Critical Notices [pp. 282-292]

SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER.
obscurity is owing to my dullness of apprehension, for they ap- d
peared to argue it with great earnestness and feeling, as if they t
understood it.
"I shall put my interpretation upon it, Mr. President, and
argue it accordingly. s
" Whether at public elections'-that is, for members of Con- e
gress, members of the Legislature, &c.' should the votes offaction'-I don't know what'faction' has got to do with it; and
therefore I shall throw it out.' Should the votes predominate,
by internal suggestions or the bias,' I don't know what the article
is put in here for. It seems to me, it ought to be, be biased by
'jurisprudence' or law. In short, Mr. President, I understand
the question to be, should a man vote as he pleases, or should t
the law say how he should vote?" i
Here Mr. Longworth rose and observed, that though Mr.
Craig was on his side, he felt it due to their adversaries, to state,
that this was not a true exposition of the subject. This exposition settled the question at once on his side; for nobody would,
for a moment contend, that the law should declare how men
should vote. Unless it be confined to the vote of faction and the
bias of jurisprudence, it was no subject at all. To all this Mr.
McDermot signified his unqualified approbation; and seemed
pleased with the candor of his opponent.
" Well," said Mr. Craig, " I thought it was impossible that
any one should propose such a question as that to the society;
but will Mr. Longworth tell us, if it does not mean that, what
does it mean? for I don't see what great change is made in it by
his explanation."
Mr. Longworth replied, that if the remarks which he had just
made, and his argument, had not fully explained the subject to
Mr. Craig, he feared it would be out of his power to explain it.
"Then," said Mr. Craig, " I'll pay my fine, for I don't understand a word of it."
The next one summoned to the debate was Mr. Pentigall.
Mr. Pentigall was one of those who would never acknowledge
his ignorance of any thing, which any person else understood;
and that Longworth and McDermot were both masters of the
subject, was clear, both from their fluency and seriousness. He
therefore determined to understand it, at all hazards. Consequently he rose at the President's command, with considerable
self-confidenice. I regret, however, that it is impossible to commit Mr. Pentigall's manner to paper, without which, his remarks
lose nearly all their interest. He was a tall, handsome man; a
little theatric in his manner, rapid in his delivery, and singular
in his pronunciation. He gave to the e and i, of our language,
the sound of u-at least his peculiar intonations of voice, seemed to give them that sound; and his rapidity of utterance seemed to change the termination, "tion" into "ah." With all his
peculiarities, however, he was a fine fellow. If he was ambitious, he was not invidious, and he possessed an amicable disposition. He proceeded as follows:
"Mr. President, —This internal suggestion which has been
so eloquently discussed by Mr. Longworth, and the bias ofjurisprudence which has been so ably advocated by Mr. McDermothem! Mr. President, in order to fix the line of demarkation between-ah-the internal suggestion and the bias of jurisprudence-Mr. President, I think, sir, that —ah-the subject must
be confined to the vote of faction, and the bias of jurisprudence"
Here Mr. Pentigall clapt his right hand to his forehead, as
though he had that moment heard some overpowering news;
and after maintaining this position for about the space of ten seconds, he slowly withdrew his hand, gave his head a slight inclination to the right, raised his eyes to the President as if just
awakening from a trance, and with a voice ofthe most hopeless
despair, concluded with "I don't understand the subject, Muster
rrusidunt."
The rest of the members on both sides submitted to be fined
rather than attempt the knotty subject; but by common consent,
the penal rule was dispensed with. Nothing now remained to
close the exercises, but the decision of the Chair.
The President, John Nuble, was a young man, not unlike
Craig in his turn of mind; though he possessed an intellect a
little more sprightly'than Craig's. His decision was short.
*Gentlemen," said he, "I do not understand the subject.
This," continued he, (pulling out his knife, and pointing to the
silvered or cross side of it,) "is'Internal Suggestions.' And
this" (pointing to the other, or pile side,) " is' Bias of Jurisprudence:'" so saying, he threw up his knife, and upon its fall,
determined that' Internal Suggestions' had "ot it; and ordered
he decision to be registered accordingly.
It is worthy of note, that in their zeal to accomplish their purpose, Longworth and McDermot forgot to destroy the lists of
subjects, from which they had selected the one so often mentioned; and one of these lists containing the subject discussed, with
a number more like it, was picked up by Mr. Craig, who made
a public exhibition of it, threatening to arraign the conspirators
before the society, for a contempt. But, as the parting hour was
at hand, he overlooked it with the rest of the brotherhood, and
often laughed heartily at the trick.
"The Militia Company Drill," is not by the author of
the other pieces but has a strong family resemblance, and
is very well executed. Among the innumerable descriptions of Militia musters which are so rife in the land,
we have met with nothing at all equal to this in the matter of broad farce.
"The Tutrf" is also capital, and bears with it a kind
of dry and sarcastic morality which will recommend it
to many readers.
".n Interesting Interviesw" is another specimen of
exquisite dramatic talent. It consists of nothing more
than a fac-simile of the speech, actions, and thoughts of
two drunken old men-but its air of truth is perfectly
inimitable.
"The Fox-HIlunt," "The Wax Works," and "1. Sage
Conversation," are all good-but neither as good as many
other articles in the book.
"The Shooting Jlatch," which concludes the volume,
may rank with the best of the Tales which precede it.
As a portraiture of the manners of our South-Western peasantry, in especial, it is perhaps better than any.
Altogether this very humorous, and very clever book
forms an sara in our reading. It has reached us per
mail, and without a cover. We will have it bound
forthwith, and give it a niche in our library as a sure
omen of better days for the literature of the South.
THE TEA PARTY.
Traits of the Tea Party: Published by Harper. Brothers.
This is a neat little duodecimo of 265 pages, including an Appendix, and is full of rich interest over and
above what the subject of the volume is capable of
exciting. In Boston it is very natural that the veteran
Hewes should be regarded with the highest sentiments
of veneration and affection. He is too intimately and
conspicuously connected with that city's chivalric records not to be esteemed a hero-and such indeed he
is-a veritable hero. Of the Tea Party he is the oldest-but not the only survivor. From the book before
us we learn the names of nine others, still living, who
bore a part in the drama. They are as follows-Henry
Purkitt, Peter Slater, Isaac Simpson, Jonathan Hunnewell, John Hooton, William Pierce, McIntosh,
Samuel Sprague, and John Prince.
Reminiscences such as the present cannot be too friequently laid before the public. alore than any thing else
do they illustrate that which can be properly called the
History of our Revolution —and in so doifig how vastly
important do they appear to the entire Pause of civil
liberty? As the worthies of those great Pays are silking, one by one, from among us, the value of what is
known about them, and especially of what may be
known through their memories, is increasing in a rapidly
augmenting ratio. Let us treasure up while we may,
the recollections which are so valuable novw, and which
will be more than invaluable hereafter.
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