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THE AMERICANS NOT TO BE CONQUERED.

Which could evade, if unforgiven,
The patient search and vigil long

Of him who treasures up a wrong.

LORD BYRON. (1788-1824.)

XXIII. - THE AMERICANS NOT TO BE CONQUERED.

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MINʼIS-TER, n., an officer of state; al- FUN-DA-MENTAL, a., serving for the so, a clergyman.

foundatien; essential.

Do not say bruthren for breth'ren; fax for facts; presunt for pres'ënt.

Ther-mop'y-læ was a pass, celebrated in Grecian history for the stand made by Leoni das, with three hundred Spartans, against the host of Xerxes.

1. SIR, it ill becomes the duty and dignity of Parliament to lose itself in such a fulsome, adulatory Address to the Throne as that now proposed. We ought rather to approach it with sound and wholesome advice, and even with remonstrances against the ministers who have precipitated the British nation into an unjust, ruinous, murderous, and felonious

war.

2. I call the war with our brethren in America an unjust and felonious war, because the primary cause and confessed origin of it is to attempt to take their money from them without their consent, con'trary to the common rights of all mankind, and to those great fundamental principles of the English constitution, for which Hampden bled.

3. I assert that it is a murderous war, because it is an effort to deprive men of their lives for standing up in the defense of their property and their clear rights. Such a war, I fear, will draw down the vengeance of Heaven on this devoted kingdom. Sir, is any minis.

THE AMERICANS NOT TO BE CONQUERED.

69

ter weak enough to flatter himself with the conquest of America? You can not, with all your al-lies', with all the mercenary ruffians of the North, you can not effect so wicked a purpose.

4. The Americans will dispute every inch of ter ritory with you, every narrow pass, every strong defile, every Thermop'ylæ, every Bunker's Hill! More than half the empire is already lost, and almost all the rest is in confusion and anarchy. We have appealed to the sword, and what have we gained? Bunker's Hill only, and that with a loss of twelve hundred men! Are we to pay as dear for the rest of America? The idea of the conquest of that immense country is as romantic as it is unjust.

5. The honorable gentleman who moved this Address says, "The Americans have been treated with lenity." Will facts justify the assertion? Was your Boston Port Bill a measure of lenity? Was your Fishery Bill a measure of lenity? Was your bill for taking away the charter of Massachusetts Bay a measure of lenity? I omit your many other gross provocations and insults, by which the brave Americans have been driven to their present state.

6. Whether that state is one of rebellion, or of fit and just resistance to unlawful acts of power, I shall not declare. This I know: a successful resistance is a revolution, not a rebellion. Rebellion, indeed, appears on the back of a flying enemy, but Revolution flames on the breast-plate of the victorious warrior. Who can tell whether, in consequence of this day's action, the scabbard may not be thrown away by them, as well as by us; and, should success attend them, whether, in a few years, the independent Americans may not celebrate the glorious era of the revolu tion of 1775, as we do that of 1688?

JOHN WILKES.. (1717 — 1797.)

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Do not say doo for due ; dooring for dūr'ing; jined for joined; keounty for county, winder for win'dow; ware for were (wer). Pronounce wont, wünt; against, a-gènst.

1. THE following authentic story of a magpie was communicated to Fraser's London Magazine, by a clergyman. It proves the truth of the Rev. Sydney Smith's observation, that, whatever powers of oratory a minister may have, all command over the attention of his audience is at once lost when a bird makes its appearance in the church. Such, certainly, was the case with Jack, a magpie, well known in a village in the county of Kent, in England, for his mis'chievous propensities, and who entered the village church, in the afternoon of Sunday, July 25th, 1852, during the time of divine service.

2. Our friend hopped quietly in at the open door, and, for a time, surveyed the congregation, recogniz ing many a friend, who was wont to greet him with words of kindness and familiarity. But on this occa sion Jack was surprised at finding that no notice was taken of him. At last he seemed determined that he would not be thus overlooked; and down the middle aisle he marched, knocking at the door of each pew, and announcing his arrival to the inmates with a clear, loud, "Here am I!" This move had the desired effect; for in a very few moments every eye was turned upon our hero.

3. The worthy minister, finding himself in a decided minority, and perceiving broad grins coming over the

A MAGPIE AT CHURCH.

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before solemn faces of his flock, at once stopped the service, and desired the clerk to eject the intruder. But the order was more easily given than executed. Jack was determined not to leave; and so, finding himself pursued, took refuge in a forest of legs belonging to his young friends, the school-children, who did not appear at all unwilling to afford him shelter.

4. The clerk rushed on, intent upon cătching the enemy, and putting an end to this unorthodox proceeding; and over, first a bench and then a child, he stumbled, in his attempts to pounce upon the fugitive, who easily evaded his grasp, and always appeared just where the clerk was not, informing him, ever and anon, of his whereabout, by the old cry, "Here am I!” At last, with the help of two or three of the congregation who had joined in the pursuit, a capture was effected, and Jack was ignominiously turned out, and the door closed upon him.

5. After the lapse of a few minutes, order and solemnity were restored in the church; and the prayers were commenced and ended without further disturbance. The minister, in due time, ascended to the pulpit. He gave out his text, and commenced a discourse calculated, no doubt, to be of much benefit to his hearers; but he had not proceeded far when he was interrupted by a loud noise, accompanied by rapping at the little window at the back of the pulpit.

6. Turning round, to ascertain the cause, he beheld our friend Jack pecking away at the window, flapping his wings against it, and screaming, at the top of his voice, "Here am I! here am I!" a fact which no one could gainsay, or resist laughing at. The worthy minister, finding his own gravity and that of his congregation so entirely upset by what had occurred, brought his sermon to a speedy conclusion, and dismissed the congregation. Sentence of death was re

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ON THE TREATMENT OF BOOKS.

corded against the offender; but, upon the petition of a number of the parishioners, it was commuted to banishment for life from the precincts of the church. Such is the story of friend Jack.

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Do not say sence for since; vollum for vol'ūme; steeout for stout Give the vocal sound (as in breathe) to th in beneath. Sound the t in the last syllable of instincts.

1. WHAT a world is the book world! What an illustrious companionship does it offer for the gratification of our social and spiritual instincts and likings! The great, the brave, the good; the oppressed and their deliverers; the sages, the instructors, the benefactors of mankind, in all ages, live again in books.

2. In books they reveal to us, in the seclusion of our chambers and firesides, what were the thoughts and motives of their secret lives; why they lived laborious days, and spurned the tempting delights of sense; what was the spiritual atmosphere in which they breathed; what the secret source of endeavor, never slackening till the goal was won.

3. Books, like men, have a two-fold nature. Paper, print, and binding, are their bodily substances, and the thoughts that breathe along their pages may be called their spirit. And since we would be lōth to abuse our living friend and benefactor, or his dead remains, we ought not to abuse a good book. That, in

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