by the king's printer, with the king's arms at the top- -till public opinion breathes the breath of life into the dead letter. We found this in Ireland. The elections of 1826- the Clare election, two years later proved the folly of those who think that nations are governed by wax and parchment; and, at length, in the close of 1828, the government had only one plain alternative before it sion or civil war.

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I know only two ways in which societies can permanently be governed — by public opinion, and by the sword. A government having at its command the armies, the fleets, and the revenues of Great Britain, might possibly hold Ireland by the sword. So Oliver Cromwell held Ireland; so William the Third held it; so Mr. Pitt held it; so the Duke of Wellington might, perhaps, have held it. But, to govern Great Britain by the sword-so wild a thought has never, I will venture to say, occurred to any public man of any party; and, if any man were frantic enough to make the attempt, he would find, before three days had expired, that there is no better sword than that which is fashioned out of a ploughshare! But, if not by the sword, how are the people to be governed? I understand how the peace is kept at New York. It is by the assent and support of the people. I understand,

also, how the peace is kept at Milan. It is by the bayonets of the Austrian soldiers. But how the peace is to be kept when you have neither the popular assent nor the military force-how the peace is to be kept in England by a government acting on the principles of the present opposition - I do not understand.

Sir, we read that, in old times, when the villeins were driven to revolt by oppression when the castles of the nobility were burned to the ground when the warehouses of London were pillaged when a hundred thousand insurgents appeared in arms on Blackheath.- when a foul murder, perpetrated in their presence, had raised their passions to madness when they were looking round for some captain to succeed and avenge him whom they had ost just then, before Hob Miller, or Tom Carter, or Jack Straw, could place himself at their head, the King rode up to them, and exclaimed, "I will be your leader!"—and, at once, the infuriated multitude laid down their arms, submitted to his guidance, dispersed at his command. Herein let us imitate him. Let us say to the people, "We are your leaders we, your own House of Commons." This tone it is our interest and our duty to take. The circumstances admit of no delay. Even while I speak, the moments are passing away the ir

revocable moments, pregnant with the destiny of a great people. The country is in danger; it may be saved: we can save it. This is the way - this is the time. In our hands are the issues of great good and great evil the issues of the life and death of the State!

ON THE AMERICAN WAR

WILLIAM PITT, LORD CHATHAM

His

William Pitt, first Earl of Chatham, and Prime Minister of England, was born at Westminster on November 15, 1708, and died at his seat at Hayes, May 11, 1788. He was an extensively read classical scholar, and made a deep and exhaustive study of the works of the ancient orators, of whom Demosthenes was his favorite. His style is inclined to be turgid, even theatric, but there is a sincerity in his language that glosses over, and almost conceals, its artificiality. fervor beats into a white heat the expressive words of his utterances, and causes them to burn their way to the very heart of the listener. What matter of Pitt's has come down to us still appears to contain in its soul the ring of his magic voice, and it does not require a great stretch of the imagination to carry the reader back to the Halls of Parliament, when the great Commoner, and later the noble Earl, stood in his might and grandeur and swept away all opposition by the force of his eloquence and the magic strength of his will. Pitt, in his political battles, was many times overcome, but in his oratorical contests found none who could withstand the blows of his tremendous battleaxe of demonstrative oratory, or the sharp point of his satirical spear.

I

CANNOT, my Lords, I will not, join in congratulation on misfortune and disgrace. This, my Lords, is a perilous and tremendous

moment. It is not a time for adulation; the smoothness of flattery cannot save us in this rugged and awful crisis. It is now necessary to instruct the throne in the language of truth. We must, if possible, dispel the delusion and darkness which envelope it; and display, in its full danger and genuine colors, the ruin which is brought to our doors. Can ministers still presume to expect support in their infatuation? Can parliament be so dead to its dignity and duty, as to give its support to measures thus obtruded and forced upon it? Measures, my Lords, which have reduced this late flourishing empire to scorn and contempt! "But yesterday, and Britain might have stood against the world; now, none so poor to do her reverence!"

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The people, whom we at first despised as rebels, but whom we now acknowledge as enemies, are abetted against us, supplied with every military store, have their interests consulted, and their ambassadors entertained, by our inveterate enemy; and ministers do not and dare not interpose with dignity or effect. The desperate state of our army abroad is in part known. No man more highly esteems and honors the British troops than I do; I know their virtues and their valor; I know they can achieve anything but impossibilities; and I know that the conquest of British America is an

impossibility. You cannot, my Lords, you cannot conquer America. What is your present situation there? We do not know the worst; but we know that, in three campaigns, we have done nothing, and suffered much. You may swell every expense, accumulate every assistance, and extend your traffic to the shambles of every German despot; your attempts will be forever vain and impotent doubly so, indeed, from this mercenary aid on which you rely; for it irritates, to an incurable resentment, the minds of your adversaries, to overrun them with the mercenary sons of rapine and plunder, devoting them and their possessions to the rapacity of hireling cruelty. If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country, I never would lay down my arms never, never, never!

But, my Lords, who is the man, that, in addition to the disgraces and mischiefs of the war, has dared to authorize and associate, to our arms, the tomahawk and scalping-knife of the savage? — to call, into civilized alliance, the wild and inhuman inhabitants of the woods? - to delegate, to the merciless Indian, the defence of disputed rights, and to wage the horrors of his barbarous war against our brethren? My Lords, these enormities cry aloud for redress and punishment. But, my Lords, this