When Solon, by the appointment of the people of Athens, had formed, and

prevailed upon them to adopt a code of fundamental laws, the best that

they would bear, he went into voluntary banishment for ten years, to

save his system from the batteries of rival statesmen working upon

popular passions and prejudices excited against his person. In eight

years of a turbulent and tempestuous administration, Washington

had settled upon firm foundations the practical execution of the

Constitution of the United States. In the midst of the most appalling

obstacles, through the bitterest internal dissensions, and the most

formidable combinations of foreign antipathies and cavils, he had

subdued all opposition to the Constitution itself; had averted all

dangers of European war; had redeemed the captive children of his

country from Algiers; had reduced by chastisement, and conciliated by

kindness, the most hostile of the Indian tribes; had restored the

credit of the nation, and redeemed their reputation of fidelity to

the performance of their obligations; had provided for the total

extinguishment of the public debt; had settled the union upon the

immovable foundation of principle; and had drawn around his head, for

the admiration and emulation of after times, a brighter blaze of glory

than had ever encircled the brows of hero or statesman, patriot or sage.

The administration of Washington fixed the character of the Constitution

of the United States, as a practical system of government, which it

retains to this day. Upon his retirement, its great antagonist, Mr.

Jefferson, came into the government again, as Vice-President of the

United States, and four years after succeeded to the Presidency itself.

But the funding system and the bank were established. The peace with

both the great belligerent powers of Europe was secured. The disuniting

doctrines of unlimited separate State sovereignty were laid aside.

Louisiana, by a stretch of power in Congress, far beyond the highest

tone of Hamilton, was annexed to the Union--and although dry-docks, and

gun-boats, and embargoes, and commercial restrictions, still refused the

protection of the national arm to commerce, and although an overweening

love of peace, and a reliance upon reason as a weapon of defence against

foreign aggression, eventuated in a disastrous though glorious war

with the gigantic power of Britain,--the Constitution as construed by

Washington, still proved an effective government for the country.

* * * * *

=_Henry Clay, 1777-1832._= (Manual, p. 486.)

From a "Speech in the United States Senate," March 24, 1818.

=_80._= EMANCIPATION OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN STATES.

Our Revolution was mainly directed against the mere theory of tyranny.

We had suffered comparatively but little; we had, in some respects, been

kindly treated; but our intrepid and intelligent forefathers saw, in the

usurpation of the power to levy an inconsiderable tax, the long train of

oppressive acts that were to follow. They rose; they breasted the storm;

they achieved our freedom, Spanish America for centuries has been doomed

to the practical effects of an odious tyranny. If we were justified, she

is more than justified.

I am no propagandist. I would not seek to force upon other nations

our principles and our liberty if they did not want them. I would not

disturb the repose even of a detestable despotism. But if an abused and

oppressed people will their freedom; if they seek to establish it; if,

in truth, they have established it,--we have a right, as a sovereign

power, to notice the fact, and to act as circumstances and our interest

require. I will say, in the language of the venerated father of my

country, "born in a land of liberty, my anxious recollections, my

sympathetic feelings, and my best wishes, are irresistibly excited,

whensoever, in any country, I see an oppressed nation unfurl the banners

of freedom."

* * * * *

From the "Speech in the Senate on the Compromise Bill."

=_81._= DANGERS OF DISUNION.

South Carolina must perceive the embarrassments of her situation. She

must be desirous,--it is unnatural to suppose that she is not,--to

remain in the Union. What! a State whose heroes in its gallant ancestry

fought so many glorious battles along with the other States of this

Union,--a State with which this confederacy is linked by bonds of such a

powerful character! I have sometimes fancied what would be her condition

if she goes out of this Union; if her five hundred thousand people

should at once be thrown upon their own resources. She is out of the

Union. What is the consequence? She is an independent power. What

then does she do? She must have armies and fleets, and an expensive

government; have foreign missions; she must raise taxes; enact this very

tariff, which has driven her out of the Union, in order to enable her to

raise money, and to sustain the attitude of an independent power. If she

should have no force, no navy to protect her, she would be exposed to

piratical incursions. Their neighbor, St. Domingo, might pour down a

horde of pirates on her borders, and desolate her plantations. She must

have her embassies; therefore she must have a revenue. And, let me tell

you, there is another consequence, an inevitable one. She has a certain

description of persons recognized as property South of the Potomac, and

West of the Mississippi, which would be no longer recognized as such,

except within their own limits. This species of property would sink to

one half of its present value, for it is Louisiana and the southwestern

States which are her great market.

* * * * *

If there be any who want civil war, who want to see the blood of any

portion of our countrymen spilt, I am not one of them. I wish to see war

of no kind; but, above all, I do not desire to see a civil war. When war

begins, whether civil or foreign, no human sight is competent to foresee

when, or how, or where it is to terminate. But when a civil war shall be

lighted up in the bosom of our own happy land, and armies are marching,

and commanders are winning their victories, and fleets are in motion on

our coast, tell me if you can tell me, if any human being can tell its

duration? God alone knows where such a war would end. In what a state

will our institutions be left? In what state our liberties? I want no

war; above all, no war at home.

* * * * *

=_John C. Calhoun, 1782-1850._= (Manual, p. 486.)

From his "Speech on the Bill to regulate the Power of Removal."

=_82._= DANGERS OF AN UNLIMITED POWER OF REMOVAL FROM OFFICE.

Let us not be deceived by names. The power in question is too great for

the chief magistrate of a free state. It is in its nature an imperial

power; and if he be permitted to exercise it, his authority must become

as absolute as that of the autocrat of all the Russias. To give him

the power to dismiss at his will and pleasure, without limitation or

control, is to give him an absolute and unlimited control over the

subsistence of almost all who hold office under government. Let him

have the power, and the sixty thousand who now hold employments

under government would become dependent upon him for the means of

existence.... I know that there are many virtuous and high-minded

citizens who hold public office; but it is not, therefore, the less true

that the tendency of the power of dismissal is such as I have attributed

to it; and that, if the power be left unqualified, and the practice be

continued as it has of late, the result must be the complete corruption

and debasement of those in public employment....

I have seen the spirit of independent men, holding public office, sink

under the dread of this fearful power, too honest and too firm to become

the instruments of the flatterers of power, yet too prudent, with all

the consequences before them, to whisper disapprobation of what, in

their hearts, they condemned. Let the present state of things continue,

let it be understood that none are to acquire the public honors or

to retain them, but by flattery and base compliance, and in a few

generations the American character will become utterly corrupt and

debased.

* * * * *

From the "Address on the relation of the States to the General

Government."

=_83._= PECULIAR MERIT OF OUR POLITICAL SYSTEM.

Happily for us, we have no artificial and separate classes of society.

We have wisely exploded all such distinctions; but we are not, on that

account, exempt from all contrariety of interests, as the present

distracted and dangerous condition of our country, unfortunately, but

too clearly proves. With us they are almost exclusively geographical,

resulting mainly from difference of climate, soil, situation, industry,

and production; but are not, therefore, less necessary to be protected

by an adequate constitutional provision, than where the distinct

interests exist in separate classes. The necessity is, in truth,

greater, as such separate and dissimilar geographical interests are more

liable to come into conflict, and more dangerous, when in that state,

than those of any other description: so much so, that _ours is the

first instance on record where they have not formed, in an extensive

territory, separate and independent communities, or subjected the whole

to despotic sway._ That such may not be our unhappy fate also, must be

the sincere prayer of every lover of his country.

So numerous and diversified are the interests of our country, that they

could not be fairly represented in a single government, organized so

as to give to each great and leading interest a separate and distinct

voice, as in governments to which I have referred. A plan was adopted

better suited to our situation, but perfectly novel in its character.

The powers of government were divided, not, as heretofore, in reference

to classes, but geographically. One General Government was formed

for the whole, to which were delegated all the powers supposed to be

necessary to regulate the interests common to all the States, leaving

others subject to the separate control of the States, being, from their

local and peculiar character, such that they could not be subject to the

will of a majority of the whole Union, without the certain hazard of

injustice and oppression. It was thus that the interests of the whole

were subjected, as they ought to be, to the will of the whole, while the

peculiar and local interests were left under the control of the States

separately, to whose custody only they could be safely confided. This

distribution of power, settled solemnly by a constitutional compact, to

which all the States are parties, constitutes the peculiar character

and excellence of our political system. It is truly and emphatically

_American, without example or parallel_.

To realize its perfection, we must view the General Government and those

of the States as a whole, each in its proper sphere independent;

each perfectly adapted to its respective objects; the States acting

separately, representing and protecting the local and peculiar

interests: and acting jointly through one General Government, with the

weight respectively assigned to each by the Constitution, representing

and protecting the interest of the whole, and thus perfecting, by an

admirable but simple arrangement, the great principle of representation

and responsibility, without which no government can be free or just. To

preserve this sacred distribution as originally settled, by coercing

each to move in its prescribed orbit, is the great and difficult

problem, on the solution of which the duration of our Constitution, of

our union, and, in all probability, our liberty depends. How is this to

be effected?

* * * * *

From his "Works."

=_84._= CONCURRENT MAJORITIES SUPERSEDE FORCE.

It has been already shown, that the same constitution of man which leads

those who govern to oppress the governed,--if not prevented,--will, with

equal force and certainty, lead the latter to resist oppression, when

possessed of the means of doing so peaceably and successfully. But

absolute governments, of all forms, exclude all other means of

resistance to their authority, than that of force; and, of course, leave

no other alternative to the governed, but to acquiesce in oppression,

however great it may be, or to resort to force to put down the

government. But the dread of such a resort must necessarily lead the

government to prepare to meet force in order to protect itself; and

hence, of necessity, force becomes the conservative principle of all

such governments.

On the contrary, the government of the concurrent majority, where the

organism is perfect, excludes the possibility of oppression, by giving

to each interest, or portion, or order,--where there are established

classes,--the means of protecting itself, by its negative, against all

measures calculated to advance the peculiar interests of others at

its expense. Its effect, then, is to cause the different interests,

portions, or orders,--as the case may be, to desist from attempting to

adopt any measure calculated to promote the prosperity of one, or more,

by sacrificing that of others; and thus to force them to unite in such

measures only as would promote the prosperity of all, as the only

means to prevent the suspension of the action of the government;--and,

thereby, to avoid anarchy, the greatest of all evils. It is by means of

such authorized and effectual resistance, that oppression is prevented,

and the necessity of resorting to force superseded, in governments of

the concurrent majority;--and, hence, compromise, instead of force,

becomes their conservative principle.

It would, perhaps, be more strictly correct to trace the conservative

principle of constitutional governments to the necessity which compels

the different interests, or portions, or orders, to compromise,--as

the only way to promote their respective prosperity, and to avoid

anarchy,--rather than to the compromise itself. No necessity can be more

urgent and imperious, than that of avoiding anarchy. It is the same as

that which makes government indispensable to preserve society; and is

not less imperative than that which compels obedience to superior

force. Traced to this source, the voice of a people,--uttered under the

necessity of avoiding the greatest of calamities, through the organs of

a government so constructed as to suppress the expression of all partial

and selfish interests, and to give a full and faithful utterance to the

sense of the whole community, in reference to its common welfare,--may

without impiety, be called _the voice of God_. To call any other so,

would be impious.

* * * * *

=_Daniel Webster, 1782-1852._= (Manual, pp. 478, 486.)

From the "Reply to Hayne, in the United States Senate."

=_85._= INESTIMABLE VALUE OF THE FEDERAL UNION.

I cannot, even now, persuade myself to relinquish it, without expressing

once more my deep conviction, that, since it respects nothing less than

the union of the states, it is of most vital and essential importance

to the public happiness. I profess, sir, in my career hitherto, to have

kept steadily in view the prosperity and honor of the whole country, and

the preservation of our Federal Union. It is to that Union we owe our

safety at home, and our consideration and dignity abroad. It is to that

Union we are chiefly indebted for whatever makes us most proud of our

country. That Union we reached only by the discipline of our virtues in

the severe school of adversity. It had its origin in the necessities of

disordered finance, prostrate commerce, and ruined credit. Under its

benign influences, these great interests immediately awoke, as from the

dead, and sprang forth with newness of life. Every year of its duration

has teemed with fresh proofs of its utility and its blessings; and

although our territory has stretched out wider and wider, and our

population spread farther and farther, they have not outrun its

protection or its benefits. It has been to us all a copious fountain of

national, social, personal happiness. I have not allowed myself, sir, to

look beyond the Union, to see what might lie hidden in the dark recess

behind. I have not coolly weighed the chances of preserving liberty,

when the bonds that unite us together shall be broken asunder, I have

not accustomed myself to hang over the precipice of disunion, to see

whether, with my short sight, I can fathom the depth of the abyss below;

nor could I regard him as a safe counsellor in the affairs of this

government, whose thoughts should be mainly bent on considering, not

how the Union should be best preserved, but how tolerable might be the

condition of the people when it shall be broken up and destroyed. While

the Union lasts, we have high, exciting, gratifying prospects spread

out before us, for us and our children. Beyond that I do not seek to

penetrate the veil. God grant that, in my day at least, that curtain may

not rise. God grant that, on my vision never may be opened what lies

behind. When my eyes shall be turned to behold, for the last time, the

sun in heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and dishonored

fragments of a once glorious Union; on states dissevered, discordant,

belligerent; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be,

in fraternal blood! Let their last feeble and lingering glance rather

behold the gorgeous ensign of the republic, now known and honored

throughout the earth, still full high advanced, its arms and trophies

streaming in their original lustre, not a stripe erased or polluted,

nor a single star obscured,--bearing for its motto no such miserable

interrogatory as, _What is all this worth?_ nor those other words

of delusion and folly, _Liberty first, and Union afterwards_; but

everywhere, spread all over in characters of living light, blazing on

all its ample folds, as they float over the sea and over the land, and

in every wind under the whole heavens, that other sentiment, dear to

every American heart--Liberty _and_ Union, now and forever, one and

inseparable!

* * * * *

From the "Speech at the Laying of the Corner Stone of the Bunker Hill

Monument."

=_86._= OBJECT OF THE MONUMENT.

Let it not be supposed 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 conviction of that unmeasured benefit

which has been conferred on our own land, and of the happy influences

which have been produced, by the same events, on the general interests

of mankind. We come, as Americans, to mark a spot which must forever be

dear to us and our posterity. We wish that whoever, in all coming

time, shall turn his eye hither, may behold that the place is not

undistinguished 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 purpose of its erection, from maternal lips,

and that weary and withered age may behold it, and be solaced by the

recollections 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, desponding 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. We wish, finally,

that the last object to 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! let it rise, till it meet the sun in his coming; let the earliest

light of the morning gild it, and parting day linger and play on its

summit.

* * * * *

From his "Works."

=_87._= BENEFITS OF THE CONSTITUTION.

Its benefits are not exclusive. What has it left undone, which any

government could do for the whole country? In what condition has it

placed us? Where do we now stand? Are we elevated, or degraded, by its

operation? What is our condition, under its influence, at the very

moment when some talk of arresting its power and breaking its unity? Do

we not feel ourselves on an eminence? Do we not challenge the respect of

the whole world? What has placed us thus high? What has given us this

just pride? What else is it, but the unrestrained and free operation

of that same Federal Constitution, which it has been proposed now to

hamper, and manacle, and nullify? Who is there among us, that, should

he find himself on any spot of the earth where human beings exist, and

where the existence of other nations is known, would not be proud to

say, I am an American? I am a countryman of Washington? I am a citizen

of that Republic, which although it has suddenly sprung up, yet there

are none on the globe who have ears to hear, and have not heard of

it,--who have eyes to see and have not read of it,--who know any

thing,--and yet do not know of its existence and its glory? And,

gentlemen, let me now reverse the picture. Let me ask, who is there

among us, if he were to be found to-morrow in one of the civilized

countries of Europe, and were there to learn that this goodly form of

Government had been overthrown--that the United States were no longer

united--that a death-blow had been struck upon their bond of Union--that

they themselves had destroyed their chief good and their chief

honor,--who is there, whose heart would not sink within him? Who is

there, who would not cover his face for very shame?

At this very moment, gentlemen, our country is a general refuge for the

distressed and the persecuted of other nations. Whoever is in affliction

from political occurrences in his own country, looks here for shelter.

Whether he be republican, flying from the oppression of thrones--or

whether he be monarch or monarchist, flying from thrones that crumble

and fall under or around him,--he feels equal assurance, that if he

get foothold on our soil, his person is safe, and his rights will be

respected.

And who will venture to say, that in any government now existing in the

world, there is greater security for persons or property than in that of

the United States? We have tried these popular institutions in times of

great excitement and commotion; and they have stood substantially firm

and steady, while the fountains of the great deep have been elsewhere

broken up; while thrones, resting on ages of prescription, have tottered

and fallen; and while in other countries, the earthquake of unrestrained

popular commotion has swallowed up all law, and all liberty, and all

right, together. Our Government has been tried in peace, and it has been

tried in war; and has proved itself fit for both. It has been assailed

from without, and it has successfully resisted the shock; it has been

disturbed within, and it has effectually quieted the disturbance. It can

stand trial--it can stand, assault--it, can stand adversity.--it can

stand every thing, but the marring of its own beauty, and the weakening

of its own strength. It can stand every thing, but the effects of

our own rashness, and our own folly. It can stand everything, but

disorganization, disunion, and nullification.

* * * * *

From his Correspondence with Lord Ashburton.

=_88._= THE RIGHT OF CHANGING ALLEGIANCE.

England acknowledges herself overburdened with population of the poorer

classes. Every instance of the emigration of persons of those classes is

regarded by her as a benefit. England, therefore, encourages emigration;

means are notoriously supplied to emigrants, to assist their conveyance,

from public funds; and the New World, and most especially these United

States, receive the many thousands of her subjects thus ejected from the

bosom of their native land by the necessities of their condition. They

come away from poverty and distress in over-crowded cities, to seek

employment, comfort, and new homes, in a country of free institutions,

possessed by a kindred race, speaking their own language, and having

laws and usages in many respects like those to which they have been

accustomed; and a country which, upon the whole, is found to possess

more attractions for persons of their character and condition, than any

other on the face of the globe. It is stated that, in the quarter of the

year ending with June last, more than twenty-six thousand emigrants left

the single port of Liverpool for the United States, being four or five

times as many as left the same port within the same period, for the

British Colonies and all other parts of the world. Of these crowds

of emigrants, many arrive in our cities in circumstances of great

destitution, and the charities of the country, both public and private,

are severely taxed to relieve their immediate wants. In time they mingle

with the new community in which they find themselves, and seek means of

living. Some find employment in the cities, others go to the frontiers,

to cultivate lands reclaimed from the forest; and a greater or less

number of the residue, becoming in time naturalized citizens, enter into

the merchant service under the flag of their adopted country.

Now, my Lord, if war should break out between England and a European

power, can any thing be more unjust, any thing more irreconcilable to

the general sentiments of mankind, than that England should seek out

these persons, thus encouraged by her, and compelled by their own

condition, to leave their native homes, tear them away from their

new employments, their new political relations, and their domestic

connections, and force them to undergo the dangers and hardships of

military service for a country which, has thus ceased to be their own

country? Certainly, certainly, my Lord, there can be but one answer to

this question. Is it not far more reasonable that England should either

prevent such emigration of her subjects, or that, if she encourage and

promote it, she should leave them, not to the embroilment of a double

and contradictory allegiance, but to their own voluntary choice, to form

such relations, political or social, as they see fit, in the country

where they are to find their bread, and to the laws and institutions of

which they are to look for defence and protection.

* * * * *

=_Joseph Story, 1779-1845._= (Manual, pp. 487, 531.)

From his "Miscellaneous Writings."

=_89._= CHIEF JUSTICE MARSHALL.

When can we expect to be permitted to behold again so much moderation

united with so much firmness, so much sagacity with so much modesty, so

much learning with so much experience, so much solid wisdom with so

much purity, so much of every thing to love and admire, with

nothing--absolutely nothing, to regret? What, indeed, strikes us as the

most remarkable in his whole character, even more than his splendid

talents, is the entire consistency of his public life and principles.

There is nothing in either which calls for apology or concealment.

Ambition has never seduced him from his principles, nor popular clamor

deterred him from the strict performance of duty. Amid the extravagances

of party spirit he has stood with a calm, and steady inflexibility,

neither bending to the pressure of adversity, nor bounding with the

elasticity of success. He has lived as such a man should live, (and yet,

how few deserve the commendation!) by and with, his principles. Whatever

changes of opinion have occurred in the course of his long life,

have been gradual and slow; the results of genius acting upon larger

materials, and of judgment matured by the lessons of experience.

If we were tempted to say, in one word, what it was in which he chiefly

excelled other men, we should say, in wisdom--in the union of that

virtue, which has ripened under the hardy discipline of principles,

with that knowledge which has constantly sifted and refined its old

treasures, and as constantly gathered new. The constitution, since its

adoption, owes more to him than to any other single mind, for its true

interpretation and vindication. Whether it lives or perishes, his

exposition of its principles will be an enduring monument to his fame,

as long as solid reasoning, profound analysis, and sober views of

government, shall invite the leisure, or command the attention, of

statesmen and jurists.... Yet it may be affirmed by those who have had

the privilege of intimacy with Mr. Chief Justice Marshall, that he

rises, rather than falls, with the nearest survey; and that in the

domestic circle he is exactly what a wife, a child, a brother, and a

friend would most desire. In that magical circle, admiration of

his talents is forgotten in the indulgence of those affections and

sensibilities which are awakened only to be gratified.

* * * * *

From his "Miscellanies."

=_90._= DIGNITY OF AMERICAN JURISPRUDENCE.

The most delicate, and at the same time the proudest attribute of

American jurisprudence, is the right of its judicial tribunals to decide

questions of constitutional law. In other governments these questions

cannot be entertained or decided by courts of justice; and, therefore,

whatever may be the theory of the constitution, the legislative

authority is practically omnipotent, and there is no means of contesting

the legality or justice of a law, but by an appeal to arms. This can be

done only when oppression weighs heavily and grievously on the whole

people, and is then resisted by all because it is felt by all. But the

oppression that strikes at a humble individual, though it robs him of

character, or fortune, or life, is remediless; and, if it becomes the

subject of judicial enquiry, judges may lament, but cannot resist, the

mandates of the legislature. Far different is the case in our country;

and the privilege of bringing every law to the test of the constitution

belongs to the humblest citizen, who owes no obedience to any

legislative act which transcends the constitutional limits.

The discussion of constitutional questions throws a lustre round the

bar, and gives a dignity to its functions, which can rarely belong to

the profession in any other country. Lawyers are here emphatically

placed as sentinels upon the outposts of the constitution, and no nobler

end can be proposed for their ambition or patriotism than to stand as

faithful guardians of the constitution, ready to defend its legitimate

powers, and to stay the arm of legislative, executive, or popular

oppression. If their eloquence can charm, when it vindicates the

innocent, and the suffering under private wrongs; if their learning

and genius can, with almost superhuman witchery, unfold the mazes and

intricacies by which the minute links of title are chained to the

adamantine pillars of the law;--how much more glory belongs to them when

this eloquence, this learning, and this genius, are employed in defence

of their country; when they breathe forth the purest spirit of morality

and virtue in support of the rights of mankind; when they expound the

lofty doctrines which sustain and connect, and guide the destinies of

nations; when they combat popular delusions at the expense of fame, and

friendship, and political honors; when they triumph by arresting the

progress of error and the march of power, and drive back the torrent

that threatens destruction equally to public liberty and to private

property, to all that delights us in private life, and all that gives

grace and authority in public office.

* * * * *

=_Lewis Cass,[23] 1782-1866._=

From his "Report of the Secretary of War." December 1831.

=_91._= POLICY OF REMOVING THE INDIANS.

The associations which bind the Indians to the land of their forefathers

are strong and enduring; and these must be broken by their emigration.

But they are also broken by our citizens, who every day encounter all

the difficulties of similar changes in pursuit of the means of support.

And the experiments that have been made satisfactorily show that,

by proper precautions and liberal appropriations, the removal and

establishment of the Indians can be effected with little comparative

trouble to them, or us.... If they remain, they must decline, and

eventually disappear. Such is the result of all experience. If they

remove, they may be comfortably established, and their moral and

physical condition ameliorated....

The great moral debt we owe to this unhappy race is universally felt and

acknowledged. Diversities of opinion exist respecting the proper mode of

discharging this obligation, but its validity is not denied.

Indolent in his habits, the Indian is opposed to labor; improvident

in his mode of life, he has little foresight in providing, or care in

preserving. Taught from infancy to reverence his own traditions and

institutions, he is satisfied of their value, and dreads the anger of

the Great Spirit, if he should depart from the customs of his fathers.

Devoted to the use of ardent spirits, he abandons himself to

its indulgence without restraint. War and hunting are his only

occupations.... Shall they be advised to remain, or remove? If the

former, their fate is written in the annals of their race; if the

latter, we may yet hope to see them renovated in character and

condition, by our example and instruction, and their exertions.

[Footnote 23: A native of New Hampshire, but for many years a citizen of

Michigan: conspicuous in public life, and a writer of high authority on

Indian and military affairs, and the settlement of the north-west.]

* * * * *

=_Rufus Choate, 1799-1859._= (Manual, p. 487.)

From his "Lectures and Addresses."

=_92._= CONSERVATIVE FORCE OF THE AMERICAN BAR.

Is it not so that in its nature, in its functions, in the intellectual

and practical habits which it forms, in the opinions to which it

conducts, in all its tendencies and influences of speculation and

action, it is, and ought to be, professionally and peculiarly such an

element and such an agent, that it contributes, or ought to be held to

contribute, more than all things else, or as much as anything else, to

preserve our organic forms, our civil and social order, our public and

private justice, our constitutions of government, even the Union itself?

In these crises through which our liberty is to pass, may not, must not,

this function of conservatism become more and more developed, and more

and more operative? May it not one day be written, for the praise of the

American Bar, that it helped to keep the true idea of the state alive

and germinant in the American mind; that it helped to keep alive the

sacred sentiments of obedience, and reverence, and justice, of the

supremacy of the calm and grand reason of the law over the fitful

will of the individual and the crowd; that it helped to withstand the

pernicious sophism that the successive generations, as they come to

life, are but as so many successive flights of summer flies, without

relations to the past or duties to the future, and taught instead that

all--all the dead, the living, the unborn--were one moral person-one for

action, one for suffering, one for responsibility; that the engagements

of one age may bind the conscience of another; the glory or the shame

of a day may brighten or stain the current of a thousand years of

continuous national being?

* * * * *

From the "Address before the New England Society of New York."

=_93._= THE AGE OF THE PILGRIMS, OUR HEROIC PERIOD.

I have said that I deemed it a great thing for a nation, in all the

periods of its fortunes, to be able to look back to a race of founders,

and a principle of institution, in which, it might seem to see the

realized idea of true heroism. That felicity, that pride, that help, is

ours. Our past--both its great eras, that of settlement, and that of

independence--should announce, should compel, should spontaneously

evolve as from a germ, a wise, moral, and glorious future. These heroic

men and women should not look down on a dwindled posterity. It should

seem to be almost of course, too easy to be glorious, that they who

keep the graves, bear the name, and boast the blood, of men in whom

the loftiest sense of duty blended itself with the fiercest spirit of

liberty, should add to their freedom, justice: justice to all men, to

all nations; justice, that venerable virtue, without which freedom,

valor, and power, are but vulgar things.

And yet is the past nothing, even our past, but as you, quickened by its

examples, instructed by its experiences, warned by its voices, assisted

by its accumulated instrumentality, shall reproduce it in the life of

to-day. Its once busy existence, various sensations, fiery trials,

dear-bought triumphs; its dynasty of heroes, all its pulses of joy and

anguish, and hope and fear, and love and praise, are with the years

beyond the flood. "The sleeping and the dead are but as pictures." Yet,

gazing on these, long and intently, and often, we may pass into the

likeness of the departed,--may emulate their labors, and partake of

their immortality.

* * * * *

=_William H. Seward,[24] 1801-1872._=

"Oration on Lafayette," July 16th, 1834.

=_94._= HIS MILITARY SERVICES IN AMERICA.

There were indeed other and heroic volunteers from European countries,

but they were either exiles who had no homes, or they were soldiers by

profession, who followed the sword wherever a harvest was to be reaped

with it.... Lafayette's first act in America gave new evidence of

disinterestedness and magnanimity. He found the small patriot army rent

asunder by jealous feuds growing out of ambition for preferment. What

revolution, however holy, has not suffered by such evils! How many

a revolution has been lost by them! Schuyler, the brave, the

high-spirited, and wise, now the victim of an intrigue, was hesitating

whether to submit to a privation of rank justly due him, or to resign.

Putnam's recent promotion produced bitter complaints; and Gates was

laboring night and day, aided by a powerful faction, to displace

Washington from the chief command. The correspondence of the Father of

his country, now first published, reveals the fact that the compensation

attached to military rank was by no means an unimportant object of the

universal rage for preferment, which then threatened to break up the

army. Lafayette set a noble example to the republican chiefs. He

declined the tender of a commission as major-general, with the

emoluments, and stipulated, on the contrary, for leave to serve without

reward, and even without a command, until he should have made a title to

it by actual achievements. He won his commission by the blood he gave to

his adopted country in the battle of Brandywine, by rallying the troops

in the retreat at Chester Bridge, and by his brave resistance and

capture, with the aid of militia-men, of a superior force of British

and Hessian regulars; and thus, without exciting murmurs among his

compatriots, and with the thanks of Congress, he rose to the command of

a division in the army of the United States. Lavish of gold, as he had

already shown that he was lavish of blood, he clothed and equipped

these troops, numbering two thousand, at his own expense; and they soon

became, under his exact but affectionate discipline, the favorite corps

of the whole army.

Lafayette stood second to Washington in the affections of the American

people, and in the applauses of the friends of liberty throughout the

world. Certainly whatever honors that people could have conferred upon

any one would have been sure to wait on him. Let those who think that

preferment, power, and applause are always the chief objects of human

ambition, look now at this illustrious and yet youthful personage,

cheerfully resigning his command, and without one murmur of regret for

the honors laid down, or one glance towards the honors gathering before

him, taking affectionate leave of his companions in arms, and their

great chief, and returning to his native land, to resume there the

duties he owed as a subject and member of the State, in France.

[Footnote 24: A prominent statesman, formerly Governor of New York, of

which state he is a native. He is known in literature by many addresses,

speeches, and diplomatic papers, often of high merit.]

* * * * *

=_Abraham Lincoln,[25] 1809-1865._=

"Speech at the Dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg,"

November 19, 1883.

=_95._= OBLIGATION TO THE PATRIOT DEAD.

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this

continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the

proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a

great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived

and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of

that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final

resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might

live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But

in a larger sense 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. The world

will little note, nor long remember, what we say here; but it can never

forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be

dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here, have

thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to

the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we

take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full

measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall

not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new

birth of freedom, and that governments of the people, by the people, and

for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

[Footnote 25: Born in Kentucky; a prominent lawyer and statesman of

Illinois; was elected President of the United States in 1860; was

eminent for his profound appreciation of 'the subsequent struggle, and

for his patriotic appeals in behalf of the nation. Assassinated April

13, 1865.]

* * * * *

=_Charles Sumner, 1811-1874._= (Manual, p. 487.)

From the "Speech in the Senate on the Nebraska and Kansas Bill," May 25,

1854.

=_96._= PROSPECTIVE RESULTS OF THE BILL.

Sir, the bill which you are now about to pass is at once the worst and

the best bill on which Congress ever acted. Yes, sir, worst and best at

the same time.

It is the worst bill, inasmuch as it is a present victory of slavery. In

a Christian land, and in an age of civilization, a time-honored statute

of freedom is struck down, opening the way to all the countless woes and

wrongs of human bondage. Among the crimes of history, another is about

to be recorded, which no tears can blot out, and which, in better days,

will be read with universal shame.

But there is another side, to which I gladly turn. Sir, it is the best

bill on which Congress ever acted; for it annuls all past compromises

with slavery, and makes all future compromises impossible. Thus it puts

freedom and slavery face to face, and bids them grapple. Who can doubt

the result? It opens wide the door of the future, when, at last, there

will really be a North, and the slave power will be broken; when this

wretched despotism will cease to dominate over our government, no longer

impressing itself upon everything at home and abroad; when the national

government shall be divorced in every way from slavery, and according

to the true intention of our fathers, freedom shall be established by

Congress everywhere, at least beyond the local limits of the states.

Thus, sir, now standing at the very grave of freedom in Kansas and

Nebraska, I lift myself to the vision of that happy resurrection, by

which freedom will be secured, not only in these territories, but

everywhere under the national government. More clearly than ever before,

I now penetrate that "All-Hail-Hereafter" when slavery must disappear.

Proudly I discern the flag of my country, as it ripples in every breeze,

at last become in reality, as in name, the Flag of Freedom, undoubted,

pure, and irresistible. Am I not right, then, in calling this bill the

best on which Congress ever acted?

Sorrowfully I bend before the wrong you are about to commit. Joyfully I

welcome all the promises of the future.

* * * * *

From the "Speech for Union against the Slave Power," June 8, 1848.

=_97._= HEROIC EFFORTS CANNOT FAIL.

There are occasions of political difference, I admit, when it may become

expedient to vote for a person who does not completely represent our

sentiments. There are some matters that come legitimately within the

range of expediency and compromise. The Tariff and the Currency are

unquestionably of this character. If a candidate differs from me, more

or less, on these, I may yet be disposed to vote for him. But the

question now before the country is of another character. This will not

admit of compromise. It is not within the domain of expediency. _To be

wrong on this is to be wholly wrong._ It is not merely expedient for us

to defend Freedom, when assailed, but our duty so to do, unreservedly,

and careless of consequences. Who is there in this assembly that would

help to fasten a fetter upon Oregon or Mexico? Who is there that would

not oppose every effort for this purpose? Nobody. Who is there, then,

that can vote for Taylor or Cass?

But it is said that we shall throw away our votes, and that our

opposition will fail. Sir! no honest, earnest effort in a good cause

ever fails. It may not be crowned with the applause of men; it may not

seem to touch the goal of immediate worldly success, which is the end

and aim of so much of life. But still it is not lost. It helps to

strengthen the weak with new virtue; to arm the irresolute with proper

energy; to animate all with devotion to duty, which in the end conquers

all. Fail! Did the martyrs fail, when with their precious blood they

sowed the seed of the Church? Did the discomfited champions of Freedom

fail, who have left those names in history which can never die? Did the

three hundred Spartans fail, when, in the narrow pass, they did not fear

to brave the innumerable Persian hosts, whose very arrows darkened the

sun? No! Overborne by numbers, crushed to earth, they have left an

example which is greater far than any victory. And this is the least we

can do. Our example shall be the source of triumph hereafter. It

will not be the first time in history that the hosts of Slavery have

outnumbered the champions of Freedom. But where is it written that

Slavery finally prevailed.

* * * * *

Returning to our forefathers for our principles, let us borrow, also,

something of their courage and union. Let us summon to our sides the

majestic forms of those civil heroes, whose firmness in council was

equalled only by the firmness of Washington in war. Let us listen

again to the eloquence of the elder Adams, animating his associates in

Congress to independence: let us hang anew upon the sententious wisdom

of Franklin; let us be enkindled, as were the men of other days, by the

fervid devotion to Freedom, which flamed from the heart of Jefferson.

Deriving instruction from our enemies, let us also be taught by the

Slave Power. The two hundred thousand slaveholders are always united in

purpose. Hence their strength. Like arrows in a quiver, they cannot be

broken. The friends of Freedom have thus far been divided. _Union_,

then, must be our watchword,--union, among men of all parties. By such a

union we shall consolidate an opposition which must prevail.

* * * * *

From a Speech, September 16, 1863.

=_98._= OUR FOREIGN RELATIONS.

It only remains that the Republic should lift itself to the height of

its great duties. War is hard to bear,--with its waste, its pains, its

wounds, its funerals. But in this war we have not been choosers. We have

been challenged to the defence of our country, and in this sacred cause,

to crush Slavery. There is no alternative. Slavery began the combat,

staking its life, and determined to rule or die. That we may continue

freemen there must be no slaves; so that our own security is linked with

the redemption of a race. Blessed lot, amidst the harshness of war, to

wield the arms and deal the blows under which the monster will surely

fall!

But while thus steady in our purpose at home, we must not neglect

that proper moderation abroad, which becomes the consciousness of our

strength and the nobleness of our cause. The mistaken sympathy which

foreign powers now bestow upon slavery,--or it may be the mistaken

insensibility,--under the plausible name of "neutrality," which they

profess,--will be worse for them than for us. For them it will be a

record of shame which their children would gladly wash out with tears.

For us it will be only another obstacle vanquished in the battle for

civilization, where unhappily false friends are mingled with open

enemies. Even if the cause shall seem for a while imperilled from

foreign powers, yet our duties are none the less urgent. If the pressure

be great, the resistance must be greater; nor can there be any retreat.

Come weal or woe this is the place for us to stand.

I know not if a republic like ours can count even now upon the certain

friendship of any European power, unless it be the republic of William

Tell. The very name is unwelcome to the full-blown representatives of

monarchical Europe, who forget how proudly, even in modern history,

Venice bore the title of _Serenissima Respublica_. It will be for us

to change all this, and we shall do it. Our successful example will be

enough. Thus far we have been known chiefly through that vital force

which slavery could only degrade, but not subdue. Now at last, by the

death of slavery, will the republic begin to live. For what is life

without liberty? Stretching from ocean to ocean,--teeming with

population, bountiful in resources of all kinds, and thrice-happy in

universal enfranchisement, it will be more than conqueror. Nothing too

vast for its power; nothing too minute for its care. Triumphant over the

foulest wrong ever inflicted, after the bloodiest war ever waged, it

will know the majesty of right and the beauty of peace, prepared always

to uphold the one, and to cultivate the other. Strong in its own mighty

stature, filled with all the fulness of a new life, and covered with a

panoply of renown, it will confess that no dominion is of value which

does not contribute to human happiness. Born in this latter day, and the

child of its own struggles, without ancestral claims, but heir of

all the ages,--it will stand forth to assert the dignity of man, and

wherever any member of the human family is to be succored, there its

voice will reach,--as the voice of Cromwell reached across France

even to the persecuted mountaineers of the Alps. Such will be this

republic;--upstart among the nations. Aye! as the steam-engine, the

telegraph, and chloroform are upstart. Comforter and helper like these,

it can know no bounds to its empire over a willing world. But the first

stage is the death of slavery.

* * * * *

From "Prophetic Voices about America."

=_99._= NATIONAL GREATNESS ATTAINABLE THROUGH PEACE.

Such are some of the prophetic voices about America, differing in

character and importance, but all having one augury, and opening one

vista, illimitable in extent and vastness. Farewell to the idea of

Montesquieu, that a republic can exist only in a small territory....

Such grandeur may justly excite anxiety rather than pride, for duties

are in corresponding proportion. There is occasion for humility also,

as the individual considers his own insignificance in the transcendent

mass. The tiny polyp, in its unconscious life, builds the everlasting

coral; each citizen is little more than the industrious insect. The

result is accomplished by continuous and combined exertion. Millions of

citizens, working in obedience to nature, can accomplish anything. Of

course, war is an instrumentality which a true civilization disowns.

Here some of our prophets have erred. Sir Thomas Browne was so much

overshadowed by his own age, that his vision was darkened by "great

armies," and even "hostile and piratical attacks" on Europe. It was

natural that D'Aranda, schooled in worldly affairs, should imagine the

new-born power ready to seize the Spanish possessions. Among our own

countrymen, Jefferson looked to war for the extension of dominion. The

Floridas he says on one occasion, "are ours on the first moment of war,

and until a war they are of no particular necessity to us." Happily

they were acquired in another way. Then again, while declaring that no

constitution was ever before so calculated as ours for extensive empire

and self-government, and insisting upon Canada as a component part,

he calmly says that "this would be, of course, in the first war."

Afterwards, while confessing a longing for Cuba, "as the most

interesting addition that could ever be made to our system of States,"

he says that "he is sensible that this can never be obtained, even with

her own consent, without war." Thus at each stage is the baptism of

blood. In much better mood the good Bishop recognized empire as moving

gently in the pathway of light. All this is much clearer now than when

he prophesied. It is easy to see that empire obtained by force is

unrepublican and offensive to that first principle of our Union

according to which all just government stands only on the consent of the

governed. Our country needs no such ally as war. Its destiny is mightier

than war. Through peace it will have every thing. This is our talisman.

Give us peace, and population will increase beyond all experience;

resources of all kinds will multiply infinitely; arts will embellish the

land with immortal beauty, the name of Republic will be exalted, until

every neighbor, yielding to irresistible attraction, will seek a new

life in becoming a part of the great whole; and the national example

will be more puissant than army or navy for the conquest of the world.

* * * * *

=_Alexander H. Stephens,[26] 1812-._=

From Appendix to "The Constitutional View."

=_100._= ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN FLAG.

The stars, as a matter of course, represent states. The origin of

the stripes, I think, if searched out, would be found to be a little

curious. All I know upon that point is, that on the 4th day of July,

1776, after the Declaration of Independence was carried, a committee was

appointed by Congress, consisting of Mr. Jefferson, Dr. Franklin, and

John Adams, to prepare a _device_ for a _seal_ of the United States....

This seal, as reported, or the _device_ in full, as reported, was

never adopted. But in it we see the emblems, in part, which are still

preserved in the flag.

The stripes, or lines, which, on Mr. Jefferson's original plan, were

to designate the six quarterings of the shield, as signs of the six

countries from which our ancestors came, are now, I believe, considered

as representations of the old thirteen states, and with most persons the

idea of a shield is lost sight of. You perceive that, by drawing six

lines or stripes on a shield figure, it will leave seven spaces of the

original color, and of course give thirteen apparent stripes; hence the

idea of their being all intended to represent the old thirteen states.

My opinion, is, that this was the origin of the stripes. Mr. Jefferson's

quartered shield for a seal device was seized upon as a national emblem,

that was put upon the flag. We have now the stars as well as the

stripes. When each of these was adopted I cannot say; but the flag, as

it now is, was designed by Captain Reid, as I tell you, and adopted by

Congress.

[Footnote 26: One of the most eminent public men of the south; a native

of Georgia.]

* * * * *

BIOGRAPHICAL WRITERS.

=_Benjamin Rush,[27] 1743-1813._=

From "Essays, Literary, Moral," etc.

=_101._= THE LIFE OF EDWARD DRINKER, A CENTENARIAN.

He saw and heard more of those events which are measured by time, than

have ever been seen or heard since the age of the patriarchs; he saw the

same spot of earth which at one period of his life was covered with wood

and bushes, and the receptacle of beasts and birds of prey, afterwards

become the seat of a city not only the first in wealth and arts in the

new, but rivalling, in both, many of the first cities in the old world.

He saw regular streets where he once pursued a hare; he saw churches

rising upon morasses, where he had often heard the croaking of frogs; he

saw wharves and warehouses where he had often seen Indian savages draw

fish from the river for their daily subsistence; and he saw ships of

every size and use in those streams where he had often seen nothing but

Indian canoes.... He saw the first treaty ratified between the newly

confederated powers of America and the ancient monarchy of France, with

all the formalities of parchment and seals, on the same spot, probably,

where he once saw William Penn ratify his first and last treaty with

the Indians, without the formality of pen, ink, or paper.... He saw the

beginning and end of the empire of Great Britain in Pennsylvania. He

had been the subject of seven successive crowned heads, and afterwards

became a willing citizen of a republic; for he embraced the liberties

and independence of America in his withered arms, and triumphed in the

last years of his life in the salvation of his country.

[Footnote 27: A native of Pennsylvania, eminent as a writer, and

especially as a teacher and practitioner of medicine.]

* * * * *

=_John Marshall, 1755-1835._= (Manual, p. 490.)

From the "History of the American Colonies."

=_102._= THE CONQUEST OF CANADA.

During these transactions, General Amherst was taking measures for the

annihilation of the remnant of French power in Canada. He determined to

employ the immense force under his command for the accomplishment of

this object, and made arrangements during the winter to bring the armies

from Quebec, Lake Champlain, and Lake Ontario, to act against Montreal.

The junction of these armies presenting before Montreal a force not

to be resisted, the Governor offered to capitulate. In the month of

September, Montreal, and all other places within the government of

Canada, then remaining in the possession of France, were surrendered to

his Britannic majesty. The troops were to be transported to France, and

the Canadians to be protected in their property, and the full enjoyment

of their religion.

That colossal power which France had been long erecting in America, with

vast labor and expense; which had been the motive for one of the most

extensive and desolating wars of modern times, was thus entirely

overthrown. The causes of this interesting event are to be found in the

superior wealth and population of the colonies of England, and in

her immense naval strength; an advantage, in distant war, not to be

counterbalanced by the numbers, the discipline, the courage, and the

military talents, which may be combined in the armies of an inferior

maritime power.

The joy diffused throughout the British dominions by this splendid

conquest, was mingled with a proud sense of superiority, which did

not estimate with exact justice the relative means employed by the

belligerents. In no part of those dominions was this joy felt in a

higher degree, or with more reason, than in America. In that region, the

wars between France and England had assumed a form, happily unknown to

other parts of the civilized world. Not confined as in Europe to men in

arms--women and children were its common victims. It had been carried by

the savage to the fire-side of the peaceful peasant, where the tomahawk

and the scalping-knife were applied indiscriminately to every age, and

to either sex. The hope was now fondly indulged that these scenes, at

least in the northern and middle colonies, were closed forever.

* * * * *

=_John Armstrong,[28] 1759-1843._=

From the Life of General Wayne.

=_103._= STORMING OF STONY POINT.

Wayne, believing that few things were impracticable to discipline and

valor, after a careful reconnoissance, adopted the project, and hastened

to give it execution. Beginning his march on the 15th from Sandy Beach,

he at eight o'clock in the evening took a position within a mile and

a half of his object. By the organization given to the attack, the

regiments of Febiger and Meigs, with Hull's detachment, formed the

column of the right; and the regiment of Butler and Murfey's detachment,

that of the left. A party of twenty men furnished with axes for pioneer

duty, and followed by a sustaining corps of one hundred and fifty men

with unloaded arms, preceded each column, while a small detachment was

assigned to purposes merely of demonstration.

At half after eleven o'clock, the hour fixed on for the assault, the

columns were in motion; but from delays made inevitable by the nature of

the ground, it was twenty minutes after twelve before this commenced,

when neither the morass, now overflowed by the tide, nor the formidable

and double row of _abattis_, nor the high and strong works on the summit

of the hill, could for a moment damp the ardor or stop the career of

the assailants, who, in the face of an incessant fire of musketry and

a shower of shells and grape-shot, forced their way through every

obstacle, and with so much concert of movement, that both columns

entered the fort and reached its centre, nearly at the same moment. Nor

was the conduct of the victors less conspicuous for humanity than for

valor. Not a man of the garrison was injured after the surrender; and

during the conflict of battle, all were spared who ceased to make

resistance.

The entire American loss in this enterprise, so formidable in prospect,

did not exceed one hundred men. The pioneer parties, necessarily the

most exposed, suffered most. Of the twenty men led by Lieutenant Gibbons

of the Sixth Pennsylvania Regiment, seventeen were killed or wounded.

Wayne's own escape on this occasion was of the hair-breadth kind. Struck

on the head by a musket-ball, he fell; but immediately rising on one

knee, he exclaimed, "March on, carry me into the fort; for should the

wound be mortal, I will die at the head of the column." The enemy's

loss in killed and captured amounted to six hundred and seven men. This

affair, the most brilliant of the war, covered the commanding general

with laurels.

[Footnote 28: An officer of the revolutionary army, and a conspicuous

actor in the War of 1812; has written chiefly on military affairs.]

* * * * *

=_Charles Caldwell,[29] 1772-1853._=

From his "Autobiography."

=_104._= A LECTURE OF DR. RUSH.

At length, however, though the class of the winter, all told, amounted

to less than a hundred, a sufficient number had arrived to induce the

professors to commence their lectures; and the introductory of Dr. Rush

was a performance of deep and touching interest, and never, I think, to

be forgotten (while his memory endures), by any one who listened to it,

and was susceptible of the impression it was calculated to make. It

consisted in a well-written and graphical description of the terrible

sweep of the late pestilence; the wild dismay and temporary desolation

it had produced; the scenes of family and individual suffering and woe

he had witnessed during its ravages; the mental dejection, approaching

despair, which he himself had experienced, on account of the entire

failure of his original mode of practice in it, and the loss of his

earliest patients (some of them personal friends); the joy he felt on

the discovery of a successful mode of treating it; the benefactions

which he had afterwards the happiness to confer; and the gratulations

with which, after the success of his practice had become known, he was

often received in sick and afflicted families. The discourse, though

highly colored, and marked by not a few figures of fancy and bursts of

feeling, was, notwithstanding, sufficiently fraught, with substantial

matter to render it no less instructive than it was fascinating.

[Footnote 29: A native of North Carolina; prominent as a physician and

controversialist.]

* * * * *

=_Thomas H. Benton, 1783-1858._= (Manual, p. 487.)

From the "Thirty Years' View of the United States Senate."

=_105._= THE CHARACTER OF MACON.[30]

He was above the pursuit of wealth, but also above dependence and

idleness, and, like an old Roman of the elder Cato's time, worked in the

fields at the head of his slaves in the intervals of public duty, and

did not cease this labor until advancing age rendered him unable to

stand the hot sun of summer.... I think it was the summer of 1817,--that

was the last time (he told me) he tried it, and found the sun too hot

for him,--then sixty years of age, a senator, and the refuser of all

office. How often I think of him, when I see at Washington robustious

men going through a scene of supplication, tribulation, and degradation,

to obtain office, which the salvation of the soul does not impose upon

the vilest sinner! His fields, his flocks, and his herds, yielded an

ample supply of domestic productions. A small crop of tobacco--three

hogsheads when the season was good, two when bad--purchased the exotics

which comfort and necessity required, and which the farm did not

produce. He was not rich, but rich enough to dispense hospitality and

charity, to receive all guests in his house, from the president to the

day laborer--no other title being necessary to enter his house but that

of an honest man;... and above all, he was rich enough to pay as he

went, and never to owe a dollar to any man.

... He always wore the same dress,--that is to say, a suit of the same

material, cut, and color, superfine navy-blue,--the whole suit from the

same piece, and in the fashion of the time of the Revolution, and always

replaced by a new one before it showed age. He was neat in his person,

always wore fine linen, a fine cambric stock, a fine fur hat with a

brim to it, fair top-boots--the boot outside of the pantaloons, on the

principle that leather was stronger than cloth.

... He was an habitual reader and student of the Bible, a pious and

religious man, and of the "_Baptist persuasion_," as he was accustomed

to express it.

[Footnote 30: Nathaniel Macon, United States Senator from North

Carolina.]

* * * * *

=_Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, 1803-1845._= (Manual, pp. 490, 505.)

From the Life of Commodore Decatur.

=_106._= RECAPTURE, AND BURNING OF THE FRIGATE "PHILADELPHIA," AT

TRIPOLI.

When all were safely assembled on the deck of the Intrepid, (for so

admirably had the service been executed that not a man was missing, and

only one slightly wounded,) Decatur gave the order to cut the fasts and

shove off. The necessity for prompt obedience and exertion was urgent.

The flames had now gained the lower rigging, and ascended to the tops;

they darted furiously from the ports, flashing from the quarter gallery

round the mizzen of the Intrepid, as her stern dropped clear of the

ship. To estimate the perils of their position, it should be borne in

mind, that the fire had been communicated by these fearless men to the

near neighborhood of both magazines of the Philadelphia. The Intrepid

herself was a fire ship, having been supplied with combustibles, a mass

of which, ready to be converted into the means of destroying other

vessels of the enemy, if the opportunity should offer, lay in barrels on

her quarter deck, covered only with a tarpaulin.

With destruction thus encompassing them within and without, Decatur and

his brave followers were unmoved. Calmly they put forth the necessary

exertion, breasted the Intrepid off with spars, and pressing on their

sweeps, caused her slowly to withdraw from the vicinity of the burning

mass. A gentle breeze from the land came auspiciously at the same

moment, and wafted the Intrepid beyond the reach of the flames, bearing

with it, however, a shower of burning embers, fraught with danger to

a vessel laden with combustibles, had not discipline, order, and calm

self-possession, been at hand for her protection. Soon this peril was

also left behind, and Decatur and his followers were at a sufficient

distance to contemplate securely the spectacle which the Philadelphia

presented. Hull, spars, and rigging, were now enveloped in flames. As

the metal of her guns became heated, they were discharged in succession

from both sides, serving as a brilliant salvo in honor of the victor,

and not harmless for the Tripolitans, as her starboard battery was fired

directly into the town.

The town itself, the castles, the minarets of the mosques, and the

shipping in the harbor, were all brought into distinct view by the

splendor of the conflagration. It served also to reveal to the enemy the

cause of their disaster, in the little Intrepid, as she slowly withdrew

from the harbor. The shot of the shipping and castles fell thickly

around her, throwing up columns of spray, which the brilliant light

converted into a new ornament of the scene. Only one shot took effect,

and that passed through her top-gallant sail. Three hearty American

cheers were now given in mingled triumph and derision. Soon after, the

boats of the Siren joined company, and assisted in towing the Intrepid

out of the harbor. The cables of the Philadelphia having burned off, she

drifted on the rocks near the westward entrance of the harbor; and then

the whole spectacle, so full of moral sublimity, considering the means

by which it had been effected, and of material grandeur, had its

appropriate termination in the final catastrophe of her explosion.

Nor were the little band of heroes on board the Intrepid the only

exulting spectators of the scene. Lieutenant Stewart and his companions

on board the Siren, watching with intense interest, beheld in the

conflagration a pledge of Decatur's success; and Captain Bainbridge,

with his fellow-captives in the dungeons of Tripoli, saw in it a motive

of national exultation, and an earnest that a spirit was at work to

hasten the day of their liberation.

* * * * *

=_I.F.H. Claiborne,[31] About 1804-._=

From "Life and Times of General Samuel Dale."

=_107._= TECUMSEH'S SPEECH TO THE CREEK INDIANS.

I saw the Shawnees issue from their lodge; they were painted black, and

entirely naked except the flap about their loins. Every weapon but the

war-club,--then first introduced among the Creeks,--had been laid aside.

An angry scowl sat on all their visages; they looked like a procession

of devils. Tecumseh led, the warriors followed, one in the footsteps of

the other. The Creeks, in dense masses, stood on each side of the path,

but the Shawnees noticed no one; they marched to the pole in the centre

of the square, and then turned to the left.

... They then marched in the same order to the Council, or King's

house,--as it was termed in ancient times, and drew up before it. The

Big Warrior and the leading men were sitting there. The Shawnee chief

sounded his war-whoop,--a most diabolical yell, and each of his

followers responded. Tecumseh then presented to the Big Warrior a wampum

belt of five different-colored stands, which the Creek chief handed to

his warriors, and it was passed down the line. The Shawnee pipe was then

produced; it was large, long, and profusely decorated with shells,

beads, and painted eagle and porcupine quills. It was lighted from the

fire in the centre, and slowly passed from the Big Warrior along the

line. All this time not a word had been uttered; every thing was still

as death; even the winds slept, and there was only the gentle rustle of

the falling leaves. At length Tecumseh spoke, at first slowly, and in

sonorous tones, but soon he grew impassioned, and the words fell in

avalanches from his lips. His eyes burned with supernatural lustre, and

his whole frame trembled with emotion; his voice resounded over the

multitude,--now sinking in low and musical whispers, now rising to its

highest key, hurling out his words like a succession of thunderbolts.

His countenance varied with his speech; its prevalent expression was a

sneer of hatred and defiance; sometimes a murderous smile; for a brief

interval a sentiment of profound sorrow pervaded it; and at the close, a

look of concentrated vengeance, such, I suppose, as distinguishes the

arch-enemy of mankind, I have heard many great orators, but I never saw

one with the vocal powers of Tecumseh, or the same command of the

muscles of his face.

... Had I been deaf, the play of his countenance would have told me what

he said. Its effect on that wild, superstitious, untutored, and warlike

assemblage may be conceived; not a word was said, but stern warriors,

the "stoics of the woods," shook with emotion, and a thousand tomahawks

were brandished in the air. Even the Big Warrior, who had been true to

the whites, and remained faithful during the war, was for the moment

visibly affected, and more than once I saw his huge hand clutch,

spasmodically, the handle of his knife.... When he resumed his seat, the

northern pipe was again passed round in solemn silence. The Shawnees

then simultaneously leaped up with one appalling yell, and danced their

tribal war-dance, going through the evolutions of battle, the scout, the

ambush, the final struggle, brandishing their war-clubs, and screaming,

in terrific concert, an infernal harmony fit only for the regions of the

damned.

[Footnote 31: Was born in Mississippi; by profession a lawyer, and for

some years a member of Congress; author of several biographical works of

interest, chiefly relating to the Southwest.]

* * * * *

=_George Washington Greene,[32] 1811-._=

From The Life of General Greene.

=_108._= FOREIGN OFFICERS IN THE REVOLUTIONARY ARMY.

... Mrs. Greene had joined her husband early in January, bringing with

her her summer's acquisition, a stock of French that quickly made her

little parlor the favorite resort of foreign officers. There was often

to be seen Lafayette, not yet turned of twenty-one, though a husband, a

father, and a major-general; graver somewhat in his manners than

strictly belonged either to his years or his country; and loved and

trusted by all, by Washington and Greene especially. Steuben, too, was

often there, wearing his republican uniform, as, fifteen years before,

he had worn the uniform of the despotic Frederick; as deeply skilled in

the ceremonial of a court as in the manoeuvring of an army; with a

glittering star on his left breast, that bore witness to the faithful

service he had rendered in his native Germany; and revolving in his

accurate mind designs which were to transform this mass of physical

strength, which Americans had dignified with the name of army, into a

real army which Frederick himself might have accepted. He had but little

English at his command as yet, but at his side there was a mercurial

young Frenchman, Peter Duponceau, who knew how to interpret both his

graver thoughts and the lighter gallantries with which the genial old

soldier loved to season his intercourse with the wives and daughters of

his new fellow-citizens. As the years passed away, Duponceau himself

became a celebrated man, and loved to tell the story of these checkered

days. Another German, too, De Kalb, was sometimes seen there, taller,

statelier, graver than Steuben, with the cold, observant eye of the

diplomatist, rather than the quick glance of the soldier, though a

soldier too, and a brave and skillful one; caring very little about the

cause he had forsaken his noble chateau and lovely wife to fight for,

but a great deal about the promotion and decorations which his good

service hero was to win him in France; for he had made himself a

Frenchman, and served the King of France, and bought him French lands,

and married a French wife. Already before this war began, he had come

hither in the service of France to study the progress of the growing

discontent; and now he was here again an American major-general, led

partly by the ambition of rank, partly by the thirst of distinction, but

much, too, by a certain restlessness of nature, and longing for

excitement and action, not to be wondered at in one who had fought his

way up from a butlership to a barony. He and Steuben had served on

opposite sides during the Seven Years War, though born both of them on

the same bank of the Rhine; and though when Steuben first came, De Kalb

was in Albany, yet in May they must have met more than once. How did

they feel towards each other, the soldier of Frederick, and the soldier

of Louis? If we had known more about this, we should have known better,

perhaps, why Lafayette, a fast friend of De Kalb, speaks of the

"methodic mediocrity" of Steuben, and Steuben of the "vanity and

presumption" of the young major-general.

In the same circle, too, was the young Fleury whom we have seen bearing

himself so gallantly at Fort Mifflin, and who, a year after, was to

render still more brilliant service at Stony Point; and the Marquis de

la Rouerie, concealing his rank under the name of Armand, and combatting

an unsuccessful love by throwing himself headlong into the tumult of

war; and Mauduit Duplessis, whose skill as an engineer had been proved

at Red Bank, and who about this time was breveted Lieutenant-Colonel,

at Washington's recommendation, for "gallant conduct at Brandywine and

Germantown," and "distinguished services at Fort Mercer," and a "degree

of modesty not always found in men who have performed brilliant

actions," but whom neither modesty nor gallantry could save from a

fearful death at San Domingo; and Gimat, aide to Lafayette now, but who

afterwards led Lafayette's van as colonel in the successful assault

of the British redoubts at Yorktown; and La Colombe, who was to serve

Lafayette faithfully in France as he served him here; and Ternant,

distinguished in America, France, and Holland, but who this year

rendered invaluable service to American discipline by his aid in

carrying out the reforms of Steuben. Kosciusko was in the north, but

Poland had still another representative, the gallant Pulaski, who had

done good service during the last campaign, and who the very next year

was to lay down his life for us at the siege of Savannah.

[Footnote 32: Born in Rhode Island; a grandson of the distinguished

General Greene of the Revolution, whose life he has written, with many

interesting details of that struggle.]

* * * * *

=_James Parton, 1822-._= (Manual, pp. 490, 532.)

From "Life and Times of Aaron Burr."

=_109._= CAREER AND CHARACTER OF BURR.

To judge this man, to decide how far he was unfortunate, and how far

guilty; how much we ought to pity, and how much to blame him,--is a task

beyond my powers. And what occasion is there for judging him, or for

judging any one? We all know that his life was an unhappy failure. He

failed to gain the small honors at which he aimed; he failed to live

a life worthy of his opportunities; he failed to achieve a character

worthy of his powers. It was a great, great pity. And any one is to be

pitied, who, in thinking of it, has any other feelings than those of

compassion--compassion for the man whose life was so much less a blessing

to him than it might have been, and compassion for the country, which

after producing so rare and excellent a kind of man, lost a great part

of the good he might have done her.

The great error of his career, as before remarked, was his turning

politician. He was too good for a politician, and not great enough for a

statesman.

If his expedition had succeeded, it was in him, I think, to have run a

career in Spanish America similar to that of Napoleon in Europe. Like

Napoleon, he would have been one of the most amiable despots, and one of

the most destructive. Like Napoleon, he would have been sure, at last,

to have been overwhelmed in a prodigious ruin. Like Napoleon, he would

have been idolized and execrated. Like Napoleon, he would, have had his

half dozen friends to go with him to St. Helena. Like Napoleon, he would

have justified to the last, with the utmost sincerity, nearly every

action of his life.

We live in a better day than he did. Nearly every thing is better now

in the United States than it was fifty years ago, and a much larger

proportion of the people possess the means of enjoying and improving

life. If some evils are more obvious and rampant than they were, they

are also better known, and the remedy is nearer ...

Politics, apart from the pursuit of office, have again become real and

interesting. The issue is distinct and important enough to justify the

intense concern of a nation. To a young man coming upon the stage of

life with the opportunities of Aaron Burr, a glorious and genuine

political career is possible. The dainty keeping aloof from the

discussion of public affairs, which has been the fashion until lately,

will not again find favor with any but the very stupid, for a long

time to come. The intellect of the United States once roused to the

consideration of political questions, will doubtless be found competent

to the work demanded of it.

The career of Aaron Burr can never be repeated in the United States.

That of itself is a proof of progress. The game of politics which he

played is left, in these better days, to far inferior men, and the moral

license which he and Hamilton permitted themselves, is not known in the

circles they frequented. But the graver errors, the radical vices, of

both men belong to human nature, and will always exist to be shunned and

battled.

* * * * *

From "Famous Americans."

=_110._= HENRY CLAY'S CAREER AT THE WESTERN BAR.

It is surprising how addicted to litigation were the earlier settlers of

the Western States. The imperfect surveys of land, the universal habit

of getting goods on credit at the store, and "difficulties" between

individuals ending in bloodshed, filled the court calendars, with land

disputes, suits for debt, and exciting murder cases, which gave to

lawyers more importance and better chances of advancement than they

possessed in the older States. Mr. Clay had two strings to his bow.

Besides being a man of red-tape and pigeon-holes, exact, methodical, and

strictly attentive to business, he had a power over a Kentucky jury

such as no other man has ever wielded. To this day nothing pleases aged

Kentuckians better than to tell stories which they heard their fathers

tell of Clay's happy repartees to opposing counsel, his ingenious

cross-questioning of witnesses, his sweeping torrents of invective, his

captivating courtesy, his melting pathos. Single gestures, attitudes,

tones, have come down to us through two or three memories, and still

please the curious guest at Kentucky firesides. But when we turn to the

cold records of this part of his life, we find little to justify his

traditional celebrity. It appears that the principal use to which his

talents were applied during the first years of his practice at the bar,

was in defending murderers. He seems to have shared the feeling which

then prevailed in the Western country, that to defend a prisoner at the

bar is a nobler thing than to assist in defending the public against his

further depredations; and he threw all his force into the defence of

some men who would have been "none the worse for a hanging." One day, in

the streets of Lexington, a drunken fellow whom he had rescued from the

murderer's doom, cried out, "Here comes Mr. Clay, who saved my life."

"Ah! my poor fellow," replied the advocate, "I fear I have saved too

many like you, who ought to be hanged.". The anecdotes printed of his

exploits in cheating the gallows of its due, are of a quality which

shows that the power of this man over a jury lay much in his manner. His

delivery, which "bears absolute sway in oratory," was bewitching and

irresistible, and gave to quite common-place wit and very questionable

sentiment, an amazing power to please and subdue.

* * * * *

From an Article in the Atlantic Monthly.

=_111._= WESTERN THEATRES.

At the West, along with much reckless and defiant unbelief in every

thing high and good, there is also a great deal of that terror-stricken

pietism which refuses to attend the theatre unless it is very bad

indeed, and is called "Museum." This limits the business of the theatre;

and as a good theatre is necessarily a very expensive institution, it

improves very slowly, although the Western people are in precisely that

state of development and culture to which the drama is best adapted and

is most beneficial. We should naturally expect to find the human mind,

in the broad, magnificent West, rising superior to the prejudices

originating in the little sects of little lands. So it will rise in due

time. So it has risen, in some degree. But mere grandeur of nature has

no educating effect upon the soul of man; else Switzerland would not

have supplied Paris with footmen, and the hackmen of Niagara would spare

the tourist. It is only a human mind that can instruct a human mind.

* * * * *

To witness the performance, and to observe the rapture expressed

upon the shaggy and good-humored countenances of the boatmen, was

interesting, as showing what kind of banquet will delight a human soul,

starved from its birth. It likes a comic song very much, if the song

refers to fashionable articles of ladies costume, or holds up to

ridicule members of Congress, policemen, or dandies. It is not averse

to a sentimental song, in which "Mother, dear," is frequently

apostrophized. It delights in a farce from which most of the dialogue

has been cut away, while all the action is retained,--in which people

are continually knocked down, or run against one another with great

violence. It takes much pleasure in seeing Horace Greeley play a part in

a negro farce, and become the victim of designing colored brethren. But

what joy, when the beauteous Terpsichorean nymph bounds upon the scene,

rosy with paint, glistening with spangles, robust with cotton and cork,

and bewildering with a cloud of gauzy skirts! What a vision of beauty

to a man who has seen nothing for days and nights but the hold of a

steamboat and the dull shores of the Mississippi!

* * * * *

HISTORY, GENERAL AND SPECIAL.

=_John Heckewelder,[33] 1743-1823._=

From the "Narrative" of the Moravian Missions among the Indians.

=_112._= SETTLEMENTS OF THE CHRISTIAN INDIANS.

Both these congregations, being supplied with missionaries and

schoolmasters, were so prosperous that they became the admiration of

visitors, some of whom thought it next to a miracle that, by the light

of the gospel, a savage race should be brought to live together in peace

and harmony, and above all devote themselves to religion. The people

residing in the neighborhood of those places were also intimate with

these Indians, and both were serviceable to each other; one instance of

which is here inserted. In February of the year 1761, a white man, who

had lost a child, came to Nain weeping, and begging that the Indian

Brethren would assist him and his wife to search for his child, which

had been missing since the day before. Several of the Indian Brethren

immediately went to the house of the parents, and discovered the

footsteps of the child, and tracing the same for the distance of two

miles, found the child in the woods, wrapped up in its petticoat, and

shivering with cold. The joy of the parents was so great that they

reported the circumstance wherever they went. To some of the white

people, who had been in dread of the near settlement of these Indians,

this incident was the means of making them easy, and causing them to

rejoice in having such good neighbors.

... The war being over, the Indians who had been engaged in it freely

confessed to their friends and relations, and to some white people they

had heretofore been acquainted with, that "the Brethren's settlements

had been as a stumbling-block to them; that had it not been for these,

they would most assuredly have laid waste the whole country from the

mountains to Philadelphia; and that many plans had been formed for

destroying these settlements."

[Footnote 33: Prominent among the Moravian clergy for his experience of

missionary life among the American Indians, for his knowledge of the

Indian languages, and for his lifelong devotion to the missionary work.]

* * * * *

=_Jeremy Belknap, 1744-1798._= (Manual, p. 490.)

From "The History of New Hampshire."

=_113._= THE MAST PINE.

Another thing worthy of observation is the aged and majestic appearance

of the trees, of which the most noble is the mast pine. This tree often

grows to the height of one hundred and fifty, and sometimes two hundred

feet. It is straight as an arrow, and has no branches but very near the

top. It is from twenty to forty inches in diameter at its base, and

appears like a stately pillar, adorned with a verdant capital, in form

of a cone. Interspersed among these are the common forest trees of

various kinds.

When a mast tree is to be felled, much preparation is necessary. So tall

a stick, without any limbs nearer the ground than eighty or a hundred

feet, is in great danger of breaking in the fall. To prevent this the

workmen have a contrivance which they call bedding the tree, which is

thus executed. They know in what direction the tree will fall; and they

cut down a number of smaller trees which grow in that direction; or if

there be none, they draw others to the spot, and place them so that the

falling tree may lodge on their branches; which breaking or yielding

under its pressure, render its fall easy and safe. A time of deep snow

is the most favorable season, as the rocks are then covered, and a

natural bed is formed to receive the tree. When fallen, it is examined,

and if to appearance it be sound, it is cut in the proportion of three

feet in length to every inch of its diameter, for a mast; but if

intended for a bow-sprit or a yard, it is cut shorter. If it be not

sound throughout, or if it break in falling, it is cut into logs for the

saw-mill.

When a mast is to be drawn on the snow, one end is placed on a sled,

shorter, but higher than the common sort, and rests on a strong block,

which is laid across the middle of the sled.

In descending a long and steep hill they have a contrivance to prevent

the load from making too rapid a descent. Some of the cattle are placed

behind it; a chain which is attached to their yokes is brought forward

and fastened to the hinder end of the load, and the resistance which

is made by these cattle checks the descent. This operation is called

_tailing_. The most dangerous circumstance is the passing over the

top of a sharp hill, by which means the oxen which are nearest to the

tongues are sometimes suspended, till the foremost cattle can draw the

mast so far over the hill as to give them opportunity to recover the

ground. In this case the drivers are obliged to use much judgment and

care to keep the cattle from being killed. There is no other way to

prevent this inconvenience than to level the roads.

* * * * *

=_David Ramsay, 1749-1815._= (Manual, p. 491.)

From "The History of the Revolution in South Carolina."

=_114._= FEELING OF THE PROVINCE TOWARD GREAT BRITAIN.

In South Carolina, an enemy to the Hanoverian succession, or to the

British constitution, was scarcely known. The inhabitants were fond

of British manners even to excess. They for the most part, sent their

children to Great Britain for education, and spoke of that country under

the endearing appellation of Home. They were enthusiasts for that sacred

plan of civil and religious happiness under which they had grown up and

flourished.... Wealth poured in upon them from a thousand channels. The

fertility of the soil generously repaid the labor of the husbandman,

making the poor to sing, and industry to smile, through every corner

of the land. None were indigent but the idle and unfortunate. Personal

independence was fully within the reach of every man who was healthy

and industrious. The inhabitants, at peace with all the world, enjoyed

domestic tranquility, and were secure in their persons and property.

They were also completely satisfied with their government, and wished

not for the smallest change in their political constitution.