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finger as a mountain weight," and, in the fine language of that just and beautiful tribute paid to their character by one, "whose praises will wear well"-they "judged of the grievance, by the badness of the principle, they augured misgovernment at a distance, and snuffed the approach of tyranny in every tainted breeze" because they were men, who, in the darkest hour, could say to their oppressors, we have counted the cost, and find nothing so deplorable as voluntary slavery," and who were ready to exclaim with the orator of Virginia, "give me liberty or give me death." Theirs was the same spirit which inspired the immortal Hampden to resist, at the peril of his life, the imposition of ship-money, not because, as remarked by Burke, "the payment of twenty shillings would have ruined his fortune, Lut because the payment of half twenty shillings on the principle on which it was demanded, would have made him a slave." It was the spirit of liberty which still abides on the earth, and whose home is in the bosoms of the brave—which but yesterday, in "beautiful France," restored their violated charter— which even now burns brightly on the towers of Belgium, and has rescued Poland from the tyrant's grasp-making their sons, aye, and their daughters too, the wonder and the admiration of the world, the pride and glory of the human race!

48.

66 IMPOLICY OF THE PROTECTING SYSTEM.”—Hayne. Surveying with the feelings of an American the actual condition of things, I should certainly be disposed to exchange all the blessings which the protecting system has produced, even in New-England, for those which it has destroyed. In the place of splendid villages, flourishing manufactories, joint-stock companies, and lordly proprietors, clothed in fine linen, and faring sumptuously every day, as a patriot, I should be disposed to say, give me back the ships which have been destroyed, the merchants which have been reduced to bankruptcy, the sailors that have been forced into foreign service, "the plundered ploughmen and beggared yeomanry," who have been driven from the pursuits of their choice into the gloomy walls of a manufactory; give me back these, and, above all, give me back content-restore the peace and harmony which this system has destroyed, and I will consent that every manufacturing establishment shall be razed to its foundation, which has been built up, and can only be sustained, by this accursed system.

Sir,

if wealth were the highest good of a nation, and pecuniary profit the only standard by which a wise policy could be measured, it would even then be more than questionable, how far this system could be justified. But there are higher and more sacred principles involved in this question, which cannot be safely disregarded; there are considerations of justice, and political equality, which rise far above all calculations of mere profit and loss. Sir, what will it profit you, if you gain the whole world, and lose the hearts of your people? This is a confederated government, founded on a spirit of mutual conciliation, concession, and compromise; and it is neither a just, prudent, nor rightful exercise of the high trust with which you are invested for the common good, to resort to a system of legislation by which benefits and burdens are unequally distributed. Sir, can any gentleman look this subject fairly in the face, and not perceive that such a government as ours (instituted for a few definite purposes, in which every portion of the union must, from the very nature of things, have a common interest) cannot turn aside from its high duties, and undertake to control the domestic industry of individuals, without undermining the very foundations of our republican system? It is contrary to the whole genius and character of our institutions, the very form and structure of our government, that it should undertake to regulate the whole labor and capital of this extensive country. A perseverance in this course will sow the seeds of dissension broadcast throughout the land; and let it be remembered, that discord is not a plant of slow growth, but one that flourishes in every soil, and never fails to produce its fruit in due season. What a spectacle do you even now exhibit to the world? A large portion of your fellow-citizens, believing themselves to be grievously oppressed by an unwise and unconstitutional system, are clamoring at your doors for justice, while another portion, supposing that they are enjoying rich bounties under it, are treating their complaints with scorn and contempt. God only knows where all this is to end. But, it "will not, and it cannot, come to good." We at the south still call you our brethren, and have ever cherished towards you the strongest feelings of affection; but were you the brothers of our blood, for whom we would coin our hearts, it is not in human nature that we should long continue to retain for you undiminished affection, when all hope of redress shall have passed away, and we shall continue to believe that you are visiting us with a hard and cruel oppression, and enforcing a cold, heartless, and selfish policy.

49. SPLENDID TRIBUTE TO THE TALENTS OF CHATHAM.Wirt.

Talents, whenever they have had a suitable theatre, have never failed to emerge from obscurity, and assume their proper rank in the estimation of the world. The jealous pride of power may attempt to repress and crush them; the base and malignant rancor of impotent spleen and envy may strive to embarrass and retard their flight: but these efforts, so far from achieving their ignoble purpose, so far from producing a discernible obliquity in the ascent of genuine and vigorous talents, will serve only to increase their momentum, and mark their transit with an additional stream of glory.

When the great earl of Chatham first made his appearance in the house of commons, and began to astonish and transport the British parliament and the British nation, by the boldness, the force, and range of his thoughts, and the celestial fire, and pathos of his eloquence, it is well known that the minister, Walpole, and his brother Horace, from motives very easily understood, exerted all their wit, all their oratory, all their acquirements of every description, sustained and enforced by the unfeeling "insolence of office," to heave a mountain on his gigantic genius, and hide it from the world.-Poor and powerless attempt!-The tables were turned. He rose upon them, in the might and irresistible energy of his genius, and in spite of all their convulsions, frantic agonies, and spasms, he strangled them and their whole faction, with as much ease as Hercules did the serpent Python.

Who can turn over the debates of the day, and read the account of this conflict between youthful ardor and hoary-headed cunning and power, without kindling in the cause of the tyro, and shouting at his victory? That they should have attempted to pass off the grand, yet solid and judicious operations of a mind like his, as being mere theatrical start and emotion; the giddy, hair-brained eccentricities of a romantic boy! That they should have had the presumption to suppose themselves capable of chaining down to the floor of the parliament, a genius so etherial, towering and sublime, seems unaccountable! Why did they not, in the next breath, by way of crowning the climax of vanity, bid the magnificent fire-ball to descend from its exalted and appropriate region, and perform its splendid tour along the surface of the earth?

Talents, which are before the public, have nothing to dread, either from the jealous pride of power, or from the transient

misrepresentations of party, spleen, or envy. In spite of opposition from any cause, their buoyant spirit will lift them to their proper grade.

The man who comes fairly before the world, and who possesses the great and vigorous stamina which entitle him to a niche in the temple of glory, has no reason to dread the ultimate result; however slow his progress may be, he will, in the end, most indubitably receive that distinction. While the rest, "the swallows of science," the butterflies of genius, may flutter for their spring; but they will soon pass away, and be remembered no more. No enterprising man, therefore, and least of all, the truly great man, has reason to droop or repine at any efforts which he may suppose to be made with the view to depress him. Let, then, the tempest of envy or of malice howl around him. His genius will consecrate him; and any attempt to extinguish that, will be as unavailing, as would a human effort "to quench the stars."

50. EXPOSURE TO THE HORRORS OF INDIAN OUTRAGE.-Ames.

But am I reduced to the necessity of proving this point? Certainly the very men who charged the Indian war on the detention of the posts, will call for no other proof than the recital of their own speeches. It is remembered with what emphasis, with what acrimony, they expatiated on the burden of taxes, and the drain of blood and treasure into the western country, in consequence of Britain's holding the posts. Until the posts are restored, they exclaimed, the treasury and the frontiers must bleed.

If any, against all these proofs, should maintain that the peace with the Indians will be stable without the posts, to them I will urge another reply. From arguments calculated to produce conviction, I will appeal directly to the hearts of those who hear me, and ask, whether it is not already planted there? I resort, especially, to the convictions of the western gentlemen, whether, supposing no posts and no treaty, the settlers will remain in security? Can they take it upon them to say, that an Indian peace, under these circumstances, will prove firm? No, sir, it will not be peace, but a sword: it will be no better than a lure to draw victims within the reach of the tomahawk.

On this theme, my emotions are unutterable. If I could find words for them, if my powers bore any proportion to my zeal, I would swell my voice to such a note of remonstrance, it should

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reach every log-house beyond the mountains. I would say to the inhabitants, wake from your false security; your cruel dangers, your more cruel apprehensions, are soon to be renewed; the wounds, yet unhealed, are to be torn open again; in the daytime, your path through the woods will be ambushed; the darkness of midnight will glitter with the blaze of your dwellings. You are a father-the blood of your sons shall fatten your corn-fields: you are a mother-the war-whoop shall wake the sleep of the cradle.

On this subject, you need not suspect any deception on your feelings. It is a spectacle of horror, which cannot be overdrawn. If you have nature in your hearts, it will speak a language, compared with which, all I have said or can say, will be poor and frigid.

By rejecting the posts, we light the savage fires, we bind the victims. This day we undertake to render account to the widows and orphans whom our decision will make, to the wretches that will be roasted at the stake, to our country, and I do not deem it too serious to say, to conscience and to God. We are answerable, and if duty be any thing more than a word of imposture, if conscience be not a bugbear, we are preparing to make ourselves as wretched as our country.

There is no mistake in this case, there can be none. Experience has already been the prophet of events, and the cries of our future victims have already reached us. The western inhabitants are not a silent and uncomplaining sacrifice. The voice of humanity issues from the shade of their wilderness. It exclaims, that while one hand is held up to reject this treaty, the other grasps a tomahawk. It summons our imagination to the scenes that will open. It is no great effort of the imagination to conceive that events so near are already begun. I can fancy that I listen to the yells of savage vengeance, and the shrieks of torture. Already they seem to sigh in the west wind already they mingle with every echo from the mountains.

51. SPECIMEN OF THE ELOQUENCE OF JAMES OTIS.- Francis.

England may as well dam up the waters of the Nile with bulrushes, as to fetter the step of freedom, more proud and firm in this youthful land, than where she treads the sequestered glens of Scotland, or couches herself among the magnificent mountains of Switzerland. Arbitrary principles, like those

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