ft FIRSr-BUNKE^HILL^ORATION * AND -OTHER- ADDRESSES* f I) f IV ,->lTY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO presented to the UNIVERSITY LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO by Mrs. Griff ing Bancroft LONGMANS ENGLISH CLASSICS EDITED BY GEORGE RICE CARPENTER, A.B., Professor of Rhetoric and English Composition in Columbia College. This series is designed for use in secondary schools in accordance with the system of study recommended and outlined by the National Committee of Ten, and in direct preparation for the uniform entrance requirements in English, now adopted by the principal American colleges and universities. Each volume contains full Notes, Introductions, Bibliographies, and other explanatory and illustrative matter. Crown 8vo, cloth. Books Prescribed for the 1897 Examinations. FOR READING. SHAKSPF.KK S As You LIKE IT. With an introduction by BARRETT WENDELL, A.B., Assistant Professor of English in Harvard Univer sity, and notes by WILLIAM LYON PHELPS, Ph.D., Instructor in English Literature in Yale University. DEFOE S HISTORY OF THE PLAGUE IN LONDON. Edited, with intro duction and notes, by Professor G. R. CARPENTER, of Columbia College. With Portrait of Defoe. IRVING S TALES OF A TRAVELLER. With an introduction by BRANDER MATTHEWS, Professor of Literature in Columbia College, and ex planatory notes by the general editor of the series. With Portrait of Irving. GEORGE ELIOT S SILAS MARNER. Edited, with introduction and notes, by ROBERT HKRRICK, A.B., Assistant Professor of Rhetoric in the University of Chicago. With Portrait of George Eliot. FOR STL DY. SHAKSPERE S MERCHANT OF VENICE. Edited, with introduction and notes, by FRANCIS B. GUMMERE, Ph.D., Professor of English in Haverford College. With Portrait of Shakspere. BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA. Edited, with introduction and notes, by ALBERT S. COOK, Ph.D., L.H.D., Professor of the English Language and Literature in Yale University. With Portrait of Burke. SCOTT S MARMION. Edited, with introduction and notes, by ROBERT MOKSS LOVETT, A.B., Assistant Professor of English in the University of Chicago. With Portrait of Sir Walter Scott MACAULAY S LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHV-ON. Edited, with introduction and notes, by the Rev. HUHER GK.AY UUEHLER, of the Hotchkiss School, Lukcvillc, Conn. With Portrait of Johnson. LONGMANS ENGLISH CLASSICS Continued. Books Prescribed for the 1898 Examinations. FOR READING. MILTON S PARADISE LOST. BOOKS I. AND II. Edited, with introduc tion and notes, by EDWARD EVERETT HALE, Jr., Ph.D., Professor of Rhetoric and Logic in Union College. With Portrait of Milton. POPE S HOMER S ILIAD. BOOKS I., VI., XXII., AND XXIV. Edited, with introduction and notes, by WILLIAM H. MAXWELL, A.M., Superintendent of Public Instruction, Brooklyn, N.Y.,and PERCIVAL CHUBB, of the Manual Training High School, Brooklyn With Portrait of Pope. THE SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY PAPERS, from "The Spectator." Edited, with introduction and notes, by D. O. S. LOWELL. A.M., English Master in the Roxbury Latin School, Roxbury, Mass. With Portrait of Addison. GOLDSMITH S THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD. Edited, with introduction and notes, by MARY A. JORDAN, A.M., Professor of Rhetoric and Old English in Smith College. With Portrait of Goldsmith COLKRIDGE S THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER. Edited, with introduction and notes, by HERBERT BATES, A.B.. Instructor in English in the University of Nebraska. With Portrait of Coleridge. SOUTHEY S LIFE OF NELSON. Edited, with introduction and notes, by EDWIN L. MILLER, A.M., of the Englewood High School, Illinois. With Portrait of Nelson. CARLYLE S ESSAY ON BURNS. Edited, with introduction and notes, by WILSON FARRAND, A.M., Associate Principal of the Newark Acad emy, Newark, N. J. With Portrait of Burns. FOR STUDY. SHAKSPERE S MACBETH. Edited, with introduction and notes, by JOHN MATTHEWS MANLY, Ph.D., Professor of the English Language in Brown University. With Portrait of Shakspere. BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA. Edited, with introduction and notes, by ALBERT S. COOK, Ph.D., L.H.D., Professor of the English Language and Literature in Yale University. With Portrait of Burke. DE QUINCEY S FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE. Edited, with introduc tion and notes, by CHARLES SEARS BALDWIN, Ph.D., Instructor in Rhetoric in Yale University. With Portrait of De Quincey. TENNYSON S THE PRINCESS. Edited, with introduction and notes, by GEORGE EDWARD WOODBKKKY, A.B., Professor of Literature in Columbia College. With Portrait of Tennyson. *$* See list of the series at en if of volume for books prescribed for i8gg anil /goo. LONGMANS ENGLISH CLASSICS EDITED BY GEORGE RICE CARPENTER, A.B. PROFESSOR OF BUETORIC AND ENGLISH COMPOSITION IN COLUMBIA COLLEGE DANIEL WEBSTER FIRST BUNKER HILL ORATION LONGMANS ENGLISH CLASSICS With full Notes, Introductions, bibliographies, and other Explanatory and Illustrative Matter. Crown 8vo. Cloth. SHAKBPERE S MERC-KANT OF VBKICF.. Edited by Francis B. Gummere.Ph.D., Professor of English in Haverford College. SHAKSPERE S As You LIKK IT. With an Introduction by Barrett Wendell, A.B., Assistant Professor of English in Harvard University, and Notes by William Lyon Phelps, Ph.D , Instruc- tor in English Literature in Yale University. SHAKBPERE S A MIDSUMMER NIGHT S DREAM. Edited by George Pierce Baker, A.B., Assistant Professor of English in Harvard University. SHAKSPERE S MACBETH, Edited by John Matthews Manly, I li.D., Pro fessor of the English Language in Brown University. MILTON S L ALLEGHO, IL PENBEROSO, OOMUB, AND LTCIDAS. Edited by William P. Trent, A.M., Professor of English in the University of the South. MILTON B PARADISE LOST. BOOKS I. j AND II. Edited by Edward Everett ! Hale, Jr., Ph.D., Professor of Rhetoric j and Logic in Union College. POPE S HOMER S ILIAD. BOOKS I., I VI., XXII., AND XXIV. Edited by ; William H. Maxwell, A.M., Ph.D., I Superintendent of Public Instruction, Brooklyn, N. Y., and Percival Chubb, Instructor in English, Manual Training High School, Brooklyn. DEFOE S HISTORY OF THE PLAGUE IN i LONDON. Edited bv Professor G. R. I Carpenter, of Columbia College. THE SIR ROGER DE COVERLET PAPERS, from "The Spectator." Edited by D. O. S. Lowell, A.M., of the Roxbury Latin School, Roxbury, Mass. GOLDSMITH B THE VICAR OK WAKEFIEI.D. Edited by Mary A. Jordan, A.M., Professor of Rhetoric and Old English in Smith College. BCBKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA. Edited by Albert S. Cook, Ph.D., L.H.D., Professor of the Eng lish Language and Literature in Yale University. SCOTT S WOODHTOCK. Edited by Bliss Perry, A.M., Professor of Oratory and ^Esthetic Criticism in Princeton College. SCOTT S MARMION-. Edited by Robert Morss Lovett, A.B., Assistant Pro fessor of English in the University of Chicago. MACAUI.AY S ESSAY ON MILTON. Edited by James (ireenleaf Croswell. A. I?., Head-master of the Brearlev School. New York, formerly Assistant Pro fessor of Greek in Harvard University. MACAtTLAY B LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON. Edited by the Rev. Huber Gray Buehler, of the Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, Conn. IRVING S TALES OF A TRAVELLER. With an Introduction by Brander Matthews, Professor of Literature in Columbia College, and Explanatory Notes by the general editor of the series. WEBSTER S FIRST BUNKF.R HILL ORA TION, together with other Addresses relating to the Revolution. Edited by Fred Newton Scott, Ph.D., Junior Professor of Rhetoric in the University of Michigan. COLERIDGE S THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER. Edited by Herbert Bates, A.B., formerly Instructor in English in the University of Nebraska. SOUTHET S LIFE OF NELSON. Edited by Edwin L. Miller, A.M.. of the Engle- wood High School, Illinois. CARI.YLE S ESSAY ON BVRVS. Ed .ted by Wilson Farrand, A.M., Associate Principal of the Newark Academy, Newark, N. J. DE QCINCEY B FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE (REVOLT OF THF, TARTARS*. Edited by Charles Sears Baldwin, Ph.D., Instructor in Rhetoric in Yale University. TENNYSON S THE PRINTERS. Edited bv George Edward Woodberr>. A. B., Professor of Literature in Columbia College. GEORGE ELIOT S SILAS MARNER. Edited by Robert Herrick, A.B., Assistant Professor of Rhetoric inthe University of Chicago. Other Volumes art in Preparation. DANIEL WEBSTER (After a daguerreotype) English Classics FIRST BUNKER HILL ORATION TOO ETHER WITH OTHER ADDRESSES RELATING TO THE REVOLUTION EDITED WITH NOTES AND AN INTRODUCTION FRED NEWTON SCOTT, PH.D. JUNIOR PROFESSOR OF RHETORIC IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN L ** C2 NEW YORK LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. LONDON AND BOMBAY 1896 COPYRIGHT, 1895 BY LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. All rights reserved i lEST EDITION, OCTOBER, 1896. REPRINTED AuauiT, 1896. PREFACE Ix the uniform entrance requirements now generally adopted by our colleges, Webster s " First Bunker Hill Oration "is placed among the books which are to be "care fully studied under the immediate direction of the teach er." It is with the purpose of marking out distinct lines for such study that this edition of Webster s famous speech has been prepared. Three others of Webster s best-known orations, dealing with kindred topics, have been added, that pupils training may not. unless it is absolutely neces sary, be confined to the single oration prescribed. F. N. S. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, September, 1895. CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION ix SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHERS xxvi SPECIMEN EXAMINATION PAPEHS ..... xxxv CHRONOLOGICAL TAHLK ........ xl ORATIONS The Bunker Hill Monument ...... 1 The Completion of the Bunker Hill Monument . . .27 Adams and Jefferson ........ 59 The Character of Washington ...... 104 GKNKRAL XOTI. A. Suggestions to Students ....... 121 B. Subjects for Essays ........ 134 INTRODUCTION I. BIOGRAPHY DANIEL WEBSTER was born on the 18th of January, 1782, and died on the 24th of October, 1852. We may say that his life covers one distinct period of the nation s life, for lie was born in the year when Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States, and he died in the year of " Uncle Tom s Cabin," the year when anti-slavery sentiment was gathering headway for the inevitable colli sion of the Civil War. Of this period Webster is the great representative. There were men among his contemporaries who were better, wiser, more original, more popular than he, but there was no one in this period who in so many fields of activity, as lawyer, statesman, and orator, can rightfully claim so large a share of our attention. Webster s native place was Salisbury, New Hampshire. His early life was passed upon his father s farm. In 1797, with very little preparation, he entered Dartmouth College, from which he was graduated in 1801. Until he reached his junior year he gave small promise of the powers he afterward developed. We read with astonishment in his " Autobiography," that while a youth he was never able to "speak a piece " before the school. After the first two years at Dartmouth, however, he came rapidly forward, and by the close of the junior year was esteemed the best writer and debater in the College. Shortly after his graduation, Webster entered upon the X INTRODUCTION study of the law in the office of Christopher Gore, a lead ing attorney of Boston. He was making rapid progress when suddenly, midway of his studies, came one of those accidents which make or mar a young man s fortunes. He \vas offered a position as clerk in the Court of Common Pleas, near his home, at a salary of fifteen hundred dollars. He was deeply in debt, his father was old, and the family estate, mortgaged to pay his college expenses, was heavily encumbered. I had felt," he says, "the res angusta till my bones ached." To accept the place meant comfort, a competency, and respite from the long, hard struggle. But, as Mr. Gore pointed out to him, it meant also the death of his ambitions ; he would be a clerk for life. Convinced by the arguments of the attor ney, he resolved to refuse the offer, and with many mis givings went home to break the news to his father. What happened may be told in his own words : " I got home one afternoon, just at sunset, and saw my father in his little room, sitting in his arm-chair. He was pretty old then, and tall, and very thin. His face was pale, and his cheek sunken, and his eyes which were always large and very black seemed larger and blacker than I ever saw them. He seemed glad to see me, and, almost as soon as I sat down he said : " Well, Daniel, we have got that office for you. Yes, father, said I, "the gentlemen were very kind, I must go and thank them ! * They gave it to you without my saying a word about it. * I must go and see Judge Farrar, and tell him I am much obliged to him. And so I talked about it very carelessly, and tried to make my father understand me. At last he began to have some suspicion of what I meant ; and he .straightened himself up in his chair, and looked at me as if he would look me through. Daniel, Daniel, said he, don t you mean to take that office? Xo, indeed, father, said I ; I hope I can do much better than that. INTRODUCTION xi I mean to use my tongue in the courts, not my pen ; to be an actor, not a register of other men s acts. I hope yet, sir, to astonish your honor in your own court by my pro fessional attainments. For a moment I thought he was angry. lie rocked his chair, slightly ; a flash went over an eye, softened by age, but still as black as jet ; but it was gone, and I thought I saw that parental partiality was, after all, a little gratified at this apparent devotion to an honorable profession, and this seeming confidence of success in it. Lie looked at me for as much as a minute, and then said very slowly, Well, my son, your mother has always said you would come to something or nothing. She was not sure which ; I think you are now about settling that doubt for her. This he said, and never a word spoke more to me on the subject." 1 Admitted to the bar in 1805, he went to Boscawen, near his home, to practise ; but he soon outgrew that little village, and upon the death of his father, who lived barely long enough to hear his first speech at the bar, he transferred his business to his brother and removed to Portsmouth. lie now came into almost daily competition with the leading lawyers of the State, and his powers grew apace. The head of the New Hampshire bar at this time was one Jeremiah Mason, a man of great ability. He has recorded his first encounter with young Webster: lie broke upon me like a thunder shower in July, sudden, portentous, sweeping all before it." But, in his own way, Mason was as good a lawyer as Webster, and exerted a powerful influence upon him. In particular, he taught him the value of plain, homely speech. Webster at the outset of his career was given to a flowery diction, and to a manner that bordered dangerously on the theatrical. Mason was plain, simple, and direct. But it was the plain-spoken Mason who always won the suit. As Webster said, he was " a cause- 1 Curtis : Life of Webster, vol. i., p. 72. xii INTRODUCTION getting man." " He had a habit of standing quite near to the jury, so near that he might have laid his finger on the foreman s nose ; and then he talked to them in a plain, conversational way, in short sentences, and using no word that was not level to the comprehension of the least edu cated man on the panel. This led me to examine my own style, and I set about reforming it altogether." In 1817, feeling that he needed still wider opportunities, Webster removed to Boston. Meanwhile he had been drawn into the current of national politics. As early as 1804, while yet a student in Mr. Gore s office, he had pub lished a pamphlet entitled "An Appeal to Old Whigs." In 1808, in another pamphlet, he had inveighed against the embargo. But these, being anonymous, had not helped to bring their author into prominence. His op portunity came in 1812, when in the " Rockingham Me morial " he made a spirited and able argument against the war with England. The document attracted wide-spread interest, and led almost immediately to Webster s election to Congress. His rise in influence was now rapid. Some ingenious resolutions directed against the foreign policy of President Madison brought him prominently before the country, and being re-elected, he came back in 1814 the recognized leader of his party in the House. Again he made himself conspicuous, this time principally by his speeches on finance. In 1817 he tried to withdraw from politics, as he said, forever. He determined thereafter to devote himself to the law. But, for a man of Webster s abilities, this was simply out of the question. "As I was sitting in my office, poring over Mansfield and Blackstone, in the autumn of 1822, there came a committee to me. They did not look like clients. I did not believe they had any lawsuits. Thomas H. Perkins was chairman. An other of the members is now living Mr. William Sturgis and they stood up straight in my presence. I threw down INTRODUCTION xm my law books, and they said : Sir, we have come to tell you your destiny. You must give up these law books. We come to tell you that, on Monday next, you will be chosen to rep resent the city of Boston in the Congress of the United States. We come to make no request, we come to enter into no discussion, we take no answer ; and Colonel Perkins made a graceful bow, and, with his committee, went off." 1 Webster accepted the nomination, and from this date to the close of his life never again put off the political harness. Transferred to the Senate in 1827, he attained three years later, in the debate Avith Hayne, the very sum mit of his renown. In 1841, President Harrison called him to the Cabinet as Secretary of State, and he held over under President Tyler until 1843. The next year he was elected Senator, but in 1850 he was again appointed Secre tary of State, a position which he held in 1852, when at the age of seventy, his public career and his life came to a close together. From 1830 Webster was looked upon as a possible can didate for the presidency. He eagerly desired the nomi nation, and his failure to obtain it embittered the closing years of his life. As a lawyer, Webster s name is associated with many noted cases, but with none of more wide-reaching conse quences than the Dartmouth College case. The occasion of this suit was as follows : 2 The president of Dartmouth College quarrelled with the trustees and was dismissed from office. By way of revenge he went over to the op posite political party the Democrats and brought about the election of a Democratic legislature. To pay their political debt, the legislature set aside the colonial charter of the College, passed a bill turning the College into a State university and provided for a new board of trustees ; 1 Speech at a Public Reception in Boston, 1852. * I follow here the narrative of Lodge, Daniel Webster, Chap. iii. XIV INTRODUCTION whereupon the old board, composed of Federalists, brought suit against the new board, composed of Democrats, to recover the College seal and other property. The case was carried up to the Supreme Court, and here, in 181 H, Webster, on behalf of the old board of trustees, made his famous speech. As it happened, the Chief-Justice, John Marshall, was a leading Federalist. Webster took advan tage of this fact, and by introducing the political aspects of the case, but doing it so delicately and adroitly that no suspicion was aroused, won the entire sympathy of the Chief-Justice and ultimately of a majority of the court. As a result Marshall wrote one of his great deci sions, in which, embodying a minor point of Webster s argument, he maintained that charters granted to private corporations are contracts within the meaning of the con stitution, 1 and therefore cannot be set aside by the legis lature of a State. 2 By this decision more than by any other ever made, the powers of the several States were limited and those of the Federal Courts extended. As a statesman, Webster exerted a powerful influence upon congressional legislation and public sentiment. His congressional speeches upon finance, upon the tariff, upon the Constitution, and upon the extension of slavery, were in his time, and are now, recognized as signal events in American history and substantial additions to American literature. The greatest of these speeches was the " Re ply to Hayne." It was the outcome of a controversy as old as the Union itself, with regard to the powers of the several States under the Federal Constitution. Three dif ferent views had been held by political leaders, and by 1 "No State . . . shall pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts." U. S. Constitu tion, Art. I., Sec. X. 2 The constitutional point, oddly enough, originated with the de posed president, who was thus "hoist with his own petard." INTRODUCTION xv them impressed upon the public mind. According to one view, held by Jefferson and Madison, and embodied in the "Virginia Resolutions/* the States are merely parties to a compact the Constitution. In case the central govern ment oversteps the powers conferred by the States upon it in the compact, the States, acting in unison, have the right to interfere and assert their original sovereignty. This doctrine, as set forth in the " Virginia Resolutions," was comparatively harmless, for the States were expected in taking remedial measures to act in concord ; there was no thought of a disruption of the Union. 1 But by others, especially by Senator Calhoun, of South Carolina, it was given a new and an extreme interpretation. In the view of these men, each State has the sovereign right, in the absence of any higher authority, to judge for itself whether congressional legislation encroaches on its powers. Legislation offensive to the State may be " nullified " or declared of no effect within its borders. If this measure fails, the State has the right to secede from the Union. These views having been advocated on the floor of the Senate by Robert Y. Hayne, of South Carolina, Webster spoke in opposition to them in a speech remarkable for its logic, its satire, its pathos, its elevation of sentiment in short, for every good quality that a speech can possess. To the views of Hayne he opposed the " national " view, that the States in 1787 were welded into a nation by the adoption of the Constitution and were thenceforward one and indivisible. This view was not original with him. It was an early tradition strengthened and made clear by the decisions of Chief-Justice Marshall. It was not, in deed, the correct view, for our oneness as a nation is de pendent, not upon a written document, but upon the de- 1 This is not the common view. I have adopted here the opinion expressed by Judge T. M. Cooler, in a recent address on the Web ster Havne Debate. xvi INTRODUCTION velopment of a national spirit. But whether it was orig inal or not, or whether it was correct or not, the "Reply to Hayne " drove it deep into the feelings and understand ings of the great mass of the American people ; so that the war of arms which thirty years later followed the war of words, found the sentiment of the majority upon the side of union. At various times throughout his life Webster was called upon to make commemorative or occasional addresses. \Vhile he was yet a student at Dartmouth, in 1800, he was invited by the people of the town of Hanover to deliver an oration on the Fourth of July. Nine years later, be fore the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Dartmouth, he spoke on " The State of our Literature," giving reasons why America should be a centre of literary activity. But these and similar efforts attracted little attention. The address which established his reputation in this style of oratory was that which goes by the title of " The First Settlement of New England," delivered at Plymouth in 1820. John Adams, himself no mean orator, pronounced it finer than anything of Burke s, and he had listened to Burke. And George Ticknor, a foremost man of letters of the time and a competent critic, wrote that he was " never so excited by public speaking before in his life." " When I came out," he says, " I was almost afraid to come near him. It seemed to me as if he was like the mount that might not be touched and that burned with fire." Five years later, with somewhat less of youthful exu berance, but with greater command of his resources, Web ster wrote and delivered the "First Bunker Hill Oration." It may seem strange to some that he rated this speech, when he had finished the composition of it, as little better than a failure. The opening was not to his taste ; he was satisfied with nothing except the address to the veterans. To a friend he wrote as follows : INTRODUCTION xvii "I did the deed this morning, i.e., I finished my speech ; and I am pretty well persuaded it is a speech that w\\\ finish me, as far as reputation is concerned. There is no more tone in it than in the weather in which it has been written; it is perpetual dissolution and thaw. " 1 He was wholly mistaken. The address was not only brilliantly successful on the immediate occasion, but went through edition after edition, and was translated into many languages. If we except Lincoln s Gettysburg ad dress, the brevity of which makes comparison unfair, the "First Bunker Hill Oration" is easily the first of com memorative addresses, ancient or modern, American or English. A similar misgiving oppressed him with regard to the eulogy of Adams and Jefferson, delivered in 1826 ; and what strikes us now as most remarkable, is that he doubted the effectiveness of the two fictitious speeches which reproduce with fine dramatic effect the debates of the Continental Congress. " He was quite uncertain," he said to a friend, " whether they were the best or the worst part of the discourse." Such misjudgments, however, are not uncommon on the part of famous writers, being simply evidences of the insatiable hunger for perfection which characterizes all great genius. " The Character of Washington," a speech in his best vein, belongs to 1832. In 1843 he gave the " Second Bunker Hill Oration," an address inferior in unity and spirit to the first he was too old for such an occasion, he said yet containing single passages of remarkable force and beauty. His last speech of this kind was at the laying of the corner-stone of the addition to the Capitol, in 1851. 1 Curtis : Life of Webster, vol. i., p. 251. xviii INTRODUCTION II. CHARACTERISTICS OF WEBSTER S ORATORY. The effect of Webster s oratory was due in part to his appearance and manner of delivery, in part to his ideas, in part to the language in which his thoughts were clothed. Each of these may be considered in turn. It was Webster s good fortune that in his outward per son he was as near perfection as nature permits her chil dren to go. "His very presence," said a New England writer who had no reason to love him, "was an oration." " Mr. Webster had a natural ascendency of aspect and car riage," writes Emerson, " which distinguished him over all his contemporaries. His countenance, his figure, and his manners were all in so grand a style, that he was, with out effort, as superior to his most eminent rivals as they were to the humblest." 1 He had in full measure the indefinable quality known as personal magnetism, so that literally, by a smile, or a ges ture, or by his mere presence, he could "hold children from play and old men from the chimney corner." " When he appeared in State Street, slowly pacing, with an arm be hind him, business was brought to an absolute standstill. As the whisper passed along, the windows filled with clerks, pen in mouth, peering out to catch a glimpse of the man whom they had seen fifty times before." 2 In stature Webster was not above the medium, though, with his massive limbs and stately carriage, he impressed everyone as a giant. He had straight black hair, eyes that glowed like embers under his jutting brows, and a com plexion "of burnt gunpowder." His voice, we are told, was in volume and quality an instrument of marvellous perfection. " It was low and musical in conversation ; in 1 The Fugitive Slave Law. * Parton, in the North American Review, January, 1867. INTRODUCTION Xix debate it was high but full, ringing out in moments of ex citement like a clarion, and then sinking to deep notes with the solemn richness of organ-tones." ! In his open- air addresses he could make himself heard to a greater dis tance than any other speaker of whom we have trustworthy information. Upon almost all topics of public interest Webster had well-defined convictions, to which he gave in his speeches and correspondence almost daily utterance. They were in general, as we have seen, not original ideas. Nor, for a man in his position, was it necessary that they should be. " A constitutional statesman, says Walter Bagehot, " is in general a man of common opinions and uncommon abil ities." Webster had uncommon abilities for using the ideas of other men, and especially for divining and express ing "common opinions/" ideas held by the people at large but not yet come to utterance. As a voice for the com monalty he gave expression in his speeches to three leading sentiments : one was, Our nation has a great past which has made us what we are ; the second, The Union must be maintained at whatever cost ; the third, We have a sure and splendid future. By dwelling upon the first, as in the two Bunker Hill addresses, Webster did much to establish in the public mind what is termed the " historic conscious ness," an abiding sense that our national life has its roots in the past and is a continuous growth. His belief in the Union amounted to a passion. "Union," he said, in the second Bunker Hill address, "has been the source of all our glory and greatness thus far, and is the ground of all our highest hopes ; " and there are few speeches in his col lected works in which this sentiment does not appear. His hopes in the future were as strong as his reverence for the past. He was an optimist ; that is, he had the convic tion that the tendency of human events is toward good and 1 Lodge : Daniel Webster, p. 192. IX INTRODUCTION not toward evil. He never doubted for an instant the permanence and the ultimate predominance of American ideas and institutions. The prophetic strain runs through all his speeches, and reaches a climax in his last great ad dress, delivered but a year before his death. 1 In style, Webster was self-restrained, orderly, and direct. Emerson says of him : "He was so simple and wise in his rhetoric; he saw through his matter, hugged his fact so close, went to the principle or essential, and never indulged in a weak flourish, though he knew perfectly how to make such exordiums, episodes, and perorations as might give perspec tive to his harangues without in the least embarrassing his march or confounding his transitions. In his statement things lay in daylight ; we saw them in order as they were. Though he knew very well how to present his own personal claims, yet in his argument he was intel lectual, stated his fact pure of all personality, so that his splendid wrath, when his eyes became lamps, was the wrath of the fact and the cause he stood for. "His power, like that of all great masters, was not in excellent parts, but was total. He had a great and everywhere equal propriety. He worked with that closeness of adhesion to the matter in hand which a joiner or a chemist uses, and the same quiet and sure feeling of right to his place that an oak or a mountain have to theirs. After all his talents have been described, there remains that perfect pro priety which aninvited all the details of his action or speech with the character of the whole, so that his beauties of detail are endless. He seemed born for the bar, born for the senate, and took very naturally a leading part in large private and public affairs ; for his head distrib uted things in their right places, and what he saw so well he com pelled other people to see also." 2 The orderliness of Webster s mind is exhibited in his paragraphing. With few exceptions, the topics of the par agraphs are logical divisions of the theme, so that to write a list of paragraph-topics is to make an analysis of the oration. In the internal structure of the paragraph unity 1 The address at the laying of the corner-stone of the addition to the Capitol. l The Fuyitive tSlace Law. INTR OD UCTION xxi is carefully maintained. The principal thought is usually announced in the opening sentence, and is then developed in regular and natural sequence to the close. The reader should notice, however, that within the limits of the para graph, Webster artfully varies the construction. Exces sive parallelism, the common vice of oratorical composi tions, is of rare occurrence. In the " First Bunker Hill Oration," there are but two paragraphs in which parallel construction is made prominent. 1 In the remaining para graphs it is alternated with other varieties of structure. Thus paragraph 4 opens with an inverted sentence, that is, a sentence in which the predicate comes before the subject. Nearer to our own times, more closely connected with our fates, and therefore still more interesting to our feel ings and affections, is the settlement of our own country by colonists from England." Then follows, in a different type of sentence, a fine example of parallel construction. 4 We cherish every memorial of these worthy ancestors ; we celebrate their patience and fortitude ; we admire their daring enterprise ; we teach our children to venerate their piety ; and we are justly proud of being descended from men who have set the world an example of founding civil institutions on the great and united principles of human freedom and human knowledge." Here the parallelism, which is in danger of becoming monotonous, is interrupted by an inverted sentence : " To us, their children, the story of their labors and sufferings can never be without its in terest." The fourth sentence recurs to the structure of the second, though with a change of tense : " We shall not stand unmoved on the shore of Plymouth," etc., but here the parallelism ceases ; the closing sentence is of a different type : " No vigor of youth, no maturity of man hood, will lead the nation to forget the spots where its in fancy was cradled and defended." 1 Paragraphs 7 and 44. xxii INTRODUCTION The construction of Webster s sentences is simple and straightforward, so that an occasional complexity or subt lety attracts an undue amount of attention. The follow ing passage will illustrate this point : " Men have seen that it (classical learning) might exist without mental superiority, without vigor, without good taste, and with out utility. But in such cases classical learning has only not inspired natural talent." l The words "has only not inspired," which in Carlyle or De Quincey would be passed without remark, are in Webster s paragraph so different from his ordinary mode of expression as actually to arrest the reader s attention, and make him question whether he has read aright. In the placing of words and phrases Webster is so uni formly accurate that if, now and then, he transgresses a precept of the text-books, the reader may well raise the question whether the precept is not at fault rather than the author. For example, there is a rule in most rhetorics that the word "only" should immediately precede the word it modifies. This rule is obviously violated in such sentences as the following : " It did not, indeed, put an end to the war ; but, in the then existing hostile state of feeling, the difficulties could only be referred to the arbi tration of the sword." 2 " Above personal considerations, above local considerations, above party considerations, he felt that he could only discharge the sacred trust which the country had placed in his hands by a diligent inquiry after real merit and a conscientious preference of virtue and talent." 3 But it is the rule which is at fault, not Web ster. The usage of good writers is to place " only " imme diately before the word it modifies whenever another posi tion would cause ambiguity ; in other cases its position is 1 Adams and Jefferson, paragraph 62. a Second Bunker IWl Oration, paragraph 22. 3 Character of Washington, paragraph 2G. INTRODUCTION xxiii determined largely by the demands of rhythm. There is no ambiguity in the sentences quoted above. A more serious fault is the use of " but which," " and which," when there is no relative preceding, as in the following example : " You see the lines of the redoubt thrown up by the in credible diligence of Prescott ; defended to the last ex tremity by his lion-hearted valor ; and within which the corner-stone of our monument has now taken its position." l Yet in these cases it is clear that the words "thrown up" and " defended " are equivalent to the clause "which were thrown up," and " which were defended ;" nor is there any evidence that to a hearer or reader not consciously on the strain to detect formal errors of construction, this passage has ever given the least offence. In his selection and use of words Webster was painfully scrupulous. In purity of diction he is probably unsur passed by any other writer, English or American. At the same time he was anything but squeamish about the origin of the words he used, and adopted freely the forcible idioms which he heard on the lips of the frontiersman. Although his orations show a large proportion of "long- tailed " words of Latin origin as "recollections," " pro pensity," "obligations," "inheritance," "responsibility," preservation," "generation," "ingenuous," "construc tion." " ejaculation," all from paragraph 5C of the second Bunker Mill address he preferred short Saxon words and made a conscious effort to employ them. Webster s self-restraint appears in his use of figures. Of bold and striking images he is in general sparing. His metaphors, in the main, are of that class which by constant use have been worn down into plain statements. More over, he prefers what may be called the "abstract" meta phor, in which, while the metaphorical form is preserved, no definite picture is suggested to the imagination. He 1 First Bunker Hill Oration, paragraph 25. xxiv INTRODUCTION may in this respect be profitably contrasted with Carlyle. Thus when Webster says that the French Revolution "has shaken to the centre her political fabric and dashed against one another thrones which have stood tranquil for ages," we feel the appropriateness of the figure, but have much difficulty in picturing to ourselves the shaken fabric and the jostling thrones. When, however, Carlyle character izes this same revolution as a " whole continent of smoking flax which blown on here or there by any angry wind might so easily start into a blaze, into a continent of fire," the scene is as vivid as if it were actually before our eyes. A peculiarity of Webster s style which is perhaps the first to strike the reader s attention, will here be considered last. His prose has a well-marked rhythm. It rises and descends in a way to remind us of the rise and descent of a graceful bird as it passes through the air. A sentence, as we read, will mount by a succession of wing-beats to a certain elevation, and then, in similar fashion, will descend gently to the close. The following is a good example of this movement in a long sentence : " These thousands of human faces | glowing with sympathy and joy | and from the im pulses of a common gratitude | turned reverently to heaven | in this spacious temple of the firmament || proclaim that the day | the place | and the purpose of our assembling V | have made a deep impression on our hearts." 1 Some times the rise is in one sentence, the descent in the next ; or the rise in a succession of sentences, the descent in an other succession ; these variations giving to the movement a peculiar character too complex to be analyzed here, which for convenience may be called Webster ian. In general this undulating movement of the sentence is wholly natu ral to Webster. The "long, rolling, rhythmical wave-pro cession " in the writing is the outward sign of a long, roll- 1 The single vertical lines indicate the stages of the rise and descent ; the double lines, the point of greatest elevation. INTRODUCTION xxv ing rhythmical thought-procession in the writer. But not always so. There come passages now and then when the majestic tread of the solemn period marks time without ad vancing. An example occurs in the first Bunker Hill ad dress : " Mind is the great lever of all things ; human thought is the process by which human ends are ultimately answered ; and the diffusion of knowledge, so astonishing in the last half-century, has rendered innumerable minds, variously gifted by nature, competent to be competitors or fellow-workers on the theatre of intellectual operation." But such passages are rare. To beginners the temptation to imitate the Websterian movement in their orations is well-nigh irresistible. Once they have caught the trick of Webster s rhythm they fancy they have surprised the secret of his style. But he who writes successfully in the Websterian rhythm must be him self a Webster. The student whose mind is not obviously akin to Webster s mind, whose thoughts do not come in long, rolling waves, will find it best, after a few trials and experiments, to cultivate a rhythm of his own. SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHERS Ix preparing the present volume, the first of the series of books for study," the editor has had one aim in com mon with the editors of books for reading," and one aim that is different from theirs. Like them lie lias made some attempt to lead the student on to read other works in this case, other orations of the same sort and of cog nate sorts ; but, bearing in mind that this is a book to be studied, not simply to be read, he has endeavored less to throw information in the student s way the task of preceding editors than to show him how, and from what sources, he may get information for himself. In pursuance of both these aims but especially of the second the editor now offers, in the following paragraphs, a few suggestions as to a proper method of study suggestions which he ventures to address to experienced teachers only because, in the present state of interest in the subject, every chance hint is sure of attentive and charitable con sideration. I. The first task assigned the pupil should be to read the oration as a whole. The reading should be of a kind which, for want of a better term, may be called i may i na tive ; that is, the pupil should picture the scene to him self as he goes along, and should try to call up in imagina tion such particulars as the orator s appearance, the sound of his voice, and the effect, upon the audience, of each striking passage. If the oration can be read at home and this is generally to be preferred the pupil should be advised to read aloud. lie should be advised also to finish SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHERS xxvii it at one sitting, for then the impression which he carries away from it is more likely to have unity and complete ness. For reading of this kind no special preparation is re quired. The judicious teacher will help his pupils realize the circumstances under which the oration was delivered, and will thus endeavor to awake in them some degree of curiosity. But beyond this point he will not choose to go. He will be especially careful not to forestall his pupils im pressions by elaborate criticism or to wear out their interest by unimportant details of biography. As soon as he feels that they are eager to begin, he will step aside and leave them to the oration and their instincts. II. Notwithstanding the informality of this first exer cise, its results should be carefully tested in the class-room. By requiring of the pupils brief, impromptu essays or ver bal reports, the teacher should assure himself that each member of the class has actually read the whole oration, has obtained a general notion of its plan and contents, and has appreciated in some measure the peculiar qualities of the style. The desired information may be drawn out from the pupils by asking questions like the following : What parts of the oration do you remember most dis tinctly ? What parts do you think are the best, and why do you think they are the best ? What is the leading idea of the opening ? What the leading idea of the close ? What is the most important idea of the whole oration ? Does the oration prove anything ? Can you see any dif ference between the style of Webster and the style of Ir ving (or of any other author that has been read) ? What effect do you think such and such a passage had upon the audience ? The answers to questions like these will not only reveal the spirit in which the oration has been read, but will put into the hands of the teacher suggestions for the further conduct of the course. xxviii SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHERS III. When, by the means suggested above, the teacher has made certain that his pupils have obtained a broad, general survey of the oration, he should pass to a study of its plan and structure. First, in this part of the work, should come the deduction of the theme or working-idea. This may, indeed, be given, but there is a distinct advan tage in drawing it out from the pupils themselves, by the following or a similar method. Selecting a number of important passages, the teacher reads them one by one to the class, inquiring after each : " AVhat is Webster talking about in this passage ? What does he mean ? What is he driving at ? " The answers are written upon the board in the form of complete sen tences. When all have been thus written, the teacher asks, " Can t you boil these sentences down into one sen tence ? Isn t there some one thing that Webster is talk ing about through the whole course of the oration ? " From the answers to these last questions it will generally be possible to educe a provisional theme. The exact theme may now be given, or better, the pupil may be required to construct it for himself from the provisional theme by a re-reading of the entire oration. To illustrate this method of instruction, let us consider briefly the fourth of the orations in this volume. In response to questions regard ing the underlying idea of various passages from " The Character of Washington," the following answers might be expected : " Washington s example has had a great in fluence " (paragraph 6) ; " Washington did a great deal to establish popular government" (pars. 9. 10) ; "Washing ton s influence has extended over the whole world " (pars. 12, 13) ; "The principles of Washington s administration were right" (par. 17) ; " Washington s example will pre serve the Union" (pars. 34, 35). Putting these together, pupils would probably suggest, as the idea underlying them all, such sentiments as the following : " Washington was SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHERS XXIX a great man ; " " Washington was a good man and a great statesman ; " " Washington s example has made the whole world better ; " The prosperity of the United States is the result of Washington s statesmanship." From these a provisional theme could readily be drawn. IV. Passing now to a consideration of the plan, the teacher should call attention to the organic character ! of the oration "the method of evolution the proportions, the relations of the parts to the whole. " He should ex plain the nature of the large divisions, indicated in this volume by Roman numerals, and should require the lead ing thought of each division to be expressed in a brief, carefully worded sentence. By throwing all these sentences together, and using them as an outline, he should then try to make it clear that the themes of the large divisions grow naturally from the general idea of the oration. The order of divisions should be commented upon, and the pupil should be led to the conviction that their arrangement, far from being the result of chance, is a sequence de manded by the onward movement of the writer s thought. V. The paragraphs should be studied as members of di visions. The pupil should be made to see that in a given division each paragraph belongs in the place where it is : that in that place it performs a necessary function ; that if it be omitted, or shifted to another place, the unity and sequence of the division will be seriously disturbed. It is also important that the internal structure of the paragraph receive careful attention. The pupil should be made familiar with the results of recent studies of this subject, 1 "The teaclipr should bear in mind that any body of written Eng lish, of whatever length . is an organic unit, with principles that apply as well to the arrangement of the minor elements as to the grouping of larger divisions of the essay or book." Report of the Committee on Secondary School Studies, p. 95. 1 Matthew Arnold, On the Literary Influence of Academies. XXX SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHERS and such matters as the topic-sentence, methods of devel opment, " massing " of the important ideas, and the like, should be illustrated until they are clearly understood and their practical importance is appreciated. Analyzing par agraphs sentence by sentence will be found a profitable ex ercise. To illustrate, if the second paragraph of the first Bunker Hill address is under consideration, an analysis may be made similar to the following. The first sentence of the paragraph continues the thought of the preceding sentence, and contains the topic to be developed : "It is natural that the local associations should impress us deeply." In sentences 2 and 3 these local associations arc specified : " We are among the graves, we are on the bat tle-ground." Sentence 4 presents in obverse an idea which in its positive form is repeated in sentence o : "The date and place cannot be made memorable (by the monument) ; they are already memorable." (Compare with this the expression of the same idea in Lincoln s " Gettysburg Address : " "We cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our power to add or detract. ") Sentence <i begins with an adversative conjunction, which seems to in dicate a contrast with some preceding sentence or with the preceding portion of the paragraph ; but to discover the contrasting ideas is at first a little difficult. Is the idea denoted by the word " Americans " set over against some such idea as " men of other nations," " the world at large," implied in "subsequent history" and "successive genera tions ?" Reading the whole paragraph to get the connec tion, we see that this interpretation cannot be the true one. What is more likely is that the conjunction " but," instead of being a true adversative, is merely a device for indicat ing that the thought of the paragraph, switched off in sen tences 4 and 5, has now returned to the main line. This SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHERS xxxi view is rendered plausible by the sentences that follow. Sentence 7 and the first two clauses of sentence 8 continue the idea of sentence 6, giving reasons why it is natural that the local associations should be impressive. The last clause of sentence 8, drawing a conclusion from these rea sons, at the same time repeats the thought of sentence 1, and so brings the paragraph to a fitting close. VI. In the study of sentences the starting-point should be the paragraph. The character of the sentence its length, its kind, the arrangement of its parts should be accounted for on the principle of adaptation to its place in the larger unit of discourse. VII. The same principle may also be applied to the study of words. A word in one of these orations is best studied as a part of the sentence in which it actually oc curs. When the pupil, for example, comes upon the word "respectable" in paragraphs 16 and 50 of the second Bunker Hill address, the teacher s first question should not be as to the etymology of the word, nor even as to its definition in an unabridged dictionary, but rather as to the idea that Webster in this sentence probably wishes to ex press. Let the pupil first endeavor to determine for him self the quality which Webster desires to contrast with "grandeur" in one sentence, and with " happiness" in the other. When these questions have been answered, rightly or wrongly, the dictionary will be consulted with increased interest and profit. VIII. In the study of figures of speech,, upon which in some schools much emphasis is laid, time will be spent most advantageously if it is given to learning their func tions and values rather than to learning their classes. If the teacher, for example, devotes an hour to the question why " spacious temple of the firmament," in the opening paragraph of the first Bunker Hill address, is preferable in that place to "spacious firmament" or "spacious tern- xxxii SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHERS pie-like firmament/ and why, in the third paragraph of "The Character of Washington," the images do not pro duce the effect of mixed metaphor, he will probably do his pupils greater service than by spending the same amount of time in teaching them to identify all the synecdoches and metonymies in all the four orations. IX. The study of the author s biography,, which may be pursued at the same time with the study of the orations, is most conveniently carried on as a part of the work in composition. Each student may be required to write sev eral biographical essays. They should be written upon limited topics, similar to those suggested in the General Note ( 23-25), and should never be longer than two or three hundred words. In the preparation of them, pupils should be led to consult as many sources as may be available. X. The subject-matter of the oration should be studied systematically. Instead of fitting dates to historical allu sions and collecting odds and ends of information about the names mentioned in the text, the pupil should endeavor to take stock of the orator s ideas. He should try to ar range in a systematic way the materials out of which the oration was constructed. The principles which in the course of the oration are expounded or implied should be separated from the facts used to enforce them. Webster s views in regard to patriotism, union, the relation of knowl edge to liberty, self-government, and non - interference, should be gathered from his speeches and stated briefly in the pupil s own words. The facts of history, on the other hand the discovery of America, the voyages of the Cabots, the landing of the Pilgrims, the battles of the Revolution, the promulgation of the Monroe Doctrine may be ar ranged in chronological order in tables similar to those on pages xl.-xliii. of this volume. BIBLIOGRAPHY. On the characteristics of oratory and the nature of an oration the student may consult Genung s SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHERS xxxiii " Practical Rhetoric," pp. 408-474 ; Hart s " Handbook of English Composition and Rhetoric," pp. 314-322 ; and Newcomer s "English Composition/" pp. 183-205. There is an interesting chapter on American oratory in Bryce s " American Commonwealth/" Ft. vi., and a few paragraphs on commemorative oratory in Curtis s "Life of Webster/" vol. i., pp. 190-195. The plan and the theme arc treated in their details in Genung s " Practical Khetoric," pp. 248-301, and more generally in Wendell s " English Com position/" pp. 150-192 ; McElroy s " Structure of English Prose," pp. 227-234; and Carpenter s "Exercises in Rhetoric/" chapter xiii. To the structure and function of the paragraph much attention has recently been paid. Full information upon this subject will be found in the following works : Bain s " English Composition and Rhet oric/ vol. i., pp. 91-134; McElroy s "Structure of Eng lish Prose/ pp. 196-222; Minto s "Manual of English Prose," pp. 89-9? (in the American edition) ; (Joining s "Practical Rhetoric," pp. 193-213; Hart s "English Composition and Rhetoric," chapters ii. and iv. ; Carpen ter s " Exercises in Rhetoric," chapter x. ; A. S. Hill s "Principles of Rhetoric" (Revised edition), pp. 230-238; Wendell s "English Composition," pp. 114-149; and in Scott and Denney s " Paragraph- Writing. " The analyses of Macaulay s paragraphs in Minto s " Manual " are es pecially to be commended. For helpful chapters on sen tences and words reference may be made to the works of Bain, Wendell, Carpenter. A. S. Hill. McElroy, Hart, and Genung, and to Longmans " School Composition." The relation of the sentence to the paragraph is treated with some fulness in Scott and Denney s " Paragraph-Writing," pp. 30-47. A method of analysis similar to that outlined above is presented in a little pamphlet, entitled " Esquisse d une Methode generale de preparation et d explication des xxxiv SUGGESTIOXK FOR TEACHERS Auteurs franyais/ by Gustave Allais (Paris, 1884). The editor acknowledges his indebtedness to M. Allais, although the pamphlet did not come to the editor s attention until after he had developed, independently, and applied to some extent in his teaching, its fundamental principles. For books on the life of Webster and upon the subject- matter of the orations, the reader is referred to the General Note at the close of the volume. SPECIMEN EXAMINATION PAPERS Ix order that teachers may know what results are ex pected from the lines of study marked out in the foregoing "Suggestions," a few specimen examination papers are here appended. For obvious reasons, the topics are from the " First Bunker Hill Oration " only. In practice these would of course be supplemented by alternative topics from other books. I. (Directions : 1. Put your name in the upper right-hand corner of each sheet. 2. Use only one side of the paper. 3. Write plainly. 4. Pay attention to punctuation, capital izing, sentence-structure, paragraphing, etc., in all that you write.) A. (five in narrative form a short account of your prepa ration in English. State (1) the school you attended, (>) the time spent upon English studies, (3) the number of essays written. (-i) the text-books used, (5) the books read in connection with the English courses, (6) any exercises or methods of instruction that were particularly profitable or unprofitable. B. (Par. 8.) We live in a most extraordinary age. Events so various and so important that they might crowd and distinguish centuries, are in our times compressed within the compass of a single life. (Par. 11. " Yet, notwithstanding that this is but a faint abstract of the things which have happened since the day of the battle of Bunker Hill, we are but fifty years removed from it," etc. xxxvi SPECIMEN KXAMISAT10X PAPERS Give in your own words a "faint abstract" of the "events " and " things " referred to in paragraphs 8 and 11. C. What facts in Webster s life bear out or refute Thoreau s judgment of him : " His quality is not wisdom, but pru dence." D. Why may not sentence 4 of the following paragraph be omitted ? Show, by an analysis, that it is necessary to the proper development of the theme. 1. We may hope that the growing influence of enlightened senti ment will promote the permanent peace of the world. 2. Wars to maintain family alliances, to uphold or to cast down dynasties, and to regulate successions to thrones, which have occupied so much room in the history of modern times, if not less likely to happen at all, will be less likely to become general and involve many nations, as the great principle shall be more and more established, that the interest of the world is peace, and its first great statute, that every nation possesses the power of establishing a government for itself. 3. But public opinion has attained also an influence over governments which do not admit the popular principle into their organization. 4. A necessary respect for the judgment of the world operates, ill some measure, as a control over the most unlimited forms of authority. fi. It is owing, perhaps, to this truth that the interesting struggle of the Greeks has been suffered to go on so long, without a direct inter ference, either to wrest that country from its present masters, or to execute the system of pacification by force ; and, with united strength, lay the neck of Christian and civilized Greek at the foot of the bar barian Turk. 0. Let us thank God that we live in an age when some thing has influence besides the bavonet, and when the sternest authority does not venture to encounter the scorching power of public reproach. 7. Any attempt of the kind I have mentioned should be met by one universal burst of indignation : the air of the civilized world ought to be made too warm to be comfortably breathed by any one who would hazard it." SPECIMEN EXAMINATION PAPERS XXXvii II. [Note and Question A as in I.] B. Give a running abstract of the " First Bunker Hill Ora tion," indicating the effect of each part upon the feelings of the audience. C. Emerson speaks of the " want of generalization " in Web ster s speeches, and says that " there is not a single general remark, not an observation on life and manners, not an aphorism, that can pass into literature from his writings." Criticise this statement, and illustrate from the "First Bunker Hill Oration." D. Name the office which each of the following sentences has in the development of the paragraph-topic. State in a single sentence the main idea of the paragraph. 1. " It need not surprise us, that, under circumstances less auspi cious political revolutions elsewhere, even when well intended, have terminated differently. 2. It is, indeed, a great achievement, it is the masterwork of the world, to establish governments entirely popular on lasting founda ions ; nor is it easy, indeed, to introduce the popular principle at all into governments to which it has been altogether a stranger. 3. It cannot be doubted, however, that Europe has come out of the contest, in which she has been so long engaged, with greatly superior knowledge, and, in many respects, in a highly improved condition. 4. Whatever benefit has been acquired is likely to be re tained, for it consists mainly in the acquisition of more enlightened ideas. 5. And although kingdoms and provinces may be wrested from the hands that hold them, in the same manner they were ob tained ; although ordinary and vulgar power may, in human affairs, be lost as it has been won ; yet it is the glorious prerogative of the empire of knowledge, that what it gains it never loses. 6. On the contrary, it increases by the multiple of its own power; all its ends become means ; all its attainments help to new conquests 7. Its whole abundant harvest is but so much seed wheat, and nothing has limited, and nothing can limit, the amount of ultimate product. " SPECIMEN EXAMINATION PAPERS III. [Note and Question A as in I.] B. In eulogizing (1) the survivors of the battle, (2) the pa triots who lived long enough to see independence estab lished, (3) Joseph Warren, (4) the Revolutionary veterans, (5) Lafayette ; how does Webster in each case vary the form and method of his eulogy ? C. What mark has Webster left upon the laws and public opinions of the present day ? D. 1. Which of the following sentences is grammatically correct ? Give reasons. Which sentence do you think Webster wrote ? a) " Energy of mind, genius, power, wherever they exist, may speak out in any tongue, and the world will hear them." b) " Energy of mind, genius, power, wherever it exists, may speak out in any tongue, and the world will hear it." 2. Make a list of the words which might be used to sup ply the omission indicated below. Select the best word, giving reasons why it is preferable to each of the others. " But our object is, by this edifice, to show our own deep sense of the value and importance of the achieve ments of our ancestors : and, by presenting this work of gratitude to the eye, to keep alive similar sentiments, and to a constant regard for the principles of the Revolu tion." IV. [Note and Question A as in I.] SPECIMEN EXAMINATION PAPERS B. In what respect is the first sentence of paragraph 1 a bet ter opening for the oration than would be the first sentence of paragraph 2 ? 1. " This uncounted multitude before me and around me proves the feeling which the occasion has excited. These thousands of human faces, glowing with sympathy and joy, and from the impulses of a common gratitude turned reverently to heaven in this spacious temple of the firmament, proclaim that the day, the place, and the purpose of our assembling have made a deep impression on our hearts. 2. If, indeed, there be anything in local association fit to affect the mind of man, we need not strive to repress the emotions which agitate us here. We are among the sepulchres of our fathers. We are on ground distinguished by their valor, their constancy, and the shedding of their blood." c. Iii a short essay, reproduce Webster s views on the rela tion of knowledge to liberty, using illustrations of your own. D. By an analysis of the following paragraph, show the nec essary drift of the omitted sentences. Embody the missing ideas in sentences of your own composing. 1. " We are not propagandists. 2. Wherever other systems are pre ferred, either as being thought better in themselves, or as better suited to existing conditions, we leave the preference to be enjoyed. ii. Our history hitherto proves, however, that the popular form is practicable, and that with wisdom and knowledge men may govern themselves ; and the duty incumbent on us is to preserve the con sistency of this cheering example, and take care that nothing may weaken its authority with the world. 4 ...... 5. . . . . . . 0. The last hopes of mankind, therefore, rest with us ; and if it should be proclaimed, that our example had become an argu ment against the experiment, the knell of popular liberty would be sounded throughout the earth." CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 3 o _ 5 S M S J| 2.2^rH n MM .s M o B S 3 = E CC MS. si a I g-p . . SJ % >- JC r "3 cr. <! => c-d S I- 00 CO CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE xli w tJ a J s -SnT jj 1 a P ei H ^s 2 "S . H i 0) xf < - M W H t- l"eJ "^ g O -a 3 fflf >J cj CC o &S M C O r H "J= W ) W ^ ^^ 02 2 !s ^ o j^ <t> 00 o l^ oo "3 ^i HH ^ ^ r" 1 o ^ H g ^^g s S 00 rH 1 1 p (H (i > fl a * 5 . < SJ EH ^ H 3 || || i 1? 11 5 S w ^^ m S ^ S M J5 ^ s o, hH o ^^ g Oi fn td $ T3 * -is 00* *2 CQ *C t a 00 00 ^ 00 00 00 " s "^ ^^ w 8 o d tH 02 1 B c Hi fl TJ 8 6 V 2 a 3 i^* LL TABLE UROPEAN HlSTO Abolition of de in England. Elizabeth Ba rwin, and Ten 11. Browning skens born. Battle of Wat ^HN ^ xi =* O d J? IH TS S o g . bo csS S a ^*1J Arnold born. "H O H g gp OWg us oi gOo || gj M OO 00 00 So OD ^"oO GO c 11 1-1 "-" i I i 1 H HRONOLC IKTORT. a c s S S, a u g w . be W x 5 rd Conven- fflte^ sc^ a 2 1 a S <s T3 ^ O W " 6"" ^ ,2 ^) 9> V a g pr (4-1 S fl a S* o 08 S < be ^a o os a cS ^ -FH QJ s .a O 5 y O u *T3 ^ VS * O ^ S3 o "o^ 1 S o < J S-s PHC - 1 2-a 5 2 * ^e ^af vT ^ * *^- 2 _ Z! ^ ^ o ^ 2 S S; a 00 00 00 oo" 1 CO CO oo"~ oo X J | g 2 c 1 J C SD J "S ifl a 1* rt o H ** -2 -*s .^ S o o " "^ -2 ^fl^ ^ O _i^ *^ o ^ fe W 3 H h OH S {2 S-g o -p J I <S ^^ 1 o 3 00 3 u 1" ^ .^ e8 O " - |-| 1 w oo s eg -^ ^ *i i 13 ** o i ^C ^ ., |3 ox S^":/ u <u T3 g fl 0} K ? s ^"a "^ ^ ^ /1 ^ ^ p. 5 K "3 > u "S q_j 03 O "m 2 W ^ & |^|a<l ^ 1 I 35 s *H /-^ fl A 3 P SH Q i-3|, 3 H S I> c 30 gr ,a 2- ^ ? * S r^ -r o i- -S x> 5 ? s ** /> i? 2 i oo "^ 5o X 00 30 OO "" 3D s "^ M xlii CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE O > V * p >% aj Sa . <o .s "0*0 8 aM 1 ~p ! g p 8 cc 2 *^ O>*H & * ^ i* 02 sj-c .1 a: 8 _? & &* H.-SO s 5 ie}O5*?> ( ?><->? CD * :C 30 CO. 55 S5 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE xliii OH-I ^tt >-< O o i s s O" 03 TS a H a o M 2 <w H 1e_rt -^ . 6 a 1 d > CM ^ o ^ S5 M ~* cS e8^ o S $ C |.s S.S C 1 - - t. S*s JH ** O c A* ^ ^ s H p u _ .a .B * . O <M >i i i 3* $~ ^^ S 0, 00 H * 0> i M d ^ k! c .Ad d J> a> d S-- K.S > 3 OJ , T3 3 O c " s a * -i &g S o -MS 8 cLTr? o p s o g 3 u "3 3 U| u o 4) u ;- 1 TS "? ^ 1 go K o ^ i .2 " fe ^ <y ^ O o " d 0) C 2 < o C5 I 6 N 7 JB s ^ 1 J -l.a 1 M * jjj; j^i ^ __2 o *u KB- o ^ c3 O X O rs ^ g EH 30 H ^3**f5 &H ^ 2 S O 5 <1 s S ft-C . d "T . C r ~3 . ^8 ,_^ q; J> 1 1 & I ^1 1> c ^ O> o -S *v-a OO 1 ? r rO^H =02^ GO CO I 13 0> X o V ^ 1 ^ O ^ o o .- ""S c 4> a _:"S w _ c ~_0 K ofc -r ^ /. H <u 43 5 -a D g J rt TS i-3 S =3 ? w c: a ^3 _ ^ C/J Q ^^* **- - c -* K H I || I ll \ 3 2 j3 ^3 p _ _g "d o ., TJ T !^- <+S O fci w 1 ^|| i>OK s ^ *^^ ^ ^ *""* ^ col^-f S J/2 O 4> 3^ ^ 0) a a; 11 gpEC S 2 tS 66* K iC cc 02 |WO THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT i AN ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE LAYING OP THE CORNER-STONE OF THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT AT CHARLESTOWN, MASS., ON THE 17TH OF JUNE, 1825 [THE earliest monument on the battle-ground of Bunker Hill was a shaft to the memory of Joseph Warren, erected in 1794 by the masonic lodge of which Warren was a member. The idea of a monu ment to the battle itself, until within a few years of the fiftieth anni versary, seems never to have entered the mind of anyone. The credit of this new conception is given to William Tudor, a Boston man of letters, who, if he was not the originator of it, at least by his persist ence and energy did more than anyone else to bring about its realiza tion. Largely through his efforts, a monument association was formed in 1823, and steps immediately taken for raising a large sum of money. To arouse public enthusiasm in the project, the Association resolved to lay the corner-stone on the fiftieth anniversary of the battle. General Lafayette, then on a triumphant tour of the States, gladly consented to be present and to assist in the ceremonies. Mr. Webster, as president of the association and the most notable orator in New England, was announced to deliver the memorial address. The day, the magnificence of the celebration, the presence of the nation s guest, and the renowned orator, combined to bring together on the historic field an assemblage of unusual distinction. After the cor ner-stone had been laid with appropriate solemnities, the spectators, to the number of twenty thousand, moved to the north and took their seats on the sloping hill-side, facing a platform erected at the base. It was an appreciative audience. The time which had elapsed since the occurrence of the battle was not yet so long as to destroy, even for the younger generation, the sense of nearness and reality. The fathers or grandfathers of most of them had borne arms in the Revo lution. Before their eyes were forty veteran survivors, with the very 2 DANIEL WEBSTER scars of the battle visible upon them. Then, too, it was a time when the press had not yet stolen outright the thunders of the orator. Men did not say to themselves on such an occasion, as they do now, " We shall get all this in to-morrow morning s paper," and turn away with a yawn. They were ulive to the transitoriness of the event. They felt, as we do not, that in the presence of such a speaker they must read with their ears and listen with their eyes. They hung upon the lips of the orator with a conviction, the heritage of classic times, that what was lost then would be lost forever. On such an occasion, before such an audience, Webster rose and opened his address.] 1. 1. THIS uncounted multitude before me and around me proves the feeling which the occasion has excited. These thousands of human faces, glowing with sympathy and joy, and from the impulses of a common gratitude turned reverently to heaven in this spacious temple of the firmament,, proclaim that the day, the place, and the pur pose of our assembling have made a deep impression on our hearts. 2. If, indeed, there be anything in local association fit to affect the mind of man, we need not strive to repress the emotions which agitate us here. We are among the sep ulchres of our fathers. We are on ground distinguished by their valor, their constancy, and the shedding of their blood. We are here, not to fix an uncertain date in our annals, nor to draw into notice an obscure and unknown spot. If our humble purpose had never been conceived, if we ourselves had never been born, the 17th of June, 1775, would have been a day on which all subsequent history would have poured its light, and the eminence where we stand a point of attraction to the eyes of successive genera tions. But we are Americans. We live in what may be called the early age of this great continent ; and we know that our posterity, through all time, are here to enjoy and suffer the allotments of humanity. We see before us a probable train of great events ; we know that our own fort- THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 3 unes have been happily cast ; and it is natural, therefore, that we should be moved by the contemplation of occur rences which have guided our destiny before many of us were born, and settled the condition in which we should pass that portion of our existence which God allows to men on earth. 3. We do not read even of the discovery of this conti nent without feeling something of a personal interest in the event ; without being reminded how much it has affected our own fortunes and our own existence. It would be still more unnatural for us, therefore, than for others, to con template with unaffected minds that interesting, I may say that most touching and pathetic scene, when the great discoverer of America stood on the deck of his shattered bark, the shades of night falling on the sea, yet no man sleeping ; tossed on the billows of an unknown ocean, yet the stronger billows of alternate hope and despair tossing his own troubled thoughts ; extending forward his harassed frame, straining westward his anxious and eager eyes, till Heaven at last granted him a moment of rapture and ec stasy, in blessing his vision with the sight of the unknown world. 4. Xearer to our times, more closely connected with our fates, and therefore still more interesting to our feelings and affections, is the settlement of our own country by colonists from England. We cherish every memorial of these worthy ancestors ; we celebrate their patience and fortitude ; we admire their daring enterprise ; we teach our children to venerate their piety ; and we are justly proud of being descended from men who have set the world an example of founding civil institutions on the great and united principles of human freedom and human knowledge. To us. their children, the story of their labors and sufferings can never be without its interest. We shall not stand unmoved on the shore of Plymouth while the 4 DANIEL WEBSTER sea continues to wash it ; nor will our brethren in another early and ancient Colony l forget the place of its first es tablishment, till their river shall cease to flow by it. >> o vigor of youth, no maturity of manhood, will lead the nation to forget the spots where its infancy was cradled and defended. 5. But the great event in the history of the continent, which we are now met here to commemorate, that prodigy of modern times, at once the wonder and the blessing of the world, is the American Revolution. In a day of extraor dinary prosperity and happiness, of high national honor, distinction, and power, we are brought together, in this place, by our love of country, by our admiration of exalted character, by our gratitude for signal services and patriotic devotion. II. 6. The Society 2 whose organ I am was formed for the purpose of rearing some honorable and durable monument to the memory of the early friends of American Indepen dence. They have thought that for this object no time could be more propitious than the present prosperous and peaceful period ; that no place could claim preference over this memorable spot, and that no day could be more au spicious to the undertaking than the anniversary of the bat tle which was here fought. The foundation of that mon ument we have now laid. With solemnities suited to the occasion, with prayers to Almighty God for his blessing, and in the midst of this cloud of witnesses, we have begun the work. We trust it will be prosecuted, and that, springing from a broad foundation, rising high in massive solidity and unadorned grandeur, it may remain as long as 1 Probably the Maryland colony, founded on the St. Mary s Uiver in 1634. 2 The Bunker Hill Monument Association, of \yhich at this time Mr. Webster was president. THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 5 Heaven permits the works of man to last, a fit emblem, both of the events in memory of which it is raised, and of the gratitude of those who have reared it. ?. We know, indeed, that the record of illustrious ac tions is most safely deposited in the universal remembrance of mankind. \Ve know, that if we could cause this struct ure to ascend, not only till it reached the skies, but till it pierced them, its broad surfaces could still contain but part of that which, in an age of knowledge, hath already been spread over the earth, and which history charges it self with making known to all future times. We know that no inscription on entablatures less broad than the earth itself can carry information of the events we com memorate where it has not already gone ; and that no structure, which shall not outlive the duration of letters and knowledge among men, can prolong the memorial. But our object is, by this edifice, to show our own deep sense of the value and importance of the achievements of our ancestors ; and, by presenting this work of gratitude to the eye, to keep alive similar sentiments, and to foster a constant regard for the principles of the Revolution. Human beings are composed, not of reason only, but of imagination also, and sentiment ; and that is neither wasted nor misapplied which is appropriated to the pur pose of giving right direction to sentiments, and opening proper springs of feeling in the heart. Let it not be sup posed that our object is to perpetuate national hostility, or even to cherish a mere military spirit. It is higher, purer, nobler. We consecrate our work to the spirit of national independence, and we wish that the light of peace may rest upon it forever. We rear a memorial of our con viction of that unmeasured benefit which has been con ferred on our own land, and of the happy influences which have been produced, by the same events, on the general in terests of mankind. We come, as Americans, to mark a 6 DANIEL WEBSTER spot which must forever be dear to us and our posterity. We wish that whosoever, in all coming time, shall turn his eye hither, may behold that the place is not undis tinguished where the first great battle of the Revolution was fought. We wish that this structure may proclaim the magnitude and importance of that event to every class and every age. We wish that infancy may learn the pur pose of its erection from maternal lips, and that weary and withered age may behold it, and be solaced by the recollec tions which it suggests. We wish that labor may look up here, and be proud, in the midst of its toil. We wish that, in those days of disaster, which, as they come upon all nations, must be expected to come upon us also, de sponding patriotism may turn its eyes hitherward, and be assured that the foundations of our national power are still strong. We wish that this column, rising towards heaven among the pointed spires of so many temples dedicated to God, may contribute also to produce, in all minds, a pious feeling of dependence and gratitude. AVe wish, finally, that the last object to the sight of him who leaves his na tive shore, and the first to gladden his who revisits it, may be something which shall remind him of the liberty and the glory of his country. Let it rise ! let it rise, till it meet the sun in his coming ; let the earliest light of the morn ing gild it, and parting day linger and play on its summit. III. 8. We live in a most extraordinary age. Events so various and so important that they might crowd and distinguish centuries, are, in our times, compressed within the compass of a single life. When has it happened that history has had so much to record, in the same term of years, as since the 17th of June, 1775 ? Our own Revolu tion, which, under other circumstances, might itself have been expected to occasion a war of half a century, has been achieved ; twenty-four sovereign and independent States THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 7 erected ; and A general government established over them, so safe, so wise, so free, so practical, that we might well wonder its establishment should have been accomplished so soon, were it not far the greater wonder that it should have been established at all. Two or three millions of people have been augmented to twelve, the great forests of the West prostrated beneath the arm of successful in dustry, and the dwellers on the banks of the Ohio and the Mississippi become the fellow-citizens and neighbors of those who cultivate the hills of Xew England. We have a commerce that leaves no sea unexplored ; navies which take no law from superior force ; revenues adequate to al) the exigencies of government, almost without taxation ; and peace with all nations, founded on equal rights and mutual respect. 1). Europe, within the same period, has been agitated by a mighty revolution, 1 which, while it has been felt in the individual condition and happiness of almost every man, has shaken to the center her political fabric, and dashed against one another thrones which had stood tranquil for ages. On this, our continent, our own example has been followed, and colonies have sprung up to be nations. Un accustomed sounds of liberty and free goyernment have reached us from beyond the track of the sun ; 2 and at this moment the dominion of European power in this continent, from the place where we stand to the south pole, is an nihilated forever. 3 10. In the mean time, both in Europe and America, such has been the general progress of knowledge, such the improvement in legislation, in commerce, in the arts, in letters, and, above all, in liberal ideas and the general spirit of the age. that the whole world seems changed. 1 The French Revolution of 1789. - I.e. , from South America, where several republics had recently been established. 3 By the proclamation of the Monroe Doctrine. 8 DANIEL WEBSTER 11. Yet, notwithstanding that this is but a faint abstract of the things which have happened since the day of the battle of Bunker Hill, we are but fifty years removed from it ; and we now stand here to enjoy all the blessings of our own condition, and to look abroad on the brightened pros pects of the world, while we still have among us some of those who were active agents in the scenes of 1775, and who are now here, from every quarter of New England, to visit once more, and under circumstances so affecting, I had almost said so overwhelming, this renowned theatre of their courage and patriotism. IV. 12. VENERABLE MEN ! you have come down to us from a former generation. Heaven has bounteously lengthened out your lives, that you might behold this joy ous day. You are now where you stood fifty years ago, this very hour, with your brothers and your neighbors, shoulder to shoulder, in the strife for your country. Be hold, how altered ! The same heavens are indeed over your heads ; the same ocean rolls at your feet : but all else- how changed ! You hear now no roar of hostile cannon, you see no mixed volumes of smoke and flame rising from burning Charlestown. The ground strowed with the dead and the dying ; the impetuous charge; the steady and suc cessful repulse ; the loud call to repeated assault; the sum moning of all that is manly to repeated resistance ; a thou sand bosoms freely and fearlessly bared in an instant to whatever of terror there may be in war and death ; all these you have witnessed, but you witness them no more. All is peace. The heights of yonder metropolis. 1 its towers and roofs, which you then saw filled with wives and chil dren and countrymen in distress and terror. and looking with unutterable emotions for the issue of the combat. have presented you to-day with the sight of its whole 1 Boston. THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 9 happy population come out to welcome and greet you with a universal jubilee. Yonder proud ships. 1 by a felicity of position appropriately lying at the foot of this mount, and seeming fondly to cling around it, are not means of annoy ance to you, but your country s own means of distinction and defence. All is peace ; and God has granted you this sight of your country s happiness, ere you slumber in the grave. He has allowed you to behold and to partake the reward of your patriotic toils ; and he has allowed us, your sons and countrymen, to meet you here, and in the name of the present generation, in the name of your country, in the name of liberty, to thank you ! 13. But, alas ! you are not all here ! Time and the sword have thinned your ranks. Prescott, Putnam, Stark, Brooks, Read, Pomeroy, Bridge ! our eyes seek for you in vain amid this broken band. You are gathered to your fathers, and live only to your country in her grateful re membrance and your own bright example. But let us not too much grieve, that you have met the common fate of men. You lived at least long enough to know that your work had been nobly and successfully accomplished. You lived to see your country s independence established, and to sheathe your swords from war. On the light of Liberty you saw arise the light of Peace, like " another morn, Risen on mid noon ; " and the sky on which you closed your eyes was cloudless. 14. But ah ! Him ! the first great martyr 2 in this great cause ! Him ! the premature victim of his own self-devot ing heart ! Him ! the head of our civil councils and the destined leader of our military bands, whom nothing brought hither but the unquenchable fire of his own spirit ! 1 In the United States Navy Yard, situated at the base of the Hill. General Joseph Warren. 10 DANIEL WEBSTER Him ! cut off by Providence in the hour of overwhelming anxiety and thick gloom ; falling ere he saw the star of his country rise ; pouring out his generous blood like water, before he knew whether it would fertilize a land of free dom or of bondage ! how shall I struggle with the emo tions that stifle the utterance of thy name ! Our poor work may perish ; but thine shall endure ! This monu ment may niolder away ; the solid ground it rests upon may sink down to a level with the sea ; but thy memory shall not fail ! Wheresoever among men a heart shall be found that beats to the transports of patriotism and liberty, its aspirations shall be to claim kindred with thy spirit ! 15. But the scene amidst which we stand does not per mit us to confine our thoughts or our sympathies to those fearless spirits who hazarded or lost their lives on this con secrated spot. We have the happiness to rejoice here in the presence of a most worthy representation of the sur vivors of the whole Revolutionary army. 16. VETERANS ! you are the remnant of many a well- fought field. You bring with you marks of honor from Trenton and Monmouth, from Yorktown, Camden, Ben- nington, and Saratoga. VETERANS OF HALF A CENTURY ! when in your youthful days you put everything at hazard in your country s cause, good as that cause was, and san guine as youth is, still your fondest hopes did not stretch onward to an hour like this. At a period to which you could not reasonably have expected to arrive, at a moment of national prosperity such as you could never have fore seen, you are now met here to enjoy the fellowship of old soldiers, and to receive the overflowings of a universal grat itude. 17. But your agitated countenances and your heaving breasts inform me that even this is not an unmixed joy. I perceive that a tumult of contending feelings rushes upon you. The images of the dead, as well as the persons THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 11 sif the living, present themselves before you. The scene overwhelms you. and I turn from it. May the leather of all mercies smile upon your declining years, and bless them ! And when you shall here have exchanged your embraces, when you shall once more have pressed the hands which have been so often extended to give succor in adversity, or grasped in the exultation of victory, then look abroad upon this lovely land which your young valor de fended, and mark the happiness with which it is filled ; yea, look abroad upon the whole earth, and see what a name you have contributed to give to your country, and what a praise you have added to freedom, and then rejoice in the sympathy and gratitude which beam upon your last days from the improved condition of mankind ! V. 18. The occasion does not require of me any partic ular account of the battle of the 17th of June, 1775, nor any detailed narrative of the events which immediately preceded it. These are familiarly known to all. In the progress of the great and interesting controversy, Massa chusetts and the town of Boston had become early and marked objects of the displeasure of the British Parlia ment. This had been manifested in the act for altering the government of the Province, 1 and in that for shutting up the port of Boston. Xothing sheds more honor on our early history, and nothing better shows how little the feelings and sentiments of the Colonies were known or re garded in England, than the impression which these meas ures everywhere produced in America. It had been antici pated, that while the Colonies in general would be terrified by the severity of the punishment inflicted on Massachu setts, the other seaports would be governed by a mere 1 Transferring from the people to the Crown the right of choosing the Council, and from the people to the Governor the right of nomi nating the judges. 12 DANIEL WEBSTER spirit of gain ; and that, as Boston was now cut off from all commerce, the unexpected advantage which this blow on her was ralculated to confer on other towns would be greedilv enjoved. How miserably such reasoners deceived themselves ! How little they knew of the depth, and the strength, and the intenseness of that feeling of resistance to illegal acts of power, which possessed the whole Amer ican people ! Everywhere the unworthy boon was rejected with scorn. The fortunate occasion was seized, every where, to show to the whole world that the Colonies were swayed by no local interest, no partial interest, no selfish interest. The temptation to profit by the punishment of Boston was strongest to our neighbors of Salem. Yet Salem was precisely the place where this miserable proffer was spurned in a tone of the most lofty self-respect and the most indignant patriotism. " We are deeply affected," said its inhabitants, " with the sense of our public calam ities ; but the miseries that are now rapidly hastening on our brethren in the capital of the Province greatly excite our commiseration. By shutting up the port of Boston, some imagine that the course of trade might be turned hither and to our benefit ; but we must be dead to every idea of justice, lost to all feelings of humanity, could we indulge a thought to seize on wealth and raise our for tunes on the ruin of our suffering neighbors." These noble sentiments were not confined to our immediate vi cinity. In that day of general affection and brotherhood, the blow given to Boston smote on every patriotic heart from one end of the country to the other. Virginia and the Carolinas, as well as Connecticut and Xew Hampshire, felt and proclaimed the cause to be their own. The Con tinental Congress, then holding its first session in Phil adelphia, expressed its sympathy for the suffering inhab itants of Boston, and addresses were received from all quarters, assuring them that the cause was a common one, THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 13 and should he met by common efforts and common sacri fices. The Congress of Massachusetts responded to these assurances : and in an address to the Congress at Philadel phia, bearing the official signature, perhaps among the last, of the immortal Warren, notwithstanding the severity of its suffering and the magnitude of the dangers which threatened it, it was declared that this Colony " is ready, at all times, to spend and to be spent in the cause of America." 1!). But the hour drew nigh which was to put profes sions to the proof, and to determine whether the authors of these mutual pledges were ready to seal them in blood. The tidings of Lexington and Concord had no sooner spread, than it was universally felt that the time was at last come for action. A spirit pervaded all ranks, not transient, not boisterous, but deep, solemn, determined, totam<iie infusa per artus Mens agitat molem, et magno se corpore miscet. " War on their own soil and at their own doors, was, indeed, a strange work to the yeomanry of New England ; but their consciences were convinced of its necessity, their country called them to it, and they did not withhold themselves from the perilous trial. The ordinary occu pations of life were abandoned ; the plow was stayed in the unfinished furrow ; wives gave up their husbands, and mothers gave up their sons, to the battles of a civil war. Death might come, in honor, on the field ; it might come, in disgrace, on the scaffold. For either and for both they were prepared. The sentiment of Quincy - 2 was full in 1 "Through all their members interfused, a mind Quickens the mass entire, and mingling stirs The mighty frame." ViROir. s ./EN Kin, vi. 72G ; Cranch s translation. J Josiah Quincy, 1744-1775, known among his contemporaries as Josiuh (juincy, Jr. 14 DANIEL WEBSTER their hearts. " Blandishments/ said that distinguished son of genius and patriotism, " will not fascinate us, nor will threats of a halter intimidate ; for, under God, we are determined that, wheresoever, whensoever, or howsoever we shall be called to make our exit, we will die free men." 20. The 17th of June saw the four New-England Col onies l standing here, side by side, to triumph or to fall together ; and there was with them from that moment to the end of the war, what I hope will remain with them forever, one cause, one country, one heart. 21. The Battle of Bunker Hill was attended with the most important effects beyond its immediate results as a military engagement. It created at once a state of open, public war. There could now be no longer a question of proceeding against individuals, as guilty of treason or re bellion. That fearful crisis was past. The appeal lay to the sword, and the only question was, whether the spirit and the resources of the people would hold out till the ob ject should be accomplished. Nor were its general conse quences confined to our own country. The previous pro ceedings of the Colonies, their appeals, resolutions, and addresses, had made their cause known to Europe. With out boasting, we may say, that in no age or country has the public cause been maintained with more force of argu ment, more power of illustration, or more of that per suasion which excited feeling and elevated principle can alone bestow, than the Revolutionary state papers exhibit. These papers will forever deserve to be studied, not only for the spirit which they breathe, but for the ability with which they were written. 22. To this able vindication of their cause, the Colonies had now added a practical and severe proof of their own true devotion to it, and given evidence also of the power which they could bring to its support. All now saw. that 1 Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. THE Bl XKKR HILL MONUMENT 15 if America fell, she would not fall without a struggle. Men felt sympathy and regard, as well as surprise, when they beheld these infant states, remote, unknown, unaided, encounter the power of England, and, in the first consid erable battle, leave more of their enemies dead on the field . in proportion to the number of combatants, 1 than had been recently known to fall in the wars of Europe. 23. Information of these events, circulating throughout the world, at length reached the ears of one who now hears me. 2 lie has not forgotten the emotion which the fame of Bunker Hill, and the name of Warren, excited in his youthful breast. VI. 24. SiR, 3 we are assembled to commemorate the es tablishment of great public principles of liberty, and to do honor to the distinguished dead. The occasion is too severe 4 for eulogy of the living. But, Sir, your interest ing relation to this country, the peculiar circumstances which surround you and surround us, call on me to ex press the happiness which we derive from your presence and aid in this solemn commemoration. 25. Fortunate, fortunate man ! with what measure of de votion will you not thank God for the circumstances of your extraordinary life ! You are connected with both hemi spheres and with two generations. Heaven saw fit to ordain that the electric spark of liberty should be con ducted, through you, from the Xew World to the Old ; and we, who are now here to perform this duty of patriot- 1 The British troops lost about one in four of their number. 2 General Lafayette. 3 "General Lafayette, who was seated in front of the stage among the Revolutionary officers, when particularly addressed, rose, and con tinued standing 1 , till the orator commenced upon another topic. "- Boston Patriot and Mercantile Advertiser, June 20, 1825. 4 I.e. , at once too solemn, and too strictly devoted to a special pur pose. 16 DANIEL WEBSTER ism, have all of us long ago received it in charge from our fathers to cherish your name and your virtues. You will account it an instance of your good fortune, Sir, that you crossed the seas to visit us at a time which enables you to be present at this solemnity. You now behold the Held, the renown of which reached you in the heart of France, and caused a thrill in your ardent bosom. You see the lines of the little redoubt thrown up by the incredible dil igence of Prescott ; defended, to the last extremity, by his lion-hearted valor ; and within which the corner-stone of our monument has now taken its position. You see where AVarren fell, and where Parker, Gardner, McCleary, Moore, and other early patriots fell with him. Those who sur vived that day, and whose lives have been prolonged to the present hour, are now around you. Some of them you have known in the trying scenes of the war. Behold ! they now stretch forth their feeble arms to embrace you. Behold ! they raise their trembling voices to invoke the blessing of God on you and yours forever. 26. Sir, ytni have assisted us in laying the foundation of this structure. You have heard us rehearse, with our feeble commendation, the names of departed patriots. Monuments and eulogy belong to the dead. AVe give them this day to AVarren and his associates. On other occasions they have been given to your more immediate companions in arms, to AVashington, to Greene, to Gates, to Sullivan, and to Lincoln. AVe have become reluctant to grant these, our highest and last honors, further. AVe would gladly hold them yet back from the little remnant of that immor tal band. Serus in ccelnm reilcas. 1 Illustrious as are your merits, yet far, 0, very far distant be the day, when any inscription shall bear your name, or any tongue pro nounce its eulogy ! 1 " May it be long before you return to heaven." THE BUNKFAl HILL MONUMENT 17 VII. 37. The leading reflection to which this occasion seems to invite us, respects the great changes which have happened in the fifty years since the hattle of Bunker Hill was fought. And it peculiarly marks the character of the present age, that, in looking at these changes, and in esti mating their effect on our condition, we are obliged to con sider, not what has been done in our own country only, but in others also. In these interesting times, while na tions are making separate and individual advances in im provement, they make, too, a common progress ; like ves sels on a common tide, propelled by the gales at different rates, according to their several structure and manage ment, but all moved forward by one mighty current, strong enough to bear onward whatever does not sink be neath it. 2S. A chief distinction of the present day is a commu nity of opinions and knowledge amongst men in different nations, existing in a degree heretofore unknown. Knowl edge has in our time triumphed, and is triumphing, over distance, over difference of languages, over diversity of habits, over prejudice, and over bigotry. The civilized and Christian world is fast learning the great lesson, that difference of nation does not imply necessary hostility, and that all contact need not be war. The whole world is be coming a common field for intellect to act in. Energy of mind, genius, power, wheresoever it exists, may speak out in any tongue, and the world will hear it. A great chord of sentiment and feeling runs through two continents, and vibrates over both. Every breeze wafts intelligence from country to country ; every wave rolls it ; all give it forth, and all in turn receive it. There is a vast commerce of ideas ; there are marts and exchanges for intellectual dis coveries, and a wonderful fellowship of those individual in telligences which make up the mind and opinion of the age. Mind is the great lever of all things ; human thought 18 DANIEL WEBSTER is the process by which human ends are ultimately an swered ; and the diffusion of knowledge, so astonishing in the last half-century, has rendered innumerable minds, variously gifted by nature, competent to be competitors or fellow-workers on the theatre of intellectual operation. 29. From these causes, important improvements have taken place in the personal condition of individuals. Generally speaking, mankind are not only better fed and better clothed, but they are able also to enjoy more leisure ; they possess more refinement and more self-respect. A superior tone of education, manners, and habits, prevails. This remark, most true in its application to our own coun try, is also partly true when applied elsewhere. It is proved by the vastly augmented consumption of those articles of manufacture and of commerce which contribute to the comforts and the decencies of life ; an augmenta tion which has far outrun the progress of population. And while the unexampled and almost incredible use of machinery would seem to supply the place of labor, labor still finds its occupation and its reward ; so wisely lias Providence adjusted men s wants and desires to their con dition and their capacity. 30. Any adequate survey, however, of the progress made during the last half-century in the polite and the mechanic arts, in machinery and manufactures, in commerce and agriculture, in letters and in science, would require volumes. I must abstain wholly from these subjects, and turn for a moment to the contemplation of what has been done on the great question of politics and government. This is the master topic of the age ; and during the whole fifty years it has intensely occupied the thoughts of men. The nature of civil government, its ends and uses, have been canvassed and investigated ; ancient opinions attacked and defended ; new ideas recommended and resisted, by whatever power the mind of man could bring to the con- THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 19 troversy. From the closet and the public halls the debate has been transferred to the field ; and the world has been shaken by wars of unexampled magnitude and the greatest variety of fortune. A day of peace has at length suc ceeded ; and now that the strife has subsided and the smoke cleared away, we may begin to see what has actually been done, permanently changing the state and condition of human society. And, without dwelling on particular circumstances, it is most apparent, that, from the before- mentioned causes of augmented knowledge and improved individual condition, a real, substantial, and important change has taken place, and is taking place, highly favor able, on the whole, to human liberty and human happi ness. 31. The great wheel of political revolution began to move in America. Here its rotation was guarded, regular, and safe. Transferred to the other continent, from un fortunate but natural causes, it received an irregular and violent impulse ; it whirled along with a fearful celerity ; till at length, like the chariot wheels in the races of an tiquity, it took fire from the rapidity of its own motion, and blazed onward, spreading conflagration and terror around. 1 32. We learn from the result of this experiment how fortunate was our own condition, and how admirably the character of our people was calculated for setting the great example of popular governments. The possession of power did not turn the heads of the American people, for they had long been in the habit of exercising a great degree of self-control. Although the paramount authority of the parent state existed over them, yet a large field of legisla tion had always been open to our Colonial assemblies. They were accustomed to representative bodies and the 1 The reference is to the violence and bloodshed which attended the revolution in France. 20 DANIEL WEBSTER forms of free government ; they understood the doctrine of the division of power among different branches, and the necessity of checks on each. The character of our coun trymen, moreover, was sober, moral, and religious ; and there was little in the change to shock their feelings of justice and humanity, or even to disturb an honest preju dice. We had no domestic throne to overturn, no privi leged orders to cast down, no violent changes of property to encounter. In the American Revolution, no man sought or wished for more than to defend and enjoy his own. None hoped for plunder or for spoil. Rapacity was unknown to it ; the ax was not among the instruments of its accomplishment ; and we all know that it could not have lived a single day under any well-founded imputation of possessing a tendency adverse to the Christian religion. 33. It need not surprise us, that, under circumstances less auspicious, political revolutions elsewhere, even when well intended, have terminated differently. It is, indeed, a great achievement, it is the master-work of the world, to establish governments entirely popular on lasting foun dations ; nor is it easy, indeed, to introduce the popular principle at all into governments to which it has been altogether a stranger. It cannot be doubted, however, that Europe has come out of the contest, in which she has been so long engaged, with greatly superior knowledge, and, in many respects, in a highly improved condition. Whatever benefit has been acquired is likely to be retained, for it consists mainly in the acquisition of more enlight ened ideas. And although kingdoms and provinces may be wrested from the hands that hold them, in the same manner they were obtained ; although ordinary and vul gar power may, in human affairs, be lost as it has been won ; yet it is the glorious prerogative of the empire of knowledge, that what it gains it never loses. On the con trary, it increases by the multiple of its own power ; all its THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 21 ends become means ; all its attainments help to new con quests. Its whole abundant harvest is but so much seed wheat, and nothing has limited, and nothing can limit, the amount of ultimate product. 34. Under the influence of this rapidly increasing knowledge, the people have begun, in all forms of govern ment, to think, and to reason, on affairs of state. Re garding government as an institution for the public good, they demand a knowledge of its operations and a partici pation in its exercise. A call for the representative sys tem, wherever it is not enjoyed, and where there is already intelligence enough to estimate its value, is perseveringly made. Where men may speak out, they demand it ; where the bayonet is at their throats, they pray for it. 35. When Louis the Fourteenth said, " I am the state," he expressed the essence of the doctrine of unlimited power. By the rules of that system, the people are dis connected from the state ; they are its subjects ; it is their lord. These ideas, founded in the love of power, and long supported by the excess and the abuse of it, are yielding, in our age, to other opinions ; and the civilized world seems at last to be proceeding to the conviction of that fundamental and manifest truth, that the powers of gov ernment are but a trust, and that they cannot be lawfully exercised but for the good of the community. As knowl edge is more and more extended, this conviction becomes more and more general. Knowledge, in truth, is the great sun in the firmament. Life and power are scattered with all its beams. The prayer of the Grecian champion, 1 when enveloped in unnatural clouds and darkness, is the appro priate political supplication for the people of every country not yet blessed with free institutions : " Dispel this cloud, the light of heaven restore. Give me TO SEE, and Ajax asks no more." 1 Ajax, in Homer s Iliad, Book xvii. 22 DAXIKL WEBSTER 36. We may hope that the growing influence of enlight ened sentiment will promote the permanent peace of the world. Wars to maintain family alliances, to uphold or to cast down dynasties, and to regulate successions to thrones, which have occupied so much room in the history of mod ern times, if not less likely to happen at all, will be less likely to become general and involve many nations, as the great principle shall be more and more established, that the interest of the world is peace, and its first great statute that every nation possesses the power of establishing a gov ernment for itself. But public opinion has attained also an influence over governments which do not admit the popular principle into their organization. A necessary re spect for the judgment of the world operates, in some measure, as a control over the most unlimited forms of au thority. It is owing, perhaps, to this truth, that the in teresting struggle of the Greeks 1 has been suffered to go on so long, without a direct interference, either to wrest that country from its present masters, or to execute the system of pacification by force, and, with united strength, lay the neck of Christian and civilized Greek at the foot of the barbarian Turk. Let us thank God that we live in an age when something has influence besides the bayonet, and when the sternest authority does not venture to encounter the scorching power of public reproach. Any attempt of the kind I have mentioned should be met by one universal burst of indignation ; the air of the civi lized world ought to be made too warm to be comfortably breathed by any one who would hazard it. 37. It is, indeed, a touching reflection, that, while, in the fullness of our country s happiness, we rear this monu ment to her honor, we look for instruction in our under taking to a country which is now in fearful contest, not 1 The war of the Greek revolution against Turkey, begun in 1821 and brought to a close in 1828. THE BUNK MR HILL MONUMENT 23 for works of art or memorials of glory, but for her own existence. Let her be assured that she is not forgotten in the 1 world ; that her efforts are applauded, and that constant prayers ascend for her success. And let us cherish a con fident hope for her final triumph. If the true spark of religious and civil liberty be kindled, it will burn. Human agency cannot extinguish it. Like the earth s central fire, it may be smothered fora time ; the ocean may overwhelm it ; mountains may press it down ; but its inherent and unconquerable force will heave both the ocean and the land, and at some time or other, in some place or other, the volcano will break out and flame up to heaven. 38. Among the great events of the half-century we must reckon, certainly, the revolution of South America ; and we are not likely to overrate the importance of that revolu tion, either to the people of the country itself or to the rest of the world. The late Spanish colonies, now independent states, under circumstances less favorable, doubtless, than attended our own Revolution, have yet successfully com menced their national existence. They have accomplished the great object of establishing their independence ; they are known and acknowledged in the world ; and although in regard to their systems of government, their sentiments on religious toleration, and their provisions for public in struction, they may have yet much to learn, it must be admitted that they have risen to the condition of settled and established states more rapidly than could have been reasonably anticipated. They already furnish an exhilarat ing example of the difference between free governments and despotic misrule. Their commerce, at this moment, creates a new activity in all the great marts of the world. They show themselves able, by an exchange of commodities,, to bear a useful part in the intercourse of nations. 39. A new spirit of enterprise and industry begins to prevail ; all the great interests of society receive a salutary 24 DANIEL WEBSTER impulse ; and the progress of information not only testifies to an improved condition, but itself constitutes the highest and most essential improvement. 40. When the battle of Bunker Hill was fought, the ex istence of South America was scarcely felt in the civilized Avorld. The thirteen little Colonies of North America habitually called themselves the Continent." Borne down by colonial subjugation, monopoly, and bigotry, these vast regions of the South were hardly visible above the horizon. But in our day there has been, as it were, a new creation. The southern hemisphere emerges from the sea. Its lofty mountains begin to lift themselves into the light of heaven ; its broad and fertile plains stretch out, in beauty, to the eye of civilized man, and at the mighty bid ding of the voice of political liberty the waters of darkness retire. VIII. 41. And now, let us indulge an honest exultation in the conviction of the benefit which the example of our country has produced, and is likely to produce, on human freedom and human happiness. Let us endeavor to com prehend in all its magnitude, and to feel in all its impor tance, the part assigned to us in the great drama of human affairs. We are placed at the head of the system of repre sentative and popular governments. Thus far our example shows that such governments are compatible, 7iot only with respectability and power, but with repose, with peace, with security of personal rights, with good laws, and a just administration. 42. We are not propagandists. Wherever other systems are preferred, either as being thought better in themselves, or as better suited to existing condition, we leave the pref erence to be enjoyed. Our history hitherto proves, how ever, that the popular form is practicable, and that with wisdom and knowledge men may govern themselves ; and THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 25 the duty incumbent on us is, to preserve the consistency of this cheering example, and take care that nothing may weaken its authority with the world. If, in our case, the representative system ultimately fail, popular governments must be pronounced impossible. Xo combination of cir cumstances more favorable to the experiment can ever be expected to occur. The last hopes of mankind, therefore, rest with us ; and if it should be proclaimed, that our ex ample had become an argument against the experiment, the knell of popular liberty would be sounded throughout the earth. 43. These are excitements to duty ; but they are not suggestions of doubt. Our history and our condition, all that is gone before us, and all that surrounds us, authorize the belief, that popular governments, though subject to occasional variations, in form perhaps not always for the better, may yet, in their general character, be as durable and permanent as other systems. We know, indeed, that in our country any other is impossible. The principle of free governments adheres to the American soil. It is bedded in it, immovable as its mountains. i-i. And let the sacred obligations which have devolved on this generation, and on us, sink deep into our hearts. Those who established our liberty and our government are daily dropping from among us. The great trust now de scends to new hands. Let us apply ourselves to that which is presented to us, as our appropriate object. We can win no laurels in a war for independence. Earlier and worthier hands have gathered them all. Xor are there places for us by the side of Solon, and Alfred, and other founders of states. Our fathers have filled them. But there remains to us a great duty of defence and preservation ; and there is opened to us. also, a noble pursuit to which the spirit of the times strongly invites us. Our proper business is improvement. Let our age be the age of improvement. 26 DANIEL WEBSTER In a day of peace, let us advance the arts of peace and the works of peace. Let us develop the resources of our land, call forth its powers, build up its institutions, promote all its great interests, and see whether we also, in our day and generation, may not perform something worthy to be re membered. Let us cultivate a true spirit of union and harmony. In pursuing the great objects which our con dition points out to us, let us act under a settled conviction and an habitual feeling, that these twenty-four States are one country. Let our conceptions be enlarged to the circle of our duties. Let us extend our ideas over the whole of the vast field in which we are called to act. Let our ob ject be, OUR COUNTRY, OUR AVHOLE COUNTRY, AND NOTH ING BUT OUR COUNTRY. And, by the blessing of God, may that country itself become a vast and splendid monument, not of oppression and terror, but of Wisdom, of Peace, and of Liberty, upon which the world may gaze with admira tion forever 1 THE COMPLETION OF THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT AN ADDRESS DELIVERED ON BUNKER HILL, ON THE 1?TH OF JUNE, 1843, ON THE OCCASION OF THE COMPLETION OF THE MONUMENT [SEVENTEEN years after the laying of the corner stone, Bunker Hill Monument was completed. At the celebration, the succeeding year, Mr. Webster was again requested to deliver the address. The scene is thus described by Mr. Plumer : " I attended the Bunker Hill celebration on the 17th. ... I never before saw so many people together, and probably never shall again a hundred thousand human beings some say twice that number all intent on one object, all pleased and giving pleasure, happy themselves, and making others happy. I was in the crowd, on my feet, but near enough not only to hear the oration of Webster, but to see the flash of his large black eye, and ob serve the movements of his face as well as of his body. The discourse was worthy of the man and of the occasion, each highest of its kind. Webster bears on his body the marks of labor and of age. When I spoke to him next day of his address, he said he was too old for such an occasion. I told him that nobody else thought him so. Compared, however, with the discourse on laying the corner-stone of the monu ment, eighteen years ago it may be remarked that, with less brilliancy, it has more thought ; with equal force, less imagination ; with a wider experience, a less moving eloquence. There are, however, even in this latter respect, some very effective passages in the present address. That in which the monument itself is spoken of as the great orator of the day, and that in which its connection with the union of the States is represented, produced upon the audience the most thrilling effect. The heart of that mighty multitude beat, as if by one mighty impulse in lofty and patriotic emotion, proud and magnanimous, yet obedient to the will and the motion, the words and the action, of the mighty master. . . . The great mass of the people were on their feet, 28 DANIEL WEBSTER standing still, with all eyes intent upon the speaker ; but every now and then the whole mass was in motion, moving backward and for ward, each man over a space of some two or three feet, and these tides irregular in their access, seemed yet connected with the orator, and responsive to his action on the minds of his hearers." Quoted in Curtis s Life of Webster, vol. i., p. 608.] 1. 1. A DUTY has been performed. A work of gratitude and patriotism is completed. This structure, having its foundations in soil which drank deep of early Kevolu- tionary blood, has at length reached its destined height,, and now lifts its summit to the skies. 2. We have assembled to celebrate the accomplishment of this undertaking, and to indulge afresh in the recol lection of the great event which it is designed to com memorate. Eighteen years, more than half the ordinary duration of a generation of mankind, have elapsed since the corner-stone of this monument was laid. The hopes of its projectors rested on voluntary contributions, private munificence, and the general favor of the public. These hopes have not been disappointed. Donations have been made by individuals, in some cases of large amount, and smaller sums have been contributed by thousands. All who regard the object itself as important, and its accom plishment, therefore, as a good attained, will entertain sin cere respect and gratitude for the unwearied efforts of the successive presidents, boards of directors, and committees of the Association which has had the general control of the work. The architect, equally entitled to our thanks and commendation, will find other reward, also, for his labor and skill, in the beauty and. elegance of the obelisk itself, and the distinction which, as a work of art, it confers upon him. 3. At a period when the prospects of further progress in the undertaking were gloomy and discouraging, the Mechanic Association, by a most praiseworthy and vigorous THE COMPLETION OF THE MONUMENT 29 effort, raised new funds for carrying it forward, and saw them applied with fidelity, economy, and skill. It is a grateful duty to make public acknowledgments of such timely and efficient aid. 4. The last effort and the last contribution were from a different .source. Garlands of grace and elegance were destined to crown a work which had its commencement in manly patriotism. The winning power of the sex ad dressed itself to the public, and all that was needed to carry the monument to its proposed height, and to give to it its finish, was promptly supplied. The mothers and the daughters of the land contributed thus, most successfully, to whatever there is of beauty in the monument itself, or whatever of utility and public benefit and gratification there is in its completion. 1 5. Of those with whom the plan originated of erecting on this spot a monument worthy of the event to be com memorated, many are now present ; but others, alas ! have themselves become subjects of monumental inscription. William Tudor, an accomplished scholar, a distinguished writer, a most amiable man, allied both by birth and sen timent to the patriots of the Revolution, died while on public service abroad, and now lies buried in a foreign land. William Sullivan, a name fragrant of Revolutionary merit, and of public service and public virtue, who him self partook in a high degree of the respect and confi dence of the community, and yet was always most loved where best known, has also been gathered to his fathers. And last, George Blake, a lawyer of learning and eloquence, a man of wit and of talent, of social qualities the most agreeable and fascinating, and of gifts which enabled him to exercise large sway over public assemblies, has closed his human career. I know that in the crowds before me 1 Referring to a fair held by the women of Boston, in Faneuil Hall, to raise money for completing the monument. 30 DANIEL WEBSTER there are those from whose eyes tears will flow at the men tion of these names. But such mention is due to their general character, their public and private virtues, and especially, on this occasion, to the spirit and zeal with which they entered into the undertaking which is now completed. (). I have spoken only of those who are no longer num bered with the living. But a long life, now drawing towards its close, always distinguished by acts of public spirit, humanity, and charity, forming a character which has already become historical, and sanctified by public re gard and the affection of friends, may confer even on the living the proper immunity l of the dead, and be the fit subject of honorable mention and warm commendation. Of the early projectors of the design of this monument, one of the most prominent, the most zealous, and the most efficient, is Thomas II. Perkins. It was beneath his ever hospitable roof that those whom I have mentioned, and others yet living and now present, having assembled for the purpose, adopted the first step towards erecting a mon ument on Bunker Hill. Long may he remain, with un impaired faculties, in the wide field of his usefulness ! His charities have distilled like the dews of heaven ; he has fed the hungry, and clothed the naked ; he has given sight to the blind ; and for such virtues there is a reward on high of which all human memorials, all language of brass and stone, are but humble types and attempted imitations. 7. Time and nature have had their course, in diminish ing the number of those whom we met here on the 17th of June, 1825. Most of the Revolutionary characters then present have since deceased ; and Lafayette sleeps in his native land. Yet the name and blood of Warren are with us ; the kindred of Putnam are also here ; and near me, universally beloved for his character and his virtues, and 1 In the sense of " prerogative," not of "exemption." THE COMPLETION OF THE MONUMENT 31 now venerable for his years, sits the son of the noble- hearted and daring Prescott. Gideon Foster of Danvers, Enos Reynolds of Boxford, Pliineas Johnson, Robert An drews, Elijah Dresser, Josiah Cleaveland, Jesse Smith, Philip Bagley, Xeedham Maynard, Roger Plaisted, Joseph Stephens, Xehemiah Porter, and James Harvey, who bore arms for their country either at Concord and Lexington, on the 19th of April, or on Bunker Hill, all now far ad vanced in age, have come here to-day, to look once more on the field where their valor was proved, and to receive a hearty outpouring of our respect. 8. They have long outlived the troubles and dangers of the Revolution ; they have outlived the evils arising from the want of a united and efficient government ; they have outlived the menace of imminent dangers to the public lib erty ; they have outlived nearly all their contemporaries ; but they have not outlived, they cannot outlive, the affec tionate gratitude of their country. Heaven has not allotted to this generation an opportunity of rendering high ser vices, and manifesting strong personal devotion, such as they rendered and manifested, and in such a cause as that which roused the patriotic fires of their youthful breasts, and nerved the strength of their arms. But we may praise what we cannot equal, and celebrate actions which we were not born to perform. Pulchrum est benefacere rei- B, etiam benediccre hand absurdum est. 1 II. 9. The Bunker Hill Monument is finished. Here it stands. Fortunate in the high natural eminence on which it is placed, higher, infinitely higher in its objects and purpose, it rises over the laud and over the sea ; and, vis ible, at their homes, to three hundred thousand of the people of Massachusetts, it stands a memorial of the last, " It is becoming to act well for the republic ; to speak well of it even is not discreditable." Sallust, De Coitjar. C^tiliitOB, iii, 32 DANIEL WEBSTER and a monitor to the present and to all succeeding gener ations. I have spoken of the loftiness of its purpose. If it had been without any other design than the creation of a work of art, the granite of which it is composed would have slept in its native bed. It has a purpose, and that purpose gives it its character. That purpose enrobes it with dignity and moral grandeur. That well-known pur pose it is which causes us to look up to it with a feeling of awe. It is itself the orator of this occasion. It is not from my lips, it could not be from any human lips, that that strain of eloquence is this day to flow most competent to move and excite the vast multitudes around me. The powerful speaker stands motionless before us. 1 It is a plain shaft. It bears no inscriptions, fronting to the ris ing sun, from which the future antiquary shall wipe the dust. Xor does the rising sun cause tones of music to issue from its summit. But at the rising of the sun, and at the setting of the sun, in the blaze of noonday, and be neath the milder effulgence of lunar light ; it looks, it speaks, it acts, to the full comprehension of every Amer ican mind, and the awakening of glowing enthusiasm in every American heart. Its silent, but awful utterance ; its deep pathos, as it brings to our contemplation the 17th of June, 1775, and the consequences which have resulted to us, to our country, and to the world, from the events of 1 " I was one of that vast throng, gathered at Bunker Hill, which saw Webster raise his outstretched arm up to the newly completed monument, and heard him say : It is not from my lips it could not be from any lips that the stream of eloquence is this day to flow, most competent to move and excite this vast multitude around me. The powerful speaker stands motionless before ?/. T felt the tin-ill which ran through that vast audience, and I saw their uplifted eyes and blanched cheeks, and joined in that responsive shout which told, as no words could tell, that we had heard one of the most perfect pas sages in all oratory." Judge Mellen Chamberlain, in the Century Magazine, vol. xxiv., p. 711. THE COMPLETION OF THE MONUMENT 33 that day, and which \ve know must continue to rain influ ence on the destinies of mankind to the end of time ; the elevation witli which it raises us high above the ordinary feelings of life, surpass all that the study of the closet, or even the inspiration of genius, can produce. To-day it speaks to us. Its future auditories will be the successive generations of men as they rise up before it and gather around it. Its speech will be of patriotism and courage ; of civil and religious liberty ; of free government ; of the moral improvement and elevation of mankind ; and of the immortal memory of those who, with heroic devotion, have sacrificed their lives for their country. 10. In the older world, numerous fabrics still exist, reared by human hands, but whose object has been lost in the darkness of ages. They are now monuments of noth ing but the labor and skill which constructed them. 11. The mighty pyramid itself, half buried in the sands of Africa, has nothing to bring down and report to us, but the power of kings and the servitude of the people. If it had any purpose beyond that of a mausoleum, such pur pose has perished from history and from tradition. If asked for its moral object, its admonition, its sentiment, its instruction to mankind, or any high end in its erection, it is silent ; silent as the millions which lie in the dust at its base, and in the catacombs which surround it. With out a just moral object, therefore, made known to man, though raised against the skies, it excites only conviction of power, mixed with strange wonder. But if the civiliza tion of the present race of men, founded, as it is, in solid science, the true knowledge of nature, and vast discoveries in art, and which is elevated and purified by moral senti ment and by the truths of Christianity, be not destined to destruction before the final termination of human exist ence on earth, the object and purpose of this edifice will be known till that hour shall come. And even if civiliza- 3 34 DANIEL WEBSTER tion should be subverted, and the truths of the Christian religion obscured by a new deluge of barbarism, the mem ory of Bunker Hill and the American Revolution will still be elements and parts of the knowledge which shall be possessed by the last man to whom the light of civilization and Christianity shall be extended. III. 12. This celebration is honored by the presence of the chief executive magistrate of the Union. 1 An occasion so national in its object and character, and so much con nected with that Revolution from which the government sprang at the head of which he is placed, may well receive from him this mark of attention and respect. Well ac quainted with Yorktown, 2 the scene of the last great mil itary struggle of the Revolution, his eye now surveys the field of Bunker Hill, the theatre of the first of those im portant conflicts. He sees where AVarren fell, where Put nam and Prescott, and Stark, and Knowlton, and Brooks fought. He beholds the spot where a thousand trained soldiers of England were smitten to the earth, in the first effort of revolutionary war, by the arm of a bold and de termined yeomanry, contending for liberty and their coun try. And while all assembled here entertain towards him sincere personal good wishes and the high respect due to his elevated office and station, it is not to be doubted that he enters, with true American feeling, into the patriotic enthusiasm kindled by the occasion which animates the multitudes that surround him. 13. His Excellency the Governor of the Commonwealth, the Governor of Rhode Island, and the other distinguished public men whom we have the honor to receive as visitors and guests to-day, will cordially unite in a celebration con nected with the great event of the Revolutionary War. 1 President Tyler. " Because lie was born not very far from that city. THE COMPLETION OF THE MONUMENT 35 14. No name in the history of 1775 and 1770 is more dis tinguished than that borne by an ex-president of the United States, 1 whom we expected to see here, but whose ill health prevents his attendance. Whenever popular rights were to be asserted, an Adams was present; and when the time came for the formal Declaration of Indepen dence, it was the voice of an Adams that shook the halls of Congress. We wish we could have welcomed to us this day the inheritor of Revolutionary blood, and the just and worthy representative of high Revolutionary names, merit, and services. 15. Banners and badges, processions and flags, announce to us, that amidst this uncounted throng are thousands of natives of New England now residents in other States. Welcome, ye kindred names, with kindred blood ! From the broad savannas of the South, from the newer regions of the West, from amidst the hundreds of thousands of men of Eastern origin who cultivate the rich valley of the Genesee, or live along the chain of the Lakes, from the mountains of Pennsylvania, and from the thronged cities of the coast, welcome, welcome ! Wherever else you may be strangers, here you are all at home. You assemble at this shrine of liberty, near the family altars at which your earliest devotions were paid to Heaven ; near to the temples of worship first entered by you, and near to the schools and colleges in which your education was received. You come hither with a glorious ancestry of liberty. You bring names which are on the rolls of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. You come, some of yon, once more to be embraced by an aged Revolutionary father, or to receive another, perhaps a last, blessing, bestowed in love and tears, by a mother, yet surviving to witness and to enjoy your prosperity and happiness. 16. But if family associations and the recollections of the 1 John Quincy Adams. 36 DANIEL WEBSTER past bring you hither with greater alacrity, and mingle with your greeting much of local attachment and private affection, greeting also be given, free and hearty greeting, to every American citizen who treads this sacred soil with patriotic feeling, and respires with pleasure in an atmos phere perfumed with the recollections of 1775 ! This oc casion is respectable, nay, it is grand, it is sublime, by the nationality of its sentiment. Among the seventeen mill ions of happy people who form the American community, there is not one who has not an interest in this monument, as there is not one that has not a deep and abiding interest in that which it commemorates. 17. "Woe betide the man who brings to this day s worship feeling less than wholly American ! Woe betide the man who can stand here with the fires of local resentments burn ing, or the purpose of fomenting local jealousies and the strifes of local interests festering and rankling in his heart ! Union, established in justice, in patriotism, and the most plain and obvious common interest, union, founded on the same love of liberty, cemented by blood shed in the same common cause, union has been the source of all our glory and greatness thus far, and is the ground of all our high est hopes. This column stands on Union. I know not that it might not keep its position if the American Union. in the mad conflict of human passions, and in the strife of parties and factions, should be broken up and destroyed. I know not that it would totter and fall to the earth, and mingle its fragments with the fragments of Liberty and the Constitution, when State should be separated from State, and faction and dismemberment obliterate forever all the hopes of the founders of our republic, and tin- great inheritance of their children. It might stand. Hut who, from beneath the weight of mortification and shame that would oppress him, could look up to behold it ? Whose eyeballs would not be seared by such a spectacle ? TIIK COMPLETION OF THE MONUMENT 37 For my part, should I live to such a time, I shall avert my eyes from it forever. IV. 18. It is not as a mere military encounter of hostile armies, that the battle of Bunker Hill presents its principal claim to attention. Yet, even as a mere battle, there were circumstances attending it extraordinary in character, and entitling it to peculiar distinction. It was fought on this eminence ; in the neighborhood of yonder city ; in the pres ence of many more spectators than there were combatants in the conflict. Men, women, and children, from every commanding position, were gazing at the battle, and look ing for its results with all the eagerness natural to those who knew that the issue was fraught with the deepest con sequences to themselves personally, as well as to their coun try. Yet on the 16th of June, 1775, there was nothing around this hill but verdure and culture. 1 There was, in deed, the note of awful preparation in Boston. There was the Provincial army at Cambridge, with its right flank rest ing on Dorchester, and its left on Chelsea. But here all was peace. Tranquillity reigned around. On the 17th everything was changed. On this eminence had arisen, in the night, a redoubt, built by Prescott, and in which he held command. Perceived by the enemy at dawn, it was immediately cannonaded from the floating batteries in the river, and from the opposite shore. And then ensued the hurried movement in Boston, and soon the troops of Brit ain embarked in the attempt to dislodge the Colonists. In an hour everything indicated an immediate and bloody conflict. Love of liberty on one side, proud defiance of rebellion on the other, hopes and fears, and courage and daring, on both sides, animated the hearts of the combat ants as they hung on the edge of battle. 19. I suppose it would be difficult, in a military point of 1 Cultivated fields. 38 DANIEL WEBSTER view, to ascribe to the leaders on either side any just motive for the engagement which followed. On the one hand, it could not have been very important to the Americans to attempt to hem the British within the town, by advancing one single post a quarter of a mile ; while, on the other hand, if the British found it essential to dislodge the American troops, they had it in their power at no expense of life. By moving up their ship and batteries, they could have completely cut otf all communication with the main land over the Neck, and the forces in the redoubt would have been reduced to a state of famine in forty-eight hours. 20. But that was not the day for any such consideration on either side ! Both parties were anxious to try the strength of their arms. The pride of England would not permit the rebels, as she termed them, to defy her to the teeth ; and, without for a moment calculating the cost, the British general determined to destroy the fort im mediately. On the other side, Prescott and his gallant fol lowers longed and thirsted for a decisive trial of strength and of courage. They wished a battle, and wished it at once. And this is the true secret of the movements on this hill. 21. I will not attempt to describe that battle. The can nonading ; the landing of the British ; their advance ; the coolness with which the charge was met ; the repulse ; the second attack ; the second repulse ; the burning of Charles- town ; and finally the closing assault, and the slow retreat of the Americans, the history of all these is familiar. 22. But the consequences of the battle of Bunker Hill were greater than those of any ordinary conflict, although between armies of far greater force, and terminating with more immediate advantage on the one side or the other. It was the first great battle of the Revolution ; and not only the first blow, but the blow which determined the THE COMPLETION OF THE MONUMENT 39 contest. It did not, indeed, put Jin end to the war, but, in the then existing hostile state of feeling, the difficulties could only be referred to the arbitration of the sword. And one thing is certain; that after the New-England troops had shown themselves able to face and repulse the regulars, it was decided that peace never could be estab lished, but upon the basis of the independence of the Colo nies. When the sun of that day went down, the event of Independence was no longer doubtful. In a few days Washington heard of the battle, and he inquired if the mi litia had stood the fire of the regulars. When told that they had not only stood that fire, but reserved their own till the enemy was within eight rods, and then poured it in witli tremendous effect, "Then," exclaimed he, " the lib erties of the country are safe ! " 2 .}. The consequences of this battle were just of the same importance as the Revolution itself. 24. If there was nothing of value in the principles of the American Revolution, then there is nothing valuable in the battle of Bunker Hill and its consequences. But if the Revolution was an era in the history of man favorable to human happiness, if it was an event which marked the progress of man all over the world from despotism to lib erty, then this monument is not raised without cause. Then the battle of Bunker Hill is not an event undeserv ing celebrations, commemorations, and rejoicings, now and in all coming times. V. 25. What, then, is the true and peculiar principle of the American Revolution, and of the systems of govern ment which it has confirmed and established ? The truth is, that the American Revolution was not caused by the in stantaneous discovery of principles of government before unheard of, or the practical adoption of political ideas such as had never before entered into the minds of men. It was 40 DANIEL WEBSTER but the full development of principles of government, forms of society, and political sentiments, the origin oi all which lay back two centuries in English and American his tory. 26. The discovery of America, its colonization by the nations of Europe, the history and progress of the colonies, from their establishment to the time when the principal of them threw off their allegiance to the respective states by which they had been planted, and founded governments of their own, constitute one of the most interesting por tions of the annals of man. These events occupied three hundred years ; during which period civilization and knowl edge made steady progress in the Old World ; so that Europe, at the commencement of the nineteenth century, had become greatly changed from that Europe which began the colonization of America at the close of the fifteenth, or the commencement of the sixteenth. And what is most material to my present purpose is, that in the progress of the first of these centuries, that is to say, from the discovery of America to the settlements of Virginia and Massachu setts, political and religious events took place which most materially affected the state of society and the sentiments of mankind, especially in England and in parts of Conti nental Europe. After a few feeble and unsuccessful efforts by England, under Henry the Seventh, to plant colonies in America, 1 no designs of that kind were prosecuted for a long period, either by the English Government or any of its subjects. Without inquiring into the causes of this delay, its consequences are sufficiently clear and striking. Eng land, in this lapse of a century, unknown to herself, hut under the providence of God and the influence of events, was fitting herself for the work of colonizing North America, on such principles and by such men, as should spread the English name and English blood, in time, over i Resulting in the voyages and discoveries of the CalJots. THE COMPLETION OF THE MONUMENT 4-1 a great portion of the Western hemisphere. The commer cial spirit was greatly fostered by several laws passed in the reign of Henry the Seventh ; and in the same reign en couragement was given to arts and manufactures in the eastern counties, and some not unimportant modifications of the feudal system took place by allowing the breaking of entails. 1 These and other measures, and other occurrences, were making way for a new class of society to emerge, and show itself, in a military and feudal age; a middle class, between the barons or great landholders and the retainers of the crown, on the one side, and the tenants of the crown and barons, and agricultural and other laborers, on the other side. With the rise and growth of this new class of society, not only did commerce and the arts increase, but better education, a greater degree of knowledge, juster notions of the true ends of government, and sentiments favorable to civil liberty, began to spread abroad, and become more and more common. But the plants springing from these seeds were of slow growth. The character of English society had indeed begun to undergo a change ; but changes of national character are ordinarily the work of time. Operative causes were, however, evi dently in existence, and sure to produce, ultimately, their proper effect. From the accession of Henry the Seventh to the breaking out of the civil wars, England enjoyed much greater exemption from war, foreign and domestic, than for a long period before, and during the controversy between the houses of York and Lancaster. 2 These years of peace were favorable to commerce and the arts. Com merce and the arts augmented general and individual 1 An entailed estate cannot be sold ; it descends perpetually to speci fied heirs. "This controversy, known as the War of the Roses, begaii in 1455 and closed with the accession of Henry the Seventh in 1485. The civil wars did not begin until 1642. 42 DANIEL WEBSTER knowledge ; and knowledge is the only fountain, both of the love and the principles of human liberty. 27. Other powerful causes soon came into active play. The Reformation of Luther broke out, kindling up the minds of men afresh, leading to new habits of thought,, and awakening in individuals energies before unknown even to themselves. The religious controversies of this period changed society, as well as religion ; indeed, it would be easy to prove, if this occasion were proper for it, that they changed society to a considerable extent, where they did not change the religion of the state. They changed man himself, in his modes of thought, his consciousness of his own powers, and his desire of intellectual attainment. The spirit of commercial and foreign adventure, therefore, on the one hand, which had gained so much strength and influence since the. time of the discovery of America, and, on the other, the assertion and maintenance of religious liberty, having their source indeed in the Reformation, but continued, diversified, and constantly strengthened by the subsequent divisions of sentiment and opinion among the Reformers themselves, and this love of religious liberty drawing after it or bringing along with it, as it always does, an ardent devotion to the principle of civil liberty also, were the powerful influences under which character was formed and men trained, for the great work of intro ducing English civilization, English law, and, what is more than all, Anglo-Saxon blood, into the wilderness of North America. Raleigh and his companions may be con sidered as the creatures, principally, of the first of these causes. High-spirited, full of the love of personal advent ure, excited, too, in some degree, by the hopes of sudden riches from the discovery of mines of the precious metals, and not unwilling to diversify the labors of settling a colony witli occasional cruising against the Spaniards in the West Indian seas, they crossed and recrossed the ocean, THE COMPLETION OF THE MONUMENT 43 with a frequency which surprises us, when we consider the state of navigation, and which evinces a most daring spirit. 28. The other cause peopled New England. The May flower sought our shores under no high-wrought spirit of commercial adventure, no love of gold, no mixture of pur pose warlike or hostile to any human being. Like the dove from the ark, she had put forth only to find rest. Solemn supplications on the shore of the sea, in Holland, had in voked for her, at her departure, the blessings of Provi dence. The stars which guided her were the unobscured constellations of civil and religious liberty. Her deck was the altar of the living God. Fervent prayers on bended knees, mingled, morning and evening, with the voices of ocean and the sighing of the wind in her shrouds. Every prosperous breeze, which, gently swelling her sails, helped the Pilgrims onward in their course, awoke new anthems of praise : and when the elements were wrought into fury, neither the tempest, tossing their fragile bark like a feather, nor the darkness and howling of the midnight storm, ever disturbed, in man or woman, the firm and settled purpose of their souls, to undergo all, and to do all, that the meekest patience, the boldest resolution, and the highest trust in God could enable human beings to suffer or to perform. 20. Some differences may, doubtless, be traced at this day between the descendants of the early colonists of Vir ginia and those of Xew England, owing to the different influences and different circumstances under which the respective settlements were made ; but only enough to create a pleasing variety in the midst of a general family resemblance. " Facies non omnibus una, Nee diversa tamen ; qualem decet esse sororum." 1 " The features are not the same in all, nor yet are they different ; they are such as sisters ought to have." Ovid, Met., ii. , 13. 44 DANIEL WEBSTER But the habits, sentiments, and objects of both soon be came modified by local causes, growing out of their con dition in the New World : and as this condition was essentially alike in both, and as both at once adopted the same general rnles and principles of English jurisprudence, and became accustomed to the authority of representative bodies, these differences gradually diminished. They dis appeared by the progress of time, and the influence of in tercourse. The necessity of some degree of union and cooperation to defend themselves against the savage tribes, tended to excite in them mutual respect and regard. They fought together in the wars against France. The great and common cause of the Revolution bound them to one another by new links of brotherhood ; and at length the present constitution of government united them happily and gloriously, to form the great republic of the world, and bound up their interests and fortunes, till the whole earth sees that there is now for them, in present possession as well as in future hope, but "One Country, One Consti tution, and One Destiny." 30. The colonization of the tropical region, and the whole of the southern parts of the continent, by Spain and Portugal, was conducted on other principles, under the in fluence of other motives, and followed by far different consequences. From the time of its discovery, the Spanish Government pushed forward its settlements in America, not only with vigor, but with eagerness ; so that long be fore the first permanent English settlement had been accomplished in what is now the United States, Spain had conquered Mexico, Peru, and Chili, and stretched her power over nearly all the territory she ever acquired on this continent. The rapidity of these conquests is to be ascribed in a great degree to the eagerness, not to say the rapacity, of those numerous bands of adventurers who were stimu lated by individual interests and private hopes to subdue TltK COMPLETION OF THE MONUMENT 45 immense regions, and take possession of them in the name of the Crown of Spain. The mines of gold and silver were the incitements to these efforts, and accordingly settle ments were generally made, and Spanish authority estab lished immediately on the subjugation of territory, that the native population might be set to work by their new Spanish masters in the mines. From these facts, the love of gold gold not produced by industry, nor accumulated by commerce, but gold dug from its native bed in the bowels of the earth, and that earth ravished from its right ful possessors by every possible degree of enormity, cruelty, and crime was long the governing passion in Spanish wars and Spanish settlements in America. Even Columbus himself did not wholly escape the influence of this base motive. In his early voyages we find him passing from island to island, inquiring everywhere for gold ; as if God had opened the Xew World to the knowledge of the Old, only to gratify a passion equally senseless and sordid, and to offer up millions of an unoffending race of men to the destruction of the sword, sharpened both by cruelty and rapacity. And yet Columbus was far above his age and country. Enthusiastic, indeed, but sober, religious, and magnanimous ; born to great things, and capable of high sentiments, as his noble discourse before Ferdinand and Isabella, as well as the whole history of his life, shows. Probably he sacrificed much to the known sentiments of others, and addressed to his followers motives likely to in fluence them. At the same time, it is evident that he him self looked upon the world which he discovered as a world of wealth, all ready to be seized and enjoyed. 31. The conquerors and the European settlers of Span ish America were mainly military commanders and com mon soldiers. The monarchy of Spain was not transferred to this hemisphere, but it acted in it. as it acted at home, through its ordinary means, and its true representative, 46 DANIEL WEBSTEff military force. The robbery and destruction of the native race was the achievement of standing armies, in the right of the King, and by his authority, fighting in his name, for the aggrandizement of his power and the extension of his prerog atives, with military ideas under arbitrary maxims, a por tion of that dreadful instrumentality by which a perfect des potism governs a people. As there was no liberty in Spain, how could liberty be transmitted to Spanish colonies ? 32. The colonists of English America were of the people, and a people already free. They were of the middle, in dustrious, and already prosperous class, the inhabitants of commercial and manufacturing cities, among whom liberty first revived and respired, after a sleep of a thousand years in the bosom of the Dark Ages. Spain descended on the New World in the armed and terrible image of her mon archy and her soldiery ; England approached it in the winning and popular garb of personal rights, public pro tection, and civil freedom. England transplanted liberty to America ; Spain transplanted power. England, through the agency of private companies and the efforts of individ uals, colonized this part of North America by industrious individuals, making their own way in the wilderness, de fending themselves against the savages, recognizing their right to the soil, and with a general honest purpose of in troducing knowledge as well as Christianity among them. Spain swooped on South America like a vulture on its prey. Everything was force. Territories were acquired by fire and sword. Cities were destroyed by fire and sword. Hundreds of thousands of human beings fell by fire and sword. Even conversion to Christianity was attempted by fire and sword. 33. Behold, then, fellow-citizens, the difference result ing from the operation of the two principles ! Here, to day, on the summit of Bunker Hill, and at the foot of this monument, behold the difference ! 1 would that the fifty THE COMPLETION OF THE MONUMENT 47 thousand voices present could proclaim it with a shout which should be heard over the globe. Our inheritance was of liberty, secured and regulated by law and enlight ened by religion and knowledge ; that of South America was of power, stern, unrelenting, tyrannical, military power. And now look to the consequences of the two principles on the general and aggregate happiness of the human race. Behold the results, in all the regions conquered by Cortes and Pizarro, and the contrasted results here. I suppose the territory of the United States may amount to one eighth, or one tenth, of that colonized by Spain on this continent ; and yet in all that vast region there are but be tween one and two millions of people of European color and European blood, while in the United States there are fourteen millions who rejoice in their descent from the people of the more northern part of Europe. 34. But we may follow the difference in the original principle of colonization, and in its character and objects, still further. We must look to moral and intellectual re sults ; we must consider consequences, not only as they show themselves in hastening or retarding the increase of population and the supply of physical wants, but in their civilization, improvement, and happiness. We must in quire what progress has been made in the true science of liberty, in the knowledge of the great principles of self- government, and in the progress of man, as a social, moral, and religious being. 35. I would not willingly say anything on this occasion discourteous to the new governments founded on the demo lition of the power of the Spanish monarchy. They are yet on their trial, and I hope for a favorable result. But truth, sacred truth, and fidelity to the cause of civil lib erty, compel me to say, that hitherto they have discovered quite too much of the spirit of that monarchy from which they separated themselves. Quite too frequent resort ia 48 DANIEL WEBSTER made to military force ; and quite too much of the sub stance of the people is consumed in maintaining armies, not for defense against foreign aggression, but for enforc ing obedience to domestic authority. Standing armies are the oppressive instruments for governing the people in the hands of hereditary and arbitrary monarchs. A military republic, a government founded on mock elections and supported only by the sword, is a movement indeed, but a retrograde and disastrous movement, from the regular and old-fashioned monarchical systems. If men would en joy the blessings of republican government, they must gov ern themselves by reason, by mutual counsel and consulta tion, by a sense and feeling of general interest, and by the acquiescence of the minority in the will of the majority, properly expressed ; and, above all, the military must be kept, according to the language of our Bill of Eights, 1 in strict subordination to the civil authority. Wherever this lesson is not both learned and practised, there can be no political freedom. Absurd, preposterous is it, a scoff and a satire on free forms of constitutional liberty, for frames of government to be prescribed by military leaders, and the right of suffrage to be exercised at the point of the sword. 36. Making all allowance for situation and climate, it cannot be doubted by intelligent minds, that the difference now existing between North and South America is justly attributable, in a great degree, to political institutions in the Old World and in the New. And how broad that dif ference is ! Suppose an assembly, in one of the valleys or on the side of one of the mountains of the southern half of the hemisphere, to be held, this day, in the neighbor hood of a large city ; what would be the scene presented ? Yonder is a volcano, flaming and smoking, but shedding 1 The military power shall always be held in an exact subordination to the civil authority and be governed by it." Constitution of Mas iachusttts (1780), Declaration of Eights, Article XVII. THE COMPLETION OF THE MONUMENT 49 no light, moral or intellectual. At its foot is the mine, sometimes yielding, perhaps, large gains to capital, but in which labor is destined to eternal and unrequited toil, and followed only by penury and beggary. The city is filled with armed men ; not a free people, armed and coming forth voluntarily to rejoice in a public festivity, but hire ling troops, supported by forced loans, excessive imposi tions on commerce, or taxes wrung from a half-fed and a half-clothed population. For the great there are palaces covered with gold : for the poor there are hovels of the meanest sort. There is an ecclesiastical hierarchy, en joying the wealth of princes ; but there are no means of education for the people. Do public improvements favor intercourse between place and place ? So far from this, the traveller cannot pass from town to town without danger, every mile, of robbery and assassination. I would not overcharge or exaggerate this picture ; but its prin cipal features are all too truly sketched. 37. And how does it contrast with the scene now actually before us ? Look round upon these fields ; they are ver dant and beautiful, well cultivated, and at this moment loaded with the riches of the early harvest. The hands which till them are those of the free owners of the soil, enjoying equal rights, and protected by law from oppres sion and tyranny. Look to the thousand vessels in our sight, filling the harbor, or covering the neighboring sea. They are the vehicles of a profitable commerce, carried on by men who know that the profits of their hardy enter prise, when they make them, are their own ; and this com merce is encouraged and regulated by wise laws, and defended, when need he. by the valor and patriotism of the country. Look to that fair city, the abode of so much diffused wealth, so much general happiness and comfort, so much personal independence, and so much general knowledge, and not undistinguished, I maybe per- 4 50 DANIEL WEBSTER mitted to add, for hospitality and social refinement. She fears no forced contributions, no siege or sacking from military leaders of rival factions. The hundred temples in which her citizens worship God are in no danger of sacrilege. The regular administration of the laws en counters no obstacle. The long processions of children and youth, which you see this day, issuing by thousands from her free schools, prove the care and anxiety with which a popular government provides for the education and morals of the people. Everywhere there is order ; everywhere there is security. Everywhere the law reaches to the highest and reaches to the lowest, to protect all in their rights, and to restrain all from wrong ; and over all hovers liberty ; that liberty for which our fathers fought and fell on this very spot, with her eye ever watchful and her eagle wing ever wide outspread. 38. The colonies of Spain, from their origin to their end, were subject to the sovereign authority of the mother country. Their government, as well as their commerce, was a strict home monopoly. If we add to this the established usage of filling important posts in the adminis tration of the colonies exclusively by natives of Old Spain, thus cutting off forever all hopes of honorable preferment from every man born in the Western hemisphere, causes enough rise up before us at once to account fully for the subsequent history and character of these provinces. The viceroys and provincial governors of Spain were never at home in their governments in America. They did not feel that they were of the people whom they governed. Their official character and employment have a good deal of re semblance to those of the proconsuls of Home, in Asia, Sicily, and Gaul ; but obviously no resemblance to tho. :e of Carver and Winthrop, 1 and very little to those of the 1 John Carver, first governor of Plymouth Colony ; John Win- throp, governor of Massachusetts Colony. THE COMPLETION OF THE MONUMENT 51 governors of Virginia after that Colony had established a popular House of Burgesses. 39. The English colonists in America, generally speak ing, were men who were seeking new homes in anew world. They brought with them their families and all that was most dear to them. This was especially the case with the colonists of Plymouth and Massachusetts. Many of them were educated men, and all possessed their full share, ac cording to their social condition, of the knowledge and at tainments of that age. The distinctive characteristic of their settlement is the introduction of the civilization of Europe into a wilderness, without bringing with it the political institutions of Europe. The arts,, sciences, and literature of England came over with the settlers. That great portion of the common law which regulates the social and personal relations and conduct of men came also. The jury came ; the habeas corpus came ; the testamentary power came ; and the law of inheritance and descent came also, except that part of it which recognizes the rights of primogeniture. 1 which either did not come at all, or soon gave way to the rule of equal partition of estates among children. But the monarchy did not come, nor the aristoc racy, nor the church, as an estate of the realm. Political institutions were to be framed anew, such as should be adapted to the state of things. But it could not be doubt ful what should be the nature and character of these insti tutions. A general social equality prevailed among the settlers, and an equality of political rights seemed the nat ural, if not the necessary consequence. After forty years of revolution, violence, and war, the people of Erance have placed at the head of the fundamental instrument of their government, as the great boon obtained by all their suffer ings and sacrifices, the declaration that all Frenchmen are 1 The right of the eldest son to inherit the undivided estate of his father. 52 DANIEL WEBSTER equal before the law. 1 What France has reached only by the expenditure of so much blood and treasure, and the perpetration of so much crime, the English colonists ob tained by simply changing their place, carrying with them the intellectual and moral culture of Europe, and the per sonal and social relations to which they were accustomed, but leaving behind their political institutions. It has been said with much vivacity, that the felicity of the American colonists consisted in their escape from the past. This is true so far as respects political establishments, but no fur ther. They brought with them a full portion of all the riches of the past, in science, in art. in morals, religion, and literature. The Bible came with them. And it is not to be doubted, that to the free and universal reading of the Bible, in that age, men were much indebted for right views of civil liberty. The Bible is a book of faith, and a book of doctrine, and a book of morals, and a book of religion, of especial revelation from God : but it is also a book which teaches man his own individual responsibility, his own dignity, and his equality with his fellow-man. 40. Bacon and Locke, and Shakespeare and Milton, also came with the colonists. It was the object of the first set tlers to form new political systems, but all that belonged to cultivated man, to family, to neighborhood, to social re lations, accompanied them. In the Doric phrase of one of our own historians, " they came to settle on bare crea tion ; " but their settlement in the wilderness, nevertheless, was not a lodgment of nomadic tribes, a mere resting-place of roaming savages. It was the beginning of a permanent community, the fixed residence of cultivated men. Not only was English literature read, but English, good Eng lish, was spoken and written, before the ax had made way 1 " All Frenchmen, of whatever rank and title, are equal before the law. 1 Constitutional Charter, adopted on the accession of Louis Philippe in 1830, THE COMPLETION OF THE MONUMENT 53 to let in the sun upon the habitations and fields of Ply mouth and Massachusetts. And whatever may be said to the contrary, a correct use of the English language is, at tli is day, more general throughout the United States than it is throughout England herself. 41. Hut another grand characteristic is, that, in the Knglish Colonies, political affairs were left to be managed by the colonists themselves. This is another fact wholly distinguishing them in character, as it has distinguished them in fortune, from the colonists of Spain. Here lies the foundation of that experience in self-government which has preserved order, and security, and regularity amidst the play of popular institutions. Home government was the secret of the prosperity of the Xorth American settle ments. The more distinguished of the Xew England colo nists, with a most remarkable sagacity and a long-sighted reach into futurity, refused to come to America unless they could bring with them charters providing for the adminis tration of their affairs in this country. They saw from the first the evils of being governed in the Xew World by a power fixed in the Old. Acknowledging the general su periority of the crown, they still insisted on the right of passing local laws, and of local administration. And his tory teaches us the justice and the value of this determina tion in the example of Virginia. The early attempts to set tle that Colony failed, sometimes with the most melancholy and fatal consequences, from want of knowledge, care, and attention on the part of those who had the charge of their affairs in England ; and it was only after the issuing of the third charter, that its prosperity fairly commenced. The cause was, that by that third charter the people of Vir ginia, for by this time they deserved to be so called, were allowed to constitute and establish the first popular repre sentative assembly which ever convened on this continent, the Virginia House of Burgesses. 54 DANIEL WEBSTER 42. The great elements, then, of the American system of government, originally introduced by the colonists, and Avhich were early in operation, and ready to be developed, more and more, as the progress of events should justify or demand, were, Escape from the existing political systems of Europe, including its religious hierarchies, but the continued pos session and enjoyment of its science and arts, its literature, and its manners ; Home government, or the power of making in the Colony the municipal laws which were to govern it ; Equality of rights ; Representative assemblies, or forms oi government found ed on popular elections. VI. 43. Few topics are more inviting, or more fit for philosophical discussion, than the effect on the happiness of mankind of institutions founded upon these principles ; or, in other words, the influence of the Xew World upon the Old. 44. Her obligations to Europe for science and art, laws, literature, and manners, America acknowledges as she ought, with respect and gratitude. The people of the United States, descendants of the English stock, grateful for the treasures of knowledge derived from their English ancestors, admit also, with thanks and filial regard, that among those ancestors, under the culture of Hampden and .Sidney J and other assiduous friends, that seed of popular liberty first germinated, which on our soil has shot up to its full height, until its branches overshadow all the land. 45. But America has not failed to make returns. If she has not wholly cancelled the obligation, or equalled it by others of like weight, she has, at least, made respectable advances towards repaying the debt. And she admits that, 1 Algernon Sidney. THE COMPLETION OF THE MONUMENT 55 standing in the midst of civilized nations and in a civilized age, a nation among nations, there is a high part which she is expected to act, for the general advancement of human interests and human welfare. 4<i. American mines have filled the mints of Europe with the precious metals. The productions of the Ameri can soil and climate have poured out their abundance of luxuries for the tables of the rich, and of necessaries for the sustenance of the poor. Birds and animals of beauty and value have been added to the European stocks ; and transplantations from the unequalled riches of our forests have mingled themselves profusely with the elms, and ashes, and druidical oaks of England. 47. America has made contributions to Europe far more important. Who can estimate the amount, or the value, of the augmentation of the commerce of the world that has resulted from America ? Who can imagine to himself what would now be the shock to the Eastern Continent, if the Atlantic were no longer traversable, or if there were no longer American productions, or American markets ? 48. But America exercises influences, or holds out ex amples, for the consideration of the Old World, of a much higher, because they are of a moral and political character. 49. America has furnished to Europe proof of the fact that popular institutions, founded on equality and the principle of representation, are capable of maintaining governments able to secure the rights of person, property, and reputation. 50. America has proved that it is practicable to elevate the mass of mankind, that portion which in Europe is called the laboring, or lower class, to raise them to self- respect, to make them competent to act a part in the great right and great duty of self-government ; and she has proved that this may be done by education and the diffu sion of knowledge. She holds out an example, a thousand 56 DANIEL WEBSTER times more encouraging than ever was presented before, to those nine tenths of the human race who are born without hereditary fortune or hereditary rank. 51. America has furnished to the world the character of Washington. And, if our American institutions had done nothing else, that alone would have entitled them to the respect of mankind. 52. Washington ! " First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen \" l Washington is all our own ! The enthusiastic veneration and regard in which the people of the United States hold him prove them to be worthy of such a countryman ; while his reputation abroad reflects the highest honor on his country. I would cheer fully put the question to-day to the intelligence of Europe and the world, What character of the century, upon the whole, stands out in the relief of history, most pure, most respectable, most sublime ? and I doubt not, that, by a suffrage approaching to unanimity, the answer would be Washington ! 53. The structure now standing before us, by its up rightness, its solidity, its durability, is no unfit emblem of his character. His public virtues and public principles were as firm as the earth on which it stands ; his personal motives, as pure as the serene heaven in which its summit is lost. But, indeed, though a fit, it is an inadequate emblem. Towering high above the column which our hands have builded, beheld, not by the inhabitants of a single city or a single State, but by all the families of man, ascends the colossal grandeur of the character and life of Washington. In all the constituents of the one, in all the acts of the other, in all its titles to immortal love, admira tion, and renown, it is an American production. It is the 1 From the resolutions on the death of Washington drawn up by Henry Lee, and passed by the House of Representatives in December, 1799. THE COMPLETION OF THE MONUMENT 57 embodiment and vindication of our Transatlantic liberty. Born upon our soil, of parents also born upon it; never for a moment having had sight of the Old World; instructed, according to the modes of his time, only in the spare, plain, but wholesome elementary knowledge which our institutions provide for the children of the people; grow ing up beneath and penetrated by the genuine influences of American society ; living from infancy to manhood and age amidst our expanding, but not luxurious civilization ; partaking in our great destiny of labor, our long contest with unreclaimed nature and uncivilized man, our agony of glory, the war of Independence, our great victory of peace, the formation of the Union, and the establish ment of the Constitution ; he is all, all our own ! Wash ington is ours. That crowded and glorious life, "Where multitudes of virtues passed along, Each pressing foremost, in the mighty throng Ambitious to be seen, then making room For greater multitudes that were to come," that life was the life of an American citizen. 54. I claim him for America. In all the perils, in every darkened moment of the state, in the midst of the re proaches of enemies and the misgiving of friends, I turn to that transcendent name for courage and for consolation. To him who denies or doubts whether our fervid liberty can be combined with law, with order, with the security of property, with the pursuits and advancement of happiness ; to him who denies that our forms of government are capable of producing exaltation of soul and the passion of true glory ; to him who denies that we have contributed anything to the stock of great lessons and great examples ; to all these I reply by pointing to Washington ! VII. 55. And now, friends and fellow-citizens, it is time to bring this discourse to a close. 58 DANIEL WEBSTER 5G. We have indulged in gratifying recollections of the past, in the prosperity and pleasures of the present, and in high hopes for the future. But let us remember that we have duties and obligations to perform, corresponding to the blessings which we enjoy. Let us remember the trust, the sacred trust, attaching to the rich inheritance which we have received from our fathers. Let us feel our per sonal responsibility, to the full extent of our power and in fluence, for the preservation of the principles of civil and religious liberty. And let us remember that it is only religion, and morals, and knowledge, that can make men respectable and happy, under any form of government. Let us hold fast the great truth, that communities are responsible, as well as individuals ; that no government is respectable which is not just ; that without unspotted purity of publie faith, without sacred public principle, fidelity, and honor, no mere forms of government, no machinery of laws, can give dignity to political society. In our day and generation let us seek to raise and improve the moral sentiment, so that we may lok, not for a de graded, but for an elevated and improved future. And when both we and our children shall have been consigned to the house appointed for all living, may love of country and pride of country glow with equal fervor among those to whom our names and our blood shall have descended ! And then, when honored and decrepit age shall lean against the base of this monument, and troops of in genuous youth shall be gathered round it, and when the one shall speak to the other of its objects, the purposes of its construction, and the great and glorious events with which it is connected, there shall rise from every youthful breast the ejaculation, " Thank God, I I also AM AX AMERICAN I" ADAMS AND JEFFERSON A DISCOURSE IN COMMEMORATION OF THE LIVES AND SERVICES OP JOHN ADAMS AND THOMAS JEFFERSON, DELIVERED IN FANEUIL HALL, BOSTON, ON THE 3D OF AUGUST, 1826 [TnE coincidence of the death of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams on the Fourth of July, 1820, produced in the United States an impres sion that can be likened only to that which would be caused by some extraordinary natural phenomenon, such as an unexpected eclipse of the sun or the sudden disappearance of a planet. The death of either patriot on the Fourth, or the death of both on a less notable anniver sary would have been deemed remarkable in an extreme degree. But that both should expire on the same day, and this day the anniver sary nay, more, the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Inde pendence, was a marvel beyond all precedent. Throughout the country, the emotions of the people, roused to an extraordinary pitch, found vent in commemorative services. In Boston these were of un usual solemnity. Faneuil Hall, for the first time in its history, was draped in mourning. The most distinguished men of New England were invited to be present, and Mr. Webster was requested to deliver tlu- memorial address. The appearance and manner of the speaker are thus described by an eye-witness: "Mr. Webster spoke in an orator s gown, and wore small-clothes. He was in the perfection of his manly beauty and strength; his form filled out to its finest proportions, and Ins bearing, as he stood before the vast multitude, that of absolute dignity and power. His manu script lay on a small table near him, but I think lie did not once refer to it. His manner of speaking was deliberate and commanding. When he came to the passage on eloquence, and to the words, It is action, noble, .sublime, godlike action, he stamped his foot repeatedly on the stage, his form seemed to dilate, and he stood, as that whole 00 DANIEL WEBSTER audience saw and felt, the personification of what he so perfectly described. I never heard him when his manner was so grand and appropriate." George Ticknor, quoted by Curtis in his " Life of Web ster," vol. i., p. 275. J 1. 1. THIS is an unaccustomed spectacle. For the first time, fellow-citizens, badges of mourning shroud the columns and overhang the arches of this hall. These walls, which were consecrated, so long ago, to the cause of American lib erty, which witnessed her infant struggles, and rung with the shouts of her earliest victories, proclaim, now, that distin guished friends and champions of that great cause have fallen. It is right that it should be thus. The tears which flow, and the honors that are paid, when the founders of the republic die, give hope that the republic itself may be immortal. It is fit that, by public assembly and solemn observance, by anthem and by eulogy, we commemorate the services of national benefactors, extol their virtues, and render thanks to God for eminent blessings, early given and long continued, through their agency, to our favored country. 2. Adams and Jefferson are no more ; and we are as sembled, fellow-citizens, the aged, the middle-aged, and the young, by the spontaneous impulse of all, under the authority of the municipal government, with the presence of the chief magistrate of the Commonwealth, and others its official representatives, the University, and the learned societies, to bear our part in those manifestations of respect and gratitude which pervade the whole land. Adams and Jefferson are no more. On our fiftieth anniversary, the great day of national jubilee, in the very hour of public re joicing, in the midst of echoing and reechoing voices of thanksgiving, while their own names were on all tongues, they took their flight together to the world of spirits. 3. If it be true that no one can safely be pronounced happy while he lives, if that event which terminates life ADAMS AND JEFFERSON 61 can alone crown its honors and its glory, what felicity is liere ! The great epic of their lives, how happily con cluded ! Poetry itself has hardly terminated illustrious lives, and finished the career of earthly renown, by such a consummation. If we had the power, we could not wish to reverse this dispensation of the Divine Providence. The great objects of life were accomplished, the drama was ready to be closed. It has closed ; our patriots have fallen ; hut so fallen, at such age, with such coincidence, on such a day. that we cannot rationally lament that that end has come which we knew could not be long deferred. 4. Neither of these great men, fellow-citizens, could have died, at any time, without leaving an immense void in our American society. They have been so intimately, and for so long a time, blended with the history of the country, and especially so united, in our thoughts and recollections, with the events of the Revolution, that the death of either would have touched the chords of public sympathy. We should have felt that one great link con necting us with former times was broken ; that we had lost something more, as it were, of the presence of the Revolu tion itself, and of the act of independence, and were driven on, by another great remove from the days of our country s early distinction, to meet posterity, and to mix with the future. Like the mariner, whom the currents of the ocean and the winds carry along till he sees the stars which have directed his course and lighted his pathless way descend, one by one, beneath the rising horizon, we should have felt that the stream of time had borne us onward till another great luminary, whose light had cheered us and whose guid ance we had followed, had sunk away from our sight. 5. But the concurrence of their death on the anniversary of independence has naturally awakened stronger emotions. Both had been Presidents, both had lived to great age, both were early patriots, and both were distinguished and ever 62 DANIEL WEBSTER honored by their immediate agency in the act of inde pendence. It cannot but seem striking and extraordinary, that these two should live to see the fiftieth year from the date of that act ; that they should complete that year ; and that then, on the day which had fast linked forever their own fame with their country s glory, the heavens should open to receive them both at once. As their lives them selves were the gifts of Providence, who is not willing to recognize in their happy termination, as well as in their long continuance, proofs that our country and its bene factors are objects of his care ? 6. Adams and Jefferson, I have said, are no more. As human beings, indeed, they are no more. They are no more, as in 1776, bold and fearless advocates of in dependence ; no more, as at subsequent periods, the head of the government ; no more, as we have recently seen them, aged and venerable objects of admiration and re gard. They are no more. They are dead. But how little is there of the great and good which can die ! To their country they yet live, and live forever. They live in all that perpetuates the remembrance of men on earth ; in the recorded proofs of their own great actions, in the offspring of their intellect, in the deep -engraved lines of public gratitude, and in the respect and homage of mankind. They live in their example ; and they live, emphatically, and will live, in the influence which their lives and efforts, their principles and opinions, now exer cise, and will continue to exercise, on the affairs of men, not only in their own country, but throughout the civil ized world. A superior and commanding human intellect, a truly great man, when Heaven vouchsafes so rare a gift, is not a temporary flame, burning brightly for a while, and then giving place to returning darkness. It is rather a spark of fervent heat, as well as radiant light, with power to enkindle the common mass of human mind ; so ADAMS AX I) JEFFERSON 63 that when it glimmers in its own decay, and finally goes out in death, no night follows, but it leaves the world all light, all on fire, from the potent contact of its own spirit. Bacon died : but the human understanding, roused by the touch of his miraculous wand to a perception of the true philosophy and the just mode of inquiring after truth, has kept on its course successfully and gloriously. Newton died : yet the courses of the spheres are still known, and they yet move on by the laws which he discovered, and in the orbits which he saw and described for them in the in finity of space. 7. Xo two men now live, fellow-citizens, perhaps it may be doubted whether any two men have ever lived in one age, who, more than those we now commemorate, have impressed on mankind their own sentiments in regard to politics and government, infused their own opinions more deeply into the opinions of others, or given a more lasting direction to the current of human thought. Their work doth not perish with them. The tree which they assisted to plant will flourish, although they water it and protect it no longer ; for it has struck its roots deep, it has sent them to the very centre ; no storm, not of force to burst the orb, can overturn it ; its branches spread wide ; they stretch their protecting arms broader and broader, and its top is destined to reach the heavens. We are not deceived. There is no delusion here. Xo age will come in which the American Revolution will appear less than it is, one of the greatest events in human history. No age will come in which it shall cease to be seen and felt, on either continent, that a mighty step, a great advance, not only in American affairs, but in human affairs, was made on the 4th of July, 177 J. And no age will come, we trust, so ignorant or so unjust as not to see and acknowledge the efficient agency of those we now honor in producing that momentous event. 64 DANIKL WEBSTER 8. We are not assembled, therefore, fellow-citizens, as men overwhelmed with calamity by the sudden disruption of the ties of friendship or affection, or as in despair for the republic by the untimely blighting of its hopes. Death has not surprised us by an unseasonable blow. \Ve have, indeed, seen the tomb close, but it has closed only over mature years, over long-protracted public service, over the weakness of age, and over life itself only when the ends of living had been fulfilled. These suns, as they rose slowly and steadily, amidst clouds and storms, in their as cendant, so they have not rushed from their meridian to sink suddenly in the west. Like the mildness, the serenity, the continuing benignity of a summer s day, they have gone down with slow-descending, grateful, long-lingering light ; and now that they are beyond the visible margin of the world, good omens cheer us from " the bright track of their fiery car " ! 9. There were many points of similarity in the lives and fortunes of these great men. They belonged to the same profession, and had pursued its studies and its practice, for unequal lengths of time indeed, but with diligence and effect. Both were learned and able lawyers. They were natives and inhabitants, respectively, of those two of the Colonies 1 which at the Revolution were the largest and most powerful, and which naturally had a lead in the political affairs of the times. When the Colonies became in some degree united by the assembling of a general Con gress, they were brought to act together in its deliberations, not indeed at the same time, but both at early periods. Each had already manifested his attachment to the cause of the country, as well as his ability to maintain it, by printed addresses, public speeches, extensive correspond ence, and whatever other mode could be adopted for the purpose of exposing the encroachments of the British 1 Jefferson, of Virginia ; Adams, of Massachusetts. ADAM S AND JEFFERSON 65 Parliament, and animating the people to a manly resist ance. Both were not only decided, but early friends of independence. While others yet doubted, they were re solved ; where others hesitated, they pressed forward. They were both members of the committee for preparing the Declaration of Independence, and they constituted the subcommittee appointed by the other members to make the draft. They left their seats in Congress, being called to other public employments, at periods not remote from each other, although one of them returned to it afterwards for a short time. Xeither of them was of the assembly of great men which formed the present Constitution, and neither was at any time a member of Congress under its provisions. Both have been public ministers abroad, both Vice-Presidents and both Presidents of the United States. These coincidences are now singularly crowned and com pleted. They have died together; and they died on the anniversary of liberty. 10. When many of us were last in this place, fellow- citizens, it was on the day of that anniversary. We were met to enjoy the festivities belonging to the occasion, and to manifest our grateful homage to our political fathers. We did not. we could not here, forget our venerable neigh bor 1 of Quincy. We knew that we were standing, at a time of high and palmy prosperity, where he had stood in the hour of utmost peril ; that we saw nothing but liberty and security, where he had met the frown of power ; that we were enjoying everything, where he had hazarded every thing ; and just and sincere plaudits rose to his name from the crowds which filled this area and hung over these galleries, lie whose grateful duty it was to speak to us, 2 on that day, of the virtues of our fathers, had, indeed, admonished us that time and years were about to level his venerable frame with the dust. But he bade us hope that Adams. 3 Josiah Quincy, Mayor of Boston. 66 DANIEL WEBSTER " the sound of a nation s joy, rushing from our cities, ringing from our valleys, echoing from our hills, might yet break the silence of his aged ear ; that the rising blessings of grateful millions might yet visit with glad light his de caying vision." Alas ! that vision was then closing for ever. Alas ! the silence which was then settling on that aged ear was an everlasting silence ! For, lo ! in the very moment of our festivities, his freed spirit ascended to Ciod who gave it ! Human aid and human solace terminate at the grave ; or we would gladly have borne him upward, on a nation s outspread hands ; we would have accompanied him, and with the blessings of millions and the prayers of millions commended him to the Divine favor. 11. While still indulging our thoughts on the coinci dence of the death of this venerable man with the anni versary of independence, we learn that Jefferson, too, has fallen ; and that these aged patriots, these illustrious fel low-laborers, have left our world together. May not such events raise the suggestion that they are not undesigned, and that Heaven does so order things as sometimes to attract strongly the attention and excite the thoughts of men ? The occurrence has added new interest to our anniversary, and will be remembered in all time to come. II. 12. The occasion, fellow-citizens, requires some ac count of the lives and services of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. This duty must necessarily be performed with great brevity, and in the discharge of it 1 shall be obliged to confine myself, principally, to those parts of their his tory and character which belonged to them as public men. 13. John Adams was born at Quincy, then part of the ancient town of Braintree, on the 19th day of October (old style), 1735. He was a descendant of the Puritans, his ancestors having early emigrated from England and ADAMS AND JEFFFRSON 67 settled in Massachusetts. Discovering 1 in childhood a strong love of reading and of knowledge, together with marks of great strength and activity of mind, proper care was taken by his worthy father to provide for his edu cation. He pursued his youthful studies in Braintree, under Mr. Marsh, a teacher whose fortune it was that Josiah Quincy, Jr., as well as the subject of these remarks, should receive from him his instruction in the rudiments of classical literature. Having been admitted, in 1751, a member of Harvard College, Mr. Adams was graduated, in course, in 1755 ; and on the catalogue of that institution, his name, at the time of his death, was second among the living alumni, being preceded only by that of the vener able Holyoke. 2 With what degree of reputation he left the university is not now precisely known. We know only that he was distinguished in a class which numbered Locke and Hemmenway 3 among its members. Choosing the law for his profession, he commenced and prosecuted its studies at Worcester under the direction of Samuel Putnam, a gentleman whom he has himself described as an acute man, an able and learned lawyer, and as being in large professional practice at that time. In 1758 he was admitted to the bar, and entered upon the practice of the law in Braintree. He is understood to have made his first considerable effort, or to have attained his first signal suc cess, at Plymouth, on one of those occasions which furnish the earliest opportunity for distinction to many young men of the profession, a jury trial and a criminal cause. His business naturally grew with his reputation, and his resi- 1 Displaying. 2 I myself remember Dr. Holvoke, of Salem, son of a president of Harvard College, who answered a toast proposed* in his honor at a dinner given to him on his hundredth birthday [1S2S1/ 1 O. W. Holmes, OVIT tie Ttncu^, p. .>(>. : Samuel Locke president of Harvard 1770-7-3 ; Moses Hemmeiiway, a noted Massachusetts clergyman. 68 DANIEL WEBSTER dence in the vicinity afforded the opportunity, as his grow ing eminence gave the power, of entering on a larger field of practice in the capital. In 1766 he removed his resi dence to Boston, still continuing his attendance on the neighboring circuits, and not unfrequently called to remote parts of the Province. In 1770 his professional firmness was brought to a test of some severity, on the application of the British officers and soldiers to undertake their de fence, on the trial of the indictments found against them on account of the transactions of the memorable 5th of March. 1 He seems to have thought, on this occasion, that a man can no more abandon the proper duties of his pro fession than he can abandon other duties. The event proved that, as he judged well for his own reputation, so, too, he judged well for the interest and permanent fame of his country. The result of that trial proved that, notwith standing the high degree of excitement then existing in consequence of the measures of the British Government, a jury of Massachusetts would not deprive the most reckless enemies, even the officers of that standing army quartered among them, which they so perfectly abhorred, of any part of that protection which the law, in its mildest and most indulgent interpretation, affords to persons accused of crimes. 14. Without following Mr. Adams s professional course further, suffice it to say, that on the first establishment of the judicial tribunals under the authority of the State, in 1776, he received an offer of the high and responsible sta tion of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Massa chusetts. But he was destined for another and a different career. From early life the bent of his mind was toward politics ; a propensity which the state of the times, if it did not create, doubtless very much strengthened. Public subjects must have occupied the thoughts and filled up 1 The so-called " Boston Massacre." ADAMS AND JEFFERSON 69 the conversation in the circles in which he then moved ; and the interesting questions at that time just arising could not but seize on a mind like his, ardent, sanguine, and patriotic. A letter, fortunately preserved, written by him at Worcester, so early as the 12th of October, 1755, is a proof of very comprehensive views, and uncommon depth of reflection, in a young man not yet quite twenty. In this letter-he predicted the transfer of power, and the es tablishment of a new seat of empire in America ; he pre dicted, also, the increase of population in the Colonies ; and anticipated their naval distinction, and foretold that all Europe combined could not subdue them. All this is said, not on a public occasion or for effect, but in the style of sober and friendly correspondence, as the result of his own thoughts. " I sometimes retire," said he, at the close of the letter, " and, laying things together, form some re flections pleasing to myself. The produce of one of these reveries you have read above." This prognostication, so early in his own life, so early in the history of the country, of independence, of vast increase of numbers, of naval force, of such augmented power as might defy all Europe, is remarkable. It is more remarkable that its author should live to see fulfilled to the letter what could have seemed to others, at the time, but the extravagance of youthful fancy. His earliest political feelings were thus strongly American, and from this ardent attachment to his native soil he never departed. 15. While still living at Quincy, and at the age of twenty- four, Mr. Adams was present, in this town, at the argu ment before the Supreme Court respecting Writs of As sistance, 1 and heard the celebrated and patriotic speech of James Otis. Unquestionably, that was a masterly per formance. No flighty declamation about liberty, no super- 1 Writs authorizing officers of the Crown to summon assistance and enter and search any house for dutiable merchandise. 70 DANIEL WEBSTER ficial discussion of popular topics, it was a learned, pene trating, convincing, constitutional argument, expressed in a strain of high and resolute patriotism. lie grasped the question then pending between England and her Colonies with the strength of a lion ; and if he sometimes sported, it was only because the lion himself is sometimes playful. Its success appears to have been as great as its merits, and its impression was widely felt. Mr. Adams himself seems never to have lost the feeling it produced, and to have entertained constantly the fullest conviction of its important effects. " I do say/ he observes, " in the most solemn manner, that Mr. Otis s Oration against Writs of Assistance breathed into this nation the breath of life." 16. In 1765 Mr. Adams laid before the public, anony mously, a series of essays, afterwards collected in a vol ume in London, under the title of "A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law." The object of this work was to show that our New England ancestors, in consenting to exile themselves from their native land, were actuated mainly by the desire of delivering themselves from the power of the hierarchy, and from the monarchical and aristocratical systems of the other continent ; and to make this truth bear with effect on the politics of the times. Its tone is uncommonly bold and animated for that period. He calls on the people, not only to defend, but to study and understand, their rights and privileges ; urges eanu stly the necessity of diffusing general knowledge ; invokes the clergy and the bar, the colleges and academies, and all others who have the ability and the means to expose the insidious designs of arbitrary power, to resist its approaches, $nd to. b,o persuaded that tlioru is a settled design on foot f;q enslave all America. " Be it remembered," says the author, "that liberty must, at all hazards, be supposed. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at ADAM S AND JEFFERSON 71 the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood. And liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right, from the frame of their nature, to knowledge, as their great Creator, who does nothing in vain, has given them under standings and a desire to know. But, besides this, they have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right, to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, I mean of the characters and conduct of their rulers. Rulers are no more than attorneys, agents, and trustees for the people ; and if the cause, the interest and trust, is insidiously betrayed, or wantonly trifled away, the people have a right to revoke the authority that they them selves have deputed, and to constitute abler and better agents, attorneys, and trustees." 17. The citizens of this town conferred on Mr. Adams his first political distinction, and clothed him with his first political trust, by electing him one of their represen tatives, in 1770. Before this time he had become exten sively known throughout the Province, as well by the part he had acted in relation to public affairs, as by the exer cise of his professional ability. He was among those who took the deepest interest in the controversy with England, and whether in or out of the legislature, his time and talents were alike devoted to the cause. In the years 1773 and 1774 lie was chosen a Councillor by the members of the General Court, but rejected by Governor Hutchinson in the former of those years, and by Governor Gage in the latter. 18. The time was now at hand, however, when the affairs of the Colonies urgently demanded united counsels throughout the country. An open rupture with the parent state appeared inevitable, and it was but the dictate of prudence that those who were united by a common in terest and a common danger should protect that interest 72 DANIEL WEBSTER and guard against that danger by united efforts. A general Congress of Delegates from all the Colonies having been proposed and agreed to, the House of Representatives, on the 17th of June, 1774, elected James Bowdoin, Thomas Gushing, Samuel Adams, John Adams, and Robert Treat Paine, delegates from Massachusetts. This appointment was made at Salem, Avhere the General Court had been convened by Governor Gage, in the last hour of the exist ence of a House of Representatives under the Provincial Charter. While engaged in this important business, the Governor, having been informed of what was passing, sent his secretary with a message dissolving the General Court. The secretary, finding the door locked, directed the mes senger to go in and inform the Speaker that the secretary was at the door with a message from the Governor. The messenger returned, and informed the secretary that the orders of the House were that the doors should be kept fast ; whereupon the secretary soon after read upon the stairs a proclamation dissolving the General Court. Thus terminated, forever, the actual exercise of the political power of England in or over Massachusetts. The four last-named delegates accepted their appointments, and took their seats in Congress the first day of its meeting, the 5th of September, 1774, in Philadelphia. 19. The proceedings of the first Congress are well known, and have been universally admired. It is in vain that we would look for superior proofs of wisdom, talent, and pa triotism. Lord Chatham said, that, for himself, he must declare that he had studied and admired the free states of antiquity, the master states of the world, but that for solidity of reasoning, force of sagacity, and wisdom of con clusion, no body of men could stand in preference to this Congress. It is hardly inferior praise to say, that no pro duction of that great man himself can be pronounced superior to several of the papers published as the proceed- ADAMS AND JEFFERSON 73 ings of this most able, most firm, most patriotic assembly. There is, indeed, nothing superior to them in the range of political disquisition. They not only embrace, illustrate, and enforce everything which political philosophy, the love of liberty, and the spirit of free inquiry had antece dently produced, but they add new and striking views of their own. and apply the whole, with irresistible force, in support of the cause which had drawn them together. 2o. Mr. Adams was a constant attendant on the delibera tions of this body, and bore an active part in its important measures. He was of the committee to state the rights of the Colonies, and of that also which reported the Address to the King. III. 21. As it was in the Continental Congress, fellow- citizens, that those whose deaths have given rise to this oc casion were first brought together, and called upon to unite their industry and their ability in the service of the coun try, let us now turn to the other of these distinguished men, and take a brief notice of his life up to the period when he appeared within the walls of Congress. 22. Thomas Jefferson, descended from ancestors who had been settled in Virginia for some generations, was born near the spot on which he died, in the county of Albe- marle. on the 2d of April (old style), 1743. His youthful studies were pursued in the neighborhood of his father s residence until he was removed to the College of William and Mary, the highest honors of which he in due time re ceived. Having left the college with reputation, he ap plied himself to the study of the law under the tuition of (leorge Wythe, one of the highest judicial names of which that State can boast. At an early age he was elected a member of the legislature, in which he had no sooner ap peared than he distinguished himself by knowledge, capac ity, and promptitude. 74 DANIEL WEBS TEH 23. Mr. Jefferson appears to have been imbued with an early love of letters and science, and to have cherished a strong disposition to pursue these objects. To the physi cal sciences, especially, and to ancient classic literature, he is understood to have had a warm attachment, and never entirely to have lost sight of them in the midst of the busi est occupations. But the times were times for action, rather than for contemplation. The country was to be de fended, and to be saved, before it could be enjoyed. Phil osophic leisure and literary pursuits, and even the objects of professional attention, were all necessarily postponed to the urgent calls of the public service. The exigency of the country made the same demand on Mr. Jefferson that it made on others who had the ability and the disposition to serve it ; and he obeyed the call ; thinking and feeling in this respect with the great Eoman orator : " Qnis enim est tarn cupidus in perspicienda cognoscendaque rerum na- tura, ut, si ei tractanti contemplantique res cognitione dignissimas subito sit allatum periculum discrimenque patrise, cui subvenire opitularique possit, 11011 ilia omnia relinquat atque abjiciat, etiam si dinumerare se stellas, aut metiri mundi magnitudinem posse arbitretur ? " l 24. Entering with all his heart into the cause of liberty, his ability, patriotism, and power with the pen naturally drew upon him a large participation in the most important concerns. Wherever he was, there was found a soul de voted to the cause, power to defend and maintain it, and willingness to incur all its hazards. In 1774 he published 1 " For who is so zealous in perceiving aud comprehending the nat ure of things, that if, while he is treating and meditating the highest subjects of thought, he suddenly is made aware of the peril and crisis of that country which it is his privilege to help and to succor, he will not abandon and cast aside all those studies, even if he should deem himself fit to number the stars or to measure the bigness of the world i " Cicero, JJe Ofliciw, 1 43. ADAMS AND JEFFEKSON 75 a " Summary View of the Rights of British America," a valuable production among those intended to show the dangers which threatened the liberties of the country, and to encourage the people in their defence. In June, 1775, he was elected a member of the Continental Congress, as successor to Peyton Randolph, who had resigned his place on account of ill-health, and took his seat in that body on the 21st of the same month. IV. 25. And now, fellow-citizens, without pursuing the biography of these illustrious men further, for the present, let us turn our attention to the most prominent act of their lives, their participation in the Declaration of Indepen dence. 26. Preparatory to the introduction of that important measure, a committee, at the head of which was Mr. Adams, had reported a resolution. Avhich Congress adopted on the 10th of May, recommending, in substance, to all the Col onies which had not already established governments suited to the exigencies of their affairs, to adopt such government as would, in the opinion of the representatives of the peo ple, best conduce to the happiness and safety of their con stituents in particular, and America in general. 27. This significant vote was soon followed by the direct proposition which Richard Henry Lee had the honor to submit to Congress, by resolution, on the seventh day of June. The published journal does not expressly state it, but there is no doubt, I suppose, that this resolution was in the same words, when originally submitted by Mr. Lee, as when finally passed. Having been discussed on Satur day, the 8th. and Monday, the 10th of June, this resolution was on the last mentioned day postponed for further con sideration to the first day of July ; and at the same time it was voted, that a committee be appointed to prepare a Dec laration to the effect of the resolution. This committee 76 DANIEL WEBSTER was elected by ballot on the following day, and consisted of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. 28. It is usual, when committees are elected by ballot, that their members should be arranged in order, according to the number of votes which each has received. Mr. Jef ferson, therefore, had received the highest, and Mr. Adams the next highest number of votes. 1 The difference is said to have been but of a single vote. Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Adams, standing thus at the head of the committee, were requested by the other members to act as a subcommittee to prepare the draft ; and Mr. Jefferson drew up the paper. The original draft, as brought by him from his study, and submitted to the other members of the committee, with interlineations in the handwriting of Dr. Franklin, and others in that of Mr. Adams, was in Mr. Jefferson s posses sion at the time of his death. The merit of this paper is Mr. Jefferson s. Some changes were made in it at the sug gestion of other members of the committee, and others by Congress while it was under discussion. But none of them altered the tone, the frame, the arrangement, or the gen eral character of the instrument. As a composition, the Declaration is Mr. Jefferson s. It is the production of his mind, and the high honor of it belongs to him, clearly and absolutely. 29. It has sometimes been said, as if it were a deroga tion from the merits of this paper, that it contains nothing new ; that it only states grounds of proceeding and presses topics of argument which had often been stated and pressed before. But it was not the object of the Declaration to produce anything new. It was not to invent reasons for 1 "Of this committee Mr. Lee would doubtless have been the chair man, had he not been already on his way to Virginia to attend the sick-bed of his wife. His associate, Thomas Jefferson, was named in his place." Higgiuson s Larger History of the United States, p. 268. ADAMS AND JEFFERSON 77 independence, but to state those which governed the Con gress. For great and sufficient causes it was proposed to declare independence ; and the proper business of the paper to be drawn was to set forth those causes, and justify the authors of the measure, in any event of fortune, to the country and to posterity. The cause of American inde pendence, moreover, was now to be presented to the world in such manner, if it might so be, as to engage its sym pathy, to command its respect, to attract its admiration ; and in an assembly of most able and distinguished men, Thomas Jefferson had the high honor of being the select ed advocate of this cause. To say that he performed his great work well would be doing him injustice. To say that he did excellently well, admirably well, would be in adequate and halting praise. Let us rather say, that he so discharged the duty assigned him, that all Americans may well rejoice that the work of drawing the title-deed of their liberties devolved upon him. 3(). With all its merits, there are those who have thought that there was one thing in the Declaration to be regretted ; and that is, the asperity and apparent anger with which it speaks of the person of the king ; the industrious ability with which it accumulates and charges upon him all the injuries which the Colonies had suffered from the mother country. Possibly some degree of injustice, now or here after, at home or abroad, may be done to the character of Mr. Jefferson, if this part of the Declaration be not placed in its proper light. Anger or resentment, certainly much less personal reproach and invective, could not properly iind place in a composition of such high dignity and of such lofty and permanent character. 31. A single reflection on the original ground of dispute between England and the Colonies is sufficient to remove any unfavorable impression in this respect. 3 ^. The inhabitants of all the Colonies, while Colonies, 78 DANIEL WEBSTER admitted themselves bound by their allegiance to the king ; but they disclaimed altogether the authority of Parlia ment ; holding themselves, in this respect, to resemble the condition of Scotland and Ireland before the respective unions of those kingdoms with England, when they ac knowledged allegiance to the same king, but had each its separate legislature. The tie, therefore, which our Revo lution was to break, did not subsist between us and the British Parliament, or between us and the British Govern ment in the aggregate, but directly between us and the king himself. The Colonies had never admitted them selves subject to Parliament. That was precisely the point of .the original controversy. They had uniformly denied that Parliament had authority to make laws for them. There was, therefore, no subjection to Parliament to be thrown off. But allegiance to the king did exist, and had been uniformly acknowledged ; and down to 1775 the most solemn assurances had been given that it was not intended to break that allegiance, or to throw it off. Therefore, as the direct object and only effect of the Declaration, accord ing to the principles on which the controversy had been maintained on our part, were to sever the tie of allegiance which bound us to the king, it was properly and necessarily founded on acts of the crown itself, as its justifying causes. Parliament is not so much as mentioned in the whole in strument. 1 When odious and oppressive acts are referred to, it is done by charging the king with confederating with others "in pretended acts of legislation ;" the object being constantly to hold the king himself directly responsible for those measures which were the grounds of separation. Even the precedent of the English Revolution was not overlooked, and in this case, as well as in that, occasion was 1 The words " submission to their parliament was no part of our constitution" were in the original draft of the Declaration, but were stricken out by vote of the Congress. ADAMS AND JEFFERSON 79 found to say that the king had abdicated the government. 1 Consistency with the principles upon which resistance began, and with all the previous state papers issued by Congress, required that the Declaration should be bottomed on the misgovernment of the king ; and, therefore, it was properly framed with that aim and to that end. The king was known, indeed, to have acted, as in other cases, by his ministers, and with his Parliament ; but as our ancestors had never admitted themselves subject either to ministers or to Parliament, there were no reasons to be given for now refusing obedience to their authority. This clear and obvious necessity of founding the Declaration on the mis conduct of the king himself gives to that instrument its personal application, and its character of direct and pointed accusation. 33. The Declaration having been reported to Congress by the committee, the resolution itself was taken up and debated on the first day of July, and again on the second, on which last day it was agreed to and adopted, in these words : " Kesolred, That these united Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States ; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." 34. Having thus passed the main resolution, Congress proceeded to consider the reported draft of the Declaration. It was discussed on the second, and third, and fourth days of the month, in committee of the whole ; and on the last of those days, being reported from that committee, it re ceived the final approbation and sanction of Congress. It The Commons, in 1089, after King James II. had fled from London, voted that the King, " having withdrawn himself out of the kingdom, has abdicated the government, and that the throne is there by vacant." 80 DANIEL WEBSTER was ordered, at the same time, that copies be sent to the several States, and that it be proclaimed at the head of the army. The Declaration thus published did not bear the names of the members, for as yet it had not been signed by them. It was authenticated, like other papers of the Congress, by the signatures of the President and Secretary. On the 19th of July, as appears by the secret journal, Congress "Resolved, That the Declaration, passed on the fourth, be fairly engrossed on parchment, with the title and style of The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America ; and that the same, when en grossed, be signed by every member of Congress." And on the second day of August following, " the Declaration, being engrossed and compared at the table, was signed by the members." So that it happens, fellow-citizens, that we pay these honors to their memory on the anniversary of that day (3d of August) on which these great men ac tually signed their names to the Declaration. The Decla ration was thus made, that is, it passed and was adopted as an act of Congress, on the 4th of July ; it was then signed, and certified by the President and Secretary, like other acts. The 4th of July, therefore, is the anniversary of the Declaration. But the signatures of the members pres ent were made to it, being then engrossed on parchment, on the second day of August. Absent members afterwards signed, as they came in ; and, indeed, it bears the names of some who were not chosen members of Congress until after the 4th of July. The interest belonging to the sub ject will be sufficient, I hope, to justify these details. 35. The Congress of the Revolution, fellow-citizens, sat with closed doors, and no report of its debates was ever made. The discussion, therefore, which accompanied this great measure has never been preserved, except in memory and by tradition. But it is, T believe, doing no injustice to others to say, that the general opinion was, and uni- ADAMS AND JEFFERSON 81 formly has been, that in debate, on the side of indepen dence, John Adams had no equal. The great author of the Declaration himself has expressed that opinion uni formly and strongly. "John Adams," said he, in the hearing of him who has now the honor to address you, " John Adams was our colossus on the floor. Not grace ful, not elegant, not always fluent in his public addresses, lie yet came out with a power, both of thought and of ex pression, which moved us from our seats." 30. For the part which he was here to perform, Mr. Adams doubtless was eminently fitted. He possessed a bold spirit, which disregarded danger, and a sanguine re liance on the goodness of the cause, and the virtues of the people, which led him to overlook all obstacles. His char acter, too, had been formed in troubled times. He had been rocked in the early storms of the controversy, and had acquired a decision and a hardihood proportioned to the severity of the discipline which he had undergone. 37. He not only loved the American cause devoutly, but had studied and understood it. It was all familiar to him. He had tried his powers on the questions which it in volved, often and in various ways ; and had brought to their consideration whatever of argument or illustration the history of his own country, the history of England, or the stores of ancient or of legal learning could furnish. Every grievance enumerated in the long catalogue of the Declaration had been the subject of his discussion, and the object of his remonstrance and reprobation. From 1700, the Colonies, the rights of the Colonies, the liberties of the Colonies, and the wrongs inflicted on the Colonies, had engaged his constant attention ; and it has surprised those who have had the opportunity of witnessing it, with what full remembrance and with what prompt recollection he could refer, in his extreme old age, to every act of Parlia ment affecting the Colonies, distinguishing and stating 6 82 DANIEL WEBSTER their respective titles, sections, and provisions ; and to all the Colonial memorials, remonstrances, and petitions, with whatever else belonged to the intimate and exact history of the times from that year to 1775. It was, in his own judgment, between these years that the American people came to a full understanding and thorough knowledge of their rights, and to a fixed resolution of maintaining them ; and bearing himself an active part in all important trans actions, the controversy with England being then in effect the business of his life, facts, dates, and particulars made an impression Avhich was never effaced. He was prepared, therefore, by education and discipline, as well as by natu ral talent and natural temperament, for the part which he was now to act.. 38. The eloquence of Mr. Adams resembled his general character, and formed, indeed, a part of it. It was bold, manly, and energetic ; and such the crisis required. When public bodies are to be addressed on momentous occasions, when great interests are at stake, and strong passions ex cited, nothing is valuable in speech farther than as it is connected with high intellectual and moral endowments. Clearness, force, and earnestness are the qualities which produce conviction. True eloquence, indeed, does not consist in speech. It cannot be brought from far. Labor and learning may toil for it, but they will toil in vain. Words and phrases may be marshalled in every way, but they cannot compass it. It must exist in the man, in the subject, and in the occasion. Affected passion, intense expression, the pomp of declamation, all may aspire to it ; they cannot reach it. It comes, if it come at all, like the outbreaking of a fountain from the earth, or the bursting forth of volcanic fires, with spontaneous, original, native force. The graces taught in the schools, the costly orna ments and studied contrivances of speech, shock and dis gust men, when their own lives, and the fate of their ADAMS AND JEFFERSON 83 wives, their children, and their country, hang on the de cision of the hour. Then words have lost their power, rhetoric is vain, and all elaborate oratory contemptible. Even genius itself then feels rebuked and subdued, as in the presence of higher qualities. Then patriotism is elo quent ; then self-devotion is eloquent. The clear concep tion, outrunning the deductions of logic, the high pur pose, the firm resolve, the dauntless spirit, speaking on the tongue, beaming from the eye, informing every feature, and urging the whole man onward, right onward to his object this, this is eloquence ; or rather it is something greater and higher than all eloquence, it is action, noble, sublime, godlike action. :>!>. In July, 1770, the controversy had passed the stage of argument. An appeal had been made to force, and oppos ing armies were in the field. Congress, then, was to de cide whether the tie which had so long bound us to the parent state was to be severed at once, and severed for ever. All the Colonies had signified their resolution to abide by this decision, and the people looked for it with the most intense anxiety. And surely, fellow-citizens, never, never were men called to a more important political deliberation. .If we contemplate it from the point where they then stood, no question could be more full of interest ; if we look at it now, and judge of its importance by its effects, it appears of still greater magnitude. 40. Let us, then, bring before us the assembly which was about to decide a question thus big with the fate of empire. Let us open their doors and look in upon their deliberations. Let us survey the anxious and careworn countenances, let us hear the firm-toned voices of this band of patriots. 41. Hancock presides over the solemn sitting ; and one of those not yet prepared to pronounce for absolute inde- 1 That is, verbal ornamentation. 84 . DANIEL WEBSTER pendence is on the floor, and is urging his reasons for dis senting from the Declaration. 42. " Let us pause ! This step, once taken, cannot be retraced. This resolution, once passed, will cut off all hope of reconciliation. If success attend the arms of England, we shall then be no longer Colonies, with charters and with privileges ; these will all be forfeited by this act ; and we shall be in the condition of other conquered people, at the mercy of the conquerors. For ourselves, we may be ready to run the hazard ; but are we ready to carry the country to that length ? Is success so probable as to justify it ? Where is the military, where the naval power, by which we are to resist the whole strength of the arm of England ? for she will exert that strength to the utmost. Can we rely on the constancy and perseverance of the people ? or will they not act as the people of other countries have acted, and, wearied with a long war, submit, in the end, to a worse op pression ? While we stand on our old ground, and insist on redress of grievances, we know we are right, and are not answerable for consequences. Nothing, then, can be imputed to us. But if we now change our object, carry our pretensions farther, and set up for absolute indepen dence, we shall lose the sympathy of mankind. We shall no longer be defending what we possess, but struggling for something which we never did possess, and which we have solemnly and uniformly disclaimed all intention of pursu ing from the very outset of the troubles. Abandoning thus our old ground, of resistance only to arbitrary acts of oppression, the nations will believe the whole to have been mere pretence, and they will look on us, not as injured, hut as ambitious subjects. I shudder before this responsibility. It will be on us, if, relinquishing the ground on which we have stood so long, and stood so safely, we now proclaim independence, and carry on the war for that object, while these cities burn, these pleasant fields whiten and bleach ADAMS AND JEFFERSON 85 with the bones of their owners, and these streams run blood. It will be upon us, it will be upon us, if, failing to maintain this unseasonable and ill-judged Declaration, a sterner despotism, maintained by military power, shall be established over our posterity, when we ourselves, given up by an exhausted, a harassed, a misled people, shall have expiated our rashness and atoned for our presumption on the scaffold." 43. It was for Mr. Adams to reply to arguments like these. We know his opinions, and we know his character. He would commence with his accustomed directness and earnestness. 44. " Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand and my heart to this vote. It is true, indeed, that in the beginning we aimed not at independence. But there s a Divinity which shapes our ends. The injustice of England has driven us to arms ; and, blinded to her own interest for our good, she has obstinately persisted, till independence is now within our grasp. We have but to reach forth to it, and it is ours. Why, then, should we defer the Declaration ? Is any man so weak as now to hope for a reconciliation with England, which shall leave either safety to the country and its liberties, or safety to his own life and his own honor ? Are not you, sir, who sit in that chair, is not he, our venerable colleague near you, are you not both already the proscribed and predestined objects of punishment and of vengeance ? Cut off from all hope of royal clemency, what are you, what can you be, while the power of England remains, but outlaws ? If we postpone independence, do we mean to carry on, or to give up, the war ? Do we mean to submit to the measures of Parlia ment, Boston Port Bill, and all ? Do we mean to submit, and consent that we ourselves shall be ground to powder, and our country and its rights trodden down in the dust ? I know we do not mean to submit. We never shall submit. 86 DANIEL WEBSTER Do we intend to violate that most solemn obligation ever entered into by men, that plighting, before God, of our sacred honor to Washington, when, putting him forth to incur the dangers of war, as well as the political hazards of the times, we promised to adhere to him, in every ex tremity, with our fortunes and our lives ? I know there is not a man here who would not rather see a general con flagration sweep over the land, or an earthquake sink it, than one jot or tittle of that plighted faith fall to the ground. For myself, having, twelve months ago in this place, moved you that George Washington be appointed commander of the forces raised or to be raised for defence of American liberty, may my right hand forget her cun ning, and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if 1 hesitate or waver in the support I give him. 45. " The war, then, must go on. We must fight it through. And if the war must go on, why put off longer the Declaration of Independence ? That measure will strengthen us. It will give us character abroad. The nations will then treat with us. which they never can do while we acknowledge ourselves subjects, in arms against our sovereign. Xay, I maintain that England herself will sooner treat for peace with us on the footing of indepen dence, than consent, by repealing her acts, to acknowledge that her whole conduct towards us has been a course of injustice and oppression. Her pride will be less wounded by submitting to that course of things which now predes tinates our independence than by yielding the points in controversy to her rebellious subjects. The former she would regard as the result of fortune ; the latter she would feel as her own deep disgrace. Why, then, why, then, sir, do we not as soon as possible change this from a civil to a national war? And since we must fight it through, why not put ourselves in a state to enjoy all the benefits of victory, if we gain the victory ? ADAMS AND JEFFERSOJS 87 4G. " If \ve fail it can be no worse for us. But we shall not fail. The cause will raise up armies ; the cause will create navies. The people, the people, if we are true to them, will carry us, and will carry themselves, gloriously, through this struggle. I care not how fickle other people have been found. I know the people of these Colonies, and I know that resistance to British aggression is deep and settled in their hearts and cannot be eradicated. Every Colony, indeed, has expressed its willingness to follow, if we but take the lead. Sir, the Declaration will inspire the people with increased courage. Instead of a long and bloody war for the restoration of privileges, for redress of grievances, for chartered immunities, held under a British king, set before them the glorious object of entire inde pendence, and it will breathe into them anew the breath of life. Read this Declaration at the head of the army ; every sword will be drawn from its scabbard, and the solemn vow uttered to maintain it, or to perish on the bed of honor. Publish it from the pulpit ; religion will ap prove it. and the love of religious liberty will cling round it. resolved to stand with it, or fall with it. Send it to the public halls ; proclaim it there ; let them hear it who heard the first roar of the enemy s cannon ; let them see it who saw their brothers and their sons fall on the field of Bunker Hill, and in the streets of Lexington and Concord, and the very walls will cry out in its support. 4T. "Sir. I know the uncertainty of human affairs, but I see. I see clearly, through this day s business. You and I. indeed, may rue it. We may not live to the time when this Declaration shall be made good. We may die ; die col onists : die slaves ; die, it may be, ignominiously and on the scaffold. Be it so. Be it so. If it be the pleasure of Heaven that my country shall require the poor offering of my life, the victim shall be ready at the appointed hour of sacrifice, come when that hour may. But while I do 88 DANIEL WEBSTER live, let me have a country, or at least the hope of a coun try, and that a free country. 48. " But whatever may be our fate, be assured, be as sured that this Declaration will stand. It may cost treas ure, and it may cost blood ; but it will stand, and it will richly compensate for both. Through the thick gloom of the present I see the brightness of the future, as the sun in heaven. We shall make this a glorious, an immortal day. When we are in our graves, our children will honor it. They will celebrate it with thanksgiving, with festivity, with bonfires and illuminations. On its annual return they will shed tears, copious, gushing tears, not of sub jection and slavery, not of agony and distress, but of ex ultation, of gratitude, and of joy. Sir, before God, I be lieve the hour is come. My judgment approves this meas ure, and my whole heart is in it. All that I have, and all that I am, and all that I hope, in this life, I am now ready here to stake upon it ; and I leave off as I begun, that live or die, survive or perish, I am for the Declaration. It is my living sentiment, and, by the blessing of God, it shall be my dying sentiment, Independence now, and Indepen dence forever." 49. And so that day shall be honored, illustrious prophet and patriot ! so that day shall be honored, and as often as it returns, thy renown shall come along with it, and the glory of thy life, like the day of thy death, shall not fail from the remembrance of men. V. 50. It would be unjust, fellow-citizens, on this oc casion, while we express our veneration for him who is the immediate subject of these remarks, were we to omit a most respectful, affectionate, and grateful mention of those other great men, his colleagues, who stood with him, and with the same spirit, the same devotion, took part in the interesting transaction. Hancock, the proscribed Han- ADAMS AND JEFFERSON 89 cock, exiled from his home by a military governor, cut off by proclamation from the mercy of the crown, Heaven reserved for him the distinguished honor of putting this great question to the vote, and of writing his own name first, and most conspicuously, on that parchment which spoke defiance to the power of the crown of England. There, too, is the name of that other proscribed patriot, Samuel Adams, a man who hungered and thirsted for the independence of his country ; who thought the Declaration halted and lingered, being himself not only ready, but eager, for it, long before it was proposed ; a man of the deepest sagacity, the clearest foresight, and the profouud- est judgment in men. And there is Gerry, himself among the earliest and the foremost of the patriots, found, when the battle of Lexington summoned them to common coun sels, by the side of Warren ; a man who lived to serve his country at home and abroad, and to die in the second place in the government. There, too, is the inflexible, the upright, the Spartan character, Robert Treat Paine. He also lived to serve his country through the struggle, and then withdrew from her councils, only that he might give his labors and his life to his native State in another relation. These names, fellow-citizens, are the treasures of the Commonwealth ; and they are treasures which grow brighter by time. VI. .">!. It is now necessary to resume the narrative, and to finish with great brevity the notice of the lives of those whose virtues and services we have met to commemorate. o2. Mr. Adams remained in Congress from its first meet ing till November, 1777, when he was appointed Minister to France. He proceeded on that service in the February following, embarking in the frigate Boston, from the shore of his native town, at the foot of Mount AVollaston. The year following he was appointed commissioner to treat of 90 DANIEL WEBSTER peace with England. Eeturning to the United States, he was a delegate from Braintree in the Convention for fram ing the Constitution of this Commonwealth, in 1780. At the latter end of the same year he again went abroad in the diplomatic service of the country, and was employed at various courts, and occupied with various negotiations, un til 1788. The particulars of these interesting and im portant services this occasion does not allow time to relate. In 1782 he concluded our first treaty with Holland. His negotiations with that republic, his efforts to persuade the States-General to recognize our independence, his incessant and indefatigable exertions to represent the American cause favorably on the Continent, and to counteract the designs of its enemies, open and secret, and his successful under taking to obtain loans, on the credit of a nation yet new and unknown, are among his most arduous, most useful, most honorable services. It was his fortune to bear a part in the negotiation for peace with England, and in some- tiling more than six years from the Declaration which he had so strenuously supported, he had the satisfaction of see ing the minister plenipotentiary of the crown subscribe his name to the instrument which declared that his " Britannic Majesty acknowledged the United States to be free, sover eign, and independent." In these important transactions, Mr. Adams s conduct received the marked approbation of Congress and of the country. 53. While abroad, in 1787, he published his Defence of the American Constitutions ; " a work of merit and ability, though composed with haste, on the spur of a par ticular occasion, in the midst of other occupations, and un der circumstances not admitting of careful revision. The immediate object of the work was to counteract the weight of opinions advanced by several popular European writers of that day, M. Turgot, the Abbe de Mably, and Dr. Price, at a time when the people of the United States were em- ADAMS AND JEFFERSON 91 ployed in forming and revising their systems of govern ment. 54. Returning to the United States in 1788, he found the new government about going into operation, and was himself elected the first Vice-President, a situation which he filled with reputation for eight years, at the expiration of which he was raised to the Presidential chair, as imme diate successor to the immortal Washington. In this high station he was succeeded by Mr. Jefferson, after a memora ble controversy between their respective friends, in 1801 ; and from that period his manner of life has been known to all who hear me. He has lived, for five-and-twenty years, with every enjoyment that could render old age happy. Xot inattentive to the occurrences of the times, political cares have yet not materially, or for any long time, dis turbed his repose. In 1820 he acted as elector of Presi dent and Vice-President, and in the same year we saw him, then at the age of eighty-five, a member of the Conven tion of this commonwealth called to revise the Constitution. Forty years before, he had been one of those who formed that Constitution ; and he had now the pleasure of witness ing that there was little which the people desired to change. Possessing all his faculties to the end of his long life, with an unabated love of reading and contemplation, in the cen tre of interesting circles of friendship and affection, he was blessed in his retirement with whatever of repose and felic ity the condition of man allows, lie had, also, other en joyments, lie saw around him that prosperity and general happiness which had been the object of his public cares and labors. No man ever beheld more clearly, and for a longer time, the great and beneficial effects of the services ren dered by himself to his country. That liberty which he so early defended, that independence of which he was so able ;m advocate and supporter, he saw. we trust, firmly and se en ivly established. The population of the country thick- 92 DANIEL WEBSTER ened around him faster, and extended wider, than his own sanguine predictions had anticipated ; and the wealth, re spectability, and power of the nation sprang up to a mag nitude which it is quite impossible he could have expected to witness in his day. He lived also to behold those prin ciples of civil freedom which had been developed, estab lished, and practically applied in America, attract attention, command respect, and awaken imitation, in other regions of the globe ; and well might, and well did, he exclaim, " Where will the consequences of the American Revolution end ? " 55. If anything yet remain to fill this cup of happiness, let it be added that he lived to see a great and intelligent people bestow the highest honor in their gift where he had bestowed his own kindest parental affections and lodged his fondest hopes. 1 Thus honored in life, thus happy at death, he saw the Jubilee, and he died ; and with the last prayers which trembled on his lips was the fervent supplication for his country, " Independence forever ! " VII. 50. Mr. Jefferson, having been occupied in the years 1778 and 1779 in the important service of revising the laws of Virginia, was elected Governor of that State, as successor to Patrick Henry, and held the situation when the State was invaded by the British arms. In 17Sl he published his " Notes on Virginia," a work which attracted attention in Europe as well as America, dispelled many misconceptions respecting this continent, and gave its author a place among men distinguished for science. In November, 1783, he again took his seat in the Continen tal Congress, but in the May following was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary, to act abroad, in the negotiation of commercial treaties, with Dr. Franklin and Mr. Adams. 1 John Quincy Adams had been inaugurated President the preceding year. ADAMS AND JEFFERSON 93 He proceeded to France in execution of this mission, em barking at Boston ; and that was the only occasion on which lie ever visited this place. In 1785 he was appointed Minister to France, the duties of which situation he con tinued to perform until October, 1789, when he obtained leave to retire, just on the eve of that tremendous revo lution which has so much agitated the world in our times. Mi - . Jefferson s discharge of his diplomatic duties was marked by great ability, diligence, and patriotism ; and while he resided at Paris, in one of the most interesting periods, his character for intelligence, his love of knowl edge and of the society of learned men, distinguished him in the highest circles of the French capital. No court in Kurope had at that time in Paris a representative com manding or enjoying higher regard, for political knowl edge or for general attainments, than the minister of this then infant republic. Immediately on his return to his native country, at the organization of the government under the present Constitution, his talents and experience recommended him to President Washington for the first office in his gift. lie was placed at the head of the De partment of State. In this situation, also, he manifested conspicuous ability. His correspondence with the minis ters of other powers residing here and his instructions to our own diplomatic agents abroad are among our ablest state papers. A thorough knowledge of the laws and usages of nations, perfect acquaintance with the imme diate subject before him, great felicity, and still greater fa cility, in writing show themselves in whatever effort his official situation called on him to make. It is believed by competent judges that the diplomatic intercourse of the government of the United States, from the first meeting of the Continental Congress in 1774 to the present time, taken together, would not suffer, in respect to the talent with which it has been conducted, by comparison with 94 DANIEL WEBSTER anything which other and older governments can produce ; and to the attainment of this respectability and distinction Mr. Jefferson has contributed his full part. 57. On the retirement of General Washington from the Presidency, and the election of Mr. Adams to that office in 1797, he was chosen Vice-President. While presiding in this capacity over the deliberations of the Senate, he compiled and published a "Manual of Parliamentary Prac tice," a work of more labor and more merit than is indi cated by its size. It is now received as the general stand ard by which proceedings are regulated, not only in both Houses of Congress, but in most of the other legislative bodies in the country. In 1801 he was elected President, in opposition to Mr. Adams, and reflected in 1805, by a vote approaching towards unanimity. 58. From the time of his final retirement from public life, in 1808, Mr. Jefferson lived as became a wise man. Surrounded" by affectionate friends, his ardor in the pur suit of knowledge undiminished, with uncommon health and unbroken spirits, he was able to enjoy largely the rational pleasures of life, and to partake in that public prosperity which he had so much contributed to produce. His kindness and hospitality, the charm of his conversa tion, the ease of his manners, the extent of his acquire ments, and, especially, the full store of Revolutionary incidents which he had treasured in his memory, and which he knew when and how to dispense, rendered his abode in a high degree attractive to his admiring country men, while his high public and scientific character drew towards him every intelligent and educated traveller from abroad. Both Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson had the pleasure of knowing that the respect which they so largely received was not paid to their official stations. They were not men made great by office ; but great men, on whom the country for its own benefit had conferred office. There ADAMS AND JEFFERSON 95 was that in them which office did not give, and which the relinquish ment of office did not, and could not, take away. In their retirement, in the midst of their fellow-citizens, themselves private citizens, they enjoyed as high regard and esteem as when filling the most important places of public trust. 59. There remained to Mr. Jefferson yet one other work of patriotism and beneficence, the establishment of a university in his native State. To this object he devoted years of incessant and anxious attention, and by the en lightened liberality of the Legislature of Virginia, and the cooperation of other able and zealous friends, he lived to see it accomplished. May all success attend this infant seminary ; and may those who enjoy its advantages, as often as their eyes shall rest on the neighboring height, recollect what they owe to their disinterested and inde fatigable benefactor ; and may letters honor him who thus labored in the cause of letters ! (50. Thus useful, and thus respected, passed the old age of Thomas Jefferson. Hut time was on its ever-cease less wing, and was now bringing the last hour of this illustrious man. He saw its approach with undisturbed serenity. He counted the moments as they passed, and beheld that his last sands were falling. That day, too, was at hand which he had helped to make immortal. One wish, one hope, if it were not presumptuous, beat in his fainting breast. Could it be so, might it please God, he would desire once more to see the sun, once more to look abroad on the scene around him. on the great day of liberty. Heaven, in its mercy, fulfilled that prayer. He saw that sun, he enjoyed its sacred light, he thanked God for this mercy, and bowed his aged head to the grave. "Felix, non vitae tantum claritate, sed etiam opportunitate mortis." 1 1 " Fortunate not only in the splendor of his life, but in the time liness of his death." Tacitus, Agricda, 45. 96 DANIEL WEBSTER 61, The last public labor of Mr. Jefferson naturally sug gests the expression of the high praise which is due, both to him and to Mr. Adams, for their uniform and zealous attachment to learning, and to the cause of general knowledge. Of the advantages of learning, indeed, and of literary accomplishments, their own characters were striking recommendations and illustrations. They were scholars, ripe and good scholars ; widely acquainted with ancient, as well as modern literature, and not altogether uninstructed in the deeper sciences. Their acquirements, doubtless, were different, and so were the particular ob jects of their literary pursuits ; as their tastes and char acters, in these respects, differed like those of other men. Being, also, men of busy lives, with great objects requir ing action constantly before them, their attainments in letters did not become showy or obtrusive. Yet I would hazard the opinion, that if we could now ascertain all the causes which gave them eminence and distinction in the midst of the great men with whom they acted, we should find not among the least their early acquisitions in litera ture, the resources which it furnished, the promptitude and facility which it communicated, and the wide field it opened for analogy and illustration ; giving them thus, on every subject, a larger view and a broader range, as well for discussion as for the government of their own conduct. 62. Literature sometimes disgusts, and pretension to it much oftener disgusts, by appearing to hang loosely on the character, like something foreign or extraneous, not a part, but an ill-adjusted appendage ; or by seeming to overload and weigh it down by its unsightly bulk, like the productions of bad taste in architecture, where there is massy and cumbrous ornament without strength or solid ity of column. This has exposed learning, and especially classical learning, to reproach. Men have seen that it might exist without mental superiority, without vigor. ADAMK AND JEFFERSON 97 without good taste, and without utility. But in such cases classical learning has only not inspired natural talent ; or, at most, it has but made original feebleness of intel lect, and natural bhmtness of perception, something more conspicuous. The question, after all, if it be a question, is, whether literature, ancient as well as modern, does not assist a good understanding, improve natural good taste, add polished armor to native strength, and render its possessor, not only more capable of deriving private happiness from contemplation and reflection, but more accomplished also for action in the affairs of life, and especially for public action. Those whose memories we now honor were learned men ; but their learning was kept in its proper place, and made subservient to the uses and objects of life. They were scholars, not common nor superficial ; but their scholarship was so in keeping with their character, so blended and inwrought, that careless observers, or bad judges, not seeing an ostentatious dis play of it, might infer that it did not exist ; forgetting, or not knowing, that classical learning in men who act in conspicuous public stations, perform duties which exer cise the faculty of writing, or address popular, delibera tive, or judicial bodies, is often felt where it is little seen, and sometimes felt more effectually because it is not seen at all. 63. But the cause of knowledge, in a more enlarged sense, the cause of general knowledge and of popular edu cation, had no warmer friends nor more powerful advo cates than Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson. On this foun dation they knew the whole republican system rested ; and this great and all-important truth they strove to impress, by all the means in their power. In the early publication already referred to, Mr. Adams expresses the strong and just sentiment that the education of the poor is more im portant, even to the rich themselves, than all their own 7 98 DANIEL WEBSTER riches. On this great truth, indeed, is founded that unri valled, that invaluable political and moral institution, our own blessing and the glory of our fathers, the New Eng land system of free schools. 64. As the promotion of knowledge had been the object of their regard through life, so these great men made it the subject of their testamentary bounty. Mr. Jefferson is understood to have bequeathed his library to the Uni versity of Virginia, and that of Mr. Adams is bestowed on the inhabitants of Quincy. VIII. 65. Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson, fellow-citizens, were successively Presidents of the United States. The comparative merits of their respective administrations for a long time agitated and divided public opinion. They were rivals, each supported by numerous and powerful portions of the people, for the highest office. This con test, partly the cause and partly the consequence of the long existence of two great political parties in the coun try, is now part of the history of our government. We may naturally regret that anything should have occurred to create difference and discord between those who had acted harmoniously and efficiently in the great concerns of the Revolution. But this is not the time, nor this the oc casion, for entering into the grounds of that difference, or for attempting to discuss the merits of the questions which it involves. As practical questions they were canvassed when the measures which they regarded were acted on and adopted ; and as belonging to history, the time has not come for their consideration. 66. It is, perhaps, not wonderful, that, when the Con stitution of the United States first went into operation, different opinions should be entertained as to the extent of the powers conferred by it. Here was a natural source of diversity of sentiment. It is still less wonderful, that that ADAMS AND JEFFERSON 99 event, 1 nearly contemporary with our government under the present Constitution, which so entirely shocked all Europe, and disturbed our relations with her leading powers, should be thought, by different men, to have dif ferent bearings on our own prosperity ; and that the early measures adopted by the government of the United States, in consequence of this new state of things, should be seen in opposite lights. It is for the future historian, when what now remains of prejudice and misconception shall have passed away, to state these different opinions, and pronounce impartial judgment. In the meantime, all good men rejoice, and well may rejoice, that the sharpest differences sprung out of measures which, whether right or wrong, have ceased with the exigencies that gave them birth, and have left no permanent effect either on the Constitution or on the general prosperity of the country. This remark, I am aware, may be supposed to have its ex ception in one measure, the alteration of the Constitution - as to the mode of choosing President ; but it is true in its general application. Thus the course of policy pursued towards France in 1798, on the one hand, and the measures of commercial restriction commenced in 1807, on the other, both subjects of warm and severe opposition, have passed away and left nothing behind them. They were tempo rary, and whether wise or unwise, their consequences were limited to their respective occasions. It is equally clear, at the same time, and it is equally gratifying, that those measures of both administrations which were of durable importance, and which drew after them momentous and long remaining consequences, have received general appro bation. Such was the organization, or rather the creation, of the navy, in the administration of Mr. Adams ; such the acquisition of Louisiana, in that of Mr. Jefferson. 1 The French Revolution. 5 Made by the twelfth Article uf. Amendment. 100 DANIEL WEBSTER The country, it may safely be added, is not likely to be willing either to approve, or to reprobate, indiscriminately, and in the aggregate, all the measures of either, or of any, administration. The dictate of reason and of justice is, that, holding each one his own sentiments on the points of difference, we imitate the great men themselves in the forbearance and moderation which they have cherished, and in the mutual respect and kindness which they have been so much inclined to feel and to reciprocate. 67. No men, fellow-citizens, ever served their country with more entire exemption from every imputation of selfish and mercenary motives than those to whose memory we are paying these proofs of respect. A suspicion of any disposition to enrich themselves, or to profit by their public employments, never rested on either. No sordid motive approached them. The inheritance which they have left to their children is of their character and their fame. 68. Fellow-citizens, I will detain you no longer by this faint and feeble tribute to the memory of the illustrious dead. Even in other hands, adequate justice could not be done to them, within the limits of this occasion. Their highest, their best praise, is your deep conviction of their merits, your affectionate gratitude for their labors and their services. It is not my voice, it is this cessation of ordinary pursuits, this arresting of all attention, these solemn ceremonies, and this crowded house, which speak their eulogy. Their fame, indeed, is safe. That is now treasured up beyond the reach of accident. Although no sculptured marble should rise to their memory, nor en graved stone bear record of their deeds, yet will their remembrance be as lasting as the land they honored. Marble columns may, indeed, moulder into dust, time may erase all impress from the crumbling stone, but their fame remains ; for with American Libertv it rose, and with American Liberty only can it perish. It was the last ADAMS AND JEFFERSON 101 swelling peal of yonder choir, "Their bodies are buried in peace, but their name liveth evermore." I catch that solemn song, I echo that lofty strain of funeral triumph, " Their name liveth evermore." IX. 69. Of the illustrious signers of the Declaration of Independence there now remains only Charles Carroll. IIe ( seems an aged oak, standing alone on the plain, which time has spared a little longer after all its contemporaries have been levelled with the dust. Venerable object ! we delight to gather round its trunk, while yet it stands, and to dwell beneath its shadow. Sole survivor of an assembly of as great men as the world has witnessed, in a transaction one of the most important that history records, what thoughts, what interesting reflections, must fill his elevated and devout soul ! If he dwell on the past, how touching its recollections ; if he survey the present, how happy, how joyous, how full of the fruition of that hope which his ardent patriotism indulged ; if he glance at the future, how does the prospect of his country s advancement almost bewilder his weakened conception ! Fortunate, distin guished patriot ! Interesting relic of the past ! Let him know that, while we honor the dead, we do not forget the living ; and that there is not a heart here which does not fervently pray that Heaven may keep him yet back from the society of his companions. X. 70. And now, fellow-citizens, let us not retire from this occasion without a deep and solemn conviction of the duties which have devolved upon us. This lovely land, this glorious liberty, these benign institutions, the dear purchase of our fathers, are ours ; ours to enjoy, ours to preserve, ours to transmit. Generations past and generations to come hold us responsible for this sacred trust. Our fathers, from behind, admonish us with their anxious paternal 102 DANIEL WEBSTER voices ; posterity calls out to us from the bosom of the future ; the world turns hither its solicitous eyes; all, all conjure us to act wisely, and faithfully, in the relation which we sustain. We can never, indeed, pay the debt which is upon us ; but by virtue, by morality, by religion, by the cultivation of every good principle and every good habit, we may hope to enjoy the blessing, through our day, and to leave it unimpaired to our children. Let us feel deeply how much of what we are and of what we possess we owe to this liberty, and to these institutions of govern ment. Nature has, indeed, given us a soil which yields bounteously to the hand of industry, the mighty and fruit ful ocean is before us, and the skies over our heads shed health and vigor. But what are lands and seas and skies to civilized man, without society, without knowledge, with out morals, without religious culture ; and how can these be enjoyed, in all their extent and all their excellence, but under the protection of wise institutions and a free gov ernment ? Fellow-citizens, there is not one of us, there is not one of us here present, who does not, at this moment, and at every moment, experience, in his own condition, and in the condition of those most near and dear to him, the influence and the benefits of this liberty and these institu tions. Let us then acknowledge the blessing, let us feel it deeply and powerfully, let us cherish a strong affection for it, and resolve to maintain and perpetuate it. The blood of our fathers, let it not have been shed in vain ; the great hope of posterity, let it not be blasted. 71. The striking attitude, too, in which we stand to the world around us, a topic to which, I fear, I advert too often, and dwell on too long, cannot be altogether omitted here. Neither individuals nor nations can perform their part well, until they understand and feel its importance. and comprehend and justly appreciate all the duties belong ing to it. It is not to inflate national vanity, nor to swell ADAM* AXD JEFFERSON 103 a light and empty feeling of self-importance, but it is that \\c may judge justly of our situation, and of our duties, that 1 earnestly urge upon you this consideration of our position and our character among the nations of the earth. It cannot be denied, but by those who would dispute against the sun. that with America, and in America, a new era commences in human affairs. This era is distinguished by free representative governments, by entire religious liberty, by improved systems of national intercourse, by a newly awakened and an unconquerable spirit of free in quiry, and by a diffusion of knowledge through the com munity, such as has been before altogether unknown and unheard of. America, America, our country, fellow-citi- xens. our own dear and native land, is inseparably con nected, fast bound up. in fortune and by fate, with these great interests. If they fall, we fall with them ; if they stand, it will be because we have maintained them. Let us contemplate, then, this connection, which binds the pros perity of others to our own ; and let us manfully discharge all the duties which it imposes. If we cherish the virtues and the principles of our fathers, Heaven will assist us to carry on the work of human liberty and human happiness. Auspicious omens cheer us. Great examples are before us. Our own firmament now shines brightly upon our path. Washington is in the clear, upper sky. These other stars have now joined the American constellation ; they circle round their centre, and the heavens beam with new light. Beneath this illumination let us walk the course of life, and at its close devoutly commend our be loved country, the common parent of us all, to the Divine Benignity. A SPEECH DELIVERED AT A PUBLIC DINNER IN HONOR OP THE CENTENNIAL BIRTHDAY OF WASHINGTON, ON THE 22D OF FEBRUARY, 1832 [On the 22d of February, 1832, a company of gentleman assembled in the national capital to celebrate by a public dinner the centennial anniversary of Washington s birthday. Most of them were members of Congress. Mr. Webster, who since 182? had been senator from Massachusetts, occupied the chair and gave the opening toast, prefac ing it by the following remarks.] 1. 1. I RISE, Gentlemen, to propose to you the name of that great man, in commemoration of whose birth, and in honor of whose character and services, we are here assem bled. 2. I am sure that I express a sentiment common to every one present, when I say that there is something more than ordinarily solemn and affecting in this occasion. 3. We are met to testify our regard for him whose name is intimately blended with whatever belongs most essentially to the prosperity, the liberty, the free institutions, and the renown of our country. That name was of power to rally a nation, in the hour of thick-thronging public disasters and calamities ; that name shone, amid the storm of war, a beacon light, to cheer and guide the country s friends ; it flamed, too. like a meteor, to repel her foes. That name, in the days of peace, was a loadstone, attracting to itself a THE CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON 105 whole people s confidence, a whole people s love, and the whole world s respect. That name, descending with all time, spreading over the whole earth, and uttered in all the languages belonging to the tribes and races of men, will forever be pronounced with affectionate gratitude by every one in whose breast there shall arise an aspiration for hu man rights and human liberty. 4. We perform this grateful duty, Gentlemen, at the ex piration of a hundred years from his birth, near the place, so cherished and beloved by him, where his dust now re poses, and in the capital which bears his own immortal name. II. o. All experience evinces that human sentiments are strongly influenced by associations. The recurrence of anniversaries, or of longer periods of time, naturally freshens the recollection, and deepens the impression, of events with which they are historically connected. Re nowned places, also, have a power to awaken feeling, which all acknowledge. No American can pass by the fields of Bunker Hill. Monmouth, and Camden, as if they were ordinary spots on the earth s surface. Whoever visits them feels the sentiment of love of country kindling anew, as if the spirit that belonged to the transactions which have rendered these places distinguished still hovered round, with power to move and excite all who in future time may approach them. li. But neither of these sources of emotion equals the power with which great moral examples affect the mind. When sublime virtues cease to be abstractions, when they become embodied in human character, and exemplified in human conduct, we should be false to our own nature if we did not indulge in the spontaneous effusions of our gratitude and our admiration. A true lover of the virtue of patriotism delights to contemplate its purest models; 106 DANIEL WEBSTER and that love of country may be well suspected which af fects to soar so high into the regions of sentiment as to be lost and absorbed in the abstract feeling, and becomes too elevated or too refined to glow with fervor in the com mendation or the love of individual benefactors. All this is unnatural. It is as if one should be so enthusiastic a lover of poetry as to care nothing for Homer or Milton ; so passionately attached to eloquence as to be indifferent to Tully l and Chatham ; or such a devotee to the arts, in such an ecstasy with the elements of beauty, proportion, and expression, as to regard the masterpieces of Raphael and Michael Angelo with coldness or contempt. We may be assured, Gentlemen, that he who really loves the thing itself, loves its finest exhibitions. A true friend of his country loves her friends and benefactors, and thinks it no degradation to commend and commemorate them. The voluntary outpouring of the public feeling, made to day, from the North to the South, and from the East to the West, proves this sentiment to be both just and nat ural. In the cities and in the villages, in the public temples and in the family circles, among all ages and sexes, gladdened voices to-day bespeak grateful hearts and a freshened recollection of the virtues of the Father of his Country. And it will be so, in all time to come, so long as public virtue is itself an object of regard. The in genuous youth of America will hold up to themselves the bright model of Washington s example, and study to be what they behold ; they will contemplate his character till all its virtues spread out and display themselves to their de lighted vision ; as the earliest astronomers, the shepherds on the plains of Babylon, gazed at the stars till they saw them form into clusters and constellations, overpowering at length the eyes of the beholders with the united blaze of a thousand lights. Cicero. THE CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON 107 III. 7. Gentlemen, we are at the point of a century from the birth of Washington ; and what a century it has been ! During its course, the human mind lias seemed to proceed with a sort of geometric velocity, accomplishing, for human intelligence and human freedom, more than had been done in fives or tens of centuries preceding. Washington stands at the commencement of a new era, as well as at the head of the New World. A century from the birth of Washing ton has changed the world. The country of Washington has been the theatre on which a great part of that change has been wrought ; and Washington himself a principal agent by which it has been accomplished. His age and his country are equally full of wonders ; and of both he is the chief. 8. If the poetical prediction, uttered a few years before his birth, be true; if indeed it be designed by Providence that the grandest exhibition of human character and hu man affairs shall be made on this theatre of the Western world ; if it be true that " The four first acts already past, A fifth shall close the drama with the day ; Time s noblest offspring is the last ; " how could this imposing, swelling, final scene be appropri ately opened, how could its intense interest be adequately sustained, but by the introduction of just such a character as our Washington ? 9. Washington had attained his manhood when that spark of liberty was struck out in his own country, which lias since kindled into a flame, and shot its beams over the earth. In the flow of a century from his birth, the world has changed in science, in arts, in the extent of commerce, in the improvement of navigation, and in all that relates to the civilization of man. But it is the spirit of human freedom, the new elevation of individual man, in his moral, 108 DANIEL WEBSTER social, and political character, leading the whole long train of other improvements, which has most remarkably distin guished the era. Society, in this century, has not made its progress, like Chinese skill, by a greater acuteness of inge nuity in trifles ; it has not merely lashed itself to an in creased speed round the old circles of thought and action ; but it has assumed a new character ; it has raised itself from beneath governments to a participation in govern ments ; it has mixed moral and political objects with the daily pursuits of individual men ; and, with a freedom and strength before altogether unknown, it has applied to these objects the whole power of the human understanding. It has been the era, in short, when the social principle has triumphed over the feudal principle ; when society has maintained its rights against military power, and estab lished, on foundations never hereafter to be shaken, its competency to govern itself. 10. It was the extraordinary fortune of Washington, that, having been intrusted, in Revolutionary times, with the supreme military command, and having fulfilled that trust with equal renown for wisdom and for valor, he should be placed at the head of the first government in which an attempt was to be made on a large scale to rear the fabric of social order on the basis of a written constitu tion and of a pure representative principle. A government was to be established, without a throne, without an aristoc racy, without castes, orders, or privileges ; and this govern ment, instead of being a democracy, existing and acting within the walls of a single city, 1 was to be extended over a vast country, of different climates, interests, and habits, and of various communions of our common Christian faith. The experiment certainly was entirely new. A popular government of this extent, it was evident, could be framed only by carrying into full effect the principle of representa- Such, for example, as the Athenian democracy. THE CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON 109 tion or of delegated power ; and the world was to see whether society could, by the strength of this principle, maintain its own peace and good government, carry forward its own great interests, and conduct itself to political renown and glory. By the benignity of Providence, this experi ment, so full of interest to us and to our posterity forever, so full of interest, indeed, to the world in its present gen eration and in all its generations to come, was suffered to commence under the guidance of Washington. Destined for this high career, he was fitted for it by wisdom, by virtue, by patriotism, by discretion, by whatever can in spire confidence in man towards man. In entering on the untried scenes, early disappointment and the premature extinction of all hope of success would have been certain, had it not been that there did exist throughout the coun try, in a most extraordinary degree, an unwavering trust in him who stood at the helm. IV. 11. I remarked, Gentlemen, that the whole world was and is interested in the result of this experiment. And is it not so ? Do we deceive ourselves, or is it true that at this moment the career which this government is running is among the most attractive objects to the civilized world ? Do we deceive ourselves, or is it true that at this moment that love of liberty, and that understanding of its true principles, which are flying over the whole earth as on the wings of all the winds, are really and truly of American origin ? 12. At the period of the birth of Washington, there existed in Europe no political liberty in large communi ties, except in the provinces of Holland, and except that England herself had set a great example, so far as it went, by her glorious Revolution of Ki88. Everywhere else despotic power was predominant, and the feudal or mili tary principle held the mass of mankind in hopeless bond- 110 DANIEL WEBSTER age. One half of Europe was crushed beneath the Bour bon sceptre, 1 and no conception of political liberty, no hope even of religious toleration, existed among that nation which was America s first ally. The king was the state, the king was the country, the king was all. There was one king, with power not derived from his people, and too high to be questioned ; and the rest were all subjects, witli no political right but obedience. All above was intangi ble power, all below quiet subjection. A recent occur rence in the French Chambers shows us how public opin ion on these subjects is changed. A minister had spoken of the "king s subjects." "There are no subjects," ex claimed hundreds of voices at once, " in a country where the people make the king ! " 13. Gentlemen, the spirit of human liberty and of free government, nurtured and grown into strength and beauty in America, has stretched its course into the midst of the nations. Like an emanation from Heaven, it has gone forth, and it will not return void. It must change, it is fast changing, the face of the earth. Our great, our high duty is to show, in our own example, that this spirit is a spirit of health as well as a spirit of power ; that its benig nity is as great as its strength ; that its efficiency to secure individual rights, social relations, and moral order, is equal to the irresistible force with which it prostrates principali ties and powers. The world, at this moment, is regarding us with a willing, but something of a fearful admiration. Its deep and awful anxiety is to learn whether free states may be stable, as well as free ; whether popular power may be trusted, as well as feared ; in short, whether wise, regu lar, and virtuous self-government is a vision for the con templation of theorists, or a truth established, illustrated, and brought into practice in the country of Washington. 14. Gentlemen, for the earth which we inhabit and the 1 In the hands of Louis XV., of France. TIIK CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON 111 whole circle of the suii, for all the unborn races of rnan- inind, \ve seem to hold in our hands, for their weal or woe, the fate of this experiment. If we fail, who shall venture the repetition ? If our example shall prove to be one, not of encouragement, but of terror, not fit to be imitated, but fit only to be shunned, where else shall the world look for free models ? If .this great Western Sun be struck out of the firmament, at what other fountain shall the lamp of liberty hereafter be lighted ? What other orb shall emit a ray to glimmer, even, on the darkness of the world ! J 15. There is no danger of our overrating or overstating the important part which \ve are now acting in human affairs. It should not flatter our personal self-respect, but it should reanimate our patriotic virtues, and inspire us with a deeper and more solemn sense, both of our privi leges and of our duties. We cannot wish better for our country, nor for the world, than that the same spirit which influenced Washington may influence all who succeed him ; and that the same blessing from above, which attended his efforts, may also attend theirs. V. 1C. The principles of Washington s administration are not left doubtful. They are to be found in the Con stitution itself, in the great measures recommended and approved by him, in his speeches to Congress, and in that most interesting paper, his Farewell Address to the People of the United States. The success of the government under his administration is the highest proof of the sound ness of these principles. And, after an experience of thirty- five years, what is there which an enemy could condemn ? What is there which either his friends, or the friends of the country, could wish to have been otherwise ? I speak, of course, of great measures and leading principles. 17. In the first place, all his measures were right in their intent. He stated the whole basis of his own great char- 112 DANIEL WEBSTER acter, when ho told the country, in the homely phrase of the proverb, that honesty is the best policy. One of the most striking things ever said of him is, that " he changed mankind s ideas of political greatness." 1 To command ing talents, and to success, the common elements of such greatness, he added a disregard of self, a spotlessness of motive, a steady submission to every public and private duty, which threw far into the shade the whole crowd of vulgar great. The object of his regard was the whole country. No part of it was enough to fill his enlarged patriotism. His love of glory, so far as that may be sup posed to have influenced him at all, spurned everything short of general approbation. It would have been nothing to him, that his partisans or his favorites outnumbered, or outvoted, or outmanaged, or outclamored, those of other leaders. He had no favorites ; he rejected all partisan ship ; and, acting honestly for the universal good, he de served, what he has so richly enjoyed, the universal love. 18. His principle it was to act right, and to trust the people for support ; his principle it was not to follow the lead of sinister and selfish ends, nor to rely on the little arts of party delusion to obtain public sanction for such a course. Born for his country and for the world, he did not give up to party what was meant for mankind. The consequence is, that his fame is as durable as his princi ples, as lasting as truth and virtue themselves. While the hundreds whom party excitement, and temporary circum stances, and casual combinations, have raised into transient notoriety, sink again, like thin bubbles, bursting and dis solving into the great ocean, Washington s fame is like the rock which bounds that ocean, and at whose feet its billows are destined to break harmlessly forever. 19. The maxims upon which Washington conducted our Mankind perceived some change in their ideas of greatness." Fisher Ames, E>doyy on Wasldnytoii, THE CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON 113 foreign relations were few and simple. The first was an entire and indisputable impartiality towards foreign states. He adhered to this rule of public conduct, against very strong inducements to depart from it, and when the popu larity of the moment seemed to favor such a departure. In the next place, he maintained true dignity and unsullied honor in all communications with foreign states. It was among the high duties devolved upon him, to introduce our new government into the circle of civilized states and powerful nations. Not arrogant or assuming, with no un becoming or supercilious bearing, he yet exacted for it from all others entire and punctilious respect, lie de manded, and he obtained at once, a standing of perfect equality for his country in the society of nations ; nor was there a prince or potentate of his day, whose personal character carried with it, into the intercourse of other states, a greater degree of respect and veneration. 20. He regarded other nations only as they stood in political relations to us. With their internal affairs, their political parties and dissensions, he scrupulously abstained from all interference ; and, on the other hand, he repelled with spirit all such interference by others with us or our concerns. His sternest rebuke, the most indignant measure of his whole administration, 1 was aimed against such an attempted interference. He felt it as an attempt to wound the national honor, and resented it accordingly. 21. The reiterated admonitions in his Farewell Address show his deep fears that foreign influence would insinuate itself into our counsels through the channels of domestic dissension, and obtain a sympathy with our own temporary parties. Against all such dangers, he most earnestly en treats the country to guard itself. He appeals to its pat riotism, to its self-respect, to its own honor, to every con sideration connected with its welfare and happiness, to 1 His request that the French minister, M. Genet, be recalled. 114 DANIEL WKBSTER resist, tit the very beginning, all tendencies towards such connection of foreign interests with our own affairs. With a tone of earnestness nowhere else found, even in his last affectionate farewell advice to his countrymen, he says, " Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence, (I con jure you to believe me, fellow-citizens,) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake ; since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. 22. Lastly, on the subject of foreign relations, Washing ton never forgot that we had interests peculiar to ourselves. The primary political concerns of Europe, he saw. did not affect us. We had nothing to do with her balance of power, her family compacts, or her successions to thrones. We were placed in a condition favorable to neutrality during European wars, and to the enjoyment of all the great advantages of that relation. " Why, then." he asks us, " why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation ? Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground ? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or cap rice?" 23. Indeed, Gentlemen, Washington s Farewell Address is full of truths important at all times, and particularly deserving consideration at the present. With a sagacity which brought the future before him, and made it like the present, he saw and pointed out the dangers that even at this moment most imminently threaten us. I hardly know how a greater service of that kind could now be done to the community, than by a renewed and wide diffusion of that admirable paper, and an earnest invitation to every man in the country to reperuse and consider it. Its political maxims are invaluable ; its exhortations to love of country and to brotherly affection among citizens, touching ; and the solemnity with which it urges the observance of moral THE CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON 115 duties, and impresses the power of religious obligation, gives to it the highest character of truly disinterested, sin cere, parental advice. 24. The domestic policy of Washington found its pole- star in the avowed objects of the Constitution itself. He sought so to administer that Constitution, as to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tran quillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty. These were objects interesting, in the highest degree, to the whole country, and his policy embraced the whole country. 25. Among his earliest and most important duties was the organization of the government itself, the choice of his confidential advisers, and the various appointments to office. This duty, so important and delicate, when a whole government was to be organized, and all its offices for the first time filled, was yet not difficult to him ; for he had no sinister ends to accomplish, no clamorous partisans to gratify, no pledges to redeem, no object to be regarded, but simply the public good. It was a plain, straightforward matter, a mere honest choice of good men for the public service. 2(5. His own singleness of purpose, his disinterested patriotism, were evinced by the selection of his first cabi net, and by the manner in which he filled the seats of justice and other places of high trust. He sought for men fit for offices, not for offices which might suit men. Above personal considerations, above local considerations, above party considerations, he felt that he could only discharge the sacred trust which the country had placed in his hands, by a diligent inquiry after real merit, and a conscientious preference of virtue and talent. The whole country was the field of his selection. He explored that whole field, looking only for whatever it contained most worthy and distinguished. He was, indeed, most successful, and he 116 DANIEL WEBSTER deserved success for the purity of his motives, the liberality of his sentiments, and his enlarged and manly policy. 27. Washington s administration established the national credit, made provision for the public debt, and for that patriotic army whose interests and welfare were always so dear to him ; and, by laws wisely framed, and of admirable effect, raised the commerce and navigation of the country, almost at once, from depression and ruin to a state of pros perity. Nor were his eyes open to these interests alone. He viewed with equal concern its agriculture and manu factures, and, so far as they came within the regular exer cise of the powers of this government, they experienced regard and favor. 28. It should not be omitted, even in this slight refer ence to the general measures and general principles of the first President, that he saw and felt the full value and im portance of the judicial department of the government. An upright and able administration of the laws he held to be alike indispensable to private happiness and public liberty. The temple of justice, in his opinion, was a sa cred place, and he would profane and pollute it who should call any to minister in it not spotless in character, not incorruptible in integrity, not competent by talent and learning, not a fit object of unhesitating trust. 29. Among other admonitions, Washington has left us, in his last communication to his country, an exhorta tion against the excesses of party spirit. A fire not to be quenched, he yet conjures us not to fan and feed the flame. Undoubtedly, Gentlemen, it is the greatest dan ger of our system and of our time. Undoubtedly, if that system should be overthrown, it will be the work of excessive party spirit, acting on the government, which is dangerous enough, or acting in the govern ment, which is a thousand times more dangerous : for government then becomes nothing but organized party, THE CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON 117 and, in the strange vicissitudes of human affairs, it may come at last, perhaps, to exhibit the singular paradox of government itself being in opposition to its own powers, at war with the very elements of its own existence. Such cases are hopeless. As men may be protected against murder, but cannot be guarded against suicide, so government may be shielded from the assaults of ex ternal foes, but nothing can save it when it chooses to lay violent hands on itself. 30. Finally, Gentlemen, there was in the breast of Washington one sentiment so deeply felt, so constantly uppermost, that no proper occasion escaped without its utterance. From the letter which he signed in behalf of the Convention when the Constitution was sent out to the people, to the moment when he put his hand to that last paper in which he addressed his countrymen, the Union, the Union was the great object of his thoughts. In that first letter he tells them that, to him and his brethren of the Convention, union appears to be the greatest interest of every true American ; and in that last paper he conjures them to regard that unity of government which constitutes them one people, as the very palladium of their prosperity and safety, and the security of liberty itself. He regarded the union of these States less as one of our blessings, than as the great treasure-house which contained them all. Here, in his judgment, was the great magazine of all our means of prosperity ; here, as he thought, and as every true American still thinks, are deposited all our animating prospects, all our solid hopes for future greatness. He has taught us to maintain this union, not by seeking to enlarge the powers of the government, on the one hand, nor by surrendering them, on the other ; but by an administration of them at once firm and moderate, pursuing objects truly national, and carried on in a spirit of justice and equity. 118 DANIEL WEBSTER 31. The extreme solicitude for the preservation of the Union, at all times manifested by him, shows not only the opinion he entertained of its importance, but his clear per ception of those causes which were likely to spring up to endanger it, and which, if once they should overthrow the present system, would leave little hope of any future bene ficial reunion. Of all the presumptions indulged by pre sumptuous man, that is one of the rashest which looks for repeated and favorable opportunities for the deliberate establishment of a united government over distinct and widely extended communities. Such a thing has hap pened once in human affairs, and but once ; the event stands out as a prominent exception to all ordinary his tory ; and, unless we suppose ourselves running into an age of miracles, we may not expect its repetition. 32. Washington, therefore, could regard, and did re gard, nothing as of paramount political interest but the integrity of the Union itself. With a united government, well administered, he saw that we had nothing to fear ; and without it, nothing to hope. The sentiment is just, and its momentous truth should solemnly impress the whole country. If we might regard our country as per sonated in the spirit of Washington, if we might con sider him as representing her, in her past renown, her present prosperity, and her future career, and as, in that character, demanding of us all to account for our conduct, as political men or as private citizens, how should lie an swer him who has ventured to talk of disunion and dis memberment ? Or how should he answer him who dwells perpetually on local interests, and fans every kind ling flame of local prejudice ? How should he an swer him who would array State against State, interest .igainst interest, and party against party, careless of the continuance of that unity of government which constitutes us one people ? THE CHAHAf TKn OF WASHINGTON 119 VI. 3.3. The political prosperity which this country has attained, and which it now enjoys, has been acquired mainlv through the instrumentality of the present govern ment. While this agent continues, the capacity of attain ing to still higher degrees of prosperity exists also. We have, while this lasts, a political life capable of beneficial exertion, with power to resist or overcome misfortunes, to sustain us against the ordinary accidents of human affairs, and to promote, by active efforts, every public interest. Hut dismemberment strikes at the very being which pre serves these faculties. It would lay its rude and ruthless hand on this great agent itself. It would sweep away, not only what we possess, but all power of regaining lost, or acquiring new possessions. It would leave the country, not only bereft of its prosperity and happiness, but with out limbs, or organs, or faculties, by which to exert itself hereafter in the pursuit of that prosperity and happiness. 34. Other misfortunes may be borne, or their effects overcome. If disastrous war should sweep our commerce from the ocean, another generation may renew it ; if it ex haust our treasury, future industry may replenish it ; if it desolate and lay waste our fields, still, under a new cultiva tion, they will grow green again, and ripen to future har vests. It were but a trifle even if the walls of yonder Capitol were to crumble, if its lofty pillars should fall, and its gorgeous decorations be all covered by the dust of the valley. All these might be rebuilt. But who shall recon struct the fabric of demolished government * Who shall rear again the well-proportioned columns of constitutional liberty ? Who shall frame together the skilful architect ure which unites national sovereignty with State rights, individual security, and public prosperity ? Xo, if these columns fall, they will be raised not again. Like the Coliseum and the Parthenon, they will be destined to a mournful, a melancholv irnmortalitv. Bitterer tears, how- 120 DANIEL WEBSTER ever, will flow over them than were ever shed over the monuments of Roman or Grecian art ; for they will be the remnants of a more glorious edifice than Greece or Koine ever saw, the edifice of constitutional American liberty. 35. But let us hope for better things. Let us trust in that gracious Being who has hitherto held our country as in the hollow of his hand. Let us trust to the virtue and the intelligence of the people, and to the efficacy of re ligious obligation. Let us trust to the influence of Wash ington s example. Let us hope that that fear of Heaven which expels all other fear, and that regard to duty which transcends all other regard, may influence public men and private citizens, and lead our country still onward in her happy career. Full of these gratifying anticipations and hopes, let us look forward to the end of that century which is now commenced. A hundred years hence, other disciples of Washington will celebrate his birth, with no less of sincere admiration than we now commemorate it. When they shall meet, as we now meet, to do themselves and him that honor, so surely as they shall see the blue summits of his native mountains rise in the horizon, so surely as they shall behold the river on whose banks he lived, and on whose banks lie rests, still flowing on towards the sea, so surely may they see, as we now see, the flag of the Union floating on the top of the Capitol ; and then, as now, may the sun in his course visit no land more free, more happy, more lovely, than this our own country ! Gentlemen, I propose " THE MEMOKY OF GEOKC4E WASHINGTON." GENERAL NOTE A. SUGGESTIONS FOB STUDENTS [References to the text will be made by means of the following abbreviations : 1 B. H. " First Bunker Hill Oration ; " 2 B. H. = " Second Bunker Hill Oration ; " A. J. = " Adams and Jeffer son ;" C. W. "Character of Washington." A number follow ing the abbreviation indicates the paragraph referred to ; thus, 1 B. H. 26 = " First Bunker Hill Oration," paragraph 26. J 1. Editions of Webster. The standard edition of Webster s works is that published by Little, Brown, and Co., in 1851, and since then frequently republished. In the first volume are con tained all of the orations included in the present edition. The first edition of the "First Bunker Hill Oration " was pub lished by Cummings, Hilliard, and Co., of Boston, almost imme diately after it was delivered. It appeared as a pamphlet of forty pages, with the title, " An Address at the Laying of the Corner Stone of the Bunker Hill Monument." Before the close of the year it had gone through five editions. Since then this oration has been many times republished. The text of the " First Blanker Hill Oration," as revised by Mr. Webster for the edition of 1851, differs in some passages from the text of the first edition. A complete list of these changes is presented in parallel columns below : F*irst Edition. (Par. 2) We live in what may be called the early age of this great continent ; and we know that our posterity, through all time, are here to suffer and enjoy are here to enjoy and suffer. the allotments of humanity. Edition of 1851. 122 GENERAL NOTE First Edition. (Par. 3) It is more impossible for us, therefore, than for others, to contemplate with unaffected minds, etc. (Par. 4) Tons, their children, the story of their labors and sufferings can never be without its interest. (Par. 7) We wish that, in these days of disaster, which, as they come on all nations, must be expected to come upon us also, desponding patriotism may turn its eyes hitherward, and be assured that the founda tions of our national power still stand strong. (Par. 7) We wish, finally, that the last object on the sight of him who leaves his native shore, and the first to gladden his who revisits it, may be something which shall remind him of the liberty and the glory of his country. Let it rise, till it meet the sun in his coming, etc. (Par. 10) In the mean time both in Europe and America, such has been the general prog ress of knowledge, such the improvements in legislation, etc. (Par. 11) while we hold still among us some of those who were active agents in the scenes of 1775, etc. (Par. 12j Come out to wel- Edition of 1851. It would be still more unnatu ral for us, therefore, than for others, etc. To us, their children, the story of their labors and sufferings can never be without interest. as they come upon all na tions. the foundations of our na tional power are still strong. We wish, finally, that the last object to the sight of him who leaves his native shore, and the first to gladden him who re visits it, may be something which shall remind him of the liberty and the glory of his country. Let it rise ! let it rise, till it meet the sun in his com ing, etc. such the improvement in legislation, etc. while we still have among us, etc. GENERAL NOTE 123 Fir si Edition. come and greet you with an universal jubilee. ("Par. 12) God lias granted you this sight of your country s happiness, ere you slumber in the grave forerer. (Par. 13) our eyes seek for you in vain amidst this broken band. (Par. 17) The images of the dead, as well as the persons of the living, throng to your em braces. (Par. 17) then look abroad into this lovely land . . . yea, look abroad into the whole earth, etc. (Par. 18) It had been antici pated, that while the other Colo nies would be terrified, etc. ( Pur. -21) The battle of Bunker Hill was attended with the most important, effects beyond its im mediate result as a military en gagement. (Par. 22) To this able vindi cation of their cause, the Colo nies had now added a practical and severe proof of their own true devotion to it, and evidence also of the power which they could bring to its support. (Par. 22) leave more of their enemies dead on the field, in proportion to the number of combatants, than they had re- cc.nthi known in the wars of Eu rope. Edition of 1851. with a universal jubilee. ere yon slumber in the grave. amid this broken band. The images of the dead, as well as the persons of the living. present themselves before yon. then look abroad upon this lovely land . . . yea, look abroad upon the whole earth, etc. It had been anticipated that while the Colonies in general would be terrified, etc. beyond its immediate re sults as a military engagement. and given evidence also of the power, etc. than had been recently known to fall in the wars of Europe. 124 GENERAL NOTE First Edition. (Par. 23) Informationof j these events, circulating through Knrope, etc. (Par. 24) The occasion is too severe for eulogy to the living. (Par. 26) Sir, monuments and eulogy belong to the dead. (Par. 26) Oil other occasions they have been given to your more immediate companions in arms, to Washington, to Gates, Sullivan, and Lincoln. Sir, we have become reluctant, etc. (Par. 35) The prayer of the Grecian combatant, etc. (Par. 36) Wars to maintain family alliances, to uphold or to cast down dynasties, to regulate successions to thrones, etc. (Par. 36) either to wrest that country from its present masters and add it to other powers, or to execute the system of pacification by force. (Par. 39) the progress of- information not only testifies to an improved condition, but con stitutes, itself, the highest and most essential improvement. (Par. 40) But in our day there hath been, as it were, a new creation. (Par. 41) ^4nc?let us endeavor to comprehend, etc. (Par. 44) Those are daily dropping from among us who established our liberty and our government. Edition of 1851. circulating throughout the world, etc. The occasion is too severe for eulogy of the living. Monuments and eulogy be long to the dead. to Greene, to Gates, to Sul livan, and to Lincoln. We have become reluctant, etc. The prayer of the Grecian champion, etc. to cast down dynasties, and t o regulate successions t o thrones, etc. to wrest that country from its present masters, or to exe cute the system of pacification by force. but itself constitutes the highest and most essential im provement. But in our day there has been, etc. Let us endeavor to compre hend, etc. Those who established our liberty and our government are daily dropping from among us. GENERAL NOTE 125 2. Text of this Edition. The text of 1851 has been generally followed in later editions. An exception, however, is found in the edition published by the American Book Company, in which the punctuation and capitalizing are altered so as to conform to modern usages. In the present edition the text is substantially that of the edition of 1851. The editor has ventured but one correction. In 2 B. H. 32 of the original text occurs the sentence " Spain stooped on South America like a vulture on its prey." The word " stooped " has been changed to " swooped." 3. Annotated Editions. The early editions were devoid of notes. For the edition of 1851 judicious annotations in the way of intro ductions and footnotes were prepared by the editor, Mr. Edward Everett. These are reproduced, with some additions and changes, in the school editions published by Houghton, Mifnin, and Co. (Riverside Literature Series, 1 B, H. and A. </.), and by Ginnand Co. (Annotated English Classics, 1 B. H.). They are also drawn upon (at times rather recklessly) by the editor of Maynard s Eng lish Classic Series (1 B. H., and 2 B. H. minus a part of $2 and $ 3-8), though the notes to this edition contain also much that is original with the editor. The edition of the American Book Company (Eclectic English Classics, 1 B. H., C. W. and A. J.), the edition of Heath and Co., edited by A. J. George (Heath s English Classics, 1 B. H.}, and the edition of Leach, Shewell, find Sanborn, edited by Miss L. M. Hodgkins (Students Series of English Classics, 1 B. //.), contain annotations which are the re sults of independent study. 4. References on Webster s Biography. The best single book on Webster, if but one book can be obtained, is H. C. Lodge s " Daniel Webster," in the American Statesmen Series (Houghton, MifHin, and Co.; price, $1.25). Higher as authority, but more elaborate and not so readily obtainable, is the life of Webster by George Ticknor Curtis, published in 1869. The biographical memoir by Edward Everett, prefixed to the edition of 1851, is full and accurate, but, being ponderously oratorical in style, is not adapted to the needs of the young. Webster s " Autobiog raphy," published, together with his private correspondence, in ]S;">7. is highly interesting, but unfortunately closes with the year 1817. 126 GENERAL NOTE Of the essays and addresses touching upon the life and char acter of Webster, the most readable are perhaps H. N. Hudson s " Address on the 100th Anniversary of Webster s Birth" (Ginn and Co.), and the article " Webster," in the ninth edition of the " Encyclopaedia Britannica. Theodore Parker s "Discourse on Webster " and Choate s " Discourse at Dartmouth College " are contemporary estimates of the man, uttered too soon after his death to be free from partiality and exaggeration. A calmer survey of Webster s character is that of James Parton in the North Amer ican Review, January, 1867, re published in "Famous Americans of Recent Times." With Choate s " Discourse " should be compared the Eulogy by G. S. Hillard," and the "Oration pro nounced on Webster Commemoration Day, June 28, 1882, at Dartmouth College," by Thos. F. Bayard. Several volumes of anecdotes and recollections appeared during Webster s life-time or immediately after his death. Among the earliest are Chas. Lanman s "Private Life of Webster," S. L. Kuapp s Memoir of the Life of Webster," C. W. March s " Remi niscences of Congress " and Daniel Webster and his Contem poraries," and S. P. Lyman s "The Public and Private Life of Daniel Webster." More recently has appeared Peter Harvey s "Reminiscences and Anecdotes of Daniel Webster," a book of great interest, although pronounced by so good an authority as Mr. Lodge thoroughly untrustworthy. Upon the deatli of Webster, a flood of sermons and memorial addresses deluged the country. Most of them have little value and indeed are not available for consultation save in great public libraries. A few, however, are worthy of remembrance, and among them may be mentioned T. W. Higgiuson s Elegy with out Fiction," reprinted in broadside from the Boston Daily Spy, Thos. Starr King s Death of Webster," John Weiss s "A Dis course occasioned by the Deatli of Daniel Webster," and C. A. Bartol s " The Hand of God in the Great Man." With the last may be compared a sermon delivered by Dr. Bartol thirty years later, " Webster as a Man and Statesman." The following articles in magazines are of value : Harper s Magazine., vol. vi., p. 85 (illustrated), vol. lxiv.,p. 428 ; Nineteenth Clentnry, vol. xxiv., p. 262 (by Goldwin Smith) ; ./Y.sw .s Maga zine, vol. Ixxxii., p. 181; Westminster Review, January, 1853; GKNKRAL NOTE 127 North American Rerieie, vol. xli., p. 231 (by Everett) ; Century, vol. vii., p. 721, vol. xxiv., p. 70 J (with fine portraits as frontis pieces). In Education, vol. vi., p. 323, is an article on Webster as a schoolmaster. A rapid survey of Webster s life and work to the year 1813 may be found in McMaster s " History of the People of the United States," vol. iv., pp. 213-216. 5. Critical Estimates. Estimates of Webster s literary and oratorical powers will be found in almost all of the works to which reference has been made. Criticisms of especial interest are E. P. Whipple s " Webster as a Master of English Style," prefixed to the "Great Speeches of Webster" (also in his American Literature " ), and the article, " A Glance at Webster," by Judge Mellen Chamberlain in the Century Magazine, Septem ber, 1893, p. 709. The student may also consult with profit Richardson s "American Literature," vol. i., pp. 221-227, and Xichol s "American Literature," pp. 111-129. 6. Portraits of Webster. The best likeness of Webster at the age of forty is said by Judge Chamberlain to be the bust by Powers (reproduced in Webster s "Works," vol. ii.) ; the best likeness of him in his later years is said by the same authority to be the engraving in the Century Magazine, September, 1893. There is also a fine portrait in the same magazine for March, 1885. The following works contain portraits of various degrees of ex cellence : Harvey s Reminiscences ; " Lanman s " Private Life of Webster ;" Kuapp s "Memoir;" Lyman s "Public and Pri vate Life of Webster ; " March s " Reminiscences of Congress ; " "Works of Webster" (ed. of 1851), vols. i., ii., iv. ; Appleton s Cyclopaedia of American Biography;" T. W. Higginson s " Larger History of the United States," p. 445 (a fine reproduc tion of Healy s painting in Faueuil Hallj ; W. C. Wilkinson s " W^ebster : An Ode " ( large paper edition) ; and Harper s Maga zine, vol. vi., p. 85. The old daguerreotypes of Webster turn up now and then in unexpected places. Pupils should be encour aged to inquire for them of their grandparents. 7. Poems refer rhuj In Webster. Webster is the subject of a poem by O. W. Holmes, written in 1856 on Webster s birthday, and of two of Whittier s best poems, " Ichabod ! " and "The Lost Occasion." Lowell has an allusion to him in the " Biglow 128 GENERAL NOTE Papers," No. ix. The most elaborate poetical composition of which Webster is the subject is "Webster: An Ode," by Pro fessor W. C. Wilkinson (Chas. Scribner s Sons). 8. Parallel Reading. The only speeches by Webster which properly belong to the same class as those in the present collec tion are the Plymouth Oration ("First Settlement of New Eng land"), The Lauding at Plymouth," the remarks on the death of Judge Story and Mr. Mason, and the speech on laying the corner-stone for the addition to the Capitol, in 1851. Specimens of commemorative oratory by others, worthy to be compared with these, are singularly rare. But two can be said to rival the first Bunker Hill address. These are the Funeral Oration put into the mouth of Pericles by the historian Thuey- dides ( in Book ii. ; Jowett s translation is the best), and the Gettysburg address by President Lincoln. Compositions dealing with some of the same subject-matter, though belonging to a different type of oratory, are Burke s "Account of the European Settlements in America," " Speech on American Taxation," and " Speech on Conciliation with America." 9. Quotations from the Classics. Webster quotes from Virgil s "Aeneid," vi. 726 (1 B. H. 19), from Horace s "Odes," I., ii., 45 (1 B. H. 26), from Homer s "Iliad," xvii., 729, in Pope s transla tion (1 B. H. 35), from Ovid s " Metamorphoses," ii., 13 (2 B. H. 28), from Cicero s "Offices," i., 43 (A. J. 23), and from Tacitus " Life of Agricola," 45 (A. J. 60). 10. Quotations from English Writers. Webster quotes once from Milton s "Paradise Lost," v., 310 (1 B. H. 13), and once (C. W. 8) from Bishop Berkeley s " On the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning in America" (omitting, however, the oft-quoted line, " Westward the course of empire takes its way"). There are two quotations from Shakespeare (.1. J. 8, 44), the source of which the pupil may profitably discover for himself. 11. Quotations from American Wrilei-s. American writers are twice quoted (2 B. H. 40, C. W. 17). 12. Biblical Allusions. Expressions drawn from the language of the bible, or suggested by scriptural passages, are found in four places (1 B. H. 6; A. J. 44,46; C. W. 13). Other expres sions which echo biblical language more or less distinctly are GENERAL NOTE - 129 scattered up and down these orations. Let the pupil search them out. 13. Historical References : General. Should the reader desire to identify a name or a place, or to refresh his memory regard ing some event, he is recommended to make use of the following reference-books. They should not be permitted, however, to supplant consecutive reading of standard histories, such as are cited in \\ 14-22 below. (1) The Century "Cyclopaedia of Names" contains short, con cise articles on persons and places. It is edited with scholarly care and is as accurate as so large a work can be expected to be. (2) J. F. Jameson s " Dictionary of United States History, 1492-1884" (Puritan Pub. Co., Boston), though designed for popular use, is on the whole pretty well edited. Since the book is in one moderate-sized volume, most of the articles are of necessity short. (3j A recent work is, J. N. Larned s " History for Beady Ref erence " (5 vols., Springfield, Mass.). It is a compilation of selections from standard authors, arranged under appropriate topics. Its greatest value is as a guide to historical literature. (4) Haydn s "Dictionary of Dates" (Harper) contains brief articles on an immense number, of facts and events. 14. References to American History : Before the Revolution. For a description of the voyage of Columbus the reader may consult Irving s "Life of Columbus," Bancroft s "History of America," and Higginson s "Young Folks History," "Young Folks American Explorers," and " Larger History of the United States." Higginson and Bancroft are authorities also on the ex plorations and settlements in North America of the Spanish, the French, and the English. On the Cabots and the Pilgrim Fa thers, the latest views may be obtained by reading Higginson s "Larger History," chaps, iv. and vi., and by consulting the elaborate discussion in Justin Winsor s Narrative and Critical History of America," vol. ii. On the House of Burgesses, see Frothingham s " Rise of the Republic," pp. 16, 17, and Ban croft s "History," vol. i. On the French and Indian wars a fresh treatment is had in Higginson s " Larger History of the United States," chap, vii., under the title of "The Hundred Years War." 9 130 GKNEHAL NOTE 15. The Revolution. Of the events leading to the revolution, that are mentioned by Webster, such as the writs of assistance, the trial of the British soldiers, the change in the government of Massachusetts and the Boston Port Bill, readable accounts may be found in Fiske s " American Revolution," vol. i., pp. 1-99; J. R. Green s "Short History of the English People," chap, x., section ii., Bancroft s "History," vol. iii., and Hig- ginson s " Larger History," chap. ix. More popular in charac ter is B. J. Lossing s "Field Book of the Revolution." An elaborate treatment of the Revolutionary period, adapted to the needs of the advanced student, may be had in Winsor s " Narra tive and Critical History," vol. vi. 16. Battle of Bunker Hill. The most simple and picturesque account of the battle is in the Rev. E. E. Hale s "Story of Massachusetts ; " the most detailed, iu Frothingham s " History of the Siege of Boston." In Fiske s " American Revolution," vol. i., pp. 136-14:6, and Bancroft s "History," vol. iv., chaps. 38- 40, the narrative is made interesting, and in Lossing s Field- Book of the Revolution " it is given the advantage of unstinted illustration and word-painting. 17. Joseph Warren. A day in the life of Joseph Warren is the subject of a graphic narrative in Higginson s Larger History," pp. 247-250. The engraving of Warren which accom panies it reveals in some degree the secret of the love and con fidence which this extraordinary man inspired in his contem poraries. 18. The Continental Congress. A full account of the proceed ings will be found in Bancroft s " History," vol. v., and Fiske s " American Revolution," vol. i., chap. iii. ; a more picturesque account in Higginson s "Larger History." 19. Speeches in the Continental Congress. The speeches for and against the Declaration of Independence introduced by Web ster into the oration on Adams and Jefferson, were by many of his hearers regarded as genuine extracts from the debates of the Continental Congress. In order to remove this false impression the following letter written by Mr. Webster in answer to an in quiry concerning the authenticity of John Adams s speech, was published in the edition of 1851 : GENERAL NOTE 131 "I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of yonr letter of the 18th instant. Its contents hardly surprise me, as I have received very many similar communications. " Your inquiry is easily answered. The Congress of the Rev olution sat with closed doors. Its proceedings were made known to the public, from time to time, by printing its journal ; but the debates were not published. So far as I know there is not existing, in print or manuscript, the speech, or any part or any fragment of the speech, delivered by Mr. Adams on the question of the Declaration of Independence. We only know, from the testimony of his auditors, that he spoke with remark able ability and characteristic earnestness. . " The day after the Declaration was made, Mr. Adams, in vriting to a friend, declared the event to be one that ought to e commemorated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward, for evermore. " And on the day of his death, hearing the noise of bells and cannon, he asked the occasion. On being reminded that it was Independence Day, he replied, Independence forever ! These expressions were introduced into the speech siqiposc* I to have been made by him. For the rest, I must be answer able. The speech was written by me, in my house in Bos ton, the day before the delivery of the Discourse in Faneuil Hall ; a poor substitute, I am sure it would appear to be, if we could now see the speech actually made by Mr. Adams on that trauscendently important occasion." The opening sentence of the second fictitious speech was taken from a conversation between Adams and Jonathan Sewall, reported as follows by Mr. Adams himself : " Mr. Sewall invited me to take a walk with him, very early in the morning, on the great hill. In the course of our rambles, he very soon began to remonstrate against my going to Congress. He said, that Great Britain was determined on her system ; her power was irresistible, and would certainly be destructive to me, and to all those who should persevere in opposition to her de signs. I answered, that I knew Great Britain was determined on her system, and that very determination determined me on mine ; that he knew I had been constant and uniform in opposi tion to all her measures ; that the die was now cast ; I hail passed the Rubicon ; swim or sink, live or die, survive or perish with my country, was my unalterable determination. " " Works of John Adams," vol. iv., p. 8. 132 GENERAL NOTE The opening of a speech actually delivered seems to have been very different. It is preserved for us in a letter written by Adams in 1807 : " I remember very well what I did say ; but I will previously state a fact as it lies in my memory, which may be somewhat ex planatory of it. In the previous multiplied debates which we had upon the subject of independence, the delegates from New Jersey had voted against us ; their constituents were informed of it and recalled them, and sent us a new set on purpose to vote for independence. Among these were Chief-Justice Stockton and Dr. Witherspoon. In a morning when Congress met, we expected the question would be put and carried without any further de bate ; because we knew we had a majority, and thought that argu ment had been exhausted on both sides, as indeed it was, for nothing new was ever afterwards advanced on either side. But the Jersey delegates, appearing for the first time, desired that the question might be discussed. We observed to them that the question was so public, and had been so long discussed in pam phlets, newspapers, and at every fireside, that they could not be uninformed and must have made up their minds." They said it was true they had not been inattentive to what had been passing abroad, but they had not heard the arguments in Congress, and did not incline to give their opinions until they should hear the sentiments of members there. Judge Stockton was most particu larly importunate, till the members began to say Let the gentle men be gratified, and the eyes of the assembly were turned upon me, and several of them said, Come, Mr. Adams ; you have had the subject longer at heart than any of us, and you must recapit ulate the arguments. I wa.s somewhat confused at this personal application to me, and would have been very glad to be excused ; but as no other person arose, after some time I said, This is the first time in my life when I seriously wished for the genius and eloquence of the celebrated orators of Athens and Rome: called in this unexpected and unprepared manner to exhibit all the argu ments in favor of a measure the most important, in my judgment, that had ever been discussed in civil or political society. I had no art or oratory to exhibit, and could produce nothing but simple reason and plain common-sense. I felt myself oppressed by the weight of the subject, and I believed if Demosthenes or Cicero had ever been called to deliberate on so great a question, neither would have relied on his own talents without a supplication to Minerva, and a sacrifice to Mercury or the God of Eloquence. All this, to be sure, was but a flourish, and not, as I conceive, a very bright exordium ; but I felt awkwardly. 1 It will be interesting to compare with the speech against the Declaration composed by Mr. Webster, an argument actually GKAKRAL NOTE 133 made against it in the Congress by John Dickinson, this being the only portion of the debate which has come down to us in its entirety : "I value the love of my country as I ought, but I value my country more ; and I desire this illustrious assembly to witness the integrity, if not the policy, of my conduct. The first cam paign will be decisive of the controversy. The Declaration will not strengthen us by one man, or by the least supply, while it may expose our soldiers to additional cruelties and outrages. Without some prelnsory trials of our strength, we ought not to commit our country upon an alternative, where to recede would be infamy, and to persist might be destruction. No instance is recollected of a people without a battle fought, or an ally gained, abrogating forever their connection with a war like commercial empire. It might unite the different parties in Great Britain against us, and it might create disunion among our selves. With other powers it would rather injure than avail us. Foreign aid will not be obtained but by our actions in the field, which are the only evidences of our union and vigor that will be respected. In the war between the United Provinces and Spain, France and Kngland assisted the provinces before they declared themselves independent ; if it is the interest of any European kingdom to aid us, we shall be aided without such a declaration ; if it is not, we shall not be aided with it. Before such an irrevocable step shall be taken, we ought to know the disposition of the great powers, and how far they will permit one or more of them to in terfere. The erection of an independent empire on this continent is a phenomenon in the world ; its effects will be immense, and may vibrate round the globe. How they may affect, or be sup posed to affect, old establishments, is not ascertained. It is sin gularly disrespectful to France to make the Declaration before her sense is known, as we have sent an agent expressly to inquire whether such a Declaration would be acceptable to her, and we h.ive reason to believe he is now arrived at the Court of Versailles. The measure ought to be delayed till the common interests shall in the best manner be consulted by common consent. Besides, the door to accommodation with GreatBritain ought not to be shut, until we know what terms can be obtained from some competent power. Thus to break with her before we have compacted with another, is to make experiments on the lives and liberties of my countrymen, which I would sooner die than agree to make. At best, it is to throw us into the hands of some other power and to lie at mercy, for we shall have passed the river that is never to be repassed. We ought to retain the Declaration and remain masters of our own fame and fate. 134: GEXERAr, SOTE 20. Washington. For the life and character of Washington, consult Irving s "Life of George Washington," Marshall s " Life of Washington," and Lodge s "Washington" in the American Statesmen Series. 21. After the Revolution; Washington s Farewell Aililrens. The address is printed in full in Sparks s edition of the " Writ ings of Washington," vol. xi., pp. 214-235. 22. The Monroe Doctrine. A brief statement of the mean ing and origin of this measure may be found in Higginson s " Larger History," p. 403. The most detailed consideration of the subject is that given by President Oilman in his " Life of James Monroe," chap. viii. See also Webster s " Speech on the Panama Mission." B. SUBJECTS FOR ESSAYS 23. The Life of Webster. [For the sources of Webster s biog raphy, see | 4 above.] 1. Webster s parents. 2. Webster s school-days. 3. Webster at Dartmouth. 4. Webster as a school master. 5. How Webster refused the clerkship. 6. Webster s Fourth of July orations. (For the Hanover speech see Loring s "Hundred Boston Orators," p. 683.) 7. How Webster was in fluenced by Mason. 8. How Webster won his law-suits. 9. Webster s politics. (On political parties at the beginning of the century, see Higginson s " Larger History," chaps, xiv.-xvi.) 10. Webster s first appearance in Congress. 11. Webster s attitude toward the war of 1812. 12. Story of the Dartmouth College Case. 13. The scene in the Supreme Court at the trial of this case. (See Lodge s "Webster," p. 89, and Choate s "Address at Dartmouth.") 14. How was this case connected with the Con stitution ? 15. Effect of the Plymouth Oration. 1(5. What did Webster accomplish in his third congressional term? 17. Web ster s reputation at the time the " First Bunker Hill Oration " was delivered. 18. Events in Webster s life between the first and the second Bunker Hill address. 19. Circumstances of the " Reply to Hayne." 20. Occasion of the " 7th of March Speech." 21. Effect of this speech. 22. Was Webster lacking in moral courage ? 23. Why Webster was not nominated to the UESERAL XOTE 135 presidency. 24. Webster s friends. 25. Public offices held by Webster. 24. Personal Characteristics, 1. Describe a portrait of Web ster. 2. Compare two portraits of Webster. 3. Compare a por trait of Webster with a portrait of Burke, of Pitt, of Fox, of Wendell Phillips, of Sumner, of Lincoln. 4. Webster s gestures. 5. Character of Webster s voice. (See Curtis s "Life of Web ster," vol. i., p. 249, note.) 6. Anecdotes illustrating the power of Webster s personality. 25. Webster s Opinions. 1. Was Webster a protectionist or a free-trader? 2. What claim had Webster to the title "De fender of the Constitution ? " 3. What were Webster s views on slavery? 4. What did Webster think of paper money? 5. Webster s idea of a national bank. 6. Webster s opinion of the Monroe Doctrine. 7. Webster s opinion of classical literature. H. Why Webster was opposed to secession. 9. Webster s view of the value of knowledge. 10. Webster s optimism. 11. Web ster s conception of patriotism. 26. The First Bunker Hill Oration. 1. The scene during the address, described by an eye-witness. 2. Impressions of the speech related by a survivor of the battle. 3. Character of the audience. 4. Divisions and subdivisions of the oration. 5. Pur pose of the introduction. (Compare with the introductions of the other orations.) (5. Appropriateness of the conclusion. (Compare with the conclusions of the other orations.) 7. Is Lodge Cp. 124) right in calling this oration "a succession of elo quent fragments ? " 8. What parts may be most easily omitted ? 9. Show that the second (or any other) paragraph cannot be omitted without disturbing the continuity and proportion of the whole. 10. What is the effect of putting the sixth paragraph first? If this change is made, what other changes will be called for? 11. Why is not the description of the battle in paragraph 12 inserted after paragraph 20 ? 12. Function of paragraph 23. 13. Management of parallel construction. 14. Employment of the topic-sentence. 15. Cases of inverted structure and reasons for them. 16. According to Professor Wendell ( " English Com position," p. 271), "there is no mere technical device for strengthening style more apt to be of value than the deliberate weakening of passages you have written in your very strongest 13G GENERAL NOTE way." Detect if you can, passages in this oration in which Web ster, in order to strengthen his style, has deliberately weakened it. 17. In paragraph 7 why does Webster say "labor may look up " instead of " the laborer may look up?" Which is the more effective form of statement ? 18. Webster s use of " only." 19. Webster s use of " and which," " but which," without a preced ing relative. 20. Webster s use of the word "respectable." (See the Nation for July 4, 1895.) 21. Discuss the changes made in the later text and show in what respect they are improve ments. 22. To what peculiarities of arrangement is due the rhythm of Webster s prose ? 27. Historical Topics : First Bunker Hill Oration. \. The true story of Columbus. 2. In what sense were the English Colonies founded on " human knowledge" (par. 4)? 4. Why may not the reference in paragraph 4 to "another ancient and early colony," be to the Viginia settlement on the James Kiver ? 5. What was the size and importance of our navy in 1825 (par. 38) ? 6. Changes in European politics brought about by the French Revolution (par. 9). 7. Origin and meaning of the Monroe Doctrine. 8. Description of the Battle of Bunker Hill by an eye-witness in Boston. Description by a participant in the Battle (see appendix to Frothingham s Siege of Boston ). 9. What part did the ships take in the battle ? 10. Part taken by Prescott ? by Put nam? Outcome of the battle. 11. Description of the portrait of Gen. Warren in Higginson s "Larger History," p. 247. 12. Why was Warren regarded at this time with so much love and venera tion? 13. Results of the battle of Trenton? of Monniouth ? of Yorktown ? of Carnden ? of Bennington ? of Saratoga ? 14. How was " The act for altering the government of the Province" (par. 18) carried into effect? 15. Provisions and purpose of the Boston Port Bill. 16. Origin and constitution of the Continental Con gress. 17. What were the tidings from Lexington and Concord (par. 19) ? 18. What appeals, resolutions, and addresses (par. 21) had been made by the Colonies ? 19. Part taken by Gen. Lafa yette in the Revolutionary war. 20. How is the use of the word "incredible" (par. 25) appropriate in its application to the dili gence of Prescott ? 21. Part taken in the Revolution by Greene ? by Gates ? by Sullivan ? by Lincoln ? 28. Historical Topics : Second Bunker Hill Oration. 1. Is Web- GENERAL NOTE 137 stcr s explanation (pars. 12, 20) of the motives of the battle the true one? 2. The effect of news of the battle on the various colonies. 3. Attempts at colonizing by the English, under Henry VII. (par. 26). 4. The enterprises and adventures of Raleigh (par. 27). 5. Story of the voyage of the Mayflower (par. 28). I). Difference between those who settled New England and those \vlio settled Virginia. 7. How did the French and Indian wars serve to unite the interests of the Colonies (par. 29) ? 8. Nature and importance of the Virginia House of Burgesses (pars. 38, 41). !). Powers of the governors of the early New England Colonies. 10. Meaning and history of the habeas corpus. 11. In what colo nies were the rights of primogeniture recognized (par. 39)? 12. Washington s education (par. 53). 13. Influence of Washington in the framing of the Constitution. 29. Historical Topics: Adams and Jefferson. 1. Part taken by James Otis in the Revolution (par. 15). 2. Origin and History of the Continental Congress. 3. Adams s part in the Congress. 4. How the Declaration of Independence was composed and modi fied. (A fac-simile of the original draft, with Franklin s and Adams s interlineations, and indication of the parts stricken out by the Congress, may be found in the " Waitings of Jefferson," vol. 1). 5. Narrative of the signing of the Declaration. LONGMANS ENGLISH CLASSICS Books prescribed for 1897 Examinations, p. 2. Books prescribed for 1898 Examinations, p. 3. Books prescribed for 1899 Examinations, p. 5. Books prescribed for 1900 Examinations, p. 6. Other Volumes in the Series, - - p. 7. LONGMANS ENGLISH CLASSICS EDITED BY GEORGE RICE CARPENTER, A.B., Professor of Rhetoric and English Composition in Columbia College. This series is designed for use in secondary schools in accordance with the system of study recommended and outlined by the National Committee of Ten, and in direct preparation for the uniform entrance requirements in Eng lish, now adopted by the principal American colleges and universities. Each Volume contains full Notes, Introductions, Bibliographies, and other explanatory and illustrative matter. Crown 8vo, cloth. Boohs Prescribed for the i8f)j Examinations. FOR RP:ADING. SHAKSPERE S As You LIKE IT. With an introduction by Barrett Wendell, A.B., Assistant Professor of English in Harvard University, and notes by William Lyon Phelps, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of English in Yale University. Portrait. DEFOE S HISTORY OF THE PLAGUE IN LONDON. Edited, with introduction and notes, by Professor G. R. Carpenter, of Columbia College. With Portrait of Defoe. IRVING S TALES OF A TRAVELLER. With an introduction by Brander Matthews, Professor of Literature in Columbia College, and explanatory notes by the general editor of the series. With Portrait of Irving. LONGMANS ENGLISH CLASSICS Books Prescribed for iSgj Continued. GEORGE ELIOT S SILAS MARKER. Edited, with introduction and notes, by Robert Herrick, A.B., Assistant Professor of Rhetoric in the University of Chicago. With Portrait of George Eliot. FOR STUDY. SHAKSPERE S MERCHANT OF VENICE. Edited, with introduction and notes, by Francis B. Gummere, Ph.D., Professor of English in Haverforcl College; Member of the Conference on English of the National Committee of Ten. With Portrait. BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA. Edited, with introduction and notes, by Albert S. Cook, Ph.D., Professor of the English Language and Literature in Yale University. With Portrait of Burke. SCOTT S MARMION. Edited, with introduction and notes, by Robert Morss Lovett, A.B., Assistant Professor of English in the University of Chicago. With Portrait of Sir Walter Scott. MACAULAY S LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON. Edited, with intro duction and notes, by the Rev. Huber Gray Btiehler, of the Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, Conn. With Portrait of Johnson. Books Prescribed for the 1898 Examinations. FOR READING. MILTON S PARADISE LOST. BOOKS I. AND H. Edited, with introduction and notes, by Edward Everett Hale, Jr., Ph.D., Professor of Rhetoric and Logic in Union College. With Portrait of Milton. POPE S HOMER S ILIAD. BOOKS I., VI., XXII., AND XXIV. Edited, with introduction and notes, by William H. Maxwell, A.M., Ph.D., Superintendent of Public Instruction, Brooklyn, N. Y., and Percival Chubb, Instructor in English, Manual Training High School, Brooklyn. With Portrait of Pope. LONGMANS ENGLISH CLASSICS Books Prescribed for iSgS Continued. THE SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY PAPERS, from "The Spectator." Edited, with introduction and notes, by D. O. S. Lowell, A.M., of the Roxhury Latin School, Roxbury, Mass. With Portrait of Addison. GOLDSMITH S THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD. Edited, with intro duction and notes, by Mary A. Jordan, A.M., Professor of Rhetoric and Old English in Smith College. With Portrait of Goldsmith. COLERIDGE S THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER. Edited, with introduction and notes, by Herbert Bates, A.B., Instructor in English in the University of Nebraska. With Portrait of Coleridge. SOUTHEY S LIFE OF NELSON. Edited, with introduction arid notes, by Edwin L. Miller, A.M., of the Englewood High School, Illinois. With Portrait of Nelson and plans of battles. CARLYLE S ESSAY ON BURNS. Edited, with introduction and notes, by Wilson Farrand, A.M., Associate Principal of the Newark Academy, Newark, N. J. With Portrait of Burns. FOR STUDY. SHAKSPERE S MACBETH. Edited, with introduction and notes, by John Matthews Manly, Ph.D., Professor of the English Language in Brown University. With Portrait of Shakspere. BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA. Edited, with introduction and notes, by Albert S. Cook, Ph.D., Pro fessor of the English Language and Literature in Yale University. With Portrait of Burke. DE OUINCEY S FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE. Edited, with intro duction and notes, by Charles Sears Baldwin, Ph.D., Instructor in Rhetoric in Yale University. With Portrait of De Quincey. TENNYSON S THE PRINCESS. Edited with Introduction and Notes by George Edward Wood berry, A.B., Professor of Literature in Columbia College. With Portrait of Tennyson. LONGMANS ENGLISH CLASSICS "Books Prescribed for the 1899 Examinations. POPE S HOMER S ILIAD. BOOKS I., VI., XXII., AND XXIV. Edited, with introduction and notes, by William H. Maxwell, A.M., Ph.D., Superintendent of Public Instruction, Brooklyn, N. Y., and Percival Chubb, Instructor in English, Manual Training- High School, Brooklyn. With Portrait of Pope. DRYDEN S PALAMON AND ARCITE. Edited, with introduction and notes, by James W. Bright, Ph.D., Professor of English Philology in Johns Hopkins University. [Preparing. THE SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY PAPERS, from "The Spectator." Edited, with introduction and notes, by D. O. S. Lowell, A.M., of the Roxbury Latin School, Roxbury, Mass. With Portrait of Addison. GOLDSMITH S THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD. Edited, with intro duction and notes, by Mary A. Jordan, A.M., Professor of Rhetoric and Old English in Smith College. With Portrait of Goldsmith. COLERIDGE S THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER. Edited, with introduction and notes, by Herbert Bates, A.B., Instructor in English in the University of Nebraska. With Portrait of Coleridge. DE OUINCEY S FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE. Edited, with intro duction and notes, by Charles Sears Baldwin, Ph.D., Instructor in Rhetoric in Yale University. With Portrait of De Quincey. COOPER S THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS. With introduction and explanatory notes. [In preparation. FOR STUDY. SHAKSPERE S MACBETH. Edited, with introduction and notes, by John Matthews Manly, Ph.D., Professor of the English Language in Brown University. With Portrait of Shakspere. MILTON S PARADISE LOST. BOOKS I. AND II. Edited, with introduction and notes, by Edward Everett Hale, Jr., Ph.D., Professor of Rhetoric and Logic in Union College. With Portrait of Milton. LONGMANS ENGLISH CLASSICS Books Prescribed for i8gg Continued. BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA. Edited, with introduction and notes, by Albert S. Cook, Ph.D., Pro fessor of the English Language and Literature in Yale Univer sity. With Portrait of Burke. CARLYLE S ESSAY ON BURNS. Edited, with introduction and notes, by Wilson Farrand, A.M., Associate Principal of the Newark Academy, Newark, N. J. With Portrait of Burns. Books Prescribed for the 1900 Examinations. (See also Preceding Lists.) FOR READING. DRYDEN S PALAMON AND ARCITE. Edited by Professor J. W. Bright. POPE S HOMER S ILIAD. BOOKS I., VI., XXII., AND XXIV. Edited by Superintendent Maxwell and Percival Chubb. THE SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY PAPERS. Edited by Dr. D. O. S. Lowell. GOLDSMITH S THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD. Edited by Professor Mary A. Jordan. DE QUINCEY S FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE. Edited by Dr. C. S. Baldwin. TENNYSON S THE PRINCESS. Edited by Professor G. E. Wood- berry. SCOTT S IVANHOE. /;/ preparation. COOPER S THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS. [/ preparation. FOR STUDY. SHAKSPERE S MACBETH. Edited by Professor Manly. MILTON S PARADISE LOST. BOOKS I. AND II. Edited by Pro fessor E. E. Hale, Jr. BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA. Edited by Dr. A. S. Cook. MACAULAY S ESSAYS ON MILTON AND ADDISON. LONGMANS ENGLISH CLASSfCS The following volumes are also ready : SCOTT S WOODSTOCK. Edited, with introduction and notes, by Bliss Perry, A.M., Professor of Oratory and ^Esthetic Criticism in the College of New Jersey. With Portrait of Sir Walter Scott. MACAUI.AY S ESSAY ON MILTON. Edited, with introduction and notes, by James Greenleaf Croswell, A.B., Head-master of the Brearley School, New York, formerly Assistant Professor of Greek in Harvard University. With Portrait of Macaulay. SIIAKSPERK S A MIDSUMMER NIGHT S DREAM. Edited, with introduction and notes, by George Pierce Baker, A.B., Assistant Professor of English in Harvard University. With Frontispiece, Imitation of an Elizabethan Stage. WEBSTER S FIRST BUNKER HILL ORATION, together with other Addresses relating to the Revolution. Edited, with introduction and notes, by Fred Newton Scott, Ph.D., Junior Professor of Rhetoric in the University of Michigan. With Portrait of Daniel Webster. MILTON S L/ALLEGRO, IL PEKSEROSO, COMUS, AND LYCIDAS. Edited, with introductions and notes, by William P. Trent, A.M., Professor of English in the University of the South. With Portrait of Milton. " The series as a whole certainly marks ... a clear advance beyond all its predecessors." 77/6 Educational Review, February, 1896. " We have seen no fitter school editions of these works which are now included in the preparatory reading required by all the leading colleges of the country." The Critic, New York. " The Suggestions for Teachers are likely to be of great value, not only because many teachers need assistance in such work, but also because they must tend to introduce the uniformity of method that is hardly less valuable than the uniformity of the courses themselves." The Educational Review, February, 1896. " I take great pleasure in acknowledging the receipt of the two beautiful volumes in your ENGLISH CLASSICS. . . . They are not only thoroughly well edited, but excellent specimens of book-making, such books as a student may take pleasure in having, not merely for a task book but for a permanent possession. It is a wise project on your part, I think, to accustom young students to value books for their intrinsic worth, and that by the practical way of making the books good and attractive." PKOK. JOHN F, (JiCNUMi, Amherst College. 8 LONGMANS ENGLISH CLASSICS " You are to be congratulated upon the excellence of the series of ENGLISH CLASSICS which you are now publishing, if I may judge of it by the three numbers I have examined. ... Of these, the intro ductions, the suggestions to teachers, the chronological tables, and the notes are most admirable in design and execution. The editor-in-chief and his associates have rendered a distinct service to secondary schools, and the publishers have done superior mechanical work in the issue of this series." CHARLES C. RAMSAY, Principal of Durfee High School, Fall River, Mass. " With the two (volumes) I have already acknowledged and these four, I find myself increasingly pleased as I examine. As a series the books have two strong points: there is a unity of method in editing that I have seen in no other series; the books are freer from objections in regard to the amount and kind of editing than any other series I know." BYRON GROCE, Master in English, Boston Latin School. " I am your debtor for two specimens of your series of ENGLISH CLASSICS, designed for secondary schools in preparation for entrance examinations to college. With their clear type, good paper, sober and attractive binding good enough for any library shelves with their introductions, suggestions to teachers, and notes at the bottom of the pages, I do not see how much more could be desired." Prof. D. L. MAULSRY, Tufts College. "Admirably adapted to accomplish what you intend to interest young persons in thoughtful reading of noble literature. The help given seems just what is needed; its generosity is not of the sort to make the young student unable to help himself. I am greatly pleased with the plan and with its execution." Prof. C. B. BRADLEY, University of California; Member of English Conference of the National Committee of Ten. " Let me thank you for four more volumes of your excellent series of ENGLISH CLASSICS. . . . As specimens of book-making they are among the most attractive books I have ever seen for school use; and the careful editing supplies just enough information to stimulate a young reader. I hope that the series may soon be completed and be widely used." Prof. W. E. MEAD, W 7 esleyan University. "The series is admirably planned, the Suggestions to Teachers being a peculiarly valuable feature. I welcome all books looking toward better English teaching in the secondary schools." Prof. KATHERINE LEE BATES, Wellesley College. " They are thoroughly edited and attractively presented, and cannot fail to be welcome when used for the college entrance requirements in English." Prof. CHARLES F. RICHARDSON, Dartmouth College. LONGMANS ENGLISH CLASSICS IRVING S TALES OF A TRAVELLER. " I feel bound to say that, if the series of ENGLISH CLASSICS is carried out after the plan of this initial volume, it will contribute much toward making the study of literature a pure delight." Prof. A. G. NEWCOMER, Leland Stanford Jr. University. " I have looked through the first volume of your ENGLISH CLASSICS, Irving s Tales of a Traveller, and do not see how literature could be made more attractive to the secondary schools." Prof. EDWARD A. ALLEN, University of Missouri ; Member of the English Conference of the National Committee of Ten. " I have received your Irving s Tales of a Traveller and examined it with much pleasure. The helpful suggestions to teachers, the judicious notes, the careful editing, and the substantial binding make it the most desirable volume for class use on the subject, that has come to my notice." EDWIN CORNELL, Principal of Central Valley Union School, N. Y. GEORGE ELIOT S SILAS MARKER. "This book is really attractive and inviting. The introduction, particularly the suggestions to pupils and teachers, is a piece of real helpfulness and wisdom." D. E. BOWMAN, Principal of High School, Waterville, Me. "The edition of Silas Marner recently sent out by you leaves nothing undone. I find the book handsome, the notes sensible and clear. I m glad to see a book so well adapted to High School needs, and I shall recommend it, without reserve, as a safe and clean book to put before our pupils." JAMES W. McLANE, Central High School, Cleveland, O. SCOTT S WOODSTOCK. " Scott s Woodstock, edited by Professor Bliss Perry, deepens the impression made by the earlier numbers that this series, LONGMANS ENGLISH CLASSICS, is one of unusual excellence in the editing, and will prove a valuable auxiliary in the reform of English teaching now generally in progress. . . . We have, in addition to the unabridged text of the novel, a careful editorial introduction ; the author s intro duction, preface and notes ; a reprint of The Just Devil of Woodstock ; and such foot-notes as the student will need as he turns from page to page. Besides all this apparatus, many of the chapters have appended a few suggestive hints for character-study, collateral reading and dis cussions of the art of fiction. All this matter is so skillfully distributed that it does not weigh upon the conscience, and is not likely to make the LONGMANS ENGLISH CLASSICS student forget that he is, after all, reading a novel chiefly for the pleasure it affords. The entire aim of this volume and its companions is literary rather than historical or linguistic, and in this fact their chief value is to be found." The Dial. "I heartily approve of the manner in which the editor s work has been done. This book, if properly used by the teacher and supple mented by the work so clearly suggested in the notes, may be made of great value to students, not only as literature but as affording oppor tunity for historical research and exercise in composition." LILLIAN G. KIMBALL, State Normal School, Oshkosh, Wis. DEFOE S HISTORY OF THE PLAGUE IN LONDON. "Pie gives an interesting biography of Defoe, an account of his works, a discussion of their ethical influence (including that of this somewhat sensational novel), some suggestions to teachers and students, and a list of references for future study. This is all valuable and sugges tive. The reader wishes that there were more of it. Indeed, the criticism I was about to offer on this series is perhaps their chief excellence. One wishes that the introductions were longer and more exhaustive. For, contrary to custom, as expressed in Gratiano s query, Who riseth from a feast with that keen appetite that he sits down ? the young student will doubtless finish these introductions hungering for more. And this, perhaps, was the editor s object in view, viz. , that the intro ductory and explanatory matter should be suggestive and stimulating rather than complete and exhaustive ! " Educational Review. " I have taken great pleasure in examining your edition of Defoe s Plague in London. The introduction and notes are beyond reproach, and the binding and typography are ideal. The American school-boy is to be congratulated that he at length may study his English from books in so attractive a dress." GEORGE N. MCKNIGHT, Instructor in English, Cornell University. " I am greatly obliged to you for the copy of the Journal of the Plague. I am particularly pleased with Professor Carpenter s intro duction and his handling of the difficult points in Defoe s life." HAM MOND LAMONT, A.B., Associate Professor of Composition and Rhetoric in Brown University. MACAULAY S ESSAY ON MILTON. " I have examined the Milton and am much pleased with it ; it fully sustains the high standard of the other works of this series ; the intro duction, the suggestions to teachers, and the notes are admirable." WILLIAM NICHOLS, The Nichols School, Buffalo, N. Y. LONGMANS ENGLISH CLASSICS " 1 beg: to acknowledge with thanks the receipt of Macaulay s Essay on Milton and Webster s First Bunker Hill Oration in your series of ENGLISH CLASSICS. These works for preparatory study are nowhere better edited or presented in more artistic form. I am glad you find it possible to publish so good a book for so little money." Prof. NY. II. CRAWSHAW, Colgate University. " I am especially pleased with Mr. Croswell s introduction to, and notes at the bottom of the page of, his edition of Macaulay s Essay on Milton. I have never seen notes on a text that were more admirable than these. They contain just the information proper to impart, and are unusually well expressed." CHARLES C. RAMSAY, Principal of Fall River High School. COLERIDGE S ANCIENT MARINER. " After an introduction which is well calculated to awaken interest both in Coleridge himself and in poetry as a form of literature, the poem is set before us with Coleridge s own glosses in the margin. Notes are added at the bottom of each page. These notes are well worth examination for the pedagogic skill they display. They provide, not so much information about the text, though all necessary explanation does appear, but suggestion and incitement to the discovery by the pupil for himself of the elements in the poem which the hasty reader only feels, if he does not lose them altogether. . . . Any good teacher will find this edition a veritable help to the appreciation of poetry by his pupils." Principal RAY GREENE HULING, English High School, Cambridge, Mass. " Mr. Bates is an interesting and charming writer of verse as well as prose, and makes a helpful and appreciative teacher to follow through the intricacies of the poem in question. In addition to extensive notes and comments, the book has a well-planned, brightly written introduc tion, comprising a Coleridge biography, bibliography, and chronological table, a definition of poetry in general, and a thoughtful study of the origin, form, and criticisms of this particular poem, The Ancient Mariner. Teachers and students of English are to be congratulated on. and Mr. Bates and his publishers thanked for, this acquisition to the field of literary study." Literary World, Boston. MILTON S L ALLEGRO, IL PENSEROSO, ETC. " Professor Trent s sympathetic treatment on the literary side of the subject matter, makes the introductions and notes of more than usual interest and profit ; and I think that it is just such editing as this that our younger students need in approaching the works of the great poets." J. RUSSELL HAYES, Assistant Professor of English, Swarthmore College, Pa. 12 LONGMANS ENGLISH CLASSICS It has been the aim of the publishers to secure editors of high reputation for scholarship, experience, and skill, and to provide a series thoroughly adapted, by uniformity of plan and thoroughness of execution, to present educa tional needs. The chief distinguishing features of the series are the following : i. Each volume contains full "Suggestions for Teach ers and Students," with bibliographies, and, in many cases, lists of topics recommended for further reading or study, subjects for themes and compositions, specimen examination papers, etc. It is therefore hoped that the series will contribute largely to the working out of sound methods in teaching English. 2. The works prescribed for reading are treated, in every case, as literature, not as texts for narrow linguistic study, and edited with a view to interesting the student in the book in question both in itself and as representative of a literary type or of a period of literature, and of leading him on to read other standard works of the same age or kind understandingly and appreciatively. 3. These editions are not issued anonymously, nor are they hackwork, the result of mere compilation. They are the original work of scholars and men of letters who are conversant with the topics of which they treat. 4. Colleges and preparatory schools are both repre sented in the list of editors (the preparatory schools more prominently in the lists for 1897 and 1898), and it is in tended that the series shall exemplify the ripest methods of American scholars for the teaching of English the result in some cases of years of actual experience in secondary school work, and, in others, the formulation of the experience acquired by professors who observe care fully the needs of students who present themselves for admission to college. 5. The volumes are uniform in size and style, are well printed and bound, and constitute a well-edited set of standard works, fit for permanent use and possession a nucleus for a library of English literature. LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO. S PUBLICATIONS. EPOCHS OF AMERICAN HISTORY. MESSRS. LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO. have the pleasure to state that they are now publishing a short series of books treating of the history of America, under the general title Erociis OF AMERICAN HISTORY. The series is under the editorship of DR. ALBERT BUSHNELL HART, Assistant Professor of History in Harvard College, who has also prepared all the maps for the several volumes. Each volume contains about 300 pages, similar in size and style to the page of the volumes in Messrs. Longmans series, Epochs of Modern History, with full marginal analysis, working bibliogra phies, maps, and index. The volumes are issued separately, and each is complete in itself. The volumes now ready provide a continuous history of the United States from the foundation of the Colonies to the present time, suited to and intended for class use as well as for general reading and reference. *** The volumes of this series already issued have been adopted for me as text books in nearly all the leading Colleges and in many Normal Schools and other institutions. A prospectus, showing Contents and scope of each volume, specimen pages, etc. , will be sent on application to the Publishers. I. THE COLONIES, 1492-1750. By REUBEN GOLD THWAITES, Secretary of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin ; author of " Historic Waterways," etc. With four colored maps. pp. xviii.~3Oi. Cloth. $1.25. CORNELL UNIVERSITY. I beg leave to acknowledge your courtesy in sending me a copy of the first volume in the series of Epochs of American History, which I have read with great interest and satisfaction. I am pleased, as everyone must be, with the mechanical execution of the book, with the maps, and with the fresh and valua ble .Suggestions and References. .... The work itself appears to me to be quite remarkable for its comprehensiveness, and it presents a vast array of subjects in a way that is admirably fair, clear ^nd orderly." Professor MOSES Corr TYLKR, Ithaca, N. Y. WILLIAMS COLLEGE. " It is just the book needed for college students, not too brief to be uninter esting, admirable in its plan, and well furnished with references to accessible authorities." Professor RICHARD A. RICE, Williamstown, Mass. VASSAR COLLEGE. " Perhaps the best recommendation of Thwaites American Colonies is the f.ict that the day after it was received I ordered copies for class-room use. The book is admirable." Professor LuCY M. SALMON, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. " All that could be desired. This volume is more like a fair treatment of the whole subject of the colonies than any work of the sort yet produced. 1 The Critic. " The subject is virtually a fresh one as approached by Mr. Thwaites. It is a pleasure to call especial attention to some most helpful bibliographical notes provided at the head of each chapter The Nation. LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO., 91-93 Fifth Avenue, New York. LONGMANS, GREEN, r> CO. S PUBLICATION S. EPOCHS OF AMERICAN HISTORY. II. FORMATION OF THE UNION, 1750-1829. By ALBERT BUSHNELL HART, PH.D. Assistant Professor of History in Harvard University, Member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Author of "Introduction to the Study of Federal Government," "Epoch Maps," etc. With five colored maps. pp. xx. 278. Cloth. $1.25. The second volume of the EPOCHS OF AMERICAN HISTORY aims to follow out the principles laid down for "THE COLONIES," the study of causes rather than of events, the development of the American nation out of scattered and inharmonious colonies. The throwing off of English control, the growth out of narrow political conditions, the struggle against foreign domination, and the extension of popular government, are all parts of the uninterrupted process of the Formation of the Union. LELAND STANFORD JR. UNIVERSITY. " The large and sweeping treatment of the subject, which shows the true re lations of the events preceding and following the revolution, to the revolution itself, is a real addition to the literature of the subject ; while the bibliography prefixed to each chapter, adds incalculably to the value of the work" MARY SHELDON BARNES, Palo Alto, Cal. It is a careful and conscientious study of the period and its events, and should find a place among the text-books of our public schools." Boston Transcript. " Professor Hart has compressed a vast deal of information into his volume, and makes many things most clear and striking. His maps, showing the terri torial growth of the United States, are extremely interesting." A fw York Times. " . . The causes of the Revolution are clearly and cleverly condensed into a few pages. . . The maps in the work are singularly useful even to adults. There are five of these, which are alone worth the price of the volume." Magazine of American History. "The formation period of our nation is treated with much care and with great precision. Each chapter is prefaced with copious references to authori ties, which are valuable to the student who desires to pursue his reading more extensively. There are five valuable maps showing the growth of our country by successive stages and repeated acquisition of territory." Boston Advertiser. " Dr. Hart is not only a master of the art of condensation, . . . he is what is even of greater importance, an interpreter of history. He perceives the logic of historic events ; hence, in his condensation, he does not neglect proportion, and more than once he gives the student valuable clues to the solution of historical problems." Atlantic Monthly. "A valuable volume of a valuable series. The author has written with a full knowledge of his subject, and we have little to say except in praise." English Historic al Review. LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO., 91-93 Fifth Avenue, New York. LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO. S PUBLICATIONS. EPOCHS OF AMERICAN HISTORY. III. DIVISION AND RE-UNION, 1829-1889. By WOODROW WILSON, Ph.D., LL.D., Professor of Jurisprudence in Princeton College ; Author of "Congressional Government," "The State Elements of Historical and Practical Politics," etc., etc. With five colored Maps. 346 pages. Cloth, $1.25. " We regret that we have not space for more quotations from this uncora monly strong, impartial, interesting book. Giving only enough facts to elucidate the matter discussed, it omits no important questions. It furnishes the reader clear-cut views of the right and the wrong of them all. It gives ad mirable pen-portraits of the great personages of the period with as much free dom from bias, and as much pains to be just, as if the author were delineating Pericles, or Alcibiades, Sulla, or Caesar. Dr. Wilson has earned the gratitude of seekers after truth by his masterly production." N. C. University Magazine. " This admirable little volume is one of the few books which nearly meet our ideal of history. It is causal history in the truest sense, tracing the workings of latent influences and far-reaching conditions of their outcome in striking fact, yet the whole current of events is kept in view, and the great personalities of the time, the nerve-centers of history, live intensely and in due proportion in these pages. We do not know the equal of this book for a brief and trust worthy, and, at the same time, a brilliantly written and sufficient history of these sixty years. We heartily commend it, not only for general reading, but as an admirable text-book." Post- Graduate and Wooster Quarterly. " Considered as a general history of the United States from 1829 to 1889, his book is marked by excellent sense of proportion, extensive knowledge, im partiality of judgment, unusual power of summarizing, and an acute political sense. Few writers can more vividly set forth the views of parties." Atlantic Monthly. " Students of United States history may thank Mr. Wilson for an extreme ly clear and careful rendering of a period very difficult to handle . . . they will find themselves materially aided in easy comprehension of the political situation of the country by the excellent maps." N. Y Times. " Professor Wilson writes in a clear and forcible style. . . . The bibli ographical references at the head of each chapter are both well selected and well arranged, and add greatly to the value of the work, which appears to be especially designed for use in instruction in colleges and preparatory schools." Yale Review. " It is written in a style admirably clear, vigorous, and attractive, a thorough grasp of the subject is shown, and the development of the theme is lucid and orderly, while the tone is judicial and fair, and the deductions sensible and dispassionate so far as we can see. ... It would be difficult to construct a better manual of the subject than this, and it adds greatly to the value of this useful series." Hartford Courant. ". . . One of the most valuable historical works that has appeared in many years. The delicate period of our country s history, with which this work is largely taken up, is treated by the author with an impartiality that is almost unique. "Columbia Law Times. LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO., 91-93 Fifth Avenue, New York. LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO. S PUBLICATIONS. A STUDENT S HISTORY OF ENGLAND, from the Earliest Times to 1885. By SAMUEL RAWSON GARDINER, M.A., LL.D., Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, etc.; Author of "The History of England from the Accession of James I. to 1642," etc. Illustrated under the superintend ence of Mr. W. H. ST. JOHN HOPE, Assistant Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries, and with the assistance in the choice of Portraits of Mr. GEORGE SCHARF, C.B., F.S.A., who is recognized as the highest authority on the subject. In one Volume, with 378 Illustrations and full Index. Crown 8vo, cloth, plain, $3.00. The book is also fttblished in three Vohwnes (each with Index and Table of Contents) as follows : VOLUME I. B.C. 55-A.D. 1509. 410 pp. With 173 Illustrations and Index. Crown 8vo, $1.20. VOLUME II. A. D. 1509-1689. 332 pp. With 96 Illustrations and Index. Crown 8vo, $1.20. VOLUME III. A.D. 1689-1885. 374 pp. With 109 Illustrations and Index. Crown 8vo, $1.20. V Gardiner s "Student s History of England," through Part IX. (to 1789), is recommended by HARVARD UNIVERSITY as indicating the requirements for admission in this subject ; and the ENTIEE work is mad the basis for English history study in the University. YALE UNIVERSITY. " Gardiner s Student s History of England seems to me an admirable short history. 1 Prof. C. H. SMITH, New Haven, Conn. TRINITY COLLEGE, HARTFORD. " It is, in my opinion, by far the best advanced school history of England that I have ever seen. It is clear, concise, and scientific, and, at the same time, attractive and interesting. The illustrations are very good and a valuable addition to the book, as they are not mere pretty pictures, but of real historical and archxological interest." Prof. HENRY FERGUSON. "A unique feature consists of the very numerous illustrations. They throw light on almost every phase of English life in all ages. . . . Never, perhaps, in such a treatise has pictorial illustration been used with so good effect. The alert teacher will find here ample material for useful lessons by leading the pupil to draw the proper inferences and make the proper interpre tations and comparisons. . . . The style is compact, vigorous, and inter esting. There is no lack of precision ; and, in the selection of the details, the hand of the scholar thoroughly conversant with the source and with the results of recent criticism is plainly revealed. "The Nation, N. Y. " . . . It is illustrated by pictures of real value ; and when accompanied by the companion Atlas of English History is all that need be desired for its special purpose." The Churchman, N. Y. " #*-"* prospectus and specimen pages of Gar diners " StuJenfs History of England 1 1 will be sent free on application to the Publishers. LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO., 91 and 93 Fifth Ave., New York. LONGMANS, GREEN, c" CO. S PUBLICATIONS. LONGMANS SCHOOL GRAMMAR. By DAVID SALMON. Part I., Parts of Speech.; Part II., Classification and Inflection ; Part III., Analysis of Sentences; Part IV., History and Derivation. With Notes for Teachers and Index. New Edition, Revised. With Preface by E. A. ALLEN, Professor of English in the University of Missouri. I2mo. 272 pages. 75 cents. "... One of the best working grammars we have ever seen, and this applies to all its parts. It is excellently arranged and perfectly graded. Part IV., on History and Derivation, is as beautiful and interesting as it is valuable but this might be said of the whole book." New York Teacher. " The Grammar deserves to supersede all others with which we are ac quainted." N. Y. Nation, July 2, 1891. PREFACE TO AMERICAN EDITION. IT seems to be generally conceded that English grammar is worse taught and less understood than any other subject in the school course. This is, doubtless, largely due to the kind of text-books used, which, for the most part, require methods that violate the laws of pedagogy as well as of language. There are, however, two or three English grammars that are admirable com mentaries on the tacts of the language, but, written from the point of view of the scholar rather than of the learner, they fail to awaken any interest in the subject, and hence are not serviceable for the class-room. My attention was first called to Longmans School Grammar by a favorable notice of it in the Nation. In hope of finding an answer to the inquiry of numerous teachers for " the best school grammar," I sent to the Publishers for a copy An examination of the work, sn far from resulting in the usual dis appointment, left the impression that a successful text-book in a field strewn with failures had at last been produced, for the practical test of the class room, I placed it in the hands of an accomplished grammarian, who had tried several of the best grammars published, and he declares the results to be most satisfactory. The author s simplicity of method, the clear statement of facts, the orderly arrangement, the wise restraint, manifest on every page, reveal the scholar and practical teacher. No one who had not mastered the language in its early his torical development could have prepared a school grammar so free trom sense less rules and endless details The most striking feature, minimum of precept, maximum of example, will commend itself to all teachers who follow rational methods. In this edition, the Publishers have adapted the illustrative sentences to the ready comprehension of American pupils, and I take pleasure in recom mending the book, in behalf of our mother tongue, to the teachers of our Pub lic and Private Schools. EDWARD A. ALLRN. UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI, May, 1891. MR. HAI.E S SCHOOL, BOSTON. " I have used your Grammar and Composition during the last year in my school, and like them both very much indeed. They are the best books of the kind 1 have ever seen, and supply a want I have felt for a good many years." Al.BKKT HALS, /iint. n, A/ass. LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO., 91-93 Fifth Avenue, New York. LONGMANS, GREEN, &> CO.^S PTBLICATIONS. LONGMANS SCHOOL GRAMMAR. OPINIONS. GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL, BOSTON, MASS. When you put Longmans School Grammar in my hands, some year or two ago, I used it a little while with a boy of nine years, with perfect satisfac tion and approval. The exigencies of the boy s school arrangements inter cepted that course in grammar and caused the book to be laid aside. To-day I have taken the book and have examined it all, from cover to cover. It i* simply a perfect grammar. Its beginnings are made with utmost gentleness and reasonableness, and it goes at least quite as far as in any portion of our public schools course it is, for the present, desirable to think of going. I he author has adjusted his book to the very best conceivable methods of teaching, and goes hand in hand with the instructor as a guide and a help. Grammar should, so taught, become a pleasure to teacher and pupil. Especially do I relish the author s pages of Notes for Teachers. at the end of the hook. The man who could write these notes should enlarge them into a monograph on the teaching of English Grammar He would, thereby, add a valuable contribu tion to our stock of available pedagogic helps. I must add in closing, that while the book in question has, of course, but small occasion to touch disputed points of English Grammar, it never incurs the censure that school grammars are almost sure to deserve, of insufficient acquaintance with modern linguistic science. In short, the writer has shown himself scientifically, as well as peda- gogically, altogether competent for his task." PRINCIPAL SAMUEL THURBBR HIGH SCHOOL, FORT WAYNE, IND " .... It is not often that one has occasion to be enthusiastic over a school-book, especially over an English Grammar, but out of pure enthusiasm, I write to express my grateful appreciation of this one It is, without exception, the best English Grammar that I have ever seen for children from twelve to fifteen years of age. It is excellent in matter and method. Every page shows the hand of a wise and skilful teacher. The author has been content to present the facts of English Grammar in a way intelligible to children. The book is so intelligible and so interesting from start to finish that only the genius of dulness can make it dry. There are no definitions inconsistent \vith the facts of our language, no facts at war with the definitions There are other grammars that are more complete " and as correct in teaching but not one to be compared with it in adaptation to the needs of young students. It will not chloroform the intelligence v PRINCIPAL C. T. LANE. HIGH SCHOOL, MINOOKA, ILL. " We introduced your School Grammar into our schools the first of thii term, and are highly satisfied with the results. In my judgment there is no better work extant lor the class of pupils for which it is designed." PRINCIPAL E. F. ADAMS. NEWARK ACADEMY, NEWARK, N. J. " We are using with much satisfaction your Longmans School Grammar, adopted for use in our classes over a year since. Its strong points are simplic ity of arrangement, and abundance of examples for practice. In these par ticulars I know of no other book equal to it." DR. S. A. FARP.ANn. *S A Prospectus showing contents and ipecimen pages may be had of the Pub lishers. LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO., 91-93 Fifth Avenue, New York. LONGMANS, GREEK, & CO. S PUBLICATIONS. LONGMANS SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY. By GEORGE G. CHISHOLM, M.A., B.Sc., Author of "Handbook of Com mercial Geography," "A Smaller Commercial Geography," etc., etc., and C. II. LEETE, A.M., Ph.D., Fellow of the American Geographical Society. Fourth edition, revised, large I2mo, with 70 Illustrations. 384 pages. $1.25. The aim of this text-book is to present in an attractive form those facts of geography that are really foundational, i.e., those that are most important to know, and are most effective as discipline. All countries and regions of the world are, therefore, not treated upon a uniform plan or according to a rigid outline, but that which is most distinctive and characteristic in each is presented nith due relief. And, in order that pupils may realize that to understand is in geography equally, if not more, important than to memorize, special promi nence is given to the relation of cause and effect. The book is especially suited for use in Normal Schools and in Schools where more than elementary geo graphical work is done. \* A descriptive circular of the book and of the Companion Atlas and Book of Questions, may be Had of the Publishers. MILTON ACADEMY. " It is the best Geography that I have seen, and we are using it in this school." HARRISON O. APTHORP, Milton, Mass. MARIANNA MALB INSTITUTE. " It is the best thing of the kind I have ever seen. It is just what I wish. I shall be pleased to introduce it. " T. A. FUTRALL, Marianna, Ark. PREPARATORY SCHOOL, WASHINGTON, \\ C. "... Find it an excellent book. . . . It is striking and interesting different from any work on the subject I have ever seen. A. P. MONTAGUE. " The closing paragraph of the prospectus is much closer to the opinion of the reviewer than such paragraphs usually are : This text-book adapts itself to pupils of intelligence, and will be highly appreciated by all teachers imbued with a spirit for teaching real geography, not attempting to supersede thr ir functions by dictating the length of the daily tasks or the qu< stions that shall be asked, but furnishing a body of material so selected, arranged, and pre sented that its perusal is at once pleasurable, suggestive, and of substantial value. This is perfectly true. . . . On the whole the book is remarkably successful." Nation, N. Y. " This book is the forerunner of a change which must speedily be effected in geographical teaching, and is itself a product of the movement for reform in England, which originated with the Geographical Society." ^^ isconsin jour rial of Education. ". . . Probably the best book of the kind ever published in our language, and ought to help in improving the instruction of our schools in geography. Messrs. Chisholm and Leete s book is valuable for its method, and it is this fact which entitles it to tne attention of teachers." /im/jit Beacon. " It has a system of cross references that is very valuable and constantly reminds the pupil that all are parts of a whole. It does not merely state facts, but attempts to show a cause for each phenomenon, so that the study of geography is not mere rnemoriter work." Educational Couiaiit. LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO. 91 & 93 Fifth Avenue, New York. LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO. S PUBLICATIONS. LONGMANS NEW SCHOOL ATLAS. Consistiug of 28 quarto and 10 octavo Colored Maps (and 20 In sets). Edited by G. G. CHISHOLM, M.A., B. Sc., and C. H. LEETE, A.M., Ph.D. Engraved by EDWARD STANFORD. With a very full Index of over 100,000 Names. Imp. 8vo. $1.50. Longmans New School Atlas is intended, as its name implies, for use in schools. It offers a series of maps which it is believed will be found fully ade quate for the most advanced school work, affording the material for careful and prolonged study, and a basis for a broad knowledge of geographic principles and facts. With this end in view three groups of maps have been prepared : first, nine maps exhibiting the leading facts *A physical geography and human distribution as pertaining to ih&u orldas a whole ; second, eleven maps pertaining to North. America, and more particularly to the United States and Canada, physical, political, geological, climatic, industrial, historical, and on population ; and third, twenty-one maps (and seventeen insets) of other parts of the world in their physical and political aspects. The Geological Map of the United States and Canada was revised by Mr. W. J. McGee, of the U. S. Geological Survey, and in this map the standard Color scheme now adopted for the maps of that Survey has been followed. ** A prospectus more fully describing the Atlas, with a Specimen Map, may be had on application to the Publishers. " We heartily commend this Atlas as of very superior excellence." New York Churchman. " Much the best Atlas to be had for a dollar and a half that has ever come to our notice. . . The maps are clear, the physical features being remark ably well defined." Journal of Pedagogy. " Longmans New School Atlas is a thoroughly prepared and accurate work. In scope it embraces a great variety of subjects, including, in addition to those generally embodied, maps indicating magnetic variation, navigability of rivers, and other showings of interest to the student of physical, racial, social, or commercial facts concerning all countries." The Chautauquait. "A commendable piece of work. The maps are not covered with a mass of detail or blackened with the names of insignificant towns. In addition to the usual geographical details, there are maps to illustrate the ocean currents, magnetic variation, density of population, and geological structure. No atla* of equal practical value has been issued." Professor NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER, Educational Review, N. Y. " The work of presenting the physical and political features of the different countries has been done most thoroughly and admirably. The value in the school-room of those, however, that give the density of population, vegetation, isothermal lines, atmospheric pressure, rainfall, commerce, etc., is just as great. For a school atlas we doubt if there is anything to surpass it School Join iiiil. LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO., 15 East Sixteenth Street, New Yprfc University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 305 De Neve Drive - Parking Lot 17 Box 951388 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90095-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. A ;"ii/i