DANIEL AS AN ORATOR.
The four years spent in college generally bear an important relation to
the future success or non-success of the student. It is the formative
period with most young men, that is, it is the time when the habits are
formed which are to continue through life. Let us inquire, then, what
did Daniel Webster’s college course do for him?
We cannot claim that his attainments at graduation were equal to those
of the most proficient graduates of our colleges to-day. The curriculum
at Dartmouth, and indeed at all colleges, was more limited and
elementary than at present. Daniel was a good Greek and Latin scholar
for his advantages, but those were not great. He did, however, pay
special attention to philosophical studies, and to the law of nations.
He took an interest in current politics, as may be gathered from
letters written in his college days, and was unconsciously preparing
himself for the office of a statesman.
He paid special attention also to oratory. No longer shrinking from
speaking before his classmates, he voluntarily composed the pieces he
declaimed, and took an active part besides in the debating society.
I am sure my young reader will like to know how Daniel wrote at this
time, and will like to compare the oratory of the college student with
that of the future statesman. I shall, therefore, quote from a Fourth
of July oration, which he delivered by invitation to the citizens
and students at the age of eighteen. As in a boy’s features we trace
a general likeness to his mature manhood, so I think we may trace a
likeness in passages of this early effort to the speeches he made in
the fullness of his fame.
This is the opening of the address:
“_Countrymen, Brethren and Fathers_: We are now assembled to celebrate
an anniversary, ever to be held in dear remembrance by the sons of
freedom. Nothing less than the birth of a nation, nothing less than the
emancipation of three millions of people from the degrading chains of
foreign bondage is the event we commemorate.
“Twenty-four years have this day elapsed since these United States
first raised the standard of liberty, and echoed the shouts of
independence. Those of you who were then reaping the iron harvest of
the martial field, whose bosoms then palpitated for the honor of
America, will at this time experience a renewal of all that fervent
patriotism, of all those indescribable emotions which then agitated
your breasts. As for us, who were either then unborn, or not far enough
advanced beyond the threshold of existence to engage in the grand
conflict for liberty, we now most cordially unite with you to greet the
return of this joyous anniversary, to welcome the return of the day
that gave us freedom, and to hail the rising glories of our country.”
Further on he paints the hardships and distresses through which the
colonists had passed:
“We behold a feeble band of colonists engaged in the arduous
undertaking of a new settlement in the wilds of North America. Their
civil liberty being mutilated, and the enjoyment of their religious
sentiments denied them in the land that gave them birth, they braved
the dangers of the then almost unnavigated ocean, and sought on the
other side of the globe an asylum from the iron grasp of tyranny and
the more intolerable scourge of ecclesiastical persecution.
“But gloomy indeed was the prospect when arrived on this side of the
Atlantic.
“Scattered in detachments along a coast immensely extensive, at a
distance of more than three thousand miles from their friends on
the eastern continent, they were exposed to all those evils, and
encountered or experienced all those difficulties, to which human
nature seemed liable. Destitute of convenient habitations, the
inclemencies of the seasons harassed them, the midnight beasts of prey
howled terribly around them, and the more portentous yell of savage
fury incessantly assailed them. But the same undiminished confidence
in Almighty God, which prompted the first settlers of the country
to forsake the unfriendly climes of Europe, still supported them
under all their calamities, and inspired them with fortitude almost
divine. Having a glorious issue to their labors now in prospect, they
cheerfully endured the rigors of the climate, pursued the savage beast
to his remotest haunt, and stood undismayed in the dismal hour of
Indian battle.”
Passing on to the Revolutionary struggle the young orator refers to
“our brethren attacked and slaughtered at Lexington, our property
plundered and destroyed at Concord,” to “the spiral flames of burning
Charlestown,” and proceeds as follows:
“Indelibly impressed on our memories still lives the dismal scene of
Bunker’s awful mount, the grand theater of New England bravery, where
slaughter stalked grimly triumphant, where relentless Britain saw her
soldiers, the unhappy instruments of despotism, fallen in heaps beneath
the nervous arm of injured freemen!
“There the great Warren fought, and there, alas! he fell. Valuing his
life only as it enabled him to serve his country, he freely resigned
himself a willing martyr in the cause of liberty, and now lies
encircled in the arms of glory.
“’Peace to the patriot’s shade—let no rude blast
Disturb the willow that nods o’er his tomb;
Let orphan tears bedew his sacred urn,
And fame’s proud trump proclaim the hero’s name
Far as the circuit of the spheres extends!’
“But, haughty Albion, thy reign shall soon be over. Thou shalt triumph
no longer; thy empire already reels and totters; thy laurel even now
begins to wither and thy fame to decay. Thou hast at length aroused the
indignation of an insulted people; thy oppressions they deem no longer
tolerable.
“The Fourth Day of July, 1776, has now arrived, and America, manfully
springing from the torturing fangs of the British lion, now rises
majestic in the pride of her sovereignty, and bids her eagle elevate
his wings! The solemn Declaration of Independence is now pronounced,
amidst crowds of admiring citizens, by the supreme council of the
nation, and received with the unbounded plaudits of a grateful people!
That was the hour when heroism was proved—when the souls of men were
tried!
“It was then, ye venerable patriots,” there were some Revolutionary
soldiers present—“it was then you lifted the indignant arm, and
unitedly swore to be free! Despising such toys as subjugated empires,
you then knew no middle fortune between liberty and death. Firmly
relying on the protection of Heaven, unwarped in the resolution you had
taken, you then undaunted met, engaged, defeated the gigantic power of
Britain, and rode triumphant over the aggressions of your enemies!
“Trenton, Princeton, Bennington and Saratoga were the successive
theaters of your victories, and the utmost bounds of creation are the
limits of your fame! The sacred fire of freedom, then enkindled in your
breasts, shall be perpetuated through the long descent of future ages,
and burn with undiminished fervor in the bosoms of millions yet unborn!”
Further on we find the following passage:
“The great drama is now completed; our independence is now
acknowledged, and the hopes of our enemies are blasted forever.
Columbia is now sealed in the forum of nations, and the empires of the
world are amazed at the effulgence of her glory.
“Thus, friends and citizens, did the kind hand of an overruling
Providence conduct us, through toils, fatigues and dangers, to
independence and peace. If piety be the rational exercise of the human
soul, if religion be not a chimera, and if the vestiges of heavenly
assistance are clearly traced in those events which mark the annals of
our nation, it becomes us on this day, in consideration of the great
things which have been done for us, to render the tribute of unfeigned
thanks to that God who superintends the universe, and holds aloft the
scale that weighs the destinies of nations.”
The oration was a long one, and touched a variety of topics, but the
extracts already given will convey a good idea of its excellencies and
defects. My college readers will understand me when I say that the
style is sophomoric and ambitious, but these faults may be pardoned in
a youth of eighteen. The tone is elevated, it is marked by gravity and
earnestness, the sentiments are just, there is evidence of thought,
and, on the whole, we may regard the oration as a hopeful promise
of the future. The magniloquence gave place in time to a weighty
simplicity, in which every word told, and not one could be spared. It
was rather remarkable that so young a man should have been selected to
deliver such an address in Hanover, and indicates that Daniel had by
this time acquired reputation as a public speaker.
This was not the only occasion on which he was selected to speak in
public. When a classmate, a general favorite, died, young Webster was
unanimously selected to deliver an address of commemoration. He is said
to have spoken with a fervor and eloquence which deeply stirred the
hearts of the large audience that had assembled to hear him. “During
the delivery the fall of a pin could have been heard at any moment; a
dense audience were carried entirely away, and kept spellbound by the
magic of his voice and manner; and when he sat down, he left a thousand
people weeping real tears over a heartfelt sorrow. It is reported that
there was not a dry eye in all the vast congregation which the event
and the fame of the orator had brought together.”