application, the following extracts were taken and published by Mr. Dallas, in the appendix to the first volume of his edition of the laws:

"For several years past I have been taught to think less unfavorably of skepticism than formerly. So many things have been misrepresented, misstated, and erroneously printed (with seeming authenticity) under my own eye, as in my opinion to render those who doubt of everything not altogether inexcusable. The publication of the Declaration of Independence on the 4th day of July, 1776, as printed in the journals of Congress, vol. ii. p. 242, &c., and also in the acts of most public bodies since, so far as respects the names of the delegates or deputies who made that declaration, has led to the above reflection. By the printed publications referred to, it would appear as if the fifty-five gentlemen, whose names are there printed, and none other, were on that day personally present in Congress, and assenting to the declaration; whereas the truth is otherwise. The following gentlemen were not members on the fourth of July, 1776, namely, Mathew Thornton, Benjamin Rush, George Clymer, James Smyth, George Taylor, and George Ross, Esquires. The five last named were not chosen delegates until the twentieth of that month; the first, not until the twelfth day of September following, nor did he take his seat in Congress until the fourth of November, which was four months after. The journals of Congress, vol. ii., pages 277 and 442, as well as those of the Assembly of the State of Pennsylvania, page 53, and of the General Assembly of New Hampshire, establish these facts. Although the six gentlemen named had been very active in the American cause, and some of them, to my own knowledge, warmly in favor of its independence previous to the day on which it was declared, yet I personally know that none of them were in Congress on that day.

"Modesty should not rob any man of his just honor, when by that honor his modesty cannot be offended. My name is not in the printed journals of Congress, as a party to the Declaration of Independence, and this, like an error in the first concoction, has vitiated most of the subsequent publications, and yet the fact is, that I was then a member of Congress for the State of Delaware, was personally present in Congress, and voted in favor of Independence on the fourth day of July, 1776, and

signed the Declaration, after it had been engrossed on parchment, where my name, in my own hand-writing, still appears. Henry Wisner, of the State of New York, was also in Congress, and voted for independence.

"I do not know how the misstatement in the printed journals has happened. The manuscript public journal has no names annexed to the Declaration of Independence, nor has the secret journal; [but it appears by the latter that, on the nineteenth day of July, 1776, the Congress directed that it should. be engrossed on parchment, and signed by every member, and that it was so produced on the second of August, and signed. This is interlined in the secret journal, in the hand-writing of Charles Thompson, Esq., the Secretary. The present Secretary of State of the United States, and myself, have lately inspected the journals, and seen this. The journal was first printed by Mr. John Dunlap in 1778, and probably copies, with the names then signed to it, were printed in August, 1776, and that Mr. Dunlap printed the names from one of them.'

Your most obedient servant,

"THOS. M'KEAN."

Every State, except Pennsylvania and Delaware, had voted for the declaration. It was deemed important that the final vote should be unanimous. Mr. M'Kean, without delay, despatched a special messenger, at his private expense, for Mr. Rodney, who was in Delaware, and who reached the door of the State House in his boots and spurs, as Congress was opening on the morning of the fourth. He and Mr. M'Kean entered the hall in haste, and without time or opportunity to exchange a word about the thrilling subject of their thoughts, the proceedings began; the great question was put. Mr. M'Kean and Mr. Rodney answered for Delaware, and voted in the affirmative, which was two against Mr. Read; two of the disagreeing members from Pennsylvania were absent, and that State also voted in the affirmative. So that, by the resolution and perseverance of Mr. M'Kean, the final vote of all the provinces were unanimously cast in favor of the Declaration of Independence; an event of the most obvious and eminent importance to the Revolution."

In November term, 1765, and February term, 1766, Judge M'Kean ordered the officers of the court to proceed with their duties upon unstamped paper. This was the first order of the

kind made by any court in the colonies. He was a member of the Continental Congress, from the State of Delaware, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania at the same time. Both States claimed him. He was the only member who, without interruptions, filled his seat in Congress from its opening in 1774 until after the peace in 1783. During this period of time, he was President of Congress; colonel of a regiment of volunteers under Washington, for one campaign; Chief Justice of Pennsylvania for twenty-four years, and afterwards Governor of that State for eight years.

He died in Philadelphia, June 24th, 1817, in the eightyfourth year of his age, loaded with honors.

Posterity will cherish his memory, as one of the most able and useful fathers of a mighty republic.

Cancia mens recti fameæ mendocia ridet.

CHAPTER XI.

PROPENSITIES.

Blood-Birth-United States-Foreigners-Religion - Pagans - Christians-The sober and frantic-But few honest-Bear the whole load of society-The rest complain-Lazy-Rude-Cheat-Corporations-Hy

pocrisy-Church-Revolutions-Illuminations-Office-Taverns-Gaming-Fire companies-Lynching-Mobs-Riots-Hatred-Extract-Legislative votes-Banks-Bankrupts-Orders-Labor-Extracts-Debt

ors-Cheating-Forgery--Fraud-Embezzlement-Judges--Office hunters-Property--Character-Rabble-True distinctions-St. Augustine's church-Depravity-Motives-Changes.

IT has already been stated that education will not change or purify the natural depravities of the human heart, and that they are inherent and radical, and secretly constitute the permanent and invincible propensities of our nature.

No evidence has been so conclusive of these facts as the total failure of the extraordinary facilities and encouragement furnished by the United States for the moral and mental improvement of the millions of emigrants to this country. Fortunately for Europe, and unfortunately for us, they are of the worst class. This is acknowledged by all respectable foreigners. Their offspring, whatever may have been their opportunities for improvement, constantly betray the bad blood and degraded breed of their ancestors.

When these inherent elements of human nature are irritated or provoked, they dart out like an adder, in defiance of all the cautions and constraints of education, which will no more restrain or destroy them than a mountain piled upon a diamond will extinguish its inherent powers of brightness. A strong evidence of these general facts, and also of the truth of religion, is, that religion or conscience is a primary and overruling impulse; that it is most quick and lively with the wicked: and that it involuntarily starts up with, and rebukes all sinful emotions of the heart. It is the natural impulse of sin confronted by the pricks

of conscience. This conflict is, of course, more frequent and pungent with the bad than the good.

Hence so much hypocrisy and so many agonies in times of peril, and at death by the wicked.

Every human being acknowledges some sort of religion, some Supreme Cause, and, however hardened, secretly dreads the horrors of hereafter. The pagans make fervent devotions; infidels believe in an overruling spirit; and atheists acknowledge a Divine essence.

They all crouch before the inward and secret rebukes of the conscience. It may be baffled and defied, but it cannot be extinguished.

The forms and outward professions employed by men to demonstrate the sincerity of their faith and worship, are as various as their natures, and range from the silent spirit meditation of the Quaker, up to the furious ranting of the fanatic. Perhaps a quiet and solemn communion with the soul is a stronger proof of true religion than vanity, ostentation, or penance, and castigation or boisterous vociferations of praise and worship.

RELIGION.

"If religion were a thing altogether external, then all the appliances and means of operation which are set in motion would be of some avail. If it consisted wholly in going to meeting, in preaching or praying, or any sort of excitement, commonly so called, why then it would be well to multiply services without number. But I fear that the tendency of such things is, in general, to abstract the attention of mankind from its essential character, its vital principles and habits, and fix it on a substitute, which is comparatively of little value.

"After not a short experience, I am strongly convinced that all extraordinary means of promoting religion, vulgarly called, are useless; that the tendency of extraordinary professions is to make men hypocrites: and, that anything external, beyond the regular observance of the Lord's Day and the services, and punctual support of religious instruction and worship, is of doubtful expediency."-(REV. HENRY COLMAN'S European Life and Manners, vol. i., pages 150 and 151.)

Yet, all pretensions and professions of religion should be treated with respect, and never made an object of derision. They evidence at least an effort to do right; and while persons