barbarous dominion; all long to see the hydra crushed; and will aid our brave countrymen, and crown with everlasting gratitude their efforts in this glorious and benevolent cause. Foreign princes wait only for the extinction of all hopes of reconciliation, to throw off their present reserve. And if this measure consist with expediency, it becomes not less our dignity. America has attained that greatness which entitles her to rank among independent nations. We are as worthy of this exalted station as the English themselves. For if they have wealth, we have wealth too; if they are brave, we are so; if they are numerous, so we through the incredible fruitfulness of our chaste wives shall soon equal them in population; if they possess men famed in peace and in war, we likewise have such; and these political revolutions usually produce great, strong, and generous minds. By what we have done in these first achievements we may easily infer what we shall hereafter accomplish; for experience is the parent of wise resolves, and of the liberty of enlightened men. Already have the enemy been driven from Lexington by thirty thousand armed men collected in one day; already have their celebrated generals in Boston yielded to the skill of ours; already are their ships driven from our harbours, and wandering over the ocean with their crews perishing by famine. Let us hail the favourable omen, and fight, not for the sake of knowing on what terms we may live subjected to England, but in order to establish amongst us free and equal laws, and a just and independent government. The Greeks contended successfully against an innumerable army of Persians, because they were inspired by liberty. The Swiss and Dutch humbled the power of Austria by memorable defeats, and reclaimed their freedom, because they were animated by the love of independence. This American sun shines on the heads of brave men too; our weapons are as sharp-edged as theirs; here too undaunted courage is known; here too unanimity prevails; here we can meet death not merely with firmness, but with enthusiasm, in our country's cause. Why then do we longer delay, why still deliberate? Let, my countrymen, this happy day give birth to the American republic. Let her arise, not impelled by a thirst for blood and conquest, but pacific, mild, and gentle; the eyes of Europe are fixed upon us. She requires from us a living example of freedom, where the happiness of the citizen may present a striking contrast with the ever increasing tyranny which desolates her polluted shores. She demands of us an asylum, where the unhappy may find comfort, and the persecuted, rest. She intreats us to prepare a propitious and well cultivated soil, where that generous plant which first sprung up and grew in England, but is now withered by the poisonous blasts of Scottish tyranny, may revive and flourish, sheltering under its salubrious and extensive shade all the unfortunate of the human race. This is the end presaged by so many omens; by our first victories; by the present ardor and union; by the flight of Howe and the pestilence which broke out amongst Dunmore's people; by the very winds which baffled the enemy's fleets and transports, and that terrible storm which sunk seven hundred vessels in the waves near the coasts of Newfoundland. If we are not this day wanting in our duty to the country, the names of the American legislators shall be exalted in the eyes of posterity to a level with those of Theseus, Lycurgus, Romulus, Numa, and the three Williams, and of all those whose memory has been, and hereafter shall be, dear to virtuous men and good citizens." W. Vol. V. New Series. 50 ROBERT FULTON. THE Controversy on Mr. Fulton's claim to the invention of the steam-boat, has excited great interest and called forth great talents in its discussion. If it be considered merely as a question of legal right, it is certainly not without some degree of doubt and intricacy. But if throwing aside every other consideration we look only to Mr. Fulton's agency in introducing and improving steam navigation, it is, I think, impossible to deny him the honours due to a great public benefactor, to one who has extended the empire of human power, who has increased individual comfort and augmented national wealth. Let us not endeavour to lessen the value of his services by magnifying the importance of those rude and abortive attempts which paved the way for his success. This is one of those poor arts by which the unwilling gratitude of mankind seeks to palliate its baseness, and the envy of low and grovelling minds endeavours to conceal the mortification of conscious inferiority. The narrow and prejudiced who, while invention is yet untried, regard every project of improvement as the wild dream of overheated speculation, are ever ready to degrade the triumph of successful genius, and if they are forced to confess the excellence of the achievement, at last solace themselves with the hope of transferring the laurel to some unworthy brow. How little is there of science or of art which is not the work of slow improvement, the result of the successive labours of many generations. Here and there in the long history of the progress of the human mind, may be found a great genius who like Newton has proceeded with a steady and unwavering flight, like the eagle in his course forth and right on,' and crowded the discoveries of ages in a single life; but for the most part, every great accession to human knowledge or power has been produced by the aggregate labour of many minds. Something is struck out by accident, something suggested by general speculation or gathered from analogy, and he is at last the real benefactor of |