O for a Lamartine, to speak the wrongs of American Industry in accents that might even melt the leaden heart of brutal Avarice! O for a Louis Blanc, to picture the indestructible rights of those who toil to a share in the fruits of that toil! O for a race of statesmen like the Jeffersons and Henrys of old, who, leaving the petty broils of faction to our lunatic asylums, would be bold enough, and great enough, to grapple with the only question now at issue in our country-a question which must be settled in peaceful reform, or it will be settled some day in the terrors of physical Revolution-a question, which is the life of our lives, and the very heart of our Confederacy—

"How SHALL WE GIVE TO EVERY MAN WHO TOILS, HIS JUST SHARE IN THE FRUITS OF THAT TOIL?"

For that is the question, after all; and the man who looks at it with a clear brain, will see that it involves all other questions of Progress. Place the Man who labors on his proper ground,-let him no longer be the slave of Monopoly, or the victim of bloated wealth-and I will show you a Land, which, unpolluted by Black or White Slavery, discloses to the eye of Heaven this glorious sight-a Free People dwelling in Free Homes.

We have blazoned upon our banner, LAND REFORM-HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION THE RIGHTS OF LABOR. Let us, my friends, never forget that holiest word of all, without which all other words are vain"BROTHERHOOD." Even while we may differ with regard to details, and hold various opinions as to the method of Progress, let us never, for an instant, cease to gird to our hearts the holy thought of "BROTHERHOOD." For it is the consummation of all our hopes-it is the word which the Angels will one day write upon the summer clouds that float calmly over a Regenerated Earth.

While we urge home the Rights of the Poor, let us not forget that the Rich Man is his brother, and that by appealing to the great truth of Brotherhood written by God in every heart, we will conquer all Evil, and bring on the day of perfect social freedom. Even while we paint the enormities of Black Slavery and show it to all the world, the wretched and enormous Wrong that it is-let us not forget that the Slaveholder is as much the victim of circumstances, as he is the doer of wilful iniquity-that he is an American—a man of the great family of this Union-a Brother!

Look, for instance, at that sternly honest, and I must say it, stoically miserable man, John C. Calhoun, who, after brooding over the evils of slavery for some fifty years, has come at last to call these evils by the name of blessings, and, with all his genius, to nurse the ulcer which he cannot cure. Do you assail that Man with words of bitterness? No! No! Sad, indeed, is the spectacle of genius, blinded and bound, like Samson of old, and brought forth before the Tyrants of the Old World, to make sport for them, in this the hour of their ruin! Sad-mournful beyond the power of words-it is to see a great heart, like that of John C. Calhoun, frozen in its generous pulsations by the corpse-hand of Slavery!

We feel that this is true; and yet no word of scorn shall fall from us

when we speak of a Great Man fallen—a giant intellect palsied by the terrible Necessity of Error.

I would wish to turn, for a moment, from a sight like this, and paint to you a Rich Man, who, blessed with "great possessions," divides his broad lands with the Sons of Toil, and dots his valleys with the Homes of the Poor. Who makes every Dollar a minister of freedom, and consecrates every rood of his soil with the baptism of Free Labor. Who can survey his broad domains, and behold no White Slave, no Black Slave, wherever he turns his gaze, but Free Men, working with free hearts and arms for their wives and little ones.

Such a man stands out in bold relief from the background of this money-getting age, as a Man indeed, worthy to live in the Nineteenth Century, worthy of the blessings which start from our hearts at the mention of his name.

GERRIT SMITH, of New York! Behold him, Capitalists-examine him well, Land Speculators-try him in the balance, Monopolists-and say whether you would rather have a big monument over your graves, when you are dead-even though the Poor may curse you-or whether you would like your names consecrated by the blessings which flow from the hearts of Redeemed Labor?

Gerrit Smith is before you. Let his example pierce through your bags of gold, and reach your hearts. I speak of him, be it understood, without reference to Politics, or Presidential nominations.

But the hour of Farewell is at hand, and I must say the word which shall separate this band of brothers-I cannot do it. I cannot say, Farewell. It is not a word to be spoken now, for it is coupled with the idea of separation-perchance of sadness.

But strong in the hope that when we meet again, our cause shall have gathered new strength and brightness, I will say to you, even as though the year which is to elapse before the next Congress had already passed, and we were already met again-I will say to you, over the clouds of the Future, a word, not of separation, but of greeting, not the Farewell of parting, but in the name of our Faith and by the sanctity of our hopes, Good Morrow, my brothers!

SENSUAL CRITICS.

Jane Eyre, an Autobiography. By CURRER BELL.

SUCH is the unpretending title of a work which has produced a decided sensation in this country and in England. It has been read by thousands and by tens of thousands. Few can read it without retaining a strong impression of its originality; it strikes the finest chords of the heart, and sometimes fills the eye with unbidden tears. Original in plot, sprightly and impetuous in style, strewn with sentiments at once fresh and beautiful, stored with a treasure of earnest thought, “Jane Eyre" has made its mark upon the age, and even palsied the talons of mercenary criticism. Yes, critics hired to abuse or panegyrize, at so much per line, have felt a throb of human feeling pervade their veins, at

the perusal of "Jane Eyre." This is extraordinary-almost preternatural -smacking strongly of the miraculous-and yet it is true.

Of course there are exceptions. We have seen "Jane Eyre" put down, as a work of gross immorality, and its author described as the very incarnation of sensualism. To any one, who has read the work, this may look ridiculous, and yet it is true. The thing was done in one of those monthly publications, which some time ago gave our milliners and dress-makers a somewhat pernicious taste for Parisian bonnets and waists. Lust, sensualism, profanity, these words were always in the Critic's mouth, and when tired of repeating them in one form, he would change their order, sometimes saying Sensualism, Profanity, Lust, and sometimes, by way of variety and force, repeating profoundly, Sensualism, Lust, Profanity.

To tell a Critic like this any thing of the beauty of "Jane Eyre,"-to attempt to argue with him, or prove, by quotations, how idle his charge of immorality, would be worse than labor thrown away. For he merely regards the book through the medium of his own soul, and of course sees nothing but deformity wherever he turns his gaze. Your critic reverses the story of the horse and spectacles; for while the deluded animal, with green glasses over his eyes, imagined he was eating grass, when he was eating shavings, your critic devours tulips, lilies and roses, all sparkling with the dew of heaven, and at the same time grotesquely complains of the taste of saw-dust in his mouth.

It is a truth that cannot be denied-a drunken man always deplores the inebriety of his sober friends-a lunatic always compassionates the sad state of his medical attendant's brains-and a sensual man, steeped to the lips in morbid lasciviousness, always talks in terrible anger of the evils of licentious literature. Nothing on the earth of God is safe from a man like this. He sees pollution in every thing-corruption environs his heart, and shuts in every human instinct of his soul.

To the pure, all things are pure. So to the base, all things are base. The Libertine can rake up images of pollution even from the Word of God. The Debauchee can indulge the depravity of his nature by staining with the venom of his own soul every thing that is purer and nobler than himself.

So in the literary world-whenever we find a critic going out of his way, in a mad hunt after obscenities, and torturing truth and beauty into depravity, we may justly conclude the obscenity is in the critic's mind, the depravity in his education, or in his heart. For the sake of Charity we will suppose it is the fault of his education. a point and say it is so, even though we cannot, to speak plain truth, believe any thing of the kind.

We will strain

This class of critics prevail largely in the region of weekly newspapers and monthly magazines. Sometimes Bulwer is immoral; sometimes Dickens; now and then the whole pack join in full cry after Eugene Sue. We have seen the seducer of female innocence deprecate the immoralities of Eugene Sue, and talk in pitiful accents of that terrible book, Martin, the Foundling,-while the poor girl, the victim of this Seducer's cowardly fraud, goes withered and heart-broken to the Insane Asylum or to her grave.

FRENCH REPUBLIC.

The French Revolution of 1848, its Causes, Actors, Events, and Influences. By G. G. FOSTER and THOMAS DUNN ENGLISH. Philadelphia: ZIEBER. 8vo, pp. 224.

THE time has not yet arrived when the history of the French Revolution of 1848 can be adequately written. So much yet remains unexplained and contradictory, so many passions, prejudices, and errors are mixed up with men's views of it, so uncertain is still the issue of it, that any philosophical analysis of the whole affair appears impossible at present. The most that contemporaneous history can do, is to give a clear and connected journal of the events, with an estimate of the actors as they appear to their associates or their enemies. This is all that the authors of the present volume have proposed to do, and we must say that they have performed their task well. The work is evidently thrown together hastily, from such documents as came first to hand, generally the newspapers of the day. Time was not allowed for more. We have, therefore, a detail of the incidents of the Revolution as accurate as could be derived from these sources, and little more. For the present, it is as good a book as we can ask. A more thorough account of the conflict will be given when the smoke of the battle has entirely cleared away. The first book, which treats of the causes, is philosophical, and in the main correct. We doubt, however, whether the authors have given the prominence to the literary men of France in producing the Revolution, which is due to them. It has been notorious for several years, that the scientific and literary men of distinction had withdrawn themselves from the court and its patronage. The meanness and narrowness of the Guizot administration had alienated all the best minds of Paris. The bold attempt to gag the intrepid Michelet and Quinet, and to prevent the delivery of their liberal lectures to the classes of the College de France, is not to be overlooked. It provoked an opposition of the most formidable character. We have heard an amusing anecdote in reference to this subject from a distinguished literary gentleman who was in Paris at the time. Guizot sent for M. Letronne, the president of the college, and required him to silence the professors above mentioned. He refused, the minister insisted, and even threatened. Letronne maintained the freedom of the professional chairs. Guizot demanded that their fearless attacks upon the Jesuits, and the clergy in general, should cease. Letronne finally told him that if any attempt to restrain the free expression of opinion should be made, he would vary his usual course upon Egyptian archæology by giving a series of lectures upon the priesthood of that ancient people, with their arts and impositions upon the public credulity, a course in which the word pretre should not be mentioned, but the application of which would be readily comprehended by his audience. The minister shrugged his shoulders and wisely succumbed. This is but a single instance of the relation that existed between the government and the learned world of France. Those whose intellects controlled the popular mind, had arrayed themselves in opposition, more or less open, to the dynasty of Louis Philippe,

and the result could not long be doubtful. By this fact, we may be enabled to account for the utter abjectness and friendlessness of his condition when the crisis came. It is, however, an element which Messrs. Foster and English have in a great measure overlooked. Neither can we agree with them in regarding the occurrence of the revolt on the 22d of February, as a mere coincidence. It occurred then, because the reform banquet had been fixed for that day, and we have no doubt that it was so fixed that the oration might have a starting point for their declamation, in a reference to the natal day of Washington, for whose character the French people have an unbounded veneration. With a few such minor criticisms as these, we give our entire approval to the work.

While on this subject, we may add that the Revolution, thus far, disappointed all the expectations of its ill-wishers. The loudly predicted "horrors" have not yet appeared. Some difficulty and disturbance have occurred, of course. It could not possibly be otherwise. An entire and radical change in the government of some thirty millions of people is no silken affair to handle. But the wonder is, that all has gone so quietly as it has. The attempted counter-revolution was but a poor thing, and would have attracted little attention, were it not for the excitability of the times, and the fact that disturbance is so much feared on the one side and desired on the other. It originated with a body of noisy impracticables, who have very little hold upon the people at large. The French are resolved that the new order of things, be they what they may, shall be established peacefully. They have arrived at what constitutes our great safeguard, a sense of their duty to submit to the pacific expression of the will of the majority collected through legal forms. We therefore reiterate our conviction that the new republican government of France will be established in a quiet and orderly manWhat its precise form will be, we do not venture to prophesy, but we have little doubt that it will give lessons in social science by which we may profit. It is no new thing in the history of the world, that the teacher should sit, as learner, at the feet of the former pupil.

ner.

CIVIL REFORM.

Deeds can be transferable by endorsement or delivery only—thus saving a vast amount of expense, in conveying Real Estate.

THE lien and operation of debts upon Real Estate causes a vast amount of money to be expended for searches and examinations, producing great and inconvenient delays so much so, as greatly to discourage investments in that kind of property. A merchant will sell and deliver $1000 worth of goods to an individual, on making a few inquiries of one or two persons, who are supposed to know his circumstances, (perhaps upon his own account of himself,) without further inquiry; but if he is about to loan him that sum, upon good security, say upon mortgage of real estate, he must first be satisfied that the real estate is worth double the amount about to be loaned—then commences an examination into the title for one hundred and fifty years past, until