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Ruph

My son, you will not then

Be masters of yourselves!

No fear of us!

Alas.
Come, to the villages! and every man

Call out his friends, and bring them where we 'll meet
In one o'erwhelming mass!

Peasants.

Where?

Alas. Let's consult. [Retires a little with Almagro.] Ruph. Back-back, Velasquez, as thou lovest me! Back to the capital! find out my child!

Apprize her of what's coming!-She may need
To be upon her guard. I'll do as much

For thee.-Meanwhile, I'll get me ready, friend,
And follow thee with all the speed I can.

[Velasquez goes out.] Alas. Alma. At the cross! [The rest echo these words, exclaiming,] At the cross!'

Alma. Now for redress of common grievances Burdens should not be borne,-we 'll cast them off! Peas. We will!

Alas. One signal wrong does better than
Tocsins, my friends, to call bold men to arms!
Peas. To arms!

Ruph. Hear me, my boy! Alasco! O, my son !
Alas. I am thy son; and for that very reason

I will not hear thee, while my sister suffers
An injury and a shame.-To arms! to arms!

[All except Ruphino rush out, crying, 'To arms! to arms.']

EXERCISE LXIII.-SPEECH ON THE REVENUE BILL OF 1833.

Clay.

[See introductory remarks on preceding exercises in declamation.]

South Carolina has attempted to defeat the execution of the laws of the United States. But, it seems that, under all the circumstances of the case, she has, for the present, determined to stop here, in order that by our legislation, we may prevent the necessity of her advancing any further.

The memorable first of February is past. I confess I did feel an unconquerable repugnance to legislation until that day should have passed, because of the consequences that were to ensue. I hoped that the day would go over well. Í feel, and I think that we must all confess, we breathe a freer air than when the restraint was upon us.

But this is not the only consideration. South Carolina has practically postponed her ordinance, instead of letting it go into effect, till the fourth of March. Nobody who has noticed the course of events, can doubt that she will postpone it by still further legislation, if Congress should rise without any settlement of this question. I was going to say, my life on it, she will postpone it to a period subsequent to the fourth of March. It is in the natural course of events. South Carolina must perceive the embarrassments of her situation. She must be desirous—it is unnatural to suppose that she is not-to remain in the Union.

What! a State whose heroes in its gallant ancestry fought so many glorious battles along with those of the other States of this Union,-a State with which this confederacy is linked by bonds of such a powerful character!

I have sometimes fancied what would be her condition if she goes out of this Union! if her five hundred thousand people should at once be thrown upon their own resources. She is out of the Union. What is the consequence? She is an independent power. What then does she do? She must have armies and fleets, and an expensive government -have foreign missions-she must raise taxes-enact this very tariff, which had driven her out of the Union, in order to enable her to raise money, and to sustain the attitude of an independent power. If she should have no force, no navy to protect her, she would be exposed to piratical incursions. Her neighbour, St. Domingo, might pour down a horde of pirates on her borders, and desolate her plantations. She must have her embassies, therefore must she have a revenue.

But I will not dwell on this topic any longer. I say it is utterly impossible that South Carolina ever desired, for a moment, to become a separate and independent State. I would repeat that, under all the circumstances of the case, the condition of South Carolina is only one of the elements of a combination, the whole of which together, constitutes a motive of action which renders it expedient to resort, during the present session of Congress, to some measure, in order to quiet and tranquillize the country.

If there be any who want civil war-who want to see the blood of any portion of our countrymen spilt, I am not one of them, I wish to see war of no kind; but, above all, do I not desire to see a civil war. When war begins, whether civil or foreign, no human foresight is competent to foresee when, or how, or where it is to terminate. But when a civil war shall be lighted up in the bosom of our own happy land,

and armies are marching, and commanders are winning their victories, and fleets are in motion on our coast,―tell me, if you can, tell me if any human being can tell, its duration? God alone knows where such a war will end. In what state will be left our institutions? In what state our liberties? I want no war: above all, no war at home.

Sir, I repeat, that I think South Carolina has been rash, intemperate, and greatly in the wrong; but I do not want to disgrace her, nor any other member of this Union. No; I do not desire to see the lustre of one single star dimmed of that glorious confederacy which constitutes our political sun; still less do I wish to see it blotted out, and its light obliterated forever. Has not the State of South Carolina been one of the members of this Union in days that tried men's souls?' Have not her ancestors fought by the side of our ancestors? Have we not conjointly won many a glorious battle?

If we had to go into a civil war with such a State, how would it terminate? Whenever it should have terminated, what would be her condition? If she should ever return to the Union, what would be the condition of her feelings and affections, what the state of the heart of her people? She has been with us before, when our ancestors mingled in the throng of battle; and, as I hope, our prosperity will mingle with hers for ages and centuries to come, in the united defence of liberty; and for the honour and glory of the Union, I do not wish to see her degraded, or defaced, as a member of this confederacy.

In conclusion, allow me to entreat and implore each individual member of this body to bring into the consideration of this measure, which I have had the honour of proposing, the same love of country which, if I know myself, has actuated me; and the same desire for restoring harmony to the Union, which has prompted this effort. If we can forget for a moment, but that would be asking too much of human nature, if we could suffer, for one moment, party feeling and party causes, and, as I stand here before my God, I declare I have looked beyond those considerations, and regarded only the vast interests of this united people,-I should hope that, under such feelings and with such dispositions, we may advantageously proceed to the consideration of this bill, and heal, before they are yet bleeding, the wounds of our distracted country.

EXERCISE LXIV.-MEMORIALS OF WASHINGTON AND FRANK

LIN.-John Quincy Adams.

From Mr. Adams' speech on the reception, by Congress, of the battle sword of Washington, and the staff of Franklin.

[See remarks on previous examples of eulogy.]

In presenting the resolution which I am now to offer, it may, perhaps, be expected that I should accompany it with some suitable remarks; and yet, sir, I never arose to address this House under a deeper conviction of the want of words to express the emotions that I feel. It is precisely because occasions like this are adapted to produce universal sympathy, that little can be said by any one, but what, in the language of the heart, in tones not loud but deep, every one present has silently said to himself.

My respected friend from Virginia, by whom this offering of patriotic sentiment has been presented to the representative assembly of the nation, has, it seems to me, already said all that can be said suitable to this occasion. In parting from him, as, after a few short days, we must all do, it will, on my part, be sorrowing that, in all probability, I shall see his face, and hear his voice, no more. But his words of this day are planted in my memory, and will there remain till the last pulsation of my heart.

The sword of Washington! The staff of Franklin! Oh! sir, what associations are linked in adamant with these names! Washington, whose sword, as my friend has said, was never drawn but in the cause of his country, and never sheathed when wielded in his country's cause! Franklin, the philosopher of the thunderbolt, the printing-press, and the plough-share!—What names are these in the scanty catalogue of the benefactors of human kind!

Washington and Franklin! What other two men, whose lives belong to the eighteenth century of Christendom, have left a deeper impression of themselves upon the age in which they lived, and upon all after time?

Washington, the warrior and the legislator! In war, contending, by the wager of battle, for the independence of his country, and for the freedom of the human race; ever manifesting, amidst its horrors, by precept and by example, his reverence for the laws of peace, and for the tenderest sympathies of humanity; in peace, soothing the ferocious spirit of discord, among his own countrymen, into harmony and union; and giving to that very sword, now presented to

his country, a charm more potent than that attributed, in ancient times, to the lyre of Orpheus.

:

FRANKLIN!-The mechanic of his own fortune; teaching, in early youth, under the shackles of indigence, the way to wealth, and, in the shade of obscurity, the path to greatness; in the maturity of manhood, disarming the thunder of its terrors, the lightning of its fatal blast; and wresting from the tyrant's hand the still more afflictive sceptre of oppression while descending into the vale of years, traversing the Atlantic ocean, braving, in the dead of winter, the battle and the breeze, bearing in his hand the charter of Independence, which he had contributed to form, and tendering, from the self-created nation to the mightiest monarchs of Europe, the olive-branch of peace, the mercurial wand of commerce, and the amulet of protection and safety to the man of peace, on the pathless ocean, from the inexorable cruelty and merciless rapacity of war.

And, finally, in the last stage of life, with fourscore winters upon his head, under the torture of an incurable disease, returning to his native land, closing his days as the chief magistrate of his adopted commonwealth, after contributing by his counsels, under the presidency of Washington, and recording his name, under the sanction of devout prayer, invoked by him to God, to that Constitution under the authority of which we are here assembled, as the representatives of the North American people, to receive, in their name and for them, these venerable relics of the wise, the valiant, and the good founders of our great confederated republic,—these sacred symbols of our golden age. May they be deposited among the archives of our government! and every American who shall hereafter behold them, ejaculate a mingled offering of praise to that Supreme Ruler of the Universe, by whose tender mercies our Union has been hitherto preserved, through all the vicissitudes and revolutions of this turbulent world,and of prayer for the continuance of these blessings, by the dispensations of Providence, to our beloved country, from age to age, till time shall be no more!

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