periods. To do them full justice, is the duty of the histórian ; it is our task merely, to give a bold outline of their propor tions. Their private virtues and exalted moral worth are proper topics for the sacred desk. The discussion of their literary character belongs to the learned societies, of which they were the members and the heads. It was their patriotism and political character which connected them with society; and these are the proper themes for our present discussion.

The most appropriate manner of pursuing this discussion would be to group these illustrious and venerable men in the different scenes in which they have acted together, and to show the similarity of their services. But this field has been already occupied by the eloquent advocate of Greece. It will not answer for the lesser lights to follow in the path of the Sun ; that our course may be seen, we must pursue it below the illuminated horizon.

THOMAS JEFFERSON* was educated at William and Mary, the College of his native State, and to the profession of the law, under the celebrated Chancellor Wythe, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. In 1764, being

then only twenty-one years of age, he was elected a representative of his native county in the Legislature of Virginia; of which he soon became a distinguished member. He was peculiarly fortunate in most of the events of his life. Like the celebrated Addison, he held the pen of the ready and accomplished writer, without the ability to distinguish himself as a debater. Those who have had any experience in public assemblies, know the difficulties which the most talented encounter, if they are unable to speak in public. Yet this circumstance formed no barrier to Mr. Jefferson's advancement. His mind was richly stored with legal and poitical science, and from every source of miscellaneous learn

* He was born April 13 (2), 1743, in Albemarle county, Virginia.

ing. His powers of conversation were unequalled. He fascinated all who approached him, and such was the magic power he possessed over men's minds, that whilst they were imbibing his opinions, they imagined he was advocating theirs. He took an early, open, and decided part in favor of the revolution. In 1774, he published a "Summary View of the Rights of British America ;" and in 1775, the duty was assigned him by the Legislature of his state, of replying to Lord North's propositions. On the 21st of June 1775, he took his seat in the Continental Congress, in place of Peyton Randolph, the first President, who died the ensuing autumn. Whilst a member of Congress, he was placed on many impor tant committees, particularly those in which the aid of an able writer was required. Before he had been a week in Congress, he was placed on the committee to prepare the Declaration to be published by Washington on his taking command of the army. On the 10th of May, 1776, Congress passed a resolution, and a preamble to it on the 15th, which is considered by the historians of Europe and America as the assumption of Independence. On the 28th of the same month, it was "Resolved, That an animated address be published, to impress the minds of the people with the necessity of now stepping forward to save their country, their freedom, and their property." Mr. Jefferson was appointed chairman of the committee to prepare this address. On the 7th of June, Richard Henry Lee moved the resolution for Independence. On the 10th a committee was ordered to draft a Declaration. The same evening Mr. Lee was summoned home by sickness in his family; and on the 11th, when the committee was appointed, Mr. Jefferson was placed at its head. The Declaration is his draft, without material alteration; and this charter of our liberties, which announces to the world the commencement of the American era, will wreathe his brow with imperishable lustre. On the 26th of September, 1776, he was appointed Commissioner to France. The situation of his family compelled him to de

cline this appointment. In October, 1776, he resigned his seat in Congress, and was elected a member of the House of Delegates. From 1777 to 1779, he was employed with Wythe and Pendleton in framing a code of laws for Virginia. In 1779 he succeeded Patrick Henry as Governor of Virginia, and was re-elected to that office the succeeding year.During his administration the state was invaded by Benedict Arnold. Mr. Jefferson's conduct was impeached, and an enquiry ordered. He was furnished with interrogatories by the gentleman [Mr. Nicholas] who moved the enquiry.— To meet the accusation, he went into the House of Delegates, in place of a member who resigned to give him the opportu nity. To Mr. Nicholas, his accuser, he sent his justification. Mr. Nicholas was satisfied, he acknowledged his error, and refused to go on with the enquiry. Mr. Jefferson, however, read in his place, the interrogatories and his justification.A vote of thanks unanimously passed for his "impartial, upright, and attentive administration, whilst in office." In 1781, he wrote his celebrated Notes on Virginia. The story of Logan was denied, and he was most severely censured by the heirs of Col. Cresap; but his vindication was most complete, and he established the fact beyond dispute. In 1782 he was appointed a Commissioner to treat of peace with Great Britain, but before he sailed, the news of the signature of the treaty arrived. In 1783, he was again elected, and took his seat in Congress in November. In 1784 he was joined in a commission to the several Courts of Europe, and sailed from Boston in July of that year. He remained abroad, as Minister to France, until 1789. On his return that year, he was appointed first Secretary of State under the Constitution. In this department he continued during the whole of the first and part of the second terms of Washington's Presidency. Differing in opinion with the other members of the Cabinet, he resigned that situation and retired to his seat at Monticello. Whilst he continued in this department, the foreign affairs of the country were much embar

rassed, particularly our relations with France and England.— His correspondence with the ministers of those powers is voluminous, distinguished for its ability, and that felicity of composition which characterises most of the productions of his pen. Amongst his labours in this department, were elaborate Reports, on Money, on the Fisheries, on the Restrictions on Commerce, and on Weights and Measures.

According to the provisions of the Constitution, no elector can vote for two candidates belonging to the same State. Washington being a Virginian, Mr. Jefferson therefore was not brought forward as a candidate for the Presidency at the two first elections. During Washington's administration, the operations and construction of the Constitution, the French revolution, the treaty with England, and local causes divided the country into two great parties. After Washington resigned, these parties rallied around Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson as their candidates for the presidency; and so equal was the contest, that Mr. Adams was chosen in 1796, by only three votes more than Mr. Jefferson. Mr. Jefferson, under the provisions of the Constitution, became Vice-President. In this office he presided with great dignity, and during his continuance in it, compiled his Manual, the text-book of all our legislative bodies. At the ensuing election, these great men were again rivals, and again the people were equally divided between them; Mr. Jefferson, in this contest, although successful, having only four votes more than Mr. Adams. Mr. Jefferson's administration was peculiarly successful, and he was reelected by a vote nearly unanimous—a unanimity under our form of government, and at such a period, most extraordinary. The vote subsequently given to Mr. Monroe, although more nearly unanimous, was not so extraordinary. The last vote was given in one of those calms which always succeed violent storms; the other during the fury of the tempest.

A view of the administrations of Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson is not within the compass of a single discourse. If it was, we could not enter on it. We have been too deeply en

gaged as actors, yet to be able to pass a candid judgment upon their merits. To discuss them, would open wounds which have not yet healed, and excite feelings which should have no existence here. As early, constant and devoted friends of Mr. Jefferson's administration, we fearlessly commit it to history; touching only on two of its measures, the Embargo, and the purchase of Louisiana. In relation to the Embargo, the most odious measure of that administration, we have neither hope nor wish of making converts to our opinion. But for ourselves, we thought it at the time a wise expedient to avoid the barbarous and desolating conflicts of war. We were happy that the experiment was made before a resort to war. It was the appeal of humanity against a savage custom. We are satisfied that it is an experiment which should never be repeated; it might give to the desperate enterprise of our citizens an unfortunate direction. The acquisition of Louisiana is the most important measure since we became a nation. It would alone perpetuate the fame of any administration. It has been objected that our country was already sufficiently extended, and that by this step its bonds would be weakened, and its union and Constitution endangered. But Mr. Madison, to whom, more than any other individual, we are indebted for our present Constitution, has demonstrated in the Federalist, that our government is stronger in, and better adapted to, an extended empire, than a small state. That factions are the great enemies of free governments; that the most fruitful sources of factions are sectional feelings; and that the more extended a nation, the less powerful is any section or any faction.

Mr. Jefferson has been the great benefactor of his own State. He has successfully contended against the aristocratic laws of entail and primogeniture, and in favor of the equal distribution of estates. He contended also against the church establishment, until it was overthrown. And expecting that

a Convention would be holden to form a constitution for Virginia, in 1783, he drafted a Constitution to be proposed to them. Nor did his labors end here; he contended, without