nd compassion for the country, which
after producing so rare and excellent a kind of man, lost a great part
of the good he might have done her.

The great error of his career, as before remarked, was his turning
politician. He was too good for a politician, and not great enough for a
statesman.

If his expedition had succeeded, it was in him, I think, to have run a
career in Spanish America similar to that of Napoleon in Europe. Like
Napoleon, he would have been one of the most amiable despots, and one of
the most destructive. Like Napoleon, he would have been sure, at last,
to have been overwhelmed in a prodigious ruin. Like Napoleon, he would
have been idolized and execrated. Like Napoleon, he would, have had his
half dozen friends to go with him to St. Helena. Like Napoleon, he would
have justified to the last, with the utmost sincerity, nearly every
action of his life.

We live in a better day than he did. Nearly every thing is better now
in the United States than it was fifty years ago, and a much larger
proportion of the people possess the means of enjoying and improving
life. If some evils are more obvious and rampant than they were, they
are also better known, and the remedy is nearer ...

Politics, apart from the pursuit of office, have again become real and
interesting. The issue is distinct and important enough to justify the
intense concern of a nation. To a young man coming upon the stage of
life with the opportunities of Aaron Burr, a glorious and genuine
political career is possible. The dainty keeping aloof from the
discussion of public affairs, which has been the fashion until lately,
will not again find favor with any but the very stupid, for a long
time to come. The intellect of the United States once roused to the
consideration of political questions, will doubtless be found competent
to the work demanded of it.

The career of Aaron Burr can never be repeated in the United States.
That of itself is a proof of progress. The game of politics which he
played is left, in these better days, to far inferior men, and the moral
license which he and Hamilton permitted themselves, is not known in the
circles they frequented. But the graver errors, the radical vices, of
both men belong to human nature, and will always exist to be shunned and
battled.

* * * * *

From "Famous Americans."

=_110._= HENRY CLAY'S CAREER AT THE WESTERN BAR.

It is surprising how addicted to