Chapter VII: Part 7

Other misfortunes may be borne, or their effects overcome. If disastrous war should sweep our commerce from the ocean, another generation may renew it; if it exhaust our treasury, future industry may replenish it; if it desolate and lay waste our fields, still, under a new cultivation, they will grow green again, and ripen to future harvests. It were but a trifle even if the walls of yonder Capitol were to crumble, if its lofty pillars should fall, and its gorgeous decorations be all covered by the dust of the valley. All these might be rebuilt. But who shall reconstruct the fabric of demolished government? Who shall rear again the well-proportioned columns of constitutional liberty? Who shall frame together the skilful architecture which unites national sovereignty with State rights, individual security, and public prosperity? No, if these columns fall, they will be raised not again. Like the Coliseum and the Parthenon, they will be destined to a mournful, a melancholy immortality. Bitterer tears, however, will flow over them than were ever shed over the monuments of Roman or Grecian art; for they will be the remnants of a more glorious edifice than Greece or Rome ever saw, the edifice of constitutional American liberty.

But let us hope for better things. Let us trust in that gracious Being who has hitherto held our country as in the hollow of his hand. Let us trust to the virtue and the intelligence of the people, and to the efficacy of religious obligation. Let us trust to the influence of Washington's example. Let us hope that that fear of Heaven which expels all other fear, and that regard to duty which transcends all other regard, may influence public men and private citizens, and lead our country still onward in her happy career. Full of these gratifying anticipations and hopes, let us look forward to the end of that century which is now commenced. A hundred years hence, other disciples of Washington will celebrate his birth, with no less of sincere admiration than we now commemorate it. When they shall meet, as we now meet, to do themselves and him that honor, so surely as they shall see the blue summits of his native mountains rise in the horizon, so surely as they shall behold the river on whose banks he lived, and on whose banks he rests, still flowing on toward the sea, so surely may they see, as we now see, the flag of the Union floating on the top of the Capitol; and then, as now, may the sun in his course visit no land more free, more happy, more lovely, than this our own country!

THE CONSTITUTION AND THE UNION

FROM A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, MARCH 7, 1850[44]

[Sidenote: For the preservation of the Union.]

Mr. President,--I wish to speak to-day, not as a Massachusetts man, nor as a Northern man, but as an American, and a member of the Senate of the United States. It is fortunate that there is a Senate of the United States; a body not yet moved from its propriety, not lost to a just sense of its own dignity and its own high responsibilities, and a body to which the country looks, with confidence, for wise, moderate, patriotic, and healing counsels. It is not to be denied that we live in the midst of strong agitations, and are surrounded by very considerable dangers to our institutions and government. The imprisoned winds are let loose. The East, the North, and the stormy South combine to throw the whole sea into commotion, to toss its billows to the skies, and disclose its profoundest depths. I do not affect to regard myself, Mr. President, as holding, or as fit to hold, the helm in this combat with the political elements; but I have a duty to perform, and I mean to perform it with fidelity, not without a sense of existing dangers, but not without hope. I have a part to act, not for my own security or safety, for I am looking out for no fragment upon which to float away from the wreck, if wreck there must be, but for the good of the whole, and the preservation of all; and there is that which will keep me to my duty during this struggle, whether the sun and the stars shall appear, or shall not appear, for many days. I speak to-day for the preservation of the Union. "Hear me for my cause." I speak to-day, out of a solicitous and anxious heart, for the restoration to the country of that quiet and that harmony which make the blessings of this Union so rich, and so dear to us all. These are the topics that I propose to myself to discuss; these are the motives, and the sole motives, that influence me in the wish to communicate my opinions to the Senate and the country; and if I can do anything, however little, for the promotion of these ends, I shall have accomplished all that I expect.

[Sidenote: Peaceable secession impossible.]

Mr. President, I should much prefer to have heard from every member on this floor declarations of opinion that this Union could never be dissolved, than the declaration of opinion by anybody that, in any case, under the pressure of any circumstances, such a dissolution was possible. I hear with distress and anguish the word "secession," especially when it falls from the lips of those who are patriotic, and known to the country, and known all over the world, for their political services. Secession! Peaceable secession! Sir, your eyes and mine are never destined to see that miracle. The dismemberment of this vast country without convulsion! The breaking up of the fountains of the great deep without ruffling the surface! Who is so foolish--I beg everybody's pardon--as to expect to see any such thing? Sir, he who sees these States now revolving in harmony around a common centre, and expects to see them quit their places and fly off without convulsion, may look the next hour to see the heavenly bodies rush from their spheres, and jostle against each other in the realms of space, without causing the wreck of the universe. There can be no such thing as a peaceable secession. Peaceable secession is an utter impossibility. Is the great Constitution under which we live, covering this whole country,--is it to be thawed and melted away by secession, as the snows on the mountain melt under the influence of a vernal sun, disappear almost unobserved, and run off? No, Sir! No, Sir! I will not state what might produce the disruption of the Union; but, Sir, I see as plainly as I see the sun in heaven what that disruption itself must produce; I see that it must produce war, and such a war as I will not describe, in its twofold character.

Peaceable secession! Peaceable secession! The concurrent agreement of all the members of this great republic to separate? A voluntary separation, with alimony on one side and on the other! Why, what would be the result? Where is the line to be drawn? What States are to secede? What is to remain American? What am I to be? An American no longer? Am I to become a sectional man, a local man, a separatist, with no country in common with the gentlemen who sit around me here, or who fill the other house of Congress? Heaven forbid! Where is the flag of the republic to remain? Where is the eagle still to tower? or is he to cower, and shrink, and fall to the ground? Why, Sir, our ancestors, our fathers and our grandfathers, those of them that are yet living amongst us with prolonged lives, would rebuke and reproach us; and our children and our grandchildren would cry out shame upon us, if we of this generation should dishonor these ensigns of the power of the government and the harmony of that Union which is every day felt among us with so much joy and gratitude. What is to become of the army? What is to become of the navy? What is to become of the public lands? How is each of the thirty States to defend itself?

[Sidenote: The idea of a Southern Confederacy.]

I know, although the idea has not been stated distinctly, there is to be, or it is supposed possible that there will be, a Southern Confederacy. I do not mean, when I allude to this statement, that any one seriously contemplates such a state of things. I do not mean to say that it is true, but I have heard it suggested elsewhere that the idea has been entertained, that, after the dissolution of this Union, a Southern Confederacy might be formed. I am sorry, Sir, that it has ever been thought of, talked of, or dreamed of, in the wildest flights of human imagination. But the idea, so far as it exists, must be of a separation assigning the slave States to one side and the free States to the other. Sir, I may express myself too strongly, perhaps, but there are impossibilities in the natural as well as in the physical world, and I hold the idea of a separation of these States, those that are free to form one government, and those that are slave-holding to form another, as such an impossibility. We could not separate the States by any such line, if we were to draw it. We could not sit down here to-day and draw a line of separation that would satisfy any five men in the country. There are natural causes that would keep and tie us together, and there are social and domestic relations which we could not break if we would, and which we should not if we could.

[Sidenote: Liberty and Union.]

Instead of speaking of the possibility or utility of secession, instead of dwelling in those caverns of darkness, instead of groping with those ideas so full of all that is horrid and horrible, let us come out into the light of day; let us enjoy the fresh air of Liberty and Union; let us cherish those hopes which belong to us; let us devote ourselves to those great objects that are fit for our consideration and our action; let us raise our conceptions to the magnitude and the importance of the duties that devolve upon us; let our comprehension be as broad as the country for which we act, our aspirations as high as its certain destiny; let us not be pygmies in a case that calls for men. Never did there devolve on any generation of men higher trusts than now devolve upon us, for the preservation of this Constitution and the harmony and peace of all who are destined to live under it. Let us make our generation one of the strongest and brightest links in that golden chain which is destined, I fondly believe, to grapple the people of all the States to this Constitution for ages to come. We have a great popular, constitutional government, guarded by law and by judicature, and defended by the affections of the whole people. No monarchical throne presses these States together, no iron chain of military power encircles them; they live and stand under a government popular in its form, representative in its character, founded upon principles of equality, and so constructed, we hope, as to last forever. In all its history it has been beneficent; it has trodden down no man's liberty; it has crushed no State. Its daily respiration is liberty and patriotism; its yet youthful veins are full of enterprise, courage, and honorable love of glory and renown. Large before, the country has now, by recent events, become vastly larger. This republic now extends, with a vast breadth, across the whole continent. The two great seas of the world wash the one and the other shore. We realize, on a mighty scale, the beautiful description of the ornamental border of the buckler of Achilles:--

"Now, the broad shield complete, the artist crowned
With his last hand, and poured the ocean round;
In living silver seemed the waves to roll,
And beat the buckler's verge, and bound the whole."[45]

THE ADDITION TO THE CAPITOL

AN ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE LAYING OF THE CORNER STONE OF THE ADDITION TO THE CAPITOL OF THE UNITED STATES, AT WASHINGTON, JULY 4, 1851

Fellow-Citizens,--I greet you well; I give you joy on the return of this anniversary; and I felicitate you, also, on the more particular purpose of which this ever-memorable day has been chosen to witness the fulfilment. Hail! all hail! I see before and around me a mass of faces glowing with cheerfulness and patriotic pride. I see thousands of eyes turned towards other eyes, all sparkling with gratification and delight. This is the New World! This is America! This is Washington! and this the Capitol of the United States! And where else, among the nations, can the seat of government be surrounded, on any day of any year, by those who have more reason to rejoice in the blessings which they possess? Nowhere, fellow-citizens! assuredly, nowhere! Let us, then, meet this rising sun with joy and thanksgiving!

This is that day of the year which announced to mankind the great fact of American Independence. This fresh and brilliant morning blesses our vision with another beholding of the birthday of our nation; and we see that nation, of recent origin, now among the most considerable and powerful, and spreading over the continent from sea to sea.

Among the first colonists from Europe to this part of America there were some, doubtless, who contemplated the distant consequences of their undertaking, and who saw a great futurity. But, in general, their hopes were limited to the enjoyment of a safe asylum from tyranny, religious and civil, and to respectable subsistence by industry and toil. A thick veil hid our times from their view. But the progress of America, however slow, could not but at length awaken genius, and attract the attention of mankind.

[Sidenote: Bishop Berkeley's prophecy.]

In the early part of the second century of our history, Bishop Berkeley, who, it will be remembered, had resided for some time in Newport, in Rhode Island, wrote his well-known "Verses on the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning in America." The last stanza of this little poem seems to have been produced by a high poetical inspiration:--

"Westward the course of empire takes its way;
The four first acts already past,
A fifth shall close the drama with the day:
Time's noblest offspring is the last."

This extraordinary prophecy may be considered only as the result of long foresight and uncommon sagacity; of a foresight and sagacity stimulated, nevertheless, by excited feeling and high enthusiasm. So clear a vision of what America would become was not founded on square miles, or on existing numbers, or on any common laws of statistics. It was an intuitive glance into futurity; it was a grand conception, strong, ardent, glowing, embracing all time since the creation of the world, and all regions of which that world is composed, and judging of the future by just analogy with the past. And the inimitable imagery and beauty with which the thought is expressed, joined to the conception itself, render it one of the most striking passages in our language.

[Sidenote: Independence Day.]

On the day of the Declaration of Independence our illustrious fathers performed the first scene in the last great act of this drama; one in real importance infinitely exceeding that for which the great English poet invokes

"--a muse of fire,...
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act,
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!"[46]

The Muse inspiring our fathers was the Genius of Liberty, all on fire with a sense of oppression, and a resolution to throw it off; the whole world was the stage, and higher characters than princes trod it; and, instead of monarchs, countries and nations and the age beheld the swelling scene. How well the characters were cast, and how well each acted his part, and what emotions the whole performance excited, let history, now and hereafter, tell.

On the 4th of July, 1776, the Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, declared that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES.

This Declaration, made by most patriotic and resolute men, trusting in the justice of their cause and the protection of Heaven, and yet made not without deep solicitude and anxiety, has now stood for seventy-five years, and still stands. It was sealed in blood. It has met dangers, and overcome them; it has had enemies, and conquered them; it has had detractors, and abashed them all; it has had doubting friends, but it has cleared all doubts away; and now, to-day, raising its august form higher than the clouds, twenty millions of people contemplate it with hallowed love, and the world beholds it, and the consequences which have followed from it, with profound admiration.

[Sidenote: Liberty the inheritance of every American.]

This anniversary animates and gladdens and unites all American hearts. On other days of the year we may be party men, indulging in controversies more or less important to the public good; we may have likes and dislikes, and we may maintain our political differences, often with warm, and sometimes with angry, feelings. But to-day we are Americans all; and all nothing but Americans. As the great luminary over our heads, dissipating mists and fogs, now cheers the whole hemisphere, so do the associations connected with this day disperse all cloudy and sullen weather in the minds and hearts of true Americans. Every man's heart swells within him; every man's port and bearing become somewhat more proud and lofty, as he remembers that seventy-five years have rolled away, and that the great inheritance of liberty is still his: his, undiminished and unimpaired; his in all its original glory; his to enjoy, his to protect, and his to transmit to future generations.

Fellow-citizens, this inheritance which we enjoy to-day is not only an inheritance of liberty, but of our own peculiar American liberty. Liberty has existed in other times, in other countries, and in other forms. There has been a Grecian liberty, bold and powerful, full of spirit, eloquence, and fire; a liberty which produced multitudes of great men, and has transmitted one immortal name, the name of Demosthenes, to posterity. But still it was a liberty of disconnected States, sometimes united, indeed, by temporary leagues and confederacies, but often involved in wars between themselves. The sword of Sparta turned its sharpest edge against Athens, enslaved her, and devastated Greece; and, in her turn, Sparta was compelled to bend before the power of Thebes. And let it ever be remembered, especially let the truth sink deep into all American minds, that it was the _want of union_ among her several States which finally gave the mastery of all Greece to Philip of Macedon.

[Sidenote: The Corner-stone of the original Capitol laid by Washington.]

Fellow-citizens, fifty-eight years ago Washington stood on this spot to execute a duty like that which has now been performed. He then laid the corner-stone of the original Capitol. He was at the head of the government, at that time weak in resources, burdened with debt, just struggling into political existence and respectability, and agitated by the heaving waves which were overturning European thrones. But even then, in many important respects, the government was strong. It was strong in Washington's own great character; it was strong in the wisdom and patriotism of other eminent public men, his political associates and fellow-laborers; and it was strong in the affections of the people.

Since that time astonishing changes have been wrought in the condition and prospects of the American people; and a degree of progress witnessed with which the world can furnish no parallel. As we review the course of that progress, wonder and amazement arrest our attention at every step. The present occasion, although allowing of no lengthened remarks, may yet, perhaps, admit of a short comparative statement of important subjects of national interest as they existed at that day, and as they now exist. I have adopted for this purpose the tabular form of statement, as being the most brief and significant.[47]

COMPARATIVE TABLE

Year 1793. Year 1851. Year 1900.

Number of States 15 31 45
Representatives and
Senators in Congress 135 295 476
Population of the United
States 3,929,328 23,267,498 76,303,387[48]
Population of Boston 18,038 136,871 560,892
Population of Baltimore 13,503 169,054 508,957
Population of Philadelphia 42,520 409,045 1,293,697
Population of New York (city) 33,121 515,507 3,437,202
Population of Washington ... 40,075 278,718
Population of Richmond 4,000 27,582 85,050
Population of Charleston 16,359 42,983 55,807
Amount of receipts into
the Treasury $5,720,624 $52,312,980 $669,595,431
Amount of expenditures $7,529,575 $48,005,879 $590,068,371
Amount of imports $31,000,000 $215,725,995 $849,941,184
Amount of exports $26,109,000 $217,517,130 $1,370,763,571
Amount of tonnage (tons) 520,764 3,772,440 5,164,839
Area of the United States
in square miles 805,461 3,314,365 3,616,484[49]
Rank and file of the army 5,120 10,000 67,587
Militia (enrolled) ... 2,006,456 10,149,184[50]
Navy of the United States
(vessels) (None.) 76 140
Navy armament (ordnance) ... 2,012 ...
Treaties and conventions
with foreign powers 9 90 ...
Light-houses and light-boats 12 372 843[51]
Expenditures for ditto $12,061 $529,265 ...
Area of the Capitol 1/2 acre. 4-1/3 acres. 3-1/2 acres.[52]
Number of miles of
railroad in operation ... 10,287 190,833[53]
Cost of ditto ... $306,607,954 $11,692,817,066[54]
Number of miles in course
of construction ... 10,092 1,329
Lines of electric telegraph,
in miles ... 15,000 210,000[55]
Number of post-offices 209 21,551 76,945
Number of miles of post-route 5,642 196,290 511,808
Amount of revenue from
post-offices $104,747 $6,727,867 $111,631,193
Amount of expenditures
of Post-office Department $72,040 $6,024,567 $115,554,920
Number of miles of mail
transportation ... 52,465,724 ...
Number of colleges 19 121 484
Public libraries 35 694 5,383[56]
Volumes in ditto 75,000 2,201,632 44,591,851
School libraries ... 10,000 ...
Volumes in ditto ... 2,000,000 ...
Emigrants from Europe
to the United States 10,000 299,610 448,572[57]
Coinage at the Mint $9,664 $52,019,465 $141,351,960

[Sidenote: The City of Washington.]

Who does not feel that, when President Washington laid his hand on the foundation of the first Capitol, he performed a great work of perpetuation of the Union and the Constitution? Who does not feel that this seat of the general government, healthful in its situation, central in its position, near the mountains whence gush springs of wonderful virtue, teeming with Nature's richest products, and yet not far from the bays and the great estuaries of the sea, easily accessible and generally agreeable in climate and association, does give strength to the union of these States? that this city, bearing an immortal name, with its broad streets and avenues, its public squares and magnificent edifices of the general government, erected for the purpose of carrying on within them the important business of the several departments, for the reception of wonderful and curious inventions, for the preservation of the records of American learning and genius, of extensive collections of the products of nature and art, brought hither for study and comparison from all parts of the world; adorned with numerous churches, and sprinkled over, I am happy to say, with many public schools, where all the children of the city, without distinction, have the means of obtaining a good education, and with academies and colleges, professional schools and public libraries,--should continue to receive, as it has heretofore received, the fostering care of Congress, and should be regarded as the permanent seat of the national government?

With each succeeding year new interest is added to the spot; it becomes connected with all the historical associations of our country, with her statesmen and her orators; and, alas! its cemetery is annually enriched by the ashes of her chosen sons.

[Sidenote: Its associations.]

Before us is the broad and beautiful river, separating two of the original thirteen States, which a late President, a man of determined purpose and inflexible will, but patriotic heart, desired to span with arches of ever-enduring granite, symbolical of the firmly cemented union of the North and the South. That President was General Jackson.

On its banks repose the ashes of the Father of his Country; and at our side, by a singular felicity of position, overlooking the city which he designed, and which bears his name, rises to his memory the marble column, sublime in its simple grandeur, and fitly intended to reach a loftier height than any similar structure on the surface of the whole earth.[58]

Let the votive offerings of his grateful countrymen be freely contributed to carry this monument higher and still higher. May I say, as on another occasion, "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!"[59]

Fellow-citizens, what contemplations are awakened in our minds as we assemble here to re-enact a scene like that performed by Washington! Methinks I see his venerable form now before me, as presented in the glorious statue by Houdon, now in the Capitol of Virginia. He is dignified and grave; but concern and anxiety seem to soften the lineaments of his countenance. The government over which he presides is yet in the crisis of experiment. Not free from troubles at home, he sees the world in commotion and in arms all around him. He sees that imposing foreign powers are half disposed to try the strength of the recently established American government. We perceive that mighty thoughts, mingled with fears as well as with hopes, are struggling within him. He heads a short procession over these then naked fields; he crosses yonder stream on a fallen tree; he ascends to the top of this eminence, whose original oaks of the forest stand as thick around him as if the spot had been devoted to Druidical worship, and here he performs the appointed duty of the day.

[Sidenote: George Washington's monition.]

And now, fellow-citizens, if this vision were a reality; if Washington actually were now amongst us, and if he could draw around him the shades of the great public men of his own day, patriots and warriors, orators and statesmen, and were to address us in their presence, would he not say to us: "Ye men of this generation, I rejoice and thank God for being able to see that our labors and toils and sacrifices were not in vain. You are prosperous, you are happy, you are grateful: the fire of liberty burns brightly and steadily in your hearts, while _duty_ and the _law_ restrain it from bursting forth in wild and destructive conflagration. Cherish liberty, as you love it; cherish its securities, as you wish to preserve it. Maintain the Constitution which we labored so painfully to establish, and which has been to you such a source of inestimable blessings. Preserve the union of the States, cemented as it was by our prayers, our tears and our blood. Be true to God, to your country, and to your duty. So shall the whole Eastern world follow the morning sun to contemplate you as a nation; so shall all generations honor you, as they honor us; and so shall that Almighty Power which so graciously protected us, and which now protects you, shower its everlasting blessings upon you and your posterity."

[Sidenote: The sacred trust of Americans.]

Great Father of your Country! we heed your words; we feel their force as if you now uttered them with lips of flesh and blood. Your example teaches us, your affectionate addresses teach us, your public life teaches us your sense of the value of the blessings of the Union. Those blessings our fathers have tasted, and we have tasted, and still taste. Nor do we intend that those who come after us shall be denied the same high fruition. Our honor as well as our happiness is concerned. We cannot, we dare not, we will not, betray our sacred trust. We will not filch from posterity the treasure placed in our hands to be transmitted to other generations. The bow that gilds the clouds in the heavens, the pillars that uphold the firmament, may disappear and fall away in the hour appointed by the will of God; but until that day comes, or so long as our lives may last, no ruthless hand shall undermine that bright arch of Union and Liberty which spans the continent from Washington to California. Fellow-citizens, we must sometimes be tolerant to folly, and patient at the sight of the extreme waywardness of men; but I confess that, when I reflect on the renown of our past history, on our present prosperity and greatness, and on what the future hath yet to unfold, and when I see that there are men who can find in all this nothing good, nothing valuable, nothing truly glorious, I feel that all their reason has fled away from them, and left the entire control over their judgment and their actions to insanity and fanaticism; and more than all, fellow-citizens, if the purposes of fanatics and disunionists should be accomplished, the patriotic and intelligent of our generation would seek to hide themselves from the scorn of the world, and go about to find dishonorable graves.

[Sidenote: The preservation of the Union foretold.]

Fellow-citizens, take courage; be of good cheer. We shall come to no such ignoble end. We shall live, and not die. During the period allotted to our several lives we shall continue to rejoice in the return of this anniversary. The ill-omened sounds of fanaticism will be hushed; the ghastly spectres of Secession and Disunion will disappear; and the enemies of united constitutional liberty, if their hatred cannot be appeased, may prepare to have their eyeballs seared as they behold the steady flight of the American eagle, on his burnished wings, for years and years to come.

President Fillmore, it is your singularly good fortune to perform an act such as that which the earliest of your predecessors performed fifty-eight years ago. You stand where he stood; you lay your hand on the corner-stone of a building designed greatly to extend that whose corner-stone he laid. Changed, changed is everything around. The same sun, indeed, shone upon his head which now shines upon yours. The same broad river rolled at his feet, and bathes his last resting-place, that now rolls at yours. But the site of this city was then mainly an open field. Streets and avenues have since been laid out and completed, squares and public grounds enclosed and ornamented, until the city which bears his name, although comparatively inconsiderable in numbers and wealth, has became quite fit to be the seat of government of a great and united people.

And now, fellow-citizens, with hearts void of hatred, envy, and malice towards our own countrymen, or any of them, or towards the subjects or citizens of other governments, or towards any member of the great family of man; but exulting, nevertheless, in our own peace, security, and happiness, in the grateful remembrance of the past, and the glorious hopes of the future, let us return to our homes, and with all humility and devotion offer our thanks to the Father of all our mercies, political, social, and religious.

INDEX

Achilles, 327.

ADAMS AND JEFFERSON: A Discourse in Commemoration of the Lives and
Services of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, delivered in Faneuil
Hall, Boston, Aug. 2, 1826, 67.

Adams, John, 84, 87-90, 92-97, 101, 104;
similarity to Jefferson, 70;
example of, 70;
work of, 70;
services of, 73;
career of, 73-81, 97-100;
portrait of, 74.

Adams, John Quincy, 100 and note, 122 note;
portrait of, 123.

Adams, Samuel, 80, 96;
portrait of, 97.

Alfred, 48.

Allerton, Isaac, 7.

Amendment, Thirteenth, to the Constitution, 126 note.

America, popular government in, 18, 20;
constitutional history of, 25;
literature of, 26;
discovery of, 31;
Revolution in, 32;
obligations of, 48, 65;
contributions of, to Europe, 62;
example of, 63.

Americans, sacred trust of, 210.

American Union, the, 56.

Ames, Fisher, 183 and note.

Angelo, Michael, 177.

Athens, 204.

Bacon, Francis, 71.

Bennington, Vt., 38.

Benton, Thomas Hart, 119-121;
portrait of, 120.

Berkeley, George, 178 and note, 201.

Blackstone, Sir William, 167 and note.

Boston, Mass., Massacre, 75 note;
Port Bill, 93 and note;
"Tea-Party," 93 note;
speeches of Webster at, 67.

Bradford, William, 7.

Brewster, William, 7, 15.

Bunker Hill, battle of, 96;
importance of, 57;
motive for, 58;
consequences of, 59.

BUNKER HILL MONUMENT, THE: An Address delivered at the Laying of the
Corner-stone at Charlestown, Mass. June 17, 1825, 30;
and see 208 and note.

BUNKER HILL MONUMENT, THE COMPLETION OF THE: An Address delivered
June 17, 1843, 50.

Byron, Lord, 9 note.

Camden, N. J., 38.

CAPITOL, THE ADDITION TO THE, 200.

Capitol, United States, in 1851, view of, 200.

Carroll, Charles, 107.

Carver, John, 7.

Charlestown, Mass., 58;
speeches of Webster at, 30, 50.

Chatham, Earl of, 177.

Cicero, 21, 177 and note.

Clay, Henry, 122 note, 194 note;
portrait of, 195.

"Coalition," the, 122 and note.

Concord, Mass., 55, 96.

Congress, Continental, First, 81.

CONSTITUTION AND THE UNION, THE, 194.

Constitution of the United States, true principles of, 145;
declared by people to be supreme law, 150, 163;
enumerated powers of, 162;
main design of, 162;
failure of Confederation the cause of, 162;
alterable by the people, not the States, 170.

Cortéz, Hernando, 61.

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, THE, 83-87.

Demosthenes, 9, 204.

District of Columbia, 155.

Electors, Presidential, in the United States, 98 note.

Elizabeth, Queen, 12.

Eloquence, nature of, 89.

Embargo Bill of 1807, 156 and note.

England, religious persecutions in, 12;
idea of liberty in, 60.

EXECUTIVE PATRONAGE AND REMOVAL FROM OFFICE, 174.

Faneuil Hall, Boston, view of, 68;
speeches of Webster in, 67.

Federalist party, 122 note.

Fillmore, Millard, 211;
portrait of, 211.

Foot, Samuel Augustus, 115 note;
Resolution of, 116.

Foreign influence a foe of republican government, 185.

Franklin, Benjamin, 84, 101;
portrait of, 102.

Freedom, spirit of, 179.

Fries, John, 168 and note.

Gage, Thomas, 79.

Gates, Horatio, 41.

Government, representative system of, 44;
principles of, as held by English colonists in America, 61, 62;
powers of, to be used for the general benefit, 131;
a great untaxed proprietor, 132;
republican, foreign influence a foe of, 185.

Government, United States, source of powers of, 150, 162, 164;
powers of, as related to powers of States, 152, 158, 160, 162;
a new experiment, 180.

"Great Debate," The, 115 note.

Greece, Revolution in (1824), 45 and note.

Greene, Nathanael, 41.

Hancock, John, 90, 96;
portrait of, 91.

Harrington, James, 20.

Harvard College, 23;
view of, 24.

Hayne, Robert Young, 115 note, 117-122;
portrait of, 135.

HAYNE, THE REPLY TO: From the Second Speech on Foot's Resolution,
delivered in the Senate of the United States, Jan. 26 and 27,
1830, 115;
first version of, 173 note;
and see 115 note.

Henry, Patrick, 100;
portrait of, 101.

Hillhouse, James, 155 and note.

Holland, Pilgrims in, 14.

Homer, 177.

Independence, American, 201-204.

Independence, Declaration of, 83-87.

Independence Hall, Philadelphia, view of, 80.

Internal improvements, Webster's opinions concerning, 129.

Jackson, Andrew, 115 note.

Jamestown, Va., 32 and note.

Jefferson, Thomas, 184 note;
similarity to Adams, 70;
example of, 70;
work of, 70;
services of, 73;
career of, 81-85, 99, 100-106;
portrait of, 82.

Kentucky resolutions of 1798, 147 note.

Lafayette, Marquis de, 39 and note;
portrait of, 40.

Lee, Richard Henry, 83.

Legislatures, State, in relation to national laws, 145.

Lexington, Mass., 55, 96.

Liberty the inheritance of every American, 203.

Lincoln, Benjamin, 41.

Lincolnshire, England, 13.

Livingston, Robert R., 84.

Marathon, 8 and note.

Mason and Dixon's line, 137 and note.

Massachusetts, in the Revolution, 143;
defence of, 144.

Milton, John, 177.

Missouri question, 126-127, 126 note.

Monmouth, N. J., 38.

Monuments of the past, 53.

National Republican party, 122 note, 174.

Nations, progress of, 41.

Newton, Isaac, 71.

NEW ENGLAND, THE FIRST SETTLEMENT OF: A Discourse delivered at
Plymouth, Mass. Dec. 22, 1820, 3.

New England, third century of history of, 3;
ancestors of, 41;
religious liberty in, 11;
distribution of property in, 19;
education in, 21;
future progress of, 28;
settlement of, 3, 32;
relation of, to Western improvements, 133-134;
Hayne's attack on, 136;
relation of, to South Carolina doctrine of nullification, 155;
to the embargo of 1807, 157.

Northwest Territory, 126 note.

Nullification, 116, 154, 165-169;
leads to disunion, 169.

Ohio, 126 note.

"Old Style" of reckoning time, 73 note.

Ordinance of 1787, the, 126 and note.

Otis, James, 76;
portrait of, 77.

Paine, Robert Treat, 79, 96.

Parties, political, in 1812, 141.

Party contests under the Constitution, 138.

Phidias, 9.

Philip of Macedon, 204.

Pilgrims, 5 and note;
purpose of, 10, 59;
new home of, 15, 18;
duty of descendants of, 25;
and see New England, First Settlement of.

Pizarro, Francisco, 61.

Plato, 9.

Plymouth, Mass., 6, 7 and note, 28, 59;
speech of Webster at, 3.

Pope, Alexander, 199 note.

Prescott, William, 36, 54, 57, 58.

Public lands, 128.

Public works bonds of union, 129.

Puritans, 5 note.

Putnam, Israel, 36, 54.

Quincy, Josiah, Jr., 73.

Randolph, Peyton, 83.

Raphael, 177.

Religion, influence of, 27.

Religious liberty in New England, 11.

Religious persecutions in England, 12.

Revolution, American, 32;
survivors of, 35, 36, 38;
influence of, upon Europe, 42.

Revolution of 1688, English, importance of, 181.

Revolution, Webster admits right of, 147;
a law to itself, 164.

Robinson, John, 12 and note, 15.

Rome, commonwealth of, 21.

Salem, Mass., speech of Webster at, 111.

Saratoga, N. Y., 38.

Sargent, Henry, 7 and note.

Secession, peaceable, impossible, 195.

Senate, United States, 121;
speeches of Webster in, 115, 194.

Serbonis, Lake, 218 note.

"Seventh of March" (1850) speech of Webster, 194.

Shakespeare, William, 202 and note.

Sherman, Roger, 84.

Slavery, Webster's opinion concerning, 126-128.

Smithfield (London), 12 and note.

Socrates, 9.

Solon, 48.

Sophocles, 9.

South America, liberty in, 46.

South Carolina, 136, 137;
nullification in, 116;
Webster's tribute to, 142;
doctrine of State discretion, 146.

Southern Confederacy, idea of a, 197.

Spain, greed of, 60.

Sparta, 204.

Standish, Miles, 7.

Stark, John, 36, 54.

States, not final judges of acts of general government, 145;
powers of, as related to powers of general government, 152, 160.

"Suicide is confession," 114.

Sullivan, John, 41.

Supreme Court of the United States, final decision of, 164.

Tariffs, protective, as related to Constitution, 153, 159;
to South Carolina nullification, 166.

Thebes, 204.

Trenton, N. Y., 38.

Turenne, Vicomte de, 168 and note.

Tyler, John, 54;
portrait of, 54.

Union, as related to nullification, 154;
preservation of, 171, 195, 198, 211.

United States, example of, 47;
are one, 130;
a western sun, 182;
advantages of isolation of, 186;
dismemberment of, the greatest of evils, 191;
growth of population of, 205-206.

Vauban, Sebastien de, 168.

Virginia resolutions of 1798, 146-147, 146 note.

Virginia, University of, 105 and note.

Warren, Joseph, 37, 40, 41, 54;
portrait of, 37.

Washington, George, 41, 59, 63, 67, 94, 102, 104, 139, 204, 207-210;
power of the name of, 175;
moral example of, 176;
Farewell Address of, 183, 185, 186, 188;
conduct of America's foreign relations, 184;
domestic policy of, 187;
first cabinet of, 187;
important measures of administration of, 188;
opinion of dangers of party spirit, 188;
love of the Union, 189;
monition of, 209-210.

WASHINGTON, THE CHARACTER OF, 175.

Washington, city of, 207-208;
speeches of Webster in, 200.

Washington Monument, 208 and note;
view of, 208.

Whig party, 122 note.

WHITE, CAPTAIN JOSEPH, THE MURDER OF: From an Argument on the Trial
of Joseph Francis Knapp, at Salem, Mass. Aug. 3, 1830, 111.

Wilmot proviso, the, 126 note.

Worcester, Mass., speech of Webster at, 174.

Wythe, George, 82.

Yorktown, Va., 38.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The "Pilgrims" are often confused with the "Puritans," and the words are used interchangeably. Strictly speaking, the former were the English Independents or Congregationalists who came from Holland to Plymouth in 1620; the latter, the immigrants from England to Massachusetts Bay in 1629 and following years, some of whom, at the time of their arrival in New England, retained nominal connection with the Church of England. The church polity of the two parties, however, soon became the same.

[2] Henry Sargent's "Landing of the Pilgrims," in Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth.

[3] The landing at Plymouth was on Dec. 11, 1620, Old Style, corresponding to December 21 according to the present calendar, though December 22 is generally observed.

[4] A plain eighteen miles northeast of Athens, between Mount Pentelicus and the sea, where, B. C. 490, 10,000 Greeks and 1,000 Platæans, under Miltiades, defeated 100,000 Persians, thereby destroying Darius's scheme for subjugating Greece.

"The mountains look on Marathon,
And Marathon looks on the sea;
And musing there an hour alone,
I dreamed that Greece might still be free."
BYRON, _Don Juan_, canto iii, stanza 86, 3.

[5] John Robinson, 1575-1625, an influential English Independent (or Congregational) minister, who left the Church of England and joined the "Separatists" in 1604, and was their pastor at Scrooby, England, removing to Amsterdam, Holland, in 1608, and continuing his leadership of Independents there and in Leyden.

[6] Smithfield is a section of London, north of St. Paul's Cathedral, where alleged heretics were burned at the stake during the reign of Queen Mary, in 1555 and subsequent years.

[7] The monument, erected by an association which aroused national as well as local interest and support, is a granite obelisk, two hundred and twenty-one feet high, actually standing on Breed's, not Bunker Hill. The two eminences are seven hundred yards apart, and both were scenes of conflict, the American redoubt being on Breed's; but general use has long sanctioned the expression "the battle of Bunker Hill." The monument was finished in 1842.

[8] Jamestown, Virginia, on the James River, where the first permanent English settlement in the United States was made May 13, 1607.

[9] It is no part of the purpose of the present edition to undertake to criticise the rhetoric of Webster. But the use of "him" in the objective case, in the present paragraph, followed by "thy," is so uncommon as to call for mention. Most rhetoricians would employ "he," followed by "his;" or "thou," followed by "thy." A use of cases identical with Webster's is found in the well-known second stanza of S.F. Smith's "America":--

"My native country, _thee_,
Land of the noble free,--
_Thy_ name I love."

[10] The Marquis de la Fayette (1757-1834), a member of a rich and noble French family, equipped a vessel at his own cost, and came to America in 1777, to aid the Revolutionists. At once brave and judicious, he became the friend of Washington, and was made major-general, distinguishing himself as a fighter or strategist at Brandywine, Monmouth, and Yorktown. Returning to France after the war, he took a middle course in the French Revolution, for which he later was subjected to the unwarranted sneers of Carlyle. Imprisoned for years in Austria, he was released by request of Napoleon in 1797. In 1824 he again visited the United States, being everywhere greeted with enthusiasm, and receiving from Congress $200,000 and a township of land. Four years before his death he was made head of the French National Guard by the party which dethroned the Bourbon, Charles X., and transferred the crown to Louis Philippe.

[11] Late may you return to the sky.

[12] The people of Greece, long restive against Turkish oppression, rose under Alexander Ypsilanti in 1820, promulgated a new constitution in 1822, and began a war of revolution. After bloody atrocities on both sides, in 1824 the Greeks began to receive some outside help, including that of Lord Byron, who died at Missolonghi, in that year, from exposure in the field. The jealousies and intrigues of Mahmoud, Sultan of Turkey, and Mehemet Ali, Turkish Viceroy of Egypt, with fears of Russian preponderance in a divided Turkey, led the Great Powers of Europe to interfere in behalf of Greece, as the Turks and Egyptians were working together against her. The Treaty of London (July 6, 1827) founded the new Kingdom of Greece; England, France, and Russia overwhelmed the fleets of Turkey and Egypt at Navarino, October 26 of the same year; and the independent career of the resuscitated Greek nation began.

[13] "Monument Square is four hundred and seventeen feet from north to south, and four hundred feet from east to west, and contains nearly six acres. It embraces the whole site of the redoubt, and a part of the site of the breastwork. According to the most accurate plan of the town and the battle (Page's), the monument stands where the southwest angle of the redoubt was, and the whole of the redoubt was between the monument and the street that bounds it on the west. The small mound in the northeast corner of the square is supposed to be the remains of the breastwork. Warren fell about two hundred feet west of the monument. An iron fence encloses the square, and another surrounds the monument. The square has entrances on each of its sides, and at each of its corners, and is surrounded by a walk and rows of trees.

"The obelisk is thirty feet in diameter at the base, about fifteen feet at the top of the truncated part, and was designed to be two hundred and twenty feet high; but the mortar and the seams between the stones make the precise height two hundred and twenty-one feet. Within the shaft is a hollow cone, with a spiral stairway winding round it to its summit, which enters a circular chamber at the top. There are ninety courses of stone in the shaft,--six of them below the ground, and eighty-four above the ground. The capstone, or apex, is a single stone four feet square at the base, and three feet six inches in height, weighing two and a half tons."--FROTHINGHAM'S _Siege of Boston._

[14] The old method, established by Julius Cæsar, of counting 365 days in a year, and 366 every fourth year, gave each year about eleven minutes too much, which overplus amounted in 1582 to ten days. In that year Pope Gregory XIII discontinued the "Julian" and established the "Gregorian" calendar, by setting forward the date of a day ten days. This change was adopted (the dropping of an additional day being needed) by the English Parliament in 1751,--September 3, 1752, to be called September 14. At present, the New Style gives 366 days to every year divisible by four, excepting 1800, 1900, etc.

[15] March 5, 1770, a conflict called the "Boston Massacre" took place between English troops and Bostonians, three of the latter being killed. Samuel Adams, the people's leader in Boston, in consequence compelled the Governor to withdraw the soldiers from the town.

[16] Documents giving the royal custom-house officers the right to search any house for alleged smuggled goods.

[17] Parliament closed the port of Boston, in 1774, in retaliation for the destruction of taxed tea by the Colonists in 1773, in the so-called "Boston Tea-party." Under the Port Bill all exports and imports were prohibited save food and fuel.

[18] The parliament of Holland.

[19] Prior to 1804 the "presidential electors" voted for two candidates from previous page: for president; the one receiving the highest number to be president, and the one having the next highest vice-president.

[20] John Quincy Adams was President of the United States, 1825-1829.

[21] The fiftieth anniversary of the independence of the United States. The Jews of the Old Testament celebrated every fiftieth anniversary of their entrance into Canaan. Leviticus xxv. 10.

[22] Mr. Jefferson himself considered his services in establishing the University of Virginia as among the most important rendered by him to the country. In large part he arranged its curriculum, and even designed its buildings. By his direction the following inscription was placed on his monument: "Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, Author of the Declaration of Independence, of the Statutes of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia."

[23] "Happy, not only in the brightness of his life, but also in the circumstance of his death."

[24] The question has often been asked whether the anonymous speech against the Declaration of Independence, and the speech in support of it ascribed to John Adams in the preceding address, are a portion of the debates which actually took place in 1776 in the Continental Congress. Those speeches were composed by Mr. Webster, after the manner of the ancient historians, as embodying the arguments relied upon by the friends and opponents of the measure, respectively. They represent speeches actually made on both sides, but no report of the debates of this period has been preserved, and Mr. Webster had no aid in framing these addresses but what was furnished by tradition and the known line of argument pursued by the speakers and writers of that day for and against the measure of Independence. The first sentence of the speech ascribed to Mr. Adams was suggested by the parting scene with Jonathan Sewall, as described by Mr. Adams himself, in the Preface to the "Letters of Novanglus and Massachusettensis."

The following answer was written by Mr. Webster to one of the letters of inquiry above alluded to.

"WASHINGTON, _22 January, 1846_.

"DEAR SIR:--

"I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 18th instant. Its contents hardly surprise me, as I have received very many similar communications.

"Your inquiry is easily answered. The Congress of the Revolution sat with closed doors. Its proceedings were made known to the public from time to time, by printing its journal; but the debates were not published. So far as I know, there is not existing, in print or manuscript, the speech, or any part or fragment of the speech, delivered by Mr. Adams on the question of the Declaration of Independence. We only know, from the testimony of his auditors, that he spoke with remarkable ability and characteristic earnestness.

"The day after the Declaration was made, Mr. Adams, in writing to a friend, declared the event to be one that 'ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward, forevermore.'

"And on the day of his death, hearing the noise of bells and cannon, he asked the occasion. On being reminded that it was 'Independent day,' he replied, 'Independence forever!' These expressions were introduced into the speech _supposed_ to have been made by him. For the rest I must be answerable. The speech was written by me, in my house in Boston, the day before the delivery of the Discourse in Faneuil Hall; a poor substitute, I am sure it would appear to be, if we could now see the speech actually made by Mr. Adams on that transcendently important occasion.

"I am, respectfully,
"Your obedient servant,
"DANIEL WEBSTER."

[25] Joseph White, an old man of eighty, was found murdered in his bed, in Salem, Massachusetts, on the morning of April 7, 1830. A few weeks later four men--Richard Crowninshield, George Crowninshield, John Francis Knapp, and Joseph J. Knapp, Jr.--were arrested on the charge of murder. On June 15 Richard Crowninshield committed suicide in his cell; George Crowninshield, having proved an alibi, was discharged; and the two Knapps were tried between July 20 and August 20, the former as principal and the latter as accessory. Joseph made a full confession, outside of court, on the government's promise of impunity; but afterwards refused to repeat this testimony on the witness-stand. It was shown that the fatal blow was struck by Richard Crowninshield; that John Francis Knapp, who had bargained with Richard Crowninshield to commit the murder, was lurking in the neighborhood during the commission of the crime; and that Joseph J. Knapp was also an accessory before the fact, having, indeed, projected the murder. The Knapps were executed. A detailed description of the extraordinary network of circumstances, before and after the murder, is given in the volume entitled "Great Speeches and Orations of Daniel Webster."