on every shore, and up every continent-piercing river.

To England we accord greatness; there is something in her name which awes mankind. The pressure, of her hand is felt on every government, and her voice is heard at the council boards of every nation. To one who looks only on the territory of England proper, the extent of her dominion seems incredible. That a small island should rule half continents is indeed strange. No other nation since Rome has so expanded herself, reached out such long arms, and with them grasped so much, and so strongly. How so small a body can extend and wield such immense limbs surprises those who calculate power from physical strength. It is the moral power of England that has carried her so high. Mind and skill multiply physical power a hundred-fold. It is as true of nations as of individuals. Every able-bodied man has two arms, and five fingers at their extremities, yet who estimates the power of the body so much as the power of the will that controls it? An ox can draw more than fifty men, it may be, but a single man can set in motion machinery which wields a power greater than that of the fabled Cyclops. China with her vast territory and exhaustless population, can be brought to her knees by a few English ships and a few English cannon, guided and pointed by English mind. The few on one side are governed by mind; the many on the other by ignorance. It is this which has ena

bled England so long to stand at the head of Europe, and send her mandates over the world. No throne since the world stood has had such intellects gathered round it as the British throne. The clear heads that encircled it have ever been her firmest bulwarks. The intellect of Pitt or Canning can do for England in diplomacy what Malta and Gibraltar cannot. English monarchs have in most instances been mere puppets-the wires that moved them were in the hands of such men. It was this moral power alone that made America her successful antagonist. Hitherto she had met physical force with moral power, but when she made her onset here, then "Greek met Greek." In the conflicts of ignorant nations it is only a trial of muscles and bones, like the strifes of brutes, but in those of enlightened nations it is the struggle of the souls. England's soul, not her arms, has impressed itself on the world. It is the intelligence with which she speaks that swells her voice so far, and makes it remembered so long. It is the intelligence that guides her fleets and armies that renders them so formidable.

Besides there is a humanity about her when not crushed out by pride and love of power. The Commons of England have often shown a steadfast resistance to tyrants that has blessed the cause of human freedom the world over. They have cut off one king's head, and can another's when necessary. The yeomanry of England are superior to those of any other nation in Europe. Bold,

intelligent, and upright, they ought to constitute no small share of her glory. Even amid the terrors and lawlessness of civil war they have acted with moderation and humanity. When king and commons, tyranny and aristocracy, were arrayed against each other, under the ascending star of Cromwell, civil law in England lost little of its sacredness. There is a love for the right and the true among them which equally resists lawlessness and oppression. There is also a religious feeling pervading this class, which, mingling with the rough elements of the old Norman and Saxon character, gives double power to them as a body. It is the intelligence and morality of these men, which ought to be the foundation of the English government, that will assert their power when revolutionary times come on again. There is no danger of the tyranny of British kings ever being reestablished all oppression now proceeds from the aristocracy—and the people are so fast advancing in a knowledge of human rights, and the consciousness of their power, which is always associated with intelligence, that the danger of the aristocracy is fast increasing too.

It will be unnecessary for me to say much of the manufactures of Britain. Most of my readers know that her machinery accomplishes more every year than could be done by the entire population of the globe without it; the machinery of England does the work and puts forth the power of six hundred million men, exceeding by one-third the

entire number of men in the world. But I need not dwell on these facts for they have been told a thousand times. England's commerce administers to the wants and the luxury of the world— finding its way to the farthest limits of the globe. Her merchants, like those of old Tyre and Alexandria, are clothed in scarlet and dwell in palaces. And every nation, and every tribe of earth's great family, pour into her lap the gold and silver and precious stones and luxuries of every clime.

England also stands unrivalled in the great men and the literature she has given to the world. From Alfred who laid the foundation of British Glory, down through British history till now, she presents a galaxy of illustrious men, furnished in the annals of no ancient or modern empire. In her Milton she has more than a Homer, in her Bacon more than a Solon, and in her Shakspeare more than the earth has ever beheld in any other mortal mould. Her Literature has done more for human freedom and civilization than all the Literature of other nations. Expansive in its nature it has given men more comprehensive views and uncovered the treasures of the human intellect. It has revealed the true sources of power, and taught men to know their strength. Bacon unbound the earth and set men acting intelligently, or rather marching forward instead of beating time. Newton unbound the heavens, and bade them roll in harmony and beauty before the eye of intelligence. England has literally waked up the world.

Not satisfied with knowing and improving the present, she has hastened the future. In her impetuous valour she has called on the tardy ages, as if in haste to meet their unknown events. But this she attempts no more. The future she invoked has come, and like Hamlet she starts at the spirit she has summoned forth. Having taught the people knowledge—they are now sternly and intelligently demanding their rights; having taught the people strength-they are shaking the throne with its first experiment. Proud in her power, she has dared to do what no other nation has ever attempted—she has given her people the book of human rights, and yet told them not to ask for their own. She has told them they were free, and yet cheated them into the submission of serfs. In every other experiment she has been thus far successful-but here she has overrated her strength. If it could be done England could do it. But it is attempting a contradiction, an impossibility; and yet we can hardly see how she could escape the dilemma. Without being an enlightened nation, she could not have been great; and being an enlightened nation, she cannot exercise despotic power with safety. Yet starting on this broad basis, we cannot well see how she could have passed from it easily; not that it would have been impossible had there been a will; but taking into the account the prejudices of men, their love of power and wealth and pride, it is natural England should retain the form of government she adopted,