their first act was to return their thanks to that Providence, which had protected them in their voyage across the ocean. Before they left their vessel, they prescribed and established a form of government, in which they declared they had undertaken to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith, and for the honor of their King and country. What a contrast is presented between the humble appearance and the lowly and subdued spirit, but firm purpose, of these self-expatriated men, and the Spanish invasion, with

"The neighing steed and the shrill trump,

The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife,
The royal banner, and all quality,

Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war."

The English colonists were impelled by their high regard for the rights of conscience; the Spanish conquerors, by the thirst for gold. The bible and magna charta were borne by the one, and the sword, the cross, and papal decrees by the other. The physical and moral results are before the world, and promise to go down to after ages, furnishing one of the most impressive lessons in the whole history of man.

A spirit of religious liberty, similar to that which led to the planting of New England, though in less intolerant periods, gave birth to two other States of our Union, and all of them, that were early settled, were settled without the aid of Government, and by individual enterprise and suffering. Virginia preceded all her sister colonies in the career of settlement, and the first permanent establishment, made in the United States, was upon the bank of her noble river, which still washes the deserted site of Jamestown, her early metropolis. The STARVING-TIME yet lives in her annals, and the term expressively depicts one of the terrible calamities to which the founders of our republic were exposed; and which leave to their descendants but little room for the exercise of fortitude in the compara

tively easy process of extending the dominion of cultivation, from the secure lodgments made by such sacrifices, even to the far-distant ocean upon our western border. Seldom has the most wayward imagination imbodied such ideal adventures, as mark the character of this period, carrying the romance of life to the very verge of credibility. The almost miraculous preservation of Captain Smith, the hero of this age of enterprise, from the doom pronounced upon him by the Indian chief, Powhatan, may well vie in interest with any incident, that has come down to us. The appeal of Pocahontas to her father, that the white stranger might live, and her noble interposition in his favor, furnish an admirable illustration of the deep affections of a woman's heart. Clime, color, age, nation, these are but adventitious circumstances, when danger or distress makes its appearance, and female benevolence is ready with its consolations to relieve the sufferings of life, or to assuage the terrors of death. And it is satisfactory to know, that this ingenuous female afterwards found the reward of her charity; that she was married to a respectable clergyman, became a convert to the Christian faith, and acquired the accomplishments of the age. This union led to a close connexion and to a long friendship between the emigrants and the rude natives, which was not interrupted till after the death of the Indian chieftain. His daughter visited Europe, and was graciously received by royalty. Her descendants yet survive among the most respectable families of Virginia. They may well look back with pride to the virtues of their progenitor.

These colonies, thus founded, have now become a mighty people. With what progress and prospects, it needs not that I should tell. Nor is it necessary, for any purpose I have in view, to run a parallel between them and the other independent Governments which occupy this continent. The difference, however, is sufficiently obvious to justify an inquiry into the cause. And what is this cause? A full answer to

the question, involving all the considerations connected with it, would carry me far beyond the limits I have prescribed to myself, and would, indeed, require illustrations I feel unable to present. But the seeds of freedom, civil and religious, were sown by the English colonists. These have sprung up and borne the goodly fruit of improvement and prosperity. The true principles, indeed, of the rights of government and of conscience were not fully understood, when the English settlements were commenced; and still less when Spain laid the foundation of hers. But the Anglo-Saxon race had long possessed institutions, whose tendency was favorable to the developement of the human faculties, and to the gradual melioration of their political system. When the causes, resulting from this state of things, were once in full operation, these people sprang forward in the great race of improvement, and identified themselves with the advance of knowledge through the globe. Where these advantages were unfelt, exertion was paralyzed, education neglected, and the human faculties rendered stationary.

There are six periods in the history of the United States, separated by epochs, which resemble the elevations in the journey of a traveller, that enable him to stop and contemplate the country he has passed. These periods are different in interest and duration; but each is marked by an historical unity, necessary to bind together detached portions of any great course of events. It is by this distribution into groups, that the human mind finds itself able to grasp the vast variety of incidents, which make up the annals of a country. These divisions may be denominated the period of the discovery, extending from the time this part of the continent became known to Europeans, to their first permanent establishment; of settlement, including the long interval between this establishment and the conquest of Canada; of civil dissension, commencing immediately thereafter, and terminating in open resistance; of revolution, including the war of independence;

of the confederation, reaching from the conclusion of peace to the adoption of the present Government; and of the constitution, extending to our own times. These designations have no claim to actual precision. They indicate only the leading features of each period, those which gave to it its peculiar characteristics.

It is no part of my object to detain you by a formal dissertation upon our history, colonial or independent. I restrict myself to a few general observations, connecting these eras with the practical purposes of our association.

The spirit of adventure, which displayed itself in the voyages of maritime discovery, from the middle of the fifteenth to the middle of the seventeenth centuries, was one of the most striking characteristics of modern times. There was, in these perilous efforts, a strange combination of daring enterprise, of patient fortitude, of avaricious cupidity, of mercantile speculation, and of enlarged philosophical views; and all these were frequently intermingled with religious enthusiasm. This last trait is singularly and almost irreverently exemplified by the watchword and countersign given out by Frobisher, when his fleet was prepared to sail upon his principal voyage of discovery. The one was, Before the world was God; and the other, After God came Christ his son. Portugal sent out Vasco de Gama to explore a route to Hindostan, and to open for the west a path through the ocean to the rich products of the east. And his successful voyage round the southern promontory of Africa, furnished Camoens one of the most splendid episodes which genius ever invented, or taste embellished. And the Spirit of the unknown ocean, who rose up to defend his dominion from the audacious stranger, will ever live in the Lusitanian poem, though he has long since been driven from the seat of his mysterious power by the fleets that have ploughed every wave, from the Bay of Biscay to the Chinese sea.

Spain accepted the proffered services of Columbus, and has identified her own name with the discovery of a world. How easily does the course of human events baffle human sagacity! At the time the little fleet, destined to produce such a revolution in physical geography, and to open the way for such wonderful changes, left the shores of Spain, her inhabitants looked back to the achievements of the past, and boasted of the renown of their ancestors, as the real treasure of national glory. They were proud, chivalrous, and great. Yet that small naval expedition, which was then sailing over a trackless ocean, and which had departed almost without observation, was destined to add imperishable fame to the Spanish name. Her martial glories have faded away, her names of renown are disregarded or forgotten, but the inscription upon her escutcheon, the evidence of her spirit of adventure, still remains. Her heraldic pillars yet bear the motto of "Plus ultra," and while her language is spoken over the vast regions she first explored and settled, history will award to her the name of the DISCOVERER.

England and France soon followed in the race of adventure. The French navigators Verrazani, Cartier, and Champlain, and the English Cabots, Willoughby, Chancellor, Frobisher, Hudson, and Baffin extended the boundaries of geographical knowledge. The improvements, which have since taken place in ship-building and navigation, render almost incredible the authenticated statements of the size and equipments of the vessels employed in these hazardous enterprises. The flag-ship of Columbus was less than one hundred tons, and three of his vessels were half-decked shallops. Frobisher performed his first voyage with two small barks, one of twenty-five, and one of twenty tons, and a pinnance of ten tons. And Davis commenced his career of adventure with two vessels, the Sunshine, of fifty tons, and the Moonshine, of thirty-five. And this was the