And here among these peaceful fields, here in the country whose children first gave their blood for American union and independence, here in the heart of Middlesex County, of Lexington, and Concord, and Bunker Hill, stand fast, Son of Liberty! as the minute-man stood at the old North Bridge. But should we or our descendants, false to liberty, false to justice and humanity, betray in any way their cause, spring into life as a hundred years ago, take one more step, descend, and lead us, as God led you, in saving America, to save the hopes of man.

in ex' o ra ble, unyielding.

THE BATTLE OF THE BALTIC-A. D. 1801.

THOMAS CAMPBELL.

Of Nelson and the North

Sing the glorious day's renown,
When to battle fierce came forth

All the might of Denmark's crown,

And her arms along the deep proudly shone;
By each gun the lighted brand

In a bold, determined hand,
And the Prince of all the land
Led them on.

Like leviathans afloat

Lay their bulwarks on the brine;
While the sign of battle flew

On the lofty British line;

It was ten of April morn by the chime;
As they drifted on their path

There was silence deep as death;
And the boldest held his breath
For a time.

But the might of England flushed
To anticipate the scene;
And her van the fleeter rushed

O'er the deadly space between. "Hearts of oak!" our captains cried, when each gun

From its adamantine lips

Spread a death-shade round the ships,
Like the hurricane eclipse

Of the sun!

Again! again! again!

And the havoc did not slack,

Till a feeble cheer the Dane

To our cheering sent us back.

Their shots along the deep slowly boom
Then cease -and all is wail

As they strike the shattered sail :
Or, in conflagration pale,

Light the gloom!

Out spoke the Victor then,

As he hailed them o'er the wave:

"Ye are brothers! ye are men!

And we conquer but to save!

So peace, instead of death, let us bring: But yield, proud foe, thy fleet,

With the crews, at England's feet.
And make submission meet
To our King."

Then Denmark blessed our Chief,
That he gave her wounds repose;
And the sounds of joy and grief
From her people wildly rose,

As Death withdrew his shades from the day;
While the sun looked smiling bright

O'er a wide and woeful sight,
Where the fires of funeral light

Died away!

Now joy, Old England, raise!

For the tidings of thy might, By the festal cities' blaze,

While the wine-cup shines in light;
And yet, amidst that joy and uproar,
Let us think of them that sleep
Full many a fathom deep,

By thy wild and stormy steep,
Elsinore!

Brave hearts! to Britain's pride
Once so faithful and so true,
On the deck of fame that died,
With the gallant, good Riou !

Soft sigh the winds of heaven o'er their grave!
While the billow mournful rolls

And the mermaid's song condoles,
Singing glory to the souls

Of the brave!

AID FROM FRANCE.

W. E. H. LECKY.

The assistance of France was never more valuable than in the first period of the Revolutionary War, while she was still at peace with England. American vessels were admitted, by the connivance of France's ministers, into French ports with articles of commerce of which, by law, French merchants had a strict monopoly, and the American commissioners, Franklin, Deane, and Lee, were soon able to inform Congress that France gave the commerce of the colonies greater indulgences in her ports than the commerce of any other nation whatever.

Privateers were sheltered and equipped; prizes were secretly sold in French harbors. Experienced officers, trained in the French army, were sent to America with the permission of the French ministers, to organize or command the American forces. In the beginning of 1777 one of the ablest sea officers in France was engaged, by the permission of the Minister of Marine, in superintending the construction, in French harbors, of ships of war for America; and finally a new grant of two millions of livres from the crown was made, the king exacting no conditions or promise of repayment, and only requiring absolute secrecy.

If the French were somewhat slower in throwing away the mask and the scabbard than the Americans could have wished, they at least gave the colonies the assistance most needed, and, as the commissioners acutely said, the very delay was not without its

compensation.

"Enjoying the whole harvest of captures from the British commercial marine-a harvest which otherwise France and Spain would divide with us - our infant naval power finds such plentiful nourishment as has increased and must increase its growth and strength most marvelously.”

"All Europe," they wrote, about this time, "is for us. Every nation in Europe wishes to see Britain humbled, having all in their turn been offended by her insolence, which, in prosperity, she is apt to discover on all occasions." England, under the great ministry of Pitt, had acquired an empire and a preponderance on the sea not less overwhelming and not less menacing than that which Charles V. and Louis XIV. had acquired on land. It had become a main object of the governing classes on the continent to reduce it, while the merchants in every nation were looking forward with eagerness to the opening of the great field of American commerce.

This had hitherto been the monopoly of England. Spain, which was greatly under the influence of France, and very hostile to England, supplied the colonies with money and with gunpowder, and gave their vessels greater trade privileges than those of any other country, though without any real wish for American independence. The Grand Duke of Tuscany secretly removed all duties from American commerce, and expressed himself so favorable to the American cause that Deane assured Congress that they might safely purchase or construct frigates at Leghorn.

Frederick of Prussia, who had never forgiven his desertion by England, without committing himself