him; and should he attempt reform, these stupid re-actionists will oppose him."

"Well, as you describe it," said my sympathetic friend, "his position is really difficult and painful. But why on earth did he consent to that infamous crusade to Rome? I was dining last week with his principal minister, when, in the middle of the repast, he suddenly said to me: 'I will give you a bit of news; it was decided last night, in cabinet council, that we should send an expedition to Rome to restore the Pope.' I laid down my knife and fork in astonishment. Then,' said I, in reply, ‘you will allow me to say, that you have decided on a fatal step, that will involve your government in an endless series of difficulties, that will ultimately prove its ruin.' The minister, of course, was displeased at my comments, and broke off the conversation by dryly adding, that I did not understand the situation.'

"If he had not been blind," I rejoined, “he would have seen it, as you did. Never did a government make a greater mistake; for this detestable intervention was not only an error in policy, an outrage on justice, but a direct violation of law. It is a death-blow to the ministry, and I fear will drag down, in the end, even those who may have had little to do with it. I do not think Louis Napoleon could have prevented it, for it is the Church party, in league with the Legitimists, who resolved on it; and they carried it through the Assembly, under the pretext of checking the Austrian influence in Italy. But it is all a sorry trick, that will involve its authors in shame and confusion. If the President had clearer views of his true policy, and a greater force of character, he might, by adopting energetic means, have possibly prevented it."

"To be frank with you," said my lady-politician, "it is palpable that Louis Napoleon is not strong enough for his position. The times require decision and vigor of character; whereas the President spends his time in finessing and trimming between opposite factions and camps. It would be of no consequence whether at heart he was an aristocrat, if he could only see, that amid rival pretensions monarchy has become impossible, and the Republic the only chance of tranquillity. But his hope is no doubt to convince the Legitimists and the Orleanists that neither of them can expect power, and that they cannot do a better thing for themselves than to upset the Republic and put him as emperor in its stead. If such a plan were possible, I would not, perhaps, find fault with it, but its absurdity provokes me. Both branches of the Bourbons are merely making use of poor Louis Napoleon, and in giving him this dirty Roman job to do for them, they merely carry out their purposes, whilst they have utterly destroyed his popularity. A pretty kettle of fish they are making of France, these heedless politicians, and they little dream now, that when the water begins to boil, they will be the first to be scalded."

"Well done, my lady-royalist," returned I; "these sentiments would do honor to a New-York democrat, of the genuine loco-foco stamp, if such an one were ever tempted to talk on French politics. But what astonishes me most of all is, to hear opinions so sound and so republican uttered by an English aristocrat, who generally vaunts about British liberty' at home, but always takes the side of despotism abroad. The aristocracy of England sympathize so deeply with the cause of monarchy, whenever threatened, that they are always at work, in their own cunning

fashion, in backing it up with money or tactics. These ideas of yours are so new, that there must be growing up in England a more radical school of politicians, who understand the times better, and are prepared to set earnestly and rapidly to work to cut away your time-honored abuses. Lord John Russell, the whig, is not a whit better than Lord Aberdeen, the tory; and between the two, if something is not soon done, England will come to the ground."

"You are right in all," responded gravely my West-End friend-" Our whig policy is run out, and new men and new measures must soon be thought of Already novel combinations are discussing, and Sir Robert Peel will be indispensable in such an event. You will be pleased to hear, I am sure, that my husband has been solicited to take a part in these proposed movements; but whether he can be induced to put on his political harness again, is more than I can say. As to my republican sentiments, they are perfectly genuine; for I think it quite absurd to be clinging to ideas that are worn out, because it may suit the pride and interests of a ruling class to maintain them still a little longer. Here is a pamphlet on the last French Revolution, by my friend Mills, the historian, in reply to the windy brochure of your ci-devant acquaintance, Lord Brougham."

"Thanks," I said, receiving it," but now let us drop politics, and fall to topics of gayer measure. Let us talk a little of past times and old acquaintances. Have you any recent news of

After a long and delightful chat of perhaps an hour, several visitors came in, and I arose to take my leave. "I have only one regret,” I added, "in meeting you again, and that is the prospect of losing sight of you so soon for you go away in a few days, I understand."

"Yes, it is so; but never fear; I shall give you another sitting in a day or two, for we have a deal of leeway yet to bring up since we last I have a great mind”—and she stopped, with a smile on her face, but a doubt in her eye.

met.

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Well, don't change it now," I replied: "if it is anything agreeable, decide in my favor."

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Agreed," she said. "Come to my box to-night at the Opera Comique, and I will give you a glimpse of one or two remarkable since I know you have a great relish for that sort of a thing."

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persons,

'Greatly obliged," I rejoined, bowing, "and I will hurry away from a dinner party in order to be with you in time."

As I wended my way saunteringly back to my hotel, I gave way to all kinds of pleasant recollections connected with the singular and striking individual I had just left, and the many strange events and scenes we had mutually known and shared in.-But I will spare you those reflections, Mr. Editor, for I think the preface I threatened you with in the beginning has been stretched out quite long enough, and you and my readers must be getting impatient for the surprise I promised you all.

Well, I am coming to it now as fast as I can; but I begin to appre hend, after all this flourish, that the sensation I was going to excite will turn out one of disappointment instead of pleasure. That has happened before now to better writers, a good deal, than myself, but I hope you will acquit me of any deliberate intention of entrapping you. That's all.

POLITICAL PORTRAITS WITH PEN AND PENCIL.

JAMES A. SEDDON, OF VIRGINIA.

JAMES A. SEDDON was born on the 3d of July, 1815, at Falmouth, a small town in the county of Stafford, Virginia; the second son, and fourth child of a family of eight, the children of Thomas and Susan P. Seddon. His parents were both persons of great respectability and worth, and were held in very high esteem in the community where they lived for their virtues and their usefulness. They belonged respectfully to families that had been established in Virginia from an early period of its colonial settlement, and had been uniformly engaged in agriculture-the most honorable general pursuit in the state. Amid the mutations of estates and conditions so common in our country, it may not be unworthy of note, that the estate in Stafford county, originally settled at an early period after the discovery of Virginia by the first of Mr. Seddon's ancestors on the father's side, who emigrated from England, has since been regularly transmitted by descent, and is still retained in the family. The boyhood of Mr. Seddon, until his thirteenth year, was passed mainly in the country, at the residence of an uncle, where he enjoyed the privilege of instruction from a private teacher, who, according to a custom frequent among the gentlemen of Virginia, was retained for the tuition of the younger members of the family. About this time, his father having retired from the successful prosecution of his business as a merchant, removed to the town of Fredericksburg, where, from the confidence felt in his capacity and integrity, he was soon called to the head of one of the leading banks of the place. Mr. Seddon then returned to the family circle, and enjoyed the opportunities of higher instruction in both English and classical knowledge, which were afforded by the excellent academies of Fredericksburg. His proficiency in his studies, both before and after his return home, was very creditable; and it may be mentioned as indicative, both of the facility with which he acquired knowledge, and of his general good conduct, that he never received correction but on one or two occasions, and then only for pranks of boyish mischief, even the reproof of his teachers. In his sixteenth year, he was considered by his preceptors fully prepared to enter on a collegiate course, and he was, accordingly, sent by his parents to New-Haven, for the purpose of entering the Freshman Class at Yale College. Unfortunately, he found his elder brother, who, having passed with distinction through his collegiate course, (receiving some of the highest honors of the college, was about to graduate with much credit,) stricken down by disease, and he was compelled, after some weeks of anxious watching at his bedside, to return in attendance on him to their home, in a more genial clime. Griefs are said "to love a throng-they come not in single files, but in battalions," and such proved the sad experience of Mr. Seddon's family. The seeds of disease had been too deeply implanted in his brother's system by the assiduous labor and rigid clime to which he had been exposed, to be removed by all the tender sympathies and ministrations of home and friends.

He soon died, and his death was followed in quick succession by the decease of his father, scarce past the prime of vigorous manhood, and by two other members of his family. The constitution of young Seddon was frail and delicate, and the apprehensions of his surviving parent and other friends were so keenly awakened by these sad bereavements, that they would not heed his earnest desire to prosecute his collegiate course, either at Yale, or some more southern institution, nor allow him to go beyond the reach of their care and solicitude, Acquiescing, though with reluctance, in this claim of maternal effection, Mr. Seddon passed the next few years of his life at home in desultory reading, and in exercises of riding and hunting, to which he was partial, and which were recommended as likely to invigorate his delicate frame. Such was the confidence felt during this period by his friends in his judgment, discretion and principles, that notwithstanding his immature years, he had no guardian appointed of his person or property, but was left entirely master of himself, and constituted, indeed, the head of his family and of his mother's household. The duties incident to the position were fulfilled in such manner as to secure him in a high degree the respect of the whole community, and the esteem and affection of a wide circle of relatives and friends. During this period, Mr. Seddon commenced, under the auspices of a relative, Arthur A. Morson, Esq., then a leading lawyer of the town, and now one of the most eminent members of the bar of Richmond, the study of the legal profession, and prosecuted it, though in a desultory manner, as his feeble health only allowed, for a year or two. When nineteen years old, partly for the improvement of health, and partly on a mission of business, Mr Seddon visited the great southeastern region of our country, and passed some six or eight months in the states of Mississippi and Louisiana. He was strongly impressed with the grandeur and immense resources of the great Mississippi valley, and he would have established himself permanently in a region, giving such ample promise of future power and wealth, but for deference to the strong claims of his mother, and the younger members of his family, on his care and affection, and a disinclination to separate himself from his native state. His visit to Mississippi was at a time when the mania of speculation was well nigh universal, and the inflation of bank issues and the credit system had reached its highest point. His observation on the evils incident to such delusive appearances of prosperity, and their invariable tendencies to inflame and demoralize the public mind, contributed greatly to the after formation of fixed opinions as to the impolicy of a United States Bank, and of the superior wisdom and justice of the Democratic policy, that has ever sought to prevent or check expansions of the paper currency, and to restrain within reasonable limits the general credit system of the country. The health of Mr. Seddon was so improved by this trip, that on his return he was enabled to overcome maternal solicitude to such extent, as to allow him to carry out, partially, the desire he had not ceased to cherish, to avail himself of the privilege of collegiate instruction; and in his twentieth year, he entered, for the session, the University of Virginia, whose system allowed him to select such branches as he preferred, and to unite with the prosecution of his legal studies, the pursuit of scientific and classical knowledge. While at the university, besides giving strict attention to the duties of his classes, he became a member of the leading literary society of the institution, also of the moot courts connected with the Law School, and participated ac

tively in the debates and proceedings of both. His proficiency in his studies may be estimated by the fact, that neither in the daily examinations, nor in those more searching trials for graduation, was he ever at fault in giving satisfactory responses to every inquiry propounded to him. The system then prevailing at the university allowed the honors of the session to be bestowed by the voice of the students themselves, subject to the approval and confirmation of the faculty. The appreciation entertained for Mr. Seddon, both by his fellow students and the professors, was signally evinced by his selection, notwithstanding the brief period during which he had been a student, with almost entire unanimity on the part of the former, and with the prompt confirmation of the latter, to the office of first orator, deemed the highest honor of the college. He discharged the duty so honorably assigned him, by the delivery, at the conclusion of the session, in the presence of the visitors, the faculty, and a crowded auditory, composed of the intelligence and beauty of the town and country around, an oration on the tendencies of the times, which, both from the able chairman of the faculty, whose duty it was to give it previous critical examination, and from the cultivated audience, elicited cordial approval and commendation. Having graduated with facility in the classes where he was a candidate, and acquitted himself with honor of his collegiate duties, Mr. Seddon returned to his family circle, to be more than ever the object of their solicitude and affection. Being now of age, his thoughts turned with some anxiety on the place which he should select for permanent settlement, and he turned with longings to the wide field and high rewards afforded to intellectual energy and professional industry in the south-west. The motives which prevented his stay in the South again, proved preponderant, and he finally determined to establish himself in Richmond, the metropolis and leading city of his native state, where the obstacles to success were most formidable, in the number and talents of the bar, the inducements to exertion and the rewards of professional eminence were greatest. Before his removal, he determined to pass a year in travel and general study. About this period the struggles of parties ensuing on the eventful administration of Jackson, and the questions connected with the currency, were marked by great excitement and interest. The family of Mr. Seddon, though never addicted to politics, had rather inclined in its sympathies and votes to the federal national republican party, and his own early associations had naturally disposed him to regard them with some favor. His boyish partialities had however been strongly enlisted by the patriotism, firmness and heroism of Jackson, and until the period of the nullification struggle, he not unfrequently excited the smiles of his elder friends, by the warmth with which he defended the old hero. All his youthful sympathies were however engaged by the fearless attitude and bold opinions maintained by the statesmen of South Carolina in that eventful struggle, and on impulse rather than conviction, youth as he was, he would have been prepared to go to any extent in defending her cause. The removal of the deposits had again, by the decision and moral firmness it had evinced in President Jackson, awakened his admiration, and disposed him to regard with more favorable construction, the policy of his administration on the currency question. With such unsettled political predilections, Mr. S. thought it advisable before settling in life, to devote his year of contemplated study mainly to the political history of the country, and to the principles which distinguished parties. The result was, after the best investigations and reflections he could give