save us from having one man (Wilperusal and inspection of the jour. liam Blake) severely wounded by nals and charts of the expedition, them, but by the skilful care bestow. the course I have pursued in the exed upon him by Dr Harris (who ac- ecution of your Excellency's incompanied the expedition as a volun. Structions will be honoured by your

а teer, and to whom, upon this occa- approbation, I beg leave to subsion, and throughout the whole course scribe myself, with the greatest reof it, we are indebted for much va- spect, Sir, your Excellency's most luable assistance), I trust his reco- obedient and humble servant, very is no longer doubtful.

(Signed) “J. OXLEY, Surveyor. General." • The general merit of Mr Evans “ To his Excellency Governor Macquarie." is so well known to your Excellency, that it will here be sufficient to ob. It appears also, that a communiserve, that by his zealous attention cation of easy access, and running to every point that could facilitate through lands of the very best de the progress of the expedition, he scription, has been opened by the has endeavoured to deserve a con- enterprise of ļa Mr Throsby, to the tinuance of your Excellency's ap- delightful country beyond the Blue probation.

Mountains. This discovery must “ Mr Charles Frazer, the Colonial prove of the highest importance to Botanist, has added near seven hun- the future colonization and improvedred new specimens to the already ment of this fifth continent; and extended catalogue of Australasian it is the more remarkable, as every plants, besides many seeds, &c. and attempt to find a practicable pas. in the collection and preservation he sage to the great western wilderhas indefatigably endeavoured to obness had hitherto proved abortive. tain your Excellency's approval of Mr Throsby was on the whole occuhis services.

pied fifteen days in the expedition “ I confidently hope that the jour- which terminated so fortunately. The nal of the expedition will amply e. geography of this singular and anovince to your Excellency the exem- malous region is, however, still in its plary and praiseworthy conduct of infancy; but the most favourable rethe men employed on it: and I feel sults may be anticipated from the the sincerest pleasure in earnestly spirit of enterprise and discovery soliciting for them your Excellency's with which the local government, favourable consideration.

greatly to its honour, appears to be “ Respectfully hoping, that, on a actuated.

ORIGINAL POETRY,

WRITTEN EXPRESSLY FOR THIS VOLUME.

THE LEAGUE OF THE ALPS,

OR THE MEETING ON THE FIELD OF GRÜTLI.

By MRS HEMANS.

It was in the year 1308, that the Swiss rose against the tyranny of the Bailiffs ap

pointed over them by ALBERT of Austria. The field called Grütli, at the foot of the Selisberg, and near the boundaries of Uri and Unterwalden, was fixed upon by three spirited yeomen, Walter Fürst, (the father.in-law of William Tell,) WERNER STAUFFACHER, and Erni, (or ARNOLD) MelchT!IAL, as their place of meeting to deliberate on the accomplishment of their projects. " Hither came Fürst and Melchthal along secret paths over the heights, and STAUFFACHER in his boat across the Lake of the Four Cantons. On the night preceding the 11th November 1307, they met here, each with ten associates, men of approved worth; and while, at this solemn hour, they were wrapt in the contemplation, that on their success depended the fate of their whole posterity, WERNER, Walter, and ARNOLD held up their hands to heaven, and in the name of the Almighty, who has created man to an inalienable degree of freedom, swore jointly and strenuously to defend that freedom. The thirty associates heard the oath with awe, and with uplifted hands attested the same God and all his Saints, that they were firmly bent on offering up their lives for the defence of their original liberty. They then calmly agreed on their future proceedings, and, for the present, each return

ed to his hamlet." — Planta's History of the Helvetic Confederacy. On the first day of the year 1308, they succeeded in throwing off the Austrian yoke;

and " it is well attested,” says the same author, " that not one drop of blood was shed on this memorable occasion, nor had one proprietor to lament the loss of a claim, a privilege, or an inch of land. The Swiss met on the succeeding Sabbath, and once more confirmed by oath their ancient, and (as they fondly named it) perpetual league.”

'Twas night upon the Alps. The (1) Senn's wild horn,
Like a wind's voice, had pour'd its last long tone,
Whose thrilling echoes, through the larch-woods borne,
To the low cabins of the glens, made known
That welcome steps were nigh. The flocks had gone
By cliff and pine-bridge, to their place of rest;
The chamois slumber'd, for the chase was done ;

His cavern-bed of moss the hunter press'd;
And the rock-eagle couch'd, high on his cloudy nest.

Oh! who may tell the Majesty of Night,
Thron'd on those summits? — They, for whom her hours
Bring, with their stars, but softer sounds and light,
And richer scents, to float through citron bowers,
Know little of the marvels and the powers,
Whereby she rules the spirit !-Let them stand
By the blue Glaciers, midst the mountain towers,
When Heaven's deep silence wraps a voiceless land-
There may they learn the might and sorcery of her wand.

For awful, e'en as death, the calm around,
Awful and strange !-nor seem those regions made
Unto man's use,

but in that rest profound,
For some dread being's wakeful eye array'd
With sad, yet glorious beauty !- To a shade
Dark as a Pall's, th' intensely azure sky (2)
Deepens its mantle, on the Alp-Domes laid; (3)

And stars, like altar-fires, burn forth on high,
And each dim valley seems a world of mystery.

The leaves were falling, but without a sound,
In Uri's ancient forests, ev'n like snows
When winds are laid (4). With solemn radiance crown's,
Clear through Heaven's purple gloom the mountains rose,
As the broad moon of Autumn's golden close
Look'd o'er their heights in stillness. But the roar
Of distant torrents, on the scene's repose,

Came rolling mightier to the lake's dark shore,
Where life's far murmur swell’d the breathless air no more.

Did the land sleep? - The Woodman's axe had ceas'd
Its ringing strokes upon the beech and plane ;
The grapes were gather'd in; the vintage-feast
Was clos'd upon the hills, the reaper's strain
Hush'd by the streams ; the year was in its wane,

The night in its mid-watch: it was a time
E'en mark'd and hallow'd unto slumber's reign!

-But thoughts were stirring, restless and sublime,
And o'er his white Alps mov'd the Spirit of the Clime.

For there, where snows, in crowning glory spread,
High and unmark'd by mortal footstep lay,
And there, where torrents, midst the Ice-caves fed,
Burst in their joy of light and sound away;
And there, where Freedom, as in scornful play,
Had hung man's dwellings midst the realms of air,
O'er cliffs, the very birth-place of the day;

-Oh! Who would dream that Tyranny could dare
To lay her withering hand on God's bright works e'en there.

Yet thus it was !--Amidst the fleet streams gushing
To bring down rainbows o'er their sparry cell,
And the glad heights, through mist and tempest rushing
Up where the sun's red fire-glance earliest fell ;
And the green pastures, where the herd's sweet bell
Recall’d such life as eastern Patriarchs led ;
There peasant-men their free thoughts might not tell,

Save in the hour of shadows and of dread,
And hollow sounds that wake to Guilt's dull stealthy tread.

But in a land of happy shepherd-homes,
On its blue hills in quiet joy reclining,
With their bright hearth fires, midst the twilight.glooms,
From bowery Jattice through the dark woods shining;
A land of legends and wild songs, entwining
Their memory with all memories lov'd and blest ;
In such a land there dwells a Power, combining

The strength of many a calm, but fearless breast,
-And woe to him who breaks the Sabbath of its rest!

For they, that from the forest-silence turn Joyous at eve to their own threshold-floor; They whose deep hearts upon the mountains burn, O'er the land's battle-tales and minstrel-lore ; And unto whom the church-bells, as they pour On the far Alps, their voices, bring a sense Of love that folds the hallow'd things of yore ; Such men are strong !-there need no rocks to fence The soil which rears those hearts, and draws its charter thence!

A sound went up the wave's dark rest was broken ;
On Uri's Lake (5) was heard a midnight-oar!
To their eternal cliffs a moment's token
Of man's Brief course the troubled waters bore;
And then their sleep a glancing image wore

a

Of torch-fires streaming out o'er crag and wood;
And wild-birds woke, as footsteps rustled o'er

The sear dead leaves; and by that moonlight flood,
A band of patriot-men on Grütli's verdure stood (6).

They stood in arms--the wolf-spear and the bow
Had wag'd their war on things of mountain-race,
Might not their swift stroke reach a mail-clad foe?
-Štrong hands in harvest, daring feet in chase,
True hands in fight, were gather'd on that place
Of secret counsel. Not for fame or spoil
So met those men in Heaven's majestic face;

To guard free hearths they rose, the sons of toil,
The hunter of the rocks, the tiller of the soil,

O'er their low pastoral valleys might the tide
Of years have flow'd, and still, from sire to son,
Their name and records on the green earth died,
As cottage lamps expiring one by one,
In the dim glades, when midnight hath begun
To hush all sound.-But silent on its height,
The snow-mass, full of death, while ages run

Their course, may slumber, bath'd in rosy light,
Till some rash voice or step disturb its brooding might.

So were they rous'd !-th' invading step had pass'd
Their cabin-thresholds, and the lowly door
Which well had stood against the Tæhnwind's blast, (7)
Could bar oppression from their homes no more.
-- Why, what had she to do where all things wore
Wild grandeur's impress ?- In the storm's free way,
How dar'd she lift her pageant crest before

Th' enduring and magnificent array
Of sovereign Alps, that wing'd their eagles with the day?

This might not long be borne !—the tameless hills
Have voices, from the cave and cataract swelling,
Fraught with His name, whose awful presence fills
Their deep lone places, and for ever telling,
That he hath made man free !_and they, whose dwelling
Was in those ancient fastnesses, gave ear;
The weight of sufferance from their hearts repelling,

They rose--the forester, the mountaineer-
-Oh! what hath earth more strong than the good peasant-spear?
Sacred be Grütli's field !-their vigil keeping
Through many a blue and starry summer night,
There, while ihe sons of happier lands were sleeping,
Had those brave Switzers met; and in the sight
Of the just God, who pours forth burning might