IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // ^- 1.0 1.1 11.25 I^IZB 12.5 Ui Uii 122 1.4 Hill 1.6 J^ y] /^ y /^ PhotDgraphic Sdeiices Corporation \ iV vss^ :\ i^ \ N^. ^\ ¥^^^2%^ ^^^ ^^^ ;\ 23 WBT MAIN STREET WEbSTER.N.Y. MS80 (716) S72-4S03 CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHIVi/ICIVlH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiquea The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibiiographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. D □ J D D Coloured covers/ Couverture de couleur I I Covers damaged/ Couverture endommagie □ Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaur^ et/ou pellicui^e I I Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque Coloured maps/ Cartes g^ographiques en couleur □ Coloured inl( (i.e. other than blue or biaclt)/ Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noirel I I Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ Planches et/otj illustrations en couleur Bound with other material/ Reli6 bvec d'autres documents Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La re liure serr^e peut causer da I'ombre ou de la disto'/tion le long de la marge intdrieure Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajoutdes iors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, mais, lorsque cela 6tait possible, ces pages n'ont pas 6t6 filmtes. Additional comments:/ Commentaires suppldmentaires: L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exempiaire qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exempiaire qui sont peut-Atre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la mAthode normale. de f iimage sont indiquAs ci-dessous. D D D D n Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur Pages uamaged/ Pages endommag^es Pages restored and/or laminated/ Pages restauries et/ou pellicul6es Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages dicolortes, tachetdes ou piqudes Pages detached/ Pages ddtachtes Showthrough/ Transparence I I Quality of print varies/ Quality in^gaie de I'impression includes supplementary material/ Comprend du materiel suppiimentaire Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to ensure the best possible image/ Les pages totalement ou partiellement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, etc., ont 6t« fiimtes A nouveau de fa^on d obtenir la meilleure image possible. This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est film^ au taux de reduction indiquA ci-dessous. 10X 14X 18X 22X 26X 30X J 12X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X The copy filmed here has been reproduced thvinks to the generosity of: Harold Campbell Vaughan Memorial Library Acadia Univenity L'exemplaire film* fut reproduit grAce A la gAnArosit* de: Harold Campbell Vaughan Memorial Library Acadia Univenity > The images appearing here are the best quality possible considering the condition and legibility of the original copy and in iceeping with the filming contract specifications. Original copies in printad paper covers are filmed beginning with the front cover and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All other originaJ copies are filmed beginning on the first page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol —^(meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les images suivantes ont etS reproduites avec le plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition at de la nettet* de l'exemplaire film«, et en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprimAe sont filmte en commenpant par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la derniire page qui comporte une empreinte d'.'mpression ou d'illustration, soit par le second plat, salon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont film^s en commenpant par la premiere page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la derniire page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboles suivants apparaftra sur la derniAre Image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbols — ► signifie "A SUiVRE ", le symbols V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc.. peuvent dtra film^s d des taux de reduction diffirents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul cliche, 11 est film* A partir de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite. 6t da haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n^cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants iliustrent la m6thode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 •w ■""^PHiv^Bwwpimpp""^^!" ^^^m^^ mm^ C? /^iPi^^^Qj;L^ ^/^i/-^u^.<^^ ^mmmim ^>^' itv-'- a- mt ^ tP 'm v^:'?;i:w«'-'*^- ;^ jf K-m r. # " -K % t iv'^ * ,#' -.i'^is^4'.ii..rr'H 4 n % A • * * ^' / -fS' iHU «i«H»i •^ :^ *i '-ti «.. t i » . 1 '• ! I < S ^ ' 1 1. •s % *"'^***'jtasi«*iii. '*'«* MM #, S m .-JU-,- s-Ki. -J^« .%c ■'^?, m ^'■ c% ^ fc..'-' ''X ^#- # ^ PROPHETIC VOICES 1^7^ CONC'ERMNG u AMERICA. A MONOGRAPH. BY CHARLES SUMNER. ■'";» •'^. X(t I have a far other and far vision, but I will cherish it. frozen North in unbroken line tlie Atlantic westward to the people, anil one law, and one tinent, the home of freedom, every dime. — John Bkioht, bi/ liogers. Vol. I. p. 225. brighter vision before my gaze. It may be but a I see one vast confederation stretching from the to the glowing South, and from the wild billows of calmer waters of the Pacific main, — and I see one language, and one faith, and, over all that wide con- and a refuge for the ojjprcssed of every race and of Speech at Birmingham, December 18, 1802 : Speeches BOSTON: LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS NEW YORK: LEE, SHEPARD, AND DILLINGHAM. 1874. Knterod fti-conliii},' to Act of Congress, in the yonr 1874, nV FliANCIS V. [iAI.( H, F.XICCUTOJ!, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. rp, University Prf.ss: Wrixh, Bicjklow, & Co., CAMnRIDGE. I Tins Tnonoujra])li ajipoared ori,lly in tlie " At- lanti(', ^lontlily." It is now revised and enlarged. Tn tlie celebration (jf onr hundredth hirthday a.s a nation, now last approaciiing, these ])i'o])hetie voices will he heard, teaching how niucl.i ol" present fame and ])0wer was foreseen, also what remains to ho, accomplished. C. S. 4^ Ili^torv 'iliows fhiit tlio ri'ilizatinn on wliirli wo dopond i* nilijoct to ti ficiicral law uliicli iimUfs it juiinu'v liy liiilts, in tlio iiiHiiiicr (if aruiii's, in the (liivcti'iM lit' tiic OcH'iiicnt, nialiin}; tlu^ scoptrc pa-^s succossivciy into the iiiimls of uiitions niurc wortliv to liolil it, more strong and more aldn to cmplny it I'll)- till' general j^ood. So it M'tMiw tJKit the Miprcnic aiitliority i» about to escnpo from Wt^^tcni and (Vntral lliiropf, to pM>s to tiu- Now World. In tiuf nortiit-rn part of tiiat otlicr iicnM^plicrc oIlMioots of tlit! Kiiropcaii rnro liavc foimdcil a vig- orous society full of sa]i, wlioso inlluciu'c grows witli a rapiility that lias never yet lieen seen aiiywliert!. In erossing the (n-ean it lias left lieliind on tlie soil of old Kiiro|)e traditions, prejuiliecs, and \isages which, its inipoliiiiiiilK heavy to move, would have einhaiTUSsed its movements and retarded its progressive march. In about thirty years the I'nited States will iiave, accia'diiig to all probability, a hundred millions of poiiulatioii, in possession of the most powerful means, distributed over a territory which would make France lifteen or sixteen t-mes over, and of the most wonderful dis|,ositi()n. . . . Vainly do the occidental and central nations of Kuropo attribute to them- selves a priuiiicy which, in their vanity, thev think sheltered from events anil eternal ; as if there were anything eternal in the grandem- and prosperity of societies, the works of men I — Mtchkl Ciikvamki!, Ii(ij)jior(s du Jury Intenmtiond: ExposUliin i'ninrsillv (it lb67 d /'«)•/.«, Tom. I., pp. dxiv. - dxvi. America, and especially Snxon America, with its immense virgin terri- tories, with its reptiblic' with its eriuilibrium between stability and pro- gress, with its harmonv between liberty and democracy, is the continent of The future, —the immi'iise contiueut stretcheil by (iod between the Atlantic and I'a-itic. where mankind mav jiiant, essay, and resolve all social prob- lems, {/jrnl rlncrs.] Kurope has to decide whether she will conluuiid herself with Asia, jilacing upon her lands old altars, and upon the altars old idols, and upon the idols immovable theocrnc ies, and upon the theocracies despotic empires, or whether she will go i)y labor, by liberty, and by the re- public, to ( v)lIaborate with America iii the grand work of universal civiliza- tion. — Kmilio Castklak, i>peech in the Spanish Cortts, June 22, 1871. '1 4 MONOGRAPH. e rc- lizii- i' rfHIK discovery of Aiiierit\i 1)y Christopher C()hnnl)us J- is tlie ^'reatest event of secuhir history. JJesides the i)f)tiito, the turkey, and maize, whicli it introduced at once for tlit,' nourishment and condbrt of the Ohl World,^ and also tohacco, wliich only hlind passion for the weed could ]»la('e in the beneficent grou]), this dis- covery opened the door to iidluences infinite in extent and beneKcenci!. ^Meiisure them, describe them, ])icture them, yon cannrjt. While yet unknown, ima,t,dnation invested this continent with ])roverbial maifni licence. It was the Orient and the land of Cathay. AVhen after- wards it took a ])la('e in j^eof^raphy, imagination found another field in trying' to portray its future history. If the (lolden A^i^e is before, and not behind, as is now happily the prevailing faith, then indeed must America share at least, if it does not monopolize, the promised good. Iiefore the voyage of Columbus in 1402, nothing of America was really known. Scanty scraps from antiq- 1 In tho Dcsrriptinn nf Kiifrliind, jjrofixod to Tlolinslied's Clirnniclo^ iiml (luted l')^T). niip of tlu'«o jrifts is inoiition(>(l ; " Of the pntiito and snrh vono- rnns roots ns two brought out of Spain, Portiitial, nnd tho Tndips to fnnii-li up our hiiiiquots, I spoak not." Introduction, Book II., Chap. VI., Vol. I. p. 281. (London, 1807.) 1 A 2 rUOplIKTIC VOICES CONC'KHNINf} AMKKICA. uity, vnf^'ue rumors from tlio resound in;,' ocean, and tlic liesitatiii;,' speculations of science, were all that the in- spired navii^aUn* found to guide him. Foremost amonj,' these were the well-known verses (}f Seneca, so interest- ing from ethical genius and a tragical death, in the cho- rus of his " Medea," whicii for generations had heen the finger-point to an undiscovered world. " . . . . vcnicnt luinis Seculii scris rosody and in an important word from the received text: — " Vciiicnt miiiio sorula soris (^iiil>ii-i (K-fiiiuis viiiciilii ronim Liixt't ct in^'t'iiH |iatf:it tflliis Tillnjit quo iiovos dctfj^nt orhos Nee sit terris iiltiiiiii Tliulf." This is move curious, as the versos are orrcct in the letter of Cohunlais, preserved hy Navarn e,^ The sympathetic an»l authoritative commentator, who has illustrated the enterprise witii all that classical or mediieval literature alfords,'*^ declares his conviction that the di.scovery of a new (;ontinent was more com- pletely foreshadowed in the simj)le geogra]>lii(!al state- ment of the Cireek Straho, who, after a long life of travel, .sat down in tlie eighty-fourtli year of his age, dur- ing the reign of Augustus, to write the geography of the world, including its cosmography. In this work, where are gathered tlie results of ancient study and ex])erience, the venerable author, after alluding to the possil>ility of passing direct from Spain to India, and explaining that the inhabited world is that which we inhabit and know, thus lifts the curtain: "There may be in the ^ Coleccion rle los Vi!ipp« y Dosciibrimiontn.e, Tom. II. p. 272. 2 Hnmholdt, Exann'ti critique de la ^('ngrapliic, Tom. I. pp. 101, 102. Soe also HumhokU, Kosinos, Vol. M. pp. 510, 556, 557, 645. 4 PROniETIC VOICES CONCERNING AMERICA. same tL'mperato zone two and imhrd wore inJuthifcd /(uuls, especially nearest the parallel of Tliinie or Athens, prolonged into the Atlantic Ocean." ^ This was the voice of ancient science. liefore the voyage of Colinnl)Us two Italian poets seem to have heheld the unknown world. The first was JVti-arca ; iior was it unnatural that his exquisite genius should reach behind the veil of Time, as where he pic- tures " Tlie flayliirlit liMstoning with wiiiircl stojjs rc'rclianco to frladdeu tlio cxiu'ctiiiit oyos Of far-off ntnions in a worlil remote."' 2 Tlie other was Pulci, who, in his Morfjnnte Mafjfjiorc, sometimes called the last of the romances and the earli- est of Italian epics, reveals an undiscovered world be- yond the Pillars of Hercules. " Know tliJit tliis theory is false; his hark Tii(! (lariiiii mariner sliail urge far o'er Tiie western wave, a suiootii and level plain, Albeit the earth is fashioned like a wheel. Man was in aneieiit days of p;rosser mould. And Hercules might hlush to learn iiow far Reyond the limits he had vainly set The dullest sen-boat soon shall wing her way. " Men shtiH (hscrij another hemisphere, Since to one common centre all things tend; So earth, by curious mystery divine Well balanced, hangs amid the starry spheres. At (iiir Anfi/xxles are cities, stntes, All'/ thronrji'd empires, ne'er dirined of yore. Rut see, the sun speeds on his western path To glad the nations with expected light." 3 This translation is by our own eminent historian, 1 Lib. I. p. 65; Lib. II. p. 118. '^ " . . . . che M di nostro vola A gente, che di lii forse 1' aspetta." Canzone IV. s Canto XXV. st. 229. 230. I t t PIJOPIIETIC VOICES CONCEHNIXr; AMERICA. 5 Prescott, wIh) first ealk-d attention to the testimony,' wliicli is not incnlioned even l)y l[iunboldt. Leii^li Hunt rel'eiTed to it at a later day.^ Pulci was born in Florence, 14ol, and died there, 14(S7, five years hetbre ( Vdiinibns sailed, so that he was not aided by any rumor ul" the discovery he so distinctly predicts. ■'■J& frian, Passing' from the great event which j^ave a new world not only to 8i)ain but to civilized man, it may not be un- interesting to collect some of the ])rophetic voices con- cerning the future of America and the vast untblding of our continent. Tliev will have a lesson also. Seeing what has been fulfilled, we mav better indue what to expect. I shall set them forth in the order of tinu', prefacing each prediction with an account of tlie author sufticient to exjdain its origin and character. If some are already ftimiliar, others are little known. Brought together in one body, on the princij>le of our national Union, E 2)luribHS u/ium, they nuist give new confidence in the destinies of the Pepublie. Only what has been said sincer our history began, so that wo meet no responses paltering in a double sense, like tlie deceptive re])lies to Crcesus and to Pyrrhus ; nor any sayings which, according to the quaint language of 8ir Thomas Prowne, "seem (piodlibetically constituted, and, like a Delphian blade, will cut both ways."^ In Pa- con's Essay on Prophecies there is a latitude not to be followed. ."Xot fable or romance, but history, is the true 1 Hi^itorv of Eordiiinnd ami Tsubolln, Vol. II. pp. 117, 118. 2 Stories from the Itnliiiii I'oet", p. 171. 8 Works, Vol. IV. p. 81 (edit. IMckeriug), Ciirisiian Morals. 6 PIlOniETIG VOICES CONCERNING AMERICA. authority, and here experience and genius are tl\e liglits by which our prophets have walked. Doubtless tliere is a dillerence in human faculties. Men who have lived nnich and felt strongly see further than others. Their vision penetrates the future. Second sight is little more than clearness of sight. Milton tells us " That old experience does attain To something like prophetic strain." Sometimes this strain is attained even in youth. But here Genius with di'iup power lifts the curtain and sweeps the scene. The elder Disraeli in his " Curiosities of Litera- ture " has a chapter on " Prediction," giving curious instances, among which is that of liousseau, at the close of the third book of "Emile," wliere he says, "We ap- proach a condition of crisis and the age of revolutions." ^ Our own IJevolution was then at hand, soon followed by that of France. The settlement of America was not without auguries even at the beginning. A PROPHETIC GROUP. Before passing to the more serious examples T bring into group a few, marking at least a poet's apprecia- tion of the newly discovered country, if not a prophetic spirit. The muse was not silent at the various reports. As early as 1595, Chapman, famous as the translator of Hijmer, in a poem on Guiana, thus celebrates and com- mends the unknown land : — " Guiana, whose rich feet are mines of j^old, Whose forehead knocks against the roof of stars, Stands on her tiptoe at fair England looking, 1 Vol. III. p. 272. A riiOniETIC GROLT. Kissiiii; lisr hand, bowing lior miglity breast, Aiul every .sign of all s*ubniissi(.ii making, To be tlio sisu-r and the daughter both Of our most sacred inuid. "1 bring And there do palaces and temples rise Out of tue earth suid kiss th' enamor'd skies, Where new Britannia humbly kneels to Heaven, The world to her, and both at her blest feet la whom the circles of ah empire meet." In similar strain Drayton, who flourished under James I., addresses Virginia : — "And ours to hold Virginia, Earth's only paradise. "Where nature hath in store Fowl, venison, and lisli. And the fruitful'st soil Without your toil Three harvests more, All greater than your wish. " To whose, the golden age Still nature's laws doth give. No other cares that 'tend But them to defend From winter's age, That long there doth not live." l Daniel, poet-laureate and contemporary, seemed to foresee tlie spread of our English speech, anticipating our own John Adams : — " Who in time knows whither we may vent The treasures of our tongue ? To what strange shores This gain of our best glory shall be sent, T' enrich unknowing nations with our stores? What worlds, in the yet unformed Occident, May 'come refined with th' accents that are ours? " 2 1 To the Virginian Voj'age: Anderson's British Poets, Vol. III. p 583. 2 Musophilus: Anderson's British Poets, Vol. IV. p. 541. 8 rKornETic voices concerning amekica. The emigration prompted by conscience and for the sake of religious liberty inspired the pious and poetical Herbert to famous verses : — ii " Keli<;ion stamls on tiptoe in our land, Keady to pass to the American strand." The poet died in lG3l', twelve years after the landing of the Pilgrims at Tlymouth, and only two years after the larger movemei.': of the IMassachusetts Company, which began the settlement of Boston. The verses saw the light with difficulty, being refused the necessary license ; but the functionary at last yielded, calling the author " a divine poet," and expressing the hope that " the world will not take him for an ins])ired prophet." ^ Fuller, writing a little later, was perhaps moxed by Herbert when he said : " I am confident that America, though the youngest sister of the four, is now grown marriageable, and daily hopes to get Christ to her hus- band, by the preaching of the gospel."^ In a different vein a contemporary poet, the favorite of Charles I., Thomas Carew, in a masque performed by the mon- arch and his courtiers tit .Whitehall, February 18, 1C33, made sport of New England, saying that it had " purged more virulent humors from the politic body than guaiacum and the West Indian drugs have from the natural bodies of this kingdom." ^ But these words uttered at the Englisli Court were praise. Then came answering voices from the Colonies. Rev. AVilliam ^Morrill, of the Established Church, a settler of ,*-■■.■ 1 Tlie Clmrch Militant : Herbert's Poetical Works, p. 247, note (ed. Little and Brown). 2 The Holy Statr^, Book HI., Chap XVI., Of Plantations. 8 Coelum Britannicuni: Anderson's British Poets, Vol. III. p. 716. A rRoniETic GRorr. 9 1G23, said of New England, in a Latin poem translated by himself: — ♦' A fjrnndvhild to Knrtli'n pnrnd'ne is horn. Well liinboil, well nerved, fair, rich, sweet, yet forloni." i "The Sim])le Cobbler of Af,'a\vam," another name for Rev. Nathaniel Ward of Ipswich, Mass., at the close of his witty book, first published in 1045 and having'- five different editions in the single year of 1047, sends an invitation to those at liome : — " So fiirewell Eiiglaiul old If evil times ensue, Let fjood men come to us, Wee '1 welcome them to New." Another witness we meet in the writings of Fraidvlin- It is George Webb, who, decamping from Oxford and the temptations of scholarship, indented himself according to the usage of the times, and became what Franklin calls "a bought servant" on our shores, wliere liis genius flowered in the prophetic couplet, written in 1728 : — "Rome shall lament her ancient fame declined, Ami Philiuhlphia be the Athens of mankind.'''' Another English prophet, in verses written during our colonial days, foretells that liis country shall see Ih'itisli wealth, power, and glory repeated in the New World: — " In other lands, another Britain see, And what thou art America shall be." 2 And yet anotlier, Hugh Henry Brackenridge, born in Scotland, and a graduate of our Princeton College in 1 Duyckinck's Cyclopoedia of American Literature, Vol. L p. 2. 2 Webster: Works, Vol. IL p. 510. Speech at the Festival of the Sons of New Hampshire. w 10 PUOI'lIETIC VOICES CONCERNING AMERICA. » t 1771, in a Commencement poem on "The Ilising Glory of America," i)ictured the future of the continent, adopt- ing ay a motto thi; verses of Seneca, so often quoted by Columbus : — " Tliis is tliy praise, Amcricft, thy power, Tlinu ')ost of climes by science visited, iiy freedom blest, iiiul richly stored with all The luxuries of life. Ilail, haitpy land, The seat of empire, the abode of kings, The final stage where Time shall introduce Renowned characters and glorious works of art, ■ ' Which not the ravages of Time shall waste Till he nimself has run his long career." i To these add Voltaire, who, in his easy verse written in 1751, represents God as putting fever in European cli- mates " and the remedy in America." ^ From this chorus, with only one discordant voice, I pass to a long line of voices so distinct and full as to be recognized separately. JOHN MILTON, 1641. The list opens with John Milton, whose lofty words are like an overture to the great drama of emigration, with its multitudes in successive generations. If not a prophet, he has yet struck a mighty key-note in our his- tory. The author of "Paradise Lost," of "Comus" and the lieroic Sonnets, needs no special mention beyond the two great dates of birth and death. He was born 9th 1 Duyckinck's Cyclopaedia of American Literature, Vol. I. p. 299. 2 " II met la fi6vre en nos climats, Et le remede en Amerique,^* Epitre au Roi de Prusse, LXXV.: (Euvres, XIII. p. 186 (ed. 1784). ABRAHAM COWLEV, 1007. 11 Decembor, 1G08, and died 8th Xoveiiil)L'i', 1G74. Thu treatise from wliicli I (|Uote was written in 1041. " Whiit numbers of faithful nnd free-born Enijlishmcn and good Cliristiu'^s luivo been constrained to forsake their dear- est home, their friends and kindred, whom nothing but the wide ocean and the savage deserts of America could hide and shelter from the fury of the l)isho|)s ! O, if we could but see the 8lmi)C of our dear mother England, as poets are wont to give a })crsonal form to what they i)lease, how would she ap[)ear, think ye, but in a mourning weed, with ashc. upon her head, and tears abundantly flowing from her eyes, to behold so many of her children exposed at once and thrust from things of dearest necessity, because their conscience could not assent to things which the bisho})s thought indif- ferent ] Let the astrologer be dismayed at the portentous blaze of comets and impressions in the air, as foretelling troubles and changes to states ; I shall believe there cannot be a more ill-boding sign to a nation (God turn the omen from us !) than when the inhabitants, to avoid insufterablo grievances at home, are enforced by heaps to forsake their native country." ^ Here in a few words are the sacrifices made by our fathers, as they turned from their English homes, and also the conscience which prompted and sustained them. Begun in sacrifice and in conscience, their empire grew and flourished with constant and increasing promise of future grandeur. ABRAHAM COWLEY, 1667. Contemporary with ^Milton, and at the time a rival for the palm of poetry, was Abraham Cowley, born ^ Reformation in England, Book II.: Works, Vol. III. p. 45 (Pickering's edition). .-it ni- 1 1 12 PllOl'IIETIC VOICES CONX'ERNIXG AMEKICA. 1G18, (lied 28th July, 1GG7. His l)iograi)l»y stands at tlie head of Johnson's "Lives of the British I'oets," tiie first in that instructive collection. The two poets were on opjMJsite sides ; Milton for the Commonwealth, Cow- ley for the King. His genius was recognized in his own time, and when he died, at the age of forty-nine, after a niglit of ex[)os- nre under the oi)en sky, Charles 11. said: " ^Ir. Cowley has not left a better man behind him in England." He was buried in Westminster Abbey, near Chaucer and Spenser, liut jWcS^ morfcni praise was too late to as- suage the sting of royal ingratitude to a faithful servant. His disap})ointment oroke forth in the declared desire " to retire to some of the American plantations and forsake the world forever." Instead of America he se- lected the county of Kent, where he withdrew and es- l^ecially delighted in the study of plants. His botany flowered in i)oetry. He composed, in much admired Latin verse, six books on l^lants, — the first and second in elegiac verse, disjdaying the qualities of herbs ; the third and fourth, in various measures, on the beauties of Howers ; and the fifth and sixth in hexameters, like the Georgics, on the uses of trees. The first two books, in Latin, appeared in 1GG2 ; the other four, also in Latin, were not published till 1G78, the year after his death. They did not see the English light till 1705, when a translation was published by Tate,^ from which I quote. Two fruits of America are commemorated. The first is that which becomes chocolate : — 1 Cowley's History of Plants, a poem in six Books, with Papin's Defi- nition of Garden'*, a poem in four Books. Translated from tlie Latin, tlie former by N. Tate and others, the hitter by James Gardner. (London, 1705 ) ■L AHUA1IAM COWLEY, ICCiT. 13 " Gimtimalii prodiiroil ii fruit unknown To liuiiipc, wliifli witli (loul)l() \iw onduccl l-'or clidrolati! lit onc'f is drink anil luuil, l)ocH striMij;tli anil vi;ior to the limits impart, Makes iVusli tlio cuuntcnuuco and cliucrs the heart." 1 The other is the cucou : — •'While slio preserves this Indian pahn alono Ameriea ran never be und"'.!f Kmbowelled and of alt her j;old bereft Her liberty anc 'ocas only left, She 's richer than the S])anittrd with his theft." 3 The poet, addressing the New Woiid, beeoiiies pro- phetic : — " To live by wholesome laws you now begin Buililini,'s to raise and fence your cities in, To plouj,'h the earth, to plough the very main. And trallic with tiie universe maintain; Defensive arms and ornaments of dress. All im[)lements of life you now possess. To you the arts of war and peace are known, And whole Minerva is become your f)wn. Our UHises, to your sires an unknown band. Already have got footing in your land. • • • • ■ *' Loni^ rolling years shall late bring on the times When with your gold ileltauehod and ripoiied crimes Tluvnpn, tlip world's most noblo part, shall fall Tpnn her banished gods and virtue call In vain, wliilo foroirrn and domestic -war At once shall hor distracted bosom tear, — Forlorn, and to bo pitied, even hy yon: Menmrhih jinvr risinr/ rjlnry j/nv ah nil new, Wit, Icnrninrf, ii'vttie. dncipl'ine qfirnr^ Shnll for protection to ymir rt'orhl repair, Andjix n lorif/ illustrious empire there. " Lnte destiny shall high exalt your reign, Whose pomp no crowds of slaves a needless train. Nor gold, the rabble's idol, shall support. 1 Rook V. 2 Ibid. V] *\ k 14 I'KOPIIKTIC VOICES CONCKKMNG AMKIUCA. Likp Mi)iitPZume'H or OuiiniipficiN rourt, liut Hiu'li true) ^Miiiidctir uh old Hume inuiiitiiined; Wljcni lurtuiiu was a slave, anhetic. Sir Thomas lirowne was horn I'.ith Octol)er, 1(505, and died lUtii October, 1082. His tract was pul)lished, two years after his death, in a collection of jSIiscellanies, edited hy Dr. Tenison. As a much-admired author, some of whose writings belong to our English classics, his proplietic prolusions are not nuMorthy of notice. They are founded on verses entitled " The Prophecy," purporting to have been sent him by a friend, among which are the following: — «' When New Englanrl shall trouble new Spain, When .Tnmaica shall be lady of the isles and the main; When Spain shall be in America hid, And Mexico shall prove a ^ladrid ; When Africa s/inll vn more sell out their hhclcs To mnl-e slaves and drudges to the American tracts; . • • " When America shall cease to serul out its treasure, But employ it at home in American pleasure ; 1 Book V. 2 Life of Sir Thomas Browne. ill sm THOMAS nilOWNE, 1082. 15 ]\lientheXfw W'orlil thnll the Oil innule, Nor count tliiin tinir Imlt but thvirfvlUnn in trade ; • • • • • Tlicri think f*trimfr<> tliinjrs have cotno to light, Whcri'of but few havo imd ii forcsi{;lit." ^ Somo of tlicsi; words are striking', ospccially when wq considor tlit'ir curly duto. The author of tlie " Jielij,n() IMedici" seems in tlie main to accejit the ])rophecy, which may he liis own. In a coimiientary on each verse lie seeks to explain it. New Kuj^Mand is " that thriving colony which hath so much increased in his day"; its peojde are already " industrious," and when they have so far increased " that the neighboring coun- try will not contain them, they will range still further, and he able in time to set forth great armies, seek lor new possessions, or make considerable and conjoined mi- grations." The verse touching Africa will be fulfilled " when African countries shall no longer make it a com- mon trade to sell away their people." And this may come to pass " whenever they shall he well civilized and acquainted with arts and affairs sufficient to employ people in their countries." It would also come to pass, " if they shouhl be converted to Christianity, but espe- cially into Mahometism ; for then they would never sell those of their religion to be slaves unto Cliristiaiis." The verse concerning America is expounded thus : — " That is, when America shall he better civilized, new policied, and divided between great princes, it may come to pass that they will no longer sufter their treasure of gold and silver to be sent out to maintain the luxury of Europe and other ports; but rather employ it to their own advantages, in great exploits and undertakings, magnificent structures, wars, or expeditions of their own.'"^ 1 Browne, W'orks, Vol. IV. pp. 232, 233. 2 Ibid., p. 236. Jl IG rnopiiETic VOICES coNCKRXiy(j America. TIjo ntlior vorso, on the invasion of tliu Old World by tho New, is I'Xpliiined : — "Tliut is, wlion Aiiicricii simll 1)0 ho well j)0()|)1cmI, eivili/od, and divided into kiiij^'donis, f/n// an' llhr to have no little re- l/(nri(/iiioln as to nrk'Honilediie no Hiihjectinit. unto them; they niiiy ulso Imvo a distinct connnerco thi'iDHclvus, or l)nt iiidopc'udontly with thoso of Kiirojic, and may hos- tilcly and piratically asstudt tlictn, even as the (Jreek and J{oinan culonies after a long time dealt with their original countries, >i 1 That these speculations should arrest the attention of J)r. fJohnson is soniethinj^j. They seem to have been in part I'ullilled. An editor (quietly remarks, that, "to judge from the course of events since Sir Thomas wrote, we may not unreasonabl}'^ look forward to their more complete fullilment." ^ I t SIR JOSIAH CHILD AXD DR. CHARLES DAVENAXT, 1698. In contrast with the poets, but minglinjjr with them in forecast, were two writers on trade, who saw the future through facts and figures, or what one of them called " ])olitical arithmetic," even discerning colonial in(le])endence in the distance. These were Sir .Tosiah Child, born 1G30 and died 1G90, and Dr. Charles Dave- nant, born IGoG and died 1714. Child is mentioned by Defoe as " originally a trades- man." Others speak of him as "a Southwalk l)reM'er," and Macculloch calls him " one of the most extensive and, judging from his work, best-informed merchants 1 Browne, Work?, Vol. IV. p. 236. 2 Ibid., p. 231, note. SIR JOSIAII CHILD AND DU. DAVE.NAM, lOlW. 17 of liis tinio." * II»! rose to wealth and considcnition, roiiiiilinj^ u family which iiitcriiiiuriod with the noiiility. His soil was known as i^onl ('aslh'iniiinc, i'laii Tihu'y of Iiclanci. l)av('nant was (.'Idcst son of the autiior of (londihi'i't, " rare Sir William," and, like his eminent fatiier, a (hainad I. He was also inend)er of I'arlia- nient, and wrote; nuieii on comniereial ([nestions ; hut here he was less fanions than Child, wliose " New l)is- eourse of Trade," so I'ar as it concerned the inlerest of money, first a]»pcared in lG(i8, and since then has he(;ii often reprinted and nnich (luoted. There was an en- larucd e(liti(jn in 1(>'J4. That now liefore me ajtpcanfd ill KIDS, jind in tiie .sanu; year Havenant ])uhli,shi!d his kindred "J)iscourse.s on the l*uhlic Jicsvennes and on the Trade of Knuland," anion<^ which is one " (tn the Plantation Trade;." The two anthun: treated especially the Colonies, and in simih»r sjtirit. The work of Child was hrou,i,dit to roc^ent notice; hy the volnmi!ions ])lodder (Jeor^fe Chalmers, ])articularly in his writings on the C\)lonies and American Indeju-n- dcnce,^ and then again hy tlu; elder Disraeli in his "Curiosities of Literature," who i)laces a ])roj)hecy at- trihuted to him in his chapter on " Trediction." After referring to Harrington and Defoe, "who ventured to predict an event, not hy other similar events, hut hy a theoretical principle which ho had formed," Disraeli quotes Chalmers : — " Cliild, foreseeing from experience that men's condnrt must finally he decided hy their principles, fouktold the 1 The Litcrnturo of Political Economy, p. 42. 2 Seo Opinions on Intcrcstinjij Subjects of Tutlic L:iw siiul Commorciiil Policy nrisinj:^ from Aniorican Inclcpendcnco, \>. 108. A motto on the re- verse of the title-page is from Child. B i'"" r'.'ViV'ii >.i |M ) mnj^y^mr^i^ ! i •i i 18 PROniETIC VOICES CONCERNING AMERICA. colonial revolt. Dofoc, allowinj; his prejudices to obscure his sagacity, reprobated that suggestion, because he deemed interest a more strenuous prompter than enthusiasm." The pleasant hunter of curiosities then says: — "The predictions of Harrington and Defoe are precisely such as we might expect from a petty calculator or a politi- cal economist, who can see nothing further than immediate results ; but the true philosophical predictor was Child, who had read the />««<." ^ D'Israeli was more curious than accurate. His ex- cuse is that he followed another writer.^ The predic- tion attributed to Child belongs to Davenant ; but the two are coupled by the introduction of words from the former. The work of Child is practical ratlier than specula- tive, and shows a careful student of trade. Dwelling on tlie " plantations " of England and their value, he considers their original settlement, and here we find a painful contrast beuween New England and Virginia.^ Passing from the settlement to the character, New England is described as " being a more independent government from this kingdom than any other of our plantations, and the people that went thither more one peculiar sort or sect than those that went to the rest of our plantations." * He recognized in them " a people, whose frugality, industry, and temperance, and the hap- piness of whose laws and institutions, do promise to themselves long life with a wonderful increase of peO" 1 Curiosities of Literature, Vol. III. p. 303 (ed. London, 1849). 2 Chalmers, Life of Defoe, p. 68. 8 A New Discourse of Trade, p. 183 (ed. 1698). * Ibid., p. 201. SIR JOSIAII CHILD AND Dli. DAVENANT, 1(398. 19 re one best of [eople, hap- lise to peo- 1 ■I m i ':m pie, riches, ami power." ^ And then : " Of all the American plantations, his Majesty hath none so apt for the building of shi})ping as New England. Nor none comparably so qualitied for breeding of seamen, not oidy by reason of tlie natural industry of tliat people, but })rincipally by reason of tlieir cod and mackerel fish- eries." ^ On his last i)age are words more than compli- mentary : — " To conclude this chapter and to do right to that most industrious English colony, I must confess that though wo lose by their unlimited trade with our foreign plantations, yet wo are very great gainers by their direct trade to and from Old England. Our yearly English exportations of English manufactures, malt and other goods from hence thither, amounting in my opinion to ten times the value of what is imported ^'•om thence." ^ Here is keen observation, but hardly prophecy. Contrast this with Davenant : — " As the case now stands, we shall show that they [the Colonics] are a spring of wealth to this nation, that they work for us, that their treasure centres all here, and that the laws have tied them fast enough to ue , so that it must be through our own fault and misgovernmcnt, if the y hecome independent of England. .... ('orrupt govei'nors may here- after provoke them to withdraw their obedience, and by supine negligence or upon mistaken measures, wo may let them grow, more especially New England, in naval strength and power, ivhich, if suffered, we cannot expect to hold them long in our mhjection. If, as some have proposed, we should think to build ships of war there, we may teach them an art which 1 A New Discourse of Trade, p. 203 (ed. 1698). 2 Iliid., p. 215. 8 Ibid., p. 216. •^f^mftftr^r^im^miir^jmt^i^"'- m^mwrffmfr 20 PROPMETir VOICKS CONCERNING AMERICA. will cost lis some blows to make them forf,'et. Some such courses may, iudccd, drive them, or put it iuto their heads, to erect themselves into independent Commonwealths.'' * ])avenaiit then quotes Child's remark on New Eng- land as " the most proi)er for building ships and breed- ing seamen," and adds : — " So that, if we should go to cultivate among them the art of navigation and teach them to have a naval force, thei/ may set ttp for themselves and make the greatest part of our West India trade precarious.''^ These identical words are quoted by Chalmers, who exclaims : "Of that pr()})liecy we have lived, alas ! to see tlie fulfilment."^ Doubtless, on this Disraeli founded Jiis prediction. Chalmers emigrated from Scotland to Maryland, and practised in the colonial courts, but, disgusted with American independence, returned home, where he wrote and edited much, especially on colonial questions, ill concealing a certain animosity, and, on one occasion, stating tiiat, among the documents in the Board of Trade and Paper Office were " the most satisfactory proofs " of the settled purpose of the Colonies, from " the epoch of the Ee volution of 1G88," "to acquire direct in- dependence." * But none of these proofs are presented. The same allegation was also made l)y Viscount Bury in his " Exodus of "Western Nations,"** but also without proofs. The name of Defoe is always interesting, and I can- 1 Discourses, Part II. pp. 204, 205. 2 Ibid., p. 206. -'' Opinions on Interesting Subjects, p. 108. * Opinions of Eminent Lawyers, Preface xvi. 6 Vol. II. p. 395. "' 'm \M BISHOr BERKELKY, 1720. '>1 not close tliis 'article without reference to the sn\ inj^ attributed to him by JJ'Israeli. 1 know not where in his multitudinous writings it may l)e found, unless in his " Plan of the English Commerce," and here careful researcli discloses nothing nearer than this : — " What a glorious trade to England it would bo to have these colonies increased with a niilhon of people, to be clothed, furnished, and supplied with all their needful things, food excepted, only from us, and tied down forever to us by that immortal, indissoluble bond of trade, their inter- est:' ' In the same work he says : — " This is certain and will be granted, that the product of our imjjroved colonies raises intini^oly more trade, cnii)Ioys more hands, and, I think I may say by consequence, brings in more wealth to this one particular nation or people, the English, than uU the mines of Now Spain do to the Span- iards." 2 In this vision the author of liobinson Crusoe was permitted to see the truth with regard to our country, although failing to recognize future independence. BISHOP BERKELEY, 1726. It is pleasant to think that Berkeley, whose beautiful verses predicting the future of America are so often quoted, was so sweet and charming a character. Atterbury wrote of him : " So much understanding, knowledge, innocence, and humility I should have thought confined to angels, had I never seen this gentleman." Swift said : " He is 1 Papte 3fil. 2 Ibifl., pp 306, 307. See also The Complete English Tradesman, Chap. XXXVI., Works, Vol. XVII, pp. 256, 259. ■ "■^••jfT,'*--^'^; •;•""•,'* I pFM ^>7f i,ii»j muw.ff^^^if^^^,i _, \ I «<« n!"> ■ . •i^vr,!!' il I ■p li 22 PROPHETIC VOICES CONCERNING AMERICA. an absolute philosoplier with regard to money, title, and power." Pope let drop a tribute which can never die, — *' To Berkeley every virtue under Ileuvon." Such a person was naturally a seer. He is compendiously called an Irish prelate and phi- losopher. Born in Kilkenny, 1084, and dying in Ox- ford, 1753, he b(?gan as a philosoplier. While still young, he wrote his famous treatise on " The Principles of Hu- man Knowledge," where he denies the existence of mat- ter, insisting that it is only an impression produced on the mind by Divine power. After travel for several years on the Continent, and fellowship with the witty and learned at home, among whom were Addison, Swift, Pope, Garth, and Arbuthnot, he conceived the project of educating the aborigines of America, which was set forth in a tract, published in 1725, entitled " Scheme for Con- verting the Savage Americans to Christianity by a Col- lege to be erected in the Summer Islands, otherwise called the Isles of Bermuda." Persuaded by his benevo- lence, the ministers promised twenty thousand pounds, and there were several private subscriptions to promote what was called by the king "so pious an undertaking." Berkeley possessed already a deanery in Ireland, with one thousand pounds a year. Turning away from this residence, and refusing to be tempted by an English mitre, offered by the queen, he set sail for Rhode Island, " which lay nearest Bermuda," where, after a tedious passage of five months, he arrived 23d January, 1729. Here he lived on a farm back of Newport, having been, according to his own report, " at great expense for land and stock." In familiar letters he has recorded his im- pression of this place, famous since for fashion. " The f! r BISHOP BERKELEY, 1720. 23 climate," he says, " is like that of Italy, and not at all colder in the winter than I have known it everywlioro north of Home. This island is pleasantly laid out in hills and vales and rising grounds, hath plenty of excel- lent springs and fine rivulets and many delightful land- scapes of rocks and promontories and adjacent lands. Tlie town of Newport contains about six thousand souls, and is the most tliriving, flourishing place in all America for its bigness. It is very pretty and ])leasantly situated. I was never more agreeably surprised than at the first sight of the town and its harbor." ^ lie seems to have been contented, and when his companions went to Jios- ton stayed at home, " preferring," as he wrote, " quiet and solitude to the noise of a great town, notwithstand- ing all the solicitations that have been used to draw us thither." 2 The money he had expected, especially from the king's ministers, failed, and after waiting in vain ex[)ectation two years and a half, he returned to England, leaving an infant son buried in the churchyard of Trinity, and be- stowing upon Yale College a library of eight hundred and eighty volu les, as well as his estate in Rhode Island. During his residence at Newport he had preached every Sunday, and was indefatigable in pastoral duties, besides meditating, if not composing, "The Minute Philosopher," which was published shortly after his return. ^■n his absence he had not been forgotten at home ; and shortly after his return he became Bishop of Cloyne, in which place he was most exemplary, devoting himself to his episcopal duties, to the education of his children, and the pleasures of composition. 1 Berkeley, Work?, Vol. I., Life prefixed, p. 53. 2 Ibid., p! 55. 24 PKOniETIC VOICES CONCERNING AMERICA. ;l It was while occupied with his plan of a college, es- pecially as a mirsery for the Colonial churcheH, shortly hefore sailing lor America, that the great future was revealed to him, and he wrote the famous poem, the only- one found among his works, entitled "Verses on the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning in America.' ^ The date may be fixed at 1726. Such a poem was an iiistoric event. I give the first and last stanzas. " The Muse, disgusted iit an age and climo Rarrcn of every glorious theine, In distant laruh now icaits a better time. Producing subjects worthy J'ame. . . . • • Westward the, course of empire takes its way ; Tlic first four acts already past, A fiftii shall close the drama with the day ; Time's noblest oiTspring is the last.'' It is difficult to exaggerate the value of these verses, which have been so often quoted as to become a common- place of literature and politics. There is nothing from any oracle, there is very little from any prophecy, which can compare with them. The biographer of Berkeley, who wrote in the last century, was very cautious, wlien, after calling them " a beautiful copy of verses," he says that " another age will perhaps acknowledge the old conjunction of the prophetic character with that of the poet to have again taken place." ^ The vatcs of the Ro- mans was poet and prophet ; and such was Berkeley. Mr. Webster calls this an " extraordinary prophecy," and then says : " It was an intuitive glance into futurity ; it was a grand conception, strong, ardent, glowing, em- bracing all time since the creation of the world and all 1 Berkeley, Works, Vol. 11. p. 443. 2 Ibid., Vol. I., Life prefixed, p. 15. BISHOP BERKELEY, 172G. 25 regions of wliich that world is composed, and judging of the future by just iinak)gy with the past. And tlie in- imitable imagery and beauty with wliich the thought i*: expressed, joined to the conception itself, render it one of the most striking passages in our language." ^ The sentiment whicli prompted the prophetic verses of the excellent Bishop was wiilely difl'used, or perhaps it was a natural prompting.^ Of this illustration is afford- ed in the life of Benjamin West. On his visit to Home in 17GU, the young artist encountered a famous iniprov- visatore, who, learning that lie was an American come to study the tine arts in Home, at once addressed him with the ardor of inspiration, and to the nmsic of his guitar. After singing the darkness which lor so many ages veiled America from the eyes of science, and also the fulness of time when the purposes for whicii this continent had been raised from the deep would be man- ifest, he hailed the youtli before him as an instrument of Heaven to raise there a taste for the arts which ele- vate man, and an assurance of refuge to science and knowledge, w^hen, in the old age of Europe, tliey should have forsaken her shores. Then, in tlie spirit of proph- ecy, he sang : — "But all thinrfs of heavenhj orir^m, like the ffloriouii sun, mme westivard ; and truth and art have their periods of shin- ing and of night. Rejoice then, venerable Rome, in thy divine destiny ; for though darkness overshadow thy scats, and though thy mitred head must descend into the dust, thy spirit immortal and undecayed already- spreads towards a new world. ^^^ 1 Address at the layinpj of the corner-stone of the addition to the Capitol, July 4, 1851 : Works, Vol. II. p. 696. Soe also p. 510. 2 Grahame, History of the United States, Vol. IV. pp. 136, 448. « Gait, Life of West, Vol. I. pp. 116, 117. fPMHI"II^^V^ 26 PUOrilETIC VOICES CONCEIINING AMEUICA. John Adams in his old a^^'c, dwelling on the roniinis- cences of early life, records that nothin;j[ was " more ancient in his memory than the observation that arts, s«.'iences, and emi)ire had travelled westward, and in con- versation it was always added, since ho was a child, that their next leap, would be over the Atlantic into America." With the assistance of an octogenarian neighbor, lie re- called a couplet that had been repeated with rapture as long as he could remember : — " Tho Kastern imtiona sink, their glory ends, And empire rises where the sun descends." It was imagined by his neighbor that these lines came from some of our early pilgrims, — by whom they had been "inscribed, or rather drilled, into a rock on the shore of Monument Bay in our old Colony of Plym- outh."! Another illustration of this same sentiment is found in Burnaby's " Travels through the ^liddle Settlements of North America, in 1759 and 1760," a work first pub- lished in 1775. In reflections at the close the traveller remarks : — " An idea, strange as it is visionary, has entered into the minds of the generality of mankind, that empire is travelllwj westward: and everyone is looking forward with eager and im- patient expectation to that destined moment when America is to give the laio to the rest of the world." ^ The traveller is none the less an authority for the prevalence of this sentiment because lie declares it " il- lusory and fallacious," and records his conviction that 1 Works, Vol. IX. pp. 597-599. 2 Burnaby, Travels, p. 115. SAMUEL 8EWALL, 17^7. 27 " Amerin is formed for happiness, but not fur empire." Happy America ! What empire can compare witli liap- piness ! ^faking amends for tliis aihnission, the jtialous traveller, in his edition of 171)0, after the achjption of tlie National Constitution, announces that "tlie present union of American States will not be permanent, or last for any considerable length of time," and " tliat that ex- tensive country must necessarily be divided into sepa- rate states and kingdoms." ^ Thus far the Union has stood against all shocks, foreign or domestic ; and tlie prophecy of Berkeley is more than ever iu th(j popular mind. SAMUEL SEWALL, 1727. Berkeley e:iw the sun of empire travelling westward. A contemporary whose home was uiade in New Eng- land, Samuel Sewall, saw the New Heaven and the New Earth. He was born at Bishop-Stoke, England, 28th March, 1652, and died at Boston, 1st January, 1730. A child emigrant in IGGl, he became a student and graduate of our Cambridge ; in 1G92, Judge of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts ; in 1718, Chief Justice. He was of the court which condennied the witches, but afterwards, standing up before tlie congregation of his church, made ])ublic confession of error, and his secret diary bears testimony to liis trial of conscience. In harmony with this contrition was his early feeling for the enslaved African, as witness his tract " The Selling of Joseph," so that he may be called the first of our Abolitionists. Besides an ** Answer to Queries respecting America," in 1690, and " Proposals touching the Accomplishment, Burnaby, Travels, Preface, p. 21. 1 ! I . ' , 28 rUOPlIETIC VOICES CONCEUNIXG AMEIJICA. of the rropliecies," in 1713, he wrote another work, with the i'ollowing title : — " Pliiunomt'im quiediim Apocalyptica ad AHpcctum Novi Orbis contis to meii, designing thereby to surprise thein with a requital of their love to strangers. In like manner tho Knglish nation in showing kindness to the aboriginal natives of Anjerica may possibly show kindness to Israelites unaware Instead of being branded for slaves with hot irons in the face and arms, and driven by scores in mortal chains, they shall wear the name of God in their foreheads, and they shall bo delivered into tho glorious liberty of the children of (fod Asia, Africa, and Europe have each of them had a glorious gospel-day. None, therefore, will be grieved at any one's pleading that America may be made coj)arcencr with her sisters in the free and sovereign grace of God." Entering upon his suhject, our prophet says : — " Whereas New-Enriland, and Boston of tlio Mnssachusets have this to make mention of; that they can tell their Age, and account it their Honour to have their birth, and parent- age kept in everlasting remembrance. And in every deed, the families, and churches which first ventured to follow Christ thorovv the Atlantick Ocean, into a strange land, full of wild men, were so religious ; their end so holy ; their self-" denyal in pursuing of it, so extraordinary ; that I can't but hope that tho plantation has thereby gaind a very strong Crasis ; and that it will not bo of one or two, or three cen- turies only ; buo by the Grace of God it will be very long lasting." ^ 1 Page 1. I .1 >' I I ■•; i, m } t I- t f ' % ■ 30 rUOl'lIKTIC VOICES CONCEIINING AMKUICA. Then a^'iiin: — '* Ncw-Jorusiilcrn will not straiten, and onfi'cblo ; l)ut won- derfully dilute, and invigorate ( 'hriMtianity in the several (Quarters of the World, in Awia, in Africa, in Europe, and in America. And one that has been born, or but liv'd in America, more than three Hcoro years ; it may bo j)ardon- ablc for him to ask. Why may not that be the place of New- JeruHalem." ^ And here also : — " Of all the parts of the world, which do from this Char- ter, entitle themselves to the (Jovcrnment of Christ, America's plea, in my opinion is the strongest. For when once Chris- topher Columbus had added this fourth to the other three I)art8 of the foreknown World ; they who sailed farther Westward, arriv'd but where they had been before. The Clobo now failed of offering any thing New to the adven- turous Travailer : or however, it could not afford another new World. And i)robal)ly, the consideration o[ America's being the bei/inninrf of the East, and the Knd of the Wfst ; was that which moved Columbus to call some part of it by the Name of Alpha and Omega. Now if the last Adam did give order for the engraving of his own name upon this last Earth : 'twill draw with it great Consequences ; even such as will, in time, bring the poor Americans out of their Graves, and make them live.""' Again he says : — " May it not with more or equal strength be argued New Jerusalem is not the same with Jerusalem : but as Jeru- salem was to the westward of Babylon, so New Jerusalem must be to the westward of Rome, to avoid disturbance in the order of mysteries.'" 1 Pages 1, 2. a Pages 2, 3. 8 Page 31. SAMUEL SEWAI.L, 1727. 81 Then quoting? tlio English vorses of IIcrlKMt, and tho T.atin vorH("j of Cowley, he says: " Not douhtiiij,' l)ut tliut these uuthorities, hning hrouglit to the king's scales, will be over weiglit."* Afterwards he adduces " learmMl Mr. Nic^hol.is Fuller," who woulil have it helieved that America was first ])e()|)led " hy the posterity of our great-grandfatiier Jai»hetli, though he will not be very strict witli us as to the particular branch of tliat w'nU' family." The extract from this new authority is remarkable for its vindication to Columi)Us of the name of the new Con- tinent. " Quani passim American! dicunt, vere ac merito Columbinam potius diccrent, a magnanimo heroe Chris- tophoro Columbo (Jennonsi primo terrarum illarum in- vestigatore at(|ne inventore [)lane divinitus constituto." * Tliis designation he adopts in his own text : thus, "Hinc ergo Columbina primum";^ then again, " Multo is quideni proprior est Columbina" ;* then again, "Ame- rica seu verius Columbina";^ then again, "liepertam fuisse Columbinam."® This effort draws frorn our prophet a comment : — " But whv should a learned Man make all this Dirifie for Columbus's Name ! What matter is it how America be called 1 For Flavio of Malphi in Naples hath, in great 1 Pape 34. 2 "Which everywhere they call America ; truly and desorverlly they should say rather Columbina from the magnanimous hero Christopher Co- lumbus, tho Genoese, first explorer, and plainly divinely appointed discoverer of these lands." — Miscell. Sac, Lib. IL cap. 4 in fine. See also cap. 84 and 85. 8 " Hence, therefore, Columbina first." * " It is indeed much nearer to Columbina." 6 •' America, or more truly Columbina." 8 "That Columbina would be found." m 1! 'i 32 PROPHETIC VOICES CONCERNING AMERICA. measure, applied the vertues of the loadstone to the Mariners Compass in Vain; the Portugals have found the length of Africa's foot in Vain ; the Spaniards sent out the Italian Dove, in Vain ; Sir Francis Drake hath sailed round the world, and made thorow Lights to it, in Vain ; and Hackluyt and Purchas have, with endless Labour, ac- quainted Englishmen with these things in Vain : If after all, we go about to turn the American Euphrates into a Stygian Lake ! The breaking of this One Instrument, spoils us of the long expected, and much desired, Consort of Mu- sick."i Very soon thereafter he breaks forth in words, printed in large Italic type and made prophetic : — " Lift up your heads, ye Gates [of Columbina], and he ye lift up, ye Everlasting Doors, and the KING of Glory shall come in." w: : MARQUIS D'ARGENSON, 1745. From the Puritan son of New England, pass now to a different character. Eend Louis de Voyer, Marquis d'Argenson, a French noble, was born 18th October, 1694, and died 26th January, 1757, so that his life lapped npon the prolonged reigns of Louis XIV. and Louis XY. At college the comrade of Voltaire, he was ever afterwards the friend and correspondent of this great writer. His own thoughts, commended oj the style of the other, would have placed him among the most illustrious of French history. Notwithstanding strange eccentricities, he was often elevated, far-sighted, and prophetic, above any other Frenchman except Tur- 1 Page 60. MARQUIS D'aRGENSON, 1745. 33 got. By the courtieis of Versailles he was called " the stupid" {la hJtc), while liousseau hailed one of his pro- ductions, yet in manuscri[)t, as " the work of Aristides." Tlie Duke of liichelieu, borrowing perhaps from Vol- taire, called him " Secretary of State for tlie llepublic of Plato " ; and the latter pronounced him " the first citizen who had ever reached the ministry." Except a brief suliordinate service and two years of the Cabinet as Minister of Foreign Affairs, his life was passed in meditation and composition, especially on subjects of government and human improvement. This was his great passion. " if being in power," he wrote, " I knew a capable man, I would go on all fours to seek him, to pray him to serve me as counsellor and tutor." ^ Is not this a lesson to the heedless partisan ? He was an active member of a small club devoted 1o hardy specuhition, commencing in 1725, and known, froni its place of meeting at the apartment of one of its mem- bers, as VEntrc-Sol. It is to his honor that he mingled here with Abbe Saint-Pierre, and sympatliized entirely with the many-sided, far-sighted plans of this "good man." In the privacy of his journal he records his hom- age : " This worthy citizen is not known, and he does not know himself. .... He has much intelligence, and has given himself to a kind of philosophy ])rofound and abandoned by everybody, which is true politics destined to procure the greatest happiness of men." ^ In praising Saint-Pierre our author furnished a measure of himself. The work w^hich excited the admiration of Rousseau ' was Considerations sur le Goitverncment ancien et present de la France, which was rei i^y 1 Journnl et Mc^nioires, Tom. I. p. xlvii., Introduction. 2 Ibid., Feb , 1734, Tom. I. p. 185. 2* early as f »■'■ 34 PROPHETIC VOICES CONCERNING AMERICA. 1730, but (lid not see the light till some years after the death of the autlior. It first appeared at Amsterdam in 1764, and in a short time there were no less than four editions in Holland. In 1784 and 1787 a more accu- rate edition appeared in France, and soon another at the command and expense of tlie Assembly of Notables. Here was a recognition of the people and an inquiry how far democracy was consistent with monarchical government. Believing much in the people and anx- ious for their happiness, he had not ceased to believe in kings. The book was contained in the epigraph from the Britannicus of Eacine: — " Que dans Ic cours d'un regno florissant, Rome soil tovjours libre, ct Caesar tout-puissant." Otlier works followed, some of which are still in manuscript, and others were published tardily, as the " Journal and ^Memoirs," in eight volumes ; " Essays in the Style of those of Montaigne " ; " Memoirs of State " ; " Foreign Affairs, containing Memoirs of my Ministry " ; " Remarks while Reading " ; and especially, " Thoughts on the Reformation of the State " ; ^ also, "Thoughts since my Leaving the Ministry." In all these there is a communicativeness like that of Saint Simon in his Memoirs, and of Rousseau in his Confes- sions, without the wonderful talent of either. The ad- vanced ideas of the author are constantly conspicuous, making him foremost among contemporaries in dis- cerning the questions of the future. Even of marriage he writes in the spirit of some modern reformers : " It is necessary to press the people to marriage, vmitmg for something better.'" This is an instance. His reforms 1 Pensdes sur la Reformation de I'Etat, 2 vols, in 4to. m MARQUIS D'aRGENSON, 1745. 35 the M embraced nothing less tlian tlie suppression of feudal privileges and of tlie right of primogeniture, uniformity of weights and measures, judges irremovable and salaried by the State, the disn)issal of foreign troops, and tlie residence of the king and his ministers in tlie capital embellished by vast S([uares, pierced by broad streets, •* with the hois tie Boulofjnc for country." This is the Paris of latter days. Add to this the sup])ression of cemeteries, hospitals, and slaughter-houses in tlie interior of Paris, and many other things, omitting omnibuses but including balloons. "Here is something," he records, " which will be treated as folly. I am persuaded that one of the first famous discoveries to make, and reserved perhaps for our age, is to find the art of living in the air." And he proceeds to describe the balloon.^ His large nature is manifest in cosmopolitan ideas, and the inquiry if it were not well to consider one's self "as citizen of the world," more than is the usage. Here his soul glows : — " What a small corner Europe has on the round earth ! What lands remain to inhabit ! See this immense extent of three parts of the world, and of undiscovered lands at the north and south ! If people went there with other views than that disagreeable exclusive property, all these lands would be inhabited in two centuries. We shall not see this, but it will come." ^ And then, after coupling morals and well-being, he announces the true rule: "An individual who shall do well will succeed, and who shall do ill will fail ; it is the same vnth nations" This is just and lofty. In such 1 .Tonrnnl et Jl^moires, Tom. I. p. liv., Introduction. 2 Ibid., p. xxxiii., Introduction. 'WU|V.pi!t|Hlil||.«, JIU^piJfJ.!ll,iiLljjpi|PJPI|ipiiWI|ll ^ I ?>G PROPHETIC VOICES CONCERNING AMERICA. a, spirit he cherished plans of political reconstruction in ioieign nations, especially in Italy. The old Italian cry was his : " The barbarians must be driven from Italy " ; and he contemplated " one Ifepublic or eternal associa- tion of Italian powers, as there was one German, one Dutch, one Helvetic," and he called this " the greatest affair that had been treated in Europe for a long time." ^ Tiie entry of Italy was to be closed to the Enq^eror; and he adds : " For ourselves what a happy privation, if we are excluded forever from the necessity of sending there our armies to triumi^h, but to perish."^ Tlie intelligence that saw Italy so clearly saw France also, and her exigencies, marking out " a national senate composed equally of all the orders of the state," and which, on questions of peace and war, would hold the kings in check by the necessity of obtaining supplies " ;^ also saw the api)roaching decay of Turkey, and wished to make Greece flourishing once more, to acquire pos- session of the holy places, to overcome the barbarians of Northern Africa by a union of Christian powers, which " well united once in a kind of Christian Republic, ac- cording to the project of Henry the Fourth, detailed by the Abbe Saint-Pierre, w^ould have something better to do than to fight to destroy eacli other as they do." Naturally this singular precocious intelligence reached across the Atlantic, and here he became one of our prophets. "Another great event to arrive upon the round earth is this. The English have in Northern America domains 1 Sainte Beuve, Causeries du Lundi, Tom. XII. p. 105 : Le Marquis d'Argenson. 2 Journal et M^moires, p. xxxvii., Introduction. 8 Ibid., p. 368, Appendix. MARQUIS DARGENSON, 1745. 37 great, strong, rich, well regulated. There are in New Eng- land a parliament, governors, troops, white inhabitants in abundance, riches, and mariners, which is worse. " I say that some bright morning these dominations can separate from England, rise and erect themselves into an in- dependent republic. " What will happen from this? Do people think of thisi A country well regulated by the arts of Europe, in condition to communicate witli it by the present perfection of its mai-iuo, and which by this will appropriate our arts in proj)ortion to their improvement ; patience ! Such a country in several ages will make great progress in population and in j)olite- ness ; such a countrv will render itself in a short time master of America, and es])ecially of the gold-mines."^ Then, dwelling on the extension of coniniercial liberty and the improvement of the means of communication, he exclaims, with lyrical outburst : — " And you will then see how the earth will be beautiful ! What culture ! What new arts and new sciences ! What safety for commerce ! Navigation will precipitate all the peoples towards each other. A day will come when one will go in a populous and regulated city of California as one goes in the stage-coach of Meaux." ^ The published works of P'Ara'enson do not enable us to fix the precise date of these remarkable words. Tliey are from the "Thoughts on the I^eformation of the State," but these extend over a long period of time, be- ginning as early as 1733, while his intimacy with the Abbe Saint-Pierre was at its height. Placing them mid- 1 Pons^es sur la Rdfoiination de I'Etat: Journal et Mcf'tnoirop, Introdnp- tion. Iv, Ivi. 2 Jbijcerning America. way between the earli(jst entry of that work and his death, tlieir date may be 1745, during his ministry, tlius preceding Turgot and Jolin Adams. But each spoke from his own soul and without prompting. TURGOT, 1750, 1770, 1776, 1778. Among the illustrious names of France few equal that of Turgot. He was a philosopher among ministers, and a minister among philosophers. Malesherbes said of him, that he had the heart of L'llopital and the head of IJacon. Such a person in public affairs was an epoch for his country and for the human race. Had his spirit prevailed, the bloody drama of the French Iicvolution would not have occurred, or it would at least liave been postponed. I think it could not have occurred. He was a good man, who sought to carry into government the rides of goodness. His career from beginning to end was one continuous beneficence. Such a nature W'as essentially prophetic, for he discerned the natural law.s by which the future is governed. He was of an ancient Norman family, whose name suggests the god Thor; he was born at Paris, 1727, and died, 1781. Being a younger son, he was destined for the Church, and commenced his studies as an ecclesias- tic at the ancient Sorbonne. Before registerng an irrevocable voav, he announced his repugnance to the profession, and turned aside to other pursuits. Law, literature, science, humanity, government, now engaged his attention. He associated himself with the authors of the Encyclopaedia, and became one of its contribu- tors. In other writings he vindicated especially the virti e of toleration. Not merely a theorist, he soon TUUGOT, 1750. 3'J arrived at the higli post of Intendant of Limousin, where he developed talent for administration and sympathy with tlie i)eople. The potato came into tliat province through him. Jiut he continued to employ his pen, especially on (questions of political economy, whicli he treated as a master. On tlie accession of Louis XVL he was called to the cabinet as Minister of the Marine, and shortly afterwards gave up this place to be tlie head of the finances. Here he began a system of rigid econ- omy, founded on curtailment of expenses and enlarge- ment of resources. The latter was obtained especially by removal of disabilities from trade, whether at home or abroad, and the substitution of a single tax on land for a complex multiplicity of taxes. The enemies of progress were too strong at that time, and the king dis- missed the reformer. Good men in France became anxious for the future ; Voltaire, in his distant retreat, gave a shriek of despair, and addressed to Turgot re- markable verses entitled EpUre a itn Homme. Worse still, the good edicts of the minister were rescinded, and society was put back. The discarded minister gave himself to science, lit- erature, and friendship. He welcomed Franklin to France and to immortality in a Latin verse of marvel- lous felicity. He was already the companion of the liberal spirits who were doing so much for knowledge and for reform. By writing and by conversation he exercised a constant influence. His " ideas " seem to illumine the time. We may be content to follow him in saying, " The glory of arms cannot compare with the happiness of living in peace." He anticipated our defi- nition of a republic, when he said " it was formed upon the equality of all the citizens^' — good words, not yet 40 PROPHETIC VOICES CONCERNING AMERICA. practically verified in all our States. Such a govern- iiieiit he, living under a monarchy, bravely pronounced the best of all ; but he added that he " had never known a constitution truly repul>lican." Tliis was in 1778. With similar plainness he announced that " the destruc- tion of the Ottoman empire would be a real good for all the nations of Europe," and, he added still further, for humanity also, because it would involve the abolition of negro slavery, and because to strip " our oppressors is not to attack, but to vindicate, the common rights of humanity." With such thoughts and aspirations, the prophet died. But I have no purpose of writing a biography, or even a character. All that I intend is an introduction to Turgot's prophetic words. Wlien only twenty-three years of age, while still an ecclesiastic at the Sorbonne, the future minister delivered a discourse on the Progress of the Human Mind, in which, after descril)ing the com- mercial triumphs of the ancient Phoenicians, covering the coasts of Greece and Asia with their colonies, he lets drop these remarkable words : — " Los colonies sont commo des fiMiits qui ne ticnncnt a I'arbro quo jusqu'ii leur maturity ; devenucs suffisantes b. clles-mumcs, cllcs firent co quo fit depuis Carthage, — ce que fera un jour VAmerique,'^ ^ " Colonies are like fruits, which hold to the tree only un- til their maturitv ; when sufficient for themselves, thcv did tbat which Cartilage afterwards did, — that ivhich some day America ivill do" On this most suggestive declaration, Dupont de !N"e- 1 Turfjot, Olnvres, Tom. IT. p. fiG. Soe nlso Condorcet, CEiivres, Tom. TV., Vie (Ic Tnrojot ; Louis Blanc, Histoire de la Revolution Francjaise, Tom. I pp. 527-533. TUllGOT, 1750. 41 mours, tho editor of Turgot's works, in 1808, remarks in a note : — "It was in ITSO that M. Tiirgot, beinjjf then only twenty- three years old, and devoted in a seminary to the study of theology, divined, foresaw the revolution which has formed the United States, — which has detached them from the Kuropean power apparently the most capable of retaining its colonies \mder its domination." At the time Turgot wrote, Canada was a French pos- session ; but his words are as applicalde to this colony as to the United States. When will the fruit be ripe ? In contrast with this precise prediction, and yet in harmony with it, are the words of Montes(j^uieu, in his ingenious work, which saw the light in 1748, two years before the discourse of Turgot. In the famous chapter, "How the laws contribute to form the manners, cus- toms, and character of a nation," we have a much- admired picture of a "free nation," — " inlui. iting an island," — where, without naming England, it is easy to recognize her greatness and glory. And here we meet a Delphic passage, also without a name, pointing to the British Colonies : ^ — " If this nation sent out colonics, it would do it more to extend its commerce than its empire. " As people like to establish elsewhere what is found es- tablished at home, it would give to the people of its colo- nies its own form of cfovernment, and this government carrying with it pros;;erity, we should see great jjeoples form themselves in the very forests rvhich it sent them to inhahit^ The future greatness of the Colonies is insinuated 1 De I'Esprit des Loi?, Livre XIX. Chap. XXVII. "pamifl 42 PROPHETIC VOICES CONCERNING AMERICA. .n; il ratlier tliau forotolcl, and licio the prophetic voice is si- lent. Nothiii*,' is said of the impending separation and the beginning of a new nation ; so that plainly Montes- quieu saw our future less than Turgot. The youthful prophet did not lose his penetrating vision with years. In the same spirit and with im- mense vigor he wrote to the English philosopher, J osiah Tucker, September 17, 1770: — *' As a citizen of the world, I see with joy the approach of an event whicli, more than all the books of philosophers, will dissipate the phantom of commercial jealousy. / mean the separation of your colonies from the mother country^ ^\w\i will hk followed soon uy tu^t of all America from EuRon:, It is then that the discovery of this part of the world will become to ns truly useful. It is then that it will multiply our enjoyments much more abundantly than when we purchased them with torrents of blood. The English, the French, the Spaniards, will use sugar, coffee, indigo, and will sell their products precisely as the Swiss do to-day, and they will have also, as the Swiss people, the advantage that this suijar, this coft'ee, this indigo, will serve no longer as a pretext for intriguers to precipitate their nation into ruinous wars and to oppress them with tuxes." ' It is impossible not to feel in this passage the sure grasp of our American destiny. How clearly and cou- rageously he announces the inevitable future ! But the French philosopher-statesman again took the tripod. This was in the discharge of his duties as Minister of the Crown and in reply to a special application. His 1 (Euvres (ed. Daire), Tom. II. p. 803. TUUGOT, 1778. 43 noble opinion is dated Cth April, 1770. Us cluiraeter upl)eurs in a tew sentences : — •• The present war will probably end in the absolute inde- pendence of the colonies, and tliut event will certainly bo the. epock of tilt (/reatest nvolution in the eommeire ami j>o/itics not of ICn'jlaiui oiili/, but of all Kiirojie When the Kn;;Iish themselves shall recognize the independence of their colonies, tvery mother eonntry will be forced in like manner to exchange its dominion over its colonies for bonds of friendship and fra- ternity \S\\Q\\i\\\i total srparation of America ^\\i\\\\\\x\o healed the Enropean nations of the jealousy of connncrcc, there will exist ainong men one great cause of war the less, and it is very difficult not to desire an event which is to accomplish this good for the human race." ^ His letter to the English iJr. Price, on the American Constitution, abounds in profound observations and in prophecy. It was written just at the time whei? France openly joined against England in our war of Indepen- dence, and is dated March 22, 1778,^ but did not see the light until 1784, some years after the deatli of the au- thor, when it M'as published by Dr. Price.^ Its criti- cism of tlie American constitutions aroused John Adams to his elaborate work in their " Defence." * Of our Union before the adoption of the National Constitution he writes : — " In the general union of the provinces among themselves I do not see a coalition, a fusion of all the parts, making but one body, one and homogeneous. It is nothing but an 1 Bancroft, History of the United States, Vol. VTII. pp. 337, 338. 2 Tnrpot, (Euvres fed. Daire), Tom. II. 805-811. 8 Observations on the Importance of the American Revolution, Appendix. ♦ Works, Vol. IV. 278-281, where Is found the larger part of the letter of Turgot. 44 rUOI'IIKTIC VOICKS CONCKUMNd AMKUICA. i M a^'j^rc^ation of parts always too separated, and preserving always a tendency to division, thronj^h the diversity of laws, manners, oj)ini«)nM, — - thronj^h the ine(iuality of their actual forces, — more also l>y the ine(|uality of their ulterior pro- gress. It is nothing hut a cojjv of the Dutch Jtepuhlic ; but this never had anythinj^ to fear as the American llv- public from possible increase of some of its provinces. All this edifice is supported down to this time on the false basis of the very ancient and very vul;;ar i)olitics, on the preju- dice that nations and provinces can have interests, as nations and provinces, dill'erent from those of in guaranties, and should not he- come, as so many of yout ministerial writers have repeated, an image of an Kiu'ope, d kiap of divided J'ovwrs, disputing ahout territory or conunercial ])rotits, and continually ce- menting the slavery of people with their own hlood." After these admirable thoughts, so full of ^vis(lonl and ])roi)he('.y, Turgot alludes to the inii)endiiig war between France and England : — " Our two nations arc going to do each other reciprocally much evil, i)robably without either obtaining any real ad- vantage. The increase of debts and liabilities and the ruin of a great many citizens will be, perhaps, the only result. England seems nearer to this than France. If instead of this war you had been able to act in good spirit from the first moment, — if it had been given to government to do in advance what infallibly it will be forced to do later, — if national opinion had permitted your government to antici- pate events, — and, supposing that it had foreseen them, it had been able to consent at once to the Independence of " .1 kit 46 PROniETIC VOICES CONCERNING AMERICA. America without making war on anybody, — I am firmly convinced that your nation would have lost nothing by the change. It \>ill lose now what it has already expended, and what it shall expend besides. It will experience for some time a great falling off" in its commerce, great domestic disturbances, if it is forced to bankruptcy, and, whatever may arrive, a great diminution in its influence abroad. But this last matter is of small importance in the real hap- piness of a people. I do not think it can make you become a coT»<^''mptiblc nation, and throw you into slavery. "Your present troubles, your future happiness, will be at- tributed to a necessary amputation, which is, perhaps, the oily means of saving you from the gangrene of luxury and corruption. If in your agitations you could connect your Constitution by rendering elections annual, by apportioning the right of representation so that it shall be more equal and more proportioned to the interests of those represented, you would gain from this revolution as much, perhaps, as America ; for your liberty wonld remain, and with this and by this your other losses would repair themselves." Heading such words, the heart throbs and the pulse beats. Government inspired by such a SjMrit would be- come divine, nations would live at peace together, and people everywhere be happy. HORACE WALPOLE, 1754, 1777, 1779. Most unlike Turgot in character, but with something of the same spirit of prophecy, and associated in time, was Horace Walpole, youngest son of England's re- markable Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole. With the former life was sevious always, and human improve- ment the perpetual passion ; with the latter there was I V} HORACE WALPOLE, 1754. 47 a constant desire for amusement, and the world was little moie than a curious gimcrack. Horace Walpole was born 5th October, 1717, and died 2d Marcli, 1797, being at his death Earl of Or- ford. According to his birth he was a niiin of fashion ; for a time a member of Parliament ; a man of letters always. To his various talents he added an ajrjire- gation of miscellaneous tastes, of whicli his liouse at Strawberry Hill was an illustration, — being an elegant " Old Curiosity Shop," with pictures, books, manuscripts, prints, armor, china, historic relics, and art in all its forms, whicli he had collected at no small outhiy of time and money. Though aristocratic in life, he boasted that his principles were not moiirchical. On the two sides of his bed were hung engravings of Magna Charta and of the Sentence of Cliarles I., the latter with the inscription Major Charta. Sleeping between two such memorials, lie might be suspected of sym})athy witli America, although the aristocrat was never absent. His Memoirs, Journals, Anecdotes of Painters in Eng- land, and other works, are less famous than his multi- ftxrious correspondence, which is the best in English literature, and, according to French judgment, nearer than any other of our language to that of Madame de Suvigne, whom he never wearied in praising. It is free, easy, gossipy, historic, and spicy. But I deal with him now only as a prophet. And I begin with his "]\femoirs of the last Ten Years of the Eeign of George II.," where we find the record that the Colonists were seeking independence. This occurs in his description of the Duke of NeM'castle as Secretary of State for the Colonies, during the long Walpole administration. Illustrating what he calls •^^^ 48 PROPHETIC VOICES CONCEKNING AMERICA. ivj I ;■:! the Duke's " mercurial inattention," he says : " It would not be credited what reams of papers, representations, memorials, petitions irom that tpiarter of the world [the Colonies], lay mouldering and unopened in his oiHce"; and tlien, showing his ignorance, he narrates liow, when it was hinted that tliere should be some defence for Annapolis, he replied with evasive, lisping liurry : " Annapolis, Annapolis ! yes, Annapolis must be defended, — to be sure, Annapolis siiould be defend- ed ; — wliere is Annapolis ? " ]3ut this negligence did not prevent him from exalting the prerogative of the crown ; and here the author says : — " The instructions to Sir Danvers Osborn, a new governor of New York, seemed better calculated for the latitude of Mexico and for a Spanish tribunal than for a free, rich British settlement, and in such opidencc and of such haugh- tiness, that suspicions had long been conceived of their medi- tating to throw off their dependence on their mother country!^ This stands in the Memoirs under date of March, 1754, wliere the editor in a note remarks, " If, as the author assei'ts, this was written at the time, it is a very remarkable passage."^ By the will of the author the book was " to be kept imopened and unsealed " until a certain person named should attain the age of twenty- five years. It was published in 1822. Perhaps the honesty of thi:i entry will be better appreciated when it is noted that, only a few pages later,^ "Washing- ton, whom the author afterwards admired, is spoken of as " this brave braggart," who " learned to blush for his rhodomontade." 1 Vol. I. p. 344. 2 Page 347. See also Letter to Horace Mann, 6th October, 1754. by Cunninghiim, Vol. II. p. 398. Letters y HORACE WALPOLE, 1774. 49 As the difficulties with the Colonies increased, he became more sympathetic and prophetic. In a letter to Horace Mann, 24th February, 1774, he wrote: — " We have no news, pubHc or private ; but there is an ostrich-egg laid in America, where tlie Bostonians have canted three hundred chests of tea into the ocean ; for they will not drink tea with our Parliament Lord Chatham talked of conquering America in (jermany. 1 believe England ivill he conquered some day in New England or BengaW In May, 1774, his sympathies again appear: — "Nothing was more shocking than the king's laughing and saying at his lovee thai he had as lief fight the Bos- tonians as the French. It was only to be paralleled by James II. sporting on Jeffries's campaign in the West."^ And, under date of 28th May, 1775, we have his record of the encounter, at Lexington, with the reflec- tion : — "Thus was the civil war begun and a victory, the first fruits of it on the side of tlio Americans, whom Lord Sand- wich had had th^ folly and rashness to proclaim cowards." ^ His letters to the Countess of Ossory, written during the war, show his irrepressible sentiments. Thus under date of 9th November, 1775 : — " I think this country undone almost beyond redemption. Victory in any war but a civil one fascinates mankind with a vision of glory. What should we gain by triumph itself? Would America laid Avaste, deluged with blood, plundered, 1 Journal of the Reipn of King George III. from 1771 to 1783, edited by Dornn, Vol. I. p. -366. 2 Ibid., p. 491. 8 D 50 rUOPIIETIC VOICES COiNCEIlNING AMERICA. enslaved, replace America floiirishiii<,', rich, and free? Do we want to reign over it, as the Spaniards over Peru, de- populated] Are desolate regions preferable to commercial cities ] " » Then under date of 6th July, 1777 : — "My humble opinion is, that we shall never recover America and that France will take care that we shall never recover ourselves." '^ "Friday night late," 5tli December, 1777, he breaks forth : — " Send for Lord Chatham ! they had better send for General Washington, madam, — or at least for our troops back No, madam, we do not want ministers that would protract our difficulties. I look on them but jis beginning now, and am far from thinking that there is any man or set of men able enongh to extricate us. / otvii there are very ahle Enrflishmen left, but they happen to he on Mother side of the Atlantic. If his Majesty hopes to find them here, I doubt he will be mistaken." * "Thursday niglit," lltli December, 1777, his feelings overflow in no common language : — " "Was ever proud insolent nation sunk so low ? Burke and Charles Fox told him [Lord North] the Administration thought of nothing but keeping their places ; and so they will, and the members their pensions, and the nation its infamy. Were I Franklin, I would order the Cabinet Council to come to me at Paris with ropes about their necks, and then kick them back to St. James's. 1 Vol. T. p 200: Letter LXXIV. 2 Tbid, p. 278: Letter CVI. 8 Ibid., pp. 315, 316: Letter CXX. JOHN ADAMS, 1755. 51 " Well, madam, as I told Lord Ossory t'other day, I am satisfied. Old England is safe, that is, America, whither the true English retired under Charles I. This is Nova Scotia, and I care not what becomes of it Adieu, madam ! I am at last not sorry you havo no son, and your daughters, I hope, will bo married to Americans, and not in this dirty, despicable island." ^ All this is elevated by his letter of 17th February, 1779, where he says: — " Liberty has still a continent to exist in. I do not caro a straw who is minister in this abandoned country. It is the good old cause of freedom that I havo at heart." ^ Thus with constancy, where original principle was doubtless quickened by party animosity, did Horace Walpole maintain the American cause and predict a new home for Liberty. JOHN ADAMS, 1755, 17G5, 1776, 1780, 1783, 1785, 1813. Next in time among the prophets was John Adams, who has left on record at different dates predictions showing a second-sight of no common order. Of his life I need say nothing, except that he was born lOtli October, 1735, and died 4th July, 1826. I mention the predictions in the order of utterance. 1. While teaching a school at Worcester, and when under twenty years of age, he wrote a letter to one of his youthful companions, bearing date 12th October, 1755, which is a marvel of foresight. Fifty-two years afterwards, when already much of its prophecy had been 1 Vol. I. pp. 318, 319: Letter CXXI. 2 Ibid., p. 337: Letter CXXIX. 52 PROPHETIC VOICES CONCERNING AMERICA. i l I i lit' 1 I fulfilled, the original was returned to its author by the son of liis early comrade and correspondent, Nathan Webb, wlio was at the time dead. After remarking gravely on the rise and fall of nations, with illustrations from Carthage and Home, he proceeds : — " England began to increase in power and magnificence, and is now the greatest nation of the globe. Soon after the Reformation, a few people came over into this New World for conscience' sake. Perhaps this apparently trivial inci- dent may transfer the ffreat seat of empire to America. It looks likely to me ; for if we can remove the turbulent Gal- lics, our people, according to the exactest computations, will, in another century, become more numerous than Eng- land itself. Should this he the case, since we have, I may say, all the naval stores of the nations in our hands, it will be easy to obtain the mastery of the seas ; and then the united force of all Europe will not be able to subdue us. The only way to keep us from setting up for ourselves is to disunite us. Divide et impera. Keep us in distinct colo- nies, and then, some great men in each colony desiring the monarchy of the whole, they will destroy each other's influ- ence, and keep the country in equilibrioy ^ On this his son, John Quincy Adams, famous for im- portant service and high office, remarks : — " Had the political part of it been written by the minister of state of a European monarchy, at the close of a long life spent in the government of nations, it would have been pro- nounced worthy of the united wisdom of a Burleigh, a Sully, or an Oxenstiern In one hold outline he has exhibited by anticipation a long succession of prophetic history^ the fulfilment of ivhich is barely yet in progress, responding 1 Works, Vol. I. p. 23. See also Vol. IX. pp. 591, 592. [._ JOHN ADAMS, 1756. 53 exactly hitherto to his foresight, but the full acconii)li8hmcnt of which is reserved for the development of after ages. The extinction of the power of France in America, the union of the British North American Colonies, the achievement of their independence, and the establishment of their ascen- dency in the community of civilized nations by the means of their naval power, are all foreshadowed in this letter, with a clearness of perception and a distinctness of delineation which time has done little more than to convert into his- torical fact." ^ 2. Another beautiful instance followed ten years later. In the beginning of 1765, Jeremy CJridley, the eminent lawyer of colonial days, formed a law club or sodality at Boston, for the mutual improvement of its members. Here John Adams produced the original sketch of his " Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law," which appeared in the " Boston Gazette " of August, 1768, was reprinted in London about 1782, and in Philadelphia in 1783.^ The sketch began : — " This sodality has given rise to the following speculation of my own, which I commit to writing as hints for future inquiries rather than as a satisfactory theory." ^ In this dissertation, the writer dwells especially upon the* settlers of British America, of whom he says : — " After their arrival here, they began their settlement and formed their plan both of ecclesiastical and civil gov- ernments in direct opposition to the canon and federal systems."* This excellent statement was followed in the original 1 Works, Vol. I. pp. 24, 25. 2 Ibid., Vol. Ill, p. 447. 8 Ibid., Vol. I. pp. 65, 66. < Ibid., Vol III. p 451. ■^r mm 54 rKOPHKTIC VOICES CONCERNING AMERIC/V. I sketch, comrnnnicatod to tliu sodality, by tliis passage, which does not api)ear in the printed dissertation : — '• I ulwiiys consider the settloment of America with reverence, us the opening of a grand aceno and design in Providence for tlie ilhnnination of tlio ignorant and the emancipation of tiie slavish part of mankind all over the earth." ^ On these ])rophetic words, his son, John Quincy Adams, remarks : — " This sentence was perhaps omitted from an impression that it mif^fht he thought to savor not merely of enthusiasm but of extravagance. Who would now deny that this mag- nificent anticipation had been already to a great degree realized'? Who does not now see that the accomplishment of this great object is already placed beyond all possibility offadurer'2 His grandson, Charles Francis Adams, alluding to the changes which took place in the original sketch, says : — " As not infrequently happens, however, in this process, one stray passage was lost by it, which at this time must be regarded as the most deserving of any to bo remem- bered." " Thus again, at an early day, did this prophet discern tlie future. How true it is that the mission of this Re- public is " the illumination of the ignorant," and still further " the emancipation of the slavish part of man- kind all over the earth." Universal enlightenment and universal emancipation ! And the first great stage was National Independence. 1 Works, Vol. 1. p. 66; Vol. III. p. 452. 2 Ibid., Vol. I. p. 66. 8. Ibid., Vol. III. p. 448. I \- JOHN ADAMS, 177G. 55 3. The DGcliiiatum of Iiidependcnoo bears date 4tli July, 1770, lor on tliut day it was sii^^iied ; but tlio voto wliich deteruiini'd it was on thu 2d July. On the 3d July, John Aihuns, in a letter to his wile, wrote : — *' Yostcrdiiy the greatest (luestion was decided wliich ever was debated in America, and a greater, perhaits, never was nor will be decided among men 1 um surprised ait the su(hlenness as well as greatness of this revolution. Britain has been tilled with fullv, and America with wis- (lorn. At least this is my judgment. Time must deter- mine. It is the ivill of Ilaiveii that the two couiifrics shouhl be sundered forever 'i'ho day is past. The second day of July, 177G, will be the most memorable cpocha in the history of America. / am apt to helieve that it will he. celebrated bjf sncceediuf/ f/enerations as the r/reat anniversar;/ festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to (Jod Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illiujjinations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward, forevermore. You will think me transj)ortcd with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet, through all the (jlonm, I can see the raij of ravishiiiff litjht and (flitry ; and that posterity will triumph in that days transac- tion, even although we should rue it, which I trust in Cod we shall not." ^ Here is a coni])rehensive prophecy, first, that the two countries would be separated forever ; secondly, that the anniversary of Independence would be celebrated as a great annual festival ; and, thirdly, that posterity would triumph in this transaction, where, through all 1 Works, Vol. I. pp. 230, 232. mm I ' uii. 56 PUOniETIC VOICES CONCERNING AMERICA. the j](looiii, shono rays of mviHliin«j li^^ht iitul glory, — all ol" which has huen lultillecl to thu lottor. Keceiit events give to the Deelamtioii iidditiomil iiuportuiice. Fqr a long time its great pronii.ses that all men are e([ual, and that liglitl'ul government stands only on the consent of the governed, were disowned hy our country. Now that at last they are beginning to prevail, there is increascid reason to celebrate the day on wliich the mighty J)ec- laration was made, and new occasion for triumpii in the rays of ravishing light and glory. 4. Here is another prophetic passage in a letter dated at Paris, 13th July, 1780, and addressed to tiie Count de Vergennes of France, pleading the cause of the colo- nists : — " The United States of America are a great and powerful people, whatever European statesmen may think of them. If we take into our estimate the numbers and the character of her people, the extent, variety, and fertility of her soil, her conunercc, and her skill and materials for shipbuilding, and her seamen, excepting France, Spain, England, Cer- many, and Russia, there is not a state in Europe so power- ful. Breaking off such a nation as this from the English so suddenly, and uniting it so closely with Franco, is one of the most extraordinary events that ever happened among mankind." * • Perhaps this may be considered statement rather than prophecy ; but it illustrates the prophetic character of the writer. 5. While at Amsterdam, in 1780, Mr. Adaihs met a gentleman whom he calls " the giant of the law," Mr. Calkoen. After an unsatisfactory attempt at conversa- tion, where neither spoke the language of the other, it 1 Works. Vol. VII. p. 527. JOHN ADAMS, 1780. 57 was arranged that the hitter shouhl propouiul a scries of questions in writing, which tiie American minister undertook to answer. The (piestions were in Dutch, the answers in English. Among the (questions was this: " Wiiether America in and of itself, hy means of purchasing or exchanging the productions of the sev- eral provinces, wouhl he able to continue the war for six, eight, or ten years, even if they were entirely de- prived of the trade with Europe, or their allies, ex- hausted by the war and forced to make a separate peace, were to leave them i " To this question our prophet reiilied : — " This is an extreme case ^Vhy, then, should wo put cases that we know can never h!i[)pen'? However, I can inform you that the case was often i)Ut before the war broke out ; and I have heard the common farmcrH in America reasoning upon these cases seven years ago. I have h(?ard them say, if (Jreat Britain could build a wall of brass a thousand feet high all aloug the sea-coast, at low-water mark, we can live and be happy. America is most undoubt- ed! >/ capable of being the most independent country upon earth. It produces everything for the necessit}', comfort, and con- venience of life, and many of the luxuries too. So that if there were an eternal separation between Europe and Amer- ica, the inhabitants of America would not oidy live but multiply, and, for what I know, bo wiser, better, and hap- pier than they will be as it is." ^ Here is an assertion of conditions essential to inde- pendence over "the most independent country upon earth," with a promise that "the inhabitants will multiply." 1 Works, Vol. VII. p. 275. Twenty-«ix Letters upon Interesting Stib- jects respecting the Revolution of America, written in Holland in the year MDCCLXX. 3» WH»»"11W i 1 58 rUOrilETIC VOICES conceuning amekica. 0. Ill an ollicliil luttor to tliu Presiduiit of ('ongross, dated at Aiiistcrdaui, 5tli Sept(Miil)(3r, 17S0, tliu samo wriLcr, wliihi j)r()[)o.siii<,' an Ainurioan Academy lor rolin- injif, iinpi'ovin^j:, and ascciLainin;^' tlic Knylisli language, l)icdi('t.s tlio extension of tliU language: — " /i//////.v// in (frndurd to be in tka lU'xt and nucceediiif/ cvntu- rien more (/('ueralfi/ the laHendence, this separation of the American Colonies from the metropolis sooner or an V. See Historical Cliaracters by Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer, Vol. I. p. 461, Appendix 1 Bancroft, History of the United States, Vol. VI. pp. 95, 96. 70 PKOPIIKTIC VOICES CONCERNING AMERICA. Ill III i lator iiiusl come.* .... I see hU tlieso diirunillies, and do not di.sscniblo tlioir uxtunt ; but I see also the controUini,' interest of tliu Americans to profit by thcs ofjportunity of a rupture to establish their incUipen- denee." ^ Aj,'ain lie wrote, 22d November, 17(iS : " The iXinericans will not lose out of their vi'iw their rights and their privileges, and next to fanaticism for religion, the fanaticism for liberty is the most daring in its measures and the most dangerous in its con- sequences." That the plenipotentiary was not less prompt in forecast ap[)ears in a letter of l)th November, 1708 : " Witiiout exaggerating the projects or the union of the Colonies the time of their in(I(!])endence is very near Three years ago the separation of the Eng- lish (Colonies was looked upon as an ol)ject of attention for the next generation ; the ; ins were observed, but no one could foresee that they would be so speedily developed. This new order of tilings, this event which will necessarily have the greatest intluence on the whole political system of Euro])e, will probably be brought about within a very few years." ^ The Min- ister replied, 2()th December, 1708: "Your views are as subtle as they are comprehensive and well consid- ered. The king is perfectly aware of their sagacity and solidity, and T will communicate tliem to the Court of Madrid." * These passages show a persistency of view, which be- came the foundation of French policy, so thattlicDuke was not merely a prophet but a practical statesman, guided by remarkable foresight. He lived long enougli to witness the National Independence he had foretold, 1 Bancroft, History of the United State<», Vol. VI. p. 169. •■'■ Ibid., p. 170. " 3 Ibid., p. 244. 4 ibid., p. 245. Ann^ llAYNAL, 1770. 71 and to meet Franklin at I'liris, wliih* saved from wit- nessing^ tlio overthrow of tlie MKjnarcliy lie had served and the bloody harvest of the e.^ecutioner, where a beloved sister was among tlie victims. AI'.HK KAYNAl., 1770. GuiLLAUMi: Thomas Uavxal, of Frani^o, wnn born 11th March, 1711, and died (Jtli Marcli, 17!M;, tlins spanninj^:, with his lonj.,' life, from the failing years of Louis Xi\'. to the lieign of Terror, ainl embracing tlu; l»rolonged period of intellectual activity whit h jm-pared the lievolution. Among contemporary " ])hil(»s(.[iheis " his place wiis considerable. Ihit be was a ]thilos(ij)her, with a cross of the adventurer and charlatan, lieginning as Jesuit and as ja-iest, he somewhat tar- dily esca})ed the constraints of the hitter to employ the education of the former in literary enterprise. A hjng list of acknowledged works attests the activity of his pen, while others were attributed to him. With these avocations, yielding money, mingled joltbing and sj)ecula- tion, where even the slave-trade, afterwards furiously con- demned, became a minister of fortune. In tlic bright aUvl audacious circles of ]*aris, esi)ecially with Diderot and D'Holbach, he found society. The rciuarkalile fan^e which he reached during life has ceased, and his volu- minous writings slumber in oblivion, except, penhaps, a single one, which for a while played a great ])art and, by its ]irophetic spirit, vindicates a place in our Ameri- can gallery. Only the superficial character of this work appears in its title,- -" Philosophical and Political History of the Establishments and of the Commerce of Europeans in 72 rilOPHMTIC VOirKS CONCKKNING AMERICA. i 1 the two IihUcm," ^ bt'in^' in four volumes. It was afmmo for jiictunts imd (U'clamatiotiH wlirro rri'odoin of thouj^'ht was pracLically illustraU'd. Tlan'oiort! it was ])ul»lisliL'.(i without the naiuc of tliu author and at Amstcnlani. 'I'his was as carlv as 1770. Kdition foHowud cLlition. Tim Jiioi/rtip/n'r (/nhrr.sr/k reports no less than twenty rci^'U- hir and nioio than lifty iiirated. At leasl four (silitions of an Mn^lisli translation saw tlio li^dit. It was trans- lated, al)ri(l<^(!d,iind r('j)rinted in nearly all tin; lanj^ua^'es of iMirope. The suhject was int(!restin<.j at thi; time, hut tlie ])e('uliar treatment and tlie oj)en assault U])on existing,' order ^'ave the work zest and ]>opularity. Thou<,di often vicious in style, it was above the author in force and character, .so that it was easy to believe that important parts were contriltutcd by others. Diderot, who ])asse(l his life in ludjang others, is said to have supplied nearly a third of the whole. The work at last dr(!W down untimely venj^'eancuj. Tn.spired by its si Europe will be free in all its movements The colonies of our absolute monarchies, following the example of the English colonies, will themselves break the c'-ain which binds them shamefully to Europe.'' ^ The New World op>ens before the prophet . — " So everything conspires to produce the great, disru^ tion, of which we are not permitted to foresee the precise i;ime. Everything tends thither, — the progress of good in the new hemisphere and the progress of evil in the old. 1 Tom. VI. p. 379. Liv. XVIII. (cd. 1772). 2 Ibid., p. 426. ABB^ RAYNAL, 1770. 75 " Alas ! the prompt and riipid decline of onr morals and our strength, tiie crimes of kings and tho sufferings of tho people, will render universal this fatal catastrophe which must detach one \vorld from the other. The mine is prepar- ing beneath the foundations of our rocking empires Wliile oiu' people are weakening and succumbing to each other, population and .agriculture are increasing in America. The arts transported by our care will (piickly spring up thej'c. This country, derived from nothing, burns to figure in turn upon the face of the globe and in the history of the world. posterity! thou wilt be more happy, ])erhaps, than thy unfortunate and contcn'.ptible ancestors I " ^ The edition of 1780 exhibits his sympathies with the Colonies. In considering the policy of the house of Bourbon, he recognizes the grasp of tlie pending revolu- tion. " Tlie United States," he says, " have shown openly the project of drawing to their confederation all North America" ', and he mentions especially tlie uwitatioii to the people of Canada. While (juestioning the conduct of France and Spain, he adds : — " llie new hemisphere must detach itself some day from the old. This great dismcml)erment is prepared in Europe by the fermentation and the shoclt of our opinions ; by the overthrow of our righ' s, which created our courage ; by the luxury of our courts and the wretchedness of our fields ; by the hate, enduring forever, between tlio cowards who possess all and the robust, even the virtuous, who have nothing more to lose than life. It is prepared in America by the growth of population, of agriculture, of industry, and of intelligence. All moves to that scission.'''' ^ In a sketch which follows are pictured the resources I ■ i; 1 Tom. VI. pp. 427, 428. 2 Liv. XVIII. chap. 52. h |iP.I!imJ"mL. •|! I II ■I t! m i - 1! i i i 11 76 PROPHETIC VOICES CONCERNING AMERICA. of the " tliirteen confederate provinces " and tlieir future development. While confessing that the name uf liberty is sweet ; that it is the cause of the entire human race ; that revolutions in its name are a lesson to des])ots ; that the spirit of justice, which rewards past evils l)y future lKip])iness, is i^eased to believe that this part of tlieivlew World cannot fail to become one of tlie most tlourishin*' countries oi the globe ; and that some go so far as to fear (/i((t Europe maij sojilc chiij find its luudcra in it^ vklldrcn} he proceeds to facts whicli may mitigate anxiely, The proj)heti(; words of TJaynal dilfer from others already quoted. Instead of letters or papers, ])uried in secrecy or disclosed to a few only, they were oi)en ])r()c- lamations circulated througliout Euro])e, and their influ- ence began as early as 1770. A prompt translation made tliem known in Euglaiid. In 1777 tliey were rpioted l)y an Euglisli waiter })leadiiig for us.^ Among influences cooperating with the justice of our cau.se, they Avcre of con.stant activity, until at last France, Spain, and Holland openly united with us. JONATHAN SHIPLEY, P.ISHOP oF ST. ASAPH, 1773. Not without heartfell i'l»^>tion do I write this name, never to be nientioudd dy an Amoiran without a senti- ment of gratitude find love. Kiich goodness and ability, dedicated so fiiHilj' to (jur cau.se, make Shipley conspic- uous among his contemporaries. In beauty of charactei- and in prophetic spirit he resembles Berkeley, And yet 1 T.iv. XVni. thiip. 52. 2 Dr. Prico, in liis second tract, " Additional O'i=crvntions on the Nature and Value of Civil Liberty and the War vvitli America," p. 49, note. JONATHAN SHIPLEY, 1773. 77 biographical dictionaries forget to mention liim, and in our country lie is known cliiefly tlirougli the friendship of Franklin, lie was born about 171-4, and died 9tli December, 1788. His actual i)rclerments in the Church attest a certain success, arrested at last l)y his sympathy for us. At an early day John Adams spoke of him as "the l)est bishop that adorns the bench." ^ And we learn from "Wraxall, that it was Ihnjugli the hostility of the king that during the short-lived Coalition ]\linistry Fo\ was prevented from making him Archbisho}) of Canterbury." But hi,5 public life was better than any prelacy. It is impossi])le to read his writings without discovering the stamp of su])eriority, where accuracy and clearness go hand in hand with courage and truth. Tlie relations of Franklin with the good bishop are a beautiful ejiisodu in our revolutionary history. Twc* mvu, one Fnglisli and the other American, venera- ble with vears, mingled in friendshii) warm as tliat of youth, but steady to th^ grave, joining identity of sen- timent on iin])ortant public questions with personal affection. While Franklin remained in Fngland, as colonial representative, watching the currents, lu; was a fre(pient guest at the Fjiglishman's country home, and tliere he entered upon his incomparable autol)iog- ra])hy, leaving behind sucli jdeasant memories tliat af- terwards the family never walked in the garden " with- out seeino- Dr. Franklin's room and thiidving of tlie work tliat was l)egun in it."' ^ One of the daugliters, in a 1 Works, Vo], TV. p. 37. Novaiiglus, or ii History of tlic Dispute with America, written in 1774. 2 Historical Memoirs ofiiis own Time, Vol. HI. p. 347 (ed. 1830). 3 Franldin'> Worlds liy Spit ks. Vol. VHI. p. 220. Letter of Miss Catha- rine Louisa Shipley, 2il Auj^u-t, 1785. * ''•'~^'''™!™™''"'trw''»"'''^''W''''«iwwnw«('»WB«^siB(!^^ 78 PUOPIIETIC VOICES CONCERNING AMERIC.N. til touching letter to the latter, then at his own home in rhiladelphia, informed him of her fatlier's death, who, in reply to his " dear younj,' friend," expressed his sense of the loss, " not to liis family {ind friends only, but to his nation and the world," and then, after mentioning tliat he was in his eighty-fourtli year and consi(lt;rably enfeebled, added, " You will then, my dear friend, con- sider this as prol)ably the last line to be received from me and as a taking leave." ^ Til is brief story prepares the way for the two produc- tions illustrating his service to us. The first has tlie following title : " A Sermon preached before tlie Incor- porated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, at tlieir Anniversary Meeting in tlie Par- ish of St. ]\Iary-]e-I)OW, on Friday, February 19, 1773." Of this discourse several editions appeared in London, New York, and P»oston.^ Lord Cliath.am, after confess- ing himself " charmed and edified " 1)y it, wrote : " This noble discourse speaks the preacher not only fit to bear rule in the state ; indeed, it does honor to the right- reverend bench." 3 Franklin, coupling it with his other productions relating to America, wrote : "Had his coun- sels in those pieces been attended to by the Ministers, how much bloodshed might have been preventer!, and how much expense and disgrace to the nation avoided." * 1 Franklin's Works by Sparks, Vol. X. p. 391. Letter to Miss Catharine Lonipiness of both/ ^ l)eautiful words! And in the same spirit the prophet discerns increasing opi)ortunities of progress: — " The diversities of new scenes and situations, which so many growing States must necessarily pass througb, ma// introduce chanf/es in the jUictnntin;/ opinions and manners of men, lekich we can form 1,0 conception of. And not only the gracious disposition of Providence, but the visible ])rei)ara- tion of causes, seems to indicate strong tendencies toivards a f/enercd improvement.'" '^ To a spirit so elevated the oldigations of duty are the same for nations n'< for individuals, and be nobly \ indi- cates the duty of the Christian preacher " to point out the laws of justir-e and equity whieli must ultimately regulate the hai>piness of States as well as of individu- als," ^ and wdiicli he declares are no other than " those lil! 1 Page 8. 2 Pago 9. 8 rage 13. JONATHAN SlIirLl'Y, 1773. 81 benevolent Christian morals wliicli it is the j)rovinee of this Society to teach, transferred IVoni the duties of j)rivate life to the achiiinistration of pul)lic affairs." ' Then again he declares amazement, in wliich all hut hardened politicians will unite, at seeing "how slowly in all countries the jirinciples of natural justice, wiiich are so evidently necessary in private life, liave been ad- mitted into tlie administration of public affairs." And, in the same sjurit, he announces : — " A time, 1 doubt not, will couic, in the progressive im- provement of Innnau atfiiirs, when the checks and restraints we lay on tlie industry of our fellow-subjects and the jeal- ousies we conceive at their prosperity will be considered as the etfects of a mistaken polic^y, prejudicial to all particH, but chiefly to ourselves." ^ Then, after announcing our duty " to luiiko our country great and powerful and rich, not l)y force or fraud, but by justice, friendship, and humanity," this remarkable sermon concludes with calling attention to "plain good rules so often repeated to us in Scripture, "which " lie be- fore the eyes of men, lib; medicinnl hcrliM in tin; open field." In the course of his remarks, the j)rnacl)(n* lets drop words often quoted since and doul)th'HH considered much in conversation with Franklin. Afl< c setting forth that the Colonies had been trusted, in good mensure, with the entire management of their affairs, he i)roceeds to say i " And the success they have met with ought to ]>e to us a memorable proof that tJic true art of ijovcrnmcnt con- sists in not (jovcrning too mnch!'^ In similar spirit the good bishop came to the defence j 5 i 1 Pn peaceful separa- 1 Letter t(. Mr. Cuuinlio, July 22, 1774. Works, Vol. VIII. p. 124. 2 l»:iy;e 15. a I'asc 27. ■4 Patce 31. 6 Page 32. DEAN TUCKKU, 1774. 83 tion of tlio Colonies from the motlior country; Imt llio tdi'int!!' WHS bitini; and cynicul, whih; tlu; hitlt'i" was synipatliutic and kind. Tliu i'(.)rni*.;r acnit i'orth a suc»30s- sion of criticisms as from the tub of Dio'^iaics, wliil(3 tlio latter, with genial power, vindicated America Jind pre- dicted its future. The former was a carpiuL,' censor and enemy of Fianklin ; tlie latter, his loving friend. Tucker was rector of Uristol and dean of (lloucester, and he announces that he had " written near tlirec hun- dred sermons and j)reached tliem all attain and ii^ain " ; hut it was by political essays tliat he made Ins name known nnd became a conspicuous ghidiator. Here it is easy to recognize industry, facility, bold- ness. He was not afraid to speak out, nor did he shrink from coping with those who commanded the public at- tention, — joining issue directly with Burke "in answer to his printed speech, said to he >ipo/,:r.ii in the House of Commons on the 22d of iVIarcb, ITTo," being that fa- mous masterpiece, on ''conciliation with America," so much rend, so often (juoted, nnd so highly j)laced among the efforts of human genius. The Dean used jdaiu lan- guage, chariiiuii the great o -ator with excelling "in the art of ambiguous expressions,"' and at all times ha\ ing one general end in view, "to amuse with tropes and fig- ures and great swelling words," and hoping that while emulating the freedom of lUirke in examining the writ- ings and opinions of others, he. should do it "with mon; decency and good manners." jNIore than once the Dean complains that the orator had classed him by name with what he called "court vermine." As early as L700, in the heats of the Stamp Art, he entered the lists by an unann'abh^ ])amphlet, entitled "A Letter from a iVIerchant in London to his Nei)hew i 1 r If r:r 1 1 m III ' 8-4 rUorilKTlC VOICES CONCEUNING AMEIIICA. I .k I M ,: •Mill !l i Hill il! in North Amuricii, rcliitivo to tlio im'sent rosturo of Allliirs ill till! (.'((lollies." Jleru ;i])i)(!ui',s tlic vigorous cyni(.'isiu ol' his imture. Tho Jiiothor country is viiiliins lor eilecting this salutary nieasuiej. "^ Here he openly proposed separation and [»r(!dicted its advantage to Kngland. On general grounds li< was per- suaded that extensive colonies were an evil rather than an advantage, especially to a conunercial nation, wlele he was satisfied ot a nresent alienation on the tnirt of America, which it would l)e un])rolitaMe, if not ]>erilous, to cond)at. England was in no mood for such truth, and the author was set down as madman or ([uack. Evidently he was a ])ro])het. A few passages will show the character of this re- markable production. "It is the nature of tlnmi all [coloniesj to aspire after in- dcpcnclcnco, and to set \ip for themselves as soon as ever they find that tlioy arc able to subsist without being be- holden to the mother country. " ^ True enough, and often said by others. In (healing with the different plans the Dean shows originality. To the idea of compulsion by arms he exclaimed : " lUit alas ! victory alone is but a poor compensation for all the blood and treasure which nnist be spilt." ^ The 1 This Fourth Tract was published separately in Philadelphia, in 1774, with the above title. 2 Four Tracts, p. 161. 8 Ibid., p. 190. lit.- a-' fii IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) A 1.0 LI 11.25 1^128 us III 140 I 2.5 2.2 2.0 1.8 IM IIIIIM III VQ y r ^;. ''v^ ^^ V Sdences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716)872-4503 : ^ v\ ^^ 1 'li fl1 8G riJOl'IIETlC VOICES CONCERNING AMERICA. •Hi lili Hi in itiii plan iiuiubcred Fourth was nothing leiiS than that Aniurica should bt'conie the general seat of empire, and that (Ireat Britain and Ireland should be governed by viceroys " from the court residences either at Philadel- pliia or Xew York or some other American imperial city," to which the indefatigable Dean replies: — " Now, wild as such a scheme may appear, there are cer- tainly some Americans who seriously embrace it ; and the late ])V('digious swarms of emigrants encourage them to sup- pose tiiat a time is a[)proaclnng when the seat of empire nuist be changed. JJut whatever events may be in the womb of time, or whatever revolutions may happen in the rise and fall of empires, there is not the least probability that this country should ever become a province to Nortli America Unless, indeed, we should add one extrava- gance to another, by su})posiug that the Americans are to con(|uer all tha world, and in that case I do ahow that Eng- land must become a province to America. " ^ Then comes the Fifth Plan, which M'as " to separate entirely from the North American Colonies by declaring them to be a free and independent people, over whom we lay no claim, and then by offering to guarantee this freedom and independence against all foreign invaders whatever."^ And he proceeds to show that by such separation the mother country would not lose the trade of the Colonies. His unamiable nature Hares out in the suggestion that " the moment a se])aration takes effect, intestine ([uarrels will begin " ;^ that "in proportion as their rei)ul)lican spirit shall intrigue and cabal, they will s])lit into parties, divide and subdivide," while his con- fidence in the result is declared ; " and yet I have ob- 1 Four Tracts, p. 201. 2 Ibid., p. 203. 8 Ibid., p. 219. DFAN TUCKFU, 1774. 87 served, and liave myself had some L'xi>erience, that hieasures evidently right will prevail .at last " ; thc;re- fore he had not the least doul)t but that a sepaiation would take place " within half a century." ^ Tliougl. seeing tlie separation so clearly, he did n(»t see how near at liand it then was. Tlic Dean grew more earnest. Other pa'nphk'ts fol- lowed; for instance, in 177"), "An iluuihle Ad Ircss and Earnest Api)eal, whether a Connectiini with or a Separation from the Continental Colonies of AuKiiica be most for tiie National Advantage and the lasting l»ene- iit of these Kingdoms." Here he says openly : — " My scheme, which Mr. Biu'ke is i)leasod to term u cliild- ish one, i.s to separate totally from the Colonies, and to reject them from being fellow-members and joint-i)artakers with us in the privileges and advantiiges of the liritibh Empire, because tliey I'efiise to subm' to the authority and jurisdic- tion of the British legislature, — otfering at the same time to enter into alliances of friendship antl treaties of com- merce with them, as with any other sovereign, independent state." 2 Then, insisting that his scheme " most infallibly cuts off all the present causes of dispute and contention be- tween the two countries, so that they never can revive again," ^ he establishes that commercial intercourse with the Americans would not cease, inasmuch as it cannot be shown that they "will no longer adhere to their own interest when they shall be disunited from us." * Among subseqnent tracts was one entitled "Cui Bo- no ? Or an Inquiry what Benefits can arrive either to i ' * : 1 Four Tracts, p. 221. 2 Page 5. 3 I'age 29. 4 Pace 48. • 1 ,( S j: 1 1. > ; I 88 PllOrilETIC VOICES CONCi:UXING A.MEinCA. England or tlie Americans, the French, Spaniards, or Diitcli, from tlie greatest Victories or Successes in the present AVai', being a Series of Letters addressed to Monsieur Necker, late (,V)ntroner-Generalof the Finawces of France. Tiinted at (llocester, 1782." Here was the sjime ar(h)r lor separation, with the same bitter words for the Colonies. Tardily the foresight of tlie Dean was recognized, until at last Arclibishop Whately, in his annotation upon liacon's Essay on Honor and lleputation com- memorates it as an historic example. According to him "the whole British nation were in one particular mani- festly ])n:::dc-hcaded , except one. man, who was accord- ingly derided by all." Then mentioning the dispute between the mother country and her colonies, he says : "But l)ean Tucker, standing quite alone, wrote a pam- phlet to show tha^, the separation would be no loss at all, and that we had best give them tlie independence they coveted at once and in a friendly way. Some thought he was writing in jest ; the rest despised him as too absurd to be Avortli answering. But now, and for above half a century, every one admits that he was ([uite right, and regrets that his view was not adopted." ^ T^n(piestionably this is a remarkable tribute. Kindred to it was that of the excellent Professor Smyth, who, in exhibiting the " American AVar," dw^dls on " the supe- rior and the memorable wisdom of Tucker." ^ The bad temper shooting from his writings interfered, doubtless, with their acceptance. His .spirit, so hostile to us, justified his ow^n characterization of himself as " tlu author of these tracts against the rebel Ameri- 1 Riicoii's Essnys, by Wluitoly, p. 48G. 2 Eeotures on Modern History, Vol. II. p. 380, Lecture XXXII. ^^~."»T DEAN TUCKER, 1774. 89 cans." As the war drew to a close, liis bad temper still prevailed, heightened by antijjathy to repul)lieanisni, so that, after picturiiij^ the Colonies, separated at last Ironi the mother country, as liavini;' " gained a general disap- pointment mixed with anger and indignation," ^ he tiius predicts their terrible destiny : — "As to tlio futuro gnuidcur of Aniericu aiul its being a rising cnipiro midor one Head, Avliotlicr republican or ino- nurchicul, it is one of the idlest uud most visionary no- tions that ever was conceived, even by writers of romance. For there v.i nothing in tlio genius of the people, the situa- tion of their country, or the nature of their diflercnt cli- mates, which tends to countenance such a sui)position Above all, when those inuncnso inland regions bey(>nd the back settlements, which arc still unexplored, are taken into the account, they form the liighcst })robabi!ity that the Americans never can be united into one compact em])ire, under any species of government whatever. Their fate seems to be — <( disunited people till t/ie end of tinier ^ Alas ! But evidently the Dean saw the future of our continent no better than the ]\Iinistry saw their duty with regard to it. r ; n ,s Unlike in spirit was ]\Iathew Ilobinson, a contempo- rary friend of America, whose able and elaborate tracts ^ in successive editions are now forgotten except so far as revived by the praise of Professor Smyth.* Ilis vindi- 1 Ciii Ronn ? p. FO. 2 Ibid., pp. 117, lis. ^ Consideriitinns on the Mpafures carryinp; on with respect to the British Colonies in North Amcrien, 1774. A further Examination of onr present .\meriean Measures and of the Reasons and Principlos on wliich they are founded, 1776. < Lectures on Modern History, Vol. II. p. 38.3, Lecture XXXII. i' !:li .1 il II j:: :: i i:li| ^liii 90 rROrilKTIC VOICES CON'CERNING AMERICA. cation of the ('olouies, at the time of the r)ostoii Port ])ill, was coiiii)lete, without tlie harslniess of Tucker, and lie did not hesitate to ])r(iseiit the inipossihility of coii(|U(;rin,L;- tiiem. " AVliat exi)ectatiou or ])robahility," lie asks, " can tliere be of sending from lience armies capahh' to contpier and subdue so great a force of men defending and def(!n(led by such a continent." ^ Then, Mliihi dej)i('ting English mastery of the sea, he says: "We may do whatever a licet can. Very true; but it cannot sail all over North ^Vmerica."^ The prodiv^tions of this enlinht(3ned author cannot have been without effect. Doubtless they helped the final acknowledgment of indei)endence. AVhen will the " Old ^Mortality " appear to discover and restore his monument ? The able annotator of Lord IJacon was too sweeping when he said that on the gTcat American (juestion all England was wrong "except one man."^ liobinsonwas as rigiit as the Dean, and there were others also. The " IMonthly licview," in an article on the Dean's ajij^eal for separation, said : '' This, however, is not a new itlea. It has frequently occurred to others." * Even Soames Jenyns, a life-long member of Parliament, essayist, poet, defender of Christianity, while upholding the right to tax the Colonies, is said to have accepted the idea of " total separation." " Let all who view th' instructive scene, And piitronize the plan, Give thanks to Gloucester's honest Dean, For, Tucker, thou 'rt the man." 5 1 Considerations, p. 06. 2 Ibid., p. 72. 3 Bacon's Essays, bj' Whately, p. 486. 4 February, 1774, Vol. I. p. 135. 6 The American Coachman, Jenyns's Works, Vol. I. p. 205. The editor, not regarding this little poem us ti jest, says of it : " The author, with that iditor, li that DEAN TUCKER, 177-1. 91 I of In a better spirit urid with afrccting eaniestiie.ss, Joliii Cai'twri^ht, once of the lloyal Navy and known as Major from his rank in the XottinL;hanishire ^Militia, f(jll()\ved the Dean, in 1774, \vith a series of letters col- lected in a i)aniphlet entitled "American Independence, the Interest and Glory of Great l»ritain," wiiere he insists upon separation, and thenceforwai'd a iViendly lea,L;ue, " that the true and histinu' welfare of both countries can be promoted." In enforcing his conclusion the author says : " When we talk of asserting our sovereignty over the Americans, do we foresee to what fatal lengths it will carry us ? Are not those nations increasing witli as- tonishing rapidity ? Muxt then not, in tlic natnrr of tJiiii(js, cover in <( /('((' aijCH t/uit unincii.'>c continent liJx a swarm of heen?"^ Then again: "We may, indeed, by means of fleets and armies, maintain a precarious tyranny over the Americans tor a wliile ; but the most shallow politicians nmst foresee what this would end in." 2 Then in re])ly to the Dean : " 'T is a ])ity so able a writer had not discovered that the Americans have a right to choose their own governors, and thence enforce the necessity of his pro])osed sejiaration as a religious duty, no less than a measure of national pol- icy." ^ Cartwright continued at home the conilicts of principle involved in our war of indei)endence, and be- came an English lieformer. Honor to his name ! 1 1 I conciseness as to the matter and luimor in tlie manner so peculiiir to him- self, recommends and supports the Dean's phui." 1 Pape 65, Letter VI., Ahirch 27, 1774. 2 Ibid., p. 66. 8 Ibid., p. 68. V' r lit Ik:-, -. 92 rROPIIETIC VOICES CONCERNING AMERICA. DAVID HARTLEY, 1775, 1785. Anotiikr Eii.L;lisli iViund wiis David Hartley. He was constant and uven pcn'tinacioiis on our side, ul- tlioii;^h less pioj)lietic than Townall, with \vhoni he coiipeiated in purpose and activity. His father was Hartley the nietaijhysician, and autiior of the ingenious theory of sensation, who ])redicted the fate of existing governments and hierarchies in two sinijtle sentences : " It is proljal)le tliat all the civil governments will he overturned"; "it is })robal»lc that the present forms of church government will be dissolved," jNIany Avere alarmed. Lady Cliariotte Wentworth asked the prophet when these terrible things would lia})peri. The answer was : " I am an old man, and shall not live to see them ; but you are a young woman, and will probably see them." ^ The son was born in 1720, and died at Bath in 1813. During our lievolution he sat in rarliament lor Kings- ton-u])on-Hull. He was also the Ih-itisli plenipoten- tiary in negotiating the definitive Treaty of Peace with the United States. He has droj)ped out of sight. The biographical dictionaries afford him a few lines only. But he deserves a considerable place in the his- tory of our independence. John Adams was often austere, and sometimes cyni- cal in his judgments. Evidently he did not like Hartley. In one place he speaks of him as " talkative and disputatious, and not always intellig:'il)le " ; '^ then, as " a person of consummate vanity " ; ^ and then, when 1 D'Israpli's Curiosities of Literature, Vol. III. p. 275. Predictions. 2 Works, Vol. LX. p. 517. 8 Ibid., Vol. III. p. 137. DAVID lIAliTLEY, 1775. 93 < nppointed to sign the definitive Treaty, " it would have heeii more agreeal)le to have liuished with ]Mr. Os- wald" ;^ and, in still anotlier place, " ]\Ir. Hartley was as copious as usual." '^ And yet, when writing' most elaborately to Cinint de Yergennes on tlie prospects of tlie negotiation with England, he introduces opiuK^ns of Hartley at length, saying tiiat he was " more I'or peace tlian any man in tlie kingdom."*^ Such testimony may well outweigli the other expressions, esi)ecially as notliing of the kind iii)pears in the corresponilence of Franklin, witli whom Hartley was much more intimate. The Parliamentary History is a sullicient monument for Hartley. He was a fre([uent s])eaker, and never missed an opportunity of pleading our cause. Altliougli ■without the immortal elociuence of Burke, he was al- ways clear and full. Many of his speeches seem writ- ten out l)y himself. He was not a tardy convert, but began as "a new member" by sup})orting an amend- ment iavorable to the Colonies, otli Decendjer, 1774. Then, in ^March, 1775, he brought I'orward " propositions for conciliation with America," which he sustained in an elaborate speech, where he avowed that the xVmer- ican Question had occupied him for some time : — "Though I have so lately had the honor of a sent in this House, yet I have for many years turned my thoughts and attention to matters of pul)lic concern and national policy. This question of America is now of many years' standing." * In this speech he acknowledges the services of New England at Louisburs,' : — 1 Works, Vol. VII. p. 54. 2 II)i(l., Vol. III. p. .m. 8 Ibid., Vol. VII. p 226. 4 rurliamcntiiry History. Vol. XVIII. p. 553. \ 4i '■W 94 rUOPIIETIC VOICES CONCERNING AMERICA. I "111 tliiit war too, sir, they took Louisbur^' from the French, single-haiKU'd, without iiiiy Kuroi)ean assistance, — as met- tled an enterprise as any in our liist.ry well ; it was given up for a barrier to the Dutch." ^ All his various propositions were iicgutivod ; but he was not disheartened. Constantly he s[)oke, — now on the budget, then on the address, and then on sjieeific proj)- ositions. At this time he asserted the ])ower of Parlia- ment over the Colonies, and he ])roi)osed, on the 2d Xovember, ITTo, that a test of sul)niis.sion by the Colo- nists should be the recognition of an act of Parliament " enacting that all the slaves in America should have the trial by jury." ^ Shortly afterwards, on the otli ])ecem- ber, 177o, he brought forward a second set of " proposi- tions for conciliation with America," where, among other things, he embodied the test on slavery, which he put for- ward as a com])romise ; and here his language belongs, not only to the history of our Pevolution, but to the history of antislavery. While declaring that in his opinion Great r>ritain was "the aggressor in everything," he sought to bring the two countries together on a plat- form of human rights, which he thus explained : — " "^he act to be proposed to America, as an auspicious hefjinniiu/ to lay the Jirst stone of universal liberty to mankind, 1 Parliamcntavy History, Vol. XVIII. p. 556. 2 Ibid., p. 846. DAVID IIAKTLEV, 1775. 95 should 1)0 wlmt no Ainerieiiu could hcsitiito an instant to comply with, nanu-ly, that every slave in Noi-th America nhould be entitled to his trial l)V iurv in all criminal cases. America cannot refuse to accept and em'oll siu.-h an act as this, and thereby to reestablish peace and harmony with the })arent State. Let tin all be reunited in (his, as ;isla- tive act, it was still to liave been !ij)plied in correcting the laws of slavery in America, which 1 considered as re|iu^nant to the laws of the realm of England and to the fundamen- tals of our constitution. .Such a compromise would at the same time have saved the national honor." ^ All gratitude to the hero who at this early day vowed himself to the abolition of slavery. Hartley is among the first of abolitionists, with hardly a prculeees- sor except Granville Sharp, and in Parliament absolute- ly the first. Clarksoii was at this time fifteen years old, AVilberforce sixteen. O^ily in 1787 Clarkson obtained the prize for the best Latin essay on the (|U('stion, " Is it right to make men slaves against their will?" It was not until 1791 that AVilberforce moved for leave to bring in a bill for the abolition of the slave-trade. It is no small honor for one man to have come forward in 1 Purlifiinentary History, Vol. XVIII. p. 1356. DAVID HAUTLKY, 17T:.. 07 I'arliiUiuMit ns an avowtnl iil)(>liti<)ni.st, wluli! at tliu siiino t'liK! ii viiulit'uLor of our indciK'ndciicf. Aj^aiii, on tlic loth May, 1777, ilurtloy pliiiuluil loi- ns : — " At Hi.'ii, wliich 1ms liitluM-to Ih'cm our prerojjjiitivo olo- MU'ut, tlicy rise iildy magnitude of empire, and the future pojmbdion of millions superadded to millions. The sources of the Mississippi may be unknown. The lines of longitude and latitude mav be extended into unexplored regions, and the ])lan of this new creation may be sketched out by a presum])tuous compass, if all its inter- mediate uses and functions were to be suspended until the final and precise accomplishment, without failure or devia- tion, of this unbounded plan. But this is not the case ; the immediate objects iu view are limited and precise ; they are . I r ; m t «if m 100 rROPlIETlC VOICES CONCEPNING AMERICA. >» It of prudent thonglit, and within the scope of human power to measure out and to execute. The principle indeed is in- definite, and will he left to the test of future ages to deter- mine its duration or extent. " I take the liherty to suggest thus ranch, lest we should he led away to suppose that the councils which have pro- duced these ])lans have had no wiser or more sedate views than meiely tiie amusement of drawing meridians of amln- tion and high thoughts, There aj)pear to me to he two solid and rational objects in view : the first is, Ijy the sale of lands nearly contiguous to the present States (receiving- Congress paper in payment according to its scale of depreci- ation) to crtin'/idsh the present national debt, which I under- stand might be discharged for about twelve millions ster- ling " It is a new proposition to be offered to the numerous common rank of mankind in all the countries of the world, to say that there are in America fertile soils and temperate climates in which an acre of land may be purchased for a trifling consideration, which may be possessed in freedom, together with all the natural and civil rights of mankind. The Congress have already proclaimed this, and that no other qualification or name is necessary but to become settlers, without distinction of countries or persons. The European peasant, who toils for his scanty sustenance in penury, wretchedness, and servitude, will eagerly fly to this asyluni for free and industrious labor. The tide of immi- gration may set strongly outward from Scotland, Ireland, and Canada to this new land of promise. ** A very great proportion of men in all the countries of the world are Mithout pro])erty, and generally are subject to governments of which they have no participation, and over whom they have no control. The Congress have now 'pened to all the world a sale of landed settlements where the liberty and property of each individual is to be con- DAVID IIAUTLEY, 1785. 101 signed to his own custody and defence These are such propositions of free establishments as ha\'e never yet been offered to mankind, and cannot fail of producing great ef- fects in tlic future progress of things. The Congi-ess have arranged their offers in the most inviting and artful terms, and lest individual peasants and laboi-ers should not have the means of removing themselves, they throw Mut induce- ments to moneyed adventurers to purchase and to under- take the settlement by connnission and agency, without personal residence, by stipidating that the lands of pro- prietors being abs(!ntees shall not be higher taxed than the lands of residents. This will quicken the sale of lands, which is their object. " For the explanation of these points, I beg leave to refer your Lordship to the documents annexed, Nos. 5 and (>, namely, the Map and liesolutions of C'onuress, dated Aj)ril, 1784. Another circumstance would conlirm that it is the intention of Conj^ress to invite monevcd adventurers to make purchases and settlements, which is the precise and mathe- matical mode of dividing and marking out for sale the lands in each new proposed State. These new States are to be divided by parallel lines running north and south, and by other parallels running east and west. They are to bo divided into hundreds of ten geographical miles scpiare, and then again into lots of one s(piare mile. The divisions are laid out as regularly as the squares upon a chessboard, and all to be formed into a Charter of (Jompact. " They may be purchased by purchasers at any distance, and the titles may be verified by registc-s of such or such numbers, north or south, east or west ; all this is explained by the document annexed, No. 7, viz. The Ordinaiice for ascerUtinivg the moJe of InnUiuff and dispoaui;/ of lands in t\e Western Territovj/. This is their plan and means for payinfi of their national debt, and they seem veri/ intent vjiun doinrj it. I shor.ld observe that their debt consists K M 102 I'UOI'IIKTIC VOICES CONCERNING AMEUICA. rift' 11 I- ,'• • •' of two parts, uiimely, doinestic and foreign. The sale of lands is to bo ai)[)n>priated to the foniier. •"The doniostic debt may perhaps be nine or ten millions, and the forei.^n debt two or three. For payment of the foreign debt it is proposed to lay a tax of live per cent npon all imports nntil diseharged, which, 1 am informed, has already been agreed to by most of the States, and l)rob!d»ly will soon be eontirmed by the rest. Upon the whole, it appears that this plan is as prudently conceived and as judiciously arranged, as to the end proposed, as any ex})erienccd cabinet of European ministers could have devised or })lanned any similar project. " 'J'he second point which ai)pears to mc to be deserving of attention, resi)ecting the innnense cession of territory to the United States at the late peace, is a point which will perh(ii)S ill a few jjears become an inqxtndUled phenomenon in the political world. As soon as the national debt of the United States shall be discharged by the sale of one portion of those lands, we shall then see the Confederate llepublic in a new character, as a proprietor of lands, either for sale or to let upon rents, while other nations may be struggling under debts too enormous to be discharged either by econ- omy or taxation, and while they may be laboring to raise ordinary and necessary supplies by burdensome impositions upon their own i)ersous and properties. Here will he a nation possessed of a neiv and iinlteard-of financial organ of stupendous mauckle when he says:^ "Adam Smith contributed more, by the jiublication of this single work, towai'd the hap})ine.ss of man, tlian has been effected by the united al)ilities of all the statesmen and legislators of whom history has preserved an authentic account." The work is full of pro])hetic knowledge, and especially with regard to the lUitish colonies. "Writing while the debate with tlie mother country was still ])ending, Adam Smith urged that they should be admitted to l*arliamentary representation in ])ro])ortion to taxation, so that their representation would enlarge with their growing resources ; and here lie i)redicts nothing less than the transfer of empire. " The distance of America from the seat of government, the natives of that country might flatter themselves, with some appearance of reason t/ (he I'liij'in' would tlwii Huturnlli/ remove Itsi'lf to tlmt part of the empire vhieh contrihntcd mod to the (/eiiinil ile/enre mid support of the whole.'" ' 111 tht'so triui([uil words of assured sciuiicc the; great author carries the seat of goverunieiit across the At- lantic. J)id Adam Smith in this rcMuarkahle i)assage (h) moi-e tlian follow a hint from our own prophet? Tho l)ropliecy of the great economist first appeared in 177G. In the course of 1774 and down to Ajnil 11>, 1775, John Achims published in the I'oston (lazette a series of weekly articles under the signature of Xovanglus, which were abridged in Almon's Kememlirancer for 1775, with the following title, " History of the Dis- pute with America, from its origin in 1754 to the present time." Although this abridged edition stops before the proi)hetic passage, it is not impossible that the whole series was known to Adam Smith. After speculating, as the latter did afterwards, on the exten- sion of the British Constitution and Parliamentary representation to the outlying Britisli dominions, our prophet says : — " If in twenty years more America should have six mil- lions of inhabitants, as there is a boundless territory to fill up, she must have five hundred representatives. Upon these principles, if in forty years she should have twelve millions, a thousand ; and if the inhabitants of the three kin«j;donis reinaiu as they are, bein'' alreadv full of inhabi- 1 Wealth of Nations, Book 1\, cap. 7, part 3. ADAM S.MITir, ITTG. 109 tants, wlmt will bccDino of your HUiiromc lei^'isliituro ? ft will 1)0 tniUNliitiMl, ci'own iiiiave."'^ And 2d (,)ctoher, 17SS, he wrote to another: " Jlememher me affectionately to n'ood |)r. Price." '^ The hitter, in convspomlence many years afterwards, recorded the intimacy he enjoyed with l)r. Price at the hou.se of the Litter, "at his own lujuse and at the houses and tahles of many friends."'* The first of his American tracts was in 1 77r), heini,' " Ohservations on the Xatiii'(! of Civil Liherty, the I'rin- ciples of (fovernment, and the Justict; and Policy of the War with America." The sale of sixty thousand copies in a few months shows the extensive acceptancje of the work. The j^eneral ])rinciples so clearly exhibited are invoked for America. Occasionally the philosopher be- comes prophet, as M'licn he predicts the growth of ])opii- lation : — " They are now but little short of half our number. To this number they have <^ro\vn from a small body of ori^'inal settlers by a very rapid increase. The jn-ohability is that they will go on to increase, and that in fifty or sixty years they will be donhle our number and form a mujldy empire, 1 Writings of Friuiklin by Sparks, Vol. VIII. p. 355. - Ii)i(l., p. 417. 3 Iliid., Vol. X. p. .305. 4 LeUcr to Jellcrsoii, September 14, 1813. Works, Vol. X. p. 175. af'f 4 '.H it It ^■,1 U :i '^ 112 PROPHETIC VOICES CONCEllNING AMERICA. consisting of a varidy of States, all equal or superior to our- selves in all the arts and acrojnj)lis/iments which (five dignity and happiness to human life!'' ^ Notliini; less tlian " a vast continent " seems to liim the sjihere of tliis reniai'kal»le development, and lie revolts at the idea of tliis being held "at the discretion of a handful of i)eo[)le on the other side of the Atlantic." In the measures which brought on the war he saw "the hnnd of Providence icorking to bring about sonic great e7ul."^ And tlie vast continent was to be dedicated to Liberty. The excellent man saw even the end of slav- ery. Speaking of "the negroes of the southern colonies," he said that they " probably will have either soon become extinct or have their condition changed into that of free- mcnr ^ Years and battle intervened Ijefore this precious result. This jn-oduction was followed in 1777 by " Addi- tional Observations on the Nature and Value of Civil Liber*^y and the War vrith America," to which were added " Observations on Public Loans, the National Debt, and the Debt and Pesources of France." In all this variety of topics, his concern ibr America breaks forth in the inquiry, " Must not humanity shudder at such a war ? " And he sees untold loss to England, which, with tlie Colonies, " might be the greatest and happiest nation tliat ever existed"; but without them " we are no more one people ; our existence depends on keeping them." This patriotic gloom is checked by an- other vision : — " These measures have, in all probability, hastened the disruption of tlie new from the old world, which will hegi^i a 1 Pages 25, 26. 2 Page 55. 8 Page 41, note. t DR. lilCIIAKD nUCE, 1784. 113 new era in the annals of mankin I, and produce a revolution more important, perhaps, than any that has happened in human ati'airs." ^ Tlius was American independence heralded and its influence Ibietold. Constantly sympathizing with America, and impressed by the magnitude of the issue, his soul fonnd another utterance in 1778, in what he called " The (Jenerul In- troduction to the Two Tracts on Civil Liberty, the War with America, and the Finances of the Kingdom." Here again he sees a vision : — "A great people, likely to be formed, in spite of all our efforts, into iree communities, under governments which have no religious tests and establishments ! A new era in future annals, and a new opening in human affairs, begin- ning among the descendants of Englishmen, in a new world ! A rising empire, extended over an immense continent, ivilhout bishops, without nobles, and without kingsy ^ After the recognition of Independence and the estab- lishment of peace, Dr. Price appeared with another tract: "Observations on the Importance of the Ameri- can lievolution and tlie Means of making it a Benefit to the AVorld." This was in 1784. And here he repeated the exultation of an earlier day : — "Wit., heartfelt satisfaction I sec the revolution in favor of universal liberty which has taken place in America, — a revolution which opens a neiv prospect in human ctjfairs, and begins a new era in the history of mankind.^ .... Perhaps I do not go too flxr when I say that, next to the introduction of Christianity among mankind, the American revolution 1 Piise 49. 2 Page ix. 8 Pnge 2. H ^ If ( f HI' ;i i 'I ' ^ '*, i k; 114 PKOniETIC VOICES CONCERNING AMERICA. may prove the most important step iu tl . progres^iivo course of human improvement." * Tlius announcing the grandeur of the epoch, he states that it "may produce a general dill'usiou of the prin- ci[)les of luunanity," and may lead mankind to see and know " that all legitimate government consists in the dominion of equal IrnoH, made with common consent," wliich is another expression of the primal trutli of the Declaration of Independence. Then, referring to the " community or confederacy" of States, he says "thi it is not impossible but that hy some such means univer- sal peace may some time or other be produced, and all war excluded from the world"; and he asks,"AVliy may we not hope to see this begun in America ? " ^ ^^^y America be true to this aspiration ! There is also a longing for equality, and a warning against slavery, with the ejaculation, in liarmony with earlier words, " Let the United States continue forever what it is now tlieir glory to be, a confederation of States, prosperous and happy, without lords, vntliout hislioj)^, and witJiout Idmjsy ^ In the midst of the bloody conflict tliis vision had appeared, and he had sought to make it a reality. His true friendship for our country and his devotion to humanity, with the modesty of his nature, appear in a letter to Franklin, 12th July, 1784, communicating a copy of the last production. After saying that " it is intended entirely for America," the excellent counsellor proceeds : — " I hope the United States will forgive my presumption in supposing myself qualified to advise them. The conscious- ness which I have that it is well intended, and that my ad- 1 Parre 6. 2 Pajre 15. 8 Page 72. GOVERNOR TOWN ALL, 1777. 115 dress to them is the effusion of a heart that wishes to servo the best interests of society, helps to reconcile nv: to myself in this instance, and it will, 1 hope, Ciigage the candor of others." ^ The same sentiments which ju'oved his sympathies with our country rea[)[)eared with fresh iires at the out- break of the French Uevolulion, arousing, in opposition, the immortal elo([uence of Burke. A discourse " On the Love of Country," preached at the Old -Icwry, 4tli No- vember, 1780, in commemoration of the Knglish Uevolu- tion, with friendly glances at what was then passing across the Channel, prom[)ted the " licllections on the Ivcvolution in France." The personal denunciation which is the beginning of that remarkable performance is the perpetual witness to the position of the preacher, whose pro^dietic soul did not hesitate to acce[)t the Ircaich lievolution side by side with ours in glory and in promise. GOVERNOR rOWNALL, 1777, 1780, 178.5. Among the best friends of our countrv abroad during the trials of the Tle\T)lution was Thomas Pownall, called by one biographer "a h>arned nnti([nary and politician," and hy another "an English statesman and author." Latterly he has so far dropped out of sight that tlierc are few who recognize in him either of these characters. He was born, 1722, and died at Bath, 1805. During this long period he held several offices. As early as 1745 he became secretary to the Commission for Trade and Plantations. In 175.3 he crossed the ocean. In 1755, as Commissioner for IMassachiisetts Bay, he iie- 1 Franklin, Works by Sparks, Vol. X. p. 105. ,. I II' I ■lit i M '■' ii: -i t\ ''i il m ■I r i; 1 SI 'Pl iff («. H'l IIG rUUl'IlETIC VOICES GONCEUNINO AMEllICA. gotiated with Nuw Yi»ik, Xovv Jc.Tsey, and Peiiiisyl- vuuiii, ill union with New Kngland, the oonlcderatod expedition against (.'rown Point. lie was afterwards Governor ol" Massaeliusetts Pay, New Jersey, and South Carolina, successively, lleturning to England, he was, in 1701, Coinptroller-deneral of the army in Germany, with the military rank of colonel. He sat in tliree successive Parliaments until 1780, when he ])assed into private life. Hildreth gives a glimpse of his personal ciiaracter, when, admitting his frank manners and lib- eral politics, he describes his " habits as rather freer tlian suited the New England standard." ^ Pownall stands forth conspicuous for championshii) of our national independence, and especially for fore- sight with regard to our national future. In both these respects his writings are uni(pie. Other Englishmen were in favor of independence, and saw our future also ; but I doubt if anv one can be named who was his ecpial in strenuous action or in minuteness of fore- sight. While the war was still proceeding, as early as 1780, he openly announced, not only that inde- pendence was inevitable, but that the new nation, " founded in nature and built u}) in truth," would con- tinually expand ; that its population would increase and multiply; that a civilizing activity beyond what Europe could ever know would animate it; and that its commercial and naval power would be found in every quarter of the globe. All this he set forth at length with argument and illustration, and he called liis prophetic words " the statinfj of the simple fact, so little understood in the Old World." Treated at first as "unin'elligible speculation" and as "unfashionable," 1 History of the United States, Vol. II. p. 476. GOVERNOR POWNALL, 1777. 117 VI the truth lie annoimcetl was neglected whore it was not rejected, but generally rejected as inadmissible, and the author, accordin,;^' to his own lanj^niage, " was called by the wise men of the liritish Cabinet a WUd Man, unfit to be employed." Ikit these writings are a better title now than any of1i(;e. In manner tiiey are difliise and pedantic; but they hardly deserve the cold judg- fuent of John Adams, who in his old age said of tiiein th.'it "a reader who has patience to search for good sense in an uncouth and disgusting style will find in tliose writings proofs of a thinking mind." ^ He seems to have written a good deal. But the works which will be remembered the longest are not even mentioned by several of his biographers, liose, in his Ihograpliical Dictionary, records works by him, entitled " Antiquities of Ancient Greece " ; " Itoman An- tiquities dug up at Bath"; "Observations on the Cur- rents of the Ocean " ; " Intellectual Physics " ; and also contributions to the Arcluxiologia. Gorton in his Bio- graphical Dictionary adds other titles to this list. Ihit neither mentions his works on America. This is an- other instance where the stone rejected by the builders becomes he head of the corner. At an early date Pownall comprehended the position of our country, geographically. He saw the wonderful means of internal comnumication supi)lied by its inland waters, and also the opportunities of external commerce supplied by the Atlantic Ocean. On the first he dwells, in a memorial drawn up in 17oG for the Duke of Cum- berland.2 Nobody in our own day, after the experience of more than a century, has portrayed more vividly 1 Letter to William Tudor, February 4, 1817. Works, Vol. X. p. 241. 2 Administration of the Colonies, Appendix, p. 7. l''^ if' 1; .1 V-' % K;- im m Nl (■i&< li*. 118 ntoriirnc voicEd conueunixg ameuica. the two vast a([ueous masses, — one coinposed of the great hikes and their (lej)eii(leueies, and tlie other of the ]Mississii)pi and its tributaries. Tiie great hikes are described as "a wihlerness of waters spreading over the country by an infinite iiuniljer and variety of brandlings, bays, and straits." Tiie Mississippi, with its eastern branch, called the Ohio, is described as having, " so far as we know, but two falls, — one at a place called, by the French, St. Antoine, high uj) on tiie west or main branch " ; and all its waters " run to the ocean with a still, easy, and gentle current." The ])icture is completed by exhibiting the two masses in combination : — "The waters of each respective mass — not only tho lesser streams, but tho main general body of each going through this continent in every course and direction — have by their apj)roach to each other, by their communi- cation to every qnarter and in every direction, an alliance and imity, and form one mass, or one whole." ^ Again, depicting the intercommnnication among the several waters of the continent, and how "the watery element claims and holds dominion over this extent of land," he insists that all shall see these two mighty masses in their central throne, declaring that " the ixreat lakes which lie npon its l)osom on one hand, and the great river AIississi])pi and the multitnde of waters which rnn into it, form there a communication, — an alliance or dominion of the watery element, that com- mands throughout the whole ; that these great lakes a])pear to be the throne, the centre of a dominion, whose influence, by an infinite number of rivers, creeks, 1 Admiiuslrtitlon of the Colonies, Appendix, p. 6. f ' GOVEUXOU POWNALL, 1777. UU and s'Tcains, extends itself tliroui^li all and every part of the continent, (supported by the coininunieation of, and alliance with, the waters of the ^Iissis8ii)pi." * If tiiese means of internal commerce were vast, those afforded l)y the Atlantic Ocean were not less extensive. The latter were developed in the volume entitled " Tiu; Administration ol" the Colonies," the fourth edition of which, published in 170S, is now before me. This was after tii(3 differences between the Colonies and the mother country had begun, but before the idea of indei)endence had shown itself. Townall insisted that the Colonies ought to be considered as parts of the realm, entitled to representation in rarlianient. This was a constitutional nnity, JJut he portrayed a com- mercial unity also, which he represented in attractive forms. The liritish Isles, and the British possessions in the Atlantic and in America, were, according to him, "one grand marine doriinion," and ought, therefore, by ])olicy, to be united into one empire, with one centre. On this he dwells at length, and the picture is i)re- sented repeatedly.^ It was incident to the crisis in the world produced by the predominance of tlie com- mercial spirit already beginning to rule the powers of Europe. Tt was the duty of England to place herself at the head of this great movement. " As the rising of this crisis forms precisely the object on which government should be employed, so the taking lcadin<«- measures towards the forminsj; all those Atlantic and American possessions into one empire, of which Great Britain should be the commercial and political centre, is the precise duty of government at this crisis." 1 Administration of the Colonies, p. 9. 2 Ibid., pp 9, 10, 104. i r - M- 120 niOrilETIC VOICES concerning AMERICA. , ) I »«!l 'LL. This was liis desire. But he saw clearly the resources as well us the riglits of the ('(jlonies, ami was satisfied that, if power were not consolidated under the consti- tutional au.jpices of England, it W(nild l)e transferred to the other side of the Atlantic. Here his words are prophetic : — "The whole train of events, the whole course of husinoss, must perpL'tuidly bring forward into practice, and necessarily in the end into establishment, either an American or a Brit- ish union. There is no other alternative." The necessity for union is enf(jrced iu a manner whicli foreshadows our national Union: — " The Colonial Legislature docs not answer all purposes ; is incompetent and inadcnpiate to many purposes. Some- thing more is necessary, — either a common union amoncf themselves, or a common union of subordination under the one general legislature of the state." ^ Then, again, in another place of the same work, after representing the declarations of power over the Colonies as little better than mockery, he prophesies : — "Such is the actual state of the really existing system of our dominions, that neither the poiver of government over these various parts can long continne under the present mode of administration, nor the great interests of commerce ex- tended throughout the whole long subsist under the present system of the laws of trade." ^ Ilecent events may give present interest to his views, in this same work, on the nature and necessity of a paper currency, where he follows Franklin. The prin- * Administration of the Colonies, p. 165. 2 Ibid., p. 16. GOVEHNOR TOWN ALL, 1777. 121 cipal joints of liis idiin were, that bills of credit, to a certiiiii {iiiiount, slioultl l)o printed in Mnijland for tiie use of the Colonies; tluit a loiin-olliee should be estiib- lished in eiieh Colony to issue bills, take securities, and receive the i)aynient ; tluit the bills should be issiufd for ten years, beurinj^ interest at iive ])er cent, — one tenth part of the sum borrowed to be i)aid anmially, with interest; and that they should be a lejjjal tender. When the dillerences had llamed forth in \var, then the prophet became more earnest. II is ntterances deserve to be rescued from oblivion. lie was open, almost defiant. As early as 2d December, 1777, some months before our treaty with Francf), he declanid, from his place in Pai'liament, "that the sovereignty of this country over America is abolished and gone forever"; Uiat they are determined at all events to be independent, and luill he so " ; and " that all the treaty this country can ever exj)ect with America is federal, and that, probably, only connnercial," In this spirit he said to the Honse : — " Until you shall be convinced that you jirc no longer sovereigns over America, but that the United Sttites arc an independent, sovereign people, — until you arc prepared to treat with them as such, — it is of no consequence at all what schemes or plans of conciliation this side of the House or that may adopt." ^ The position taken in Parliament he maintained by writings, and here he depicted the great destinies of our conntry. lie began with " A Memorial to the Sovereigns of Europe," published early in 1780, and afterwards, through the influence of John Adams, 1 Parliamentary History, Vol. XIX. pp. 527, 528. See also p. 1137. 6 t 122 rUOrilKTIC VOICES CONCEUNINCJ amlkica. ;,. s| ! J wliilo at tlio Ilai^uc, iiliridgod and translated into I'l'cncli. In tliis runiarkaUlu piuductiuii induitendencu was tliu least that liu clainiud lor us. Thus he fore- tells (jiir I'liturc : — "North America is become a new primary planet in the system of the world, which, wliile it takes its own course, nuist have etl'ect on the orhit of every otlicr planet, and shift the comiiioii centre of ^^avity of the whctlc svstem ol' the Kuropciin worhl. North America is de J'ltcto an inde- pendent power, wliich has taken its equal sti;ti()n with other j)owers, and nuist he so de Jure The ijidependencc of America is fixed as fate. She is mistress of her own future, knows thut siie is so, and will actuate that j)ower which she feels she hath, so as to establish her own system and to chamje the system of L'urope." ^ Not only is the new power to take an independent plaee, but it is " to eluinge the system of Europe." For all this its people are amply prejjared. "Standing on that high ground of imi)rovement up to which the most enlightened ])arts of Europe have advanced, like eaglets, they commence the first efforts of their pinions from a towering advantage."^ This same conviction appears in another form : — " North America has advanced, and is every day advan- cing, to growth of state, with a steady and continually accelerating motion, of which there has never yet been any example in Europe.^ .... It is a vitality, liable to many disorders, many dangerous diseases; but it is young and strong, and will struggle, by the vigor of internal healing principles of life, against those evils, and surmount them. Its strength will grow with its years."* 1 Memorial to the Sovereigns of Europe, pp. 4, 5. 2 Ibid., p. 43. 3 Ibid., p. 56. ■* Ibid., p. 69. GOVKUNOU rOWNALL, 17S0. 123 ' c III! tlu'ii ilwx'lls ill (Irtiiil on " tlio lU'Oirros.sivo popu- lation" lu'iv ; on our udviinlaL^c in boin;; "on ihu oilier siilu of till) ,<;lolu', wlioru tliero i.s no enemy"; on the ]»ro(lucts of tlie soil, iiinon;^' which is " hreail-coin to u (li\^ree that has wrought it to a sta|)le export for the supply of the Old World"; on the hsheries, which he calls " mines of more solid riches than all the sil- ver of I'otosi " ; on the inventive spirit of the i)eople ; and on their comnun'cial activity. Of such a peoi)le it is easy to predict great things; and our proi»het an- nounces, — 1. That the new state will be " an active naval power," exercising a i)eculiar inlluence on commerce, and, through commerce, on the i)olitical system of the Ohl World, — becoming the arbitress of commerce, and, perhaps, the mediatrix of })eace.^ 2. That shipbuihling and the science of navigation have made such progress in America that her ])eople will be able to build and navigate cheaper than any country in Euro])e, even Holland, with all her economy.^ •'). That the peculiar articles to be had from America only, and so nuich sought in Kuro])e, must give Amer- icans a preference in those markets.^ 4, That a peojde "whose empire stands singly pre- dominant on a great continent " can hardly " sufl'er in their borders such a monopoly as the Euro})ean Hudson ]>ay Company"; that it cannot be stoj)ped by (.'a])o J lorn or the Cape of Good Hoj)e ; that before long they will bo found " trading in the South Sea and in China " ; and that the Dutch " will hear of them in the Spice Isli-^ds."* : 4'y 1 Memorial to the Sovereigns of I'uropc, pp. 74, 77. 2 Ibid., p. 82. 8 Ibid., p. 83. * Ibid., p. 86. ^■'-J» 124 rROPIlETIC VOICES CONCERNING AMERICA. 5. Tliiit by ('((iiHtiiut intLTcoininunion of iMi.sincs.s iiud coiTC'Spoudi'iice, und by iiuioust'd kiiowU'd^'u with w,- [i^iU'd to tliu oceiui, " Amuricii will suom every day to apiiroiuh iifiii'LT and iit'.inM' to Kuro}»u"; that the old alanii at the sea will .subside, and " a thousaiul attrac;- tive motives will beeonie the irresistible eaiise of an ah/iosf (joicrdl cnuyrdfion to the Nav World" ; and that " many of the most useful, enterprising sjiirits, and much of the active ]»ro])erty, will ^^o then; also." * 0. That " North America will l»ecome a J'rcc jiort to all the nations of the world indiscriminatelv, and will expect, insist on, and demand, in fair reciprocity, afire marhrt in all th()SC nations with whom she trades"; and that, adherinjj; to this ])rinciple, she must be, "in the course of time, the chief carrier of the commerce of the whole world." ^ 7. That America must avoid complication with Eu- ropean i)olitics, or " the entan,L,dement of alliances, hav- in^Li: no connections with Europe other than commer- cial";^ — all of which at a later day was put forth by Washington in his Farewell Address when ho said: " The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political concern as ])ossible"; and also when he said : " Why, by interweaving our destiny with .hat of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice?"* 8. That similar modes of living and thinking, the same manners and same fashions, the same language ^ Momorinl to the Sovereigns of Europe, p. 87. 2 Ibid., pp. 80, 97. « Ibid., p. 78. < Writings by Sparks, Vol. XII. pp 231, 232. govi:i:n()U pownall, iths, i78n. 125 niul old habits of iiiiti<>n;il love, iinprosst'd on tlir luNirt iind not yet t'lliici'd, the vert/ imUnlimii^ of (he J'ructure. V'/urc Aorfh Ainrrira in hroLrii ojf Jrinii J'Jin//f(tu/, all (•()n.i)r nitfin'((//f/ to n njtinrhnr hif nlliann.^ \K 'I'lmt the sovi;iL'i;4nM of ICuroiu', " wh(» hiivt> (U'spiscd tlio nnrusliionc'd, awkwurd youth of Aincricii," and havo ncLiloctod to interweave their interests willi the risini' Statei, when liiey find the system of the m w enipin; not only ohstrnetinj,', hut sui>ers(>(lin;,', tlu! old system of Kurope, and crossin;^ all their settled maxims, will call upon their ministers and wise men, "Come, curse me this ])e()ple, for they are too mi,ulily for me."''^ This remarkahk! aj»])eal was followed hy two memo- rials, "drawn up solely for the kin,«;'s use, and desi^ncid solely for his eye," datctl at liiehmond, Junuary, 1782, where the author Tuost persuasively ur^es his Maj(!sty to treat with the CJolonies on the footinj^" of inck'pen- dence, and with this view to institute a ]»r(diminary ne- gotiation "as with free states dc far/o under a truce." And on the signature of the troatv of peace he wrote a ])rivatG letter to Franklin, dated at IJiehmond, 28th Fehruary, 1783, where he testifies again to the magni- tude of the event : — "My old Frimnu, — I write this to con;;ratulatc you on the establishtncnt of your country as a free and sovereign j)o\vcr, taking its equal station amongst the powers of the world. I conunitidate you, in j)articular, us ciiosen by Providence to be a principal instnuncnt in this great Ilevo- hition, — a Ixcvolntion iluit has stranger marks of JJlvinc in- terposition, svpersedivrf the ordinarif course of human affairs, than any other event which this world has exjierienced.'^ 1 Mcmorinl to the Sovereigns of Kurope, p. 93. a Ibid., p. 91. * ii V ■■*■ rfS tn 12G I'ROriTETIC VOICES CONCERNIXO AMERICA. TliG prophet closes liis letter by allusion to a pro- posed tour of America, adding that, " if there ever ^vas an ohject worth travelling to see, and worthy of the conteni))lation of a philosopher, it is that in which he niny see the beginning of a great empire at its foun- dation."^ lie conimunicated this purpose also to John Adams, who answered him that " he would be received respectfully in every part of America, that he had alwiiys been considered Iriendly to America, and ^^hat his writings had been useful to our cause." ^ Then came another word, first j^ublishcd in 1783, entitled " A Memorial addressed to the Sovereigns of America, by Governor I'ownall," of which he gave the mistaken judgment to a private friend, that it was " the best t\nu£f he ever wrote." Here for the first time American citizens are called " sovereigns." At the beginning he explains and indicates the simplicity with which he addresses them : — " Having presumed to address to the Sovereigns of En- rope a Memorial .... permit me now to address this Memorial to yon, Sovereigns of America. I shall not ad- dress you with the court titles of Gothic Europe, nor with those of servile Asia. I will neither address j'our Sublim- ity or Majesty, your Grace or Eloliness, your Eminence or High mightiness, your Excellence or Honors. What are titles where things themselves are known and understood 1 What title did the Republic of Rome take . The state was known to be sovereign and the citizens to be free. What could add to this? Therefore, United States and Citizens of America, I address you as you are."* 1 Franklin, Works by Spark.s, Vol. IX. p. 491. 2 .Tolm Adams, Works, Vol. VIII. p. 179. 8 Memorial to the Sovereign? of America, pp. 5, 6. GOVEIINOR rOWNALL, 17S3. 127 Here again are the same constant sympathy with liberty, the same confulence in our national destinies, and the same aspirations for our prosperity, min;4led with warninus against disturbin*' influences. He ex- liorts that all our foundations should be " laid in na- ture " ; that there should be " no contention for, nor ac([uisition of, unecjual domination in men " ; and that union should be established on the attractive principle by which all are drawn to a common centre. He fears dilliculty in making the line of frontier be- tween us and the liritisli Provinces " a line of peace," as it ought to be ; he is anxious lest something may break out between us and Spain ; and he suggests that j)ossibly, " in the cool hours of unimpassioned rellec- tion," we may learn tlie danger of our " alliances," — reierring plainly to that original alliance with France which, at a later day, was the occasion of suc/i trouble. Two other Avarnings occur. One is against Slav(;ry, which is more memorable, because in an earlier me- morial he enumerates among articles of connnerce "African slaves cari-ied by a circuitous trade in Amer- can sl'.ipping to the West India market." ^ Tlie other warning is tlius strongly expressed: "Every inliabi- tant of America is, de facto as well as dc Jure, ecjual, in his essential, inseparable rights of the individual, to any other individual, and is, in these rights, indepen- dent of any power that any other can assume over him, over his labor, or his property. Tliis is a principle in act and deed, and not a mere speculative theorem."^ This strange and striking testimony, all from one man, is enhanced by his farewell words to Franklin. As 1 Memorial to the Sovoroijrns of Knrope, p. 83. 2 Memorial to the Sovereigns of America, p. 55. w I I 'f'4 iff % m. ;f ■:■( mi ■•(■ f? '■li. 'M 3; 128 PROPHETIC VOICES CONCEPvNING AMERICA. Pownall lieard that the great pliilosopher and negotiator was about to embark for the United States, he wrote to him from Lausanne, 3d July, 1785 : — '* Adieu, my dear friend. You arc going to a New World, formed to exhibit a scene which the Old World never yet saw. You leave me here in the Old World, which, like niv- self, begins to feel, as Asia hath felt, that it is wearing out apace. We shall never meet again on this earth ; but there is another world where we shall, and ivhere ive shall be undtr- stoocir The correspondence was continued across the inter- vening ocean. In a letter to Fianklin, dated at Bris- tol, 8th April, 1788, the same devoted reformer refers to the Congress at Albany in 1754, " when the events, which have since come into fact, first begnn to Juvelop themselves, as ready to burst into bloom and to bring Ibrth the Iruits of liberty which you at i)resent enjoy." He is cheered in his old age by the proceedings in the convention to frame a constitution with Franklin's " report of a system of sovereignty founded in law and above which law only was sovereign," and he begins " to entertain hopes for the liberties of America, and for what will be an asylum one day or other to a rem- nant of mankind who wish and deserve to live with political liberty." His disturbance at the PresidenMiil term breaks out: "I have some fears of mischief f;.:i the orhit of four years period, which you give to tlu rotation of the office of President. It may become the ground of intrigue."^ Here friendly anxiety is ele- vated by hope where America appears as the asylum of Liberty. 1 Franklin, Works, Vol. X. pp. 343, 344. GOVERNOR POWNALL, 1785, 1788. 129 :ll Clearly Powiiall was not ini(lerstood in his time ; but it is evident that he understood our eountry as few Enghshnien since have been able to understand it. How few of his contenijKn'aries saw America with liis insight and courage ! The ])revailing sentiment was typified in tlie conduct of George III., so bohlly arraigned in the Declaration of Independence. Indi- vidual opinions also attest the contrast and lielp to glorify I'ownall. Tiius Shirley, lii micrcil hiirk, tho miiU uiil'iirlM, Aiifl stiers hit State to thv iviile WisIch'h World. Utah on tlu! helm niiij(!slic Fri'i'ildni stands, In net of cold contcniiit sho wtives her hands; Take, slaves, sho cries, tho realms that I disown, Re.iounco your birthright and destroy my throne! " TIio two poets united in a connnon cause. One trans- ported to tiic other side of tlie Atlantic the virtues which had been the j,dory of Hritain, and the other car- ried there nothiu},' less than tho sovereij,'!' i^enius of the great nation itself. COUNT ARANDA, 1783. The Count Aranda was one of the first of Spanish statesmen and diplomatists, and one of the richest sub- jects of Spain in his day; born at Sara^ossa, 1718, and died 1799. lie, too, is one of our proi)hets. Originally a soldier, he became ambassador, governor of a province, and prime minister. In the latter post he dispkyed character as well as ability, and was the benefactor of his country. He drove the Jesuits from Spain and dared to oppose the Inquisition. Ho was a philoso- pher, and, like Pope Benedict XIV., corresponded with Voltaire. Such a liberal spirit was out of place in 1 Walpole's Last .Tournnls, Vol. I. p. 1S7, March, 1773. 2 Historical Memoirs, Vol. II. p. 77, March, 1781. ■■*—--- COUNT AH AN DA, 1783. mo loso- with ,Q in Spain. •CoiiiiK'lltMl to rcsi^Mi in ITT'J, \n' foinMl a rctrout at I'aris MS jinihassiuldr, nvImtu lie iMiiu' into (;omnmni- catioii villi I'ViUikliii, Atkinis, and Jay, and tiiially signed the Troaty of Paris, by ^vlli(.•h Spain ackiiowl- edj^(!(l our independence. Shortly al'terwards ho ru- turned to Spain and took tla; place; of i'lorida illanea ns prime nnnister. lie was un»ithatically a stattisnian, aiul as siu'h did not hesitate to take responsiliility even contrary to e.\i)ress orders. An instane(! of this civic coura^'e was wlu;n, for the .sake of ])eaee lie'tween Sjtain and Kn^land, he accepted tiie Fioridas instead of (lih- rallar, on which the eminent French publicist, M. Itay- neval, remarks that *• history furnishes few examples of such a character and such l(»yalty." * Franklin, on nuMitin;^' him, records, in his letter to the secret comi litteo of (,'on;.frc.ss, that he seemed "well dispo.sed to us." ^ Shortly afterwards ho had another interview wit'.i him, which he thus chronicles in his journal : — " Satunhti/, June 20th [1782]. —Wc went to<,'cthor to tho Spanish Ambassador's, who roccivqd us with jjjreat civility and politeness. He spoke with Mr. Jay on the subject of the treaty they were to make toj^ethor On our {»'oing out, he took pains himself to open the foldin^^-doors for \is, which is a hij»h complinicnt here, and toUl us he would ro- tnrn our visit {rendtr son. devoir), and then fix a day with us for dining with him.'' ' Adams, in his journal, describes a Sunday dinner at his house, then a " new building in the finest situation of Paris," * being part of the incomparable palace, with 1 Institutions flu Droit de la Nature et des Gens, Tom. II. p. 311. a Works, Vol VIIT. p. 194. 8 Works, Vol. IX. p. 350. 4 Works, Vol. III. p. 379. 'V • i 1 1 I ! ' I* I I'll I •i:. ■ft m 140 rnOPIIETIC VOICES concerning AMERICA. ! ; n 'ts columnar front, still admired as it looks on the Place de la Concorde. Jav also describes a dinner with the Count, who was "living in great splendor, with an assort- ment of wines tlie finest in Europe," and was" tlie ablest Spaniard he had ever known "; sliowing by his conversa- tion " that his court is in earnest," and ap])earing" frank and candid, as well as sagacious." ^ These hos|)italitics have a peculiar interest, when it is known, as it now is, that Count Arandii regarded the acknowledgment of our independence x.ith "grief and dread." Ihit these senti- ments were disguised from our ministers. After signing tlie Tieaty of l*aris, by which Spain acknowledged our independence, Aranda addressed a memoir secretly to King Charles III., in which his opinions on this event are set forth. This prophetic document slumbered for a hmg time in the confidential archives of the Spanish crown. Coxe, in his " jNIemoirs of the House of Bourbon in Spain," which are founded on a rare collection of original documents, makes no allusion to it. The memoir appears for the first time in a volume puljlished at Paris in 1837, and entitled " Gouvcriicment dc Charles III., Roi cVEspngne, on In- struction re'scrvsG a la Junte cVrJtat par cc Monarquc. Piihiie par I). Andr^ Muriel." The editor liad translated into P'ronch the ]Memoirs of Coxe, and was probalily led by this labor to make tlie supplementary collection. An abstract of the memoir of Arandr appears in one of the historical dissertations of the Mexican authority, Ala- man, who said of it that it has "a just celebrity, because results have made it pass for a prophecy." ^ I translate it now from the French of Aluriel. 1 William .Tny, Life of .lolin .Tay, Vol. I. p. 140 ; Vol. II. p. 101. 2 Dispertaciones sobre la Historia de la Rojiublica Megicana, Tom. III. pp. 851, 352. COUNT AUANDA, 1783. 141 ** Memoir comrmmicated seortl// to the King hy his Excellency the Count Arnnda, on the Independence of the Enf/Utih Colonies, after haviw) signed the Trtaty of Paris of 1783. " Tlic iiidcpeiiclcncc of the Englisli colonies has been ncknowlod^ed. 'I'his is for me an occasion of {^rief and dread. France has few possessions in America ; but slie sliould liavo considered that Spain, her intimate ally, has many, and that she is left to-day ex])osed to terrible shocks. From the beufiiminj^, France h:is acted contrary to her true interest.-! m enconraging and secon(hnj>; tliis independence ; I have so declared often to the ministers of this nation. Wl)at conld happen better fur France than to sec the lMiji,lish and the colonists destroy each other in a pai'ty warfare which could only angment iier powc" and favor her interests'? Tho antipathy which reigns between France and Fiigland blinded the French ('abinet ; it forgot that its interest consisted in remaining a trancpiil spectator of this conflict ; and, onco launched in tlic arena, it dragged us unha|)pily, and by vir- tue of the familv com|)act, into a war cntirelv contrary to our proper interest. " I will not stop hero to c:iamine the opinions of some statesmen, our own countrymen as well as foreigners, which I share, on the difiicuUi/ of preserving ovr poioer in America. Never have so extensive posse.ssifinf), placed at a great distance from the m-dropolis, been I'nig preserved. To this cause, appli- cable to all colonies, must bo added others peculiar to the Spanish possessions ; namely, tho diliiculty of succoring them in case of need ; the vexations to which the unhapin' inhab- itants have been exposed from some of tlic governors ; the distance of the supremo auth<.;rity to which they must have rccourso for the redress of grievances, winch causes years to pass before justice is done to their complaints; the vengeance of the local authorities to which they continue exposed whilo waiting ; the difficulty of knowing the truth at so great a dis- ■! 1 ' ( f I .? 142 PROPHETIC VOICES CONCERNING AMERICA. I* H: f m !i m i!i tancc ; finally, the means which the viccroya and governors, from bcin" Spaniards, cannot fail to have for obtaining favorable |udgnients in S[)ain ; all these different circum- stances will render the inhabitants of America discontented, and make them attempt efforts to obtain independence as soon as they shall have a propitious occasion. " Without entering into any of these considerations, I shall confine myself now to that which occupies us from the dread of seeing ourselves exposed to dangers from the new power which we have just recognized in a country where there is no other in condition to arrest its progress. This Federal lie- public is horn a pygmy, so to speak. It required the sup- port and the forces of two powers as great as Spain and France in order to attain independence. A day vill come when it will he a giant, even a colossus forniidaJtle in these connfries. It will then forget the benefits which it has re- ceived from the two powers, and will dream of nothing but to organize itself. Liberty of conscience, the facility for estab- lishing a new ^lopnlation on immense lands, as well as the ad- vantages of the neio gor'ernment, will draw thither agricidturists and artisans from all the nations; for men always run after fortune. And in a few years we shall see with true grief the tyrannical existence of this same colossus of which I speak. *' The first movement of this power, when it has arrived at its aggrandizement, will be to obtain possession of the Floridas, in order to dominate the Gulf of Mexico. After having rendered commerce with New Spain difficult for us, it will aspire to the conquest of this vast empire, which it w'ill not be possible for- us to defend against a formidable power established on the same continent, and in its neigh- borhood. These fears are well founded. Sire ; they will be changed into reality in a few years, if, indeed, there are not other disorders in our Americas still more fatal. This obser- vation is justified by what has happened in all ages, and with all nations which have begun to rise. Man is the same every- COUNT ARANDA, 1763. 143 3er- ith ;ry- wherc ; the rliffbroncc of climate docs not change the nature of our sentiments ; he who finds the oi)portunity of acquiring power and of aggrandizing himself, profits by it always. How then can we expect the Americans to respect the kingdom of New Spain, when they shall have the facility of ])ossessing themselves of this rich and beautiful country 1 A wise policy counsels us to take precautions against evils which may hap- j)en. This thought has occupied my whole mind, since, as Minister Plenipotentiary of your Majesty, and conformably to your royal will and instructions, I signed the Peace of Paris. I have considered this important affair with all the attention of which I am capable, and after nuich reflection drawn from the knowledge, military as well as political, which I have been able to acquire in my long career, I think that, in order to escape the great losses with which we are threatened, there remains nothing but the moans which I am about to have the honor of exhibiting to your Majesty. "Your Majesty must relieve yourself of all your posses- sions on the continent of the two Americas, /nrserviiif/ only the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico in the northern part, and some other convenient one in the southern part, to serve as a seaport or trading-place for Spanish commerce. " In order to accomplish this great thougiit in a manner becomr g to Spain, three infants must be placed in America, — one as king of Mexico, another as king of Peru, and the third as king of the Terra Firma. Your Majesty will take the title of Emperor." I have sometimes heard tliis remarkable memoir called apocryphal, but without reason, except because its foresiuht is so remarkable. The ]\rcxicaii historian Alaman treats it as genuine, and, after praising it, in- forms us that the proposition of Count Aranda to the king was not taken into consideration, which, according to him, was " disastrous to all, and especially to the peo- %^ if .■ 1 • 144 PROniETIC VOICES CONCERNING AMERICA. ])le of America, Avlio in tliis way would have obtained independence without struggle or anarchy.^ Mcan- wliile all the American possessions of thv. Spanish crown, except Cuba and Porto liico, liavc become inde- pendent, as predicted, and the new power, known as the United States, wiiich at that time was a "l>ygmy," is a "colossus." In proposing a tlirone for Spanish America, Aranda was preceded by no less a person than the great French en''ineer and fort-builder, Marshal Vaul)an, wlio, during tlie reverses of tlie war of the Spanisli Succession, sub- mitted to tlie court of France that Philip the Fifth sliould be sent to reign in America, and the king is said to have consented.^ Aranda was not alone in surprise at the course of Spain. The English traveller Purnaby, in his edition of 1706, mentions this as one of the reasons for the success of tlie CoLmists, and declares that he had not supposed, originally, "that Spain would join in a plan inevitably leading by slow and imperceptible steps to the final loss of all her rich po.ssessions in America."^ This was not an uncommon idea. The same anxieties appeared in one of Mr. Adams's: Dutch correspondents, whose report of fearful prophecies has been already mentioned.* John Adams also records in his diary, un- der date of 14th December, 1779, on landing at Ferrol in Spain, that, according to the report of various per- sons, " the Spanish nation in general have been of opin- ion that the llevolution in America was of bad example 1 Alaman, Discrtnciones, Tom. III. p 333. 2 Voltaire, Sieclc de Louis XIV., Chap. XXI. : (Eiivres, Tom. XXIII. p. 336 (c(l. 17F5). 8 Travels in North America, Preface, p. 10. * Ante, pp. 5G-58. WILLIAM PALEY, 1785. 145 to the Spaiiisli colonies, and clanf;orou.s to tlie interests of Spain, as tlie Tnited States, should they become am- bitious, and be seized with the s])ii'it of C()n(]uest, might aim at INIexico and Teru." ^ All this is entirely in har- mony with the memoir of the Spanish statesman. i t! i 1 I: ' U fi li r WILLIAM PALKV, 1785. AViTll the success of the American Ilevolution jm)- phecy entered other s])heres, and here we welcome a remarkable writer, the Jfev. William Taley, an JMi^^lish divine, M'ho was born July, 1743, and died 25tli ^Nlay, 1805. lie is known for various works of great contem- porary re})ute, all commended by a style of singular transparency and admiral)ly adaj)ted to the level of opinion at the time. If they are gradually vanishing from sight, it is because otlier woi-ks, es])ecially in plii- losophy, are more satistVictory and touch higlier chords. His earliest considerable work, and for a long period a popular text-book of education, was tlie well-known " Principles of IMoral and Political Philosophy," whicli first ai)peared in 1785. Here, with grave errors and a reprehensible laxity on certain toj^ics, he did much for truth. The clear vision witli which he saw the enor- mity of slavery was not disturbed l>y any prevailing interest at home, and he constantlv testified against it. American Independence furnished occasion for a pro- phetic aspiration of more than common value, because embodied in a work of morals especially for tlie young. " The great revolution which has taken place in the West- ern World may probabl}' conduce (and who knows but that it was designed 1) to accelerate the fall of this abominable 1 Works, Vol. TIL p 234. ^M nj 14G rROPIIKTIC VOICES CONCERNING AMERICA. lyrannt/ ; and now that, this contest, and the passions wliich attend it, aj-e no more, there may succeed jjcrhaps ii season fur reflecting, whether a legislatui'e, whicli had so h)ng lent its assistance to the snjiport of an institiitioii replete with human misery, was tit to be trusted with an empire the most exten- sive that ever obtained in any age or quarter of the world." ^ In tlius associating Enumcipatioii with American Tn- dei)endenco, the phiIoso])her became an unconscious associate of Lafayette, Avho, on the consummation of peace, invited Washington to this beneficent enterprise, aks ! in vaiu.^ I'aley did not confine his testimony to the pages of philosophy, but o])enly united with the Abolitionists of the (lay. To helj) the movement against the slave-trade, he encountered the claim of jiccmviavy comj^cnsation for the partakers in the traffic, by a brief essay, in 1780, entitled "Arguments against the unjust Pretensions of Slave Dealers and Holders to be indemnified by pecuni- ary Allowances at the public Expense, in Case the Slave-Trade should be abolished." ^ This was sent to the Al)olition Committee, by whom the sul)stance was presented to the public; but unhap})ily the essay was lost or mislaid. His honorable interest in the cause was attested by a speech at a ])ublic meeting of the inhabitants of Carlisle,- over whicli he pr^'sided, Dth February, 1792. Here he denounced the slave-trade as that " diabolical traffic," and by a ])lain similitude, as applicable to slavery as to the trade in slaves, held it up to judgment : — 1 ]\Ioral and Politico] Thilopopliy, IJonk III. Part 2, Chap. 3: " Slavery." " Correspondence of the American Revolution: Letters to Washington (ed. Sparks), Vol. III. p. Ml. 3 Meadley, Memoirs of Paley, p. 151. BUUNS, 17SS. 147 " None will surely plead in favor of scalpinj?. liut. sup- po.se scalps should become of recpiest in Europe, and a trade in them he carried on with tiie American Indians, mi^dit it not bo Justly said that the Europeans, hy their trade in scalps, did all they could to perpetuate amon.i,' the natives of America the inhuman practice of scalping ]" ^ Stran^t^o that the ])hilos()plier who extenuated duciUiriL,^ sliould have been so true and lotty against slavery. For this at least he deserves our grateful i)raise. BURNS, 1788. From Count Aranda to liobert lUirns, — from the rich and titled minister, iaring sumptuously in the best house of Paris, to the poor ])loug]d)oy poet, struggling in a cottage, — what a contrast! And there is contrast also between him and the philosopher nestling in the English Church. Of the poet I say nothing, exoe[)t that he v.-as born 25th January, 17o9, and died 21st July, 1796, in the thirty-seventh year of his age. There is only a slender thread of Burns to be woven into this web, and yet, coming from him, it must not be neglected. In a letter dated 8th Xovember, 1788, after a friendly word for the unfortunate house of Stuart, he prophetically alludes to American independence: — *' I will not, I cannot, enter into the merits of the causo, but I dare say the American Congress, in 1770, will be allowed to be as able and as enlightened as the En^^lish Con- vention was in 1G88 ; and tluit their 2^osterit!/ vj'dl celebrate the centenary of their deliverance from ns, as dnhj and .nnrcrehf as ive do ours from the oppressive measures of the house hiys excited ('([ual ap- l)hiuse. The House of Commons and I )iiiiy Lane were the scenes of liis famous hil)ors, while society enjoyed his graceful wit. He was born in I)ul»lin, Septemher, 1751, and died in London, July 7th, ISKI. I quote now from a speech in the House of Com- mons, 21st January, 17*J-4. " America reniiiins neutral, prosperous, and iit peace ! America, with a wisdom, prudence, and magnannnity which wo have disdained, tlu'ives at this moment in a state of envied tran(piillity, and is hourly dec iiif/ t^'c jnitks of 'un- bounded opulence. America has monopolized tlie commerce and the advantages which wo have abandoned. (), turn your eyes to her ; view her situation, her happiness, her content; observe her trade and her manufactures adding daily to iior general credit, to her private enjoyments, and to her public resources, her name and (government rixlnif above the nations of Europe with a simple but command in(f dil Uiiitocl States luid Kii,l;1iui(1, ami jxntraycd tlu; rcarful cM)iisi'(j^iicncL!S. Time, \vhi(;li has enlarged and nndti- plied the rehitiuns between the two cuuntries, makes his words more upplicahlc now than when lir.st uttered. ii„ \li TIIIC AniM-: fiKKdolKK, isos. Hknui (Jkk(Joiki:, of France, Curate, l)e]iuty to the States C}cueral, (.'onstitutional liislioj*, ^Icmher of the Convention, also of the Council of Fi\e JIundred, and Senator, sometimes called liisho)), more frc(|uently Aijhe, was born 4th December, IToO, and died JStli April, 1H:»1. To these titles add Abolitionist and Republican, His character and career \vere uniijue, being in Franco \vhat Clarkson and AVilborforce were in England, and nnich more, Ibr he was not only an Abolitionist. In all history no hero of humanity stands forth more con- si)icuous for instinctive symi)athy with the IJights of ]Man and constancy in their support. As early as 17S8 he signalized himself by an essay, crowned by the Academy of ]Metz, u})holding tolerance for the Jews.^ His ])ul)lic life began while yet a curate, as a representa- tive of the clergy of Lorraine in the States General, but his sympathies with the people were at once mani- fest. In the engraving by which the oath in the tennis court is commemorated he appears in the foreground. His votes were always for the enfranchisement of the people and the improvement of their condition, his hope being "to Christianize the Iie\'olution." In the night session of 4th August, 1780, he declared for the abolition of privileges. He M-as the first to give adhe- sion to the civil constitution of the clergy, and himself 1 Essai sur la Rt'ift-n^ration pliysique et morale dcs Juifs. 4 Ihi "♦I %■ i wh i 1 it: . 'lilt .1 1 ^'^ ^ M li"2 I'KormiriG V(jI(Ks coxckiininc; amkukja. bocsirne a coiistitutiDiml Itislu)]*. Tlu; erson ]ie contributed to pre- vent the destruction of ])ublic monuments, and was the iirst to cull tliis crime " vandalism," — an excidlent term, since adopted in all European lan^uaj^es. With sinnlar vigor be said, in words often (pioted, " Kini^s are in the moral order what monstei's are in tlie ]tbysical order"; and, "The bisiory of kin<'s is tlie miirtvi'olouv of tlie peo])lo." lie denounced " tbe oligarchs of uU countries and all tbe crowned bri<^ands who pr(!ssed down tlu; peo]>le," and, nccordinj^f to bis own boast, "s])at u])on " duellists. " J]( i er a loss to dcjdore than an injustice to re]>roacb ourselves with," was bis lofty sobujc as be turned from tbe warnin'f that tbe CNdonies mi''bt be endangered by tbe rights be demanded. Sucb a man could not reconcile biniself to tbe Em- pire or to Napoleon ; nor could be expect consideration under tbe Kestoration. l>ut be was constant always to bis original sentiments. In 1826 be wrote a work witb tbe expressive title, " Tbe Nobility of tbe Skin, or the rreiudice of AVbites against tbe Color of Africans and tbat of tbeir black and mixed Descendants." ^ His life 1 Dp la nol)los?e dc la pcnn on f col(»r will travci'se the occiui to couio and sit in the national diet and to swear with us to live and die under o»u' laws. A dav will come when the sun will not shine anionj; you except upon free- men, — when the rays of the liudit-.s[)readiu,L; orb will no longer fall upon irons and slaves It is accoi-din;.; to the irrcsistil)le mai'ch of events and the piMirress of intelli- gence, that all people dispossessed of the doMiuin of liberty will at last recover this indefeasible pniperty." " These strong and confident woi'ds, s(» early in date, were followed by others more remarkable. At the con- clusion of his admirable work Ik la Litfffrafinr drs J^'ef/ri's, first published in ](S()8, where, with e([ual knowl- edge and feeling, homage is done to a i)eo))le wronged and degraded by man, he cites his prediction with re- gard to the sun shining onl}' u})on freemen, and then, elevated by the vision, declares that " the American Continent, asylum of liberty, is moving towards an order of things which will be common to the Antilles, and the course of which all the j^owcrs comhincd cannot 1 The leading events of his life will be found in the two French biof^niph- icftl hut bij tlic tics of hluod (ciul interest, and employing like us tlie rights of self-govern- ment." 1 In anotlier letter to ]\Ir. Astor, 9t!i Novem- ber, 1813, he characterizes the settlement as "the germ of a great, free, and iwlependcnt empire on that side of our continent^' ^ thus carefully announcing political dis- sociation. V)\\i Jefferson has not been alone in blindness to the jnighty ca]xibili(:ies of tlie Iiepublic, inspired by his own Declaration of Independence. Daniel Wel)ster, in a speech at Faneuil Hall, as late as 7th Novendjer, 1848, pronounced that the Pacific coast could not be gov- erned from Euro])e or from the Atlantic side of the Continent ; and he pressed the absurdity of anything different: — ;;!Sr''P 1 JefTerson, Writings, Vol. VI. p. 65. 2 Ibid., p. 248. i sli, I 15G I'iJOl'lIETlC VOICES COXCEKNING AMElllCA. ■ ■■■'. r '• And now let niu ask if there be any sensible man in the whole United States, who will say for a moment, that, when fifty or a hundred thousand persons of this description [Americans mainl}', but all Anglo-Saxons] shall find them- selves on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, they will long consent to be under the rules of the American Congress or the British Parliament. They will raise the standard for themselves, and they ought to do it." ^ Such a precise iind strenuous i)rotest from such a quarter mitigates the distrust of Jefferson. But after the acf|uisition of California the orator said, " I willingly admit that my ai>prehensions have not been realized."*'^ On the permanence of the Xatioiuil Union, and its influence throughout the world, Jefferson prophesied thus, in a letter to Lafayette, 14tli February, 1815: — " The cement of tiiis Union is in the heart-blood of every American. I do not believe there is on earth a government established on so immovable a basis. Let them in any State, even in Massachusetts itself, raise the standard of sep- aration, and its citizens will rise in mass and do justice to themselves on their own incendiaries." ^ Unhappily the Rebellion shows that he counted too much on the patriotism of the States against " their own incendiaries." In the same hopeful spirit, he wrote to Edward Livingston, the eminent jurist, 4th April, 1824: — m " You have many years yet to come of vigorous activity, and I confidently trust they Avill be employed in cherishing 1 Boston Daily Advertiser, 0th Xovombcr, 1848. This speech is not found in tlie collected works of Mr. Webster. 2 Speech at Pilgrim I'estival, New York, 1850: Works, Vol. II. p. 526. 3 Writings, Vol. VI. p. 426. GEORGE CANNING, \62i]. .i){ every measure -which may foster our brotherly union and perpetuate a constitution of goverunient dextined to be the jfrhnitive and j/recious model of vhat is to chaiuje the condition of man over the (jlohe.^'' ^ In these hitti-r words he takes his place on the pLit- forni of John Adams, and sees the worhl changed by our exani])le. lUit again he is anxious al)out the L'nion. In another letter to Livingston, 25tli ]\Iarch, 18.15, after saying of the National Constitution, that "it is a com- pact of many independent powers, every single one of which claims an equal right to understand it and to re- quire its observance," he prophesies : — " However sti-ong the cord of compact may be, there is a point of tension at which it will break." ^ Huis, in venerable years, while watching with anxi- ety the fortunes of the Union, the patriarch did not fail to see the new order of ages instituted by the American Government, GEOnGE GAXNIXG, 1826. George Canning was a successor of Fox, in tlie Hon.'- ■ of Commons, as statesman, minister, and orator ; he was born 11th A])ril, 1770, and died 8th August, 1827, in the beautiful villa of the Duke of Devonshire, at Chiswick, where Fox had died l>efore. Uidike Fox in sentiment for our country, he is nevertheless associ- ated with a leading event of our history, and is the author of prophetic words. The Monroe Doctrine, as now familiarly called, pro- ceeded from Canning. He was its inventor, promoter, 1 Writings, Vol. VII. p. 344. 2 ibid., p. 404. i m *! i 158 I'llOniETlC VOICES CONCEUNING AMEKICA. arid cliainpion, at least so far as it bears against Euro- pean intervention in American ailiiirs. Earnestly en- ga^^ed in counteracting the designs of the Holy Alliance for tiie restoration of the Spanish cohaiies to Spain, he sought to enlist the United States in the same policy ; and when ]\Ir. Kusli, our iMinister at London, rei)lied that any interference with European politics was con- trary to the traditions of the American Government, lie argued that, however just such a ])olicy might have been formerly, it was no longer apjilicable, — that the question was new jind complicated, — that it was " full as much American as European, to say no more," — that it concerned the United States under aspects and interests as immediate and commanding as those of any of tlie states of Euro])e, — that " they were the iirst power on that continent, and confessedly the leading power" ; and he tlien asked, " Was it possible that they could see Avitli indifference tlieir fate decided upon by Europe? Had not a new epocli arrived in the relative position of the United States toward Europe, which Europe must acknowledge ? IVcre the great jmlitical and commercial intcrcstfi, which hung u])on tlie destinies of the new continent to be canvassed and adjusted in tliis hemisphere, without the co-operation, or even the knowledge; of the United States?" "With mingled ardor and importunity the British INIinister pressed his case. At last, after much discussion in the Cabinet at AVashington, President Monroe, accepting the lead of IMr. Canning and with the counsel of John Quincy Adams, ])ut forth his famous declaration, where, after referring to tlie radical difference between the jjolitical systems of Europe and America, he says, that " we should consider any attempt on their part to extend GEORGE CANNING, ]^2C>. 159 their systems to any ])ortioii of tliis licinisphere as daufjcrous to our pcdcc (did snfvtii'' and that, where governnieiits liave lieeii reeoiiiiized by us as iiulopeii- dent, "we couhl not view any interjxjsition ior tlie })ur- ])ose oF oppressinLj them, or enntrollinn' in any other manner their destiny, by any Kur()i)eiin ])()\ver, in any other liL;"ht than as a hiaiiij'rsfftf/d/i. of (in (Hifru'iulUj dii^po^ition tijKUii'd f/tc IJiiilcd Sfdfcx." ^ Tlie message (jf President ^Monroe; was received in Kniiland with entluisiastie eon'fratulations. It was nixm all tonuues ; the press was lull of it ; the securities of Spanish .Vmeriea rose in the market; the agents of Spanish America W(!re happy.'^ lirou^iiam exclaimed, in Parliament, that " no event had ever dispersed j^rcater joy, exultation, and _L;ratitude over all the freemen of Europe." ^Mackintosh rejoiced in the coincidence of England and the United States, " the two "^reat com- monwealths, for so he deliLi,hte(l to call them; and he heartily prayed that they may he forever united in the cause of justice and liherty." '^ The Holy Alliance abandoned their purposes on this continent, and the independence of Spanish America was established. Some time afterwards, on the occasion of assistance to PortuLtal, when j\lr. (.'anninif felt called to review and vindicate his foreign policy, he assumed the fol- lowing lofty strain. This was in the House of Com- mons, 12th December, 182G : — "It would be disinucnuous not to admit that the entry of the French army into Spain was, in a certain sense, a 1 Animnl Mossnjre to C<)n!.n"o-i=; of 2(1 Doromlior, IS'2.3. 2 Kusli, Mcinorainhi of Residence at Lniirlini, Vul. II. p. 458; Wheuton, Eloincnts of Iiiteniiitidiinl Eiiw, jiji. HT-ll'i. Diiiia's note. 3 Stupleton, Life of (^imiinir, Vol. II. pp. 40, 47. fi f^ IGO I'llOrilETIC VOICES CONCEKNLN'G AMERICA. (lisparaj,'ciuont, an unVont to our piide, a blow to the feeliiig-.s of Kii^laiid. IJiit I ikniy that, (luostioiial)!* or con- siirahlo as the act may bo, it was one timt necessarily called for our direct and hostile o})i)osition. Was nothing then to be done] If France occu})ied Spain, was it necessary, in order to avoid the conse(|uences of that occupation, that wc sh(»uld l)l(tckade (-'adiz] No. I looked another wa}-. I sought materials for compensation in another hemisi)here. ("ontejnplating Spain, such as our ancestoi'S had known her, I resolved that, if Fran(;e had Spain, it should not be Spain ' with the Indies.' 1 called the Xcio World into existence to redress the balance of the Old.''^^ If thu republics of Spanish America, thus summoned into inde])endeiit existence, have not contributed the weight thus vaunted, the growing power of the United States is ample to compensate dehcieneies on this conti- nent. There is no balance of power it cannot redress. ALEXIS DE TOCQUEYILLE, 1835. "With De Tocqueville we come among contemporaries removed by death, lie was born at Paris, 29th July, 1805, and died at Cannes, IGtli April, 1859. Having known him personally and seen him at his castle-home in Normandy, I cannot hiil to recognize the man in his writings, which on this account have a double charm. He was the younger son of noble parents, his father being of ancient Norman descent and his mother grand- daughter of ]Malesherbes, the venerated defender of Louis XVI. ; but his aristocratic birth had no influence to check the generous sympathies with which his heart always palpitated. In 1831 he came to America as a 1 Canning, Speeches, Vol. VI. pp. 108, 109. ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE, 1835. 101 comniissioiicr from tlic Frcncli Goverinnciit to cxamiiio our ])ris()ii.s, l)ut witli u lurj^or coniniis.sion I'rom liis own youl to study republican institutions. His conscien- tious a])i)licati()n, rare i)rol)ity, i)enctrating tliou^ht, and refinement of style all ai)i)eared in liis work, De, la Democratic en Anu'riquc, lirst i)ul)lislied in IS.'J."), whose peculiar success is marked by tlio t'ourteentli French edition now belbre nie, and the translations into otlier lan^^'uages. At once he was famcHis and liis work classical. The Academy o))ened its uates. Since Mon- lescpiien tiierc had been no e([ual success in the same dei)artnient, and lie was constiintly likened to the illus- trious author of "The Sjjirit of Laws." Less epi;4ram- matic, less arti'ul, and less French than his i)rototyj)e, he was more simple, truthful, and ])rophetic. A second publication in 1840 with the same title, the fruit of mature studies, presented American institutions in an- other aspect, exhibiting his unimpaired iaitli in Democ- racy, which with him was E(|uality as " iirst principle and symbol." ^ Entering the French Chambers, he became eminent for character, discussing chielly those measures in which civilization is most concerned, — the reform of jirisons, the abolition of slavery, penal colonies, and the preten- sions of socialism. His work, LAncicn Regime ct la Rei'olution, awakens admiration, while his correspond- ence is among the most charming in literature, excit- ing love as well as delight. His honest and practical insight made him philoso- pher and prophet, which he was always. A speech in the Chambers, 27th January, 1848, was memorable as predicting the Revolution which occurred two months ' I . i! ^ "wWr 1 Vol. III. Chap. VII. p. 527. 1G2 rnoriiETic voices conceunixc; America. ■) I ■'■f I !i ■S later. IJut his foresight with rej^ard to America brings hiin into our ])rocession. His clearness of vision appears in the distinctness with which he recognized the peril from slavery and from the pretensions of the States. And in slavery- he saw also the prolonged and diversitied indignity to the African race. This was his statement : — "Tlic most fc'iirful of all tlio evils which meniicc the fu- ture of the United States springs from tlw j>re>ience of the bl<(ck'H OH their soil. When wc seek the cause of present cmbjirrassmentH and of future dangers to the United States, wc arrive almost always at this first fact, from whatever point wc depart." ^ Then with consummate power he depicts the lot of the unhappy African even when free, — oppressed, but with whites for judges; shut out from the jury ; his son ex- cluded from tlie school which receives the descendant of the Euroi)enn; unable with gold to buy a place at tlie theatre "by tlie side of him who was his master"; in hos[)itals sepanited from the rest ; permitted to worship the same God as the whites, but not to pray at the same altar; and when life is passed the difference of condition prevailing still even o\ er the equality of the grave.^ Impressed by the menace from slavery, he further pictures the Union succumbing to the States: — " I deceive myself, or the Federal Government of the United States tends daily to weaken itself. It withdraws successively from affairs ; it restricts more and more the circle of its action. Naturally feeble, it abandons even the appearance of force." ^ 1 Do la Democratic en Amdrique, Tom. II. Chap. X. p. 302 (ed. 1864). 2 Ibid., p. 307. « Ibid., Tom. II. Cliap. X. p. 397. ALEXIS 1)E TOCQUEVILLE, 1835. 103 Such was the condition whon Do Torcjiicvillo wrote, and so it continued until tiie IJebellion broke tortli and the country rose to save the Union. Foreseeing this peril, he did not desj)air of the Jicpublic, wiiicli, in his judgment, was " the natural state of the Americans/'* with roots more profound than the I'nion. In describing the future he becomes a prophet. Ac- cei)ting the conclusion that the numl)er of inhabitants doubles in twenty-two years, and n(»t recognizing any causes to arrest this progressive movement, he foresees the colossal empire : — *' The Americans of the United States, wliatuvcr thcv do, will become one of the gi'catest ])C(>|)lo of the csirth ; they will cover with their otfshoots tdniost all North America. Th" T' .tincut which thny inhabit is their domain; it can- not cscajJC them." ^ Then, declaring that the "English race," not sto])ping within the limits of the Union, will advance much be- yond towards the northeast, — that at the northwest they will encounter only Russian settlements without importance, that at the southwest tlu; vast solitudes of JNIexican territory will be ajipropriated, — and dwell- ing on the fortunate geographical ])osition of "the Kng- lisli of America," with tlieir climate, their interior seas, their great rivers, and the fertility of their soil, he is ready to say : — "So in the midst of the uncertainty of the future there is at least one event which is certain. At an epoch winch we can call near, since it concerns the life of a pco[)lo, the Anglo-Americans alone will cover all the immense ter- ritory comprised between the polar ice and the tro])ics ; they 1 Do la Dc'inocratie en Amerique, Tom. II. Chap. X. p. 399 (ed. 1864). 2 Ibid., p. 379. t I] H f , * s' 1 1,' !v • i) -I' ii Ttri 164 rUOPIIETIG VOICES CONCKUMNU amluica, will 8i)roiul from tlio shores ot the Atlantic Occun lvcu to the cousta of tho Southern .Sea." * Thol), (loclaring that tho territory dcstiiiotl to tho An;^'lo-Ani(!ricuii race ('((uals tlirco loiutiis ol" Kinoiu!, that many CLMiturit's ^v'ill pass buic^e tliu dillorent oH- fihoots of tliis race will ceaae to present a eoninion ])hysio;4ii()niy, that no e])och can be lui'eseen when in the New World there will l)e any permanent incrinal- ity of conditions, and that there are processes of association and of knowledi^e by which the ])eopl(! are assimilated with each other and with the rest of the worlil, tiie jirophet speaks: — "There will then arrive a time when there will bo seen in North America one hundred and fifty millions of menu cqiial together, win ill all belong" to the same family, who will have the same j)oint of departure, the same civilization, the same language, the same religion, the same habits, tho same manners, and over which thonght will circulate in tho same form and paint itself in the same colors. All else is doui)tful, but this is certain. Hero is a fact entiicly new in tho world, of which imagination can hardly seize tho extent." - No American cari fail to be strengtbened in the fu- ture of the Kepublic by the testimony of De Tocqueville. Honor and gratitude to liis memory ! L'ICITARP COBDEN, 1849. CoMlxn yet nearer to our own day, we meet a famil- iar name, now consecrated by death, — liichard Cobden ; born od June, 1804, and died 2d A})ril, 18G5. in 1 Do h\ Dc^mocratic en Am(?rique Tom. II. Chap. X. j). 428 (ed. 1864). 2 Ibid , p. 430. men Alii) COnnEN, IrW. 105 proportion as (ruth ])r(»vails nniong nion, his charnctor will sliino with incruasin;^' ji;l'»i'y until h'» is ro('on;iiizod as the tirst Knglishiiuui of his tiinu. Thoiij^'U thor- oughly Eii.Ljlish, ho was not insular IIu survcd inan- kiiid as well as Kic^land. His masterly laeullies ami his real goodness niadu him a prc/phet id ways. ]]o saw the future, and strovo to hasten its ])i'(»inises. The elevatittn and happiness of the human family were his daily thou.uht. lie; ktu3W how to huild as well as to destroy. Throu;^h him dia- ahilities U])nn ti'ado and opj)ressive tiix.es wei'c over- turtUMl ; also a new treaty was nej^otiwted with Franco, quiekcniui^ commerce and intercourse. He was never so truly eminent as when hrini^inj.,' his practical senso and eidaru^ed experience to commend the cause of Per- manent Peace in the world hy the estaitlishmorit of a refined system of Intenuitionid Justice, and the dis- arming- of the nations. To this j^reat consummation 0,11 his later lahors tended I have before iih; a long letter, dated at London, Ttli Novemher, ISP.), whero he says much on this ahsorhin^ (puistion, from mIhcIi, by an easy transition, he ])asses to s]ieak of the pro- posed annexation of Canada to the I'liitL'd States. As what ho says on the latter tojiic concerns America, and is a prophetic vf»ice, I have obtained piirmission to copy it for this collection : — " Race, roliirion, laugufvcro, traditions, arc bcconriint; bonds of unifiii, nud not the parchment title-deeds of sovcrciuctis. These instincts may be thwarted for the day, but they arc too deeply rooted in ntitnre and in usefulness not to prevail in the end. I look with less interest to these stniiriJ^lcs of races to live apart for what they want to luido, than for what they will prevent being done in future. The// tvUl Ml' 3"ll <; M ♦ f IGG rUOIMIKTK; VOICKS CONCEUXINM^, AMKUICA. warn rulers that Ik nn forth the nrijniniHini of fnnh territory^ by fi>rt'c if ariuK^ null onlij hriiif/ vmhurraxsmiutH ami cii'il war, iimtuud of tliut incroiiHcd Mtron;;tli which, hi iincit'iit tiiia-H, whoii people were passed, hki; tloiks of sheej), tV(»iii one kiii^ to another, alvviiys tieeoiiipunied tlie iueorponition of now tcnitoriul coiupients. •'This is tlje «eeret of the :ulmitted doetrhie, that wo Hhidl have no more wars of eonipiest or luiihition. lii this respi'ct i/oit lire (Hlfei'ently Hituiited, havin}^ vast truets of unpeopled territory to tempt that eupidity which, in respeet of Iiinded pi'opeity, alwiiys disposes individuals and nations, however rieh in ac-res, to desire more. This l»rin^s me to tho Hubjoct of Canada, to which yon refer in your letters. " I a^Teo with you, that nature has decided that Canada and the. United States must hecome one, for all /atrposen of free interconininnication. Whether they also shall ho miitcd in tho same federal government must depend upon the two parties to tho luiion. I can assure you that there will ho no re])etition of the policy of 177('), on oui* part, to prevent our North American colonies from pursuhiLj their interest in their own way. If the people of Canada arc tolerably unanimous in wishinur to sever the verv slight thread whieh now binds tlicm to this co\niti"v, I see no reason whv, if pood faith and ordinary temper be observed, it shoTild not bo done amicablv. I think it would be far more likely to be accom])lished peaceably if the snhjert of annexation were left as a distinct question. I am quite sure that tre should be gainers, to" the amount of about a milli(m sterling annti- ally, if our North American colonists would set up in life for themselves and maintain their own establishments, and I sec no reason to doubt that they might be also gainers by- being thrown upon their own resources. "The less your countrymen mingle in tho controversy, the better. It will only be an additional obstacle in the path of those in this country who see the ultimate necessity LUCAa ALAMAN, 185^. 107 of a s('j)aniti()n, Imt who liiivi' Htill moiiu' ij^'tiuranco ami prejudice to (iiijtL'iKl aj^ainwt, wliii-li, if iisi'd a« jxtlitical capital by dosi^iiiiii;^ politicians, may compiicati' Horiously a very (lillicult piece of Mtatrsmaiiship. It is fttr you ami Huch as you, who love peace, ti> j^uide your couutrymen arijiht iti this matter. You liave made the most uohio coutrihutioiis of any modern writer to the cause of peace; and as a pul)lic man I ho[)e you will exert all your iiilluenco to induce Americans to hold a (li;rnified attitude and oliservo a 'masterly inactivity' in the controversy which is rajtidly advancin;^' to a solution between the mother country and her American colonies." A ])rud('Ut jxitriotism iiinon^" us will iqtpreciate the wisdom of this counsel, more nceiK'd now than \\\w\i written. The controversy which ("olideii foresaw "be- tween the mother countiy and her American coloniijs" is yet undetermined. The. rec(;nt creation of what is somewhat j,M'andly called "The Dominion of Canada" marks one stage in its progress. !■ M LFCAS ALAMAN, 18.52. FnoM Canada T pass to ]\Ie.\ieo, and close this list with Lucas Alan)an, the ^Tcxican statesman and histo- rian, who has left on record a most i)atlu'tic ])rophecy with regard to his own country, intensely interesting to us at this moment. Alaman was horn in the latter part of the last cen- tury, and died June 2, 1853. lie was a prominent leader of the monarchical party, and IMinister of Foreign Affairs under Presidents r)ustamente and Santa Ana, In this cnpacity he inspired the respect of foreign di- plomatists. One of these, who had occasion to know «i Wi 1G8 PUOPIIETIC VOICES CONCKllNING AMERICA. him officially, says of liim, in answer to my inquiries, that lie " was the greatest statesman Mexico lias pro- duced since licr independence."^ lie was one of the few in any country who have been able to unite liter- ature witlj public life, and obtain honors in each. llis first work was "Dissertations on the History of the Mexican Ucpublic," ^ in three volumes, i)ubli.shed at Mexico, 1844. In these he considers the original concpu'st by Cortes, its consequences, the conipieror and his family, the propagation of the Clu'istian re- ligion in New Spain, tlio formation of the city of Mex- ico, the history of Spain and the house of Bourbon. All these topics are treated somewhat copiously. Then followed the " History of Mexico, from the First ]\fove- ments which prepared its Independence in 1808, to the present Epoch," ^ in five volumes, published at ^Mexico, the first bearing date 1849, and the fil'tli 1852. From the Frei'ace to the first volume, it appears that the author was born in (Juanajuato, and witnessed there the beginning of the jVlexican revolution in 1810, under Don Miguel Hidalgo, the curate of Dolores; that lie was personally ac([uainted with the curate and with many who had a principal part in the successes of that time; that he was experienced in pulJic affairs, as deputy and as member of the cabinet ; and that he had known directly the persons and things of which he wrote. His last volume embraces the government of Itnrbide as Emperor, and also his un.Vrtunate death, ending with the establishment of the Mexican Federal \' 1 The excellent Bnroii von Gerolt, for so lonj^ a pericd at Washington a3 Minister of Prussia nn/ gaininff infinitely by this chanfie of dominion, hut its ancient masters heing overthrown ; — so likewise its present inhabitants shall be ruined and hardly obtain the com[)assion they have mer- ited, and the Mexican nation of our days shall have ap])lie(l to it what a celebrated Latin poet said of one of the most famous pcrsonapes of Roman history, STAT MAGNI NOMI- NIS UMBIiA,^ — nothing more remains than the shadow of a name illustrious in another time. U \ iJ 1 Til tl c oriirinal toxt of AlMinnn this is printed in large capitals, and explained in a note as suid by Liican of I'cinpey. 8 « 170 riiOniETIC VOICES concerning AMERICA. if "May the Almighty, in wliosc liiUulH is the fate of nations, and wlio by ways hidden IVoni ovir sight abases or exalts them, according to the designs of his providence, be pleased to grant unto ours the protection by which he has so often deigned to preserve it from the dangers to which it has been exposed." ^ Most affecting \vor(ls of projdiecy ! Considering the chra-acter of the author as statesman and historian, it could have been only with inconceivable anguish that lie made this terrible record for the land whose child and servant he was. liorn and reared in Mexico, hon- oretl l»y its important trusts, and writing the history of its independence, it was his country, having for him all that makes country dear; and yet thus calmly he consigns the present people to oblivion, while an- other enters into those liapi)y jdaces where luiture is so bountiful. And so a Mexican leaves the door open to the foreigner. CONCLrSION. Si'dl are jirophetic voices, differing in character and importance, lad nil linving one augury, and o])ening one vista, illimilidilc in extent and vastness. Farewell to the n.'iiTow l||oiiidd df ]\[ontesquieu, that a republic can (w'isi only JH t\ Hinall territory. Through re])resentation and iedi'i'iilhu, a continent is not too much for practical dominiou. nor in it beyond expectation. Well did Web- sbi say, " Tlie pr(/f>heci(>s and the poets are with us." And tb^n again, "With regard to this country there is no poetry like the poetry <»f events, and all the prophe- cies big behind the fulfdment." ^ But my purpose is not 1 Ili'itoriii, Tom. V. pp. 0.')4. O.'j.'. 2 Sfi'^ocli nt tlio Fi'~fivnl '.f tlio Sons of New Hampshire, 7th NovomI)Oi', 1849: Works, Vol. II. pp. .',10, 611. i.. CONCLUSION. 171 witli tlie fulfilment, except as it .stands forth visible to all. Ancient prophecy foretold another world beyond the ocean, wliich in tlie ndnd of Christoplier Columbus was notliin'jr less than the Orient with its inexliaustible treasures. The continent was hardly known when the ])ro])liets began, — poets like ('hapn\aii, Urayton, Daniel, Herbert, Cowley, — economists like ('hild and Di'aylon, — Xew-Kn;^landers like Morrill, Ward, an>l Sewall, — and, nunuliu'j' with these, that rare Lrenius, Sir Thomas Ih'owne, who, in the reign of Charles II., ^\hile the; settlements were in infancy, jtredicted their growth in power and civilization; and then that rarest charae- ter, Ihshop lU'rkeley, who, in the reign of (leorge I., while tlie settlements were still feeble and undevel- oped, heralded a Western empire as " Time's noblest offspring." These voices are general. Others more ])recise fol- lowed. Turgot, the philosopher and minister, saw in youth, with the vision of genius, that all colonies must at their maturity drop from the ])arent stem, like ripe fruit. John Adams, one of the chiefs of our own his- tory, in a youth illunnned as that of Turgot, saw the predominance of the (Adonies in ])0])ulation and power, followed by the transfer of empire to America ; then the glory of Independence and its joyous celebra- tion by grateful generations ; then the trium])h of our language; and, hnally, the establishment of our i-ejud)- lican institutions over all Xorth America. Then came the Abbe Oaliani, the Xeapolitan Frenchman, wlio, writing from Xai)les while our struggle was still un- decided, gayly predicts the total downfall of luirojie, the transmigiation to America, and the consummation 11 f '\ 172 PROrilETIC VOICES CONCERNING AMERICA. of tliG ''reatest revolution of the "loLo l)v establisliiiicr the reign of Aincrica over Europe. Tliere is also Adam Smith, the ilhisLrious })liil(»sopiier, ^vho (piietly earries the seat of government across the Atlantic. jMeanwhih; I'ownall, once a colonial governor and then a meniher of Parliament, in successive works of great det;iil, lore- shadows independence, naval sujiremacy, commercial prosjterity, immigration from the Old World, and a new national lile, destined to sui)erse(le tlie systc'ins of PiUro[)e and arouse the "curses'" of royal ministers. Hartley, also a nuunber of Parliament, and the P>ritisii negotiator who signed the definitive treaty of Indepen- dcmce, hravelv annonnces in Parliament that the New World is before the Colonists, and that liberty is theirs; and afterwards, as dijdomatist, instructs his government that, thiough the attraction of our public lands, immi- gration will be quickened beyond precedent, and the national delit cease to be a burden. Aranda, the Spanish stat(!sman and (li{)lomatist, predicts to his king that the United States, though born a " pygniy," will soon be a " colossus," nnder whose influence Spain will lose all her American possessions cxce])t only Cuba and Porto Jfico. Paley, the philosopher, hails our success- ful revolution as destined to accelerate the fall of slav- ery, wliich he denonnces as an abominable tvrannv. Burns, the truthful ])oet, who loved mankind, looks for- ward a hundred years, nnd beliolds our people rejoicing in the centenary of their independence. Sheridan pic- tures our increasing prosperity, and the national dignity winning the respect, confidence, and affection of the world. Fox, the liberal statesman, foresees the increas- ing might and various relations of the United States, so that a blow aimed at them must have a rebound as CONCLUSION. 173 destructivo ns itsolf. The Abbi' (JivLjoirn, devotud to the .slave, whose IVeedoni lie predicts, descril)es the power uiid i^lory of th(! Aiiierieiiii lt(>puljlie, restiiiL,^ on the two great oceans, luul swaying the world. Tardily, Jel'ierson ai)j)ears with anxiety I'or the National Union, and yet announcing our government as the ianiiliar and }>recious model to change the condition ol' man- kind. (,'anning, the brilliant orator, in a much-admired ilight of elo([U(!nce, discerns the New World, with its republics Just called into being, redressing the balance of the Old. De Toc(pieville, while; clearly ibr(!seeing the peril from slavery, proclaims the i'uture grandeur of the Jie])ublic, covering " almost all North America," and making the continent its domain, witli a ])o'i)n- lation, e(jual in rights, counted by tiie hundred mil- lion, ('obden, whose fanu; will be second only to that of Adam Smith among all in this catalogue, calmly pi'c- dicts the separation of Canada from the mother country by peaceal)le mean.s. Alaman, the Mexican statesman and historian, announces that Mexico, which has already known so many successive races, will hereafter l)e ruled by yet another people, taking the place of the ])resent possessors ; and with these ])ro})hetic words, the jiatriot draws a pall over his country. All these various voices, of different times and lands, mingle and intertwine in rejnusenting the great fu- ture of our Republic, which from .laiall beginnings has already become great. It was at iirst o)dy a grain of nnistard-seed, " wjiich is, indeetl, the least of all seeds ; but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in tiie branches thereof." Jietter still, it was only a little leaven, but it is fast leavening the « I if 1' :i t ■)■'• ■' 174 riloniETIC VOICES concerning AMERICA. whole continent. Nearly all \\ i luive prophesied sj)eiik of "America" or " Nortii America," and not of any limited circle, colony, or state. It was so, at the heginnin;.;-, with Sir Tiiomas Ih'owne, and especially with Jjurkeley. During our licvolution tiie Colonies, struL^- gling for in(lc])endence, were always de8cril)ed by tiiis continental designation. They were already " America," or " Xorth America," (and such was the language of Wasliington,) thus incidentally foresliadowing tliat com- ing time when the wliole continent, with all its vari- ous states, shall be a Plural Unit, with one Consti- tution, one Liberty, and one Destiny. The theme was also taken up by the poet, and popularized in the often- (pioted lines : — " No j't'iit-iip t'tica contracts your powers, But tlie wliole bomidli.'ss continent is yours."! Such grandeur may justly excite anxiety ratlier than pride, for duties are in corresponding ]»roportion. There is occasion for humility also, as tlie individual consid- ers his own insignificance in the transcendent mass. The tiny poly]), in unconscious life, builds the ever- lasting coral ; each cith^en is little more tlian the in- dustrious insect. Tlie result is reached by the con- tinuity of combined exertion. Millions of citizens, working in obedience to nature, can accom^dish any- thing. Of course, war is an instrumentality which true civ- ilization disowns. Here some of our ])ropliets have erred. Sii- Thomas Browne was so much overshadowed by his own age, that his vision was darkened by "great armies," and even " hostile and piratical attacks '" on 1 By Jonathan M. Scwall, in an epilogue to Addison's Tragedy of " Cato," wiitteu in 1778 for the Bow Street Theatre, Portsmouth, N. U, ■f' CONCLUSION. 175 Europe. Tt was natural tliat Arauda, schooled in worldly life, should iiiia<;ine the new-horn power ready to seize tlie S})anish ])ossessi()ns. Anion;^' our own countrvnien, Jell'erson looked to war I'or the extension ot" dominion. The Fh)ridas, he says on one occasion, "are ours on tiie first monieiit of war, and until a war tiiey are of no particular necessity to us."^ Happily they were ac- (juired in anotlu^r way. Then ai^ain, while l ehdni e([ual li(»nor and L;ratitu(h! from the [tresent genera- tion and from jtosterit^. The value of Mr. Sumner's works to students of political histoiy, to selndars, and all lovers of litera- ture, eannot well he o\ er-estiniated. They will he ,'1( d d • f (he 1( (1 bril- weieonied as a lilim:^ memorial < i iiie lonj^'- and hrii liant services of tlie man whose name and fame are a part of the renown of his country. This edition, of which nine \ ■lumes arc; now ready for delivery to sul)seril>ers, will he eleuantly printed on tinted and plated paper, from new type> Avill contain an accurate portrait of Mr. Sumner, and will he furnished with a complete analytical and topical index. SOLD o\LY m srnscHiPTToy. LEE AND SllEPAKI), I'h'.mshkhs, ^io8. 11-4.') Friiiiklin Strrct. BUTLER AND FLEETWOOD, General Agents, No. 47 Franklin Street, Boston. in? " ■If/''"'*' of vjcpffhurt' tniil arift/ irautfd tlirouy/tout t/m Uititvd StntvH. IX rUKPAUATIOX. THE ONLY AUTHORIZED LIFE OF CILVKLKS SIGNER ? From materials left in tlie hands of his litevnry oxecutors hy the distinLinished Senator. It will Le issued at \va earl}' day, and will be uniform with the (Jompleto W(jrks ii^w in course of preparation. ^, IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) 1.0 I.I 1.25 21 125 2.2 1- ^ |2£ m U 11.6 I 6" Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 \ c\ iv ^1-^ ^^^ ^^^%^ <^^^ V '^%<' ^A^ m .1 I'll ^1 Tlie PuLlisliGrs invite attention to the following ex- tracts taken from the mass (jf comnuinications and tes- timonials received from prominent and leading men on botli sides of the Atlantic : — From Francis Lieher. The eonipleto v/orks of Seuiitor Siiiniior Avill have a \\\p\\ value for the earnest stu(l<-nt who (h;sh'es to traee the causes of some of tlie fjriMitest inoveiuents in our times, — the times of pohtieal R(!formation. They will have a fjreat value in point of Political Ethics, of Statesmanship (or what the ancients called Polities), aixl ill point of the ]\sycholofjy of our own nation, in point of the Law of Nations and for every Enf,dish scholar and admirer of eloquence. Not only will the works of Senator Sunnier, after whose title, in Rome, the words " Four Times in Succession " would have heen put, be <.dadly received l)y every reflecting pub- lic man in America, but also by every high-minded Nationalist ana lover of freedom in Europe, From William Cullen Bryant. I am glad to learn that Mr. Sumner's works are to be collected ftud published under his own superintendence and revision. He ranks among our most eminent public men, and never treats of any subject without shedding new light upon it, and giving us reason to admire both his ability and the extent and accuracy of his information. From Ralph Waldo Emerson. I learn with interest that you are preparing to publish a com- plete collection of Mr. Sunuier's writings and speeches. They will be the history of the Repu!)lic in the last twenty-five years, as told by a brave, perfectly honest, and well-instructed man, with large social culture, and relations to all eminent persons. Few public men have left records more important, — none more blame- less. Mr. Sumner's large ability, his careful education, his Indus- • try, his earl}'^ dedication to public afl\iirs. his power of exhaustive ?- $ statement, and liis pure eliaraeter, — qualities ran^ly eonOiinci] in one man, — liave been the wtrentjth and pride of tlie Repuhlic In Mat^saeliusetts, the patriotism of his eonstituents has treated him Avith exceptional regard. The ordinary complaisances ex- pected of a candidate have not been required of liim, it being known that his service was one of incessant labor, and that he l>ad small leisure to plead his own cause, and N'ss to mu'sc his privat(! interests. There will be the more need of the careful publication iti a permanent form of these vindications of political liberty and morality, I hope that Mr. Sun ner's contributions to some literary journals will not be omitted in your collection. From John G. Whittier. It gives me much satisfaction to learn that the entire speeches of Mr, Sumner are about to be published. Apart from their great merit in a literary and scholastic point of view, and as exhaust ivo arguments upon questions of the highest unport, they have a cer- tain liistoric value which will increase with the lapse of time. Whoever wishes to understand the legislation and political and moral progress of the country for the last quarter of a century, must stuily these remarkable speeches. I am heartily glad the publication has been determined upon, and wish it the success it deserves. • From Horace Greeletj. I hail it as a cheering sign of the times that the speeches and writings of Charles Sunnier are to be published complete. We live in an ago of inconsiderate gabble, when too many make speeches " on the spur of the moment," and " now that I am up," say whatever may chance to come into their heads. Mr. Sumner suf- ficiently respects his associates and his coiniti'ynien to speak with due preparation, and only when he feels that silence would be dereliction. " Not to stir without great argmnents " is his rule ; hence his speeches are not only a part of his country's history, but a very creditable and instructive part of it. In an age of venality and of reckless calumny, no man has ever doubted the purity of his motives, the singleness of his aims ; and if the august title of statosinan has boon dfsorvod liy any Amcrifan of liis apfc, lie is tliat Atncrii'aii. 1 trust his colh'ctcMl wiiUiij^s will receive; widt; currency, a.s lunisure they will eoinuuind universal consideration. M; r : ■I- i :■ m : ■il From Samuel G. J Luc.. I think that your jtrnposed edition oC ^fr. Suninor's Spoofhos will do much ^'ood. Jlis puljlic career tcaiihes a lesson whii-h should he learned I)y all who aspire to usefulness and true lete works of Charles Sunnier will soon be puljlishetl. Afr. Sunmer's public life has been illustrious for his unswervinle of the last twenty yars will l;e always frratefully remembered. Even the qualities that now alienate a cci'tain sympathy will then be seen to have been necessary to his work. His speeches are an essential part of the history of those times, and arc (listin,f;uished by their ampl(> knowled^'e and their lofty tone. There is no American citizen who may not study his works with instruction, no Ameri(,'an statesjnau who may not eontem- pla^.e his career with advantage. I;' i-l' m fi I 8 From Boijnmin F. Butler. I am much ploasod to Icaiii that a coiuplt to compUation of Mr. Sumner's speeches and letters is to he puhlishech Tliey are a (h'sideratinn I'or the times. The history of the anti- slaveiy contest in Conj^'ress is thci'cin wi'itten in hvinjf lanj,nia<,'o, hocauHC eaeli spoeeh made of itsell' an epoch in the struj,'<^lo. Tho almost providential accident of one vote d to learn that you arc to publish the com- ploto woi'ks of ^[r. Sumner, under his own supervision. Durinfj^ tho pa.st twenty-live years I have known him, watched his coufso as a public man, heard and read h's speeches, and know how ho has consecrated talents and learning to tho rights of man and tho onduiing interests of his country. Ilis speeches have largely con- tributed to i>roduce tho grand results that cheer and bless us, and I am sure they will be read Avith increasing interest, not only for tho topics discussed, but for their learning and eloquence. From Wendell Phillips. I am glad you are to give us a complete collection of Mr. Sum- ner's S[)eeehes. His part and place have been such in the last twenty years, that his career is largely the history of the Nation. His speeches cover the most im]>ortant and interesting questions we have been called to meet. Years ago the easy sneer was that he was a man of " one idea," — dealt only with one question, or (>ne class of questions. 9 But "Mr. Sumnor lias boon ono of (lio most indiistrions, perhaps tlie most industrious, Senator tliat Massachusotts has ever ^nvcn to the national councils. His mind has hccu moro comprciicusivo tnan that of any of liis predecessors, lie has 1,'rappled witii ail the «rreat prohlenis of the day ; and so thoroughly, so exhaustively, as to leave nothing,' to desire. Accurate, profoundly learned, always in the van, fearless, wield- in;/ a most connnandinj,' influence, his speeches will be the most valuable contribution possible to the literature of polities and re- I'oirn. They have " made history," and will naturally be the best ri'liance of those Avho shall study our times, as his career will be, both for students and statesmen, one of the noblest examples. By Hon. John P. Hair, in (he Untied States Senate, Auf/ust 27, 1851, in the debate after Mr. Sumner's Speech entitled " Freedom Xa- tional, Slavery Sectional." I feel bound to say that the Honorable Senator from Massachu- setts has, so far as his own personal fame and reputation are con- cerned, done enou favorite pu[)ils of Judge Story, who considered him rather fis a son than as his pupil (see Story's Life and Letters, Vol. I L p. 30), the endeared fiiend of Pi'escott, Wheaton, the Karl of Car- lisle, and many of the most distinguished scholars on both sides of the Atlantic, Mr. Sumner's op])ortunities of instruction by con- tact with great minds have mat-.n-ed the scholarship of which the broad and deep foundations Avere laid in the laboiious days and nights of coll(>giate and pi-ivate application. The " fulness " of his mind and the ease with which he draws from the vast stores of memory " things new and old " to illustrate the truths Avhich he enforces, the errors he exposes, or the themes he propounds, are indeed marvellous! See for instance, his oration, entitled, " The Scliolar, the Jurist, the Artist, the Philanthropist," (1840), of which Prescott wrote : " I have read or rather listened to it, notes and all, with the greatest interest ; and Avhen I say that my expectations have not been disappointed after having heard it cracked up so, I think you Avill think it praise enough. The most happy conception has been carried out admiral)ly, as if it W(M'e the most natural order of th'ugs, without the least co -i liut or violence." (Ticknor's Life of Prescott, ]). 378.) Among his late m 11 spccM'lics, tiiko liis p^rapliut and ulowiiij,' porlriiitiirc of Alaska, over tlio st('i'il(! soil of which tlic li;^lit of his p'liiiis has cast a ;,'lo\v of hlot)in and licanty ; which as a tj:co|.'ra|ihical and topo^n-apiiical monograph niigiil have excited the envy of 1/Anville or Hum- boldt. A complete eoUectitjn of his works, fully rounded liy a copious analytical index of sulijeets discussed, topics I'cferi'cd to, nnd facts adduced, would he an invaluable IreudUry to thi! scholar, the historian, and thu {general reader. From Edwin P. Whipple. I am f^dad to hear that a complete edition of Senator Sumner's works is to be published. Not to speak of the eminent literary inei-it of his speeches and addresses, they arc specially valualtlc as having; contributed in an ini- jtortant dc^-n-e to '' inaki; history " during the past twenty-live years. Many of his senatorial ellbi-ts ai'c not so nuich speeches as events. They have J)a]pably advanced the cause of honesty, jus- tice, freedom, and humanity. It is to the imniense honor of Mas- sachusetts that slu! has had IbrsoloiiL;' a lime so udIiIc a icprcsenta- tive in Washington of her sentiments and ideas, — one whose abundant learning, richness and reach of thought, and statesman- like; forethought are combined with a i)hilanthro[)y so I'raidv and a spirit so intrepid. A complete e(lition of th(> woi'ks of a statesman so variously endowed, and who has treated so many sulijeets with such a mas- terly connnand of knowledge, reasoning, and eloquence, cannot fail to be widely (urcnlated. From If lint's Merchants' Magazine. The Orations of Mr. Sunmer belong to the literature of Amer- ica, They are as far superior to the endless number of orations and speeches which are delivered throughout the country as the works of a polished, talented, and accomplished author sm-pass the ephemeral productions of a day. Pure and highly classical in style, strong in argument, and rich and glowing in imagery, and in some parts almost reaching the poetic, they come to the reader always fresh, always interesting and attractive. In one respect these orations surpass almost all others. It is in the ek.'- vation of sentiment, the high and lofty moral tone and grandeur 12 of tlion^/lit wliich tlu'v possess. In tliis particuliir, united with their lilciiiiy tiicrit, these j)fo(Uietions hiive no eciuiil iiinon^' us. Tile one on tlif '' Ti'U(! in;r to it as entirely sound, lojrical, and conclusive. There is no douht of it, and the neatness and elepmce with which it is written ai'c dclivhil'nl." The same eminent authority reuuuks of Mr. Sunmer's Oration on "The Tru(> Grandeur of Nations," — " I think the doctrine is well sustained by principle, and the precepts of tlie Gospel. The historical and classical illustrations are beautiful and apposite, and I cannot but thiidc that sucdi oopfont and eloquent appeals to the heads and consciences of our people, must liave eflect." Of Air. Sumner's sketch of Hon. John Pickering, Chancellor Kent wrote : — " The biographical sketch of that extraordinary scholar and man, John Pickering, is admirable, and most beautifully and eloquently drawn." Of Mr. Sumner's celebrated *' Phi Beta Kap[)a Address," he re- marks : " I think it to be one of the most splendid productions, in point of diction and eloquence, that I have ever read." a \[ From Murlin Vnn llnre.n. I'rcsnlriit Van Iliiix'ii suid (^f the orutiou uii the '' Law of IIu- III ail I'lo^Tt'ss " : — " It lias, Ik! assiiriMl, allordrd iiic flic liianiiii<^r and j^rcat intellect of its author, — proceeding'' from a j/eiitleiiiaii who lias estal)lishe(l the stron^'cst claims t(j my admiration and res[)L'ct." Fnun Juthje Stori/. Of Wv. Sumner's oratinn on "The True (Iraiideur of Xatioiis," JiidLfc Story rcinarkccl in a private letter: — " It. is certainly a very strikiii( litii'al cirfiuii^laiiccs in which their coniitry \v:m phiccil. We Imvc ill mir possession tiimiy of Afr. Suniticr's ppcfchcs, jind \vc coiiU'SH that, lor ilcplli and acciiiai'y of thoii<,dit, lor I'liliH'ss of historical inrorniatioii, and liir a species (»!' jrijraiitic tnoiahty which treads all sophistry under loot, and rushes at once to the liyht coii- chisioii, we know not a siii^if orator, speaUiii^r the JMi'.dish loti^nie, who r'ini