Back to the pathless forest,
Before the peep of day.

5. Grave men there are by broad Santee,
Grave men with hoary hairs;
Their hearts are all with Marion,
For Marion are their prayers.
And lovely ladies greet our band,
With kindliest welcoming,
With smiles like those of summer,
And tears like those of spring.
For them we wear these trusty arms,
And lay them down no more,

Till we have driven the Briton
Forever from our shore.

BRYANT.

70. MATCHES AND OVER-MATCHES.

[The reply to Colonel Hayne, of South Carolina, in 1830, was one of WEBSTER'S greatest congressional speeches. This gentleman had indulged in personalities against Mr. Webster, and in a very authoritative manner enunciated his views of "Nullification." The reply, in beauty, strength, and perspicuity of style, in sound logic, keen sarcasm, true patriotism, and lofty eloquence, has scarcely its equal in the English language. A distinguished member of Congress, Mr. Wilde of Georgia, says of Webster, that his deep thoughts, forcible expressions, short sentences, calm, cold, collected manner, air of dignity, decp, sepulchral, unimpassioned voice, which in the early part of his career gave promise of his future greatness,-were fully realized in after life. His sarcasms were peculiar to him, "they seemed to be emanations from the spirit of the icy ocean-or frozen mercury, becoming caustic as redhot iron." In comparing him with American orators, he is considered inferior to Preston in pathos, he lacks the electric rapidity and fire of Calhoun, and the versatile graces of Clay.]

MA

ATCHES and over-matches! Those terms are more applicable elsewhere than here, and fitter for other assemblies than this. Sir, the gentleman seems to forget where and what we are. This is a Senate; a Senate of equals; of men of individ ual honor and personal character, and of absolute independence.

We know no masters; we acknowledge no dictators. This is a hall for mutual consultation and discussion; not an arena for the exhibition of champions.

2. I offer myself, sir, as a match for no man; I throw the challenge of debate at no man's feet. But, then, sir, since the honorable member has put the question, in a manner that calls or an answer, I will give him an answer; and I tell him, that, holding myself to be the humblest of the members here, I yet know nothing in the arm of his friend from Missouri, either alone, or when aided by the arm of his friend from South Carolina, that need deter even me from espousing whatever opinions I may choose to espouse, from debating whenever I may choose to debate, or from speaking whatever I may see fit to say on the floor of the Senate.

3. Sir, when uttered as matter of commendation or compliment, I should dissent from nothing which the honorable member might say of his friend. Still less do I put forth any pretensions of my own. But, when put to me as matter of taunt, I throw it back, and say to the gentleman that he could possibly say nothing less likely than such a comparison to wound my pride of personal character. The anger of its tone rescued the remark from intentional irony, which, otherwise, probably, would have been its general acceptation.

4. But, sir, if it be imagined that, by this mutual quotation and commendation; if it be supposed that, by casting the characters of the drama, assigning to each his part,-to one, the attack; to another, the cry of onset ;-or, if it be thought that, by a loud and empty vaunt of anticipated victory, any laurels are to be won here; if it be imagined, especially, that any or all these things shall shake any purpose of mine,-I can tell the honorable member, once for all, that he is greatly mistaken, and that he is dealing with one of whose temper and character he has yet much to learn.

5. Sir, I shall not allow myself, on this occasion,—I hope on no occasion,-to be betrayed into any loss of temper; but if provoked, as I trust I never shall allow myself to be, into

erimination and recrimination, the honorable member may, perhaps, find that in that contest there will be blows to take, as well as blows to give; that others can state comparisons as significant, at least as his own; and that his impunity may, perhaps, demand of him whatever powers of taunt and sarcasm he may possess. I commend him to a prudent husbandry of his resources.

WEBSTER.

IF

71. THE SOUTH DURING THE REVOLUTION

F there be one State in the Union, Mr. President (and I say it not in a boastful spirit), that may challenge comparison with any other for a uniform, zealous, ardent, and uncalculating devotion to the Union, that State is South Carolina.

2. Sir, from the very commencement of the Revolution up to this hour, there is no sacrifice, however great, she has not cheerfully made; no service she has ever hesitated to perform, She has adhered to you in your prosperity; but in your adver sity she has clung to you with more than filial affection.

3. No matter what was the condition of her domestic affairs, though deprived of her resources, divided by parties, or surrounded by difficulties, the call of the country has been to her as the voice of God. Domestic discord ceased at the sound, every man became at once reconciled to his brethren, and the sons of Carolina were all seen crowding together to the temple, bringing their gifts to the altar of their common country.

4. What, sir, was the conduct of the South during the Revolution? Sir, I honor New England for her conduct in that glorious struggle. But great as is the praise which belongs to her, I think at least equal honor is due to the South. They espoused the quarrel of their brethren with a generous zeal, which did not suffer them to stop to calculate their interest in the dispute.

5. Favorites of the mother-country, possessed of neither ships nor seamen to create commercial rivalship, they might

have found in their situation a guarantee that their trade would be forever fostered and protected by Great Britain. But, trampling on all considerations, either of interest or of safety, they rushed into the conflict, and, fighting for principle, periled all in the sacred cause of freedom.

6. Never was there exhibited, in the history of the world, higher examples of noble daring, dreadful suffering, and heroic endurance, than by the Whigs of Carolina, during the Revolution.

7. The whole State, from the mountains to the sea, was overrun by an overwhelming force of the enemy. The fruits of industry perished on the spot where they were produced, or were consumed by the foe. The "plains of Carolina" drank the most precious blood of her citizens! Black and smoking ruins marked the places which had been the habitations of her children.

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8. Driven from their homes into the gloomy and almost impenetrable swamps, even there the spirit of liberty survived, and South Carolina, sustained by the example of her Sumpters and her Marions, proved by her conduct, that, though her soil might be overrun, the spirit of her people was invincible.

HAYNE

72. THE FEDERAL UNION.

PROFESS, sir, in my career hitherto, to have kept steadily in view the prosperity and the honor of the whole country, and the preservation of the Federal Union. I have not allowed myself to look beyond the Union, to see what might lie hidden in the dark recess behind. I have not coolly weighed the chances of preserving liberty, when the bonds that unite us together shall be broken asunder.

2. I have not accustomed myself to hang over the precipice of disunion, to see whether, with my short sight, I can fathomt the depths of the abyss below; nor could I regard him as

a safe counsellor in the affairs of this government, whose thoughts should be mainly bent on considering, not how the Union should be preserved, but how tolerable might be the condition of the people when it shall be broken up and destroyed.

3. While the Union lasts, we have high, exciting, gratifying prospects spread out before us, for us and our children. Beyond that, I seek not to penetrate the vail. God grant, that, in my day, at least, that curtain may not rise! God grant, that on my vision never may be opened what lies behind!

4. When my eyes shall be turned to behold, for the last time, the sun in heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and dishonored fragments of a once-glorious Union; on States dissevered, discordant, belligerent; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal blood!

5. Let their last feeble and lingering glance rather behold the gorgeous ensign of the republic, now known and honored throughout the earth, still full high advanced, its arms and trophies streaming in their original lustre, not a stripe erased or polluted, nor a single star obscured, bearing for its motto no such miserable interrogatory as,- What is all this worth? nor those other words of delusion and folly,-Liberty first, and Union afterward; but everywhere spread all over in characters of living light, blazing on all its ample folds as they float over the sea, and over the land, and in every wind under the whole heavens, that other sentiment, dear to every true American heart,-LIBERTY AND UNION, NOW AND FOREVER, ONE AND WEBSTER.

INSEPARABLE!

SIR,

73. PEACEABLE SECESSION.

IR, he who sees these States now revolving in harmony around a common centre, and expects to see them quit their places and fly off without convulsion, may look the next hour to see the heavenly bodies rush from their spheres, and