descend, carrying destruction
into the valley. But the force of gravitation is necessary to bring it
down and give it the impetus of ruin. So the might of a great people may
be poised on some lofty pinnacle of human destiny; but unless there he
involved in the existing sentiments and convictions, the situation and
surroundings of that people, the elements of force and action, for good
or evil, no individual agency and no combination of men can impart the
power which they lack. All that was required among the Southern people,
for the initiation of this gigantic rebellion, was some universal
animating idea, capable of binding them together in unanimous accord,
imparting the necessary force and velocity in the direction of treason,
when started and impelled by the efforts of their leading men. Slavery
was just such a principle; it was the gravitating power which hurled
them down the precipice, and gave the tremendous impetus of ruin which
they have exerted in their awful descent. But, in truth, this
mischievous power has been accumulating ever since the Government was
founded. It grew out of the antecedents of existing society; and the
present generation is not wholly responsible for it. The misfortunes of
our fathers, their omissions and errors as well as ours, have left this
fatal legacy to descend into our hands. We may not have dealt with it
wisely, but assuredly the framers of the Constitution did not intend
slavery to be perpetual, nor did they provide for it the power to
overthrow the Government.

ON GUARD.

In the black terror-night,
On yon mist-shrouded hill,
Slowly, with footstep light,
Stealthy, and grim, and still,
Like ghost in winding sheet
Risen at midnight bell,
Over his lonely beat
Marches the sentinel!

In storm-defying cloak--
Hand on his trusty gun--
Heart, like a heart of oak--
Eye, never-setting sun;
Speaks but the challenge-shout,
All foes without the line,
Heeds but, to solve the doubt,
Watchword and countersign.

Camp-ward, the watchfires gleam
Beacon-like in the gloom;
Round them his comrades dream
Pictures of youth and home.
While in his heart the bright
Hope-fires shine everywhere,
In love's enchanting light
Memory lies dreaming there.

Faint, through the silence come
From the foes' grim array,
Growl of impatient dram
Eager for morrow's fray;
Echo of son