sion in the Theological schools. The following table will show that our colleges are generally prosperous, and on the increase. Undergraduates in 1840. Undergraduates in 1852.

Harvard College,

The law of action and re-action, in reference to a supply of ministers, is slow in its operations, and requires a considerable reach of time to work out its appropriate results. A period of nine years at least, is requisite to carry through the education of a minister from its beginning to its end, even when the process goes steadily forward, without interruption. But as a very large proportion of the candidates for the ministry in New England are poor, or at best in moderate circumstances in life, it happens, perhaps in the majority of cases, that this period must be extended one, two, or three years, to allow for an interval of teaching, between the close of the college course and the commencement of theological studies. Consequently, it is exceedingly difficult to adjust the supply to the actual demand. The process is like that which goes on in connection with our little inland lakes, which are fed almost wholly by concealed springs. Long after the dry season has commenced, and the surface of the earth is parched with drought, these lakes continue to present an overflowing fullness. On the other hand, in the autumn, long after the fall rains have set in, drenching again and again the surface of the earth, these lakes are seen half empty and unsightly, still waiting to feel the influence of causes, which have been for some time at work.

There was a time about the year 1840, when the great interest which had for many years been felt in the subject of ministerial education, and the great efforts which had been put forth in its behalf among the churches, had resulted at length, in a very unusually large supply of ministers. The earnest prayers, which for fifteen years had been offered up on this subject, at many a fireside, as well as in the conference meeting and church, had been answered, and we had an abundant supply. We then fell to criticising the past. We began to look back, and discover how many mistakes had been made, during the process. We had reasons, many and various, why so many

men should not have been brought forward, and this general state of mind has continued, in a greater or less degree, ever since. Young men, who have been preparing themselves to enter the sacred profession, have met with little of that warmhearted sympathy and affection that was extended to this class of persons, in earlier periods. Many who have had strong impulses in this direction, have been discouraged and unnerved for want of this sustaining sympathy and approbation on the part of Christian friends, and have been led to low and worldly standards of duty. Many more, who would have adorned the ministerial profession, and who might easily have been persuaded to prepare themselves for this sacred calling, had the proper motives been brought to bear upon them, have remained at rest, never dreaming that it was either fit or practicable for them to leave the sphere in life in which they were moving, for the work of the ministry. Hence it is, that with a great increase of population, and perhaps a still greater increase of wealth and ability, the Theological Seminaries of our order, in New England, contain, at the present time, a little more than half the number of students that were found in them thirteen or fourteen years ago.

And after all, what is the wonderful mistake that was made during those former days of zeal and activity in this cause? Many things might have been better, had they been otherwise, and many things would have been otherwise, had there been a larger previous experience. But "what is the chaff to the wheat?" If we accept nothing in this world, unless it is absolutely perfect, we have but a small chance for progress.. It requires but a very little examination, to enable one to perceive, that the vigorous movement in behalf of this cause, years ago, stands most nearly connected with whatever of progress we have since made, and with whatever of strength we have at present. A very large proportion of the present active ministerial force, in connection with the Congregational and New School Presbyterian bodies, is due to the energy with which this work of training men for the ministry was prosecuted twenty years ago. "Let the dead then bury their dead," but let us not sit, wasting our time and our strength, in idle regrets and vain imaginations, as to what might have been. There is an earnest demand for new activity, if we would be prepared to meet the responsibilities which the future is to devolve upon us. In matters of this kind, to act in season, is the dictate of highest wisdom. There is an immense loss of time, and waste of strength, in lingering, until the full weight of this evil is upon us, before we begin to take measures for our relief.

Already, the tendencies which are so obvious from a survey of our theological schools, begin to reveal themselves pretty distinctly among the churches. The following table, the items of which are copied from the minutes of the several State Associations of New England, of the Congregational order, for the years 1851 and 1852, exhibits very clearly a downard tendency. Under the head of ministers, we include pastors and stated supplies.

In this table, Connecticut more nearly holds her ground than any other of the States, but even in Connecticut there is a light relative decrease, while in all the other States the tendency downward is more decided. We have seen only a portion of the statistics of these States for the present year, and we are not certain that they are yet fully published. It may be true, that the minutes of the present year will not seem entirely to confirm the evidence to be derived from the above table, because as a matter of course there will be many alternations in statistics of this kind. A large number of vacant churches, in a given State, may have supplied themselves with pastors during the past year, and thus, for the time being, the State will present a more hopeful aspect. But we cannot doubt, from various kinds of information, touching this subject, that the general tendency at present is fairly exhibited in this table, and that the same order of things will continue for some time to come. There is reason to believe that the number of candidates for the ministry in the earlier stages of study is slightly increasing, but the advance is not of so marked a character as to produce any very sensible effects.

ART. VII.-DANIEL WEBSTER.

A Discourse delivered before the Faculty, Students and Alumni of Dartmouth College, on the day preceding Commencement, July 27, 1853, commemorative of Daniel Webster. By RUFUS CHOATE. Boston and Cambridge: James Munroe & Co. 1853.

It is now more than a year since Mr. Webster left us to return not "until the heavens be no more.' His death called forth such an universal and profound sorrow, as surprised even his friends. The national grief has been expressed in every appropriate way-by the booming cannon and the tolling bell, the funeral service and the commemorative discourse. Our publications, from the daily journal to the quarterly review, have teemed with biographical notices, criticisms, and eulogies. Some have uttered praise without measure, some have censured without discrimination, a few have tempered eulogy with truth. Several circumstances having prevented us at the time from joining in this general expression of feeling and opinion, we take the opportunity afforded by the publication of Mr. Choate's splendid commemorative discourse, to put on record some account of the life and opinions of the great New Englander, and to give our views of him as a man and a statesman.

As it does not fall within our plan to make any farther use of the discourse of Mr. Choate, at the present time, we take the occasion to express the opinion, that it will add to his already well-established, but growing reputation. Great as he is, and great as he is admitted to be, by his countrymen, there is, we believe, a wider and more enduring fame for him, than is expected by many of his admirers. Even some of his best qualities are often overlooked, as when, being dazzled by the reflection of sun-light, we quite forget that the rays come from the polished surface of solid metal. In the blaze of his imagination, we are apt not to see how broad and robust is his understanding, and how keen is the vision of his reason. What we mean was

happily expressed by an equal, if not a kindred genius, in a speech delivered in the recent Constitutional Convention of Massachusetts. "Many compliments," said Mr. Dana, “have been paid to that distinguished gentleman, in this House, for his beauty of fancy, wealth of language, and charm of manner. These expressions are naturally drawn from those who have

heard and studied him but little. But I can say that it is the opinion of those who have heard him most, know him best, and studied him the longest-the judges on the bench and his brethren at the bar-that but for these fascinations, he would be recognized at first by all, as he is by them, as the greatest master of logic we have amongst us." But we must hasten to our task, and we do so expressing in the meantime our hope, that Mr. Choate will soon favor the public with a collected edition of his various publications.

In one of the books of Samuel, there is a long list of the names of the men who were distinguished in the reign of David, three of whom are spoken of as "the three chief mighty men." Our national annals will furnish a similar example. In our contemporary history, we can name many eminent men who have recently passsd off the stage, or who yet fill stations of trust and honor. Generals, naval heroes and statesmen, judges, poets, historians and divines, pass before us in grave procession. Our eyes linger on the forms of Kent and Story, of Emmons, Channing and Stuart, of Allston and Cooper, of Jackson and of Taylor. And there is yet another, whose career of public service began under the administration of Washington, was continued with increasing honor under every successive president, until he occupied the office of chief magistrate, and under the dome of the capitol, drew to a close most glorious and hallowed by the out-gushing plaudits of a mighty nation, as his remains were borne to the ancestral resting-place at Quincy. But still there were three men, in our time, who for their intellectual vigor, their position, and their sway over their countrymen, towered over all others, "proudly eminent." In a generation prodigal of distinguished men, Webster, Calhoun, and Clay, stood out distinctly from all the rest as men of special mark; and of these three, the first, like Adino the Eznite, was chief. Among the others he was facile princeps, although he took the highest seat, not without a tremendous effort, but still triumphantly. Nor from that lofty eminence shall the course of time, nor the capricious turns of public opinion, ever cast him down.

These three men were born not far from the same time; one in Virginia, another in South Carolina, and the third in New Hampshire. They all entered public life while young, continued in it through a prolonged life, and retired from the scene just after that great epoch in our history, when an empire on the Pacific coast was added to the list of the free States. Mr.. Clay was the child of a poor man, who could give him none of