26 



THE GBOUNDSWELL. 



and superstition. That groundswell was a fearful thing, 

 wave following wave, until every city and hamlet in France 

 had been baptized with the bloody spray. Every nation in 

 Europe felt the successive shocks, and before their force was 

 fully expended, more than one of them found themselves 

 stranded on the shores of the nineteenth century, in the 

 condition of battered wrecks after a storm. 



The Ke volution in our own country was another ground- 

 swell of gigantic proportions, having a corresponding origin 

 in the resentment of a high-spirited people against manifest 

 injustice. The monarchical principle was virtually swept 



&quot;Thou, too, Sail On!&quot; 



from the continent, and the founders of our glorious repub 

 lic were left free to build, broad and strong, the framework 

 of a popular government, the very best ever launched upon 

 the sea of Time. 



Let us hope also that it will prove the most enduring ; for 

 what American heart but thrills to the prayer in song of 

 our best-loved poet 



