Who then is Aaron Burr, and what the part which be has borne in this transaction ? He is its author; its projector; its active executor. Bold, ardent, restless, and aspiring, his brain conceived it, his hand brought it into action. Beginning his operations in New-York, he associates with him, men whose wealth is to supply the necessary funds. Possessed of the main spring, his personal labor contrives all the machinery. Pervading the continent from New-York to New-Orleans, he draws into his plan by every allurement which he can contrive, men of all ranks, and all descriptions. To youthful ardor, he presents danger and glory, to ambition, rank and titles, and honors; to avarice, the mines of Mexico. To each person whom he addresses, he presents the object adapted to his taste; his recruiting officers are appointed; men are engaged throughout the continent; civil life is indeed quiet upon its surface; but in its bosom this man has contrived to deposit the materials which, with the slightest touch of his match, produces an explosion to shake the continent. All this, restless ambition has contrived; and in the Autumn of 1806, he for the last time to apply this match. On this excurforth goes sion he meets with Blennerhasset.

Who is Blennerhasset ? A native of Ireland, a man of letters; who fled from the storms of his own country, to find quiet in ours. His history shews that war is not the natural element of his mind; if it had been he would never have exchanged Ireland for America. So far is an army from furnishing the society natural and proper to Mr. Blennerhasset's character, that on his arrival in America, he retired even from the population of the Atlantic States, and sought quiet and solitude in the bosom of our western forests. But he carried with him taste, and science, and wealth; and "lo the desert smiled." Possessing himself of a beautiful island in the Ohio, he rears upon it a palace, and decorates it with every romantic embellishment of fancy. A shrubbery, that Shenstone might have envied, blooms around him; music that might have charmed Calypso and her nymphs is his, an extensive

ren.

library spreads its treasures before him; a philosoph ical apparatus offers to him all the secrets and mysteries of nature; peace, tranquillity, and innocence shed their mingled delights around him; and to crown the enchantment of the scene, a wife who is said to be lovely even beyond her sex, and graced with every accomplishment that can render it irresistible, had blessed him with her love and made him the father of her childThe evidence would convince you, Sir, that this is but a faint picture of the real life. In the midst of all this peace, this innocence, and tranquillity, this feast of the mind, this pure banquet of the heartthe destroyer comes he comes to turn this paradise into a hell yet the flowers do not wither at his approach, and no monitory shuddering through the bosom of their unfortunate possessor, warns him of the ruin that is coming upon him. A stranger presents himself. Introduced to their civilities by the high rank which he had lately held in his country, he soon finds his way to their hearts by the dignity and elegance of his demeanor, the fight and beauty of his conversation, and the seductive and fascinating powers of his address. The conquest was not a difficult one. Innocence is ever simple and credulous; conscious of no designs itself, it suspects none in others; it wears no guards before its breast; every door and portal and avenue of the heart is thrown open, and all who choose it enter. Such was the state of Eden, when the serpent entered its bowers. The prisoner in a more engaging form, winding himself into the open and unpracticed heart of the unfortunate Blennerhasset, found but little difficulty in changing the native character of that heart and the object of its affection. By degrees he infuses into it the poison of his own ambition; he breathes into it the fire of his own courage ; a daring and a desperate thirst forglory; an ardor panting for all the storm and bustle and hurricane of life.

In a short time the whole man is changed, and every object of his former delight relinquished. No more he enjoys the tranquil scene; it has become flat and insipid to his taste: his books are abandoned; his retort and crucible are thrown aside; his shrubbery

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blooms and breathes its fragrance upon the air in vain -he likes it not, his car no longer drinks the rich melody of music, it longs for the trumpet's clangor and the cannon's roar; even the prattle of his babes, once 80 sweet, no longer affects him; and the angel smile of his wife, which hitherto touched his bosom with ec stacy so unspeakable, is now unfelt and unseen.Greater objects have taken possession of his soul-his imagination has been dazzled by visions of diadems, and stars, and garters, and titles of nobility. He has been taught to burn with restless emulation at the names of Cromwell, Cæsar and Bonaparte. His enchanted island is destined soon to relapse into a desert; and in a few months, we find the tender and beautiful partner of his bosom, whom he lately permitted not the "winds of summer to visit too roughly," we find her shivering at midnight on the winter banks of the Ohio, and mingling her tears with the torrents that froze as they fell. Yet this unfortunate man, thus deluded from his interest and his happiness-thus seduced from the paths of innocence and peace-thus confounded in the toils which were deliberately spread for him, and overwhelmed by the mastering spirit and genius of another-this man thus ruined and undone, and made to play a subordinate part in this grand drama of guilt and treason this man is to be called the principal of fender; while he by whom he was thus plunged and steeped in misery, is comparatively innocent-a mere accessary. Sir, neither the humaŭ heart, nor the human understanding, will bear a perversion so monstrous and absurd; so shocking to the soul; so rovolting to reason. O! no Sir. There is no man whe knows any thing of this affair, who does not know that to every body concerned in it, Aaron Burr was as the sun to the planets which surround him; he bound them n their respective orbits, and gave them their light, their heat, and their motion. Let him not then shrink from the high destination which he has courted; and having already ruined Blennerbasset in fortune, character and happiness forever, attempt to finish the trag edy by thrusting that ill-fated man between himself and punishment.

EXTRACT FROM MR. RUSSEL'S ORATION ON AMERI CAN INDEPENDENCE.

It is a magnificent spectacle to behold a great people annually crouding their temples to consecrate the anniversary of their sovereignty. On such an occasion, the heart of every true American beats high with a just and noble pride. The black catalogue of injury, abuse, contempt and crime, which exhausted forbearance and drove us to resistance, rushes upon his mind. He passes in review those great men who then burst upon the world, and who endowed with every talent, and with every virtue, appeared to be expressly commissioned by Heaven to rule the storm of revolution. It was then, indeed, that human nature, which for eighteen centuries appeared nearly to have lost all those qualities which alone ennobled it, emerged at once from its degradation, and recovered the lustre with which it shone in the happiest days of antiquity.

On the islands of the Adriatic, the mountains of Biscay, and the rocks of Uri, the spirit of liberty had indeed successfully sought a refuge. But driven, at last, from all that could delight her on earth, she had already flapped her wings on the glaciers of Switzerland and was taking her flight towards heaven.The American people rose. They burst their fetters, they hurled them at their oppressors, they shouted, they were free. The sound broke across the Atlantic, it shook the fog-wrapped island of Britain, and reechoed along the Alps. The ascending spirit heard it, she recognized in it the voice of her elect, and bearing her course westward, she rejoicing saw her incense rise from a thousand altars.

EXTRACT FROM A SERMON ON THE RESURRECTION OF OUR SAVIOUR.

Twice had the sun gone down upon the earth, and all as yet was quiet at the sepulchre. Death held his sceptre over the son of God-still and silent they passed on-the rays of the midnight moon gleamed on

their helmets and on their spears-the enemies of Christ exulted in their success--the hearts of his friends were sunk in despondency and in sorrow-the spirits of glory waited in anxious suspense, to behold the event, and wondered at the depth of the ways of God! at length the morning star arising in the East, announced the approach of light-the third day began to dawn upon the world, when on a sudden the earth trembled to its centre, and the powers of heaven were shaken an angel of God descended--the guards shrunk back from the terror of His presence, and fell prostrate on the ground-" His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow"-He "rolled away the stone from the door of the sepulchre and sat upon it!? But who is this that cometh from the tomb, with dyed garments from the bed of death ?"He that is glorious in his apparel, walking in the greatness of his strength " It is thy Prince, O Zion! Christians! it is your Lord! He hath trodden the wine press alone; He hath stained his raiment with blood; but now as the first born from the womb of nature, he meets the morning of his resurrection-he arises a conquerer from the grave-he returns with blessings from the world of spirits he brings salvation to the sons of men! Never did the returning sun usher in a day, so glorious. It was the jubilee of the universe! The morning-stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy! The Father looked down from his throne in the heavens with complacency-he beheld his world restored-he saw his work that it was good. Then did the desert rejoice; the face of nature was gladdened before him, when the blessings of the Eternal descended, as the dew of heaven, for the refreshing of the nations.

EXTRACT FROM DR. DWIGHT'S SERMON ON

DUELLING.

Come, thou surviving, and in thine own view, fortunate and glorious champion; accompany me to the