But cover not with such a shield his baseness; Alas. Authority! Show me authority in honor's garb And I will down upon the humblest knee Will turn to bitterest gall, and the o'ercharged heart Hoh. [Going to the side scene.] My servants, there! Beyond forbearance. Seize the Count Alasco; [Two of the Baron's servants enter.] I here proclaim him rebel to the state. At your peril venture on my sword. Slaves! Wal. My lord! my lord! this is my house; my castle; You do not, cannot mean this violation : Beneath the sanctuary of a soldier's roof, Hoh. But not his sovereign's; You would not screen a traitor from the law! Wal. Nor yield a victim, sir, to angry power; He came in confidence, and shall depart In safety. Here my honor guards him. Your loyalty, my friend, seems rather nice, And stands upon punctilio. Wal. Yes, the loyalty That is not nice, in honor and good faith, May serve the tool; the slave; the sycophant; But does not suit the soldier. Hoh. Colonel Walsingham, My station must prescribe my duty here: [To the attendants.) Wal. [Drawing and interposing.] Ha! touch him, ruffians, on This arm has not yet lost its vigor. Hence; [The Baron motions his attendants to retire.] My lord, this is an outrage on my honor; Beneath thy sheltering virtues; but no more; You 've heard the charge, and as you may, must answer it. It had been death to hear it: But, thank Heaven! My soul in honor, as in duty clear, Indignant triumphs o'er unjust reproach, And holds her seat unshaken. LESSON CXXXIII. LINES TO A CHILD ON HIS VOYAGE TO FRANCE TO MEET HIS FATHER. 1. Lo, how impatiently upon the tide The proud ship tosses, eager to be free. Her flag streams wildly, and her fluttering sails Cleaving her path majestic through the flood, O, 'tis a thought sublime, that man can force To lend their untamed wings, and bear him on 2. Thou, William, still art young, And dost not see the wonder. Thou wilt tread The buoyant deck, and look upon the flood, As 't were a common thing; thy soul unawed, As wide, as terrible, and yet sometimes And dare the threat'ning storm, and trace a path To station quick-eyed Prudence at the helm, 5. Farewell: Heaven smile propitious on thy course, LESSON CXXXIV. EXTRACT FROM PRESIDENT JEFFERSON'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 1. DURING the contest of opinion through which we have passed, the animation of discussions and of exertions has sometimes worn an aspect which might impose on strangers, unused to think freely, and to speak and to write what they think; but this being now decided by the voice of the nation, announced according to the rules of the constitution, all will, of course, arrange themselves under the will of the law, and unite in common efforts for the common good. All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle; that, though the will of the majority is, in all cases, to prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal laws must protect, and to violate which would be oppression. 2. Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and one mind. Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection, without which liberty, and even life itself, are but dreary things; and let us reflect, that, having banished from our land that religious intolerance, under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little, if we countenance a political intolerance, as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions. 3. During the throes and convulsions of the ancient world, during the agonizing spasms of infuriated man, seeking through blood and slaughter his long-lost liberty, it was not wonderful that the agitation of the billows should reach even this distant and peaceful shore; that this should be more felt and feared by some, and less by others, and should divide opinions, as to measures of safety. 4. But every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all republicans; we are all federalists. If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this union, or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed, as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated, where reason is left free to combat it. 5. I know, indeed, that some honest men fear that a republican government cannot be strong; that this government is not strong enough. But would the honest patriot, in the full tide of successful experiment, abandon a government which has so far kept us free and firm, on the theoretic and visionary fear, that this government, the world's best hope, may, by possibility, want energy to preserve itself? I trust not. I believe this, on the contrary, the strongest government on earth. I believe it the only one where every man, at the call of the law, would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet invasions of the public order as his own personal concern. 6. Sometimes it is said, that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? or have we found angels, in the form of kings, to govern him? Let history answer this question. |