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Various are the uses of money. It is a mighty powerfor good or for evil. It is a mighty power for good where itis employed in the cause of truth, of knowledge, and virtue.But let its engrossing use be merely to make increase ofitself, and then it grows out into every form of evil. Then,the great type of excellence becomes material thrift; thenthe commanding influence is material possessions ; then theoffices of the state, the church, and of society at large, arevalued by a material standard, and become a matter of bar-gain and sale; then the holy rite of matrimony is changedinto a commercial arrangement where two parties sell them-selves and buy each other, and the solemnities of a funeralare but a mock tragedy to usher in the festival of hungryheirs.

One of the most unhappy consequences of the mastery ofthis element in cities, is that every office of society havingits money value strongly expressed, while its inherent worth,honor, and dignity pass out of view, it becomes an object ofdesire and competition only to a class to whom its pecuniaryvalue makes it available. The man best fitted for the officemay be the very man to whom its money value is of noaccount; and he, in this state of society, may be wholly un-willing to resign his more profitable pursuits, or even totrespass upon them, in any way, in order to discharge a pub-lic trust. On the other hand, the man least fitted may bethe one to whom its peculiar money value is an object ofprime consideration. The unwillingness, or indifference ofthe first, enables the last to put himself forward as a candi-date. The success of one candidate of this description, willembolden others, until at length a party of the most incom-petent, and it may be, of the vilest members of society,become the office seekers and the office holders. There arenow two classes into which the community is divided; themen of commerce, who, all absorbed in prosperous business,neglect public affairs; and the men who, without any fixedtrade or commercial pursuits, make a trade of office, andfatten upon the public treasury. Here begins the reign ofdemagoguism, with bribery, corruption, and sedition in itstrain. Living in ceiled houses, riding in gilded coaches, roll-ing together immeasurable wealth, the men of commerceare for a time unaffected by that public peculation which,