down from Kingston, and having executed his orders, laid his Instructions before Congress, which were read.

Resolved, That the above be referred to the Committee on the Prisoners.

Resolved, That the Secret Committee be directed to deliver to Colonel Maxwell, or order, twenty stand of Arms for the use of his Battalion, he to be accountable for the same.

Adversity is the season which shows the spirit of a man in its full Vigour; and limes of civil calamity never fail to strike forth lights, sometimes single, and sometimes whole constellations, mingling their kindred rays to warm and to illuminate the genius of their country.

The sacred flame thus enkindled, is not fed by the fuel of faction or party; but by pure benevolence and love of the publick. It, therefore, soon rises above the selfish principles, refines and brightens as it rises, and expands itself into heavenly dimensions. Being inextinguishable in its own nature, the blood of thousands on the scaffold, or in the field, is but as oil poured into a conflagration, increasing its vehemence, till it consumes all before it; burning still clearer and stronger, unto the full day of peace and civil happiness.

Those who enjoy a true portion of this divine flame, duly called forth into exercise, stand in no need of further titles or distinctions, either by birth or grant. For what can the world present greater to the sight of mortals, or even immortals, than a man who knows and courts the blessings of peace, who wishes to breathe out his last in its arms; and, keeping it still as his object, is nevertheless roused by the first pang of his suffering country; gives his whole illustrious spirit to her relief; rises above all human allurements; never remits his zeal; fears nothing;* regards nothing—but the sentiments which virtue and magnanimity inspire ? What higher qualities can be required to entitle a man to the veneration and eulogies of his country ? And these too will be his most durable monument.

The magnificent structures raised, by the gratitude of mankind, to their benefactors of old, had but a local and temporary use. They were beheld only by one people, and for a few ages —

"The Heav'n aspiring pyramid, the proud

Triumphal arch, and ah that e'er upheld

The worshipp'd name of hoar antiquity

Are mouldering into dust."

In vain does the wayfiring man investigate the tottering ruins for the divinity once enshrined there ! A scanty receptacle, about six feet in length and half the breadth, informs him that it once contained some human dust, long since mingled with the common mass. In vain does the prying antiquary dwell upon the sculpture, or strive to collect and spoil the scattered fragments of letters. The inscription is gone—long since gone, effaced, obliterated ! And fruitless were the search, through the whole world, for the Hero's name, if it were not recorded in the Orator's page, and proclaimed by the faithful voice of History.

There it shall live, while the smallest vestiges of literature remain upon earth—yea, till the final dissolution of things human; nor shall it perish then; but, being the immediate care of Heaven, the great Archangel, when he sweeps suns and systems from their place, and kindles up their last fires, stretching forth his mighty arm, shall pluck the deathless scroll from the devouring conflagration, and give it a place among the archives of eternity !

But whither am I borne? to what heights have I ascended? I look down with astonishment and tremble at my situation ! Oh ! let your friendly arms be extended to save me as I fall. For in the idea I have of my subject, I have undertaken to guide the chariot of the sun; and how shall I steer through the exalted track that lies before me? Considering myself as honoured with this day's office by the delegated voice of some millions of People through a vast continent, upon an occasion, wherein their gratitude, their dignity, their love of liberty, nay, even their reputation in literature, are all, in some degree, concerned; what language shall I use, or how shall I accommodate myself to every circumstance in the arduous work ?

Truth alone must guide the hand that delineates a character. Should I affect to soar aloft and dip my pencil in the colours of the sky, I should but endanger my own wings, melt their wax, and be precipitated headlong. Nor is the danger less in the other extreme.

O !then, for some better I'hæbus, some presiding Genius, to guide mo through my remaining way; to point out the middle path, and teach me to unite dignity with ease, strength with perspicuity; and truth with the unaffected graces of elocution. Or rather, you shall be my Phabus, my inspiring as well as presiding Genius, ye delegated fathers of your country! So far will I strive to imitate him,† who always animated himself with his subject, by thus accosting himself before he went forth to speak—

" Remember thou art this day going to address men born in the arms of Liberty, Grecians, Athenians.'" Let no thought enter thy heart—let no word fall from thy tongue unworthy of such an audience !

As to that hero, whose memory you celebrate as a Proto.Martyr ‡ to your rights—for through whatever fields I have strayed, he has never escaped my view—as to him I say, if any thing human could now reach his ear, nothing but the great concerns of virtue, liberty, truth, and justice would be tolerable to him; for to these was his life devoted from his early years.

He had received liberal education in Ireland, his native country, before he went into the Army; and was, indeed, endued with talents which would have led him to eminence in any profession. His own he studied with a felicity which soon distinguished his military abilities; but war and conquest having no other charms to him than as the necessary means of peace and happiness to mankind, he still found leisure, in the midst of camps, to cultivate an excellent taste for philosophy and polite literature. To these he added a careful study of the arts of Government, and the rights of mankind; looking forward to that time, when ho might descend into the still scenes of private life, and give a full flow the native and acquired virtues of a heart rich in moral excellence.

Above eighteen years ago he had attained the rank of Captain in the Seventeenth Regiment, under General Monckton, and stood full in the way of high preferment; having borne a share in all the labours of our American Wars, and the reduction of Canada. Ill-fated region ! shortsighted mortals! Little did lie foresee tho scenes which that land had still in reserve for him! Little did those generous Americans, who then stood by his side, think that they were assisting to subdue a country, which would one day be held up over us, as a greater scourge in the hands of friends, than ever it was in the hands of enemies!

Had such a thought then entered our heard, we should have started with indignation from the deed of horror. Our heroism would have appeared madness and parricide! The lifted steel would have dropped from the warrior's arm! The axe and the has from the labourer's grasp! America would have weeped through all her forests; and her well cultivated fields refused to yield further sustenance to her infatuated sons!

But far different were our thoughts at that time. We considered ourselves as co-operating with our brethren for the glory of the empire; to enable them to secure our common peace and liberty; to humanize, adorn, and dignify, with British privileges, a vast Continent; to become strong in our strength, happy in our happiness; and to derive that from our affection, which no force can extort from a free people; and which the miserable and oppressed cannot give!

And these, too, were the sentiments of our lamented here; for he had formed an early attachment, amounting even to an enthusiastick love, for this country! The woodland and the plain; the face of nature, grand, venerable, and yet rejoicing in her prime; our mighty rivers, descending in vast cataracts through wild and shaggy mountains, or gliding in silent majesty through fertile vales; their numerous branches and tributary springs; our romantick seenes of rural quiet; our simplicity of manners, yet uncorrupted by luxury or flagrant vice; our love of knowledge and ardour for liberty—alt these solved to convey the idea of primeval felicity to a heart which he had taught to beat in unison with the harmony of Heaven !

He, therefore, chose America, as the field of his future usefulness; and as soon as the blessings of peace were restored to his country, and duty to his Sovereign would permit, he took his leave of the army, and having soon connected himself, by marriage, with an ancient and honourable family, in the Province of New-York, he chose a delightful retirement upon the banks of Hudson's River, at a distance from the noise of a busy world ! Having a heart distended with benevolence, and panting to do good, ho soon acquired, without courting it from his neighbours, that authority, which an opinion of superior talents and inflexible integrity never fail to create.

In this most eligible of all situations, tho life of a country gentleman, deriving its most exquisite relish from reflection upon past dangers and past services, he gave full scope to his philosophick spirit, and taste for rural elegance. Salf-satisfied and raised above vulgar ambition, be devoted his time to sweet domestick intercourse with the amiable partner of his heart, friendly converss with men of worth, tho study of useful books, and tho improvement of his favoured villa. Nor from that happy spot did he wish to stray, until ho should receive his last summons to happiness more than terrestrial.

But when the hand of power was stretched forth against the land of his residence, he had a heart low noble not to sympathize in its distress. From that fatal day—and oh! that it had never found a place in the volumes of Time—from that fatal day, in which the first -American blood was spilt by the hostile hands of British brethren,' and the better genius of the empire, veiling her face in anguish, turned abhorrent from the strife of Death among her children—I say, from that fatal day, he chose his part.

Although his liberal spirit placed him above local prejudices, and he considered himself as a member of the empire at large; yet America, struggling in the cause of liberty, henceforth became his peculiar country; and that country took full possession of his soul; lifting him above this earthly dross, and every private affection! Worth like his could be no longer hid in the shades of obscurity; nor permit him to be placed in that inferior station with which a mind, great in humility and self-denial, would have been contented. It was wisely considered that he who had so well learned to obey, was fittest to command: and, therefore, being well assured of his own heart, he resigned himself the publick voice, nor hesitated a moment longer to accept the important commission freely offered to him, and, with the firmness of another Regulus, to bid farewell to his peaceful retirement and domestick endearments.

Here followed a scene of undissembled tenderness and distress, which all who hear me may, in some degree, conceive, but all cannot truly feel. You only who are husbands—whose hearts have been intimately blended with the partners of your bliss, and known the pangs of separation, when launching into dangers, uncertain of your fate; you only would I now more directly address. Give a moment's pause for reflection ! Recall your own former feelings, your inward struggles, your virtuous tears ! Here bid them again freely flow, while you listen to our hero's parting words—

Ye scenes where home-felt pleasures dwell,

And thou, my dearer self farewell!

"Perhaps the Cypress, only tree;

Of all these groves, shall follow me"

But still, to Triumph or a Tomb,

Where virtue calls, I come, I come !

[The foregoing lines wore set and performed to musick, which gave an opportunity of a pause, in delivering the Oration.]

" I come, I come !" Nor were these the words of disappointed ambition; nor dictated by any sudden start of party zeal. He had weighed the contest well, was intimately acquainted with the inalienable rights of freemen, and ready to support them at every peri! He had long foreseen and lamented the fatal issue to which things were hastening. He knew that the sword of civil destruction, once drawn, is not easily sheathed; that men having their minds inflamed and the weapons of defence in their hands, seldom know the just point where to stop, even when they have it in their power; and often proceed to actions, the bare contemplation of which would at first have astonished them.

It was, therefore, his desire rather to soften than inflame violent humours, wishing that America, in all her actions, might stand justified in the sight of God and the world. He foresaw the horrid train of evils which would be let loose by the stroke which should sever the

* Nihil extimescere; omnia humana despicere; nihil quod homini aceidere. possit intolerandum putare Cicer.

† Pericles.

‡ The author did not intend to appropriate this term so as to detract from the merit of Doctor Warren, and other brave men who full before, in the same cause.

* Hor. B.II.Ode 14 1.22—21