were dripping with blood, the prince, naturally concluding, on seeing him in this condition, that the dog had killed his child, perhaps devoured him, drew his dagger from his side, and, in the heat of his rage, stabbed the poor animal to the heart!'

Why should you say poor dog, Papa? I think he deserved to be killed.'

"Stop a little, and you shall hear the rest of the story.'

"The noise of Gelert's cries brought the queen and her attendants into the room, and in the greatest anxiety and distress they turned over the confused heaps of bedding and bed-clothes that covered the floor, in the hopes of finding some remains of their lost infant. And what do you think they saw upon lifting up a light blanket ?'

"I am afraid of asking you, Papa, but I wonder you should look so merry, for I can hardly help crying to think of the dear little baby. Do pray tell me what they saw?'

'Well, on raising this accidental covering, what should they see, but the pretty little child sleeping in safety, and looking, as it was wont, rosy, and innocent, and beautiful!'

"Here Lewis's tears, which had been ready to start for sorrow, now rolled down his cheek for joy: he brushed them off with his little hand, and turned away his head, as if ashamed of his Papa seeing them, who perceiving that the boy's heart was too full to permit to venture an observation, continued his story.

“On a further search, Llewelyn discovered amongst the clothes the dead body of a wolf all torn and bloody, but still warm. This horrid spectacle disclosed the truth of the whole story. The noble dog Gelert had probably been in chase of this frightful animal while the hunters were assembling for the field, and had seized him by the throat at the very moment when he was making a spring at the child, whose cradle was overturned in the contest; and if the little thing slipped gently from it, it is not improbable that he was removed during a sound sleep without being awakened. Now, do you think, my boy, that the poor dog deserved to be killed?'

"Oh no, Papa. How sorry Prince Llewelyn must have been for destroying such a faithful dog, when he found he had saved the life of his darling baby!'

This story,' continued the father, 'should teach us never to give way to the impulse of rage and passion, but always to wait till we have inquired into the cause of evil appearances before we act upon them. Reason was given to man to controul his passions; when, therefore, we allow our passion to subdue our reason, we abandon our character of sensible beings, and act like real madmen, only without their excuse.'

Llewelyn did bewail most sincerely this rash destruction of his faithful companion and favourite; and, as a tribute to his memory, he not only built a church over the grave of Gelert, but also erected a monastery near the place as a pious offering of gratitude to Divine Providence for saving his child. In a short time a small hamlet or village was raised, and the place took the name of Beddgelert, or Gelert's Grave. Travellers in Wales always make this little spot an object of interest, and here procure a guide for Snowdon, the ascent to which is easier on this side than on any other.'"

VOL. III. (1837). No. IV.

PP

Gelert's Grave is made the subject of some very sweet and tender verses, which conclude the Tales, while Llewelyn, his child, and his dead dog form the subject of a striking lithograph which figures as a frontispiece. The following are some of the verses alluded to :—

"The weary hunters now were spread

In troops across the moor;

Another day, God will,' they said,

We'll make the chase more sure.'
"And many a merry tale they told
Of legendary lore,

Of giants grim and heroes bold,
That lived in days of yore.

"In jocund band thus hied they on,-
'Where is our master, then?'
Llewelyn seeks his cottage lone,

Far in the woody glen.

"Where wife beloved and children dear,
Sole tenants of the vale,

Are wont, with smiles and quiet cheer,
His wish'd return to hail.
"Llewelyn came-the room he sought
Where slept his infant heir.
Ah! hapless man, he little thought
What change would meet him there.
"Confusion all-the cradle bed

O'erturn'd, besprent with blood-
And, luckless sight! with jaws all red,
Beside it Gelert stood.

"Gelert! hast thou devour'd my child?'

The frantic father cried;

Then drew his sword with anger wild,

And plung'd it in his side.

"The faithful creature as he fell,
Lick'd his master's feet,

Then gave one piteous dying yell,

That pierc'd the whole retreat.
"But what is that soul-stirring noise?
That shrill awakening cry,

Like spirit from the dead?-a voice
That tells of bliss gone by?—
"Yet hark! Again! It is my boy!
Where art thou, cherub, where?
He moves! he lives! What joy! what joy!
My lost one, art thou there?-

"Safe and unhurt!—that sparkling eye

Beams like the blaze of heaven

On sons of immortality

་་

When sorrow's chains are riven.'

'There, where the clothes were lightly thrown,
In slumber unmolested,

Till waked by Gelert's dying groan,

The little sleeper rested.
"Llewelyn's first high transport o'er,
He search'd with anxious care

The blood-stain'd heaps that strew'd the floor,
To find if aught were there

"That could unveil the mystery;

When lo! beneath the bed,

With snarling fangs clench'd horribly,

A hideous wolf lay dead.

"Ah! faithful dog! too late I see

The tale of bloody strife;

Thy courage, thy fidelity,

Have saved my darling's life.

"A pious monument I'll rear,
In memory of the brave;

And passers by will drop a tear
On faithful Gelert's grave.'

339

We have already referred to the plan and the subjects which characterize the "Catechism." It goes back to the most remote historical notices of Wales, bringing them down to the time of Henry the Eighth, when the country was incorporated with England by Act of Parliament. The questions and answers are so applicable and well selected, and the facts dwelt upon, in many cases are so happily illustrated by the Tales, as to render the work both a useful school book, and a parlour study or entertainment.

ART. X.-A Letter on the Annexation of Texas to the United States. By WILLIAM E. CHANNING, D.D. London: John Green.

WERE the facts and principles which this pamphlet discusses merely of a political character, or confined to a consideration of the relations in regard to international government, as these exist between two republics, we should not do more than give a slight notice of it; in which notice, however, we should feel ourselves bound to speak of the soaring eloquence of thought and of language which distinguishes its reasoning even on the limited subjects referred to. But when it is found that the Letter treats of some of the gravest questions in reference to public and national morals, as well as the first principles of legislation; that it unfolds in a most masterly style certain great and eternal truths, and that it irresistibly pleads in behalf of the clearest interests of humanity, a literary journal would neglect its duty and some of its appropriate spheres, were it merely to announce the publication and the general import of its contents.

In this Letter the powerful intellect and the expansive and enlightened philanthropy of Dr. Channing shine with a breadth of brightness which have never been surpassed in any of his former

efforts. The reading of it affords the mind a noble and exalted occupation, the consciousness of which must ever confer a delight of the most permanent description. The "thoughts on the evils of a spirit of Conquest, and on Slavery," which flow from the author's rich and Christianized soul, are wonderfully beautiful, while many of them are original as to the use to which they are put. Beside these, a good deal is said of the impolicy of annexing Texas to the United States, and also of the injustice of the proceeding, inasmuch as it is a violation of rights both tacit and expressed; to some of the views in the reasoning on these last-mentioned points we shall first of all direct attention.

Dr. Channing arranges his thoughts on the subject of his Letter, which is addressed to the Hon. Henry Clay, under certain distinct heads, in order that his views may be the more clearly and fully understood. His first argument against annexing Texas to the United States, is in the criminality of the revolt which threatens to sever that country from Mexico. "On this subject," says he, "our citizens need light," for a doctrine prevails amongst them that the Texan insurrection is a struggle for freedom, and resembles that of their own in regard to England. He shows, however, that this pretence is hollow, and that the parallel supposed does in no respect exist. Upon the question of grievances, he maintains that a handful of persons belonging to a suburb of London might just as reasonably fly to arms to vindicate certain claims which the great majority of the municipal or national community denied them, as that the Texans, who are only as a drop in the bucket compared with the Mexican population, should by violence sever themselves from the republic. But even this handful of Texans were far from being unanimous as to the revolt. Besides, who were the revolters? Chiefly the citizens of the United States, a nation in amity with Mexico. These foreigners, to be sure, after settling in Texas, might feel their principles at variance on religious questions, for instance, with those established in their adopted country; but what right had they to go with open eyes into such a country and then complain of its laws and institutions? Again, the causes which have led to the revolt are disgraceful; an unprincipled spirit of land speculation, a system of gambling on an immense scale, being the real source of the contest, the injustice, and the bloodshed that has followed.

Ainong the causes of revolt mentioned and explained by Dr. Channing, there is one which particularly deserves to be considered, and this was the resolution to throw Texas open to slaveholders and slaves. "Mexico," says the author, "at the moment of throwing off the Spanish yoke, gave a noble testimony of her loyalty to free principles, by decreeing that no person thereafter should be born a slave, or introduced as such into the Mexican States; that all slaves then held should receive stipulated wages, and be subject

to no punishment but on trial and judgment by the magistrate.' The subsequent acts of the government carried out fully these constitutional provisions." Think of a nation which, like America, boasts of its civilization and its freedom striving to introduce and perpetuate slavery in a part of a republic far behind it in its general enlightenment!-for one of the great incentives to the annexation of Texas to the United States, cherished in those parts of the Union which have been most eager for its accomplishment, viz. the southern and western or slave-holding States, was, that a new market might be opened for slaves, and an extended sphere for slavery. The dismembering of a neighbouring republic, that slaveholders and dealers might overspread a region which had been consecrated to a free population, is a dreadful charge; but is no less just and true than it is dreadful. Connected with this subject, we shall afterwards have more to say and to quote. In the meanwhile Dr. Channing says, with the magnanimous eloquence that he commands, "Some crimes, by their magnitude, have a touch of the sublime; and to this dignity the seizure of Texas by our citizens is entitled. Modern times," continues he, "furnish no example of individual rapine on so grand a scale. It is nothing less than a robbery of a realm. The pirate seizes a ship. The colonists and their coadjutors can satisfy themselves with nothing short of an empire."

Such are some of the ideas which Dr. Channing expresses as to the criminality of the revolt and the parties who have fostered it. He next addresses himself to the question, Are the United States prepared to enter on a career of encroachment, spoliation, and war? for he maintains that the seizure of Texas will not stand alone, and that it will be linked by an iron necessity to long-continued deeds of rapine and blood. Upon this point, as on several others, his arguments are as stinging as they are earnest and cogent. He charges his country with a criminal appetite for extended territory. There is no people on earth on whom the ties of local attachment sit so loosely. Gain! gain! has hitherto been the cry of America; and in its greediness the red man has suffered dreadfully, justice and humanity being alike sacrificed to this avaricions spirit. But the wilderness and its occupants, it would seem, are not sufficient to gorge this craving; for a new proof to the many that exist, that cupidity is not to be appeased by gratification, is offered in the case of the land speculators of Texas, the annexation of which will be but the beginning of conquests, that, unless arrested and beaten back by a just and kind Providence, will stop only at the isthmus of Darien." Our Eagle," exclaims the author, "will whet, not gorge, its appetite on its first victim, and will snuff a more tempting quarry, more alluring blood, in every new region that opens southward."

If justice or humanity have no weight or value in the eyes of the