Behold! thy children's long oppression o'er,

They shall, despite the strength of Egypt's hand,
Go forth from thrall to Canaan's promised land.

"This man-child, o'er the rushing waters driven, A chosen hand hath rescued for the sky, That he may work the dread decrees of Heaven 'Gainst guilty Egypt, and on Sinai:

By him God's rod shall smite, His law be given; His cradle to thy freedom shall give birth; Another cradle shall redeem the earth!"

We have, sir, an extensive country, without population; what can be a more obvious policy than that it should be peopled? People form the strength and constitute the wealth of a nation. I wish to see these States rapidly ascending to that rank which their natural advantages indicate that they should hold among the nations of the earth. Cast your eyes, sir, over this broad domain- observe the salubrity of the climate; the variety and fertility of the soil and see how the land is intersected in every

quarter by navigable streams, flowing to the east and to the west, as if the finger of Heaven were marking out the course of your settlements, inviting you to enterprise, and pointing the way to wealth.

We are destined, at some period, to become a great agricultural and commercial people; the only question is, whether we choose to reach this condition by slow gradations, in the distant future, lingering on through a long and sickly minority subjected, meanwhile, to the machinations, insults, and oppressions of enemies, foreign and domestic, whom we are too weak to resist or chastise—or whether we choose, rather, to rush at once, as it were, to the full enjoyment of high destinies, and to an ability to cope, single-handed, with the proudest powers of the Old World that may oppose us. If we prefer the latter course, as I trust we do, we must invite immigration; we must encourage the husbandmen, the mechanics, the merchants of the Old World, to come and settle in this land of promise, thus making it the home of the skillful, the industrious, the fortunate, and the happy. This land must be the asylum of the distressed; must be filled to the measure of its population as speedily as may be, through the means which Heaven hath provided.

I venture to prophesy that there are those now living who will see this favored land amongst the most powerful on earth-able, sir, to protect and preserve herself without resorting to that policy, always so dangerous, though sometimes unavoidable, of calling in foreign aid. Yes, they will see her great in arts and in arms, her golden harvests waving over fields of immeasurable extent-her white-winged

commerce sailing the most distant seas, her navy checking the vain boasts of those who now proudly assume to rule the waves.

But the great need is men; we must have men. The heavy forests of timber which beshadow our lands must be cleared away; the dormant wealth which covers the face of our soil, and lies hidden beneath the surface, can be gathered only by the skill and enterprise of men. Our forest trees must be made into ships, to transport the lavish gifts of the soil from which they spring. We must have commercial men, too, and commercial capital, to take our productions and place them in the best markets abroad. Our great want, sir, is men; and these we will have speedily, if we are wise.

Do you ask how we are to get them? Open the doors, sir, and they will come in. The Old World is peopled to overflowing with a population ground down by the oppressions of the governments under which it lives. Already they are standing expectant on their native shores, looking with longing eyes upon your fruitful valleys. They see here a land of promise, blessed with natural and political advantages such as no other country upon earth enjoys -a land on which a gracious Providence hath emptied the horn of abundance; a land which lies calm and quiet beneath the spreading pinions of the white angel Peace, and where Content and Plenty are abiding guests at every home! More, they see still more than all this-they behold a land which Liberty hath chosen for her home-Liberty, no longer a fabled goddess, a myth of poetic fancy, a hope of dreaming enthusiasts, but a real divinity,

her altars rising on every hill throughout these happy States, her glories chanted by three millions of freemen, the whole great region smiling under her blessed influence.

Bid the celestial goddess to stretch forth her fair arm to the people of the Old World, beckoning them to come; invite them; welcome them, and surging streams of humanity will flow in from the north, from the south, from the east, and from the west; your wild forests will vanish, and fields of plenty will appear; your deserts will smile; your ranks will be filled; and you will stand before the world a nation fit to defy the powers of any adversary that fate may set against you.

But gentlemen object to any accession from Great Britain, and particularly to the return of the British refugees. Let those deluded people come back; they have, to be sure, mistaken their own interests most woefully, but most woefully also have they suffered the punishment due to their offenses. The relations which we bear to them and to their native country are now changed; their king hath acknowledged our independence; the quarrel is over; peace hath returned and found us a free people. Let us be magnanimous; let us lay aside our antipathies and prejudices, and consider the subject in the light of reason and of expediency. These are enterprising, moneyed people. They will be serviceable during the infant state of our manufactures, even if they be inimical to us in point of feeling and principle. I can see no objection, in a political view, to making them tributary to our advantage. And as I have no prejudices to prevent my making this use

of them, so, sir, I

that they can do us.

have no fear of any mischief Afraid of them! What, sir,

shall we, who have laid the proud British lion at our feet, now be afraid of his whelps?

an tip' a thy, dislike.

de lud' ed, duped.

do main', territory under one government.

dor' mant, sleeping; undeveloped.

en thu' si ast, fanatic; visionary.

mach' i na' tions, artful tricks.
mag nan' i mous, large-minded.
ob' vi ous, plainly apparent; self-
evident.

THE CLOUD.

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY.

I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers
From the seas and the streams;

I bear light shade for the leaves when laid
In their noonday dreams.

From my wings are shaken the dews that waken
The sweet buds every one,

When rocked to rest on their mother's breast
As she dances about the sun.

I wield the flail of the lashing hail

And whiten the green plains under; And then again I dissolve it in rain And laugh as I pass in thunder.

I sift the snow on the mountains below,
And their great pines groan aghast;
And all the night 'tis my pillow white,
While I sleep in the arms of the blast.