know us, shall know us no more forever! And the only wish we now have is, that it may not merely be inscribed upon our tomb

"Peace to his ashes, he hath served mankind:" But

Peace to his soul; for he hath served his God: And if we cannot win this last inscription, then indeed will our tomb be the seat of desolation: Despair will alone hover over it, and woe, woe to its mouldering tenant, in the