1 Tlio imcstion of tlie extent to wlikli the several Provincial CoiigresseB, iininthieiiceil by the outsiile iiressuiu of lionieinnde pitrtisan demonstrations or by t lie inside domination of thofse who assnined to social or intellei tnal snperiority, wonld have pven their authority for the enactiiient and execution of such violent nieaKures, against those of their fellow Colonists who did not concur in all which Wiw done by the Conti nental Congress of 1774, as we have noticed, is worthy of the examination which it will some day receive at the hands of an intelligent, industrious, and fearless student.

If we do not mistake, and we incline to the belief that wo do not, when that examination shall have been made, very much of the resiionsibiiity for the multitude of atrocious acts which were done in behalf of '* the cause of America " and of " the Liberties of America," vvill be shifted from the shoulders of sensible, but modest and less energetic, men, where it now rests, to those of men who are now represeiiti'il as having been incapable of such enormities.

History tells of more than one instiince in which a mere handful ol enthusiasts, more or loss honest in their professions, has fiusteneil itself on a great political jiarty which entertained none of those enthusiastic dogmas which the others iissiimed to believe and maintain, and which, having thus fastened itself on the larger body, taking advantage ol favorable oiiportunities, artfully adapting itself to existing tenipei-s and circumstances, and pereistenlly-- sometimes, impudently-- thrusting ii self into every seat of inlluence and authority to which it could possibly gain access, has succeeded in re-mouhling the policy of the party which it has invaded ; and made it appear to bo what, originally, it was not ; to maintain opinions which, originally, it disclainieil and opposeil ; and to do, or permit to be done, in its name, what, originally, it would have honestly shrunk from, iis improper and unjust.