shall chase away the lazy, lingering class, even from the base of the great
social pyramid;--this indeed is a high calling, in which the most splendid
talents and consummate virtue may well press onward, eager to bear a part.
Lord Brougham.


II.

ROLLA TO THE PERUVIANS.

My brave associates--partners of my toil, my feelings, and my fame! Can
Rolla's words add vigor to the virtuous energies which inspire your
hearts?--No! You have judged, as I have, the foulness of the crafty plea,
by which these bold invaders would delude you. Your generous spirit has
compared, as mine has, the motives which, in a war like this, can animate
their minds and ours.

They, by a strange frenzy driven, fight for power, for plunder, and
extended rule;--we, for our country, our altars, and our homes. They follow
an adventurer whom they fear, and obey a power which they hate;--we serve a
monarch whom we love,--a God whom we adore. Wherever they move in anger,
desolation tracks their progress. Wherever they pause in amity, affliction
mourns their friendship.

They boast they come but to improve our state, enlarge our thoughts, and
free us from the yoke of error! Yes;--they will give enlightened freedom to
our minds, who are themselves the slaves of passion, avarice, and pride.
They offer us their protection! Yes, such protections as vultures give to
lambs,--covering and devouring them! They call on us to barter all the good
we have inherited and proved, for the desperate chance of something better,