they would have held those blessings on the tenure of de pendence on a foreign and distant power; at the mercy of a king, or his minions; or of councils in which they had no voice, and where their interests could not be represented, and were little likely to be heard. They saw that their prosperity in such case would be precarious, their possessions uncertain, their ease inglorious. 6. But, above all, they realized that those burdens, though light to them, would, to the coming age, to us, their posterity, be heavy, and probably insupportable. Reasoning on the inevitable increase of interested imposition, upon those who are without power and have none to help, they foresaw that, sooner or later, desperate struggles must come. 7. They preferred to meet the trial in their own times, and to make the sacrifices in their own persons. They were willing themselves to endure the toil, and to incur the hazard, that we and our descendants, their posterity, might reap the harvest and enjoy the increase. 8. Generous men! Exalted patriots! Immortal statesmen! For this deep moral and social affection, for this elevated selfdevotion, this noble purpose, this bold daring, the multiplying myriads of your posterity, as they thicken along the Atlantic coast, from the St. Croix to the Mississippi, as they spread backwards to the lakes, and from the lakes to the mountains, and from the mountains to the western waters, shall, on this day (the 4th of July), annually, in all future time, as we at this hour, come up to the temple of the Most High, with song, and anthem, and thanksgiving, and choral symphony, and hallelujah, to repeat your NAMES; to look steadfastly on the brightness of your glory; to trace its spreading rays to the points from which they emanate; and to seek, in your character and conduct, a practical illustration of public duty, in every occur. ring social exigence. JOSIAH QUINCY. 56. THE AGE OF WASHINGTON. ["The speeches of AMES are characterized by a felicity and smoothness of expression, and by a well-tempered animation which adapts them in a very peculiar degree to the exercise of being declaimed."] KEAT generals have arisen in all ages of the world, and, GR perhaps, most in those of despotism and darkness. In times of violence and convulsion, they rise, by the force of the whirlwind, high enough. to ride in it, and direct the storm. 2. Like meteors, they glare on the black clouds with a splendor, which, while it dazzles and terrifies, makes nothing visible but the darkness. The fame of heroes is, indeed, growing vulgar; they multiply in every long war; they stand in history, and thicken in their ranks, almost as undistinguished as their own soldiers. 3. But such a chief magistrate as Washington appears like the pole-star in a clear sky, to direct the skillful statesman. His presidency will form an epoch, and be distinguished as the age of Washington. 4. Like the milky way, it whitens along its allotted portion of the hemisphere. The latest generations of men will survey, through the telescope of history, the space where so many virtues blend their rays, and delight to separate them into groups and distinct virtues. 5. As the best illustration of them, the living monument, to which the first of patriots would have chosen to consign his fame, it is my earnest prayer to Heaven, that our country may subsist, even to that late day, in the plenitude of its liberty and happiness, and mingle its mild glory with Wash ington's. FISHER AMES. 57. UNION AND LIBERTY, LAG of the heroes who left us their glory, FLAG Borne through our battle-field's thunder and flame, Blazoned in song and illumined in story, Wave o'er us all who inherit their fame! Up with our banner bright, Sprinkled with starry light, Spread its fair emblems from mountain to shore; Loud rings the nation's cry,— II. Light of our firmament, guide of our nation, III. Empire unsceptred! what foe shall assail thee, Bearing the standard of Liberty's van? Think not the God of thy fathers shall fail thee, IV. Yet, if by madness and treachery blighted, Dawns the dark hour when the sword thou must draw, Then, with the arms of thy millions united, Smite the bold traitors to Freedom and Law! V. Lord of the universe! shield us and guide us, Thou hast united us, who shall divide us? Sprinkled with starry light, Spread its fair emblems from mountain to shore; Loud rings the nation's cry, Union and Liberty !-one evermore! O. W. HOLMKU 58. THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION, 1787. [The following is strongly marked by the leading traits of FRANKLIN'S character, his liberality, practical wisdom, and spirit of compromise.] SIR, IR, I agree to this Constitution, with all its faults-if they are such-because I think a general government neces sary for us, and there is no form of government but what may be a blessing to the people, if well administered; and I believe, further, that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government, being incapable of any other. 2. I doubt, too, whether any other convention we can obtain may be able to make a better Constitution. For, when you assemble a number of men, to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views. From such an assembly can a perfect production be expected? 3. It, therefore, astonishes me, sir, to find this system approaching so near to perfection as it does; and I think it will astonish our enemies, who are waiting with confidence to hear that our counsels are confounded, like those of the builders of Babel, and that our States are on the point of separation, only to meet hereafter for the purpose of cutting one another's throats. 4. Thus I consent, sir, to this Constitution, because I expect no better, and because I am not sure that this is not the best. The opinions I have had of its errors I sacrifice to the public good. I have never whispered a syllable of them abroad. Within these walls they were born, and here they shall die. 5. If every one of us, in returning to his constituents, were to report the objections he has had to it, and endeavor to gain partisans in support of them, we might prevent its being generally received, and thereby lose all the salutary effects and great advantages resulting naturally in our favor among foreign nations, as well as among ourselves, from our real or apparent unanimity. 6. Much of the strength and efficacy of any government, in procuring and securing happiness to the people, depends on opinion on the general opinion of the goodness of that government, as well as of the wisdom and integrity of its governors. 7. I hope, therefore, that, for our own sakes, as a part the people, and for the sake of our posterity, we shall act heartily and unanimously in recommending this Constitution, wherever our influence may extend, and turn our future thoughts and endeavors to the means of having it well administered. FRANKLIN. 59. DISSOLUTION OF THE NATIONAL COMPACT. · [GOUVERNEUR MORRIS, born in New York, 1752; died, 1818. He was a Delegate to the Continental Congress from New York, and subsequently represented that State in the Senate of the United States, before which body he delivered a succession of brilliant speeches on the vital necessity of preserving the Union. Of one of these speeches we give the following extract:] THAT will be the situation of these States, organized as WHAT they now are, if, by the dissolution of our national compact, they be left to themselves? What is the probable result? We shall either be the victims of foreign intrigue, and, split into factions, fall under the domination of a foreign power, or else, after the misery and torment of a civil war, become the subjects of an usurping military despot. 2. What but this compact, what but this specific part of it, can save us from ruin? The judicial power, that fortress of the Constitution, is now to be overturned. With honest Ajax, I would not only throw a shield before it,-I would build around it a wall of brass. 3. But I am too weak to defend the rampart against the host of assailants. I must call to my assistance their good |