monuments of their existence and greatness stand as beacons to mankind to warn them of the dangers of war, luxury and ambition. In pleasing contrast the moral grandeur of our republic rises up, blooming with perennial beauty and smiling above the ruin, like flowers of spring succeeding the desolations of winter. The land of the free--the home of the brave-the asylum of the oppressed. Its foundation freedom-its structure virtue and intelligence, and its strength, equality. Proclaiming to the world the gratifying truth, that man is capable of self-government; and that the path of virtue for governments, as well as individuals, is the path of happiness and peace.

ADDRESS

OF THE ALBANY REPEAL ASSOCIATION TO THE PEOPLE OF

IRELAND, January 3, 1844.

[The meeting of the Association for which this brief address was prepared, and at which it was adopted, was held in the Capitol of the State, (which was splendidly illuminated for the occasion,) and presided over by ex-Governor Seward, who made an elaborate and able speech on taking the chair, and letters expressing sympathy with the objects of the Association were read from ex-President Van Buren, Governor Bouck, Michael Hoffman and other prominent public men of the day.]

TO THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND.

THE members of the Albany Repeal Association, and other friends of civil and religious freedom, at the Capitol of the State of New York, uniting their voices in concert with other friends of equality and the rights of man throughout North America, on this day, consecrated to the cause of Irish emancipation, tender to you, and to the friends of freedom throughout the civilized world, their sympathetic congratulations: and, by virtue of the great charter of human rights vouchsafed by the Almighty to the whole family of man, and in the name of Eternal Justice, demand for you and for your children the blessings of civil and religious liberty.

We have witnessed with deep emotion the degrading vassalage which has paralyzed your energies-which has wrung from your labor its wonted reward-dimmed the bright passages in the life of your youth-extinguished the light and beauty of childhood—and added grief and heaviness to years.

We have beheld, with sentiments of the liveliest admiration, the strong evidences you have manifested of a capacity for self-government, in expelling from your borders the vampire Intemperance, which was gnawing like an adder's tooth at

your heart-strings and drinking your choicest life-blood; and also in summoning your lordly oppressors for trial at the bar of public opinion, and persisting in a redress of unbearable. grievances by peaceable and constitutional means.

By the mild yet potent influences of OPINION, you have loosed the chains and broken the fetters of one cruel despotism; and, by the workings of the same gentle and resistless power, you shall be delivered from the thraldom of another.

These moral weapons, more formidable than hostile fleets or armies with their engines of destruction, have already pierced the iron mail of the gigantic power that lords it over you; and, when the united voice of the whole civilized world shall ascend on high, demanding your emancipation, this modern Felix will tremble-the doors of the political bastile, where "the iron has so long entered into the soul" of a generous and confiding people, will be unbarred, and its tenants be permitted to taste the blessings of liberty, light and life.

We do not propose to incite you to acts of violence and insurrection against the government under which you live; but so long as you war with moral weapons-so long as you peaceably invoke the spirit of your national constitution-we will second and sustain your efforts; for there is no impost chargeable upon Sympathy for our fellow-mortals, nor is Opinion contraband by the law of nations.

This peaceful, just and constitutional method of obtaining freedom, contains all the elements of success, and will leave behind it no traces of violence and bloodshed. The same bloated power which with characteristic arrogance boasts her ability to withstand the arms, will cower and quail before the opinion of the world; and, although her fleets may hover around your coast, and your land be overrun with her hireling and insolent soldiery, she will not resort to the butchery she has threatened, unless she can first exasperate the objects of her oppression to the commission of some overt act of violence; for, though drunk with blood as she is, and insensible to wrong, she knows too well that the first clash of British arms will fall on other ears than those of the hapless sons of Erin.

Let us then, in uniting our voices with those of our brethren throughout our widely-extended land, demanding that you who, like other men, are endowed by Heaven with inalienable

rights, may enjoy with us the blessings of civil and religious liberty, entreat you, by every consideration which can influence human action-by and in the name of that liberty which we invoke for you in our common prayer-to pursue faithfully to the end the precepts inculcated by your fearless and patriotic Liberator-by peaceably demanding justice at the hands of man, while raising "invocations to the living God;" and Ireland-devoted, persecuted, down-trodden Ireland-IRELAND

SHALL YET BE FREE.

SPEECH

UPON THE JOINT RESOLUTION PROVIDING FOR THE ANNEXATION

OF TEXAS.

DELIVERED IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, February 22d, 1845.

I rise, Mr. President, to the discussion of the question before the Senate, under circumstances of peculiar embarrassment. Sympathizing at all times deeply with the feeling that surrounds me, and being aware of the anxiety that prevails with the friends of the measure to close the debate, in which I also liberally share,-this consideration has not failed to add its influence to those which usually attend a first effort upon the floor of the Senate. The Senators from New York have, however, been called upon in debate to respond to interrogatories; and intending to act up to the responsibilities of my position, I deem it both proper and necessary to declare frankly my sentiments and the considerations that influence my action and this I shall do in as brief a manner as possible. I regard the proposed measure as fraught with consequences of the highest import to the country;-one that has fixed the attention of the people and been much discussed in their primary and representative assemblies. In its discussion here I shall pursue the plan I originally marked out; for although much I intended to say has been well said by others, my order of arrangement will be somewhat different from any which has been presented, and I hope to urge some arguments which have not been before the Senate.

The question being upon the indefinite postponement of the resolutions, thus disposing of the whole matter, I shall address myself entirely to the main proposition, and reserve all discussion as to details until the pending motion has been determined and distinct propositions shall be presented.