nel is long, obscure, and terrible, for we may say that humanity is yet underground, so much matter envelopes and crushes it, so many superstitions, prejudices, and tyrannies form a thick vault around it, and so much darkness is above it. Alas! since man's birth the whole of history has been subterranean. We see nowhere the divine ray; but in the 19th century, after the French revolution, there is hope, there is certainty. Yonder, far in a distance, a luminous point appears. It increases, it increases every moment; it is the future; it is realization; it is the end of woe, the dawn of joy it is the Canaan, the future land where we shall only have around us brethren and above us Heaven. Strength to the sacred locomotive! Courage to thought; courage to science; courage to philosophy. Courage to the press; courage to all of you writers! The hour is drawing nigh when mind delivered at last from this dismal tunnel of 6000 years, will suddenly burst forth in all its dazzling brightness. I drink to the press, to its power, to its glory, to its efficiency, to its liberty in Belgium, in Germany, in Switzerland, in Italy, in Spain, in England, in America, and to its emancipation elsewhere."

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3.-EDWARD "VERETT (U.S.A.) ON THE CHARACTER OF LA FAYETTE.

THERE have been those who have denied to La Fayette the name of a great man. What is greatness? Does goodness belong to greatness, and make an essential part of it? Is there yet enough of virtue left in the world to echo the sentiment that

""Tis phrase absurd to call a villain great ?"

If there is, who, I would ask, of all the prominent names in history, has run through such a career, with so little reproach, justly or unjustly bestowed? Are military courage and conduct the measure of greatness? La Fayette was intrusted by Washington with all kinds of service;-the laborious and complicated, which required skill and patience; the perilous, that demanded nerve ;—and we see him keeping up a pursuit, effecting a retreat, out-manoeuvring a wary adversary with a superior force, harmonizing the action of French regular troops and American militia, commanding an assault at the point of the bayonet; and all with entire success and brilliant reputation. Is the readiness to meet vast responsibility a proof of greatness? The Memoirs of Mr. Jefferson shows us, that there was a moment in 1789, when La Fayette took upon himself as the head of the military force, the entire responsibility of laying down the basis of the revolution. Is the cool and brave administration of gigantic power a mark of greatness? In all the whirlwind of the revolution, and when, as commander-in-chief of the National Guard, an organized force of three millions of men, who, for any popular purpose, needed but a word, a look, to put them in motion,—and he their idol, we behold him ever calm, collected, disinterested; as free

from affectation as selfishness, clothed not less with humility than with power. Is the fortitude required to resist the multitude pressing onward their leader to glorious crime, a part of greatness ? Behold him the fugitive and the victim, when he might have been the chief of the revolution. Is the solitary and unaided opposition of a good citizen to the pretensions of an absolute ruler, whose power was as boundless as his ambition, an effort of greatness? Read the letter of La Fayette to Napoleon Bonaparte, refusing to vote for him as consul for life. Is the voluntary return in advancing years, to the direction of affairs, at a moment like that, when in 1815 the ponderous machinery of the French empire was flying asunder, stunning, rending, crushing thousands on every side, a mark of greatness? Contemplate La Fayette at the tribune, in Paris, when allied Europe was thundering at its gates, when Napoleon yet stood in his desperation and at bay. Are dignity, propriety, cheerfulness, unerring discretion in new and conspicuous stations of extraordinary delicacy, a sign of greatness? Watch his progress in this country, in 1824 and 1825; hear him say the right word at the right time, in a series of interviews, public and private, crowding on each other every day, for a twelvemonth, throughout the Union, with every description of persons, without ever wounding for a moment the self-love of others, or forgetting the dignity of his own position. Lastly, is it any proof of greatness to be able, at the age of seventythree, to take the lead in a successful and bloodless revolution ;to change the dynasty, to organize, exercise, and abdicate a military command of three and a half millions of men ;-to take up, to perform, and lay down the most momentous, delicate, and perilous duties, without passion, without hurry, without selfishness? Is it great to disregard the bribes of title, office, money;-to live, to labour, and suffer for great public ends alone;-to adhere to principle under all circumstances;-to stand before Europe and America conspicuous for sixty years, in the most responsible stations, the acknowledged admiration of all good men ?

I think I understand the proposition, that La Fayette was not a great man. It comes from the same school as also denies greatness to Washington, and which accords it to Alexander and Cæsar, to Napoleon and to his conqueror. When I analyse the greatness of these distinguished men, as contrasted with that of La Fayette and Washington, I find either one idea omitted, which is essential to true greatness, or one included as essential which belongs only to the lowest conception of greatness. The moral, disinterested, and purely patriotic qualities are only wanting in the greatness of Cæsar and Napoleon; and, on the other hand, it is a certain splendour of success, a brilliancy of result, which, with the majority of mankind, marks them out as the great men of our race. But not only are a high morality and a true patriotism essential to greatness, but they must first be renounced, before a ruthless career of selfish conquest can begin. I profess to be no judge of military combinations; but with the best reflection I have been able to give the subject, I perceive no reason to doubt, that, had La Fayette, like Napoleon, been

by principle capable of hovering on the edges of ultra-revolutionism; never halting enough to be denounced; never plunging too far to retreat; but with a cool and well-balanced selfishness, sustaining himself at the head of affairs, under each new phase of the revolution, by the compliances sufficient to satisfy its demands, - had his principles allowed him to play this game, he might have anticipated the career of Napoleon. At three different periods he had it in his power, without usurpation, to take the government into his own hands. He was invited-urged to do so. Had he done it, and made use of the military means at his command, to maintain and perpetuate his power, he would then, at the sacrifice of all his just claims to the name of great and good, have reached that which vulgar admiration alone worships-the greatness of high station and brilliant success.

But it was of the greatness of La Fayette, that he looked down on greatness of the false kind. He learned his lesson in the school of Washington, and took his first practice in victories over himself. Let it be questioned by the venal apologists of time-honoured abuses, -let it be sneered at by national prejudice and party detraction; let it be denied by the admirers of war and conquest;-by the idolaters of success; but let it be gratefully acknowledged by good men; by Americans, by every man who has sense to distinguish character from events; who has a heart to beat in concert with the pure enthusiasm of virtue.

But it is more than time, fellow-citizens, that I commit this great and good man to your unprompted contemplation. On his arrival among you, ten years ago,-when your civil fathers, your military, your children, your whole population poured itself out, as one throng, to salute him,-when your cannons proclaimed his advent with joyous salvoes, and your acclamations were responded from steeple to steeple by the voice of festal bells, with what delight did you not listen to his cordial and affectionate words "I beg of you all, beloved citizens of Boston, to accept the respectful and warm thanks of a heart which has for nearly half a century been devoted to your illustrious city!" That noble heart-to which, if any object on earth was dear, that object was the country of his early choice, of his adoption, and his more than regal triumph,—that noble heart will beat no more for your welfare. Cold and motionless, it is already mingling with the dust. While he lived, you thronged with delight to his presence, you gazed with admiration on his placid features and venerable form, not wholly unshaken by the rude storms of his career; and now that he is departed, you have assembled in this cradle of the liberties, for which, with your fathers, he risked his life, pay the last honours to his memory. You have thrown open these consecrated portals to admit the lengthened train which has come to discharge the last public offices of respect to his name. You have hung these venerable arches, for the second time, since their erection, with the sable badges of sorrow. You have thus associated the memory of La Fayette in those distinguished honours which but a few years since you paid to your Adams and Jefferson;

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and could your wishes and mine have prevailed, my lips would this day have been mute, and the same illustrious voice, which gave utterance to your filial emotions over their honoured graves, would have spoken also, for you, over him who shared their earthly labours, enjoyed their friendship, and has now gone to share their last repose, and their imperishable remembrance.

There is not, throughout the world, a friend of liberty who has not dropped his head when he has heard that La Fayette is no more. Poland, Italy, Greece, Spain, Ireland, the South American republics -every country where man is struggling to recover his birthright— has lost a benefactor-a patron-in La Fayette. But you, young men, at whose command I speak, for you a bright and particular loadstar is henceforward fixed in the front of heaven. What young man that reflects on the history of La Fayette-that sees him in the morning of his days the associate of sages, the friend of Washington-but will start with new vigour on the path of duty and renown?

And what was it, fellow-citizens, which gave to our La Fayette his spotless fame? The love of liberty. What has consecrated his memory in hearts of good men? The love of liberty. What nerved his youthful arm with strength, and inspired him in the morning of his days with sagacity and counsel? The living love of liberty. To what did he sacrifice power, and rank, and country, and freedom itself? To the horror of licentiousness;-to the sanctity of plighted faith;-to the love of liberty protected by law. Thus the great principle of your revolutionary fathers, of your pilgrim sires, the great principle of the age, was the rule of his life-the love of liberty protected by law.

You have now assembled within these renowned walls, to perform the last duties of respect and love, on the birthday of your benefactor, beneath that roof which has resounded of old with the mastervoices of American renown. The spirit of the departed is in high communion with the spirit of the place;-the temple worthy of the new name, which we now behold inscribed on its walls. Listen, Americans, to the lesson, which seems borne to us on the very air we breathe, while we perform these dutiful rites. Ye Winds, that wafted the pilgrims to the land of promise, fan, in their children's hearts, the love of freedom; Blood, which our fathers shed, cry from the ground; Echoing Arches of this renowned hall, whisper back the voices of other days; Glorious Washington, break the long silence of that votive canvas;-Speak, speak, marble lips: teach us "THE LOVE OF LIBERTY PROTECTED BY LAW!"

4.-MR. WHITESIDE'S PERORATION IN DEFENCE OF MR. DUFFY: FEBRUARY 2, 1844.

[The Right Hon. James Whiteside was born in the county of Wicklow 1808 and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He was called to the bar in 1830.

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In 1843 he defended Mr. O'Connell, and in 1848 Smith O'Brien and his fellow conspirators. He is the author of a vork on "Antient Rome," and of "Italy in the 19th Century."]

I WOULD say that the true object of this unprecedented prosecution was to stifle the discussion of a great public question. Reviewed in this light, all other considerations sink into insignificance! its importance becomes vast indeed. A Nation's Rights are involved in the issue-a Nation's Liberties are at stake! What won, what preserves, the precious privileges you possess? THE EXERCISE OF THE RIGHT OF POLITICAL DISCUSSION-FREE, UNTRAMMELLED, BOLD! The laws which wisdom framed-the institutions struck out by patriotism, learning, or genius-can they preserve the springs of freedom fresh and pure ? No: destroy the right of free discussion, and you dry up the sources of freedom. By the same means by which your liberties were won, they can be increased or defended. Quarrel not with the partial evils free discussion creates, nor seek to contract the enjoyment of that great privilege within the narrow limits timid men prescribe. With the passing mischiefs of its extravagance contrast the prodigious blessings it has heaped on man. Free discussion aroused the numan mind from the torpor of ages, taught it to think, and shook the thrones of ignorance and darkness. Free discussion gave to Europe the Reformation, which I have been taught to believe the mightiest event. in the history of the human race; illuminated the world with the radiant light of spiritual truth: : may it shine with steady and increasing splendour! Would you undo the labours of science, extinguish literature, stop the efforts of genius, restore ignorance, bigotry, barbarism? then put down free discussion, and you have accomplished all. Savage conquerors, in the blindness of their ignorance, have scattered and destroyed the intellectual treasures of a great antiquity. Those who make war on the sacred rights of free discussion, without their ignorance, imitate their fury; they may check the expression of some thought which might, if uttered, redeem the liberties or increase the happiness of men.

The insidious assailants of this great prerogative of intellectual beings, by the cover under which they advance, conceal the character of their assault upon the liberties of the human race. They seem to admit the liberty to discuss, blame only its extravagance, pronounce hollow praises on the value of the freedom of speech, and straightway begin a prosecution to cripple and destroy. The open despot avows his object is to oppress or to enslave; resistance is certain to encounter his tyranny, and perhaps subvert it. Not so the artful assailant of a nation's rights; he declares friendship while he wages war, and professes affection for the thing he hates. State prosecutions, if you believe them, are ever the fastest friends of freedom: they tell you peace is disturbed, order broken, by the excesses of turbulent and seditious demagogues. No doubt there might be a seeming peace, a deathlike stillness, by repressing the feelings and passions of men-so in the fairest portion of Europe this day there is peace, order, and submission, under despotic