"Ye hold me not! no, no, nor can; I knelt beside my slaughtered sire, My soul is cramped-unbowed, unbent, To free myself this very hour. This dagger in my heart! and then, Where is your boasted power, base men? He drew aside his broidered vest, And there, like slumbering serpent's crest, The jewelled haft of a poniard bright, Glittered a moment on the sight. "Ha! start ye back? Fool! coward! knav Think ye my noble father's glave, A moment, and the funeral light The choice was death or slavery; Up! mother, up! look on my face I only wait for thy embrace. One last, last word-a blessing, one, To prove thou knowest what I have done, No look! No word! Canst thou not feel My warm blood o'er thy heart congeal? Speak, mother, speak-lift up thy head. What, silent still? Then art thou dead! Great God, I thank thee! Mother, I Rejoice with thee, and thus to die." Slowly he falls. The clustering hair Rolls back and leaves that forehead bare. One long, deep breath, and his pale head Lay on his mother's bosom, dead. Forward! in the strength of manhood, - Aim at something; ne'er surrender, Though thy way be strewn with dangers, All who gild the page of story, Know the brave words-Dare and do! Miller was a rough stone-mason; Shakespeare, Goldsmith, Keats and Hood, Yes: these men with minds majestic, Sprang from ranks the rich call poor, Cast a halo round brown labor,- Forward, then! bright eyes are beaming; LXXIV. THE AMERICAN UNION. KOSSUTH He who sows the wind will reap the storm. History is the revelation of Providence. The Almighty rules, by eternal laws, not only the material but the moral world; and every law is a principle, and every principle is a law. Men, as well as nations, are endowed with free will to choose a principle, but that once chosen, the consequences must be abided. With self-government is freedom, and with freedom is justice and patriotism. With centralization is ambition, and with ambition dwells despotism. Happy your great country, sir, for being so warmly addicted to that great principle of self-government. Upon this foundation your fathers raised a home to freedom more glorious than the world has ever seen. Upon this foundation you have developed it to a living wonder of the world. Happy your great country, sir, that it was selected, by the blessing of the Lord, to prove the glorious practicability of a federative union of many sovereign states, all conserving their state rights and their self-government, and yet united in one-every star beaming with its own lustre, but altogether one constellation on mankind's canopy. Upon this foundation your free country has grown to a prodigious power in a surprisingly brief period. You have attracted power, in that your fundamental principles have conquered more in seventyfive years than Rome by arms in centuries. Your principles will conquer the world. By the glorious example of your freedom, welfare and security, mankind is about to become conscious of its aim. The lesson you give to humanity will not be lost; and the respect of the state rights in the federal government of America, and in its several states, will become an instructive example for universal toleration, forbearance, and justice, to the future states and republics of Europe. Upon this basis will be got rid of the mysterious question of language and nationalities, raised by the cunning despotisms in Europe to murder liberty; and the smaller states will find security in the principles of federative union, while they will conserve their national freedom by the principles of sovereign self-government; and while larger states, abdicating the principle of centralization, will cease to be a blood-field to sanguinary usurpation, and a tool to the ambition of wicked men, municipal institutions will insure the developement of local particular elements. Freedom, formerly an abstract political theory, will become the household benefit to municipalities; and out of the welfare and contentment of all parts will flow happiness, peace and security of the whole. That is my confident hope. Then will at once subside the fluctuations of Germany's fate. LXXV. SCOTT AND THE VETERAN. BAYARD TAYLOR. An old and crippled veteran to the War Department came. He sought the Chief who led him, on many a field of fame The Chief who shouted "Forward!" where e'er his banner rose, And bore his stars in triumph behind the flying foes. "Have you forgotten, General," the battered soldier cried, "The days of eighteen hundred twelve, when I was at your side? Have you forgotten Johnson, that fought at Lundy's Lane? 'T is true, I'm old, and pensioned, but I want to fight again." "Have I forgotten?" said the Chief, "my brave old soldier, No! And here's the hand I gave you then, and let it tell you so ; But you have done your share, my friend; you're crippled, old, and gray, And we have need of younger arms and fresher blood to-day." "But, General!" cried the veteran, a flush upon his brow, "The very men who fought with us, they say, are traitors, now; They've torn the flag of Lundy's Lane, our old red, white, and blue, And while a drop of blood is left, I'll show that drop is true. I'm not so weak but I can strike, and I've a good old gun To get the range of traitors' hearts, and pick them one by one. Your Minie rifles, and such arms, it ain't worth while to try ; I couldn't get the hang o' them, but I'll keep my powder dry!" "God bless you, comrade!" said the Chief "God bless your loyal heart! But younger men are in the field, and claim to have their part. They 'll plant our sacred banner in each rebellious town, And woe, henceforth, to any hand, that dares to pull it down!" And some, you know, must bite the dust, and that, at least, can I; My soul would go to Washington's, and not to Arnold's place!" |