lege in 1804, when he entered on the study of law, under Chief Justice Parsons, at Newburyport, and married Mary Ann, daughter of Gen. Amasa Davis. He was an eminent counsellor, and was an active member of the State Legislature. During the late war with Great Britain, he commanded a regiment of State militia, in defence of the coast. In 1824 he became editor of the Boston Gazette; and conducted, also, the Boston Monthly Magazine, one of the most refined periodicals of polite literature, abounding in his own tasteful contributions. In 1826 Col.! Knapp established the National Republican, which existed only two years, when he resumed the profession of law, at New York. An anecdote is related of Mr. Knapp, that a certain publisher of a periodical clipped off the end of a contribution from his pen, because it was taking up too much space, who, when remonstrated with for putting "a full stop" to his article where there should have been only a comma, after several abortive attempts at pacification, said, "O! let it go in, Knapp; let it go in! It is well enough as it is; just look at it; see, now; beside, you know, nobody will read it. So, what's the odds, Knapp?" The whole article was indignantly withdrawn. He was not always verbally accurate; but his diction was easy and graceful, and he gathered metaphors for illustration with as much ease and taste as a florist selects the beauties of the garden and the meadow. He was honored with the personal friendship and intimacy of Archbishop Cheverus; at whose suggestion he received the degree of doctor of laws from the college at Paris, in France. His biographical memoir of the venerable prelate was one of the most elegant performances of that sort. He was one of the best writers of eulogiums and sketches of character in the Union. His work on eminent lawyers, statesmen. and men of letters, now out of print, is a model for writers of biography. He was a very popular public speaker, being very fluent, easy, winning, and graceful. He was rich in anecdote, grave, lively and humorous. He had a decided disrelish for the technicalities of law; and the best of his days were devoted to literature. Long after the writings of the puny revilers of American genius shall have supplied the grocer with wrappings, and the book-worm with food, the Lectures on American Literature, by S. L. Knapp, will have a place in the library of the scholar, and minister to the instruction of young persons. In defending the literary reputation of others, he has given a work on which his own fame may securely rest. He was author of The Bachelors, and Other Tales, founded on American Incident and Character; Advice

in the Pursuits of Literature; Lives of Aaron Burr, Andrew Jackson, Daniel Webster, and Thomas Eddy; and several political orations. He was the editor of Hinton's United States, and the Library of Useful Knowledge. He was author, also, of Travels of Ali Bey in Boston and its vicinity; The Genius of Free Masonry, or a Defence of the Order; Female Biography of Different Ages and Nations; Public Character, comprising Sketches drawn from the Living and the Dead. He died at Hopkinton, Mass., July 8, 1838, aged fifty-four.

WILLIAM POWELL MASON.

JULY 4, 1827. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES.

"THERE are periods of the world," says Mr. Mason, "and portions of the earth, in which whole generations of men may go down silently and unnoticed to their graves, and at least enjoy the privilege of being forgotten; when, if they may not dare to expect the praises of posterity, they may yet hope to escape its reproaches. But such is not the period in which we live, nor such the country we inhabit.

"I will not endeavor to stimulate you to the performance of your duties, by promising you an immortality of fame in after ages. No; this is your birth-right; you cannot lose it. Neglect these duties. ruin your country, and disappoint the world; yet, fear not, your ancestors'. On the

names shall be immortal,—as immortal as your same page of history on which their names and deeds are recorded. and in as imperishable characters, shall yours, also, be inscribed. And when the future heroes of far-distant centuries shall turn back to that page for stimulants to their exertions, future statesmen and patriots look there for lessons of wisdom and virtue, and the future poet draw thence a noble theme for his aspiring muse, your name shall not be passed by unnoticed by them; the same voices that swell with praises and benedictions to the memories of your ancestors shall load yours with execrations and contempt. Let us, my countrymen. escape so disgraceful an immortality. Let us avert so disastrous a termination of our hitherto brilliant career. Let us turn from the

contemplation of the deeds and virtues of our ancestors, from felicitations on our own happy circumstances, and from musings on the many bright and glowing objects which spread themselves out in the splendid prospect before us, and endeavor to expose, whilst we may yet avoid them, some of the rocks and precipices which lay in our path, and which are not the less dangerous because they are decked with flowers. The moralist truly tells us, that the most perfect things of this world yet carry with them the taint of imperfection. The all-glorious works of nature require the constantly sustaining and corrective hand of their great Creator. And in man, and in all the labor of his hands and all the emanations of his mind, are contained the seeds of decay and dissolution. We may not hope to obtain for ourselves, or our country, an exemption from this universal law; but we may hope to effect what is within the power of man to do, what it was meant he should do. We may hope, by constant watchfulness and exertions, to repress the growth of every noxious principle in our nature, and to stimulate and quicken into perfect operation all the great and noble ones."

William Powell was a son of Hon. Jonathan Mason, and born in Boston; and was prepared for college under Rev. Dr. Prentiss, of Medfield. He graduated at Harvard College in 1811, at which time he engaged in a conference respecting the character of New England, as resulting from the civil, literary and religious institutions of our forefathers. He read law under Hon. Charles Jackson; commenced the practice of law as partner with Hon. William Sullivan; is a counsellor-at-law; and married Hannah, a daughter of Daniel Dennison Rogers. At the festival in Faneuil Hall, on the day of the delivery of the oration at the head of this article, Hon. James Savage publicly gave the sentiment, that the orator is the Mason who builds by principle an edifice that shall last till doomsday. Mr. Mason was a Boston representative, and editor of Reports of Cases in the U. S. Circuit Court, from 1816 to 1830, comprising the Decisions of Judge Story, in 5 vols. 8vo. They will honorably class, for learning and daily practice, with the ablest reports of Great Britain. Mr. Mason was seven years treasurer and secretary of the Social Law Library.

i....

JULY 4, 1828. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES.

WAS born in Taunton, Mass.; educated at the academy under Mr. Doggett, and graduated at Brown University, in 1808; was a tutor in that college for nearly two years; and read law with Hon. Theron Metcalf during a portion of his novitiate; settled in Boston; and married Amelia Bertody. Is a counsellor-at-law; and was a Boston representative in 1826. He delivered an address for the Massachusetts Peace Society, in 1831, which was published. Mr. Sumner is eminent for chamber counsel, of truly estimable character, and has frequently been a candidate for Congress, and for the mayoralty of Boston; but, not being of the popular party, was always defeated. He is a decided friend of popular education, and has been twice elected to the school committee.

In his oration on national independence, Mr. Sumner advances an opinion that should ever impress the public mind: "I would not predict the dismemberment of our Union at any future period. I would gladly indulge the belief that such an event could never, in the nature of things, come to pass. But nothing is more certain, and nothing more obvious to the common observer, than that all the virtue, and all the wisdom, and all the patriotism, that we can ever hope to excrcise as a nation, will be necessary to that equal adjustment of general laws to the various rights and interests of the people which alone can preserve our Union."

NATHANIEL GREENE.

JAN. 8, 1828. ON THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS.

that town at the period Owing to the pecuniary

WAS born at Boscawen, N. H., May 20, 1797, and was son of Nathaniel Greene, a reputable counsellor in when Daniel Webster opened an office there. reverses and subsequent death of his father, in 1807, Nathaniel found himself without a home, dependent solely on his widowed mother, and his own exertions, for support. Having made good progress at the

village school of his native town during the short period of his elementary course, he was enabled to procure a situation in a variety store; but the business of measuring tape and weighing tea was uncongenial to his mind. He had read the Memoirs of Franklin, and it became the great object of his ambition to be an editor. He was entirely absorbed in this desire; and the mode of effecting it was the great theme of his thoughts by day and dreams by night. At length, a prospect opened to his delighted vision. The famous Isaac Hill, who afterwards rose to the highest eminence in political life, established a Democratic paper, in May, 1809, at Concord, entitled the New Hampshire Patriot. This paper was taken where young Greene was a clerk, and he pored over it with great enthusiasm; and, on the fourth of July, 1809, he proposed his service to Mr. Hill, who received him as an apprentice to the printing business. He continued nearly two years in this office; when, finding the prospect of promotion too remote from the editorial station, he engaged in a neighboring office, where, at the premature age of fifteen, he became editor of the Concord Gazette, until January, 1814, when he removed to Portsmouth, where, until the next year, he assumed the charge of the New Hampshire Gazette, published by Messrs. Beck & Foster. In April, 1815, he removed to Haverhill, Mass., where he was in the employ of Burrell & Tileston, for a period of two years, having the entire charge of the Haverhill Gazette, published by them, which he ably conducted. In May, 1817, Mr. Greene made his first appearance as an editor and publisher in his own name, and on his own account, in a new Democratic paper, the Essex Patriot, which he conducted until invited to Boston, for the purpose of establishing another Democratic journal in that city. He complied with this invitation, and established the Boston Statesman, which was issued Feb. 6, 1821, semi-weekly, then tri-weekly, and, finally, daily. It soon became the leading Democratic journal of the State, and bore the same relation to this party as had the old Independent Chronicle to the Republican party, and exercised a controlling influence on the politics of the nation. It has ever been strong for the union of the States.

Here we cannot resist the desire to remark, that, however much the two great national parties of Whig and Democratic may be at variance on the modes of public policy, no candid mind can doubt that patriotic love of country is the moving motive of all the conscientious leaders of conflicting national policy. Is it not a question whether the democracy