is alleged against you? Had any prince, or any state, committed the same outrage against the privilege of Roman citizens, should we not think we had sufficient ground for declaring immediate war against them? What punishment ought, then, to be inflicted upon a tyrannical and wicked prætor, who dared, at no greater distance than Sicily, within sight of the Italian coast, to put to the infamous death of crucifixion that unfortunate and innocent citizen, Publius Gavius Cosanus, only for his having asserted his privilege of citizenship, and declared his intention of appealing to the justice of his country against a cruel oppressor who had unjustly confined him in prison at Syracuse, whence he had just made his escape?

The unhappy man, arrested as he was going to embark for his native country, is brought before the wicked prætor. With eyes darting fury, and a countenance distorted with cruelty, he orders the helpless victim of his rage to be stripped, and rods to be brought; accusing him, but without the least shadow of evidence, or even of suspicion, of having come to Sicily as a spy. It was in vain that the unhappy man cried out, "I am a Roman citizen: I have served under Lucius Pretius, who is now at Panormus and will attest my innocence."

The blood-thirsty prætor, deaf to all he could urge in his own defense, ordered the infamous punishment to be inflicted. Thus, Fathers, was an innocent Roman citizen publicly mangled with scourging; while the only words he uttered amid his cruel sufferings were, "I am a Roman citizen!" With these he hoped to defend himself from violence and infamy. But of so little service was this privilege to him, that, while he was thus asserting his citizenship, the order was given for his execution,- for his execution upon the cross!

O liberty! O sound once delightful to every Roman ear! O sacred privilege of Roman citizenship!—once sacred!

now trampled upon! But what then! Is it come to this? Shall an inferior magistrate, a governor, who holds his whole power of the Roman people, in a Roman province, within sight of Italy, bind, scourge, torture with fire and red-hot plates of iron, and at last put to the infamous death of the cross, a Roman cítizen? Shall neither the cries of innocence expiring in agony, nor the tears of pitying spectators, nor the majesty of the Roman Commonwealth, nor the fear of the justice of his country, restrain the licentious and wanton cruelty of a monster who, in confidence of his riches, strikes at the root of liberty and sets mankind at defíance?

I conclude with expressing my hopes that your wisdom and justice, Fathers, will not, by suffering the atrocious and unexampled insolence of Caius Verres to escape the due punishment, leave room to apprehend the danger of a total subversion of authority and the introduction of general anarchy and confusion.

28. BRITISH INFLUENCE, 1811.-John Randolph.

Imputations of British | influence have been uttered against the opponents of this war. Against whom are these charges brought? Against men whó, in the war of the Revolution, were in the Coun

cils of the nation, or fighting the battles of your country! And by

whom are these charges made? By rùnaways, chiefly from the

British dominions, since the breaking out of the French troubles.

The great autocrat of all the Rússias receives the homage of our

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high consideration. The Dey of Algiers and his divan of pírates are 1 RO I RO down

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maintaining the relations of peace and ámity.

find no dífficulty in

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welcome to our arms. With chiefs of bandítti, negro or mulatto, we

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claim Shakspeare, and Newton, and Chatham, for our countrymen; LC Ft on waist and whose government | is the freest on earth, our own ònly | excèpted;

fróm whom every valuable principle of our own institutions has

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been borrowed-representation, trial by júry, voting the supplies,

—against our fellow-Pròtestants, identified in blóod, in lánguage, in

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religion, with ourselves.

In what school did the worthies of our land-the Washingtons, Hénrys, Háncocks, Fránklins, Rútledges, of America- learn those

principles of civil liberty which were so nobly asserted by their wisdom and valor? American resistance to British usurpation has not been more warmly | cherished by these great men and their com1 f LO 1 f LO 1 f LO pátriots,—not more by Washington, Hancock and Henry,― than by

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tools, to whom we were not more opposed than they were. I trust

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wanting to subserve the purposes, however ruinous or wicked, of kings and ministers of state. I acknowledge the influence of a Shakspeare and a Milton upon my imagination; of a Locke upon

my understanding; of a Sìdney upon my political principles; of a

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mon with that illustrious man! of a Tillotson, a Sherlock and a PòrO w to br R C F w to RO teus upon my religion. This is a British influence which I can never | shake off.

29. IRISH AGITATORS, 1834.-Richard L. Sheil.

The population of Ireland has doubled since the Union. What is the condition of the mass of the people? Has her capital increased in the same proportion? Behold the famine, the wretchedness and pestilence of the Irish hovel, and if you have the heart to do so, mock at the calamities of the country, and proceed in your demonstrations of the prosperity of Ireland. The mass of the people are in a condition more wretched than that of any nation in Europe; they are worse housed, worse covered, worse fed, than the basest boors in the provinces of Russia; they dwell in habitations to which your swine would not be committed; they are covered with rags which your beggars would disdain to wear, and not only do they never taste the flesh of the animals which crowd into your markets, but while the sweat drops from their brows, they never touch the bread into which their harvests are converted. For you they toil, for you they delve; they reclaim the bog, and drive the plow to the mountain's top, for you. And where does all this misery exist? In a country teeming with fertility, and stamped with the beneficent intents of God! When the famine of Ireland prevailed,-when her cries crossed the Channel, and pierced your ears and reached your hearts,— the granaries of Ireland were bursting with their contents; and while a people knelt down and stretched out their hands for food, the business of deportation, the absentee tribute, was going on! Talk of the prosperity of Ireland! Talk of the external magnificence of a poor-house, gorged with misery within!

But the Secretary for the Treasury exclaims: "If the agitators would but let us alone, and allow Ireland to be

tranquil!" The agitators, forsooth! Does he venture—has he the intrepidity-to speak thus? Agitators! Against deep potations let the drunkard rail; at Crockford's let there be homilies against the dice-box;-let every libertine lament the progress of licentiousness, when his Majesty's ministers deplore the influence of demagogues, and whigs complain of agitation! How did you carry the Reform? Was it not by impelling the people almost to the verge of revolution? Was there a stimulant for their passions, was there a provocative for their excitement, to which you did. not resort? If you have forgotten, do you think that we shall fail to remember, your meetings at Edinburgh, at Paisley, at Manchester, at Birmingham? Did not three hundred thousand men assemble? Did they not pass resolutions against taxes? Did they not threaten to march on London? Did not two of the cabinet ministers indite to them epistles of gratitude and of admiration? and do they now dare—have they the audacity to speak of agitation? Have we not as good a title to demand the restitution of our Parliament, as the ministers to insist on the reform of this House?

30. MILITARY QUALIFICATIONS DISTINCT FROM CIVIL, 1828.

It has been maintained that the genius which constitutes a great military man is a very high quality, and may be equally useful in the cabinet and in the field, that it has a sort of universality equally applicable to all affairs. That the greatest civil qualifications may be found united with the highest military talents is what no one will deny who thinks of Washington. But that such a combination is rare and extraordinary, the fame of Washington sufficiently attests. If it were common, why was he so illustrious?

I would ask, what did Cromwell, with all his military genius, do for England? He overthrew the monarchy and