Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

18. I cannot avoid adverting to a circumstance that distinguishes the case of Mr. Rowan, from that of Mr. Muir. The severer law of Scotland, it seems-and happy for them that it should-enables them to remove from their sight the vic tim of their infatuation. The more merciful spirit of our law deprives you of that consolation; his sufferings must remain forever before our eyes, a continual call upon your shame and your remorse.

19. But those sufferings will do more; they will not rest satisfied with your unavailing contrition, they will challenge the great and paramount inquest of society; the man will be weighed against the charge, the witness and the sentence; and impartial justice will demand, why has an Irish jury done this deed? The moment he ceases to be regarded as a ↑ criminal, he becomes of necessity an accuser; and let me ask you, what can your most zealous defenders be prepared to answer to such a charge?

20. When your sentence shall have sent him forth to that stage, which guilt alone can render infamous; let me tell you, he will not be like a little statue upon a mighty pedestal, diminishing by elevation; but he will stand a striking and imposing object upon a monument, which, if it do not-and it cannot-record the atrocity of his crime, must record the atrocity of his conviction. Upon this subject, therefore, credit me when I say, that I am still more anxious for you, than I can possibly be for him.

21. I cannot but feel the peculiarity of your situation.~ Not the jury of his own choice, which the law of England allows, but which ours refuses; collected in that box by a person, certainly no friend to Mr. Rowan, certainly not very deeply interested in giving him a very impartial jury. Feeling this, as I am persuaded you do, you cannot be surprised -however you may be distressed-at the mournful presage, with which an anxious public is led to fear the worst from your possible determination.

d

22. But I will not, for the justice and honor of our common country, suffer my mind to be borne away by such melancholy anticipation. I will not relinquish the confidence that this day will be the period of his sufferings; and, however mercilessly he has been hitherto pursued, that your ver diet will send him home to the arms of his family, and the wishes of his country. But if-which heaven forbid—it hath still been unfortunately determined, that because he has not bent to power and authority-because he would not bow

a In-fat-u-a-tion, deprivation of reason. & Con-tri-tion, sincere sorrow for sin. e Pedestal, the base of a pillar.

Pre'-sage, something that foreshows an

évent

down before the golden calf and worship it-he is to oe bound and cast into the furnace; I do trust in God that there is a edeeming spirit in the constitution, which will be seen to walk with the sufferer through the flames, and to preserve him unhurt by the conflagration.

SECTION XII.

Extract from Mr. Wirt's Eulogy on Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, both of whom died upon the same day, July 4th 1826, fifty years from the adoption of the Declaration of In→ dependence-pronounced at Washington, Oct. 19th, 1826. 1. THE Scenes which have been lately passing in our country, and of which this meeting is a continuance, are full of moral instruction. They hold up to the world a lesson of wisdom by which all may profit, if Heaven shall grant them the discretion to turn it to its use. The spectacle, in all its parts, has indeed been most solemn and impressive'; and though the first impulse be now past, the time has not yet come, and never will come, when we can contemplate it wil out renewed emotion.

2. In the structure of their characters; in the course of their action; in the striking coincidences which marked their high career; in the lives and in the deaths of the illustrious men, whose virtues and services we have met to commemorate-and in that voice of admiration and gratitude which has since burst, with one accord, from the twelve millions of freemen who people these United States;-there is a moral sublimity which overwhelms the mind, and hushes all its powers into silent amazement!

3. The European, who should have heard the sound without apprehending the cause, would be apt to inquire, "What is the meaning of all this?-what had these men done to elicit this unanimous and splendid acclamation? Why has the whole American nation risen up, as one man, to do them honor, and offer to them this enthusiastic homage of the heart.

4. Were they mighty warriors, and was the peal that we have heard the shout of victory? Were they great com manders, returning from their distant conquests, surrounded with the spoils of war, and was this the sound of their triumphai procession? Were they covered with martial glory in any form, and was this "the noisy wave of the multitudes,

a Eu-lo-gy, praise panegyric.
Co-in'-ci-den-ces, concurrences.

c E-lic-it, to draw forth.

d Ac-cla-ma'-tion, shout of applause.

rolling back at their approach ?" Nothing of all this: No; they were peaceful and aged patriots, who, having served their country together through their long and useful lives, had now sunk together to the tomb.

[ocr errors]

5. They had not fought battles; but they had formed and moved the great machinery, of which battles were only a small, and comparatively trivial consequence. They had not commanded armies; but they had commanded the master springs of the nation, or which all its great political, as well as military movements depended. By the wisdom and energy of their counsels, and by the potent mastery of their spirits, they had contributed pre-eminently to produce a mighty Revolution, which has changed the aspect of the

word.

b

6. A Revolution which, in one half of that world has already restored man to his "long-lost liberty," and government to its only legitimate object, the happiness of the People; and on the other hemisphere has thrown a light so strong, that even the darkness of despotism is beginning to recede. Compared with the solid glory of an achievement like this, what are battles, and what the pomp of war, but the poor and fleeting pageants of a theater? What were the selfish and petty strides of Alexander, to conquer a little section of the savage world, compared with this generous, this magnificent advance toward the emancipation of the entire world!

7. And this, be it remembered, has been the fruit of intellectual exertion-the triumph of mind! What a proud testimony does it bear to the character of our nation, that they are able to make a proper estimate of services like these!That while in other countries, the senseless mob fall down in stupid admiration before the bloody wheels of the conqueror, even of the conqueror by accident,-in this, our People rise with one accord, to pay their homage to intellect and virtue!

[ocr errors]

8. What a cheering pledge does it give of the stability of our institutions, that, while abroad the yet benighted multitude are prostrating themselves before the idols which their own hands have fashioned into Kings, here, in this land of ⚫ the free, our People are every where starting up with one impulse, to follow, with their acclamations, the ascending spirits of the great Fathers of the Republic!

9. This is a spectacle of which we may be permitted to be proud. It honors our country no less than the illustrious Le-git-i-mate, lawful, born in mar

[blocks in formation]

C Pageants, pompous shows.
d Sta'-bil-l-ty, firmness, constancy.

dead. And could those great patriots speak to us from the tomb, they would tell us, that they have more pleasure in the testimony which these honors bear to the character of their country, than in that which they bear to their individual services.

[ocr errors]

10. They now see as they were seen while in the body, and know the nature of the feeling from which these honors flow. It is love for love. It is the gratitude of an enlightened pation to the noblest order of benefactors. It is the only zory worth the aspiration of a generous spirit. WL ould not prefer this living tomb in the hearts of his countrymen, to the proudest mausoleum that the genius of sculpture could erect!

11. Man has been said to be the creature of accidental position. The cast of his character has been thought to depend, materially, on the age, the country, and the circumstances in which he has lived. To a considerable extent, the remark is no doubt true. Cromwell, had he been born in a republic, might have been "guiltless of his country's' blood;" aud, but for those civil commotions which had wrought his great mind into tempest, even Milton might have rested "mute and inglorious."

[ocr errors]

12.. The occasion is doubtless necessary to develop the talent, whatsoever it may be but the talent must exist, in embryo at least, or no occasion can quicken it into life. And it must exist, too, under the check of strong virtues; or the same occasion that quickens it into life, will be extremely apt to urge it on to crime. The hero who finished his career at St. Helena, extraordinary as he was, is a far more common character in the history of the world, than he who sleeps in our neighborhood, embalmed in his country's tears ;-or than those whom we have now met to mourn and to honor.

13. Jefferson and Adams were great men by nature. Not great and eccentric_minds "shot madly from their spheres" o affright the world, and scatter pestilence in their course; but minds, whose strong and steady light, restrained within their proper orbits by the happy poise of their characters, came to cheer and gladden a world that had been buried for ages in political night. They were heaven-called avengers of degraded man. They came to lift him to the station for which God had formed him, and put to flight those idiot superstitions with which tyrants had contrived to enthrall his reason and his liberty.

a Mau-so-le'-um, a magnificent tomb. b De-vel'-op, to unfold.

Em-bry-o, the rudicats of any thing

not fully matured.

d Orbits, the paths of pkunets round thett

centres.

14. And that being who had sent them upon this mission, had fitted them pre-eminently for his glorious work. He filled their hearts with a love of country, which burned strong within them, even in death. He gave them a power of understanding which no sophistry" could baffle, no art elude; and a moral heroism which no dangers could appall. Careless of themselves, reckless of all personal consequences, trampling under foot that petty ambition of office and honor, which constitutes the master-passion of little minds, they bent all their mighty powers to the task for which they had been delegated the freedom of their beloved country, and the restoration of fallen man.

15. They felt that they were Apostles of human liberty; and well did they fulfill their high commissions-They rested not until they had accomplished their work at home, and given such an impulse to the great ocean of mind, that they saw the waves rolling on the farthest shore before they were called to their reward: and then left the world, hand in hand, exulting, as they rose, in the success of their labors

SECTION XIII.

Extract from an Address at the laying of the Corner Stone of the Bunker Hill Monument, 17th June, 1825.

1. THE great event in the history of the continent which we are now met here to commemorate that prodigy of modern times, at once the wonder and blessing of the world, is the American revolution. In a day of extraordinary prosperity and happiness, of high national honor, distinction, and power, we are brought together in this place, by our love of country, by our admiration of exalted character, by our grat'tude for signal services and patriotic devotion.

2. And while we are enjoying all the blessings of our condition, and looking abroad on the brightened prospects of the world, we hold still among us some of those who were active agents in the scenes of 1775, and who are now here, from every quarter of New England, to visit, once more, and under circumstances so affecting,-I had almost said so overwhelming, this renowned theater of their courage and patriotism. 3. Venerable men! you have come down to us from a former generation. Heaven has bounteously lengthened out your lives, that you might behold this joyous day. You are now here where you stood fifty years ago this very hour, with your brothers and your neighbors, shoulder to shoulder,

a Soph-ist-ry, fallacious reasoning.

Prod-i-gy, a surprising thing.

« AnteriorContinuar »