toughened sinews; but to-morrow some Roman Adonis, breathing sweet odors
from his curly locks, shall come, and with his lily fingers pat your brawny
shoulders, and bet his sesterces upon your blood! Hark! Hear ye yon lion
roaring in his den? 'Tis three days since he tasted meat; but tomorrow he
shall break his fast upon your flesh; and ye shall be a dainty meal for
him.
"If ye are brutes, then stand here like fat oxen waiting for the butcher's
knife; if ye are men, follow me! strike down yon sentinel, and gain the
mountain passes, and there do bloody work as did your sires at old
Thermopylæ! Is Sparta dead? Is the old Grecian spirit frozen in your veins,
that ye do crouch and cower like base-born slaves, beneath your master's
lash? O! comrades! warriors! Thracians! if we must fight, let us fight for
ourselves; if we must slaughter, let us slaughter our oppressors; if we
must die, let us die under the open sky, by the bright waters, in noble,
honorable battle."
E. Kellogg.
XL.
NO EXTENSION OF SLAVE TERRITORY.
Mr. Chairman, I have no time to discuss the subject of slavery on this
occasion, nor should I desire to discuss it in this connection, if I had
more time. But I just not omit a few plain words on the momentous issue
which has now been raised. I speak for Massachusetts--I believe I speak the
sentiments of all New England, and of many other States out of New
England--when I say that, upon this question, our minds are made up. So far
as we have power--constitutional or moral power--to control political
events, we are resolved that there shall be no further extension of the
territory of this Union, subject to the institution of slavery. This is not
a matter to argue about with us. My honorable friend from Georgia (Mr
Toombs) must pardon me if I do not enter into any question with him whether
such a policy be equal or just. It may be that the North does not consider
the institution of slavery a fit thing to be the subject of equal
distribution or nice weighing in the balances. I cannot agree with him that
the South gains nothing by the Constitution but the right to reclaim
fugitives. Surely he has forgotten that slavery is the basis of
representation in this House.
But I do not intend to argue the case. I wish to deal with it calmly, but
explicitly. I believe the North is ready to stand by the Constitution with
all its compromises, as it now is. I do not intend, moreover, to throw out
any threats of disunion, whatever may be the result. I do not intend, now
or ever, to contemplate disunion as a cure for any imaginable evil. At the
same time I do not intend to be driven from a firm expression of purpose,
and a steadfast adherence to principle, by any threats of disunion from any
other quarter. The people of New England, whom I have any privilege to
speak for, do not desire, as I understand their views, I know my own heart
and my own principles and can at least speak for them, to gain one foot of
territory by conquest, and as the result of the prosecution of the war with
Mexico. I do not believe that even the abolitionists of the North,--though
I am one of the last persons who would be entitled to speak their
sentiments, would be unwilling to be found in combination with Southern
gentlemen, who may see fit to espouse this doctrine. We desire peace. We
believe that this war ought never to have been commenced, and we do not
wish to have it made the pretext for plundering Mexico of one foot of her
lands. But if the war is to be prosecuted, and if territories are to be
conquered and annexed, we shall stand fast and forever to the principle
that, so far as we are concerned, these territories shall be the exclusive
abode of freemen.
R. C. Winthrop.
XLI.
NATIONAL MONUMENT TO WASHINGTON.
Fellow-citizens! Let us seize this occasion to renew to each other our vows
of allegiance and devotion to the American Union, and let us recognize In
our common title to the name and fame of Washington, and, in our common
veneration for his example and his advice, the all-sufficient centripetal
power, which shall hold the thick clustering stars of our confederacy in
one glorious constellation forever! Let the column which we are about to
construct, be at once a pledge and an emblem of perpetual union! Let the
foundations be laid, let the superstructure be built up and cemented, let
each stone be raised and reverted, In a spirit of national brotherhood! And
may the earliest ray of the rising sun--till that sun shall set to rise no
more--draw forth from it dally, as from the fabled statue of antiquity, a
strain of national harmony, which shall strike a responsive chord in every
heart throughout the Republic!
Proceed, then, fellow-citizens, with the work for which you have assembled.
Lay the corner-stone of a monument which shall adequately bespeak the
gratitude of the whole American people to the Illustrious Father of his
country! Build it to the skies, you cannot outreach the loftiness of his
principles! Found it upon the massive and eternal rock, you cannot make it
more enduring than his fame! Construct it of the peerless Parian marble,
you cannot make it purer than his life! Exhaust upon it the rules and
principles of ancient and modern art, you cannot make it more
proportionate than his character!
But let not your homage to his memory end here. Think not to transfer to a
tablet or a column the tribute which is due from yourselves. Just honor to
Washington can only be rendered by observing his precepts and imitating his
example. He has built his own monument. We and those who come after us, in
successive generations, are its appointed, its privileged guardians.
The wide-spread Republic is the true monument to Washington. Maintain its
Independence. Uphold its Constitution. Preserve its Union. Defend its
Liberty. Let it stand before the world in all its original strength and
beauty, securing peace, order, equality, and freedom to all within its
boundaries, and shedding light, and hope, and joy, upon the pathway of
human liberty throughout the world; and Washington needs no other monument.
Other structures may fitly testify our veneration for him; this, this
alone, can adequately illustrate his services to mankind. Nor does he need
even this. The Republic may perish; the wide arch of our ranged Union may
fall; star by star its glories may expire; stone by stone its columns and
its capitol may moulder and crumble; all other names which adorn its annals
may be forgotten; but as long as human hearts shall anywhere pant, or human
tongues shall anywhere plead, for a true, rational, constitutional liberty,
those hearts shall enshrine the memory, and those tongues prolong the fame,
of George Washington!
R. C. Winthrop.
XLII.
THE PERFECT ORATOR.
Imagine to yourselves a Demosthenes, addressing the most illustrious
assembly in the world, upon a point whereon the fate of the most
illustrious of nations depended. How awful such a meeting! How vast the
subject! Is man possessed of talents adequate to the great occasion?
Adequate! Yes, superior. By the power of his eloquence, the augustness of
the assembly is lost in the dignity of the orator; and the importance of
the subject, for awhile, superseded by the admiration of his talents. With
what strength of argument, with what powers of the fancy, with what
emotions of the heart, does he assault and subjugate the whole man; and, at
once, captivate his reason, his imagination, and his passions! To effect
this must be the utmost effort of the most improved state of human
nature,--not a faculty that he possesses is here unemployed; not a faculty
that he possesses but is here exerted to its highest pitch. All his
internal powers are at work; all his external testify their energies.
Within the memory, the fancy, the judgment, the passions, are all busy;
without, every muscle, every nerve, is exerted; not a feature, not a limb
but speaks. The organs of the body attuned to the exertions of the mind
through the kindred organs of the hearers, instantaneously vibrate those
energies from soul to soul. Notwithstanding the diversity of minds in such
a multitude, by the lightning of eloquence, they are melted into one
mass,--the whole assembly, actuated in one and the same way, become, as it
were, but one man and have but one voice. The universal cry is,--LET US
MARCH AGAINST PHILIP; LET US FIGHT FOR OUR LIBERTIES;--LET US CONQUER OR
DIE!
XLIII.
NECESSITY OF A PURE NATIONAL MORALITY.
The crisis has come. By the people of this generation, by ourselves,
probably the amazing question is to be decided, whether the inheritance of
our fathers shall be preserved or thrown away; whether our Sabbaths shall
be a delight or a loathing; whether the taverns, on that holy day shall be
crowded with drunkards, or the sanctuary of God with humble worshippers;
whether riot and profaneness shall fill our streets, and poverty our
dwellings: and convicts our jails, and violence our land; or whether
industry, and temperance, and righteousness, shall be the stability of our
times; whether mild laws shall receive the cheerful submission of free men,
or the iron rod of a tyrant compel the trembling homage of slaves. Be not
deceived. The rocks and hills of New England will remain till the last
conflagration. But let the Sabbath be profaned with impunity, to worship of
God be abandoned, the government and religions instruction of children
neglected, and the streams of intemperance be permitted to flow, and her
glory will depart. The wall of fire will no longer surround her, and the
munition of rocks will no longer be her defence. The hand that overturns
our doors and temples, is the hand of Death unbarring the gate of
pandemonium, and letting loose upon our land the crimes and miseries of
hell. If the Most High should stand aloof and cast not a single ingredient
into our cup of trembling, it would seem to be full of superlative woe. But
He will not stand aloof. As we shall have begun an open controversy with
Him, he will contend openly with us. And, never, since the earth stood, has
it been so fearful a thing for nations to fall into the hands of the living
God. The day of vengeance is at hand; the day of judgment has come; the
great earthquakes which sinks Babylon is making the nations, and the waves
of the mighty commotions are dashing upon every shore. Is this, then, a
time to remove the foundations, when the earth itself is shaken? Is this a
time to forfeit the protection of God, when the hearts of men are failing
them for fear, and for looking after those things which are to come upon
the earth? Is this a time to run upon His neck and the thick bosses of His
buckler, when the nations are drinking blood, and fainting, and passing
away in His wrath? Is this the time to throw away the shield of faith, when
His arrows are drunk with the blood of the slain?--to cut from the anchor
of hope, when the clouds are collecting, and the sea and the waves are
roaring and thunders are uttering their voices, and lightnings blazing in
the heavens, and the great hail is falling from heaven upon men, and every
mountain, sea, and island is fleeing in dismay from the face of an incensed
God!
L. Beecher.
XLIV.
ON THE IRISH DISTURBANCE BILL.
I do not rise to fawn or cringe to this House; I do not rise to supplicate
you to be merciful towards the nation to which I belong,--toward a nation
which though subject to England, is yet distinct from it. It is a distinct
nation; it has been treated as such by this country, as may be proved by
history, and by seven hundred years of tyranny. I call upon this House, as
you value the liberty of England, not to allow this nefarious bill to pass.
In it are involved the liberties of England, the liberty of the press, and.
of every other institution dear to Englishmen. Against the bill I protest,
in the name of the Irish people, and in the face of Heaven. I treat with
scorn the puny and pitiful assertions, that grievances are not to be
complained of,--that our redress is not to be agitated; for, in such
cases, remonstrances cannot be too strong, agitation cannot be too violent,
to show to the world with what injustice our fair claims are met, and under
what tyranny the people suffer.
The clause which does away with trial by jury,--what, in the name of Heaven
is it, if it is not the establishment of a revolutionary tribunal? It
drives the judge from his bench; it does away with that which is more
sacred than the throne itself--that for which your king reigns, your lords
deliberate, your commons assemble. If ever I doubted before of the success
of our agitation for repeal, this bill,--this infamous bill,--the way in
which it has been received by the House; the manner in which its opponents
have been treated; the personalities to which they have been subjected; the
yells with which one of them has this night been greeted,--all these things
dissipate my doubts, and tell me of its complete and early triumph. Do you
think those yells will be forgotten? Do you suppose their echo will not
reach the plains of my injured and insulted country; that they will not be
whispered in her green valleys, and heard from her lofty hills? O, they
will be heard there!--yes; and they will not be forgotten. The youth of
Ireland will bound with indignation,--they will say "We are eight millions;
and you treat us thus, as through we were no more to your country than the
isle of Guernsey or of Jersey!"
I have done my duty. I stand acquitted to my conscience and my country. I
have opposed this measure throughout; and I now protest against it as
harsh, oppressive, uncalled for, unjust;--as establishing an infamous
precedent, by retaliating crime against crime;--as tyrannous,--cruelly
and vindictively tyrannous!
D. O'Connel.
XLV.
CÆSAR'S PAUSE UPON THE RUBICON.
An advocate of Cæsar's character, speaking of his benevolent disposition,
and of the reluctance with which he entered into the civil war, observes,
"How long did he pause upon the brink of the Rubicon!" How came he to the
brink of that river? How dared he cross it? Shall private men respect the
boundaries of private property, and shall a man pay no respect to the
boundaries of his country's rights? How dared he cross that river?--Oh! but
he paused upon the brink! He should leave perished on the brink, ere he had
crossed it! Why did he pause? Why does a man's heart palpitate when he is
on the point of committing an unlawful deed? Why does the very
murderer,--his victim sleeping before him, and his glaring eye taking
measure of the blow,--strike wide of the mortal part?--Because of
conscience! 'T was that made Cæsar pause upon the brink of the Rubicon.
Compassion!--What compassion? The compassion of an assassin, that feels a
momentary shudder as his weapon begins to cut!
Cæsar paused upon the brink of the Rubicon!--What was the Rubicon?--The
boundary of Cæsar's province. From what did it separate his province? From
his country. Was that country a desert? No: it was cultivated and fertile;
rich and populous! Its sons were men of genius, spirit, and generosity! Its
daughters were lovely, susceptible, and chaste! Friendship was its
inhabitant!--Love was its inhabitant!--Domestic affection was its
inhabitant!--Liberty was its inhabitant!--All bounded by the stream of the
Rubicon! What was Cæsar, that stood upon the brink of that stream?--A
traitor, bringing war and pestilence into the heart of that country! No
wonder that he paused! No wonder if, in his imagination, wrought upon by
his conscience, he had beheld blood instead of water; and heard groans
instead of murmurs. No wonder if some Gorgon horror had turned him into
stone upon the spot.--But, no!--he cried, "The die is cast!" He
plunged!--He crossed!--and Rome was free no more.
J. S. Knowles.
XLVI.
GUSTAVUS VASA TO THE DALECARLIANS.
Swedes! countrymen! behold at last, after a thousand dangers past, your
chief, Gustavus, here! Long have I sighed 'mid foreign lands; long have I
roamed in foreign lands; at length, 'mid Swedish hearts and hands, I grasp
a Swedish spear! Yet, looking forth, although I see none but the fearless
and the free, sad thoughts the sight inspires; for where, I think, on
Swedish ground, save where these mountains frown around, can that best
heritage be found--the freedom of our sires? Yes, Sweden pines beneath the
yoke; the galling chain our fathers broke is round our country now! On
perjured craft and ruthless guilt his power a tyrant Dane has built, and
Sweden's crown, all blood-bespilt, rests on a foreign brow. On you your
country turns her eyes--on you, on you, for aid relies, scions of noblest
stem! The foremost place in rolls of fame, by right your fearless fathers
claim; yours is the glory of their name,--'t is yours to equal them. As
rushing down, when winter reigns, resistless to the shaking plains, the
torrent tears its way, and all that bars its onward course sweeps to the
sea with headlong force, so swept your sires the Dane and Norse;--can ye do
less than they? Rise! Reässert your ancient pride, and down the hills a
living tide of fiery valor pour. Let but the storm of battle lower, back to
his den the foe will cower;--then, then shall Freedom's glorious hour
strike for our land once more! What! silent motionless, ye stand? Gleams
not an eye? Moves not a hand? Think ye to fly your fate? Or till some
better cause be given, wait ye?--Then wait! till, banished, driven, ye fear
to meet the face of Heaven;--till ye are slaughtered, wait. But no! your
kindling hearts gainsay the thought. Hark! hear that bloodhound's bay! Yon
blazing village see! Rise, countrymen! Awake! Defy the haughty Dane! Your
battlecry be Freedom! We will do or die! On! Death or victory!
XLVII.
NOBILITY OF LABOR.
I call upon those whom I address to stand up for the nobility of labor. It
is Heaven's great ordinance for human improvement. Let not that great
ordinance be broken down. What do I say? It is broken down; and it has been
broken down for ages. Let it then be built up again; here, if anywhere, on
these shores of a new world, of a new civilization But how, I may be asked,
is it broken down? Do not men toil? it may be said. They do indeed toil;
but they too generally do it because they must. Many submit to it as in
some sort a degrading necessity; and they desire nothing so much on earth
as escape from it. They fulfil the great law of labor in the letter, but
break it in the spirit; fulfill it with the muscle, but break it with the
mind. To some field of labor, mental or manual, every idler should fasten,
as a chosen and coveted theatre of improvement. But so he is not impelled
to do, under the teachings of our imperfect civilization. On the contrary,
he sits down, folds his hands, and blesses himself in his idleness. This
way of thinking is the heritage of the absurd and unjust feudal system
under which serfs labored, and gentlemen spent their lives in fighting and
feasting. It is time that this opprobrium of toil were done away. Ashamed
to toil, art thou? Ashamed of thy dingy work-shop and dusty labor-field; of
thy hard hand scarred with service more honorable than that of war; of thy
soiled and weather-stained garments, on which mother Nature has
embroidered, midst sun and rain, midst fire and steam, her own heraldic
honors? Ashamed of these tokens and titles, and envious of the flaunting
robes of imbecile idleness and vanity? It is treason to Nature; it is
impiety to Heaven; it is breaking Heaven's great ordinance. Toil, I repeat
toil--either of the brain, of the heart, or of the hand, is the only true
manhood, the only true nobility.
O. Dewey.
XLVIII.
SALATHIEL TO TITUS.
Son of Vespasian, I am at this hour a poor man, as I may in the next be an
exile or a slave: I have ties to life as strong as ever were bound round
the heart of man. I stand here a suppliant for the life of one whose loss
would embitter mine! Yet, not for wealth unlimited, for the safety of my
family, for the life of the noble victim that is now standing at the place
of torture, dare I abandon, dare I think the impious thought of abandoning
the cause of the City of Holiness.
Titus! in the name of that Being, to whom the wisdom of the earth is folly,
I adjure you to beware. Jerusalem is sacred. Her crimes have often wrought
her misery; often has she been trampled by the armies of the stranger. But
she is still the City of the Omnipotent; and never was blow inflicted on
her by man, that was not terribly repaid.
The Assyrian came, the mightiest power of the world; he plundered her
temple, and led her people into captivity. How long was it before his
empire was a dream, his dynasty extinguished in blood, and an enemy on his
throne? The Persian came; from her protector he turned into her oppressor;
and his empire was swept away like the dust of the desert! The Syrian smote
her; the smiter died in agonies of remorse; and where is his kingdom now?
The Egyptian smote her; and who now sits on the throne of the Ptolemies?
Pompey came: the invincible, the conqueror of a thousand cities, the light
of Rome; the lord of Asia, riding on the very wings of victory. But he
profaned her temple; and from that hour he went down,--down, like a
millstone plunged into the ocean! Blind counsel, rash ambition, womanish
fears were upon the great statesman and warrior of Rome. Where does he
sleep? What sands were colored with his blood? The universal conqueror died
a slave, by the hand of a slave! Crassus came at the head of the legions;
he plundered the sacred vessels of the sanctuary. Vengeance followed him,
and he was cursed by the curse of God. Where are the bones of the robber
and his host? Go, tear them from the jaws of the lion and the wolf of
Parthia,--their fitting tomb!
You, too: son of Vespasian, may be commissioned for the punishment of a
stiff-necked and rebellious people. You may scourge our naked vice by force
of arms; and then you may return to your own land exulting in the conquest
of the fiercest enemy of Rome. But shall you escape the common fate of the
instrument of evil? Shall you see a peaceful old age? Shall a son of yours
ever sit upon the throne? Shall not rather some monster of your blood
efface the memory of your virtues, and make Rome, in bitterness of soul,
curse the Flavian name?
G. Croly.
XLIX.
AN APPEAL TO THE LOYALTY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.