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tration never prevented a unity of purpose and action. All acts of sovereignty were executed in both their names; all public writings subscribed with both their signatures; their likenesses were stamped together on the public coin; and the royal seal displayed the united arms of Castile and Arragon.

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2. Ferdinand possessed a clear and comprehensive genius, and great penetration. He was equable in temper, indefatigable in business, a great observer of men, and is extolled by Spanish writers as unparalleled in the science of the cabinet. It has been maintained by writers of other nations, however, and apparently with reason, that he was bigoted in religion, and craving rather than magnanimous in his ambition; that he made war less like a paladin than a prince, less for glory than for mere dominion; and that his policy was cold, selfish, and artful. He was called the wise and prudent in Spain; in Italy, the pious; in France and England, the ambitious and perfidious.

3. Contemporary writers have been enthusiastic in their de scriptions of Isabella; but time has sanctioned their eulogies. She was of the middle size, and well formed; with a fair complexion, auburn hair, and clear blue eyes. There was a mingled gravity and sweetness in her countenance, and a singular modesty in her mien, gracing, as it did, great firmness of purpose and earnestness of spirit. Though strongly attached to her husband and studious of his fame, yet she always maintained her distinct rights as an allied prince. She exceeded him in beauty, per sonal dignity, acuteness of genius, and grandeur of soul. Com bining the active, the resolute qualities of man, with the softer charities of woman, she mingled in the warlike councils of her husband, and, being inspired with a truer idea of glory, infused a more lofty and generous temper into his subtle and calculating policy.

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4. It is in the civil history of their reign, however, that the character of Isabella shines most illustrious. Her fostering and maternal care was continually directed to reform the laws, and heal the ills engendered by a long course of civil wars. assembled round her the ablest men in literature and science, and directed herself by their counsels in encouraging literature and the arts. She promoted the distribution of honors and rewards for the promulgation of knowledge, fostered the recently-invented art of printing; and, through her patronage, Salamanca rose to that eminence which it assumed among the learned institutions of the age. Such was the noble woman who was destined to acquire immortal renown by her spirited patronage of the discovery of the New World.

IRVING

CXXXII.

CROMWELL'S EXPULSION OF THE PARLIAMENT,

1653.

1. AT this eventful moment, big with the most important consequences both to himself and his country, whatever were the workings of Cromwell's mind, he had the art to conceal them from the eyes of the beholders. Leaving the military in the lobby, he entered the Parliament House, and composedly seated himself on one of the outer benches. His dress was a plain suit of black cloth, with gray worsted stockings. For a while he seemed to listen with interest to the debate; but when the speaker was going to put the question, he whispered to Harrison, "This is the time; I must do it ;" and, rising, put off his hat to address the house.

2. At first his language was decōrous, and even laudatory. Gradually he became more warm and animated. At last he assumed all the vehemence of passion, and indulged in personal vituperation. He charged the members with self-seeking and profaneness, with the frequent denial of justice, and numerous acts of oppression; with idolizing the lawyers, the constant advocates of tyranny; with neglecting the men who had bled for them in the field, that they might gain the Presbyterians, who had apostatized from the cause; and with doing all this in order to perpetuate their own power, and to replenish their own purses. But their time was come; the Lord had disowned them; He had chosen more worthy instruments to perform His work.

3. Here the orator was interrupted by Sir Peter Wentworth, who declared that he had never heard language so unparliamentary, language, too, the more offensive, because it was addressed to them by their own servant, whom they had made what he was. At these words, Cromwell put on his hat, and, springing from his place, exclaimed, "Come, come, sir, I will put an end to your prating!" For a few seconds, apparently in the most violent agitation, he paced forward and backward, and then, stamping on the floor, added, "You are no parliament! I say you are no parliament! Bring them in, bring them in!" Instantly the door opened, and Colonel Worsley entered, followed by more than twenty musketeers.

4. "This," cried Sir Henry Vane,EI" is not honest; it is against morality and common honesty." "Sir Henry Vane," replied Cromwell; "O, Sir Henry Vane! The Lord deliver me from Sir Henry Vane! He might have prevented this. But he is a juggler and has not common honesty himself!" From Vane he directed his discourse to Whitelock, on whom he poured a torrent

of abuse, then pointing to Chaloner, "There," he cried, "sits a drunkard;" and afterwards selecting different members in succession, he described them as dishonest and corrupt livers, a shame and scandal to the profession of the gospel. Suddenly however, checking himself, he turned to the guard, and ordered them to clear the house. At these words, Colonel Harrison took the Speaker by the hand, and led him from the chair; Algernon Sydney was next compelled to quit his seat; and the other members, eighty in number, on the approach of the military, rose and moved towards the door.

"It is you,” he ex

5. Cromwell now resumed his discourse. claimed, "that have forced me to do this. I have sought the Lord both day and night, that He would rather slay me than put me on the doing of this work." Alderman Allan took advantage of these words to observe that it was not yet too late to undo what had been done; but Cromwell instantly charged him with peculation, and gave him into custody. When all were gone, fixing his eye on the mace, What," said he, "shall we do with this fool's bauble? Here, carry it away." Then, taking the act of dissolution from the clerk, he ordered the doors to be locked, and, accompanied by the military, returned to Whitehall.

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6. That afternoon the members of the Council assembled in their usual place of meeting. Bradshaw had just taken the chair, when the Lord-general entered, and told them that if they were there as private individuals, they were welcome; but if as the Council of State, they must know that the parliament was dissolved, and with it also the Council. 66 'Sir,” replied Bradshaw, with the spirit of an ancient Roman, "we have heard what you did at the house this morning, and, before many hours all England will know it. But, sir, you are mistaken to think that the parliament is dissolved. No power under heaven can dissolve them but themselves; therefore, take you notice of that."

7. After this protest they withdrew. Thus, by the parricidal hands of its own children, perished the Long Parliament, which, under a variety of forms, had, for more than twelve years, defended and invaded the liberties of the nation. It fell without a struggle or a groan, unpitied and unregretted. The members slunk away to their homes, where they sought by submission to purchase the forbearance of their new master; and their par tisans - if partisans they had - reserved themselves in silence for a day of retribution, which came not before Cromwell slept ic his grave

LINGARE.

Before her each with clamor pleads the laws,
Explains the matter and would win the cause.
Dame Justice, weighing long the doubtful right,
Takes, opens, swallows it, before their sight;
The cause of strife, removed so rarely well,
There take, says Justice, take you each a shell.
We thrive at Westminster on fools like you;
'T was a fat oyster, live in peace; adieu

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1. BASIS OF OUR POLITICAL SYSTEM. Geo. Washington.

THE basis of our political system is, the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government; but, the constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly ob'ligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government. All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe, the regular deliberations and action of the constituted authorities,—are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force, to put in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans, digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests.

2. A REPUBLIC THE STRONGEST GOVERNMENT.

Jefferson.

I know, indeed, that some honest men fear that a republican government cannot be strong, that this government is not strong enough. But would the honest patriot, in the full tide of successful experiment, abandon a government which has so far kept us free and firm, on the theoretic and visionary fear that this governmentthe world's best hope may, by possibility, want energy to preserve itself? I trust not; I believe this, on the contrary, the strongest government on earth; I believe it the only one where every man, at the call of the law, would fly to

the standard of the law, and would meet invasions of the public order as his own personal concern. Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? or have we found angels, in the forms of kings, to govern him? Let history answer this question

3. THE TRUE BOND OF UNION

Anarew Jackson.

But the constitution cannot be maintained, nor the Union preserved, in opposition to the public feeling, by the mere exertion of the coercive powers confided to the general government. The foundations must be laid in the affections of the people; in the security it gives to life, liberty, character, and property, in every quarter of the country; and in the fraternal attachment which the citizens of the several states bear to one another, as members of one political family, mutually contributing to promote the happiness of one another.

4. RELIGIOUS AND MENTAL CULTURE. - President Wayland.

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A man who cannot read, let us always remember, is a being not contemplated by the genius of the American constitution. Where the right of suffrage is extended to all, he is certainly a dangerous member of the community who has not qualified himself to exercise it. We must go further; for you must be aware that the tenure by which our liberties are held can never be secure, unless moral keep pace with intellectual cultivation. If we would see the foundations laid broadly and deeply on which the fabric of this country's liberties shall rest to the remotest generations, if we would see her carry forward the work of political reformation, and rise the bright and morning star of freedom over a benighted world, let us elevate the intellectual and moral character of every class of our citizens, and especially let us imbue them thoroughly with the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

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The great argument of despots against free governments is, that large bodies of men are incapable of self-rule, and that the inevi table and rapid tendency of such a government as ours is to faction, strife, anarchy, and dissolution. Let it be our effort to give to the expecting world a great practical and splendid refutation of this charge If we cannot do this, the world may despair, To what other nation can look to do it? We claim no

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