Literary Cadet And Rhode Island Statesman

Republican Institutions.—The last
week, we had the pleasure of witnessing the
excellence of our republican institutions, and
their happy operations on society, and the
thousand advantages they hold forth to encourage the cultivation of native genius, as
well as the rewards they confer upon the temperate, the industrious, the diligent and the
persevering.

Accidentally, we fell into the company of a
gentleman, a resident of the State of New-York, whose history happily illustrates the
common remark, that in this country any man
can acquire property and fame, if he wishes to
possess them, that the road to eminence is
straight and open to all, who will walk in it.

The gentleman to whom we now allude, is a
native of one the border towns of the
State; he sprung from poor but respectable
parents, who, unable to bestow upon their son,
the advantages of an accomplished education,
placed him an apprentice to a blacksmith,
with whom he resided till he reached his majority, and learned the art and mysteries of
shoeing horses, and mending coulters. At the
expiration of his apprenticeship, he was left
upon the world friendless, and with nothing
but his trade to support him. Being unable to
raise sufficient funds to establish himself in his
profession, and disgusted with the labors of a
mere journeyman, he one day placed a pack
upon his back, into which, like a good honest
Yankee, he crammed a sufficient quantity of
bread and cheese, and a flask of the best of
"New-England," mixed with "lass's," and
bidding adieu to the "home of his fathers,"
took up his line of march for "York State,"
to try his fortune in the "new countries;" and
after wandering for some time, like the Bedouin Arab, he located himself on the margin
of the Genessee. He was, what was then
called, a "knowing chap," was "up to snuff,"
and soon discovered, or "guessed," or "reckoned," that "York State" was a "pretty considerable good kind of a durned country," and
there he settled himself, and soon obtained
an "habitation and a name." Sensible of the
vast field before him, and of the allurements it
held forth, he commenced his own education,
and endeavoured to prepare himself for the
many useful scenes he has since witnessed.

Unaided, and unprotected, by the fostering
hand of influence, our Yankee emigrant toiled
till his hands became as hard as the implements he worked with; and when the fatigues
of the day were over, he sat by the flickering
midnight taper, and drew from the founts of
learning, an education, which, in a little period, made him known to the world, and conferred upon him the honours of the country.

The offices of the State in which he resided,
were at first conferred, and discharging their
duties to the satisfaction of those who employed him, they at last placed unlimited confidence in his talents and political integrity, and
elevated him to the responsible station of a
member of the United States' Congress. In the
councils of the nation, he acquitted himself in
a manner which elicited the applause of the
people; but at length, finding that official pursuits interfered with his extensive agricultural
concerns, he resigned his seat, and devoted
himself exclusively to the interesting labours of
the farmer; and at this moment, is in the enjoyment of wealth, and what is of far more
consequence, the confidence, and best wishes
of the people, whom he has faithfully served, in
the deliberative assemblies of the nation. Thus,
by his persevering industry, and by adhering
to the strictest observances of all the rules of
right, and the principles of integrity;—by his
own efforts has an individual, unaided and
alone, by the happy nature of our Republican
Institutions, reared himself to a degree of eminence, and enjoys a fame, which the arrogant
and indolent purse-proud aristocrat, seldom attains, though he assumes to himself the importance of a demi-god, and in the end finds that
"One common grave,
Receives at last the coward and the brave."

The success the gentleman in question has
met with, should teach those young men, who
may read this article, that temperance, perseverance and industry, will overcome every obstacle, and that in this happy country, the road
to preferment is open, is at all times accessible,
and that he who travels on it, may if he chooses,
acquire distinction, and the honors of the
Republic.

Hundreds of the eminent men of this country, have, like the individual of whom we are
now speaking, been raised to the pinnacles of
fame, by their own exertions; and their success abundantly proves, that real genius, cannot be depressed by opposition; and that it
will, though early manacled and enslaved, work
out its own redemption, and glitter upon the
world, in all the brilliancy of its primeval lustre. Patrick Henry, Doctor Franklin, Roger
Sherman, and a host of others, who flourished
in the days of the Revolution, by their brilliant
career proved the verity of the assertion, and
Henry Clay, William Pinckney, and a catalogue
of others, have in later days, proved to the satisfaction of the world, that talents when properly directed, will beat down all opposition.
and that though malice, envy and hatred may
war against them, like the mountain oak, they
neither bow or bend, but look defiance to the
tempest.