mountain-tops, far above all the kingdoms of the civilized world, and there might sée, coming up, one after another, the bravest and wisest of the ancient warriors, and statesmen, and kings, and mónarchs, and priests; and íf, as they came úp, I might be permitted to ask from them an expression of opinion upon such a case as this, with a common vòice and in thunder tònes, reverberating through a thousand valleys, and echoing down the àges, they would cry: “Liberty, Freedom, the Universal Brotherhood of Man!" I join that shout; I swell that anthem; I echo that praise FOREVER, and FOR EVERMORE.

COL. E. D. BAKER.

7. THE VOICES OF THE DEAD.

1. The world is filled with the voices of the dead. They speak not from the public records of the great world only, but from the private history of our own experience. They speak to us in a thousand remémbrances, in a thousand incidents, évents, and associations. They speak to us, not only from their silent gráves, but from the throng of life. Though they are invisible, yet life is filled with their prèsence. They are with us by the silent fireside and in the secluded chamber. They are with us in the paths of society, and in the crowded assemblies.of mèn.

2. They speak to us from the lonely way-side; and they speak to us from the venerable walls that echo to the steps of a múltitude | and to the voice of prayer. Go where we will, the dead | are with us. We live, we convèrse with those who once lived and conversed | with us. Their well-remembered tone mingles with the whispering bréeze, with the sound of the falling léaf, with the jubilee shout of the spring-time. The earth | is filled | with their shadowy tràin.

3. But there are more substantial expressions of the presence of the dead with the living. The earth is | filled with the làbors, the works, of the dèad. Almost all the literature in the world, the discoveries of science, the glories of árt, the ever-enduring témples, the dwellingplaces of generátions, the comforts and improvements of life, the languages, the máxims, the opinions of the living, the very frame-work of society, the institutions of nátions, the fabrics of empires—àll | are the works of the dead. By these, they who are dead | yet speak.

ORVILLE DEWEY.

8. GRATTAN'S REPLY TO MR. CORRY. [An example of impassioned sarcasm and invective.]

1. Has the gentleman done? Has he completely dóne? He was unparliamentary from the beginning to the end of his speech. There was scarce a word he uttered that was not a violation of the privileges of the House. But I did not call him to order,-why? because the limited talents of some men render it impossible for them to be severe without being unparliamentary. But before I sit down, I shall show him how to be severe and parliamentary at the same time.

2. The right honorable gentleman has called me "an unimpeached traitor." I ask why not "traitor," unqualified by any epithet? I will tell him: it was because he dûrst not. It was the act of a coward, who raises his arm to strike, but has not courage to give the blow. I will not call him villain, because it would be unparliamentary, and he is a privy counselor. I will not call him fool, because he happens to be chancellor of the exchèquer. But I say, he is one who has abused the privilege of Párliament and the freedom of debáte, by uttering language which, if spoken out of the House, I should answer only with a blow. I care not how high

his situation, how low his character, how contémptible his speech; whether a privy counselor or a pàrasite, my answer would be a blow.

3. I have returned,-not as the right honorable member has said, to raise another storm,-I have returned to discharge an honorable debt of gratitude to my country, that conferred a great reward for past services, which, I am proud to say, was not greater than my desèrt. I have returned to protect that Constitution of which I was the parent and founder, from the assassi nation of such men as the right honorable gentleman and his unworthy associates. They are corrupt, they are seditious, and they, at this very moment, are in a conspiracy against their country. I have returned to refute a libel, as false as it is malicious, given to the public under the appellation of a report of the committee of the Lòrds. Here I stand, ready for impéachment or trial. I dare accusation. I defy the honorable gentleman; I defy the government; I defy their whole phûlanx; let them come forth. I tell the ministers, I will neither give quarter nor take it. I am here to lay the shattered remains of my constitution on the floor of this Hóuse, in defense of the liberties of my country.

9.

SUPPOSED SPEECH OF JOHN ADAMS IN SUPPORT OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE.

1. Sink or swim, live or die, survive or pèrish, I give my hand and my heart to this vòte. It is true, indeed, that in the beginning we aimed not at Independence. But there's a Divinity which shapes our ends. The injustice of England has driven us to arms; and, blinded to her own interest for our good, she has obstinately persisted, till Independence is now within our gràsp. We have but to reach fórth to it, and it is oùrs.

Is

2. Why, then, should we defer the Declaration? any man so weak as now to hope for a reconciliation with England? Do we mean to submit to the measures of Parliament, Boston port-bill and áll? I know we do not mean to submit. We never shall submit.

3. Sir, the Declaration will inspire the people with increased courage. Instead of a long and bloody war for restoration of privileges, for redress of grievances, for chartered immúnities, held under a British kíng, set before them the glorious object of entire Indepèndence, and it will breathe into them anew the breath of life. 4. Read this Declaration at the head of the army: every sword will be drawn from its scábbard, and the solemn vow úttered, to maintain it, or to perish on the field of honor. Publish it from the pulpit; religion will approve it, and the love of religious liberty will cling round it, resolved to stand with it, or fàll with it.

5. Send it to the public hàlls; proclaim it thère. Let them hear it who heard the first roar of the enemy's cannon; let them see it who saw their brothers and their sons fall on the field of Bunker Hill, and in the streets of Lexington and Concord, and the very walls will cry out in its suppòrt.

6. Sir, before God, I believe the hour is còme. My judgment approves this méasure, and my whole heàrt is in it. All that I have, and all that I ám, and all that I hope, in this life, I am now ready here to stake upon it; and I leave off as I begàn, that live or die, survive or pèrish, I am for the Declaration. It is my living séntiment, and, by the blessing of Gód, it shall be my dying sentiment: Independence now; and Independence forèver.

DANIEL WEBSTER.

10. THE CONSTITUTION AND THE UNION.

[In this speech the movement is slow; the utterance deliberate, the pauses long; and the inflections strongly marked.]

1. For myself, I propose, Sír, to abide by the principles and the púrposes which I have avowed. I shall stand by the Union, and by all who stand by it. I shall do justice to the whole country, according to the best of my abílity, in all I say, and act for the good of the whole country | in all I dò. I mean to stand upon the Constitution. I need no other platform. I shall know but one country.

2. The ends I aim at | shall be my country's, my Gód's, and Truth's. I was born an Américan; I will live an Américan; I shall die an Amèrican; and I intend to perform the duties incumbent upon me | in that character to the end of my career. I mean to do this, with the absolute disregàrd of personal cònsequences.

|

3. What are pérsonal cònsequences? What is the individual mán, with all the good or evil that may betíde him, in comparison with the good or evil | which may befall a great country | in a crisis like this, and in the midst of great transactions | which concern that country's fàte? Let the consequences | be what they will. I am careless. No man can suffer too múch, and no man can fall too soon, if he súffer | or if he fáll | in defense of the liberties | and Constitútion | of his country.

WEBSTER.

11. THE CONSTITUTION.

1. Never did there devolve on any generation of men higher trusts than now devolve upon us, for the preservation of this Constitution, and the harmony and peace of all who are destined to live under it. Let us make our generation one of the strongest and brightest links in that golden chain which is destined, I fondly