12. AMERICAN DESTINY.

GEORGE BERKELEY, Bishop of Cloyne, Ireland, visited America in 1728, to found a college for educating the North American Indians. On his return he thus forecast the destiny of America.

THE Muse, disgusted at an age and clime
Barren of every glorious theme,

In distant lands now waits a better time,
Producing subjects worthy fame.

In happy climes, where from the genial sun
And virgin earth such scenes ensue,
The force of Art by Nature seems outdone,
And fancied beauties by the true;

In happy climes, the seat of innocence,
Where Nature guides and Virtue rules,
Where men shall not impose, for truth and sense,
The pedantry of courts and schools,

There shall be sung another golden age,-
The rise of empire and the arts;
The good and great inspiring epic rage;
The wisest heads and noblest hearts;

Not such as Europe breeds in her decay:
Such as she bred when fresh and young,
When heavenly flame did animate her clay,
By future poets shall be sung.

Westward the course of empire takes its way:
The first four acts already past,

A fifth shall close the drama with the day;
Time's noblest offspring is the last.

13. OUR HISTORY.

WHAT has our country done to repay the world for the benefits we have received from others?

Is it nothing for the universal good of mankind to have carried into successful operation a system of self-government uniting personal liberty, freedom of opinion, and equality of rights with national power and dignity such as never before existed, only in the Eutopian dreams of philanthropists? Is it nothing, in moral science, to have anticipated, in sober reality, numerous plans of reform in civil and criminal jurisprudence, which are but now received as plausible theories by the politicians of Europe? Is it nothing to have been able to call forth. on every emergency, either in peace or war, a body of talents always equal to the difficulty? Is it nothing to have improved the sciences, enriched human knowledge, and augmented the power and the comforts of civilized man, by miracles of mechanical invention? Is it nothing to have given to the world examples of disinterested patriotism, of political wisdom, of public virtue; of learning, eloquence, and valor, never exerted save for some praise-worthy end?

No, Land of Liberty! Thy children have no cause to blush for thee. What though the arts have reared few monuments among us, and scarce a trace of the Muse's footstep is to be found in the paths of our forests, or along the banks of our rivers, yet our soil has been consecrated by the blood of heroes and by great and holy deeds of peace. Its wide extent has become one vast temple, sanctified by the prayers and blessings of the persecuted of every sect, and the wretched of all nations.

Land of Refuge! Land of Benedictions! Those prayers still arise, and they still are heard, "May peace be within

thy walls, and plenteousness in thy palaces. May there be no decay, no leading into captivity, no complaining in thy streets. May truth flourish out of the earth, and righteousness look down from Heaven."

JULIAN CROMMELIN VERPLANCK.

14. THE FUTURE OF OUR LANGUAGE.

THE products of the whole world are, or soon may be, found within our confederated limits. God is bringing hither the most vigorous scions from all European stocks, to make of them all a new man, - not a Saxon, German, Gaul, or Helvetian, but an American. Here they will unite as one brotherhood, will have one law, will share one interest.

Spread over the vast region from the frigid to the torrid zone, from the Eastern to the Western ocean, every variety of climate, choice of pursuit, and modification of temperament, the ballot-box fusing together all rivalries, they shall have one national will. What is wanting in one race will be supplied by the characteristic energies of the others; and what is excessive in either, will be checked by the counter action of the rest. Nay, though for a time the newly-come, may retain their foreign vernacular, our tongue, so rich in ennobling literature, will be the tongue of the nation and the accent of its majesty. Eternal God, who seest the end from the beginning, Thou alone canst tell the ultimate grandeur of this people.

Such is the sphere, present and future, in which God calls us to work for Him, for our country, and for mankind. The language in which we utter truth will be

spoken on this continent, a century hence, by thirty times more millions than those dwelling on the island of its origin. The openings for trade on the Pacific coast, and a railroad across the Isthmus, will bring the commerce of the world under the control of our race.

The empire of our language will follow that of our commerce; and the empire of our institutions, that of our language. The man who writes successfully for America will yet speak for the world!

GEORGE W. BETHUNE.

15. PROGRESS IS CONSTANT.

LET us be of good cheer. Humanity has ever advanced, urged by the instincts and necessities implanted by God. Whatever is good, whatever is just, whatever is humane, must prevail. In the recognition of this law there are motives to beneficent activity which shall endure to the last syllable of time.

Let the young embrace it. They shall find in it an ever living spring. Let the old cherish it still. They shall derive from it fresh encouragement. It shall give to all, old and young, a new appreciation of their existence, a new sentiment of their force, a new revelation of their destiny.

Be it then our duty and our encouragement to live and labor, ever mindful of the future; but let us not forget the past. All ages have lived and labored for us. From one has come art, from another jurisprudence, from another the mariner's compass, from another the printing-press; from all have proceeded lessons of truth and virtue. The earliest and most distant times are not without a present influence on our daily lives. The mighty stream

of progress, though fed by many tributary waters and hidden springs, derives something of its force from the early currents which leap and sparkle in the distant mountain recesses, among rapids, and beneath the shade of primeval forest.

Nor should we be too impatient to witness the fulfilment of our aspirations. The daily increasing rapidity of discovery and the daily multiplying efforts of beneficence, in later years out-stripping the imaginations of the most sanguine, furnish well-grounded assurance that the advance of man will be with a constantly accelerating speed. The extending intercourse among the nations of the earth, and among all the children of the human family, gives new promise of the complete diffusion of truth, penetrating the most distant places, chasing away the darkness of night, and exposing the hideous form of slavery, of war, of wrong, which must be hated as soon as they are clearly

seen.

Learn to reconcile order with change. This is a wise. conservatism. This is a wise reform. Rightly understand these terms, and who would not be conservative? Who would not be a Reformer, a conservative of all that is good, a reformer of all that is evil; a conservative of knowledge, a reformer of ignorance; a conservative of truths and principles whose seat is in the bosom of God, a reformer of laws and institutions which are but the imperfect work of man?

Blending these two characters in one, let us seek to be, at the same time, Reforming Conservatives and Conservative Reformers.

CHARLES SUMNER.