At page 113 of the same volume we have something of the same nature, and which we confess astonished us in no little degree. It is at all times a very difficult thing to convey vivid and, at the same time, accurate impressions of grand scenery by the use of words. When the person to whom the communication is made has seen objects that have a becomes less difficult, for he who speaks or writes may illustrate his meaning by familiar comparisons; but who in America, that has never left America, can have a just idea of the scenery of this region? A Swiss would readily comprehend a description of vast masses of grastantly before his eyes; but to those who have never looked upon such a magnificent spectacle, written accounts, when they come near their climax, fall as much short of the intention, as words are less substantial than things. With a full consciousness of this deficiency in my craft, I shall attempt to give you some notion of the two grandest aspects that the Alps, when seen from this place, assume; for it seems a species of poetical treason to write of Switzerland and be silent on what are certainly two of its most decided sublimities. We have just had a visit from two old acquaintances-general similarity to those described, the task certainly Manhattanese. They tell me a good many of our people are wandering among the mountains, though they are the first we have seen. There is a list of arrivals published daily in Berne; and in one of then I found the name of Captain C, of the Navy; and that of Mr. O., an old and intimate friend, whom it was vexa-nite capped with eternal snow, for such objects are contious to miss in a strange land. Mr. and Mrs. G-, of New York, are also somewhere in the cantons. Our numbers increase, and with them our abuse; for it is not an uncommon thing to see, written in English in the travellers' books kept by law at all the inns, pasquinades on America, opposite the American names. What a state of feeling it betrays, when a traveller cannot write his name, in compliance with a law of the country in which he happens to be, without calling down upon himself anathemas of this kind! I have a register of twenty-three of these gratuitons injuries. What renders them less excusable, is the fact, that they who are guilty of the impropriety would probably think twice before they performed the act in the presence of the party wronged. These intended insults are, consequently, so many registers of their own meanness. Let the truth be said; I have never seen one, unless in the case of an American, or one that was not written in English! Straws show which way the wind blows. This disposition, in our kinsmen, to deride and abuse America, is observed and freely commented on by the people of the continent, who are far from holding us themselves in the highest respect. And again, on page 327, vol. ii. One of these appearances is often alluded to, but I do not remember to have ever heard the other mentioned. The first is produced by the setting sun, whose rays of a cloudless evening, are the parents of hues and changes of a singularly lovely character. For many minutes the lustre of the glacier slowly retires, and is gradually succeeded by a tint of rose color, which, falling on so luminous a body, produces a sort of “roseate light;" the whole of the vast range becoming mellowed and subdued to indescribable softness. This appearance gradually increases in intensity, varying on different evenings, however, according to the state of the atmosphere. At the very moment, perhaps, when the eye is resting most eagerly on this extraordinary view, the light vanishes, No scenic change is more sudden than that which folI have made this comparison as the last means I know lows. All the forms remain unaltered, but so varied in of to arouse you from your American complacency on hue, as to look like the ghosts of mountains. You see the subject of the adjectives grand, majestic, elegant and the same vast range of eternal snow, but you see it splendid, in connection with our architecture. The lat-ghastly and spectral. You fancy that the spirits of the ter word, in particular, is coming to be used like a household term; while there is not, probably, a single work of art, from Georgia to Maine, to which it can with propriety be applied. I do not know a single edifice in the Union that can be considered more than third rate by its size and ornaments, nor more than one or two that ought to be ranked even so high. When it comes to capitals, and the use of the adjectives I have just quoted, it may be well to remember, that there is no city in the Republic that has not decidedly the air and the habits of a provincial town, and this too, usually without possessing the works of art that are quite commonly found in this hemisphere, even in places of that rank, or a single public building to which the term magnificent can with any fitness be adjudged. We Alps are ranging themselves before you. Watching the peaks for a few minutes longer, the light slowly departs. The spectres, like the magnified images of the phantas magoria, grow more and more faint, less and less material, until swallowed in the firmament. What renders all this more thrillingly exquisite is, the circumstance that these changes do not occur until after evening has fallen on the lower world, giving to the whole the air of nature sporting in the upper regions, with some of her spare and detached materials. This sight is far from uncommon. It is seen during the summer, at least, in greater or less perfection, as often as twice or thrice a week. The other is much less frequent; for, though a constant spectator when the atmosphere was favorable, it was never my fortune to witness it but twice; and even on these occasions, only am about to attempt. one of them is entitled to come within the description I It is necessary to tell you that the Aar flows toward Berne in a north-west direction, through a valley of some width, and several leagues in length. To this fact the Bernese are indebted for their view of the Ober Te can only say, that if the suppressed portions of Mr. Cooper's intended publication embraced any thing more likely than these assertions and opinions to prove unacceptable to American readers at large, it is perhaps better, both for his own reputation, and for the interest of his publishers, that he finally decided upon the sup-land Alps, which stretch themselves exactly across the pression. Yet Mr. Cooper may be right, and not mouth of the gorge, at the distance of forty miles in an having the fear of punishment sufficiently before our air line. These giants are supported by a row of outeyes, we, for ourselves, frankly confess that we believe | posts, any one of which, of itself, would be a spectacle him to be right. The passages which remain of a in another country. One in particular, is distinguished similar nature to those we have quoted, will only serve we hope, to give additional piquancy to these admirable Sketches. As a work affording extensive and valuable information on the subject of Switzerland, we have seen nothing in any shape, at all equal to the volumes be fore us. The extract we now subjoin, will prove beyond doubt, that the fine descriptive powers of the author of the Prairie, are in as full vigor as ever. by its form, which is that of a cone. It is nearly in a land. This mountain is called the Niesen. It stands line with the Jung Frau, the virgin queen of the Obersome eight or ten miles in advance of the mighty range, though to the eye, at Berne, all these accessories appear to be tumbled without order at the very feet of their principals. The height of the Niesen is given by Ebel at 5584 French, or nearly 6000 English feet, above the * Jung Frau, or the virgin; (pronounced Yoong Frow.) The mountain is thus called, because it has never been scaled. lake of Thun, on whose margin it stands; and at 7340 French, or nearly 8000 English feet above the sea. In short, it is rather higher than the highest peak of our own White Mountains. The Jung Frau rises directly behind this mass, rather more than a mile nearer to heaven. The day, on the occasion to which I allude, was clouded, and as a great deal of mist was clinging to all the smaller mountains, the lower atmosphere was much charged with vapor. The cap of the Niesen was quite hid, and a wide streak of watery clouds lay along the whole of the summits of the nearer range, leaving, however, their brown sides misty but visible. In short the Niesen and its immediate neighbors looked like any other range of noble mountains, whose heads were hid in the clouds. I think the vapor must have caused a good deal of refraction, for above these clouds rose the whole of the Oberland Álps to an altitude which certainly seemed even greater than usual. Every peak and all the majestic formation was perfectly visible, though the whole range appeared to be severed from the earth, and to float in air. The line of communication was veiled, and while all below was watery, or enfeebled by mist, the glaciers threw back the fierce light of the sun with powerful splendor. The separation from the lower world was made the more complete, from the contrast between the sombre hues beneath and the calm but bright magnificence above. One had some difficulty in imagining that the two could be parts of the same orb. The effect of the whole was to create a picture of which I can give no other idea, than by saying it resembled a glimpse, through the windows of heaven, at such a gorgeous but chastened grandeur, as the imagination might conceive to suit the place. There were moments when the spectral aspect just mentioned, dimmed the lustre of the snows, without injuring their forms, and no language can do justice to the sublimity of the effect. It was inpossible to look at them without religious awe; and, irreverent though it may seem, I could hardly persuade myself I was not gazing at some of the sublime mysteries that lie beyond the grave. A fortnight passed in contemplating such spectacles at the distance of sixteen leagues, has increased the desire to penetrate nearer to the wonders; and it has been determined that as many of our party who are of an age to enjoy the excursion, shall quit this place in a day or two for the Oberland. MELLEN'S POEMS.* The Martyr's Triumph; Buried Valley; and other Poems. By Grenville Mellen. Boston, 300 pp. We took up this book with the conviction that we should be pleased with its contents, and our highly wrought expectations have not in any degree been disappointed. It is as high praise as we are able to bestow upon it, that we have read most of its contents with the very associations around us, which are required for the perfect production of the impressions intended to be produced by the poet-and that we have, in each and ail, still found those impressions strengthening and deepening upon our minds, as we perused the pages before us, "The Buried Valley," in which is portrayed the well remembered tragedy of the avalanche, which, in 1826, buried a peaceful cottage situated at the foot of the White Mountains, with all its inhabitants, at midnight, is not perhaps the best, though a most deeply interesting part of the volume. It is too unequal in its style, and at times too highly wrought, perhaps, as a picture. But the idea which it gives the reader of the *We have received this notice of Mellen's Poems from a personal friend, in whose judgment we have implicit reliance-of course we cannot deviate from our rules by adopting the criticism as Editorial. wild and magnificent spot upon which this terrible catastrophe occurred is perfect, and the description of the circumstances and incidents of the scene most faithful. The Scenery of the White Mountains of New Hampshire forms the inspiration of another poem also in this collection, which we boldly place beside any emanation from the most gifted of our poets. We allude to "Lines on an Eagle," on pp. 130 and 131. We must be chary of our space, and can therefore give but a single stanza, in corroboration of our opinion. Sail on, thou lone imperial bird, Of quenchless eye and tireless wing; How is thy distant coming heard, As the night-breezes round thee ring! Thy course was 'gainst the burning sun, In his extremest glory-how! Is thy unequall'd daring done, Thou stoop'st to earth so lowly now! The "Martyr's Triumph" is a most splendid poem, and deserves all the praise it has received from reader and critic. What can be more beautiful than the exordium? Voice of the viewless spirit! that hast rung Through the still chambers of the human heart, Since our first parents in sweet Eden sung Their low lament in tears-thou voice, that art Around us and above us, sounding on With a perpetual echo, 'tis on thee, The ministry sublime to wake and warn !— Full of that high and wondrous Deity, That call'd existence out from Chaos' lonely sea! And what more purely inspired than the following? Thou wast from God when the green earth was young, And man enchanted rov'd amid its flowers, When faultless woman to his bosom clung, Or led him through her paradise of bowers; Where love's low whispers from the Garden rose, And both amid its bloom and beauty bent, In the long luxury of their first repose! When the whole earth was incense, and there went Perpetual praise from altars to the firmament. And these are but single "bricks from Babel." Specimens, only, of the beauty and grace with which the poem abounds. Were we looking for faults, doubtless we should be able to find them, for who is faultless? But that is not our aim. Yet would we suggest to the author that the use of the word dulce in stanza six, is somewhat forced,—and though a sweet word in itself, is yet "like sweet bells jangled, harsh, and out of tune," on account of its rarity, which induces the reader to note its strangeness rather than to admire its application. The whole book abounds with proofs of Mellen's fine musical ear, and therefore does it seem to us a fault that he should have suffered the compositor to do him the injustice of printing such a line as this. "Before ill-starr'd Dunsinane's waving wood!" But it is for the minor, or shorter pieces which the volume contains, that it is most highly to be valued. Mellen is delightful in his "occasional poems." Take the following, addressed to one of the sweetest singers, whose strains, like angel-harmonies from heaven, ever floated upon the rapt ear of the poet, as a proof. TO HELEN. Music came down from Heaven to thee, A spirit of reposeA fine, mysterious melody, That ceaseless round thee flows; Should Joy's fast waves dash o'er thy soul, In free and reckless throng, What Music answers from the whole, Oh! Music came a boon to thee, From yon harmonious spheres ; An influence from eternity, To charm us from our tears! Should Grief's dim phantoms then conspire To lure from its long sorrows hence Such angel tones belong; For thou wert born of melody, Thy soul was bath'd in song! 99 66 To There are many such, as, for instance, "To Sub Rosa," "Death of Julia," "The Eagle," ," "The Bugle,' Gabriella R-, of Richmond," &c. &c. Mellen is distinguished for his lyric powers, His Odes are all very fine. That "To Music," in the volume before us, is deserving of particular mention, as indeed are those "To Shakspeare," "To Byron," "To Lafayette," and others, written on several public occasions. The volume has but one general fault, and that is, its deficiency in the lighter and gayer strain, in which we have private proofs that Mellen certainly excels. It were to be regretted that the poet did not throw into his collection some touches of that delicate and graceful humor, which none can more happily hit off than himself. The general tone of the volume is grave, if not indeed severe- -though relieved by many exquisite verses like those already alluded to, and of which the following may serve as another specimen. TO SUB ROSA. Lady, if while that chord of thine, So beautifully strung To music that seem'd just divine, Still sweetly round me rung, I should essay a higher song Than humblest minstrel may, Shame o'er my lyre would breathe the wrong, And lure my hand away. Forgive me then if I forbear, Where thou hast done so well, Nor o'er my harp strings idly dare 'Tis woman that alone can breathe 'These holier fancies free Ah, then, be thine the fadeless wreath I proudly yield to thee. 0. We may add to the critique of our friend O. that in looking over cursorily the poems of Mellen, we have been especially taken with the following spirited lyric. STANZAS, Sung at Plymouth, on the Anniversary of the landing of our Fathers, 22d Dec. 1820. Wake your harp's music!-louder—higher, And smite again each quiv'ring wire, Shout like those godlike men of old, On this bless'd soil their anthem roll'd, From native shores by tempests driven, And found beneath a wilder heaven, An altar rose-and prayers-a ray The harbinger of Freedom's day, They clung around that symbol too, And swore while skies and waves were blue, They stood upon the red man's sod, Oh! 'twas a hard unyielding fate And Persecution strove with Hate, But safe above each coral grave, Each booming ship did go- They knelt them on the desert sand, They look'd upon the high blue air, The Warrior's red right arm was bar'd, The dark chiefs yell'd alarm-and swore But lo! the warrior's eye grew dim, His arm was left alone; The still black wilds which shelter'd him, No longer were his own! Time fled-and on this hallow'd ground His highest pine lies low, And cities swell where forests frown'd, Two hundred years ago! Oh! stay not to recount the tale, The firmest cheek might well grow pale, The God of Heaven, who prospers us, And shield us from the red man's curse, Come then great shades of glorious men, From your still glorious grave; Look on your own proud land again, We call ye from each mould'ring tomb, To bless the world ye snatch'd from doom, Then to your harps-yet louder-higher- And smite again each quiv'ring wire, Shout for those godlike men of old, On this bless'd soil their anthem roll'd, RIGHT OF INSTRUCTION.* The receipt of your letter afforded me much pleasure, not only on account of the interesting subject it treats of, but as a gratifying evidence of your remembrance of me. I fear, however, that you will have reason to repent of your kindness, as I shall presume upon it to task your patience with some observations in defence of my old federal notions upon your doctrine of instructions. I will endeavor to show that the extracts made in the Enquirer from the speeches of Messrs. King, Jay and Hamilton, in the New York Convention, do not sustain (even if we are to take the report of them to be verbally correct) the doctrine or right as it is contended for in Virginia. I understand that doctrine to be, that the instructions of a State Legislature to a Senator of the United States, are an authoritative, constitutional, lawful command, which he is bound implicitly to obey, and which he cannot disobey without a violation of his official duty as a Senator, imposing upon him the obligation to resign his place if he cannot, or will not, conform to the will of his Legislature. I confess that this doctrine appears to me to be absolutely incompatible with the cardinal principles of our Constitution, as a representative government; to break up the foundations which were intended to give it strength and stability, and to impart to it a consistent, uniform and harmonious action; and, virtually, to bring us back to a simple, turbulent democracy, the worst of all governmentsor rather, no government at all. I do not mean to enter upon the broad ground of argument of this question, with which you are so well acquainted, but to examine, as briefly as I can, but probably not so much so as your patience would require, the federal authorities which the writer in the Enquirer believes he has brought to the support of his opinions. No. VII. FIVE DOLLARS PER ANNUM. however honest in the intention, cannot be so strictly imputed to him. There is also an objection to extracts, even truly recited, inasmuch as they are often qualified or modified by other parts of the writing or speech. As I have not, immediately at hand, the debates of the New York Convention, I am unable, just now, to see how far this may have been the case in the speeches from which the quotations are made. I must, therefore, at present, be content to take them as they are given in the Enquirer, and even then it appears to me that they are far from covering the Virginia doctrine of instructions. Let us see. Mr. King is represented to have said, that "the Senators will have a powerful check in those who wish for their seats." This is most true-and in fact it is to this struggle for place that we owe much of the zeal for doctrines calculated to create vacancies. Mr. King proceeds-" And the State Legislatures, if they find their delegates erring, can and will instruct them. Will this be no check?" The two checks proposed, in the same sentence and put upon the same footing, are the vigilance of those who want the places of the Senators, and the instructions which the State Legislatures can and will give to them. They are said to be, as they truly are, powerful checks, operating with a strong influence on the will and discretion of the Senator, but not as subjecting him, as a matter of duty, either to the reproaches of his rivals or the opinions of the Legislature. To do this, a check must be something more than powerful; it must be irresistible, or, at least, attended by some means of carrying it out to submission-some penalty or remedy for disobedience. I consider the term instruct, as here used, to mean no more than counsel, advise, recommend—because Mr. King does not intimate that any right or power is vested in the Legislature to compel obedience to their instructions, or to punish a refractory Senator as an I cannot put out of the discussion, although I will official delinquent. It is left to his option to obey or not insist upon, the objection to the authority of the not, which is altogether inconsistent with every idea of reports of the speeches alluded to, especially when it a right to command. Such a right is at once met and turns upon a question of extreme accuracy in the use nullified by a right to refuse. They are equal and of certain precise words and phrases, any departure contrary rights. As we are upon a question of verbal from which would materially affect the sense of the criticism, and it is so treated in the Enquirer, we may speaker. We see daily in the reports of congressional look for information to our dictionaries. To instruct, debates, the most important mistakes or misrepresenta- in its primitive or most appropriate meaning, is simply tions, unintentionally made, not of expressions merely, to teach-and instruction is the act of teaching, or inforbut of the very substance and meaning of the speakers; mation. It is true that Johnson gives, as a more remote sometimes reporting the very reverse of what they ac-meaning, "to inform authoritatively." Certainly, the tually said. I have occasion to know the carelessness with which these reports are frequently made, and, indeed, the impossibility of making them with accuracy. What a man writes he must abide by, in its fair and legitimate meaning; but what another writes for him, Some months ago a number of the "Richmond Enquirer," containing an argument in favor of the mandatory right of a State Legislature to instruct a Senator of the United States, was forwarded to the author of this article. That argument was sup ported by the alleged opinions of Messrs. King, Jay and Hamilton, as expressed in the Convention of New York-and we think this reply well deserves publication. It is from the pen of a ripe scholar and a profound jurist. Legislature may instruct, may teach, may inform a Senator, and whenever they do so it will be with no small degree of authority from the relation in which they stand to each other; but the great question is, not whether this would be an impertinent or improper inthe Senator is bound, by his official oath or duty, imterference on the part of the Legislature, but whether plicitly to obey such instructions; whether he violates a duty he ought to observe, or usurps a power which does not belong to him, if he declines to submit to these directions, if he cannot receive the lesson thus taught, or adopt the information thus imparted to him. Does VOL. II.-52 King. the spirit of our Constitution (for clearly in terms it in their hands, ought to be hardy, and must be so in does not) intend to make a Senator of the United States opposition to the apparent and immediate, but transient, a mere passive instrument or agent in the hands of a will of the people; and it is such hardy men who have State Legislature. Is he required by any legal or moral deserved and received the gratitude and thanks of the duty or obligation, to surrender into the hands of any people they saved by opposing them. The brightest man or body of men, his honest judgment and con- names on the pages of history are those of such hardy scientious convictions of right? To act on their dictation | men. The same answer meets the commentary on the and his own responsibility; responsible to his country word "dictating"-used, or said to be used, by Mr. for the consequences of his vote, and to his own conscience and his God for the disregard of his oath of I would here make a remark upon this report of Mr. office, which bound him to support that Constitution King's speech, which shows how carelessly the report which his instructions may call upon him to violate, as was made, or how loose Mr. King was in his choice of he conscientiously believes. It will be a miserable apology words. In the beginning of the passage quoted, he for him to say, that he has done this because he was so refers to the State Legislatures, as the bodies who are ordered by a body of men, who may have thought or to check, by their instructions, the wanderings of the cared very little about it, and may hold a different Senators. In the conclusion he is made to sayopinion the next year without remorse or responsibility. "When they (the Senators) hear the voice of the people But if he cannot obey, must he save his conscience by dictating to them their duty," &c. Now, it can hardly resigning his seat? This is the most unsound and un-be pretended that the Legislature and the people are tenable of all the grounds assumed in this discussion. identically the same; or that a vote of the Legislature If it is the official duty of the Senator to do and perform by a majority of one-or by any majority, can always the will of his constituents, or rather of those who gave be said to be the voice of the people. It is as probable him his office, then he violates or evades that duty by that they may misrepresent the people, as that the resigning; and he may, in this way, not only abandon Senators should misrepresent them. It is not uncomhis duty, but as effectually defeat the will and intention mon for the people to repudiate the acts of their Legisof his Legislature as by actually voting against it. To lature. It was understood to be so in Virginia, on the return to Mr. King-how does he propose or expect late question on the conduct of her Senators. The that this check of legislative instructions is to act upon solemn and deliberate opinion upon any subject, of the the Senator? What is the nature of the obligation he body from which an officer derives his appointment, considers to rest upon the Senator to obey them? He will always be received with great respect, as coming does not pretend that there is any power in the Legis-from a high source and with much authority, but the lature to enforce their instructions or cause them to be Senator, acting on the responsibility he owes to the respected. He does not suggest that disobedience is whole country, must take into his view of the case the a violation of duty on the part of the Senator, or the effect of his instructions upon the whole; he must not assumption of any right that does not practically and shut his eyes from examining the occasion which proconstitutionally belong to him; that he falls under any duced the instructions-the circumstances attending just odium or reproach, if after an honest and respectful them-the means by which they were obtained—the consideration of the instructions, he shall believe it to errors, or passions, or prejudices which may have inflube his duty to disregard them. Mr. King does not, enced and deceived those who voted for them; in short, by the most remote implication, intimate, that a State he must carefully and conscientiously examine the whole Legislature may, through the medium of instructions, ground, and finally decide for himself on the double directly or indirectly, put a limitation on the term of responsibility he owes to his own State and to the service of a Senator, which they will do if it is his duty United States; to those who appointed him to office to resign whenever they shall choose to require of him and to himself, and his own character. There is no to do what, as an honest man, a good citizen, and faith-doubt that this examination will be made with a dispo ful officer, he cannot do. If instructions have the au-sition sufficiently inclined to conform himself to the thority contended for, there is no exception; it is a wishes of his constituents. perfect right or it is no right. The Senator cannot withdraw himself from it, however imperious the requisition may be, or however iniquitous the design in making it. The Senator has a discretion to judge of it in all cases or in no case. He may take counsel of his own conscience and judgment in every call upon him—or in none. The check that Mr. King promises from the State Legislatures upon their Senators, is nothing more than the natural influence they will have upon the minds and conduct of the Senators, and this, in my apprehension, is more likely to be too much than too little. What does Mr. K. say will be the consequence of a refusal on the part of a Senator to obey? Not that he is corrupt-or unfaithful-or ought to In these reported debates, Hamilton is represented to resign-but simply that they will be "hardy men." | have said-that "it would be a standing instruction of Assuredly they will be so; I wish we had more of the larger States to increase the representation." Obthese hardy men, for certainly there are occasions on serve, this is not applied to the Senators only, but to which public men, holding the destinies of their country the delegates or representatives of the States in Con Mr. Jay expressed himself with more discrimination and caution than Mr. King; and no inference can be drawn from what he says, that there is any right or power in a State Legislature to demand obedience or resignation from a Senator, to their instructions. He considers their instructions to be, what in truth and practice they have always been, nothing more than advice or information coming from a high source and entitled to great respect. He says, "the Senate is to be composed of men appointed by the State Legisla tures. They will certainly choose those who are most distinguished for their general knowledge. I presume they will also instruct them." |