concession,-some real or imaginary right, or to assert some principle deemed indispensable to liberty and justice."

It is not our province, if even within the compass of our abilities, to seek or point out a remedy for these evils; they are deep-seated, and inherent in the American system of internal government, weak and impotent as it confessedly is, in exacting an obedience to the laws, framed for the protection, and proper control of its citizens-administered as they are known to be, with a laxity that directly encourages their violation, and extends immunity to the offender, proportioned only to the daring and deep atrocity of his crime. A turbulent and factious spirit has preserved itself of late years, in every intersection of the country, that scoffs at all order, tramples under foot the supremacy of all law, and only limits its licentiousness to the standard of its uncertain, and vacillating will. A la lanterne !—A la lanterne! was the cry of the French revolution. "Down with the Senate,"- "down with the judiciary," -"down with aristocracy," "down with the banks, and all monopoly,"-the war-whoop of the more modern revolutionists of the new world, proclaimed from the house-tops, the high-ways and corners of every street, and made the subject-the grateful theme, of every late public disquisition.

It was a convenient maxim of the late President Jackson, for whom, good intentions are claimed by every party, distinctly and openly avowed by him,

PRESIDENT JACKSON'S MAXIM.

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that-" every man had a right to interpret the laws as he understood them." This fallacy, no doubt, formed the governing principle of his own conduct and administration, and led him into excesses in the government of the country, irreconcilable with the letter, as well as the spirit of the constitution. Whether the laws were supervened for the substitution of any new experiment, or set aside as unsuited to his purpose, he assumed the measure of every change upon his own "responsibility," and without any other excuse to sanction the exception. But the seeds of angry discord, of turbulence and crime, were deep-seated and early sown in the social and political system of his country, and scarcely needed the radiated influence of his example to nurture them into vitality and existence; they have since grown to a fearful exuberance, matured with the blood and tears of many a victim, and almost without parallel in the history of the most barbarous ages, to furnish details of similar atrocity.

The country is familiarised with these excesses; men now regard them as of every day occurrence; they are spoken of without surprise, and even endeavoured to be sustained by many of the educated -the more intelligent, and better instructed of American citizens, who assume their necessity, in cleansing the social and political body from the foul excrescences, that in despite of human legislalation and foresight, they insist, in support of their position, may sometimes exist amongst them; and

where, they equally assert, no other legislative or human interference can possibly avail. Being themselves the "source and foundation of all law," they conceive they have a right to adopt these, or other means, to any change, or sudden emergency that may arise, needing the influence and example of summary punishment, and where the laws of the country, from their tardiness, cease to have effect, or possibly cannot reach.

But this system is not of late invention; it has been the rule for many past years in the southern states, known under the dark and comprehensive appellation of "Lynch law;" it has of late only, extended its influence or practice to the Eastern, or Atlantic cities, and at the rate that it has advanced, assuming new daring in its hourly progress, bids fair to become at no very distant day, the generally adopted code of the United States; without indeed, that it is at once and speedily checked in its career, by some more decided and better regulated mode of internal government, comprehending an entire remodelling of the present existing laws, or at least their manner of distribution, and substituting others more suited to the wants, the necessities, and peculiar situation of the country. It is weakness, and of an erring kind to disguise the truth-the indisputable and notorious fact, that under the present constitution, the executive power of the government is a cypher, a mere nonentity-its efforts, a positive burlesque in legislation, perfectly incompetent and useless, for any beneficial, or essentially good

purpose, and unable of itself to check disorder, or extend protection against this lawless and iniquitous system, to the humblest and veriest citizen of the republic. It is to the forbearance alone, of an inflammable-a vicious and easily excited population, that the country is at any time indebted for the temporary peace and quiet it may enjoy. How long it shall remain undisturbed in this unenviable repose, is an enigma, that "time which casts its shadows before," can alone unravel.

The derivation of the term " Lynch law," from the notoriety of the proceedings enacted under its sanction, has become a matter of some curiosity : we have endeavoured to trace its source, but find some difficulty in determining its origin, from the varied statements-each being insisted on, as the correct version of its early parentage: the following account, which is generally credited, appears to us the most consistent.

John Lynch, the terrible judge, was a native of South Carolina, who emigrated to Kentucky shortly after the pioneer, Daniel Boone, had established himself there. The settlers on the "dark and bloody ground," as Kentucky was then called, were far from any seat of justice; the nearest court-house being at a distance of 450 miles. The appointment of Lynch as a judge, and the first exercise of his jurisdiction, took place in the case of an Indian, who stole a horse from Daniel Boone. The Indian was caught, almost in the act, and Boone immediately instituted a court, and twelve jurors, to try the offence.

John Lynch was elected chief justice. The Indian was tried, convicted, and sentenced to receive thirtynine stripes, which were forthwith given. The authority thus given to Lynch was retained by him, and trials under "Lynch law" were had, whenever an outrage was committed. Lynch was a daring dissolute fellow, addicted to every species of vice. It has not been alleged, however, that his decisions were partial or unjust. He out-lived Boone, and resided, during the later part of his life, on an island in the Mississippi. The author of the geography of the Mississippi, speaks of him as one of those remarkable men of the "buccaneers of the west."*

*The biography of Boone is entitled to a passing notice, as of one of the most extraordinary, and the most remarkable of the early pioneers of the "Far West," whose privations and extreme difficulties-whose hair-breadth escapes by "flood and field,” bid fair to perpetuate his well-earned fame to the latest period, and identify his early history with that of his country. The following particulars of his life, lately published in the United States, are not without interest.

Daniel Boone was born in Virginia, and was from infancy addicted to hunting in the woods. In May, 1769, he set out on an expedition with five companions, to explore the then unknown territory bordering on the river Ohio, and now known as the populous and wealthy states of Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. After a number of escapes from conflicts with bears and wild animals, encounters with Indians, and escapes from storms and floods, the party dwindled down to two persons, Daniel and his brother, who were left in the interior of Kentucky, the only white men in the wilderness. They built a cabin, and spent the winter of 1769-70, alone in the woods, in a secluded jungle, out of the reach of the Indians. They had a