freed-men, foreigners, and so forth. I say, sir, to adopt such measures as these, had not a tendency to secure the happiness or prosperity of his country. But, upon what ground does the gentleman assert, that Cæsar secured the greatness of his country? Was it by extending the fame of its arms? There was another kind of fame, which the Roman people valued more than the fame of their armis-the fame of their liberty! There was another kind of greatness, dearer to their pride than all the wealth, or honor, that could result from foreign victory; that kind of greatness, which gloried, not in the establishing, but in the destroying of tyranny; which drove a Tarquin from the throne, and cast an Appius into prison; which called their proudest heroes from the heads of armies, and the rule of conquered nations, into the equal ranks of private citizens.

A gentleman, speaking of Caesar's benevolent disposition, and of the reluctance with which he entered into the civil war, observes, "How long did he pause upon the brink of the Rubicon!" How came he to the brink of that river! How dared he cross it! Shall private men respect the boundaries of private property, and shall a man pay no respect to the boundaries of his country's rights? How dared he cross that river! Oh! but he paused upon the brink! He should have perished upon the brink, ere he had crossed it! Why did he pause? Why does a man's heart palpitate, when he is on the point of committing an unlawful deed? Why does the very murderer, his victim sleeping before him, and his glaring eye taking the measure of the blow, strike wide of the mortal part? Because of conscience! 'Twas that made Cæsar pause upon the brink of the Rubicon. Compassion! What compassion? The compassion of an assassin, that feels a momentary shudder, as his weapon begins to cut! Caesar paused upon the brink of the Rubicon! What was the Rubicon? The boundary of Caesar's province. From what did it separate his province ? From his country. Was that country a desert? No; it was cultivated and fertile; rich and populous! Its sons were men of genius, spirit, and generosity! Its daughters were lovely, susceptible, and chaste! Friendship was its inhabitant! Love was its inhabitant! Domestic affection was its inhabitant! Liberty was its inhabitant! All bounded by the stream of the Rubicon! What was Cæsar, that stood upon the brink of that stream? A traitor, bringing war and pestilence into the heart of that country! No wonder that he paused! No wonder, if, his imagination wrought upon by his conscience, he had beheld blood, instead of water; and heard groans, instead of murmurs! No wonder, if some gorgon horror had turned him into stone upon the spot! But, no! he cried, "The die is cast!" He plunged! he crossed! and Rome was free no more!

Again. It has been observed, "How often did he attempt a reconciliation with Pompey, and offer terms of accommodation!" Would gentlemen pass tricks upon us for honest actions Examine the fact. Cæsar keeps

his army on foot; because Pompey does so What entitles either of them to keep his army on foot! The commission of his country. By that authority they levied their armies; by that authority they should disband them. Had Cæsar that authority to keep his army on foot? No. Had Pompey ? Yes. What right, then, had Cæsar to keep his army on foot, because Pompey did so? His army! It was the army of his country enrolled by the orders of his country; maintained by the treasure of his country; fighting under the banners of his country; seduced by his flatteries, his calumnies, and his bribes, to espouse the fortunes of a traitor! Sir. he never sincerely sought an accommodation. Had he wished to accomplish such an object. he would have adopted such measures were likely to obtain it. He would have obeyed the order of the senate; disbanded his troops; laid down his command; and appeared in Rome a private citizen. Such conduct would have procured him more dignity, more fame, more glory, than a thousand sceptres; he would not have come to parley with the trumpet, and the standard; the spear, and the buckler; he would have proved himself to have been great in virtue!

as

Upon the same principle, his clemency must go for nothing. Clemency! To attribute clemency to a man, is to imply that he has a right to be severe; a right to punish. Cæsar had no right to punish. His clemency! it was the clemency of an outlaw, a pirate, a robber, who strips his prey, but then abstains from slaying him!

You were also told, that he paid the most scrupulous respect to the laws He paid the most scrupulous respect to the laws! he set his foot upon them; and, in that prostrate condition, mocked them with respect!

But, if you would form a just estimate of Caesar's arms, look to his triumphs, after the surrender of Utica-Utica, more honored in being the grave of Cato, thau Rome, in having been the cradle of Cæsar!

You will read, sir. that Caesar triumphed four times. First, for his victory over the Gauls; secondly, over Egypt; thirdly, over Pharnaçes; lastly, over Juba, the friend of Cato. His first, second, and third triumphs were, we are told, magnificent. Before him, marched the princes and noble foreigners of the countries he had conquered; his soldiers, crowned with laurels, followed him; and the whole city attended with acclamations. This was well! the conqueror should be honored. His fourth triumph approaches-as magnificent as the former ones. It does not want its royal captive, its soldiers crowned with laurels, or its flushed conqueror. to grace it; nor is it less honored by the multitude of its spectators; but they send up no shout of exultation; they heave loud sighs; their cheeks are frequently wiped; their eyes are fixed upon one object, that engrosses all their seuses, their thoughts, their affections. It is the statue of Cato! carried before the victor's chariot! It represents him, rending open his wound, and tearing cut his bowels; as he did in Utica, when Roman liberty was no more!

Now, ask if Caesar's aim was the welfare of his country? Now, doubt if he was a man governed by a selfish ambition! Now, question whether he usurped, for the mere sake of usurping! He is not content to triumph over the Gauls, the Egyptians, and Pharnaces; he must triumph over his own countrymen! He is not content to cause the statue of Scipio and Petreius to be carried before him; he must be graced by that of Cato! He is not content with the simple effigy of Cato; he must exhibit that of his suicide! He is not satisfied to insult the Romans with triumphing over the death of liberty; they must gaze upon the representation of hier expiring agonies, and mark the writhings of her last, fatal struggle!

Mr. Chairman, I confidently anticipate the triumph of our cause.

F. W. Sir, with great reluctance, I present myself to your notice, at this late hour. We have proved, that your patience is abundant; we cannot presume that it is inexhaustible. I shall exercise it for only a few moments. Were our cause to be judged by the approbation which our opponents have received, it would appear to be lost. But that is far from being the case, Mr. Chairman. The approbation they receive, is unaccompanied by conviction. It is a tribute-and a merited one to their eloquence, and has not any reference to the justice of the part they take. I Our cause is not lost-is not in danger-does not apprehend danger. We are as strong as ever; as able for the contest, and as confident of victory. We fight under the banners of Cesar; and Cæsar never met an open enemy, without subduing him.

We grant that Cesar was a usurper; but we insist, that the circumstances of the times justified his usurpation. We insist. that he became a usurper for the good of his country; for the salvation of the republic; for the preservation of its very existence! What must have been the state of Roman liberty, when such men as Marius and Sylla could become usurpers? Monsters, against whose domination nature and religion reclaimed! Gentlemen talk very prettily about the criminality of usurpation. They know it is a popular theme. All men are tenacious of their property; and the gentlemen think, that if they can carry the feelings of their auditors' along with them, in this respect, they may be certain of success in every other. We have not any objection to their flattering themselves with such fancies; but the cause of justice shall not be sacrificed to their gratification; surely, those gentlemen must be ignorant of the state of the republic, in those times; surely, they have never heard, or read, that massacre was the common attendant of public elections; that the candidates brought their money, openly, to the place of election, and distributed it among the heads of the different factions; that those factions employed force and violence, in favor of the persons who paid them; and that scarce any office was disposed of, without being disputed, sword in hand, and without costing the lives of many

citizens!

A gentleman very justly said, that the love of country is the first, the second, and the last principle of a virtuous mind. Now, sir, it appears that the Roman people sold their country! its offices; its honors; its liberty; sold them to the highest bidder, as they would sell their wares, a sheep, or the quarter of an ox; and that, after they had struck the bargain, they threw themselves into it, and fought mantully for the purchaser! Cicero and Cato lived in these times. Cicero, that saved Rome from the conspiracy of Cataline. Cato, who would not survive the liberty of his country. The latter attempted to stop the progress of the corruption; but his efforts were fruitless. He could neither restrain its progress, nor mitigate its virulence. Thus, sir, the independence of the republic was virtually lost, before Cæsar became a usurper; and, therefore, to say that Cæsar destroyed the independence, or liberty of his country, is to assert that he destroyed a nonentity.

It was happily remarked, that the power of interfering with the tribunes, was fatal to the Roman people. Yes, sir, it was fatal. The tribunes ought to have been independent of the people, from the moment of the.r entering on their oflice, to that of their laying it down. You were told, the people had a right to the direction of their own affairs. Yes, sir; they had a right. We do not dispute that. But it was a right, by the abandonment of which, they would have been gainers. It was a fatal right, by grasping which they lost every thing. It was an inconsistent right, for they stood as much in need of being protected from themselves, as of being protected from the nobility. Why does any man put his affairs into the hands of another, but because he cannot manage them so well himself? If he cannot manage them so well himself, why should he interfere with the person, to whose conduct he intrusts them? Because he has a right! I know le has; but it is an unfortunate right, for it leaves it in his power to ruin himself, in spite of good counsel and friendship!

Gentlemen talk of what are called the people, as if they were the most enlightened part of the community! Are they the guardians of learning! or of the arts! or of the sciences? Do we select counsellors from them? or jud zes 7 or legislators? Do we inquire among them for rhetoricians? logicians or philosophers ? or, rather, do we not consider them as little cultivated in mind? little rezulated by judg ment? much inflamed by prejudice? greatly subject to caprice? chiefly governed by passion! Of course, sir, I speak of what are generally called the people, the crowd, the mass of the community. But you ask me for a proof of the bad effects, that resuited to the Roman people, from the liberty they possessed, of legislating directly for themselves. Look. sir, to the proceedings of the forum! What they did, they undid; what they erected. they threw down; they ennetod nws, id they repealed them; they elected pa 14, and they betrayed them; they handled tyrants, and they exalted them! You will find, that the great converted the undue

power, which the people possessed, into the means of subjugating the people. If they feared a popular leader, it was only necessary to spread, by their emissaries, a suspicion of his integrity, or set the engine of corruption to work, upon that frailest of all fortifications, popular stability; and thus, sir, they carried their point, humbled their honest adversaries, and laughed in the face of the wisest and most salutary laws.

Mr. Chairman, I think that the times in which Cæsar lived, called for, and sanctioned, his usurpation. I think his object was, to extinguish the jealousies of party; to put a stop to the miseries that resulted from them; and to unite his countrymen. I think the divided state of the Roman people exposed them to the danger of a foreign yoke; from which they could be preserved, only by receiving a domestic one. I think that Cæsar was a great man; and I conclude my trial of your patience, with the reply made to Brutus by Statilius, who had once determined to die in Utica with Cato; and by Favonius, an esteemed philosopher of those times. Those men were sounded by Brutus, after he had entered into the conspiracy for murdering Casar. The former said, he "would rather patiently suffer the oppressions of an arbitrary master, than the cruelties and disorders which generally attend civil dissensions." The latter declared, that, in his opinion, "a civil war was worse than the most unjust tyranny. J. G. Mr. Chairman, as the opener of this debate, I am entitled to reply; but it is a privilege by which I shall not profit. I leave our cause to the fate it merits. But, allow me to remark that, how much soever we may disagree in our opinion of Caesar's character, there is a subject upon which we cannot have the slightest difference of sentiments: namely, that your patience, indulgence. and impartiality, have been great, and claim our gratitude.

[THE Dialogues having F. F. D. affixed, are ORIGINAL. and copyrighted, and taken, by express contract, (and for a large pecuniary consideration.) from an excellent work, entitled, "Familiar Dialogues and Popular Discussions, for Exhibition in Schools and Academies of either Sex, and for the Amusement of Social Parties :" prepared and edited by WILLIAM B. FOWLE, Esq., who has had much experience in getting up books for educational purposes. The author of this work received express permission to select such Dialogues as he pleased, at a stipulated price. He has done so; and, from the specimens here given, he is justified in recommending these FAMILIAR DIALOGUES" to parents and teachers, as worthy of introduction into our schools, not only on account of their good qualities, but of their neat execution: and the price is only 37 cents.]

751. THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.-ORIGINAL.

MRS. VESTRY, the Minister's Wife. MRS. BLUNT, the Deacon's Wife. MRS. BRIEF, the Lawyer's Wife. MRS. PILL, the Doctor's Wife. MRS. SQUASHI, a Farmer's Wife. MRS. LUG, a Widow Lady, rather deaf. MIS3 PRIM, an ancient Maiden, once a SchoolMistress. Miss SNAP, a satirical young Lady. Miss FAIRMAN, the Candidate for the Village School.

[All present but Miss Fairman.] Mrs. Vestry. LADIES, we are all assembled, and the young lady who has applied for the

village school is in the next room. Shail I invite her in?

Mrs. Blunt. Is she handsome? I have no idee of employing any beauty, to be running after the boys when she should be teaching the children.

Mrs. Vestry She makes no pretensions to any other beauty than that of the mind, I believe.

Mrs. Blunt. Let her come in, then.

[Mrs. V. introduces Miss Fairman to Mrs. Brief, who takes her by the hand, and says.]

Mrs. Brief. Allow me to introduce you to Mrs. Pill, the lady of our physician-to Mrs. Blunt, the wife of our worthy deacon

Mrs. Blunt. And as well entitled to be called lady as the best of you, let me tell you! Wife! forsooth!

Mrs. Brief. I plead not guilty, as we lawyers say, of any intentional disrespect. [She then goes on introducing Miss Fairman.] This is Miss Prim, who may be called a fellowlaborer with you in the field of education.

Miss Prim. No longer so, I desire to be thankful! I left the profession before every body entered it.

Miss Snap. You let it when your pupils left you, I have been told; but it was so long age, I do not remember the circumstances.

Miss Prim to Miss Snap. A few more years would be of infinite service to some folks.

Mrs. Bruf. Miss Fairman, this is Miss Smp, whom you will find a ready assistant in cutting such twigs as you may not be able to bend. [She le!'s go Miss Fairman, whose hand Mrs. Vestry takes, and says,]

Mrs Vestry. Let me introduce you. Miss, to Mrs. Squash, the wife of one of our richest parishioners; and Mrs. Lug, who is rather hard of hearing, but whom you will find zealously interested in the cause of education.

Mrs. Blunt. You bad better take checis, ladies, and set down while the examination goes on. [All sit.] Young woman, come here. I warn you that you will have a severe examination; for we ladies have complained so much of former schoolma'ams, that the men have made us a committee to examine appli cants, and suit ourselves; and we are going to do the thing thoroughly. Pray, what's your name, young woman?

Miss Fairman Susan Fairman, madam.
Mrs. Blunt. How old are you?

Miss Prim. I object to that question, as an improper one. I would not tell my age to

any one.

Miss Snap. The young lady may not have the same objection.

Miss Fairman. I shall be eighteea in a few days.

Mrs. Lug. [Holding her hand up to her ear as n deaf person does] Did you say you were eighty years old. Miss?

Miss Fairman. No, madam; only eighteen. Mrs. Squash. Why, you have hardly left off tires! Pray, can you make a pankin pie?

Miss Snap. If she can't, I dare say she can make one of squash.

Miss Snap. [Aside to Miss F] Tell her, "Whales in the sea, Great fish they be." Miss Fairman. I must confess my ignorance, madam.

Mrs. Blunt. Young woman, I don't know what my husband. Deacon Blunt, would say, to find you so ignorant of the first principles of religion,

Miss Fairman. Madam, I would respect fully remark, that I have been taught to draw the principles of my religion from the Bible, and not from the Primer.

Mrs. Blunt. Yes, that is one of Mr. Vestry's notions; but every body learned the Primer when I was a gal. I could say it backwards as well as forruds.

Miss Prim. Will the young lady be good enough to inform the committee whether she bas studied botany?

Miss Fairman. I have, madam.

Miss Prim. Did you study the philosophical part of the science, which treats of the loves und the language of plants?

Miss Fairman. No, madam, I have only studied their structure and uses.

Miss Prim. I supposed you had neglected the only ethereal part of the science. This comes of your new-fangled system, I suppose. Miss Fairman. No, indeed, madam. Nonseuse can be taught by the monitorial plan, as well as by any other. The subjects taught depend upon the teacher, and not upon the system.

Mrs. Blunt. I have seen enough of the gal. She will never do for me. She don't even know her Primer. [She dashes out.] Miss Snap. "The eagle's flight Is out of sight."

Mrs. Brief. Mr. Brief will never suffer his children to be taught by Mrs. Cowyard's brats. [Exit.]

Miss Snap. "Out, out, Brief candle!" Mrs. Pill. I cannot swallow her ignorance of Latin. [Exit.] Miss Snap, Because she could not swallow your pills, I suppose.

Mrs. Squash. I cannot vote for a miss so young that she cannot make a punkin pie. I thought, at first, she might do for my son Jonathan. [Aside.] [Erit.]

Miss Snap. So, because she can't cook a punkin, she is not allowed to become a Squash!

Miss Prim. I must withhold my approbation from one who has no soul for the loves and language of flowers, and who has never studied algebra.

Miss Snap. And whose charms being plus, would render yours a negative quantity.

Miss Prim. My children--I mean my neighbor's, for I desire to be thankful that I have none of the nasty things-shall never go to a monitorial school with my consent. Monitorial, indeed! [Exit.] Mrs. Lug. Who did she say was dead? Miss Snap. Your tories, I suppose.

Mrs. Lug. Well, I am sorry for them I had rather they had repented; but they sha'n't get foothold in our village, while I am on the committee. Good bye. (Exit.]

Miss Snap. A good riddance upon them all! Now, Miss Fairman, let me congratulate you upon escaping from such patrons.

Mrs. Vestry. Give me your hand, my dear. You have borne the trial modestly and patiently. My husband has been applied to for a preceptress of an academy, and I am sure, that, after he has heard the result of this meeting, he will confer the situation upon my young friend. Come, let us find him. (F. F. D.)

752. CITY FINISHING.-ORIGINAL.

Miss Puff. How vulgar you will appear in the city, Miss Homespun! It is a pity that you have not the advantage of a quarter's instruction in the city, as I have had.

Miss Homespun. I have no fears on my own account. I shall make no pretensions to superior refinement, and, therefore, shall not risk any failure.

Miss Puff. That will not do, my dear, in the city. If one has not a certain jinnissy quar, she will be considered as savage as if she had been brought up on a dissolute

oiland.

Miss Homespun. It may be so; but such treatment would only lead me to pity them, and not to undervalue myself. I do not believe that unassuming manners, and unpretending conversation, are in so much danger of being insulted.

Miss Puff. I shall endeavor to spare you as much as I can; but one who has always been in the country, can have no superstition how much she is exposed to be quizzed by the knowing ones of the city. My quarter's education did the business for me.

Miss Homespun. You almost alarm me, Miss Puff; but I will not believe, until I see, that the superior education of the city ladies unfits them for making a proper discrimination between plain sense and nonsense. I expect a lady from the city to spend a few days with me.

Miss Puff. When is she a coming? Miss Homespun. That may be she at the door.

Miss Puff. Well, now, my dear, be careful, and do not expose yourself. Put a little of my o dick-alone on your dress.