ave rights; I have stated them. We have wrongs; I have
recounted them. I have demonstrated that the party now coming into
power has declared us outlaws, and is determined to exclude thousands
of millions of our property from the common territory; that it has
declared us under the ban of the Union, and out of the protection of
the laws of the United States everywhere. They have refused to protect
us from invasion and insurrection by the Federal power, and the
Constitution denies to us, in the Union, the right to raise fleets and
armies for our own defence. All these charges I have proven by the
record; and I put them before the civilized world and demand the
judgment of to-day, of to-morrow, of distant ages, and of Heaven
itself, upon the justice of these causes. I am content, whatever it
be, to peril all in so holy a cause. We have appealed, time and again,
for these constitutional rights. You have refused them. We appeal
again. Restore us those rights as we had them; as your Court adjudges
them to be; just as our people have said they are. Redress these
flagrant wrongs--seen of all men--and it will restore fraternity, and
unity, and peace to us all. Refuse them, and what then? We shall then
ask you, "Let us depart in peace."[18] Refuse that, and you present us
war. We accept it, and, inscribing upon our banners the glorious
words, "Liberty and Equality," we will trust to the blood of the brave
and the God of battles for security and tranquility.

FOOTNOTES:

[17] By permission of the Cassell Publishing Company, N. Y.

[18] All we ask is to be let alone--Jefferson Davis.

OCTAVIA WALTON LE VERT.

~1810=1877.~

MADAME LE VERT, as she is usually styled, was born at Bellevue near
Augusta, Georgia, and was reared in Pensacola, Florida. She was a
granddaughter of George Walton, signer of the Declaration of
Independence, and daughter of George Walton, governor of Florida. She
learned languages easily and conversed well in French, Spanish, and
Italian. LaFayette said of her: "A truly wonderful child! She has been
conversing with intelligence and tact in the purest French. I predict
for her a brilliant career." She gave the name to the capital of
Florida, Tallahassee, a Seminole word meaning "beautiful land." She
spent several seasons in Washington; and she wrote such excellent
accounts of the speeches in Congress, that Calhoun, Webster, and Clay
frequently asked her to read to them their own speeches from her