far as they go, may not be misunderstood. He does no service to any classes of men in our society, who excites their ill will, or their bad feelings, or aggravates unavoidable evils by factitious and idle complaints.

A further inquiry, which our subject presents, is, how the various individuals of our mixed society can be most useful to each other; how that benignant and humane spirit, without which the intercourse of men would lose its choicest satisfaction, may be best cultivated and enlarged and made most extensively to operate. And we answer, unhesitatingly, not by arraying one part of the community against another. The hands cannot say to the head, I have no need of thee; nor the head to the foot, I have no need of thee. Society moves on for the prospering of its own great concern-the common and best interests of all the individuals who compose it,-by a happy and harmonious cooperation of joint efforts, each member acting according to his strength, his means, and his influence. Real difficulties it is proper to ascertain, and, if possible, to remedy. Real grievances are to be redressed; but the suggestions of a contrary interest in the different classes of society, may be suspected to be the fruit of an evil design. Such contradiction cannot exist in any permanent form. We have all one great and common interest as citizens, patriots, Christians; a common country to be served by united exertions, and a common faith to be maintained by the cultivation of character, which takes none of its coloring from the accidents of life. He has most to do, who has most power to do it. To whom much has been given, from him will much be required. Let him fulfil the obligations of his station and meet the responsibility which it imposes. Providence seems constantly to indicate to us, that there are higher and nobler objects of pursuit than mere external condition. We are reminded that the cultivation of the mind, the improvement of the heart, the enlarging and purifying and extending the intellectual and moral powers of our nature, deserves the most serious regard. What a man does to multiply his acquisitions, will be much less a subject of concern to him, than how he has used them; and what he may have done for himself, of vastly less consequence in the great day of account, than what he has attempted for the interest of his fellow men. What may be obtained of this world's goods, is as transient as is everything connected with sublunary concerns; but accessions to mind, contributions to the generous and noble affections of our nature, are as durable as the soul, and will survive the wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds.

NO. XLII.

NEW SERIES-NO. XII, nd gomu „poft

DECEMBER 31, 1830. Et who lost the

ART. I.-1. A Lecture on the Working Men's Party, first delivered October 6, before the Charlestown Lyceum, and published at their Request. By EDWARD EVERETT. Boston: Gray & Bowen. 1830. 8vo. pp. 27.

it

2. Mr Tuckerman's Second Semi-annual Report of the Fourth Year of his Service as a Minister at Large in Boston. Gray & Bowen. 1830. 12mo. pp. 36.

THE popular governments under which we esteem ourselves fortunate to live, depend for their success in promoting the prosperity of the state and the nation, on the truth of the axiom that there can be no permanent diversity of interest between any classes of the people. Identity of interest, for all large and general purposes, is taken for true in the theory of our republic; and if it be not true, if there be serious and conflicting interests, which different classes maintain, irreconcilable with any common course of policy in which all may unite, it is not difficult to foresee what must be the tendency of this grand experiment of freedom. And in a government so entirely depending on popular opinion, it is scarcely less necessary that no such diversity of interest should be supposed to exist, than that none should in fact exist; for here, certainly, the sentiment of the poet is no fiction, that there is nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so.'

We may be excused, therefore, for resuming the subject to which we paid some attention in our last number; and we place at the head of this article two productions having a direct bearing upon it. The first is a striking and beautiful illustration of the mysterious connexion of body and mind, and the necessa

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ry union of physical and intellectual power for all the avocations of life. It bears the impress of genius, and like all the productions of its classic author, is calculated to instruct and improve its readers. We invite to it the early attention of all who feel any interest in this popular subject. The other refers to the actual state and condition of a large and growing class of the community; those, who, by ignorance, poverty, or crime, hang with heavy weight on society. The details which it presents, and the suggestions which are made by its philanthropic and intelligent author, are deserving of very careful regard.

In directing our attention, as we did in our former article, in the first instance to the class of affluent men, it was not by any means from a belief that they were the most important or deserving class of society. But as gain is the great object and the moving impulse of a laboring and active community, it seemed to be proper to inquire who were most forward in the chase, and whether there was any congregation of individuals, who might possess the spirit of a class, distinguished by selfish objects, in which their fellow citizens had no part.

We suppose that wealth, in our community, can very rarely be the harvest of rapacity or crime; and we are not willing to believe that it can in general be fairly considered to be gathered from exactions on the poor. It is sometimes said, that the luxuries of the rich are paid for by the poor. But is it so? Where the public treasury, which is mostly supplied by contributions of the industrious classes, pours out its abundance in pensions, sinecures and salaries, enormously disproportioned to the services for which they are paid, the assertion might be justified. But here there is no such prodigality. Public office rarely makes any man rich. If the compensation paid to the servants of the state is in any case excessive, it is nevertheless fixed by the people, and at their pleasure may be curtailed. Great competition exists to enlist in that service. But rank, power, and honor, form no small part of the inducement, and the emolument is sought for, not so much to accumulate a fortune, as to sustain life.

We do not of course mean to include every individual case in our general remarks. There are exceptions in this as in other rules. But if, as a general assertion, it may be safe to say, that the acquisition of fortune does not imply anything at variance with the common good, how is it in the expenditure?

Here, again, there are great differences in individual cases. But we can deal with the subject only as it presents itself on the whole. We can examine it only in its broad and general outlines, and in its indications of general character. It has such a character, as distinctive and well defined as the national character of which here and everywhere it makes a very considerable part. Of diffusion of wealth by charity or enterprise, it is not necessary to say anything. To the former we have already adverted, and the latter is seen in the vast establishments of commerce, the magnificent edifices of manufacturing industry, the roads, canals, wharves, stores and public edifices, which contribute to the prosperity and ornament of our country. It is rather to humbler and narrower fields, that our inquiries now lead, because these, in want perhaps of more attractive ones, are made the more recent subject of animadversion. The personal enjoyments of the affluent are sometimes the causes of uneasiness, and offer occasions for expressions of slight regard. But the matter candidly considered, does not give much cause of complaint. What is luxury, but a tax which wealth pays to labor? What would be the condition of many of our most respectable and industrious citizens, if this tax were not very liberally levied and very willingly paid? A magnificent mansion, with its splendid display of costly decorations, ministers to the elegant indulgence of a single family, but its erection and maintenance give employment to an hundred. A style of living that is very apt to excite something of envy at the fortunate condition of the individual who supports it, gives to numerous classes of active men their principal means of subsistence. Even the gratifications, which, so far as the moralist may be concerned, are most objectionable, are not without their advantages in this respect. A ball room, where the affluent and gay may assemble to pass, if not waste, as much time as would be equivalent to the life of one individual for a month, or of thirty individuals. for a day, can hardly be prepared for the reception of its pleasure seeking inmates, without demanding from honest labor a much larger employment of time, which is liberally paid for; and when the indirect as well as the immediate demands which fashion makes for its display on these occasions, is taken into the account, it would be no extravagant estimate to place the employment of labor at the value of ten times the period employed in the indulgences of amusement. Strike from the list of accommodations, those which taste and luxury, and, if you

please, pride and vanity, require, and what would be left to occupy the thousands who now live comfortably and contentedly by supplying them? When it is considered how intimately the diffusion of wealth is connected with all the departments of mechanical skill and labor, even those which at first view are most distant from it, the attempt would surely seem unwise, to excite ill-will towards any who may have the power of contributing to it. Under our forms of government, this attempt is peculiarly injudicious. In other countries, wealth places its possessors in a good measure above the power of the people. Rich men dread the exactions of magistrates, but hold popular feelings in very little respect. Not so here. So soon as the use of property brings them into disfavor, its use will be changed or discontinued. There is here no strength in a shield of gold to blunt the arrows of popular indignation. The people will be obeyed; and it is therefore the more important that their commands should promote their own essential interests.

We repeat, therefore, that there is an indissoluble connexion and mutual dependence among the classes of our society, and that the happiness of all, and in fact their existence, under free institutions, is mainly concerned in preserving a mutual confidence, respect, and esteem; so that it is a most unpatriotic, as well as unchristian effort, to attempt to separate these classes into opposite, conflicting, and irreconcilable parties.

Where this connexion to which we have alluded, is so direct and important, there may be other circumstances in addition to the general considerations of propriety and duty, which may tend, in a greater or less degree, to unite or to sever the various individuals who compose our communities. These circumstances may be improved by care and attention, by suitable concessions of one set of men or another, and by the mutual cooperation of all. Some of these we proceed to consider, and to offer such suggestions as in our opinion may promote this important end.

Among the first of those institutions which tend to promote harmony among all the citizens of the commonwealth, are our public free schools. We do not so much allude, now, to the immense advantages of general education, which they, and they alone, are able to secure, as to the benefit of an early association of youth under our system, where there is a common object and equal means of attaining it, and no superiority is possessed by any one, that is not acquired by industry, talent, and