but that all stations were equally within the grasp of each member of the body politic. These were the great principles they announced; these were the purposes for which they made their declaration; these were the end to which their enunciation was directed. They have no reference to the slave; else, how happened it that among the items of arraignment made against George III. was that he endeavored to do just what the North had been endeavoring of late to do to stir up insurrection among our slaves? Had the Declaration announced that the negroes were free and equal, how was the prince to be arraigned for stirring up insurrection among them? And how was this to be enumerated among the high crimes which caused the colonies to sever their connection with the mother country? When our Constitution was formed, the same idea was rendered more palpable, for there we find provision made for that very class of persons as property; they were not put upon the footing of equality with white men-not even upon that of paupers and convicts; but, so far as representation was concerned, were discrimnated against as a lower caste, only to be represented in the numerical proportion of three-fifths.

Then, senators, we recur to the compact which binds us together; we recur to the principles upon which our government was founded; and when you deny them, and when you deny to us the right to withdraw from a government which, thus perverted, threatens to be destructive of our rights, we but tread in the path of our fathers when we proclaim our independence, and take the hazard. This is done not in hostility to others, not to injure any section of the country, not even for our own pecuniary benefit; but from the high and solemn motive of defending and protecting the rights we inherited, and which it is our sacred duty to transmit unshorn to our children.

I find in myself, perhaps, a type of the general feeling of my constituents toward yours. I am sure I feel no hostility to you, senators from the North. I am sure there is not one of you, whatever sharp discussion there may have been between us, to whom I cannot now say, in the presence of my God, I wish you well; and such, I am sure, is the feeling of the people whom I represent toward those whom you represent. I therefore feel that I but express

their desire when I say I hope, and they hope, for peaceful relations with you, though we must part. They may be mutually beneficial to us in the future, as they have been in the past, if you so will it. The reverse may bring disaster on every portion of the country; and if you will have it thus, we will invoke the God of our fathers, who delivered them from the power of the lion, to protect us from the ravages of the bear; and thus, putting our trust in God, and in our own firm hearts and strong arms, we will vindicate the right as best we may.

In the course of my service here, associated at different times with a great variety of senators, I see now around me some with whom I have served long; there have been points of collision; but whatever of offense there has been to me, I leave here; I carry with me no hostile remembrance. Whatever offense I have given which has not been redressed, or for which satisfaction has not been demanded, I have, senators, in this hour of our parting, to offer you my apology for any pain which, in heat of discussion, I have inflicted. I go hence unencumbered of the remembrance of any injury received, and having discharged the duty of making the only reparation in my power for any injury offered.

Mr. President and senators, having made the announcement which the occasion seemed to me to require, it only remains for me to bid you a final adieu.

DEMOSTHENES

"ON THE CROWN"

[Demosthenes, the greatest orator of ancient Greece, the tireless denouncer of Philip of Macedon, was born some time between 382 and 384 B.C. He had good teachers in his youth, though his guardians failed to pay them. Oratory had been his choice from a very early age. He had, however, nearly every physical disability standing in the way of success. Withdrawing into seclusion, he corrected such defects as would yield to persistent effort. In 355 B.C. he entered upon his public career as an orator, and made it his principal endeavor to save the liberties of Greece by inveighing against her subtlest and strongest enemy, Philip of Macedon. His most famous orations, the "Philippics," directed against this enemy, were delivered between 351 and 341 B.C. In 338 the crisis came; and the battle of Charonea brought defeat to the allied Theban and Athenian forces. Athens, though humbled, did not forget the man who had struggled to preserve her liberties. In 336 B.C., Ctesiphon moved in the Senate to present a gift of a golden crown to Demosthenes, but Æschines, a rival orator, opposed the motion, and gave notice that he would bring suit against Ctesiphon for proposing an illegal measure. The trial was delayed seven years, but when it finally occurred it attracted widespread notice as the virtual trial of Demosthenes. Though the effort of Æschines was a powerful one, the reply of Demosthenes, known as the celebrated oration "On the Crown," was greater, and resulted in his own complete vindication. In 322 he was in danger of being captured by his enemies, and fled to the temple of Poseidon, on the island of Calauria, where he took a fatal draught of poison. The immortal oration, "On the Crown," was delivered at Athens, 330 B.C.; it is considered the most impressive and pathetic effort in ancient oratory.]

I

BEGIN, men of Athens, by praying to every god and goddess that the same good-will which I have ever cherished toward the commonwealth and all of you, may be requited to me on the present trial. I pray likewise-and this specially concerns yourselves, your religion, and your honor