raging tempest, in their scarcely sea-worthy vessel. The awful voice of the storm howls through the rigging. The laboring masts seem straining from their base; the dismal sound of the pumps is heard; the ship leaps, as it were, madly from billow to billow; the ocean breaks, and settles with ingulfing floods over the floating deck, and beats with deadening weight against the staggering vessel.

I see them escaped from these perils, pursuing their all but desperate undertaking, and landed at last, after a five months' passage, on the ice-clad rocks of Plymouth, weak and exhausted from the voyage, poorly armed, scantily provisioned, depending on the charity of their ship-master for a draught of beer on board, drinking nothing but water on shore, without shelter, without means, surrounded by hostile tribes.

Shut now the volume of history, and tell me, on any principle of human probability, what shall be the fate of this handful of adventurers? Tell me, man of military science, in how many months they were all swept off by the thirty savage tribes enumerated within the boundaries of New England? Tell me, politician, how long did this shadow of a colony, on which your conventions and treaties had not smiled, languish on the distant coast? Student of history, compare for me the baffled projects, the deserted settlements, the abandoned adventurers of other times, and find the parallel of this. Was it the winter storm, beating upon the houseless heads of women and children? was it hard labor and spare meals? was it disease? was it the tomahawk? was it the deep malady of a blighted hope, a ruined enterprise, and a broken heart, aching in its last moments at the recollections of the loved and left, beyond the sea? was it some or all of them united that hurried this forsaken company to their melancholy fate? And is it possible, that neither of these causes, that all combined, were able to blast this bud of hope! Is it possible, that from a beginning so feeble, so frail, so worthy, not so much of admiration as of pity, there has gone forth a progress so steady, a growth so wonderful, a reality so important, a promise yet to be fulfilled so glorious!

LXXIX.-PHILANTHROPY.

FRANCIS WAYLAND.

It is not in the field of patriotism alone that deeds have been achieved, to which history has awarded the palm of moral sublimity. There have lived men, in whom the name of patriot has merged in that of philanthropist, who, looking with an eye of compassion over the face of the earth, have felt for the miseries of our race, and have put forth their calm might to wipe off one blot from the marred and stained escutcheon of human nature, to strike off one form of suffering from the catalogue of human war. Such a man was Howard. Surveying our world like a spirit of the blessed, he beheld the misery of the captive—he heard the groaning of the prisoner. His determination was fixed. He resolved, single-handed, to gauge and to measure one form of unpitied, unheeded wretchedness, and bringing it out to the sunshine of public observation, to work its utter extermination. And he well knew what this undertaking would cost him. He knew what he had to hazard from the infections of dungeons, to endure from the fatigues of inhospitable travel, and to brook from the insolence of legalized oppression. Ho knew that he was devoting himself to the altar of philanthropy, and he willingly devoted himself. He had marked out his destiny, and he hasted forward to its accomplishment, with an intensity, "which the nature of the human mind forbade to be more, and the character of the individual forbade to be less." Thus he commenced a new era in the history of benevolence. And hence, the name of Howard will be associated with all that is sublime in mercy, until the final consummation of all things!

Such a man is Clarkson, who, looking abroad, beheld the miseries of Africa, and, looking at home, saw his country stained with her blood. We have seen him, laying aside the vestments of the priesthood, consecrate himself to the holy purpose of rescuing a continent from rapine and murder, and of erasing this one sin from the book of his nation's iniquities. We have seen him and his fellow philanthropists, for twenty years, never waver from their purpose. We have seen them persevere amidst neglect and obloquy, and contempt, and persecution, until the cry of the oppressed having roused the sensibilities of the nation, the "Island Empress'

INDEMNITY TO THE NIAGARA SUFFERERS.

111

rose in her might, and said to this foul traffic in human flesh,

66

Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther."

LXXX.-INDEMNITY TO THE NIAGARA SUFFERERS.

WILLIAMS.

BUT the gentleman insists that if the government is not bound to pay for such losses, we cannot claim to be independent. Sir, I have read to you, from the page of impartial history, some of the acts of pillage and cruelty perpetrated by the enemy in our Revolutionary war; were these losses ever paid? No, sir, the old Congress denied the right of the sufferers to indemnity, and invariably refused to grant any compensation whatever. Was our country, therefore, not independent? Yet the gentleman says we must either pay such losses ourselves, or compel the enemy to pay them, or we are not independent. Sir, we suffered much under the British Orders in Council. Was compensation allowed in the treaty of Ghent ? We suffered sorely under the Berlin and Milan decrees. Has compensation ever, to this day, been allowed for these losses? No, sir; and it is very questionable if the nation will go to war to obtain it. Will the gentleman, therefore, maintain that the States are not, at this day, independent? Sir, the thing is not done by any government, nor can the argument be sustained by an appeal to facts. The true rule is, that government is bound to obtain such allowance, and to make such compensation, if it can be done conveniently. But would the gentleman say that, in order to get the allowance of one million, the whole nation must be plunged into war, at an expense of one hundred millions? In such cases the demand becomes a question of policy. It was a maxim (attributed, I believe, to Mr. Adams), at one time, in the mouth of every American, "Millions for defence, There is something of honor in such questions. What was the language of President Madison to Cockburn, when he commenced his ravages? Did the President say to him, "Admiral Cockburn, pray forbear; forbear, if you please; if not, we must pay our citizens for the injuries you may inflict?" No, sir; he said, "Forbear; if not we will retaliate." This, sir, is the only note for such an

but not a cent for tribute.'

ear as Cockburn's—the dread of retaliation is the only consideration which can hold such an enemy in check.

But, the gentleman relies much on the merits and sufferings of the inhabitants of the Niagara frontier. Sir, I have much regard for those inhabitants, and I am inclined to believe much of the representations in their favor, which have been given by the gentleman from New York; but still I feel great doubt whether they were sufferers to anything like the extent they would have us suppose. I do know that many who send us the most heart-rending accounts of their calamities, placed themselves voluntarily on the frontier for - certain commercial purposes, and I have been very credibly informed that the frontier, generally, received more benefit than injury from being, to the extent it was, the seat of war. Sir, those people, many of them, could well afford to have their houses burnt, if they received at such a rate, the public money, which was then concentrated, and expended with the most lavish profusion on that frontier.

LXXXI.-INDEMNITY TO THE NIAGARA SUFFERERS.

JOSEPH VANCE.

LET me say to the gentleman, that in Buffalo, he might, on one day, have found a family well housed, well clothed, surrounded with every comfort of life, who, from its hospitality in throwing open its doors to the American soldier, was the next day houseless and homeless, destitute of all things; if he had chanced, eight months afterwards, to be wandering on the flats of the Ohio, he might there see a family scarcely covered by a wretched house, in squalid poverty, one day shivering with ague, and the next consumed with raging fever; if his compassion should lead him to enter and inquire into their situation, he would hear them say, our father lived in plenty and comfort, on the Niagara frontier—he saw the American soldiery ready to perish-he opened his door to take them in--and for that we are here, ruined and in wretchedness. Sir, the sufferings of the French, on their retreat from Moscow, present not too strong a picture to convey a just idea of what was endured while the whole country on the Lakes was converted into one wide cantonment. Had the gentle

SUPPRESSION OF PIRACY.

113

man seen an American regiment on that frontier drawn up on a frosty morning, and supporting arms while their limbs were chilled to the bone, standing, in their cotton dress, in snow two and three feet deep; had he seen these claimants opening their houses to receive men in immediate danger of perishing (many of them did perish), and afterwards turned. out of house and home for doing it, he would not, he could not, deny that something ought to be done for their relief.

The gentleman has insinuated, that the inhabitants of the frontier are actuated wholly by a principle of selfishness; that, unless stimulated by a sense of interest, they will do nothing in their own defence, and will surrender up their property an easy prey to the enemy. But, sir, that gentleman surely did not consider the feelings of the American people when he advanced such a sentiment. If nothing had operated on their minds but selfishness, the army of the frontier could not have been kept together a single day. No, sir, not a single day. There were our soldiers, lying naked and perishing on one bank of the Niagara river, while, directly opposite, they could see the British sentry parading backward and forward in a good comfortable watchcoat, and hear him cry out, cheerfully, "all's well." They had only to cross en masse to the British side, to exchange a lodging on the ground, in their cotton that admitted the rain, and, when the rain was over, froze upon their bodies, for warm clothing and good quarters. Had selfishness been the ruling principle, where would have been your militia? Where would have been your regulars? -at their own homes, or over the British lines!

LXXXII-SUPPRESSION OF PIRACY.

P. P. BARBOUR.

SIR, I think the strength of our measures may be ascribed to the imbecility of Spain. That weakness has produced the necessity of adopting the powerful measures in question. But, if it is said that they have been adopted with the intention of taking advantage of the weakness of Spain, I answer, blessed be God, the United States have nothing to wish, and nothing to fear. We are prepared to rejoice with our fortunate neighbors; and. if they are unfortunate, to pity them.