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' could say whether it was to be peace or war.' That question, therefore, was no longer left for Lord Wellesley to decide; and happily his determination was seconded, and his measures executed, by officers of such distinguished ability and valour as led the British army through a series of victories not surpassed in any war. By Sir Arthur Wellesley's brilliant campaign much more admiration would naturally be excited, had he not, in Europe, so mightily eclipsed his own earlier renown. But no one can read of the splendid actions performed by Lord Lake, without feeling that the fame of this brave and skilful warrior has not been adequate to his merits. The remoteness of the scene upon which the greatest exploits were performed, with very indifferent means, and the overwhelming importance of the events which, at the same time, engrossed all men's minds nearer home, have caused the actions of this eminent person to be far less celebrated than, in happier circumstances, they must have been. Nor can any one read his despatches, and his private letters, without the greatest admiration of the kindly disposition and the genuine modesty which they every where display.

In closing these few remarks, we must express our regret that the editor has not given more space to documents connected with the Governor-General's measures respecting the encouragement of learning and scientific pursuits; the suppression of the Sangur or human sacrifices; the aid to missionaries, and precautions respecting them, and other philanthropic objectsobjects of an universal and personal interest, and to which we the more regret that more room has not been assigned in these volumes, because the documents which do relate to them, especially those concerning the Calcutta College, and the instructions to promote researches in Natural History, show plainly how anxiously Lord Wellesley's attention was directed to the arts of peace. The defect might be supplied in the publication, which has been promised, of the Despatches, relating to European affairs, when his Lorsdship was in office, after his return from India.

ART. VIII.-The Life of THOMAS JEFFERSON, third President of the United States; with parts of his Correspondence never before published, and Notices of his Opinions on questions of Civil Government, National Policy, and Constitutional Law. BY GEORGE TUCKER, Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Virginia. 2 vols. 8vo. London: 1837.

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FTER Washington and Franklin, there is no person who fills so eminent a place among the great men of America, as Jefferson. Whether we regard his important services in the revolutionary contest, or his subsequent assertion of the principles upon which the separation was undertaken.-both while he filled a subordinate station in Washington's presidency, thwarted by his colleagues, as well as at variance with his chief, and while he administered himself the government of that free and prosperous country, no reasonable doubt can be entertained, that to his enlightened views and to the firmness of his character, it is indebted for much of that freedom and prosperity. While his enemies have admitted the integrity of his conduct, and the undeviating consistency with which he acted upon the principles professed by him for upwards of half a century, marked by mightier changes and more perplexing difficulties than perhaps the history of nations ever before recorded, he was, during the last twenty years of his public life, the recognised leader of the party which had effected first, possibly the most remarkable of those revolutions, and the one that has had the greatest influence upon the fortunes of mankind. As the only charge against him, whilst engaged in state affairs, related to the vehemence of his republican opinions, and the prejudices connected with them in regard to the foreign policy of his country, so almost the only question that can now be raised concerning his merits, must be upon the extent of the benefits which America owed to him, and the degree in which he possessed those qualities ascribed to him by his admirers. That he was a great man, and a great public benefactor, can only be denied by those whom the prejudices of national or of party animosity on either side of the Atlantic, render blind to the merits of a republican and an American. But even they who judge him the least fairly and calmly, will be ready to admit, that the account of such a man's life, drawn from authentic sources of information, and given with a singular freedom from partiality in its substance, as well as of affectation in its execution, forms a very valuable addition to the stock of our political and historical knowledge; and this praise cannot be withheld

from the work of Professor Tucker, which is now before us. Α consideration of the subject of it will direct our attention, not only to the remarkable person whose history it records, but to several matters of great interest to other countries as well as the United States.

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The book is dedicated appropriately to Jefferson's successor in the Presidency, James Madison, who shared in his opinions, and was his steady and attached friend in private life, as he had been his zealous and conscientious supporter in public. From this able and excellent person the author derived much assistance in the performance of his task; he having both kindly answered his enquiries and guided his researches.' To him application was made on all matters of doubt; much of the information was derived from him; and he revised nearly the whole of the first volume. It is an affecting circumstance, that when the dedication was sent to Mr Madison, he delayed answering the letter which enclosed it for some months, his health being in a very feeble state, and those about him dreading the effects of any exertion; but at last being determined to delay giving his sanction no longer, he said, there was no time to lose; and on the 27th June 1836, only thirteen hours before he expired, he dictated, and with considerable effort, signed a letter, which the author has very properly printed. In it, this upright and venerable statesman expresses his confidence in the author's capacity to do justice to ' a character so interesting to the country and to the world;' and he adds, It could not escape me, that a feeling of personal 'friendship has mingled itself greatly with the credit you allow 'to my public services. I am, at the same time, justified by my 'consciousness in saying, that an ardent zeal was always felt to 'make up for deficiencies in them, by a sincere and steadfast 'co-operation in promoting such a reconstruction of our political system as would provide for the permanent liberty and happi'ness of the United States; and that of the many good fruits it 'has produced, which have well rewarded the efforts and anxie'ties that led to it, no one has been a more rejoicing witness 'than myself.' The author has farther had the assistance of Mr Jefferson's family, especially his daughter Mrs Randolph, and of some aged friends who remembered his earlier life. He had the freest access to his papers, from his grandson and executor; and he had himself an acquaintance of twenty-seven years with the subject of his work. During the last fifteen months of his life their intercourse was 6 frequent and familiar.' It must be added, that with a general coincidence of political principles, so far as belonging to the same party, Professor Tucker by no means agrees in all Mr Jefferson's opinions, and never hesitates

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to express his dissent where he differs; and his disapprobation of such parts of the President's conduct as appear to deserve cenThe work may not satisfy either extreme of American party: the Federalists are not likely to forgive any one who records the useful and successful efforts which overthrew their influence, and prevented them from regaining the ascendency that had been propped up by the alarm of the French Revolution; the Democrats may, with the accustomed and unreasonable intolerance of faction, be more vexed at a few candid admissions, which a regard for truth and justice has drawn forth, than gratified with the clear statement of their policy, and the successful defence of it in the main. But reflecting men will give their confidence to one who has so well earned it by fairness and moderation, and whose labours received the dying sanction of so unsuspected a judge, and so tried a friend of popular rights and national iudependence as James Madison.

At the period of Mr Jefferson's birth,-and the same state of things continued down to the time when he entered into public life, the constitution of society in Virginia was exeedingly aristocratical; although the tone of political feeling_was, with respect to the executive government and the mother country, that of opposition frequently carried to the extremes of party violence. Indeed, these two characteristics of the Colonial body had their origin in the same circumstances. The planters living apart, and enjoying revenues which, though ample, were received in kind, and could only be spent by consumption upon the spot, exercised an habitual profuse hospitality; and had no intercoure with any but their guests or their slaves, unless when they were delegated to represent their order in the assembly, when they leagued together against the only superiors whom they ever could see, the governor and the council appointed by him. Such a class of men could not be expected to regard with any great respect the rest of the community; and that feeling of superiority was much inereased by the distinction established between the families of the older and free settlers, and those who descended from indentured servants; a class of men whose necessities had caused their emigration, and made them the object of colonial enactments almost as severe as any that the common law of slavery contained against the people of colour. It is a singular and a transcendant praise of the Jeffersons and the Madisons, that, born and bred in a society so contituted, their course was marked by a uniform regard for the rights and the happiness of the whole people. Their aversion to negro slavery, and their desire, by all safe and practicable means, to eradicate this curse, as well as their own personal kindness towards the unhappy beings dependent upon their care,

are well known. But it is, perhaps, a more remarkable feature in their character that they could break through the trammels with which the prejudices of their station tended to hamper them; and could steadily place and keep before their eyes the interests of the most numerous class of society, as the object of all their public care, and even make an attention to the will of that class the governing principle of their policy. It is very possible that some may regard their doctrines upon this subject as carried to an extravagant length, and as exceptionable for want of due qualifications in certain cases; but all must admit that they held these opinions contrary to their individual interests, and at the expense of feelings which must have been deeply rooted in the minds of their order.

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Thomas Jefferson was born on the 2d of April 1743, at a place in what is now the County of Albemarle, then on the frontier of the State, but which he lived to see eight hundred miles within the boundaries of the peopled country. His father's family is supposed to have come from Wales; his mother was a Randolph, of a wealthy Virginian family, which traces its pedigree far back in England and Scotland.' To this circumstance, he remarks, characteristically enough, in his own Notes,' let every one ascribe 'the faith and merit he chooses.' After passing some years at an English school, he was placed at a classical one from the age of nine to thirteen, when he lost his father; and he then was for two years under Mr Maury, a good classical scholar, from whom he obtained that knowledge in the learned languages, and cultivated that taste for their inimitable productions, which remained with him through all his after life. The late much respected Consul of the United States at Liverpool was the son of this gentleman, and a school companion of Jefferson, who continued in correspondence with him for nearly threescore years. We believe he is still alive; he certainly was at the time the work before us was written, aud contributed some particulars respecting the early habits of his illustrious contemporary.

At the age of seventeen, Jefferson was sent to the College of William and Mary, where he had the good fortune to study the mathematics under Dr Small, a Scotch Professor, who attained great eminence in that science, and was, if we mistake not, brother of the late Rev. Dr. Small of Dundee, whose demonstrations of Dr Matthew Stewart's general Theorems and other works have acquired for him so considerable a reputation in the scientific world. Jefferson appears to have been a most diligent student in philosophy as well as letters; and to have profited assiduously by the instructions of his able teacher, whose favour he enjoyed in an extraor

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