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THE TREATY OF SHACKAMAXON.

HENRY D. GILPIN.

THE treaty of Shackamaxon-" the treaty not sworn to and never broken" is the beacon-spot in the history of Pennsylvania, most conspicuous in her early annals. At the dawn of every people's history, there seems to be some characteristic incident for ever remembered and cherished. The legend of Athens never ceased to keep in lively remembrance the promise of protection, given by the Goddess of wisdom, intelligence and courage, on the rude rock beneath which the future city was to grow, and the olive-tree that she planted there, as the token of her promise, was guarded and encircled with monuments of art, taste, and beauty, which still, even in their ruins, win the admiration of the world. The laws inspired by Egeria at her sequestered fountain, which were to form from a band of robbers the mighty Roman race; the league framed by the three bold spirits of Switzerland, in the sequestered Alpine meadow of Grutli; the charter of liberty extorted from their perfidious sovereign, by the armed barons of England, on the island of Runnymede, are events of national story that have loomed out more largely as time has rolled on; and, with us, the first memorable treaty of Penn has become more reverenced with each succeeding year, as having founded the government under which we live, on the corner-stones of justice and peace.

From "Address before the Pennsylvania Historical Society," 1857.

THE SETTLEMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA.

HENRY D. GILPIN.

IF the foundation and settlement of Pennsylvania were planned and accomplished upon a system so benignant and just, alike to the red man and the emigrant, as to elicit the praise and wonder of the age, to what was it due but to his promises, made in advance and never swerved from, of just and gentle dealings towards the one, and, to the other, that they should "be governed by laws of their own making, so that they might be a free, and, if they would, a sober and industrious people," possessing "all that good and free men could reasonably desire for the security and improvement of their own happiness"? "Let the Lord,” he said, “guide me by His wisdom to honor His name, and to serve His truth and people, so that an example and a standard may be set up to the nations."

If the constitution of our state, now and always, has declared that no right of conscience, and no form or mode of religious worship, shall be controlled or interfered with, and requires, in offices of the highest trust, no religious qualification but a belief in the existence of the

Supreme Being, and His power to punish or reward our actions, we proudly remember that this glorious principle is foremost in the earliest of our laws, voluntarily proclaimed by Penn before he left the shores of England; and that he, among all legislators, was the first to guarantee, by the enactments of his civil code, the full enjoyment of this Christian liberty to every one living in his province, "who should confess and acknowledge one Almighty God to be the creator, upholder, and ruler of the world."

From "Address before the Pennsylvania Historical Society," 1857.

CANOVA'S TRIUMPH.

CARDINAL WISEMAN.

SOME years ago the entire Church of St. Peter's was lighted up on Thursday and Friday evenings of Holy Week, by one huge brazen cross, studded with lamps, and hung below the dome.

The play of light and shadow, in bold masses, edged bluffly one by another, through the aisles, was splendid beyond description. Now it is certain that Canova designed the beautiful monument of Rezzonico (Clement XIII.), its fine lions and reclining genius, with an eye, most particularly, to the effect upon it of this religious illumination. He had it carefully covered till the first of these evenings, and exposed it to view under the influence of this unusual light. I well remember its splendid effect under such circumstances; and can imagine the general delight upon its first exhibition. Indeed, so anxious was Canova himself to try the experiment fairly, that he employed his friend, Cav. D'Este, from whom I have the account, to procure for him a disguise. "My friends," he observed, “are sure to praise the monument; and my enemies are sure to find fault with it. I will go among the people and hear their opinions." After vain attempts to dissuade him, the costume of a very poor priest was procured, and he was soon so disguised as to defy detection. D'Este saw him thread his way through the admiring crowd, and listen to the judgment of every little knot, till he stood by the group in which the senator Rezzonico, nephew to the Pope, was asking, "Where is Canova, that we may congratulate with him," eyeing, at the same time, askance, the dilapidated sacristan, as he thought him, who was almost intruding upon them. But Canova was not discovered, and returned home satisfied, having received sentence of approval from an unpacked and unprejudiced jury.

From "Lectures at Rome."

DEVOTION TO SCIENCE.

AUGUSTIN THIERRY.

IF, as I delight in thinking, the interest of science is counted in the number of great national interests, I have given my country all that the soldier, mutilated on the field of battle, gives her. Whatever may be the fate of my labors, this example, I hope, will not be lost. I would wish it to serve to combat the species of moral weakness which is the disease of our present generation; to bring back into the straight road of life some of those enervated souls that complain of wanting faith, that know not what to do, and seek everywhere, without finding -it, an object of worship and admiration. Why say, with so much bitterness, that in the world, constituted as it is, there is no air for all lungs, no employment for all minds? Is not calm and serious study there? And is not that a refuge, a hope, a field within the reach of all of us? With it, evil days are passed over without their weight being felt; every one can make his own destiny; every one employ his life nobly. This is what I have done, and would do again, if I had to recommence my career; I would choose that which has brought me where I am. Blind, and suffering without hope, and almost without intermission, I may give this testimony, which from me will not appear suspicious: there is something in the world better than sensual enjoyments, better than fortune, better than health itself; it is devotion to science.

From "Autobiographical Preface."

EUROPEAN NAMES IN AMERICA.

AUGUSTIN THIERRY.

THE District of Columbia is the seat of the chief congress, and contains the palace in which the members of the congress assemble. This palace has been called by the ancient name of the Capitol. It is not, like the Capitol of Rome, built on an immovable rock; but its destiny is far more certain. Liberty presides over it, instead of the fickle god of war; and the tide of the vengeance of the people will never need to rise against it.

We cannot see, without emotion, on the map of that free country, the names of cities borrowed from all the countries of Europe, the names of Paris, Rome, Lisbon, and even that of Athens. All European countries have furnished their share to that happy population, as if to prove to the world that liberty belongs to all, and is the peculiar property of none. The exiles of each country have, like the fugitives of Troy, attached the beloved name of the home of their childhood to the name of their old age. America is the common asylum of us all. From whatever part of the Old World we steer, we shall not be strangers

in the New; we shall there meet with our language, our fellow-countrymen, and our brethren. If, what destiny will doubtless not permit to occur, the barbarism of ancient times prevailed against modern Europe; if those who gave the communes the name of execrable, and who still threaten war against us in the names of their ancestors, the enemies of ours, were to triumph over reason and us, we should have a redress which our ancestors had not; the sea is free, and there is a free world beyond it. We should breathe there with ease, we should brace up our minds there, and we should rally there our strength.

Nos manet Oceanus circumvagus; arva beata

Petamus arva. . . . .

From "Essays."

THE PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION.

GUIZOT.

CIVILIZATION is still in its infancy. How distant is the human mind from the perfection to which it may attain-from the perfection for which it was created! How incapable are we of grasping the whole future destiny of man! Let any one even descend into his own mind -let him picture there the highest point of perfection to which man, to which society may attain, that he can conceive, that he can hope;— let him then contrast this picture with the present state of the world, and he will feel assured that society and civilization are still in their childhood: that however great the distance they have advanced, that which they have before them is incomparably, is infinitely greater. This, however, should not lessen the pleasure with which we contemplate our present condition. When you have run over with me the great epochs of civilization during the last fifteen centuries, you will see, up to our time, how painful, how stormy, has been the condition of man; how hard has been his lot, not only outwardly as regards society, but internally, as regards the intellectual man. For fifteen centuries the human mind has suffered as much as the human race. You will see that it is only lately that the human mind, perhaps for the first time, has arrived, imperfect though its condition still be, to a state where some peace, some harmony, some freedom is found. The same holds with regard to society-its immense progress is evident—the condition of man, compared with what it has been, is easy and just. In thinking of our ancestors we may almost apply to ourselves the verses of Lucretius:

"Suave mari magno, turbantibus æquora ventis,
E terrâ magnum alterius spectare laborem."

Without any great degree of pride we may, as Sthenelas is made

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to do in Homer, Ημεις του πατέρων μεγ' αμείνονες ευχόμεθ' είναι, turn thanks to God that we are infinitely better than our fathers." From "History of Civilization."

THE PILGRIMS OF NEW ENGLAND.

S. S. PRENTISS.

How proudly can we compare their conduct with that of the adventurers of other nations who preceded them! How did the Spaniard colonize? Let Mexico, Peru, and Hispaniola answer. He followed in the train of the great Discoverer, like a devouring pestilence. His cry was gold! gold!! gold!!! Never in the history of the world had the sacra fames auri exhibited itself with such fearful intensity. His imagination maddened with visions of sudden and boundless wealth, clad in mail, he leaped upon the New World, an armed robber. In greedy haste he grasped the sparkling sand, then cast it down with curses, when he found the glittering grains were not of gold.

Pitiless as the blood-hound by his side, he plunged into the primeval forests, crossed rivers, lakes, and mountains, and penetrated to the very heart of the continent. No region, however rich in soil, delicious in climate, or luxuriant in production, could tempt his stay. In vain the soft breeze of the tropics, laden with aromatic fragrance, wooed him to rest; in vain the smiling valleys, covered with spontaneous fruits and flowers, invited him to peaceful quiet. His search was still for gold: the accursed hunger could not be appeased. The simple natives gazed upon him in superstitious wonder, and worshipped him as a god; and he proved to them a god, but an infernal one-terrible, cruel, and remorseless. With bloody hands he tore the ornaments from their persons, and the shrines from their altars: he tortured them to discover hidden treasure, and slew them that he might search, even in their wretched throats, for concealed gold. Well might the miserable Indians imagine that a race of evil deities had come among them, more bloody and relentless than those who presided over their own sanguinary rites.

Now let us turn to the pilgrims. They, too, were tempted; and had they yielded to the temptation, how different might have been the destinies of this continent-how different must have been our own! Previous to their undertaking, the Old World was filled with strange and wonderful accounts of the new. The unbounded wealth, drawn by the Spaniards from Mexico and South America, seemed to afford rational support for the wildest assertions. Each succeeding adventurer, returning from his voyage, added to the Arabian tales a still more extravagant story. At length Sir Walter Raleigh, the most

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