which lie on the large rivers, led Mr Lee to the active of the duties, which devolved upon him, as commar militia of his county. In this service, he signalized and skill, not less than he had done in the political the country. In the two great questions, which a agitated the Assembly and the State of Virginia, that the depreciated paper money a legal tender and the of the payment of the British debts, it was the fort Lee, who was on the negative of both these questio direct collision with his colleague, Patrick Henry, tained the necessity and expediency of both these m

On the return of peace in 1783, Mr Lee resumed the Congress of the Confederation, and was chosen of that body, of which he was for several years re member. In 1787 he was one of the committee which the famous ordinance for the government of the terri west of the Ohio. On the proposal of the Constitution Mr Lee declared himself amongst the most decided to its adoption. The arguments, which he employed to his friends of the dangerous character of this form o ment, may be seen at large in the letters contained in t volume, particularly in those addressed to Samuel Ada Lee shared the fears, which many of the soundest and best patriots felt, that the National Government wo too strong for the independence of the States. His r deserve to be quoted, as part of the contemporaneous e of the Constitution, for it is only by comparing what against it with what was said for it, that we can arrive knowledge of what the framers of the Constitution inte its provisions.

The zeal and ardor, with which the friends of a stror tested measure urge its adoption will always lead them and disguise those features, which are particularly obr and on the other hand, the opponents of the measure rally strive to render these obnoxious traits as prom possible. When, therefore, we quote simply those from the Federalist, and from the debates in the variou conventions, in which the obnoxious features of the Cor are attempted to be defended, we are in great danger c into error; as great at least, as if we adopted the course, and judged of the Constitution, solely by what in disparagement of it. Still, however, neither of these of exposition must be rejected. As we have already remarked, the letters of Mr Lee will add valuable matter to the stock of these contemporaneous expositions.

We will quote a single passage, in reference to the provision in the Constitution, that Congress shall have power 'to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States.' It is maintained by one school of politicians, that this provision is, of itself, sufficient to authorize Congress to do all things not prohibited by the Constitution, which the common defence and general welfare prescribe. The other school maintains, that this provision gives no grant of powers, and seeks to sustain this position by various contemporaneous expositions. The following remark of Mr Lee, in a letter to Governor Randolph, will show his opinion of this clause.

But what is the power given to this ill constructed body ? [Congress.] To judge of what may be for the general welfare; and such judgment, when made that of Congress, is to be the supreme law of the land. This seems to be a power coextensive with every object of human legislation.' Vol. 11. p. 79.

Mr Lee was a member of the Senate from Virginia in the first Congress, and exerted himself to procure the adoption of those amendments, which were thought so essential to guard the rights of the States. He was not, however, successful in carrying them through, as proposed by himself and friends. The tenth amendment, which was particularly urged by Mr Lee, was proposed by him in the following form, The powers not expressly delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively.' In this amendment the word expressly was stricken out, before the adoption of the article; and on motion of Mr Ellsworth the words, or to the people,' were added. This addition will probably be thought, on close scrutiny, to be exceedingly subtil.

Mr Lee remained in the Senate during two sessions of Congress, and became, like his friend Henry, a cordial supporter of President Washington's administration. The last act of his political life was a letter, which he wrote to the President, assuring him of his support, on occasion of a meeting of the inhabitants of Fredericksburgh to condemn the proclamation of neutrality. After the year 1792, when he was at the age of sixty, he filled no VOL. XXII. NO. 51.

51

place in the government of Virginia, or of the Uni He died on the nineteenth of June 1794, at his seat in Westmoreland.

Many readers will esteem the second volume the

ble of the two, of which this work consists. It c correspondence of Mr Lee with his distinguished co ries, Washington, Lafayette, the two Adamses, Henry Madison, and many others of the statesmen and pat day. The arrangement of this volume is defective, not any fixed principle of order; and as no index or list accompanies the work, it is very difficult to recur t ticular part, or gain a general survey of the whole. be mentioned as a little error of authorship, or rather deficiency in the art of bookmaking, an art of which most judicious writer, about to usher a book into ought not to be wholly ignorant. The literary execut work is, upon the whole, highly respectable; and s render the work an honorable memorial to the great n the subject of it. Of the typographical execution litt said in commendation. It is coarse and slovenly, and up of the two volumes is disgraceful. It is high tim opinion of the reading community was loudly expresse point. For ourselves, we cannot conceive how the of this work, among the first publishing houses in Am allow a book like this to go from their press, espec such models as the Life of Quincy, and that of Otis, them what style of printing the public will bear, of this class. Prevented as we are by a most oppres from importing foreign books, it is a subject of loud complaint, that our own should at once be so mean extravagantly printed. The work before us is in two averaging two hundred and fifty pages each, the first chiefly in a loose type. For this work we are oblige two dollars a volume, while three dollars for the two a high price.

We perceive, by a paragraph in the papers, that Mr author of this work, has deposited in the library at Phi the manuscript correspondence of his grandfather. W this judicious disposition of such valuable historical rec is now full time, that valuable collections of papers s placed beyond the reach of the accidents, to which exposed in private hands. We doubt not almost all our have personal knowledge, within the circle of their acquaintance, of the gradual disappearance, absorption, annihilation of collections once large and precious. The history of our Revolution and constitutional organization is yet to be written. Nothing but materials have been published on this unparalleled theme. And many more materials must yet be given to the world, and perhaps another generation elapse, before the history can be written. The archives at Washington must be explored; those of the several states thoroughly searched; and the treasures, which are scattered about in the families of the revolutionary worthies, must be given to the world. The latter is quite as important a preliminary as either of the others. The history of the Revolution is in the letters of the great men who shone in it. It is from them alone that characters can be graduated, majorities sifted, parties unraveled, opinions historically deduced under changing names. Take for illustration the Journal of the Federal Convention. Meagre as it is at best, what would it have been without the contributions to it, furnished by General Bloomfield as executor to Mr Brearly, by Mr C. Pinckney, and by Mr Madison. Even the sketches of Chief Justice Yates, imperfect as they are, present us all that we as yet possess, in the nature of a Report of the discussions in that august body. Much more remains in manuscript, than has yet been given to the world from the papers of the revolutionary period. General Washington's have been carefully perused by Chief Justice Marshall, but a gleaning of them only appears in his work. President Adams's, Mr Jefferson's, Mr Madison's are still, and may they long so continue, in the hands of these venerable men. The hope has occasionally been indulged, that the last of them would be induced to employ a part of his honorable leisure, in arranging the materials for a history of those momentous periods of our political history, with which no man living is so well acquainted as himself. To General Hamilton's papers we have already alluded, and trust the time is not far distant, when they will be made to contribute to the general stock of the materials for our independent history.

Such a subject, as that which this history presents, is nowhere else in the range of ages to be pointed out. Beginning with the first steps of the new colonial policy of Britain toward America, in 1764, and brought down to the adoption of the Constitution, and organization of the government in 1790, it is a theme of epic unity and grandeur. It comprehends every kind of interest; politics alternately of the subtilest and of the mos school; the action and reaction upon each other of political strength of the English Cabinet, and the energy of America. It is filled with characters, wit the senate house rings with an eloquence, like that wont to be heard in the storins of the old commonwea of exhortation and resolute responses echo to each the Atlantic; in the shifting scenes of the war, all t man and the stages of civilization are mingled, the Brit the German mercenary, the gallant Chevaliers of France, the hardy American yeoman, the mountaineer ed savage. At one moment the mighty fleets of Europ dering in the Antilles; at the next, the blue eyed Br the veterans of the Seven Years' War, are seen win from the Canadian frontier, under the command of Gentleman, to capitulate to the American militia; peac thirteen republics stand side by side on the Continen from the wounds of war, tremblingly alive for the inde which their labors and agonies had gained them; the t has been borne, that of peace succeeds; a Constituti posed, is discussed, is adopted; a new life is breathed the exhausted channels of the nation, which starts moment in a career of prosperity so rapid, so resistle venturous, that the reality every day puts our brightest shame. And this astonishing drama of events was th our days; its theatre was our beloved country; its actors were our fathers.

ART. VII.-The Rebels, or Boston before the Revolut THE AUTHOR OF HOBOMOK. Boston. Cummings, and Co. 12mo. pp. 304.

We are glad to see that the author of Hobomok, v understand to be a lady, has resumed her pen. That ing little tale made its way to the public favor solely by merits, and was scarcely noticed by our critics, till their had been rendered of little consequence by the decisio literary community. Whatever objections may be made mode in which the story is conducted, and the catastrof