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 c.„ 1 HONOE TO THE ILLUSTRIOUS DEAD." 
 
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 A L E C T U 11 !•: 
 
 IN BEHALF OF THE 
 
 flunt Demon |^$.$oci;itioii: 
 
 DELIVEKED IN THE 
 
 STATE CAPITOL, NASHVILLE, WEDNESDAY, DEC. 4, 1857, 
 
 BY RICHARD OWEN, M. D., 
 
 iFESSOR IN THE UNlVKRSI'fr OF NASHVILLE. 
 
 Nasi)biUc, Ccnn : 
 
 1> U 1 N T I^ D BY A . A . S T I T 1' 
 
 1857. 
 
 
 

A LECTURE 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 oimt ffrnon 3iss0ciaiioit. 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen : — In consenting to 
 appear before you on this occasion, I might have 
 selected, as the subject for a lecture, some de- 
 partment of Natural Science with which my later 
 studies have made me more familiar, and which, 
 therefore, I should have more hopes of rendering 
 somewhat attractive. But the occasion seemed 
 to demand a discourse of a different character ; 
 
 and, trusting that the earnest desire to present 
 forcibly the claims, purposes, and advantages of 
 this Association might, to a certain extent, com- 
 pensate for the imperfections in execution, I ask 
 permission to select and to present, for your con- 
 sideration this evening, as already announced, 
 ideas bearing, I hope, upon the movement in 
 question, under the title of 
 
 a 
 
 HONOR TO THE ILLUSTRIOUS DEAL. 
 
 j^ 
 
 In approaching this subject with strong feel- 
 ings, earnestly enlisted, it may not be irrelevant 
 to recall to your memory that when the vener- 
 able sage, Benjamin Franklin, died, a remark 
 was aptly made by an orator of France, some- 
 what in these words: " One man is dead — two 
 worlds mourn his loss." Thus it is with all wise 
 and good men. Although their countrymen 
 rightfully claim them and glory in their more 
 intimate relationship, the wise and good become, 
 to some extent, whether authors, waiTiors, states- 
 men, or divines, public, cosmopolitan, and inter- 
 national property, shedding lustre on the whole 
 human family, who welcome them to their great 
 brotherhood. 
 
 It may not, therefore, be deemed unseeming or 
 unsuitable that others than native-born Ameri- 
 cans should sound the praises of Columbia's 
 honored sons ; still less does it appear objection- 
 able that one who for thirty years has uninter- 
 ruptedly appreciated the excellence of that 
 Constitution which resulted from the wisdom of 
 those sages should bring his best energies to 
 bear in recording the virtues of one of the wisest 
 and best; and, if the language of advice is 
 thought to be sometimes too urgent, let it be 
 remembered that he who bequeaths sons to the 
 country of his adoption retains in them the 
 claims of an important life-interest ; and is there- 
 
 fore entitled to be heard in aught affecting their 
 welfare. 
 
 In calling your attention briefly to the duties 
 which we owe to departed worth, I shall endeavor 
 to point out : 
 
 Firstly, The peculiarities and advantages in 
 our form of government, no law of which pre- 
 vents the rise of the humblest native-born 
 citizen to, the highest dignities and emoluments. 
 
 Secondly, We shall examine the charge so 
 frequently made against republics of being un- 
 grateful to those who have rendered services to 
 their country. 
 
 Thirdly, We shall see what steps our own 
 country may reasonably take to avoid becoming 
 liable to this charge. 
 
 And, lastly, we shall consider the most effect- 
 ive means of perpetuating the advantages se- 
 cured to us by Washington and other heroes of 
 the Revolution. 
 
 In accordance with this outline, I shall pro- 
 ceed, without further prefatory remarks, to 
 examine The. Advantages of our Form of Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 These may appear so patent, so evident to all, 
 at a glance, as to require no argument or appeal 
 in their favor. But how often do we observe 
 that those enjoying the greatest blessings are 
 unconscious of them until deprived of those ad 
 
b 
 
 '0 
 
 5 
 S 
 
 vantages ! The sturdy yeoman, Tvhose ruddy 
 looks and whose unimpaired digestion enable 
 him to enjoy the full exercise of his limbs, and 
 the greatest amount of physical pleasure, pines 
 for a city life, and knows not the advantages of 
 which he partook, until stretched, pale-faced and 
 diseased, on the bed of luxury, now to him a bed 
 of thorns. The sportive infant longs for the 
 excitement of mature manhood; the harassed 
 business man wishes for his former imbecile in- 
 fancy. The laboring man, forgetting the wear- 
 ing anxieties which shatter the nerves, and the 
 luxury which ruins the constitution of the 
 millionaire, sighs for unbounded wealth, and 
 groans at the possibility of want. The rich 
 man, in his agony of spirit, regardless of the 
 gaunt famine, the pinching cold, the temptation 
 to crime, which stare the pauper in the face, 
 views his own full cotfers, and cries out, "All 
 is vanity !" 
 
 Thus we, too, enjoying all the blessings of the 
 most favored land, and the advantages of the 
 freest government, are apt to forget these bless- 
 ings and advantages, unless we occasionally 
 pause to examine and to consider them. 
 
 No despot rides triumphant over our rights. 
 No one-man power, not even an oligarchy, can 
 here deprive us of our lives or our liberties, un- 
 less we violate some one of our wholesome laws 
 or restraints, embodied in a code produced by 
 legislators of our own selection. Here each citi- 
 zen, when of age, has a vote, directly or in- 
 directly, in the election of those framing and 
 executing the laws ; here the will of the major- 
 ity governs ; and it is our own faults, our own 
 neglect of the necessary "eternal vigilance," if 
 at any time we forfeit either our religious or 
 our political freedom. 
 
 But paramount perhaps in its influence upon 
 the character and actions of our people, cheer- 
 ing to the hearts of all Republicans, is the fact 
 that each and every native-born citizen, no mat- 
 ter how poor his early circumstances, no difi'er- 
 euce how humble his origin, regardless of his 
 antecedents, irrespective of heraldic honors, — 
 provided he feels he has the honesty, the energy, 
 the Heaven-sent attributes of virtue and of well- 
 directed talents, — every citizen, I repeat, may 
 aspire, although at first destitute of fortune, 
 favor, or friends, to be the Washingtons, the 
 JeflFersons, the Franklins, the Clays, the Web- 
 sters, and similar characters, of which so many 
 have adorned the pages of American history 
 since the fire of Freedom was first kindled on 
 Columbia's altars. 
 
 Here, then," is one of the greatest incentives to 
 exertion, to public virtue, and to patriotism — 
 to know that our labors will be appreciated by 
 our fiellow-citizens and our fellow-men. Not 
 that ndiscriminate ambition is to be encouraged; 
 not that we would cherish a mere longing after 
 distinction for the sake of notoriety, of wealth- 
 bringing office, of evanescent popular shouts, of 
 party plaudits, or of other unmeaning demon- 
 strations ; but the knowledge that the evidences 
 of cool judgment with warm patriotism, that the 
 unobtrusive pursuit of wisdom and virtue will 
 finally be so appreciated by wise and good men 
 as to demand that this wisdom and virtue be 
 
 brought to bear in the councils of the nation, be 
 made to aid in maintaining the rich heritage be- 
 queathed to us by our ancestral heroes of the 
 Revolution, in its original purity and force; 
 nay, yet more, the belief that such conduct and 
 such labors will meet the approval of the Infin- 
 itely Supreme Judge, at the highest Heavenly 
 Tribunal,- — knowledge, I say, and thoughts such 
 as these may well arouse the youth of America 
 to exertion; ambition to be the most virtuous 
 may justly be held up as legitimate, may con- 
 fidently be placed before the aspiring eyes of 
 youthful America, as the safest outlet, the true 
 direction for zeal, for enthusiastic devotion, for 
 that internal burning to attain high earthly 
 distinction which already does, and probably 
 ever will, characterize the American branch of 
 the Anglo-Teutonic race. 
 
 Having thus briefly glanced at some of the 
 advantages of our Republican Government, let 
 us next inquire whether it can indeed be in- 
 cluded among the Republics which have neg- 
 lected to reward patriotic labors, and liave 
 thereby evinced ingratitude for services ren- 
 dered. 
 
 Then a despotic government, or even a mon- 
 archy, desires to show its approbation, and to 
 induce a naval or a military hero, as commander 
 of its forces, to brave death in its most terrific 
 forms, or wishes to signify its appreciation of 
 talents and energy displayed in the cabinet or 
 legislative hall, the regal head, as king or em- 
 peror, confers upon his kneeling subject a title 
 of nobility, a star to decorate the breast with 
 some high order, a cross of the Legion of Honor, 
 or some external, mark of favor; and perhaps 
 there is superadded a pension for life : all serv- 
 ing to secure to royalty the personal influence 
 and support of the thus complimented personage. 
 But, at the same time, a single inadvertent word 
 may deprive him of all these honors, and even 
 make his life the forfeit. 
 
 Not so in our Republic. No title of nobility 
 pampers its recipient into self-sufficiency and 
 his future successors into lazy aristocracy : few 
 pensions are granted, except to wounded soldiers 
 or sailors, or to their widows and children. Oc- 
 casionally some quiet veteran viay perhaps pass 
 unnoticed ; the labors of a useful discoverer in 
 art or science may remain unrequited ; but usu- 
 ally — heroism in the field, a judicious and consist- 
 tent course of statesmanship, persevering efforts 
 in useful mechanical or scientific discoveries, 
 receive their reward, either in substantial mo- 
 neyed returns, or in the approval of a large pro- 
 portion of our best citizens. When, however, 
 the benefits conferred by the labors of an indivi- 
 dual have been so extended as to affect the whole 
 nation, it becomes incumbent upon us to re- 
 spond nationally to the call of honor to the indi- 
 vidual ; at least if we would avoid the reproach 
 attached to some Republics, of ingratitude for 
 national benefits and for services conferred by 
 true patriots and statesmen. 
 
 This brings us to our third point of discussion : 
 How can we best avoid resting under such an 
 imputation ? How can we most rationally and 
 most effectively, as a great Republican Nation, 
 signify our approval of the lasting benefits, the 
 
encUess advantages, bequeathed to us by the 
 labors of such men as Washington ? 
 
 Let us, in this connection, examine some of 
 the most powerful feelings of our nature, and 
 see in what manner they can be appropriately 
 gratified. 
 
 The friendship existing between two of the 
 same sex, having similar tastes and mutual con- 
 fidence, has been occasionally celebrated in his- 
 tor}'^ ; but such instances are rare : the love of 
 David and Jonathan, the friendship of Damon 
 and Pythias, may be cited as examples of this 
 admirable trait. 
 
 Fraternal affection, in amiable and well-edu- 
 cated families, is perhaps more common ; and 
 history furnishes numerous interesting records 
 of this virtue among distinguished men and 
 ■women. 
 
 Every poet, from the earliest ages, has record- 
 ed instances of the more selfish, yet ever beau- 
 tiful love existing between heart-betrothed indi- 
 viduals of opposite sexes ; and the more civil- 
 ized the nation, the more tliis virtue is elevated 
 from mere physical attachment to the pure com- 
 munion of genial spirits, laboring unitedly to 
 render their children worthy members of an 
 enlightened community. Of such domestic feli- 
 city, the sublime bard, IMiiton, receiving from 
 his overflowing heart that inspiration which his 
 sightless orbs denied him from the external 
 works of nature, has the following beautiful 
 lines, which, although familiar to all, may well 
 bear repetition : 
 
 " Hail, ■wedded love, mysterious law, * * 
 
 Founded in reason, loyal, just, and pure; 
 Relations dear, and all the charities 
 Of tivther, son, and brother, first were known. 
 Far be't from me to write thee sin or blame, 
 Or think thee unbefitting holiest place, 
 Perpetual fountain of domestic sweets." 
 
 Filial love, too, is so charming a sight, and its 
 opposite so black a vice, that the conduct of 
 children to parents has often been viewed as tlie 
 best test of character, as the safest guide in our 
 selection for the most sacred tie, the holy and 
 chaste relationship of husband and wife. We 
 may indeed rest assured that a bad daughter 
 never made a good wife or mother. 
 
 But the most powerful of all human affections 
 is parental love. That glorious northern min- 
 strel of old Scotia's rough but virtuous people, 
 Walter Scott, in preserving the traditionary rec- 
 ords of their pure and simple lives, thus depicts 
 the love of Douglas for his daughter in the well- 
 known lines : 
 
 " Some feelings are to mortals given, 
 ■With less of earth in them than heaven; 
 And if there be a human tear 
 From passion's dross refined and clear, — 
 A tear so limpid and so meek. 
 It would not stain an angel's cheek, — 
 'Tis that which pious fathers shed 
 Upon a duteous daughter's head." 
 
 If such is often the strength of a father's love 
 for his offspring, what shall we say of a mother's 
 love ? How shall we find words to express the 
 strongest of all earthly emotions — a mother's 
 devotion to the child of her bosom, one who 
 bears the lineaments of the chosen of her heart, 
 
 the husband of her affections, the father of her 
 first-born! For her c/iild the mother will risk 
 wearing labor, grim famine, conjugal desertion, 
 tlie world's jeers, death itself, even in its most 
 appalling form, without a flinch, without a mur- 
 mur. 
 
 Any honor, then, offered to a friend or rela- 
 tive must be gratifying to a feeling heart ; but 
 above all must it be so to any one of us, if the 
 individual so honored bear to us the relationship 
 of parent or of child. 
 
 Scarcely less powerful, and even less selfish, 
 is the love some bear to their native country. 
 Who that has a throb of human feeling in his 
 heart can see or hear of the sufferings of his 
 country, of his countrymen being conquered, 
 but must feel his blood boil with indignation ? 
 Who can read of the numerous instances, record- 
 ed in Grecian, Roman, Scottish, Swiss, and other 
 histoi'ies, of patriotic devotion, without having 
 his soul stirred within him ? Can the most in- 
 sensible recall the memories of his childhood's 
 home, bleak, dreary, barren, and mountainous 
 though it may have been, withovit emotion ? 
 How then must the more sensitive heart respond 
 to those well-known, but ever beautiful lines of 
 Walter Scott : 
 
 " Breathes there a man with soul so dead, 
 
 Who never to himself hath said. 
 This is my own, my native land?" 
 
 The hardy Swiss, the rocky peaks of whose 
 country afford but a scanty soil for her increas- 
 ing population, frequently seeks amid strangers 
 a more ready return for his labors. His hardi- 
 hood and native bravery often induce him to 
 enter foreign armies : hence the charge of mer- 
 cenary conduct brought against them, but with- 
 out foundation, embodied in the sentiment, 
 "Point d'argent, point de Suisse." The great 
 Louis the XIV. knew, however, their love of coun- 
 try so well, and valued their services so highly, 
 that he forbade his bands ever to play one of 
 their natit)nal " Ranz des Vaches." Let a Swiss 
 but hear one of those touching melodies, espe- 
 cially with the original words of one of their 
 most favorite ballads, beginning, " Herz, mein 
 Herz, warum sotraurig," since rendered into the 
 well-known English verses, thus : 
 
 " Why, oh, why, my heart, this sadness ? 
 
 Why mid scenes like these decline ? 
 What though all's strange ; 'tis joy and gladness ; 
 
 Oh ! say, what wish can yet be thine ? 
 All that's dear to me is wanting ; 
 
 Lone and cheerless here I roam ; 
 The stranger's joy, howe'er enchanting. 
 
 To me can never be like home. 
 Oh, give me those — I ask no other — 
 
 Those that bless the humble dome 
 Where dwell my father and my mother ; 
 
 Oh ! give me back my native home!" 
 
 Let the Swiss, I repeat, but hear these words, 
 with their plaintive air, when in a foreign land, 
 or attached to a foreign army, and very fre- 
 quently he either deserts at the risk of his life, 
 or, if his moral power overcomes the temptation, 
 he droops and dies, without any physical cause, 
 simply from a resistless yearning for the home of 
 his childhood. 
 
 If the Swede, the Swiss, the Scot, after tear- 
 
ing himself for a long lifetime from liis birth- 
 place, for the saiie of religious and political 
 liberty, when thinking on his snow-clad hills 
 and mountain peaks, his scanty soil, his some- 
 times oppressed countrymen, still yearn to look 
 upon them and to bless them yet once again be- 
 fore he dies, what should, what 7riust Americans 
 feel when they proudly look around upon their 
 favored soil? Truly their thoughts should often 
 rise in gratitude to the bounteous Giver of all 
 good ; and earnest prayers should ascend to the 
 throne of Jehovah, that no blot may ever stain 
 America's honored escutcheon ; that her sons 
 and daughters may ever remain worthy of the 
 countless blessings He has graciously shed 
 around them ; that industry, temperance, justice, 
 truth, knowledge, freedom, and true religion 
 may find in them earnest admirers, practical ex- 
 ponents, unwavering defenders. 
 
 Such, then, being the powerful emotions, even 
 unto death, called forth by intense love, either 
 for an idolized friend or for our cherished native 
 soil, these would seem to be the feelings to which 
 we may most powerfully appeal, and which we 
 may most appropriately gratify, while endeavor- 
 ing to render justice to the "Distinguished 
 Living" or "Honor to the Illustrious Dead." 
 
 To apply all this to the particular case in 
 question, let us now finally examine, somewhat 
 in detail, how we can most suitably honor the 
 memory of George Washington. He has no im- 
 mediate descendants on wliom his country can 
 bestow honors, but he has i-elatives to whom it 
 must be highly gratifying to see his country's 
 devotion to his memory. 
 
 He himself, it is well known, revered his 
 mother, and ascribed to her the development of 
 the best traits in his character. His wife, too, 
 was cherished by him with exemplary evidences 
 of high esteem and of conjugal tenderness. 
 
 With such facts before us, we cannot' doubt 
 that if he is permitted, prior to the great and 
 final judgment of mortals before the Supreme 
 Ruler of the Universe, to see and know the acts 
 of his beloved country, his soul would exvilt to 
 learn that the women of America had been among 
 the first to render honor to his memory : to 
 know that that sex which his cherished mother 
 had aided by her goodness to elevate ; that sex of 
 which his beloved wife had been a peerless orna- 
 ment ; that sex which elevates intellectuality to 
 morality— without which the highest genius may 
 sink to the lowest depths of degradation — that 
 that sex was the first to rear a monument to his 
 virtues. Nor can we doubt that his spirit would 
 rejoice to see American womanhood here again 
 foremost in the ranks, striving to secure his be- 
 loved home, to snatch from ruin and decay his 
 earthly resting-place, his never-forgotten Mount 
 Vernon. 
 
 Nay, more : he would doubtless find an addi- 
 tional source of gratification in the fact that at 
 least 07ie who is taking a lead in this praise- 
 worthy enterprise is a granddaughter of a signer 
 of the Declaration of Independence, a lineal 
 descendent of one of Washington's beloved com- 
 panions, of one of those heroes who aided to 
 secure the inestimable privileges we sometimes 
 so thoughtlessly enjoy. 
 
 Grateful, then, as it could not fail to be to 
 him to know how his memory is cherished in the 
 hearts of his countrymen generally, it must be 
 doubly sweet to feel that those whose parents 
 knew him best, love and revere him most. 
 
 But we cannot leave it to those who more im- 
 mediately enjoyed his intimacy, to carry out 
 this attractive design of securing to his country- 
 men, ere too late, those hallowed spots in the 
 glorious old State of Virginia, of which it may 
 truly be said, somewhat in the language on an 
 old tombstone, that she gave birth to as much 
 human greatness as could live, and still shelters 
 the mortal remains of "as much virtue as could 
 die." 
 
 That greatness and that virtue are known 
 wherever our language and the labors of our 
 missionaries have penetrated — and where have 
 they not ? — and the name of George Washington, 
 the Father of his Country, is better known than 
 that of the proudest potentate of antiquity, and 
 infinitely more beloved than that of any Czar, 
 whose sceptre carries implicit obedience over an 
 empire on which England's proud boast is almost 
 verified, that "on her dominions the sun never 
 sets." 
 
 Russia, extending from Western Europe over 
 Asia and through some north-western portions 
 of this continent, presents a surface, some por- 
 tion or other of which almost always receives 
 the vivifying rays of the orient-worshipped orb, 
 that glorious source of light and heat, which, 
 called into existence by the Almighty fiat, 
 brought forth a lovely paradise from the black- 
 ness of an impenetrable chaos, causing life and 
 motion to spring from death-like elements. Yet 
 Russia, with this her gigantic empire, more 
 than double the size of Europe, with her bound- 
 less wealth, and with her Peter the Great, could 
 only present to the gaze of the world an as- 
 tounding intellect, a being of irresistible will and 
 of indomitable energy, tarnished by some of the 
 worst passions of humanity. 
 
 From the horizon of that great and enlight- 
 ened country, France, too, there shot through 
 the civilized world an intellectual meteor, which 
 dazzled the vision of all ordinary beholders. 
 But when the glare passed away, although all 
 acknowledged the transcendent talents of Napo- 
 leon the First, many blushed for his errors and 
 his selfishness. 
 
 Greece may justly glory in her Homer, her 
 Demosthenes, her Epaminondas, her I'lato, her 
 Solon, her Socrates, and similar great men ; An- 
 cient Rome in her Ctesars, her Virgils, her 
 Senecas ; Modern Italy in her Galileo, her Tasso, 
 her Dante, her Raphael; Sweden may vaunt her 
 Charles the XII., and honor her Linnosus and her 
 Berzelius, as Denmark her Tycho Brahe. Ger- 
 many may well be proud of her Charlemagne, 
 her Charles the Fifth, her Kepler, her Leibnitz, 
 her Schiller, her Gothe, her Mozart; and, al- 
 though still living, may I not also add, her Hum- 
 boldt. Asia claims a prominent place for her 
 Genghis Khan and her Tamerlane ; Egypt for 
 her Saladin. Spain can boast of a Cervantes, 
 a Lopez de Vega, and of an adopted Columbus. 
 Switzerland has a just right to be proud of a 
 Tell, a Winkelried; Scotland of a Wallace, a 
 
Scott, a Burns ; Ireland of an Emmet, a Wel- 
 lington, a Swift ; England of her Nelson, Chat- 
 ham, Shakspeare, Milton, Newton, Locke, and a 
 host of others. But it was reserved for Anglo- 
 Saxon stock, derived from the British Isle, and 
 Americanized during several generations in this 
 our favored land, to present to the world, at a 
 highly critical period, the most perfect combina- 
 tion of physical, intellectual, and moral excel- 
 lence of which history has preserved any record. 
 In George Washington were united the fiery 
 genius and unflinching bravery of the soldier, 
 the cool judgment and acute discernment of the 
 statesman, the calm dignity and unswerving vir- 
 tue of the true Christian. 
 
 What potentate can boast of more gratifying 
 homage from more loving hearts than that which, 
 I am informed, is daily paid to the memory of 
 the Father of his Country ? Each and every 
 steamboat plying on the blue waters of the 
 broad Potomac, as the steamer arrives in sight 
 of Mount Vernon, tolls her bell, and the whole 
 of the passengers, from the gray-haired sire to 
 the lisping child, assemble on deck ; then, m 
 passing near the honored grave of Washington, 
 all heads are uncovered in spontaneous tribute 
 of undying respect and of heartfelt love. 
 
 Let, then, the East point to the Mausolean 
 pyramids of forgotten kings ; let Russia hew, 
 from the solid granite, statues of her Peter, and 
 Britain dot the streets of London with bronze 
 and marble figures of Wellington ; let the Arab 
 make his pilgrimage to Mecca, the Italians visit 
 the resting-place of their Mantuan bard, and 
 the French weep, for their former neglect, over 
 the ashes now gathered from St. Helena's Isle; 
 but let Americans continue, as they now do, to 
 render their silent homage at the tomb of the 
 gi'cat and the good man. 
 
 Only a few weeks since, there passed from this 
 earth one who cherished the memory of Wash- 
 ington, and spared not his private fortune in 
 keeping up the patrimonial reminiscences of his 
 beloved relative. But George Washington Parke 
 Custiii, the lineal descendant, by a former mar- 
 riage, of AVashington's wife, is no more ; the 
 present proprietor is, it is said, not wealthy ; and 
 in a few years the cherished spot may even have 
 to pass into the hands of strangers, if it be not 
 made state or national property. 
 
 It needs not this purchase, or any monumental 
 erection, to have Washington live in the memo- 
 ries of his countrymen ; yet evidences such as 
 these are wanting to form rallying-points for 
 strangers who visit our country ; also as grati- 
 fying spots of reiinion for ourselves ; and, finally, 
 as proof to monarchical and despotic powers 
 that our Republic, at least, is not ungrateful; 
 that she is willing to dispose of a portion of her 
 wealth in rearing these external signs of distinc- 
 tion. It is pleasing to see, in England, many a 
 citizen of which could himself raise a splendid 
 and costly monument to perpetuate the recollec- 
 tion of services rendered by such a statesman as 
 Peel — who, like numbers of our own, elevated 
 himself from the ranks of the laboring com- 
 munity — it is pleasing, I say, to see that there, 
 instead of resorting to the plan of subscription 
 from one or from a few wealthy, they restricted 
 
 it to two cents, so tliat each and every citizen 
 may feel he has an ownership in the testimonial. 
 So let it he with us. The Washington Monu- 
 ment is yet unfinished. A friend suggests that 
 at some general election such arrangements 
 should be made as to receive funds for this pur- 
 pose, restricting the subscription to one dime. 
 This, from our three and a half million voters, 
 (and who but would gladly give this poor pit- 
 tance in such a cause ?) would raise $350,000, 
 a sum sufficient to complete the work in credit- 
 able style. 
 
 But it is more especially the object at present 
 to call your attention to securing Mount Vernon 
 by voluntary subscriptions, which have already 
 reached, I am informed, nearly the sum of $100,- 
 000, (greatly through the efforts of America's 
 splendid orator, Edward Everett,) and yet re- 
 quire about $100,000 more to make up the pur- 
 chase-money. That this sum will soon be raised 
 among the warm-hearted sons and daughters of 
 this Union, we cannot for a moment doubt ; and 
 that Tennessee will, as ever, be found among 
 the most ready to do her duty, is equally cer- 
 tain. It is to prevent the resting-place of the 
 Father of our Country from mouldering to ruin, 
 or his relatives from being unduly taxed to keep 
 it up. Is is to save from the axe the noble forest 
 trees — every leaf of which might furnish mate- 
 rial for a volume in the life of Washington — 
 which have, at intervals, to be sold in order to 
 keep up repairs, and to meet other expenditures 
 on the property ; it is for objects such as these 
 that this Association desires funds. 
 
 When imagining, some time since, the spirit 
 of Washington taking cognizance of our acts, we 
 supposed it would be gratifying to him to see 
 evidences such as will be exhibited when this 
 proposed good work shall be completed, as a 
 testimonial of the remembrance in which he is 
 held by his countrymen. But if we may judge 
 by all we know regarding him, the tribute to his 
 memory which he would undoubtedly prize the 
 most highly, wouldbe to see unmistakable evidence 
 that his labors to secure independence of speech 
 and action to his country were rewarded by a 
 continuance of such liberty, and that the -Con- 
 stitution which his wisdom had aided to frame 
 was preserved in its spirit and its letter ; that 
 the Confederation which he was instrumental in 
 consolidating remained intact, and continues, in 
 harmonious action, to extend the empire of true 
 liberty, unbroken by party faction, untainted by 
 office-seeking avidity ; and further, to learn that 
 his name is held up successfully, before the eyes 
 of the rising generation, as the brightest exam- 
 ple which can be selected from the annals of 
 biography. 
 
 We cannot doubt that his spirit would rejoice 
 to see the institutions of his country maintained 
 in purity ; to see that there was at least as much 
 emulous solicitude and attention devoted to the 
 fostering of education, in its full physical, in- 
 tellectual, and moral bearing, throughout tlie 
 land, as there is care and anxiety for the accumu- 
 lation of wealth, and for its ruinous, outvying 
 display, in the external trappings of glittering 
 tinsel: to feel assured that Americans are not 
 dep;enerating in any respect: to learn that the 
 
6 
 
 women of America are not deteriorating God's 
 image by neglecting the laws necessary to make 
 them the healthy and happy mothers of sound 
 and virtuous children : to know that peace, har- 
 mony, and unity of ultimate purpose prevail 
 among the descendants of those who entered into 
 this original political compact; and that, when 
 diversity of opinion, as to the means in detail, 
 cannot be reconciled, mutual forbearance will be 
 exercised, and that the spirit of true Christian 
 charity will prevail. 
 
 Regarding the great and broad principles of 
 republicanism, there can, in this country, be no 
 diversity of opinion. On these then let us unite : 
 let us accord to each and every citizen the great- 
 est amount of civil and religious liberty com- 
 patible with an equal amount in his fellow-citi- 
 zen. If the views of our fellow-men, on any 
 important subjects, differ from our own, let us, 
 in accordance with what we deem a duty, employ 
 every argument suggested by our understanding 
 to convince, the warmest words of eloquence 
 prompted by our heart to persuade. But when 
 we have effected all we can in this manner and 
 by our individual vote, then let us quietly ac- 
 quiesce in the decision ot the majority; let us be- 
 ware of harsh accusations; let us avoid abuse 
 and violence, lest we commit the very same in- 
 justice from which our pilgrim-forefathers sought 
 to escape by leaving their luxurious European 
 homes to dwell in the solitude and freedom of 
 America's then almost impenetrable forests, in 
 the independence of her rich but, at that time, 
 deadly-malarious valleys. In one brief sentence, 
 which embodies all, Let us act constantly from 
 deliberate judgvient, not from impulsive feelings. 
 
 And if, as already stated, there are great and 
 agitating questions, regarding whicli we cannot 
 take the same views, let us give each other cre- 
 dit for good intentions, and listen — if possible, 
 dispassionately — to all arguments adduced on 
 either side, provided those arguments are ad- 
 vanced in the gentlemanly language of courtesy, 
 in the true sjurit of Christian forbearance. 
 
 Liberty of speech may certainly become libel- 
 lous ; liberty of the press, that inestimable tri- 
 umph of knowledge and civilization, may un- 
 doubtedly degenerate into licentiousness ; but 
 let it never be said of us that we fear the light 
 of scrutiny to be thrown on our social, political, 
 or religious conduct ; let it never be said of Re- 
 publican America that she is unwilling to suffer 
 any subject to be discussed, in her legislative 
 bodies, or in her numerous and able journals, 
 provided the speakers and writers, in the use of 
 arguments and selection of language, bear ever 
 in mind the Divine maxim, "As ye would that men 
 should do to you, do ye even so to them likewise." 
 
 To aid in teaching these great lessons, to im- 
 press these moral truths on the rising youth, let 
 every American make a pilgrimage to the Tomb 
 of Washington, to the shrine of virtue. Not for 
 man-worship; nor j-et, like Hamilcar, to make a 
 Hannibal swear eternal vengeance at the altar. 
 On the contrary, let it be in order that all 
 parents may, on such a spot, surrounded by such 
 impressive adjuncts, consecrate their sons and 
 daughters to virtue, dedicate their lives to a 
 struggle for self-victory. There let every father 
 
 or mother point out the difference between true 
 and false liberty. Let children be admonished 
 that true independence does not consist in being 
 absolved, before the years of discretion arrive, 
 from wholesome parental restraints, from friendly 
 counsel ; that true liberty is far removed from 
 precocious licentiousness; that the greatest con- 
 quest is the conquest of ourselves, when passions 
 prompt us against our reason ; that true liberty 
 consists in our exercising, after sufficient age 
 has matured our judgment, such form of religion 
 as our conscience deems most acceptable to our 
 Maker, and in resisting, even unto death, any 
 one-man power, which attempts to control 
 opinions or actions not hurtful to our neighbor, 
 not infringing on his equal liberty of speech or 
 action. 
 
 Let the parent hold up the bright example of 
 Washington as the model, and implore the child, 
 as it values its temporal and eternal happiness, 
 to emulate his greatness, to imitate his virtues, 
 his temperance in all things, and to avoid, as it 
 would a moral pestilence, tiie excitement of the 
 poisoned cup, that enslaving and soul-corrupting 
 bringer of intemperance ; and to shun, as it 
 would the pollution of leprosy, lewd and immo- 
 ral companionship, the inevitable destroyer of 
 body, mind, and morals. 
 
 Let the anxious parent thus arouse, in the 
 hearts of the beloved oifspring, an earnest, firm, 
 and lasting determination to imitate, in their 
 lives, Washington's unwavering truth, his ab- 
 sence of selfishness or party-spirit, his cool 
 bravery, his sound judgment, his self-denyiug 
 patriotism — that combined galaxy of virtues, 
 adorning the path to immortality, and shedding 
 effulgence over the world ; effulgence which re- 
 flects, as far as mortal power can, the pure and 
 bright emanations from Omnipresence, never seen 
 but ever felt — from Omnipotence, immutable, 
 immaculate, and eternal. 
 
 AVould we crave for our beloved country the 
 blessings of such a Creator ; would we beseech 
 the aid of a Godhead, himself the essence of 
 love ; must we not first quell all angry passions, 
 all dissensions, jealousy, and hatred, and our- 
 selves carry out, in good faith, the sublime pre- 
 cept and example of "Peace on earth and good 
 will towards all men?" 
 
 But, if such be really our desire, we should 
 carefully remember the importance of watchfully 
 guarding against incipient evil. Let us draw a 
 lesson from other portions of the physical world. 
 'Would the delicate human constitution avert fell 
 disease, the remedy must be applied when the 
 first appearances show themselves : no neglected 
 symi)toms must be permitted to proceed, indi- 
 cating an inflamed state, and, lastly, a destruc- 
 tion of organs designed to inhale the vital air of 
 heaven, and to purify the warm blood that gives 
 vigor and thought to the brain. Would the suf- 
 fering patient avoid pain and anguish from a 
 bruised limb, it is too late to repent of negli- 
 gence, or to recoil, when the sharp knife of the 
 skilled surgeon gleams over the operator's table, 
 ready to sever the gangrened portion, as the last 
 chance of saving vitality to the rest. Would we 
 arrest the spark about to consume our countless 
 possessions, and perhaps to destroy many human 
 
lives, we must take it at the beginning, when the 
 breath of a child could extinguish it, not when 
 the raging element has been fanned into fury, 
 during the unnoticed hours of night, and now 
 sends to the starry vault a lurid glare, that 
 strives to emulate heaven's radiant luminai-y, 
 but only renders the surrounding darkness yet 
 deeper. Would we save from shipwreck the 
 sinking vessel, we must, if possible, stop the 
 first leak, before the mighty rush of waters 
 threatens to sink the gallant craft; a vessel built 
 perhaps of the soundest live-oak, framed by the 
 best of workmen, rigged with consummate skill, 
 manned with a dauntless crew. A few pounds 
 of oakum may suffice, as yet, to save a thousand 
 lives ; but let the leak progress, let the hold fill, 
 let the pumps get choked, neglect the first pre- 
 cious moments, and soon one wild and death- 
 knell slu-iek will rise above the din of storm, the 
 crash of breaking spars and masts, the thunder's 
 roar following the electric flash. Too late as- 
 cend to an otFended Deity the prayers of those 
 who knew not or obeyed not His immutable laws. 
 A thousand soiils are sent, in one brief second, 
 prepared or unprepared, before the judgment- 
 seat of God ! 
 
 Thus is it, too, with the body politic ; thus is 
 it with the great ship of state. The first in- 
 jury, the incipient spark, the small leak, all 
 typify the discord which arises occasionally 
 among the best. Let us quell it at the start. 
 Let us go home this night, and not only then, but 
 evei'y night hereafter, before consigning our 
 souls to the safe-keeping of the Eternal Power 
 that watches over us, whether sleeping or waking ; 
 let us invoke His blessing on our yet happy coun- 
 try. Let us entreat him to soften our hearts and 
 to enlighten our intellects, so that we may not 
 misunderstand the words and actions of our 
 brother; let us beseech Him that we and our 
 children may, like the Father of our Country, 
 who "knew no North, no South, no East, no 
 West," when the welfare of his country was at 
 stake, be governed by our best judgment, and not 
 be led astray by gur angry passions ; let us im- 
 plore Divine Providence to crush the seeds of 
 discord, and so to wither them in the germ that 
 they will never grow or increase ; let us from the 
 depths of sincere and contrite souls pray to Him 
 for a tithe of that ineffable love which is the em- 
 blem of His own Supreme Excellence. Then, 
 perhaps, throughout the length and breadth of 
 
 this glorious country, He may vouchsafe to diffuse 
 peace, and knowledge, and liberty, so that all 
 our brightest hopes, all the fond anticipations of 
 philanthropists throughout the woild, may not 
 be crushed for ever by distrust, discord, dissen- 
 sion, fierce war, in which not only man hunts 
 down his fellow-man, as though he pursued a 
 savage beast, but necessarily, in such a case, 
 fierce civil war, in which the horrors of Delhi 
 would be surpassed ; for here the curse of Cain 
 would be realized — brother butchering brother, 
 the bullet of the father reaching the heart per- 
 haps of his only son. 
 
 Oh ! let not the Searcher of Hearts have cause 
 to ci'y out to us : " Cain, where is thy brother ?" 
 Let him not look down upon this his fair land 
 discordant, dishonored, ruined, and finally blotted 
 from among His works, from out the history of 
 nations, by the mingled heart's-blood of brothers 
 murdered by each other's hands ! 
 
 Sooner, far sooner let the earth yawn and en- 
 gulf us ; sooner let a consuming meteor, a sun 
 of fire, in its erratic course, parch our share of 
 this earth to a blackened cinder; far sooner 
 may the floodgates of heaven again be opened, 
 and an o'erwhelming deluge bury our portion of 
 Noi'th America, while she is yet "The Land of 
 the Free and the Home of the Brave," beneath 
 the deep waters of the commingling Atlantic and 
 Pacific, never to rise again! Swept, while yet 
 innocent, for ever from existence, she will leave 
 at least no record of domestic strife, of national 
 gangrene, of fratricides and parricides : the 
 boundless ocean-archives will alone remain token 
 of her utter annihilation 
 
 Forbid it. Heaven ! Forbid it that the calami- 
 ties we have depicted should ever visit this 
 thrice-glorious country ! Omniscient God, in 
 Thy eternal wisdom, avert the threatened scourge ! 
 Our prayers, if sincere, will be heard. God, in 
 His infinite mercy, will fill our hearts with a 
 touch of His attributes, — Justice, Truth, and 
 Love. His favored land will be saved — saved 
 through Him, by the intelligence and virtue of 
 its people. 
 
 Then, instead of discord and bloodshed, in- 
 stead of party-strife and murder, the struggle 
 will be, who shall acquire the most wisdom, who 
 lead the most virtuous life, who best promote 
 virtue, by rewarding the "Distinguished Liv- 
 ing;" who most honor virtue, by rendering 
 " Honor to the Illustrious Dead." 
 
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