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and everlasting hills are their castles; the tangled, pathless thicket their palisado; and nature,-God,-is their ally. Now he overwhelms the host of their enemies beneath his drifting mountains of sand; now he buries them beneath an atmosphere of falling snows; he lets loose his tempests on their fleets; he puts a folly into their councils, a madness into the hearts of their leaders; and he never gave, and never will give, a full and final triumph over a virtuous, gallant people, resolved to be free.

47. ENNOBLING RECOLLECTIONS OF THE REVOLUTION.

Hayne.

It has been usual, on occasions like the present, to give a history of the wrongs endured by our fathers. But, my friends, we have prouder, and more ennobling recollections, connected with our revolution. They are to be found in the spirit displayed by our fathers, when all their petitions had been slighted, their remonstrances despised, and their appeals to the generous sympathies of their brethren utterly disregarded. Yes, my friends, theirs was that pure and lofty spirit of devoted patriotism, which never quailed beneath oppression, which braved all dangers, trampled upon difficulties, and in "the times which tried men's souls," taught them to be faithful to their principles, and to their country-true; and which induced them in the very spirit of that Brutus (whose mantle has fallen, in our own day, upon the shoulders of one so worthy to wear it) to swear on the altar of liberty-to give themselves up wholly to their country. There is one characteristic, however, of the American revolution, which, constituting as it does, its living principle— its proud distinction, and its crowning glory-cannot be passed over in silence. It is this-that our revolution had its origin, not so much in the weight of actual oppression, as in the great principle the sacred duty, of resistance to the exercise of unauthorized power. Other nations have been driven to rebellion by the iron hand of despotism, the insupportable weight of oppression, which leaving men nothing worth living for, has taken away the fear of death itself, and caused them to rush upon the spears of their enemies, or to break their chains upon the heads of their oppressors. But it was a tax of three-pence a pound upon tea, imposed without right, which was considered by our ancestors, as a burden too grievous to be borne. And why? Because they were men "who felt oppression's lightest

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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 priniple 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 charterwhich 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, conces sion, 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? 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.

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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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