Coun $2.00 per Annum WOR. 4. "All extremes are error, the opposite of error is not truth but error; truth lies between the extremes," in advance. STRATFORD, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 1863. NO. 7. Original Poetry. PIII Lines on the Death of a Brother. mee ~~ BY JOHN BIGGIN. Oh, brother Charles why do we mourn, Why do we mourn for thee, When thou art gone to Heaven above With Jesus there to be. We mourn for you not as one dead, But as one gone before ; And we will strive to meet you there, Upon that happy shore. Thy heart no more shall warmly beat, Thy tongue no more sball lisp our name,-- But in that bright and shining world Thou'lt speak the Saviour's fame. And we will strive to meet you there, When all life's woes are o'er ; When death has come to call us home, We'll meet you on that shore. Thy sufferings nerE, my brother dear, " Were very great indeed,-- But THere thou art from every care, From every sorrow freed. THE ROMAN EMPERORS. BY JONN S. C. ABBOTT, morcmemmnas the first Christian ; mperor. At the commencement of the fourth cen- tury Christianity had made such rapid pro- gress that there were flourishing churches and spacious temples of Christian worship in nearly all parts of the Roman world. In- deed, in about a century after the death of of Christ, Justin Martyr writes: "There exists not a people, whether Greek or barbarian, or any other race of men, by whatever appellation or manners they may be distinguished, however ignor- ant of arts or agriculture, whether they dwell in tents or wander about in cover- ed waggons--among whom prayers are not offered up in the name of a crucified Jesus, to the Father and creator of all things," The pagan emperors had often assailed Christianity with the most merciless perse- cution. This persecution, however, had not been continuous, but spasmodic, at times raging like the tempest, and again dying away into a perfect calm. If anything went wrong, pagan superstition attributed it to the displeasure of the idols because Christi- anity had caused their shrines to be desert- ed. Tertullian, an earnest Christian pastor in Carthage, wrote, about the middle of the second century :-- "Tf the Tiber overflowed; if there were famine or plague ; if the season were cold or dry or scorching, whateyer public calam- ity happened, the universal ery of the popu- lace was, 'To the lions with the Chris- tians.'"' Helena, the beautiful first wife of Con- stantius, and mother of Constantine, was a Christian, Constantius himself had no re- spect for the absurdities of paganism, and though not an acknowledged disciple of Jesus, was so far influenced by his pious wife, as warmly to befriend the advocates of the new religion. He had chaplains in the palace who openly and devoutly prayed for the Emperor. All through history we see the wondrous power of a pious mother. Helena was a sincere Christian. It was doubtless her pure life which influenced her son to yield to those influences by which God led him to embrace the gospel. Helena amidst all the vicissitudes of the times, was the munificent friend of the Christians, until at the age of eighty years she fell asleep, a true mother in Israel. ggg~In the palace and in the cottage alike, it is maternal piety which has been the great blessing of the earth. -@3a The narrative of the conversion of Con- stantine is given by Eusebius, Bishop of the church at Nicomedia. | He was one of the ablest writers and most eloquent preachers of the age. He says that he had the nar- rative from the lips of the Emperor himself, and that Constantine, conscious of the im- portance that the wonderful event should be well substantiated, confirmed it with the so- lemnity of anoath. As the Emperor could have had no object in perjuring himself, and as such a crime is entirely foreign to his character, we must receive the statement as in accordance with the honest convictions of the Emperor. Maxentius, a determined pagan, bitterly hostile to Christianity, raised the standard of revolt. At the head of an army of 170,- 000 foot and 18,000 horse, he bade defiance to Constantine. ©The Emperor, with won- derful alacrity, marched from Rome, and, crossing the Alps by the pass of Mt. Cerus, descended into the plains of Piedmont. The two armies met at the distance of but nine miles from the towers of Rome. Con- stantine had but forty thousand troops to encounter the enormous array of the foe. His legions, however, were veterans, march- ing from their fierce battles with the hardy Britons. The troops of Maxentius were composed of the more effeminate men of the East. In view of the terrific and decisive battle which was to ensue, Constantine was earn- estly praying, in his tent, at noon, to the God whom his mother had revealed to him. While praying he observed a remarkable appearance in the Heavens. Suddenly there emerged, from the opening azure, in won- derful distinctness and effulgence, a cross with the inscription upon it, ' Hoe vince" -- By this thou shalt conquer. While Con- stantine was pondering the significance of this sign, night came on. In a dream Christ appeared to Constantine, with the same cross which he had seen in the heavens, and directed a banner to be made, after the same pattern, and beneath that banner to lead his army to victory over their pagan foes. The directions thus given were followed minutely, devoutly, prayerfully. In the meantime Maxentius was preparing for the strife by idolatrous sacrifices, and by invoking the aid of all the gods of pagan Rome. The battle was long, desperate, sanguin- ary. Constantine was the victor. The deféat of Maxentius was hopeless and entire. In endeavouring to escape with a mass of fugitives across the Milvian bridge, he was crowded into the river, and, from the weight of his armour, sank like lead to the bottom. The next day his body was dragged from the mud, the head cut off and placed upon a pole. -- Constantine in triumph entered Rome. Whatever construction modern incredulity may place upon this narrative, whether it be regarded as a miracle, or as the effect of the excited imagination of Constantine, this seems to be certain, that Constantine de- elared under the solemnities of an oath, that he had seen this vision ; that in consequence of it he raised the banner of the cross over his army; that he taught his soldiers to re- vere this banner as divine ; and that from that hour he implored the aid of the God of the Christians, and endeavoured, by the overthrow of idols and the establishment of churches, to make Christianity supreme throughout the empire. Immediately after the battle in which Constantine was signally victorious, he is- sued a decree announcing to the world that he attributed the victory to divine aid. He declared himself a convert to Christianity. He demanded that all persecution of Chris- tians should cease, and that there should immediately be restored to them all the property and rights of which they-had been deprived. A nominal Christian Emperor was now for the first time on the throne of the Ro- man Empire. We say a nominal Christian, for the conversion of the Emperor seems, at this time, to have been intellectual rather than spiritual. Still the event was one of most momentous importance. It invested Christianity, in the eyes of the community, with new dignity; it emboldened the timid, and inspired the resolute with renovated zeal. Paganism had received death blow. The Pagan party were soon heard com- plaining that almost all were forsaking the worship of the idol gods, and were joining themselves to the Christian party. But such a system as the idolatrous worship of Rome, interwoven into poetry, eloquence, statuary, and all the manners and customs of life, does not perish in an hour. It lin- gered still for ages in its dying struggles. The convulsions of the times subsided for a period in such a way as to divide the Empire into halves. A man by the name of Lycinius governed in the East, while Constantine reigned over the west. They, however, soon came to blows. On the morning of the 8th of October, 315, they met, at the head of their armies, in the valley of the Danube, to decide who should be master of the world. Lycinius was van- quished. Once more he rallied his troops on the banks of the Hellespont. Here he was crushed, and Constantine reigned su- preme. -In the proclamation which followed the Emperor says devoutly :-- "T invoke Thee, the Supreme God. Be- stow upon all, through me, thy servant, sal- vation. And well may I ask this of Thee, Lord of the Universe, Holy God; for by the leading of thy hand have I accomplished all. Every where preceded by the cross, I lead my armies. Everywhere I follow the cross, the symbol of thy power. Hence I consecrate to Thee my soul, imbued with love and fear. Sincerely I love Thy name and venerate Thy power, which Thou hast revealed to me by so many proofs, and by which Thou hast confirmed my faith." One tragic event in the life of Constantine |. deserves record. As a second wife he married a beautiful woman named Fausta, much younger than himself, about the age of his own noble-looking son, Crispus. Fausta fell in love with Crispus, like Potiphar's wife with Joseph. Crispus, like Joseph, repelled her wicked advances. Ex- emplifying the saying,--"Hell has ne fury like a woman scorned," Fausta ac- cused Crispus of the most atrocious crime. The impetuous father, in frenzy, ordered his innocent son to be led to instant execu- tion. His headless body was hardly in the tomb ere the truth became known. In a delirium of agony Congyantine ordered his wife to be drowned in her bath. The Emperor neyer smiled again. For forty days he fasted with tears and groans. Religion henceforth became his only solace. He died praying, trusting, weeping, at his palace in Nicomedia, in May, 337; after a reign of 31 years. A Plea for British American Na- tionality, BY THE HONOURABLE THOMAS D'ARCY MCGEE M. P,P. It is as natural for those who think at all, to think of the future, as it is to look about us when we enter a strange town, or above us, when the atmosphere portends a change. How we shall best provide against the needs of old age? How we shall direct our children? In what pursuits shall their lives be des- tined to pass? These are the domestic spe- culations the solution of which, for every fireside projector, lies in the future, far or near, obscure or yisible. Mighty is the at- traction and despotic the influence exercised over loving hearts and far forecasting judg- ments by the Time-to-be. And rightly is it so: man's divine prerogative of reason so elevates him above the animal necessities of the present, as to extend his sceptre in the direction of his Master's, over time as well as oyer space. The husbandman, as he sows, the lumberman as he sends his axemen into a remote limit, the merchant whose or- ders to Cuba, or China, are calculated for next year's market, are all asserting the do- minion of mind over the months and seasons, over the unknown and the distant days. Why, not, the publicist--be he writer, orator, or legislator, take careful council also, for his country's future profit, honor and increase ? He sows not for a season but for an age, or, perhaps, for many ages; he fells the timbers of edifices which are intend- éd to withstand the assaults of time; he brings wealth and wisdom from afar to suit not the consumption of the year but the per- petual need of myriads of his fellow men, for order, liberty, truth, and law.. Who, then, shall say that statesmanship has no concern with tomorrow ? that its plans shall be as fleeting as the hour? that its objects shall be as ephemeral as the fashions of our garments, or the passing fancies out of which those fashions are woven ? There is, we all know, a very ancient school of politicians, not without disciples among ourselves, whose fayorite argument is, to let the future take care of itself. With them the base unkingly consolation of Louis XV., that the monarchy would last his time is the essence of wisdom. Like all other sham philosophies, this one is prolifie in smart sayings, resembling in this respect certain plants which bear nothing, but make nevertheless a great show of stalks and foli- age. "Let every case be judged as it arises;" neever do to-day what can be deferred till to-morrow ;" "don't affirm abstract princi- ples ;" "least said, soonest mended.'"' These are the proverbs by which this hand-to-mouth school regulate their conduct, and satisfy their adher nts. A policy more unsuited for the region of North America at any time --and most of all at this time--it is surely impossible to imagine. A policy more re- pressive of mental activity amongst us-- more stunting and dwarfing to its own dis- ciples--more fatal to the formation of a bold patriotic youthhood--more unprincipled, unmanly, and drivelling, it is impossible, in our circumstances, to conceive. The King of France already quoted, who was its high- est personation, bequeathed his successor to the guillotine, and his kingdom to the Jaco- bins, In the years in which it was possible for him to have redeemed the crown, he mortgaged it so heavily in the contempt and hatred of his subjects, that another and far worthier generation paid, with the forfeit of their blood, for his besotted indifferance to growing dangers and accumulating innova- tions. Least said; is indeed, on such sub- jects, soonest mended, when it is sillily said ; but a free press, in a free society, that does not utter its fearless rebuke of this laissez- faire policy, writes its own worst libels on itself. The future of British North America, in which Canada has the deepest stake of all the Provinces, begins, we rejoice to see, to excite yery serious discussions in many quarters. It wassaid two years ago, in our House of Assembly, that "the first shot fired at Fort Sumpter had a message for us"-- Canadians. That message was not necessa-' rily a hostile one. On the contrary, inas- much as it seemed to say, rather in warning than in menace, "Prepare!" it might be considered to have done us a friendly office. But for what--supposing this to be its true meaning--or against what, were we to be prepared? If a new North America was ushered into existence by that Charleston cannonade, how far were we involved in the reyolution? Physically, we cannot cut adrift from the burning ship; commercially, we cannot hope to escape the business derange- ment; politically, does it concern us,-- nothing ? Altogether irrespective of the civil war, it seems to us the time could not haye been far distant when Canada would have been compelled either to draw nearer to the United States politically, or to sheer farther off from them. Had the Union retained its centrality, the law of attraction, which resides as much in organized masses as in inaminate matter, would have drawn these separated colonies, with irresistable force, towards New York and Washington. A Zollverein or customs union might haye been the next step towards the identification of institutions. And, condemn as we may, the Montreal Annexation Movement of 1849, it is certain that there was a good deal to be said then in its favor, which only time could have answered--and which time, it may be added, has pretty conclusively an- swered since. But now it would be a graye mistake to forget that the annexation ques- tion may be forced on us in another shape by the other party--the adjacent Northern and Western States. -The new political ne- cessities of their position, the ever-increasing bulk of their commerce, must lead them to desire a closer union of interests withCanada. Our future is not, we may rest assured, a thing unthought of among their shrewd speculators. At Chicago it has long occu- pied that large share of public attention which is too often denied to it at Quebec. And if urged from that quarter--as they Ke may hereafter urge it--it will not be in a hostile but in a business-like spirit; they will endeavour to find partisans for their projects among every class of our own peo- ple; they can appeal powerfully to some of our most public requirements; they will have a potent word to say to farmers and forwarders, the shareholders in illpaying lines, and projectors of new routes of traffic ; on the Georgian Bay and the Upper Ottawa, on the Welland and at Montreal, it would be unwise to conclude that the arguments for tions, have been exhausted. To combat these arguments by others, drawn from the cost, waste, and burthens of the civil war, will hardly be sufficient. The Americans may answer that enormous as their expen- diture has been, it has only gone to show the immensity of their resources; that as they have proved their ability to keep 700,- 000 men under arms, to feed, pay, and throw them away, it isin vain for these smaller and poorer Provinces to resist their '"mani- fest destiny." This will be their line of reasoning ; it is not, indeed, unanswerable ; but if we descend to combat material in- ducements with material objections, we shall run the risk of not arousing a united, cordial, and high-spirited public resistance to such insiduous propositions. Are we prepared to join issue with philo- Americans on broader and better grounds than those depending altogether on consid- discussion may be considered closed ; if we are, then why not assume at once the better and broader grounds ? It cannot be denied by any Canadian that, since the era of responsible government, we have advanced constantly towards the Ameri- can, and receded from the British standard of government. The power and patronage of the crown has been reduced to the lowest point; the Upper House has been made elective; the franchise has been extended; the period required by law for the naturali- zation of aliens has been reduced to three years; the public lands have ceased to be crown lands; the public departments have 'been all transferred from imperial to pro- vincial control. Many of these reforms, or all of them, are or may be real improvements; they are only here referred to in evidence of the assertion that year by year, and step by step, we are advancing towards an unrecog- nized Americanism, which must have its perils and risks as well as its attractions, The only great question that remains in common between us and the rest of the Em- pire, is the question of Colonial defence. On eyery other, England has given in; on this alone has she made a stand, and in this, it is not too much to say, is involved the final decision of the future destiny of British America. One postulate is quite certain on this sub- ject, that we cannot go back to the state of unguarded security in which we reposed before the outbreak of the civil war; a second is equally certain, that the internal revolution within the dis-United States, points to permanent military establishments among our neighbours on a scale hitherte unknown. From both there is but one reasonable inference to draw, that we alse have entered on a new condition of exist- enee, in which we are called upon to exchange our quasi-independence of Great Britain on the one hand, and the neighbouring States on the other, for one of three future rela- tions--that is, either for a closer connexion, offensive and defensive, with the rest of the Empire; for annexation, or for a guaranteed neutrality, like that of Belgium, under the joint protection of the greater powers. If neutrality be impracticable, if annexation be objectionable, then how are we so to iden- tify ourselyes with Great Britain without surrendering our local self-government, as to be entitled to claim her protection, and to convert the claim into a compact, to the full extent of all her martial resources ? (To be. Continued.) CeLepratep Sayrnas. -- Pythagoras flourished about 550 B. C. One of his sayings as a heathen Philosopher, was: "What rule is a man to follow that he may lead a 'vise, virtuous and happy life." -- Answer.--"Avoid what you would condemn in the conduct of others." The letter x designed as the "Pythagorean letter," was a symbol for one of his just remarks, annexation, founded on material considera- erations of pecuniary advantage? Ifnot, the: