Their arms are strong and sinewy--see how the splinters fly-- Their axes they are sharp and good--"Back, comrades! or ye die-- Look to the walls!"--a rending crash--they topple--down they come-- A cloud of sparks--a feeble cheer--again!--and all is dumb. A pause--as on that battle-day, 'twixt France and England's might, When huge L'Orient blew up at once, in the hottest of the fight: There was not one, they say, but wink'd, and held his breath the while, Though brave were they that fought that day with Nelson at the Nile. And by to-morrow's sunrise, amid the steaming stones, A chain of gold half-melted, and a few small white bones, And a few rags of roasted flesh, alone shall show where died-- The noble and the beautiful, the baby and the bride! O fire, he is a noble thing!--the sot's pipe gives him birth; Or from the livid thunder-cloud he leaps alive on earth; Or in the western wilderness devouring silently; Or on the lava rocking in the womb of Stromboli. Right well in Hamburg revell'd he--though Elbe ran rolling by-- He could have drain'd--so fierce his thirst--the mighty river dry! With silk, and gold, and diamond, he cramm'd his hungry maw; And he tamed the wild republicans, who knew nor lord nor law! He feasted well in Moscow--in the city of the Tsar-- When 'fore the northern streamers paled Napoleon's lurid star: Around the hoary Kremlin, where Moscow once had stood, He pass'd, and left a heap behind, of ashes slaked in blood! He feasted once in London--he feasted best of all-- When through the close-packed city, he swept from wall to wall: Even as of old the wrath of God came down in fiery rain, On Sodom and Gomorrha, on the Cities of the Plain! * * * * * POSITION AND PROSPECTS OF THE GOVERNMENT. A recruited revenue; reviving trade and commerce; reduction in the price of provisions; the triumphant termination of hostilities in all parts of the world, with its great immediate prospective advantages: a general feeling of confidence, arising from the steady administration of public affairs, in spite of persevering and atrocious efforts to excite dissatisfaction and alarm; nay, even the stern repose prevailing in Ireland, preserved though it be, for a while, under cover of artillery, and at the bayonet's point, but affording a precious respite from agitation, and a foretaste of the blessings that may be expected from its permanent suppression: all these circumstances unequivocally attest the existence of a powerful Government acting upon a comprehensive and enduring policy, which is becoming daily better appreciated by the strong good sense which ever distinguishes the British character, when a fair opportunity is afforded for its exercise.