The New York Herald Newspaper, February 26, 1852, Page 7

wonderful northern: ions, but to enlist their sym- pathies in aid of @ gallant band of mon, who have ¢ from the reat of tor six y been hidden th mapvkind. 6 lecturer then gave s geographical deecription of the Arctic Ocean, which was, ho said, previous to 1816, a great blank in the chart of the world, but which has since been surveyod and do- lineated. He also discussed tho practical utility of the explorations which had been made, and their results in determining the exact shape of our planet, and adding to astronomical information. In 1819 Sir John Ross had navigated Baffia’s Bay; Captain Parry made other discoveries in tho subsequent ear; and others also followed. In 1815 Great iritain determined to renew these expeditions. ‘The ships Erebus and Terror were fitted out for th: purpose, and Sir John Franklin was selected to com- mand them. The sympathy felt for his fate is not confined to his own country, but extends to the whole universe. He advorted to tho sufferings and labors of himself and bis gallant band in their pre- vious expedition; but they had overcome all difi- culties, and returned triumphant. To the great Somars of endurance which Sir John Franklin had lisplayed, ho united noble and benevolent traits of character. He is known this day, to the Iadians of Nerth America, as ‘tho great chiet who would tot kill a mosquito.” In May, 1815, this new expedition had departed to that place, from whence they had not yet returned. They were last seen in Baflin’s Bay. Tho ice of that region is known as tho pack ico. Sometimes this is one mass of consolidation, at others the ice ja broken up into fragments of all sizos. Th ico was the seat of Franklin’s first imprigon- * ment, and the American expedition remained in it for two seasons. When the year 1800 arrived this gallant band had been away five years. Tho whole Civilized world hed manifested its anxiety about their fate. An appeal to our own country was mado by the noble Lady Franklin, and you all know how this appeal was responded to by one of our fellow-citizens. The expedition fitted out by bim left New York on the 23d of May, 1850; onthe 7th of July, they were fairly within the waters of Lancaster Sound. After three months of arduous duties, they found themselves opposite Wellington . Channel, when thoy made the great dissovery of the expedition—namely, the graves of some of Sir John Fravklin’s party on Beachy Island, marked by their simple headstones. Here, where everything spoke of desolation, shor were made to feel by the record of death, the life that had gono before them. Near tke grave of one—a lad named Dorington—was Fait of the skeleton of a fox; quite near wore the Gnders of the blacksmith’s shop, and a great num- ber of empty meat casos, hermetically sealed, and tor miles round they found the traces of hu- manity; and it was evident that in tho bay before them, now called Franklin’s Bay, had ventured that gallant commander and his bst cruise; but thero was no indication of ~ low they had left, or whither they had gene. There ould be little doubt, however, that Franklin had mroceeded to the North, ag the Magiish searchers wove he had not gone to the West. Mysterious as iad been his departure, Providence had ordained fat they should follow in his footsteps. Their ves- els wore soon surrounded by the ive, which fasten- d close around them, ard they were rapidly drift ag tothe North. Tho thermometer fell far below bro; ice formed ontheir bedding; soup froze on tho ablo They drifted to latitude 75 65, when hey sawa high mountain land, which was named lesry Grinrell hoy were carried along as pecs without being able to leave any mark be- ind them; andthey thought how probable it was hat the treacherous ice had, in like manzer, closed aon Sir John Franklin, and that the wind had rought him on stillfurther. It is now the sixth tinter since ho passed beyond the recorded frontier f the world. bat has been his fate? Can he ave curvived? This is the only quession which it ecame him to discuss beforo a community that ay contribute to his probable ressue. The casual- es attending Arctic investigations, though fro- uently disastrous, are not generally attended with 8 of life. The ice masses almost always give no- ise of their approach, and not unfrequently afford ridges for escape. In the gale of 1832, inwhich so aany vessels were wrecked, out ofa thousand men, rho were cast upon the ice, only seven lost their ives; and he considered that it was hardly probable hat both the Erebus and Terror were simul- ancously destroyed. Lancaster and Wellington ounds were crowded with life, which form tho food f the Esquimaux, so that a cast off party might wocure and lay up materials for sustenance, if uney iad only saved a harpoon or a knife; but with pow- lerand shot they could have an unceasing supply ‘f food from the animal migrations He would tather take his chanses of life in the polar zone than in the centre of civilized Europe; but it will id he) be asked, can Europeans resist the effects #f the climate? In reply, he would only say that Europeans have so lived. In tho island of Spitzer- en, parties of Russian fur hunters so live. Ho had fur seen a Dane there wao had lived sixty oat of cighty years without ever losing sight of saoiv; but he might also refer to Sir John Koss, who was im- rivoned in the ico for four years, and yet had lost ut one man. He, the lecturer, was of opiaion thatthe search for Sir John Franklin was not among the projects which could be exposed as use- less by any sound argument; but hofelt the proba- bility of his ships having been hemmed in by the ice se theirswero, aad drifting on down to the north in Wellington Channel They had beon_approaching & region unknown to voyagers, from which no mis- sive could be sent to tell of them, and out of which they could not, unaidod, escaps. But happily for them, it was otherwise ordered. Winds from the north set in, and they drifted to the south, and soon again they came within sight of the isthmus of the graves Toa quoztion from one of the audiencs, the lecturer staied that the mean width of this isth- mus was thirty miles. It then becamo evident to them that they were leaving behind them tho ro- gions where only it was probable that their svarch could be of any avail. On the firss of December they had passed Lancaster Sound. It wa3 then that, in expectation of immediate destruction, an aud efficers. Siedges were constructed, and all reparations made to meet the worst that might ba- Ri them. Ths Ressue was abandoned, and the other vessel, the Advance, received ail hands. Dr. Kane gave an interesting description of their con dition at this critical period. Tako, said ho, an lanbroken area ofice, aad imagine two little veasels enclosed in it. From one ot these vessels hangs out, noon and midnight, a lantern, and men aro har- neseed inte sleighe, and preparing themselves to en- counter the daugers aud fatigues to which they may oon beexposed. Tue ics in whish they wore ene closed was five fect in thickness, sometimes ten, nd nearly resembling glass. Winter had crept pon them, and with winter, night. Theie knap- jacks never degerted thom, and chelr India rubber oat had oftea been launched, in expectation of the atastrophe. It pained him to recall this period. vey Were rapidly, all this timo, approacaiag Baf- x's Bay, of which regioathey kaow very litte; but Sir James Ross had alluded to it asa land bristling ith icebergs, and oat of which it was almost impos- ible for a vessel to escape At length theice broke, nil large black rivers floated through it; the ther. ometer was forty degrees below zero. One night hey were all suddenly called up; they cyme on eck, and sav awhito colossal mass which was oving right down on their brig, accompanied by he solemn orchestra of the ice voices. Oa came ho crest, from which they could see the solid blocks Now to the ship ae a pears f ico masonry tambling. trembling—che eolossal mass own upon them—is vithin twelve yard ow Within six yards, and now fthem. Suddenly its motion ceases, and it re- ius towering over them. They oxported ib to ear on them during the night, but it moved o farther, but etood there for five months, a onument of God’s mercy and man’s helplessness r. Kane then stated his conviction that Sir Jo ‘ranklin and his party had been carr: Into the Polar sea, where thoy remain , and asked how they werg to be resoued ween tho northern point whica tho A) ag ition bad reached, and thas at which Fran 8 is, perhaps net more than three of foar ban- ed miles interyene Shall it be that four huadrod ier, perhaps lees, defied the efforts of all ha- Why can we not traverse it, and psag We can do so; but wo must trast moire to yar own energies, and less to Our voasele. La a 10 whore nature has declared against all fluidity, escls are of nO AYA! A depot must be estab- hed, and a ¥8sgel placed in a secure harbor, wich Applies of food, clothing, and ail the appurtonances f a floating home; and then the country arouad ust be scoured by land parties, travelling with ltedge, tent, and India tabber boat. Such a plan perfectly practicable. ‘The Laglishhave already ravelled thus five, six, ani sevon hundred milos by and it is probable thxt, hencoforta, all Arctic ches Will be conducted on foot, vessels boing imply used as & means of transport. Tao crusade notyet ended. Those who he jjed, but they have only left the prize for others win, and the cry of rescue rings out from the cart of humanity. ‘[wo years ago, the fleid of ‘arch Was an ice-olad ocean—vague, inhospitable, acklees, Now itis a narcow sea, instinct wich lifo, n.d marked by tho traces of the missing men. We avo seen their footsteps in the snow; and is it now ‘at we ought to turn back! Have we no duty to riorm in this matter }—we, the poople of a country ich, but for tho exploration of such a mau as yarklin, would bave remained a trackloss plank tho eharts of the ocean. We have sprinkled the gorts of Mexico with offerings of our own blood, to in rome tinselled wreath of barren glory. ,we n shiver, and sink, and die, among the golien annels of the Sacramento; bat tor they gold ich uso cannot impair, nor death dotaca—cbo lemory of good deeds—that civic crowa th the words, ** Procive servato—have wo tion, and no eflicionoy, ia reserve for tha: ! ‘ne, in conclusion, aunoanced thas ho would, oa tare o3 ns Wied MeCwewt Ay 2. ‘a gone before havo | Spiritual Manifea tations, LECTURE IN BROOKLYN, BY DR. SCOTT—EXTRAORDI- NANY HISTORY OF THK PEREGRINATIONS OF THE #PIRITS OF TWELVE APOSTLES OF THE NEW 18M. On Tuesday evening, Dr. Soott gave a lecture on “Spiritual Manifestations,” at Moatague Hall, Brooklyn. Ho was accompanied on the stand by the Rev. Mr. Harris, pastor of the Seventh Day Baptist Church, in Elevonth street, Now York. Both gentlemen presented a cadaverous, uncarthly, wild appearance, produced, no doubt, by the influ- ence of the spirita. The lecturer seemed the more visionary of the two. He is tall, pale and gaunt, with remarkably heavy, dark brows projecting over sunken eyes, anda peculiar sepulchral voico—all which are calculated to strengthen the idea of his being a person accustomed to communications with tho other world, eithor above or below. Ho said he did not come before them to address them on any subject that would flatter their vanity, but on one of the greatest moment. It was either the greatest deception in the world, or it was con- neoted with man’s highest interests, both here aud hereafter, though ecorned and sneered at by the world. When wo first heard of the spirit rappings none was more incredulous than himself; and had ou person then told him that ho would stand up this evening to advocate the cause, he would have suspected himself of insanity. However, he was converted tothe faith, and was invited by a number of personsin New York to preach the gospel, and they undertook to pay the expenses. At tha: time several clergymen and editors were engaged in it. Last summer, the*‘mediums” came to Now York, and many believed that these wero spirits that gave manifestations, but he did not. During the rappings, not one question was ever answered to him, from men or saints, devils or angels. ‘There wero several clergymen in Now York, who espeuced the cause of the rappings; but be was still opposed to it. At longth, a friond, from Putnam county, wrote him a letter, and this was the begin- ning of his history in connection with the rappings. The gentleman in question wrote to him to say that,in New York, he (Dr. Scott) could get no answer to his questions from tho spirits, but if ae came to Putnam county he would get answers. This astonished him very much, for bis friend in Putnam county was not aware that he had beon seeking any answers from the spirits, and there was no way in which ho could know it, but by the com- munication of the spirits themselves. He (Dr. ) wont to Putram county; but when there, tho spirit said to him, through a little boy, that he must go to Auburn, whore his mother would converse with him. He was still incredulous, for he could get no avswers, except that his mother would talk to him at Auburn; but he said to the spirit, how ean I believe you? Why do you send me to Auburn! The spirit replied that thers was a bet- ter medium there. He went to Auburn, andthe spirit told him his mother would meet him at niae o'clock, and tell him everything. Ho went to the Tappers atthe appointed hour. He took every pro- caution against decoption. The room was locked, and no carpet was on the floor. The maidonname of his mother was distinctly spelled out to’ him, and there was no person there could know hor name, nor that he resided in Brocklyn Tho rap- pings then proceeded, and gayo a history of his childhood, and detailed all the circumstances of his mother’s death ; he was at that tiae twelve years old. The spirit of his mother asked him, Do you remember that when dying I took the Bible and put it te your heart, and entreated you to love, and study, ard obey it!” He recollected the cir- cumstance well, and was deeply affected; but still he was resolved not to be caught, and thought there might be some dolusion or humbug. Ho called up other relatives ; they came, and told him all about his private affairs, which none knew but himself. Then, indeed, ho knew the spirite were there, and he was informed further that he was sought after by Gedto make these revela- tions to him, beeause Christ was about to appear on earth, and these signs and wonders were to pre- pare men for hiscoming. He was, therefore, chosen to advocate the cause. Tho rappings commenced louder and louder, and told him many things which were wonderful, and explained to him the philoso- phy of the thing; but he had not time at present to explain to the audience. Ho immediately became a medium himself, and felt that ke could do almost everything through tho spirits. For instance, there was a table in the room, and whenever he asked the spirits to hold it down, all the persons in tho room could not raiee it, and when he asked the spirits to permit it to be raised, a child could lift it. In fact, the table was weighed, and was found to be light enough for any person to raise it. He concluded this must be psyohology. There wero fifteeen persons present who could bear tertimony to thie, and all of whom had tried it. It was then asked the spiri:s if they would permit the little boy who was the mediam to go outside the house. Tho spirits as sented, the boy went out, but the result was the same. Jthad been hinted that it might bo by machinery, magnetism, or some collusion or other; yet when the boy waa away the effect was the same, andthe table was in the house of ua- believers. In these interviews the spirits always impressed him with the necessity of boldly defend- ing the gospel, and coming out more thoroughly from the world. The spirits told him that he was not as yet altogether a believer. He stiil had some hesitation, but his brother beside him hers (Rev. Mr. Harris) and he engaged onesies ina thorough investigation, both determined to save the other from any fraud or collusion, and after a long trial and numerous experiments, they came to the con- clusion that their movements were all from the spirit of God. They had communication with Ss. Paul, who told them that a change was about totake place in the world; that war and carnage would cease; organization was entered into by the commander | As ey ceeorem aca mpuiog snl ey, evrcaey ort he was exhorted to go forth and preach. He (Dr. 5S.) told the spirit that he feared tho world would scoff at him, that his frionds would all forsake him, and that all his earthly interests would be blighted. The rappings then replied, that if he believed this was a philosophy froma higher sphere to exalt man from hig present condition, why should he care about thesetemporary ma‘ters! Ho felt satisfied, and then he got fartner manifestations. Ho made up his mind for the work, boxed up his goods, has- tled them together, and he was likea mad mao with excitement, ‘The spirit exhorted him to go to Syracuse, and be was sent from thonse to Aaburn, where the spirit asked him to invite his brother (Rev. Mec. Harris). He wrotehim a letter, but etrange to say, the spirit communicated t2 his bro- ther the invitation, and he set out without waitin for the letter, and actually passed it on the road. During the winter, the spirits would tell him all that Mr. Harrie was doing, and would toli_ Mr. Harris all that he (Dr. Scott) was doing. Thoy both kept notesin memorandum books, and never fourd # single mistake on either side. They printed in Auburn these revelations uader tho title of “Dis- closurcs of the Spirits,” insixtesa numbors. But his heart still yearned for Brooklyn, his own place, and be weuld now tell them how he got back. The epirits told him that he must now go tothe meun- tains where God woald come nearer to him, and where the influence of external magnetism weuld not operate to counteract the influence of the spirits. ‘There were twelve of them in all who went on this pilgrimage, and one iittle child. They were first directed to go to Columbus, in Ohio, and from thence tho rappings sent them to Cincinnati. When they arrived ther,e a man told thom they could not go up the river; bat the spirits told them the contrary, and the spirits were right. They followed them like children everywhere; and it people only kuow what they were about as they went along, how ridiculous they would have appearod. (Suppressed laugater ) The company not failin faita; bu’ failed in courage end bealtb, acd thoy were talking of retarning Uke spirite, however, encouraged thom to go on, And thoy did go on wutil thoy dame to a mountain, whore they halted. The epirits again told them to f0 on, and they went thirty miles further. They again stopped; but the epirii rapped on the carriage And tod Mrs Scott they could not get board thore (Great laughter ) They passed on to the nox: faim, when cho spirits again rapped, and told thom to purchase the farm on whica they stood, and that the owner wanted to sell it. ‘Tho fact was so. Mr. Bond, the postmaster at Mountain Cove, camo to them ard offered the farm for sale. He said he knew they were Yankees, from the East, and wanted a bargain. (Much laughter.) They bought the farm. He romained there during the winter, and had many interviews with the spirits They told bim he must go back to New York. Ho did, and here he is. [n this narrative, he had not told anytbhicg that others were not ready to prove. These rappings convinced him that they spoke as | the spirit dictated. Whon he broached the doctrine firstin Auburn, he thought he had a large audienca in twelve persons; and then a man told him, if he had the power, he would imprison him for life, 80 to prevent him doing mischief among the com- munity. When he leit Aubarp, he had an audionss of from S00 to 1,000. ‘There was one remarkable fact connected with these rappings, which was tis, that every person who investigated them was oon Vinced inthe end These revelations unfolded the great truths of man’s being, and opened up a gio. rious future to his view. This was tho history of his connection with the rappings, which he related at the request of his friends. ‘To morrow evening, | perhaps, be would expiain the philoeophy of tue 1app bes There being no charge for admission, tho plate was then pat about, and a collection ikea up, to deiiny the expenses of the room. ym. town, A by fire 0} of rhe b SL Wd. Ub & Year neo, and was |e biate mee eee ay pmemeen mute sdb By amannveey rays nied pond er wall app either regarded him as a madman, or would have | AMERICAN LITERATURE. THE DISCOURSE OF MR. BRYANT LIFE AND GENIUS oF JAMES FENIMORE COOPER. Delivered Last Night at Metropolitan Hall, dic. Se. Sie It is now ecmewhat more than a year eince thefriends of James Fenimore Cooper, in this city, were planning to give @ public dimnerin his honor. It was intended as an expression both of the regard they bore him person- ally, and of the pride they took in the glory his writ_ ings had reflected on the American name, We thought of what we should say in his hearing; in what terms wortby of him and of us we should speak of the esteem in which we held him, and of the interest we felt ina fame which had already penetrated to the remotest nook of the earth inbabited by civilized man. To-day we arsemble for a sadder purpose; to pay tothe dead some part of the honers then intended for the liv. ing. We bring our offering, but he is not here who ehould receive it; in his stead are vacancy and silence— there is no eye to brighten at our words, and no voloeto answer, “It isan empty office that we perform,” said Virgil, in bis melodious verees, when commemorating the virtues of the young Marcellus, and bidding flowers be strewn, with full hands, over his early grave. We might apply the expression to the present occasion; but it would be true in part only. We can no longer do anything for him who is departed; but we may do what will not bs without fruit to those who remain. It is good to oscupy our thoughts with the example of great talents in con- junction with creat virtues. His genius has passedaway with bim, but we may learn, from the history of his life, to employ the faculties we porsess with useful activity and noble aime; we may copy his magnanimous frank- neers, his disdain of everything which wears the faintest remblance of deceit, his refusal to comply with current abuses, and the courage with which, on all eccasions, he asserted what he deemed truth, and combatted what he thought error. The circumstances of Oooper’s early life were remarka- bly suited to confirm the natural hardinood and manil- ness of bis character, and to call forth and oxercire that extraordinary power of observation which accumulated the materiais afterwards wielded and shaped by his ge- nius. His fether, while an inhabitant of Burlington, in New Jersey, on the pleasant banks of the Delaware, was the owner of large possessions on the borders of the Otsego lake. in our own State; and here, in the newly cleared fields, be built, in 1786, the first house in Cooperstown, To this home Cooper, who was born in Burlington, in the year 1789, was conveyed in his infancy, and here, as ke informs us in his preface to the “ Pio- neere,”’ his first impressions of the external world were obtained, Here he passed his childhood, with the vast forest around him, stretching up the mountains that overlook the lake, and far beyond, in aregion where the Indisn yet roamed, and the white hunter, half Indian in bis dress and mode of life, sought his game—a region in which the bear and the wolf were yet hunted, and the panther, more formidable than either, lurked in the thicketr, and tales of wanderings in the wildernes encounters with these fierce animals beguiled the of the winter nights. Of this place, Qooper, although tarly removed from it to pureue his studies, was an occa sional resident throughcut his life, and here his last years were wholly passed, ‘At the age of thirteen he was sent to Yale Colleze, where, notwithrtanding his extreme youth—for, with the exception of the poet, Hillhouse, he was the youngest in his class, jend Hiljhouse was afterwards withdrawa— his progrees in bis studies is said te have been honorable to his talents. He left the college, after a residence of three yesre, and became a midsbipman in the United States navy Six years he followed the sea, and there yet wanders, smong those who are fond of literary anec- dote, a story of the young sailor who, in the streets of one of the moeieh Porte. attracted the curiosity of the crowd by explaining to his companions a Jatin motto in some publie place. That during this period he made himeelf master of the knowledge and the imagery which he afterwards employed to so much advantage in hie ro- mances of the sea, the finest ever written, is a common and obvious remark; but it bas not been, 0 far as I know, observed that from the discipline of a reaman’s life he may have derived much of his readiness and fertility of invention, much of his skill in surrounding the person- eges cf his novels with imaginary perils, and rescuing them by prebable expedients. Of all pureuite, the lifs cf a sailor is that which fomiliarizes men to danger in ite most fearful shapes, most cultivates presence of mind and most effectually calls forth the resources of a prompt and fearlers dexterity by which imminent evi) isavoided. In 1811, Cooper, having resigned his post as midsbip- man, began the year by marrying Miss Delanoey, sister ofthe present Bishop of the diocess of Western New York, and entered upon a dcmertic life happily passed to its chee. He went to live at Mamaroneck, ia the county of Westchester, and while here, be wrote sud published the first of bis novels, entitled “Precaution ’ Concerning the occasicn of writing this work. it it rr- lated. that once as he was reading an English novel to Mrs. Cooper~who has, witbin @ short time past, bo n laid in the grave beeide her illustrious husband, ani o whom we may now ray that her goodness was no isss eminent than his genius—be suddenly laid dowa tie book, and eaid, “I believe I could write a better myself Almost immediately he composed a chapter of a prc- jected work of fiction. and read it to the same friendly judge, who encouraged him to fish it, aud when i. w.a ‘ocmpleted, suggested its publication. Of this he hag, at the time. no intention; but be was at length indaced to eubmit the manuscript to the examination of the jate Charles Wiikes, of this city, in whose literary opinions he had great confidence, Mr. Wilkes advised that it thould be published; and to these circumstances we ewe it that Ucoper became an author. confess I have merely Gipped into this work. The experiment was made with the first edition, deformed by a strange punctuation—s# prcfusion of commas, and other pauses, Which puzzled and repelled me, Ite author miny Jears afterwards, revised and re-published it, correcting this fault, and some faults of style also, so that toa casual inspection, it appeared almort another work. [t ‘was s profesred delineation of English manners, though the author had then seen nothing of English society. It bad, however, the honor of being adopted by the count whose manners it described, and being early re-publisho in Great Britain, passed from the first for an English novel. Iam not unwilling to believe what is said of it, that it contained a poe of the powers which its author afterwarde put forth. ‘Thirty years ago, in the year 1821, and in the thirty- eecond of bis life, Cooper published the first of the works by which he will be known to posterity—the « 8 It took the reading world by a jd of surprise; its merit was acknowledged by a rapid sale; the public read with eagerness, aud the critics wondered. Many withheld their commendstions on account of defects in the plot, or blemiches in the composition, arising from want of pras- tice, and some waited till they could hear the judgmect of Europran readers. Yet there were not wanting crit- ios in this country, of whose good opinion any suthor in avy part of the world might be proud, who spoke of it in the terms it deserved. “Are you not delighted,” wrote a literary friend to me, who has eisce risen to high dis- tinction as a writer—both in verss and prose—“ are you not delighted with the “Spy” as a work of infinite spirit and genius’? In that word genius, lay the ex; ofthe hold which the work had taken on the minds of men. What it had of excellence was peculiar and unborrowed; its pictures of life, whether in repose or activity, were drawn, with broad lights and shadows, immediately from living originals in nature or in his own imagination. To him, whatever he described was true ; it was made a rs to him by the strength with which he conceived it. [lis power in the delineation of character was shown in the principal perscuage of bis story, Hatvey Birch, on whom, thouga 6 has chosen to employ him im the ignoble office of a fpy, and endowed bim with the qualities necessary to his profescion—extreme bree story bbe he stra- legem, and the art of concealing Teal ‘acter — qusiities which, in conjunction with selfishness and greediness, make the scoundre), be has bestowed the virtues of genercelty, magrenix ity, and an intense love of country, a fidcli y not to be corcupted, and disiater- estedners beyond temptation, Out cf this combivation of qualities, he bas wrought a character which is ® favors ite ip ali paticus. ard with all olstses of mankind. Ty is reid that if you cast isto the ocean, at the mout! of cur harbor, ‘the vibration made in the wae ves gradually on till it strikes the foy barriers of The spread of Cooper's can ter p thea p at the south pole. rep ion is not confined within narrower limits, Spy” is rend {v all the writter dinlects of Earope, in seme cf these of Asia, The French, immediately c ite firet appearance, gave it tothe multitudes who read their tar diffured language, aud placed it awong the first works of its ©) Tt was rendered into Castilian, and porred into ike hands of those who dwell under the bears of the Bouthers Cross, atlength it passed the eastern frontier of Europe; and the latest reeord I haye seen of ils progress towards Gosclute universality, is gon- tained ina statement of the ‘International Magaziae,”’ derived, I presume from ite author, that in 1517 it was published in a Persian tranelation, at Ispahan Before this time I dewbt not, they are reading it in some of the Janguegee of Llindostan; and if the Chinese ever trans. Jated anything. it would be inthe hands of thegmany millions who inhabit the far Cathay. I have spoken of the hesitation which American oritiss have felt fa Cts the merits of the “3py,” on a3- ocunt of cradities in the plet or the composiston, somes of which no doubt really existed. An exception rust ‘be made in favor of the * Port Folio,” which, ina notice written by Mra. Hale, gave the work a cordial, though [ cannot call it an enthusiastic, welcome, and Cooper, as L 4m informed, never forgot this act of timely aud ready Aindnees. It was, perhaps, favorable to the immediate success cf the “Spy,” that Cooper had few Amerieun aathurs to divide with him the pubiic attention. That crowd of clever wen and women who now write for the maga zines, who tend out volumes of esrays, sketches * poeme,and who supply the press with novels, biog phics and bistorical works were then,for the m0 pect, either stawmmering their lesrona ia the echouis, or yet wuborn, Yet it is werchy of note, that just about the time that the “Bpy” made its appearance. tie dawa cf what we mow call our literature was jart che concluding numbers of Dana's “bile voted at first, but now numbering the best (hings of the Kind im our language, were irrued fn the same movth, The “Bketoh Book” was then justecmpleted; the world wae admiring it, and its au- | her wos medicatiog his “Bracebridge Hall,* Mies 8edg- wick, about the rawe time, made her fitst essay in tuat charniing series of novels of domestic life in New Eng | jund, whieh have gained ber so high ® reputation. Per- cial, no# unbappily silent, had just put to press a eof poems, L have accpy of am edition of Haiiec! “Fenny,” published in the same year; the poom of »¥: * | moyen,’ by Kastburn and Saud, appeared almost Livingstom #as pairing the fe was Zend dye ae wehade, thicu tececusly with 0 bai Bg ation | | they promised themselves in possessing ao illustrious a a work written with such grave, persuasive eloquence, that it belongs as muck to our literature as to our juris- pruden: her contem! American works there were, now less read. ul Allen’s poem of “Noah’” ‘was just laid on the counters of the booksellers. Arden yubiished at the saine time, in this eity, a translation of id’s “Tristia,”’ in heroie verse, in wl of the effeminate | man poet were rendered with great fidelity to the «x cinal, and sometimes not without beauty. If mey -peak of myeelf, it was in that year that I timidly encrusted to the winds ang waves of pud- Ho opinion # smail cargo of bg: Shreya poem, entitled “The Ages,” and half a dozen shorter ones, in a thin duo- decimo volume. printed at Cambridge. We bad, ot the ome time, works of elegant literature, freth from the prese of at Britain, which are still read and admired. Barry Cornwall, then a youn; {er famo, published in the same year, his “ ne;” Byron, in the fuil strength and fertility of his genius, gave the readers of Koglish his tragedy of * Marino Faliero,” snd was in the midst of his spirited controvery with Bowles concerning the poetry of Pope. The “ Spy” bad to sustain a comparison with Soott’s © Antiquory,” publicked simaltansourly with it, and with Lockbart's * Valerius,’ which seems to me one of the mort remarkable works of Action ever composed. In 1623, and ip hiv thirty-fourth year, Cooper brought eut bis novel of the “ Pioneers,” the scene of which was laid on the borders of bis own beautiful lake, In a re- cent turvey of Mr. Cooper's works, by one of his ad- mire is intimated that the reputation of this work may have been in some degree factitious, not -think #0; I cannot see howsuch awork co if be- coming, sooner or later, a favorite. It was ears after its first appesrance that I read the “ Ploneers,” and I read it with a delighted astonishment Here, eaid I to myself, is the poet of rural life in this ecuntry—our Heriod, our Theocritus, except that he writes without the restraint of numbers, and isa greater poet than they. In the ‘ Pioneers,” as in a moving pio- ture, are made to pars before us the hardy occupations and rpirited amusements of a prosperous settlement, in a fertile region, encompaseed for leagues areund with tho pamayal wilderness of woods; the seasona in their dif- ferent aspects, bringing with them their different em- ployments ; forests failing before the axe ; the cheerful population, with the first mild day of spring, engaged in the sugar orchards; the chase of tke deer through the deep woods, and into the lake ; turkey shootings, during the Christmas holidays, in which the Indian marksman vied for the prize of skill with the white man; swif eleigh rides under the bright winter sun, and perilou encounters with wild animals in the forests—there, ani other scenes of rural life, drawn, as Cooper knew how t draw them, in tke bright and healthful colering of which he was master, gre interwoven with a regular natrative of human fortunes, not unskilfuliy constructed; and how could ruch a work be otherwise than popular? In the “ Pioneers,’ Leatherstocking is first imtrodace | —a philosopber of the woods, ignorant of books, bu: instructed in all that nature, without the aid of science, could reveal to the man of quick senses and inquiring intellect, whose life has been parsed under the open sky,and in companionship with a race whose animal perceptions are the acutest and most cultivated of which there is anyexample. Sut Leatherstocking has higher qualities; in him there is a genial blending of the gentlest virtnes of the civilized man with the better nature of the aboriginal tribes; all that in them is noble, generous, and ideal, je adopted into his own kindly character, and all is evil is rejected. But why should I attempt to apalyze a character so familiar? Leatheratocking is ac- knowledged, on all hands, to be one of the noblest as well as moet etrikirg and original creations of fiction, In come of his subsequent novels, Cooper—for he had not yev attained to the full maturity of his powere—helgnt- | ened and ennobled his first conception of the character, | but in the “Pioneers” it dazziecd the world with the aglendor of novelty His next work was the “ Pilot,” in which he showed | how, from the vicissitudes of a life at sea, its perils and | ercaper, fiom the beauty and terrors of the great deep, | frvm the working of @ vessel on a loug voyage, aud from | the frank, brave, and generous, but peculiar eharacter | of the seaman, may be drawn materials of romance by | which the mindsof men may be as deeply moved as by | epything in the power of romance to prerent. In this | walk, Cooper bas had many disciples, but no rival. All | who have since written romances of the sea have been but travellers in @ country of which he was the great discover, and none ef them all seem to have loved a | ebip 6s Cooper loved it, or have been able so strongly to | interest all classes cf readers in its fortunes. Among | other personages drawn with feat strergth in the | “Pilot,” is the general favorite, Tom Coffin, the | thorough seaman, with all the virtues, and one or two of the infirmities, ef bis profession, superstitious, as seamen are apt to be, whose superstitions strike us as but an irregular growth of his devout resog- | nilion of the Power who holds the ocean im the hol.ow of his hand; true hearted, gentle, full of | resources, collected in danger, and at last calmly per- | ishing at the post of duty, with the vessel he haslong | guided, by what I may call a great and magnanimous | ceath, His rougher and goarser companion, Boltrops, is drawn with scarcely lees skill, and with a no lese vigorous and. ‘The “Pioneers” is not Cooper's bert tale of the Ameri- can forest. nor tl ‘ilot,” perhaps, in all respects, bis dest tale of the sea; yet, if ne had ceased to write here, the measure of his fame would, possibly, have been searcely lessample than it now is, Neither of them is far below the best of bis productions, and in them ap- pear the two most remarkable creations of bis imagi- nee of the most rematkabie characters in all ction. Itwes about this time that my acquaintance with Cooper began, am acqueintance of more than a quarter of a contury, im which his deportment towards me Was thet of unvaried kindness He then resided a eonricerable part of the year,ia this city, and here he sd fousded a weekly club, to which many of the Kost dietinguirhed men of the place belonged. Of ibe merbers who have rirce passed away, were Chansel- ler Kent. the juriet; Wiley, the intelligent and liberal Lockselier; Uenry D Sedgwick. ai of benevolence; Jarvie, tke pai Lumor, whose je: oke inextinguishable lsughter; De Kay. the putusalist; Sands, the p telegraph; Durand. then oueof the firet of engcavers, and now Le ilias:rious af a painter; leary James uivements might waken the envy sof the eld world; Halleck, the poet who has given the world the bet edition cf Shikepeare for geuerai readers; Dr. King, Low st the bead of Columbia College, and his two imme- Giate predecessors in that ¢flice. I might enlarge the list with many other pames of no less distinction The army and navy contributed their proportion of members, whore rames are on record in our national histery. Coo- per, when in town, was always preeent, and I remember Leing struck with the inexhaustible vivacity of his conversation, and the minuteness of his knowledge, ia everything which deperded upon acuteness of observa- tion and exactness of recollection. I remamber, too, being somewhat startled, coming fresh as I did from the seelusion of @ country life, with a certain emphatic frankness in bie manner, which, however. I came at last to like and admire. The club met in the hotel called Waehington Hall, the site of which is now occupied by Part of the circuit of Stewart's marbable building. “Lionel Limcoln,” which cannot be ranked among the suocessfal productions of Cooper, was published in 1825, and in the year following appeared the * Last of the Mo- bicans,” which more than recovered the ground lost by its predecersor. In this work, the construction of the nal defects, but it is one of the triumphs jus that he makes us unconscious of them while we read. It isonly when we have had time to awake from the intenre interest in which he has held us by the vivid reality of his narrative, and have begua to search for fauits in cold blood, that we are able to findthem. In the “ Last ofthe Mohicans’ we haves belder portraiture of Leathearetocking than ia the “ Pioneers,” This work was published in 1826 and in the same year Cooper sailed with his family for Kurope, He left New York as one the vessels of war, cescribed in his romances of the rea, goes out of port, amidst the thunder of a ps ing salute from the big guns on the batteries A dinner was given bim just before bis departure, attended by most of the distinguished men of the city, at which Peter A. Jay presided, and Dr. King addreseed him in terms which seme then thought too glowing, but which would now reem sufficiently temperate, expressing the good withes of his friends, and dwelling on the satisfaction repretentative of Ameri literature in the old world, Cooper was tcarcely in France when he remembered his friends of the weekly club, and sent frequent missives to be read at its meetings; but the club misead its founder, = ae @ decline, and not long afterwards quietly expired. ‘he first of Cooper's novels published after leaving America, was © The Prairie,” which appeared early in 1827, @ work, with the admirers of which I wholly agree. I read it with @ certain awe, an undefined tence Of sublimity, euch as one experiences on entering, for the first time, upon those immense grassy deserts from which the work takes its name. The squatta: and bie family—that brawny old man ang bis arge limhed. rons—living in ® cort of primitive ard patriarchial bar- ‘bariem, or ish om ordinary oecasi when roured, t but ménotoncus wilder ness in which they dwell naturel growth of those ancient fields of the West. Leatherstocking.o hunter in‘ he Pionesra,” @ warrior in“ The L of the Mohicans,” and now, in his extrem cld age, « trapper on the prarie, declined in strength, but undecayed in intellect, and looking to the near close of hfe life, and a grave under the long grass, as calmly at the Isborer at sunset looksto his evening slumber, i no lees in harmony with the elient desert in which he wan cers Baually to are the Indians, still his companions, copier of the American savage somewhat idealized. bu not the less @ partof the wild mature ia which they haye their haunte, Before the year closed, Cooper bad given the world aa- other nautical tele, the « Red Rover,” which, with many, iso greater favorite than the“ Pilot,” aud with reason, perhaps. if we consider principally the incidents, which rs vducted amd described with a greater mastery over | the eprings of pity and terror. | | | years in Europ | | | It beppened to Cooper, while he was abroad, ac it not | vpsrequently happens to our countrymen, to hear the | United £iates dieadvantegeourly compared with Europe. Le had himrelf been & close observer of things both here | and jn the Old World, and was conscious of being abis to refule the detractors of his country im regard to many pointe. He published im 1528 atter he had been two | 5 a reries of lettera entitled + Notions of ibe Americans, by @ Travelling Wachelor,”’ ia which he gave a favorable sccount of the working of our institu. tiers. and vindicated bis country from various flippant and ill-natured misrepreeentations of foreigners, It is rather too measured in style, but is written from a mind fuli of the subject, and from # memory worder(ully stored with particulars, Although twenty-four years have elopred #!nce its publication, but little of the vindi oat on has become obectete. Cooper loved 8 country, and was proud of hor hir- tory and her institutions ; but it puzzles many that he suculd bave appeared, at different times, as her eulogist and ler eeusor My friends, she is worthy both of praise and of blame, and Cooper was not the maa to shrink from bestowing either, at what seemed to hin the proper time. He defended her from detractors abroad—he fk er from flatterers at home I will not say that he was in as good humor wit» his | when he wrote ° a8 Pound,” »* ¥ Notions of the awericans ;” but » say, thet, whether he commended or censured, |: it in the pg ey his heart, as a true Ame) 63, and in the bellef it would do good. His “ Notions of the Ameticans” were mors |i w'y to lessen then to | | inexeaee Dye popularity in Barepe, inormucy @ iaey , 2 4 were put forth without the slightest regard to European prejudices. Tn 1829, he brought out the novel entitled the “Wept of Wish-ton Wish,’ one of the few of bis works which we now rarely hear mentioned. He was engaged in tha comperition of « third nautical tale, which he afterwards published under the rame of the “Water-Witch,” when the memorable revolution of the three days of July broke out. He a government, ruling byjiear and ia defiance of public opinion, overthrown in a few hours. with little bicodshed, he saw the French nation far from being intoxicated with their new liberty. peacefully ad- dresrirg themrelves to the discussion of the institutions under whieh they were to live. A work which Uooper af- terwards published (his “Reaidence in Kurops’’), gives the outline of @ plan of government for France, furnished by him at that time to Lafayette, with whom he was thea on babita of clore and jy intimacy. It was his idea to give permanence tothe new order of things, by assoolat- ing two strong parties in its support—tho friends of legitimacy and the republicans. He suggested that Henry V rheuld be called to the hereditary throne of France--a youth yet to be educated as the head of « free people--that the peerage ahouid be abolished, and a Legis lature of two chambers established, with # constituency of ot least a million and @ half of electors—the Senate to be chcsen by the general vote, as the representatives of the entire nation, and the members of the other house eboren by districts, as the representatives of the local interests. To the middle ground of politics, ro ostenta tiourly occupied by Louis Philippe at the deginniag of his reign, he predicted a brief duration, believing that it would epeedily be merged in despotism, or snpplinted by the popular rule, His prophecy has been fuidiled more amply then he could have umagined—fuidilled ia betu its alternatives In one of the controversies of that time, Cooper bore a distinguished part. published in Paris boldly affirmed the goverament of the United States to be one of the most expensive in tho world, and its people among the most heavily taxed of mankind, This aesertien was supported with a certain show of proof, and the writer affected to have establishod | the conciusion that a republic rust necessarily bs mors expensive than a monarchy. The partisans of the court were delighted with the reasonlog of the article, and claimed a triumph over our ancient friend Lafay, who, during forty years, had not ceased to hold up government of the United States as the cheapest in world. at the suggestion of Lafayette, Cooper repliv this attack upon his country, in a letter, which Was tran into French, end together with another from Guan Bertrend, for many years a resident in America, was laid before the people of Frauce. ‘These two letters provoked a shower of rejoinders, in which. according to Gooper, misstatements were mia- gled with scurrility. He commenced arerios of letters on the question in dispute, which were pubiished in the Nationol, a daily sheet, and gave the first evidence of that extraordinary acuteness ir controversy, which was no lees characteristic of bis mind thau the vigor of his imagivation. The enemies of Lafayette pressed into heir service Mr. Leavitt Harris, of New Jersey, afver wards our Charge d?Affaires at the Uourt of France, bat Cooper replied to Mr. Harrie,in the Mtional or May 2, 1982, cloring a ditcustion in which he had effectually silenced those who objected to our inntitations on the foore of coomomy. Of these letters, which would form an important chapter in political svience, no entire copy, I have been told. is to be found in thia country, One of the consequences of earnest controversy is almost invariably persoual ill-will. Cooper was told by one who held an official station under the Freach go- verment, that the part he had taken in this dispute con oerning taxation, would neither be forgotten nor for- given. The dislike he bad incurred in that quarter was strengthened by his novel of the “Bravo.” published in tho year 1881, while he was in the midst of his quarrel with the srietooratic party. In that work, of which he has Dimrelf justly said that it was thoroughly American in all that belonged to it, his object was to show how in stitutions, professedly created to prevent violence and wrong, become, when perverted from their natural des- tination, the instruments of injustice, and how, in every sytem which makes power the exclusive property of the strong. the weak are sure to be oppressed. The work is written with all the vigor and spirit of his best novels; the “magnificent city of Venice, in which the scene cf the story is laid, stand« continually before the imagination, and from time to time the gorgeous ceremonies of the Venetian republic pass under our eyes, such as the marriage of the Doge with the Adriatic, and the contest of the gondolas for the prize of speed. The Bravo himself, and several of the other characters are strongly conceived and dis tirguished, but the most remarkable of them ali is the spirited and generous hearted daughter of the jail er. It has been said by some critics, who judge of Cooper by bis failures, that he had no skill in drawing female characters the eame process, it might, I suppose, bo shown that Raphael was but an ordinary patater. Lt must be admitted that when Cooper drew a lady of high breeding, he was apt to psy too much attention to the formal part of character, and to make her a mere bundle of cold proprieties. But when he places his ines in some situation in life which leaves him nothing to do but to make them natural and true I kuow of nothing finer, nothing more attractive or more individual , than the portraitures he bas given us. Figaro, the wittiest of the French periodicals, and at that timeon the liberal side, commended thy “ Bra. vo;’? the journals on the side of the government cen sured it. Figaro afterwards passed intu the hands of the aristocratic party, and Coeper beoame the object of ite attacks. He was not, however, a man to be driven from any purpose whieh he had formed, either by flat: tery or abuse; and both were tried with equal ill sac cers Ip 1832 he publighed his “Heidenmauer.” and in 1638 his “‘Heademan of Berne,” both with a political de sign eimilar to that of the * Bravo,” though neither of them takes the came high rank among his works. ‘In 1883 otter @ residence of seven years in different parte of Europe, bet mostly in France, Cooper returaed to his native country, The welcome which he met on hi return was somewhat chilled by the effect of the attac made upon him in France, phy fares fells with whi seal, and at what sacrifice of the universal acceptance which bis works would otherwise have met, he bad main- tained the caure of bis country against the wits and oratcrs of the court party in France, we cannot wonder that he should have felt this coldness as undeserved He published shortly after his arrival in this country “A Letter to hia,Countrymen,” in which he complained of the censure cast on him in the American newspa- pers, gave a history of the part ke had taken in exposing the mirr$atements of the Kécue Britannique, and warned bis countrymen sgainst the too common error of resort- ing. with @ blind deference, to foreign authorities. often ewayed by national or political prejudices, for our opin- ions of American authors, Goirg beyond this topic, he examined and reprebended the habit of applying to the interpretation of our own constitution maxims derived from the practice of other governments, particularly that of Great Britain. The importance of construing that inetrument by its own principles, he illustrated by eonridering coveral points in dispute between the parties of the day, on which he gave very decidsa opinions, The principal effect of this pamphlet, as it seemed to me, was to awaken, in certain quarters, a kind of resent- ment that a successful writer of fiction should presume to give lessons in politics, I meddle not here with the conclusions to which he arrived, though I must be al- lowed to say that they were stated and argued with g ability. In 1835, Cooper published “ The Monnikins, ratitical work partly with a political aim ; and in the same year appeared bis “ American Demoorat,”’ a view of the civil and sccial relationsjof the United States, discur- sing more ely various topics touched upon ia the former work, and pointing out in what respects he deemed the American people in their practice to have fal- Jen short of the excellence of their iastitutions, He found time, however, for a more genial task, that of giving to the world his cbservations on foreign countries. 'n 1836, A pie his Sketches of Switzerland,” a series of letters in four volumes, the second part published about two months after tho first, a deligetful work, written in « more fluent and flexible style than his “Notions of the America The first part of “Gleanings in Kuropa,” giving an account of his residence in France, followed in the same ye ind the seoond part of the same work, containing his observations on England, was published in April, 1837. In these works, forming a reries of eight volumes, he relates and describes with much of the same dirtinctness 98 in his novels, and his remarks on the man- ors and inetitutions of the different countries, often fagacious and alwaye peculiarly his own, derive, from their frequent reference to contemporary events, an bi-torical interest. In 1828 appeared “ Homeward Bound,” and“ Home as Found,” two satirical novels, in which Cooper held up to ridicule a certain class of condustors of the newspaper press in America. There works had not the good fortune to become popular. Cooper did not, and. perhaps, be- cause he was too deeply in earnest, would not, infuse into hie eatirical works that gaiety, without which satire bo- comes Wearisome, I believe, however, that Sf they had been written by anybedy else, they would have met with more favor; but the world knew that Cooper was able to give them something better, aud would not be satisfied with anything abort of bis bess. Some childistly tma- ined that because, in the two worke I have just men- Honed, a new: paper editor fs introduced, in whore charas- ter al moat every possible vice of his profession ie mace to fird a place, Uocper intended am indiscriminate attack upon the wholo bedy of writers for the newspaper press, forgetting that such a portraiture was & si tire only on thore to whom it bore a likeness, We bave become less reveitive and more resonable of inte, sxd the menthly perisdicals make spo1 their readers of the foll esand ignorw the newspaper editors without awakening the slightest atment; but Cooper led the way in thir sort of discl, 9, and I re- member acme icstances of towering indignation at his audacity expresavd in the journals of that thee The next year Cooper made his appearanes before the public ina new department cf writing His naval his- tory of the Unitea Statee was brought out in t#o ootavo yolumen at Philadelphia, by Carey & Lea, [a writlag bie stories of the sea, ils attention had been much turn- ed to this eubiest. and his mind filled with striking ia- eidents frei expeditions and battles in whick our naval commanders bad been engaged. This made his tark the ter; but he gathered bis rials with great indus try ard with a conscientious attention to exactness, for he was not aman to take a fast for granted, or allow im- agipation to wsarp the place of inquiry + Te digested cur bayal annals into ® narrative, wrilcem with spirit. it istrue, but with that air of sincere dealing whist the reader willingly takes asa pledge of ite authenticity. An abridgment of the work was eftewards prepated and published by thesuther The Ldinburgh Keciew, in The Keévue Brituniyue, a periodical | prees, I have little doubt that he would have been these attacks I cannot, however, ascribe them all, or even the greater part of them, to personal malignity, One Journal followed the examyle of another with little re- Heetion, I think, in moet cares, till it became ® sort of fasbion not merely to decry his works, but to arraign his mot ves J is related that, in 1832, while he was in Paris, anar- ticle wasehi wn bim in American newspaper, purport- rg to be o criticism on one of his works; but reflect- ing with much seperity on his personal character, | Lesre netiirg,? be is reported to have sald, “ for the ertichim \utLam not indifferentto the slander, [f these attacks on my char: rv should be kept up five yeare after my return to Amerion,I shail resort to the New York courte tor protection.” He gave the news- paper press of this State the full period of forbearance on which be ad fixed but finding that forbearance reemed to encCurege aerauit, Le sought redreea in the courts of law. When there litigations were first begun, I recollect it feemed to me that Cooper bad tekea a step which would give him a great deal of troutle, and effect but litte good. I said to myre “slag! Leviathan fa not so tamed!" An he proceeded, however, 1 saw that he had ander- stood the the nor matter better than I He put a hook lato of this huge monster wallowing in is inky A berpattering the parears by; he dragged him land and made him tractable, One euit follow- ed another; one editor was sued. I think, half » dosea times ; ecme of them found themselves under a seeond indictment before tho first was tried. In vindiesting himrelf to bis readers agaiurt toe charge of publishing One libel, the angry journalist often floundered imt> another. The occasions of there prosocutions seem to | bave been always carefully considered, for Cooper waa uniformly ruccertful in obteining verdicts, Toa letter of bis, written in Februery, 1843, about five years, | think, from the commencement of the first prosecutions, | he rays, “I have beaten every man I bave sued, who has not retracted bin libels.”” In one of there cuits, © Wiillam L Btone, of the « ferred to the arbitration of \hie distinguished lawyers, he argued, himrelf, the question of the authenticity of his account of the battle of Lake Erie, which waathe matter in dispute. I iistened to his opening—It was clear, skillful, and perevasive ; but his closing argument: was raid to be epleadidly eloquent. “I bave heard nothing like it,” said a barrister to me, “since the days. of Emmet” Cooper behaved liberally towards his antagonists, so fer as pecuniary damages were concerned, though some: of them wholly ecospedr their payment by bankruptcy. After [ relieve, about six years of litigation, tha news paper prees gradually subsived into a pacific disposition: towards its adverrary.and the contest closed with the account of pecuniary profit and Joss. so far as he waa concerned, nearly balanced ‘he cecasion of these suite was far from honorable to thore who provoked them, but the result was, I bad almo: id. creditable to all partes; tohimasthe courageous prosecutor to the administra. tion of justice in this country, and to the docility of the newspaper press, which he bad dircipiiaed into good man- ners It was while ho wasin the midst of these litigations, that he published, im 1840, the “Pathfinder.” People had begun to think of him as a controversaliet, acute, keen, and persevering, occupied with his personal wronga andechemes of attack and defence, They were startled from this estimate of his character by the moral beaut; of that glorious work—I must eo cali it; by the vivid~ ners and force ofits delineations, by the unspoiled love nature, apparent in every page, acd by the fresh and warm emotions whichevery where gave life to the narra- tiveand the dialogue Cooper was now in his Afty-firat: year, but nothing which he hed produced in the earlier part of his literary life was written with so much of what might eeem the generoua ferver ef youth, or showed the faculty of invention in higher vigor I recollect that near the time of its appearance [ was informed of an ob- servation made upon it by one, bighly'distinguished im the literature of our country and of the age, betweem whom and the and the author an unhappy coolness had for some years existed. As he finished the reading of the ‘Pathfinder,’ he exclaimed, ‘They may say what they willot Cooper; the man who wrote this book is not only @ great man, but a good mon.” ‘The readers cf the“ Pathfinder” were quickly recon- ciled to the fourth appearance of Loatherstocking, whem they saw bim made to act a different part from any which tbe author had hitherto ss-igned bim—when they saw him shown ana lover, avd placed in the midst of as- ecciations which invested his character witha higher apd more aflecting heroiem In this work are two female characters, portrayed in a masterly manner—the corpo- rai’s daughter, Mabel Dunham, generous, resolute, Per womanly and the young Iudian woman, called by her trike the Dew of June, a personification of female trath, affection. and sympathy, with a strong wboriginal oast, yet @ product of nature as bright and pure as that from which she is named. “Mercedes of Castile,” published near the close of the seme year, basnone of the stronger characteristica of Cooper's genius but in the “Deerslayer,” which appear- ed in 1841, another of his Leatherstocking tales, he gave usa work ling the Pathfinder. Leatherstockiog te brought before usin his early youth in the first exercise of that keen ragacity which is blended so harmoniously with a simple andingentous goodness. The two daugh- ters of the retired freebooter dwelling om the Otsego lake, inspire scarcely less interest than the principal Lee Judith in the pride of her beauty and intel- lect, her good impulses conte witha fatal love of admiration, holding us fascinated with a constant inter- ertin her fate, which, with contummate skill. we are permitted rather to conjecture thun to know; and Hetty, toarcely less beautiful in person, weak-minded, but wise im the midst of that weakness, beyond the wisdom cf the loftiest intellect, through the power of conscience aud religion. The character of Hetty would have been @ hazard: us experiment in feobler hands, but in his it wan admirably successful. The “Iwo Admirals’ and “Wing-and-Wing” were given to the publie in 1842, both of them taking a high rank among Cooper's sea tales. The first of thess is @ rort of naval epic in prose; the flight and sh vse of armed vesrels hold us in breathless suspense, and the sea -fighte are described with @ terrible power. Ta the later sea tales of Cooper, it seems to me that the mas which he makes his grand processions of event: fore the mind’s eye is even greater than in his earlier, ‘The next year he published the “Wyandotte, or Hutted Knoll,” one of his beautiful romances of the woods, and in 1844 two more of bis sea stories. “Afloat and Ashore’? and “Miles Wallingford” its sequel. The long series of his nautical tales was closed by ~Jack Tier, or the Flo- ride Reef,” published in 1445 when Cooper was in hie sixtieth year, and it is as full of spirit, anergy, inven~ tion, life-like presentation of objvots and eventa— The vision snd the faenlsy divine, as anything he had written Let me pause here to say, that Cooper, though not a manufacturer of verse, was, in ths highest sense of the word, a poct ; bis imagination was wrought nobly and diy, and’ impored its creations on the mind of the reader for realitiee. With him there was no withering, or decline, or diruse of the poetic faculty ; as he ateppad downward from the zenith of life, no shadow or ehilk over it—it was like the year of some genial oll- mates, a perpetual season of verdure, bloom and fruit- fulness. As these works came out, [ was rejo seo that he was unspoiled by the controve: which he had allowed himself to become engaged—that they had not given, to there better exprestions of his genius, apy tinge of misanthropy, or appearance of con~ tracting and closing sympathies, any trace of au inter- est in bis fellow-beiogs less large and free than in bis earlier works, Before the appearance of his “Jack Tier,” Cooper publiehed in 1845, and the following year, a series of no- els relating to the anti rent question, in which he took great Interest He thought that the disposition mani- fested in certain quarters, to make concessions to what he deemed a denisl of the rights of property, was a first step ina most dangerous path. To discourage this dis- porition, he wrote “ Batanstoe,” “The Chainbearer,” and “The Redskins.”’ They are didactic in their design, aad want the freedom of invention which belongs to Cooper's best novels; but it they had been written by anybody but Cooper—by a member of Congress, for example, or an eminent politician of any class—they would have made his reputation. It was said I am told, by a distin. guished jurist of our State, that they entitled the author to as aie @ place in law as his other works had won for bim in literature. I hed thought, in meditating the plan of this dis- couree, tomention all tne works of Mr. Uooper, but the length to which I have found it extending, has induced me to pass over several written inthe last ten years of his life, and to confine myself to those which best illus- trate his lterary character, The last of his novels was “The Ways of the Hour,’ a work in which the ob- Jections be entertained to the trial by jury in eivil caures were stated in the form of a narrative. It isa vciuminous catalogue—that of Cooper's pub- Mebed worke—but it comprises not all he wrote. He committed to the fire, without remorse, many of the fruits of his literary industry. It was understood, rome years tince, that he had @ work ready for the preeeon the Middle States of the Union, principally llustrative of their so history; but it has not 4 emong his manvecripts, and the presumption is hat be murt have destroyed it. Great as was the rumbere of his worke, and great as was tne favor with which they were recieved, the pecuniary rewards of Listuccers were far less than has been generally supposed. reely as 1 #m inform, a tenth part of what the com- mon mr v made them. His fame was infinitely the argest acknowledgment which this most successfal of Au.erican authors received for his labors. ~The Ways of the Hour” appeared in 1850. At this tine bis personal appearance was remarkable. He seemed. {m pertect health ard in the highest energy and activ- ity of bie faculties, I bavye rcercely seen any man at that pericd of Life on whom bis years sat more light= ly. Hie converration had lost none of its liveliness, though it seemed scwewhat mere gentle and forbear-- of their elasticity. He MITA sed against the late ul Advertiser, and Te ing in tone, and his eplrits none was contemplating. I have ria Leatherstocking tale, deeming that he bad not yet exe hawted the character, and those who consider whas new rerourcer it yielded bim in the * Pathifader” and the “ Deerslayer,”’ will readily conclude that he was not mistsken. The diceaee, however, by which he was removed, wat even then impending over him, aud not long afterwards bis friends here were grieved to learn that his health wesdeclining. He came to New York so changed that | they locked at bim with sorrow, and after a stay of some weekn, partly for the benefit of medical advice, returned en article professing to examine the statem both of and of the © History of the Koglith Navy,” written by Mr Jatwes, @ veteriaary surgeon, made & vio lent attack upon tho American Unfortunately, it took James's narrative as its rcle gnide, avd fi llowed it implicitly, Ceoper replied in tbe Demveratic Ki Janvary. 1840, and by & masterly avelyele of his sto mente, convicting James of self o every particular in whieh he difl cé beth domes ond the revie Cooper's wr which acimitted of no rejoinder. Bearce anything In Gooper'e life was #0 remitkabdlo, or ro otrikit gly ihastrated his character, as bis coatess with he pewey s. He ergeged in after provoca tiene, De ig endured, aud prose sears, with great energy, perseverance, and op: dexterity, th y field = Inw wm about to ray of it, f hope I shail not @ any one, as I sball sp je towards thors with whom he waged chi versy. Over some of them, as over some of their nowned adversary, the grave has now closed. Yo: whece aball fhe truth be spoken, if not beds the grave? They ty wilnded t inal pal « whish | Provoke ihe us wepeper at pou Cooper. If be had neve th ques f bon wither MGC OL Weg AWABIL:, Ald aoton omosbaed old BvNayupes to Cocperttown to leave ft no more, His complaint redually geined strength, subdued a constitution ori- givetly roburt, and fivelly passed iato a confirmed dropry. Ina Sol, be waa visited by his exoel~ leptand leerned felend Dr. Francis, ® member of the | weekly club which he had founded ia the early part of bie literary career, fi him bearirg the suffer | ings of bia disease with ma’ y firmus wave bine medical ccunrels ae the malady appeared to Prepared hin’ delicately tor ive faeal toraile And returned to New York with the moet choly anticipations. In ow days afterwards | Cocper expired, amid the deep on of his family, om the 14th of Boptember, the day becore that on which he should have completed his sixty second year. He died, | epparentiy without pain. in and reilgions hope. ibe relations of man to his Ma dto that state of paration, had 03- whole lifetime, mysterious being for which the pre cupi+d much of bis thooghts during b | | is | | aud he crossed, with » re:ere composure, the | boundary which divides this life from the The departure cfsuch @ man, in the fall sveength of hi feculticn~on whom (he country had for thirty years lec ked as One cf the permanent ornamente of its \teras ture, and whcee name had bee so often easoolated wit prnive, witt . with blame, > any Js rae es ate a ae