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The ladies, sir, are embraced within the compass of my toast. I shall, however, say but a word of our fair countrywomen, as one of the most eloquent gentlemen present will speak in their behalf. But I should be wanting in the gallantry of modern times, did I not thank them for their presence this evening, and add that their sweet smiles and "winning endearments" have sent a thrill of pleasure to my heart that will be remembered by me till the "flood-gates of life are closed in eternal rest" (applause).

In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, our country is the dearest object of our affections. To guard its honor, to preserve its laws, to maintain its freedom, and to bear onward and upward its banner should be our highest ambition-that flag that was borne amid the carnage and the roar of our revolutionary battles, that has since been baptized in the blood of the bravest and best of our land, and in the language of one of our patriotic poets to-day

4

"The blades of heroes tence it round,
Where'er it springs is holy ground.
From tower and dome its glories spread;
It waves where lonely sentries tread;
It makes the land, as ocean, free,

And plants an empire in the sea!

Then hail the banner of the free,

The starry flower of Liberty !"—(Applause.)

Thy sacred leaves, fair Freedom's flower,
Shall ever float on dome and tower,
To all their heavenly colors true,
In blackening frost or crimson dew,—
And God love us as we love thee,
Thrice holy Flower of Liberty!

Then hail the banner of the free,

The starry Flower of Liberty !"—(Applause.)

MR. FIELD. The sixth toast, following next after that to our country, honors the country of Burns,

6. "The Land o' Cakes."

"As in Scottish story read,

She boasts a race

To every nobler virtue bred,

And polished grace."-BURNS.

Music.-SCOTLAND YET.

Which will be responded to by Mr. Samuel G. Courtney, United States District Attorney for this district.

MR. COURTNEY said:

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:

I have been, and still am, at a loss to conjecture, why I, on both sides of the house, an Irishman, should have been selected to respond, on this occasion, to the toast just offered. If the sentiment had been "Ireland, the land of potatoes," I should have been able to have done better justice to such a toast, than to that of "Scotland, the land o' cakes!"

I have been reflecting on the subject, and I have arrived at the conclusion, that this honor was accorded to me on the theory, that as your neighbor is supposed to know more about your affairs than you do yourself, and that as Ireland is the next door neighbor of Scotland, I was presumed to know much more about her affairs, her customs, and her history than the "canniest Scotchman" within the sound of my voice. Though I see around this festive board, this aggregation of beauty and intellect-gathered to night to honor the anniversary of the natal day of Robert Burns-him,

"The chief of bards, that swell

The heart with songs of social flame,
And high delicious revelry."

many native to Scotland, and "to the manor born," more capable of doing justice to the theme, yet, Mr. President,

having been selected to respond to this sentiment, I can not and will not decline the invitation.

Scotland-the name calls up historic recollections—the very sound is inspiriting. Her history is replete with brilliant illustrations, and exemplars of honor, heroism, patriotism and genius. If we look for historians and writers, where can we find them, in all the elements of greatness, more numerous than in Scotland. She claims the nativity of lume, Boswell (whose life of Johnson has been described by Lord Macauley to be the most remarkable book in the English language), Sir Archibald Alison, author of the History of Europe, is regarded as a Scotchman, though born, I believe, in England, Robertson, author of the life of Charles Fifth, Struthers, John Hill and McKenzie.

Do we seek for teachers of high philosophy, Scotland furnishes the most renowned. To her belongs the honor of being the birth-place of Hetherington, Cunningham, McRae, Sir David Brewster, Sir William Hainilton, Dr. Reid, the Playfairs, Dugald Stewart (the great preceptor of Lord Palmerston and Earl Russell), Dr. Thomas Brown, Carlyle, the essayist and biographer of Frederic the Great, and editor of Cromwell's Letters.

Where can true patriotism better be illustrated—what higher and nobler examples of love of country does the world furnish than we find in the history of Scotland? In the career and character of her Bruce and her Wallace, every true element of patriotism is portrayed, and would to God that

men.

"The patriotic tide,

That streamed through Wallace's undaunted heart".

found an inlet into the hearts of many of our own countryThe fields of Culloden and of Bannockburn stand out in historic page in bold relief, where the young and the old, the peer and the peasant, vied with each other in exhibitions of love of country. And here, ladies and gentlemen, while talking about Bannockburn, let me relate to you an incident, which shows not only the patriotism of the Scotch, but the spirit in which is resented any slur upon Scotland.

We all know that there are a great many people of all nationalities, who believe that their own country is better and greater in every respect, than any other, and who take almost every opportunity to express themselves freely on this point. The Americans and the English, I believe, excel all others in this respect. There was an Englishman visiting Scotland. Nothing there suited him; he found fault with everything and everybody, and a Scotchman hearing him complaining, among other things, that he was unable to sleep in Scotland remarked, "Hout awa mon! dinna you go so fast. There is a wee place yonder ca'd Bannockburn, and thirty thousand of ye, I guess, have slept there for mony a long day." The spirit of this reply can only be equalled by the patriotic impulse that inspired it.

Prince Charles, at the battle of Culloden, may or may not, according to different tastes, be called a patriot; but who can doubt the patriotism of the Scottish peasant girl, who watched over the fallen Prince, as he slept after the contest, which extinguished forever the hopes of the Stuarts? When the Prince was introduced to the girl, he looked at her solemnly he was too sad to smile-but there was upon his noble face the look of a man who still felt that, in the mournful changes of his fortune, all human sympathy had not abandoned him.

No lapse of time-"no ties that stretch beyond the deep -have extinguished this patriotism. To-day, in our midst, the love of country, which was instilled into a Scothman on his native heath, is found burning, bright and pure, for the land of his adoption.

In the recent war for the Union, no truer patriots were found than our Scotch citizens. They believed in maintaining the integrity of the Union! No better or braver soldiers entered the field than those belonging to the Scotch regiments. Each fought for his country! and like Lochiel, each swore that he

Should victor exult, or in death be laid low,

With his back to the field, and his feet to the foe,
And leaving in battle no blot on his name,

Look proudly to heaven from the death-bed of fame."

If we desire to find painters, Scotland has furnished Wilson, Wilkie, Sir James W. Gordon, Noel Paton and the Faeds; and of men who have done much for the cause of freedom and for the improvement of the condition of the Scottish working men, we need only to allude to the brothers William and Robert Chambers. They have written and published many volumes for the instruction and amusement of their fellow countrymen.

Let us for a moment, Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, enter into the realm of literature, poetry and fiction, and see what, in this respect, Scotland has produced. She claims the honor of the birthplace of Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, of Sir Walter Scott-whose poetry and whose Waverly novels are read wherever Christianity and intelligence have traveled-of Allen Ramsay, Ferguson, Wilson, Campbell -whose "Gertrude of Wyoming," and whose "Pleasures of Hope," mark him as

"One of the few, the immortal names

That were not born to die,"

of Alexander Smith, Alexander Wilson, author of "Watty and Meg," and of a remarkable work on American Ornithology.

Is not this a record of which any country might well feel proud?

But this record is not complete. A greater, nobler, and more enduring honor belongs to Scotland. If there were nothing else to make her famous, the fact that Robert Burns was her favorite child, alone would procure the distinction. In his clay-built cot he courted the willing muse. By her he was entranced. She "bound the holly round his head.' She showed him

"All forms

Of fairy light and wizard gloom,

The Genii of the floods and storms,

And martial shades from Glory's tomb."

United to the muses, how eloquently he depicted the nobler passions of the soul!