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Philip sick? Is Philip dead?"-"Have the banks suspended? Will the banks suspend!" Such are the questions put to every newspaper, to every passenger, and to every letter. For the next steam-packet from England we have our question ready; indeed, it has been ready from the time of the last arrival, and the anxiety becomes more and more intense as the day approaches. At length she comes, like a comet, but not " shaking war and pestilence from her fiery mane. One only question the steamer has to answer, "Is there any more money to borrow?" There have been periods in the history of the world, when this spirit, wrought upon by circumstances, has produced disasters as memorable as the most signal convulsions in the physical creation. Such were the South Sea scheme in England, and the Mississippi scheme in France. These were of sufficient magnitude to become historical, because, like the famous pestilence called the Black Death, their march was gigantic and desolating. On a smaller scale, the bitter fruits of the same spirit have been tasted in every ephemeral speculation, which, like the tulip mania in Holland, has beguiled with seductive appearances only to betray and ruin. The earthquake and the tornado pass away, and their melancholy work is completed. The earth is quiet again upon her foundations, and the atmosphere is hushed into serenity and peace, by the same power which has commanded them to exhibit His majesty in its terror. But who can measure the duration of the calamities of a moral convulsion? Who can tell the extent of the mischief man can do himself and to others, by his feeble breath employed to inflate a bubble? Some fall down dead-killed by the excitement of the chase; others are crippled and enervated by the wounds and bruises they suffer, and go halting and maimed all their lives long, with nerves shattered by intense anxiety, and hearts sickened and sad from disappointment, bent down with anguish, miserable objects to behold. Rightly understood, this is the spirit of gambling, a vice as absurd as it is wicked and destructive. What is the gambler's aim and desire? Disguise it as you will, soften it by all pos sible pretexts, you can only say of him that he covets his neighbor's goods. It is the very opposite of the right spirit of trade. The end of honorable commerce is to exchange equivalents for mutual advantage. In this way it encourages industry, stimulates production, aids every class of the community, and promotes a wholesome circulation. But the aim of gambling is to get what belongs to others, without any equivalent at all. In propor. tion, exactly as this appetite prevails, and is indulged, is the spirit of gam. bling abroad. Its victims are those who have; for those who have not, cannot lose. Accordingly, the great gaming houses in the capital of England-known by a name which at once expresses the depth of their depravity, and the fearful agony that dwells within them-are well understood to practise every art to bring young men of fortune within their fell clutches. And so of the same spirit, in all its varieties, whatever may be the forms it appears in, its seductive temptations are held out strongly to young men who have succeeded to the accumulations of the industry and frugality of a parent. That a spirit of this kind has been walking among us, I need not affirm. That it is our duty, by all the means we can command, to endeavor to repress it, no one will hesitate to say. Neither will I affirm that this is a danger which peculiarly besets the commercial class. It extends unhappily to all. But the commercial body has to bear an undue share of the odium, and therefore should be strongly fortified, so that its character may be sufficient to repel the imputation, and keep its honor bright, and the

name of a Philadelphia merchant always present the image of an honest man. In such a body, if it retain its characteristic features, we shall have something to rally upon in times of dark confusion. The standard of the currency may be lost or mislaid; but the standard of commercial integrity will be maintained, and will finally serve to bring light and order from the obscure chaos.

Much remains to be said-more than your patience, already severely taxed, can be reasonably expected to bear. There is a large field as yet untouched, relating to private trusts, strictly so called. There is a larger one still, as to public trusts, such, I mean, as result from undertaking the management of masses of other people's property, so as to make a lawful profit for the owners, in a lawful way; as in the instances of our moneyed institutions. It might be shown how deeply the conscience is concerned in both,-what vigilance is demanded, what earnest fidelity, what undeviating truth, what self-denial and watchfulness over ourselves,-that we may not suffer our own selfish interests to get the ascendency, and lead us to neglect or betray the confidence reposed in us. It might be shown, too, what extensive calamity is produced, involving in affliction and ruin the innocent and the helpless, by the disregard of these high obligations-by negligence, by faithlessness, or by what in the language of the law is denominated fraud. But these topics must be omitted, that we may reach a conclusion.

What

The root of all evil, the besetting sin of the present times, the reptile passion which sits by the ear of man, whispering its poisonous accents, is the eager desire to become rapidly, or rather, suddenly rich. This passion may grow to be so powerful as to shake off all restraints. The worshipper of wealth is then joined to his idol, whose service is mean and debasing, as well as imminently hazardous: for how many of those who devote themselves are successful? Exactly as the methods adopted partake of the nature of gaming, and depart from the appointed way of industry and frugality-exactly as they aim, by any scheme or device whatever, to make other people's property our own, instead of slowly and patiently accumulating for ourselves by our labor,—as they invite us to live by our wits instead of our honest exertions,-are they sure to be disappointed. becomes of the profits of the gaming-table? One man wins and another loses. The one is impoverished: but is the other enriched? (The cards and the dice, the table, the lights, the refreshments and attendance, the idle and extravagant and dissolute and reckless habits acquired, consume the whole. Put it in what shape you will, this is the end. They pick each other's pockets, and at last all their pockets are empty. The stock they begin with seems only to be transferred from one to the other, but it is really annihilated. And such is the peculiar curse of this absurd vice, that it is a very rare thing for any one who has entered upon its career, to withdraw from it, until, having nothing left, he is fairly driven out for his poverty. These are plain and sober truths, and as far as they are predicated of the gaming table properly so called, they are generally, if not universally, admitted. There was a time, not very distant, when some very singular distinctions were made. Lotteries were sanctioned by pub. lic authority, when the same public authority declared gaming to be criminal, and made it punishable by law, and even pronounced lotteries to be common nuisances. There are places not remote from us, where this unaccountable distinction is still maintained. You may see in the public papers, the announcement of a lottery in an adjoining state, for several

very worthy purposes, including among the rest, the repair or completion of a church. Some very singular and destructive distinctions continue to be made nearer home. Men who think they could defy the temptations of the gaming table, and resent as an insult any intimation to the contrary, do nevertheless engage intensely in kindred pursuits, influenced by the same spirit, and equally profitless, hopeless, and ruinous. They are more mischievous and corrupting, because they are more extensive, and meeting a readier allowance, more bold and open. They are not so degrading, at least until they have proved disastrous, and then, when consolation and support are most needed, mankind show by their contemptuous disregard, the abhorrence they feel for the pursuit. These things are all of one family; they have the same parentage, and the same characteristic traits: their source is one and the same. For what is it? A passion for acquiring without toil, for appropriating to ourselves what belongs to others, no matter how. This is the test by which every one can try his conduct, and decide safely, if he will only decide honestly. But of all such schemes and contrivances, I hold it to be quite certain, that even for their own purpose, little to be respected as it is, they are doomed to be unprofitable. Some may seem to win, and some in fact do lose, for the loss is real, though the gain is not; but the expenses of the game, the improvidence and recklessness it generates, the tenacious infatuation with which it holds its victims bound these conspire to bring one catastrophe to all. They are turned out in the end, with the pangs of poverty and self-reproach upon them, and then the fiend-spirit which has betrayed them to their ruin, goes along with them, to mock and hiss at their calamity, and jeer them for their stupid folly.

In pressing such an argument, we must not forget, that though well as an auxiliary, it is manifestly wanting in dignity. Much higher considerations demand our attention, than whether this eager and overbearing appe. tite will find the gratification it so ardently seeks. Its aim is to become rich. This is its whole aim-money, money, money. The Satirist says, "Virtue after money; but that after does not come. The blessing upon the acquisition of wealth is in the acquiring by honest and persevering industry; the blessing upon the acquisition, when achieved, is for the use that is made of it, and according to that use. All this, and much more, is familiar to you; let me not detain you by enlarging upon it. I appeal only to human judgment, and ask you whether mankind themselves do not accurately discriminate, by a sort of instinct, between wealth and virtue. They honor the virtuous man-they honor the rich man's riches. Should he transfer them to another, (as he may do,) he transfers his honor along with them. He will be fortunate if, like Lear, when he had parted with his kingdom, he have one faithful follower to do him reverence. But his virtues these are inalienable. They are part of himself. If you would prove this instinctive judgment, go stand by the grave, not to moralize, but simply to let your feelings take their natural course. Where are the riches that belonged to its inhabitant? They remain upon earth. Perhaps you may coldly inquire who has got them; but that is all ;-you know that they have not gone. Where are his virtues? They quitted the earth. when he left it. They have gone down with him into the grave. They accompany him whither he has gone. The blessings they have conferred remain, but the virtues themselves have departed for ever; for they were inseparable from him to whom they belonged. This, then, is the judgment

of the world itself. No one can stand by a good man's grave without emotion, in which is mingled regret for his loss?

We must ascend still higher, if we would know the full worth of integrity. We must lay aside all other judgments, and each for himself conscientiously consult his own, first endeavoring earnestly to enlighten it. What will it tell him? Man is a portion of eternity: not a fragment, broken off, and thrown upon this earth, here to begin and end; but an abiding portion of eternity. The links which bind him to it he cannot break They are his virtues or his vices. These, with right exertions, he can control. He cannot, by any efforts of his own, excel in intellectual power--he cannot acquire riches-he cannot achieve greatness; therefore he is not accountable for the want of them. But he can be good or bad; and upon this capacity it is that his accountability rests, and according to it is to be his destiny.

ART. II. THE PROGRESS OF THE NORTHWEST.

THE progress and present condition of that wide agricultural territory of the west, stretching around the great lakes, and occupied by the United States, is of vital importance to our mercantile population. Colonized for the most part by emigrants from the east, its people are linked with us by ties of blood, by a community of interests as the citizens of one common country, by a common proprietorship in the soil, and by intimate and important commercial relations. It is well known that the greater portion of the merchandise of the west has ever been and will continue to be supplied from the eastern markets, so that the possession of what is denominated the western trade has already become an object of competition with our principal Atlantic cities; and, that the east in return is supplied by the staple western agricultural products. Should the country arrive at that period when these products are exported abroad, the eastern cities must be the depots of shipment for the produce of the west to foreign markets, as they now are and long will be the distributors into the interior, of all imported foreign goods. The arteries of western commerce will circulate the life-blood to the heart of our commercial metropolis. Every pulsation of that heart is felt to the remotest borders of the west. We design, therefore, in this paper, to sketch the outline of the general progress and present condition of that territory, so bound to us by these various bonds, as the circumstances connected with its advance are not generally known, and as it is destined in future time to exercise an important bearing upon the commercial relations of the country.

A general and growing interest has recently begun to develop itself, respecting the early history, progress, and present condition of the northwest. Before the advance of colonization had laid open its vast resources, states had been organized within its bounds, with a population composed of emigrants from the different sections of the east, and speculation in lands had diffused abroad among the bulk of the people a pecuniary motive to investigate its actual position, we were accustomed to regard it as a wide region of interminable forests and boundless prairies, broken at frequent points by swamps and lakes, exhibiting many bold and magnificent features.

of natural scenery, and uninhabitable but in limited tracts, except by the wild beasts and savage tribes which roved over its broad domain, without any early organized political institutions, or even interesting historical associations. It is, indeed, a commentary upon the newness of our country, that we should have permitted the historic circumstances connected with this important part of the republic, to slumber so long; and we rejoice that a zealous, searching, and co-operative spirit in respect to these facts, has at length been awakened. The dusty archives of ancient and foreign libraries have recently been ransacked, and a large body of printed records, both in our own and in a foreign language, incrusted with the mould of time, has been drawn from their shelves, rich in the materials of western history, and throwing new light upon the political and moral causes which have borne upon its progress.

It is found that this territory, although a considerable portion is still a forest slumbering in its primeval solitude, exhibits in the frame of its early institutions a distinctive form of local character, an independent system of laws, a history distinguished for many picturesque and extraordinary events, and a social structure, whicn is beautifully contrasted with that of the English and Dutch colonies that occupied at the same time the eastern portion of the United States. We of the east have had indeed in our ancient records and traditions, occasional glimpses of the old French and Indian wars, of descents made by the former nation, backed by western savages, upon our feeble border colonies when they were colonies of England, but what was the particular character of the assailants, the frame of their policy, their domestic institutions, and the special causes which moved their belligerent operations have been, to most of us, enveloped in dim twilight. We propose in this paper to sketch a condensed view of the general resources of the region which was organized into the old Northwestern Territory by the ordinance of 1787, and now embraced in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and the Territory of Wisconsin, to trace the political causes which have acted upon its progress, and its advantages as a habitation for man.

And in the first place, what is the physical aspect of this territory? In the natural resources of the land, it spreads out, to say the least, as rich a field for human enterprise as is developed by any tract of country of the same extent on the face of the globe. Ohio, with a very large domain, which is now in its greater part in a forward state of cultivation, presents in its dense forests a soil that is in almost its entire portion favorable to agriculture, producing bountiful crops of all those harvests that are found in the same latitude at the east; showing in its granaries, stock husbandry, and general improvement, an amount of wealth that is extraordinary when we consider that this wealth has been reaped from the soil in a period less than a half a century. The new state of Michigan, although far behind Ohio in the amount of its population and general improvement, unfolds in the enterprise which has already been exerted upon its forests, prairies, and lake-besprinkled oaklands, an energy no less remarkable. Indiana, with equal agricultural advantages; Wisconsin, with its forest-crowned hills and mineral wealth; and Illinois, with its unmeasured prairies, extending their rich mould towards the horizon like the sea ;-stretch out a land capable of producing crops adequate to the support of ten times the present population of the United States. The land thus favorable to the production of the various kinds of grain, fruit, and vegetables, abounds in mineral re

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