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They sternly bore

Such toils as meaner souls had quell'd;
But souls like these, such toils impell'd
To soar.

Hail to the morn, when first they stood
On Bunker's height,

And, fearless stemm'd th' invading flood,
And wrote our dearest rights in blood,
And mow'd in ranks the hireling brood,
In desperate fight!

O! 'twas a proud, exulting day,
For even our fall'n fortunes lay
In light.

There is no other land like thee,
No dearer shore;

Thou art the shelter of the free;
The home, the port of liberty
Thou hast been, and shalt ever be,
Till time is o'er.

Ere I forget to think upon

My land, shall mother curse the son
She bore

Thou art the firm, unshaken rock,
On which we rest;

And rising from thy hardy stock,
Thy sons the tyrant's frown shall mock,
And slavery's galling chains unlock,
And free the oppress'd:

All, who the wreath of freedom twine,
Beneath the shadow of their vine
Are blest.

We love thy rude and rocky shore,
And here we stand-

Let foreign navies hasten o'er,
And on our heads their fury pour,
And peal their cannon's loudest roar,
And storm our land:

They still shall find, our lives are given
To die for home ;-and leant on heaven
PERCIVAL.

Our hand

163.-LAS CASAS DISSUADING FROM BATTLE.

Is then the dreadful measure of your cruelty not yet complete? Battle! gracious Heaven! Against whom?— Against a king, in whose mild bosom your atrocious injuries, even yet, have not excited hate! but who, insulted or victorious, still sues for peace. Against a people, who never wronged the living being their Creator formed; a people, who, children of innocence! received you as cherished guests, with eager hospitality and confiding kindness. Generously and freely did they share with you, their comforts, their treasures, and their homes: you repaid them by fraud, oppression, and dishonour. These eyes have witnessed all I speak ;—as gods you were received-as fiends you have acted.

Pizarro, hear me !-Hear me, chieftains !—And thou, All-powerful! whose thunder can shiver into sand the adamantine rock,—whose lightnings can pierce to the core of the riven and quaking earth,-O! let thy power give effect to thy servant's words, as thy spirit gives courage to his will! Do not, I implore you, chieftains,-countrymenDo not, I implore you, renew the foul barbarities your insatiate avarice has inflicted on this wretched, unoffending race !-But hush, my sighs !-fall not, ye drops of useless sorrow!-heart-breaking anguish, choke not my utterance. All I entreat is, send me once more to those you call your enemies. O! let me be the messenger of penitence from you, I shall return with blessings and peace from them. Elvira, you weep!-Alas! does this dreadful crisis move no heart but thine ?-Time flies-words are unavailingthe chieftains declare for instant battle!

O God! thou hast anointed me thy servant—not to curse, but to bless my countrymen: yet now my blessing on their force, were blasphemy against thy goodness. No! I curse your purpose, homicides! I curse the bond of blood, by which you are united.-May fell division, infamy, and rout, defeat your projects, and rebuke your hopes-On you, and on your children, be the peril of the innocent blood which shall be shed this day! I leave you, and for ever! No longer shall these aged eyes be seared by the horrors they have witnessed. In caves-in

forests, will I hide myself; with tigers and with savage beasts, will I commune; and when at length we meet again, before the blessed tribunal of that Deity whose mild doctrines, and whose mercies ye have this day renounced, then shall you feel the agony and grief of soul which now tear the bosom of your weak accuser. SHERIDAN.

164.-CHARACTER OF LA FAYETTE.

THERE have been those who have denied to La Fayette the name of a great man. What is greatness? Does goodness belong to greatness and make an essential part of Is there yet enough of virtue left in the world, to echo the sentiment, that

it?

'Tis phrase absurd, to call a villain great?

If there is, who, I would ask, of all the prominent names in history, has run through such a career, with so little reproach, justly or unjustly, bestowed? Are military courage and conduct the measure of greatness? La Fayette was intrusted by Washington with all kinds of service ;the laborious and complicated, which required skill and patience, the perilous that demanded nerve;—and we see him keeping up a pursuit, effecting a retreat, out-manœuvring a wary adversary with a superior force, harmonizing the action of French regular troops and American militia, commanding an assault at the point of the bayonet; and all with entire success and brilliant reputation. Is the readiness to meet vast responsibility a proof of greatness? The memoirs of Mr. Jefferson show us, as we have already that there was a moment in 1789, when La Fayette took upon himself, as the head of the military force, the entire responsibility of laying down the basis of the revolution. Is the cool and brave administration of gigantic power, a mark of greatness? In all the whirlwind of the revolution, and when, as commander-in-chief of the National Guard, an organized force of three millions of men, who, for any popular purpose, needed but a word, a look, to put them in motion,-and he their idol,—we behold

seen,

him ever calm, collected, disinterested; as free from affectation as selfishness, clothed not less with humility than with power. Is the fortitude required to resist the multitude pressing onward their leader to glorious crime, a part of greatness? Behold him the fugitive and the victim, when he might have been the chief of the revolution. Is the solitary and unaided opposition of a good citizen to the pretensions of an absolute ruler, whose power was as boundless as his ambition, an effort of greatness? Read the letter of La Fayette to Napoleon Bonaparte, refusing to vote for him as consul for life. Is the voluntary return, in advancing years, to the direction of affairs, at a moment like that, when in 1815 the ponderous machinery of the French empire was flying asunder,-stunning, rending, crushing thousands on every side,—a mark of greatness? Contemplate La Fayette at the tribune, in Paris, when allied Europe was thundering at its gates, and Napoleon yet stood in his desperation and at bay. Are dignity, propriety, cheerfulness, unerring discretion in new and conspicuous stations of extraordinary delicacy, a sign of greatness?

Watch his progress in this country, in 1824 and 1825, hear him say the right word at the right time, in a series of interviews, public and private, crowding on each other every day, for a twelvemonth, throughout the Union, with every description of persons, without ever wounding for a moment the self-love of others, or forgetting the dignity of his own position. Lastly, is it any proof of greatness to be able, at the age of seventy-three, to take the lead in a successful and bloodless revolution;-to change the dynasty, to organize, exercise, and abdicate a military command of three and a half millions of men;-to take up, to perform, and lay down the most momentous, delicate, and perilous duties, without passion, without hurry, without selfishness? Is it great to disregard the bribes of title, office, money;-to live, to labour, and suffer for great public ends alone;-to adhere to principle under all circumstances;-to stand before Europe and America conspicuous for sixty years, in the most responsible stations, the acknowledged admiration of all good men?

EVERETT.

165. THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED.

I THINK I understand the proposition, that La Fayette was not a great man. It comes from the same school which also denies greatness to Washington, and which accords it to Alexander and Cæsar, to Napoleon and to his conqueror. When I analyze the greatness of these distinguished men, as contrasted with that of La Fayette and Washington, I find either one idea omitted, which is essenial to true greatness, or one included as essential, which belongs only to the lowest conception of greatness. The moral, disinterested, and purely patriotic qualities are wholly wanting in the greatness of Cæsar and Napoleon; and on the other hand, it is a certain splendour of success, a brilliancy of result, which, with the majority of mankind, marks them out as the great men of our race. But not only are a high morality and a true patriotism essential to greatness;-but they must first be renounced, before a ruthless career of selfish conquest can begin. I profess to be no judge of military combinations; but, with the best reflection I have been able to give the subject, I perceive, no reason to doubt, that, had La Fayette, like Napoleon, been by principle capable of hovering on the edges of ultra-revolutionism; never halting enough to be denounced; never plunging too far to retreat;-but with a cold and well-balanced selfishness, sustaining himself at the head of affairs, under each new phase of the revolution, by the compliances sufficient to satisfy its demands,-had his principles allowed him to play this game, he might have anticipated the career of Napoleon. At three different periods, he had it in his power, without usurpation, to take the government into his own hands. He was invited, urged to do so. Had he done it, and made use of the military means at his command, to maintain and perpetuate his power, he would then, at the sacrifice of all his just claims to the name of great and good, have reached that which vulgar admiration alone worships, the greatness of high station and brilliant success.

But it was of the greatness of La Fayette, that he looked down on greatness of the false kind. He learned his lesson in the school of Washington, and took his first practice in victories over himself. Let it be questioned

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