come upon the whole nation, without working the destruction of individuals, who are helpless. It is, therefore, not so much a question of humanity, in a time of warfare-whether you will, or will not, assail private propertywhether you will, or will not, spare the merchant, as it is of sound policy. The true question is this, for every people are we-taking all the mischief into view are we to gain or lose by privateering?—A cowardly, cruel, piratical temper, is generated by it: property acquired by lawless adventure, is pretty sure to be wasted in debauchery or extravagance: great mischief great profligacy-great interruption to the sober productive habits of a people, are likely to follow : -Privateersmen are a species of pirate. Granted-granted. But, after all, if you have no other way of defending yourself no other way of driving your adversary to terms-why not let loose even the pirate upon him? or-why restrain the pirate?-Selfpreservation is the first law of nature. The enemy of your enemy is your friend-so far." Doctor Franklin was a bold advocate for the Indians; at a time, when they had hardly another white advocate upon the whole earth. He wrote in their behalf, like a philosopher like a man-like a Christian. Some of his opinions, by the way, may be found in several of our late works(very late, some of them)-upon the North American savages. Vide Hunter's Narrative, Colburn's Magazine, &c. &c. -Till of late, it has been a habit with all the white Americans, to abuse and belie their copper-coloured brethren. Up to the time of Dr Franklin, this habit was universal. After him, followed Ramsay, with a voice, like that of a trumpet, in their behalf; Irving, (see Knickerbocker-Introd.) with a brave, manly heart-a steady lookand a powerful arm-but only for a few hours; Neal, who has never sheathed his weapon, for nearly eight years; a multitude of young writers, who are now tilting away, in behalf, not so much of the red Americanstheir countrymen-as of themselves. They, the latter of these, are in the saddle, not because they understand, or care for the merits of the controversy; not because they pity the red men, or would atone for the outrage that has been heaped upon them, year after year; not because they care twopence about Indians, or anything else -except a week or two of newspaper popularity; but because it is now the fashion to be philanthropical. So, too, in the slave trade-Franklin shewed himself to be the same friend of humanity. A paper of his, purporting to be the arguments of a Barbary slave-holder, in justification of himself and others, for holding white Christian slaves in captivitybut, in truth, being a fine parody upon the speech of Mr Jackson, a Georgia slave-holder, in Congress-contains a masterly refutation of the arguments generally used by the southern planters of the United States. Moreover-if any political economist of this day, will turn to a paper of Dr F.'s; entitled, "Positions to be examined;" or to another concerning Embargoes, Corn Laws, &c."-he will be amazed, we are sure. science of political economy, he will find, has made much less progress, than he could have believed, since the days of Benjamin Franklin. The His Of his humorous essays, we have only to say, that everybody has heard of them. A part of his papers have been translated into all the languages of Europe, some into Latin. "Poor Richard," and "Whistle," are two of a multitude, which have done, we believe, incalculable good, in our language, at least. GALLOWAY.-If we are not greatly mistaken, this gentleman was the author of a masterly pamphlet, which appeared in America, soon after the escape of Washington from Sir Wm. Howe and Cornwallis.-If so, Mr G. was a loyalist and shewed, rather more conclusively than we should have liked, had we been the leader of His Majesty's forces, in America, that Washington was entirely in the power of his adversary, more than once: that nothing saved him, in crossing the Delaware, but imbecility or something worse, on the part of his Majesty's generals.- Washington himself, we know, did say, that he owed his escape, to the infatuation of his enemy.-Yes, and well he might. Cornwallis had pursued him so hotly, through Newark, Brunswick, Princeton, Trenton, that, while the rear of one army was leaving each of those "places" in succession, the van of the upon. He was an eye-witness of what he describes; an Englishman, we be lieve: The work is crowded with material, of which a great history might have been made. With a world of trash, there are some passages of extraordinary force and breadth in it: as, for example, the account of a German officer's death and burial, on the top of a mountain, just before the surrender of Burgoyne. other was entering it. Washington's 3 vols. 8vo, which may be depended whole power, when he crossed-his whole army-that, upon which the hopes of all America were cast, was only twenty-two hundred men-weary-worn out-suffering every kind of hardship and completely discouraged, by a long, uninterrupted series of disaster. They were leaving him, by fifties and by hundreds-owing to the nature of their engagement: so that, in two days, he was reduced from thirty-three, to seventeen hundred men. Cornwallis had six thousand capital troops, chosen for the purpose. Yet Washington was permitted, strange as it may seem, to cross a broad, rapid river, with his miserable remnant of military power; with all his baggage and stores (the loss of which would have been quite irretrievable to him ;) and without molestation.The advance of Cornwallis put up, for the night, almost within cannon-shot of the Americans, while they were em barking. There was a Mr Galloway-perhaps the same-in the Pennsylvania assembly. He distinguished himself about 1764-5-by opposing a petition of that body; or in that body, for changing the proprietary to a regal form of government. Franklin afterwards published Mr G.'s argument, with a preface of his own. GILMAN-REV. MR-A Unitarian clergyman," of Charleston, South Carolina; formerly a contributor to the North American Review, for which he made some tolerable translations of Boileau. He was too much of a poet for that sort of job; and, we fear, though one of the most beautiful prose writers of the age-is too little of a poet now, for any generous, bold adventure, in the way of poetry.-These Unitarian" clergymen," by the by, are fine fellows in America: Mr Everett (see vol. XVI. p. 570-1) is now going to the right field for him-Congress: he will make a figure, there, for a time; but will never be a statesman:-Mr Sparks, we see, is turned editor: Mr Hally is now president of a college: Mr Pierpont-lawyer-merchant poet-preacher-makes compilations for the use o' schools:"-He is a powerful man, however: He might be a statesman. These are Unitarian leaders. GORDON, DR-Wrote a history of the AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR, GRIFFITH-Ex-Consul to some French port; maker of a "Supplement," which is very well, so far as it goes, to the HISTORY OF MARYLAND, which, as we have said before, is not yet writs ten. (See Bozman, vol. XVI. p. 310.) GRIFFITH -JUDGE. Author and compiler of the LAW REGISTER, a work of great value, to those who have claims, or property, in any part of the United States. It contains all that is material, for a stranger, ay, or any body else to know, of the laws, course of practice, and court rules, in each of the twenty-eight communities, which go to make up the Union. GRISCOMB-Author of " A YEAR IN EUROPE:" a plain, sensible, good sort of a man, who, after "running over" here for a time: picking up a world of "pretty particular informa tion, I guess ;" over-ran, like another Cæsar, a considerable part of Europe; and precisely one year to an hourfrom the day of his debarkation at Liverpool, re-embarked for America, where he ran-out, before all the world, about a twelveinonth ago, in a volume of-commentaries, which are, certainly, very much to be wondered at, considering the precipitation of his movements here. We have heard; but we know nothing of the matter, that he was "dispatched," by some society of New York, to this other world, for information. It may be so we don't much like to accuse his countrymen of dispatching travellers; but certain of his movements here, certainly fayour the notion. He had no body with him-that we are sure of; and up to the day of his departure, set all the laws of time and space at naught. HALL JOHN E.-A blockhead; editor of the Port-Folio (tautology that) see Dennie, vol. XVI. p. 566; and "author" of many priceless works (to our knowledge) an account of which, we herewith subjoin. Thus-No. 1.-"HALL'S Port-Fo lio:" a Monthly Magazine, made up 2. HALL'S Admiralty" is a compilation from "Clark's Praxis," and some other English works; with a few meagre notes, which, so far as they go, only serve to mislead a student, or neutralize the text. 3. “HALL's Justice”—A shameless piece of quackery, with a candid fair title, nevertheless-a paltry compilation, with what amounts to caveat emptor upon the back-from the Laws of Maryland; wherein the author, under pretence of assisting the lay gens, among other characteristic, ingenious expedients to swell the volume, has the impudence to give two copies -both of which are false-of the same "precedent," as he calls it, which "precedent,” by the way, is a bill of sale! 4. " HALL'S Emerigon"-A poor translation, with two or three tolerable notes (which, of course, are not his own) of a poor French book, on the Law of Insurance. These works, we should observe, are only to be found among the wholesale collectors of America-the auctioneers; who will confirm our testimony. They know them to be priceless.-Nos. 2, 3, and 4, are light octavos; the rest, heavy enough. 5." HALL'S Law Journal"—A compilation of refuse law tracts; old pamphlets; forgotten speeches-&c.-&c. the best of all his "works;" being entirely a compilation. As a writer, were he not one of those, the whole of whom we profess to give an account of, Mr John E. Hall, would not be worth our notice. He is a bad one-a mischievous one —a foolish one. He is endowed with less than moderate abilities:—with no scholarship; no principle; no heart-no courage-no decency-no character. And yet, strange as it may seem, he is worth calling sternly to ac count-worth driving before us, with a whip of scorpions.-There will be those we know-the Spartans knew it-whom it were beneath a man to assail with anything but a whip. He is one of them. A child-an idiot, we know, may lift a flood-gate or a bar; draw a bolt, or turn a keywhich-idiot as he is-may let in a deluge, upon a province. He has done this. He got possession, it were no easy matter to tell how-of a spring -a fountain, the waters of which did circulate, some years ago, (when it was troubled of the angels,) through all America-like wine. Into it, with a wicked, mercenary spirit, he has been pouring a deadly poison—a pernicious exhilarating drug-month after month —until there are those, who relish the taste, and love the sparkle, of these impure waters. He is, therefore, worth scourging, they, worth shaming. Or-in sober, plain prose, John E. Hall was permitted, weak and wicked as he is, to get possession of the PortFolio, after the death of Dennie, before anybody thought it possible for him, or it, in his hands, to be mischievous. With that, he is now able to provoke the indignation of thosewhom, but for that he could never hope to move anything more than the pity of. With all his abominable stupidity, however, the man had cunning enough to see, that if he ventured much of his loading upon the PortFolio, it would go to the devil, of course; and himself with it: wherefore he has contrived, year after year, to keep it afloat-and his chin above water-though he has been over head and ears with it, more than onceafloat-in spite of his own, dead, ponderous imbecility, by freighting it with a buoyant material, which he pilfered from our magazines whenever he went ashore-that is, about once amonth. He has moreover succeeded, one hardly knows how, in making himself an outlaw, worth hunting down, upon all the sweet, calm charities of life; all the sanctities of retirement: He has done more--he has foregone the privileges of a fool: put himself, by his appetite for vulgar notoriety, out of the protection, to which he was naturally entitled, by his insignificance; and all the laws of generous literary warfare. By his own brutal, cowardly disregard of all decorum, he has driven us to HAMILTON—ALEXANDER. (See VANDERLYN, Vol. XVI. 419.)-AWest Indian, by birth: Secretary of State under the administration of Washington: a soldier-a man-a statesman-a legislator (in theory) of whom any people might be proud:-author, (jointly with Mr Madison, late President of the United States; and Judge Jay, formerly minister to this court-who wrote only two of the papers, we believe -vol. XVI. p. 509,)-author, so far, of a work, THE FEDERALIST, which may be called, seriously, reverently, the Bible of Republicans.—It is a large octavo volume-a series of essays, which appeared in defence of the Federal constitution, pretty much as it now is, before it had been adopted by the people. It is a work, altogether, which, for comprehensiveness of design, strength, clearness and simplicity, has no parallel-we do not even except, or overlook, those of Montesquieu, and Aristotle among the political writings of men. [Jan. secret): a good captain: a good-perhaps a great lawyer. His writings are chiefly political. They are not collected, we believe; but certainly deenergetic, manly, profound, satisfacserve to be, with great care. They are tory.-We hold him to be, altogether, America has produced. one of the ablest men that North author of the "GEOLOGICAL ESSAYS' HAYDEN HORACE, Dr, a Yankee, to which we alluded some time ago— (see BEAZLY, vol. XVI. 420): a valu able work nevertheless, although one is occasionally disturbed by the pompous, absurd style, in which little matters are spoken of. It is a prodigious accumureason-of which great use might be lation of material-fact, argument, made; but, of which little is made. geologist; mineralogist-and also, as We think highly of Dr Hayden as a the diseases of teeth; lectured in the a dentist. He has written ably upon Maryland University"-so calledsure is master thereof.-He has alsoon the same subject; and we are quite such are the strange pursuits of a learnmethod of tanning leather, in four ed Yankee ;-he has also found out a patent: and a method of preserving hours, for which he has obtained aanatomical preparations" to all eternity"-which we take to be quite a resurrection-men: Both of these disdesideratum with everybody, but our coveries, however, Mr Charles Whitlaw (see BOTANY, Vol. XVI. p. 564) claims to have given Dr Hayley, the "first idee" of. While Hamilton was the Secretary of State, certain of his reports, upon the domestic relations of the country, were papers of extraordinary power: It was this Hamilton, with whom Washington quarrelled, in the Revolutionary war; and whom Burr shot in a duel. The quarrel with Washington was only for a moment. Washington was imperious-absolute: Hamilton, youthful, haughty, and fearless. Washington spoke to him, rather too much like a master. Hamil--A very honest fellow, at bottomton drew up; and gave him a word of caution, which was never forgotten; though, when Washington came to make up his political household, he put all recollection of it aside, and called him to the first office, under him, in the Federal administration. HARPER ROBERT GOODLOE-A remarkable specimen of the self-educated class: a senator: a member of Congress, where he held a commanding influence, year after year: a statesman-whose great speech, Cobbett swears that he (Cobbett) made for him (Harper): a good mechanic, (having been a cabinet-maker in his youth; a circumstance of which he makes no p. 639-Dec. 1824) Author of the book, spoiled by absurd attention here; with formerly one of the writers for Dr that Sir W. Scott is not-we state it strongly-the author of his own works: that, on the contrary, "one Dr Greenfield" is: and, moreover, that he (Mr H. we suppose the article wearing an editorial face) did actually see the MS. of a novel, in the possession of a London publisher; which MS. was in the hand-writing of Dr G., and afterwards appeared in print, as one of the Waverley novels. We may err a little, perhaps, in the particulars; but, substantially, we are correct, in saying that such positive testimony did appear, some 18 months ago, in the MI HILL-IRA. Another Yankee. (See BEAZLY, Vol. XVI. 420.) This man's "THEORY OF the Earth,” is one of the most capital affairs that we know of; unless, perhaps, that paper of Irving, in the Introduction to Knickerbocker, upon the same question, be as good. The chief difference is, that Irving is undoubtedly in fun, while he appears to be profoundly in earnest: Ira Hill profoundly in earnest, while he appears to be only in fun. It is, after all, however, a mighty ingenious book -was rather satisfactory to ourself and if he would put forth a new edition, with a burlesque title, would go down, yet:-Or, if the book should not, he would. Absurd as it is on some accounts, however, it is, on others, an essay of singular merit. HISTORY-There is hardly a state in the whole " Union," without a history of its own: Some ten or a dozen have been put forth, concerning the United States-America-the Řevolutionary war, etc. etc. and yet, up to this hour, the best account of America, the Revolutionary war, and all, has been the work of a stranger-an Italian-a writer, who had never set his foot, in America. His name was CARLO BOTTA.-A plenty of material may be found for a good history.Professor EBELING'S collection of itself; that, which he gave to Harvard University some years ago, is a mine of learning about America. He was a stranger too; a German.-RAMSAY is romantic, loose, declamatory, and credulous: MARSHALL, (Chief Justice of the Supreme Court,) insupportably tiresome; and, with all his great honesty, care, and sources of information, from the papers of Washington, greatly mistaken, several times, in matters of importance: GORDON, VOL. XVII. fatiguing: a mere catalogue of undigested, indigestible transactions: all matter; no workmanship, as a whole: Mrs WARREN-a woman: TRUMBULL, Sound; but a little too wise thoughtful, particular, in ordinary affairs, clumsy, credulous, without ardour:-ALLEN (see vol. XVI. 308, Sept. 1824) partly trash; partly newspaper wisdom; partly rhodomontade partly writing, of a noble, strong, bold character determined-eloquent original-but, murdered by typographical blundering.-Allen, by the way, must not bear this load. He is too honest a fellow; too good a man; has enough to answer for, on his own account. It was the transgression of others-Neal and Watkins.—Be it on their heads. R. WALSH, DR-could write a book about America, by which he would be remembered, if he were to undertake it, like a man; discharging his heart of all bitterness; foolish rancour ; jealousy and fear. HOFFMAN-DAVID· Professor of Law in the University of Marylanda highly respectable institution; but no University. It is, in fact, only a medical college; with a law faculty, of which Mr H. is the professor.He is the author of a small work, of which we think very highly. He calls it "A COURSE OF LEGAL STUDY."His views are more extensive, by far, than those of any other person, who professes, or lectures upon law, in America; and, with a few trivial exceptions, dignified, worthy, and admirable. He teaches that men are not lawyers by intuition: that he, who is called upon to expound law, may have occasion to know what he is talking about; may wish that he knew something of history, legislation, languages. He would have the name of a lawyer something more than a by-word among men-a reproach. -a nick name. HALLY REV. MR-Another Unitarian clergyman: formerly a preacher of Boston, Massachusetts: one of the most eloquent speakers of the age -or declaimers, rather: a showy, beautiful rhetorician: president of the Transylvania "University," so called an academy on a respectable footing hardly a college: a miserable prosewriter-in comparison with himself, as a speaker, we mean.-He never appears to say what he means; or to mean what he says, with a pen. H |