THE DISTINCTION OF RANKS.

FROM ESSAYS ON ELEVATION OF THE LABOURING CLASSES.

Ir is objected that the distinction of ranks is essential to social order, and that this will be swept away by calling forth energy of thought in all men. This objection, indeed, though exceedingly insisted on in Europe, has nearly died out here; but still enough of it lingers among us to deserve consideration. I reply, then, that it is a libel on social order to suppose that it requires for its support the reduction of the multitude of human beings to ignorance and servility; and that it is a libel on the Creator to suppose that he requires, as the foundation of communities, the systematic depression of the majority of his intelligent offspring. The supposition is too grossly unreasonable, too monstrous to require laboured refutation. I see no need of ranks, either for social order, or for any other purpose. A great variety of pursuits and conditions is indeed to be desired. Men ought to follow their genius, and to put forth their powers in every useful and lawful way. I do not ask for a monotonous world. We are far too monotonous now. The vassalage of fashion, which is a part of rank, prevents continually the free expansion of men's powers. Let us have the greatest diversity of occupations. But this does not imply that there is a need of splitting society into castes or ranks, or that a certain number should arrogate superiority, and stand apart from the rest of men as a separate race. Men may work in different departments of life, and yet recognise their brotherly relation, and honour one another, and hold friendly communion with one another. doubtedly, men will prefer as friends and common associates, those with whom they sympathize most. But this is not to form a rank or caste. For example, the intelligent seek out the intelligent; the pious those who reverence God. But suppose the intellectual and the religious to cut themselves off by some broad, visible distinction from the rest of society, to form a clan of their own, to refuse admission into their houses to people of inferior knowledge and virtue, and to diminish as far as possible the occasions of intercourse with them; would not society rise up as one man against this arrogant exclusiveness? And if intelligence and piety may not be the foundations of a caste, on what ground shall they, who have no distinction but wealth, superior costume, richer equipages, finer houses, draw lines around themselves and constitute themselves a higher class? That some should be richer than others is natural, and is necessary, and could only be prevented by gross violations of right. Leave men to the free use of their powers, and some will accumulate more than their neighbours. But to be prosperous is not to be superior, and should form no barrier between men. Wealth ought not to secure to the prosperous the slightest consideration. The only distinctions which should be recognised are those of the soul, of strong principle, of incorruptible integrity, of usefulness, of cultivated intellect, of fidelity in seeking for truth. A man, in proportion as he

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has these claims, should be honoured and welcomed everywhere. I see not why such a man, however coarsely if neatly dressed, should not be a respected guest in the most splendid mansions, and at the most brilliant meetings. A man is worth infinitely more than the saloons, and the costumes, and the show of the universe. He was made to tread all these beneath his feet. What an insult to humanity is the present deference to dress and upholstery, as if silkworms, and looms, and scissors, and needles could produce something nobler than a man! Every good man should protest against a caste founded on outward prosperity, because it exalts the outward above the inward, the material above the spiritual; because it springs from and cherishes a contemptible pride in superficial and transitory distinctions; because it alienates man from his brother, breaks the tie of common humanity, and breeds jealousy, scorn, and mutual ill-will. Can this be needed to social order?

CHRISTIANITY.

FROM THE EVIDENCES OF REVEALED RELIGION.

SINCE its introduction, human nature has made great progress, and society experienced great changes; and in this advanced condition of the world, Christianity, instead of losing its application and importance, is found to be more and more congenial and adapted to man's nature and wants. Men have outgrown the other institutions of that period when Christianity appeared, its philosophy, its modes of warfare, its policy, its public and private economy; but Christianity has never shrunk as intellect has opened, but has always kept in advance of men's faculties, and unfolded nobler views in proportion as they have ascended. The highest powers and affections which our nature has developed, find more than adequate objects in this religion. Christianity is indeed peculiarly fitted to the more improved stages of society, to the more delicate sensibilities of refined minds, and especially to that dissatisfaction with the present state, which always grows with the growth of our moral powers and affections. As men advance in civilization, they become susceptible of mental sufferings, to which ruder ages are strangers; and these Christianity is fitted to assuage. gination and intellect become more restless; and Christianity brings them tranquillity by the eternal and magnificent truths, the solemn and unbounded prospects which it unfolds. This fitness of our religion to more advanced stages of society than that in which it was introduced, to wants of human nature not then developed, seems to me very striking. The religion bears the marks of having come from a being who perfectly understood the human mind, and had power to provide for its progress. This feature of Christianity is of the nature of prophecy. It was an anticipation of future and distant ages, and, when we consider among whom our religion sprung, where, but in God, can we find an explanation of this peculiarity?

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THIS eminent scholar and statesman is a native of Providence, Rhode Island. He graduated at Brown University in that city in 1802, and having been admitted to the bar, passed about two years in Europe, principally on the continent, where he acquired that fluency in the use of the French language, and that knowledge of the civil law, which have been so useful to him in his subsequent career. Soon after his return to America he took up his residence in the city of New York, where in the winter of 1812 he became editor of the National Advocate, at the head of which his name appeared the last time on the fifteenth of May, 1815. His experience as a journalist was during the stormy period of the war, when the best talents and soundest discretion were demanded in that responsible profession. The National Advocate was of the first class of journals for ability and decorum, and had much influence on public opinion and action. It was about this time that Mr. Wheaton became one of the justices of the Marine Court, a tribunal of limited jurisdiction, which of late years has lost much of the consideration which attached to it in former times. It was in presiding here that Jones, Wells, and several of those who subsequently attained to the highest rank at the bar and on the bench of the superior courts of New York, passed some of the early years of their professional life.

In 1815 Mr. Wheaton published A Digest of the Law of Maritime Captures and Prizes, which may be regarded as in some respects the basis of his work on The Elements of International Law; and in 1820 he delivered before the New York Historical Society an address in which we see the germ of his history of this science. In 1824 he pronounced a discourse at the opening of the New York Athenæum, in which he took a rapid survey of what had been accomplished in American literature; and, pointing out the connection between the principles on which the ancient republics were founded and the rapid growth of the arts and sciences to which they gave

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encouragement-tracing analogies and causes in a manner which indicated deep reflection on the nature, spirit and tendencies of our government-presented an interesting view of the intellectual prospects of the country. In 1825 he published An Account of the Life, Writings and Speeches of William Pinkney, and in 1827 the last volume of his Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of the United States, which he had commenced in 1816.

Mr. Wheaton rose rapidly in the public estimation as a man of letters, as a statesman, and as a civilian. In 1819 he received the degree of Doctor of Laws from Harvard College, and in the following year the same distinction was conferred upon him by his own university. In 1821 he held a seat in the convention at Albany for revising the constitution of New York, and he was several years a prominent member of the legislature of that state. He was repeatedly looked to as a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and was so especially in the year 1823, on the death of Judge Livingston, when Judge Thompson was appointed to that office. In 1825 he was selected to be one of a commission to revise the laws of New York, but resigned this place in 1826 to accept that of Chargé d'Affaires to the Court of Denmark, then offered to him by President John Quincy Adams.

Before leaving the United States, in addition to his contributions to the daily press, while editor of the Advocate, and the publication of his Treatise on Captures, and his Reports, and Addresses, he had written largely for the North American Review, and edited several foreign law books, adding numerous and valuable notes, adapting them to the use of the legal profession in this country.

Soon after the commencement of his residence at Copenhagen, availing himself of leisure from his diplomatic duties, Mr. Wheaton entered heartily upon historical and literary studies, the first fruit of which was a His

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tory of the Northmen, or Danes and Normans, from the Earliest Times to the Conquest of England by William of Normandy, published in London in 1831. As a specimen of historical composition this work has slight pretensions; but it is interesting as a series of sketches of the ancient mythology, chivalry, literature and manners of a remarkable people, of whom little had been written in the English language. In 1838 he united with Mr. Crichton of Edinburgh, in writing a work under the title of Scandinavia, embracing the ancient and modern history of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, with an account of the geographical features of these countries, and information respecting the superstitions, customs, and institutions of their inhabitants; and aided by the materials brought together for this purpose, and especially by the Antiquitates Americanæ of Professor Rafn, he enlarged and very much improved his History of the Northmen, which was then translated into French and published in an octavo volume of nearly six hundred pages in Paris.*

In 1831 he was transferred by President Jackson to Prussia, and on the election of Mr. Van Buren to the presidency was promoted to the rank of Minister Plenipotentiary at the court of Berlin.

In 1836 Mr. Wheaton published his most important work, his Elements of International Law, which, in a much enlarged form, was reprinted by Messrs. Lea and Blanchard of Philadelphia in 1846. This was the first work of any importance upon the principles of the jurisprudence of nations in our language. It is divided into four parts, which treat respectively of the sources and objects of international law, of the absolute international rights of states, of the international rights of states in their pacific relations, and of the international rights of states in their hostile relations. An analysis of this treatise is not within the scope of the present sketch of Mr. Wheaton's labours. It is founded upon the best preceding works on the subject, particularly the Précis du Droit des Gens Moderne de l'Europe and Cours Diplomatique of G. F. Martens, and Klüber's Droit des Gens Moderne de l'Europe;

* Histoire des Peuples du Nord, ou des Danois et des Normands, depuis les Temps les plus reculés jusqu'à la Conquête de l'Angleterre. Par Henri Wheaton. Edition revue et augmentée per l'Auteur, avec Cartes, Inscriptions, et Alphabet Runiques, etc. Traduit de l'Anglois, par Paul Guillot.

but the author makes large additions, and infuses into the whole the liberal spirit which prevails in the institutions and government of his own country. Connected in its best days with the highest tribunal of the United States, the province of which is not only to expound constitutional and municipal law, but to interpret treaty obligations and the laws of nations, and subsequently long employed in diplomatic services, his whole experience seems to have been a preparation for writing such a work, and the ability, learning and candour which characterize the entire performance leave little or nothing in respect to it to be desired.

Mr. Wheaton's History of the Law of Nations in Europe and America from the Earliest Times to the Treaty of Washington, appeared originally in French, at Leipsic, in 1841, under the title of Histoire du Progrès du Droit des Gens en Europe depuis la Paix de Westphalie jusqu'au Congrès de Vienne, avec un précis historique du Droit des Gens Européen avant la Paix de Westphalie, in answer to a prize question proposed by the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences of the Institute of France. It was much augmented by the author, and published in the English language in an octavo volume of eight hundred pages in New York in 1845. The nature of this elaborate and learned work is sufficiently indicated by its title. Of its great merits all competent critics have given the same testimony.*

During the discussion growing out of the right of visit claimed by England on the coast of Africa, Mr. Wheaton published an Inquiry into the Validity of the Right of Visitation and Search. Many of his despatches, particularly those which relate to the negotiations in Denmark terminating with the treaty of indemnity for spoliations on our commerce during the European wars, and the recent discussions at Berlin as to the Zoll Verein treaty, will be found in the diplomatic papers published by Congress.

Besides the writings of Mr. Wheaton which have been mentioned, are a series of letters,

That eminent jurist and political economist, Professor Senior, in an article which he wrote for the 156th number of the Edinburgh Review, on the appearance of the French version of this work, declares that few men are better qualified to write the history of the law of nations than Mr. Wheaton; that whatever may be the defects of his work, he "has made as much as was to be made of his materials;" and that it is "an excellent supplement to his great work on International Law."

JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN was born in Abbeville, South Carolina, on the eighteenth of March, 1782. His grandfather, who had emigrated from Ireland to Pennsylvania in 1733, was one of the first settlers of that district, and his father, a man of ability and daring energy of character, represented it in the colonial and state legislatures more than thirty years.

In his thirteenth year, Mr. Calhoun was placed at an academy in Georgia, of which Mr. Waddell, a Presbyterian clergyman who had married his sister, was principal. But the death of his father, in 1796, caused an interruption of his studies, which were not resumed until he was nearly nineteen years of age. Having determined to be a planter, he had abandoned all thoughts of a classical education; but an elder brother at this period persuaded him to pursue one of the liberal professions, and he entered so earnestly upon the business of preparation, that within two years from his commencement of the Latin grammar he was received into the junior class of Yale College. It is related that after an animated controversy with the student, which arose during a class recitation from Paley, the eminent head of the college remarked to a friend that "the young man had talents enough to be President of the United States, and would one day attain to that station." The aim of his ambition was shown in the selection of his commencement thesis, which was, "The qualifications necessary to constitute a perfect statesman." He graduated in September, 1804, and immediately began the study of the law, in the well-known school of Litchfield, where he remained nearly two years. He afterward passed several months in the office of the Chancellor De Saussure in Charleston, and was admitted to the bar in Abbeville in 1807. He at once took a high rank in the courts, and in 1809 was elected by a large majority to the state legislature, where he so distinguished himself that at the end of his second session he was transferred to the national House of Representatives, in which he made his first appearance in the autumn of 1811.

From this time Mr. Calhoun's history is so closely identified with that of political controversies, of which no intelligible account can be given in the limits which I here prescribe to myself, that I shall do little more than mention the periods during which he has held the various high offices to which he has been called under different administrations.

From his entrance into the House of Representatives until 1817, when he was made Secretary of War, he was the acknowledged leader and most powerful champion of the democratic party in that body, though in this period the supporter of a protective tariff and of a national bank. His services in the War Department during the eight years of Mr. Monroe's administration are universally admitted to have been of vast importance to the country, and the estimation in which they were held at the time is shown in the large majority by which he was chosen Vice President in the celebrated contest of 1824, when there was no choice by the people of President. He was again elected Vice President in 1828, but a rupture occurring between himself and General Jackson, he was thrown into the ranks of the opposition; and South Carolina soon after declaring the tariff law of that year unconstitutional, and threatening forcible resistance of its execution, he resigned the vice presidency to accept a place on the floor of the Senate as the special apologist and vindicator of his state in that memorable crisis of its affairs. His speeches on the Force Bill, on the Federative Principle of the Constitution, and on the Removal of the Deposits, in the sessions of 1833 and 1834, are among the most earnest, able, and characteristic that he has made since his first appearance in Congress. He remained in the Senate until the death of Mr. Secretary Upshur in 1844, when he accepted the place of that gentleman in the Department of State, which he held until the close of Mr. Tyler's administration. For the first time in many years he was without office, but he was soon called from his retirement to resume his place in the Senate, where he ap