might, in all future times, refresh our minds with lessons of real wisdom and patriotism. WASHINGTON was the head of the nation, and not of a party; and amid all the trials of his situation, critical and complex as it certainly was, and amid the labours of organizing and conducting a new government, arduous as they were, beset also with the most dangerous of all jealousies, he made and preserved a united people, and finally retired from their service with greater character and more durable renown than he carried into it. This country has produced no second Washington; and it may be feared it will be long before it will. Nevertheless, it ought to be the fervent prayer of every true patriot, that that event may yet happen, and that its advent may be hastened, and that until it shall please Providence to raise up such another, we may constantly meditate upon his pure example, and that some one may yet be found who has so studied the model of that -matchless patriot, as to be able to preside over a united people.

LIII.

Conclusion of Mr EDWARD EVERETT's Speech on the French Question.

ANOTHER day, sir, will close my humble career in this place. If, before leaving it, in all probability never to return; if on parting, most certainly never to meet again, from many respected, and some whom I may call beloved associates, I might use the privilege of one who, faithful to his political friends, has yet never designedly

assumed the character of a violent opponent, nor wandered far from the path of moderate counsels; if from the bottom of a heart, which (if I know it) bears no malice, political or personal, to any human being, I might utter one word of farewell to my esteemed associates who will still occupy these seats, and of appeal to those who will come to fill our vacant places, that word should be, in the name of Heaven, to preserve the peace of the country. I do not address this to the minority, to my political friends, the only part of the house to whom I could, in strict propriety, offer a suggestion. We, sir, in the present division of parties, can do nothing, borne down, I will not say trampled down, as we are, by numbers, on this floor; without the control of a single committee, and with no means to exercise an influence in the country but by the fearless utterance of the truth. But 1 speak to the majority; to the leaders of the majority; men whom I could name here and elsewhere, did not delicacy forbid; men, whose talents respect, whose motives, I will not impugn; and to whom, without a shade of envy, I wish the happy enjoyment of their honours; I say to them, In the name of Heaven, preserve the peace of the country. They can do it; it is in their hands; and I declare, on my conscience, I believe the next twelve months are hanging over them full of consequences more momentous, than are ordinarily brought about in an age. I adjure them by all that they valueby their love of honest fame, as they prize the good opinion of good men, as they cherish the welfare of their families and the public wealI implore them to preserve the peace of the country. I beseech them to manage this great

question firmly, resolutely, but gently, patiently, wisely; and if they would not deserve the execrations of honest men to the end of time, to exclude from it every thought and calculation of partizan policy.

Sir, if I might go further, if I thought my humble voice would reach the president of the United States, a voice which, if it never flattered, certainly never vilified him, nor ever withheld from him the meed of praise to which his services are entitled, 1 would say to him, I adjure, you, sir, to use your tremendous power to preserve the peace of the country. Our institutions are popular,-democratic: but at this moment and on this question (I say it not invidiously, but because it is true), the president of the United States exercises a greater power than any king or emperor that ever filled a throne: ten times the power of the king of the French, who appears, in some degree, as a party opposed to the president in this painful controversy. Let me adjure the president to exercise this vast power, to preserve the peace of the country. Let the last years of his eventful life, already crowned with a singular variety of success and honour, be signalized by the glories of a war,-not gallantly braved, but honourably avoided. Let him add to his other laurels, one more precious than all, the olive wreath of bloodless triumph, victoria sine clade,-a continued peace and all its blessings. I too, sir, with my distinguished colleague [Mr Adams], admire the president's spirit. But spirit is not all that is wanted for the conduct of great affairs. There must be prudence, there must be moderation, there must be wisdom. Nobody doubts the president's spirit. Would to God he would

carry the country through this crisis in such a manner as to gain the praise of a masterly discretion, a heroic forbearance; and enable us, his opponents, to say,

""Tis much he dares ;

And to that dauntless temper of his mind,
He hath a wisdom, that doth guide his valour
To act in safety."

Sir, if the president will so temper his policy on this occasion, as to carry this country honourably through the controversy without a war-and I think it can be done-he will draw down upon his head the blessings of men whose voices have never mingled with the incense of his flatterers; and his name, in the eyes of all mankind, and an impartial posterity, will appear fairer and brighter, than when he came out from the blazing lines of New Orleans, in all the freshness of his victory and its honours.

Let the president pursue this policy, in this temper, and he will carry the people along with him, whatever may betide. As one of the humblest of her sons, I engage for New England. The public mind, I think, is entirely sound on this question. The people are anxious it is natural. There is a vast property afloat; our merchants have connexions with every accessible port on the habitable globe. There are two entire capitals, not less than a hundred millions each, in transit. These are great interests. The people do not want war -do not want war with France-do not want war for five millions of dollars. Neither do they want the rights of the country sacrificed or abandoned; and, less than all, do they wish to submit to affront or outrage. I will answer

for the merchants of Massachusetts. Give them a just and necessary cause, and they will say to you, as John Hancock did in 1775, when asked his opinion in congress, on the expediency of destroying Boston, then in the hands of the enemy: 66 My property, my all is there; and if the public good requires it, I give it for my country."

This spirit is as strong now as ever, in town and in country. But the people are not blind to the dreadful evils of war. It is, at best, a dire calamity. They do not wish to plunge into it. They look to their government to do its duty firmly, but prudently; and they look to France to do her duty. The burden of remaining at peace does not rest exclusively on us. It rests equally on the other party. France, her king, her ministers, her 'chambers and leading men, have a great responsibility to bear. The great original wrong—the plunder of our commerce-was on the part of France. The first wrong step since the treaty was hers, in refusing to execute it. France has placed herself eminently, signally in the wrong. There, sir, for Heaven's sake, let us keep her. So long as we stand on that vantage ground, we cannot be shaken. The moment we quit it, half our strength is lost. Let us keep in the right, and I believe we shall keep at peace; and if that hope fails, we shall go as one man to the con

test.

L