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CXXXIII.

VI.

When can their glory fade?
O, the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made!
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!

RETURN OF BRITISH FUGITIVES.

PATRICK HENRY.

The following remarks were made in 1782 when there was a question before the Virginia legislature of opposing the return of those refugees who had sided with the British government in our war of independence.

See in Index, EQUALED or EQUALLED, OFFENSE or OFFENCE, HENRY. Delivery. The style is somewhat declamatory, requiring considerable animation in the delivery, especially at the close.

1. I VENTURE to prophesy there are those now living who will see this favored land amongst the most powerful on earth,able, sir, to take care of herself, without resorting to that policy, which is always so dangerous, though sometimes unavoidable, of calling in foreign aid. Yes, they will see her great in arts and in arms, her golden harvests waving over fields of immeasurable extent, her commerce penetrating the most distant seas, and her cannon silencing the vain boasts of those who now proudly affect to rule the waves. But, sir, you must have men,—you cannot get along without them.

2. Those heavy forests of valuable timber, under which your lands are groaning, must be cleared away. Those vast riches which cover the face of your soil, as well as those which lie hid in its bosom, are to be developed and gathered only by the skill and enterprise of men. Your timber must be worked up into ships,

to transport the productions of the soil from which it has been cleared. Then, you must have commercial men and commercial capital, to take off your productions, and find the best markets for them abroad. Your great want is the want of men; and these you must have, and will have speedily, if you are wise.

3. Do you ask how you are to get them? Open your doors, sir, and they will come in! The population of the Old World is full to overflowing. That population is ground, too, by the oppressions of the governments under which they live. Sir, they are already standing on tiptoe upon their native shores, and looking to your coasts with a wistful and longing eye. They see here a land blessed with natural and political advantages, which are not equaled by those of any other country upon earth; a land on which a gracious Providence has emptied the horn of abundance, - a land over which Peace has now stretched forth her white wings, and where Content and Plenty lie down at every door!

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4. Sir, they see something still more attractive than all this. They see a land in which Liberty hath taken up her abode, that Liberty whom they had considered as a fabled goddess, existing only in the fancies of poets. They see her here a real divinity, — her altars rising on every hand, throughout these happy States; her glories chanted by three millions of tongues, and the whole region smiling under her blessed influence. Sir, let but this, our celestial goddess, Liberty, stretch forth her fair hand toward the people of the Old World,tell them to come and bid them welcome,- and you will see them pouring in from the North, from the South, from the East, and from the West. Your wildernesses will be cleared and settled, your deserts will smile, our ranks will be filled, and you will soon be in a position to defy the powers of any adversary. 5. But gentlemen object to any accession from Great

Britain, and particularly to the return of the British refugees. Sir, I feel no objection to the return of those deluded people. They have, to be sure, mistaken their own interests most wofully; and most wofully have they suffered the punishment due to their offenses. But the relations which we bear to them, and to their native country, are now changed. Their king has acknowledged our independence; the quarrel is over, peace has returned, and found us a free people. Let us have the magnanimity to lay aside our antipathies and prejudices, and consider the subject in a political light.

6. They are an enterprising, moneyed people. They will be serviceable in taking off the surplus produce of our lands, and supplying us with necessaries, during the infant state of our manufactures. Even if they be inimical to us in point of feeling and principle, I can see no objection, in a political view, in making them tributary to our advantage. And as I have no prejudices to prevent my making this use of them, so, sir, I have no fear of any mischief that they can do us. Afraid of them!- What, sir, shall we, who have laid the proud British lion at our feet, now be afraid of his whelps?

CXXXIV. — BINGEN ON THE RHINE.

MRS. NORTON.

In the French imperial armies a legion usually averaged from 4000 to 6000 men, or about the number of a Roman legion.

Pronounce BINGEN, bing'en.

See in Index, AYE, COMRADE, CORSE, YEA, Norton.

Delivery. The pathos of the lines requires a subdued middle pitch, rentle force, pure quality, and tender expression, with occasional pauses

of emotion.

I.

A SOLDIER of the Legion lay dying in Algiers,

There was lack of woman's nursing, there was dearth of woman's

tears;

But a comrade stood beside him, while his life-blood ebbed away,
And bent, with pitying glances, to hear what he might say.
The dying soldier faltered, as he took that comrade's hand,
And he said: "I never more shall see my own, my native land;
Take a message, and a token, to some distant friends of mine,
For I was born at Bing'en, — at Bingen on the Rhine.

II.

"Tell my brothers and companions, when they meet and crowd around,

To hear my mournful story, in the pleasant vineyard ground,
That we fought the battle bravely,

and when the day was done,

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Full many a corse lay ghastly pale, beneath the setting sun,
And 'mid the dead and dying, were some grown old in wars,
The death-wound on their gallant breasts, the last of many scars;
But some were young, and suddenly beheld life's morn decline,
And one had come from Bingen, -fair Bingen on the Rhine!

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"Tell my mother that her other sons shall comfort her old age, And I was aye a truant bird, that thought his home a cage: For my father was a soldier, and, even as a child,

My heart leaped forth to hear him tell of struggles fierce and wild; And when he died, and left us to divide his scanty hoard,

I let them take whate'er they would- but kept my father's sword; And with boyish love I hung it where the bright light used to shine, On the cottage-wall at Bingen, calm Bingen on the Rhine!

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IV.

"Tell my sister not to weep for me, and sob with drooping head, When the troops are marching home again, with glad and gallant

tread;

But to look upon them proudly, with a calm and steadfast eye,

For her brother was a soldier, too, and not afraid to die.

And, if a comrade seek her love, I ask her in my name

To listen to him kindly, without regret or shame;

And to hang the old sword in its place, (my father's sword and mine,) For the honor of old Bingen, — dear Bingen on the Rhine!

"There's another not a sister;

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V.

in the happy days gone by, You'd have known her by the merriment that sparkled in her eye; Too innocent for coquetry, too fond for idle scorning; O friend, I fear the lightest heart makes sometimes heaviest mourn

-

Tell her the last night of my life — (for ere this moon be risen
My body will be out of pain, — my soul be out of prison,)
I dreamed I stood with her, and saw the yellow sunlight shine,
On the vine-clad hills of Bingen, fair Bingen on the Rhine!

VI.

"I saw the blue Rhine sweep along, — I heard, or seemed to hear, The German songs we used to sing, in chorus sweet and clear; And down the pleasant river, and up the slanting hill,

That echoing chorus sounded, through the evening calm and still; And her glad blue eyes were on me, as we passed with friendly talk, Down many a path beloved of yore, and well-remembered walk; And her little hand lay lightly, confidingly in mine :

But we'll meet no more at Bingen, — loved Bingen on the Rhine!"

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VII.

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His voice grew faint and hoarser, his grasp was childish weak,-
His eyes put on a dying look, he sighed and ceased to speak:
His comrade bent to lift him, but the spark of life had fled, -
The soldier of the Legion, in a foreign land - was dead!
And the soft moon rose up slowly, and calmly she looked down,
On the red sand of the battle-field, with bloody corpses strown;
Yea, calmly on that dreadful scene her pale light seemed to shine,
As it shone on distant Bingen, -fair Bingen on the Rhine!

CXXXV. —

- THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

BURKE.

See in Index, PARLIAMENT, PARTHIAN, BURKE.

Delivery. The extract is from one of Burke's speeches in the British House of Commons, subsequent to the recognition of American independence. The style is grave, statesman-like, and impressive, requiring dignity and at the same time something of warmth in the delivery.

1. You will remember, gentlemen, that in the beginning of the American war (that era of calamity, disgrace, and downfall, an era which no feeling mind will ever mention without a tear for England) you were greatly divided. A very strong body, if not the strong

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