ould inhale the almost supra-mortal spirit which it breathes:
"I would not with any idolatrous admiration regard the Constitution
of the United States, nor any other work of man; but this side of
idolatry, I hold it in profound respect. I believe that no human
working on such a subject, no human ability exerted for such an end,
has ever produced so much happiness, or holds out now to so many
millions of people the prospect, through such a succession of ages and
ages, of so much happiness, as the Constitution of the United States.
We who are here for one generation, for a single life, and yet in our
several stations and relations in society intrusted in some degree
with its protection and support, what duty does it devolve, what duty
does it _not_ devolve, upon us!" In the name of distant ages, and a
remote posterity, we hail the author of this and similar orations, as
Webster the _Olympian_.

But we leave a subject which we have incidentally touched, sincerely
disclaiming any attempt to estimate the character or define the
greatness of Webster. In reference to him we feel, as Cicero said to
Caesar, "_Nil vulgare te dignum videri possit._"

* * * * *

[FROM THE ATHENAEUM.]

THE NEW PROPHET IN THE EAST.[5]

The vicissitudes of the war in the Caucasus of late have been
surprising enough to awaken the interest of Western Europe, even
amidst her own nearer anxieties. Last year it was said that the
conquest of Achulgo, the stronghold of the redoubtable Schamyl,
had effectually broken the power of that daring leader. In direct
contradiction to such reports, later accounts from Daghestan tell
of the reappearance of the notable partisan amidst the lines of the
Russians, and of a defeat of the latter, the most severe, if the
details of the event be true, that they have yet suffered in the
Caucasus. In any case, these exciting changes of fortune would be in
favor of a book professing to describe this interesting region, and
to add to our knowledge of its brave inhabitants. The main interest
of Herr Bodenstedt's work will now be enhanced by its undertaking
to give a more precise account than had previously appeared of the
priest-warrior of Daghestan. and of the new sect as the prophet of
which he succeeded in arraying the independent mountain clans against
their common enemy with a kind of combination unknown in earlier
periods of the struggle.

[Footnote 5: The people of the Caucasus, and t