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part of the history of Naaman as the thesis of his discourse. There is a pudding-headed man, who has eaten so much breakfast he cannot keep awake, he thinks, under such a preacher, so he rests his head upon the top of the pew. In the meantime the preacher proceeds, speaking extemporaneously, with his hands sometimes resting on the open Bible before him, and sometimes they are brought together in the region of the heart.

S. A. DOUGLAS.

STEPHEN ARNOLD DOUGLAS the famous, or infamous United States Senator, from Illinois, and one of the most prominent politicians in the Democratic party-and the originator of the Nebraska Bill-is a native of Vermont; but he sustains no relationship whatever to Ethan Allan, or any of the Green Mountain boys, whose names are crystalized in our country's history. He is a man of considerable ability, but his selfish ambition has overleaped itself, and his fall has rendered him a political cripple for life.

He has been weighed in the balance and found wanting in political integrity-wanting in his attachment to liberty— wanting in his loyalty to the land of his birth-wanting in his regard for the welfare of humanity, and wanting in his respect for our holy Religion. His speeches in the Senate in defence of the Nebraska iniquity-his efforts to break the

sacred seal of Compromise-his utter contempt for the contracts of our fathers, and his vulgar abuse of the New England Clergymen, furnish abundance of proof that we do not speak without book when we declare Douglas to be the prince of Demagogues.

He is a Northern man, whose lungs inhaled the free air of the verdant mountains of Vermont, but whose heart never imbibed the noble principles of its patriotic inhabitants. He purchased a plantation and stocked it with slaves, to show his attachment to the peculiar institution. He was instrumental in banishing the free blacks from the State he misrepresents, that he might get Southern votes. Now he would doom Nebraska to "everlasting shame and contempt," to obtain a post of honor he is totally disqualified to fill. This unhappy and unfortunate man is now despised by the North, and distrusted by the South; and he richly merits the contempt of all mankind. Why, for a bauble he would barter the rights of unborn nations. That he might be the President of the United States, he would enslave the blacks for ever, in the bosom of this continent.

If the middle name of Stephen Arnold Douglas could be exchanged for the last, it would be most appropriate. Fate, however, has given him a part of the name to which he is above all men living pre-eminently entitled. Although a man of some talent, he has nothing approximating to genius; having a good memory, and opportunities for intellectual culture, he studied industriously and rose rapidly from a cabinet maker's apprentice to be one of the Judges of the Supreme

Court, and member of the United States Senate, honors of which he might well be proud, had he been true to freedom and humanity. He has not been the faithful exponent of liberty. He has not been a true friend to humanity.

In person, he is short and thick, with a broad, dark face, hazel eyes, high cheek bones, plebeian hands and feet. He is by no means prepossessing, and his manners are not such as would become a court of fashion. In debate he is a bully, and very brave when he fights with men who wear white cravats. He is pretty sure not to pick quarrels with plucky men; for, although he thinks very little of the rest of mankind, he has a great deal of regard for himself. Of his style of writing and speaking, I have not much to say. It is plain, blunt and logical, without much depth, and with no originality, and perfectly free from elegance of diction or eloquence of expression.

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He has no poetry in his composition; tyrants never are on terms with the Muses. Without the stature of a Vermonter, he claims to be the giant of the West-but if he is the Brobdignag, the rest of the inhabitants must be small Liliputiansfor Douglas is so little, he was never seen until he made the auction block his platform, or climbed into notice on the back of a negro. Contrast him with Sam Houston, his superior as much in mental as in physical stature. It is perfectly aston-. ishing that Mr. Everett should have displayed the white feather, when this impertinent little whippersnapper assailed the three thousand clergymen of New England. It is a pity that gentleman had so little "grit," when such a famoust

opportunity was afforded to annihilate the anti-Nebraskian. If Sumner could have assailed him, we should have heard the reverberation of his blows throughout the land. If Daniel Webster had been alive, he would have made another speech equal to his reply to Hayne.

If it be true that " coming events cast their shadows before," then the days of Douglas are numbered-his political death-warrant is signed by the people's autograph--his political winding-sheet is woven by the hands of fate, and his political grave yawns to receive his remains.

WILLIAM GILMORE SIMMS.

WILLIAM GILMORE SIMMS, an American poet, historian and novelist, is a native of South Carolina, and was born April 17th, 1806. In consequence of the premature death of his mother and the failure of his father in business, he was placed in charge of his grandmother in Charleston, when he was quite young. At first he designed to study medicine, but afterwards determined to read law, and he was admitted to the bar at age of twenty one.

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He had practiced his profession but a short time when he assumed the editorial management of a daily newspaper, in which he battled manfully against nullification. In this enterprise his expectations were not realized, and he retired from

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