From the Hon. James M. Wayne, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

WASHINGTON, D. C., Oct. 5, 1855.

I thank you for Sheppard's Constitutional Text Book, and, with my esteem for the author, I concur freely with my friend, Mr. Justice Grier, in recommending it as a "practical and thorough work upon the subject, peculiarly calculated as a text-book for schools."

I do not mean, though, to confine its use to school-teachers of Constitutional law. It may well be put into the hands of our countrymen in all of the States of the Union, to give exactness to their knowledge of our institutions, and to strengthen their determination to maintain them.

JAMES M. WAYNE.

From the Right Rev. Bishop Meade, of Virginia.

MILWOOD, VA., Aug. 26, 1855.

Immediately on the receipt of your letter and book, not being at all competent to judge of it myself, I put it into the hands of a sound and practical lawyer, and have just received his answer, which I enclose. I thank you for the book, and hope it may be of service to some of my posterity.

WILLIAM MEADE.

WINCHESTER, Va., Aug. 23, 1855.

I have no doubt it is an accurate work in its historical details, and it certainly contains much interesting matter in a condensed and convenient form. If I have the opportunity, I shall purchase the work, for I do not know where I could find the same amount of useful information in so small a compass. D. W. BARTON.

TO BISHOP MEADE.

North Carolina.

From the Hon. Thomas Bragg, Governor of North Carolina.

RALEIGH, N. C., Sept. 7, 1855.

A careful examination of it enables me to say that it seems to have been carefully and skilfully prepared; that the commentaries upon the several articles of the Constitution are concisely but perspicuously expressed; and that in my opinion it is not only worthy of being adopted as a text-book in our schools and colleges, but may be safely referred to by all who desire to obtain a proper knowledge of our Constitution and form of government.

THOS. BRAGG.

South Carolina.

From the Hon. Job Johnston, for more than twenty years Chancellor of South Carolina.

NEWBERRY, S. C., August 10, 1855.

The work is prepared with great care and judgment, and is well adapted to the wants of American pupils, as was designed by the author. It is rare to find a work exhibiting more skill or patient care in the preparation. The method is clear, and the extensive research by which much valuable information is imparted into the volume merits high commendation. The tables are most valuable, and must impress their contents in a very lively manner upon the reader who consults them.

It is a work, on the whole, as remarkable for its real merits as for the modesty and want of pretension with which it is executed and offered to the public; and I wish it a success equal to its uncommon deserts.

JOB JOHNSTON.

From Wm. P. Finley, A. M., President of the Charleston College.

CHARLESTON, S. C., July 19, 1855.

It is admirably adapted to the object designed. As a practical exposition of the Constitution of the United States for the use of schools, academies, and colleges, I do not think that the information it contains could have been more complete or better arranged.

WM. P. FINLEY.

Georgia.

SEE, UNDER THE HEAD OF VIRGINIA AND DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, AN EXCELLENT LETTER FROM THE HON. JAMES M. WAYNE, OF Savannah, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF UNITED STATES.

From Rev. Saml. K. Talmage, D. D., President of Oglethorpe University. TALMAGE, GA., July 30, 1855.

I have examined with some care "Sheppard's Constitutional Text Book," and am prepared to pronounce it a work of ability and merit. I know no other work of the kind which condenses so many important facts within the same space. I trust it will be extensively introduced into our literary institutions, for it contains a large amount of valuable information essential to the proper education of our American youth.

SAMUEL K. TALMAGE.

From the Secretary of State of Georgia.

MILLEDGEVILLE, GA., August 11, 1855.

The book, in my judgment, is well arranged and eminently suited to the object for which it was designed. It is not an unimportant book in the library of any citizen who reads the Federal Constitution, or who wishes to be informed upon many important points connected with the history of our Union.

E. P. WATKINS.

Alabama.

From the Chief Justice of Alabama.

TUSKEGEE, ALA., Aug. 22, 1855.

I have read it, and am happy to state that I think it a most admirable elementary treatise upon the Constitution, and well adapted to the use of schools. Such a work has been much needed, to furnish our young men a succinct view of our fundamental law.

W. P. CHILTON.

From Rev. B. Manly, D. D., President of the University of Alabama. TUSCALOOSA, ALA., August 2, 1855. Its plan I like better than that of any book of the kind I have ever seen. It seems to contain every thing desirable in such a compilation; and its copious indexes enable the reader to find, under natural and appropriate titles, any thing he may wish to see. While I more than suspect that there are multitudes of American Citizens, well informed in most respects, who never read the Constitution under which they live, I regard it as a matter of earnest gratulation that you are able, in this volume, to present to the American public this important document in a form so accessible, so attractive, and complete.

B. MANLY.

Louisiana.

From the Superintendent of Education of Louisiana.

BATON ROUGE, LA., August, 1855. From an attentive examination of "Sheppard's Constitutional Text Book," it appears to me a work of more than ordinary merit, and peculiarly well adapted to the wants of the American pupil and people. All controversial points are avoided by the author, and he has presented in a concise and intelligible form, a vast amount of useful information relative to the practical working of our Federal and State Governments.

No citizen, or person desirous to become a citizen, should be without a copy of the work.

B

J. V. CARRIGAN.

Mississippi.

From the Rector of the College of St. Andrew, to the Rt. Rev. William M. Green, D. D., Bishop of Mississippi.

AUGUST 14, 1855.

Dear Sir:-At your request I have examined Mr. Furman Sheppard's "Constitutional Text Book."

The work is what it purports to be-"An exposition of the Constitution of the United States, &c." But the exposition is in general given in the language of public law, or in the decisions of courts of justice, or the substance of them condensed. I have not perceived that the author has entered upon debatable ground.

He has here given a mass of important information, which cannot elsewhere be obtained without great labour and search through many books,-information which every citizen of the United States should possess. The whole is wrought into a form well adapted to be used as a class-book; and I shall adopt it in this college.

I believe there are few subjects of secular learning more important for the young men of our country to acquire, than a knowledge of the Government which their ancestors devised and bequeathed to them.

Were the present generation thoroughly acquainted with the Constitution and government of the United States, even if only to the extent expounded in this book, it is my confident belief that the affections of the people would be firmly riveted to them both, and it would be impossible for demagogues and factionists to sow dissension among us, or proselyte a single man to their schemes for their overthrow.

JOSHUA SWEET.

Florida.

From the Chief Justice of Florida.

TALLAHASSEE, FLA., August 1, 1855.

I have read with great pleasure and gratification "Sheppard's Constitutional Text Book." If we hope to maintain our present form of government and our free institutions, it can only be through an observance of constitutional provisions and restrictions; without these we have no government, and there remains but the dread alternative of despotism or the ills consequent upon anarchy and the want of all regulated power. We can only attain this end by instilling into the youthful mind an early acquaintance with constitutional government, and a veneration and fondness and attachment for it. For this purpose your work I think is admirably adapted; it indeed the demand of the age, and I fervently hope it may answer the object in view.

T. BALTZELL.

Tennessee.

From the Attorney General of Tennessee.

MEMPHIS, TENN., July 31, 1855. I do not hesitate to commend it to the public as a correct and well-arranged exposé of the Constitution of the United States, and of the practical operation of the Government under the same.

It is especially well adapted to the use of schools, for which the author seems to have designed it. The brief annotations upon the various sections and clauses are quite full enough, under the plan proposed, for a sufficient comprehension of each, while the construction on controverted points seems in accordance with the most approved judicial interpretation. The author has been especially fortunate in the perspicuous simplicity of style with which he unfolds to the plainest understanding the great principles of the greatest government upon earth.

The day is not far distant, I trust, when this, or a similar book, will be found in the hands of every schoolmaster and pupil in the land. It should be adopted as an indispensable feature in the curriculum of every school in America, male and female, of high and low degree. In the enlightenment of the people consists the republic's best augury for the future; and in preparing the youth for the responsible position of an American citizen, there can be no wiser plan than to instruct him in the admirable system of government under which, for the last sixty-six years, the Americans have lived and prosperedthe freest and happiest nation upon the habitable globe.

JOHN L. T. SNEID.

From the Chief Justice of Tennessee.

JACKSON, TENN., Aug. 1855.

This able and judicious work is a desideratum to the youth of our country; and if used in private libraries, and as a text-book in our schools and colleges, it cannot fail to impart a correct and thorough knowledge of the nature, terms, and conditions of our Federal Union.

And when we consider the complicated yet harmonious structure of American Government, State and Federal, and the necessity that it be well understood by a people in the exercise of self-government, the great value of the present work must be apparent to every one. A. W. O. TOTTEN.

Kentucky.

From the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Kentucky.
LEXINGTON, KY., July 25, 1855.

I feel satisfied that it will prove a valuable and standard school book. It appears to be correctly and appropriately compiled, with such questions as will serve to recall the various items in the text of the Constitution. It is a pleasing and profitable study, and the American youth ought to become entirely familiar with its details. JOHN D. MATHEWS.