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Rh was no social oppression to cast off, or they could so exercise their energies as to be in a state of enjoyment already. At present, everybody in this country is running to the helm of state, in order to see if they cannot succeed in steering the ship into some pleasanter waters; and, in the old countries, they are engaged in throwing overboard the cargo it is carrying, that they may save the ship perchance from sinking, old and leaky as it is. But, in a nation truly cultivated, life would prove so rich, that every man could afford to pursue his own vocation; and &quot;nothing should hurt or destroy in all the holy mountain.&quot; Or, if it is fanciful to suppose that quite this millenium is to be attained in this sphere,—into which is born, in every generation, a fresh mass of chaotic life, to be trained and cultivated by truth and beauty,—yet more and more approximation is to be looked for, as the ages roll on. In the mean time, we need lose no opportunity that we have. There is no reason why we should not instantly begin to work on this plan. Our country is full of means. Europe is pouring out upon us her artists and scholars. We are rich, and can tax ourselves for conservative as well as for destructive purposes. Why not employ these artists and scholars to make a new revival of learning, which shall be, to times to come, what that, produced by the dislodged Greeks of the captured Eastern Empire, was to Europe in the fourteenth century? Why should not our merchants become, like the merchant-princes of Italy, the patrons of science and art, and give their children as well as their money to these pursuits? How many of the growing evils of our society would be crushed, as they are taking root, if, as fast as Americans became rich, they should leave the pursuit of riches to those who are poorer, and use the advantage of the leisure they have earned, to cultivate what the ancients expressively call &quot;the humanities;&quot; at least educate their children to live, rather than to accumulate superfluous means of living; to be living men, rather than instruments of living! &quot;Is not the life more than raiment?&quot;

It is plain, that, if we can spend a hundred millions of dollars in a year for so questionable a purpose as the late war of Mexico, we have resources on which we might draw for