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ments from coming to the Americans by the isthmus of Charlestown, but even uncovered and swept the interior of the trench, which was battered in front at the same time. The ammunition of the Americans was nearly exhausted, and they could have no hopes of a recruit. Their fire must, of necessity, languish.

Meanwhile, the English had advanced to the foot of the redoubt. The provincials, destitute of bayonets, defended themselves valiantly with the butt-ends of their muskets. But, the redoubt being already full of enemies, the American general gave the signal of retreat, and drew off his men.

While the left wing and centre of the English army were thus engaged, the light infantry had impetuously attacked the palisades, which the provincials had erected, in haste, upon the bank of the River Mystic. On each side the combat was obstinate; and, if the assault was furious, the resistance was not feeble.

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In spite of all the efforts of the royal troops, the provincials still maintained the battle in this part; and had no thoughts of retiring, until they saw the redoubt and upper part of the trench in the power of the enemy. Their retreat was executed with an order not to have been expected from new-levied soldiers.

This strenuous resistance of the left wing of the American army, was, in effect, the salvation of the rest; for, if it had given ground but a few instants sooner, the enemy's light infantry would have taken the main body and right wing in the rear, and their situation would have been hopeless. But the Americans had not yet reached the term of their toils and dangers. The only way that remained of retreat, was by the isthmus of Charlestown, and the Enghish had placed there a ship of war and two floating batteries, the balls of which raked every part of it. The Americans, however, issued from the peninsula without any considerable loss. * * * *

The possession of the peninsula of Charlestown was much less useful than prejudicial to the royalists. Their army was not sufficiently numerous to guard, conveniently, all the posts of the city and of the peninsula. The fatigues of the soldiers multiplied in an excessive manner; and, added to the heat of the season, which was extreme, they generated numerous and severe maladies, which paralyzed the movements of the army, and enfeebled it from day to day. The greater part of the wounds became mortal, from the influence of the climate, and the want of proper food.

Thus, besides the honour of having conquered the field of battle, the victors gathered no real fruit from this action, and, if its effects be considered, upon the opinion of other nations, and even of their own, as also upon the force of the army, it was even of serious detriment.

In the American camp, on the contrary, provisions of every sort were in abundance, and, the troops being accustomed to the climate, the greater part of the wounded were eventually cured: their minds were animated with the new ardour of vengeance, and the blood they had lost exacted a plenary expiation. These dispositions were fortified not. a little by the firing of Charlestown, which, from a flourishing town, of signal commercial importance, was thus reduced to a heap of ashes and of ruins. The Americans could never turn their eyes in this direction, without a thrill of indignation, and without execrating the European soldiers.

But the loss they felt the most sensibly was that of General Warren. He was one of those men, who are more attached to liberty than to existence; but not more ardently the friend of freedom, than a foe to avarice and ambition. He was endowed with a solid judgement, a happy genius, and a brilliant eloquence. In all private affairs, his opinion was reputed authority, and in all public counsels, a decision.

Friends and enemies, equally knowing his fidelity and rectitude in all things, reposed in him a confidence without limits. Opposed to the wicked, without hatred; propitious to the good, without adulation; affable, courteous, and humane, towards each;-he was beloved, with reverence, by all, and respected by envy itself.

Though in his person somewhat spare, his figure was peculiarly agreeable. He mourned, at this epoch, the recent loss of a wife, by whom he was tenderly beloved, and whom he cherished with reciprocal affection. In dying so gloriously for his country, on this memorable day, he left several orphans still in childhood; but a grateful country assumed the care of their education.

Thus was lost to the state, and to his family, in so important a crisis, and in the vigour of his days, a man equally qualified to excel in council or in the field. As for ourselves, faithful to the purpose of history, which dispenses praise to the good and blame to the perverse, we have not been willing that this virtuous and valiant American should be deprivel, among posterity, of that honourable remembrance so rightfully due to his eminent qualities.

LESSON CXXIX.

Warren's Audress to the American Soldiers, before the battle of Bunker's Hill.-ORIGINAL.

STAND! the ground's your own, my braves!
Will ye give it up to slaves?
Will ye look for greener graves?
Hope ye mercy still?

What's the mercy despots feel!
Hear it in that battle peal!
Read it on yon bristling steel!
Ask it-ye who will.

Fear ye foes who kill for hire?
Will ye to your homes retire?
Look behind you! they're afire!
And, before you, see

Who have done it!-From the vale
On they come !—and will ye quail ?—
Leaden rain and iron hail

Let their welcome be !

In the God of battles trust!
Die we may-and die we must :-
But, O, where can dust to dust

Be consigned so well,

As where heaven its dews shall shed
On the martyred patriot's bed,

And the rocks shall raise their head,*
Of his deeds to tell!

LESSON CXXX.

Extract from an Address at the Laying of the Corner Stone of the Bunker Hill Monument, 17th June, 1825.-D. Webster.

THE great event in the history of the continent, which we are now met here to commemorate; that prodigy of

*On the 17th of June, 1825, half a century from the day of the battle, the corner stone of a granite monument was laid on the ground where War

ren fell.

modern times, at once the wonder and the blessing of the world, is the American revolution. In a day of extraordinary prosperity and happiness, of high national honour, distinction, and power, we are brought together, in this place by our love of country, by our admiration of exalted character, by our gratitude for signal services and patriotic devotion. The society, whose organ I am, was formed for the purpose of rearing some honourable and durable monument to the memory of the early friends of American independence. They have thought, that, for this object, no time could be more propitious than the present prosperous and peaceful period; that no place could claim preference over this memorable spot; and that no day could be more auspicious to the undertaking, than the anniversary of the battle which was here fought. The foundation of that monument we have now laid. With solemnities suited to the occasion, with prayers to almighty God for his blessing, and in the midst of this cloud of witnesses, we have begun the work. We trust it will be prosecuted; and that, springing from a broad foundation, rising high in massive solidity and unadorned grandeur, it may remain, as long as Heaven permits the works of man to last, a fit emblem, both of the events in memory of which it is raised, and of the gratitude of those who have raised it.

We know, indeed, that the record of illustrious actions is most safely deposited in the universal remembrance of mankind. We know, that, if we could cause this structure to ascend, not only till it reached the skies, but till it pierced them, its broad surfaces could still contain but part of that, which, in an age of knowledge, hath already been spread over the earth, and which history charges itself with making known to all future times. We know, that no inscription, on entablatures less broad than the earth itself, can carry information of the events we commemorate where it has not already gone; and that no structure, which shall not outlive the duration of letters and knowledge among men, can prolong the memorial. But our object is, by this edifice, to show our own deep sense of the value and importance of the achievements of our ancestors; and, by presenting this work of gratitude to the eye, to keep alive similar sentiments, and to foster a constant regard for the prin ciples of the revolution. Human beings are composed not of reason only, but of imagination, also, and sentiment, and that is neither wasted nor misapplied, which is appro

priated to the purpose of giving right direction to sentiments, and opening proper springs of feeling in the heart. Let it not be supposed, that our object is to perpetuate national hostility, or even to cherish a mere military spirit. It is higher, purer, nobler. We consecrate our work to the spirit of national independence, and we wish that the light of peace may rest upon it forever. We rear a memorial of our conviction of that unmeasured benefit, which has been conferred on our own land, and of the happy influences, which have been produced, by the same events, on the general interests of mankind. We come, as Americans, to mark a spot, which must forever be dear to us and our posterity. We wish, that whosoever, in all coming time, shall turn his eye hither, may behold that the place is not undistinguished, where the first great battle of the revolution was fought. We wish, that this structure may proclaim the magnitude and importance of that event, to every class and every age. We wish, that infancy may learn the purpose of its erection from maternal lips, and that weary and withered age may behold it, and be solaced by the recollections which it suggests. We wish. that labour may look up here, and be proud in the midst of its toil. We wish, that, in those days of disaster, which, as they come on all nations, must be expected to come on us also, desponding patriotism may turn its eyes hitherward, and be assured that the foundations of our national power still stand strong. We wish, that this column, rising towards heaven among the pointed spires of so many temples dedicated to God, may contribute also to produce, in all minds, a pious feeling of dependence and gratitude. We wish, finally, that the last object on the sight of him who leaves his native shore, and the first to gladden his who revisits it, may be something which shall remind him of the liberty and the glory of his country. Let it rise, till it meet the sun in his coming; let the earliest light of the morning gild it, and parting day linger and play on its summit.

LESSON CXXXI.

Address to the Survivors of the Bunker Hill Battle, and of the Revolutionary Army.—From the same.

NOTWITHSTANDING that I have given but a faint abstract of the things which have happened since the day of the battle

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