death-wound of that Parliament, produced at once the shortest and the
grandest funeral oration that ever was or could be made upon the departure
of a great court of magistracy. When he pronounced the death sentence upon
that Parliament, and inflicted the mortal wound, he declared that his
motives for doing it were merely political, and that their hands were as
pure as those of justice itself, which they administered--a great and
glorious exit, my Lords, of a great and glorious body!

My Lords, if you must fall, may you so fall! But, if you stand, and stand I
trust you will, together with the fortunes of this ancient
monarchy--together with the ancient laws and liberties of this great and
illustrious kingdom, may you stand as unimpeached in honor as in power; may
you stand, not as a substitute for virtue, but as an ornament of virtue, as
a security for virtue; may you stand long, and long stand the terror of
tyrants; may you stand the refuge of afflicted Nations; may you stand a
sacred temple, for the perpetual residence of an inviolable justice!
E. Burke.


CXLVIII.

THE CRISIS OF THE NATION.

Lay hold on this opportunity of our salvation, Conscript Fathers,--by the
Immortal Gods I conjure you!--and remember that you are the foremost men
here, in the council chamber of the whole earth. Give one sign to the
Roman people that even as now they pledge their valor--so you pledge your
wisdom to the crisis of the State. But what need that I exhort you? Is
there one so insensate as not to understand that if we sleep over an
occasion such as this, it is ours to bow our necks to a tyranny not proud