suppress it.

When accomplished, -whether, as we hope, peacefully, or, as may possibly happen, by such a conflict as America is now passing through, - there will be a new England, far lovelier than the past or present; an England not only of charming ruins, and fields, and roads, and sheep, and kine, of castles and villas, where a sumptuous nobility or the comfortable middle class, dwell in delightful seclusion, but an England where the multitudinous masses are upraised in intelligence, comfort, and dignity; where all have equal rights, and legislators and governors, elected by the people, feel that they are one with the people. The kindness which now beautifies many in these high stations will not then be, as now, one of condescension, but of the promptings of equality and fraternity. Then, and not till then, shall the saying of the Great Alfred (one of our founders as well as of yours, for both peoples were in his loins) be fulfilled, that 'England wishes every man to be as free as his own thoughts."

It is no child's play that is laid upon the Englishmen of to-day. It is no chaffering between two pampered and purposeless parties, whose quarrels are almost as powerless for the good of the State as were those of the Court of Louis XV. They may be swept away, as those were, by the strong wind of a political revolution. May the men of Britain see and seize this arduous, glorious calling. May they gird their loins to the great work. Then will disinthralled America forget the conduct of the present ruling caste, and with the Commonwealth of England hold firm and eternal concord; for they will be one in feeling, work, and victory.

But I may be intruding upon your courtesy by such utterances, though they have legitimate connection with the whole argument; for, to the American mind, democracy is in debate on her fields, and anti-democracy alone is the baleful animus of English silence and practical complicity. But these words, to be effectual in England, must be proclaimed

by Englishmen. My excuse for the liberty I have indulged, if any is needed, is that, though writing in France, I am writing to England. Here a government professedly based on seven and a half millions of free votes dare not allow a single obscure word in an obscure journal to question its pretended popular sovereignty; but Britain has long rejoiced in perfect liberty of speech and press. We trust it is no vain boasting. It must be perfect, or it is no liberty; if it cannot discuss the system as well as the policy of its government the constitution as well as the administration it is as much paralyzed as though stricken with utter dumbness. I remember, too, that one of your own poets has said,

"Let us ponder boldly; 'tis a base
Abandonment of reason to resign
Our right of thought."

But freedom of thought is not freedom unless that of specch accompany it.

As the utmost license of honest utterance exists in respect to every other subject, so it must in respect to this also. Our Creator subjects His nature, government, and movements to the scrutiny of all His intelligent creatures. If He thus casts His works and Word, His Gospel, and Himself in His Incarnation, in His Trinity, in all His nature and workings into the crucible of honest discussion, certainly this far lesser idea of civil government cannot claim exemption. If kings are kings, as they say they are, Dei gratia, then they must be content with the condition He has imposed on His own royalty. "It is enough for the servant that he be as his Master." But it has no exemption in reality. Their own government is discussed privately by Europeans, in every parlor, kitchen, and workshop, as much as the American is in America. It must be publicly here as it is there. Let not the advocates of any system fear for the result. As was said of an infinitely greater cause, involved in an in

finitely more vital controversy, so may it be of these conflicting ideas of government: "If they be of man, they will come to naught; but if of God, we cannot overthrow them, lest haply we be found fighting against God." Napoleon said Europe in half a century would be Republican or Cossack. The Crimean War prevented the triumph of the latter; the rule of the slave power in America has thus far prevented the former. If that be overthrown, it is not too late in the remaining decade of time he suggested, to have his prophecy fulfilled. He saw at least that the world was too small for such hostile systems to long hold equal sovereignty. It is getting smaller every day. All men must soon decide whether they will rule themselves, or be ruled by a self-elected few. Four réunions of the world's industry within ten years show us how compact, how interwoven, is the family of man. In like manner the world's politics should be calmly, carefully, and courageously considered by the world's representatives. It will be considered, but whether in this or a more violent form, God knows.

But, finally, it is perhaps only a proper expression of gratitude for an American to speak thus freely to Great Britain of her great defect and duty. You sent one of your most eloquent orators to America to show us our sin, and to summon us to the work of its extirpation. You have faithfully and constantly set before us this duty in your journals, in the resolutions of religious and philanthropic associations, and even in the documents of State. A humble son of America may show the gratitude which he and many of his people truly feel for this faithfulness on your part, by a reciprocal service. As Mr. Garrison said of some of his warm English sympathizers, "Each nation, as each individual, has its own cross to bear. Your duty is not ours. It is ours to abolish slavery. It is yours to abolish aristocracy, from the knight to the throne." Both will then arrive, though by different paths, at the same high and glorious

table-land of universal liberty, equality, and fraternity May our motto be an improvement of that of England, and instead of the selfish Norman's proud French, "God and my right," may it be the better, the best watchword, "God and the Right." And may He give us grace and strength as nations, as well as individuals, to see and to do our whole duty. With great respect,

I remain, truly yours,

G. HAVEN.

PARIS, July 4, 1862.

"LET US KEEP THE FEAST, NOT WITH OLD LEAVEN, NEITHER WITH THE LEAVEN OF MALICE AND WICKEDNESS, BUT WITH THE UNLEAVENED BREAD OF SINCERITY AND TRUTH."-1 Cor. v. 8.

"ALL NATIONS SHALL CALL YOU BLESSED; FOR YE SHALL BE A DELIGHTSOME LAND, SAITH THE LORD OF HOSTS." - Mal. iii. 12.

HE feast referred to by the apostle was the Jewish fast and feast, commemorative alike of the greatest gloom and gladness. It is celebrated tonight and to-morrow all over Christendom, by both Jews and Christians, the solemn sacrifice, typical and memorial, of the blessed Lord. With Paul, we see the sacred supper, and the more sacred garden that eternally sanctify this day. With him we behold the consummations of the morrow, from the midnight betrayal to the midnight burial, the scorn and scourging, the mob, from publican to priest, seething with ferocious rage, the cross of agony, the torn and bloody hands, and feet, and head, the blackened heavens and rent earth! How they overwhelm

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*A discourse delivered before the New England Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, at the High Street Church, Charlestown, Mass., on the occasion of the annual State Fast, April 2, 1863.