lightened, or so enterprising, and no where have the legitimate objects of civil institutions been so triumphantly attained. Against facts such as these, it is difficult to argue; and they furnish the friends of free institutions with more than an answer to all the theories of legitimacy.

It is unnecessary to pursue this subject further. You are doubtless convinced that this country stands linked by a thousand ties to the popular sentiment of Europe. We have no sympathies with the rulers. The principles, in support of which they are allied, are diametrically opposed to the very spirit of our constitution. All our sympathies are with the people ; for we are all of us the people. And not only are we thus amalgamated with them in feeling, we are manifestly at the head of that feeling. We first promulgated their sentiments, we taught them their rights, we first contended successfully for their principles; and for fifty years we have furnished incontrovertible evidence that their principles are true. These principles have already girded us with Herculean strength, in the very infancy of our empire, and have given us political precedence of governments, which had been established on the old foundation, centuries before our continent was discovered, And now what nation will be second in

the new order of things, is yet to be decided; but the providence of God has already announced, that, if true to ourselves, we shall be inevitably first.

Now to say that any country is at the head of popular sentiment, is only to say, in other words, that it is in her power to direct that sentiment. You are then prepared to proceed with me, and remark, in the next place, that it devolves on this country to lead forward the present movement of public opinion, to freedom and independence.

It devolves on us to sustain and to chasten the love of liberty among the friends of reform in other nations. It is not enough that the people every where desire a change. The subversion of a bad government is by no means synonymous with the establishment of a better. A people must know what it is to be free; they must have learned to reverence themselves, and bow implicitly to the principles of right, or nothing can be gained by a change of institutions. A constitution written on paper is utterly worthless, unless it be also written on the hearts of a people. Unless men have learned to govern themselves, they may be plunged into all the horrors of civil war, and yet emerge from the most fearful revolution, a lawless nation of sanguinary slaves. But if this country remain happy, and

its institutions free, it will render the common people of other countries acquainted with the fundamental principles of the science of government; this knowledge will silently produce its practical result, and year after year will insensibly train them to freedom.

But suppose the spirit of freedom to have been sustained to its issue, the blow to have been struck, and, either by concession or by force, the time to have arrived when the institutions of the old world are to be transformed; then will the happiness of the civilized world be again connected most intimately with the destinies of this country. Ancient constitutions having been abolished, new ones must be adopted by almost every nation in Europe. The old foundations will have been removed; it will still remain to be decided on what foundations the social edifice shall rest. From the relation which we now sustain to the friends of free institutions, as well as from all the cases of revolution which have lately occurred, it is evident that to this nation they will all look for precedent and example. Thus far our institutions have conferred on man all that any form of government was ever expected to bestow. Should the grand experiment which we are now making on the human character succeed, there can be no doubt that other governments, fol

lowing our example, will be formed on the principles of right.

We have thus far spoken only of the effects which this country might produce upon the politics of Europe, simply by her example. It is not impossible, however, that she may be called to exert an influence still more direct on the destinies of man. Should the rulers of Europe make war upon the principles of our constitution, because its existence

may operate as an example ;" or should a universal appeal be made to arms, on the question of civil and religious liberty;-it is manifest that we must take no secondary part in the controversy. The contest will involve the civilized world, and the blow will be struck which must decide the fate of man for centuries to come.

Then will the hour have arrived, when, uniting with herself the friends of freedom throughout the world, this country must breast herself to the shock of congregated nations. Then will she need the wealth of her merchants, the prowess of her warriors, and the sagacity of her statesmen. Then, on the altars of our God, let us each one devote himself to the cause of the human race; and in the namé of the Lord of Hosts go forth unto the battle. If need be, let our choicest blood flow freely; for life

itself is valueless, when such interests are at stake. Then, when a world in arms is assembling to the conflict, may this country be found fighting in the vanguard for the liberties of man. God himself hath summoned her to the contest, and she may not shrink back. For this hour may He by his grace prepare her.

THE FANCY BALL.*

BY HENRY B. ANTHONY.

As float the fancies of a gorgeous dream
That vanished with the morning's earliest beam;
As haunts the ear some half-remembered strain

It once hath heard, and seems to hear again;

As flowers whose beauty and whose bloom have fled,
Each bright leaf withered and each green one dead,
A grateful, an undying fragrance bear,

To tell what blushing beauty once was there;
So turns my memory to that brilliant sight

When wit and beauty held their festal night;
When the thronged hall its glittering groups displayed
Of nature's loveliness, by art arrayed;

Of graceful forms that mocked the sculptor's art,
And eyes whose glances reached the coldest heart,

*Note 4.-See Appendix.