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produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned with contempt from the foot of the throne! In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope.

If we wish to be free; if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending; if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained, we must fight! I repeat it, sir: we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left us! They tell us, sir, that we are weak unable to with cope formidable an adversary; but when shall we be strong? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot?

SO

Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of Nature hath placed in our power. Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us.

Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battle alone: there is a just God Who presides over the destinies of nations, and Who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle is not to the strong alone: it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.

Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough

There

to desire it, it is now
too late to retire from
the contest.
is no retreat but in
submission to slav-
ery! The war is in-
evitable, and let it
come! I repeat it,
sir: let it come!

It is vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, "Peace! peace!" but there is no peace.

The war is actually begun! The next

gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle?

What is it that the gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery! Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but, as for me, Give me Liberty or Give me Death!

IF-BUT

"If you have gracious words to say
Oh, give them to our hearts to-day,
But if your words will cause us sorrow,
Pray keep them till the last to-morrow."

CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY

He was indeed eloquent

all the world knows that. He held the keys to the hearts of his countrymen, and he turned the wards within them with a skill attained by no other master. But eloquence was, nevertheless, only an instrument, and one of the many that he used.

His conversation, his gestures, his very look was magisterial, persuasive, seductive, irresistible. And his appliance of all these was courteous, patient, and indefatigable. Defeat only inspired him with new resolution. He divided opposition by his assiduity of address, while he rallied and strengthened his own bands of supporters by the confidence of success which, feeling himself, he easily inspired among his followers.

His affections were high and pure and generous, and the chiefest among them was that one which the great Italian poet designated as the charity of native land. In him, that charity was an enduring and overpowering enthusiasm, and influenced all his sentiments and conduct, rendering him more impartial between conflicting interests and sections than any other statesman who has lived since the Revolution.

We are rising to another and more sublime stage of national progress that of expanding wealth and rapid territorial aggrandizement. Our institutions throw a broad shadow across the St. Lawrence, and, stretching beyond the valley of Mexico, reach even to the plains of Central America, while the Sandwich Islands and the shores of China recognize their renovating influence.

Wherever that influence is felt, a desire for protection under

those institutions is awakened. Expansion seems to be regulated, not by any difficulties of resistance, but by the moderation which results from our own internal constitution. No one knows how rapidly that restraint may give way. Who can tell how far or how fast it ought to yield!

Sir, who among us is equal to these mighty questions? I fear there is no one. Nevertheless, the example of Henry Clay remains for our instruction. His genius has passed to the realms of light, and his virtues still live there for our emulation. With them there will remain, also, the protection and favor of the Most High, if by the practise of justice and the maintenance of freedom we shall deserve them.

A GREAT MAN

And free is he, and only he,
Who, from his tyrant passions free,

By Fortune undismayed,
Hath power upon himself, to be

By himself obeyed.

If such a man there be, where'er
Beneath the sun and moon he fare,

He cannot fare amiss.

Great nature hath him in her care,

Her cause is his.