But as this thought perplex'd his lab'ring brain, His son, all sudden smil'd, and cheering said, Return'd;-Delphina bless'd their eager eyes, My friend !-in this bless'd moment, be it mine, And sacrifice my passions at thy throne. So saying with a smile their hands he join'd, And his rich prize, with deep-drawn sighs, resign'd. Virtue was pleas'd, and own'd in heav'n above, How deeds, like these, e'en Gods with pleasure move; Gentle Compassion shed a tear of joy, The lyre of Gratitude breath'd warbling through the sky. What conscious pleasure touch'd the Father's breast, Lest, in the attempt, the fault'ring Muse prove weak, ง SIXTH SECTION. RETROSPECTIVE HISTORY OF AMERICA. E are, again, compelled to omit this section, in consequence of the multitude of more important matters demanding our attention. Even, as it is, the insertion of many interesting communications, from different parts of the Union, we are obliged to post-pone for want of room, to some future opportunity ;-if ever that opportunity shall arrive.And a number of valuable American Publications, which have been sent to us, for the purpose of being reviewed, we are compelled to lay by on our shelves, till we can find the means of introducing them to the public. We cheerfully embrace this opportunity of offering our acknowledgments to all those authors, and book-sellers, who have sent us their works to be reviewed. It shall always be our chief care to render the reviewing department, which is by far the most important branch of our labours, such, as to comport with the strictest impartiality and justice;-to encourage every effort of genius, of learning, and of virtue ;—and to repress every attempt of vice, of ignorance, of stupidity, and of impudence., SEVENTH SECTION. HISTORY OF THE PASSING TIMES. Non-importation-Bill (Continued from UCH is all friendship between one nation and another, that it is all a computation of individual aggrandizement, of national security, and of extended influence. Yet periods will force themselves upon us, when all these considerations must bow to the general good, when it becomes the interest of each to consult the safety of the whole; and when the tranquillity, the safety, nay, the very existence of each nation, depends upon the unanimity and promptitude with which the whole are known to act. And such a period is the one under review. By the battle of Austerlitz, the further efforts of the house of Austria were rendered nugatory terms of peace had been dictated to the Emperor within the walls of his own capital; and the temporizing policy of Prussia had obliquely pointed out its future destiny. Russia and Sweden had retired within the precincts of their own dominions; while D'Oubril in Paris, was paving the way to a treaty which was to prostrate the honour of his sovereign at the feet of the French Emperor. The petty princes of the Germanic body, crouching beneath the paw of the tyger, had either joined their feeble strength to his, or had been permitted to maintain a doubtful neutrality; while the relations, and other minions, of the merciless conqueror, were raised to thrones and dukedoms, and principalities, and powers, erected on the ruins of the lawful sovereigns, now driven into exile, or receiving an existence from the hands of their tyrannic master, scarcely worth their endurance. In the midst of all these disastrous changes, and almost alone, Great-Britain stood unbending and erect. Her brave sons, yet bleeding with the wounds received on the memorable shores of Trafalgar, seemed to absorb the anguish of their sufferings in the enthusiastic desire of again encountering their deadly enemies, and of again meeting other fleets, doomed by them to as signal destruction as the former. The mantle of NELSON had been dropped on many of his gallant associates; and they were only waiting for opportunities, for the display of talent and of valour, which should rival the fame of their once beloved leader. What an ennobling spectacle does this present to our view! Of a nation successfully opposing a foe whose gigantic power was sweeping away nearly all the continental governments of Europe, and who was looking with full purpose, and malignant design, for the favourable moment when he should seize on the only barrier to universal dominion.And yet this nation, undaunted, and undismayed, presenting a front, bold and daring, as if even in numbers it were superior to its enraged antagonist! Without supposing Mr. Randolph to have been influenced by views similar to our own, in his opposition to the resolution in question; yet something like the picture we have drawn must have presented itself to his imagination, when he entered upon the most interesting part of the discussion. He seems to have accurately appreciated the real situation which Great-Britain had to sustain in the present contest, and to have scanned, with a statesman's eye, the danger to be apprehended from the increasing power of France, even to the United States, should Great-Britain ever fall beneath the weight of that iron arm. "Great-Britain," said Mr. R. "violates your flag on the high seas. What is her situation? "Contending, not for the dismantling of Dunkirk, for Que"bec, or Pondicherry, but for London and Westminster-for "life. Her enemy violating, at will, the territories of other "nations, acquiring thereby a colossal power that threatens "the very existence of her rival. But she has one yulnera"rable point to the arms of her adversary, which she covers "with the ensigns of neutrality, she draws the neutral flag 66 over the heel of Achilles. And can you ask that adversary "to respect it at the expence of her existence?-and in favour " of whom? An enemy that respects no neutral territory of +6 Europe, and not even your own." |