6. We owe a debt of gratitude to our brave and noble army -both officers and men- -who have gone forth to do battle for the Union, to preserve our liberties intact and our country from division. Let us bear them in our prayers at the throne of grace, that the God of battles the sword's great Arbiter -may support them in this righteous conflict, and protect them amid the dull cannon's roar, the murderous burst of shell, the hail of bullets, and the clash of steel,

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7. The hosts who have rushed to the rescue at the call of danger, and who have measured weapons with the enemy, are fired with the ancient patriotism which changed those colonies into this republic. Those who wait to join the fray are patriots too, whose martial honor is as bright as ever glowed within human bosoms. From the North and the East and the West have they come, in all the vigor and strength and steadfastness of lusty manhood. The flower of the people are the nation's defenders.

8. Perilous days, undoubtedly, are those that are passing now. They are trying men's souls. But piety is enduring, and is certain to conquer. Faith lifts the veil that hides the unseen, and beholds, with Elisha, the horses and the chariots of fire. Engagements have been fought, and still will be. In the moment of the deadliest struggle, when the serried ranks of our troops shall press hard upon a desperate enemy - though portions of that foe shall lurk in ambush, in hope of dealing death to others, without exposure to themselves God is present on the battle-field. And who that put their trust in Him did ever so in vain?

9. God is in the midst of the sea-in the calm and the storm and the tempest. God is with those who go down to the sea in ships, for commerce or for defensive war. Are there no horses or chariots of fire to surround the bows and sterns of the fleet? They were about Elisha on the mountain-they

are in the air, for they carried Elijah to glory; and, verily, they were in front of our armada on that historic day, and were to our veterans a wall of brass, when they captured the forts at Port Royal. An eye-witness says, "On no occasion have I had greater reason to thank the Almighty for bringing me through so many hair-breadth escapes as I this day experienced during the four hours we remained under the fire of the enemy's guns, which could only be likened to a shower of hail. The death-dealing missiles came so fast and thick that to the sacredness of our cause alone can we attribute the miraculousness of our not having to report a too dearly-bought victory."

10. Not twenty deaths resulted in the squadron from this terrific conflict, and this is but the commencement of the end. Have faith in God; cultivate a spirit of trust and gratitude. There are windows in heaven through which the Lord is watching the progress of this mighty struggle. We may expect emergencies — great emergencies; but, under God, they will be the means of developing great men men of enlarged comprehension patriots of singular wisdom — men of unity of feeling and of purpose-men rather attached to principles than solicitous of results-Heaven-sent men—the right men in the right place at the right time will scorn a compromise, but who will heal a breach. 11. Let us, then, prayerfully look forward to the time of conscientious and fraternal reconciliation; when the crimes of the present shall pass into history; when Reason shall again assume her when the fiat shall be shouted "Plant that flag

sway;

On fort and crag,

With the people's voice of thunder!"

men who

and the flag of our Union shall float once more on the breeze, from every arsenal and public building in every State, and be

loved and reverenced as heretofore, without the subtraction of one solitary star, without the erasure of a single stripe, and with all its original luster undimmed, untarnished, unobscured.

May God preserve the Union! May it be disrupted never never!

XXX.-MILITARY INSUBORDINATION.

HENRY CLAY.

1. I will not trespass much longer upon the time of the committee; but I trust I shall be indulged with some few reflections upon the danger of permitting the conduct on which it has been my painful duty to animadvert, to pass without a solemn expression of the disapprobation of this House. Recall to your mind the free nations which have gone before us. Where are they now?

"Gone glimmering through the dream of things that were, A school-boy's tale, the wonder of an hour."

And how have they lost their liberties? If we could transport ourselves back to the ages when Greece and Rome flourished in their greatest prosperity, and, mingling in the throng, should ask a Grecian whether he did not fear that some daring military chieftain, covered with glory, some Philip or Alexander, would one day overthrow the liberties of his country, the confident and indignant Grecian would exclaim, No! no! we have nothing to fear from our heroes; our liberties shall be eternal.

2. If a Roman citizen had been asked whether he did not fear that the conqueror of Gaul might establish a throne upon the ruins of public liberty, he would have instantly repelled the unjust insinuation. Yet Greece fell; Cæsar passed the

Rubicon, and the patriotic arm even of Brutus could not preserve the liberties of his devoted country! The celebrated Madame de Staël, in her last and perhaps her best work, has said, that in the very year, almost the very month, when the president of the directory declared that monarchy would never show its frightful head in France, Bonaparte with his grenadiers entered the palace of St. Cloud, and, dispersing with the bayonet the deputies of the people, deliberating on the affairs of the state, laid the foundation of that vast fabric of despotism which overshadowed all Europe.

3. I hope not to be misunderstood; I am far from intimating that General Jackson cherishes any designs inimical to the liberties of the country. I believe his intentions to be pure and patriotic. I thank God that he would not, but I thank Him still more that he could not if he would, overturn the liberties of the Republic. But precedents, if bad, are fraught with the most dangerous consequences. Man has been described, by some of those who have treated of his nature, as a bundle of habits. The definition is much truer when applied to governments. Precedents are their habits. There is one important difference between the formation of habits by an individual and by governments. He contracts it only after frequent repetition. A single instance fixes the habit and determines the direction of governments.

4. Against the alarming doctrine of unlimited discretion in our military commanders, when applied even to prisoners of war, I must enter my protest. It begins upon them; it will end on us. I hope our happy form of government is to be perpetual. But if it is to be preserved, it must be by the practice of virtue, by justice, by moderation, by magnanimity, by greatness of soul, by keeping a watchful and steady eye on the executive; and, above all, by holding to a strict accountability the military branch of the public force.

5. We are fighting a great moral battle, for the benefit not only of our country, but of all mankind. The eyes of the whole world are in fixed attention upon us. One, and the largest portion of it, is gazing with contempt, with jealousy, and with envy; the other portion, with hope, with confidence, and with affection. Everywhere the black cloud of legitimacy is suspended over the world, save only one bright spot, which breaks out from the political hemisphere of the west, to enlighten and animate and gladden the human heart. Obscure that, by the downfall of liberty here, and all mankind are enshrouded in a pall of universal darkness.

6. To you, Mr. Chairman, belongs the high privilege of transmitting unimpaired to posterity, the fair character and liberty of our country. Do you expect to execute this high trust, by trampling or suffering to be trampled down, law, justice, the constitution, and the rights of the people? by exhibiting examples of inhumanity and cruelty and ambition? When the minions of despotism heard, in Europe, of the seizure of Pensacola, how did they chuckle, and chide the admirers of our institutions, tauntingly pointing to the demonstration of a spirit of injustice and aggrandizement made by our country, in the midst of an amicable negotiation! Behold, said they, the conduct of those who are constantly reproaching kings! You saw how those admirers were astounded and hung their heads. You saw, too, when that illustrious man who presides over us, adopted his pacific, moderate, and just course, how they once more lifted up their heads, with exultation and delight beaming in their countenances. And you saw how those minions themselves were finally compelled to unite in the general praises bestowed upon our government. Beware how you forfeit this exalted character. Beware how you give a fatal sanction, in this infant period of our republic, scarcely yet two-score years old,