صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

debt due to them? Is there any one pretension, that any of these nations will be patient.

The debts due the British are also very considerable : these debts have been withheld contrary to treaty: if Great Britain will demand the payment of these debts, peremptorily, what will be the consequence? Can we pay them if demanded? Will no danger result from a refusal? Will the British nation suffer their subjects to be stripped of their property? Is not that nation amply able to do its subjects justice? Will the resentment of that powerful and supercilious nation sleep for ever? If we become one, sole nation, uniting with our sister states, our means of defence will be greater; the indulgence for the payment of those debts will be greater, and the danger of an attack less probable. Moreover, vast quantities of land have been sold, by citizens of this country, to Europeans, and these lands cannot be found. Will this fraud be countenanced or endured? Among so many causes of danger, shall we be secure, separated from our sister states? Weakness

itself, sir, will invite some attack upon your country.

:

Contemplate our situation deliberately, and consult history it will inform you, that people in our circumstances have ever been attacked and successfully: open any page, and you will there find our danger truly depicted. If such a people had any thing, was it not taken? The fate which will befall us, I fear, sir, will be, that we shall be made a partition of. How will these our troubles be removed? Can we have any dependence on commerce? Can we make any computation on this subject? Where will our flag appear? So high is the spirit of commercial nations, that they will spend five times the value of the object, to exclude their rivals from a participation in commercial profits: they seldom regard any expenses.

If we should be divided from the rest of the states, upon what footing would our navigation in the Mississippi be? What would be the probable conduct of France and Spain ! Every gentleman may imagine, in his own mind, the natural consequences. To these considerations I might add many others of a similar nature. Were I to say, that the boundary between us and North Carolina is not yet settled, I should be told, that Virginia and that state go together.

But what, sir, will be the consequence of the dispute that may arise between us and Maryland, on the subject of Potomac river? It is thought Virginia has a right to an equal navigation with them in that river. If ever it should be decided on grounds of prior right, their charter will inevitably determine it in their favour. The country called the Northern Neck will probably be severed from Virginia. There is not a doubt but the inhabitants of that part will annex themselves to Maryland, if Virginia refuses to accede to the union. The recent example of those regulations, lately made respecting that territory, will illustrate that probability. Virginia will also be in danger of a conflict with Pennsylvania, on the subject of boundaries. I know that some gentlemen are thoroughly persuaded, that we have a right to those disputed boundaries: if we have such a right, I know not where it is to be found.

Are we not borderers on states that will be separated from us? Call to mind the history of every part of the world, where nations have bordered on one another, and consider the consequences of our separation from the union. Peruse those histories, and you find such countries to have ever been almost a perpetual scene of bloodshed and slaughter. The inhabitants of one, escaping from punishment into the other-protection given them-consequent pursuit, robbery, cruelty, and murder. A numerous standing army, that dangerous expedient, would be necessary, but not sufficient for the defence of such borders. Every gentleman will amplify the scene in his own mind. If you wish to know the extent of such a scene, look at the history of England and Scotland before the union; you will see their borderers continually committing depredations and cruelties, of the most calamitous and deplorable nature, on one another.

65.-THIRD EXTRACT FROM THE SAME.

MR. CHAIRMAN,-I am afraid I have tired the patience of this house; but I trust you will pardon me, as I was urged by the importunity of the gentleman in calling for the reasons of laying the groundwork of this plan. It is objected by the honourable gentleman over the way, Mr

George Mason,) that a republican government is impracti cable in an extensive territory, and the extent of the United States is urged as a reason for the rejection of this constitution. Let us consider the definition of a republican government as laid down by a man who is highly esteemed. Montesquieu, so celebrated among politicians, says, "that a republican government is that in which the body, or only a part of the people, is possessed of the supreme power; a monarchical, that in which a single person governs, by fixed and established laws; a despotic government, that in which a single person, without law and without rule, directs every thing by his own will and caprice." This author has not distinguished a republican government from a monarchy by the extent of its boundaries, but by the nature of its principles. He, in another place, contradistinguishes it, as a government of laws, in opposition to others, which he denominates a government of men.

The empire, or government of laws, according to that phrase, is that in which the laws are made with the free will of the people; hence, then, if laws be made by the assent of the people, the government may be deemed free. When laws are made with integrity, and executed with wisdom, the question is, whether a great extent of country will tend to abridge the liberty of the people. If defensive force be necessary, in proportion to the extent of country, I conceive that, in a judiciously-constructed government, be the country ever so extensive, its inhabitants will be proportionably numerous, and able to defend it. Extent of country, in my conception, ought to be no bar to the adoption of a good government. No extent on earth seems to me too great, provided the laws be wisely made and executed. The principles of representation and responsibility may pervade a large as well as a small territory and tyranny is as easily introduced into a small as into a large district. If it be answered, that some of the most illustrious and distinguished authors are of a contrary opinion, I reply, that authority has no weight with me, till I am convinced that not the dignity of names, but the force of reasoning, gains my assent.

I intended to have shown the nature of the powers which ought to have been given to the general government, and the reason of investing it with the power of taxation; but

this would require more time than my strength or the patience of the committee would now admit of. I shall conclude with a few observations, which come from my heart. I have laboured for the continuance of the unionthe rock of our salvation. I believe that as sure as there is a God in heaven, our safety, our political happiness and existence, depend on the union of the states; and that, without this union, the people of this and the other states will undergo the unspeakable calamities which discord, faction, turbulence, war, and bloodshed have produced in other countries.

The American spirit ought to be mixed with American pride-pride to see the union magnificently triumph. Let that glorious pride which once defied the British thunder, reanimate you again. Let it not be recorded of Americans, that, after having performed the most gallant exploits, after having overcome the most astonishing difficulties, and after having gained the admiration of the world by their incomparable valour and policy, they lost their acquired reputation, their national consequence and happiness, by their own indiscretion. Let no future historian inform posterity that they wanted wisdom and virtue to concur in any regular, efficient government. Should any writer, doomed to so disagreeable a task, feel the indignation of an honest historian, he would reprehend and recriminate our folly with equal severity and justice.

Catch the present moment; seize it with avidity and cagerness; for it may be lost, never to be regained. If the union be now lost, I fear it will remain so for ever. I believe gentlemen are sincere in their opposition, and actuated by pure motives; but when I maturely weigh the advantages of the union, and dreadful consequences of its dissolution; when I see safety on my right, and destruction on my left; when I behold respectability and happiness acquired by the one, but annihilated by the other, I cannot hesitate to decide in favour of the former. I hope my weakness, from speaking so long, will apologize for my leaving this subject in so mutilated a condition. If a further explanation be desired, I shall take the liberty to enter into it more fully another time.

66. THE DYING CHIEF.

THE stars look'd down on the battle plain,
Where night-winds were deeply sighing,
And with shatter'd lance near his war steed slain,
Lay a youthful chieftain dying.

He had folded round his gallant breast
The banner, once o'er him streaming,
For a noble shroud, as he sunk to rest

On the couch that knows no dreaming.

Proudly he lay on his broken shield,
By the rushing Guadalquiver,

While, dark with the blood of his last red field,
Swept on the majestic river.

There were hands which came to bind his wound,
There were eyes o'er the warrior weeping,
But he raised his head from the dewy ground,
Where the land's high hearts were sleeping!

And Away!" he cried-" your aid is vain,
My soul may not brook recalling,-
I have seen the stately flower of Spain
Like the autumn vine leaves falling!

66 I have seen the Moorish banners wave
O'er the halls where my youth was cherish'd;
I have drawn a sword that could not save;
I have stood where my king hath perish'd;

Leave me to die with the free and brave,
On the banks of my own bright river!
Ye can give me naught but a warrior's grave,
By the chainless Guadalquiver!"

ANONYMOUS.

67.-FROM THE BRIDE OF ABYDOS.

KNOW ye the land where the cypress and myrtle
Are emblems of deeds that are done in their clime,
Where the rage of the vulture, the love of the turtle,
Now melt into sorrow, now madden to crime?

« السابقةمتابعة »