; and so at
last they came to what somebody has called gunpowder law, that is to
say, fighting.

I need not enter on the events of the war. It ended in the triumph of
the American settlers, and in the declaration of American independence
and the formation of the United States. The foremost man, both as a
statesman and a soldier, in the conduct of the war, on the part of the
Americans, was George Washington. He was elected three times to the
presidency, and no name is more revered than his by the Americans.

Since the separation of America from England, more than one quarrel has
occurred between them. That which most vitally touches the future
prosperity of the states is the warfare which now rages between the
northern and southern sections of the republic. Most of you are aware
that slavery prevails to a great extent in America. The negroes or
blacks (the word _negro_ means _black_) are more particularly found in
the southern states. The northern states do not _hold_ slaves, but they
have so far _held_ with slavery as to give up runaways, and tolerate the
laws which make a man--because he was black--a mere beast of burden. A
quarrel, however, on this question, and others of minor importance, has
at last broken out between the north and south. The southerners have
separated from the northerners, and established a new republic of their
own. Their _right_ to do this has been denied by the north, and a civil
war has commenced in consequence. What may be the final result it is
impossible for any one to predict. The quarrel threatened at one time to
involve a war with England; but this is no longer apprehended. It seems
a very sad thing that a people so clever, so enterprising, so prosperous
as the Americans, should, by a quarrel and separation among themselves,
endanger--if they do not entirely overthrow--one of the most important
states in the world. We cannot forget what it is that lies at the bottom
of the mischief--SLAVERY.

"O execrable crime! so to aspire
Above our brethren, to ourselves assuming
Authority usurped from God, not given.
He gave us only over beast, fish, fowl,
Dominion absolute; that right we hold
By his donation: but man over man
He made not lord--such title to himself
Reserving, human left from human free."

I may now tell you something about some of the chief cities in the
United States.

New York is the principal seaport and commercial metropolis of the
States. It is situated