What was

wide the calamities of that dreadful scourge. the effect upon the Government and the country, when, upon the question of money, we were upon the eve of a war with one of the most powerful and gallant nations of the earth? Did we manifest a willingness to apply our money in preparation for the contest? No. There was as usual no want of patriotic demonstration in the way of speeches, but they were followed by nothing like decisive action. Through the country there appeared to be a profound repose, and blind trusting to luck in the face of admitted imminent danger. In the beneficent ordination of Providence, and through the energy and wisdom of that extraordinary man, who always proved equal to great occasions, the impending danger was happily averted.

How was it more recently, when, for a long time, there had been a quasi war along our whole border from St. Johns to the Lakes? In what condition did the evening of the 2d of March, 1839, find the country? In what state did it find us in our places here? Like the nation generally calm and undisturbed. Senators then present will not soon forget the scene that followed the arrival of the eastern mail that night. The stirring report soon passed around the chamber, "There has been a battle upon our eastern frontier; the blood of our citizens has been shed upon our own soil!" A change came over the spirit of our dream. Every countenance was lighted up with high excitement. We were at last, when the strange spell of fancied security could no longer bind us, roused as from the delusion of a charm- we awoke as from the trance of years

as from a dream we opened our eyes upon a full view of the nearness and magnitude of our danger. I shall never forget the bearing on that occasion, nor the burning words of an honorable Senator on the other side of the Chamber, not now in his place. He seemed to feel, that by our culpable neglect to provide the means of defence, we had invited aggression, and that we ought ourselves to take our places in the fiercest of the eddying storm which, it was then supposed, had already burst upon our border brethren. What

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was done? All that could be done under the circumstances. The constitutional term of one branch of Congress had but a few more hours to run. There was little time for deliberation: but we showed that there was one contingency in which we could merge every thing like party, and present an unbroken front. We passed a bill, placing at the disposal of the President the whole militia of the United States, to be compelled to serve for a term not exceeding six months to raise fifty thousand volunteers to equip, man, and employ in active service all the naval force of the United States- and to build, purchase, or charter, arm, equip and man such vessels and steamboats on the northern lakes and rivers, whose waters communicated with the United States and Great Britain, as he should deem necessary. This fearful responsibility was cast upon one individual. This vast command, with ten millions of dollars to make it effectual, was committed to the sole discretion and patriotism of the President. No man who loves his country can but deprecate the necessity of placing such tremendous and fearful powers in the hands of one man, however wise and disinterested.

I warn the people against another such crisis. Sooner or later it will come, and perhaps unattended by that good fortune which has thus far borne us on in peace. At all events, it is the most fatal temerity to depend upon it, and neglect the necessary preparations. We should provide our harbors, in addition to the stationary fortifications, with the best floating defences known to the world. We should make our navy equal at least to one sixth of that of Great Britain. We should provide for an organization of the militia to be efficient and uniform throughout the Union. Thus prepared, with our large cities in a suitable state of defence, and with six hundred thousand disciplined citizen. soldiers, so enrolled and organized, as to admit of being promptly mustered and called into the field, we shall be ready for the conflict which, under such circumstances, will hardly be pressed upon us.

THE TREASURES OF THE SEA.

BY MRS. CAROLINE ORNE.

FAR down in the deep where storms have no power,
And all is as calm as a soft twilight hour,

The light, it is said, in rich brilliancy falls
O'er the jewel-paved floors of coralline halls,
And the small, snowy feet of the sea-nymphs glance
Like the wings of white birds in the festal dance,
And their long, silky hair, sprinkled over with pearls,
Sweeps low, in a maze of bright golden curls.

But it is not the sea-nymphs, the gold that is there,
Nor the glistening gems so pure and so rare;

It is not the song from the Nereid's shell,
That floats o'er the waves with a liquid swell,
And dies on the shore with a murmuring close,

Like the breeze that expires on the breast of the rose;
Oh no, these are not the things the most dear
To the yearning heart and the listening ear.

One lock of the rich and the glossy hair
On the sailor-boy's brow, who now sleeps there,
With a smile on his lips as if dreaming of home,
Whence in evil hour he was tempted to roam,
Would give to the lone, widowed mother's heart
A holier joy than gold can impart,

Who fain by his side, in the caves of the deep,
The rest of the long, last Sabbath would keep.

The pale withered rose, to the cold bosom prest,
Of her who lies there in her last, dreamless rest;
The rose fondly cherished for his sake who gave,
Even when she sunk low in the tempest-tost wave,
To thy riven heart, lonely mourner, would be,
Far dearer than all the bright gems of the sea,
Strown round on the sand which her pale brow presses,
And gleaming like stars through her long raven tresses.

And those low, dreamy sounds o'er the waters that flit,
When the sky with its burning stars is lit,

That just meet the ear, and then die away,

Like the soft echoed notes of some far-away lay;

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Oh, these to their hearts, in the calm evening hour,
Come gifted with solemn, and deep thrilling power,
Even as a blest requiem, sung at the head

Of the young, the beloved, the beautiful dead.

Thou grave of their fears, their hopes, and their loves!
When the form of the tempest in wrath o'er thee moves,
When the spirit of peace, like the dove's brooding wing,
To thy bosom repose and soft sunshine doth bring;
Or when the bright stars look down from above,
On thy slumbers at midnight with eyes full of love,
Unto them thou still ever most holy will be,
Thou stormy, devouring, calm, beautiful sea!

THE GOOD WIFE.

BY REV. GEORGE W. BURNAP.

THE parental home is intended to be the school of woman's education, not her permanent abode. As the instinct, which teaches the birds of passage the time of their emigration, suddenly impels them to mount to untried regions of the atmosphere, and seek through cloud and tempest a land they have never seen, so a like inspiration teaches woman that there is another home for her, destined by the Great Designer, of still greater happiness than that which she has already known, and under the same apparent destiny. One appears to lead her to that happy place. Marriage comes as the great crisis of woman's existence. And where, if you search earth through, will you find an object which the eye bends on with such intense, I had almost said, painful interest, as a bride? What an era, when considered with reference either to the past or the future! It is in a man- ́ ner the crush of one world, and the beginning of a new one. She is to go from a home that she has known and loved, where she has been loved and cherished, to one to which she is an utter stranger. Her happiness is to be subjected to those on whose characters, tempers, principles, she can make no calculation. And what is to assure her of the faith of him who has sworn at the altar to cherish and protect her? She may, in the blindness of affection, have given her heart to one who will wring and break it, and she may be going to martyrdom, where pride and prudence will alike deny her the poor solace of complaint. Yet she is willing to venture all. The law instituted by the Creator is upon her, and urges her forward. With calm confidence