In the midst of these enjoyments, and the most sincere attachment to the

mother country, to their king and his government, the people of South

Carolina, without any original design on their part, were step by step

drawn into an extensive war, which involved them in every species of

difficulty, and finally dissevered them from the parent state.

... Every thing in the colonies contributed to nourish a spirit of

liberty and independence. They were planted under the auspices of the

English constitution in its purity and vigor. Many of their inhabitants

had imbibed a largo portion of that spirit which brought one tyrant to

the block, and expelled another from his dominions. They were

communities of separate, independent individuals, for the most part

employed in cultivating a fruitful soil, and under no general influence

but of their own feelings and opinions; they were not led by powerful

families, or by great officers in church or state.... Every inhabitant

was, or easily might be, a freeholder. Settled on lands of his own, he

was both farmer and landlord. Having no superior to whom he was obliged

to look up, and producing all the necessaries of life from his own

grounds, he soon became independent. His mind was equally free from all

the restraints of superstition. No ecclesiastical establishment invaded

the rights of conscience, or lettered the free-born mind. At liberty to

act and think as his inclination prompted, he disdained the ideas of

dependence and subjection.

* * * * *

=_Henry Lee,[34] 1736-1818._=

From "Memoirs" of the War in the South.

=_115._= CLARKE'S SERVICES AGAINST THE INDIANS.

JOHN RODGERS CLARKE, colonel in the service of Virginia, against our

neighbors the Indians in the revolutionary war, was among our best

soldiers, and better acquainted with the Indian warfare than any officer

in our army. This gentleman, after one of his campaigns, met in Richmond

several of our cavalry officers, and devoted all his leisure in

ascertaining from them the various uses to which horse were applied,

as well as the manner of such application. The information he acquired

determined him to introduce this species of force against the Indians,

as that of all others the most effectual.

By himself, by Pickens, and lately by Wayne, was the accuracy of

Clarke's opinion justified....

The Indians, when fighting with infantry, are very daring. This temper

of mind results from his consciousness of his superior fleetness; which,

together with his better knowledge of woods, assures to him extrication

out of difficulties, though desperate. This is extinguished when he

finds that, he is to save himself from the pursuit of horse, and with

its extinction falls that habitual boldness.

[Footnote 34: In the revolutionary war he was distinguished as a cavalry

officer, and subsequently, in political life, as a writer and speaker.]

* * * * *

=_116._= THE CAREER OF CAPTAIN KIRKWOOD.

The State of Delaware furnished one regiment only; and certainly no

regiment in the army surpassed it in soldiership. The remnant of that

corps, less thaw two companies, from the battle of Camden, was commanded

by Captain Kirkwood, who passed through the war with high reputation;

and yet, as the line of Delaware consisted of but one regiment, and

that regiment was reduced to a captain's command. Kirkwood never

could be promoted in regular routine--a very glaring defect in the

organization of the army, as it gave advantages to parts of the same

army denied to other portions of it. The sequel is singularly hard.

Kirkwood retired, upon peace, as a captain; and when the army under St.

Clair was raised to defend the west from the Indian enemy, this veteran

resumed his sword as the eldest captain in the oldest regiment.

In the decisive defeat of the 4th of November,[35] the gallant

Kirkwood fell, bravely sustaining his point of the action. It was the

thirty-third time he had risked his life for his country; and he died as

he had lived, the brave, meritorious, unrewarded Kirkwood.

[Footnote 35: St. Clair's defeat.]

* * * * *

=_Peter S. Duponceau,[36] 1760-1844._=

From "An Address."

=_117._= CHARACTER OF PENN.

WILLIAM PENN stands the first among the lawgivers whose names and deeds

are recorded in history. Shall we compare him with Lycurgus, Solon,

Romulus, those founders of military commonwealths, who organized their

citizens in deadly 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?... 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 towards men."

[Footnote 36: An eminent jurist and philologist, of French origin, but

for many years a citizen of Philadelphia.]

* * * * *

=_Charles J. Ingersoll,[37] 1782-1862._=

From the "Historical Sketch" of the War of 1812.

=_118._= CALHOUN CHARACTERIZED

John Caldwell Calhoun was the same slender, erect, and ardent logician,

politician, and sectarian, in the House of Representatives in 1814 that

he is in the Senate of 1847. Speaking with aggressive aspect, flashing

eye, rapid action and enunciation, unadorned argument, eccentricity of

judgment, unbounded love of rule, impatient, precipitate, kind temper,

excellent in colloquial attractions, caressing the young, not courting

rulers; conception, perception, and demonstration quick and clear, with

logical precision arguing paradoxes, and carrying home conviction beyond

rhetorical illustration; his own impressions so intense as to discredit,

scarcely listen to, any other suggestions; well educated and informed.

[Footnote 37: A native of Pennsylvania; long conspicuous in the law,

literature, and political life.]

* * * * *

=_119._= BATTLE OF CHIPPEWA.

In a fair national trial of the military faculties, courage, activity,

and fortitude, discipline, gunnery, and tactics, for the first time the

palm was awarded by Englishmen to Americans over Englishmen. Without

fortuitous advantage the Americans proved too much for the redoubtable

English, though superior in number, therefore universally arrogating to

themselves even with inferior numbers, a mastery but faintly questioned

by most Americana; no accident to depreciate the triumph of the younger

over the older nation; no more fortune than what favors the bravest.

Physical and even corporeal national characteristics, did not escape

comparison in this normal contest. The American rather more active and

more demonstrative than his ancestors, many of the officers of imposing

figure, Scott and McNeil particularly, towering with gigantic stature

above the rest, stood opposed in striking contrast to the short, thick,

brawny, burly Briton, hard to overcome.... The Marquis of Tweedale,

with his sturdy, short person, and stubborn courage, represented

the British.... Even the names betokened at once consanguinity and

hostility. Scott, McNeill, and McRee, in arms against Gordon, Hay, and

Maconochie. And the harsh Scotch nomenclature, compared with the more

euphonious savage Canada, Chippewa, Niagara, which latter modern English

prosody has corrupted from the measure of Goldsmith's Traveller:--

"Where wild Oswego spreads her swamps around,

And Niagara stuns with thundering sound."

... Mankind impressed by numbers and bloodshed, regard the second more

extensive battle near the falls of Niagara, on the 25th of the same

month, between the same parties with British reinforcements, known as

the battle of Bridgewater, as more important than its precursor.... The

victory of Chippewa was the resurrection or birth of American arms,

after their prostration by so long disuse, and when at length taken up

again, by such continual and deplorable failures, that the martial and

moral influence of the first decided victory opened and characterized

an epoch in the annals and intercourse of the two kindred and rival

nations, whose language is to be spoken, as their institutions are

rapidly spreading, throughout most of mankind. Fought between only some

three or four thousand men in both armies, at a place remote from

either of their countries, the battle of Chippewa may not bear vulgar

comparison with the great military engagements of modern Europe.

... The charm of British military invincibility was as effectually

broken, by a single brigade, as that of naval supremacy was by a single

frigate, as much as if a large army or fleet had been the agent.

* * * * *

=_Henry M. Brackenridge,[38] 1786-._= (Manual, p. 505.)

From "Recollections of the West."

=_120._= OLD ST. GENEVIEVE, IN MISSOURI.

The house of M. Beauvais was a long, low building, with a porch or shed

in front, and another in the rear; the chimney occupied the center,

dividing the house into two parts, with each a fireplace. One of these

served for dining-room, parlor, and principal bed-chamber; the other was

the kitchen; and each had a small room taken off at the end for private

chambers or cabinets. There was no loft or garret, a pair of stairs

being a rare thing in the village. The furniture, excepting the beds and

the looking-glass, was of the most common kind.... The yard was enclosed

with cedar pickets, eight or ten inches in diameter, and six feet high,

placed upright, sharpened at the top, in the manner of a stockade fort.

In front the yard was narrow, but in the rear quite spacious, and

containing the barn and stables, the negro quarters, and all the

necessary offices of a farm-yard. Beyond this, there was a spacious

garden enclosed with pickets....

The pursuits of the inhabitants were chiefly agricultural, although all

were more or less engaged in traffic for peltries with the Indians, or

in working the lead mines in the interior. Peltry and lead constituted

almost the only circulating medium. All politics, or discussions of the

affairs of government were entirely unknown; the commandant took care

of all that sort of thing. But instead of them, the processions and

ceremonies of the church, and the public balls, furnished ample matter

for occupation and amusement. Their agriculture was carried on in a

field of several thousand acres, enclosed at the common expense, and

divided into lots.... Whatever they may have gained in some respects, I

question very much whether the change of government has contributed to

increase their happiness. About a quarter of a mile off, there was a

village of Kickapoo Indians, who lived on the most friendly terms with

the white people. The boys often intermingled with those of the

white village, and practised shooting with the bow and arrow--an

accomplishment which I acquired with the rest, together with a little

smattering of the Indian language, which I forgot on leaving the place.

[Footnote 38: Distinguished in literature and as a political writer; a

native of Pennsylvania.]

* * * * *

=_Gulian C. Verplanck, 1786-1870._= (Manual, p. 487.)

From the "Literary and Historical Discourses."

=_121._= THE SCHOOLMASTER.

The schoolmaster's occupation is laborious and ungrateful; its rewards

are scanty and precarious. He may indeed be, and he ought to be animated

by the consciousness of doing good, that best of all consolations, that

noblest of all motives. But that too must be often clouded by doubt and

uncertainty. Obscure and inglorious as his daily occupation may appear

to learned pride or worldly ambition, yet to be truly successful and

happy he must be animated by the spirit of the same great principles

which inspired the most illustrious benefactors of mankind. If he bring

to his task high talent and rich acquirement, he must be content to look

into distant years for the proof that his labors have not been wasted,

that the good seed which he daily scatters abroad does not fall on stony

ground and wither away, or among thorns to be choked by the cares, the

delusions, or the vices of the world. He must solace his toils with

the same prophetic faith that enabled the greatest of modern

philosophers,[39] amidst the neglect or contempt of his own times, to

regard himself as sowing the seeds of truth for posterity and the care

of Heaven. He must arm himself against disappointment and mortification

with a portion of that same noble confidence which soothed the greatest

of modern poets when weighed down by care and danger, by poverty, old

age, and blindness, still

"--In prophetic dreams he saw

The youth unborn with pious awe

Imbibe each virtue from his sacred page."

He must know and he must love to teach his pupils not the meager

elements of knowledge, but the secret and the use of their own

intellectual strength, exciting and enabling them hereafter to raise for

themselves the veil which covers the majestic form of Truth. He must

feel deeply the reverence due to the youthful mind fraught with mighty

though undeveloped energies and affections, and mysterious and eternal

destinies. Thence he must have learned to reverence himself and his

profession, and to look upon its otherwise ill-requited toils as their

own exceeding great reward.

If such are the difficulties and the discouragements, such the duties,

the motives, and the consolations of teachers who are worthy of that

name and trust, how imperious then the obligation upon every enlightened

citizen who knows and feels the value of such men to aid them, to cheer

them, and to honor them.

But let us not be content with barren honor to buried merit. Let us

prove our gratitude to the dead by faithfully endeavoring to elevate the

station, to enlarge the usefulness, and to raise the character of the

schoolmaster amongst us. Thus shall we best testify our gratitude to the

teachers and guides of our own youth, thus best serve our country,

and thus most effectually diffuse over our land light, and truth, and

virtue.

[Footnote 39: Bacon.]

* * * * *

=_John W. Francis, 1789-1861._= (Manual, pp. 487, 532.)

From his "Reminiscences."

=_122._= PUBLIC CHANGES DURING A SINGLE LIFETIME.

He who has passed a period of some three score years and upward, some

faithful Knickerbocker for instance, native born, and ever a resident

among us, whose tenacious memory enables him to meditate upon the

thirty thousand inhabitants at the time of his birth, with the almost

oppressive population of some seven hundred thousand which the city at

present contains; who contrasts the cheap and humble dwellings of

that earlier date, with the costly and magnificent edifices which now

beautify the metropolis; who studies the sluggish state of the mechanic

arts at the dawn of the Republic, and the mighty demonstrations of skill

which our Fulton, and our Stevens, our Douglas, our Hoe, and our Morse,

have produced; who remembers the few and humble water-craft conveyances

of days past, and now beholds the majestic leviathans of the ocean which

crowd our harbors; who contemplates the partial and trifling commercial

transactions of the Confederacy, with the countless millions of

commercial business which engross the people of the present day, in our

Union; who estimates the offspring of the press, and the achievements of

the telegraph, he who has been the spectator of all this, may be justly

said to have lived the period of many generations, and to have stored

within his reminiscences the progress of an era the most remarkable in

the history of his species.

If he awakens his attention to a consideration of the progress of

intellectual and ethical pursuits, if he advert to the prolific

demonstrations which surround him for the advancement of knowledge,

literary and scientific, moral and religious, the indomitable spirit of

the times strikes him with more than logical conviction. The beneficence

and humanity of his countrymen may be pointed out by contemplating her

noble free schools, her vast hospitals and asylums for the alleviation

of physical distress and mental infirmities; with the reflection that

all these are the triumphs of a self-governed people, accomplished

within the limited memory of an ordinary life. Should reading enlarge

the scope of his knowledge, let him study the times of the old Dutch

Governors, when the Ogdens erected the first church in the fort of New

Amsterdam, in 1642, and then survey the vast panoramic view around him

of the two hundred and fifty and more edifices, now consecrated to the

solemnities of religious devotion. It imparts gratification to know that

the old Bible which was used in that primary church of Van Twiller is

still preserved by a descendant of the builder, a precious relic of the

property of the older period, and of the devotional impulse of those

early progenitors. To crown the whole, time in its course has recognized

the supremacy of political and religious toleration, and established

constitutional freedom on the basis of equal rights and even and exact

justice to all men. That New York has given her full measure of toil,

expenditure, and talent in furtherance of these vast results, by her

patriots and statesmen, is proclaimed in grateful accents by the myriad

voice of the nation at large.

* * * * *

=_William, Meade, 1789-1862._=

From the "Old Churches &c. of Virginia."

=_123._= Character of the Early Virginia Clergy.

It has been made a matter of great complaint against the Legislature of

Virginia, that it should not only have withdrawn the stipend of sixteen

thousand weight of tobacco from the clergy, but also have seized upon

the glebes. I do not mean to enter on the discussion of the legality of

that act, or of the motives of those who petitioned for it. Doubtless

there were many who sincerely thought that it was both legal and right,

and that they were doing God and religion a service by it. I hesitate

not, however, to express the opinion, in which I have been and am

sustained by many of the best friends of the Church then and ever

since, that nothing could have been more injurious to the cause of true

religion in the Episcopal Church, or to its growth in any way, than the

continuance of either stipend or glebes. Many clergymen of the most

unworthy character would have been continued among us, and such a

revival as we have seen have never taken place.... Not merely have the

pious members of the Church taken this view of the subject, since the

revival of it under other auspices, but many of those who preferred the

Church at that day, for other reasons than her evangelical doctrine and

worship, saw that It was best that she should be thrown upon her own

resources. I had a conversation with Mr. Madison, soon after he ceased

to be President of the United States, in which I became assured of this.

He himself took an active part in promoting the act for the putting down

the establishment of the Episcopal Church, while his relative was Bishop

of it, and all his family connection attached to it....

It may be well here to state, what will more fully appear when we come

to speak of the old glebes and churches in a subsequent number, that

the character of the laymen of Virginia for morals and religion was in

general greatly in advance of that of the clergy. The latter, for the

most part, were the refuse or more indifferent of the English, Irish,

and Scotch Episcopal churches, who could not find promotion and

employment at home. The former were natives of the soil, and descendants

of respectable ancestors, who migrated at an early period.... Some of

the vestries, as their records painfully show, did what they could to

displace unworthy ministers, though they often failed through defect of

law. In order to avoid the danger of having evil ministers fastened upon

them, as well as from the scarcity of ministers, they made much use of

lay-readers as substitutes.... The reading of the service and sermons in

private families, which contributed so much to the preservation of an

attachment to the Church in the same, was doubtless promoted by this

practice of lay-reading. Those whom Providence raised up to resuscitate

the fallen Church of Virginia can testify to the fact that the families

who descended from the above mentioned, have been their most effective

supports.... And when, in the providence of God. they are called on to

leave their ancient homes, and form new settlements in the distant South

and West, none are more active and reliable in transplanting the Church

of their Fathers.

* * * * *

=_Jared Sparks, 1794-1866._= (Manual, p. 490.)

From "The Life of General Stark."

=_124._= THE BATTLE OF BENNINGTON.

The German troops with their battery were advantageously posted upon a

rising ground, at a bend in the Wollamsac (a tributary of the Hoosac),

on its north bank. The ground fell off to the north and west, a

circumstance of which Stark skilfully took advantage. Peters' corps of

Tories were entrenched on the other side of the stream, in lower ground,

and nearly in front of the German Battery. The little river, that

meanders through the scene of the action, is fordable in all places.

Stark was encamped upon the same side of it as the Germans, but, owing

to its serpentine course, it crossed his line of march twice on his way

to their position. Their post was carefully reconnoitered at a mile's

distance, and the plan of attack was arranged in the following manner.

Colonel Nichols, with two hundred men, was detached to attack the rear

of the enemy's left, and Colonel Herrick, with three hundred men, to

fall upon the rear of their right, with orders to form a junction before

they made the assault. Colonels Hubbard and Stickney were also ordered

to advance with two hundred men on their right, and one hundred in

front, to divert their attention from the real point of attack. The

action commenced at three o'clock in the afternoon, on the rear of the

enemy's left, when Colonel Nichols, with great precision, carried into

effect the dispositions of the commander. His example was followed by

every other portion of the little army. General Stark himself moved

forward slowly in front, till he heard the sound of the guns from

Colonel Nichols' party, when he rushed upon the Tories, and in a few

moments the action became general. "It lasted," says Stark, in his

official report, "two hours, and was the hottest I ever saw. It was like

one continued clap of thunder." The Indians, alarmed at the prospect of

being enclosed between the parties of Nichols and Herrick, fled at the

commencement of the action, their main principle of battle array being

to contrive or to escape, an ambush, or an attack in the rear. The

Tories were soon driven over the river, and were thus thrown in

confusion on the Germans, who were forced from their breast-work.

Baum made a brave and resolute defence. The German dragoons, with the

discipline of veterans, preserved their ranks unbroken, and, after their

ammunition was expended, were led to the charge by their Colonel with

the sword; but they were overpowered and obliged to give way, leaving

their artillery and baggage on the field.

They were well enclosed in two breast-works, which, owing to the rain

on the 15th, they had constructed at leisure. But notwithstanding

this protection, with the advantage of two pieces of cannon, arms and

ammunition in perfect order, and an auxiliary force of Indians, they

were driven from their entrenchments by a band of militia just brought

to the field, poorly armed, with few bayonets, without field-pieces, and

with little discipline. The superiority of numbers on the part of the

Americans, will, when these things are considered, hardly be thought to

abate anything from the praise due to the conduct of the commander, or

the spirit and courage of his men.

* * * * *

From the "Life of Count Pulaski."

=_125._= HIS SERVICES, DEATH, AND CHARACTER.

(The Battle of Brandywine.)--On that occasion, Count Pulaski, as well as

Lafayette, was destined to strike his first blow in defence of American

liberty. Being a volunteer, and without command, he was stationed near

General Washington till towards the close of the action, when he asked

the command of the General's body guard,--about thirty horse,

and advanced rapidly within pistol-shot of the enemy, and after

reconnoitering their movements, returned and reported that they were

endeavoring to cut off the line of retreat, and particularly the train

of baggage. He was then authorized to collect as many of the scattered

troops as came in his way, and employ them according to his discretion,

which he did in a manner so prompt and bold, as to effect an important

service in the retreat of the army; fully sustaining, by his conduct and

courage, the reputation for which the world had given him credit. Four

days after this event, he was appointed by Congress to the command of

the cavalry, with the rank of brigadier general.

(Before Charleston in 1779.)--Scarcely waiting till the enemy had

crossed the ferry, Pulaski sallied out with his legion and a few mounted

volunteers, and made an assault upon the advanced parties. With the

design of drawing the British into an ambuscade, he stationed his

infantry on low ground behind a breast-work, and then rode forward a

mile, with his cavalry in the face of a party of light-horse, with whom

he came to close quarters, and kept up a sharp skirmish till he was

compelled to retreat by the increasing numbers of the enemy. His

coolness, courage, and disregard of personal danger, were conspicuous

throughout the rencounter, and the example of this prompt and bold

attack had great influence in raising the spirits of the people, and

inspiring the confidence of the inexperienced troops then assembled in

the city. The infantry, impatient to take part in the conflict, advanced

to higher ground in front of the breast-work and thus the scheme of an

ambuscade was defeated.

(His death at Savannah.)--The cavalry were stationed in the rear of the

advanced columns, and in the confusion which appeared in front, and in

the obscurity caused by the smoke, Pulaski was uncertain where he ought

to act. To gain information on this point, he determined to ride forward

in the heat of the conflict, and called to Captain Bentalou to accompany

him. They had proceeded but a short distance, when they heard of the

havoc that had been produced in the swamp among the French troops.

Hoping to animate these troops by his presence, he rushed onward, and

while riding swiftly to the place where they were stationed, he received

a wound in the groin from a swivel-shot, and fell from his horse near

the abattis. Captain Bentalou was likewise wounded by a musket-ball.

Count Pulaski was left on the field till nearly all the troops had

retreated, when some of his men returned, in the face of the enemy's

guns, and took him to the camp. (His character.)--He possessed in a

remarkable degree, the power of winning and controlling men, a power so

rare that it may be considered not less the fruit of consummate art than

the gift of nature. Energetic, vigilant, untiring in the pursuit of an

object, fearless, fertile in resources, calm in danger, resolute and

persevering under discouragements, he was always prepared for events,

and capable of effecting his purposes with the best chance of

success.... He embraced our cause as his own, harmonizing, as it did

with his principles and all the noble impulses of his nature, the cause

of liberty and of human rights; he lost his life in defending it; thus

acquiring the highest of all claims to a nation's remembrance and

gratitude.

* * * * *

=_William H. Prescott, 1796-1859._= (Manual, p. 494.)

From the "History of Ferdinand and Isabella."

=_126._= MORAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA.

Whatever be the amount of physical good or evil immediately resulting

to Spain from her new discoveries, their moral consequences were

inestimable. The ancient limits of human thought and action were

overleaped; the veil which had covered the secrets of the deep for so

many centuries was removed; another hemisphere was thrown open; and a

boundless expansion promised to science, from the infinite varieties in

which nature was exhibited in these unexplored regions. The success of

the Spaniards kindled a generous emulation in their Portuguese rivals,

who soon after accomplished their long-sought passage into the Indian

seas, and thus completed the great circle of maritime discovery. It

would seem as if Providence had postponed this grand event, until the

possession of America, with its stores of precious metals, might supply

such materials for a commerce with the east, as should bind together

the most distant quarters of the globe. The impression made on the

enlightened minds of that day is evinced by the tone of gratitude and

exultation, in which they indulge, at being permitted to witness the

consummation of these glorious events, which their fathers had so long,

but in vain, desired to see.

The discoveries of Columbus occurred most opportunely for the Spanish

nation, at the moment when it was released from its tumultuous struggle

in which it had been engaged for so many years with the Moslems. The

severe schooling of these wars had prepared it for entering on a bolder

theater of action, whose stirring and romantic perils raised still

higher the chivalrous spirit of the people. The operation of this spirit

was shown in the alacrity with which private adventurers embarked in

expeditions to the New World, under cover of the general license, during

the last two years of this century. Their efforts, combined with those

of Columbus, extended the range of discovery from its original limits;

twenty-four degrees of north latitude, to probably more than fifteen

south, comprehending some of the most important territories in the

western hemisphere. Before the end of 1500, the principal groups of

the West India islands had been visited, and the whole extent of

the southern continent coasted from the Bay of Honduras to Cape St.

Augustine. One adventurous mariner, indeed, named Lepe, penetrated

several degrees south of this, to a point not reached by any other

voyager for ten or twelve years after. A great part of the kingdom

of Brazil was embraced in this extent, and two successive Castilian

navigators landed and took formal possession of it for the crown of

Castile, previous to its reputed discovery by the Portuguese Cabral;

although the claims to it were relinquished by the Spanish Government,

conformably to the famous line of demarkation established by the treaty

of Tordesillas.

While the colonial empire of Spain was thus every day enlarging, the man

to whom it was all due was never permitted to know the extent, or the

value of it. He died in the conviction in which he lived, that the land

he had reached was the long-sought Indies. But it was a country far

richer than the Indies; and had he on quitting Cuba struck into a

westerly, instead of southerly direction, it would have carried him into

the very depths of the golden regions, whose existence he had so long

and vainly predicted. As it was, he "only opened the gates," to use his

own language, for others more fortunate than himself; and, before he

quitted Hispaniola for the last time, the young adventurer arrived

there, who was destined by the conquest of Mexico to realize all the

magnificent visions, which had been derided only as visions, in the

lifetime of Columbus.

* * * * *

From "The History of the Conquest of Mexico."

=_127._= PICTURE-WRITING OF THE MEXICANS.

While these things were passing, Cortés observed one of Teuhtlile's

attendants busy with a pencil, apparently delineating some object. On

looking at his work, he found that it was a sketch, on canvas, of the

Spaniards, their costumes, arms, and, in short, different objects of

interest, giving to each its appropriate form and color. This was the

celebrated picture-writing of the Aztecs, and as Teuhtlile informed him,

this man was employed in portraying the various objects for the eye of

Montezuma, who would thus gather a more vivid notion of their appearance

than from any description by words. Cortés was pleased with the idea;

and as he knew how much the effect would be heightened by converting

still life into action, he ordered out the cavalry on the beach, the

wet sands of which afforded a firm footing for the horses. The bold

and rapid movements of the troops, as they went through their military

exercises, the apparent ease with which they managed the fiery animals

on which they were mounted, the glancing of their weapons, and the

shrill cry of the trumpet, all filled the spectators with astonishment;

but when they heard the thunders of the cannon, and witnessed the

volumes of smoke and flame issuing from these terrible engines, and the

rushing sound of the balls, as they dashed through the trees of the

neighboring forest, shivering their branches into fragments, they were

filled with consternation, from which the Aztec chief himself was

not wholly free. Nothing of all this was lost on the painters, who

faithfully recorded, after their fashion, every particular, not omitting

the ships--"the water-houses," as they called them--of the strangers,

which, with their dark hulls and snow-white sails reflected from the

water, were swinging lazily at anchor on the calm bosom of the bay. All

was depicted with a fidelity that excited in their turn the admiration

of the Spaniards, who, doubtless unprepared for this exhibition of

skill, greatly overestimated the merits of the execution.

* * * * *

From "The History of the Conquest of Peru."

=_128._= RANSOM AND DOOM OF THE INCA.

These articles consisted of goblets, ewers, salvers, vases of every

shape and size, ornaments and utensils for the temples and the royal

palaces, tiles and plates for the decoration of the public edifices,

curious imitations of different plants and animals. Among the plants,

the most beautiful was the Indian corn, in which the golden ear was

sheathed in its broad leaves of silver, from which hung a rich tassel of

threads of the same precious metal. A fountain was also much admired,

which sent up a sparkling jet of gold, while birds and animals of the

same material played in the waters at its base. The delicacy of the

workmanship of some of these, and the beauty and ingenuity of the

design, attracted the admiration of better judges than the rude

Conquerors of Peru.

Before breaking up these specimens of Indian art, it was determined to

send a quantity, which should be deducted from the royal fifth, to the

Emperor. It would serve as a sample of the ingenuity of the natives,

and would show him the value of his conquests. A number of the most

beautiful articles was selected, to the amount of a hundred thousand

ducats, and Hernando Pizarro was appointed to be the bearer of them to

Spain.

The doom of the Inca was proclaimed by sound of trumpet in the great

square of Caxamalca; and, two hours after sunset, the Spanish soldiery

assembled by torch-light in the _plaza_ to witness the execution of the

sentence. It was on the twenty-ninth of August, 1533. Atahuallpa was led

out chained hand and foot,--for he had been kept in irons ever since the

great excitement had prevailed in the army respecting an assault. Father

Vicente de Valverde was at his side, striving to administer consolation,

and, if possible, to persuade him at this last hour to abjure his

superstition and embrace the religion of his Conquerors. He was willing

to save the soul of his victim from the terrible expiation in the next

world, to which he had so cheerfully consigned his mortal part in this.

During Atahuallpa's confinement the friar had repeatedly expounded to

him the Christian doctrines, and the Indian monarch discovered much

acuteness in apprehending the discourse of his teacher. But it had not

carried conviction to his mind, and though he listened with patience,

he had shown no disposition to renounce the faith of his fathers. The

Dominican made a last appeal to him in this solemn hour; and, when

Atahuallpa was bound to the stake, with the fagots that were to kindle

his funeral pile lying around him, Valverde, holding up the cross,

besought him to embrace it, and be baptized, promising that by so doing

the painful death to which he had been sentenced should be commuted

for the milder form, of the _garrote_,--a mode of punishment by

strangulation, used for criminals in Spain.

The unhappy monarch asked if this were really so, and, on its being

confirmed by Pizarro he consented to abjure his own religion, and

receive baptism. The ceremony was performed by Father Valverde, and the

new convert received the name of Juan de Atahuallpa,--the name of Juan

being conferred in honor of John the Baptist, on whose day the event

took place.

Atahuallpa expressed a desire that his remains might be transported

to Quito, the place of his birth, to be preserved with those of his

maternal ancestors. Then turning to Pizarro, as a last request, he

implored him to take compassion on his young children, and receive them

under his protection. Was there no other one in that dark company who

stood grimly around him, to whom he could look for the projection of his

offspring? Perhaps he thought there was no other so competent to afford

it, and that the wishes so solemnly expressed in that hour might meet

with respect even from his Conqueror. Then, recovering his stoical

bearing, which for a moment had been shaken, he submitted himself calmly

to his fate,--while the Spaniards, gathering around, muttered their

_credos_ for the salvation his soul. Thus by the death of a vile

malefactor perished the last of the Incas.

* * * * *

=_George Bancroft, 1800-._= (Manual, pp. 487, 491, 531.)

From the "History of the United States."

=_129._= VIRGINIA AND ITS INHABITANTS IN EARLY TIMES.

The genial climate and transparent atmosphere delighted those who had

come from the denser air of England. Every object in nature was new and

wonderful. The loud and frequent thunder-storms were phenomena that had

been rarely witnessed in the colder summers of the north; the forests,

majestic in their growth, and free from underwood, deserved admiration

for their unrivalled magnificence; the purling streams and the frequent

rivers, flowing between alluvial banks, quickened the ever-pregnant soil

into an unwearied fertility; the strangest and the most delicate flowers

grew familiarly in the fields; the woods were replenished with sweet

barks and odors; the gardens matured the fruits of Europe, of which the

growth was invigorated and the flavor improved by the activity of the

virgin mould. Especially the birds, with their gay plumage and varied

melodies, inspired delight; every traveller expressed his pleasure in

listening to the mocking-bird, which carolled a thousand several tunes,

imitating and excelling the notes of all its rivals. The humming-bird,

so brilliant in its plumage, and so delicate in its form, quick in

motion, yet not fearing the presence of man, hunting about the flowers

like the bee gathering honey, rebounding from the blossoms into which

it dips its bill, and as soon returning "to renew its addresses to its

delightful objects," was ever admired as the smallest and the most

beautiful of the feathered race. The rattlesnake, with the terrors of

its alarms and the power of its venom; the opossum, soon to become as

celebrated for the care of its offspring as the fabled pelican: the

noisy frog, booming from the shallows like the English bittern; the

flying squirrel; the myriads of pigeons, darkening the air with the

immensity of their flocks, and, as men believed, breaking with their

weight the boughs of trees on which they alighted,--were all honored

with frequent commemoration, and became the subjects of the strangest

tales. The concurrent relation of all the Indians justified the belief

that, within ten days journey towards the setting of the sun, there

was a country where gold might be washed from the sand, and where the

natives themselves had learned the use of the crucible; but definite

and accurate as were the accounts, inquiry was always baffled; and the

regions of gold remained for two centuries an undiscovered land.

Various were the employments by which the calmness of life was relieved.

George Sandys, an idle man, who had been a great traveller, and who did

not remain in America, a poet, whose verse was tolerated by Dryden

and praised by Isaac Walton, beguiled the ennui of his seclusion by

translating the whole of Ovid's Metamorphoses. To the man of leisure the

chase furnished a perpetual resource. It was not long before the horse

was multiplied in Virginia; and to improve that noble animal was early

an object of pride, soon to be favored by legislation. Speed was

especially valued, and "the planters pace" became a proverb....

* * * * *

=_130_=. CONTRAST OF ENGLISH AND FRENCH COLONIZATION IN AMERICA.

In Asia, the victories of Olive at Plassy, of Coote at the Wandewash,

and of Watson and Pococke on the Indian seas, had given England the

undoubted ascendency in the East Indies, opening to her suddenly the

promise of untold treasures and territorial acquisitions without end. In

America, the Teutonic race, with its strong tendency to individuality

and freedom, was become the master from the Gulf of Mexico to the Poles;

and the English tongue, which but a century and a half before had for

its entire world a part only of two narrow islands on the outer verge

of Europe, was now to spread more widely than any that had ever given

expression to human thought.

Go forth, then, language of Milton and Hampden, language of my country,

take possession of the North American continent! Gladden the waste

places with every tone that has been rightly struck on the English lyre,

with every English word that has been spoken well for liberty and for

man! Give an echo to the now silent and solitary mountains; gush out

with the fountains that as yet sing their anthems all day long without

response; fill the valleys with the voices of love in its purity, the

pledges of friendship in its faithfulness; and as the morning sun drinks

the dewdrops from the flowers all the way from the dreary Atlantic to

the Peaceful Ocean, meet him with the joyous hum of the early industry

of freemen! Utter boldly and spread widely through the world the

thoughts of the coming apostles of the people's liberty, till the sound

that cheers the desert shall thrill through the heart of humanity, and

the lips of the messenger of the people's power, as he stands in beauty

upon the mountains, shall proclaim the renovating tidings of equal

freedom for the race!...

France, of all the states on the continent of Europe the most powerful

by territorial unity, wealth, numbers, industry, and culture, seemed

also by its place marked out for maritime ascendency. Set between many

seas, it rested upon the Mediterranean, possessed harbors on the German

Ocean, and embraced within its wide shores and jutting headlands, the

bays and open, waters of the Atlantic; its people, infolding at one

extreme the offspring of colonists from Greece, and at the other,

the hardy children of the Northmen, were called, as it were, to the

inheritance of life upon the sea. The nation, too, readily conceived or

appropriated great ideas, and delighted in bold resolves. Its travellers

had penetrated farthest into the fearful interior of unknown lands;

its missionaries won most familiarly the confidence of the aboriginal

hordes; its writers described with keener and wiser observation the

forms of nature in her wildness, and the habits and languages of savage

man; its soldiers,--and every lay Frenchman in America owed military

service,--uniting beyond all others celerity with courage, knew best how

to endure the hardships of forest life and to triumph in forest warfare.

Its ocean chivalry had given a name and a colony to Carolina, and its

merchants a people to Acadia. The French discovered the basin of the

St. Lawrence; were the first to explore and possess the banks of the

Mississippi, and planned an American empire that should unite the widest

valleys and most copious inland waters of the world.

But new France was governed exclusively by the monarchy of its

metropolis; and was shut against the intellectual daring of its

philosophy, the liberality of its political economists, the movements of

its industrial genius, its legal skill, and its infusion of Protestant

freedom. Nothing representing the new activity of thought in modern

France, went to America. Nothing had leave to go there but what was old

and worn out.

The colonists from England brought over the forms of the government of

the mother country, and the purpose of giving them a better development

and a fairer career in the western world. The French emigrants took with

them only what belonged to the past, and nothing that represented

modern freedom. The English emigrants retained what they called English

privileges, but left behind in the parent country English inequalities,

the monarch, and nobility, and prelacy. French America was closed

against even a gleam of intellectual independence; nor did it contain so

much as one dissenter from the Roman Church; English America had English

liberties in greater purity and with far more of the power of the people

than England. Its inhabitants were self-organized bodies of freeholders,

pressing upon the receding forests, winning their way farther and

farther forward every year, and never going back. They had schools, so

that in several of the colonies there was no one to be found beyond

childhood, who could not read and write; they had the printing press

scattering among them books, and pamphlets, and many newspapers; they

had a ministry chiefly composed of men of their own election. In private

life they were accustomed to take care of themselves; in public affairs

they had local legislatures, and municipal self-direction. And now this

continent from the Gulf of Mexico to where civilized life is stayed by

barriers of frost, was become their dwelling-place and their heritage.

* * * * *

From "The History of the United States."

=_131._= DEATH OF MONTCALM.

But already the hope of New France was gone. Born and educated in camps,

Montcalm had been carefully instructed, and was skilled in the language

of Homer as well as in the art of war. Greatly laborious, just,

disinterested, hopeful even to rashness, sagacious in council, swift in

action, his mind was a well-spring of bold designs; his career in Canada

a wonderful struggle against inexorable destiny. Sustaining hunger and

cold, vigils and incessant toil, anxious for his soldiers, unmindful

of himself, he set, even to the forest-trained red men, an example of

self-denial and endurance, and in the midst of corruption made the

public good his aim. Struck by a musket ball, as he fought opposite

Monckton, he continued in the engagement, till, in attempting to rally

a body of fugitive Canadians in a copse near St. John's gate, he was

mortally wounded.

On hearing from the surgeon that death was certain, "I am glad of it,"

he cried; "how long shall I survive?" "Ten or twelve hours, perhaps

less." "So much the better; I shall not live to see the surrender of

Quebec." To the council of war he showed that in twelve hours all the

troops near at hand might be concentrated and renew the attack before

the English were intrenched. When De Ramsay, who commanded the garrison,

asked his advice about defending the city, "To your keeping," he

replied, "I commend the honor of France. As for me, I shall pass the

night with God, and prepare myself for death," Having written a letter

recommending the French prisoners to the generosity of the English, his

last hours were given to the hope of endless life, and at five the next

morning he expired.

* * * * *

From "The History of the United States."

=_132._= CHARACTER OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

From the fullness of his own mind, without consulting one single book,

Jefferson drafted the declaration, he submitted it separately to

Franklin and to John Adams, accepted from each of them one or two

unimportant verbal corrections, and on the twenty-eighth of June

reported it to Congress, which now on the second of July immediately

after the resolution of independence entered upon its consideration.

During the remainder of that day and the next two, the language, the

statements, and the principles of the paper were closely scanned.

* * * * *

This immortal state paper, which for its composer was the aurora of

enduring fame, was "the genuine effusion of the soul of the country

at that time," the revelation of its mind, when, in its youth, its

enthusiasm, its sublime confronting of danger, it rose to the highest

creative powers of which man is capable. The bill of rights which it

promulgates, is of rights that are older than human institutions, and

spring from the eternal justice that is anterior to the state. Two

political theories divided the world: one founded the commonwealth

on the reason of state, the policy of expediency, the other on the

immutable principles of morals; the new republic, as it took its place

among the powers of the world, proclaimed its faith in the truth and

reality and unchangeableness of freedom, virtue, and right. The heart of

Jefferson in writing the declaration, and of Congress in adopting it,

beat for all humanity; the assertion of right was made for the entire

world of mankind, and all coming generations, without any exception

whatever; for the proposition which admits of exceptions can never be

self-evident. As it was put forth in the name of the ascendant people

of that time, it was sure to make the circuit of the world, passing

everywhere through the despotic countries of Europe; and the astonished

nations as they read that all men are created equal, started out of

their lethargy, like those who have been exiles from childhood, when

they suddenly hear the dimly remembered accents of their mother tongue.

* * * * *

=_133._= EARLIER POLICY OF SPAIN IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

The King of France, whilst he declared his wish to make no conquest

whatever in the war, held out to the King of Spain, with the consent of

the United States, the acquisition of Florida; but Florida had not power

to allure Charles the Third, or his ministry, which was a truly Spanish

ministry, and wished to pursue a truly Spanish policy. There was indeed

one word which, if pronounced, would be a spell potent enough to alter

their decision; a word that calls the blood into the cheek of a Spaniard

as an insult to his pride, a brand of inferiority on his nation. That

word was Gibraltar. Meantime, the King of Spain declared that he would

not then, nor in the future, enter into the quarrel of France and

England; that he wished to close his life in tranquility, and valued

peace too highly to sacrifice it to the interests or opinions of

another.

So the flags of France and the United States went together into the

field against Great Britain, unsupported by any other government, yet

with the good wishes of all the peoples of Europe. The benefit then

conferred on the United States was priceless. In return, the revolution

in America came opportunely for France.... For the blessing of that same

France, America brought new life and hope; she superseded scepticism by

a wise and prudent enthusiasm in action, and bade the nation that became

her ally lift up its heart from the barrenness of doubt to the highest

affirmation of God and liberty, to freedom and union with the good, the

beautiful, and the true.

* * * * *

=_J.G.M. Ramsey,[40] about 1800-._=

From "The Annals of Tennessee."

=_134._= SKETCH OF GENERAL JOHN SEVIER.

The Etowah campaign was the last military service rendered by Sevier,

and the only one for which he ever received compensation from the

government. For nearly twenty years he had been constantly engaged in

incessant and unremitted service. He was in thirty-five battles, some of

them hardly contested, and decisive. He was never wounded, and in all

his campaigns and battles was successful and the victor. He was careful

of the lives of his soldiery; and, although he always led them to the

victory, he lost, in all his engagements with the enemy, but fifty-six

men. The secret of his invariable success was the impetuosity and vigor

of his charge. Himself an accomplished horseman, a graceful rider,

passionately fond of a spirited charger, always well mounted, at the

head of his dragoons, he was at once in the midst of the fight. His

rapid movement, always unexpected and sudden, disconcerted the enemy,

and, at the first onset, decided the victory. He was the first to

introduce the Indian war-whoop in his battles with the savages, the

Tories, and the British. More harmless than the leaden missile, it

was not less efficient, and was always the precursor and attendant of

victory. The prisoners at King's Mountain said, "We could stand your

fighting; but your cursed hallooing confused us. We thought the

mountains had regiments, instead of companies." Sevier's enthusiasm was

contagious; he imparted it to his men. He was the idol of the soldiery;

and his orders were obeyed cheerfully, and executed with precision. In

a military service of twenty years, one instance is not known of

insubordination, on the part of the soldier, or of discipline by the

commander.

Sevier's troops were generally his neighbors, and the members of his own

family. Often no public provision was made for their pay, equipments, or

subsistence. These were furnished by himself, being at once commander,

commissary, and paymaster. The soldiery rendezvoused at his house, which

often became a cantonment; his fields, ripe or unripe, were given up to

his horsemen; powder and lead, provisions, clothing, even all he had,

belonged to his men.

The Etowah campaign terminated the military services of General Sevier.

Hereafter, we will have to record his not less important agency in the

civil affairs of Tennessee.

[Footnote 40: A native of Tennessee. His Annals contain much valuable

material.]

* * * * *

=_Charles Gayarré, 1805-._= (Manual, p. 490.)

From the "History of Louisiana."

=_135._= GENERAL JACKSON AT NEW ORLEANS.

His very physiognomy prognosticated what soul was encased within the

spare but well-ribbed form which had that "lean and hungry look"

described by England's greatest bard as bespeaking little sleep of

nights, but much of ambition, self-reliance, and impatience of control.

His lip and eye denoted the man of unyielding temper, and his very hair,

slightly silvered, stood erect like quills round his wrinkled brow, as

if they scorned to bend. Some sneered, it is true, at what they called

a military tyro, at the impromptu general who had sprung out of the

uncouth lawyer and the unlearned judge, who in arms had only the

experience of a few months, acquired in a desultory war against wild

Indians, and who was, not only without any previous training to his new

profession, but also without the first rudiments of a liberal education,

for he did not even know the orthography of his own native language.

Such was the man who, with a handful of raw militia, was to stand in

the way of the veteran troops of England, whose boast it was to have

triumphed over one of the greatest captains known in history. But those

who entertained such distrust had hardly come in contact with General

Jackson, when they felt that they had to deal with a master-spirit.

True, he was rough hewn from the rock, but rock he was, and of that kind

of rock which Providence chooses to select as a fit material to use in

its structures of human greatness. True, he had not the education of a

lieutenant in a European army; but what lieutenant, educated or not,

who had the will and the remarkable military adaptation so evident in

General Jackson's intellectual and physical organization, ever remained

a subaltern? Much less could General Jackson fail to rise to his proper

place in a country where there was so much more elbow-room, and fewer

artificial obstacles than in less favored lands. But, whatever those

obstacles might have been, General Jackson would have overcome them all.

His will was of such an extraordinary nature that, like Christian faith,

it could almost have accomplished prodigies and removed mountains. It is

impossible to study the life of General Jackson without being convinced

that this is the most remarkable feature of his character. His will had,

as it were, the force and the fixity of fate; that will carried him

triumphantly through his military and civil career, and through the

difficulties of private life. So intense and incessantly active this

peculiar faculty was in him, that one would suppose that his mind was

nothing but will--a will so lofty that it towered into sublimity. In him

it supplied the place of genius--or, rather, it was almost genius. On

many occasions, in the course of his long, eventful life, when his

shattered constitution made his physicians despair of preserving him, he

seemed to continue to live merely because it was his will; and when his

unconquerable spirit departed from his enfeebled and worn-out body,

those who knew him well might almost have been tempted to suppose that

he had not been vanquished by death, but had at last consented to

repose. This man, when he took the command at New Orleans, had made up

his mind to beat the English; and, as that mind was so constituted that

it was not susceptible of entertaining much doubt as to the results of

any of its resolves, he went to work with an innate confidence which

transfused itself into the population he had been sent to protect.

* * * * *

=_Brantz Mayer, 1809-._= (Manual, p. 490.)

From "Mexico, Aztec," &c.

=_136._= REKINDLING THE SACRED FIRE.

At the end of the Aztec or Toltec cycle of fifty-two years,--for it

is not accurately ascertained to which of the tribes the astronomical

science of Tenochtitlan is to be attributed,--these primitive children

of the New World believed that the world was in danger of instant

destruction. Accordingly, its termination became one of their most

serious and awful epochs, and they anxiously awaited the moment when the

sun would be blotted out from the heavens, and the globe itself resolved

once more into chaos. As the cycle ended in the winter, the season of

the year, with its drearier sky and colder air, in the lofty regions of

the valley, added to the gloom that fell upon the hearts of the people.

On the last day of the fifty-two years, all the fires in temples and

dwellings were extinguished, and the natives devoted themselves to

fasting and prayer. They destroyed alike their valuable and worthless

wares; rent their garments, put out their lights, and hid themselves for

awhile in solitude....

At dark on the last dread evening,--as soon as the sun had set, as they

imagined, forever,--a sad and solemn procession of priests and people

marched forth from the city to a neighboring hill, to rekindle the "New

Fire." This mournful march was called "the procession of the gods," and

was supposed to be their final departure from their temples and altars.

As soon as the melancholy array reached the summit of the hill, it

reposed in fearful anxiety until the Pleiades reached the zenith in the

sky, whereupon the priests immediately began the sacrifice of a human

victim, whose breast was covered with a wooden shield, which the chief

_flamen_ kindled by friction. When the sufferer received the fatal stab

from the sacrificial knife of _obsidian,_ the machine was set in motion

on his bosom until the blaze had kindled. The anxious crowd stood round

with fear and trembling. Silence reigned over nature and man. Not a word

was uttered among the countless multitude that thronged the hill-sides

and plains, whilst the priest performed his direful duty to the gods. At

length, as the fire sparks gleamed faintly from the whirling instrument,

low sobs and ejaculations were whispered among the eager masses. As the

sparks kindled into a blaze, and the blaze into a flame, and the flaming

shield and victim were cast together on a pile of combustibles which

burst at once into the brightness of a conflagration, the air was rent

with the joyous shouts of the relieved and panic-stricken Indians. Far

and wide over the dusky crowds beamed the blaze like a star of promise.

Myriads of upturned faces greeted it from hills, mountains, temples,

terraces, teocallis, house-tops, and city walls; and the prostrate

multitudes hailed the emblem of light, life, and fruition, as a blessed

omen of the restored favor of their gods, and the preservation of their

race for another cycle. At regular intervals, Indian couriers held aloft

brands of resinous wood, by which they transmitted the "New Fire" from

hand to hand, from village to village, and town to town, throughout the

Aztec empire. Light was radiated from the imperial or ecclesiastical

center of the realm. In every temple and dwelling it was rekindled from

the sacred source; and when the sun rose again on the following morning,

the solemn procession of priests, princes, and subjects, which had taken

up its march from the capital on the preceding night with solemn steps,

returned once more to the abandoned capital, and, restoring the gods to

their altars, abandoned themselves to joy and festivity, in token of

gratitude and relief from impending doom.

* * * * *

=_Albert James Pickett,[41] 1858-._= (Manual, p. 490.)

From "The History of Alabama."

=_137._= THE INDIANS AND THE EARLY SETTLERS OF ALABAMA.

During my youthful days, I was accustomed to be much with the Creek

Indians, hundreds of whom came almost daily to the trading-house. For

twenty years I frequently visited the Creek nation. Their green-corn

dances, ball plays, war ceremonies, and manners and customs, are all

fresh in my recollection. In my intercourse with them I was thrown into

the company of many old white men called "Indian country men," who had

for years conducted a commerce with them. Some of these men had come to

the Creek nation before the Revolutionary War, and others, being

tories, had fled to it during the war, and after it to escape from whig

persecution. They were unquestionably the shrewdest and most interesting

men with whom I ever conversed. Generally of Scotch descent, many of

them were men of some education. All of them were married to Indian

wives, and some of them had intelligent and handsome children.... I

often conversed with the chiefs while they were seated in the shades

of the spreading mulberry and walnut, upon the banks of the beautiful

Tallapoosa. As they leisurely smoked their pipes, some of them related

to me the traditions of their country. I occasionally saw Choctaw and

Cherokee traders, and learned much from them. I had no particular object

in view, at that time, except the gratification of a curiosity which

led me, for my own satisfaction alone, to learn something of the early

history of Alabama.

[Footnote 41: A native of North Carolina, who removed in early life to

Alabama. His "History" abounds in interesting matter.]

* * * * *

=_Charles Wentworth Upham, 1802_= (Manual, pp. 490, 532.)

From the "History of Witchcraft and Salem Village."

=_138._= DEFEAT OF THE INDIAN KING PHILIP.

The Indians were carrying all before them. Philip was spreading

conflagration, devastation, and slaughter around the borders, and

striking sudden and deadly blows into the heart of the country. It was

evident that he was consolidating the Indian power into irresistible

strength.... From other scouting parties it became evident that this

opinion was correct, and that the Indians were collecting stores and

assembling their warriors somewhere, to fall upon the colonies at the

first opening of spring. Further information made it certain that

their place of gathering was in the Narragansett country, in the

south-westerly part of the colony of Rhode Island. There was no

alternative but, as a last effort, to strike the enemy at that point

with the utmost available force.... It was between, one and two o'clock

in the afternoon, and the short winter day was wearing away, Winslow saw

the position at a glance, and, by the promptness of his decision,

proved himself a great captain. He ordered an instant assault.

The Massachusetts troops were in the van, the Plymouth, with the

commander-in-chief, in the center, the Connecticut in the rear. The

Indians had erected a block-house near the entrance, filled with

sharpshooters, who also lined the palisades. The men rushed on, although

it was into the Jaws of death, under an unerring fire. The block-house

told them where the entrance was. The companies of Moseley and Davenport

led the way. Moseley succeeded in passing through. Davenport fell

beneath three fatal shots, just within the entrance. Isaac Johnson,

captain of the Roxbury company, was killed while on the log. But death

had no terrors to that army. The center and rear divisions pressed up to

support the front, and fill the gaps, and all equally shared the glory

of the hour. Enough survived the terrible passage to bring the Indians

to a hand-to-hand fight within the fort. After a desperate straggle of

nearly three hours, the savages were driven from their stronghold, and

with the setting of that sun their power was broken. Philip's fortunes

had received a decided overthrow, and the colonies were saved. In all

military history there is not a more daring exploit. Never, on any

field, has more heroic prowess been displayed.

* * * * *

=_John Lothrop Motley, 1814-._= (Manual, p. 532.)

From "The History of the United Netherlands."

=_139._= CHARACTER OF ALVA.

Ferdinando Alvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alva, was now in his sixtieth

year. He was the most successful and experienced general of Spain, or of

Europe. No man had studied more deeply, or practiced more constantly,

the military science. In the most important of all arts at that epoch he

was the most consummate artist. In the only honorable profession of the

age he was the most thorough and the most pedantic professor. Having

proved in his boyhood at Fontarabia, and in his maturity at Mühlberg,

that he could exhibit heroism and headlong courage when necessary, he

could afford to look with contempt upon the witless gibes which his

enemies had occasionally perpetrated at his expense.... "Recollect,"

said he to Don John of Austria, "that the first foes with whom one has

to contend are one's own troops--with their clamors for an engagement at

this moment, and their murmurs about results at another; with their 'I

thought that the battle should be fought,' or, 'It was my opinion that

the occasion ought not to be lost.'"

On the whole, the Duke of Alva was inferior to no general of his age.

As a disciplinarian, he was foremost in Spain, perhaps in Europe.

A spendthrift of time, he was an economist of blood; and this was,

perhaps, in the eye of humanity, his principal virtue.... Such were

his qualities as a military commander. As a statesman, he had neither

experience nor talent. As a man, his character was simple. He did not

combine a great variety of vices; but those which he had were colossal,

and he possessed no virtues. He was neither lustful nor intemperate; but

his professed eulogists admitted his enormous avarice, while the world

has agreed that such an amount of stealth and ferocity, of patient

vindictiveness and universal blood-thirstiness, were never found in a

savage beast of the forest, and but rarely in a human bosom.

* * * * *

From "The History of the United Netherlands."

=_140._= SIEGE AND ABANDONMENT OF OSTEND.

The Archduke Albert and the Infanta Isabella entered the place in

triumph, if triumph it could be called. It would be difficult to

imagine a more desolate scene. The artillery of the first years of the

seventeenth century was not the terrible enginery of destruction that

it has become in the last third of the nineteenth, but a cannonade,

continued so steadily and so long, had done its work. There were no

churches, no houses, no redoubts, no bastions, no walls, nothing but a

vague and confused mass of ruin. Spinola conducted his imperial guests

along the edge of extinct volcanoes, amid upturned cemeteries, through

quagmires, which once were moats, over huge mounds of sand, and vast

shapeless masses of bricks and masonry, which had been forts. He

endeavored to point out places where mines had been exploded, where

ravelins had been stormed, where the assailants had been successful, and

where they had been bloodily repulsed. But it was all loathsome, hideous

rubbish. There were no human habitations, no hovels, no casemates. The

inhabitants had burrowed at last in the earth, like the dumb creatures

of the swamps and forests. In every direction the dykes had burst, and

the sullen wash of the liberated waves, bearing hither and thither

the floating wreck of fascines and machinery, of planks and building

materials, sounded far and wide over what should have been dry land. The

great ship channel, with the unconquered Half-moon upon one side and

the incomplete batteries and platforms of Bucquoy on the other, still

defiantly opened its passage to the sea, and the retiring fleets of the

garrison were white in the offing. All around was the grey expanse of

stormy ocean, without a cape or a headland to break its monotony, as the

surges rolled mournfully in upon a desolation more dreary than their

own. The atmosphere was murky and surcharged with rain, for the wild,

equinoctial storm which had held Maurice spell-bound, had been raging

over land and sea for many days. At every step the unburied skulls of

brave soldiers who had died in the cause of freedom, grinned their

welcome to the conquerors. Isabella wept at the sight. She had cause to

weep. Upon that miserable sandbank more than a hundred thousand men had

laid down their lives by her decree, in order that she and her husband

might at last take possession of a most barren prize. This insignificant

fragment of a sovereignty which her wicked old father had presented to

her on his deathbed--a sovereignty which he had no more moral right or

actual power to confer than if it had been in the planet Saturn--had

at last been appropriated at the cost of all this misery. It was of no

great value, although its acquisition had caused the expenditure of at

least eight millions of florins, divided in nearly equal proportions

between the two belligerents. It was in vain that great immunities were

offered to those who would remain, or who would consent to settle in the

foul Golgotha. The original population left the place in mass. No human

creatures were left save the wife of a freebooter and her paramour, a

journeyman blacksmith. This unsavory couple, to whom entrance into the

purer atmosphere of Zeeland was denied, thenceforth shared with the

carrion crows the amenities of Ostend.

* * * * *

From the Preface to the "Rise of the Dutch Republic."

=_141._= THE RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC.

The rise of the Dutch Republic must ever be regarded as one of the

leading events of modern times. Without the birth of this great

commonwealth, the various historical phenomena of the sixteenth and

following centuries must have either not existed, or have presented

themselves under essential modifications.... From the handbreadth of

territory called the province of Holland, rises a power which wages

eighty years' warfare with the most potent empire upon earth, and which,

during the progress of the struggle, becoming itself a mighty state, and

binding about its own slender form a zone of the richest possessions of

earth, from pole to tropic, finally dictates its decrees to the empire

of Charles.

... To the Dutch Republic, even more than to Florence at an earlier day

is the world indebted for practical instruction in that great science of

political equilibrium which must always become more and more important

as the various states of the civilized world are pressed more closely

together, and as the struggle for pre-eminence becomes more feverish and

fatal. Courage and skill in political and military combinations enabled

William the Silent to overcome the most powerful and unscrupulous

monarch of his age. The same hereditary audacity and fertility of genius

placed the destiny of Europe in the hands of William's great-grandson,

and enabled him to mould into an impregnable barrier the various

elements of opposition to the overshadowing monarchy of Louis XIV. As

the schemes of the Inquisition and the unparalleled tyranny of Philip, in

one century led to the establishment of the Republic of the United

Provinces, so, in the next, the revocation of the Nantes Edict and the

invasion of Holland are avenged by the elevation of the Dutch Stadholder

upon the throne of the stipendiary Stuarts.

To all who speak the English language, the history of the great agony

through which the republic of Holland was ushered into life must have

peculiar interest, for it is a portion of the records of the

Anglo-Saxon race--essentially the same whether in Friesland, England, or

Massachusetts.

... The great Western Republic, therefore--in whose ... veins flows much of

that ancient and kindred blood received from the nation once ruling a

noble portion of its territory, and tracking its own political existence

to the same parent spring of temperate human liberty--must look with

affectionate interest upon the trials of the elder commonwealth.

... The lessons of history and the fate of free states can never be

sufficiently pondered by those upon whom so large and heavy a

responsibility for the maintenance of rational human freedom rests.

* * * * *

=_Alexander B. Meek,[42] 1814-1865._= (Manual, p. 523.)

From "Romantic Passages in Southwestern History."

=_142._= EXILED FRENCH OFFICERS IN ALABAMA.

Upon the colony they bestowed the name of Marengo, which is still

preserved in the county. Other relics of their nomenclature, drawn

similarly from battles in which some of them had been distinguished, are

to be found in the villages of Linden and Arcola....

Who that would have looked upon Marshal Grouchy or General Lefebvre, as,

dressed in their plain, rustic habiliments,--the straw hat, the homespun

coat, the brogan shoes,--they drove the plough in the open field, or

wielded the axe in the new-ground clearing, would, if unacquainted with

their history, have dreamed that those farmer-looking men had sat in the

councils of monarchs, and had headed mighty armies in the fields of the

sternest strife the world has ever seen? "Do you know, sir," said a

citizen to a traveller, who, in 1819, was passing the road from Arcola

to Eaglesville,--"do you know, sir, who is that fine-looking man who

has just ferried you across the creek?" "No. Who is he?" was the reply.

"That," said the citizen, "is the officer who commanded Napoleon's

advanced guard when he returned from Elba." This was Colonel Raoul, now

a general in France.

[Footnote 42: One of the few writers of Alabama. The "Romantic passages"

is a book of great interest.]

* * * * *

=_143._= THE YOUTH OF THE INDIAN CHIEF WEATHERFORD.

But the mind of the young Indian, though grasping with singular

readiness the knowledge thus imparted, was subject to stronger tastes

and propensities; and he indulged in all the wild pursuits and

amusements of the youth of his nation with an alacrity and spirit which

won their approval and admiration. He became one of the most active,

athletic, and swift-footed participants in their various games and

dances, and was particularly expert and successful, as a hunter, in the

use of the rifle and the bow. He was also noted, even in his youth, for

his reckless daring as a rider, and his graceful feats of horsemanship,

which the fine stables of his father enabled him to indulge. To use the

words of an old Indian woman who knew him at this period, "The squaws

would quit hoeing corn, and smile and gaze upon him as he rode by the

corn-patch."

* * * * *

=_Abel Stevens,[43] 1815-._=

From "The History of Methodism."

=_144._= THE EARLY METHODIST CLERGY IN AMERICA.

They composed a class which, perhaps, will never be seen again. They

were distinguished by native mental vigor, shrewdness, extraordinary

knowledge of human nature, many of them by overwhelming natural

eloquence, the effects of which on popular assemblies are scarcely

paralleled in the history of ancient or modern oratory, and not a few by

powers of satire and wit which made the gainsayer cower before them. To

these intellectual attributes they added great excellences of the heart,

a zeal which only burned more fervently where that of ordinary men would

have grown faint, a courage that exulted in perils, a generosity which

knew no bounds, and left most of them in want in their latter days, a

forbearance and co-operation with each other which are seldom found in

large bodies, an entire devotion to one work, and, withal, a simplicity

of character which extended even to their manners and their apparel.

They were likewise characterized by rare physical abilities. They were

mostly robust. The feats of labor and endurance which they performed,

in incessantly preaching in villages and cities, among slave huts and

Indian wigwams, in journeyings seldom interrupted by stress of weather,

in fording creeks, swimming rivers, sleeping in forests,--these, with

the novel circumstances with which such a career frequently brought them

into contact, afford examples of life and character which, in the hands

of genius, might be the materials for a new department of romantic

literature. They were men who labored as if the judgment fires were

about to break out on the world, and time to end with their day. They

were precisely the men whom the moral wants of the new world at the time

demanded.

[Footnote 43: A prominent clergyman of the Methodist church. His History

of Methodism is a work of great research and value. A native of

Pennsylvania.]

* * * * *

=_Francis Parkman, 1823-._= (Manual, pp. 496, 505.)

From "The Conspiracy of Pontiac."

=_145._= HUNTERS AND TRAPPERS.

These rude and hardy men, hunters and traders, scouts and guides, who

ranged the woods beyond the English borders, and formed a connecting

link between barbarism and civilization, have been touched upon already.

They were a distinct, peculiar class, marked with striking contrasts of

good and evil. Many, though by no means all, were coarse, audacious,

and unscrupulous; yet, even in the worst, one might often have found a

vigorous growth of warlike virtues, an iron endurance, an undespairing

courage, a wondrous sagacity, and singular fertility of resource. In

them was renewed, with all its ancient energy, that wild and daring

spirit, that force and hardihood of mind, which marked our barbarous

ancestors of Germany and Norway. These sons of the wilderness still

survive. We may find them to this day, not in the valley of the Ohio,

nor on the shores of the lakes, but far westward on the desert range of

the buffalo, and among the solitudes of Oregon. Even now, while I write,

some lonely trapper is climbing the perilous defiles of the Rocky

Mountains, his strong frame cased in time-worn buck-skin, his rifle

griped in his sinewy hand. Keenly he peers from side to side, lest

Blackfoot or Arapahoe should ambuscade his path. The rough earth is his

bed, a morsel of dried meat and a draught of water are his food and

drink, and death and danger his companions. No anchorite could fare

worse, no hero could dare more; yet his wild, hard life has resistless

charms; and while he can wield a rifle, he will never leave it. Go with

him to the rendezvous, and he is a stoic no more. Here, rioting among

his comrades, his native appetites break loose in mad excess, in deep

carouse, and desperate gaming. Then follow close the quarrel, the

challenge, the fight,--two rusty rifles and fifty yards of prairie.

* * * * *

From "The Discovery of the Great West."

=_146._= EXPLORATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

The river twisted among the lakes and marshes choked with wild rice;

and, but for their guides, they could scarcely have followed the

perplexed and narrow channel. It brought them at last to the portage;

where, after carrying their canoes a mile and a half over the prairie

and through the marsh, they launched them on the Wisconsin, bade

farewell to the waters that flowed to the St. Lawrence, and committed

themselves to the current that was to bear them they knew not

whither,--perhaps to the Gulf of Mexico, perhaps to the South Sea or

the Gulf of California. They glided calmly down the tranquil stream, by

islands choked with trees and matted with entangling grape-vines; by

forests, groves, and prairies,--the parks and pleasure-grounds of a

prodigal nature; by thickets and marshes and broad bare sand-bars; under

the shadowing trees, between whose tops looked down from afar the bold

brow of some woody bluff. At night, the bivouac,--the canoes inverted on

the bank, the flickering fire, the meal of bison-flesh or venison, the

evening pipes and slumber beneath the stars; and when in the morning

they embarked again, the mist hung on the river like a bridal veil;

then melted before the sun, till the glassy water and the languid woods

basked breathless in the sultry glare.

On the 17th of June, they saw on their right the broad meadows, bounded

in the distance by rugged hills, where now stand the town and fort of

Prairie du Chien. Before them, a wide and rapid current coursed athwart

their way, by the foot of lofty heights wrapped thick in forests. They

had found what they sought, and "with a joy," writes Marquette, "which

I cannot express," they steered forth their canoes on the eddies of the

Mississippi.

Turning southward, they paddled down the stream, through a solitude

unrelieved by the faintest trace of man. A large fish, apparently one

of the huge cat-fish of the Mississippi, blundered against Marquette's

canoe with a force which seems to have startled him; and once, as

they drew in their net, they caught a "spade-fish," whose eccentric

appearance greatly astonished them. At length, the buffalo began to

appear, grazing in herds on the great prairies which then bordered the

river; and Marquette describes the fierce and stupid look of the old

bulls, as they stared at the intruders through the tangled mane which

nearly blinded them.

* * * * *

=_John Gilmary Shea,[44] 1824-. _=

From "The History of Catholic Missions among the Indians."

=_147._= DIFFICULTIES OF THE ENTERPRISE.

The discovery of America, like every other event in the history of the

world, had, in the designs of God, the great object of the salvation of

mankind. In that event, more clearly, perhaps, than it is often given to

us here below, we can see and adore that Providence which thus gave to

millions, long sundered from the rest of man by pathless oceans, the

light of the gospel, and the proffered boon of redemption....

The field was one as yet unmatched for extent and difficulty. That

region now studded with cities and towns, traversed in every direction

by the panting steam-car or lightning telegraph, was then an almost

unbroken forest, save where the wide prairie rolled its billows of grass

towards the western mountains, or was lost in the sterile, salt, and

sandy plains of the southwest. No city raised to heaven spire, dome, or

minaret; no plough turned up the rich, alluvial soil; no metal dug from

the bowels of the earth had been fashioned into instruments to aid man

in the arts of peace and war....

The simplest arts of civilized life were unknown. In one little section

of the Gila and Rio Grande, the people spun and wove a native cotton,

manufactured a rude pottery, and lived in houses or castle-towns of

unburnt bricks. Elsewhere the canoe or cabin of bark or hides, and the

arabesque mat, denoted the highest point of social progress.

Elsewhere the whole country was inhabited by tribes of a nomadic

character, rarely collected in villages except at particular seasons, or

for specific objects, though here and there were found more sedentary

tribes in villages of bark, encircled by walls of earth, or palisades of

wood, whose institutions, commercial spirit, and agriculture, superior

to that of the wild rovers, seemed to show the remnant of some more

civilized tribe in a state of decadence. Around each isolated tribe lay

an unbroken wilderness extending for miles on every side, where the

braves roamed, hunters alike of beasts and men. So little intercourse or

knowledge of each other existed, so desolate was the wilderness that

a vagabond tribe might wander from one extreme of the continent to

another, and language alone could tell the nation to which they

belonged.

The whole country was thus occupied by comparatively small, but hostile

tribes, so numerous, that almost every river and every lake has handed

down the name of a distinct nation. In form, in manners, and in habits,

these tribes presented an almost uniform appearance: language formed the

great distinctive mark to the European, though the absence of a feather

or a line of paint disclosed to the native the tribe of the wanderer

whom he met.

The country itself presented a thousand obstacles: there was danger from

flood, danger from wild beasts, danger from the roving savage, danger

from false friends, danger from the furious rapids on rivers, danger of

loss of sight, of health, of use of motion and of limbs, in the new,

strange life of an Indian wigwam....

Once established in a tribe, the difficulties were increased. After

months, nay, years, of teaching, the missionaries found that the fickle

savage was easily led astray; never could they form pupils to our life

and manners. The nineteenth century failed, as the seventeenth failed,

in raising up priests from among the Iroquois or the Algonquins; and at

this day a pupil of the Propaganda, who disputed in Latin on theses of

Peter Lombard, roams at the head of a half-naked band in the billowy

plains of Nebraska.

[Footnote 44: This writer is much distinguished for his numerous works,

most of which relate to the early missions of the Roman Catholic church

in America. He is a native of New York.]

* * * * *

From "Introduction to Early Voyages," etc.

=_148._= EXPLORATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

Many a river lives embalmed in history and in historic verse. The

Euphrates, the Nile, the Jordan, the Tiber, and the Rhine typify the

course of empires and dynasties. Countries have been described _per

flumina_, but these streams possess renown rather from some city that

frowned on their currents, or some battle fought and won on their banks.

The great River of our West, from its immense length and the still

increasing importance of its valley, possesses a history of its own. Its

discovery by the Spanish adventurers, a Cabeza de Vaca, a De Soto, a

Tristan, who reached, crossed, or followed it, is its period of early

romance, brilliant, brief, and tragic. Its exploration by Marquette and

La Salle follows,--work of patient endurance and investigation, still

tinged with that light of heroism that hovers around all who struggle

with difficulty and adversity to attain a great and useful end. Then

come the early voyages depicting the successive stages of its banks from

a wilderness to civilization.

The death of La Salle in Texas in his attempt to reach Illinois closes

the chapter of exploration. Iberville opens a new period by his voyage

to the mouth of the Mississippi, which crowning the previous efforts,

gave the valley of the great river to civilization, Christianity, and

progress. The river had become an object of rivalry. English, French,

and Spanish at the same moment sought to secure its mouth, but fortune

favored the bold Canadian, and the white flag reared by La Salle was

planted anew.

... At the moment when these narratives take us to the valley of the

Mississippi, that immense territory presented a strange contrast to its

present condition. From its head waters amid the lakes of Minnesota to

its mouth; from its western springs in the heart of the Rocky mountains

to its eastern cradle in the Alleghenies, all was yet in its primeval

state. The Europeans had but one spot, Tonty's little fort; no white men

roamed it but the trader or the missionary. With a sparse and scattered

Indian population, the country teeming with buffalo, deer, and game, was

a scene of plenty. The Indian has vanished from its banks with the game

that he pursued. The valley numbers as many states now as it did white

men then; a busy, enterprising, adventurous, population, numbering its

millions, has swept away the unprogressive and unassimilating red man.

The languages of the Illinois, the Quapaw, the Tonica, the Natchez, the

Ouma, are heard no more by the banks of the great water; no calumet now

throws round the traveller its charmed power; the white banner of France

floated long to the breeze, but with the flag of England and the

standard of Spain all disappeared we may say within a century. For fifty

years one single flag met the eye, and appealed to the heart of the

inhabitants of the shores of the Mississippi.[45] Two now divide it: let

us hope that the altered flag may soon resume its original form, and

meet the heart's warm response at the month as at the source of the

Mississippi.

[Footnote 45: In allusion to the Rebellion.]

* * * * *

=_John Gorham Palfrey, 1796-._= (Manual, pp. 504, 532.)

From the "History of New England."

=_149._= HAPPINESS OF WINTHROP'S CLOSING YEARS.

He was greatly privileged in living so long. Just before he died, that

ecclesiastical arrangement had been made, which he might naturally

hope would preserve the churches of New England in purity, peace, and

strength, to remote times. Religious and political dissensions, which

had disturbed and threatened the infant Church and the forming

State, appeared to be effectually composed. The tribunals, carefully

constituted for the administration of impartial and speedy justice,

understood and did their duty, and commanded respect. The education of

the generations which were to succeed had been provided for with an

enlightened care. The College had bountifully contributed its ripe

first-fruits to the public service; and the novel system of a universal

provision of the elements of knowledge at the public cost, had been

inaugurated with all circumstances of encouragement.

A generation was coming forward which remembered nothing of what

Englishmen had suffered in New England for want of the necessaries

and comforts of life. The occupations of industry were various and

remunerative. Land was cheap, and the culture of it yielded no penurious

reward to the husbandman; while he who chose to sell his labor was at

least at liberty to place his own estimate upon it, and found it always

in demand. The woods and waters were lavish of gifts which were to be

had simply for the taking. The white wings of commerce, in their long

flight to and from the settler's home, wafted the commodities which

afford enjoyment and wealth to both sender and receiver. The numerous

handicrafts, which in its constantly increasing division of labor, a

thriving society employs, found liberal recompense; and manufactures on

a larger scale were beginning to invite accumulations of capital and

associated labor.

The Confederacy of the Four Colonies was an humble, but a substantial,

power in the world. It was known to be such by its French, Dutch, and

savage neighbors; by the alienated communities on Narragansett Bay; and

by the rulers of the mother country.

During Winthrop's last ten years, nowhere else in the world had

Englishmen been so happy as under the generous government which his

mind inspired and regulated. What one mind could do for a community's

well-being, his had done. The prosecution of the issues he had wrought

for was now to be committed to the wisdom and courage of a younger

generation, and to the course of events, under the continued guidance of

a propitious Providence.