In the holy records of antiquity, we have two examples of a confederation ruptured by the severance of its members, one of which resulted, after three desperate battles, in the extermination of the seceding tribe.

And the victorious people, instead of exulting in shouts of triumph, came to the house of God, and abode there till even, before God; and lifted up their voices, and wept sore, and said,--O Lord God of Israel why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to-day one tribe lacking in Israel?
The other was a successful example of resistance against tyrannical taxation, and severed forever the confederacy, the fragments forming separate kingdoms; and from that day their history presents an unbroken series of disastrous' alliances, and exterminating wars--of assassinations, conspiracies, revolts, and rebellions, until both parts of the confederacy sunk into tributary servitude to the nations around them; till the countrymen of David and Solomon hung their harps upon the willows of Babylon, and were totally lost amidst the multitudes of the Chaldean and Assyrian monarchies, 'the most despised portion of their slaves.' "In these mournful memorials of their fate, we may behold the sure, too sure prognostication of our own, from the hour when force shall be substituted for deliberation, in the settlement of our constitutional questions.

This is the deplorable alternative--the extirpation of the seceding member, or the never-ceasing struggle of two rival confederacies, ultimately bending the neck of both under the yoke of foreign domination, or the despotic sovereignty of a conqueror at home.

May heaven avert the omen! The destinies, not only of our posterity, but of the human race, are at stake.
"Let no such melancholy forebodings intrude upon the festivities of this anniversary.

Serene skies and balmy breezes are not congenial to the climate of freedom.