tue.

"We ought not," continues this vigorous writer-" we ought not to lose sight of the rapid progress we have made in the decline of public virIt becomes us to understand that we have, no longer, Washingtons among us, to whose pure hands the greatest powers may be safely entrusted. We are now in that precise stage of our progress, when reform is not impossible, and when the practical operation of the government has shown us in what particulars reform is necessary. If we regard our government, not as the mere institution of the hour, but as a system which is to

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tecting and blessing them, it becomes us to correct its faults, to prune its redundancies, to supply

phet's eye to see that it will not be done at all. 'And whenever this great and necessary work shall be undertaken, the single reform which is here suggested will accomplish half that is required."

tion, that so vast and dangerous a power as this should be held by one man. Nothing more is required to place the liberties of the country at the feet of the president, than to authorize him to fill, and to vacate, and to fill again, at his sole will and pleasure, all the offices of the country. "The necessary consequence of enabling the president to remove from office at his mere pleasure is, that the officer soon learns to consider himself the officer of the president, and not of the country. The nature of his responsibility is changed; he answers not to the people for his conduct, for he is beyond their reach; he looks only to the president, and, satisfied with his approval, is regardless of every thing else. In fact, his office, however obscure it may be, soon comes to be considered only a part of the great executive power lodged in the president. The president is the villast through many successive generations, prolage postmaster, the collector of the customs, the marshal, and every thing else; and the incumbents of those offices are but his agents, through whom, for the sake of convenience, he exercises so much of his gigantic powers. One' its defects, to strengthen its weak points, and step farther, and the agency of the senate in these appoint- check its tendency to run into irresponsible power. ments will be no longer invoked. A little more of that con-If this be not speedily done, it requires no prostruction and implication to which the looseness of the Constitution, on this point, holds out the strongest invitation, and the president will say to the senate, 'This col'lectorship is a part of the great executive trust which is 'lodged in me; I have a right to discharge it in person, if I please, and, consequently, I have a right to discharge it by 'my own agent. It is my duty to see that the laws are exeWe take the Reviewer up, upon this sentiment, 'cuted; and if I do so, that is all that the country can re- and shall hold him to it. Since it was uttered, he 'quire of me. I have a right to do so in my own way.' There is no extravagance in this supposition; nothing in has himself become a Cabinet officer, and can do the past history of the country which teaches us to con- much with his single arm towards this reform. sider it an improbable result. Who does not perceive that The principles of this noble sentiment, carried out the claims which have already been made, in behalf of in one single department, will effect much; and executive power upon this very point, must of necessity the example which he may thus set, will accomchange the whole nature and spirit of our institutions? Their fundamental principle is, that all power is in the people, and that public officers are but their trustees and He has been unexpectedly called from the servants, responsible to them for the execution of their Bench and his wheat fields, to preside over and trusts. And yet, in the various ramifications of the execu- manage the affairs of the Navy. He is not pledtive power, in the thousand agencies necessary to the conged to any particular set of measures, nor wedded venience and interests of the people, which belong to that department, there is, in effect, no responsibility whatever. to any theory, nor yoked to any men; but he The injured citizen can make his complaint only to the has entered upon the duties of his high office with president, and the president's creature knows that he is clean hands, free and untrammelled. So far, cirperfectly secure of his protection, because he has already cumstances augur well for himself and the Navy; purchased it by slavish subserviency. Is it enough that the for, never was there a time, when this department president himself is responsible? We shall soon see that has more abounded, than it now does, with abuses, his responsibility is nominal only; a mere formal mockery. And responsible for what? Will you impeach the president, nor when it stood more in need of reform. The because a postmaster has robbed the public mail, or a col-new Secretary now has it in his power' to correct lector of the customs stolen the public money? There is its faults' in his own way; 'to prune its redunabsurdity in the very idea. Will you impeach him, because dancies' to his own liking; to supply its defects' he does not remove these unfaithful agents, and appoint according to his own ideas of its deficiencies; 'to others? He will tell you that, according to the construction which has been given to the Constitution, and in which strengthen its weak points' with his own hand and you yourselves have acquiesced, that matter depends solely by his own measures; and to check its tendency on his own will, and you have no right to punish him for to run into irresponsible power' by holding the what the Constitution authorizes him to do. What then is Navy-Board and all others to a rigid accountability. the result? The president claims every power which, by the most labored constructions, and the most forced impli

cations, can be considered as executive. No matter in

how many hands they are distributed, he wields them all; and when we call on him to answer for the abuse of those powers, he gravely tells us, that his agents have abused them, and not he. And when we call on those agents to answer, they impudently reply, that it is no concern of ours, they will answer to the president! Thus powers may be multiplied and abused without end, and the people, the real sovereigns, the depositaries of all power, can neither check nor punish them!"

plish more towards it.

which has been so miserably mismanaged, or so There is no department under the Government much abused as the Navy. The rottenness of corruption has seized upon its vitals, and the remedies, to be effective, must be promptly and fearlessly administered. Old usages are to be broken in upon-bad precedents ruled out-discipline reVived-harmony restored between different grades, and a spirit of economy encouraged by the introduction of a proper degree of official responsibility.

This, we admit, is no easy task, particularly to | from these important stations, to the drudgery of a one who has yet to 'learn the ropes.' But if the junior Lieutenant on board of a sloop-of-war, where, work of Naval reform be arduous, the honors that instead of first, they will be required to serve await him, who shall accomplish it, are many and merely as fourth or fifth in command, and that too lasting. And the Secretary has in his new field over a crew of but 150 men? of labor, every incentive and every hope that can animate and cheer the patriot's heart.

This principle of human nature is so well under

We mean no disrespect to the Honorable Secretary-we use the argumentum ad hominem purely Feelings of esprit de corps, are always most ac- for the sake of illustration-and with this view tive among junior officers; and, of the many causes simply, we beg to ask, with what feelings would which have operated to break down this-the life he, after he shall have retired from the Cabinet, and spirit of every military corps-no one has been think of entering upon the duties of chief clerk, or more adequate to the effect, than the system of fa- any other subordinate station in the Navy Departvoritism which has been introduced of late years ment? With such as he may imagine his own into the Navy. No single act of the Department would be in such a case, will those young officers rehas been so fraught with evils, as that by which turn to their subordinate and proper duties. Thus the unprecedented grade of Lieutenant-Commo- an injury has been inflicted on these young officers dore has been tolerated. A Lieutenant is Com- themselves; for, being so early entrusted with modore of the Exploring Expedition-let him come separate commands, they will never again serve, home;—and a Lieutenant is the Commodore of six con amore, in a subordinate capacity. or seven vessels-of-war on the coast of Florida. The latter is a young officer of energy and enter-stood, and the evils of promoting downwards—if prise we are willing to admit, for we have never heard that he was or was not; but be he never so enterprising and energetic, there are many others in the service who are no less so, who are older than he, and who were buffetting the ocean in the service of their country, before he had laid off the swaddling clothes of infancy. Their character is unimpeached. For more than a quarter of a century, they have proved themselves equal to every emergency in which they have been called upon to act in the service of their country. The files of the Department bear testimony that, during this long series of years, they have at all times, and on all occasions, borne themselves like men and officers, and performed with skill and ability every duty that has been entrusted to them. Yet the older Lieutenants of this well-tried and faithful band, are acting as but the first or second Lieutenants of frigates and sloops-of-war, or begging for service upon their $1,200 a year, while their stripling companion, who has done nothing, more than they, to merit such distinction, is sole in command of a well appointed squadron, and in the receipt of $3,000 or $4,000 a year.

we may use a Hibernicism—are so fully recognized in the English service-that any officer, however young, whether he be Lieutenant or Midshipman, who, by any accident (such as the death of all his seniors on board) is placed in a Captain's command, becomes ipse facto-himself a Captain; and on his return home, he is formally recognized and installed as such. Such is the case with which Irish hoists are avoided in that old and well-regulated service.

But these are not all the evils to our service of such precedents in it. This officer has been raised to a Post-Captain's command over the heads of 180 odd Lieutenants. And they have thus been robbed of the most precious soother to the mariner of the hardships and perils of his life; their pride of place is bowed and broken; and that cheering feeling, which, terminating in a settled conviction that one's faithful services to his country will be duly recorded and gratefully remembered, is all crushed and destroyed by such acts as this. And thus it is, that the esprit de corps of officers, has been damped, and their energies chilled. Unless the official trusts and confidence of the DepartBut this slighting off of long and faithful servi- ment, be bestowed with a just discrimination, they ces, and this neglect of well-tried merit, weigh but lose all that in them is flattering to the feelings as straws in the scale of evils. The injustice to and professional pride of officers. What honor, or individuals becomes a mere secondary considera- even professional compliment is it to one of these tion, when we contemplate the injuries to the public 180 Lieutenants, that he should be appointed first service arising from this source. If claims were of a frigate, or commander of a schooner, seeing rightly considered, this young Commodore, from that one so much a junior occupies a post so vastly his position on the Navy Register, could hardly more important-and seeing too, that in addition expect to be the first Lieutenant of the smallest to every just claim advanced in behalf of their schooner in his Expedition, much less to command young companion, considerations at least equal in a fleet of them. With what grace will he, and all respects to any set up for him, and resting bethose in command under him, lay aside their Cap- sides on long and faithful services, might be urged tain's dignity, and their official consequence, de- in their favor? Like the Spes et fortuna'-writrived from the Command-in-chief of 500 or 600 ten in letters of gold over the door of the Satillana men-we say, with what grace will they return' adventurer-the Secretary of the Navy should in

scribe as a golden rule on the tablet of his resolves, and daily turn to read it- that ono account shall the duties of a higher grade, be performed by officers of a lower; but long and faithful services shall ever be remembered, and have their reward.'

our good mothers forbade us to eat! Truly the apple tree is a home friend.

How sweet a landscape the village of Courtsville, on Brandywine creek, presented, with its neat, white cottages, green fields, crystal waters, latticed bridge and simple church! Then came Lancaster, a beautiful place. Many are the day

We entertain a high respect for the virtue and intelligence of Judge Upshur. We feel assured that he has entered upon the duties of his high dreams I have had, and I wish I could give you station, with the best intentions, and most patriotic resolves. In short, that he has only to be convinced of wrong in the Navy, to right it; and to be satisfied as to the true wants of the service, and they will be iminediately supplied.

PENNSYLVANIA SCENERY.

Canal Boat on the Kiscaminakce-1841.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

You will not expect this; but that will give it a warmer welcome. Though I am unable to procure decent pen, ink, or paper, I must write to tell you how much I have wished for you, to share the pleasure of my journey. I have kept a journal, and will give you some extracts.

May 18th.

the one which here passed through my mind; but
I have too much else to say. At Harrisburg we
took the canal boat; beautiful scenery along the
Susquehanna, with its green islets and blue waters
and hills! I thought of Hinda's speech about the
island, to Hafed, in Lalla Rookh, and applied it to
the islands of the Susquehanna.

"How sweetly does the moonbeam smile,
To night, upon yon leafy isle !

Oft, in my fancy's wanderings,
I've wished that little isle had wings,
And we, within its fairy bowers,

Were wafted off to seas unknown,
Where not a pulse should beat but ours,
And we might live, love, die alone-
Far from the cruel and the cold;
Where the bright eyes of angels only
Should come around us to behold
A paradise so pure and lonely!
Would this be world enough for thee?"

May 19th. Oh! for words to tell of my intense feelings! Left Philadelphia this morning at 6 o'clock, with We have been travelling all day along the beautia sad heart, as I then bade a long farewell to very ful Juniata, and I have just left the ladies deck, dear friends. Even the joy of returning at last where I spent the evening, in gazing on one of the to my own dear home was, for awhile, forgotten. most glorious scenes of earth. I have never witAs I passed by our venerable St. P., the long wil-nessed a sight, that affected me so deeply; tears, lows streamed out on the morning breeze, as if but not of grief, have been bathing my face, for the bidding me an eternal adieu; and I gazed, with a last hour. I thought the descriptions we had heard heavy heart and tearful eye, on its green kirk stud- of the scenery on this river exaggerated until this ded with the white and narrow houses of those evening; but when our boat glided in between who there sleep a "dreamless sleep." Many places those cloud-reaching mountains, and I saw the calm I passed recalled delightful associations. Fair-blue river winding away in the distance, until it mount with its green banks, Girard College with seemed a silver thread, I felt that pen nor painting its lofty marble columns, and the whispering pines of Laurel Hill spoke of you.

Some strange 66 compagnons du voyage" to the depot, Low Dutch, whose jargon amused me much. The cars were much crowded by the clergy and delegates going to the Convention at Harrisburg. Now for our journey.

could portray the half of its beauties. Motionless and in utter silence, I sat gazing around, giving praise to the Maker of that magnificent scene. Miss L. asked me to sing, but I felt it would be presumption to raise my weak songs there, and replied, "if I could improvise an anthem of praise to the Creator of this glorious scene, I would be We have passed through a beautiful portion of willing, but I cannot sing any thing else." She is country, highly cultivated, with neat farm houses, one who can appreciate such emotions, and we resmaller than their great barns, and orchards with lapsed into silence. Every one on deck had been their burdens of fragrant blossoms-sweetest of talking, laughing and singing; but now a spell all the apple trees, the old familiar friends of child- seemed cast on all, and deepest silence reigned. hood. How much it delighted us to walk beneath On one side, the gray and castellated rocks rose their rosy tufts in the early hour of morn, when from the water's edge almost to the clouds, overthe dew lay, like crystal gems, on every bud; and hung with laurel, ivy and pine, and wreathed with the breeze scattered the soft leaves of the opened the crimson columbine. One pile of rocks on the flowers, like snow flakes, over and around us, fill-summit of a mountain bore a striking resemblance ing the air with fragrance! And when the flowers to a fortified castle. Turrets, towers and walls were all withered away, how eagerly we watched were there; the illusion was perfect. Such obfor the ripening of the little green apples, which jects were numerous, but this was the most re

VOL. VII-110

markable. Here, a tall spire would shoot out from | Lost now between the welkin and the main;

a verdant cluster of trees; there, a battlemented Now walled with hills that slept above the storm."
tower, overgrown with lichens, stood in bold re- The night is black as Erebus, and we are losing
lief against the blue sky; and in another place, a the rest of this magnificent scenery.
rude mass of rocks, thrown promiscuously to-
May 20th.
gether, and appearing ready to fall on the gazer,
Left the boat and the beautiful Juniata. At 9
filled us with awe. Occasionally, a stream came A. M. took the cars to the top of the mountain, on
foaming down the precipice. Desolate, these cas- an inclined plane. Coming down alarmed me a
tles of nature stood; and I thought we might fitly little. Passed through the tunnel, which was very
people them with beings of the spirit-land. I ima- dark most of the way. At the top were stalactites,
gined I could see, standing on those lofty cliffs, which gave a pretty effect. The scenery wild.
the Orcades (mountain spirits); and the light clouds, We took the boat again at Johnstown, on the Con-
that swept their summits, seemed to be their float-nemaw, a beautiful mountain-stream. We used
ing robes. I could see their eyes lighted up with the river for several miles, and the scenery was
joy at the scene, and feel their ecstatic pleasure, as very beautiful; mostly, gently undulating hills and
they floated away on the fresh mountain breeze. green fields; but there were some wild, wild spots,
Old Kuhleborn frowned on me and dashed the spray and fancy presented many scenes of bygone days.
into my eyes, as we passed his cascades. The On a high and beetling crag, whose base was
beautiful Undine looked up to me from the azure washed by the clear waters of the Connemaw, I
depths of the calm Juniata; and the Naiads were saw, in imagination, a grim and painted Indian,
filling their urns from every moss-margined stream. with his blanket streaming on the wind, his gleam-
Eoline (wind spirit), breathed her sweet melodies ing tomahawk and gayly feathered arrows. He
on my raptured ear; and I listened, with a hushed stood and looked around, on the wide spread forest
heart, to the wild, sad airs, which thrilled from the waving its green plumes, the blue sky with its
harp touched by the slight and trembling fingers of floating clouds and the sparkling waters, and his
the Hamadryad, who dwelt in the gloomy pines. dark eye gleamed with pride, as he beheld his free
Then, the Indian mythology would sometimes cross and beauteous home. A rustling sound startled
my mind; and I could see Manabozho (spirit of him; and turning quickly round, he saw a light-
evil), frowning in gloomy rage on the happiness footed deer, that had been roused by the rattling
around, and brooding vengeance and destruction; of his quiver, hurrying from him; but the unerring
whilst Mancton was smiling on all around, and arrow from the strong-bent bow arrested that rapid
sweetly reclined on the green slopes and in the flight. The poor animal sprang high in the air, and
shady nooks.
fell quivering in the agonies of death. The hunter
But I must leave my dream, and go on with my lifted his precious burden, and wended his way to
feeble description. The other side of the river the spot where his wigwam's smoke stained the
presented a striking contrast. There were green
hills and spreading fields, with gentle streams irri- In a quiet flowery nook, far in the depths of that
gating their fertile soil. The gay dresses of the wood, sat an Indian maid, “the fair flower of the
fruit trees were a relief to the sombre hues of the forest." She had the lightest foot and happiest
mountains' vesture. The sunset was not very laugh; but now she sat still, her eyes bent sadly
beautiful; but we had some bright clouds. Twi- on the waters flowing near. Her glossy tresses
light came slowly on, and we were glad, as it pro-were braided and wreathed with flowers. Her
longed our pleasure. Sometimes the river would small hands lay idle in her lap, neglecting the half-
curve gently away, and, looking down it, you might embroidered moccason, which was by her side.
see beautiful islets covered with richest verdure. The voice to her most eloquent breathes her name;
Would you not love to live on one of these beauti-her bright eyes are raised, and the red blood flushes
ful isles, in the midst of this magnificent temple her dusky cheek. "Will the flower of the forest
of nature; mountains for pillars, the sky for a dome, go with Osseo, in his swift bark?" The boat is
and the music of winds and waters for an organ? launched, and the young lovers are seated. Osseo's
How much more acceptable to God would the ado-strong arm makes it cleave the water with an arrow's
ration here inspired be, than the mere lip service swiftness. Anon he lets it float with the current,
offered at the altars of our churches! You recol- and turns to whisper love's sweet language to the
lect Pollock's description of solitude, in which he listening maid. Now on they speed, and the maiden
speaks of nature, " untouched by hand of art," is carried far from her home.

"Whose garments were the clouds;
Whose minstrels brooks; whose lamps the moon and stars;
Whose banquets morning dews; whose heroes storms;
Whose warriors mighty winds; whose lovers flowers;
Whose palaces the everlasting hills;

And from whose rocky turrets battled high,

Prospect immense spread out on all sides round,

blue ether.

It is the hour of midnight, the council-fires are kindled and cast their glare upon the gloomy woods; and the dense smoke-clouds hide the stars. Osseo has stolen the "flower of the forest ;" and her brethren and tribe have vowed to hunt his steps and drink his blood. The war dance, with its wild