his power to reward obsequiousness and endow servility; that time however could not last for ever. He retired, and a retired statesman always experiences the desertion of a large body of time-serving followers; his trumpeters, not disbanded, but enlisted in the cause of his successor, lost indeed no power of lungs; but such mercenaries always give to the air the name of him who furnishes the silver of which their instruments are made, and in their noisy clamor no one could hear the name or the voice of their deserted master:-in some degree he was lost sight of; a new oracular sibyl was on the tripod; and it became less and less treasonable every day to question the inspiration of his predecessor. The voice of those who

never idolized him now began to be heard, and the consequence was one, which, but for the self-love natural to man, Mr. Jefferson might have anticipated. It was one of his favorite dogmas, that though popular opinion may at first be frequently wrong, yet men will at last reach a correct conclusion; time and information, therefore, are all that is necessary to develop the true characters of public men, and bring them to their proper level. This process, we think, has been silently going on in his case; and if, in our day, his memory is less respected than that of some of his equally able contemporaries, it is simply because, upon a fair analysis of his character, the men of our day have found less to love and admire in him, than they find in his compatriots.

We confess that we are of the number of those who desire that a proper estimate of his character should be formed by our countrymen. He wielded at one time an influence more powerful than that of any man, save one, who ever occupied our presidential chair. It was an influence not confined to questions of domestic or foreign policy; reaching beyond matters of government, it sometimes gamboled in the regions of natural science, stalked in graver dignity over the less inviting field of jurisprudence, or pronounced ex cathedra decisions on topics of religion and morals. This influence, whether for good or evil, was for many years habitually exerted: it has left, we believe, bitter fruits behind it, and it is high time to inquire how far it was deserved. This inquiry is rendered the more proper by the appearance of the work on our table: professor Tucker expresses the hope that his book will be received, by the young men of our country, as a faithful exposition of Mr. Jefferson's character. For ourselves, honestly believing that the author has failed in his effort to be impartial, that his book does not represent the subject of it correctly, we hold it to be a duty we owe to our young countrymen, respectfully, but fearlessly to say so.

We enter upon the task in no spirit of vindictive bitterness toward the memory of the ex-president. That he hath "done the state some service" it would be at once stupid and ungrateful to deny. We thank him therefore in common with the strong men of other days, for achievements of which we are now reaping the benefits:-we would not rob him of a leaf from laurels to which he is entitled; but having said thus much, we add, that we will not strip others of their well-earned wreaths, to decorate him.

Of Mr. Jefferson's political career it is not our purpose to speak particularly; as a statesman, we leave him in the hands of those, who deem it of more importance to study the politician than the man; to his public acts, therefore, we shall refer no further than they may be necessery to illustrate the qualities of his head and his heart; and in doing this, the truth may perchance incidentally appear, that private virtue is one of the ingredients requisite to make the good statesman. Of the defects of moral character in the third president, the book before us says almost nothing, for it is little else, save decided eulogy or elaborate defence. Now, far be it from us to say that professor Tucker was called on to give the most conspicuous notoriety to the errors and failings of Mr. Jefferson: his duty as a biographer did not require this at his hands; but as he had faults, we think that the public had a right to expect something more than that they should be either entirely overlooked, or barely hinted at, or accompanied invariably by an apology. To have frankly acknowledged those faults and pointed out their consequences, would have given more weight and influence to the redeeming qualities which our author might find in the character of Mr. Jefferson. The lives of distinguished men are as beacon lights to those who come after them, but they are false lights, if they do not tell the whole truth; and therefore we now proceed to the duty of bringing forward a portion of that, which, in the book before us, has been kept out of sight, or but obscurely revealed.

Mr. Jefferson then, in the first place, was avowedly, not a believer in Christianity. We mention this fact first, because we have no hesitation in saying, that in our view, the rejection of Revelation was at the foundation of his defects. We believe that the only remedy for the natural wickedness of our race, is to be found in Christianity: it alone has satisfactorily and philosophically explained the cause and the cure of our tendency to evil rather than to good. He therefore who seeks a remedy elsewhere, will fail to discover it :-admit that in many cases he can distinguish the wrong from the right, yet something more is wanting than this mere power of discrimina

tion; he wants a principle of action sufficiently powerful to enable him to overcome human passion and prejudice, and, at the expense of some self-denial, to do the right rather than the wrong, and this principle will, we think, be found in Christianity alone. Mr. Jefferson therefore, in our view, made a fatal, practical mistake in discarding the aid of Christianity in the formation of his own moral character. He deliberately threw away the noblest element of true greatness, and he reaped' the inevitable consequences.

The account which our author affords us on the subject of Mr Jefferson's religious opinions is, it must be confessed, scanty enough. After an allusion to his intimacy in early life with Governor Fauquier, he thus proceeds:

"The Governor was said to have been a follower of Shaftsbury and Bolingbroke, in morals and religion, and, by the influence of his station and accomplishments, to have rendered their tenets fashionable in Virginia, as well as increased the taste for gaming, to which he was passionately devoted. Mr. Jefferson happily escaped the contagion of this vice; but it has been thought that opinions recommended by genius and taste, as well as rank, were not without their effect on a youthful mind, at once ductile and bold.* Yet the friend who knew best [Mr. Madison] gives no credit to this supposed influence; but justly remarking, that the same fearless and independent spirit, impatient of dictation and contemning authority, is to be seen in all Mr. Jefferson's speculations, he thinks, that so far as the character of his religious and moral opinions are not attributable to the native character of his mind, they are to be ascribed to the time and the country in which he lived." Vol. I. 41, 42.

And from this we learn little else, save that, "the friend who knew him best," has but done him the questionable kindness of representing his infidelity, as being original, rather than derived.

The opinions thus early imbibed seem to have remained unaltered, and the closing scenes of his life exhibit at least consistency, in his rejection of such ministrations as are ordinarily desired by a departing soul.

"However his thoughts were occupied in his last illness, it does not appear that his conversation turned at all upon religion. He had long formed his creed, after much inquiry and reflection; in forming it his opinions had not been inflamed by controversy; and whether right or otherwise, it was too well settled to give him anxiety then. He not only showed no wish to commune with others on the subject of religion, but was evidently unwilling, as he generally had been, to converse on the topic to any but his most intimate friends; and this

* This explanation of some of Mr. Jefferson's opinions I received (says the author) from the late Mr. John Randolph.

feeling is manifested by the following anecdote, for the truth of which I can vouch. During his last illness, the arrival of some visiter was announced, whose name reached him indistinctly, and he thought it was Mr. Hatch, an Episcopal clergyman of Charlottesville, who had called to make him a visit: 'Is that Mr. Hatch,' he said, 'he is a very good man, and I am glad to see him as a neighbor, but -,' and here he stopped either from weakness, or unwillingness to be more explicit. The impression upon the by-standers was, that he did not wish to avail himself of Mr. Hatch's clerical functions." Vol. II. p. 495.

Scanty however, as are the hints which the professsor gives us on the subject of Mr. Jefferson's religion, we are sorry to find in him an evident disposition in this matter to act the partial apologist. No fact is more notorious in the United States, than that Thomas Jefferson was not what the people of this country understand by the phrase, " a believer in the New Testament." That he supposed such a being as Christ once lived, we know; that he did not entertain such an opinion of him as is held by any sect or denomination calling itself Christian, we also know. His own language shall presently afford testimony to the truth of this assertion; and yet our author would fain have the youth of our country believe that Mr. Jefferson actually combated infidelity. Speaking of a letter addressed to Mr. Adams in Nov. 1823, he insinuates that injustice has been done to the distinguished subject of his book by the misrepresentations of his enemies on the subject of his religion: -He thus writes:

"The whole of this letter must give great satisfaction to those friends of Mr. Jefferson, who taking their opinion of his religious creed from his enemies, or from some of his own unguarded expressions, had doubted his religious faith. A more entire conviction of the truths of natural theology, more clearly and logically exhibited, is no where to be found; and those who hated and reviled him for his supposed unbelief, may here find in him an able auxiliary against the infidelity which is so often denounced as a prevalent vice of the age." Vol. II. p. 450.

Thomas Jefferson an able auxiliary against deism!—for deism it is, which, in the language of our times and country, is usually meant by the term "infidelity :"-certain it is that the prevalent form of infidelity which now most frequently meets with rebuke, is the creed of the deist, as contradistinguished from that of the Christian.-It is here assumed that it will give "great satisfaction" to Mr. Jefferson's admirers, to discover that his "unbelief" was merely "supposed" and not real. How then can professor Tucker justify it to the memory of his de

parted friend, that he has not spread upon record the evidence which is to afford this satisfaction? Happy indeed should we be to see this memorable ietter, establishing the fact that our countrymen have been so long mistaken in their estimate of Mr. Jefferson's religious character. We should like to have an opportunity afforded to the christian people of these United States, of judging for themselves how far they may indulge in congratulations upon the appearance of this new and unexpected auxiiary. The inferences of our author may be erroneous. His own opinions may be such as, in the judgment of Christians, may lead them to doubt how far he is competent to pronounce authoritatively that any man is the advocate of divine truth.-We say not that his opinions are such; but suppose for a moment that the professor were one who could so far forget what he owed to honor and to a Christian parent, as to recommend to the pupil who had been placed by that parent in his charge, the perusal of such a work as Paine's " Age of Reason" or "Volney's Ruins," is his ipse dixit on the subject of Mr. Jefferson's "religious faith" then to be conclusive? Or even suppose that he has no sympathy with the creed of his friend; yet affection may be stimulated, by the very absence of that sympathy, to give to this letter the most favorable construction; and therefore, we repeat it, we are sorry that the letter is not published, that men may judge for themselves.

We confess that it affords us little pleasure to find our author insinuating, in another passage of his work, that Mr. Jefferson was an Unitarian.

"His religious creed, as disclosed in his correspondence, cannot perhaps be classed with that of any particular sect, but was nearer the Socinian than any other. In the last years of his life when questioned by any of his friends on this subject, he used to say he was 'an Unitarian.' Vol. II. p. 504.

Now we do not hesitate to say that if Mr. Jefferson really believed himself to belong to the school here indicated, he only proved that he was grossly ignorant of its tenets. There is no intelligent Unitarian who will acknowledge the claim here made to the rights of fraternization. We are not ourselves Unitarians, and therefore may the more readily be believed when we say, that it has never fallen to our lot to converse with one, (and we have met many,) who would permit himself to speak of Christ, in the terms which Mr. Jefferson has used. We are yet to learn that materialism is a received doctrine of the Unitarian's creed; it was of Mr. Jefferson's.--Again; why sorrows come at all, was an enigma to Mr. Jefferson; he knew no "uses of adversity."