ludes to them, and the vitipuration he misses no opportunity of visiting upon the Administration, indicate the extent of his obligations. For instance, Mr. Clay, according to the Captain, "invariably leads the van in everything which is liberal and gentleman-like," p. 71,—while “that the morals of the nation have retrograded from the total destruction of the aristocracy, both in the government and in society, which has taken place within the last ten years, is most certain." "The power has fallen into the hands of the lower orders; the officers under government have been chiefly filled up by their favorites, either being poor and needy men from their own class, or base and dishonest men who have sacrificed their principles and consciences for place. I shall enter more fully into this subject hereafter; it is quite sufficient at present to say, that during Mr. Adams's Presidency, a Mr. Benjamin Walker was a defaulter to the amount of $18,000, and was in consequence incarcerated for two years. Since the democratic party have come into power the quantity of defaulters and the sums which have been embezzled of government money are enormous, and no punishment of any kind has been attempted. They say it is only a breach of trust, and that a breach of trust is not punishable except by a civil action; which certainly in the United States is of little avail, as the payment of the money can always be evaded. The consequence is, that you meet with defaulters, I will not say in the very best society generally, but in the very best society of some portions of the United States. I have myself sat down to a dinner party, to which I had been invited, with a defaulter to government on each side of me. I knew one that was setting up for Congress, and strange to say, his delinquency was not considered by the people as an objection. An American author states, ' on 17th June, 1838, the United States' Treasurer reported to Congress sixty-three defaulters; the total sums embezzled amounting to one million, twenty thousand and odd dollars!'" This specimen of charging upon the democracy the sins of its opponents with which the book abounds, affords us an insight of the grounds upon which the stock-jobbers of London have based their expectation of controlling the enactment of laws for this country. Taking this representation of our people, and their habitual disregard to personal integrity in the choice of their political agents to be accurate, nothing could be more natural than the belief that we had already reached the point of corruption which saddled its immense national debt upon the industry of England. That public peculation is but a breach of trust, and not a penal offence, is no fault of the democracy. From the first message of President Van Buren to Congress up to the present session unremitting efforts have been made to apply the only effectual remedy to this evil. But the party who hold that banks and bank-officers have a right to employ the money raised by the taxation of the people for their individual profit, have uniformly resisted the enactment of provisions which might involve personal liability in the perpetration of such abuses. It will be borne in mind that the writer of the following concentrated essence of the federal doctrine did not visit the United States until 1837, when the authority of the executive and the dominion of the laws were prostrated at once by the measures pursued by the banks and their sup porters. At this eventful period could a stranger from abroad perceive in the position taken by the national executive in support of the public faith, only personal ambition, corruption, love of expediency, and contempt for morality? "I think I can show that the vices of the Americans are chiefly to be attributed to their present form of government. The example of the Executive is most injurious. It is insatiable in its ambition, regardless of its faith, corrupt in the highest degree, never legislating for morality, but always for expediency. This is the first cause of the low standard of morals; the second is the want of an aristocracy to set an example and give a tone to society. These are followed by the errors incident to the voluntary system of religion, and a democratic education. To these must be superadded the want of moral courage, arising from the dread of public opinion, and the natural tendency of a democratic form of government to excite the spirit of gain as the main spring of action, and the summum bonum of existence." The following is a mild specimen of the manner in which Captain Marryatt was taught to mention the present head of the government, page 120: "Let us examine what Mr. Van Buren says in his last message. First, he humbly acknowledges their power. "A National Bank, he tells them, 'would impair the rightful supremacy of the popular will.' “And this he follows up with that most delicate species of flattery, that of praising them for the very virtue they are most deficient in; telling them they are 'a people to whom the truth, however unpromising, can be always told with safety.' "At the very time when they were defying all law and all government, he says, 'It was reserved for the American Union to test the advantage of a government entirely dependent on the continual exercise of the popular will, and our experience has shown that it is beneficent in practice as well as it is just in theory.' "At the very time when nearly the whole Union were assisting the insurrection in Canada with men and money, he tells them, 'that temptations to interfere in the intestine commotions of neighboring countries have been thus far successfully resisted.' "This is quite enough; Mr. Van Buren's motives are to be rëelected as President. That is very natural on his part; but how can you expect a people to improve who never hear the truth?" His remarks upon the newspaper press of this country are too copious for quotation. As might be expected, he mentions Webb, Noah, and Prentice, with unqualified approbation. But it will be perceived by the following extract, that he is hardly complimentary to their readers: Every man in America reads his newspaper, and hardly anything else; and while he considers that he is assisting to govern the nation, he is in fact, the dupe of those who pull the strings in secret, and by flattering his vanity, and exciting his worst feelings, make him a poor tool in their hands. People are too apt to imagine that the newspapers echo their own feelings; when the fact is, that by taking in a paper which upholds certain opinions, the readers are by daily repetition become so impressed with these opinions, that they have become slaves to them. I have before observed, that learning to read and write is not education, and but too often is the occasion of the demoralization of those who might have been more virtuous and happy in their ignorance." We now close our notice of Capt. Marryatt's book with the following curious passage from page 121. It seems to be a requiem or lament over such of his friends as have flinched, and a description of the chivalry which is now waging battle in support of his doctrines : "It appears that the more respectable portions of its citizens have retired, leaving the arena open to those who are best worthy; that the majority dictate and scarcely any one ventures to oppose them; if any one does he is immediately sacrificed; the press, obedient to its masters, pours out its virulence, and it is incredible how rapidly a man, unless he be of a superior mind, falls into nothingness in the United States, when once he has dared to oppose the popular will. He is morally bemired, bespattered, and trod under foot, until he remains a lifeless carcase. He falls never to rise again, unhonored and unremembered.-p. 121. THE VOICES OF HOME. BY MRS. M. ST. LEON LOUD. Voices of home! ye are on the breeze, Ye are sighing low through the budding trees; And ye are sounding o'er hill and plain. Tell me of those I shall see no more, Of all that I lov'd in the days of yore; List! from the bank where the violet lies, Where the honey bee for his treasure flies,— "The bowers thou hast twined are green and fair, Sweet is the air with the breath of spring, Birds are abroad on a glancing wing, Voices of home! would you bear me back, Hark! from the stream as it murmurs by, "Green is the bank where thy young feet stray'd, And waves of gold Are flashing bright in the nonntide ray, And music sounds, where the fountains play; Voices of home! do ye mock my prayer? "I swept along through the empty halls, And waved the grass on the mouldering walls, I roused the billows to mighty wrath, As a tall bark sped on its ocean path; And scattered the leaves from a pale white rose, Voices of home! ye are gone! ye are gone! Ye pass'd away with that last sad tone: Call me no more! for the home is dark, Where I turned, like the dove to its sheltering ark, The flowers I nursed may in splendor vie With the rainbow hues in the summer sky The joyful burst of the wild birds song- All that is glorious, all that is fair In the face of nature may linger there- For the golden links of affection's chain, Voices of home! farewell, farewell, Pass on in the midst of the loved to dwell; WHO GOVERNS, THEN?* A TALE OF THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. (From the German of Zschokke.) 5. THE KING. "I have been a long time expecting you, dear Marchioness." "I understood that your Majesty had granted an audience to the English Ambassador." "True, Madame, but the man has bored me dreadfully with his business, and I am glad to be rid of him. I found myself compelled at last to turn him over to the cardinal. But what ails you?—are you indisposed?-can I believe that you have been shedding tears? Do you not feel well ?” "With my king I always feel well!" "Dear, good Marchioness! Be seated. Have you brought your work with you? I will help you in stringing pearls, and tell you a capital story of Mademoiselle d'Autun-a love intrigue perfectly unique! You will hardly believe it. I have laughed myself half to death over it. But I cannot endure to see the eyes of my little Antoinette red with weeping. Tell me, first, has anything disagreeable occurred to you?" "Yes, sire-vexation at the abominable depravity of some men, and grief for the cruelty with which they dare to torture the innocent, under the government of the best of monarchs. For" “Tell me all, my sweet child. Depend upon it I will set an example of severity. For who am I-what do I possess-if not even the power to prevent you from shedding other tears than those of joy! Who has offended you ?" "He who offends the dignity and the honour of the most just and humane of kings." The king started, and repeated his inquiry with an urgent curiosity. The marchioness repeated to him the villainy of M. de Gatry-the manner in which he intended to force the honest old book-keeper to assume the guilt of the crime committed by himself, and to escape from its consequences by means of a few thousand livres. She related the whole affair, with all the eloquence so peculiarly her own; and with the brilliancy of her own imagination so heightened the colours in the por *Continued from page |