Henry condemned, in every aspect, the proposal to substitute for "a corrupt House of Commons" a "corruptible legislature," and entrust the power of taxation to a body not elected directly by the people. His views were those of the majority, and the dangerous proposition met with a prompt defeat. The Suffolk County resolutions, adopted on the 9th of September, at Milton, Massachusetts, had reached Philadelphia and the Congress on the 17th, and awakened in every breast the warmest admiration and sympathy. Resolutions were unanimously adopted expressing these feelings in earnest language, recommending to their brethren of Suffolk County "a perseverance in the same firm and temperate conduct,". and urging upon the people of the other colonies the duty of contributing freely to the necessities of the Bos tonians. 1 66 Such an appeal as this could not have waited long for a worthy answer from the men of the First American Congress. The letter was received upon October 6th. Two days later the official journal contains these words: Upon motion, it was resolved that this Congress approve the opposition of the inhabitants of the Massachusetts Bay to the execution of the late acts of Parliament; and if the same shall be attempted to be carried into execution, all America ought to support them in their opposition." This," says the historian, "is the measure which hardened George III. to listen to no terms." In vain conciliation and kind words; in vain all assurances of affection and of loyalty. The men of Massachusetts are traitors to their king, and the Congress of all the colonies upholds them in rebellion. "Henceforth," says Bancroft, conciliation became impossible." There now came a still more touching appeal from Massachusetts. "The governor, it said, "was suffering the soldiery to treat both town and country as declared enemies;" the course of trade was stopped; the administration of law obstructed, a state of anarchy prevailed. Filled with the spirit which in olden times had led the Athenians to leave their city to the foe and make their ships their country, this gallant people promised to obey should the Congress advise them to quit their town;" but if it is judged, they added, "that by maintaining their ground they can better serve the public cause, they will not shrink from hardship and danger.' "bred amid trials and privations, chosen from * The spirit of this people is reflected in a letter from Boston, printed in The Pennsylvania Packet for October 10, 1774, describing a conversation which the writer had with a fisherman : "I said, 'Don't you think it time to submit, pay for the tea and get the harbor opened?—‘Submit? No! It can never be time to become slaves. I Having thus asserted their rights to the enjoyment of life, liberty and fortune, their resistance to taxation without representation, their purpose to defend their ancient charters from assault; having denounced the slavetrade in language which startled the world, and recognized, for the first time in history, the people as the source of authority; having laid the firm foundations of a union based upon freedom and equality,-the First Congress passed out of existence on the 26th of October, after a session of two and fifty days. Half a hundred men, born in a new country, every rank of life, untried in diplomacy, un have yet some pork and meal; and when they are gone I will eat clams; and after we have dug up all the clambanks, if the Congress will not let us fight, I will retreat to the woods. I am always sure of acorns.'" † Bancroft's History of the United States, vol. vii. p. 145. skilled in letters, untrained in statecraft, called suddenly together in a troubled time to advise a hitherto divided people, they had shown a tact, a judgment, a self-command and a sincere love of country hardly to be found in the proudest annals of antiquity. And their countrymen were worthy of them. If the manner in which they had fulfilled their duties had been extraordinary, the spirit with which their counsels were received was still more remarkable. In every part of the country the recommendations of the Congress were obeyed as binding law. No despotic power in any period of history exercised over the mind and hearts of men a more complete control. The Articles of Association were, signed by tens of thousands, the spirit of union grew strong in every breast, and the Americans steadily prepared to meet the worst. From the moment of their first debates," De Tocqueville says, "Europe was moved." || The judgment of John Adams declared them to be, "in point of abilities, virtues and fortunes, the greatest men upon the continent."¶ Charles Thomson, in the evening of his wellspent life, pronounced them "the purest and ablest patriots he had ever known;"** and in the very face of king and Parliament the illustrious Chatham spoke of them the wellknown words: "I must avow and declare that in all my reading of history-and it has been my favorite study: I have read Thucydides and admired the master-states of the world—that for solidity of reasoning, force of sagacity and wisdom of conclusion, under such a complication of circumstances, no nation or body of men can stand in preference to the General Congress assembled in Philadelphia."++ Long years have passed, and there have been many changes in the governments of men; the century which has elapsed has been crowded with great events; The stirring influence of this example penetrated to the most distant lands. The Congress," wrote Dr. Franklin from London in the following winter, "is in high favor here among the friends of liberty.' "but the calm judgment of posterity has con"For a long time," cried the eloquent Charles firmed that opinion, and mankind has not Botta, "no spectacle has been offered to the ceased to admire the spectacle which was attention of mankind of so powerful an in- once enacted here. terest as this of the present American Congress.""It is impossible," says the Scotch writer Grahame, "to read of its transactions HENRY ARMITT BROWN. CONTENTMENT. A FALSE STEP. WEET, thou hast trod on a heart. Pass! there's a world full of men; And women as fair as thou art Must do such things now and then. Thou only hast stepped unaware— Malice not one can impute; And why should a heart have been there It was not a stone that could trip, 'Twas merely the heart of a friend. And yet peradventure one day Thou, sitting alone at the glass, And seeking around thee in vain From hundreds who flattered before, Thou'lt sigh, very like, on thy part, "Of all I have known or can know, I wish I had only that heart I trod upon ages ago ין ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING. THE BULL-FIGHT OF GAZUL. FROM THE SPANISH. 'Tis the holy Baptist's feast they hold in royalty and state, And they have closed the spacious lists beside the Alhambra's gate; In gowns of black, and silver-laced, within the tented ring, Eight Moors, to fight the bull, are placed in presence of the king. Eight Moorish lords of valor tried, with stalwart arm and true, The onset of the beasts abide, come trooping The deeds they've done, the spoils they've Then sounds the trumpet clearly; then clangs the loud tambour : Make room, make room for Gazul! Throw wide, throw wide the door! Blow, blow the trumpet clearer still, more loudly strike the drum': The alcayde of Algava to fight the bull doth come! And first before the king he passed, with reverence stooping low, And next he bowed him to the queen, and the infantas all a-rowe; Then to his lady's grace he turned, and she to him did throw ING ALMANZOR of Granada, he hath A scarf from out her balcony, was whiter bid the trumpet sound, He hath summoned all the Moorish lords from the hills and plains around; From Vega and Sierra, from Betis and Xenil, They have come with helm and cuirass of gold and twisted steel. than the snow. With the life-blood of the slaughtered lords all slippery is the sand, Yet proudly in the centre hath Gazul ta'en his stand; And ladies look with heaving breast, and Upon the forehead of the bull the horns stand But the lance is firmly in its rest and his look From out the broad and wrinkled skull like Three bulls against the knight are loosed, and two come roaring on; He rises high in stirrup, forth stretching his! rejon; daggers they appear; His neck is massy, like the trunk of some old Whereon the monster's shagged mane like Each furious beast upon the breast he deals His legs are short, his hams are thick, his He blindly totters and gives back, across the Like a strong flail he holds his tail in fierce The mountaineers that lead the steers with- Now stops the drum; close, close they come ; out stand whispering low: "Now thinks this proud alcayde to stun Harpado so?" From Guadiana comes he not, he comes not from Xenil, From Guadalarif of the plain or Barves of the hill; thrice meet, and thrice give back; The white foam of Harpado lies on the char- The white foam of the charger on Harpado's Once more advance upon his lance-once But where from out the forest burst Xarama's Once more, once more! In dust and gore to ruin must thou reel ; waters clear. Beneath the oak trees was he nursed, this In vain, in vain thou tearest the sand with proud and stately steer. Dark is his hide on either side, but the blood within doth boil, And the dun hide glows as if on fire as he paws to the turmoil: furious heel; In vain, in vain, thou noble beast, I see, I see Now keen and cold thy neck must hold the His eyes are jet, and they are set in crystal They have slipped a noose around his feet; But now they stare with one red glare of And away they drag Harpado with a loud brass upon the foe. 1 |