very properly, if, as I conceive, the
chief point be not to discover what a person in that position is, or
what he will do, but whether he can be elected. _Vos exemplaria Graeca
nocturna versate manu, versate diurna._

But, since an imitation of the Greeks in this particular (the asking of
questions being one chief privilege of freemen) is hardly to be hoped
for, and our candidates will answer, whether they are questioned or not,
I would recommend that these ante-electionary dialogues should be
carried on by symbols, as were the diplomatic correspondences of the
Scythians and Macrobii, or confined to the language of signs, like the
famous interview of Panurge and Goatsnose. A candidate might then convey
a suitable reply to all committees of inquiry by closing one eye, or by
presenting them with a phial of Egyptian darkness to be speculated upon
by their respective constituencies. These answers would be susceptible
of whatever retrospective construction the exigencies of the political
campaign might seem to demand, and the candidate could take his position
on either side of the fence with entire consistency. Or, if letters must
be written, profitable use might be made of the Dighton rock
hieroglyphic or the cuneiform script, every fresh decipherer of which is
enabled to educe a different meaning, whereby a sculptured stone or two
supplies us, and will probably continue to supply posterity, with a very
vast and various body of authentic history. For even the briefest
epistle in the ordinary chirography is dangerous. There is scarce any
style so compressed that superfluous words may not be detected in it. A
severe critic might curtail that famous brevity of Caesar's by two
thirds, drawing his pen through the supererogatory _veni_ and _vidi_.
Perhaps, after all, the surest footing of hope is to be found in the
rapidly increasing tendency to demand less and less of qualification in
candidates. Already have statesmanship, experience, and the possession
(nay, the profession, even) of principles been rejected as superfluous,
and may not the patriot reasonably hope that the ability to write will
follow? At present, there may be death in pot-hooks as well as pots, the
loop of a letter may suffice for a bow-string, and all the dreadful
heresies of Anti-slavery may lurk in a flourish.--H. W.]

No. VIII.

A SECOND LETTER FROM B. SAWIN, ESQ.

[In the following epistle, we behold Mr. Sawin returning a _miles
emeritus_, to