Winchester had been defeated, when the army of the Northwest had
surrendered, and when the feeling of despondency hung like a cloud over the
land,--who first relit the fires of national glory, and made the welkin
ring with the shouts of victory? It was the American sailor. And the names
of Hull and the Constitution will be remembered as long as we have left
anything worth remembering.

The wand of British invincibility was broken when the flag of the Guerriere
came down. That one event was worth more to the Republic than all the money
which has ever been expended for the navy. Since that day the navy has had
no stain upon its escutcheon, but has been cherished as your pride and
glory. And the American sailor has established a reputation throughout the
world,--in peace and in war, in storm and in battle,--for heroism and
prowess unsurpassed. He shrinks from no danger, he dreads no foe, he yields
to no superior. No shoals are too dangerous, no seas too boisterous, no
climate too rigorous for him. The burning sun of the tropic cannot make him
effeminate, nor can the eternal winter of the polar seas paralyze his
energies.
R. F. Stockton.


XI.

MORALITY, THE FOUNDATION OF NATIONAL GREATNESS.

When we look forward to the probable growth of this country; when we think
of the millions of human beings who are to spread over our present
territory; of the career of improvement and glory open to this new people;
of the impulse which free institutions, if prosperous, may be expected to
give to philosophy, religion, science, literature, and arts; of the vast