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Christians, with many respectable sects of modern Christians, and with a great and increasing portion of my fellow citizens, I must bear the brave Commodore's reproach of malignity. I do indeed consider it, as one of the greatest misfortunes which ever befel human nature, and one of the strongest evidences of its depravity, that a man, who "sells his blood for drachmas," who draws his sword, in almost any cause, in which he has a hope of pay, plunder and glory, should be esteemed an honourable man. Were it not for such men, tyrants would want tools to work with, and oppression and war would

cease.

The professed soldier, whatever, he may boast of his patriotism, prefers his own honour to the honour of his country. Hence, let the exigency be ever so great, he resigns his commission, if superseded, and if insulted, by an officer of equal rank, does not fail to challenge him to mortal combat, by which he may deprive his country of the services of both.

Should a man, who follows the profession "feeling power and forgetting

of arms,

right," trample on the laws of nations, and put his country to the dilemma of choosing injustice and war, or apology and peace, and let him be barely reprimanded and suspended, though allowed full pay during his suspension, then he thinks himself degraded, and, in the language of Porter, exclaims, "Farewell country, farewell friends, farewell every blessing that this life and this country can afford, if the enjoyment of them is only to be purchased, by degradation." He begins by calling his country ungrateful and unjust-and ends, perhaps, like Coriolanus and Arnold, by joining her enemies.

A little incident, which happened, almost under my own observation, in New York, will show the gallant Commodore's respect for patriotism. When the declaration of War arrived, Porter gave leave, to all the Englishmen on board his ship, to leave her. This was well. So far for profession. Now for practice. A poor simple British seaman stepped forward, and declared that, he could not, in conscience, fight against his country. Was "his passport made, and crowns for convoy put into his purse?" No. The poor

fellow, after standing a burst of ridicule and opprobrium, was tarred and feathered, and then turned ashore, which had a happy effect on the rest of his countrymen on board. So much for the Commodore's notion of patriotism. Perhaps he may find the trial of his own patriotism ere long. Should a war break out between Mexico and the United States, would the gallant Commodore be covered with tar and feathers, for refusing to fight against his native country, or with

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gold and glory, by the capture of our merchantmen." I fear, his patriotism, would not stand the test of such an ordeal.

The gallant Commodore once abused an American of a British whaler, and called him a renegado, barely because he had entered into the English whale fishery. If the man who hires himself out to kill whales, is a renegado, what shall we call that person who hires himself out to kill men?

To quote the language of Dr. Franklin, "There never was a good war, nor a bad peace." Yet "continuance to the war" is a standing toast, among military men. The fact is, their interest and the interest of the

country are at variance: they flourish, when their country suffers. I recollect having heard a British officer, exulting at the news of a sanguinary battle, exclaim, "Oh, how many promotions! what a fine chance for young officers." Perhaps he would have been satisfied, had he been at the battle of Albuera, during the late war of the Peninsula. Houghton's brigade, entered the field, 1,400 strong; and, though victorious, lost 1,050 men killed and wounded. "This brigadge went into action in the forenoon, led by a major-general, with its due proportion of field officers and captains. I saw it, at three in the afternoon :-a captain commanded the brigade; the 59th and 48th regiments were commanded by lieutenants, and the junior captain of the 29th regiment was senior effective officer of his corps." [Recollections of the Peninsula, p. 157.] What a fine chance for the promotion of young officers was here!

The opinions of military men, as it respects civil liberty, may be learned from some of their leading characters. Frederick the Great, with whom I have an increasing ac

quaintance, when he heard of the petitions and remonstrances, which the British subjects boldly presented to the king; was heard to exclaim, "Ah! why am not I their king?-with an hundred thousand of my troops, round the throne, and a score or two of executioners in my train, I would soon make these proud islanders as dutiful as they are brave, and myself the first monarch in the universe." Las Cases gives us the opinion of his master, on this subject: "After all, said the Emperor, in order to govern, it is necessary to be a military man-one can only rule in boots and spurs." [Journal, part 4, p. 147.]

Soldiers of fortune often make the love of liberty a pretence for engaging in war. But, they are, generally, as willing to fight on the side of despotism, if the prospect of pay, plunder and glory, be as great, and, therefore, we find kings and despots have no lack of these mercenaries, as they are technically called, provided they can wring money enough out of their subjects to pay them. Witness the Hessian officers, in the pay of George 3d, fighting against our liberty.