CHALMERS, D.D., LLD. New York: This is vol. 7th of the posthumous works of Chalmers. On the merits of such a work as this, we pretend not to have the slightest judg ment. Dr. Chalmers' reputation is in the hands of the Orthodox clergy, by whom he seems to be regarded as one of the lights of his time. The entire world of antiquity did not much | Institutes of Theology: By the late THOMAS exceed in dimension the Continent of North America; but we are not, therefore, to conclude that the moderns have any moral advantages, any nearer and more vital knowledge of the divine law, than the writers of antiquity. Suppose it were proved that the deluge of Noah did not cover the Alleghanies, or the rocks of Australia, is the Scripture any the less the sole book of the divine and moral law? Suppose it were even proved that the writers of the Old and even New Testament, had no correct knowledge of the sciences, not even of astronomy, and that the accounts of Noah's deluge and other natural and historical phenomena described in Scripture, were merely traditionary myths, we do not find, in our own minds, that the least shadow of doubt is thereby thrown either upon the doctrine of Christ's divinity, or upon a single saving point of Christian faith. Our author takes ground against the idea of the unity of the human race, and maintains that the negro, and other varieties of the human race, are distinct species. Webster's Dictionary, the Literary "Corner "Once possessed of a work so able, copious, and scientifically constructed, as WEBSTER'S QUARTO DICTIONARY, one discovers a hundred benefits previously unthought of. Old uses, and new uses, and disuses and abuses,-old terms, and new terms, and the history of the rise and progress of terms,-together with apt benefits I need not attempt to enumerate, combine to make him feel the work a desideratumto lay it as a corner-stone in his library. Or rather, since corner stones are not often disturbed,-as a janitor—a librarian,-ever at his post, ready to converse on whatever topic is at hand." Into the merits of the argument we are not inclined to enter. The author holds with Ori-citations, pointed and sparkling,-with other gen, "that the purpose of the Bible is not to transmit old tales, but to instruct in the rules of life." This is certainly a false opinion, notwithstanding the venerable authority of a father of the church; for, even among the modern bistorians of antiquity, the Scriptures of the Old Testament are regarded as the most complete and reliable collection of the records of primeval history extant. The reader will find much to elicit thought, in the work before us; but we make bold to say, the author does not treat the historical character of Scripture with the respect usually given it by the most learned and valuable authorities. July, 1849. CHARLES BEECHER. From one of the leading booksellers in England." WEBSTER'S QUARTO DICTIONARY is the only one to succeed here."-London, May, 1849. Published by G. & C. MERRIAM, Springfield, Mass., and for sale by all Booksellers. AMERICAN REVIEW, No. XXIII. FOR NOVEMBER, 1849. ORGANIZATION OF THE PARTY. A GREAT deal has been said in some quarters about the necessity for a more solid organization of the party, and as propositions for a more solid organization seem to imply a loose organization, we invite the serious attention of our friends to the following considerations of the necessary grounds of Whig organization, existing, or to be hereafter. Perhaps, after a fair examination of these grounds, and a survey of our present condition, they may be better satisfied than they are willing to admit themselves at present; for it seems to be just now regarded by some as a duty simply to be dissatisfied, waiting meanwhile for a good reason for dissatisfaction to turn up betimes. We propose therefore, to set forth in order, the principles which seem to have actuated the party since its original organization, and to have been the real basis of that organization. If our friends are satisfied on their perusal, that there is no present cause of division upon the question of principle, then we have at least the certainty before us of future unanimity when our less dangerous difficulties shall have been removed by the effects of time, and the discretion of our conscientious leaders. The Whig Party have been always distinguished from their opponents, by the attribution of a beneficent and protective power to government. And it is in regard of that attribution, that they assert for themselves the name of "republicans," believers in the efficacy of law and of the moral and intelligent functions of the government. They have, though in a qualified VOL. IV. NO. V NEW SERIES. sense, considered the republic as a moral power, standing for a moral person; representing not the aggregate, but the moral unity, the one-mindedness, if we may be allowed the expression, of the people, They have always been the party of union, a word which conveys much. They have wished to confirm the union, for the sake of the harmony, majesty, and power of the idea of a nation; and of the grand and effective passion of patriotism, which is sure to issue from such an idea. They have cherished this idea as they received it from Washington. The two parties which sprang up during the formation of the Constitution, were alike characterized by a desire for union, and a feeling for the moral dignity of the nation as a whole; and by their united efforts, the Constitution of union took its present form. It is true indeed, that one party aimed at a more centralized and pow-. erfully constructed government; and the acts of their successors, stretching the executive sway to the very verge of unconstitutionalty, show that they have not lost sight of their original aim: while the other party exhibited a proper jealousy for the independence of the State Sovereignties, as they had originally, in the Declaration itself, insisted on the inviolability of individual rights. But for the same reason that they contended for Individual Rights, and for State Rights, they contended for the national honor; they wished the citizen to stand upon a footing of equality and liberty with his fellow citizens; they wished the sovereign 29 state to justify her equality with other sovereign states; and they wished the nation, as one people, to stand upon terms of equality and liberty among other nations, and to resent with a becoming spirit the slightest encroachment upon her individualities. They consequently declared war with England, when England had trampled upon our nationality, and insulted our flag, the badge of nationality. They went farther, and urged upon the people the necessity of making themselves independent, in every way, of the mother country, by the production of every species of manufacture within themselves. It was a measure of national jealousy, and of economical policy, to make the people strong, able, and independent. Jefferson advised the application of the surplus revenue to works of internal improvement. Monroe proposed an amendment of the constitution, to enable government to enter upon a grand system of national improvement. Tariffs were voted as a protection against English capitalists, and the salutary national prejudices of the people against foreign interference, were cherished and confirmed. doctrines that have been advocated by Republican Whig Journals during the last few years. 1. They have expressed in various forms and in a thousand diverse instances, their belief that a republican government, as the functionary of the people, possesses a beneficent and protective, as well as a coercive power. 2. They have opposed the acquisition of territory as part of a system of conquest and aggrandizement; deeming it impossible for a government that is the mere representative of rights, to violate rights. 3. They have refused to elect an Executive for factious ends; and have endeavored to reduce the executive authority within its constitutional limits. 4. They have declined to interpose for the violent reformation of State constitutions; and have insisted upon restraining the Central Power from interference with the affairs of States. 5. They have conceded to the people of the territories the liberty of shaping constitutions according to their sovereign will and pleasure; and have refused to sanction the affixing of political conditions to a State charter. They would not allow a factious or a fanatical party to interpose their "peculiar institutions," or their moral usurpations, during the formation of a State. The State once formed they hold it free to establish under the constitutional guaranty, such a republican form of government as it may of itself originate. na 6. They have refused to adopt as tional," the opinions of particular States, be they slave or free :-doctrines of forcible revolution in the North and South, have alike met their reprobation. It is not to be supposed that this policy of opposition and independence originated in a personal pique of those distinguished statesmen against the government of Great Britain; we are obliged, in reason, to attribute it to their sense of the necessity of fusing together into one nation the people of the several states, by compelling the several members to depend upon each other, and not upon foreigners. The effects of the system which was introduced, and successfully too, are now visible in the vast increase of our home manufacture of those fabrics which are among the neces- 7. They have labored to defend the agsaries of life. They knew that agriculture riculturist from the necessity forced upon in so rich a country as ours, would flourish of him of seeking a precarious foreign market; itself, and by the force of nature and cir--by creating at hand a manufacturing popcumstances, but they saw the necessity of legislative aid for the promotion of other branches of human industry. Although the doctrine of protection stands at present upon grounds more economical and more strictly defensible than in the days of Jefferson, it may serve to strengthen and vivify our faith to recur sometimes to the more passionate, and in a certain sense, the more patriotic arguments of our forefathers. Let us now recapitulate in brief the ulation. They have established it as a principle of public as well as of private economy, that the way to wealth is to make the country feed, clothe, and cherish itself—" to cause the products of the land to be consumed upon the land." They have shown, too, that the foreign trade depends upon the quantity and variety of home production, and that commerce will grow and extend itself in proportion to the growth and extent of home industry. |