How, upon bloody Quatre-Bras. Brave Cameron heard the wild hurrab 'Lone on the outskirts of the host, And heard, through darkness far aloof And spurr'd 'gainst storm the swerving horse; And sights before his eye aghast When down the destin'd plain, Such forms were seen, such sounds were heard An indistinct and phantom band, They wheel'd their ring-dance hand in hand, The seer, who watch'd them ride the storm, And of the destined dead. SONG. Wheel the wild dance while lightnings glance, Our airy feet so light and fleet, They do not bend the rye that sinks its head when whirlwinds rave, And swells again in eddying wave, as each wild gust blows by; But still the corn, at dawn of morn, Our fatal steps that bore, at eve lies waste, A trampled paste of blackening mud and gore. Wheel the wild dance! brave sons of France, Room for the men of steel! through crest and plate The broadsword's weight, both head and heart shall feel. Sons of the spear! you feel us near In many a ghastly dream; with fancy's eye Just when to weal or woe your disembodied souls take flight On trembling wing-each startled sprite our choir of death shall know. Burst, ye clouds, in tempest showers, redder rain shall soon be ours See the east grows wan-yield we place to sterner game, Ere deadlier bolts and direr flame shall the welkin's thunders shame; Elemental rage is tame to the wrath of man. At morn, gray Allan's mates with awe But the seer's gifted eye was dim, He sleeps far from his highland heath,- His comrades tell the tale, On picquet-post, when ebbs the night, SIR WALTER SCOTT. BENEFITS OF THE CONSTITUTION. THE benefits of the Constitution are not exclusive. THE What has it left undone, which any government could do, for the whole country? In what condition has it placed us? Where do we now stand? Are we elevated, or degraded, by its operation? What is our condition, under its influence, at the very moment when some talk of arresting its power and breaking its unity? Do we not feel ourselves on an eminence? Do we not challenge the respect of the whole world? What has placed us thus high? What has given us this just pride? What else is it, but the unrestrained and free operation of that same Federal Constitution, which it has been proposed now to hamper and manacle and nullify? Who is there among us, that, should he find himself on any spot of the earth where human beings exist, and where the existence of other nations is known, would not be proud to say, I am an American? I am a countryman of Washington? I am a citizen of that Republic, which, although it has suddenly sprung up, yet there are none on the globe who have ears to hear, and have not heard of it; who have eyes to see, and have not read of it; who know any. thing, and yet do not know of its existence and its glory? And, gentlemen, let me now reverse the picture. Let me ask, who is there among us, if he were to be found to-morrow in one of the civilized countries of Europe, and were there to learn that this goodly form of government had been overthrown-that the United States were no longer united-that a deathblow had been struck upon their bond of unionthat they themselves had destroyed their chief good and their chief honor-who is there, whose heart would not sink within him? Who is there, who would not cover his face for very shame? At this very moment, gentlemen, our country is a general refuge for the distressed and the persecuted of other nations. Whoever is in affliction from political occurrences in his own country looks here for shelter. Whether he be a republican, flying from the oppression of thrones-or whether he be monarch or monarchist, flying from thrones that crumble and fall under or around him he feels equal assurance that if he get foothold on our soil, his person is safe, and his rights will be respected. And who will venture to say that in any government now existing in the world, there is greater security for persons or property than in that of the United States? We have tried these popular institutions in times of great excitement and commotion; and they have stood substantially firm and steady, while the fountains of the great deep have been elsewhere broken up; while thrones, resting on ages of prescription, have tottered and fallen; and while in other countries the earthquake of unrestrained popular commotion has swallowed up all law and all liberty and all right, together. Our government has been tried in peace, and it has been tried in war, and has proved itself fit for both. It has been assailed from without, and it has successfully resisted the shock; it has been disturbed within, and it has effectually quieted the disturbance. It can stand trial-it can stand assault-it can stand adversityit can stand everything but the marring of its own beauty and the weakening of its own strength. It can stand everything but the effects of our own rashness and our own folly. It can stand everything but disorganization, disunion, and nullification. DANIEL WEBSTER. |