O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts, Let but the commons hear this testament- If you have tears, prepare to shed them You all do know this mantle ? I remember now, Look! in this place, ran Cassius' dagger through: For Brutus, as you know, was Cæsar's angel! This, this was the unkindest cut of all! For when the noble Cæsar saw him stab, Quite vanquish'd him. Then burst his mighty heart! Even at the base of Pompey's statue Which all the while ran blood!-great Cæsar fell! They that have done this deed, are honourable! I come not, friends, to steal away your hearts: But, as you know me all, a plain, blunt man, That loves his friend-and that they know full well, mouths! And bid them speak for me. But, were I Brutus, LESSON CXVI. On Increasing the Army, preparatory to the War of 1812.— J. C. CALHOUN, There SIR, I think a regular force, raised for a period of actual hostilities, cannot be called a standing army. ia a just distinction between such a force and one as a peace establishment. Whatever may be the composition of the latter, I hope the former will consist of some of the best materials of the country. The ardent patriotism of our young men, and the reasonable bounty in land, which is proposed to be given, will impel them to join their country's standard and to fight her battles; they will not forget the citizen in the soldier, and, in obeying their officer, learn to contemn their constitution. In our officers and soldiers we will find patriotism no less pure and ardent than in the private citizen; but if they should be depraved, as represented, what have we to fear from twenty-five or thirty thousand regulars? Where will be the boasted militia of the gentleman? Can one million of militia be overpowered by thirty thousand regulars? If so, how can we rely on them against a foe invading our country? Sir, I have no such contemptuous idea of our militia; their untaught bravery is sufficient to crush all foreign and internal attempts on their country's liberties. But we have not yet come to the end of the chapter of dangers. The gentleman's imagination, so fruitful on this subject, conceives that our constitution is not calculated for war, and that it cannot stand its rude shock. This is rather extraordinary: we must then depend upon the pity or contempt of other nations, for our existence? The constitution, it seems, has failed in its essential part, to provide for the common defence." No, says the gentleman from Virginia, it is competent for a defensive, but not an offensive war. It is not necessary for me to expose the error of this opinion. Why make the distinction in this instance? Will he pretend to say, that this is an offensive war; a war of conquest? Yes, the gentleman has dared to make this assertion, and for reasons no less extraordinary than the assertion itself. He says our rights are violated on the ocean, and that these violations affect our shipping and commercial rights, to which the Canadas have no relation. The doctrine of retaliation has been much abused of late by an unnatural extension; we are now to witness a new abuse. The gentleman from Virginia has limited it down to a point. By his system, if you receive a blow on the breast, you dare not return it on the head; you are obliged to measure and return it on the precise point on H which it was received. If you do not proceed with this mathematical accuracy, it ceases to be just self-defence; it becomes an unprovoked attack. The gentleman is at a loss to account for, what he calls, our hatred to England. He asks, how can we hate the country of Locke, of Newton, Hampden and Chatham; a country having the same language and customs with ourselves, and descending from a common ancestry. Sir, the laws of human affections are uniform. If we have so much to attach us to that country, powerful, indeed, must be the cause which has overpowered it. Yes, sir, there is a cause strong enough: not that occult, courtly affection, which he has supposed to be entertained for France; but it is to be found in continued and unprovoked insult and injury:-a cause so manifest, that the gentleman from Virginia had to exert much ingenuity to overlook it. But, sir, here I think the gentleman, in his eager admiration of England, has not been sufficiently guarded in his argument. Has he reflected on the cause of that admiration? Has he examined the reasons of our high regard for her Chatham? It is his ardent patriotism; the heroic courage of his mind, that could not brook the least insult or injury offered to his country, but thought that her interest and honour ought to be vindicated at every hazard and expense! I hope, when we are called on to admire, we shall also be asked to imitate. I hope the gentleman does not wish a monopoly of those great virtues to remain with that nation! LESSON CXVII. The Antiquity of Freedom.-BRYANT. HERE are old trees, tall oaks and gnarléd pines, To linger here, among the flitting birds And leaping squirrels, wandering brooks, and winds . A fragrance from the cedars thickly set With pale blue berries. In these peaceful shades- My thoughts go up the long dim path of years, O FREEDOM! thou art not, as poets dream, With which the Roman master crown'd his slave, Arm'd to the teeth, art thou: one mailéd hand Grasps the broad shield, and one the sword; thy brow, Glorious in beauty though it be, is scarr'd With tokens of old wars; thy massive limbs Are strong and struggling. Power at thee has launch'd His bolts, and with his lightnings smitten thee ;— They could not quench the life thou hast from Heaven. Merciless Power has dug thy dungeon deep, And his swart armourers, by a thousand fires, Have forged thy chain; yet, while he deems thee bound, Thy birth-right was not given by human hands: T The grave defiance of thine elder eye, The usurper trembles in his fastnesses. T Thou shalt wax stronger with the lapse of years, But he shall fade into a feebler age; |