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Childe Harold, Canto S. The Prisoners of Chillon, Darkness, &c. by Byron

The North-American Review and Miscellaneous Journal, Vol. 5, No. 13 (May, 1817), pp. 98-110
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Byron's Poems.

98

[May,

and make

these demands,
to bestow these praises,
course of his literary
career.
the whole
Still he
false no
the respect of the learned ; and whatever
his
has, in our opinion,
acquired, from directing
we
so
to
cannot
with
studies,
intensely
etymological
pursuits
for his unwearied
la
hold from him our tribute of regard,
of language.
It has hitherto
bours in tracing the history
been an unthankful task ; what it may be in future, we will
not predict.
Our views upon the subject, so far as it con
in this article, and
cerns our own language, are contained
We wish
to
in the review of Mr. Pickering's
Vocabulary.
we
Mr.
Webster
and
think
have
;
might
nothing
prejudge
inquiries, and arrived at the great results
pursued his main
which he promises himself, without
being diverted from his
of Mr. Pickering,
course by the publication
whose design
was limited so much to a single object, and interfered so lit
tle with the walk of the rational etymologist.
practice,
through
deserves
tions he

Aux. V. Childe Harold,

ness, S?c. Poems
1817.
Mercein,

canto 3. The Prisoners of Chill?n, Dark

by Lord Byron. New York, T. & W.

works have been so much read, and quot

Lord Byron's
in offering
that we have great hesitation
and
criticised,
ed,
any remarks upon them, lest our friends should take it in
invited to stale fare. We
ill part, and think themselves
should not indeed venture to make this experiment
upon the
we not suppose that the proper and es
publick curiosity, did
and kept
interest of the subject has been increased
sential
con
up, by the variety of opinions and parties, to which the
have
Lord
and
of
duct, adventures,
Byron
given
writings
rise.

to his art;
makes
Lord Byron
every thing contributive
his
his
his domestick
feelings and
inquietudes,
journeyings,
His
into verse.
fancies, all go forthwith
poetry is a sort of
of
irregular journal of his changes of place and changes
" mood,"
yet it never sinks into a record or halts towards a
matter of fact character, but every where has the spirit and
He strikingly exemplifies what is said
freshness of invention.
from the
of modern as distinguished
to be the characteristick
are not merely so
for
the
earlier poetry ;
objects he presents

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1817.]

Byron's

Poems.

99

much colour, form, and dimension, visible things appear only

as the vehicles
of passion and sentiment.
Whatever
is his
see
more
of the writer
than of his theme, and
subject, you
what he says of himself is true, with respect to his readers ;
? he becomes a
part of that around him ; he mingles with the
the
peak, the heaving plain of ocean, and the stars,"
sky,
of his soul lend animation and in
and the strong workings
He conducts us to bright skies and
terest to his descriptions.
and
when
he has made us feel the sub
lanscapes,
agreeable
of the heavens,
of the
and the gladsomeness
lime serenity
that
scene, he introduces the gloomy, but poetical
reflection,
they contain
they chiefly delight bim, because
nothing of
man.
the reader may not have sufficiently suffered
Though
from the wrorld or offended
it, to accord with him in this
strain of thinking, still he cannot be insensible to its power.
If he brings us among his kind, it is not to be pleased with
the hum of men, but to deplore over the " peopled desert,"
He speaks in a
and sternly mock at the " penned herd,"
and we
tone too deep, and accents too strong for fiction;
are the more affected by his representations
of life, because
he does not leave us to doubt that they are drawn from ex
This air of reality forces us, with an irresistible
perience.
to the author, and, whether we ap
from
the work
impulse,
we
or
but be borne away by concern
cannot
censure,
prove
for a man, who considers himself as set aloof from his spe
of his nature. We
cies by the unconquerable
propensities
and
shall be told that no man has unconquerable
propensities,
it is a radical fault in him to think he has such, and we will
are urged by
grant that it is so, if you please ; still those who
and a wild energy of soul, and who
strong native impulses,
remember
how hard they have struggled with what to them
seemed oppression, and with what reluctance and difficulty they
have submitted to the chains of society, must feel a lively sym
We have
pathy with Byron in many passages of his poetry.
to arbitrary forms and rules of decorum, as well as
reference
the restraints of the appetite and passions, for they are all
of all
and society exacts an observance
equally necessary,
with an equal and just rigour.
could
This Childe Harold
not endure.

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100

Byron's

Poef?s.

fMay,

" Still round him

clung invisibly a chain,
Which gall'd forever, fettering though unseen,
And heavy though it clank'd not."
is always true of one who mixes with men " secure in
guarded coldness, and sheathes, (or tries to sheathe,) his spir
And he seems to be con
it in an impenetrable mind."
scious of this, and therefore, as he is " unfit to herd with men,"
to part " fair foes," without
he is willing
inquiring whose is
the fault.
This

"To fly from, need not be to hate, mankind ;

All are not fit with them to stir and toil,
Nor is it discontent to keep the mind
Deep in its fountain, lest it overboil
In the hot throng, where we become the spoil
Of our infection, till too late and long
We may deplore and struggle with the coil,
In wretched interchange of wrong for wrong
'Midst

a contentious

world,

striving

where

none

are

strong.'*
V.G9.

the world
But he does not commonly, when he meets
in
his poetical rambles, part with it on so favourable
terms ;
it is no characteristick
of a
and his misanthropy,
though
or a man of a well ordered mind,
often gives
philosopher
and depressing
his verse a sullen, despondent,
tone, and
spreads out a blighted prospect of life, on which the imagina
tion should not dwell, but under the guidance
of the under
of the great poets,
standing.
Byron does not, like many
sorrow for the sufferings of man, and repine at human fate.
He astonishes us by his greatness,
and dazzles by his splen
dour, but lie rarely touches with pity, or melts with pathos.
It is not that he turns from the dark side of human destiny,
but he cultivates in himself, and generally
gives his charac
ters a stern endurance
of suffering, and a defiance of man
and of fortune.
"

in portions

Man

can

foresee

His own funereal destiny

His

wretchedness

and

his

;
r?sistance

And his sad unallied existence;

To which his spirit may oppose
Itself?an
equal to all woes,

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wir.]

Byr&n's

101

Poems,,

And a firm will and a deep sense?

even in torture can descry
Which
Its

own

concenter'd

recompense,

Triumphant where it dares defy,

And making death a victory."
Prometheus,

He however
tender strain,

p. 54.

in a more mild and

gives us some passages
strokes.
but we do not think these his master

*'He faded and so calm and

meek.
So

softly worn,
tearless,
yet

So

so

weak,
sweetly
so tender?kind,

And griev'd for those he left behind ;

With all the while a cheek, whose bloom
as a

Was
a

As

mockery

of the

tints as gently

Whose

departing

rainbow's

tomb,

sunk away,
ray?

An eye of most transparent light,

That almost made the dungeon bright.,
not

And

a word

of murmur?not

A groan o'er his untimely lot?

And then the sighs he would suppress
Of fainting nature's feebleness,
More slowly drawn, grew less and less," &c.
The

Prisoners

of Chill?n,

p. 14.

the fiercer passions, and

But he is more happy in wielding
to pourtray whatever
he delights
is terrible and ferocious.
He descends into the regions of relentless despair with a bold
and firm step, and images the racks and tortures of the mind,
with a fearful fidelity.
We make the following extract from
the Corsair,
where Conrad
is imprisoned
alone, in chains,
and expecting his fate.
" 'Twere vain to
paint to what his feelings grew?
It even were doubtful if their victim knew.
There
When

a chaos,
is a war,
of the mind,
its elements
convuls'd?combin'd?

all

Lie dark and jarring with perturbed force,

And gnashing with impenitent remorse ;
never spoke before?
That juggling fiend?who
But cries ' I warn'd thee !'when the deed is o'er,
Vain voice ! the spirit burning, but unbent,
weak alone repent !
May writhe?rebel?the

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1Q&

Poems.

Byron's

[May,

Even in that lonely hour when most it feels,

And to itself all?all
that self reveals,
No single passion, and no ruling thought
leaves

That

rest

the

as once

unseen,

unsought,

But the wild prospect when the soul reviews?

All rushing through their thousand avenues
Ambition's

dreams,

love's

expiring

regret,

Endanger'd glory, life itself beset ;

The joy untasted, the contempt or hate
'Gainst those who fain would triumph in our fate;
The hopeless past?the hasting future driven
Too quickly on to guess it hell or heaven ;
Deeds, thoughts, and words, perhaps remember'd not
So keenly till that hour, but ne'er forgot ;
or lovely in their acted time,
Things light
But

now

to

stern

The withering
Not
All?in

less
cankering
a word?from

That*op'ning

Raves with

To

reflection

snatch

each

a crime

sense of evil unreveal'd

because

the more
all

sepulchre?the

from

start,

till pride awake,

its buried woes,

the mirror

conceal'd?

eyes must
naked
heart,

which

the

soul?and

break."
Corsair,

Can.

2, v. 10.

He describes with no less success and with a sort of kin

of nature and the conflictings
dred feeling, the convulsions
the tem
of the elements, and drives with alacrity
through
pestuous

scene.
93

" And

this is in the night?most

glorious night 1
Thou wert not sent for slumber ! let me be
A sharer in thy fierce and far delight?
A portion of the tempest and of thee !
How the lit lake shines, a phosphorick sea,
And the big rain comes dancing to the earth !
And now again 'tis black?and now the glee
Of the loud hill shakes with its mountain mirth,
As if they did rejoice o'er a young earthquake's birth.
95
Now where the quick Rhone thus hath cleft his way,
The mightiest of the storms hath ta'en his stand :
For here not one, but many make their play,
And fling their thunderbolts from hand to hand,
Flashing and cast around ; of all the band,
The brightest through those parted hills hath fork'd

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His

16S

Byron's Poems.

1817.]
lightnings?as

That

There

in such

gaps

if he did understand,
as desolation

work'd,

the hot shaft should blast whatever

therein

lurk'd.

96
Sky, mountains, river, winds, lake, lightnings ?ye !
With night, and clouds, and thunder, and a soul
To make these felt and feeling ; well may be
Things that have made me watchful ; the far roll
Of your departing voices, is the knoll
I rest.
Of what in me is sleepless?if
But where of ye, oh tempests ! is the goal ?
Are ye like those within the human breast ?
Or do ye find, at length, like eagles, some high nest ?"
of scenery are executed with a bold and
descriptions
he
seizes
hand
;
upon only a few striking objects, and
rapid
his landscape is a mere outline, which he leaves to be filled
This
is true to a fault, for he
by the reader's imagination.
He makes
not unfrequently fails to raise a scene to the fancy.
ns conceive motions
better than colours
and actions, much
sometimes
and forms.
Stillness,
silence, and distance
sug
but his descriptions
of inani
gest to him vast conceptions,
owe little of their beauty to the senti
mate nature generally
ments which the scenes naturally and directly inspire, and to
them with any interest, we must borrow the emo
contemplate
he introduces.
tions of the author or of the character
In
we see woods, and fields,
Burns, and Cowper, and Thompson,
and streams, with precisely those emotions and associations,
which the objects themselves produce ; in Byron we are al
and
ways reminded that we are looking through a medium,
are assuming the impressions of another, instead of yielding
The portraiture
of sensible
ourselves
to our own.
things,
becomes
of
secondary
importance, when we are
accordingly,
in
occupied with the sensations
they produce
principally
as beholding
them. Thus
those who are represented
the
most ordinary objects, sketched
in the most hasty and care
less manner, may be the basis of original and brilliant poet
extract the images are pleasing, dis
In the following
ry.
played with great felicity and freedom, but the effect is much
to be contemplated
by
heightened when they are considered
an emaciated, fetter-worn prisoner of Chill?n, through a crev
ice of his prison.
The object first alluded to is the Alps.
His

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104

Poems.
Byron's
" I saw their thousand
years of snow
On high?their wide long lake helow$
And the blue Rhone in fullest flow ;
I heard the torrents leap and gush
O'er channei'd rock aad broken bush ;
I saw the white-wall'd distant town,
And whiter sails go skimming down ;
The fish swam by the castle wall,
And they seemed joyous each and all \
The eagle rode the rising blast ;
Methought he never flew so fast,
As then to me he seemed to fly,
And

then

new

came

tears

And I felt troubled?and

I had not left my recent
And when I did descend
The darkness of my dim
Fell

on me

as a

heavy

in mine

[May,

eye.

would fain
chain ;
again,
abode

load."
Prisoners

of Chill?n,

p. 21.

But Byron's
and displaying
greatest skill lies in analysing
He penetrates
into th? recesses of intellect and
character.
and throws out his profound
passion with a keen sagacity,
with
the facility
of superficial
and freedom
conceptions
We
have
in
of
mind
the
sketches
Russia,
Gibbon,
thoughts.
as a justification
of the above re
and Bonaparte,
Voltaire,
We make an extract, from the first of which
mark.
every
is
part
just and forcible.
" Here the
self-torturing sophist, wild Rousseau,
The apostle of affliction, he who threw
over

Enchantment
Wrung

passion,

overwhelming

and

from

eloquence,

first

beautiful,

and

The breath which made him wretched

How

to make

madness

woe
drew

; yet he knew
cast

O'er erring deeds and thoughts, a heavenly hue

Of words, like sunbeams, dazzling as they past
The eves, which o'er them shed tears feelingly and fast."
Childe

Harold,

c. 3, p. 43*

?he mention of Rousseau suggests the philosophers,

and the
lines upon them, and their opinions, and the consequences
of
them, are somewhat
from one who holds the
remarkable,
rank and title of a nobleman.

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1817.] Byron's Poe?tist

105

82
a
made
monument
themselves
fearful
They
The wreck of old
which grew
opinions?things
Breath'd from the birth of time ; the veil they rent,
And what behind it lay, all earth shall view.
But good with ill they also overthrew,
Leaving but ruins wherewith to rebuild
Upon

the

Dungeons
As

same

foundation,

and

renew

and thrones, which the same hour refill'd,

heretofore,

because

ambition

was

self-will'd.

83

But this will not endure or be endur'd ?

Mankind have felt their strength and made it felt.~
They might have used it better, but, allur'd
By their new vigour, sternly they have dealt
On one another ; pity ceas'd to melt
With her once natural charities. But they
in oppression's darkness cav'd had dwelt,
Who
They were not eagles, nourish'd with the day;
\Vhat marvel then, at times, if they mistook their prey ?
84
What deep wounds ever clos'd without a ?car ?
The heart bleeds longest, and but heals to wear
That which disfigures it ; and they who war
With their own hopes, and have been vanquish'd, bear
Silence, but not submission ; in his lair
Fix'd passion holds his breath, until the hour
shall atone for years; none need despair.
Which
It came,
To

punish

it cometh
and will
come?-the
or
one we
shall
forgive?in

power
be slower."
p. 46.

As poetry, the latter part of this quotation is knotty and

or speculation,
it may all arise from
As philosophy
obscure.
a very bad, or a very good disposition.
The wrongs,
in
dignities, and oppressions, which men have suffered from ru
lers, who have regarded them as only the instruments of their
pleasures and their passions, may sometimes extort from the
a curse upon the sceptred tormenters
of the
philanthropist,
that men
human race. He may even feel a gratification,
have sometimes taken terrible vengeance on their oppressors.
But such sentiments cannot become habitual, without embit
tering and perverting the mind, and they often arise in the
first place, from a servile and guilty dread of power, and en
14
No. 1.
Vol.V.

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Myron's Poems.

106

[May,

rather than from a concern for the welfare

vy of superiority,
This
cannot be the case of Lord Byron,
of mankind.
yet
we think he expresses a too sturdy, and vindictive
kind of
Rulers have, to be sure, had very much the
republicanism.
the
of
ruled, in the interchange of wrongs, but
advantage
and it is more character
they have probably been no worse,
istick of a philosopher
and philanthropist
to devise plans of
than to expect the " power to
improvement and amelioration,
punish, and the hour which shall atone for years."
so much had already been sung and said of the
Though
" Field of
and ? the conqueror and captive of the
Waterloo,"
are
new
The
world,'they
subjects in the hands of Byron.
gathered beauty and chivalry of Bejgium's
capital, the sound
of revelry where
? Musick

arose, with

all went

And

its voluptuous

swell,

marriage-bell

;"

as a

merry

?
preluding to the deep sound that struck like a rising knell/
and * the cannon's opening roar,' form one of the finest com
binations that descriptive
He makes a
poetry can furnish.
transition from the battle to the <greatest and worst of men,5
its object and consequence,
whose overthrow was
and then
some reflections,
of which he himself no doubt
introduces
feels the full force.
" But
quiet to quick bosoms is a hell,
And there hath been thy bane ; there is a fire
And motion of the soul, which will not dwell
In

its own
but

And,

narrow

but

being,

aspire

the fitting medium of desire ;

Beyond

once

kindled,

quenchless
evermore,
nor can tire
at the core,

upon
high adventure,
Preys
a fever
but rest;
Of aught

Fatal
The
make

to him who bears, to all who ever bore!"

only use of the latter part of the concluding

out

line is to

the measure.

of the Rhine and its scenery, are to

The descriptions
the least interesting
part of this canto, and though we
of nature on the way, we
caught a few cheering glimpses
were glad, on the whole, to leave behind us the " castled
crag
of Drachenfels,"
and *the lonelier column by
Ehrenbreitstein,
the lone wall, making marvel
that it not decayed,' and find
us

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1817.]

Byron's

Poems.

1.0-7

The
upon fhe shores of the clear placid Leman.*
the
canto
written
with
of
is
great
remaining
part
spirit, and
contains a rich and voluptuous description of the scene of the
Heloise.
have no doubt
The readers of Childe Harold's
pilgrimage
observed the change of style which has taken place since the
commencement
of the work.
The author began with assum
ing Spencer's
language as well as his stanza, hut he has re
tained little more than the latter, and in the third canto we
invariably find eye, no where ee. Perhaps uniformity is hard
in fact, differs very little
ly requisite upon his plan, which,
from no plan at all
He says in the preface that " a ficti
tious character is introduced for the sake of giving some con
nexion to the piece," and the unity of the work therefore con
sists wholly in this, that it is a metrical
journal of the trav
as they are recorded by
els, reflections and fancies of Harold,
his companion and amanuc nsis Lord Byron.
Now
the in
troduction of a fictitious personage
evidently gives no great
er connexion to the parts of this poem, than if all had been
But
put down in the proper person of the author.
though
the introduction of Harold gives no unity to the work, he is
a very convenient instrument for the writer, more
especially
as he has a great deal to say about this same Harold
; and
this is reason enough for introducing him. We would not be
to object to the want of unity in this string of
understood
cantos ; we only wish his lordship not to pretend there is any
thing, in them that deserves that name, except the use of the
same stanza. We
think that poetry is most easily and ac
curately estimated by its effects, and that this, of all arts, can
least endure the fetters of a system, as its vital principles
are
We
therefore will not trouble our
novelty and invention.
selves to inquire to what technical species this poem
belongs,
or whether it belongs to any.
We would scrupulously
avoid repeating
those common
means
of
which
little
minds
rules,
by
place
fancy they can
satisfied if
comprehend great things, and shall be perfectly
he finds a
Lord Byron writes good sense whenever
subject,
and puts down the whole under the title of a Romaunt,
though
he can find no authority for his so doing in Aristotle,
or
ourselves

Horace.

But though we are inclined to make a very liberal

dispen
sation from rules, and do not think that the regular accents

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108

Byron9 s Poems.

[May,

cadences of Pope alone constitute

and monotonous
verse,
still it seems to us that versification
requires more of melody,
and harmony, than we can possibly make of many
measure,
the accent required
lines in this canto, without violating
by
the ear, by
the sense.
It is not easy, we think, to gratify
the following
others
the mode of reading
lines, and many
that occur in this volume.
" And their masts fell down
piecemeal, as they dropp'd," &t.
Darkness,

p. 32.

" There the hot shaft should

blast, whatever therein lurk'd." v. 96*
" How the lit lake
shines, a phosphorick sea." v. 93. can. 3.
If a compromise be made between the sense and the meas
We make these remarks, how
ure, they read but ruggedly.
hit
ever, with some hesitation, not being confident of having
conscious
that
and
mode
of
the
upon
being
happiest
reading,
an occasional
transposition of the accent gives relief and
of
spirit to verse, and that a writer may shew his knowledge
more
he
to
con
has
where
these
variations
in
much
harmony
sult his ear, than in a servile adherence to the regular meas
ure.

the
Of the short poems with which this volume concludes,
sonnets and the piece entitled Churchill's Grave, are inferiour
to the author's usual manner in such productions.
The Pris
oners of Chill?n and the Dream are much better.
But we
in which the
are most pleased with the piece headed Darkness,
author has permitted his genius to range at large in all that
is dreary, gloomy, and desolate*
" I had a
dream, which was not all a dream,
The bright sun was extinguished and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space,
Ray]ess, and pathless, and the icy earth
Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;
Morn

came

and

went,

and

came,

and

brought

no

And men ?orgot their passions in the dread

Of this their desolation ; and all hearts
Were
chill'd into a selfish prayer for light ;
And they did live by watchfires and the thrones,.
The palaces of crowned kings, the huts,
The habitations of ail things which dwell,
Were

burnt

for

beacons;

cities

were

consumed

day,

round their blazing homes

And men weregather'd
To look once more into each other's face;

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109

Byron's Poems.

1817.]

Happy were those who dwelt within the eye

Of the volcanoes, and their mountain torch ;
Forests were set on fire?-but hour by hour
They fell and faded, and the crackling trunks
Extinguish'd with a crash, and all was black."
? The world was
void,
The populous and powerful was a lump,
Reasonless,

treeless,

herbless,

manless,

lifeless?

A lump of death, a chaos of hard clay.

The rivers, lakes and oceans, all stood still,
And nothing stirred within their silent depths ;
on the sea,
Ships sailorless lay rolling
And thei rmasts fell down piecemeal ; as they dropp'd
a surge?
They slept on the abyss without
The waves were dead, the tides were in their grave,
The moon their mistress had expired before ;
The winds were withered in the stagnant air,
And the clouds perish'd ; darkness had no need
Of

aid

from

them

...

She

was

the

universe."

like the other works of the same writer,

abounds in
This,
to
those faults which will probably render posterity
willing
It is a subject of regret, that so much excellence
let it die.
and blemishes
should be encumbered with great blemishes,
which do not result from a want of inventive resource
in the
a
from
a
and
but
from
taste,
author,
wayward
partly
partly
an experiment
on
love of singularity and a desire of making
the indulgence of his readers, and seeing to what
length ex
be
off
them.
and
absurdities
may
upon
put
travagances
This
and
itinerary
perhaps,
species of poetry requires,
and violent
therefore
abrupt introductions
justifies, many
transitions
; but it does not demand wild starts and affected
flourishes, which seem to be introduced out of a defiance of
publick taste and a wanton contempt of all the common no
There are in all the poems of Lord By
tions of propriety.
forced and perverse
of words,
ron, numerous
applications
and many of the epithets, we should suppose, would wonder
at the situation they occupy, no less than the lonely column,
that itself did not de->
mentioned
by his lordship, marvelled
a confusion of imagery, and fig
There
is sometimes
cay.
ures are accumulated upon each other, till both the subject and
the ornaments are lost in an irregular glittering mass, with
out order or proportion.
far fetched thoughts, and
Conceits,

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110Wheaton9s Reports.

[May,

are very fashionable of late, and Childe

jingles of words
but they are no more than empirical
in the fashion;
Harold
tricks to excite the wonder of superficial admirers, and after
the
they have dazzled the unskilful for a time, and obscured
the glare ceases,
mild and steady splendour of real beauty,
of the moment
is neglected
wonder
and the glittering
and
is
fault
these
another
in
that
It
sub
the
poems,
forgotten.
ject is often abandoned and lost sight of, in quest of some dis
This practice is not allow
tant comparison or illustration.
We require
able in the most leisurely pursuit of recreation.
even
like method,
and progress,
in our amuse
something
ments, and if, in an incursion of pleasure, our companion
will be running away into the fields for every flower or but
of
terfly he sees, we think him a trifler, and become weary
But one of Lord Byron's
and most
his company.
greatest
to give anima
frequent mistakes consists in his endeavour
consciousness
tion to his poetry, by attributing
and intelli
gence to inanimate objects, which after all show no signs of
thought, but remain, in spite of all the writer's efforts to the
inmoveable, dead, material things.
contrary,
This practice is commonly the resort of a poor invention
seems to use it out of a love
and cold fancy, but Lord Byron
taste.
of conceit, and from a want of delicate,
discriminating
as we believe most of his
We take leave of Lord Byron,
so well,
readers do, with a regret, that, since he has written
he has also written so ill.

Art.

VI. Reports of cases, argued and adjudged in the Su

By Henry Wheaton, Coun
preme Court of the United States.
sellor at law. Vol. i.?Matt.
Carey, Phil. 1816.

The Court, whose decisions are reported in the volume be

an extensive
and im
fore us, derives from the constitution
Every subject of judicial cognizance,
portant jurisdiction.
or
affect our external relations,
which can in any manner
our doniestick peace, is submitted to its judgment,
and that
is final.
Not
only does it contribute, with all
judgment
to the general purposes
the other powers in the government,
of the confederacy
sense, the
; it is, in a more peculiar
of
which
constitutional
the
;
pre
power
sanity
guardian

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