By the terrible dog that killed his wife;
But in mercy (let his praise be sung!)
His thirteen brothers were merely hung,
And his slaves bambooed in the mildest way
For a calendar month, three times a day.
And that's the way that justice dealt
With wicked Ho-Ho of the Golden Belt!

JOHN G. SAXE.

CXXXVII. - WAR DISCOUNTENANCED.1

WHAT, sir, is the question in dispute? The carry

ing trade. What part of it? The fair, the honest, and the useful trade, that is engaged in carrying our own productions to foreign markets, and bringing back their productions in exchange? No, sir; it is that carrying trade which covers enemies' property, and carries the coffee, the sugar, and other West India products to the mother country. No, sir; if this great agricultural nation is to be governed by Salem and Boston, New York and Philadelphia, Baltimore, Norfolk, and Charleston, let gentlemen come out and say so; and let a committee of public safety be appointed from these towns to carry on the government.

2. I, for one, will not mortgage my property and my liberty to carry on this trade. The nation said so seven years ago; I said so then, I say so now; it is not for the honest carrying trade of America, but for this mushroom, this fungus of war, - for a trade which, as soon as the nations of Europe are at peace, will cease to exist, — it is for this that the spirit of avaricious traffic would plunge us into war.

3. But yet, sir, I have a more cogent reason against

1 Speech in Congress, March, 1806.

going to war for the honor of the flag in the narrow seas, or any other maritime punctilio. It springs from my attachment to the principles of the government under which I live. I declare, in the face of day, that this government was not instituted for the purposes of offensive war. No; it was framed, to use its own language, for the common defense and general welfare, which are inconsistent with offensive war.

4. As, in 1798, I was opposed to this species of warfare, because I believed it would raze the Constitution to its very foundation; so, in 1806, I am opposed to it on the very same grounds. No sooner do you put the Constitution to this use, to a test which it is by no means calculated to endure, than its incompetency to such purposes becomes manifest and apparent to all. I fear that, if you go into a foreign war, for a circuitous, unfair foreign trade, you will come out without your Consti

tution.

5. We shall be told that our government is too free, or, in other words, too weak and inefficient, much virtue, sir, in terms; that we must give the President power to call forth the resources of the nation, that is, to filch the last shilling from our pockets, or to drain the last drop of blood from our veins.

6. I am against giving this power to any man, be he who he may. The American people must either withhold this power, or resign their liberties. There is no other alternative. Nothing but the most imperious necessity will justify such a grant; and is there a powerful enemy at our door? You may begin with a First Consul. From that chrysalis state, he soon becomes an emperor. You have your choice. It depends upon your election whether you will be a free, happy, and united people at home, or the light of your executive majesty shall beam across the ocean in one general blaze of the public liberty. — John Randolph.

2.

I trow they did not part in scorn;
Lovers long betrothed were they;
They two will wed the morrow morn ;
God's blessing on the day!

3. "He does not love me for my birth,
Nor for my lands so broad and fair;
He loves me for my own true worth,
And that is well," said Lady Clare.

4.

In there came old Alice the nurse,

Said, "Who was this that went from thee?” "It was my cousin," said Lady Clare;

"To-morrow he weds with me."

5. "Oh, God be thanked!" said Alice the nurse,
"That all comes round so just and fair;
Lord Ronald is heir of all your lands,
And you are not the Lady Clare."

6. "Are ye out of your mind, my nurse, my nurse?"
Said Lady Clare, "that ye speak so wild?"
"As God's above," said Alice the nurse,

"I speak the truth; you are my child.

7. “The old Earl's daughter died at my breast;
I speak the truth, as I live by bread!
I buried her like my own sweet child,
And put my child in her stead.”

8. "Falsely, falsely have ye done,

Oh, mother," she said, "if this be true,

9.

66

To keep the best man under the sun
So many years from his due.”

Nay now, my child," said Alice the nurse,
"But keep the secret for your life,
And all you have will be Lord Ronald's,
When you are man and wife.”

10 "If I'm a beggar born," she said,

66

I will speak out, for I dare not lie.
Pull off, pull off the brooch of gold,
And fling the diamond necklace by."

11. "Nay now, my child," said Alice the nurse,
"But keep the secret all ye can."
She said, "Not so; but I will know
If there be any faith in man."

12. "Nay now, what faith?" said Alice the nurse;
"The man will cleave unto his right.”
"And he shall have it," the lady replied,
"Tho' I should die to-night."

13. "Yet give one kiss to your mother dear! Alas, my child! I sinned for thee."

66

"Oh mother, mother, mother," she said,
"So strange it seems to me.

14. "Yet here's a kiss for my mother dear,
My mother dear, if this be so;
And lay your hand upon my head,
And bless me, mother, ere I go."

15. She clad herself in a russet gown,
She was no longer Lady Clare;

She went by dale, and she went by down,
With a single rose in her hair.

16. The lily-white doe Lord Ronald had bought Leapt up from where she lay,

Dropt her head in the maiden's hand,
And followed her all the way.

17. Down stept Lord Ronald from his tower:
"O Lady Clare, you shame your worth!
Why come you drest like a village maid,
That are the flower of the earth?"

18. "If I come drest like a village maid,
I am but as my fortunes are;
I am a beggar born," she said,
"And not the Lady Clare."

19. "Play me no tricks," said Lord Ronald,
"For I am yours in word and in deed;
Play me no tricks," said Lord Ronald,
"Your riddle is hard to read."

20. Oh, and proudly stood she up!

Her heart within her did not fail;
She looked into Lord Ronald's eyes,
And told him all her nurse's tale.

21. He laughed a laugh of merry scorn;

He turned, and kissed her where she stood.

"If you are not the heiress born,

And I," said he, "the next in blood —

22. "If you are not the heiress born,
And I," said he, “the lawful heir,
We two will wed to-morrow morn,
And you shall still be Lady Clare."

TENNYSON.