which patriotism and pure principles may be awakened, is an object worthy the labours of any man.

Many inaccuracies of style may be observed in the poem, which are evidently the result of haste, and a want of practice in versifying. There is a blot, however, of a more serious nature, and which we did not expect to meet with in one who advocates with so much zeal and eloquence the common cause of all. We allude to the lines in p. 39, 40, on the subject of the Germans of Pennsylvania. The reproach of selfishness and stupidity, here urged against them, has been made in other quarters, and gained so very general an assent, that we must be allowed the liberty of saying a few words in defence of so numerous a portion of our fellow citizens of Pennsylvania. The German population of this state then, we would observe, is almost entirely agricultural. The descendents of the other nations of Europe are more gregarious in their disposition, or less disposed to arrive at the means of subsistence by the most honest and independent, though perhaps the most laborious mode of life. Comparatively speaking, few Germans are to be found in our great cities, or even in the interior villages. We ask, then, in what respect the Germans differ from other agriculturists, that is not to the advantage of the former. They are admitted to be an industrious, active, steady and independent race, such in short as form the most solid foundation of the wealth and security of a state. But they are accused of intellectual dulness. If by this it is meant that the German farmers of Pennsylvania are inferior in genius and erudition to the same number of men taken from our large cities, no one will be disposed to question the truth of the position. But we doubt very much whether they would suffer in comparison with any other portion of the country population of the United States. The pursuits of agriculture have, as is well known, a tendency rather adverse to the cultivation of the mind, though we frequently find individuals breaking forth from this laborious employment. Among the Germans, men of genius and enterprise are as frequent as among any others. To say nothing of such men as Rittenhouse, and other learned mathematicians, some of the most ingenious persons in the mechanical arts, some of the best classical scholars, and some of the most able teachers of the physical sciences, have sprung from the German population of Pennsylvania, and we may safely challenge any other body of men, of like numbers and pursuits, to produce a greater proportion of honest and enlightened politicians. On the score of selfishness too, which is another frequent charge against the Germans, we believe them to be no less unjustly censured. They are occupied, it seems, mainly in the pursuit of wealth. Which of us in this country is not? The rich German farmer, it is true, seldom indulges in expensive luxuries, or disburses his hard earned gains in the acquisition of refinement, but he spares no money in the education of his children, and is as generous to others as persons in his class of life usually are. The love of glory or distinction

may not be the actuating principle of the German farm-house, but the domestic virtues, and the kindly feelings of the heart, are more frequently found in unison with the simple manners of its inhabitants. Nor are they deficient in patriotism, a virtue on which no one is more ready to bestow praise than the author of the Backwoodsman. By patriotism we do not mean the hollow and noisy professions of political wranglers, but a sincere and earnest devotion to the cause of the republic. When in the autumn of 1814 the city of Philadelphia was threatened with invasion, and a general gloom pervaded the country, hundreds of Germans came forth voluntarily to its defence from their remote and secluded vallies, where they might have remained in perfect security. Here, in many instances, deficient of necessary raiment, they encountered, without a murmur, the fatigues and perils of camp duty, and the inclemency of the season. Of the thousands who were assembled at that season, we have reason to know, that there were no more willing and zealous soldiers, none more patient of toil, or more faithful to the cause than the German volunteers. Most of them were ignorant of the language, and utterly unacquainted with military discipline, but in quickness of apprehension and submission to military authority, they had no superiors. The scanty pittance allotted by the government for their pay, could have been no recompence to them for their services, and the cause in which they were engaged was that of a distant portion of their fellow citizens, and in no wise affected their pecuniary interests. We know of no purer patriotism than this. Comparisons between particular portions of our population are invidious, but if they must be drawn, we can only say, that we infinitely prefer the patriotism of the Germans of Pennsylvania, with all their imputed dulness, to that characteristic acuteness which can find constitutional objections to the defence of their country, at a period of uncommon difficulty and distress.

ART. III. Select, Political, Philosophical, and Miscellaneous Writings of Benjamin Franklin; published from the Originals; and forming volume 3d of the Memoirs of Franklin:-by his grandson, Temple Franklin. 1 vol. quarto. London, 1818. IN the two articles which we devoted to the first and second volumes of these Memoirs, we expressed roundly our dissatisfaction with the management of Mr. Temple Franklin. We might repeat here the upbraidings extorted from us by our unbounded veneration for the philosopher, and by the reflection of what was due to his memory from an editor standing towards him in such binding and solemn relations. The mortification we experienced at receiving so imperfect a Biography, and so awkward a compilation of Letters, revives at the appearance of the third quarto: Our resentment kindles as we read in the preface, that with this volume the editor conceives he has faithfully discharged his trust, as the conservator of Dr. Franklin's literary remains.'

It was only by an elaborate, and skilful edition of all the works of his grandsire, that he could have fulfilled this trust, and answered the just expectation of the world. A selection made even with the nicest care and judgment, would be a very inadequate substitute; but the delinquency is incalculably greater, and unsusceptible of excuse, in the case of one which has no other sign of diligence or concern about it, than the mere distribution of the pieces chosen, under some general heads. Mr. Temple Franklin has attempted nothing more in the way of arrangement; he has supplied no dates nor explanations where these were wanted, in the compositions which he has reprinted-and he has not been at the pains to distinguish for the reader, the portion of the volume previously unpublished. On this point, he confines himself to the intimation conveyed in the following passage of his preface: Though some of the essays contained under the head of "Philosophical Subjects," have already appeared, by far the greater portion of the contents of this part, (among which are some of the latest and most ingenious of Dr. Franklin's philosophical writings) are now for the first time printed from his own manuscripts.'

There are, however, in the other divisions of the volume, some things entirely new; and we find much interesting matter which is not comprised in the American edition of Franklin's works, in six volumes octavo. We should remark of this edition, by the way, that it is, nevertheless, palmed upon the public as the depository of the whole of the philosopher's writings. We ought, perhaps, to point out some of the shameful inaccuracies and repetitions by which the first and sixth volumes of it, recently published, are marked; but we can be more agreeably employed for ourselves and our readers, in holding communion with the soul of Franklin, than in exposing the demerits of his clumsy editors.

As we glance over the table of contents of this Selection, the first consideration that presents itself is the astonishing versatility of powers which their variety implies in the author. We are reminded at once of the language of the 16th Number of the Edinburgh Review, which contains so appropriate and beautiful an oblation to his genius. There are not many among the thorough-bred scholars and philosophers of Europe, who can lay claim to distinction in more than one or two departments of science or literature. The uneducated tradesman of America, has left writings that call for attention, in natural philosophy-in politics-in political economy-and in general literature and morality.The contrast has become stronger, and the enumeration of topics might be enlarged since the publication of the correspondence of the American tradesman, and of the several physical essays and humorous compositions which are brought to light in the present volume.

Mr. Temple Franklin, has excluded from it the more extended tracts of his grandsire, such as the Historical Review, and the admirable Canada Pamphlet, as well as most of the papers on electricity, with which editions and translations, without number, had

rendered all the nations of Europe familiar. Some few of the less bulky productions are also omitted: among these, we particularly regret the historical dissertation on the Liberty of the Press, and the short essay on Government, to be found in the fourth volume of the American edition. The principles which they so cogently and elegantly teach, were not, we presume, in unison with those of the grandson. On the whole, however, his selection is abundant, filling about five hundred and fifty close quarto pages, and may be said to constitute a proud monument for America, while it supplies a source of the richest entertainment, and most varied instruction for all the world. The mechanical execution, the paper and type, are creditable. We sincerely wish we could say as much for the volumes of the American editor.

In noticing the contents of this selection more particularly, we shall take them, for the most part, in the order in which we find them placed.

The celebrated Albany papers,' form the first article, and are followed by the correspondence with governor Shirley, which grew out of the British correlate of Franklin's plan of union. We have already spoken of the Albany papers in our review of the Memoirs of his Life. The letters to governor Shirley, bearing date in the year 1754, combat the idea then suggested by the British ministry, of a tax to be laid on the colonies by act of parliament, and announce prophetically, the consequences of the attempt. These are documents which will be always consulted with interest by the historian, and can never be read without admiration of the sagacity, spirit, and patriotism of the author.

The paper next introduced is the plan for settling two western colonies in North America,' communicated by Franklin, in the same year, 1754,-to governor Pownal, and submitted by the latter, with a similar one of his own, to the British ministry. The American patriot long cherished the scheme of engaging the British government in the formation of colonies on the Ohio, with a view to prevent the growth of the French power in that quarter, to protect the interior frontiers of the adjoining colonies, and to accelerate splendid destinies which he distinctly foresaw. In the beginning of this paper, he writes thus: The great country back of the Apalachian mountains, on both sides of the Ohio, and between that river and the lakes, is now well known to be one of the finest in North America, for the extreme richness and fertility of the land, the mildness of the climate, &c. From its natural advantages, it must undoubtedly (perhaps in less than another century) become a populous and powerful dominion.' He then proposes that 'two charters be granted, each for some considerable part of the lands west of Pennsylvania and the Virginian mountains, to a number of the nobility and gentry of Britain, with such Americans as shall join them in contributing to the settlement of those lands, &c.' Associations were afterwards formed in America and England, for the purpose of obtaining such grants, and Franklin connected himself

with one of them, consisting of Thomas Walpole, an eminent banker of London, John Sargent, and Samuel Wharton, of Philadelphia, and many men of considerable fortune. They presented a memorial concerning their object to the privy council, by whom it was referred to the board of trade. The board made an unfavourable report on the petition, contrary to the anticipations of Franklin, whose plan for the new colonies when suggested in 1760, to lord Halifax, who then presided over that branch of administration, had received the highest encouragement. Franklin wrote, and adduced in the name of the association, a full, argumentative answer, from which we extract the following passage, to show the nature of the petition: Consistent with our knowledge, no more than one proposition for the settlement of a part of the lands in question, has been presented to government, and that was from Dr. Lee, thirty-two other Americans, and two Londoners, in the year 1768, praying that his majesty would grant to them without any purchase money, 2,500,000 acres of land in one or more surveys, to be located between the 38th and 42d degrees of latitude, over the Alleghany mountains, and on condition of their possessing these lands twelve years without the payment of any quit-rent, (the same not to begin until the whole 2,500,000 were surveyed) and that they should be obliged to settle only 200 families in 12 years. But Dr. Lee and his associates did not propose, as we do, either to purchase the lands, or to pay the quit-rents to his majesty, neat and clear of all deductions, or to be at the whole expense of establishing and maintaining the civil government of the country.'

The report of the board of trade, and the reply of Franklin, being voluminous, do not make part of the present quarto, but they have been repeatedly published, and are inserted in the fourth volume of the American edition of his Works. In the note attached to them, they are said, with great truth, to be intimately connected with our national history, and the answer of Franklin is properly described as 'highly interesting for the variety, extent, and exactness of the information which it contains, and the foresight which discerned at so early a period, the resources and prospects of the western country-even the building and sailing of ships on the Ohio, and thence to the ocean. We read also the following remarks in a biographical sketch of the philosopher, given in a well-known British compilation of 1797.* The arguments and facts contained in the answer of Franklin were found to be so strong, and the deductions from them so forcible, that when the petition and the report were taken into consideration in the privy council, their lordships decided in favour of the petition. It was not often that the privy council decided against reports from the board of trade. Lord Hillsborough, who was at this time at the head of the board of trade, and consequently had a princi

Biographical, Literary, and Political Anecdotes-by the author of Anecdotes of Lord Chatham., 3 vols. octavo. London, 1797.