It would not fall within the scope of the present Address, which seeks to review the men and the sovereigns of the last fifty years, not as potentialities, but as historical facts, with actual, visible results, to look beyond the present hour, or to inquire how far the reigning Emperor of France will probably carry into practical effect the enlightened and far-seeing views of the "Prisoner of Ham." They now apply not alone to Nicaragua, but emphatically to Mexico, as furnishing a more accessible and easier route for the great interoceanic channel which he then regarded as vouchsafing such blessings to all mankind, and especially to the colored races held in slavery.

LOUIS NAPOLEON is a thoughtful student of history, and as such, wisely covetous of lasting fame. After announcing his purposes, so grandly Christian and philanthropic,--and in full view, moreover, of the magnificent example hung high in the Heavens by his great compeer in Russia, emancipating at a single stroke a population of more than twenty millions—can it be possible that he will so disregard the judgment of coming ages, as to lend his aid at this late hour, to blacken the American continent with the blight of African bondage; still less that he will openly uphold and abet the unholy and savage effort to establish on the ruins of our young republic, a barbarian power proclaiming slavery as its corner-stone?

LOUIS NAPOLEON is, moreover, a mathematici n profoundly versed in the knowledge of quantities, material and political. Will he forget the material and political science practically taught by the first Napoleon, in ceding to the American Republic nearly one-half of its wide-spread continental area, for the very purpose of building up in this Western Hemisphere a continental power of sufficient weight to preserve the political equilibrium of the globe, which the constantly increasing pos sessions of England were disturbing?

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But we must dwell no longer on these political "eventualities," but come down to the dark and bloody foreground of the picture at our feet, filled by the pending Rebellion. Amid the smoke and carnage, it were idle to philosophize, or seek to portray even in outline its dismal lights and shadows. We may, however, select a single feature, and that, too, of a pacific character; but it will sufficiently depict the whole, in presenting at once and in bold relief, the highest civilization and the lowest barbarism of the contending parties.

The Light-House system of the United States, peculiarly a symbol of national sovereignty, attracted the earnest and early attention of WASHINGTON. Almost immediately after his inauguration at New York, as President, he directed the light on Sandy Hook, almost within his sight, to be kept burning, until Congress should have time to legislate on the subject, which they did, shortly afterwards. It soon became apparent that "peculiar institutions" of this description found no favor with his political opponents, the advocates of "State Sovereignty," who utterly denied the right of the general government to erect a light-house, or any similar structure needed by commerce, and especially on the "sacred soil of Virginia. A light-house was nevertheless erected within the first two years of the administration of WASHINGTON, on Cape Henry, which was so rapidly followed by others along our Atlantic front, that by 1814, fifty years ago, more than forty lights were standing, as faithful sentinels, to welcome the mariners of the world to the coast of the American Union. By the year 1860, through the ardent and untiring exertions of our patriotic men of science, not only was the illuminating power of our lights

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• The original letter of WASHINGTON, giving this direction, is still in existence. It is historically important, in furnishing unanswerable evidence of the cotemporaneous exercise by the highest authority, of the national power committed by the Constitution to the Government of the Union, "to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the States."

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increased more than eight-fold, by introducing the beautiful and costly Fresnel lenses, but the total number, including beacons, on the coast of the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, with the adjacent waters, was increased to three hundred and fifty-three, with twenty in addition gladdening our distant Pacific shores. That part of the system which encircled the large peninsula of Florida was peculiarly brilliant and expensive, far beyond the means or the inclination of that feeble and sparsely populated State, to erect or uphold; guarding not only the coast but the numerous reefs, which, stretching out into the ocean, endangered the general commerce of the world with the Gulf of Mexico and its numerous islands.

Will it not be deemed wholly incredible by after ages, that any community claiming to be civilized, should be found willing to vent its rage on objects of beneficence like these? When the great SMEATON was erecting the Eddystone light, amid the fury of the English Channel, the whole world applauded the undertaking. The King of France, then at war with England, specially directed his naval commanders not to molest or retard a work so typical of Christian love. Must we not hang our heads in very shame for human nature, when we learn, that within three months from the first parricidal attack on Sumter, its guilty authors extinguished the whole series of lights, one hundred and twenty-nine in number,-stretching around all our Southern coast, from the Capes of Virginia to the Mexican frontier! Can it be possible, that a rebellion breathing a spirit so brutal and devilish, will escape the retribution of offended Heaven? Will the Great Architect of Nations long permit the torch of civilization to be thus inverted, to be thus audaciously held up, in the face of Christendom, the very symbol of darkness, barbarism and death?

10 In this important national effort, our eminent hydrographers, EDMUND and George W. BluNT, were particularly efficient. From their abundant stores of accurate knowledge, the writer has been furnished with these Light-House statistics.

MY HONORED AND WELL BELOVED CLASSMATES

Let us not be disheartened or deceived by the shadow, however dark, now passing over our historic picture. Let us seek, with honest hearts and with unclouded vision to look off hopefully into the Future, our own irresistible Future, the predestined and inevitable result of our richly teeming Past. Let us listen, with kindling hearts, to the animating appeal which has this morning reached us, from the clearsighted and patriotic Head of our national finances, and manfully reëcho his earnest and well timed assurance, that the inherent, unextinguishable resources of the loyal American people, are and ever will be adequate to every emergency. Let us see and feel, that when these barbarian war clouds blow out and blow over, as soon they must, our debt will disappear like the early morning mist, and that our beloved land, in all its length and breadth, will be re-illuminated by the ever blessed light of peace.

Let us not forget, that of this bright and rapidly coming Future, even we, of the time-worn Class of 1814, are still a part; that our race is not fully run, and that much may remain even yet, for us to do. While we mourn the cruel and unmerited sufferings of loyal men and of loyal women, both in the North and in the South, let us exert, to the last and to the uttermost, every faculty of our nature, to uphold that glorious Union committed to our keeping by our honored fathers, with the solemn and undying conviction, that the tranquillity and happiness of a Continent, not for a day, but for centuries to come, are staked upon the pending conflict.

Above all, let us ever devoutly trust to the wise and comprehensive Providence of God, and always bear in mind, that in the inevitable logic of events, guided by His superintending hand, every present evil contains, within itself, the germ of great

and lasting good. If history be philosophy teaching by example, let us reflect, that two centuries ago, the awful fire of London drove out the plague forever; that even in our day, the dark and dingy lanes of Hamburgh, abandoned to the flames, gave birth to a new, and powerful, and brilliant city; and that the continental Republic of the Western World, chastened by adversity, and purified by fire from blot or stain, may soon be found calmly but proudly resuming its accustomed march, advancing with firm and unbroken step, onward and upward into the coming ages.