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Choctaws.) Who is to judge concerning the frequency of these demands? The ministry. Who is to judge whether the money is properly expended? The cabinet behind the throne.

In every instance, those who take are to judge for those who pay if this system is suffered to go into operation, we shall have reason to esteem it a great privilege that rain and dew do not depend upon parliament; otherwise they would soon be taxed and dried.

But thanks to God, there is freedom enough left upon earth to resist such monstrous injustice. The flame of liberty is extinguished in Greece and Rome, but the light of its glowing embers is still bright and strong on the shores of America. Actuated by its sacred influence, we will resist unto death. But we will not countenance anarchy and misrule. The wrongs that a desperate community have heaped upon their enemies, shall be amply and speedily repaired. Still, it may be well for some proud men to remember, that a fire is lighted in these colonies, which one breath of their king may kindle into such fury that the blood of all England cannot extinguish it. OTIS.

19.-VINDICATION OF SPAIN. (PRONOUNCED DURING THE DEBATE ON THE SEMINOLE WAR, IN CONGRESS, 1819.)

PERMIT me, sir, to express my regret and decided disapprobation of the terms of reproach and contempt in which this nation has been spoken of on this floor; "poor, degraded Spain," has resounded from various parts of the house. Is it becoming, sir, the dignity of a representative of the American people to utter, from his high station, invectives against a nation with whom we cultivate and maintain the most friendly relations? Is it discreet, sir, in an individual, however enlightened, to venture upon a denunciation of a whole people?

In this poor, degraded Spain, it must be remembered, there is a vast mass of learning, and genius, and virtue, too; and a gentleman, who passes it all under his condemnation and contempt, hardly considers what a task he has undertaken. No people has suffered more than ourselves by these exterminating, sweeping judgments. Let us not be

guilty of the same injustice to others. When I see one of these scribbling travellers, or insignificant atoms, gravely take upon himself to put down the character of my own country, I turn from him with disgust and derision.

Let us be equally just to others. This at least is not the place for the indulgence of national prejudices or resentments. A regard for ourselves forbids it. May I add, sir, that, in reference to the weakness of Spain, we should characterize her, perhaps more justly, certainly more liberally, by saying exhausted, rather than degraded Spain. Yes, sir, exhausted in a contest for existence with a tremendous power, under which every other nation of Europe, save one, sunk and fell. She bore herself through with inflexible perseverance; and, if she came out of the conflict enfeebled and exhausted, it is no cause of reproach or contempt.

ment.

We talk of a war with Spain as a matter of amuseI do not desire to partake of it. It will not be found a very comfortable war, not from her power to do so much harm, but from the impossibility of gaining any thing by it, or of wearing out her patience, or subduing her fortitude. The history of every Spanish war, is a history of immovable obstinacy, that seems to be confirmed and hardened by misfortune and trial. In her frequent contests with Eng land, the latter, after all her victories, has been the first to desire peace.

Let gentlemen not deceive themselves about the plea santry of a Spanish war. May they not, sir, have some respect for the past character of this nation? The time has been, when a Spanish knight was the type of every thing that was chivalrous in valour, generous in honour, and pure in patriotism. A century has hardly gone by, since the Spanish infantry was the terror of Europe, and the pride of soldiers. But those days of her glory are past. Where, now, is that invincible courage; that noble devotion to honour; that exalted love of country? Let me tell you, in a voice of warning; they are buried in the mines of Mexico, and the mountains of Peru. Beware, my countrymen; look not with so eager an eye to these fatal possessions, which will also be the grave of your strength and virtue, should you be so unfortunate as to obtain them.

HOPKINSON.

20.-CLOSE OF AN ORATION ON THE DEATH OF JOHN ADAMS AND THOMAS JEFFERSON.

GREAT are their names! Honoured and revered be their memory! Associated with Washington and Franklin, their glory is a precious possession, enriching our annals, and exalting the character of our country.

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Greater is the bright example they have left us! precious the lesson, furnished by their lives, for our instruction. At this affecting moment, then, when we are assembled to pay the last tribute of respect, let us seriously meditate upon our duties; let us consider, earnestly and anxiously consider, how we shall best preserve those signal blessings, which have been transmitted to us,-how we shall transmit them unimpaired to our posterity.

This is the honour which would have been most acceptable to these illustrious men. This is an appropriate mode of commemorating the event we this day mourn. Let the truths of the declaration of independence, the principles of the revolution, the principles of free government, sink deep into our hearts, and govern all our conduct.

National independence has been achieved once and for ever. It can never be endangered. Time has accumulated strength with a rapidity unexampled. The thirteen colonies, almost without an union, few in numbers, feeble in means, are become in a lapse of fifty years, a nation of twenty-four states, bound together by a common government of their own choice, with a territory doubled by peaceful acquisition, with ten millions of inhabitants, with commerce extending to every quarter of the world, and resources equal to every emergency of war or peace,

Institutions of humanity, of science, and of literature, have been established throughout the land. Temples have arisen to Him, who created all things, and by whom all things are sustained, not by the commands of princes or rulers, nor by legal coercion, but from the spontaneous offerings of the human heart. Conscience is absolutely free in the broadest and most unqualified sense. Industry is free; and human action knows no greater control than is indispensable to the preservation of rational liberty.

What is our duty? To understand, and to appreciate the value of these signal blessings, and with all our might

and strength, to endeavour to perpetuate them. To take care that the great sources, from which they flow, be not obstructed by selfish passion, nor polluted by lawless ambition, nor destroyed by intemperate violence.

To rise to the full perception of the great truth; "that governments are instituted among men to secure human rights, deriving their authority from the consent of the governed," and that with a knowledge of our own rights, must be united the same just regard for the rights of others, and pure affection for our country, which dwelt in the hearts of the fathers of the revolution.

In conclusion, allow me to remind you, that with all their doings was mingled a spirit of unaffected piety. In adversity they humbled themselves before Him, whose power is almighty and whose goodness is infinite. In prosperity they gave Him the thanks. In His aid, invoked upon their arms and counsels with sincerity of heart, was their reliance and hope.

Let us all be thankful for the mercies which, as a nation, we have so largely experienced, and as often as we gratefully remember those illustrious men, to whom we are indebted, let us not forget that their efforts must have been nnavailing, and that our hopes are vain, unless approved by Him; and in humble reliance upon His favour, let us im plore His continued blessing upon our beloved country. J. SERGEANT

21.

GREAT EFFECTS RESULT FROM LITTLE CAUSES. THE same connexion between small things and great runs through all the concerns of our world. The ignorance of a physician, or the carelessness of an apothecary, may spread death through a family or a town. How often has the sickness of one man, become the sickness of thousands? How often has the error of one man, become the error of thousands?

A fly, or an atom, may set in motion a train of intermediate causes, which shall produce a revolution in a kingdom. Any one of a thousand incidents, might have cut off Alexander of Greece in his cradle. But if Alexander had died in infancy, or had lived a single day longer than he did, it - might have put another face on all the following history of 1.2 world.

A spectacle-maker's boy, amusing himself in his father's shop, by holding two glasses between his finger and his thumb, and varying their distance, perceived the weathercock of the church spire, opposite to him, much larger than ordinary, and apparently much nearer, and turned upside down. This excited the wonder of the father, and led him to additional experiments; and these resulted in that astonishing instrument, the telescope, as invented by Galileo, and perfected by Herschell.

On the same optical principles was constructed the microscope, by which we perceive that a drop of stagnant water is a world teeming with inhabitants. By one of these instruments, the experimental philosopher measures the ponderous globes, that the Omnipotent Hand has ranged in majestic order through the skies; by the other, he sees the same hand employed in rounding and polishing five thousand minute transparent globes in the eye of a fly. Yet all these discoveries of modern science, exhibiting the intelligence, dominion, and agency of God, we owe to the transient amusement of a child.

It is a fact commonly known, that the laws of gravitation, which guide the thousands of rolling worlds in the planetary system, were suggested at first to the mind of Newton by the falling of an apple.

The art of printing shows from what casual incidents the most magnificent events in the scheme of Providence may result. Time was, when princes were scarcely rich enough to purchase a copy of the Bible. Now every cottager in Christendom is rich enough to possess this treasure. "Who would have thought, that the simple circumstance of a man, amusing himself by cutting a few letters on the bark of a tree, and impressing them on paper, was intimately connected with the mental illumination of the world!" PORTER.

22. THE GRAVE OF THE INDIAN CHIEF.

THEY laid the corse of the wild and brave
On the sweet fresh earth of the new day grave,
On the gentle hill, where wild weeds waved,
And flowers and grass were flourishing.

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