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blessed. A thousand witnesses of their courage, their indus try, their sagacity, their invincible perseverance in welldoing, their love of free institutions, their respect for justice, their hatred of wrong, are all around us, and bear grateful evidence daily to their memory. We cannot forget them, even if we had sufficient baseness to wish it. Every spot of New England earth has a story to tell of them; every cherished institution of New England society bears the print of their minds. The strongest element of New England character has been transmitted with their blood. So intense is our sense of affiliation with their nature, that we speak of them universally as our "fathers." And though their fame everywhere else were weighed down with calumny and hatred, though the principles for which they contended, and the noble deeds they performed, should become the scoff of sycophants and oppressors, and be blackened by the smooth falsehoods of the selfish and the cold, there never will be wanting hearts in New England to kindle at their virtues, nor tongues and pens to vindicate their name.

CXLII. THE DEMAGOGUE.

HENRY W. BEECHER.

THE lowest of politicians is that man who seeks to gratify an invariable selfishness by pretending to seek the public good. For a profitable popularity he accommodates himself to all opinions, to all dispositions, to every side, and to each prejudice. He is a mirror, with no face of his own, but a smooth surface from which each man of ten thousand may see himself reflected. He glides from man to man, coinciding with their views, pretending their feelings, stimulating their tastes; with this one, he hates a man; with that one he loves the same man; he favors a law, and he dislikes it; he approves, and opposes; he is on both sides at once, and seemingly wishes that he could be on one side more than on both sides. He attends meetings to suppress intemperance,—but at elections makes every grog-shop free to all drinkers. He can

with equal relish plead most eloquently for temperance, or toss off a dozen glasses in a dirty grocery. He thinks that there is a time for everything, and therefore, at one time he

swears and jeers and leers with a carousing crew; and at another time, having happily been converted, he displays the various features of devotion. Indeed he is a capacious Christian; an epitome of faith. He piously asks the class-leader, of the welfare of his charge, for he was always a Methodist, and always shall be,-until he meets a Presbyterian; then he is a Presbyterian, old-school or new, as the case requires. However, as he is not a bigot, he can afford to be a Baptist, in a good Baptist neighborhood, and with a wink he tells the zealous elder, that he never had one of his children baptized, not he! He whispers to the Reformer that he abhors all creeds but baptism and the Bible. After all this, room will be found in his heart for the fugitive sects also, which come and go like clouds in a summer sky. His flattering attention at church edifies the simple-hearted preacher, who admires that a plain sermon should make a man whisper amen! and weep. Upon the stump his tact is no less rare. He roars and bawls with courageous plainness, on points about which all agree; but on subjects where men differ, his meaning is nicely balanced on a pivot that it may dip either way.

CXLIII.-EULOGY ON JOHN Q. ADAMS.

ISAAC C. HOLMES.

THE mingled tones of sorrow, like the voice of many waters, have come unto us from a sister State-Massachusetts weeping for her honored son. The State I have the honor to represent once endured, with yours, a common suffering, battled for a common cause, and rejoiced in a common triumph. Surely, then, it is meet that in this, the day of your affliction, we should mingle our griefs.

When a great man falls, the nation mourns; when a patriarch is removed, the people weep. Ours, my associates, is no common bereavement. The chain which linked our hearts with the gifted spirits of former times, has been rudely snapped. The lips from which flowed those living and glorious truths that our fathers uttered, are closed in death! Yes, my friends, Death has been among us! He has not entered the cottage of some unknown, ignoble peasant; he has

knocked audibly at the palace of a nation! His footstep has

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been heard in the Hall of State! He has cloven down his victim in the midst of the councils of a people! He has borne in triumph from among you the gravest, wisest, most reverend head! Ah! he has taken him as a trophy who was once chief over many States, adorned with virtue, and learning, and truth; he has borne upon his chariot wheels a renowned one of the earth.

There was no incident in the birth, the life, the death of Mr. Adams, not intimately woven with the history of the land. Born in the night of his country's tribulation, he heard the first murmurs of discontent; he saw the first efforts for deliverance. Whilst yet a little child, he listened with eagerness to the whispers of freedom as they breathed from the lips of her almost inspired apostles; he caught the fire that was then kindled; his eye beamed with the first ray; he watched the dayspring from on high, and long before he departed from earth, it was graciously vouchsafed unto him to behold the effulgence of her noontide glory.

He disrobed himself with dignity of the vestures of office, not to retire to the shades of Quincy, but in the maturity of his intellect, in the vigor of his thought, to leap into this arena, and to continue as he had begun, a disciple, an ardent devotee at the temple of his country's freedom. How, in this department, he ministered to his country's wants, we all know, and have witnessed. How often.we have crowded into that aisle, and clustered around that now vacant desk, to listen to the counsels of wisdom, as they fell from the lips of the venerable sage, we can all remember, for it was but of yesterday. But what a change! How wondrous! how sudden ! 'Tis like a vision of the night! That form which we beheld but a few days since, is now cold in death! But the last Sabbath, and in this hall, he worshipped with others. Now his spirit mingles with the noble army of martyrs, and the just made perfect, in the eternal adoration of the living God. With him "this is the end of earth." He sleeps the sleep that knows no waking. He is gone-and forever! The sun that ushers in the morn of the next holy day, while it gilds the lofty dome of the capitol, shall rest with soft and mellow light upon the consecrated spot beneath whose turf forever lies the PATRIOT FATHER and the PATRIOT SAGE!

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CXLIV. THE LEVELLING SYSTEM.

LYMAN BEECHER.

IF you think that this crisis cannot come on our country, you have not studied the constitution of society, the character of man, the past history of moral causes, or the exist ing signs of the times. You have not read the glowing pages of specious argument, of powerful eloquence, of spiritstirring indignation-pouring adventitious action upon the fever of the brain, and the madness of the heart.

Hear these Catilines harangue their troops, in the five hundred thousand grog-shops of this nation-the temples and inspiration of atheistic worship:-" Comrades, patriots, friends, -The time has come. Long have you suffered, and deeply, and in all sorts of ways. Property has been denied you, that others might roll in splendor; and toil imposed, that they might inherit ease; and poverty inflicted, that they might be blessed with more than heart could wish; and to add ignominy to fraud, and persecution to insult, your names are cast out as evil. You snatch the crumbs from their table, and they call it stealing; the momentary alleviation of your woes by stimulus, drunkenness; and your intercourse as freeborn animals, is branded with outlawry and burning shame; and all this by that intolerant aristocracy of wealth, religion, and law. You are miserable, and you are oppressed; but you hold in your own hand the power of redress. Those splendid dwellings, and glittering equipages-those cultivated' farms and cattle on a thousand hills-those barns bursting out with all manner of plenty-those voluptuous cities, and stores, crowded with merchandise-and boats and ships transporting wealth-and those banks and vaults of gold-are yours. You are the people-numbers are with you. Rise, freemen-rise-to the polls-to the polls-and all is yours.' It is true, this levelling system would destroy the industry of the world. It would augment the number, and aggravate the poverty of the poor, as it would expel the arts, banish commerce, stop the plough, and shut up the workshop, and send back the ruined race to skins, and bows, and arrows. But what is all this to a short-sighted, infuriated population, who know only that they are miserable, and feel that all above them is invidious distinction and crime; and that to rise, it is only necessary to grasp the pillars of society, and

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SPIRIT OF LIBERTY IN 1772.

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pull it down? Is there no treason in breathing such doc. trines upon the ear of discontented millions? It is throwing fire-brands into a magazine.

CXLV. SPIRIT OF LIBERTY IN 1772.

JOSEPH WARREN.

You have, my friends and countrymen, frustrated the designs of your enemies, by your unanimity and fortitude: it was your union and determined spirit which expelled those troops, who polluted your streets with innocent blood. You have appointed this anniversary as a standard memorial of the bloody consequences of placing an armed force in a populous city, and of your deliverance from the dangers which then seemed to hang over your heads; and I am confident that you will never betray the least want of spirit when called upon to guard your freedom. None but they who set a just value upon the blessings of liberty, are worthy to enjoy her-your illustrious fathers were her zealous votaries— when the blasting frowns of tyranny drove her from public view, they clasped her in their arms; they cherished her in their generous bosoms; they brought her safe over the rough ocean, and fixed her seat in this then dreary wilderness; they nursed her infant age with the most tender care; for her sake, they patiently bore the severest hardships; for her support, they underwent the most rugged toils; in her defence, they boldly encountered the most alarming dangers; neither the ravenous beasts that ranged the woods for prey, nor the more furious savages of the wilderness, could damp their ardor! Whilst with one hand they broke the stubborn glebe, with the other they grasped their weapons, ever ready to protect her from danger. No sacrifice, not even their own blood, was esteemed too rich a libation for her altar! God prospered their valor; they preserved her brilliancy unsullied; they enjoyed her whilst they lived, and dying, bequeathed the dear inheritance to your care. And as they left you this glorious legacy, they have undoubtedly transmitted to you some portion of their noble spirit, to inspire you with the virtue to merit her, and courage to preserve her. You surely cannot with such examples before your eyes, as every

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