approached him, as certainly as he astonished every mind." Mr. Jefferson was in stature tall and erect, and active in his movements. He possessed a taste for some of the polite accomplishments, particularly for music, and in younger life performed occasionally on the violin. He was an elegant scholar, an accomplished linguist, a proficient in several parts of natural science, and a great patron of literary enterprise. He presided for many years over the American Philosophical society at Philadelphia. While president of the United States, he projected the expedition of Lewis and Clarke across the continent, and much of the success of that well conducted expedition is due to his counsels. The remarkable parallel, which may be traced between the lives of Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Adams, from their entrance on public life, to their departure from this world, makes it proper to record the renewed intercourse of their declining years. Their early friendship and co-operation in the public service, their temporary separation, and subsequent revived intimacy, have been a natural theme of reflection to the numerous eulogists, that have celebrated their lives and characters. It has been most beautifully observed, "that the streams of their lives were united near their sources, and, joined in one current, had forced their way through mounds of earth, and swept over appalling barriersbut at length divided in their course by a rough island of rock, they rushed by its opposing sides with turbulent and emulous rapidity, until at last their waters were commingled in peace, and flowed on tranquil and majestic into the ocean of eternity." (Vide, Mr. Sprague, of Hallowell.) It is gratifying to reflect, that, in the most violent periods of political contention, and while Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Adams were regarded as the heads of the two great parties in the country, and were rival candidates for the chair of state, the courtesies of private life were not neglected between them. The biographer of Mr. Pitt informs us, that for twentyfour years that eminent statesman never met Mr. Fox, in a private room. On the very eve of the election, in 1800, Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Adams were in the exchange of all the offices of social life, and good neighborhood. That they may, in moments of excitement, have felt and spoken, in reference to each other, in the character of the leaders of opposite parties, is matter of course. But whatever estrangement, at any time existed, it was transitory in its duration; and a correspondence arose between them, in their latter years, which, "if it ever be given to the world," says Mr. Wirt," I speak from knowledge when I say, will be found to be one of the most interesting and affecting, the world has ever seen. It resembles, more than any one thing else, one of those conversations in the elysium of the ancients, which the shades of the departed great were supposed by them to hold. There are the same playful allusions to the points of difference, that had divided their parties; the same mutual, and light, and unimpassioned raillery on their own past misconceptions and mistakes; the same mutual and just admiration and respect for their many virtues and services to mankind. That correspondence was to them both, one of the most genial employments of their old age, and it reads a lesson of wisdom on the bitterness of party spirit, by which the wise and the good will not fail to profit." If any thing were wanting to convince this generation of the unutterable importance of the American revolution, it would be the closing scene of the lives of Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Adams. Passing over the long succession of great and memorable scenes, with which their after lives were filled, their minds, in the very moments of dissolution, went back, and dwelt on the first struggles of American liberty. On the morning of the 4th of July, Mr. Adams, then evidently near his death, awoke at the ringing of bells, and the firing of cannon. The servant who watched with him, asked him, if he knew what day it was? "O yes," he replied, "it is the glorious 4th of July -God bless it, God bless you all." In the forenoon, the orator of the day, the Rev. Mr. Whitney, the parish minister of Mr. Adams, called to see him, and found him seated in an arm chair. In the course of the interview, Mr. Whitney asked him for a sentiment, to be given at the public table. He replied, "I will give you, independence for ever!" After a few moments had elapsed, a lady asked him, if he wished to add any thing to the toast? and he said "not a syllable." This passed an hour or too, only, before he breathed his last. In the course of the day, he said, "it is a great and a good day." That his thoughts were dwelling on the scene of 1776, is evident from the last words which he uttered, "Jefferson survives," which were spoken about the time that Jefferson expired. In like manner, Mr. Jefferson, in the short intervals of delirium which occurred in his last hours, seemed to dwell exclusively on the events of the revolution. He talked in broken sentences of the committee of safety. One of his exclamations was, "Warn the committee to be on their guard ;" and he instantly rose in his bed, with the help of his attendants, and went through the act of writing a hurried note. But for the greater part of the time, during the last days of his life, he was blessed with the enjoyment of his reason. The only anxious wish he uttered for himself was, that he might live to breathe the air of the fiftieth anniversary of independence. When that day arrived, he was repeatedly heard to murmur, nunc dimittis Domine, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace! When,since the death of Socrates, can any thing be found, that will bear a comparison with the deathbed scene of these two great men ? One circumstance only remains to be noticed in the biography of Mr. Jefferson. In a private memorandum, found among other obituary papers and relics of Mr. Jefferson, is a suggestion, in case a monument to his memory should ever be proposed, that it should be a granite obelisk, of small dimensions, with the following inscription : "Here lies buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence; of the Statutes of Virginia, for Religious Freedom; and Father of the University of Virginia.” *Judge Cranch's Memoir on the life, character, and writings of John Adams, p. 57, 58. CONTENTS. Retrospective view--Independence of the United States-Abolition of Co- Laws-South America-Hayti-Coronation-La Fayette-Prosecu- ASIA. Burman Empire—Origin of war with Britain-Shapurce-Dood- 227 Message of the President of the United States to the 19th Congress, Instructions to the American Minister to Great Britain, on the subject of the boundary of the United States on the Pacific, Letter from Mr. Rush on the same subject, Message of the President concerning the Panama Mission, Treaty between the United States and Central America, Report of Mr. Clay on the same subject, Instructions from Mr. Adams to Mr. Anderson, Instructions from Mr. Clay to Mr. Middleton, Letter from Mr. Middleton to Mr. Clay, Letter from Count Nesselrode to Mr. Middleton, Proclamation of President of Mexico, on the capture of Ullua, Address of President to Congress, at the extraordinary session, Exposition by majority of Chilian Congress, of causes of its dissolution, |