Nor these alone-for through the growing present, Thomas Buchanan Read. RECESSIONAL. God of our fathers, known of old- Dominion over palm and pine— The tumult and the shouting dies— An humble and a contrite heart. Far-called our navies melt away— On dune and headland sinks the fire- Lo, all our pomp of yesterday Is one with Nineveh and Tyre! If, drunk with sight of power, we loose Such boasting as the Gentiles use, Or lesser breeds without the Law- For heathen heart that puts her trust Amen. Rudyard Kipling. ORATORICAL STYLES. EXPULSIVE OROTUND. This form of the Orotund is used in the expression of all oratorical styles. The air instead of flowing from the mouth in a continuous stream as in the Effusive Orotund, is gathered up in a tense, compact volume and thrown into the glottis, whence it issues in the form of a short shout. The key to the effective and easy expression of all oratorical styles requires a separate impulsion of air for each tone or word that is uttered. The tones of the orator thus formed resemble the firm resonant strokes of a bell, or the compact and solid blows of a hammer on an anvil. Flabbiness of tone, which destroys all vigor of expression, and imperfect vocalization, producing huskiness, would be speedily overcome if the tones were made firm by energetic expulsion of the air in the pronunciation of each word. Daily practice on the vowels and numerals, securing a sturdy and resonant tone in the enunciation of each word, is the most direct and simple way to acquire this form of expression. Two essential points of advantage are gained by the adoption of these suggestions: First, economy of breath; second, distinctness of utterance. The tones being made in such a firm and compact manner, it is apparent that the liability of air escaping unvocalized is diminished, and what is used is put in such form as to secure the greatest amount of sound with the least possible expenditure of breath. In short, the speaker is working at his best with the least possible outlay of physical exertion. Indistinctness is practically impossible, as each word is made by a separate impulsion of breath, and hence the speaker must be distinct in his utterance, if he pronounces individual words distinctly. ORATORICAL SELECTIONS. SOUTH CAROLINA. If there be one State in the Union, Mr. President,—and I say it not in a boastful spirit,—that may challenge comparison with any other for a uniform, zealous, ardent, uncalculating devotion to the Union, that State is South Carolina. Sir, 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 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 with 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 gift to the altar of their common country. What, sir, was the conduct of the South during the Revolution? Sir, 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 interests in the dispute. Favorites of the mother country, possessed of neither ships nor seamen, to create a commercial relationship, 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 consideration, either of interest or of safety, they rushed into the conflict; and fighting for principle, periled all in the sacred cause of freedom. Never were 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 Sumpters and her Marions, proved by her conduct that, though her soil might be overrun, the spirit of her people was invincible! Robert Young Hayne. NEW ENGLAND. The gentleman from South Carolina taunts us with counting the costs of that war in which the liberties and honor of the country, and the interests of the North, as he asserts, were forced to go elsewhere for their defense. Will he sit down with me and count the cost now? Will he reckon up how much of treasure the State of South Carolina expended in that war, and how much the State of Massachusetts?— how much of the blood of either State was poured out on sea or land? I challenge the gentleman to the test of patriotism, which the army rolls, the navy lists, and the treasury books afford. Sir, they who revile us for our opposition to the last war have looked only to the surface of things. They little know the extremities of suffering which the people of Massachusetts bore at that period, out of attachment to the Union,— their families beggared, their fathers and sons bleeding in camps, or pining in foreign prisons. They forget that not a field was marshaled on this side of the mountains in which the men of Massachusetts did not play their part, as became their sires, and their "blood fetched from mettle of war proof." They battled and bled, wherever battle was fought or blood drawn. Nor only by land. I ask the gentleman, Who fought your naval battles in the last war? Who led you on to victory after victory, on the ocean and the lakes? Whose was the triumphant prowess before which the Red Cross of England paled with unwonted shames? Were they not men of New England? Were these not foremost in those maritime encounters which humbled the pride and power of Great Britain? I appeal to my colleague before me from our common county of brave old Essex,-I appeal to my respected colleagues from the shores of the Old Colony. Was there a village or a hamlet on Massachusetts Bay which did not gather its hardy seamen to man the gun-decks of your ships of war? Did they not rally to the battle as men flock to a feast? In conclusion, I beseech the House to pardon me, if I may have kindled, on this subject, into something of unseemly ardor. I cannot sit tamely by in humble, acquiescent silence when reflections, which I know to be unjust, are cast on the faith and honor of Massachusetts. Had I suffered them to pass without admonition, I should have deemed that the disembodied spirits of her departed children, from their ashes mingled with the dust of every stricken field of the Revolution,-from their bones moldering to the consecrated earth of Bunker's Hill, of Saratoga, of Monmouth, would start up in visible shape before me to cry shame on me, their recreant countryman. Sir, I have roamed through the world to find hearts nowhere warmer than hers; soldiers nowhere braver; patriots nowhere purer; wives and mothers nowhere truer; maidens nowhere lovelier; green valleys and bright rivers nowhere greener or brighter; and I will not be silent when I hear her patriotism or her truth questioned with so much as a whisper of detraction. Living, I will defend her; dying, I would pause in my last expiring breath to utter a prayer of fond remembrance for my native New England. Caleb Cushing. LORD PLUNKET ON THE IRISH PARLIAMENT. Sir-I, in the most express terms, deny the competency of Parliament to abolish the Legislature of Ireland. I warn you, do not dare to lay your hand on the Constitution-I tell you that if, circumstanced as you are, you pass an act which surrenders the government of Ireland to the English Parlia |