the cabinet, to outrage the feelings and understanding of the country.

· III.

Vengeance of Hyder Ali.—BURKE.

WHEN at length Hyder Ali found, that he had to do with men, who either would sign no convention, or whom no treaty and no signature could bind; and who were the determined enemies of human intercourse itself-he decreed to make the country possessed by these incorrigible and predestinated criminals, a memorable example to mankind. He resolved, in the gloomy recesses of a mind capacious of such things, to leave the whole Carnatic an everlasting monument of vengeance, and to set perpetual desolation, as a barrier, between him and those against whom the faith which holds the moral elements of the world together, was no protection. He became at length so confident of his force, and so collected in his might, that he made no secret whatever of his dreadful resolution. Having terminated his disputes with every enemy and every rival, who buried their mutual animosities in their common detestation of the creditors of the Nabob of Arcot; he drew from every quarter, whatever a savage ferocity could add to his new rudiments in the arts of destruction; and compounding all the materials of fury, havock and desolation, he hung for awhile on the declivities of the mountains. Whilst the authors of all these evils were idly and stupidly gazing on this menacing meteor, which blackened all the horizon, it suddenly burst, and

poured down the whole of its contents upon the plains of the Carnatic. Then ensued a scene of wo, the like of which no eye had seen, no heart conceived, and which no tongue can actually tell. All the horrors of war, before known or heard of, were mercy to that new havock. A storm of universal fire blasted every field, consumed every house, and destroyed every temple. The miserable inhabitants, flying from their flaming villages, in part were slaughtered; others, without regard to sex, to age, to the respect of rank, or sacredness of function, fathers torn from children, husbands from wives, enveloped in a whirlwind of cavalry, and amidst the goading spears of the drivers, and the trampling of pursuing horses, were swept into captivity, in an unknown and hostile land. Those who were able to evade this tempest, fled to the walled cities. But escaping from fire, sword and exile, they fell into the jaws of famine. The alms of the settlement, in . this dreadful exigency, were certainly liberal; and all was done by charity that private charity could do but it was a people in beggary; it was a nation that stretched out its hands for food.

For eighteen months without intermission, this destruction raged from the gates of Madras to the gates of Yangore; and so completely did these masters in their art, Hyder Ali and his more ferocious son, absolve themselves of their impious vow, that when the British arms traversed, as they did, the Carnatic for hundreds of miles in all directions; through the whole line of their march they did not see one man, not one woman, not one child, not one four-footed beast, of any description whatever. One dead uniform silence reigned over the whole region.

IV.

Character of William Penn.-DUPONCEAU. WILLIAM PENN stands the first among the lawgivers, whose names and deeds are recorded in history. Shall we compare him with Lycurgus, Solon, Romulus, those founders of military commonwealths, who organized their citizens in dreadful array against the rest of their species, taught them to consider their fellow-men as barbarians, and themselves as alone worthy to rule over the earth? What benefit did mankind derive from their boasted institutions? Interrogate the shades of those who fell in the mighty contests between Athens and Lacedæmon, between Carthage and Rome, and between Rome and the rest of the universe.

But see William Penn, with weaponless hand, sitting down peaceably with his followers in the midst of savage nations, whose only occupation was shedding the blood of their fellow-men, disarming them by his justice, and teaching them, for the first time, to view a stranger without distrust. See them bury their tomahawks in his presence so deep, that man shall never be able to find them again. See them under the shade of the thick groves of Coaquannock extend the bright chain of friendship, and solemnly promise to preserve it as long as the sun and moon shall endure. See him then with his companions establishing his commonwealth on the sole basis of religion, morality and universal love, and adopting as the fundamental maxim of his government the rule handed down to us

from heaven, Glory to God on high, and on earth peace, and good will to all men.

Here was a spectacle for the potentates of the earth to look upon, an example for them to imitate. But the potentates of the earth did not see, or if they saw, they turned away their eyes from the sight: they did not hear, or if they heard, they shut their ears against the voice, which called out to them from the wilderness,

Discere justitiam moniti et non temnere Divos.

The character of William Penn alone sheds a neverfading lustre on our history.

V.

Speech in the Convention of Virginia.—JOHN RANDOLPH.

SIR, I see no wisdom in making this provision for future changes. You must give governments time to operate on the people, and give the people time to become gradually assimilated to their institutions. Almost any thing is better than this state of perpetual uncertainty. A people may have the best form of government that the wit of man ever devised; and yet, from its uncertainty alone, may, in effect, live under the worst government in the world. Sir, how often must I repeat, that change is not reform. I am willing that this new constitution shall stand as long as it is possible for it to stand, and that, believe me, is a very short time. Sir, it is vain to deny it. They may say what they please about the old constitution-the defect is not there. It is not in the form of the old edifice, neither in the de

sign nor the elevation: it is in the materialit is in the people of Virginia. To my knowledge that people are changed from what they have been. The four hundred men who went out to David were in debt. The partisans of Cæsar were in debt. The fellow labourers of Catiline were in debt. And I defy you to show me a desperately indebted people any where who can bear a regular sober government. I throw the challenge to all who hear me. I say that the character of the good old Virginia Planter-the man who owned from five to twenty slaves, or less, who lived by hard work, and who paid his debts, is passed away. A new order of things is come. The period has arrived of living by one's wits-of living by contracting debts that one cannot pay-and above all, of living by office-hunting.

Sir, what do we see? Bankrupts-branded bankrupts-giving great dinners-sending their children to the most expensive schools-giving grand parties-and just as well received as any body in society. I say, that in such a state of things the old constitution was too good for them; they could not bear it. No, sir-they could not bear a freehold suffrage and a property representation.

I have always endeavoured to do the people justice; but I will not flatter them-I will not pander to their appetite for change. I will do nothing to provide for change. I will not agree to any rule of future apportionment, or to any provision for future changes called amendments to the constitution. They who love change who delight in public confusion-who wish to feed the caldron, and make it bubble -may vote if they please for future changes.