Page images
PDF
EPUB

3. Free as our torrents are, that leap our rocks,
And plow our valleys without asking leave,—
Or as our peaks, that wear their caps
of snow
In very presence of the regal sun!

4. How happy was I in it then! I loved

5.

Its very storms! Yes, I have sat and eyed
The thunder breaking from his cloud, and smiled
To see him shake his lightnings o'er my head,
And think I had no master save his own!
Ye know the jutting cliff, round which a track
Up hither winds, whose base is but the brow
To such another one, with scanty room

For two abreast to pass?

O'ertaken there

By the mountain blast, I've laid mne flat along,
And while gust followed gust more furiously,
As if to sweep me o'er the horrid brink,

And I have thought of other lands, where storms
Are summer flowers to those of mine, and just
Have wished me there-the thought that mine was

free,

Has checked that wish, and I have raised my head,
And cried in thralldom to that furious wind,
THIS IS THE LAND OF LIBERTY!
SHERIDAN KNOWLES.

Blow on!

XCVII. THE AUTHORS OF OUR LIBERTY.

1. The leaders of our Revolution were men of whom the simple truth was the highest praise. Of every condition of life, they were singularly sagacious, sober and thoughtful. Lord Chatham spoke only the truth when he said to Franklin, of the men who composed the first Colonial Congress, "The Congress is the most honorable

assembly of statesmen since those of the ancient Greeks and Romans in the most virtuous times."

2. Given to grave reflection, they were neither dreamers nor visionaries, and they were much too earnest to be rhetoricians. It is a curious fact that they were generally men of so calm a temper that they lived to extreme age. With the exception of Patrick Henry and Samuel Adams, they were most of them profound scholars, and studied the history of mankind that they might know man.

3. They were so familiar with the lives and thoughts of the wisest and best minds of the past that a classic aroma hangs about their writings and their speeches. They were profoundly convinced of what statesmen always know but what the adroitest politicians never perceive that ideas are the life of a people.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

4. They knew that the conscience, not the pocket, is the real citadel of a nation, and that when you have debauched and demoralized that conscience by teaching that there are no natural rights, and therefore that there is no moral right or wrong in political action, you have poisoned the wells and have rotted the crops in the ground.

5. The three greatest living statesmen of England knew this also: Edmund Burke knew it, and Charles James Fox, and William Pitt, Earl of Chatham. But they did not speak for the King or Parliament, or for the English nation. Lord Gower spoke for them when he said in Parliament, "Let the Americans talk about their natural and divine rights! — their rights as men and citizens ! their rights from God and nature! I am for enforcing these measures."

6. My lord was contemptuous, and the king hired the Hessians, but the truth remained true. The Fathers saw the scarlet soldiers swarming over the sea, but more steadily they saw that national progress had been secure

only in the degree that the political system had con. formed to natural justice. They knew of the coming wreck of property and trade, but they knew more surely that Rome was never so rich as when she was dying, and, on the other hand, that the Netherlands were never so powerful as when they were poorest.

7. Farther away they read the names of Assyria, Greece, Egypt. They had art, opulence, splendor. - Corn enough grew in the valley of the Nile. The Syrian sword was sharp as any. They were merchant princes, and the clouds in the sky were rivaled by their sails upon the sea. They were soldiers, and their frown frightened the world. "Soul, take thine ease," those empires said, languid with excess of luxury and life.

8. Yes; but you remember the king who had built his grandest palace, and was to occupy it on the morrow, but when the morrow came the palace was a pile of ruins. "Woe is me," cried the king, "who is guilty of this crime?" "There is no crime," replied the sage at his side; "but the mortar was made of sand and water only, -the builders forgot to put in the lime." So fell the old empires, because the governors forgot to put justice into their governments.

GEORGE H. CURTIS.

XCVIII.-GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH!

The following speech was delivered by PATRICK HENRY before the Virginia Convention of Delegates, 1775. When he took his seat at the close, no murmur of applause was heard. The effect was too deep. After a trance of a moment, several members started from their seats. The cry To arms!" seemed to quiver on every lip, and gleam from every eye. Richard H. Lee arose and supported Mr. Henry with spirit and elegance; but his melody was lost amidst the

[ocr errors]

agitation of that ocean which the master spirit of the storm had lifted up on high. The supernatural voice still sounded in their ears. They heard in every pause the cry of "Liberty or Death!" They became impatient of speech. Their souls were on fire for action.

PATRICK HENRY'S SPEECH.

1. Mr. President, it is natural for man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is it the part of wise men, engaged in the great and arduous struggle for liberty?

2. Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth, and to provide for it.

3. I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And, judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry, for the last ten years, to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the house?

4. Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land.

5. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win. back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation - the last

arguments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other motive for it?

6. Has Great Britain any other enemy in this quarter of the world to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us; they can be meant for no other. to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministers have been so long forging.

They are sent over

7. And what have we to oppose them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we any thing new to offer on the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves longer.

S. Sir, we have done every thing that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned, we have remonstrated, we have supplicated, we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and parliament.

9. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned with contempt from the foot of the throne.

10. They tell us, sir, that we are weak — unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house?

« PreviousContinue »