LESSON LIX. EXPLANATORY NOTE.-1. The following is an extract from a Speech, delivered in the United States' Senate, on the Oregon Question, at a time when fears were entertained that war would ensue between Great Britain and the United States. PEACE, THE POLICY OF A NATION. J. C. CALHOUN. 1. I AM opposed to war, as a friend to human improvement, to human civilization, to human progress and advancement. Never, in the history of the world, has there occurred a period so remakable. The chemical and mechanical powers have been investigated and applied to advance the comforts of human life, in a degree far beyond all that was ever known before. Civilization has been spreading its influence far and wide, and the general progress of human society has outstripped all that had been previously witnessed. 2. The invention of man has seized upon, and subjugated two great agencies of the natural world, which never before were made the servants of man. I refer to steam, and to electricity, under which I include magnetism in all its phenomena. We have been distinguished by Providence for a great and noble purpose, and I trust we shall fulfill our high destiny. 3. Again, I am opposed to war, because I hold that it is now to be determined whether two such nations as these' shall exist for the future, as friends or enemies. A declaration of war by one of them against the other, must be pregnant with miseries, not only to themselves, but to the world. 4. Another reason is, that mighty means are now put into the hands of both, to cement and secure a perpetual peace, by breaking down the barriers of commerce, and uniting them more closely in an intercourse, mutually beneficial. If this shall be accomplished, other nations will, one after another, follow the fair example, and a state of general prosperity, heretofore unknown, will gradually unite and bless the nations of the world.. 5. And far more than all. An intercourse like this, points to that inspiring day which philosophers have hoped for, which poets have seen in their bright dreams of fancy, and which prophecy has seen in holy vision,—when men shall learn war no more. Who can contemplate a state of the world like this, and not feel his heart exult at the prospect? And who can doubt that, in the hand of an Omnipotent Providence, a free and unrestricted commerce shall prove one of the greatest agents in bringing it about? 6. Finally, I am against war, because peace-peace is preeminently our policy. Our great mission, as a people, is to occupy this vast domain,-there to level forests, and let in upon their solitude the light of day; to clear the swamps and morasses, and redeem them to the plow and the sickle; to spread over hill and dale the echoes of human labor, and human happiness, and contentment; to fill the land with cities and towns; to unite its opposite extremities by turnpikes and railroads; to scoop out canals for the transmission of its products, and open rivers for its internal trade. 7. War can only impede the fulfillment of this high mission of Heaven; it absorbs the wealth, and diverts the energy which might be so much better devoted to the improvement of our country. All we want is peace,-established peace; and then time, under the guidance of a wise and cautious policy, will soon effect for us all the rest. Where we find that natural causes will of themselves work out good, our wisdom is to let them work; and all our task is to remove impediments. In the present case, one of the greatest of these impediments, is found in our impatience. 8. Yes; time-ever-laboring time-will effect every thing for us. Our population is now increasing at the annual average of six hundred thousand. Let the next twenty-five years elapse, and our increase will have reached a million a year, and, at the end of that period, we shall count a population of forty-five millions. Before that day it will have spread from ocean to ocean. The coasts of the Pacific will then be as densely populated, and as thickly settled with villages and towns, as is now the coast of the Atlantic. 9. If we can preserve peace, who shall set bounds to our prosperity, or to our success? With one foot planted on the Atlantic, and the other on the Pacific, we shall occupy a position between the two old continents of the world,—a position eminently calculated to secure to us the commerce and the influence of both. If we abide by the counsels of common sense, -if we succeed in preserving our constitutional liberty, we shall then exhibit a spectacle such as the world never saw. 10. I know that this one great mission is encompassed with difficulties; but such is the inherent energy of our political system, and such its expansivo capability, that it may be made to govern the widest space. If by war we become great, we can not be free; if we will be both great and free, our policy is peace. LESSON LX. EXPLANATORY NOTE.-1. LA PLACE was a celebrated French Mathematician and Astronomer, born in 1749. He was appointed to several political stations. THE TRUE HONOR OF A NATION. W. R. PRINCE. 1. A NATION'S real honor consists in the practice of virtue,— acts of justice,-in enduring wrongs with patience,-promoting the welfare of other nations by deeds of kindness,--in endeavoring to allay animosities and secure peace among all,—in advancing literature and fostering the arts and sciences. These are the virtues that command respect and admiration,—the gems that render radiant a nation's brow. 2. What is it, that gives character and permanence to a ntion's fame? Is it its military exploits, heroes, and warriors! What would there be to admire in the history of ancient Greece and Rome, were it not that we meet the instructions of the distinguished philosophers of Athens,-listen to the strains. of their poets, are moved by the eloquence of Cicero,—are quailed beneath the thunders of Demosthenes? What but their names gave to those republics a splendor, that eclipses the mightiest efforts of all modern nations? 3. What adorns the character of France and England, and renders them venerable? Were the names of their ambitious warriors blotted from the pages of their history, their national honor would remain unstained, their splendor untarnished. It is such men as Laplace,' Milton, Locke, and Newton, that render these nations renowned, and give them a character that is respected by the world. These are names that will be cherished and remembered long after those of heroes and warriors are forgotten. They will ever remain the pyramids of their nation's glory, majestic in the midst of ruins, gilded with light, the admiration of future ages. LESSON LXI. EXPLANATORY NOTES.-1. WEL' LING TON was a distinguished English general, and was the commander of the English army at the battle of Waterloo, in opposition to Bonaparte. 2. SIR WALTER SCOTT, the most popular writer of his age, was born at Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1771. He was the author of a number of works, among which are "The Lady of the Lake," "Marmion," "Life of Napoleon Bonaparte," &c. THE WARRIOR AND THE POET. WM. H. PRESCOTT. 1. THE soldier by a single victory, enlarges the limits of an empire ;-he may do more; he may achieve the liberties of a nation, or roll back the tide of barbarism ready to overwhelm them. WELLINGTON' was placed in such a position, and nobly did he do his work; or rather, he was placed at the head of such a gigantic moral and physical apparatus as enabled him to do it. With his own unassisted strength he could have done nothing. 2. But it is on his own solitary resources that the great writer is to rely. And yet, who shall say that the triumphs of WELLINGTON, have been greater than those of SIR WALTER Scorr2, whose works are familiar as household words to every fireside in his own land, from the castle to the cottage,—have crossed oceans and deserts, and, with healing on their wings, found their way to the remotest regions,-have helped to form the character, until his own mind may be said to be incorporated into those of hundreds of thousands of his fellow men? 3. Who is there that has not, at some time or other, felt the heaviness of his heart lightened, his pains mitigated, and his bright moments of life, made still brighter by the magical touches of his genius? And shall we speak of his victories as less real,―less serviceable to humanity,-less truly glorious than those of the greatest captain of his day? The triumphs of the warrior are bounded by the narrow theater of his own age; but those of a SCOTT, or a SHAKSPEARE, will be renewed with greater and greater luster in ages yet to come, when the victorious chieftain shall be forgotten, or shall live only in the song of the minstrel, and the page of the chronicler. LESSON LXII. THE ANGEL OF PEACE, AND THE ANGEL OF MERCY. J. C. PRINCE. 1. In the shadow of slumber as dreaming I lay, 2. From nation to nation one wandered afar, And the tumult, the broil, the delirium of war, |