I left the party and through one of the openings which lead from the rotunda entered a small apartment. Here seated upon the ground, with my head resting upon the base of an immense stalagmite, I abandoned myself to meditations. I felt how completely isolated I was from all the world. As those who meet us in our daily walks, fail to perceive beneath the surface of common life and converse, those thoughts and affections which it would be their joy to know, so the friends who loved us best might then walk the earth above us and never suspect that far beneath its surface were those who loved and thought of them. And how little concern had the great world for us; though we might stay there forever it would move on still the same. So it has ever done, while even nations have silently disappeared from its surface and been lost in oblivion. When Tyre was building her ships; when the pyramids were rising in Egypt, and when Belus was reating its head above the walls of Babylon, we believe that a people and kingdoms were upon this continent of ours. When Jerusalem sat in her glory, and Greece and Rome disputed the empire of the world, the same stars shone upon our hills and valleys, our seas and rivers, that shine upon them now. These dark chambers too were here, and they may then have been the scene of mysticisms and diabolical rites, such as Egyptian hieroglyphics are revealing to us now. Here may have stood the tripod from which was divulged a nation's oracles. And though no prophecy remains to us which predicted that nation's future, and no history has told its past, there were nations existing in those days, which are even now in the fullness of their strength. And the scales of superstition are falling from their eyes, and the barriers of despotism are now being removed from their land, and from the ancient and magnificent empires of China and Japan there may yet issue a flood of light which shall illuminate the dark past in the history of our land. What a world is that for the imagination to revel in! And mine had soared off upon its strongest pinions, when o'er my ear came stealing sounds, which, like a tassel-gentle, drew it softly in. Musical and sadly sweet were those low unmeasured tones. It was like some plaintive spirit, sighing over her harpstrings. I felt that I was near the portals of paradise, and that I heard a voice from the invisible world. Then gradually over the darkness there came a flush like that which aurora brings to the cheek of night. It deepened and grew brighter until the darkness had faded away and I was enveloped in a flood of glory and saw wondrous things, such as the pen of mortal may not describe. There was heaven with all its intense revealings, and yet I was not shocked, my senses were not palsied; I glided into those scenes as that low sweet music had glided into my soul.

Oh! how sweet was that hour. Its history has never been told but once. I felt an arm around me stronger than the arm of a spirit, yet gentle as that of a friend. It was the arm of Mary. She had come to seek me, and it was her sweet face which chased

away that dream of Heaven. It was to her that I then revealed it. She too heard those plaintive tones, and so at times may all who enter the Musical Saloon of Waneonda.

Since then I have visited several caverns, and my subterranean propensities for the present, at least, have been fully satisfied. But no other has produced upon me such an effect as this. It was a strange place and it brought to me very strange thoughts. Yet it is associated with dreams of Heaven, and it is hallowed by the memory of Mary, who has gone to see if those dreams were true.

SONG.

AIR." The French on the sea."

Oh, never let us fear,

Though our sun be in a cloud;

Oh, never let us fear,

While we've woman's heart to cheer;
She can make the darkness dear,
Though our sun be in a cloud.

The world may pass us by

When our sun is in a cloud;

The world may pass us by;
But dear woman will be nigh,
With compassion in her eye,

When our sun is in a cloud.

And when our day is bright,

And our sky's without a cloud;

And when our day is bright,
It is she that gives it light;

For without her it is night,

Though our sky's without a cloud.

She's the blessing of our life,

In its sunshine and its cloud;

She's the blessing of our life,
As mother, sister, wife,

In its quiet and its strife,

In its sunshine and its cloud.

When our latest hour shall come,

And shall bring life's evening cloud;

When our latest hour shall come,

Yet one thought shall light the gloom;
She will meet us in a home

Where shall never be a cloud.

THE TREE OF LIBERTY.

BY G. F. YATES.

Who first planted the tree of Liberty?-Origin of the term-The allegorical tree planted by the Aborigines of New York, the Eroquah-They were the first republicans on this continent-A congenial soil necessary to ensure the growth of this tree-Analogy between the character of a country, and of its inhabitants "The dwelling lands" of the Eroquah described-The phenomenon of self-government when developed-The intellectual character of the Eroquah, how manifested-The tree of liberty indigenous in North America, planted long before 1776-The republican league of the Eroquah briefly described-The principles of liberty brought over by the Dutch and the Puritans imperfect, yet lay at the foundation, of our political institutions--Honor to whom honor is due.

At the last anniversary of the St. Nicholas' Society in New York city, their orator C. F. Hoffman, Esq., advanced the position that the American people were indebted for the free institutions they enjoy, more to their Dutch than their English ancestors. In illustration, he presented the picture of our pilgrim forefathers burning witches and cruelly oppressing those who differed with them on points of Christian faith, while our Dutch forefathers in New York were dancing round the maypole and evincing a liberal feeling to. wards dissenters. We cannot quote his language, but a friend in commenting on it, or rather on his sentiment, spoke of "the tree of liberty" having been first planted by the Puritans, and eulogized the beauty and expressiveness of the figure. Apt and beautiful, we admit the figure to be, but orators and poets of the present day can not lay any claim to originality in using it, nor yet numerous other figures of style and speech they use so freely. These have their origin in the earliest, rudest ages of the world. Without alluding to that comprehensive metaphor, "the tree of life" in the garden of God, and others of a kindred character, (a dissertation on which would lead us beyond the scope of our present design,) we will refer to one of aboriginal origin which has a close connection with the topic in hand.

Before the era of Columbus, the aboriginal sovereigns of this state by representatives chosen for the purpose, "planted" to use their own language, "the tree of peace at Onondaga." "Its four

principal branches pointed east, west, north and south." "The fire of counsel" and friendship was kindled beneath this majestic tree. Its branches shot forth towards the clouds of heaven, while they covered the "five nations" and their allies, with its refreshing shade.

The reader will understand, that we are not attempting to trace the origin of the metaphor in question, but the historical fact it shadows forth. The first seeds of that civil and religious liberty

which forms the basis of the happy institutions under which we live were not sown by either our Dutch or English ancestors. To the Akanusionee or "united people" as they called themselves, or Eroquah (Iroquois) as the French termed them, must be awarded that honor. It would really seem, that to insure the success of a republican form of government, it must be planted in a soil congenial to its growth and perpetuity. This congeniality is not deter. mined by latitude and longitude, for in two countries of the same latitudinal and longitudinal position, the tree of liberty does not necessarily thrive equally well. Among all the aboriginal nations and tribes, except that of the Eroquah, the form of government, so far as it obtained, rude and imperfect, though it was, in many respects strictly and strongly of the monarchical type. All power was vested in a single ruler. Not only at the south and west of the territory now comprising the northern United States of America, but among all the New England Indians, a monarchial form of government prevailed. The Eroquah were the only republicans on this continent.

That philosopher was not unfurnished with his rationale, who asserted "give me the geography of a country, and I will give you the character of its inhabitants." There is a great deal more in the analogy between the features of any country, and the character of its inhabitants considered physically, socially, morally and politically, than is dreamt of in the common philosophy of the day. The former are to the true and accomplished philosopher no uncertain indicia of the latter. The genius of a people becomes influenced by their position. Even two nations of the same original, and living together with the same manners and customs, and same political system, on one of them taking up their residence in another and different country, their national character will undergo a change, and a corresponding change in their governmental system will be the result. Witness the ancient Picts and Scots, and where has the tree of liberty ever thriven better than on the Alpian hills? As germane to this subject we would cite the fact "the dwelling lands" of the Akanusionee, were situated on the highest part of this continent. Governor Powell describes them "by a line run from near Albany along the Mohawk river on the north side of it, north around Oneida Lake to the north east corner of Lake Ontario, thence along the lake to Canahoge or Lake Oswego, or Erie, thence sixty miles directly back into the country, thence to Shamokin on the Susquehannah river, thence along the Cushirtung mountains, thence again to the lower Mohawk castles."

However much in the light of a postulate, the philosopher's position above described may be viewed, I fear not that the sentence of heterodoxy will be pronounced against the sentiment, that in the same ratio that intellect and discipline obtain with a people, will the phenomenon of self-government become developed. The intellectual superiority of the Eroquah over every other tribe on this continent can be easily and clearly proved; but the reader

must on this occasion, if he has not examined the subject himself, take the fact as granted. It was not with a vain boast that they were called Ong-we-hong-we, i. e. "people excelling all others." In their warlike achievements, it was not alone their courage which crowned their enterprises with success, for some of the northern tribes with whom they contended were also brave. Even the Hurons, though aided by more accomplished warriors, we mean the French under Governor Champlain who commanded in person, were obliged to succumb to the superior martial prowess and skill of the Eroquah. It was not their numbers, for many of the tribes with whom they were at war, and whom they discomfitted and reduced to the condition of tributaries, were far more numerous than they. No, it was their mental superiority. And this was manifested in a remarkable manner, in their governmental system, which united different and distant sovereign and independent states into one grand confederacy.

It is not a mere figure of speech to say that the very soil on which we tread, is congenial to the growth of liberty. The tree of liberty is of a truth here indigenous. It is a mistaken notion that liberty and republicanism in this country, were unborn before the 4th July, 1776. The declaration of our national independence did but proclaim to the world principles previously developed and declared. Long before that memorable day, was the spirit of freedom abroad in our land. The revolutionary war, so far from originating or completing our independence, was but a single link, though not an unimportant one, in the long and still lengthening chain of circumstances to which we owe our existence and prosperity as a nation. The first links of this chain, as we have already seen, were woven even before the first settlement of this country by the Anglo-Saxon race. The Akanusionee had a republican form of government. Their league was entirely republican in its nature and organization, and admitted of no superiority in any of its constituent parts. To describe their system of government in all its details, would be a pleasing task, and the most authentic materials for executing it, are in our possession. But it does not consist with our design to treat the subject in all its amplitude and minuteness on this occasion. It answers our present purpose to assure our readers that such is the strange, but indubitable fact, that a confederacy of republican nations, with a complicated but well defined system of government, existed in this state among a people whom we have been wont to stigmatise as ignorant barbarians. In the language of De Witt Clinton "a distinguished feature in the character of the confederates, was an exalted spirit of liberty, which scouted with equal indignation at domestic or foreign control." Said Garangula, a celebrated chief of the Onondagas, "we are born free"! This noble sentiment was uttered by an " unlettered savage," a quarter of a century before the identical words were penned by the immortal Jefferson. We must not forget to mention the extraordinary circumstance, that sometime before the re