clap of thunder at command to assist him. But with all these exceptions and qualifications, there is every reason to suppose that the whole mass of the people, high and low, in the earlier periods of the Republic, believed in the truth of their religion as firmly and as faithfully as we do in that of ours. The progress of civilization and knowl. edge increased the number of sceptics; but the old religion had not entirely lost its hold upon enlightened minds, even after the establishment of christianity as the creed of the country. It appears quite certain from his writings, that the emperor Julian, with all his philosophy and wit, was a sincere and even enthusiastic pagan in the plain and usual sense of the term.

However gross and material may have been the relig. ion of the Romans, they appear to have met with better success, and indeed to have exercised more wisdom, in determining the mode of its connexion with the state, than almost any country in which a religious establishment has ever existed. The union of church and state, as understood in most of the European countries provided with religious establishments, is in reality a legal separation or divorce; the functions belonging to the two departments, being committed to different, and in some degree, independent corporations, which act of necessity upon different and commonly hostile principles. A real union of church and state could only be effected by moulding the two systems into one, and not by forming a contract between them, which is itself a tacit acknowledgment of their disunion. Religion and government, considered as establishments, are two forms, in which the same sovereign power, to wit, the nation, representing for this purpose the order of providence, declares the same laws under different sanctions. The unity and not the union of church and state is therefore the true theory of a religious establishment. All ministers of religion

should on such a system be considered as political functionaries, and all political functionaries as ministers of religion so that the same institution might at once consecrate the state, and civilize the church. Such was in substance the state of things in the Roman Republic.

It is time however to bring this desultory article to a close. In dwelling at considerable length upon the recovered fragment before us, we have not only had it in view to make the reader acquainted with this particular work, but have gladly taken the occasion to offer our feeble tribute of applause to the writings and character of the author. We shall feel ourselves well rewarded for our labor, if any of our readers who may be led by this notice to peruse the Republic, should be induced by the profit and pleasure which this study will certainly afford them, to familiarize themselves with the splendid eloquence and sublime philosophy of the Father of his Country.

A DIALOGUE ON GOVERNMENT.

FRANKLIN AND MONTESQUIEU.

[North American Review, April, 1821.]

IT is well known that the fortunate inhabitants of Elysium retain, in some degree at least, the tastes and occupations that belonged to them during their lifetime. We have the authority of Virgil to this point, which is deservedly high in every thing relating to the subject. There is also but too much reason to suppose that some of these distinguished persons are subject, like the most favoured mortals in our sublunary sphere, to the disease of ennui, and are glad to resort to reading and other amusements, in order to carry on the war with vigor against the great enemy, time. It has long been suspected for these reasons, that in making provision for the comfort of the Elysians, the accommodations of books and newspapers had not been overlooked. Having accidentally discovered the local situation of this part of the universe, and had an opportunity of examining it somewhat at leisure, I am able to assure the public that this idea is perfectly correct. The book-sellers' shops, the libraries, and the reading rooms, are on a very good footing and the new publications and journals are received with great regularity from all parts of the world. How this is effected, and whether passengers might not pass by the same conveyances that bring the Gazettes, it is not necessary to inquire, the

rather as captain Symmes has kindly undertaken this part of the investigation. The Elysians, however, are constantly informed of the progress of events in the world: and those, who during their lives were engaged in literary or scientific pursuits, find a very agreeable resource, when time hangs heavy upon their hands, in examining the new publications as they are received, and refreshing their memories in regard to the old, or in comparing their ideas upon these subjects in conversation with each other. I had an opportunity of listening to some of these conversations, and shall set down, for the amusement of the public, the heads of a dialogue between President Montesquieu and Doctor Franklin, which occurred in one of the principal reading rooms in Elysium. I was sitting one day in this place, when the venerable doctor entered. After looking about him a little while with a leisurely air, and examining the newspapers of the day, he took down from its place a volume of Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws. He appeared to look into it for the purpose of refreshing his memory, and sometimes laid it down and seemed to meditate upon what he had been reading. While this was going on, the President himself came in. The two illustrious philosophers saluted each other with a great appearance of cordiality and mutual respect; and the conversation was immediately introduced by the following remark of Doctor Franklin.

FRANKLIN.

Mr. President, I was employed as you entered in reflecting upon the chapter in your celebrated work on law, in which you analyse the British constitution. Notwithstanding the high respect with which I am disposed to receive every thing that proceeded from your pen, I confess that I can hardly agree with you in all your remarks upon this subject.

MONTESQUIEU.

Consider, my dear Doctor, at the time when that chapter was written, a political observer had not all the lights to guide him that are now to be found in the world or that were at hand even during your lifetime. The great age of revolutions, which was destined to reform the science of government, had not then arrived. We were only beginning to see our way clear a little, by the twilight that was just announcing it. We had not then had the benefit of your example, my dear Doctor, and that of your countrymen, to correct our theories. Although most of my remarks on the British constitution are substantially correct, I should still qualify them considerably, and state some of them in different language, if I were to write them over again.

FRANKLIN.

Among the points susceptible of qualification you would perhaps include the introductory remark, that it is unnecessary to theorise on the forms of government most favourable to liberty, since the problem has been resolved in practice by the British constitution. This conclusion, my dear President, seems to be a little unphilosophical. The most that could be said with propriety on the strength of one example would seem to be that liberty is compatible with this form of government. No general conclusion can be drawn with safety from a single instance. If the English are free, it may perhaps be in spite of their form of government: and this is even intimated by yourself in another passage of your works, where you observe, that the government of England is a republic masked under the forms of a monarchy. Here you mean to state that the form of this government not only does not represent the substance, but is even contrary to its character: and as the substance in your