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Scarce had her fingers touch'd the torch,
When, frighted by the sparks it shed,
Nor waiting e'en to feel the scorch,

She dropped it to the earth-and fled.

And fall'n it might have long remain'd;
But Greece, who saw her moment now,
Caught up the prize, though prostrate, stain'd,
And waved it round her beauteous brow.

And fancy bade me mark where, o'er
Her altar, as its flame ascended,
Fair laurell'd spirits seem'd to soar,
Who thus in song their voices blended
"Shine, shine for ever, glorious flame,
Divinest gift of God to men!

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From Greece thy earliest splendour came,
To Greece thy ray returns again.

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Take, freedom, take thy radiant round;
When dimm'd, revive,-when lost, return,
Till not a shrine through earth be found,
On which thy glories shall not burn!"

MOORE.

38.-CHARACTER OF WILLIAM PENN.

WILLIAM PENN stands the first among the lawgivers, whose names and deeds are recorded in history. Shail we compare with him Lycurgus, Solon, Romulus, those founders of military commonwealths, who organized their citizens in dreadful array against the rest of their species, taught them to consider their fellow men as barbarians, and themselves as alone worthy to rule over the earth? What benefit did mankind derive from their boasted institutions? Interrogate the shades of those who fell in the mighty contests between Athens and Lacedæmon, between Carthage and Rome, and between Rome and the rest of the universe.

But see William Penn, with weaponless hand, sitting down peaceably with his followers in the midst of savage nations, whose only occupation was shedding the blood of

their fellow men, disarming them by his justice, and teaching them, for the first time, to view a stranger without distrust. See them bury their tomahawks in his presence so deep, that man shall never be able to find them again. See them under the shade of the thick groves of Coaquannock extend the bright chain of friendship, and solemnly promise to preserve it as long as the sun and moon shall endure. See him then with his companions establishing his commonwealth on the sole basis of religion, morality, and universal love, and adopting as the fundamental maxim of his government the rule handed down to us from heaven, glory to God on high, and on earth peace, and good will to all men. Here was a spectacle for the potentates of the earth to look upon, an example for them to imitate. But the potentates of the earth did not see, or if they saw, they turned away their eyes from the sight: they did not hear, or if they heard, they shut their ears against the voice, which called out to them from the wilderness.

Discite justitiam moniti et non temnere Divos.

The character of William Penn alone sheds a neverfading lustre on our history. DUPONCEAU.

39.-SPEECH OF A CHRISTIAN MARTYR.

FOR what have these my brethren died? Answer me, priests of Rome; what temple did they force-what altar overthrow-what insults offer to the slightest of your public celebrations? Judges of Rome, what offence did they commit against the public peace? Consuls, where were they found in rebellion against the Roman majesty? People! patricians! who among your thousands can charge one of these holy dead with extortion, impurity, or violence; can charge them with any thing, but the patience that bore wrong without a murmur, and the charity that answered tortures only by prayers?

Do I stand here demanding to be believed for opinions? No; but for facts. I have seen the sick made whole, the lame walk, the blind receive their sight, by the mere name of Him whom you crucified. I have seen men once ignorant of all languages but their own, speaking with the language of every nation under heaven-the still greater

wonder, of the timid defying all fear-the unlearned instantly made wise in the mysteries of things divine and human-putting to shame the learned-humbling the proud -enlightening the darkened; alike in the courts of kings, before the furious people, and in the dungeon, armed with an irrepressible spirit of knowledge, reason and truth, that confounded their adversaries.

I have seen the still greater wonder of the renewed heart; the impure, suddenly abjuring vice; the covetous, the cruel, the faithless, the godless, gloriously changed into the holy, the gentle, the faithful, the worshipper of the true God in spirit and in truth; the conquest of the passions which defied your philosophers, your tribunals, your rewards, your terrors, achieved in the one mighty name. There are facts, things which I have seen; and who that had seen them could doubt, that the finger of the eternal God was there?

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I dared not refuse my belief to the divine mission of the Being by whom, and even in memory of whom, things, baffling the proudest human means, were wrought before my eyes. Thus irresistibly compelled by facts to believe that Christ was sent by God; I was with equal force compelled to believe in the doctrines declared by this glorious Messenger of the Father alike of quick and dead. And thus I stand before you this day, at the close of a long life of labour and hazard, a Christian. CROLY.

40.-PROPERTY AN ELEMENT OF SOCIETY.

THE question before us, is not whether a majority shall rule in the legislature, but of what elements that majority shall be composed. If the interests of the several parts of the commonwealth were identical, it would be, we admit, safe and proper that a majority of persons only should give the rule of political power. But our interests are not identical, and the difference between us arises from property alone. We therefore contend that property ought to be considered, in fixing the basis of representation.

What, sir, are the constituent elements of society? Persons and property. What are the subjects of legislation Persons and property. Was there ever a society seen on

earth which consisted only of men, women and children? The very idea of society carries with it the idea of property, as its necessary and inseparable attendant. History cannot show any form of the social compact, at any time, or in any place, into which property did not enter as a constituent element, nor one in which that element did not enjoy protection in a greater or less degree. Nor was there ever a society in which the protection once extended to property was afterward withdrawn, which did not fall an easy prey to violence and disorder. Society cannot exist without property; it constitutes the full half of its being.

Take away all protection from property, and our next business is to cut each other's throats. All experience proves this. The safety of men depends on the safety of property; the rights of persons must mingle in the ruin of the rights of property. And shall it not then be protected? Sir, your government cannot move an inch without property. Are you to have no political head? No legislature to make laws? no judiciary to interpret them? no executive to enforce them? And if you are to have all these departments, will they render their services out of mere grace and favour, and for the honour and glory of the thing? Not in these money-loving days, depend on it. If we would find patriotism thus disinterested, we must indeed go back to a period prior to Bible history.

And what are the subjects upon which the law-making power is called to act? Persons and property. To these two subjects, and not to one of them alone, is the business of legislation confined. And of these two, it may be fairly asserted that property is not only of equal, but even of more importance. The laws which relate to our personal actions, with reference to the body politic; which prescribe the duties which we owe to the public, or define and punish crime, are comparatively few in number, and simple in their provisions. And one half of these few find their best sanctions in public opinion. But the ramifications of the rights of property are infinite. Volume upon volume, which few of us, I fear, are able to understand, are required to contain even the leading principles relating to them; and yet new relations are every day arising, which require continual interpositions of the legislative power.

If, then, sir, property is thus necessary to the very being

of society; thus indispensable to every movement of government; if it be that subject upon which government chiefly acts; is it not, I would ask, entitled to such protection as shall be above all suspicion, and free from every hazard?

Gentlemen have admitted the principle, that property must be protected, and protected in the very form now proposed; they are obliged to admit it. It would be a wild and impracticable scheme of government, which did not admit it. Among all the various and numerous propositions, lying upon your table, is there one which goes the length of proposing universal suffrage? There is none. Yet this subject is in direct connexion with that. Why do you not admit a pauper to vote? He is a person: he counts one in your numerical majority. In rights strictly personal, he has as much interest in the government as any other citizen. He is liable to commit the same offences, and to become exposed to the same punishments as the rich man. Why, then, shall he not vote?

Because, thereby, he would receive an influence over property; and all who own it, feel it to be unsafe to put the power of controlling it into the hands of those who are not the owners. If you go on population alone, as the basis of representation, you will be obliged to go the length of giving the elective franchise to every human being over twenty-one years,-yes, and under twenty-one years, -on whom your penal laws take effect; an experiment, which has met with nothing but utter and disastrous failure, wherever it has been tried. No, Mr. Chairman, let us be consistent; let us openly acknowledge the truth; let us boldly take the bull by the horns, and incorporate this influence of property as a leading principle in our constitution. We cannot be otherwise consistent with ourselves.

I was surprised to hear the assertion made by gentlemen on the other side, that property can protect itself. What is the meaning of such a proposition? Is there any thing in property, to exert this self-protecting influence, but the political power which always attends it? Is there any thing in mere property alone, in itself considered, to exert any such influence? Can a bag of golden guineas, if placed upon that table, protect itself? Can it protect its owner? I do not know what magic power the gentlemen allude to.

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