and adapted to make known, by words, what he was, as a statesman, a man of information, a patriot, a citizen, and a gentleman. His early days were passed in the usual seminaries; and he was, for some time, at Cambridge University, but left it in his boyhood, for the purpose of qualifying himself for a life of business. He became his own teacher, and for the high elevation to which he afterwards attained, he was indebted to his own cultivation of his extraordinary powers of mind. The state of the country, and the deep concern which he took in its prosperity, directed his attention to the great public interests. One who had the best opportunities to know him, (Dr. Kirkland,) thus describes. his qualities: "His mind was at once comprehensive and "discriminating; full, yet accurate. He was sagacious and "acute in disentangling involved and difficult subjects; "knowing how to separate appearances from realities; to distinguish the probable, the true, the practical. The "materials that constituted his intellectual store, lay in his "mind, in methodical arrangement, ready to be applied to "their proper uses, for argument, persuasion, colloquial "communication, or the conduct of life."

On national subjects, which engaged the public attention in the first fifteen years of this century, no man thought more, or more profoundly and justly, than Mr. Cabot. He was listened to with the highest respect and confidence by the most eminent men of the time; and by no one more than his intimate friend, Mr. Ames. No one left Mr. Cabot's presence without being made wiser, if he was capable of being instructed. Not only were the treasures of his mind frankly and freely poured forth, but with a clearness and elegance of expression, and in tones so captivating, that no parallel case can be mentioned.

His life was as pure and blameless, as his intellectual powers were transcendent. He had manifested, in all his public relations, an ardent zeal for the constitution, and the

union; all his hopes of welfare, and personal consideration, rested on the republican experiment that his country was making. No one desired more sincerely, that the experiment should be successful, and, consequently, no one felt more keenly, the defeat which Jeffersonism threatened to effect. Of that system of policy, he was seriously and conscientiously an opponent. In proportion to his influence, was the measure of calumny.

Mr. Cabot is most affectionately, and respectfully remembered, by all who had the honor and good fortune to enjoy his friendship. But they who knew him, are passing away; the remnant is daily diminishing; and it is sorrowful to feel assured, that so little will be known in distant times, of one, whose counsels, while living, were held in the highest veneration. It is to be regretted, that there is nothing preserved of so rich and prolific a mind, but in the memory of those, who are, also, soon to pass away.

Mr. Cabot was a tall man, well formed, of courteous and elegant manners, and refined aspect his complexion light, his eyes blue his mode of speaking in colloquial intercourse, serious and earnest, but not vehement. The dress of his thoughts was clear, strong, and appropriate, and every sentence apparently incapable of amendment.

It was such a man, that Mr. Jefferson would send down to posterity, as a monarchist, disorganizer, and enemy of his country.

*It is well remembered to have been one of Mr. Cabot's opinions, that this country must, sooner or later, submit (as in ancient republics) to the termination of freedom, through popular delusion. He thought the natural action of this spirit, was most terrible in small communities; and that the prolonged safety of this country would be found, in the diffusion of its inhabitants over a wide surface. He was, therefore, for continuing the unity of the American people, and avoiding the evils of party feeling, when limited to narrow spaces, and to small numbers.

To these four names, (Strong, Brooks, Gore, and Cabot,) might be added hundreds of others, (no longer among the living,) comprising lawyers, merchants, farmers, and mechanics, as well known in their respective spheres as these four were; all of whom thought, on national subjects, as these four thought; and all of whom were conscientiously opponents of Jeffersonism; and all of whom were, consequently, monarchists, disorganizers, and traitors. These men, one and all, regarded with abhorrence, the reign of French jacobinism in Europe, and were indignant in seeing Mr. Jefferson's efforts, to transplant, or to engraft it on American stock.

These four have not been selected in disregard of others, not less respectable and worthy, but because these four began with the American revolution, and labored through it; because one of them was a framer of the national constitution; all four of them strenuous advocates for its adoption; three of them officers under it; and all of them in high offices under the state constitution. The election of such men, by those who knew them well, is some evidence of their intelligence, and virtues.

Such men, Thomas Jefferson charges with plots and combinations, to subvert the institutions which they had established; and at the very time when their purposes were in successful experiment, under their own direction. On the continued success of this experiment, depended their fame, their property, their personal welfare, the prosperity and happiness of their friends and kindred.

What, then, was Thomas Jefferson's motive? Was he fraudulent and base? Probably not. He was under the delusion which beguiles a vain, wrong-headed, selfish, party man. It is such men, who have overturned all former republics. They substitute themselves, and their party, for the country, the people, the laws, and the constitution; and are, at last, forced into despotism, whether they so intended,

or not.

LETTER LXXII.

FEBRUARY 16, 1834.

THERE are three persons whom Mr. Jefferson is pleased to distinguish, with peculiar emphasis, in his writings, viz: Timothy Pickering, John Lowell, and Stephen Higginson. Mr. Pickering was in the public service from the commencement of the revolution, almost to the close of his long life, in various, and in honorable stations. He proved himself to be an able man in all of them, and an officer of incorruptible integrity. This gentleman has but recently deceased; and there are so many now living who knew him well, and who speak of him with the highest respect, that it must be left to those, who are so much better informed than the writer of these sketches can assume to be, to do him justice, if they think Mr. Jefferson's remarks worth noticing. It must strike them as ludicrous, that a man who might be selected as a model of republican simplicity, and directness, should be publicly charged with plotting, (in conjunction with a London merchant of singular retiredness of deportment, in all things but his mercantile concerns,) to subject his own country to British dominion. Mr. Jefferson may have known how such affairs are managed; but it is believed, that the British ministry, and federalists, were equally strangers to such modes of managing public interests. The absurdity of supposing that the British could carry any designs which they may have had, by corrupt means, or that any distinguished members of the federal party imagined they could accomplish any British purpose through such means, is too glaring to have found admission to any but a distempered mind. The case was much otherwise with the French. The miseries to which they subjected other nations, were the consequences of management, no less than of force.

There is a very remarkable record in Mr. Jefferson's 4th volume, page 514, under date of December 25, 1800, concerning the two other persons, before named,- John Lowell (sen.) and Stephen Higginson. Though there is no pleasure in copying Mr. Jefferson, this record cannot be understood without taking the whole of it together.

"Colonel Hichborn tells me, what Colonel Monroe had be'fore told me of, as coming from Hichborn. He was giving me the characters of persons in Massachusetts. Speaking "of Lowell, he said he was, in the beginning of the revolution, a timid whig, but as soon as he found we were likely "to prevail, he became a great office hunter. And in the very moment of speaking of Lowell, he stopped: Says he, "I will give you a piece of information, which I do not venture to speak of to others. There was a Mr. Hale, in Mas"sachusetts, a reputable, worthy man, who becoming a little "embarrassed in his affairs, I aided him, which made him

very friendly to me. He went to Canada, on some "business. The governor there, took great notice of "him. On his return, he took occasion to mention to

me, that he was authorized by the Governor of Canada, to "give from three to five thousand guineas, each, to himself, " and some others, not to do anything to the injury of their "country, but to befriend a good connexion between England "and it. Hichborn said he would think of it, and asked "Hale to come, and dine with him to-morrow. After dinner, he drew Hale fully out. He told him he had his "doubts, but particularly, that he should not like to be " alone in such a business. On that, Hale named to him "four others who were to be engaged, two of whom, said "Hichborn, are now dead, and two living. Hichborn, "when he had got all he wanted out of Hale, declined in a "friendly way. But he observed those four men, from that moment, to espouse the interests of England on every "point, and on every occasion. Though he did not name