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ADDRESS 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 TWO LITERARY SOCIETIES 
 
 UIIYEESITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, 
 
 JUNE 5, 1850, 
 
 HON. JAMES C. DOBBIN. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE PHILAIVTHROPIC SOCIETY. 
 
 FAYETTEVILLE, N". C: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY EDWARD J. HALE & SON. 
 1850. 
 
Philanthro}}ic Hall, July 'Ibth, 1850. 
 Sir: 
 
 The undersigned haye been instructed by tlie Pliilantliropic Society, to re- 
 turn its grateful tlianks for your very eloquent and instructive Address, deliv- 
 ered before the two Literary Societies of the University, on tlie day preceding 
 the Annual Commencement, and to request a copy for j^ublication. 
 
 Permit the Committee, Sir, in apprising you of this resolution of the Society, 
 to express the hope that you will comply vrith its earnest wishes. 
 With high respect, 
 
 Your obedient servants, 
 
 D. M. Carter, 'i 
 
 B. W. L. Claiborne, > Committee, 
 W. C. AVhitaker, 5 
 Hon. James C. Dobbin, 
 
 Fayetteville, August 8rd, 1850. 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 I have just received your communication, informing me of the resolution of 
 the Philanthropic Society, requesting a copy of the Address I delivered before 
 the two Literary Societies at the University, on the day preceding the last 
 Commencement. 
 
 I am conscious that the Address was necessarily prepared in too much haste, 
 and tliat it really has not merits sufl&cient to justify the expense incurred in its 
 publication. In accordance, however, with established usage, I submit it to the 
 discretion of the Society, and enclose you a copy. 
 
 Permit me to avail myself of the occasion to assure the Society of my gratifi- 
 cation at their generous notice of the Address, and to tender you personally my 
 thanks for the manner in which you have communicated its resolution. 
 I am, Gentlemen, very respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 J. C. Dobbin, 
 Messrs. D. M. Carter, 
 
 B. W. L. Claiborne, 
 W. C. Whitaker, 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies — 
 
 In undertaking tlie task -wliicli your generous solicitation 
 has imposed, I cannot forego tlie expression of unaffected re- 
 gret, tkat the lot kas not fallen on one more capable of contri- 
 buting to tke entertainment of tkose wko come to partake of 
 tke Annual Literary Festival of our time-konored University. 
 
 Not many years ago it was my lot to form one of tke restless 
 tkrong of College youtk, wko, witk buoyant kopes and eager 
 expectation, sat as anxious ksteners, and drank in witk gener- 
 ous confidence and affectionate admiration, tkose moral lessons, 
 tkose encouraging maxuns, tkose warning admonitions, so elo- 
 quently, so impressively addressed to us, by tke great, tke good, 
 and tke lamented Gastox. Well do I remember tkat look of 
 earnest and keartfelt sincerity, witk wkick tkat venerable man 
 sougkt to teack us, tkat "Happiness as well as greatness, en- 
 joyment as well as renown, kave no friends so sure as Integ- 
 rity, Diligence, and Independence;" tkat "we are not placed 
 -kere to waste our days in wanton riot or inglorious ease, mtk 
 appetites perpetually gratified and never palled, exempted from 
 all care and sokcitude, witk life ever fresk and joys ever new." 
 Well do I remember (and may none of us ever forget) tkat 
 tkrilkng, keart-moving burst of patriotic eloquence, witk wkick 
 ke keld up to our gaze, tke gloomy picture of a Union dissolved, 
 tke sundered, bleeding kmbs of a once gigantic body, instinct 
 
\vdtb. life and Ileal til and vigor; Ms prond exultation tliat "still 
 we are great, glorious, united and free ;" — ^liis toucliing appeal 
 to tlie youtli tlien before him, that surely "such a country and 
 such a constitution have claims which cannot be disregarded." 
 That eloquent lesson is now familiar to you all, and a student 
 would blush not to know it by heart. That beloved statesman 
 is now beneath the sod. His State mourns his loss, and his 
 memory will ever be cherished by all who appreciate virtue, 
 love excellence, and admire learning. He spoke the experience 
 of one who had nearly completed the journey of life, and had 
 himself played no humble part in the race of honorable ambi- 
 tion. 
 
 He who noio comes at your bidding, hath made but little 
 way in his pilgrimage, and might well be content to return 
 from the dust and bustle and turmoil of a thus far busy hfe, 
 for the first time to his Alma Mater — this starting point in the 
 journey — and assure you who have kindly invited hmi, and 
 who are now panting to enter on "life's fitful course," that 
 thus far he hath found the maxims of that lamented statesman 
 to be founded in true wisdom — that " Integrity" is the crown- 
 ing virtue — that "Labour is not more the duty than the bles- 
 sing of man" — that our beloved country does present to " the 
 eyes, the hopes, and gratitude of man, a picture as lovely and 
 brilhant" as he painted it in his loftiest declamation. And 
 well might I now add, that country, now — more than ever now 
 — challenges all your wisdom, all your virtue, all your patriot- 
 ism, to uphold and maintain it; to save it from the angry 
 strifes of the impetuous and the rash — the mischievous machina- 
 tions of the ambitious and the selfish — ^the reckless madness of 
 misguided fanaticism. 
 
 But, my young friends, while it would be vain repetition of 
 what others have done so well before, were I to indulge in the 
 effort to point out the dangers that ever beset impetuous youth 
 in the perilous voyage of life : — while it would be presumption 
 in me to inculcate here the teachings of virtue, and to persuade 
 you to tread the paths^of morality, in the presence of the wise 
 men from whose lips you have been daily wont to catch the 
 
piu^est lessons; — it may not be inappropriate, nor entirely un- 
 profitable, on tliis spot, consecrated to learning, and among 
 those wlio liave come to evince tlieir devotion to tlie sacred 
 cause — and in tliis, if not golden at least gold-searcMng era, to 
 re-assert tlie superiority of mind over matter — to impress afresh 
 on the minds of the youth here present, that the highly culti- 
 vated intellect is the wealth at last to secure real indepen- 
 dence — to purchase, as fiir as frail mortals can, true happiness 
 in this world below. That El Dorado that floated like a vision 
 before the dreamy enthusiasts of other tmies, and haunted the 
 imaginations of the indolent, who loved to fancy some fabulous 
 land where the glittering dust grew so luxuriantly that ease 
 and sloth could laugh at the ancient toils of industry and fru- 
 gality, in our favoured day, by too many is conceived to have 
 been at last discovered. And even in this age of progTess, 
 when old emj^ires have been made to tremble under the convul- 
 sive throes of a libert^'-seehing populace — when the world is 
 startled by the astonishing achievements of the human mind in 
 fields hitherto unexplored, — when genius, with the Printing 
 Press as her engine, hath scattered with a lavish hand her rich 
 productions to instruct, to entertain, and to amuse; — yet so 
 wondrous are the tales of golden treasures leaping into the lap 
 of the traveller beyond the mountains, by a magic that mocks 
 at the homely labours our fathers taught us, that too many of 
 our ingenuous, educated youth, captivated with the gilded 
 charms, the glitter and tinsel and proud parade of wealth — 
 tiring in their slow pursuits of learning, to which "no royal 
 road" hath yet been found, forget for awhile that the well stored 
 mind is better far than the overflowing coffers — that the low, 
 groveling, fleeting pleasures of wealth, are literally but dust in 
 the balance, compared with the pure, ennobling enjoyments of 
 intellect ; — forget that Inspiration hath said, " amid all thy get- 
 tings, get understanding," and that ^^ivisdomh ways are ways of 
 pleasantness, and all her paths are peace;" — -forget the picture of 
 the unsatisfying character of sordid lucre, so vividly drawn by 
 Goldsmith — 
 
" As some lone miser, visiting his store, 
 Bends at liis treasure, counts, recounts it o'er ; 
 Hoards after hoards his rising raptures fill ; 
 Yet, still he sighs, for hoards are wanting still ;" — 
 
 forget the trutli so forcibly presented by Young — ■ 
 
 " Soon as this feeble pulse, which leaps so long, 
 
 Almost by miracle, is tired of play, 
 
 Like rubbish, from disploding engines thrown, 
 
 Our magazine of hoarded trifles fly ; 
 
 Fly divers : fly to foreigners, to foes, — 
 
 New masters court, and call the former fools ; 
 
 (How justly,) for dependence on their stay 
 
 Wide scatter, first our playthings, then our dust." 
 
 Let US then, in withdrawing for a day or two from the sterner 
 demands, and trying struggles, and petty strifes of every day 
 life — while once more partaking of this fountain head of learn- 
 ing, and breathing the refreshing atmosphere of this classic re- 
 treat, contemplate anew the superior pleasures, the superior ad- 
 vantages, (not forgetting the higher responsibilities,) of the man of 
 cultivated mind, over those who grope their way in untutored 
 blindness — dull and inanimate amid the dazzhng triumphs of 
 genius, — insensible to the instructive beauties of nature, — 
 strangers to the captivating charms of pohte literature, — 
 
 " Born capable indeed of heavenly truth, 
 But down to latest age from earliest youth. 
 Their mind a wilderness, through want of care. 
 The plough of wisdom never entering there." 
 
 I propose not, however, to speak to-day of the mere intrinsic 
 value of education — its moral tendency — its incalculable impor- 
 tance ; — but of the exalted pleasures of cultivated taste, the ex- 
 quisite enjojTiients of him who can luxuriate in the green pas- 
 tures and amid the fragrant flowers of elegant Literature, with 
 such companions as Addison, and Johnson, and Dryden, and 
 Milton, and Shakspeare ; who loves to linger anon in the sub- 
 limer departments of Science, and behold its developments 
 from the remote period of the wonder-struck Chaldean Shep- 
 herd to the time of the philosophic Newton ; who dehghts to wan- 
 
dcr tlirougli tlie instructive pages of nistoiy, aucl learn and appre- 
 ciate its teacliiugs, from "man's first disobedience" to liis pres- 
 ent position, after centuries of revolutions and clianges ; wlio 
 keeps tlie store-liouse of liis mind well furnislred witli those in- 
 tellectual treasures, begetting that genuine independence that 
 keeps its master self-sustained amid the distractions of adversity 
 and the feebleness of age, — an independence, elevated high 
 above that misnamed independence, the spurious offspring of 
 wealth, fleeting as the treasures that beget it, which "moth 
 and rust" are sure to corrupt and " thieves break through and 
 steal." 
 
 " Knowledge is power," is the trite and ancient maxim ; but 
 shall it be sought after merely because it is power? "Learn- 
 ing is useful," and although we live in a utilitarian age, shall 
 it be commended merely because it can be turned to a good ac- 
 count ? become profitable by way of speculation, and for the 
 virtue it may possess of giving one man an advantage over his 
 neighbour who hath it not? Shall Literature be favoured 
 merely because it adorns its votary and lends a finish, a charm, 
 an elegance, to his productions ? Shall Astronomy be looked 
 into merely because, forsooth, an acquaintance with the stars 
 may assist the mariner as he ploughs through the trackless 
 waters of the ocean ? Or may we be pardoned for presenting 
 to the young mind, Science, Literature, Learning, and History, 
 as full of attractions — worthy of all their wooing — because of 
 their intrinsic loveliness- — because of the magic charm about 
 them that is sure to impart to their assiduous votary an exqui- 
 site satisfaction, worth far more than the price of drudgery and 
 time required to obtain them. 
 
 Literature, Polite Literature ! What pencil can paint in too 
 glowing and fascinating colors — in tints too delicate and pleas- 
 ino- — its bewitchino; loveliness, its heart-stirring charms, its re- 
 finino;, softenino- elevatino- influences? Who can borrow from 
 its richest ornaments expressions of adequate force — figures of 
 sufficient beauty — to illustrate to the young mind its genuine 
 character ? Who is not even bemldered and embarrassed, to 
 attempt the selection of even specimen flowers in its vast field, 
 
10 
 
 decorated with, clusters of every liue, and redolent witli sweet- 
 est fi-agrance ? AYlio is not confused in tlie tlirong of illustri- 
 ous names tliat break upon tlie vision, as lie looks to mark out 
 the clioice S^Dirits wlio kave lent tlieir genius to posterity for 
 its entertainment and instruction ? And witliout recurring to 
 remote periods, wliat educated mind liatk not feasted on tke 
 sumptuous rej)asts served up by literary epicures even in our 
 own days? And altliougli tlie severe moralist, in his rigid 
 scrutiny to "mark iniquity," may liere and there find much to 
 carp at, yet who hath not borrowed many a moment of joy 
 from the exquisite genius of Scott? Who hath not strolled 
 with delight over the wild heath, and ragged cliff, and along 
 the quiet lakes, and broken towers, and ivy-mantled castles, — 
 consecrated — ^touched with enchantment — by the magic wand 
 of that wizard of the North ; — and felt that they were resting 
 places in our pilgrimage here below — where Imagination could 
 triumph awhile over busy memory, and chase away the remem- 
 brance of envjangs, and bickerings, and jealousies, and check 
 the workings of sorded cupidity and ungenerous aims that so 
 often, and alas too often, poison life's sweetest moments, and 
 fling the blighting mildew on Hope's most cherished flowers ? 
 How oft have the sweeter sounds of his minstrel harp touched 
 the heart of many a careworn victim of despondency and mis- 
 fortune, till by their melting cadence, 
 
 " The present scene — the future lot — 
 His toils — his wants, were all forgot, 
 Cold diffidence, and age's frost. 
 In the full tide of Song were lost." 
 
 But time would fail us to-day, were I to invite you to hn- 
 ger amid the beautiful gems that lie scattered in rich profusion 
 through the works of even this man of Letters. And in this 
 age when the world is flooded with the trashy and vicious ebul- 
 litions of the penny-seeking novehst — if the mind will seek 
 sport and recreation in works of fiction, Ms are those that may 
 be the more safely resorted to, as well for chaste and simple 
 diction, as for the sui'e triumph that virtue is ever made to win 
 over vice. Indeed it is no little pleasure to intellects of no 
 
11 
 
 mean cast, to mingle Avitli liis characters, so strikingly and at 
 times iustrnctively illnstrativc of liuman nature, to admire even 
 tlic toucliing specimen of female devotion in tlie obscure Jean- 
 nie Deans, pleading with greatness in behalf of misfortune; — 
 to smile over the amusing enthusiasm of Old Buck for Roman 
 camps and black letter ; — to love the sweetness of Eebecca ; — 
 to almost see and hear the labors of Old Mortality in his sad 
 efforts to decypher moss-grown inscriptions ; — to associate with 
 the thousand characters exhibiting in striking relief a vivid 
 picture of the passions and emotions that elevate, and adorn, 
 and debase man, Avhile playing his part on this world's great 
 stage. 
 
 "What hours of pure mental recreation are lost to those who 
 are content to grow up in indolent ease, heedless of a taste for 
 Elegant Literature ; who have never relished the pure diction 
 of Drj'den, the sublime sentiments of Milton, the touching melo- 
 dies of Moore, the instructive Essays of Addison, the glowing 
 pages of Macaulay, the elegant works of our own Irving, rich 
 and iDrilliant as so much Literary embroidery, the still loftier 
 productions of Shakspeare, of whom it hath been said, "He is 
 the tallest and most graceful of them all, and will himself alone 
 do, when his reader may feel under a cloud of gloom and say, 
 like his own ]\facbeth, 
 
 " My way of life is fallen iuto the sear, 
 The yellow leaf; and that which accompanies 
 Old age, as honors — troops of friends — 
 I must not look to have." 
 
 But this species of intellectual exercise may be viewed as the 
 mere holiday sports of the active mind, gamboling and frolick- 
 ing in the fields of fiction and romance, with airy beings for as- 
 sociates, conjured into shaj^e and life by the creative spirit of 
 poetic genius. 
 
 But while glancing, even though slightly, at the attractions 
 of Literature, it may be not deemed out of place to speak a 
 word of the sublimity and beauty of the Literature of the Bi- 
 ble, which commends its study to the man of cultivated taste, 
 however disinclined he may be to practice its holy precepts. 
 
12 
 
 Truly liatli it been said by Sir Wm. Jones, (himself no common 
 soldier in the cause of learning,) that "the scriptures contain, in- 
 dependent of a divine origin, more true sublimity, more ex- 
 quisite beauty, finer strains of poetry and eloquence, than could 
 be collected within the same compass from all other books 
 ever composed in any age or any idiom." New beauties are 
 developed to the reader who has the heart to appreciate its 
 heaven-born truths, and the mind to appreciate the touching 
 simj)licity and gorgeous imagery in which they are presented 
 by inspired pensmen, apostles and prophets. "What can sur- 
 pass the touching stories of patriarchal simplicity that tell of 
 Laban and of Jacob— of Euth and of Naomi — of Joseph and 
 his brethren ? "What can approach the sublimity of Isaiah and 
 Jeremiah ? And if the thoughtful searcher after truth desires 
 to learn where shall true wisdom be found, let him admire and 
 tremble, and learn as he reads — 
 
 " There is a j)ath which no fowl knoweth, and which the vul- 
 ture's eye hath not seen : the lion's whelps have not trodden it. 
 He putteth forth his hand upon the rock : he overturneth the 
 mountains by the roots : he cutteth out rivers among the rocks, 
 and his eye seeth every precious thing. He bindeth the floods 
 from overflowing, and the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to 
 light. But where shall wisdom be found ? and where is the 
 place of understanding ? Destruction and Death say we have 
 heard the fame thereof with our ears. God understandeth the 
 way thereof^ and He knoweth the place thereof When He 
 made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the 
 thunder, then did He see it and declare it. And unto man He 
 said, Behold the fear of the Lord^ that is wisdom^ and to depart from 
 evil is understanding!'^ 
 
 But the sources of enjoyment to the man of educated mind 
 are far from being scanty. The field is boundless. His may 
 be the teachings of Philosophy, that enable him to penetrate 
 the mysterious Laws of the physical and moral universe : — the 
 teachings of History, that present in a vivid picture to the eye 
 the follies and fortunes of man : — the charms of Eloquence, by 
 the powers of which at one moment the terrors of bloody revo- 
 
13 
 
 lutions arc roused, and the mild pursuits of peace and liberty 
 secured at another. And yet liow often is |)arental hope blight- 
 ed by the infatuation of many a generous youth, who starts 
 out well in the race, but by the seductive allurements of vice, 
 the lulling whispers of indolence, or the giddy longing after 
 less substantial eujoyments, he soon "cares for none of these 
 things," pants after " the dust of earth," and as Lord Bacon 
 discourses in his Errors of Learning, "allows it to divert and in- 
 terrupt the prosecution and advancement of knowledge, like 
 unto the golden ball thrown before Atlanta, which, while she 
 goeth aside and stoopeth to take up, the race is hindered." " De- 
 clinat, cursus, aurmnque volubile tollit." Need I venture here 
 to address a word on the advantages which the reflecting and 
 educated man gathers from the study of history ? IIoav in- 
 structive to the statesman, how profitable to the mere inquisi- 
 tive mind, are the teachings of history, whose lessons in other 
 times have been taught to us by scholars of eminence, but in 
 our days have come to us clothed in the graceful drapery 
 thrown around them by the genius of a Macaulay, an Alison, 
 a Prescott, a Bancroft, and an Irving, who lend to history the 
 thrilling interest of romance without despoiling it of its truth- 
 fulness ! What a field is there presented for the most expand- 
 ed intellects to traverse — to behold the rise and progress, and 
 the splendor, decline and downfall of kingdoms, republics, 
 proud empires, and magnificent cities — the sad havoc of war, — 
 the genial influence of j)eace ; to gather lessons fi-om this "Phi- 
 losophy teaching by example" — to stimulate enterprise, to en- 
 coTU-age laudable ambition, to animate the desponcUng, to re- 
 buke vain-glorious pride, to admonish aspiring, boastful man 
 of " what shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue I" How 
 fall of lessons indeed is man's past history of man ? To the 
 proud man, whose restless spirit is for a moment stirred up 
 with ambitious aims, and who frets and chafes in discontent 
 with the dull monotony of calm and peaceful life, what a 
 volume of admonition is contained in the magic words, " Aus- 
 terlitz," " Marengo," " Waterloo," " St. Helena !" For he who 
 by one of history's startling pages, is bewildered and fired by 
 
14 
 
 tlie dazzling meridian brilliancy of the sun of Austerlitz sM- 
 ning on proud tropliies and glistering prizes and a miglitj 
 Chieftain, is calmed into thoughtful meditation as another 
 chapter soon 2:)oints him to that sun setting in darkness and 
 gloom, and the proud conqueror a prisoner on a rocky Isle of 
 the ocean ! Docs the thoughtful j^outh whose heart beats with 
 throbbings of laudable ambition, seek to learn where may be 
 discovered an example of true greatness? History presents 
 another chapter, that recites the romantic story of an infant 
 colony once planted in a remote wilderness. They were called 
 "Pilgrims," seeking for liberty, with Puritan enthusiasm. 
 Bright visions of bliss, and of unalloyed freedom, led them on, 
 and whispered the hope that the shafts of oppression could 
 hardly reach them across the mighty ocean, however strong 
 the arm that aimed them. But every gale that swept across 
 that ocean came laden with tidings that galled and oppressed, 
 till an unhappy people began to think of Independence, and to 
 seek a fit leader to animate their drooping hopes and dispel 
 the mists that hung around them. In that eventful crisis, 
 there arose among them a man whose virtues shone forth with 
 a lustre whose effulgence attracted every beholder, whose 
 stern courage quailed not in the darkest hour of the storm, 
 whose wisdom was profound beyond all his compeers ; whose 
 praj'ers were sent up to that God who sees that " the race is 
 not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong." That 
 man became that colony's leader. And he triumphed; and 
 the world was filled with his glory. And now, to him who 
 asks where shall the model of true greatness be found, History 
 responds, and points to one name^ and that name is "Washing- 
 ton," the "Father of his Country!" And truly what a moral 
 is taught to the young men of America by this illustrious 
 chapter in history, which says, " Ye who aspire to read your 
 history in a nation's eyes," and seek to tread the path that 
 leads to true glory, and leave behind you a monument of fame, 
 high and deep and solid and enduring, come read the life of 
 one who lifted himself above the poisonous malaria of Ioav in- 
 trigue and ignoble strife, who practised virtue, reverenced God, 
 loved his country — come read the history of Washington I 
 
16 
 
 But among tlie varied teacliings of History, wliat a briglit 
 page is that whicli reveals the wonderful influence of tlie in- 
 troduction of Christianity into the world ? — how man has been 
 regenerated and nations elevated by its heavenly influence — 
 how other systems have for a season flung their flickering, de- 
 ceptive light upon the misguided, and gone out like fleeting 
 meteors, while Christianity still continues to shed its jyura and 
 genial radiance, with steady and increasing brightness, to com- 
 fort and bless fallen man ; — how under its beui'licent operation 
 woman has been gently elevated from the humiliation to which 
 infidelity had consigned her, to her true position, until now, 
 in return, she not only blesses and adorns and elevates, but by 
 the rich and sparkling poetry of a Mrs. Hemans, the powerful 
 dramatic works of a Joanna Baillie, the beautiful and elegant 
 and touching productions of a Mrs. Opie, and Miss Edgworth, 
 and jMrs. Sigourney, and a bright galaxy of others, the genius 
 of "Woman has truly embellished the literature of the age, with 
 gems that glitter among the most dazzling that glow on its 
 pages. 
 
 But in the long catalogue of accomplishments that impart 
 pleasure and secui-e influence to the educated mind, there is per- 
 haps none more entitled to your assiduous cultivation, than the 
 art of Eloquence. 'Tis true the art of Printing hath encroached 
 much on its province, and the press now daily sends forth ora- 
 tions that fly on the mngs of the wind and the lightning's 
 wires from the centre to the circumference of our wide-spread 
 Republic. Yet in all countries it has ever been the most po- 
 tent art for effective operations on the heart and on the mind; 
 and under our republican government, where the popular fea- 
 ture so powerfully predominates, — where the struggle for in- 
 creased liberty and the wakeful jealousy of power are ever 
 animating the masses, — where every citizen feels that by ge- 
 nius and industry he can cut out his own pathway from the 
 lowest obscurity to the most distinguished eminence, and the 
 voice of the difl&dent school boy of hmublest lot may in his 
 manhood be heard to electrify the Senate and teach wisdom in 
 the halls of Justice, — in such a Country the rhetorical art has 
 
16 
 
 peculiar claims upon tlic consideration of him wlio aspires to 
 fame, and influence. For not only lias it been written, " Magna 
 eloquentia sicut flamma materia alitur a motibus excitatur^ urendo 
 darercit^'' but also, '■'' Pads comes otiique sociaetjara bene constitu- 
 ta£ repuhlicae alumna eloquentia.'''' It is an art by wliicliman can 
 successfully play upon tlie passions of liis fellow man ; — at one 
 moment startle with, liis brilliant flashes, and annihilate with 
 his withering sarcasm ; at another melt the heart with his 
 touching pathos and win the admiration by those persuasive 
 tones and thrilling appeals that lend effectiveness to the most 
 cogent reasoning and proclaim the triumph of true eloquence. 
 How oft indeed, when the fires of liberty have been well nigh 
 extinguished, and her votaries sunk in the depths of sadness 
 and despair, hath Eloquence stepped forth to reanimate the 
 drooping and to rekindle the smothered fires into a brighter 
 blaze ? How often has Eloquence checked the desolations of 
 war, — protected the blessings of peace, — encouraged the arts, 
 and touched the chords of a thousand hearts in the holy cause 
 of religion and piety ? 
 
 Your earliest readings tell of its powers. It was Grecian 
 eloquence that gave her orators the sway over the multitude, 
 that roused all Greece by its thunders to rally and resist the 
 encroachments of her Macedonian enemy, and gave the great 
 master of Eloquence a renown that two thousand years have 
 only increased. It is Eoman Eloquence that will ever perpet- 
 uate the glory of the Eternal City. It is British Eloquence 
 that has thrown a halo around the Sea-grit Isle, that will last 
 when the future traveller will wander amid the ruins of her 
 fallen grandeur. Burke and Chatham, Pitt and Fox, and Sheri- 
 dan and Grattan and Erskine, are names whose immortality 
 attest the powers of Eloquence, illustrated by their brilliant 
 efforts in struggles for their country's glory, or in the attain- 
 ment of laurels in the race of personal ambition. What did 
 not American Eloquence achieve, when Henry, and Adams, 
 and Ames spoke ? what hath it not since achieved in many a 
 memorable era in our young Republic's history ? 
 
 And if this be the art that may thus be triumphantly exerted 
 
17 
 
 to protect liberty, to disseminate the Uos|ic], tt.i idead i'or imio- 
 cence, to win immortality, can its attainment be too sedulously 
 courted, and its true characteristics too cautiously pointed out ? 
 And this most noble art has been mastered 1:)y those whose 
 mighty intellects struggled under difhculties and impediments 
 the most discouraging. The great master of Eloquence is the 
 happiest illustration of the trite maxim, "Labor omnia vincit." 
 He trusted not to the inspiration of genius; he atfected no 
 shame under the charge that his orations smelt of the lamp, for 
 ^vell he knew, and in himself exemplilied, the truth, that while 
 he wdio trusts to the inspiration of the moment often astonishes 
 with his brilliant displays, he who brings to his aid the allies 
 that Labor is sure to enlist, rarely fails of a triumph. The 
 tlashy parade of the orator who scorns to permit his genius to 
 stoop to the drudgery of labor, may at times win a shout ofap- 
 l^lause as fleeting as the breath that uttered it ; but he who as- 
 pires to Avin laiu'els worth wearing — to promote his country's 
 glory — to advance great principles — to secure a controlling in- 
 fluence with his fellows, — will soon find that well turned sen- 
 tences and pompous verbiage are far from being the chief ele- 
 ments of true Eloquence, and are very properly estimated by 
 those too whose rough exterior is too ofteu misjudged to be 
 the evidence of the obtuse mind, but who often know better 
 than the conceited orator himself, that what he hath spoken is 
 often a " tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, and sig- 
 nifying nothing." But above all, let it ever be remembered, 
 that at last virtue and morality can alone inspire confidence 
 and give to Eloquence its magic charm. Fox was the British 
 ' orator whose lucid reasoning, powerful declamation, and pro- 
 : found statesmanship, gave him immortal fame ; but the admin - 
 : istration of his illustrious rival Pitt rarely yielded to the terri- 
 ble batteries of Fox's Eloquence ; — for history weeps over the 
 melancholy truth, that Fox, with all his eloquence, lacked that 
 1 pure morality, that inflexible virtue, -wdthout which, there yet 
 has not been, nor ever can be, enduring influence. 
 
 But in the short compass of an Address, no power of con- 
 densation is adequate to the task of presenting more than the 
 i 
 
1>^ 
 
 most meagre picture uf the aources of either the enjoyment or 
 influence of the cultivated mind. The vaat field lies before 
 you, teeming Avith rich and delicious fruits, that cluster luxuri- 
 antly at every step, grateful to the taste, pleasant to the sight, 
 nourishing to the mind. But remember, that those precious 
 fruits flill not into the lap of the idle passer-by, who strolls to 
 linger a moment, and casts but the wishful glance ; — but can 
 be gathered by him alone who strives to secure them with such 
 friends as Diligence and Yirtue, that rarely fail of their objects. 
 Remember what Cicero has truly said, in his essay on old age, 
 " Youth is the vernal season of life, and the blossoms it then 
 puts forth are indications of those future fruits to be gathered 
 in succeeding periods," Remember too what Aiken makes 
 virtue to say in one of his beautiful allegories, "I cheer the cot- 
 tager at his toil, and inspire the sage at his meditation : I min- 
 gle in the croAvd of cities, and help the hermit in his cell ; I 
 have a temjole in every heart that owns my influence, and to 
 him who wishes for me I am ever present. Science may raise 
 thee to eminence: I alone can guide thee io felicity ^ Start well 
 in the race here, and the goal will the more surely be reached 
 hereafter. Time was when a stripling youth was seen here on 
 this same hill, struggling ' with his compeers for the modest 
 prize of the College honors. Stern morality tempered liis am- 
 bition ; diligence bore him through in triumph ; parental smiles 
 and greeting friends cheered him as he was decked with the 
 Universit}^ honors. Time passed on. A vast multitude throng 
 the Eastern Portico of the Capitol of the Repubhc. Fashion 
 and wealth, the curious and the gay, the great men and wise 
 of the land are there. For a moment solemn stillness pervades 
 that assembly ; then the air is rent with the shouts of rejoicing ; 
 for a great people have just placed upon the brows of a states- 
 man the highest honors of the proudest Republic on earth ! 
 Let the aspiring student learn and be encouraged by the inte- 
 resting truth, that that statesman was the stripling boy, who be- 
 gan by mnning his first honor at the University of North 
 Carolina, and ended by wearing that of a mighty Republic. 
 
19 
 
 Gentlemex of the GRAnuATiNfi Class — 
 
 To 3'ou this is a peculiarly interesting occasion. From this 
 quiet seat of learning you have been long wont to gaze on the 
 great world before you as a Landscape, and young imagination 
 hath been busv and lertilo in robing it with brightness. 
 Through the dim twiliglit of fancy things at a distance have 
 been gleaming on jo\i beautifully, and impulsive ardor hath 
 often fretted in impatience under wholesome restraint and well 
 meant discipline. Often have your glad hearts leaped with joy 
 in anticipation of this hour of emancipation from fancied thral- 
 dom. Well, the hour has at last come. It suits not my taste 
 to stifle the pleasing suggestions of hope, and bid you trem- 
 blingly bcAvare of the gTeen verdure and the rich and beautiful 
 flowers of life— because, forsooth, of the piercing thorns and bi- 
 ting serpents that oft lie hid in rosy ambush. It suits not rny 
 taste to damp your ardor at the outset, because, forsooth, it often 
 happens, that many a wayfarer before you, hath become faint 
 and feverish under the burning heat, or chilled and benumbed 
 with the cold and storms of life. I prefer on this occasion the 
 language of a gifted countrvman, full of sentiment and truth 
 and beaut}': "ZooZ; not ■monrnfnUy into the ixist: It coynes not 
 hach again. Wisely improve the present : It is thine. Go forth 
 to ■meet the shadoicf/ future^ u-ithouffear, and ivith a manly heart!'' 
 
 " Your lot is given you in a land 
 Where busy arts are never at a stand; 
 AVliere science points her telescopic eye. 
 Familiar with the wonders of the sky ; 
 Where bold inquiry, diving out of sight. 
 Brings many a pearl of truth to light ; 
 Where naught eludes the persevering quest 
 That fashion, taste, or luxury suggest." 
 
20 
 
 The arts, science, agriculture, commerce, liberty, theology, 
 all, all have received fresh impulses. The human family seems 
 animated with new hopes, the human mind seems inspired with 
 unwonted vigor. When Franklin's silken chord first trembled 
 with electricity the world was startled with what then were es- 
 teemed the grand discoveries of that gi-eat intellect. But in 
 your day the lightning is made our common news-carrier, and 
 is managed by the boys to dispatch hasty messages between re- 
 mote cities. When Fulton ventured with his Steam Engine 
 along our rivers, the spectacle amazed many a wonderstruck 
 beholder, who felt in his heart, that it was tempting Provi- 
 dence thus to hazard human life. But in your day proud 
 steam-ships, with splendid saloons and gay pleasure parties, 
 plough the briny ocean, and in their noisy pomp, seem to mock 
 the storm. And what a country too is that in which your lot 
 is cast, that makes us all glory in the name of American citi- 
 zen, — that makes us all so proud of the past, so proud of the 
 present, so hopeful of the " shadowy future !" Poetic imagina- 
 tion is overtasked in the effort to picture its real grandeur ; — so 
 changeful the scene, so rapid the transition, so Avonderful its 
 strides from infant weakness to giant manhood ! Once a mighty 
 wilderness, a continent of unquelled forests, the home of the 
 fierce savage and the howling panther ; — noio a beautiful land of 
 cultivated fields, and filled with Statesmen, Orators, and Philos- 
 ophers ! Once a modest flag, adorned with thirteen stars, affixed 
 to a flag-staff planted between the mountains and the Atlantic, 
 waved over three millions of American freemen. Noio a broad 
 ensign, bearing on its ample folds, not thirteen^ but thirty stars, 
 nailed to a flag-staff, planted, not on the narrow confines between 
 the mountains and the Atlantic, but on the mountains, on the 
 valleys of the Atlantic and the Pacific, and the great Gulf of the 
 south — affording protection not to three but to twenty millions 
 of free citizens of an " Ocean-bound Republic !" Of other lands 
 poetic prophecy reveals only sad visions of decay and downfall. 
 British genius hath already written of our father land, — 
 
 " England, like Greece, shall fall despoiled, defaced, 
 And weep, the Tadmor of the watery waste. 
 
21 
 
 The wave shall iiK.ick her lone and inaiiless slmrp. 
 The deep shall know lier IVeiiihted wealtli iki more ; 
 And unljiiru wauderers in the I'liture v.'u(jd, 
 Where London stands, shall ask where Lonilon stood." 
 
 But if American sons prove vrortliy of American sires ; — if Ed- 
 ucation be truly tlie protectress of Liberty ; — if time and Christi- 
 anity, instead of elevating and blessing, Lave not debased man, 
 — l/ours is the land whose future grandeur and magnificence 
 will continue to baffle the conceptions of the wildest imagina- 
 tion. We read in sacred history, that for the preservation of 
 the human family, Noah was seen constructing an ark. The 
 fancy of the gifted Headl}^ has graphically painted the scene, — 
 that as the huge edifice went up, " The farmer returned at eve- 
 ning from his field, and the gay citizen of the town drove past 
 and christened it 'Noah's folly,' and the Avorkmen engaged 
 upon it laughed as they drove the nails and hewed the plank. 
 But when the terrible storm came — upborne on the flood, the 
 heaven-protected ark rose above the buried cities and moun- 
 tains, and floated away on the shoreless deep. And when the 
 deluge was stayed, with its inmates unharmed, it at last safely 
 reposed on the summit of the sacred mountain Ararat." We 
 read too in profane history, that time was when our AVashing- 
 • ton was seen, constructing a political, a republican ark, for the 
 final protection of human liberty. When with his sage com- 
 ] peers he was rearing the novel edifice, and constructing it of 
 ] rafters and beams of Eepublican simplicity and popular free- 
 I dom, titled nobility and ribboned pride in other lands mocked 
 ;aad smiled at it as unfit for the storms that would surely assail 
 lit. But thus far, under the blessings of Providence, amid the 
 i terrible events that ever and anon have crushed the rights of 
 man elsewhere, — amid angry storms and the wildest billows of 
 party rage — upborne on the flood, our heaven-protected ark of 
 Freedom still floats on, and amid the tempests at their darkest 
 hour there has still continued to stream from it a steady light 
 to cheer and gladden and encourage. And when that most 
 terrific of temjoests shall come, — (which may God in his mercy 
 avert,) — when domestic fanaticism or party madness shall rage, 
 
22 
 
 —-wlien the voice of Patriotism shall for a moment be hushed 
 amid the hoarse clamor of discordant factions — when the flood 
 of fraternal strife and sectional hostility shall for a moment 
 deluge the land — still may we not chng to the hope of the Fa- 
 tlier of his country, that when it shall please heaven to stay the 
 storm, our ark may also find its sacred resting-place, and that 
 may he on tJie glorious Union of the States? But while a patriot- 
 ism should be cherished, liberal enough and comprehensive 
 enough to embrace our country, our whole country,' — while 
 your young hearts should beat with proud emotions as you be- 
 hold the grand yet novel spectacle of thirty independent States, 
 moving in the same orbits and encircling a common centre, — I 
 trust I may be pardoned on this occasion, in this place, at this 
 interesting era in our State's history, to express the hope and to 
 encourage the sentiment, that among these republican planets 
 that move thus harmoniously in a common orbit, there is one 
 for which every bosom here should throb with peculiar affec- 
 tion, — one that is entitled to a place in our "heart of hearts ;" 
 and that one is iV(»'^/i Carolina/ Not that I would have you 
 love your whole country less, but North Carolina more. 
 
 And disguise it as we may — regret it as we should, — yet, my 
 friends, is there not too much of reproachful truth in the sug- 
 gestion now not unfrequently uttered, that the Statesmen of 
 North Carolina, gifted as they have been, patriotic as they ever 
 are, have done much for the Union, but surely not much for 
 North Carolina? — have grown pale often 'at the midnight lamp 
 with anxious meditation on the affairs of the Union, but have 
 rarely wasted or seriously impaired their mental or physical 
 machinery in efforts to advance the prosperity and glory of 
 their own State ? — have electrified masses by their pompous elo- 
 quence on matters of Federal policy, but have only ventured 
 now and then to timidly breathe forth a half-suppressed, hesita- 
 ting suggestion, that perha2:)s something should be done to save 
 the "good Old State;" until at last, when a youth of genius 
 and high promise starts out on his career, clad with University 
 honors, how often do parental pride and affectionate friend- 
 ship intimate, that surely he will not remain here, but will seek 
 
23 
 
 /lis fortunes in some more ^Livuial elime? This siioiild n(_)t be so, 
 .Vnd the part you act in tlie I'liture, (which now will soon be the 
 present Avith you,) may have much bearing on the honor, the 
 prosperity, and rejoiitation of your State. S/udy u:ell her cJuir- 
 ader — -ham icellher u/aufs. Still in her jxtst history there is not 
 a little to excite your pride ; in her present condition, much to 
 animate and encourage. tStill we may be proud, that the bright- 
 est page in our national history that recites the thrilling story 
 of American Independence, must also tell to future generations, 
 that its birth-place was North Carolina. >StiU you will find that 
 her people haye one crowning virtue, called viier/rity, that makes 
 them happy at home, and honored abroad. jSlill we have fer- 
 tile fields, beautiful streams, a healthful climate, and a mountain 
 scenery as grand and lovely as the pencil of nature hath ever 
 sketched in any land. And if you, who gather your earliest 
 lessons here from her own bount}-— if ?/o?/. be true to A er, true to 
 yourselves — ^you may yet do much to aid her to make a gener- 
 ous struggle with her proud sisters in the race ; if she be not 
 the swiftest, the gayest and the richest, she may yet be honored 
 and admired for her cheerful face and her sterling qualities. 
 Keep bright the mental armory furnished yon here: it will 
 serve you good part in many an intellectual conflict hereafter. 
 ^ Look not mournfully into the past: It comes not bach again. 
 Wisely improve the present: It is thine. Go forth to meet the 
 shadowy future^ icithout fear^ and ivith a manly heart," 
 

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