courage and perseverance in his labors to secure himself and his children against those mischiefs which spring from his own passions and ignorance, or the passions, ignorance, and wickedness of his fellow-men? If he cannot exterminate the evil, is it wise not to take the steps within his power to mitigate its force and avert its calamities? Sad would be the condition of man if he were to make no exertion, bodily or mental, because he cannot do the work of Omnipotence. Despair is no part of the character of a Christian, a philosopher, or a democrat. He knows that perpetual resistance to evil is the duty and labor of his life. He knows that the physical condition of man can be ameliorated; for to that fact he has the concurrent testimony of history, observation, and experience. He knows that his moral condition may be improved; for he witnesses an advancement in virtue and knowledge, not only in individuals but in nations. He feels that he can aid in this progress both by precept and example. He can improve himself, he can contribute. to the improvement of others, and he knows not to what degree of perfection his race is capable of advancing. In what he sees and knows, there is ground for glorious hope and unceasing exertion.

It is with a determination to emulate this spirit that we enter upon our duties as editor of this paper. Individually, perhaps, no man has more grounds for discouragement than the writer of this article. Though endeavoring to live a life of unsullied morality, and to do his duty in public stations without favor or fear, he has been hunted and pursued by a thousand presses, and ten thousand tongues, as if he was a robber and an outlaw. Without knowing why, thousands of honest men have been made to believe, by countless libels and slanders which it was as impossible to meet and refute as it is to catch in a bucket all the raindrops of a storm, that he is one of the worst of the human race. His life has been threatened, and his assassination publicly spoken of as a desirable thing. Men who profess religion, in this city, have used in relation to him expressions ill becoming the gospel creed, such as that "he ought to have his throat cut, and his house burned over his head." Recently, in Cincinnati, some of his friends were told that if they dared to give him a public dinner he should never leave that city alive. Threats, accompanied by shocking imprecations, are still occasionally uttered against his person. For acts when in office, as conscientious as ever flowed from the heart of man, he is pursued with a private suit, claiming $100,000 in damages, and a jury have been induced (honestly, he trusts, yet with a want of charity with which he hopes they may never be judged here or hereafter) to punish him with a penalty of $12,000, to be taken out of his private fortune, if so much he has.

All this comes upon him for resisting wrong, and attempting to do

right in office and out. If he had indulged in the profligate habits which prevail too extensively in this city; if he had wasted his substance and destroyed his health in intemperate eating and drinking, instead of devoting body and mind to the public service; if he had accepted the favors of powerful mail contractors, and paid them by extra allowances instead of resisting their exorbitant demands, and treating alike the humble and the high, he would not now, with broken constitution and in private life, be subjected to these persecutions.

But what of that? Shall we give up that consciousness of right which dwells within us, and become the advocate of bad principles and the associate of bad men to avoid the mischiefs which they bring upon us? What should we think of the man who, because an invading foe had plundered and burned his house, should join them in plundering and burning the houses of his neighbors? He is not less a traitor to his country than the man who abandons sound principles and good morals to escape the responsibility of being honest. Such a traitor we shall never be, though beggary and assassination be our lot.

No; we shall endeavor more strenuously than ever to prove, by precept and example, that moral rectitude is the basis of society and the surest guarantee of happiness.

That honesty in politics and in office is, if possible, more the duty of every good citizen than honesty in his private dealings.

That to cheat men out of their suffrages by wilful falsehoods, or out of their choice of rulers by illegal votes, is a worse treason than that for which men in some countries are hanged, drawn, and quartered.

That no law or institution is safe for individuals, communities, or nations which is not based on equal justice.

That, while violent changes are to be avoided, it is the interest of the people, and their right, gradually to bring back their laws and institutions to the standard of moral principle, wherever they have departed

from it.

That to protect man in the possession of personal liberty, and the exercise of equal political power, is the first duty of government, and to protect him in the unmolested enjoyment of the honest fruits of his own labor and skill is its second.

That no man, state, or nation, has a right to interfere with or control the conduct of another, except in defence of his own rights and powers, or in fulfilment of his obligations as a member of society.

That in the assumption of men, states, and nations, to judge for others, instead of confining themselves to self-protection and the performance of their civil and social duties, leaving others "to their own master, to stand or fall," is found the source of much of that bloodshed, degradation, and slavery, which overspread the earth.

Aspiring to no office, neither having nor intending to have business connections with the government, and relying for our only income and support on the subscriptions of the people for our little paper, we feel as free as we are determined to expose the abuses of government in all its branches, while it is our firm purpose to avoid abuse altogether, and to deal in denunciation only when imperious duty shall require it at our hands.

In the fall of 1841, finding that in consequence of the proceeding against him by Stockton and Stokes he would be obliged to remain in the District for some considerable time, he negotiated for the purchase of a tract of about one hundred acres of land adjoining the city limits on the northeast, for a permanent homestead. He immediately began to build a frame dwelling, twentysix feet square, intending it for a temporary habitation until he could erect a better.

In February, 1842, he moved into the house, then unfinished and scarcely comfortable.

The income from the "Expositor" having materially diminished, the idea of building a new house was abandoned for the time, and Mr. Kendall found serious difficulty in meeting his payments on the place. At one time he utterly despaired of fulfilling these pressing obligations, and sought relief by proposing to surrender the whole property to the party of whom he purchased, and become his tenant, expressing a willingness to sacrifice one half of his improvements. The proposition was declined in hopes of a better! Though he paid all he could, offered to restore the title of the property to the original owner and become his tenant, or to let him dispose of it if he could, the return for all this was the service of an injunction upon him, restraining him from cutting the wood.

There was every prospect of losing the farm, payments, improvements, and all; but the timely loan of $2,000 saved the place, and gave grateful relief to Mr. Kendall and family.

Having thus driven the wolf from the door, Mr. Kendall addressed himself assiduously to farming and editing. Kendall Green (the name by which he called his place) and "Kendall's Expositor" kept him fully occupied.

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The possession of a piece of land he could call his own, and manage according to the dictates of his fancy, had long been with him a cherished dream. It was realized at last, though the real