ABSTRAC'TIONS.
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We copy with entire concurrence, says
the N. Y. American, the following philo-
sophical analysis of an Abstraction,' 1t is
from the Richmond Whig-which does
honor to our common country by its
manly sense and old fashioned indepen-
dencc.


As to abstractions-we like an abstrac-
ton as we'll as any man living-but it
should be in season,-Take it Of leisure
afternoon, or holliday-and nothing can
surpass it. Itis delicious. 1t thrills the
mental sensorium-it sharpens the wit
and subtilizes the intellect. But thrust
it forth into the rough and bursting aven-
ues of business and every day life, and it
is as much out Of place as Mr.. Jefferson
said General Jackson would be in the
Presidential Chair. 1t has no congeniali-
ty, no adoption for the work-a-day con-
Germs of life-it shrinks from them like
the sensitive plant from rude touch. 1t
dwells in seclusion and quiet-in the closet
with thedreamer, or along the seques,ered,
velvet walks of the poet.


Some politicians, who have made them
selves ridiculous in the public eye, by
over much rcfning-and others-selfsh
and unprincipled-who, under the shield
Of affected purism, have never scrupled to
perpe,rate any political atrocity, which
might rebound to their aggrandisement,
have sought to confound principles and
Observation-Disclosures are no two things
so nearly allied, more distinct in their
nature and attrbutes-unless it be horse
chesnut and a chesnut horse. An alb
straction is a disembodied principle. A
principle is vital, active and provocative,
end always leads to results. Utter ster-
tility is OF the very essence of abstraction
when i, loses the distinctive features it
ceases to be itself Universal equality is
an abstraction, the great good 10 the great
est number is principle. If you were
to put the government into the hands of
pure abstractionists they would (as the
saying is) run into the ground in less than
a fortnight, orproye recreant to their pro-
fe.sions.-Each one would have his own
distractions and all would concur only
in one thng-in repudlating every thing
tactical. If they could not compass the