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complete religious freedom and equality ; the assertion of man ' s natural right to expatriate himself at will ; and the restriction ( to Which his efforts ultimately led , though his own bill was premature ) of the punishtaent of death to treason and murder : these are a part , and only a part , of the "benefits for which his native stale , Virginia , has to venerate his
memory . Weil did he deserve , and well did he occupy , the elevation which he afterwards attained , the noblest to which political ambition cau aspire , that of the Chief Magistrate of united nations by the people ' s choice . And appropriately did his long career of consistent patriotism close on the fiftieth anniversary of that Independence which his own pen fji * st proclaimed . That was indeed a day on which his spirit might depart in
peace . The two volumes now before us are only part of a more extended publication from Mr . Jefferson ' s papers , projected by the Editor . They contain a brief autobiographical sketch ( of 94 pages ) terminating abruptly at the
commencement of the year 179 D , and Correspondence up to about the same time , with various illustrative documents in the form of Appendices . The memoir appears to have been written for private use only ; it commences with the following memorandum :
" January 6 , 1821 . At the age of seventy-seven , I begin to make some memoranda , and state some recollections of dates and facts concerning myself , for my own more ready reference , and for the information of my family . " The most curious parts of the Memoirs
are the debates in Congress on the question of Independence , taken down , in a compressed form , at the time , by Mr . Jefferson ; and the original draft of the Declaration , together with the variations which were made previous to its adoption . Some of these shew the
intervention of very cautious and practical men ; as the omission of the word * inherent , " as applied to " rights : " the
substitution of " repeated" for " unremitting injuries and usurpations" ascribed to the King ; and several alterations of a similar description , Cue or two passages appear to have been rejected an too oratorical for the dignified character of the
document . A strong reprobation of the African slave trade ** was struck Out in Complaisance to South Carolina and Georgia" ( I . p . 16 ) ; ami in tine conclusion was introduced an expression of < c reliance on the protection of DiVhre Providence . " The writer ' s piety , we
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fear , whatever it might be in the later years of his life , waft then at rather a low ebb ; and there is one letter in the Correspondence , dated Aug . 10 , 1787 , ( Vol . II . p . 215 , ) which while it properly recommends the boldest and fullest
inquiry , on religions matters , to the young man to whom it was addressed , sufficiently indicates the hostility of the writer's opinions , at that period , to the claims of Divine Revelation . We have not observed any thing else , of the same tendency , in these volumes .
Altogether , the work will rather furnish materials for the historian than amusement for the general reader . There is comparatively little that is personal ; and few will persevere in the perusal who have not previously a deep feeling about the political events of those times , events so incalculably momentous . The
letters chiefly relate to tlie transactions of the American Revolution as they occurred ; and afterwards to the negociations in which the author was engaged at the Court of France just before , and during , the commencement of the explosion there . The following brief sketch of Necker occurs in one of these ; it is as characteristic of the writer as of the
subject : ' It is a tremendous cloud , indeed , which hovers over this nation , and he at the helm has neither the courage nor the skill necessary to weather it . Eloquence in a high degree , knowledge in matters of account , and order , are distinguishing traits in his character . Ambitiou is his first passion , virtue his second . He has not discovered that
sublime truth , that a bold unequivocal virtue is the best handmaid even to ambition , and would carry him further , in the end , than the temporising * wavering policy he pursues . His judgment is not of the first order , scarcely even of the second ; his resolution frail ; and upon the whole it is rare to meet an instance of a person so much below the reputation he has obtained /'—II . 480 .
It is thus that we , might expect the dauntle ^ p , uncompromising Jefferson to speak of the vacillating Financier . And ad an illustration of his moral principle , we will trtke dtir leave of him with an extract from a letter to the youth ( Peter Carr ) to whom the-sceptical passage just referred to was addressed :
** Time now begins to be precious tp you . Every day you lose will retard a day yodr entrance on that public siage whereon you may begin to be useful to yourself : However , the way to repair the loss is to Improve the future time . I
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# 6 * 6 Monthly Report 6 f General Literature .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1829, page 866, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2579/page/50/
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