tion. From the tapestry that adorns these walls, the immortal ancestor of this noble lord frowns with indignation, at the disgrace of his country. In vain did he defend the liberty, and establish the religion of Britain, against the tyranny of Rome, if these worse than popish cruelties, and *inquisitorial practices, are endured among us. To send forth the merciless *cannibal, thirsting for blood! Against whom? Your protestant brethren! - to lay waste their country, to desolate their dwellings, and textirpate their race and name, by the aid and *instrumantality of these horrible hounds of war.

--

7. Spain can no longer boast *pre-eminence in barbarity. She armed herself with bloodhounds, to textirpate the wretched natives of Mexico; we, more truthless, loose the dogs of war against our countrymen in America, endeared to us by every tie that can *sanctify humanity. I solemnly call upon your lordships, and upon every order of men in the state, to stamp upon this +infamous +procedure, the +indelible stigma of the public abhorrence. More particularly, I call upon the holy +prelates of our religion, to do away this iniquity; let them perform a +lustration, to purify the country from this deep and deadly sin. My lords, I am old and weak, and unable to say more; but my feelings and indignation were too strong to have said less. I could not have slept this night in my bed, nor even reposed my head upon my pillow, without giving vent to my eternal tabhorrence of such enormous and +preposterous principles.

CLX. SUPPOSED SPEECH OF JOHN ADAMS.
FROM WEBSTER.

Mr. WEBSTER, in a speech upon the life and character of John Adams, imagines some one opposed to the Declaration of Independence, to have stated his fears and objections before Congress, while deliberating on that subject. He then supposes Mr. Adams to have replied, in the following language.

1. SINK or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand and my heart to this vote. It is true, indeed, that in the beginning, we aimed not at independence. But there is a divinity which shapes our ends. The injustice of England

has driven us to arms; and blinded to her own interest, she has obstinately persisted, till independence is now within our grasp. We have but to reach forth to it, and it is ours. Why then should we defer the declaration? Is any man so weak, as now to hope for a reconciliation with England, which shall leave either safety to the country and its liberties, or security to his own life and his own honor? Are not you, sir, who sit in that chair,* is not he, our venerable *colleague, near you,t are you not both already the proscribed and predestined objects of punishment and of +vengeance? Cut off from all hope of royal clemency, what are you, what can you be, while the power of England remains, but outlaws?

2. If we postpone independence, do we mean to carry on, or to give up the war? Do we mean to submit, and consent that we shall be ground to powder, and our country and its rights trodden down in the dust? I know we do not mean to submit. We NEVER shall submit! Do we intend to violate that most solemn obligation ever entered into by men, that plighting, before God, of our sacred honor to Washington, when, putting him forth to incur the dangers of war, as well as the political hazards of the times, we promised to adhere to him in every extremity with our fortunes and our lives? I know there is not a man here, who would not rather see a general conflagration sweep over the land, or an earthquake sink it, than one jot or tittle of that plighted faith fall to the ground. For myself, having twelve months ago, in this place, moved you, that George Washington be appointed commander of the forces raised, or to be raised for the defense of American liberty; may my right hand forget her cunning, and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I hesitate or waver in the support I give him.

3. The war, then, must go on. We must fight it through. And if the war must go on, why put off the Declaration of Independence? That measure will strengthen us. It will give us character abroad. Nations will then treat with us, which they never can do, while we acknowledge ourselves subjects in arms against our sovereign. Nay, I maintain that Eng

land herself, will sooner treat for peace with us, on the footing of independence, than consent, by repealing her acts, to acknowledge that her whole conduct toward us has been a course of injustice and oppression. Her pride will be less wounded by submitting to that course of things, which now +predestinates our independence, than by yielding the points in controversy to her rebellious subjects. The former, she would regard as the result of fortune; the latter, she would feel as her own deep disgrace. Why, then do we not change this from a civil to a national war? And since we must fight it through, why not put ourselves in a state to enjoy all the benefits of victory, if we gain the victory.

4. If we fail, it can be no worse for us. But we shall not fail. The cause will raise up armies; the cause will create navies. The people, the people, if we are true to them, will carry us, and will carry themselves, gloriously through this struggle. I care not how fickle other people have been found. I know the people of these colonies; and I know that resistance to British aggression, is deep and settled in their hearts, and can not be eradicated. Sir, the Declaration of Independence will inspire the people with increased courage. Instead of a long and bloody war for the restoration of privileges, for redress of grievances, for chartered +immunities, held under a British king, set before them the glorious object of entire independence, and it will breathe into them anew the spirit of life.

5. Read this declaration at the head of the army; every sword will be drawn, and the solemn vow uttered to maintain it, or perish on the bed of honor. Publish it from the pulpit; religion will approve it, and the love of religious liberty will cling around it, resolved to stand with it, or fall with it. Send it to the public halls; proclaim it there; let them see it, who saw their brothers and their sons fall on the field of Bunker Hill, and in the streets of Lexington and Concord, and the very walls will cry out in its support.

6. Sir, I know the uncertainty of human affairs, but I see, I see clearly through this day's business. You and I, indeed, may rue it. We may not live to see the time this declaration shall be made good. We may die; die colonists; die slaves; die, it may be, tignominiously, and on the scaffold. Be it so.

Be it so. If it be the pleasure of Heaven that my country shall require the poor offering of my life, the victim shall be ready at the appointed hour of sacrifice, come when that hour may. But while I do live, let me have a country, or at least the hope of a country, and that a FREE country.

7. But whatever may be our fate, be assured, be assured that this declaration will stand. It may cost treasure, and it may cost blood; but it will stand, and it will richly *compensate for both. Through the thick gloom of the present, I see the brightness of the future, as the sun in heaven. We shall make this a glorious, an immortal day. When we are in our graves, our children will honor it. They will celebrate it with thanksgiving, with festivity, with bonfires, and illuminations. On its annual return, they will shed tears, copious, gushing tears; not of subjection and slavery, not of agony and distress, but of exultation, of gratitude, and of joy.

8. Sir, before God, I believe the hour is come. My judgment approves the measure, and my whole heart is in it. All that I have, and all that I am, and all that I hope in this life, I am now ready here to stake upon it; and I leave off as I began, that, live or die, survive or perish, I am for the declaration. It is my living sentiment, and, by the blessing of God, it shall be my dying sentiment; independence now, and

INDEPENDENCE FOREVER.

CLXI. THE PARTING OF MARMION AND DOUGLAS.
FROM WALTER SCOTT.

In the poem, from which this extract is taken, Marmion is represented as an embassador, sent by Henry VIII, king of England, to James IV, king of Scotland, who were at war with each other. Having finished his mission to James, Marmion was intrusted to the protection and hospitality of Douglas, one of the Scottish nobles. Douglas entertains him, treats him with the respect due to his office and to the honor of his sovereign, yet he despises his private character. Marmion perceives this, and takes +umbrage at it, though he attempts to repress his resentment, and desires to part in peace. Under these circumstances, the scene, as described in this sketch, takes place. Tantallon is the name of Douglas's castle.

1. Nor far advanc'd was morning day,
When Marmion did his troop tarray,
To Surrey's camp to ride;

He had safe conduct for his band,
Beneath the royal seal and hand,

And Douglas gave a guide.

2. The train from out the castle drew, But Marmion stopp'd to bid adieu : "Though something I might 'plain," he said, "Of cold respect to stranger guest, Sent hither by the king's +behest, While in Tantallon's towers I staid, Part we in friendship from your land, And, noble Earl, receive my hand." But Douglas round him drew his cloak, Folded his arms, and thus he spoke:

'My manors, halls, and towers shall still
Be open at my sovereign's will,

To each one whom he +lists, howe'er
Unmeet to be the owner's peer.

My castles are my king's alone,
From turret to +foundation stone;
The hand of Douglas is his own ;

And never shall, in friendly grasp,
The hand of such as Marmion clasp."

3. Burn'd Marmion's swarthy cheek like fire, And shook his very frame for tire ;

And "This to me," he said,

"And 't were not for thy hoary beard,
Such hand as Marmion's had not spar'd
To cleave the Douglas' head!
And first, I tell thee, haughty peer,
He who does England's message here,
Although the meanest in her state,
May well, proud Angus, be thy mate:
And Douglas, more, I tell thee here,
Even in thy pitch of pride,
Here, in thy hold, thy +vassals near,
I tell thee, thou'rt defied!
And if thou said'st I am not peer
To any lord in Scotland here,
Lowland or Highland, far or near,

Lord Angus, thou-hast-lied!"

4. On the Earl's cheek, the flush of rage O'ercame the ashen hue of age: