LESSON CXXXIII.

THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW ENGLAND AND VIRGINIA.

The following is extracted from WEBSTER'S address on the completion of the Bunker Hill Monument, June 17, 1843. If too long, the paragraph in brackets must be omitted.

If there was nothing of value in the principles of the American Revolution, then there is nothing valuable in the battle of Bunker Hill and its consequences. But if the Revolution was an era in the history of man, favorable to human happiness—if it was an event which marked the progress of man, all over the world, from despotism to liberty-then this monument is not raised without cause. Then, the battle of Bunker Hill is not an event undeserving celebrations, commemorations and rejoicings.

What then is the true and peculiar principle of the American Revolution, and of the systems of government which it has confirmed and established? Now the truth is, that the American Revolution was not caused by the instantaneous discovery of principles of government before unheard of, or the practicable adoption of political ideas, such as had never before entered into the minds of men. It was but the full development of principles of government, forms of society and political sentiments, the origin of all which lay back two centuries in English and American history.

[Commerce and the arts augmented general and individual knowledge; and knowledge is the only first fountain, both of the love and principles of human liberty. Other powerful causes soon came into active play. The reformation of Luther broke out, kindling up the minds of men afresh, leading to new habits of thought, and awakening in individuals energies before unknown, even to themselves. The religious controversies of this period changed society as well as religion; indeed,

it would be easy to prove, if this occasion were proper for it, that they changed society to a considerable extent, where they did not change the religion of the State. The spirit of commercial and foreign adventure therefore, on the one hand, which had gained so much strength and influence, since the time of the discovery of America, and, on the other, the assertion and maintenance of religious liberty, having their source indeed in the Reformation, but continued, diversified, and continually strengthened by the subsequent divisions of sentiment and opinion among reformers themselves, and this love of religious liberty drawing after them, or bringing along with them, as they always do, an ardent devotion to the principle of civil liberty also, were the powerful influences, under which character was formed, and men trained for the great work of introducing English civilization, English law, and, what is more than all, AngloSaxon blood, into the wilderness of North-America.]

The May Flower sought our shores under no high wrought spirit of commercial adventure, no love of gold, no mixture of purpose, warlike or hostile to any human being. Like the dove from the ark, she had put forth only to find rest. Solemn supplications on the shore of the sea in Holland, had invoked for her, at her departure, the blessings of Providence. The stars which guided her were the unobscured constellations of civil and religious liberty. Her deck was the altar of the living God. Fervent prayers from bended knees, mingled, morning and evening, with the voices of ocean, and the sighing of the wind in her shrouds. Every prosperous breeze, which, gently swelling her sails, helped the Pilgrims onward in their course, awoke new anthems of praise; and when the elements were wrought into fury, neither the tempest, tossing their fragile bark like a feather, nor the darkness and howling of the midnight storm, ever disturbed, in man or woman, the firm and settled purpose of their souls, to undergo all and to

do all, that the meekest patience, the boldest resolution, and the highest trust in God, could enable human beings to suffer or to perform.

Some differences may, doubtless, be traced at this day, between the descendants of the early colonists of Virginia and those of New England, owing to the different influences and different circumstances under which the respective settlements were made. But only enough to create a pleasing variety in the midst of a general resemblance.

But the habits, sentiments, and objects of both, soon became modified by local causes, growing out of their condition in the New World; and as this condition was essentially alike in both, and as both at once adopted the same general rules and principles of English jurisprudence, and became accustomed to the authority of representative bodies, these differences gradually diminished. They disappeared by the progress of time, and the influence of intercourse. The necessity of some degree of union and coöperation to defend themselves against the savage tribes, tended to excite in them mutual respect and regard. They fought together in the wars against France. The great and common cause of the Revolution bound them together by new links of brotherhood; and finally, fortunately, happily and gloriously, the present constitution of government united them to form the Great Republic of the world, and bound up their interest and fortunes, till the whole earth sees that there is now for them, in present possession, as well as future hope, only "One Country, One Constitution, and One Destiny."

LESSON CXXXIV.

THE STREAM OF DEATH.

The following lines were taken from the NEW YORK OBSERVER, but the name of the Author was not given.

There is a stream, whose narrow tide
The known and unknown worlds divide,
Where all must go;

Its waveless waters, dark and deep,
'Mid sullen silence, downward sweep
With moanless flow.

I saw where, at the dreary flood,
A smiling infant prattling stood,
Whose hour was come;

Untaught of ill, it neared the tide,
Sunk, as to cradled rest, and died,
Like going home.

Followed, with languid eye, anon,
A youth, diseased, and pale and wan;
And there alone

He gazed upon the leaden stream,
And feared to plunge-I heard a scream,
And he was gone.

And then a form in manhood's strength,
Came bustling on, till there at length
He saw life's bound;

He shrunk and raised the bitter prayer
Too late-his shriek of wild despair
The waters drowned.

Next stood upon that surgeless shore,
A being bowed with many a score
Of toilsome years.

Earth-bound and sad he left the bank,
Back turned his dimming eye and sank,
Ah! full of fears.

How bitter must thy waters be,
O, death! How hard a thing, ah me!
It is to die!

I mused-when to that stream again,
Another child of mortal men
With smiles drew nigh.

.."Tis the last pang," he calmly said—
"To me, O Death! thou hast no dread;
Savior, I come!

Spread but thine arms on yonder shore-
I see! ye waters, bear me o'er!
There is my home!"

LESSON CXXXV.

THE PRINCE AND THE BEGGAR.

The following contrast between the death and obsequies of the High and the Low is from the severe pen of BULWER. St. Peter's Church at Rome is the most splendid building in the world, and the "Apostle's Pile" is but another name for it.

I saw a soul beside the clay it wore,

When reigned that clay, the mighty one of Rome;
A hundred priests stood, ranged the bier before,
Within St. Peter's dome;

And all was incense, solemn dirge, and prayer-
And still the soul stood sullen by the clay;
"O soul, why to thy heavenlier native air

Dost thou not soar away?"