of undoubted respect and authenticity on that subject; and he assured me, with a certainty which his judgment and opportunity gave him, that these were the prevalent and steady principles of America; that you might destroy their towns, and cut them off from the superfluities, perhaps, the conveniences of life; but that they were prepared to despise your power, and would not lament their loss, while they have-what, my lords? their woods and their liberty! 7. When your lordships look at the papers transmitted us from America; when you consider their decency, firmness, and wisdom, you can not but respect their cause, and wish to make it your own. For myself, I must declare and avow, that, in all my reading and observation, and it has been my favorite study, I have read +Thucydides, and have studied and admired the master states of the world—that, for solidity of reasoning, force of sagacity, and wisdom of conclusion, under such a complication of difficult circumstances, no nation or body of men, can stand in preference to the general congress at Philadelphia. 8. I trust it is obvious to your lordships, that all attempts to impose servitude upon such men; to establish despotism over such a mighty continental nation, must be vain; must be fatal. We shall be forced ultimately to retract; let us retract while we can, not when we must. I say we must necessarily undo these violent, oppressive acts; they must be repealed; you will repeal them; I pledge myself for it, that you will, in the end, repeal them; Í stake my reputation on it; I will consent to be taken for an idiot, if they are not finally repealed. Avoid, then, this humiliating, this disgraceful necessity. With a dignity becoming your exalted situation, make the first advances to concord, to peace, and happiness; for that is your true dignity, to act with prudence and justice. + 9. Every motive, therefore, of justice and of policy, of dignity and of prudence, urges you to allay the ferment in America, by a removal of your troops from Boston; by a repeal of your acts of parliament, and by a demonstration of your amicable disposition toward your colonies. On the other hand, every danger and every hazard impend, to deter you from perseverance in your present ruinous measures. Foreign war is hanging over your heads by a slight and brittle thread, and France and Spain are watching your conduct, and waiting for the maturity of your errors. 10. To conclude, my lords, if the ministers thus persevere in misadvising and misleading the king, I will not say that they can +alienate the affections of his subjects from his crown; but I will affirm, that they will make the crown not worth his wearing! I will not say, that the king is betrayed; but I will pronounce, that the kingdom is undone! LORD CHATHAM. LESSON CLVI. EDWARD AND WARWICK. Edward. Let me have no tintruders; above all, Keep Warwick from my sight Enter WARWICK. Warwick. Behold him here— No welcome guest, it seems, unless I ask Ed. There was a time, perhaps, When Warwick more desired, and more deserved it. Guided in secret every latent wheel Of government, and moved the whole machine; War. Who gave that cipher worth, and seated thee On England's throne? Thy undistinguish'd name Dug from its sordid mine the useless ore, And stamp'd it with a diadem. Thou knowest, Bade the rough waves subside in peace, and steer'd Ed. Know, too, reproach for benefits received, War. Why, that indeed, is frugal honesty; A thrifty, saving knowledge: when the debt Grows burdensome, and can not be discharged, Ed. When you have counted o'er the numerous train Of mighty gifts your bounty lavish'd on me, You may remember next the injuries Which I have done you; let me know them all, And I will make you ample satisfaction. War. Thou canst not; thou hast robb'd me of a jewel, That all thy power can not restore to me. I was the first, shall future annals say, That broke the sacred bond of public trust And mutual confidence; tembassadors, In after times, mere instruments, perhaps, Of venal statesmen, shall recall my name To witness, that they want not an example, And plead my guilt to sanctify their own. Amid the herd of mercenary slaves That haunt your court, could none be found but Warwick, To be the shameless herald of a lie? Ed. And wouldst thou turn the vile reproach on me? War. I've been abused, insulted, and betray'd; Ed. These gusts of passion Will but inflame them; if I have been right War. Ed. Elizabeth! Nay, start not; I have cause But I've discover'd all War. And so have I Too well I know thy breach of friendship there, War. 'Tis false. You knew it all, and meanly took occasion, And basely steal a treasure, Your kingdom could not purchase. Ed. How know you that? But be it as it may, War. Prerogative! what's that? The boast of tyrants, With specious luster, lent but to betray; You had it, sir, and hold it, from the people. Ed. And therefore do I prize it; I would guara Their liberties, and they shall strengthen mine, War. Go to your darling people, then; for soon, Their boasted zeal, and see if one of them Ed. Is it so, my lord? Then mark my words: I've been your slave too long, But henceforth, know, proud peer, I am thy master, His power to others' hands, but ill deserves War. Look well then to your own: It sits but loosely on your head; for, know, Ed. Nor he who threaten'd Edward. TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH. LESSON CLVII. EULOGY ON LA FAYETTE.* 1. WHILE we bring our offerings for the mighty of our own land, shall we not remember the chivalrous spirits of other shores, *In 1824, fifty years after the war of Independence, in which he had taken an active part, La Fayette again visited the United States, and was received every where with a spontaneous burst of acclamation and rejoicing. who shared with them the hour of weakness and woe? Pile to the clouds the majestic column of glory; let the lips of those who can speak well, hallow each spot where the bones of your bold repose; but forget not those who, with your bold, went out to battle. 2. Among these men of noble daring, there was one, a young and gallant stranger, who left the blushing vine-hills of his delightful France. The people whom he came to succor were not his people; he knew them only in the melancholy story of their wrongs. He was no mercenary wretch, striving for the spoil of the vanquished; the palace acknowledged him for its lord, and the valleys yielded him their increase. He was no nameless man, staking life for reputation; he ranked among nobles, and looked unawed upon kings. He was no friendless outcast, seeking for a grave to hide his cold heart; he was girdled by the companions of his childhood; his kinsmen were about him; his wife was before him. 3. Yet from all these he turned away and came. Like a lofty tree, that shakes down its green glories, to battle with the winter's storm, he flung aside the trappings of place and pride, to +crusade for Freedom, in Freedom's holy land. He came; but not in the day of successful rebellion; not when the new-risen sun of Independence had burst the cloud of time, and careered to its place in the heavens. He came when darkness curtained the hills, and the tempest was abroad in its anger; when the plow stood still in the field of promise, and briers +cumbered the garden of beauty; when fathers were dying, and mothers were weeping over them; when the wife was binding up the gashed bosom of her husband, and the maiden was wiping the death-damp from the brow of her lover. He came when the brave began to fear the power of man, and the pious to doubt the favor of God. 4. It was then that this ONE joined the ranks of a revolted people. Freedom's little phalanx bade him a grateful welcome. With them he courted the battle's rage; with theirs, his arm was lifted; with theirs, his blood was shed. Long and doubtful was the conflict. At length, kind Heaven smiled on the good cause, and the beaten invaders fled. The profane were driven from the temple of Liberty, and, at her pure shrine, the pilgrim warrior, with his adored COMMANDER, knelt and worshiped. Leaving there his offering, the incense of an uncorrupted spirit, he at length rose, and, crowned with +benedictions, turned his happy feet toward his long-deserted home. 5. After nearly fifty years, that ONE has come again. Can mortal tongue tell, can mortal heart feel the sublimity of that |