America? Does not every eastern gale waft us some new insect, even of that devouring kind which eat up every green thing? Is not the bread taken out of the children's mouths and given unto the dogs? Are not our estates given to corrupt sycophants, without a design, or even a pretensc of soliciting our assent; and our lives put into the hands of those whose tender mercies are cruelties? Has not an authority in a distant land, in the most public manner proclaimed a right of disposing of the all of Americans? In short, what have we to lose? What have we to fear? Are not our distresses more than we can bear? And, to finish all, are not our cities, in a time of profound peace, filled with standing armies, to preclude from us that last solace of the wretched-to open their mouths in complaint, and send forth their cries in bitterness of heart? 4. But is there no ray of hope? Is not Great Britain inhabited by the children of those renowned barons, who waded through seas of crimson gore to establish their liberty? and will they not allow us, their fellow men, to enjoy that freedom which we claim from nature, which is confirmed by our constitution, and which they pretend so highly to value? Were a tyrant to conquer us, the chains of slavery, when opposition should become useless, might be supportable; but to be shackled by Englishmen-by our equals is not to be borne. By the sweat of our brow we earn the little we possess; from nature we derive the common rights of man; and by charter we claim the liberties of Britons. Shall we, dare we, pusillanimously surrender our birthright? Is the obligation to our fathers discharged? Is the debt we owe posterity paid? Answer me, thou coward, who nidest thyself in the hour of trial! If there is no reward in this life, no prize of glory in the next, capable of animating thy dastard soul, think and tremble, thou miscreant! at the whips and stripes thy master shall lash thee with on earth-and the flames and scorpions thy second master shall torment thee with hereafter! 5. Oh my countrymen! what will our children say, when they read the history of these times, should they find that we tamely gave way, without one noble struggle for the most Invaluable of earthly blessings! As they drag the galling chain, will they not execrate us? If we have any respect for things sacred, any regard to the dearest treasure on earth; if we have one tender sentiment for posterity; if we would not be despised by the whole world; let us, in the most open, solemn manner, and with determined fortitude, swear-we will die, if we can not live freemen. While wo have equity, justice, and God on our side, tyranny, spiritual or temporal, shall never ride triumphant in a land inhabited by Englishmen. JOSIAH QUINCY. XCI.-ON REFORM IN PARLIAMENT. 1. MY LORDS,-I have yet to learn that a measure recommended upon principle, consistent in its form, and certainly proceeding upon an anxious wish to restore, and not to destroy to improve, and not to impair-is to be at once cried down and abandoned, because it happens to enjoy the additional quality-I will not call it a recommendation— that it is honestly and sincerely greeted with approbation by a large body of his majesty's subjects. 2. But if it is said that I am talking of the people, and not of a few agitators, then I say I am also yet to learn that a measure recommended by its own merits, good in principle, and having the additional accident-I will not call it a recommendation, though I think it to be one-of being universally, and in an unprecedented degree, the favorite of the people of England, is at once to be set aside, and at once to be condemned and rejected, because it possesses the additional accident-again I will not call it a recommendation, but an accident-of pacifying even that portion of our fellow-subjects, which, as has been mentioned in this house, no exertion of human power ca satisfy. 3. Still, my lords, I do not call upon you to adopt this measure because it happens to be consistent with popular feelings; I do not call upon you to adopt it upon that account; but I am persuaded, that if this measure be rejected, you will bring the security of the country, the peace of his majesty, the stability of our ancient constitution, and the whole frame of society, from Cornwall to Sutherland-Ireland as well as England-into a state of jeopardy, which I carnestly pray to heaven may never come to pass. 4. My lords, I do not wish to use the language of threats; but I recollect, and history has recorded the fact, that when the great Earl of Chatham was addressing our most serene ancestors within these walls, when he was shaking them with his magnificent oratory, he suffered the lightning of his eloquence to smite the enemies of reform by menacing them with the dangers that must attend an attempt to withhold from the people their just rights; and I well remember that that was deemed no insult by those who heard him, but was considered honorable, highly honorable, to him who had the boldness to utter that denunciation. For my own part, all that I will venture to do, in this latter day of eloquence and of talent, standing in the honorable. situation which I do in this house and in the country, is to call upon your lordships to reflect, and believe that the thunders of heaven are sometimes heard to roll in the voice of a united people! H. BROUGHAM. XCII.-REPLY OF MR. PITT. 1. THE atrocious crime of being a young man, which, with so much spirit and decency, the honorable gentleman has charged upon me, I shall neither attempt to palliate nor deny; but content myself with wishing, that I may be one of those whose follies cease with their youth; and not of that number who are ignorant in spite of experience. 2. Whether youth can be imputed to any man as a reproach, I will not assume the province of determining; but, surely, age may become justly contemptible, if the opportunities which it brings, have passed away without improvement, and vice appears to prevail when the passions have subsided. 3. The wretch that, after having seen the consequences of a thousand errors, continues still to blunder, and whose age has only added obstinacy to stupidity, is surely the ob ject of either abhorrence or contempt; and deserves no! that his gray head should screen him from insults. Much more is he to be abhorred, who, as he has advanced in age, has receded from virtue, and becomes more wicked, with less temptation who prostitutes himself for money which he can not enjoy, and spends the remains of his life in the ruin of his country. : 4. But youth is not my only crime. I have been accused of acting a theatrical part. A theatrical part may imply, either some peculiarities of gesture, or a dissimulation of my real sentiments, and an adoption of the opinions and language of another man. : 5. In the first sense, the charge is too trifling to be confuted; and deserves only to be mentioned, that it may be despised. I am at liberty-like every other man-to use my own language and though I may perhaps, have some ambition, yet, to please this gentleman, I shall not lay myself under any restraint, or very solicitously copy his diction, or his mien, however matured by age, or modeled by experience. If, by charging me with theatrical behavior, any man mean to insinuate that I utter any sentiments but my I shall treat him as a calumniator and a villain nor shall any protection shelter him from the treatment which he deserves. On such an occasion, I shall, without scruple, trample upon all those forms with which wealth and dignity intrench themselves; nor shall any thing but age, restrain my resentment:—age, which always brings one privilegethat of being insolent and supercilious without punishment. own, 6. But, with regard to those whom I have offended, I am of opinion, that, had I acted a borrowed part, I should have avoided their censure. The heat that offended them, is the ardor of conviction, and that zeal for the service of my country, which neither hope, nor fear, shall influence me -> suppress. I will not sit unconcerned, while my liberty is invaded; nor look in silence upon public robbery. I will exert my endeavors, at whatever hazard, to repel the aggressor, and drag the thief to justice-what power soever may protect the villainy, and whoever may partake of the plunder. WM. PITT. XCIII-AMERICAN LABORERS. 1. THE gentleman, sir, has misconceived the spirit and tendency of Northern institutions. He is ignorant of Northern character. He has forgotten the history of his country. Preach insurrection to the Northern laborers! Who are the Northern laborers? The history of your country is their history. The renown of your country is their renown. The brightness of their doings is embla zoned on its every page. Blot from your annals the words and the doings of Northern laborers, and the history of your country presents but a universal blank. Sir, who was he that disarmed the Thunderer; wrested from his grasp the bolts of Jove; calmed the troubled ocean; became the central sun of the philosophical system of his age, shedding his brightness and effulgence on the whole civilized world; whom the great and mighty of the earth delighted to honor; who participated in the achievement of your independence, prominently assisted in molding your free insti tutions, and the beneficial effects of whose wisdom will be felt to the last moment of "recorded time?" Who, sir, I ask, was he? A Northern laborer-a Yankee tallow-chandler's son-a printer's runaway boy! 2. And who, let me ask the honorable gentleman, who was he that, in the days of our Revolution, led forth a Northern army-yes, an army of Northern laborers-and aided the chivalry of South Carolina in their defense against British aggression, drove the spoilers from their firesides, and redeemed her fair fields from foreign invaders? Who was he? A Northern laborer, a Rhode Island blacksmiththe gallant General Green-who left his hammer and his forge, and went forth conquering and to conquer in the battle for our independence! And will you preach insurrec tion to men like these? 3. Sir, our country is full of the achievements of Northern laborers! Where is Concord, and Lexington, and Princeton, and Trenton, and Saratoga, and Bunker Hill, but in the North? And what, sir, has shed an imperishable renown on the never-dying names of those hallowed spots, but the blood and the struggles, the high daring, and |