"Make way for liberty." he cried, 5. Swift to the breach his comrades fly; 6. Thus Switzerland again was free; THE PASSING OF THE RUBICON.-Knowles. A gentleman, Mr. President, speaking of Cæsar' benevolent disposition, and of the reluctance with which he entered into the civil war, observes, "How long did he pause upon the brink of the Rubicon!" How came he to the brink of that river! How dared he cross it! Shall private men respect the boundaries of private property, and shall a man pay no respect to the boundaries of his country's rights? How dared he cross that river! Oh! but he paused upon the brink! He should have perished upon the brink ere he had crossed it! Why did he pause? Why does a man's heart palpitate when he is on the point of committing an unlawful deed? Why does the very murderer, his victim sleeping before him, and his glaring eye, taking the measure of the blow, strike wide of the mor tal part? Because of conscience! 'Twas that made Cæsar pause upon the brink of the Rubicon. Compassion! What compassion! The compassion of an assassin, that feels a momentary shudder, as his weapon begins to cut! Cæsar paused upon the brink of the Rubicon! What was the Rubicon? The boundary of Cæsar's province. From what did it separate his province? From his country. Was that country a desert? No; it was cultivated and fertile; rich and populous! Its sons were men of genius, spirit, and generosity } Its daughters were lovely, susceptible, and chaste. Friendship was its inhabitant! Love was its inha bitant! Domestic affection was its inhabitant! Liberty was its inhabitant! All bounded by the stream of the Rubicon! What was Cæsar, that stood upon the bank of that stream? A traitor, bringing war and pestilence into the heart of that country! No wonder that he paused-no wonder if, his imagination wrought upon by his conscience, he had beheld blood instead of water; and heard groans, instead of murmurs! No wonder, if some gorgon horror had turned him inte stone upon the spot! But, no!-he cried, "The die is cast!" He plunged!- he crossed!—and Rome was free no more! SPEECH OF LORD CHANCELLOR THURLOW IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS, IN REPLY TO THE DUKE OF GRAFTON.* I am amazed at the attack the noble duke has made on me. Yes, my lords, [considerably raising his voice,] I am amazed at his grace's speech. The noble duke cannot look before him, behind him, or on either side of him, without seeing some noble peer who owes his seat in this house to his successful exertions in the profession to which I belong. Does he not feel that it is as honorable to owe it to these, as to being the accident of an accident? To all these noble lords the language of the noble duke is as applicable and as insulting as it is to myself. But I do not fear to meet it single and alone. No one venerates the peerage more than I do : but, my lords, I must say, that the peerage solicited me, not I the peerage. Nay, more: I can say, and will say, that as a peer of parliament, as speaker of this right honorable house, as keeper of the great seal, as guardian of his majesty's conscience, as lord high chancellor * The Duke of Grafton had reproached Lord Thurlow with his plebeian extraction, and his recent admission into the peerage. "Lord Thurlow rose from the woolsack, and advanced slowly to the place from which the chancellor generally addresses the house: then fixing on the duke the look of Jove when he grasps the thunder, in a level tone of voice, he spoke as above. "The effect of this speech, both within the walls and out of them, was prodigious. It gave Lord Thurlow an ascendancy in the house which no chancellor had ever possessed; it invested him, in public opinion, with a character of independence and honor; and this, though he was ever on the unpopular side in politics, made him always popular with the people." of England, nay, even in that character alone in which the noble duke would think it an affront to be consi dered, as A MAN, I am at this moment as respectable,→ 1 beg leave to add,—I am at this time as much re spected, as the proudest peer I now look down upon. THE THREE BLACK CROWS.-Byrom. Two honest tradesmen meeting in the Strand, I had it from good hands, and so may you." "Sir, did you tell"—relating the affair— Ask Mr. Such-a-one, he told it me; But, by the way, 'twas two black crows, not three." Resolved to trace so wondrous an event, Whip to the third, the virtuoso went. "Sir," and so forth-" Why, yes; the thing is fact, Though in regard to number not exact; It was not two black crows, 'twas only one; The gentleman himself told me the case." "Where may I find him?" "Why,-in such a place.” Away he goes, and having found him out,"Sir, be so good as to resolve a doubt." Then to his last informant he referr'd, And begg'd to know if true what he had heard. "Did you, sir, throw up a black crow?" "Not 1!'" "Bless me! how people propagate a lie! Black crows have been thrown up, three, two, and one, And here I find at last all comes to none ! Did you say nothing of a crow at all?” "Crow-crow-perhaps I might, now I recall "And pray, sir, what was't?" "Why, I was horrid sick, and at the last, I did throw up, and told my neighbor so, Something that was as black, sir, as a crow." The matter over." CHARACTER OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.—Phillip 8. He is fallen! We may now pause before that splendi' prodigy, which towered amongst us like some ancient ruin, whose frown terrified the glance its magnificence attracted. Grand, gloomy, and peculiar, he sat upor the throne a sceptred hermit, wrapt in the solitude of his own originality. A mind bold, independent, and decisive-a will despotic in its dictates-an energy that distanced expedition, and a conscience pliable to every |