influence have been duped, by the ministerial bubble of commissioners, to treat; and in real sincere expectation of this event, which they so fondly wished, they have been slow and languid in promoting measures for the reduction of that province. Others there are in the Colonies who really wished that our enterprise in Canada would be defeated, that the Colonies might be brought into danger and distress between two fires, and be thus induced to submit. Others really wished to defeat the expedition to Canada, lest the conquest of it should elevate the minds of the people too much to hearken to those terms of reconciliation which they believed would be offered to us. These jarring views, wishes, and designs occasioned an opposition to many salutary measures which were proposed for the support of that expedition, and caused obstructions, embarrassments, and studied delays which have finally lost us the province. All these causes, however, in conjunction, would have not disappointed us, if it had not been for a misfortune which could not have been foreseen, and perhaps could not have been prevented. I mean the prevalence of the small-pox among our troops. This fatal pestilence completed our destruction. It is a frown of Providence upon us, which we ought to lay to heart. But, on the other hand, the delay of this declaration to this time has many great advantages attending it. The hopes of reconciliation which were fondly entertained by multitudes of honest and well-meaning, though short-sighted and mistaken, people, have been gradually, and at last totally, extinguished. Time has been given for the whole people maturely to consider the great question of independence, and to ripen their judgment, dissipate their fears, and allure their hopes, by discussing it in newspapers and pamphlets, by debating it in assemblies, conventions, committees of safety and inspection, in town and county meetings, as well as in private conversations; so that the whole people, in every Colony, have now adopted it as their own act. This will cement the union, and avoid those heats, and perhaps convulsions, which might have been occasioned by such a declaration six months ago. But the day is past. The second day of July, 1776, will be a memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations, as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp, shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of the continent to the other, from this time forward forever. You may think me transported with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this declaration, and support and defend these states. Yet, through all the gloom, I can see the rays of light and glory. I can see that the end is more than worth all the means, and that posterity will triumph, although you and I may ruewhich I hope we shall not. THE SOUTH IN THE REVOLUTION. ROBERT YOUNG HAYNE. F there be one State in the Union, and I say it not in a boastful spirit, that may challenge comparisons with any other for a uniform, zealous, ardent, and uncalculating devotion to the Union, that State is South Carolina. From the very commencement of the Revolution, up to this hour, there is no sacrifice, however great, she has not cheerfully made, no service she has ever hesitated to perform. She has adhered to you in your prosperity; but in your adversity she has clung to you with more than filial affection. No matter what was the condition of her domestic affairs, though deprived of her resources, divided by parties, or surrounded by difficulties, the call of the country has been to her as the voice of God. Domestic discord ceased at the sound; every man became at once reconciled to his brethren, and the sons of Carolina were all seen crowding together to the temple, bringing their gifts to the altar of their common country. What was the conduct of the South during the Revolution? I honor New England for her conduct in that glorious struggle. But, great as is the praise which belongs to her, I think at least equal honor is due to the South. They espoused the quarrel of their brethren with a generous zeal which did not suffer them to stop to calculate their interest in the dispute. Favorites of the mother country, possessed of neither ships nor seamen to create a commercial rivalship, they might have found, in their situation, a guarantee that their trade would be forever fostered and protected by Great Britain. But trampling on all considerations, either of interest or of safety, they rushed into the conflict, and, fighting for principle, perilled all in the sacred cause of freedom. Never was there exhibited in the history of the world higher examples of noble daring, dreadful suffering, and heroic endurance. than by the Whigs of Carolina during the Revolution! The whole state, from the mountains to the sea, was overrun by an overwhelming force of the enemy. The fruits of industry perished on the spot where they were produced, or were consumed by the foe. The "plains of Carolina" drank up the most precious blood of her citizens. Black and smoking ruins marked the places which had been the habitations of her children. Driven from their homes into the gloomy and almost impenetrable swamps, even there the spirit of liberty survived, and South Carolina, sustained by the example of her Sumters and her Marions, proved, by her conduct, that, though her soil might be overrun, the spirit of her people was invincible. PERIOD V.-WAR OF 1812.-MEXICAN WAR. 1812-1849. THE STORY OF THE SWORDS. WH ADELAIDE C. WALDRON. HERE the sunset glory falls Crossed with a blade of later day Fought for country, love, and truth. Graven in strange characters on the gleaming supple steel, "Without reason, draw me not: without honor, sheathe me not.” Forth it sprang in righteous wrath If a coward crossed its path; Out it leaped like a tongue of flame On it flashed through dull despair, As through sanguine dream of victory, at the bugle-call; For the legend "Without reason, draw me not: without honor, sheathe me not." Now it hangeth quietly, In its wonderful war-worn head, Casts the glamour of the past over all the haunting dreams "Without reason, draw me not: without honor, sheathe me not ' And the blade of later time Straight and plain, unmarked by rhyme, Wearing only, in letters faint, Date and name, and with no gem Fit for kingly diadem Glittering in its slender hilt-deserves as well the poet's rhyme, And the clinging crown of laurel, as the sword of ancient time, With the legend Without reason, draw me not: without honor, sheathe me not." Synonym for grace of mien, White and golden immortelles On the head that Death laid low, face and hand against the foe, In the hand this sword informèd with the spirit and the glow 66 Of the legend Without reason, draw me not: without honor, sheathe me not." Heroes many live and die, Whom fame's trumpet passes by; |