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Now, could the most detailed and the best authenticated history do more for us than these Palaontological signs have done in forming a just notion of the religious character of the former inhabitants of this island? -- We suppose that we are in possession of no other clue than that furnished by the ruin. Combine with it those intimations scattered through the written annals of the period indicated by those imperfect but eloquent remains, and it will not be difficult to deduce a history, quite satisfactory, of a people, of whom nothing is left but the ruins of their

temple. What we have said of this silent witness of the past, may be said of language, of which the mutations are no less instructive than curious, and of those numberless traditions, which, passing from generation to generation, through the constant hearts rather than through the ever-changing opinions of a people, are often times more reliable than history itself.

The real nature and value of tradition, as a source of knowledge, has never been thoroughly and philosophically investigated. -- Especially has it not been fairly compared with History. Hume loved the Stuarts, and they are therefore the subjects of his incessant and extravagant praise. Mcaulay hates the Stuarts, and they are, therefore, the theme of his equally incessant and extravagant abuse. Still both wore Scotsmen. Both had Scotch educations; and, in preparing their histories, both had the same materials and authorities before them. Now what are we to say to these things? The kind of evidence, which we have endeavored to illustrate, is certainly free from the influence of those prejudices, which have produced such opposing descriptions of the same events and characters. The inanimate, unconscious witnesses, which Palaeontology and Ethnology summon to their aid are incapable of those perversions of the truth, which are liable to be produced by a mind acted on by ever changing motives. -- The same maybe said of tradition, when it is transmitted through the great mass of a people. By confining our belief to such traditions, as come within the limits of this description, we shall be secure from those abuses of faith, which were inflicted on their age by the ancient Pharisees, and are still imposed on the present, by their legitimate successors in deception -- the doctors of the Romish Church.

Before closing this truly miscellaneous article we would recur briefly to the Utica Gazette. With regard to the remark contained in the notice before referred to, that the contents of the Opal are "equal, &c., but marked by such characteristics as we should expect from such a quarter," we know not what the Editor means, unless he alludes to such a passage as the following, for example, in our February number. It occurs in the letter of our foreign correspondent, (who, we are happy to say, is at home with us, not having waited for the Steamer.) "Despotism," he writes from Padua, in the very heart of Italian tyranny, "is a mere phantom of the imagination." Now, this seems, doubtless, a little queer to the editors of our newspapers, who find their interests in sending forth a great deal of twaddle about liberty. For our own part, we cannot but respect the writer of the letter for his courage as well as for the justness of his sentiment. It is certainly courageous to dare the utterance of such a doctrine in "our age and country." And that the sentiment is just, appears from the conduct of almost every man and woman. We all seek for society, and what is society but a restraint -- often-times alas! most dreadfully despotic? Yet how cheerfully are these restraints submitted to. Take the case of love, or jealousy, tight boots, or corsets. Is not the thought even, to say nothing of the experience, of them sufficient to still this clamorous cant about liberty.

But not only is the sentiment of our correspondent sustained by facts, but it is also in a high degree, accordant with the real dignity and capabilities of human nature.- "My mind to me, a kingdom is," is the noble thought and boast of one of the finest specimens of that nature, and all along the line of history it is illustrated by men who are the real kings and princes of our race. Dante, Tasso, Richard of the Lion-Heart, and La Fayette, are not the less poets and heroes for having been within the walls of prisons.

We hold, therefore, that our correspondent is right. He has swung clear from trammels to which no mind will submit, except one that has not the strength to cast them off. If the sentiment does not meet the approbation of editors, it is, probably, because its author lives in an atmosphere more favorable to a distinct perception of the truth than exists outside of the Asylum. And, by the way, we must be allowed to say that since we have been an in-dweller of this place, we have often had occasion to notice, under all its so-called restraints upon the body, the freeness and grandeur of the movements of the soul. Mr. Clinton was declared insane for conceiving the plan of connecting, by a canal, the waters of Lake Erie with those of the Hudson; but now Mr. Clinton is regarded as one of our greatest men. But what is that compared with the determination entertained by one of our inmates, to bring the whole weight of Niagara Falls on one wheel, and run a line of shafts from it to Oregon. Or what can be finer in the way of sweeping off all casuistic difficulty than the following explanation of the necessity of lying. "Now," said a so- called patient, but why not style him a real philosopher, "we cannot make too free with truth. It cannot mingle much in our common transactions. For example, I am a lawyer; my business is to do all that I can for my client; this is my jurisdiction, and I must confine myself to it. It will very often happen that my duty lies in letting on as little truth as possible. The fact is, that Truth is a thing so great and awful, that the frail disordered circumstances of human life will not bear the full pressure of its weight."