,,miscellanies ,,by ,,ralph ,,waldo ,,emerson ,illustration ,,boston ,,and ,,new ,,york ,,houghton1 ,,mifflin ,,and ,,company ,the ,riverside ,press1 ,cambridge ,,copyright1 #ahgh1 ,,by ,,ralph ,,waldo ,,emerson ,,copyright1 #ahhc1 #aijd1 ,,and #aijf1 ,,by ,,edward ,w4 ,,emerson ,,all ,,rights ,,reserved ,,preface ,the year after ,mr4 ,emerson's death1 ,mr4 ,cabot1 in editing his works1 gathered into a volume the occasional writings which had never been included in previous editions1 although six of them had been printed1 either as pamphlets or in periodicals1 long before1 by the author4 ,these were the ,sermon on ,the ,lord's ,supper1 the ,historical ,address at ,concord in #ahce1 that at the dedication of the ,soldiers' ,monument there in #ahfg1 and that on ,emancipation in the ,british ,west ,indies1 the ,essay on ,war1 and the ,editors' ,address in the ,massachusetts ,quarterly ,review4 8,american ,civilization0 had been a portion of the article of that name in the ,atlantic in #ahfb4 8,the ,fortune of the ,republic0 also had been printed as a pamphlet in #ahgd4 ,mr4 ,cabot said in his prefatory note1 8,in none was any change from the original form made by me1 except in the #8,fortune of the ,republic1' which was made up of several lectures1 for the occasion upon which it was read40 ,this was after ,mr4 ,emerson was no longer able to arrange his work and his friends had come to his aid4 ,the speeches at the ,john ,brown1 the ,walter ,scott1 and the ,free ,religious ,association meetings had been printed1 probably with ,mr4 ,emerson's consent4 ,the other pieces included by ,mr4 ,cabot1 namely1 the speeches on ,theodore ,parker1 the ,emancipation ,proclamation1 ,abraham ,lincoln1 at the ,harvard ,commemoration1 8,woman10 the addresses to ,kossuth1 and at the ,burns ,festival1 had not been published4 ,all that were in ,mr4 ,cabot's collection will be found here1 although the order has been slightly changed4 ,to these ,i have added ,mr4 ,emerson's letter to ,president ,van ,buren in #ahch1 his speech on the ,fugitive ,slave ,law in ,concord soon after its enactment1 that on ,shakspeare to the ,saturday ,club1 and his remarks at the ,humboldt ,centennial1 and at the dinner to the ,chinese ,embassy2 also the addresses at the consecration of ,sleepy ,hollow ,cemetery and at the opening of the ,concord ,free ,public ,library4 ,the oration before the ,new ,england ,society of ,new ,york in #ahgj1 printed by them in their recent volume1 is not included1 as most of the matter may be found in the ,historical ,discourse at ,concord and in the essay 8,boston10 in ,natural ,history of ,intellect4 ,i have given to the chapters mottoes1 the most of them drawn from ,mr4 ,emerson's writings4 ,,edward ,w4 ,,emerson4 ,,contents ,,page ,i4 ,,the ,,lord',s ,,supper #a ,,ii4 ,,historical ,,discourse ,,at ,,concord #bg ,,iii4 ,,letter ,,to ,,president ,,van ,,buren #hg ,,iv4 ,,emancipation ,,in ,,the ,,british ,,west ,,indies #ig ,v4 ,,war #adi ,,vi4 ,,the ,,fugitive ,,slave ,,law--,,address ,,at ,,concord #agg ,,vii4 ,,the ,,fugitive ,,slave ,,law--,,lecture ,,at ,,new ,,york #bae ,,viii4 ,,the ,,assault ,,upon ,,mr4 ,,sumner #bde ,,ix4 ,,speech ,,on ,,affairs ,,in ,,kansas #bec ,x4 ,,john ,,brown--,,speech ,,at ,,boston #bfe ,,xi4 ,,john ,,brown--,,speech ,,at ,,salem #bge ,,xii4 ,,theodore ,,parker #bhc ,,xiii4 ,,american ,,civilization #bie ,,xiv4 ,,the ,,emancipation ,,proclamation #cac ,,xv4 ,,abraham ,,lincoln #cbg ,,xvi4 ,,harvard ,,commemoration ,,speech #cci ,,xvii4 ,,dedication ,,of ,,the ,,soldiers' ,,monument ,,in ,,concord #cdg ,,xviii4 ,,editors' ,,address #cha ,,xix4 ,,address ,,to ,,kossuth #cie ,,xx4 ,,woman #djc ,,xxi4 ,,consecration ,,of ,,sleepy ,,hollow ,,cemetery #dbg ,,xxii4 ,,robert ,,burns #dcg ,,xxiii4 ,,shakspeare #dde ,,xxiv4 ,,humboldt #dee ,,xxv4 ,,walter ,,scott #dfa ,,xxvi4 ,,speech ,,at ,,banquet ,,in ,,honor ,,of ,,chinese ,,embassy #dfi ,,xxvii4 ,,remarks ,,at ,,organization ,,of ,,free ,,religious ,,association #dge ,,xxviii4 ,,speech ,,at ,,second ,,annual ,,meeting ,,of ,,free ,,religious ,,association #dhc ,,xxix4 ,,address ,,at ,,opening ,,of ,,concord ,,free ,,public ,,library #dic ,,xxx4 ,,the ,,fortune ,,of ,,the ,,republic #eji ,,notes #ede ,i ,,the ,,lord',s ,,supper ,,sermon ,,delivered ,,before ,,the ,,second ,,church ,,in ,,boston1 ,,september #i1 #ahcb ,i like a church2 ,i like a cowl1 ,i love a prophet of the soul2 ,and on my heart monastic aisles ,fall like sweet strains1 or pensive smiles3 ,yet not for all his faith can see ,would ,i that cowld churchman be4 ,why should the vest on him allure1 ,which ,i could not on me endure8 99 99 99 99 99 ,the word unto the prophet spoken ,was writ on tables yet unbroken2 ,the word by seers or sibyls told1 ,in groves of oak1 or fanes of gold1 ,still floats upon the morning wind1 ,still whispers to the willing mind4 ,,the ,,lord',s ,,supper ,the ,kingdom of ,god is not meat and drink2 but righteousness1 and peace1 and joy in the ,holy ,ghost4--,,romans xiv4 #ag4 ,in the history of the ,church no subject has been more fruitful of controversy than the ,lord's ,supper4 ,there never has been any unanimity in the understanding of its nature1 nor any uniformity in the mode of celebrating it4 ,without considering the frivolous questions which have been lately debated as to the posture in which men should partake of it2 whether mixed or unmixed wine should be served2 whether leavened or unleavened bread should be broken2--the questions have been settled differently in every church1 who should be admitted to the feast1 and how often it should be prepared4 ,in the ,catholic ,church1 infants were at one time permitted and then forbidden to partake2 and since the ninth century the laity receive the bread only1 the cup being reserved to the priesthood4 ,so1 as to the time of the solemnity4 ,in the ,fourth ,lateran ,council1 it was decreed that any believer should communicate at least once in a year1--at ,easter4 ,afterwards it was determined that this ,sacrament should be received three times in the year1--at ,easter1 ,whitsuntide and ,christmas4 ,but more important controversies have arisen respecting its nature4 ,the famous question of the ,real ,presence was the main controversy between the ,church of ,england and the ,church of ,rome4 ,the doctrine of the ,consubstantiation taught by ,luther was denied by ,calvin4 ,in the ,church of ,england1 ,archbishops ,laud and ,wake maintained that the elements were an ,eucharist1 or sacrifice of ,thanksgiving to ,god2 ,cudworth and ,warburton1 that this was not a sacrifice1 but a sacrificial feast2 and ,bishop ,hoadley1 that it was neither a sacrifice nor a feast after sacrifice1 but a simple commemoration4 ,and finally1 it is now near two hundred years since the ,society of ,quakers denied the authority of the rite altogether1 and gave good reasons for disusing it4 ,i allude to these facts only to show that1 so far from the ,supper being a tradition in which men are fully agreed1 there has always been the widest room for difference of opinion upon this particular4 ,having recently given particular attention to this subject1 ,i was led to the conclusion that ,jesus did not intend to establish an institution for perpetual observance when he ate the ,passover with his disciples2 and further1 to the opinion that it is not expedient to celebrate it as we do4 ,i shall now endeavor to state distinctly my reasons for these two opinions4 ,i4 ,the authority of the rite4 ,an account of the ,last ,supper of ,christ with his disciples is given by the four ,evangelists1 ,matthew1 ,mark1 ,luke and ,john4 ,in ,st4 ,matthew's ,gospel 7,matt4 xxvi4 #bf-cj7 are recorded the words of ,jesus in giving bread and wine on that occasion to his disciples1 but no expression occurs intimating that this feast was hereafter to be commemorated4 ,in ,st4 ,mark 7,mark xiv4 #bb-be7 the same words are recorded1 and still with no intimation that the occasion was to be remembered4 ,st4 ,luke 7,luke xxii4 #ai71 after relating the breaking of the bread1 has these words3 8,this do in remembrance of me40 ,in ,st4 ,john1 although other occurrences of the same evening are related1 this whole transaction is passed over without notice4 ,now observe the facts4 ,two of the ,evangelists1 namely1 ,matthew and ,john1 were of the twelve disciples1 and were present on that occasion4 ,neither of them drops the slightest intimation of any intention on the part of ,jesus to set up anything permanent4 ,john especially1 the beloved disciple1 who has recorded with minuteness the conversation and the transactions of that memorable evening1 has quite omitted such a notice4 ,neither does it appear to have come to the knowledge of ,mark1 who1 though not an eye-witness1 relates the other facts4 ,this material fact1 that the occasion was to be remembered1 is found in ,luke alone1 who was not present4 ,there is no reason1 however1 that we know1 for rejecting the account of ,luke4 ,i doubt not1 the expression was used by ,jesus4 ,i shall presently consider its meaning4 ,i have only brought these accounts together1 that you may judge whether it is likely that a solemn institution1 to be continued to the end of time by all mankind1 as they should come1 nation after nation1 within the influence of the ,christian religion1 would have been established in this slight manner--in a manner so slight1 that the intention of commemorating it should not appear1 from their narrative1 to have caught the ear or dwelt in the mind of the only two among the twelve who wrote down what happened4 ,still we must suppose that the expression1 8,this do in remembrance of me10 had come to the ear of ,luke from some disciple who was present4 ,what did it really signify8 ,it is a prophetic and an affectionate expression4 ,jesus is a ,jew1 sitting with his countrymen1 celebrating their national feast4 ,he thinks of his own impending death1 and wishes the minds of his disciples to be prepared for it4 8,when hereafter10 he says to them1 8you shall keep the ,passover1 it will have an altered aspect to your eyes4 ,it is now a historical covenant of ,god with the ,jewish nation4 ,hereafter it will remind you of a new covenant sealed with my blood4 ,in years to come1 as long as your people shall come up to ,jerusalem to keep this feast1 the connection which has subsisted between us will give a new meaning in your eyes to the national festival1 as the anniversary of my death40 ,i see natural feeling and beauty in the use of such language from ,jesus1 a friend to his friends2 ,i can readily imagine that he was willing and desirous1 when his disciples met1 his memory should hallow their intercourse2 but ,i cannot bring myself to believe that in the use of such an expression he looked beyond the living generation1 beyond the abolition of the festival he was celebrating1 and the scattering of the nation1 and meant to impose a memorial feast upon the whole world4 ,without presuming to fix precisely the purpose in the mind of ,jesus1 you will see that many opinions may be entertained of his intention1 all consistent with the opinion that he did not design a perpetual ordinance4 ,he may have foreseen that his disciples would meet to remember him1 and that with good effect4 ,it may have crossed his mind that this would be easily continued a hundred or a thousand years1--as men more easily transmit a form than a virtue1--and yet have been altogether out of his purpose to fasten it upon men in all times and all countries4 ,but though the words1 8,do this in remembrance of me10 do not occur in ,matthew1 ,mark or ,john1 and although it should be granted us that1 taken alone1 they do not necessarily import so much as is usually thought1 yet many persons are apt to imagine that the very striking and personal manner in which the eating and drinking is described1 indicates a striking and formal purpose to found a festival4 ,and ,i admit that this impression might probably be left upon the mind of one who read only the passages under consideration in the ,new ,testament4 ,but this impression is removed by reading any narrative of the mode in which the ancient or the modern ,jews have kept the ,passover4 ,it is then perceived that the leading circumstances in the ,gospels are only a faithful account of that ceremony4 ,jesus did not celebrate the ,passover1 and afterwards the ,supper1 but the ,supper was the ,passover4 ,he did with his disciples exactly what every master of a family in ,jerusalem was doing at the same hour with his household4 ,it appears that the ,jews ate the lamb and the unleavened bread and drank wine after a prescribed manner4 ,it was the custom for the master of the feast to break the bread and to bless it1 using this formula1 which the ,talmudists have preserved to us1 8,blessed be ,thou1 ,o ,lord1 our ,god1 who givest us the fruit of the vine10--and then to give the cup to all4 ,among the modern ,jews1 who in their dispersion retain the ,passover1 a hymn is also sung after this ceremony1 specifying the twelve great works done by ,god for the deliverance of their fathers out of ,egypt4 ,but still it may be asked1 ,why did ,jesus make expressions so extraordinary and emphatic as these--8,this is my body which is broken for you4 ,take2 eat4 ,this is my blood which is shed for you4 ,drink it08--,i reply they are not extraordinary expressions from him4 ,they were familiar in his mouth4 ,he always taught by parables and symbols4 ,it was the national way of teaching1 and was largely used by him4 ,remember the readiness which he always showed to spiritualize every occurrence4 ,he stopped and wrote on the sand4 ,he admonished his disciples respecting the leaven of the ,pharisees4 ,he instructed the woman of ,samaria respecting living water4 ,he permitted himself to be anointed1 declaring that it was for his interment4 ,he washed the feet of his disciples4 ,these are admitted to be symbolical actions and expressions4 ,here1 in like manner1 he calls the bread his body1 and bids the disciples eat4 ,he had used the same expression repeatedly before4 ,the reason why ,st4 ,john does not repeat his words on this occasion seems to be that he had reported a similar discourse of ,jesus to the people of ,capernaum more at length already 7,john vi4 #bg-fj74 ,he there tells the ,jews1 8,except ye eat the flesh of the ,son of ,man and drink his blood1 ye have no life in you40 ,and when the ,jews on that occasion complained that they did not comprehend what he meant1 he added for their better understanding1 and as if for our understanding1 that we might not think his body was to be actually eaten1 that he only meant we should live by his commandment4 ,he closed his discourse with these explanatory expressions3 8,the flesh profiteth nothing2 the words that ,i speak to you1 they are spirit and they are life40 ,whilst ,i am upon this topic1 ,i cannot help remarking that it is not a little singular that we should have preserved this rite and insisted upon perpetuating one symbolical act of ,christ whilst we have totally neglected all others1--particularly one other which had at least an equal claim to our observance4 ,jesus washed the feet of his disciples and told them that1 as he had washed their feet1 they ought to wash one another's feet2 for he had given them an example1 that they should do as he had done to them4 ,i ask any person who believes the ,supper to have been designed by ,jesus to be commemorated forever1 to go and read the account of it in the other ,gospels1 and then compare with it the account of this transaction in ,st4 ,john1 and tell me if this be not much more explicitly authorized than the ,supper4 ,it only differs in this1 that we have found the ,supper used in ,new ,england and the washing of the feet not4 ,but if we had found it an established rite in our churches1 on grounds of mere authority1 it would have been impossible to have argued against it4 ,that rite is used by the ,church of ,rome1 and by the ,sandemanians4 ,it has been very properly dropped by other ,christians4 ,why8 ,for two reasons3 7#a7 because it was a local custom1 and unsuitable in western countries2 and 7#b7 because it was typical1 and all understood that humility is the thing signified4 ,but the ,passover was local too1 and does not concern us1 and its bread and wine were typical1 and do not help us to understand the redemption which they signified4 ,these views of the original account of the ,lord's ,supper lead me to esteem it an occasion full of solemn and prophetic interest1 but never intended by ,jesus to be the foundation of a perpetual institution4 ,it appears1 however1 in ,christian history that the disciples had very early taken advantage of these impressive words of ,christ to hold religious meetings1 where they broke bread and drank wine as symbols4 ,i look upon this fact as very natural in the circumstances of the ,church4 ,the disciples lived together2 they threw all their property into a common stock2 they were bound together by the memory of ,christ1 and nothing could be more natural than that this eventful evening should be affectionately remembered by them2 that they1 ,jews like ,jesus1 should adopt his expressions and his types1 and furthermore1 that what was done with peculiar propriety by them1 his personal friends1 with less propriety should come to be extended to their companions also4 ,in this way religious feasts grew up among the early ,christians4 ,they were readily adopted by the ,jewish converts1 who were familiar with religious feasts1 and also by the ,pagan converts1 whose idolatrous worship had been made up of sacred festivals1 and who very readily abused these to gross riot1 as appears from the censures of ,st4 ,paul4 ,many persons consider this fact1 the observance of such a memorial feast by the early disciples1 decisive of the question whether it ought to be observed by us4 ,there was good reason for his personal friends to remember their friend and repeat his words4 ,it was only too probable that among the half-converted ,pagans and ,jews1 any rite1 any form1 would find favor1 whilst yet unable to comprehend the spiritual character of ,christianity4 ,the circumstance1 however1 that ,st4 ,paul adopts these views1 has seemed to many persons conclusive in favor of the institution4 ,i am of opinion that it is wholly upon the ,epistle to the ,corinthians1 and not upon the ,gospels1 that the ordinance stands4 ,upon this matter of ,st4 ,paul's view of the ,supper1 a few important considerations must be stated4 ,the end which he has in view1 in the eleventh chapter of the first ,epistle1 is not to enjoin upon his friends to observe the ,supper1 but to censure their abuse of it4 ,we quote the passage nowadays as if it enjoined attendance upon the ,supper2 but he wrote it merely to chide them for drunkenness4 ,to make their enormity plainer1 he goes back to the origin of this religious feast to show what sort of feast that was1 out of which this riot of theirs came1 and so relates the transactions of the ,last ,supper4 8,i have received of the ,lord10 he says1 8that which ,i delivered to you40 ,by this expression it is often thought that a miraculous communication is implied2 but certainly without good reason1 if it is remembered that ,st4 ,paul was living in the lifetime of all the apostles who could give him an account of the transaction2 and it is contrary to all reason to suppose that ,god should work a miracle to convey information that could so easily be got by natural means4 ,so that the import of the expression is that he had received the story of an eye-witness such as we also possess4 ,but there is a material circumstance which diminishes our confidence in the correctness of the ,apostle's view2 and that is1 the observation that his mind had not escaped the prevalent error of the primitive ,church1 the belief1 namely1 that the second coming of ,christ would shortly occur1 until which time1 he tells them1 this feast was to be kept4 ,elsewhere he tells them that at that time the world would be burnt up with fire1 and a new government established1 in which the ,saints would sit on thrones2 so slow were the disciples1 during the life and after the ascension of ,christ1 to receive the idea which we receive1 that his second coming was a spiritual kingdom1 the dominion of his religion in the hearts of men1 to be extended gradually over the whole world4 ,in this manner we may see clearly enough how this ancient ordinance got its footing among the early ,christians1 and this single expectation of a speedy reappearance of a temporal ,messiah1 which kept its influence even over so spiritual a man as ,st4 ,paul1 would naturally tend to preserve the use of the rite when once established4 ,we arrive1 then1 at this conclusion3 first1 that it does not appear1 from a careful examination of the account of the ,last ,supper in the ,evangelists1 that it was designed by ,jesus to be perpetual2 secondly1 that it does not appear that the opinion of ,st4 ,paul1 all things considered1 ought to alter our opinion derived from the ,evangelists4 ,one general remark before quitting this branch of this subject4 ,we ought to be cautious in taking even the best ascertained opinions and practices of the primitive ,church for our own4 ,if it could be satisfactorily shown that they esteemed it authorized and to be transmitted forever1 that does not settle the question for us4 ,we know how inveterately they were attached to their ,jewish prejudices1 and how often even the influence of ,christ failed to enlarge their views4 ,on every other subject succeeding times have learned to form a judgment more in accordance with the spirit of ,christianity than was the practice of the early ages4 ,,ii4 ,but it is said3 8,admit that the rite was not designed to be perpetual4 ,what harm doth it8 ,here it stands1 generally accepted1 under some form1 by the ,christian world1 the undoubted occasion of much good2 is it not better it should remain80 ,this is the question of expediency4 ,i proceed to state a few objections that in my judgment lie against its use in its present form4 #a4 ,if the view which ,i have taken of the history of the institution be correct1 then the claim of authority should be dropped in administering it4 ,you say1 every time you celebrate the rite1 that ,jesus enjoined it2 and the whole language you use conveys that impression4 ,but if you read the ,new ,testament as ,i do1 you do not believe he did4 #b4 ,it has seemed to me that the use of this ordinance tends to produce confusion in our views of the relation of the soul to ,god4 ,it is the old objection to the doctrine of the ,trinity1--that the true worship was transferred from ,god to ,christ1 or that such confusion was introduced into the soul that an undivided worship was given nowhere4 ,is not that the effect of the ,lord's ,supper8 ,i appeal now to the convictions of communicants1 and ask such persons whether they have not been occasionally conscious of a painful confusion of thought between the worship due to ,god and the commemoration due to ,christ4 ,for the service does not stand upon the basis of a voluntary act1 but is imposed by authority4 ,it is an expression of gratitude to ,christ1 enjoined by ,christ4 ,there is an endeavor to keep ,jesus in mind1 whilst yet the prayers are addressed to ,god4 ,i fear it is the effect of this ordinance to clothe ,jesus with an authority which he never claimed and which distracts the mind of the worshipper4 ,i know our opinions differ much respecting the nature and offices of ,christ1 and the degree of veneration to which he is entitled4 ,i am so much a ,unitarian as this3 that ,i believe the human mind can admit but one ,god1 and that every effort to pay religious homage to more than one being goes to take away all right ideas4 ,i appeal1 brethren1 to your individual experience4 ,in the moment when you make the least petition to ,god1 though it be but a silent wish that he may approve you1 or add one moment to your life1--do you not1 in the very act1 necessarily exclude all other beings from your thought8 ,in that act1 the soul stands alone with ,god1 and ,jesus is no more present to your mind than your brother or your child4#a ,but is not ,jesus called in ,scripture the ,mediator8 ,he is the mediator in that only sense in which possibly any being can mediate between ,god and man1--that is1 an instructor of man4 ,he teaches us how to become like ,god4 ,and a true disciple of ,jesus will receive the light he gives most thankfully2 but the thanks he offers1 and which an exalted being will accept1 are not compliments1 commemorations1 but the use of that instruction4 #c4 ,passing other objections1 ,i come to this1 that the use of the elements1 however suitable to the people and the modes of thought in the ,east1 where it originated1 is foreign and unsuited to affect us4 ,whatever long usage and strong association may have done in some individuals to deaden this repulsion1 ,i apprehend that their use is rather tolerated than loved by any of us4 ,we are not accustomed to express our thoughts or emotions by symbolical actions4 ,most men find the bread and wine no aid to devotion1 and to some it is a painful impediment4 ,to eat bread is one thing2 to love the precepts of ,christ and resolve to obey them is quite another4#b ,the statement of this objection leads me to say that ,i think this difficulty1 wherever it is felt1 to be entitled to the greatest weight4 ,it is alone a sufficient objection to the ordinance4 ,it is my own objection4 ,this mode of commemorating ,christ is not suitable to me4 ,that is reason enough why ,i should abandon it4 ,if ,i believed it was enjoined by ,jesus on his disciples1 and that he even contemplated making permanent this mode of commemoration1 every way agreeable to an ,eastern mind1 and yet on trial it was disagreeable to my own feelings1 ,i should not adopt it4 ,i should choose other ways which1 as more effectual upon me1 he would approve more4 ,for ,i choose that my remembrances of him should be pleasing1 affecting1 religious4 ,i will love him as a glorified friend1 after the free way of friendship1 and not pay him a stiff sign of respect1 as men do those whom they fear4 ,a passage read from his discourses1 a moving provocation to works like his1 any act or meeting which tends to awaken a pure thought1 a flow of love1 an original design of virtue1 ,i call a worthy1 a true commemoration4 #d4 ,the importance ascribed to this particular ordinance is not consistent with the spirit of ,christianity4 ,the general object and effect of the ordinance is unexceptionable4 ,it has been1 and is1 ,i doubt not1 the occasion of indefinite good2 but an importance is given by ,christians to it which never can belong to any form4 ,my friends1 the ,apostle well assures us that 8the kingdom of ,god is not meat and drink1 but righteousness1 and peace1 and joy in the ,holy ,ghost40 ,i am not so foolish as to declaim against forms4 ,forms are as essential as bodies2 but to exalt particular forms1 to adhere to one form a moment after it is outgrown1 is unreasonable1 and it is alien to the spirit of ,christ4 ,if ,i understand the distinction of ,christianity1 the reason why it is to be preferred over all other systems and is divine is this1 that it is a moral system2 that it presents men with truths which are their own reason1 and enjoins practices that are their own justification2 that if miracles may be said to have been its evidence to the first ,christians1 they are not its evidence to us1 but the doctrines themselves2 that every practice is ,christian which praises itself1 and every practice unchristian which condemns itself4 ,i am not engaged to ,christianity by decent forms1 or saving ordinances2 it is not usage1 it is not what ,i do not understand1 that binds me to it1--let these be the sandy foundations of falsehoods4 ,what ,i revere and obey in it is its reality1 its boundless charity1 its deep interior life1 the rest it gives to mind1 the echo it returns to my thoughts1 the perfect accord it makes with my reason through all its representation of ,god and ,his ,providence2 and the persuasion and courage that come out thence to lead me upward and onward4 ,freedom is the essence of this faith4 ,it has for its object simply to make men good and wise4 ,its institutions then should be as flexible as the wants of men4 ,that form out of which the life and suitableness have departed should be as worthless in its eyes as the dead leaves that are falling around us4 ,and therefore1 although for the satisfaction of others ,i have labored to show by the history that this rite was not intended to be perpetual2 although ,i have gone back to weigh the expressions of ,paul1 ,i feel that here is the true point of view4 ,in the midst of considerations as to what ,paul thought1 and why he so thought1 ,i cannot help feeling that it is time misspent to argue to or from his convictions1 or those of ,luke and ,john1 respecting any form4 ,i seem to lose the substance in seeking the shadow4 ,that for which ,paul lived and died so gloriously2 that for which ,jesus gave himself to be crucified2 the end that animated the thousand martyrs and heroes who have followed his steps1 was to redeem us from a formal religion1 and teach us to seek our well-being in the formation of the soul4 ,the whole world was full of idols and ordinances4 ,the ,jewish was a religion of forms2 it was all body1 it had no life1 and the ,almighty ,god was pleased to qualify and send forth a man to teach men that they must serve him with the heart2 that only that life was religious which was thoroughly good2 that sacrifice was smoke1 and forms were shadows4 ,this man lived and died true to this purpose2 and now1 with his blessed word and life before us1 ,christians must contend that it is a matter of vital importance1--really a duty1 to commemorate him by a certain form1 whether that form be agreeable to their understandings or not4 ,is not this to make vain the gift of ,god8 ,is not this to turn back the hand on the dial8 ,is not this to make men1--to make ourselves1--forget that not forms1 but duties2 not names1 but righteousness and love are enjoined2 and that in the eye of ,god there is no other measure of the value of any one form than the measure of its use8 ,there remain some practical objections to the ordinance1 into which ,i shall not now enter4 ,there is one on which ,i had intended to say a few words2 ,i mean the unfavorable relation in which it places that numerous class of persons who abstain from it merely from disinclination to the rite4 ,influenced by these considerations1 ,i have proposed to the brethren of the ,church to drop the use of the elements and the claim of authority in the administration of this ordinance1 and have suggested a mode in which a meeting for the same purpose might be held1 free of objection4 ,my brethren have considered my views with patience and candor1 and have recommended1 unanimously1 an adherence to the present form4 ,i have therefore been compelled to consider whether it becomes me to administer it4 ,i am clearly of opinion ,i ought not4 ,this discourse has already been so far extended that ,i can only say that the reason of my determination is shortly this3 ,it is my desire1 in the office of a ,christian minister1 to do nothing which ,i cannot do with my whole heart4 ,having said this1 ,i have said all4 ,i have no hostility to this institution2 ,i am only stating my want of sympathy with it4 ,neither should ,i ever have obtruded this opinion upon other people1 had ,i not been called by my office to administer it4 ,that is the end of my opposition1 that ,i am not interested in it4 ,i am content that it stand to the end of the world1 if it please men and please ,heaven1 and ,i shall rejoice in all the good it produces4 ,as it is the prevailing opinion and feeling in our religious community that it is an indispensable part of the pastoral office to administer this ordinance1 ,i am about to resign into your hands that office which you have confided to me4 ,it has many duties for which ,i am feebly qualified4 ,it has some which it will always be my delight to discharge according to my ability1 wherever ,i exist4 ,and whilst the recollection of its claims oppresses me with a sense of my unworthiness1 ,i am consoled by the hope that no time and no change can deprive me of the satisfaction of pursuing and exercising its highest functions4#c ,,ii ,,historical ,,discourse ,,at ,,concord1 ,,on ,,the ,,second ,,centennial ,,anniversary ,,of ,,the ,,incorporation ,,of ,,the ,,town1 ,,september #ab1 #ahce ,bulkeley1 ,hunt1 ,willard1 ,hosmer1 ,merriam1 ,flint1 ,possessed the land which rendered to their toil ,hay1 corn1 roots1 hemp1 flax1 apples1 wool and wood4 ,each of these landlords walked amidst his farm ,saying1 #8',tis mine1 my children's and my name's4' ,where are these men8 ,asleep beneath their grounds3 ,and strangers1 fond as they1 their furrows plough4 ,earth laughs in flowers1 to see her boastful boys ,earth-proud1 proud of the earth which is not theirs4 99 99 99 99 99 ,i will have never a noble1 ,no lineage counted great2 ,fishers and choppers and ploughmen ,shall constitute a state4 ,lo now6 if these poor men ,can govern the land and sea ,and make just laws below the sun1 ,as planets faithful be4 ,i cause from every creature ,his proper good to flow3 ,as much as he is and doeth1 ,so much he shall bestow4 ,,historical ,,discourse ,,fellow ,,citizens3 ,the town of ,concord begins1 this day1 the third century of its history4 ,by a common consent1 the people of ,new ,england1 for a few years past1 as the second centennial anniversary of each of its early settlements arrived1 have seen fit to observe the day4 ,you have thought it becoming to commemorate the planting of the first inland town4 ,the sentiment is just1 and the practice is wise4 ,our ears shall not be deaf to the voice of time4 ,we will review the deeds of our fathers1 and pass that just verdict on them we expect from posterity on our own4 ,and yet1 in the eternity of ,nature1 how recent our antiquities appear6 ,the imagination is impatient of a cycle so short4 ,who can tell how many thousand years1 every day1 the clouds have shaded these fields with their purple awning8 ,the river1 by whose banks most of us were born1 every winter1 for ages1 has spread its crust of ice over the great meadows which1 in ages1 it had formed4 ,but the little society of men who now1 for a few years1 fish in this river1 plough the fields it washes1 mow the grass and reap the corn1 shortly shall hurry from its banks as did their forefathers4 8,man's life10 said the ,witan to the ,saxon king1 8is the sparrow that enters at a window1 flutters round the house1 and flies out at another1 and none knoweth whence he came1 or whither he goes40#d ,the more reason that we should give to our being what permanence we can2--that we should recall the ,past1 and expect the ,future4 ,yet the race survives whilst the individual dies4 ,in the country1 without any interference of the law1 the agricultural life favors the permanence of families4 ,here are still around me the lineal descendants of the first settlers of this town4 ,here is ,blood1 ,flint1 ,willard1 ,meriam1 ,wood1 ,hosmer1 ,barrett1 ,wheeler1 ,jones1 ,brown1 ,buttrick1 ,brooks1 ,stow1 ,hoar1 ,heywood1 ,hunt1 ,miles1--the names of the inhabitants for the first thirty years2 and the family is in many cases represented1 when the name is not4 ,if the name of ,bulkeley is wanting1 the honor you have done me this day1 in making me your organ1 testifies your persevering kindness to his blood4#e ,i shall not be expected1 on this occasion1 to repeat the details of that oppression which drove our fathers out hither4 ,yet the town of ,concord was settled by a party of non-conformists1 immediately from ,great ,britain4 ,the best friend the ,massachusetts colony had1 though much against his will1 was ,archbishop ,laud in ,england4 ,in consequence of his famous proclamation setting up certain novelties in the rites of public worship1 fifty godly ministers were suspended for contumacy1 in the course of two years and a half4 ,hindered from speaking1 some of these dared to print the reasons of their dissent1 and were punished with imprisonment or mutilation4#f ,this severity brought some of the best men in ,england to overcome that natural repugnance to emigration which holds the serious and moderate of every nation to their own soil4 ,among the silenced clergymen was a distinguished minister of ,woodhill1 in ,bedfordshire1 ,rev4 ,peter ,bulkeley1 descended from a noble family1 honored for his own virtues1 his learning and gifts as a preacher1 and adding to his influence the weight of a large estate4#g ,persecution readily knits friendship between its victims4 ,mr4 ,bulkeley1 having turned his estate into money and set his face towards ,new ,england1 was easily able to persuade a good number of planters to join him4 ,they arrived in ,boston in #afcd4h ,probably there had been a previous correspondence with ,governor ,winthrop1 and an agreement that they should settle at ,musketaquid4 ,with them joined ,mr4 ,simon ,willard1 a merchant from ,kent in ,england4 ,they petitioned the ,general ,court for a grant of a township1 and on the #b;d of ,september1 #afce1 corresponding in ,new ,style to #abth ,september1 two hundred years ago this day1 leave to begin a plantation at ,musketaquid was given to ,peter ,bulkeley1 ,simon ,willard1 and about twelve families more4#i ,a month later1 ,rev4 ,john ,jones and a large number of settlers destined for the new town arrived in ,boston4#aj ,the grant of the ,general ,court was but a preliminary step4 ,the green meadows of ,musketaquid or ,grassy ,brook were far up in the woods1 not to be reached without a painful and dangerous journey through an uninterrupted wilderness4 ,they could cross the ,massachusetts or ,charles ,river1 by the ferry at ,newtown2 they could go up the river as far as ,watertown4 ,but the ,indian paths leading up and down the country were a foot broad4 ,they must then plunge into the thicket1 and with their axes cut a road for their teams1 with their women and children and their household stuff1 forced to make long circuits too1 to avoid hills and swamps4 ,edward ,johnson of ,woburn has described in an affecting narrative their labors by the way4 8,sometimes passing through thickets where their hands are forced to make way for their bodies' passage1 and their feet clambering over the crossed trees1 which when they missed1 they sunk into an uncertain bottom in water1 and wade up to their knees1 tumbling sometimes higher1 sometimes lower4 ,at the end of this1 they meet a scorching plain1 yet not so plain but that the ragged bushes scratch their legs foully1 even to wearing their stockings to their bare skin in two or three hours4 ,some of them1 having no leggins1 have had the blood trickle down at every step4 ,and in time of summer1 the sun casts such a reflecting heat from the sweet fern1 whose scent is very strong1 that some nearly fainted40#aa ,they slept on the rocks1 wherever the night found them4 ,much time was lost in travelling they knew not whither1 when the sun was hidden by clouds2 for 8their compass miscarried in crowding through the bushes10 and the ,indian paths1 once lost1 they did not easily find4 ,johnson1 relating undoubtedly what he had himself heard from the pilgrims1 intimates that they consumed many days in exploring the country1 to select the best place for the town4 ,their first temporary accommodation was rude enough4 8,after they have found a place of abode1 they burrow themselves in the earth for their first shelter1 under a hillside1 and casting the soil aloft upon timbers1 they make a fire against the earth1 at the highest side4 ,and thus these poor servants of ,christ provide shelter for themselves1 their wives and little ones1 keeping off the short showers from their lodgings1 but the long rains penetrate through1 to their great disturbance in the night season4 ,yet in these poor wigwams they sing psalms1 pray and praise their ,god1 till they can provide them houses1 which they could not ordinarily1 till the earth1 by the ,lord's blessing1 brought forth bread to feed them4 ,this they attain with sore travail1 every one that can lift a hoe to strike into the earth standing stoutly to his labors1 and tearing up the roots and bushes from the ground1 which1 the first year1 yielded them a lean crop1 till the sod of the earth was rotten1 and therefore they were forced to cut their bread very thin for a long season4 ,but the ,lord is pleased to provide for them great store of fish in the spring-time1 and especially1 alewives1 about the bigness of a herring40#ab ,these served them also for manure4 ,for flesh1 they looked not for any1 in those times1 unless they could barter with the ,indians for venison and raccoons4 8,indian corn1 even the coarsest1 made as pleasant meal as rice40#ac ,all kinds of garden fruits grew well1 8and let no man10 writes our pious chronicler1 in another place1 8make a jest of pumpkins1 for with this fruit the ,lord was pleased to feed his people until their corn and cattle were increased40#ad ,the great cost of cattle1 and the sickening of their cattle upon such wild fodder as was never cut before2 the loss of their sheep and swine by wolves2 the sufferings of the people in the great snows and cold soon following2 and the fear of the ,pequots2 are the other disasters enumerated by the historian4 ,the hardships of the journey and of the first encampment are certainly related by their contemporary with some air of romance1 yet they can scarcely be exaggerated4 ,a march of a number of families with their stuff1 through twenty miles of unknown forest1 from a little rising town that had not much to spare1 to an ,indian town in the wilderness that had nothing1 must be laborious to all1 and for those who were new to the country and bred in softness1 a formidable adventure4 ,but the pilgrims had the preparation of an armed mind1 better than any hardihood of body4 ,and the rough welcome which the new land gave them was a fit introduction to the life they must lead in it4 ,but what was their reception at ,musketaquid8 ,this was an old village of the ,massachusetts ,indians4 ,tahattawan1 the ,sachem1 with ,waban his son-in-law1 lived near ,nashawtuck1 now ,lee's ,hill4#ae ,their tribe1 once numerous1 the epidemic had reduced4 ,here they planted1 hunted and fished4 ,the moose was still trotting in the country1 and of his sinews they made their bowstring4 ,of the pith elder1 that still grows beside our brooks1 they made their arrow4 ,of the ,indian hemp they spun their nets and lines for summer angling1 and1 in winter1 they sat around holes in the ice1 catching salmon1 pickerel1 breams and perch1 with which our river abounded4#af ,their physical powers1 as our fathers found them1 and before yet the ,english alcohol had proved more fatal to them than the ,english sword1 astonished the white men4#ag ,their sight was so excellent1 that1 standing on the seashore1 they often told of the coming of a ship at sea1 sooner by one hour1 yea1 two hours' sail1 than any ,englishman that stood by1 on purpose to look out4#ah ,roger ,williams affirms that he has known them run between eighty and a hundred miles in a summer's day1 and back again within two days4 ,a little pounded parched corn or no-cake sufficed them on the march4 ,to his bodily perfection1 the wild man added some noble traits of character4 ,he was open as a child to kindness and justice4 ,many instances of his humanity were known to the ,englishmen who suffered in the woods from sickness or cold4 8,when you came over the morning waters10 said one of the ,sachems1 8we took you into our arms4 ,we fed you with our best meat4 ,never went white man cold and hungry from ,indian wigwam40 ,the faithful dealing and brave good will1 which1 during the life of the friendly ,massasoit1 they uniformly experienced at ,plymouth and at ,boston1 went to their hearts4 ,so that the peace was made1 and the ear of the savage already secured1 before the pilgrims arrived at his seat of ,musketaquid1 to treat with him for his lands4 ,it is said that the covenant made with the ,indians1 by ,mr4 ,bulkeley and ,major ,willard1 was made under a great oak1 formerly standing near the site of the ,middlesex ,hotel4#ai ,our ,records affirm that ,squaw ,sachem1 ,tahattawan1 and ,nimrod did sell a tract of six miles square to the ,english1 receiving for the same1 some fathoms of ,wampumpeag1 hatchets1 hoes1 knives1 cotton cloth and shirts4 ,wibbacowet1 the husband of ,squaw ,sachem1 received a suit of cloth1 a hat1 a white linen band1 shoes1 stockings and a greatcoat2 and1 in conclusion1 the said ,indians declared themselves satisfied1 and told the ,englishmen they were welcome4 ,and after the bargain was concluded1 ,mr4 ,simon ,willard1 pointing to the four corners of the world1 declared that they had bought three miles from that place1 east1 west1 north and south4#bj ,the ,puritans1 to keep the remembrance of their unity one with another1 and of their peaceful compact with the ,indians1 named their forest settlement ,,concord4 ,they proceeded to build1 under the shelter of the hill that extends for a mile along the north side of the ,boston road1 their first dwellings4 ,the labors of a new plantation were paid by its excitements4 ,i seem to see them1 with their pious pastor1 addressing themselves to the work of clearing the land4 ,natives of another hemisphere1 they beheld1 with curiosity1 all the pleasing features of the ,american forest4 ,the landscape before them was fair1 if it was strange and rude4 ,the little flower which at this season stars our woods and roadsides with its profuse blooms1 might attract even eyes as stern as theirs with its humble beauty4 ,the useful pine lifted its cones into the frosty air4 ,the maple1 which is already making the forest gay with its orange hues1 reddened over those houseless men4 ,the majestic summits of ,wachusett and ,monadnoc towering in the horizon1 invited the steps of adventure westward4 ,as the season grew later1 they felt its inconveniences4 8,many were forced to go barefoot and bareleg1 and some in time of frost and snow1 yet were they more healthy than now they are40#ba ,the land was low but healthy2 and if1 in common with all the settlements1 they found the air of ,america very cold1 they might say with ,higginson1 after his description of the other elements1 that 8,new ,england may boast of the element of fire1 more than all the rest2 for all ,europe is not able to afford to make so great fires as ,new ,england4 ,a poor servant1 that is to possess but fifty acres1 may afford to give more wood for fire as good as the world yields1 than many noblemen in ,england40#bb ,many were their wants1 but more their privileges4 ,the light struggled in through windows of oiled paper1#bc but they read the word of ,god by it4 ,they were fain to make use of their knees for a table1 but their limbs were their own4 ,hard labor and spare diet they had1 and off wooden trenchers1 but they had peace and freedom1 and the wailing of the tempest in the woods sounded kindlier in their ear than the smooth voice of the prelates1 at home1 in ,england4 8,there is no people10 said their pastor to his little flock of exiles1 8but will strive to excel in something4 ,what can we excel in1 if not in holiness8 ,if we look to number1 we are the fewest2 if to strength1 we are the weakest2 if to wealth and riches1 we are the poorest of all the people of ,god through the whole world4 ,we cannot excel nor so much as equal other people in these things2 and if we come short in grace and holiness too1 we are the most despicable people under heaven4 ,strive we1 therefore1 herein to excel1 and suffer not this crown to be taken away from us40#bd ,the sermon fell into good and tender hearts2 the people conspired with their teacher4 ,their religion was sweetness and peace amidst toil and tears4 ,and1 as we are informed1 8the edge of their appetite was greater to spiritual duties at their first coming1 in time of wants1 than afterwards40 ,the original ,town ,records1 for the first thirty years1 are lost4 ,we have records of marriages and deaths1 beginning nineteen years after the settlement2 and copies of some of the doings of the town in regard to territory1 of the same date4 ,but the original distribution of the land1 or an account of the principles on which it was divided1 are not preserved4 ,agreeably to the custom of the times1 a large portion was reserved to the public1 and it appears from a petition of some newcomers1 in #afdc1 that a part had been divided among the first settlers without price1 on the single condition of improving it4#be ,other portions seem to have been successively divided off and granted to individuals1 at the rate of sixpence or a shilling an acre4 ,but1 in the first years1 the land would not pay the necessary public charges1 and they seem to have fallen heavily on the few wealthy planters4 ,mr4 ,bulkeley1 by his generosity1 spent his estate1 and1 doubtless in consideration of his charges1 the ,general ,court1 in #afci1 granted him #cjj acres towards ,cambridge2 and to ,mr4 ,spencer1 probably for the like reason1 #cjj acres by the ,alewife ,river4 ,in #afch1 #abjj acres were granted to ,governor ,winthrop1 and #ajjj to ,thomas ,dudley1 of the lands adjacent to the town1 and ,governor ,winthrop selected as a building spot the land near the house of ,captain ,humphrey ,hunt4#bf ,the first record now remaining is that of a reservation of land for the minister1 and the appropriation of new lands as commons or pastures to some poor men4 ,at the same date1 in #afed1 the town having divided itself into three districts1 called the ,north1 ,south and ,east quarters1 ordered1 8that the ,north quarter are to keep and maintain all their highways and bridges over the great river1 in their quarter1 and1 in respect of the greatness of their charge thereabout1 and in regard of the ease of the ,east quarter above the rest1 in their highways1 they are to allow the ,north quarter #c40bg ,fellow citizens1 this first recorded political act of our fathers1 this tax assessed on its inhabitants by a town1 is the most important event in their civil history1 implying1 as it does1 the exercise of a sovereign power1 and connected with all the immunities and powers of a corporate town in ,massachusetts4 ,the greater speed and success that distinguish the planting of the human race in this country1 over all other plantations in history1 owe themselves mainly to the new subdivisions of the ,state into small corporations of land and power4 ,it is vain to look for the inventor4 ,no man made them4 ,each of the parts of that perfect structure grew out of the necessities of an instant occasion4 ,the germ was formed in ,england4 ,the charter gave to the freemen of the ,company of ,massachusetts ,bay the election of the ,governor and ,council of ,assistants4 ,it moreover gave them the power of prescribing the manner in which freemen should be elected2 and ordered that all fundamental laws should be enacted by the freemen of the colony4 ,but the ,company removed to ,new ,england2 more than one hundred freemen were admitted the first year1 and it was found inconvenient to assemble them all4#bh ,and when1 presently1 the design of the colony began to fulfil itself1 by the settlement of new plantations in the vicinity of ,boston1 and parties1 with grants of land1 straggled into the country to truck with the ,indians and to clear the land for their own benefit1 the ,governor and freemen in ,boston found it neither desirable nor possible to control the trade and practices of these farmers4 ,what could the body of freemen1 meeting four times a year1 at ,boston1 do for the daily wants of the planters at ,musketaquid8 ,the wolf was to be killed2 the ,indian to be watched and resisted2 wells to be dug2 the forest to be felled2 pastures to be cleared2 corn to be raised2 roads to be cut2 town and farm lines to be run4 ,these things must be done1 govern who might4 ,the nature of man and his condition in the world1 for the first time within the period of certain history1 controlled the formation of the ,state4 ,the necessity of the colonists wrote the law4 ,their wants1 their poverty1 their manifest convenience made them bold to ask of the ,governor and of the ,general ,court1 immunities1 and1 to certain purposes1 sovereign powers4 ,the townsmen's words were heard and weighed1 for all knew that it was a petitioner that could not be slighted2 it was the river1 or the winter1 or famine1 or the ,pequots1 that spoke through them to the ,governor and ,council of ,massachusetts ,bay4 ,instructed by necessity1 each little company organized itself after the pattern of the larger town1 by appointing its constable1 and other petty half-military officers4 ,as early as #afcc1bi the office of townsman or selectman appears1 who seems first to have been appointed by the ,general ,court1 as here1 at ,concord1 in #afci4 ,in #afce1 the ,court say1 8whereas particular towns have many things which concern only themselves1 it is ,ordered1 that the freemen of every town shall have power to dispose of their own lands1 and woods1 and choose their own particular officers40#cj ,this pointed chiefly at the office of constable1 but they soon chose their own selectmen1 and very early assessed taxes2 a power at first resisted1#ca but speedily confirmed to them4 ,meantime1 to this paramount necessity1 a milder and more pleasing influence was joined4 ,i esteem it the happiness of this country that its settlers1 whilst they were exploring their granted and natural rights and determining the power of the magistrate1 were united by personal affection4 ,members of a church before whose searching covenant all rank was abolished1 they stood in awe of each other1 as religious men4 ,they bore to ,john ,winthrop1 the ,governor1 a grave but hearty kindness4 ,for the first time1 men examined the powers of the chief whom they loved and revered4 ,for the first time1 the ideal social compact was real4 ,the bands of love and reverence held fast the little state1 whilst they untied the great cords of authority to examine their soundness and learn on what wheels they ran4 ,they were to settle the internal constitution of the towns1 and1 at the same time1 their power in the commonwealth4 ,the ,governor conspires with them in limiting his claims to their obedience1 and values much more their love than his chartered authority4 ,the disputes between that forbearing man and the deputies are like the quarrels of girls1 so much do they turn upon complaints of unkindness1 and end in such loving reconciliations4 ,it was on doubts concerning their own power1 that1 in #afcd1 a committee repaired to him for counsel1 and he advised1 seeing the freemen were grown so numerous1 to send deputies from every town once in a year to revise the laws and to assess all monies4#cb ,and the ,general ,court1 thus constituted1 only needed to go into separate session from the ,council1 as they did in #afdd1cc to become essentially the same assembly they are this day4 ,by this course of events1 ,concord and the other plantations found themselves separate and independent of ,boston1 with certain rights of their own1 which1 what they were1 time alone could fully determine2 enjoying1 at the same time1 a strict and loving fellowship with ,boston1 and sure of advice and aid1 on every emergency4 ,their powers were speedily settled by obvious convenience1 and the towns learned to exercise a sovereignty in the laying of taxes2 in the choice of their deputy to the house of representatives2 in the disposal of the town lands2 in the care of public worship1 the school and the poor2 and1 what seemed of at least equal importance1 to exercise the right of expressing an opinion on every question before the country4 ,in a town-meeting1 the great secret of political science was uncovered1 and the problem solved1 how to give every individual his fair weight in the government1 without any disorder from numbers4 ,in a town-meeting1 the roots of society were reached4 ,here the rich gave counsel1 but the poor also2 and moreover1 the just and the unjust4 ,he is ill informed who expects1 on running down the ,town ,records for two hundred years1 to find a church of saints1 a metropolis of patriots1 enacting wholesome and creditable laws4 ,the constitution of the towns forbid it4 ,in this open democracy1 every opinion had utterance2 every objection1 every fact1 every acre of land1 every bushel of rye1 its entire weight4 ,the moderator was the passive mouth-piece1 and the vote of the town1 like the vane on the turret overhead1 free for every wind to turn1 and always turned by the last and strongest breath4 ,in these assemblies1 the public weal1 the call of interest1 duty1 religion1 were heard2 and every local feeling1 every private grudge1 every suggestion of petulance and ignorance1 were not less faithfully produced4 ,wrath and love came up to town-meeting in company4 ,by the law of #afda1 every man--freeman or not--inhabitant or not--might introduce any business into a public meeting4 ,not a complaint occurs in all the volumes of our ,records1 of any inhabitant being hindered from speaking1 or suffering from any violence or usurpation of any class4 ,the negative ballot of a ten-shilling freeholder was as fatal as that of the honored owner of ,blood's ,farms or ,willard's ,purchase4 ,a man felt himself at liberty to exhibit1 at town-meeting1 feelings and actions that he would have been ashamed of anywhere but amongst his neighbors4 ,individual protests are frequent4 ,peter ,wright #agje desired his dissent might be recorded from the town's grant to ,john ,shepard4#cd ,in #agie1 several town-meetings are called1 upon the compensation to be made to a few proprietors for land taken in making a bridle-road2 and one of them demanding large damages1 many offers were made him in town-meeting1 and refused2 8which the town thought very unreasonable40 ,the matters there debated are such as to invite very small considerations4 ,the ill-spelled pages of the ,town ,records contain the result4 ,i shall be excused for confessing that ,i have set a value upon any symptom of meanness and private pique which ,i have met with in these antique books1 as proof that justice was done2 that if the results of our history are approved as wise and good1 it was yet a free strife2 if the good counsel prevailed1 the sneaking counsel did not fail to be suggested2 freedom and virtue1 if they triumphed1 triumphed in a fair field4 ,and so be it an everlasting testimony for them1 and so much ground of assurance of man's capacity for self-government4 ,it is the consequence of this institution that not a school-house1 a public pew1 a bridge1 a pound1 a mill-dam1 hath been set up1 or pulled down1 or altered1 or bought1 or sold1 without the whole population of this town having a voice in the affair4 ,a general contentment is the result4 ,and the people truly feel that they are lords of the soil4 ,in every winding road1 in every stone fence1 in the smokes of the poor-house chimney1 in the clock on the church1 they read their own power1 and consider1 at leisure1 the wisdom and error of their judgments4 ,the ,british government has recently presented to the several public libraries of this country1 copies of the splendid edition of the ,domesday ,book1 and other ancient public records of ,england4 ,i cannot but think that it would be a suitable acknowledgment of this national munificence1 if the records of one of our towns1--of this town1 for example1--should be printed1 and presented to the governments of ,europe2 to the ,english nation1 as a thank-offering1 and as a certificate of the progress of the ,saxon race2 to the ,continental nations as a lesson of humanity and love4 ,tell them1 the ,union has twenty-four ,states1 and ,massachusetts is one4 ,tell them1 ,massachusetts has three hundred towns1 and ,concord is one2 that in ,concord are five hundred ratable polls1 and every one has an equal vote4 ,about ten years after the planting of ,concord1 efforts began to be made to civilize the ,indians1 and 8to win them to the knowledge of the true ,god40 ,this indeed1 in so many words1 is expressed in the charter of the colony as one of its ends2 and this design is named first in the printed 8,considerations10#ce that inclined ,hampden1 and determined ,winthrop and his friends1 to come hither4 ,the interest of the ,puritans in the natives was heightened by a suspicion at that time prevailing that these were the lost ten tribes of ,israel4 ,the man of the woods might well draw on himself the compassion of the planters4 ,his erect and perfect form1 though disclosing some irregular virtues1 was found joined to a dwindled soul4 ,master of all sorts of wood-craft1 he seemed a part of the forest and the lake1 and the secret of his amazing skill seemed to be that he partook of the nature and fierce instincts of the beasts he slew4 ,those who dwelled by ponds and rivers had some tincture of civility1 but the hunters of the tribe were found intractable at catechism4 ,thomas ,hooker anticipated the opinion of ,humboldt1 and called them 8the ruins of mankind40 ,early efforts were made to instruct them1 in which ,mr4 ,bulkeley1 ,mr4 ,flint1 and ,captain ,willard1 took an active part4 ,in #afdd1 ,squaw ,sachem1 the widow of ,nanepashemet1 the great ,sachem of ,concord and ,mystic1 with two sachems of ,wachusett1 made a formal submission to the ,english government1 and intimated their desire1 8as opportunity served1 and the ,english lived among them1 to learn to read ,god's word1 and know ,god aright20 and the ,general ,court acted on their request4#cf ,john ,eliot1 in ,october1 #afdf1 preached his first sermon in the ,indian language at ,noonantum2 ,waban1 ,tahattawan1 and their sannaps1 going thither from ,concord to hear him4 ,there under the rubbish and ruins of barbarous life1 the human heart heard the voice of love1 and awoke as from a sleep4 ,the questions which the ,indians put betray their reason and their ignorance4 8,can ,jesus ,christ understand prayers in the ,indian language80 8,if a man be wise1 and his sachem weak1 must he obey him80 ,at a meeting which ,eliot gave to the squaws apart1 the wife of ,wampooas propounded the question1 8,whether do ,i pray when my husband prays1 if ,i speak nothing as he doth1 yet if ,i like what he saith80--8which questions were accounted of by some1 as part of the whitenings of the harvest toward40#cg ,tahattawan1 our ,concord sachem1 called his ,indians together1 and bid them not oppose the courses which the ,english were taking for their good2 for1 said he1 all the time you have lived after the ,indian fashion1 under the power of the higher sachems1 what did they care for you8 ,they took away your skins1 your kettles and your wampum1 at their own pleasure1 and this was all they regarded4 ,but you may see the ,english mind no such things1 but only seek your welfare1 and instead of taking away1 are ready to give to you4 ,tahattawan and his son-in-law ,waban1 besought ,eliot to come and preach to them at ,concord1 and here they entered1 by his assistance1 into an agreement to twenty-nine rules1 all breathing a desire to conform themselves to ,english customs4#ch ,they requested to have a town given them within the bounds of ,concord1 near unto the ,english4 ,when this question was propounded by ,tahattawan1 he was asked1 why he desired a town so near1 when there was more room for them up in the country8 ,the sachem replied that he knew if the ,indians dwelt far from the ,english1 they would not so much care to pray1 nor could they be so ready to hear the word of ,god1 but would be1 all one1 ,indians still2 but dwelling near the ,english1 he hoped it might be otherwise with them then4 ,we1 who see in the squalid remnants of the twenty tribes of ,massachusetts1 the final failure of this benevolent enterprise1 can hardly learn without emotion the earnestness with which the most sensible individuals of the copper race held on to the new hope they had conceived1 of being elevated to equality with their civilized brother4 ,it is piteous to see their self-distrust in their request to remain near the ,english1 and their unanimous entreaty to ,captain ,willard1 to be their ,recorder1 being very solicitous that what they did agree upon might be faithfully kept without alteration4 ,it was remarkable that the preaching was not wholly new to them4 8,their forefathers10 the ,indians told ,eliot1 8did know ,god1 but after this1 they fell into a deep sleep1 and when they did awake1 they quite forgot him40#ci ,at the instance of ,eliot1 in #afea1 their desire was granted by the ,general ,court1 and ,nashobah1 lying near ,nagog ,pond1 now partly in ,littleton1 partly in ,acton1 became an ,indian town1 where a ,christian worship was established under an ,indian ruler and teacher4 ,wilson relates that1 at their meetings1 8the ,indians sung a psalm1 made ,indian by ,eliot1 in one of our ordinary ,english tunes1 melodiously40#dj ,such was1 for half a century1 the success of the general enterprise1 that1 in #afgf1 there were five hundred and sixty-seven praying ,indians1 and in #afhi1 twenty-four ,indian preachers1 and eighteen assemblies4 ,meantime1 ,concord increased in territory and population4 ,the lands were divided2 highways were cut from farm to farm1 and from this town to ,boston4 ,a military company had been organized in #afcf4 ,the ,pequots1 the terror of the farmer1 were exterminated in #afcg4 ,captain ,underhill1 in #afch1 declared1 that 8the new plantations of ,dedham and ,concord do afford large accommodation1 and will contain abundance of people40#da ,in #afci1 our first selectmen1 ,mr4 ,flint1 ,lieutenant ,willard1 and ,richard ,griffin were appointed4 ,and in #afdj1 when the colony rate was #abjj1 ,concord was assessed #ej4db ,the country already began to yield more than was consumed by the inhabitants4#dc ,the very great immigration from ,england made the lands more valuable every year1 and supplied a market for the produce4 ,in #afdc1 the colony was so numerous that it became expedient to divide it into four counties1 ,concord being included in ,middlesex4#dd ,in #afdd1 the town contained sixty families4 ,but1 in #afdj1 all immigration ceased1 and the country produce and farm-stock depreciated4#de ,other difficulties accrued4 ,the fish1 which had been the abundant manure of the settlers1 was found to injure the land4#df ,the river1 at this period1 seems to have caused some distress now by its overflow1 now by its drought4#dg ,a cold and wet summer blighted the corn2 enormous flocks of pigeons beat down and eat up all sorts of ,english grain2 and the crops suffered much from mice4#dh ,new plantations and better land had been opened1 far and near2 and whilst many of the colonists at ,boston thought to remove1 or did remove to ,england1 the ,concord people became uneasy1 and looked around for new seats4 ,in #afdc1 one seventh or one eighth part of the inhabitants went to ,connecticut with ,reverend ,mr4 ,jones1 and settled ,fairfield4 ,weakened by this loss1 the people begged to be released from a part of their rates1 to which the ,general ,court consented4 ,mr4 ,bulkeley dissuaded his people from removing1 and admonished them to increase their faith with their griefs4 ,even this check which befell them acquaints us with the rapidity of their growth1 for the good man1 in dealing with his people1 taxes them with luxury4 8,we pretended to come hither10 he says1 8for ordinances2 but now ordinances are light matters with us2 we are turned after the prey4 ,we have among us excess and pride of life2 pride in apparel1 daintiness in diet1 and that in those who1 in times past1 would have been satisfied with bread4 ,this is the sin of the lowest of the people40#di ,better evidence could not be desired of the rapid growth of the settlement4 ,the check was but momentary4 ,the earth teemed with fruits4 ,the people on the bay built ships1 and found the way to the ,west ,indies1 with pipe-staves1 lumber and fish2 and the country people speedily learned to supply themselves with sugar1 tea and molasses4 ,the college had been already gathered in #afch4 ,now the school-house went up4 ,the ,general ,court1 in #afdg1 8to the end that learning may not be buried in the graves of our forefathers1 ,ordered1 that every township1 after the ,lord had increased them to the number of fifty house-holders1 shall appoint one to teach all children to write and read2 and where any town shall increase to the number of one hundred families1 they shall set up a ,grammar school1 the masters thereof being able to instruct youth so far as they may be fitted for the ,university40 ,with these requirements ,concord not only complied1 but1 in #afec1 subscribed a sum for several years to the support of ,harvard ,college4#ej ,but a new and alarming public distress retarded the growth of this1 as of the sister towns1 during more than twenty years from #afed to #afgf4 ,in #afed1 the four united ,new ,england ,colonies agreed to raise #bgj foot and #dj horse1 to reduce ,ninigret1 ,sachem of the ,niantics1 and appointed ,major ,simon ,willard1 of this town1 to the command4#ea ,this war seems to have been pressed by three of the colonies1 and reluctantly entered by ,massachusetts4 ,accordingly1 ,major ,willard did the least he could1 and incurred the censure of the ,commissioners1 who write to their 8loving friend ,major ,willard10 8that they leave to his consideration the inconveniences arising from his non-attendance to his commission40#eb ,this expedition was but the introduction of the war with ,king ,philip4 ,in #afgj1 the ,wampanoags began to grind their hatchets1 and mend their guns1 and insult the ,english4 ,philip surrendered seventy guns to the ,commissioners in ,taunton ,meeting-house1#ec but revenged his humiliation a few years after1 by carrying fire and the tomahawk into the ,english villages4 ,from ,narragansett to the ,connecticut ,river1 the scene of war was shifted as fast as these red hunters could traverse the forest4 ,concord was a military post4 ,the inactivity of ,major ,willard1 in ,ninigret's war1 had lost him no confidence4 ,he marched from ,concord to ,brookfield1 in season to save the people whose houses had been burned1 and who had taken shelter in a fortified house4#ed ,but he fought with disadvantage against an enemy who must be hunted before every battle4 ,some flourishing towns were burned4 ,john ,monoco1 a formidable savage1 boasted that 8he had burned ,medfield and ,lancaster1 and would burn ,groton1 ,concord1 ,watertown and ,boston20 adding1 8what me will1 me do40 ,he did burn ,groton1 but before he had executed the remainder of his threat he was hanged1 in ,boston1 in ,september1 #afgf4ee ,a still more formidable enemy was removed1 in the same year1 by the capture of ,canonchet1 the faithful ally of ,philip1 who was soon afterwards shot at ,stonington4 ,he stoutly declared to the ,commissioners that 8he would not deliver up a ,wampanoag1 nor the paring of a ,wampanoag's nail10 and when he was told that his sentence was death1 he said 8he liked it well that he was to die before his heart was soft1 or he had spoken anything unworthy of himself40#ef ,we know beforehand who must conquer in that unequal struggle4 ,the red man may destroy here and there a straggler1 as a wild beast may2 he may fire a farmhouse1 or a village2 but the association of the white men and their arts of war give them an overwhelming advantage1 and in the first blast of their trumpet we already hear the flourish of victory4 ,i confess what chiefly interests me1 in the annals of that war1 is the grandeur of spirit exhibited by a few of the ,indian chiefs4 ,a nameless ,wampanoag who was put to death by the ,mohicans1 after cruel tortures1 was asked by his butchers1 during the torture1 how he liked the war8--he said1 8he found it as sweet as sugar was to ,englishmen40#eg ,the only compensation which war offers for its manifold mischiefs1 is in the great personal qualities to which it gives scope and occasion4 ,the virtues of patriotism and of prodigious courage and address were exhibited on both sides1 and1 in many instances1 by women4 ,the historian of ,concord has preserved an instance of the resolution of one of the daughters of the town4 ,two young farmers1 ,abraham and ,isaac ,shepherd1 had set their sister ,mary1 a girl of fifteen years1 to watch whilst they threshed grain in the barn4 ,the ,indians stole upon her before she was aware1 and her brothers were slain4 ,she was carried captive into the ,indian country1 but1 at night1 whilst her captors were asleep1 she plucked a saddle from under the head of one of them1 took a horse they had stolen from ,lancaster1 and having girt the saddle on1 she mounted1 swam across the ,nashua ,river1 and rode through the forest to her home4#eh ,with the tragical end of ,philip1 the war ended4 ,beleaguered in his own country1 his corn cut down1 his piles of meal and other provision wasted by the ,english1 it was only a great thaw in ,january1 that1 melting the snow and opening the earth1 enabled his poor followers to come at the ground-nuts1 else they had starved4 ,hunted by ,captain ,church1 he fled from one swamp to another2 his brother1 his uncle1 his sister1 and his beloved squaw being taken or slain1 he was at last shot down by an ,indian deserter1 as he fled alone in the dark of the morning1 not far from his own fort4#ei ,concord suffered little from the war4 ,this is to be attributed no doubt1 in part1 to the fact that troops were generally quartered here1 and that it was the residence of many noted soldiers4 ,tradition finds another cause in the sanctity of its minister4 ,the elder ,bulkeley was gone4 ,in #afei1fj his bones were laid at rest in the forest4 ,but the mantle of his piety and of the people's affection fell upon his son ,edward1#fa the fame of whose prayers1 it is said1 once saved ,concord from an attack of the ,indian4#fb ,a great defence undoubtedly was the village of ,praying ,indians1 until this settlement fell a victim to the envenomed prejudice against their countrymen4 ,the worst feature in the history of those years1 is1 that no man spake for the ,indian4 ,when the ,dutch1 or the ,french1 or the ,english royalist disagreed with the ,colony1 there was always found a ,dutch1 or ,french1 or tory party1--an earnest minority1--to keep things from extremity4 ,but the ,indian seemed to inspire such a feeling as the wild beast inspires in the people near his den4 ,it is the misfortune of ,concord to have permitted a disgraceful outrage upon the friendly ,indians settled within its limits1 in ,february1 #afgf1 which ended in their forcible expulsion from the town4#fc ,this painful incident is but too just an example of the measure which the ,indians have generally received from the whites4 ,for them the heart of charity1 of humanity1 was stone4 ,after ,philip's death1 their strength was irrecoverably broken4 ,they never more disturbed the interior settlements1 and a few vagrant families1 that are now pensioners on the bounty of ,massachusetts1 are all that is left of the twenty tribes4 8,alas6 for them--their day is o'er1 ,their fires are out from hill and shore1 ,no more for them the wild deer bounds1 ,the plough is on their hunting grounds2 ,the pale man's axe rings in their woods1 ,the pale man's sail skims o'er their floods1 ,their pleasant springs are dry40#fd ,i turn gladly to the progress of our civil history4 ,before #afff1 #ae1jjj acres had been added by grants of the ,general ,court to the original territory of the town1#fe so that ,concord then included the greater part of the towns of ,bedford1 ,acton1 ,lincoln and ,carlisle4 ,in the great growth of the country1 ,concord participated1 as is manifest from its increasing polls and increased rates4 ,randolph at this period writes to the ,english government1 concerning the country towns2 8,the farmers are numerous and wealthy1 live in good houses2 are given to hospitality2 and make good advantage by their corn1 cattle1 poultry1 butter and cheese40#ff ,edward ,bulkeley was the pastor1 until his death1 in #afif4 ,his youngest brother1 ,peter1 was deputy from ,concord1 and was chosen speaker of the house of deputies in #afgf4 ,the following year1 he was sent to ,england1 with ,mr4 ,stoughton1 as agent for the ,colony2 and on his return1 in #afhe1 was a royal councillor4 ,but ,i am sorry to find that the servile ,randolph speaks of him with marked respect4#fg ,it would seem that his visit to ,england had made him a courtier4 ,in #afhi1 ,concord partook of the general indignation of the province against ,andros4 ,a company marched to the capital under ,lieutenant ,heald1 forming a part of that body concerning which we are informed1 8the country people came armed into ,boston1 on the afternoon 7of ,thursday1 #ahth ,april7 in such rage and heat1 as made us all tremble to think what would follow2 for nothing would satisfy them but that the governor must be bound in chains or cords1 and put in a more secure place1 and that they would see done before they went away2 and to satisfy them he was guarded by them to the fort40#fh ,but the ,town ,records of that day confine themselves to descriptions of lands1 and to conferences with the neighboring towns to run boundary lines4 ,in #afii1 so broad was their territory1 ,i find the selectmen running the lines with ,chelmsford1 ,cambridge and ,watertown4#fi ,some interesting peculiarities in the manners and customs of the time appear in the town's books4 ,proposals of marriage were made by the parents of the parties1 and minutes of such private agreements sometimes entered on the clerk's records4#gj ,the public charity seems to have been bestowed in a manner now obsolete4 ,the town lends its commons as pastures1 to poor men2 and 8being informed of the great present want of ,thomas ,pellit1 gave order to ,stephen ,hosmer to deliver a town cow1 of a black color1 with a white face1 unto said ,pellit1 for his present supply40#ga ,from the beginning to the middle of the eighteenth century1 our records indicate no interruption of the tranquillity of the inhabitants1 either in church or in civil affairs4 ,after the death of ,rev4 ,mr4 ,estabrook1 in #agaa1 it was propounded at the town-meeting1 8whether one of the three gentlemen lately improved here in preaching1 namely1 ,mr4 ,john ,whiting1 ,mr4 ,holyoke and ,mr4 ,prescott1 shall be now chosen in the work of the ministry8 ,voted affirmatively40#gb ,mr4 ,whiting1 who was chosen1 was1 we are told in his epitaph1 8a universal lover of mankind40 ,the charges of education and of legislation1 at this period1 seem to have afflicted the town2 for they vote to petition the ,general ,court to be eased of the law relating to providing a schoolmaster2 happily1 the ,court refused2 and in #agab1 the selectmen agreed with ,captain ,james ,minott1 8for his son ,timothy to keep the school at the school-house for the town of ,concord1 for half a year beginning #b;d ,june2 and if any scholar shall come1 within the said time1 for larning exceeding his son's ability1 the said ,captain doth agree to instruct them himself in the tongues1 till the above said time be fulfilled2 for which service1 the town is to pay ,captain ,minott ten pounds40#gc ,captain ,minott seems to have served our prudent fathers in the double capacity of teacher and representative4 ,it is an article in the selectmen's warrant for the town-meeting1 8to see if the town will lay in for a representative not exceeding four pounds40 ,captain ,minott was chosen1 and after the ,general ,court was adjourned received of the town for his services1 an allowance of three shillings per day4 ,the country was not yet so thickly settled but that the inhabitants suffered from wolves and wild-cats1 which infested the woods2 since bounties of twenty shillings are given as late as #agce1 to ,indians and whites1 for the heads of these animals1 after the constable has cut off the ears4#gd ,mr4 ,whiting was succeeded in the pastoral office by ,rev4 ,daniel ,bliss1 in #agch4 ,soon after his ordination1 the town seems to have been divided by ecclesiastical discords4 ,in #agda1 the celebrated ,whitfield preached here1 in the open air1 to a great congregation4#ge ,mr4 ,bliss heard that great orator with delight1 and by his earnest sympathy with him1 in opinion and practice1 gave offence to a part of his people4 ,party and mutual councils were called1 but no grave charge was made good against him4 ,i find1 in the ,church ,records1 the charges preferred against him1 his answer thereto1 and the result of the ,council4 ,the charges seem to have been made by the lovers of order and moderation against ,mr4 ,bliss1 as a favorer of religious excitements4 ,his answer to one of the counts breathes such true piety that ,i cannot forbear to quote it4 ,the ninth allegation is 8,that in praying for himself1 in a church-meeting1 in ,december last1 he said1 #8he was a poor vile worm of the dust1 that was allowed as ,mediator between ,god and this people4'0 ,to this ,mr4 ,bliss replied1 8,in the prayer you speak of1 ,jesus ,christ was acknowledged as the only ,mediator between ,god and man2 at which time1 ,i was filled with wonder1 that such a sinful and worthless worm as ,i am1 was allowed to represent ,christ1 in any manner1 even so far as to be bringing the petitions and thank-offerings of the people unto ,god1 and ,god's will and truths to the people2 and used the word ,mediator in some differing light from that you have given it2 but ,i confess ,i was soon uneasy that ,i had used the word1 lest some would put a wrong meaning thereupon40#gf ,the ,council admonished ,mr4 ,bliss of some improprieties of expression1 but bore witness to his purity and fidelity in his office4 ,in #agfd1 ,whitfield preached again at ,concord1 on ,sunday afternoon2 ,mr4 ,bliss preached in the morning1 and the ,concord people thought their minister gave them the better sermon of the two4 ,it was also his last4#gg ,the planting of the colony was the effect of religious principle4 ,the ,revolution was the fruit of another principle1--the devouring thirst for justice4 ,from the appearance of the article in the ,selectmen's warrant1 in #agfe1 8to see if the town will give the ,representative any instructions about any important affair to be transacted by the ,general ,court1 concerning the ,stamp ,act10#gh to the peace of #aghc1 the ,town ,records breathe a resolute and warlike spirit1 so bold from the first as hardly to admit of increase4 ,it would be impossible on this occasion to recite all these patriotic papers4 ,i must content myself with a few brief extracts4 ,on the #bdth ,january1 #aggd1 in answer to letters received from the united committees of correspondence1 in the vicinity of ,boston1 the town say3 8,we cannot possibly view with indifference the past and present obstinate endeavors of the enemies of this1 as well as the mother country1 to rob us of those rights1 that are the distinguishing glory and felicity of this land2 rights1 that we are obliged to no power1 under heaven1 for the enjoyment of2 as they are the fruit of the heroic enterprises of the first settlers of these ,american colonies4 ,and though we cannot but be alarmed at the great majority1 in the ,british parliament1 for the imposition of unconstitutional taxes on the colonies1 yet1 it gives life and strength to every attempt to oppose them1 that not only the people of this1 but the neighboring provinces are remarkably united in the important and interesting opposition1 which1 as it succeeded before1 in some measure1 by the blessing of heaven1 so1 we cannot but hope it will be attended with still greater success1 in future4 8,resolved1 ,that these colonies have been and still are illegally taxed by the ,british parliament1 as they are not virtually represented therein4 8,that the purchasing commodities subject to such illegal taxation is an explicit1 though an impious and sordid resignation of the liberties of this free and happy people4 8,that1 as the ,british parliament have empowered the ,east ,india ,company to export their tea into ,america1 for the sole purpose of raising a revenue from hence2 to render the design abortive1 we will not1 in this town1 either by ourselves1 or any from or under us1 buy1 sell1 or use any of the ,east ,india ,company's tea1 or any other tea1 whilst there is a duty for raising a revenue thereon in ,america2 neither will we suffer any such tea to be used in our families4 8,that all such persons as shall purchase1 sell1 or use any such tea1 shall1 for the future1 be deemed unfriendly to the happy constitution of this country4 8,that1 in conjunction with our brethren in ,america1 we will risk our fortunes1 and even our lives1 in defence of his majesty1 ,king ,george the ,third1 his person1 crown and dignity2 and will1 also1 with the same resolution1 as his freeborn subjects in this country1 to the utmost of our power1 defend all our rights inviolate to the latest posterity4 8,that1 if any person or persons1 inhabitants of this province1 so long as there is a duty on tea1 shall import any tea from the ,india ,house1 in ,england1 or be factors for the ,east ,india ,company1 we will treat them1 in an eminent degree1 as enemies to their country1 and with contempt and detestation4 8,that we think it our duty1 at this critical time of our public affairs1 to return our hearty thanks to the town of ,boston1 for every rational measure they have taken for the preservation or recovery of our invaluable rights and liberties infringed upon2 and we hope1 should the state of our public affairs require it1 that they will still remain watchful and persevering2 with a steady zeal to espy out everything that shall have a tendency to subvert our happy constitution40#gi ,on the #bgth ,june1 near three hundred persons1 upwards of twenty-one years of age1 inhabitants of ,concord1 entered into a covenant1 8solemnly engaging with each other1 in the presence of ,god1 to suspend all commercial intercourse with ,great ,britain1 until the act for blocking the harbor of ,boston be repealed2 and neither to buy nor consume any merchandise imported from ,great ,britain1 nor to deal with those who do40#hj ,in ,august1 a ,county ,convention met in this town1 to deliberate upon the alarming state of public affairs1 and published an admirable report4#ha ,in ,september1 incensed at the new royal law which made the judges dependent on the crown1 the inhabitants assembled on the common1 and forbade the justices to open the court of sessions4 ,this little town then assumed the sovereignty4 ,it was judge and jury and council and king4 ,on the #bfth of the month1 the whole town resolved itself into a committee of safety1 8to suppress all riots1 tumults1 and disorders in said town1 and to aid all untainted magistrates in the execution of the laws of the land40 ,it was then voted1 to raise one or more companies of minute-men1 by enlistment1 to be paid by the town whenever called out of town2 and to provide arms and ammunition1 8that those who are unable to purchase them themselves1 may have the advantage of them1 if necessity calls for it40 ,in ,october1 the ,provincial ,congress met in ,concord4 ,john ,hancock was ,president4 ,this body was composed of the foremost patriots1 and adopted those efficient measures whose progress and issue belong to the history of the nation4#hb ,the clergy of ,new ,england were1 for the most part1 zealous promoters of the ,revolution4 ,a deep religious sentiment sanctified the thirst for liberty4 ,all the military movements in this town were solemnized by acts of public worship4 ,in ,january1 #agge1 a meeting was held for the enlisting of minute-men4 ,reverend ,william ,emerson1 the chaplain of the ,provincial ,congress1 preached to the people4 ,sixty men enlisted and1 in a few days1 many more4 ,on #acth ,march1 at a general review of all the military companies1 he preached to a very full assembly1 taking for his text1 #b ,chronicles xiii4 #ab1 8,and1 behold1 ,god himself is with us for our captain1 and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you40#hc ,it is said that all the services of that day made a deep impression on the people1 even to the singing of the psalm4 ,a large amount of military stores had been deposited in this town1 by order of the ,provincial ,committee of ,safety4 ,it was to destroy those stores that the troops who were attacked in this town1 on the #aith ,april1 #agge1 were sent hither by ,general ,gage4 ,the story of that day is well known4 ,in these peaceful fields1 for the first time since a hundred years1 the drum and alarm-gun were heard1 and the farmers snatched down their rusty firelocks from the kitchen walls1 to make good the resolute words of their town debates4 ,in the field where the western abutment of the old bridge may still be seen1 about half a mile from this spot1 the first organized resistance was made to the ,british arms4 ,there the ,americans first shed ,british blood4 ,eight hundred ,british soldiers1 under the command of ,lieutenant-,colonel ,francis ,smith1 had marched from ,boston to ,concord2 at ,lexington had fired upon the brave handful of militia1 for which a speedy revenge was reaped by the same militia in the afternoon4 ,when they entered ,concord1 they found the militia and minute-men assembled under the command of ,colonel ,barrett and ,major ,buttrick4 ,this little battalion1 though in their hasty council some were urgent to stand their ground1 retreated before the enemy to the high land on the other bank of the river1 to wait for reinforcement4 ,colonel ,barrett ordered the troops not to fire1 unless fired upon4 ,the ,british following them across the bridge1 posted two companies1 amounting to about one hundred men1 to guard the bridge1 and secure the return of the plundering party4 ,meantime1 the men of ,acton1 ,bedford1 ,lincoln and ,carlisle1 all once included in ,concord1 remembering their parent town in the hour of danger1 arrived and fell into the ranks so fast1 that ,major ,buttrick found himself superior in number to the enemy's party at the bridge4 ,and when the smoke began to rise from the village where the ,british were burning cannon-carriages and military stores1 the ,americans resolved to force their way into town4 ,the ,english beginning to pluck up some of the planks of the bridge1 the ,americans quickened their pace1 and the ,british fired one or two shots up the river 7our ancient friend here1 ,master ,blood1#hd saw the water struck by the first ball72 then a single gun1 the ball from which wounded ,luther ,blanchard and ,jonas ,brown1 and then a volley1 by which ,captain ,isaac ,davis and ,abner ,hosmer of ,acton were instantly killed4 ,major ,buttrick leaped from the ground1 and gave the command to fire1 which was repeated in a simultaneous cry by all his men4 ,the ,americans fired1 and killed two men and wounded eight4 ,a head-stone and a foot-stone1 on this bank of the river1 mark the place where these first victims lie4#he ,the ,british retreated immediately towards the village1 and were joined by two companies of grenadiers1 whom the noise of the firing had hastened to the spot4 ,the militia and minute-men--every one from that moment being his own commander--ran over the hills opposite the battle-field1 and across the great fields1 into the east quarter of the town1 to waylay the enemy1 and annoy his retreat4 ,the ,british1 as soon as they were rejoined by the plundering detachment1 began that disastrous retreat to ,boston1 which was an omen to both parties of the event of the war4 ,in all the anecdotes of that day's events we may discern the natural action of the people4 ,it was not an extravagant ebullition of feeling1 but might have been calculated on by any one acquainted with the spirits and habits of our community4 ,those poor farmers who came up1 that day1 to defend their native soil1 acted from the simplest instincts4 ,they did not know it was a deed of fame they were doing4 ,these men did not babble of glory4 ,they never dreamed their children would contend who had done the most4 ,they supposed they had a right to their corn and their cattle1 without paying tribute to any but their own governors4 ,and as they had no fear of man1 they yet did have a fear of ,god4 ,captain ,charles ,miles1 who was wounded in the pursuit of the enemy1 told my venerable friend who sits by me1 that 8he went to the services of that day1 with the same seriousness and acknowledgment of ,god1 which he carried to church40#hf ,the presence of these aged men who were in arms on that day seems to bring us nearer to it4 ,the benignant ,providence which has prolonged their lives to this hour gratifies the strong curiosity of the new generation4 ,the ,pilgrims are gone2 but we see what manner of persons they were who stood in the worst perils of the ,revolution4 ,we hold by the hand the last of the invincible men of old1 and confirm from living lips the sealed records of time4 ,and you1 my fathers1 whom ,god and the history of your country have ennobled1 may well bear a chief part in keeping this peaceful birthday of our town4 ,you are indeed extraordinary heroes4 ,if ever men in arms had a spotless cause1 you had4 ,you have fought a good fight4 ,and having quit you like men in the battle1 you have quit yourselves like men in your virtuous families2 in your cornfields2 and in society4 ,we will not hide your honorable gray hairs under perishing laurel-leaves1 but the eye of affection and veneration follows you4 ,you are set apart--and forever--for the esteem and gratitude of the human race4 ,to you belongs a better badge than stars and ribbons4 ,this prospering country is your ornament1 and this expanding nation is multiplying your praise with millions of tongues4#hg ,the agitating events of those days were duly remembered in the church4 ,on the second day after the affray1 divine service was attended1 in this house1 by #gjj soldiers4 ,william ,emerson1 the pastor1 had a hereditary claim to the affection of the people1 being descended in the fourth generation from ,edward ,bulkeley1 son of ,peter4 ,but he had merits of his own4 ,the cause of the ,colonies was so much in his heart that he did not cease to make it the subject of his preaching and his prayers1 and is said to have deeply inspired many of his people with his own enthusiasm4 ,he1 at least1 saw clearly the pregnant consequences of the #aith ,april4 ,i have found within a few days1 among some family papers1 his almanac of #agge1 in a blank leaf of which he has written a narrative of the fight2#hh and at the close of the month1 he writes1 8,this month remarkable for the greatest events of the present age40 ,to promote the same cause1 he asked1 and obtained of the town1 leave to accept the commission of chaplain to the ,northern army1 at ,ticonderoga1 and died1 after a few months1 of the distemper that prevailed in the camp4#hi ,in the whole course of the war the town did not depart from this pledge it had given4 ,its little population of #acjj souls behaved like a party to the contest4 ,the number of its troops constantly in service is very great4 ,its pecuniary burdens are out of all proportion to its capital4 ,the economy so rigid1 which marked its earlier history1 has all vanished4 ,it spends profusely1 affectionately1 in the service4 8,since10 say the plaintive records1 8,general ,washington1 at ,cambridge1 is not able to give but #bds4 per cord for wood1 for the army2 it is ,voted1 that this town encourage the inhabitants to supply the army1 by paying two dollars per cord1 over and above the ,general's price1 to such as shall carry wood thither20#ij and #baj cords of wood were carried4 ,a similar order is taken respecting hay4 ,whilst ,boston was occupied by the ,british troops1 ,concord contributed to the relief of the inhabitants1 #gj1 in money2 #bbe bushels of grain2 and a quantity of meat and wood4 ,when1 presently1 the poor of ,boston were quartered by the ,provincial ,congress on the neighboring country1 ,concord received #hb persons to its hospitality4 ,in the year #agge1 it raised #ajj minute-men1 and #gd soldiers to serve at ,cambridge4 ,in ,march1 #aggf1 #ade men were raised by this town to serve at ,dorchester ,heights4#ia ,in ,june1 the ,general ,assembly of ,massachusetts resolved to raise #ejjj militia for six months1 to reinforce the ,continental army4 8,the numbers10 say they1 8are large1 but this ,court has the fullest assurance that their brethren1 on this occasion1 will not confer with flesh and blood1 but will1 without hesitation1 and with the utmost alacrity and despatch1 fill up the numbers proportioned to the several towns40#ib ,on that occasion1 ,concord furnished #fg men1 paying them itself1 at an expense of #fbb4 ,and so on1 with every levy1 to the end of the war4 ,for these men it was continually providing shoes1 stockings1 shirts1 coats1 blankets and beef4 ,the taxes1 which1 before the war1 had not much exceeded #bjj per annum1 amounted1 in the year #aghb1 to #iedd1 in silver4#ic ,the great expense of the war was borne with cheerfulness1 whilst the war lasted2 but years passed1 after the peace1 before the debt was paid4 ,as soon as danger and injury ceased1 the people were left at leisure to consider their poverty and their debts4 ,the ,town ,records show how slowly the inhabitants recovered from the strain of excessive exertion4 ,their instructions to their representatives are full of loud complaints of the disgraceful state of public credit1 and the excess of public expenditure4 ,they may be pardoned1 under such distress1 for the mistakes of an extreme frugality4 ,they fell into a common error1 not yet dismissed to the moon1 that the remedy was1 to forbid the great importation of foreign commodities1 and to prescribe by law the prices of articles4 ,the operation of a new government was dreaded1 lest it should prove expensive1 and the country towns thought it would be cheaper if it were removed from the capital4 ,they were jealous lest the ,general ,court should pay itself too liberally1 and our fathers must be forgiven by their charitable posterity1 if1 in #aghb1 before choosing a representative1 it was 8,voted1 that the person who should be chosen representative to the ,general ,court should receive #fs4 per day1 whilst in actual service1 an account of which time he should bring to the town1 and if it should be that the ,general ,court should resolve1 that1 their pay should be more than #fs41 then the representative shall be hereby directed to pay the overplus into the town treasury40#id ,this was securing the prudence of the public servants4 ,but whilst the town had its own full share of the public distress1 it was very far from desiring relief at the cost of order and law4 ,in #aghf1 when the general sufferings drove the people in parts of ,worcester and ,hampshire counties to insurrection1 a large party of armed insurgents arrived in this town1 on the #abth ,september1 to hinder the sitting of the ,court of ,common ,pleas4 ,but they found no countenance here4#ie ,the same people who had been active in a ,county ,convention to consider grievances1 condemned the rebellion1 and joined the authorities in putting it down4#if ,in #aghg1 the admirable instructions given by the town to its representative are a proud monument of the good sense and good feeling that prevailed4 ,the grievances ceased with the adoption of the ,federal ,constitution4 ,the constitution of ,massachusetts had been already accepted4 ,it was put to the town of ,concord1 in ,october1 #aggf1 by the ,legislature1 whether the existing house of representatives should enact a constitution for the ,state8 ,the town answered ,no4#ig ,the ,general ,court1 notwithstanding1 draughted a constitution1 sent it here1 and asked the town whether they would have it for the law of the ,state8 ,the town answered ,no1 by a unanimous vote4 ,in #aghj1 a constitution of the ,state1 proposed by the ,convention chosen for that purpose1 was accepted by the town with the reservation of some articles4#ih ,and1 in #aghh1 the town1 by its delegate1 accepted the new ,constitution of the ,united ,states1 and this event closed the whole series of important public events in which this town played a part4 ,from that time to the present hour1 this town has made a slow but constant progress in population and wealth1 and the arts of peace4 ,it has suffered neither from war1 nor pestilence1 nor famine1 nor flagrant crime4 ,its population1 in the census of #ahcj1 was #bjbj souls4 ,the public expenses1 for the last year1 amounted to #dbij2 for the present year1 to #ejdj4ii ,if the community stints its expense in small matters1 it spends freely on great duties4 ,the town raises1 this year1 #ahjj for its public schools2 besides about #abjj which are paid1 by subscription1 for private schools4 ,this year1 it expends #hjj for its poor2 the last year it expended #ijj4 ,two religious societies1 of differing creed1 dwell together in good understanding1 both promoting1 we hope1 the cause of righteousness and love4#ajj ,concord has always been noted for its ministers4 ,the living need no praise of mine4 ,yet it is among the sources of satisfaction and gratitude1 this day1 that the aged with whom is wisdom1 our fathers' counsellor and friend1 is spared to counsel and intercede for the sons4#aja ,such1 fellow citizens1 is an imperfect sketch of the history of ,concord4 ,i have been greatly indebted1 in preparing this sketch1 to the printed but unpublished ,history of this town1 furnished me by the unhesitating kindness of its author1 long a resident in this place4 ,i hope that ,history will not long remain unknown4 ,the author has done us and posterity a kindness1 by the zeal and patience of his research1 and has wisely enriched his pages with the resolutions1 addresses and instructions to its agents1 which from time to time1 at critical periods1 the town has voted4#ajb ,meantime1 ,i have read with care the ,town ,records themselves4 ,they must ever be the fountains of all just information respecting your character and customs4 ,they are the history of the town4 ,they exhibit a pleasing picture of a community almost exclusively agricultural1 where no man has much time for words1 in his search after things2 of a community of great simplicity of manners1 and of a manifest love of justice4 ,for the most part1 the town has deserved the name it wears4 ,i find our annals marked with a uniform good sense4 ,i find no ridiculous laws1 no eavesdropping legislators1 no hanging of witches1 no ghosts1 no whipping of ,quakers1 no unnatural crimes4 ,the tone of the ,records rises with the dignity of the event4 ,these soiled and musty books are luminous and electric within4 ,the old town clerks did not spell very correctly1 but they contrive to make pretty intelligible the will of a free and just community4 ,frugal our fathers were1--very frugal1--though1 for the most part1 they deal generously by their minister1 and provide well for the schools and the poor4 ,if1 at any time1 in common with most of our towns1 they have carried this economy to the verge of a vice1 it is to be remembered that a town is1 in many respects1 a financial corporation4 ,they economize1 that they may sacrifice4 ,they stint and higgle on the price of a pew1 that they may send #bjj soldiers to ,general ,washington to keep ,great ,britain at bay4 ,for splendor1 there must somewhere be rigid economy4 ,that the head of the house may go brave1 the members must be plainly clad1 and the town must save that the ,state may spend4 ,of late years1 the growth of ,concord has been slow4 ,without navigable waters1 without mineral riches1 without any considerable mill privileges1 the natural increase of her population is drained by the constant emigration of the youth4 ,her sons have settled the region around us1 and far from us4 ,their wagons have rattled down the remote western hills4 ,and in every part of this country1 and in many foreign parts1 they plough the earth1 they traverse the sea1 they engage in trade and in all the professions4#ajc ,fellow citizens2 let not the solemn shadows of two hundred years1 this day1 fall over us in vain4 ,i feel some unwillingness to quit the remembrance of the past4 ,with all the hope of the new ,i feel that we are leaving the old4 ,every moment carries us farther from the two great epochs of public principle1 the ,planting1 and the ,revolution of the colony4 ,fortunate and favored this town has been1 in having received so large an infusion of the spirit of both of those periods4 ,humble as is our village in the circle of later and prouder towns that whiten the land1 it has been consecrated by the presence and activity of the purest men4 ,why need ,i remind you of our own ,hosmers1 ,minotts1 ,cumings1 ,barretts1 ,beattons1 the departed benefactors of the town8 ,on the village green have been the steps of ,winthrop and ,dudley2 of ,john ,eliot1 the ,indian apostle1 who had a courage that intimidated those savages whom his love could not melt2 of ,whitfield1 whose silver voice melted his great congregation into tears2 of ,hancock1 and his compatriots of the ,provincial ,congress2 of ,langdon1 and the college over which he presided4 ,but even more sacred influences than these have mingled here with the stream of human life4 ,the merit of those who fill a space in the world's history1 who are borne forward1 as it were1 by the weight of thousands whom they lead1 sheds a perfume less sweet than do the sacrifices of private virtue4 ,i have had much opportunity of access to anecdotes of families1 and ,i believe this town to have been the dwelling-place1 in all times since its planting1 of pious and excellent persons1 who walked meekly through the paths of common life1 who served ,god1 and loved man1 and never let go the hope of immortality4 ,the benediction of their prayers and of their principles lingers around us4 ,the acknowledgment of the ,supreme ,being exalts the history of this people4 ,it brought the fathers hither4 ,in a war of principle1 it delivered their sons4 ,and so long as a spark of this faith survives among the children's children so long shall the name of ,concord be honest and venerable4 ,,iii ,,letter ,,to ,,martin ,,van ,,buren1 ,,president ,,of ,,the ,,united ,,states ,a ,,protest ,,against ,,the ,,removal ,,of ,,the ,,cherokee ,,indians ,,from ,,the ,,state ,,of ,,georgia 8,say1 what is ,honour8 ',tis the finest sense ,of justice which the human mind can frame1 ,intent each lurking frailty to disclaim1 ,and guard the way of life from all offence1 ,suffered or done40 ,,wordsworth4 ,,letter ,,to ,,martin ,,van ,,buren1 ,,president ,,of ,,the ,,united ,,states ,,concord1 ,,mass41 ,april #bc1 #ahch4 ,,sir3 ,the seat you fill places you in a relation of credit and nearness to every citizen4 ,by right and natural position1 every citizen is your friend4 ,before any acts contrary to his own judgment or interest have repelled the affections of any man1 each may look with trust and living anticipation to your government4 ,each has the highest right to call your attention to such subjects as are of a public nature1 and properly belong to the chief magistrate2 and the good magistrate will feel a joy in meeting such confidence4 ,in this belief and at the instance of a few of my friends and neighbors1 ,i crave of your patience a short hearing for their sentiments and my own3 and the circumstance that my name will be utterly unknown to you will only give the fairer chance to your equitable construction of what ,i have to say4 ,sir1 my communication respects the sinister rumors that fill this part of the country concerning the ,cherokee people4 ,the interest always felt in the aboriginal population--an interest naturally growing as that decays--has been heightened in regard to this tribe4 ,even in our distant ,state some good rumor of their worth and civility has arrived4 ,we have learned with joy their improvement in the social arts4 ,we have read their newspapers4 ,we have seen some of them in our schools and colleges4 ,in common with the great body of the ,american people1 we have witnessed with sympathy the painful labors of these red men to redeem their own race from the doom of eternal inferiority1 and to borrow and domesticate in the tribe the arts and customs of the ,caucasian race4 ,and notwithstanding the unaccountable apathy with which of late years the ,indians have been sometimes abandoned to their enemies1 it is not to be doubted that it is the good pleasure and the understanding of all humane persons in the ,republic1 of the men and the matrons sitting in the thriving independent families all over the land1 that they shall be duly cared for2 that they shall taste justice and love from all to whom we have delegated the office of dealing with them4 ,the newspapers now inform us that1 in ,december1 #ahce1 a treaty contracting for the exchange of all the ,cherokee territory was pretended to be made by an agent on the part of the ,united ,states with some persons appearing on the part of the ,cherokees2 that the fact afterwards transpired that these deputies did by no means represent the will of the nation2 and that1 out of eighteen thousand souls composing the nation1 fifteen thousand six hundred and sixty-eight have protested against the so-called treaty4 ,it now appears that the government of the ,united ,states choose to hold the ,cherokees to this sham treaty1 and are proceeding to execute the same4 ,almost the entire ,cherokee ,nation stand up and say1 8,this is not our act4 ,behold us4 ,here are we4 ,do not mistake that handful of deserters for us20 and the ,american ,president and the ,cabinet1 the ,senate and the ,house of ,representatives1 neither hear these men nor see them1 and are contracting to put this active nation into carts and boats1 and to drag them over mountains and rivers to a wilderness at a vast distance beyond the ,mississippi4 ,and a paper purporting to be an army order fixes a month from this day as the hour for this doleful removal4 ,in the name of ,god1 sir1 we ask you if this be so4 ,do the newspapers rightly inform us8 ,men and women with pale and perplexed faces meet one another in the streets and churches here1 and ask if this be so4 ,we have inquired if this be a gross misrepresentation from the party opposed to the government and anxious to blacken it with the people4 ,we have looked in the newspapers of different parties and find a horrid confirmation of the tale4 ,we are slow to believe it4 ,we hoped the ,indians were misinformed1 and that their remonstrance was premature1 and will turn out to be a needless act of terror4 ,the piety1 the principle that is left in the ,united ,states1 if only in its coarsest form1 a regard to the speech of men1--forbid us to entertain it as a fact4 ,such a dereliction of all faith and virtue1 such a denial of justice1 and such deafness to screams for mercy were never heard of in times of peace and in the dealing of a nation with its own allies and wards1 since the earth was made4 ,sir1 does this government think that the people of the ,united ,states are become savage and mad8 ,from their mind are the sentiments of love and a good nature wiped clean out8 ,the soul of man1 the justice1 the mercy that is the heart's heart in all men1 from ,maine to ,georgia1 does abhor this business4 ,in speaking thus the sentiments of my neighbors and my own1 perhaps ,i overstep the bounds of decorum4 ,but would it not be a higher indecorum coldly to argue a matter like this8 ,we only state the fact that a crime is projected that confounds our understandings by its magnitude1--a crime that really deprives us as well as the ,cherokees of a country8 for how could we call the conspiracy that should crush these poor ,indians our government1 or the land that was cursed by their parting and dying imprecations our country1 any more8 ,you1 sir1 will bring down that renowned chair in which you sit into infamy if your seal is set to this instrument of perfidy2 and the name of this nation1 hitherto the sweet omen of religion and liberty1 will stink to the world4 ,you will not do us the injustice of connecting this remonstrance with any sectional and party feeling4 ,it is in our hearts the simplest commandment of brotherly love4 ,we will not have this great and solemn claim upon national and human justice huddled aside under the flimsy plea of its being a party act4 ,sir1 to us the questions upon which the government and the people have been agitated during the past year1 touching the prostration of the currency and of trade1 seem but motes in comparison4 ,these hard times1 it is true1 have brought the discussion home to every farmhouse and poor man's house in this town2 but it is the chirping of grasshoppers beside the immortal question whether justice shall be done by the race of civilized to the race of savage man1--whether all the attributes of reason1 of civility1 of justice1 and even of mercy1 shall be put off by the ,american people1 and so vast an outrage upon the ,cherokee ,nation and upon human nature shall be consummated4 ,one circumstance lessens the reluctance with which ,i intrude at this time on your attention my conviction that the government ought to be admonished of a new historical fact1 which the discussion of this question has disclosed1 namely1 that there exists in a great part of the ,northern people a gloomy diffidence in the moral character of the government4 ,on the broaching of this question1 a general expression of despondency1 of disbelief that any good will accrue from a remonstrance on an act of fraud and robbery1 appeared in those men to whom we naturally turn for aid and counsel4 ,will the ,american government steal8 ,will it lie8 ,will it kill8--,we ask triumphantly4 ,our counsellors and old statesmen here say that ten years ago they would have staked their lives on the affirmation that the proposed ,indian measures could not be executed2 that the unanimous country would put them down4 ,and now the steps of this crime follow each other so fast1 at such fatally quick time1 that the millions of virtuous citizens1 whose agents the government are1 have no place to interpose1 and must shut their eyes until the last howl and wailing of these tormented villages and tribes shall afflict the ear of the world4 ,i will not hide from you1 as an indication of the alarming distrust1 that a letter addressed as mine is1 and suggesting to the mind of the ,executive the plain obligations of man1 has a burlesque character in the apprehensions of some of my friends4 ,i1 sir1 will not beforehand treat you with the contumely of this distrust4 ,i will at least state to you this fact1 and show you how plain and humane people1 whose love would be honor1 regard the policy of the government1 and what injurious inferences they draw as to the minds of the governors4 ,a man with your experience in affairs must have seen cause to appreciate the futility of opposition to the moral sentiment4 ,however feeble the sufferer and however great the oppressor1 it is in the nature of things that the blow should recoil upon the aggressor4 ,for ,god is in the sentiment1 and it cannot be withstood4 ,the potentate and the people perish before it2 but with it1 and as its executor1 they are omnipotent4 ,i write thus1 sir1 to inform you of the state of mind these ,indian tidings have awakened here1 and to pray with one voice more that you1 whose hands are strong with the delegated power of fifteen millions of men1 will avert with that might the terrific injury which threatens the ,cherokee tribe4 ,with great respect1 sir1 ,i am your fellow citizen1 ,,ralph ,,waldo ,,emerson4 ,,iv ,,address ,,delivered ,,in ,,concord ,,on ,,the ,,anniversary ,,of ,,the ,,emancipation ,,of ,,the ,,negroes ,,in ,,the ,,british ,,west ,,indies1 ,,august #a1 #ahdd4 ,there a captive sat in chains1 ,crooning ditties treasured well ,from his ,afric's torrid plains4 ,sole estate his sire bequeathed1-- ,hapless sire to hapless son1-- ,was the wailing song he breathed1 ,and his chain when life was done4 ,,address ,,emancipation ,,in ,,the ,,british ,,west ,,indies ,,friends ,,and ,,fellow ,,citizens3 ,we are met to exchange congratulations on the anniversary of an event singular in the history of civilization2 a day of reason2 of the clear light2 of that which makes us better than a flock of birds and beasts2 a day which gave the immense fortification of a fact1 of gross history1 to ethical abstractions4 ,it was the settlement1 as far as a great ,empire was concerned1 of a question on which almost every leading citizen in it had taken care to record his vote2 one which for many years absorbed the attention of the best and most eminent of mankind4 ,i might well hesitate1 coming from other studies1 and without the smallest claim to be a special laborer in this work of humanity1 to undertake to set this matter before you2 which ought rather to be done by a strict coperation of many well-advised persons2 but ,i shall not apologize for my weakness4 ,in this cause1 no man's weakness is any prejudice3 it has a thousand sons2 if one man cannot speak1 ten others can2 and1 whether by the wisdom of its friends1 or by the folly of the adversaries2 by speech and by silence2 by doing and by omitting to do1 it goes forward4 ,therefore ,i will speak1--or1 not ,i1 but the might of liberty in my weakness4 ,the subject is said to have the property of making dull men eloquent4 ,it has been in all men's experience a marked effect of the enterprise in behalf of the ,african1 to generate an overbearing and defying spirit4 ,the institution of slavery seems to its opponent to have but one side1 and he feels that none but a stupid or a malignant person can hesitate on a view of the facts4 ,under such an impulse1 ,i was about to say1 ,if any cannot speak1 or cannot hear the words of freedom1 let him go hence1--,i had almost said1 ,creep into your grave1 the universe has no need of you6 ,but ,i have thought better3 let him not go4 ,when we consider what remains to be done for this interest in this country1 the dictates of humanity make us tender of such as are not yet persuaded4#ajd ,the hardest selfishness is to be borne with4 ,let us withhold every reproachful1 and1 if we can1 every indignant remark4 ,in this cause1 we must renounce our temper1 and the risings of pride4 ,if there be any man who thinks the ruin of a race of men a small matter1 compared with the last decoration and completions of his own comfort1--who would not so much as part with his ice-cream1 to save them from rapine and manacles1 ,i think ,i must not hesitate to satisfy that man that also his cream and vanilla are safer and cheaper by placing the negro nation on a fair footing than by robbing them4 ,if the ,virginian piques himself on the picturesque luxury of his vassalage1 on the heavy ,ethiopian manners of his house-servants1 their silent obedience1 their hue of bronze1 their turbaned heads1 and would not exchange them for the more intelligent but precarious hired service of whites1 ,i shall not refuse to show him that when their free-papers are made out1 it will still be their interest to remain on his estate1 and that the oldest planters of ,jamaica are convinced that it is cheaper to pay wages than to own the slave4 ,the history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right1 in the incessant conflict which it records between the material and the moral nature4 ,from the earliest monuments it appears that one race was victim and served the other races4 ,in the oldest temples of ,egypt1 negro captives are painted on the tombs of kings1 in such attitudes as to show that they are on the point of being executed2 and ,herodotus1 our oldest historian1 relates that the ,troglodytes hunted the ,ethiopians in four-horse chariots4 ,from the earliest time1 the negro has been an article of luxury to the commercial nations4 ,so has it been1 down to the day that has just dawned on the world4 ,language must be raked1 the secrets of slaughter-houses and infamous holes that cannot front the day1 must be ransacked1 to tell what negro slavery has been4 ,these men1 our benefactors1 as they are producers of corn and wine1 of coffee1 of tobacco1 of cotton1 of sugar1 of rum and brandy2 gentle and joyous themselves1 and producers of comfort and luxury for the civilized world1--there seated in the finest climates of the globe1 children of the sun1--,i am heart-sick when ,i read how they came there1 and how they are kept there4 ,their case was left out of the mind and out of the heart of their brothers4 ,the prizes of society1 the trumpet of fame1 the privileges of learning1 of culture1 of religion1 the decencies and joys of marriage1 honor1 obedience1 personal authority and a perpetual melioration into a finer civility1--these were for all1 but not for them4 ,for the negro1 was the slave-ship to begin with1 in whose filthy hold he sat in irons1 unable to lie down2 bad food1 and insufficiency of that2 disfranchisement2 no property in the rags that covered him2 no marriage1 no right in the poor black woman that cherished him in her bosom1 no right to the children of his body2 no security from the humors1 none from the crimes1 none from the appetites of his master3 toil1 famine1 insult and flogging2 and1 when he sank in the furrow1 no wind of good fame blew over him1 no priest of salvation visited him with glad tidings3 but he went down to death with dusky dreams of ,african shadow-catchers and ,obeahs hunting him4#aje ,very sad was the negro tradition1 that the ,great ,spirit1 in the beginning offered the black man1 whom he loved better than the buckra1 or white1 his choice of two boxes1 a big and a little one4 ,the black man was greedy1 and chose the largest4 8,the buckra box was full up with pen1 paper and whip1 and the negro box with hoe and bill2 and hoe and bill for negro to this day40 ,but the crude element of good in human affairs must work and ripen1 spite of whips and plantation laws and ,west ,indian interest4 ,conscience rolled on its pillow1 and could not sleep4 ,we sympathize very tenderly here with the poor aggrieved planter1 of whom so many unpleasant things are said2 but if we saw the whip applied to old men1 to tender women2 and1 undeniably1 though ,i shrink to say so1 pregnant women set in the treadmill for refusing to work2 when1 not they1 but the eternal law of animal nature refused to work2--if we saw men's backs flayed with cowhides1 and 8hot rum poured on1 superinduced with brine or pickle1 rubbed in with a cornhusk1 in the scorching heat of the sun20--if we saw the runaways hunted with bloodhounds into swamps and hills2 and1 in cases of passion1 a planter throwing his negro into a copper of boiling cane-juice1--if we saw these things with eyes1 we too should wince4 ,they are not pleasant sights4 ,the blood is moral3 the blood is anti-slavery3 it runs cold in the veins3 the stomach rises with disgust1 and curses slavery4 ,well1 so it happened2 a good man or woman1 a country boy or girl1--it would so fall out1--once in a while saw these injuries and had the indiscretion to tell of them4 ,the horrid story ran and flew2 the winds blew it all over the world4 ,they who heard it asked their rich and great friends if it was true1 or only missionary lies4 ,the richest and greatest1 the prime minister of ,england1 the king's privy council were obliged to say that it was too true4 ,it became plain to all men1 the more this business was looked into1 that the crimes and cruelties of the slave-traders and slave-owners could not be overstated4 ,the more it was searched1 the more shocking anecdotes came up1--things not to be spoken4 ,humane persons who were informed of the reports insisted on proving them4 ,granville ,sharpe was accidentally made acquainted with the sufferings of a slave1 whom a ,west ,indian planter had brought with him to ,london and had beaten with a pistol on his head1 so badly that his whole body became diseased1 and the man useless to his master1 who left him to go whither he pleased4 ,the man applied to ,mr4 ,william ,sharpe1 a charitable surgeon1 who attended the diseases of the poor4 ,in process of time1 he was healed4 ,granville ,sharpe found him at his brother's and procured a place for him in an apothecary's shop4 ,the master accidentally met his recovered slave1 and instantly endeavored to get possession of him again4 ,sharpe protected the slave4 ,in consulting with the lawyers1 they told ,sharpe the laws were against him4 ,sharpe would not believe it2 no prescription on earth could ever render such iniquities legal4 #8,but the decisions are against you1 and ,lord ,mansfield1 now ,chief ,justice of ,england1 leans to the decisions4' ,sharpe instantly sat down and gave himself to the study of ,english law for more than two years1 until he had proved that the opinions relied on1 of ,talbot and ,yorke1 were incompatible with the former ,english decisions and with the whole spirit of ,english law4 ,he published his book in #agfi1 and he so filled the heads and hearts of his advocates that when he brought the case of ,george ,somerset1 another slave1 before ,lord ,mansfield1 the slavish decisions were set aside1 and equity affirmed4#ajf ,there is a sparkle of ,god's righteousness in ,lord ,mansfield's judgment1 which does the heart good4 ,very unwilling had that great lawyer been to reverse the late decisions2 he suggested twice from the bench1 in the course of the trial1 how the question might be got rid of3 but the hint was not taken2 the case was adjourned again and again1 and judgment delayed4 ,at last judgment was demanded1 and on the #bb;d ,june1 #aggb1 ,lord ,mansfield is reported to have decided in these words3 8,immemorial usage preserves the memory of positive law1 long after all traces of the occasion1 reason1 authority and time of its introduction1 are lost2 and in a case so odious as the condition of slaves1 must be taken strictly 7tracing the subject to natural principles1 the claim of slavery never can be supported74 ,the power claimed by this return never was in use here4 ,we cannot say the cause set forth by this return is allowed or approved of by the laws of this kingdom2 and therefore the man must be discharged40 ,this decision established the principle that the 8air of ,england is too pure for any slave to breathe10 but the wrongs in the islands were not thereby touched4 ,public attention1 however1 was drawn that way1 and the methods of the stealing and the transportation from ,africa became noised abroad4 ,the ,quakers got the story4 ,in their plain meeting-houses and prim dwellings this dismal agitation got entrance4 ,they were rich3 they owned1 for debt or by inheritance1 island property2 they were religious1 tender-hearted men and women2 and they had to hear the news and digest it as they could4 ,six ,quakers met in ,london on the #fth of ,july1 #aghc1--,william ,dillwyn1 ,samuel ,hoar1 ,george ,harrison1 ,thomas ,knowles1 ,john ,lloyd1 ,joseph ,woods1 8to consider what step they should take for the relief and liberation of the negro slaves in the ,west ,indies1 and for the discouragement of the slave-trade on the coast of ,africa40 ,they made friends and raised money for the slave2 they interested their ,yearly ,meeting2 and all ,english and all ,american ,quakers4 ,john ,woolman of ,new ,jersey1 whilst yet an apprentice1 was uneasy in his mind when he was set to write a bill of sale of a negro1 for his master4 ,he gave his testimony against the traffic1 in ,maryland and ,virginia4 ,thomas ,clarkson was a youth at ,cambridge1 ,england1 when the subject given out for a ,latin prize dissertation was1 8,is it right to make slaves of others against their will80 ,he wrote an essay1 and won the prize2 but he wrote too well for his own peace2 he began to ask himself if these things could be true2 and if they were1 he could no longer rest4 ,he left ,cambridge2 he fell in with the six ,quakers4 ,they engaged him to act for them4 ,he himself interested ,mr4 ,wilberforce in the matter4 ,the shipmasters in that trade were the greatest miscreants1 and guilty of every barbarity to their own crews4 ,clarkson went to ,bristol1 made himself acquainted with the interior of the slave-ships and the details of the trade4 ,the facts confirmed his sentiment1 8that ,providence had never made that to be wise which was immoral1 and that the slave-trade was as impolitic as it was unjust20#ajg that it was found peculiarly fatal to those employed in it4 ,more seamen died in that trade in one year than in the whole remaining trade of the country in two4 ,mr4 ,pitt and ,mr4 ,fox were drawn into the generous enterprise4 ,in #aghh1 the ,house of ,commons voted ,parliamentary inquiry4 ,in #agia1 a bill to abolish the trade was brought in by ,wilberforce1 and supported by him and by ,fox and ,burke and ,pitt1 with the utmost ability and faithfulness2 resisted by the planters and the whole ,west ,indian interest1 and lost4 ,during the next sixteen years1 ten times1 year after year1 the attempt was renewed by ,mr4 ,wilberforce1 and ten times defeated by the planters4 ,the king1 and all the royal family but one1 were against it4 ,these debates are instructive1 as they show on what grounds the trade was assailed and defended4 ,everything generous1 wise and sprightly is sure to come to the attack4 ,on the other part are found cold prudence1 bare-faced selfishness and silent votes4 ,but the nation was aroused to enthusiasm4 ,every horrid fact became known4 ,in #agia1 three hundred thousand persons in ,britain pledged themselves to abstain from all articles of island produce4 ,the planters were obliged to give way2 and in #ahjg1 on the #beth ,march1 the bill passed1 and the slave-trade was abolished4 ,the assailants of slavery had early agreed to limit their political action on this subject to the abolition of the trade1 but ,granville ,sharpe1 as a matter of conscience1 whilst he acted as chairman of the ,london ,committee1 felt constrained to record his protest against the limitation1 declaring that slavery was as much a crime against the ,divine law as the slave-trade4 ,the trade1 under false flags1 went on as before4 ,in #ahba1 according to official documents presented to the ,american government by the ,colonization ,society1 #bjj1jjj slaves were deported from ,africa4 ,nearly #cj1jjj were landed in the port of ,havana alone4 ,in consequence of the dangers of the trade growing out of the act of abolition1 ships were built sharp for swiftness1 and with a frightful disregard of the comfort of the victims they were destined to transport4 ,they carried five1 six1 even seven hundred stowed in a ship built so narrow as to be unsafe1 being made just broad enough on the beam to keep the sea4 ,in attempting to make its escape from the pursuit of a man-of-war1 one ship flung five hundred slaves alive into the sea4 ,these facts went into ,parliament4 ,in the islands was an ominous state of cruel and licentious society2 every house had a dungeon attached to it2 every slave was worked by the whip4 ,there is no end to the tragic anecdotes in the municipal records of the colonies4 ,the boy was set to strip and flog his own mother to blood1 for a small offence4 ,looking in the face of his master by the negro was held to be violence by the island courts4 ,he was worked sixteen hours1 and his ration by law1 in some islands1 was a pint of flour and one salt herring a day4 ,he suffered insult1 stripes1 mutilation at the humor of the master3 iron collars were riveted on their necks with iron prongs ten inches long2 capsicum pepper was rubbed in the eyes of the females2 and they were done to death with the most shocking levity between the master and manager1 without fine or inquiry4 ,and when1 at last1 some ,quakers1 ,moravians1 and ,wesleyan and ,baptist missionaries1 following in the steps of ,carey and ,ward in the ,east ,indies1 had been moved to come and cheer the poor victim with the hope of some reparation1 in a future world1 of the wrongs he suffered in this1 these missionaries were persecuted by the planters1 their lives threatened1 their chapels burned1 and the negroes furiously forbidden to go near them4 ,these outrages rekindled the flame of ,british indignation4 ,petitions poured into ,parliament3 a million persons signed their names to these2 and in #ahcc1 on the #adth ,may1 ,lord ,stanley1 ,minister of the ,colonies1 introduced into the ,house of ,commons his bill for the ,emancipation4 ,the scheme of the ,minister1 with such modification as it received in the legislature1 proposed gradual emancipation2 that on #ast ,august1 #ahcd1 all persons now slaves should be entitled to be registered as apprenticed laborers1 and to acquire thereby all the rights and privileges of freemen1 subject to the restriction of laboring under certain conditions4 ,these conditions were1 that the prdials should owe three fourths of the profits of their labor to their masters for six years1 and the non-prdials for four years4#ajh ,the other fourth of the apprentice's time was to be his own1 which he might sell to his master1 or to other persons2 and at the end of the term of years fixed1 he should be free4 ,with these provisions and conditions1 the bill proceeds1 in the twelfth section1 in the following terms3 8,be it enacted1 that all and every person who1 on the first ,august1 #ahcd1 shall be holden in slavery within any such ,british colony as aforesaid1 shall upon and from and after the said first ,august1 become and be to all intents and purposes free1 and discharged of and from all manner of slavery1 and shall be absolutely and forever manumitted2 and that the children thereafter born to any such persons1 and the offspring of such children1 shall1 in like manner1 be free1 from their birth2 and that from and after the first ,august1 #ahcd1 slavery shall be and is hereby utterly and forever abolished and declared unlawful throughout the ,british colonies1 plantations1 and possessions abroad40 ,the ,ministers1 having estimated the slave products of the colonies in annual exports of sugar1 rum and coffee1 at #a1ejj1jjj per annum1 estimated the total value of the slave property at #cj1jjj1jjj pounds sterling1 and proposed to give the planters1 as a compensation for so much of the slaves' time as the act took from them1 #bj1jjj1jjj pounds sterling1 to be divided into nineteen shares for the nineteen colonies1 and to be distributed to the owners of slaves by commissioners1 whose appointment and duties were regulated by the ,act4 ,after much debate1 the bill passed by large majorities4 ,the apprenticeship system is understood to have proceeded from ,lord ,brougham1 and was by him urged on his colleagues1 who1 it is said1 were inclined to the policy of immediate emancipation4 ,the colonial legislatures received the act of ,parliament with various degrees of displeasure1 and1 of course1 every provision of the bill was criticised with severity4 ,the new relation between the master and the apprentice1 it was feared1 would be mischievous2 for the bill required the appointment of magistrates who should hear every complaint of the apprentice and see that justice was done him4 ,it was feared that the interest of the master and servant would now produce perpetual discord between them4 ,in the island of ,antigua1 containing #cg1jjj people1 #cj1jjj being negroes1 these objections had such weight that the legislature rejected the apprenticeship system1 and adopted absolute emancipation4 ,in the other islands the system of the ,ministry was accepted4 ,the reception of it by the negro population was equal in nobleness to the deed4 ,the negroes were called together by the missionaries and by the planters1 and the news explained to them4 ,on the night of the #cast ,july1 they met everywhere at their churches and chapels1 and at midnight1 when the clock struck twelve1 on their knees1 the silent1 weeping assembly became men2 they rose and embraced each other2 they cried1 they sung1 they prayed1 they were wild with joy1 but there was no riot1 no feasting4 ,i have never read anything in history more touching than the moderation of the negroes4 ,some ,american captains left the shore and put to sea1 anticipating insurrection and general murder4 ,with far different thoughts1 the negroes spent the hour in their huts and chapels4 ,i will not repeat to you the well-known paragraph1 in which ,messrs4 ,thome and ,kimball1 the commissioners sent out in the year #ahcg by the ,american ,anti-,slavery ,society1 describe the occurrences of that night in the island of ,antigua4 ,it has been quoted in every newspaper1 and ,dr4 ,channing has given it additional fame4 ,but ,i must be indulged in quoting a few sentences from the pages that follow it1 narrating the behavior of the emancipated people on the next day4#aji 8,the first of ,august came on ,friday1 and a release was proclaimed from all work until the next ,monday4 ,the day was chiefly spent by the great mass of the negroes in the churches and chapels4 ,the clergy and missionaries throughout the island were actively engaged1 seizing the opportunity to enlighten the people on all the duties and responsibilities of their new relation1 and urging them to the attainment of that higher liberty with which ,christ maketh his children free4 ,in every quarter1 we were assured1 the day was like a ,sabbath4 ,work had ceased4 ,the hum of business was still3 tranquillity pervaded the towns and country4 ,the planters informed us that they went to the chapels where their own people were assembled1 greeted them1 shook hands with them1 and exchanged the most hearty good wishes4 ,at ,grace ,hill1 there were at least a thousand persons around the ,moravian ,chapel who could not get in4 ,for once the house of ,god suffered violence1 and the violent took it by force4 ,at ,grace ,bay1 the people1 all dressed in white1 formed a procession1 and walked arm in arm into the chapel4 ,we were told that the dress of the negroes on that occasion was uncommonly simple and modest4 ,there was not the least disposition to gayety4 ,throughout the island1 there was not a single dance known of1 either day or night1 nor so much as a fiddle played40 ,on the next ,monday morning1 with very few exceptions1 every negro on every plantation was in the field at his work4 ,in some places1 they waited to see their master1 to know what bargain he would make2 but for the most part1 throughout the islands1 nothing painful occurred4 ,in ,june1 #ahce1 the ,ministers1 ,lord ,aberdeen and ,sir ,george ,grey1 declared to the ,parliament that the system worked well2 that now for ten months1 from #ast ,august1 #ahcd1 no injury or violence had been offered to any white1 and only one black had been hurt in #hjj1jjj negroes3 and1 contrary to many sinister predictions1 that the new crop of island produce would not fall short of that of the last year4 ,but the habit of oppression was not destroyed by a law and a day of jubilee4 ,it soon appeared in all the islands that the planters were disposed to use their old privileges1 and overwork the apprentices2 to take from them1 under various pretences1 their fourth part of their time2 and to exert the same licentious despotism as before4 ,the negroes complained to the magistrates and to the governor4 ,in the island of ,jamaica1 this ill blood continually grew worse4 ,the governors1 ,lord ,belmore1 the ,earl of ,sligo1 and afterwards ,sir ,lionel ,smith 7a governor of their own class1 who had been sent out to gratify the planters71 threw themselves on the side of the oppressed1 and were at constant quarrel with the angry and bilious island legislature4 ,nothing can exceed the ill humor and sulkiness of the addresses of this assembly4 ,i may here express a general remark1 which the history of slavery seems to justify1 that it is not founded solely on the avarice of the planter4 ,we sometimes say1 the planter does not want slaves1 he only wants the immunities and the luxuries which the slaves yield him2 give him money1 give him a machine that will yield him as much money as the slaves1 and he will thankfully let them go4 ,he has no love of slavery1 he wants luxury1 and he will pay even this price of crime and danger for it4 ,but ,i think experience does not warrant this favorable distinction1 but shows the existence1 beside the covetousness1 of a bitterer element1 the love of power1 the voluptuousness of holding a human being in his absolute control4 ,we sometimes observe that spoiled children contract a habit of annoying quite wantonly those who have charge of them1 and seem to measure their own sense of well-being1 not by what they do1 but by the degree of reaction they can cause4 ,it is vain to get rid of them by not minding them3 if purring and humming is not noticed1 they squeal and screech2 then if you chide and console them1 they find the experiment succeeds1 and they begin again4 ,the child will sit in your arms contented1 provided you do nothing4 ,if you take a book and read1 he commences hostile operations4 ,the planter is the spoiled child of his unnatural habits1 and has contracted in his indolent and luxurious climate the need of excitement by irritating and tormenting his slave4 ,sir ,lionel ,smith defended the poor negro girls1 prey to the licentiousness of the planters2 they shall not be whipped with tamarind rods if they do not comply with their master's will2 he defended the negro women2 they should not be made to dig the cane-holes 7which is the very hardest of the field work72 he defended the ,baptist preachers and the stipendiary magistrates1 who are the negroes' friends1 from the power of the planter4 ,the power of the planters1 however1 to oppress1 was greater than the power of the apprentice and of his guardians to withstand4 ,lord ,brougham and ,mr4 ,buxton declared that the planter had not fulfilled his part in the contract1 whilst the apprentices had fulfilled theirs2 and demanded that the emancipation should be hastened1 and the apprenticeship abolished4 ,parliament was compelled to pass additional laws for the defence and security of the negro1 and in ill humor at these acts1 the great island of ,jamaica1 with a population of half a million1 and #cjj1jjj negroes1 early in #ahch1 resolved to throw up the two remaining years of apprenticeship1 and to emancipate absolutely on the #ast ,august1 #ahch4 ,in ,british ,guiana1 in ,dominica1 the same resolution had been earlier taken with more good will2 and the other islands fell into the measure2 so that on the #ast ,august1 #ahch1 the shackles dropped from every ,british slave4 ,the accounts which we have from all parties1 both from the planters 7and those too who were originally most opposed to the measure71 and from the new freemen1 are of the most satisfactory kind4 ,the manner in which the new festival was celebrated1 brings tears to the eyes4 ,the ,first of ,august1 #ahch1 was observed in ,jamaica as a day of thanksgiving and prayer4 ,sir ,lionel ,smith1 the governor1 writes to the ,british ,ministry1 8,it is impossible for me to do justice to the good order1 decorum and gratitude which the whole laboring population manifested on that happy occasion4 ,though joy beamed on every countenance1 it was throughout tempered with solemn thankfulness to ,god1 and the churches and chapels were everywhere filled with these happy people in humble offering of praise40 ,the ,queen1 in her speech to the ,lords and ,commons1 praised the conduct of the emancipated population3#aaj and in #ahdj ,sir ,charles ,metcalfe1 the new governor of ,jamaica1 in his address to the ,assembly expressed himself to that late exasperated body in these terms3 8,all those who are acquainted with the state of the island know that our emancipated population are as free1 as independent in their conduct1 as well conditioned1 as much in the enjoyment of abundance1 and as strongly sensible of the blessings of liberty1 as any that we know of in any country4 ,all disqualifications and distinctions of color have ceased2 men of all colors have equal rights in law1 and an equal footing in society1 and every man's position is settled by the same circumstances which regulate that point in other free countries1 where no difference of color exists4 ,it may be asserted1 without fear of denial1 that the former slaves of ,jamaica are now as secure in all social rights1 as freeborn ,britons40 ,he further describes the erection of numerous churches1 chapels and schools which the new population required1 and adds that more are still demanded4 ,the legislature1 in their reply1 echo the governor's statement1 and say1 8,the peaceful demeanor of the emancipated population redounds to their own credit1 and affords a proof of their continued comfort and prosperity40 ,i said1 this event is signal in the history of civilization4 ,there are many styles of civilization1 and not one only4 ,ours is full of barbarities4 ,there are many faculties in man1 each of which takes its turn of activity1 and that faculty which is paramount in any period and exerts itself through the strongest nation1 determines the civility of that age3 and each age thinks its own the perfection of reason4 ,our culture is very cheap and intelligible4 ,unroof any house1 and you shall find it4 ,the well-being consists in having a sufficiency of coffee and toast1 with a daily newspaper2 a well glazed parlor1 with marbles1 mirrors and centre-table2 and the excitement of a few parties and a few rides in a year4 ,such as one house1 such are all4 ,the owner of a ,new ,york manor imitates the mansion and equipage of the ,london nobleman2 the ,boston merchant rivals his brother of ,new ,york2 and the villages copy ,boston4 ,there have been nations elevated by great sentiments4 ,such was the civility of ,sparta and the ,dorian race1 whilst it was defective in some of the chief elements of ours4 ,that of ,athens1 again1 lay in an intellect dedicated to beauty4 ,that of ,asia ,minor in poetry1 music and arts2 that of ,palestine in piety2 that of ,rome in military arts and virtues1 exalted by a prodigious magnanimity2 that of ,china and ,japan in the last exaggeration of decorum and etiquette4 ,our civility1 ,england determines the style of1 inasmuch as ,england is the strongest of the family of existing nations1 and as we are the expansion of that people4 ,it is that of a trading nation2 it is a shopkeeping civility4 ,the ,english lord is a retired shopkeeper1 and has the prejudices and timidities of that profession4 ,and we are shopkeepers1 and have acquired the vices and virtues that belong to trade4 ,we peddle1 we truck1 we sail1 we row1 we ride in cars1 we creep in teams1 we go in canals1--to market1 and for the sale of goods4 ,the national aim and employment streams into our ways of thinking1 our laws1 our habits and our manners4 ,the customer is the immediate jewel of our souls4 ,him we flatter1 him we feast1 compliment1 vote for1 and will not contradict4 ,it was1 or it seemed the dictate of trade1 to keep the negro down4 ,we had found a race who were less warlike1 and less energetic shopkeepers than we2 who had very little skill in trade4 ,we found it very convenient to keep them at work1 since1 by the aid of a little whipping1 we could get their work for nothing but their board and the cost of whips4 ,what if it cost a few unpleasant scenes on the coast of ,africa8 ,that was a great way off2 and the scenes could be endured by some sturdy1 unscrupulous fellows1 who could go1 for high wages1 and bring us the men1 and need not trouble our ears with the disagreeable particulars4 ,if any mention was made of homicide1 madness1 adultery1 and intolerable tortures1 we would let the church-bells ring louder1 the church-organ swell its peal and drown the hideous sound4 ,the sugar they raised was excellent3 nobody tasted blood in it4 ,the coffee was fragrant2 the tobacco was incense2 the brandy made nations happy2 the cotton clothed the world4 ,what6 all raised by these men1 and no wages8 ,excellent6 ,what a convenience6 ,they seemed created by ,providence to bear the heat and the whipping1 and make these fine articles4 ,but unhappily1 most unhappily1 gentlemen1 man is born with intellect1 as well as with a love of sugar2 and with a sense of justice1 as well as a taste for strong drink4 ,these ripened1 as well as those4 ,you could not educate him1 you could not get any poetry1 any wisdom1 any beauty in woman1 any strong and commanding character in man1 but these absurdities would still come flashing out1--these absurdities of a demand for justice1 a generosity for the weak and oppressed4 ,unhappily1 too1 for the planter1 the laws of nature are in harmony with each other3 that which the head and the heart demand is found to be1 in the long run1 for what the grossest calculator calls his advantage4 ,the moral sense is always supported by the permanent interest of the parties4 ,else1 ,i know not how1 in our world1 any good would ever get done4#aaa ,it was shown to the planters that they1 as well as the negroes1 were slaves2 that though they paid no wages1 they got very poor work2 that their estates were ruining them1 under the finest climate2 and that they needed the severest monopoly laws at home to keep them from bankruptcy4 ,the oppression of the slave recoiled on them4 ,they were full of vices2 their children were lumps of pride1 sloth1 sensuality and rottenness4 ,the position of woman was nearly as bad as it could be2 and1 like other robbers1 they could not sleep in security4 ,many planters have said1 since the emancipation1 that1 before that day1 they were the greatest slaves on the estates4 ,slavery is no scholar1 no improver2 it does not love the whistle of the railroad2 it does not love the newspaper1 the mail-bag1 a college1 a book or a preacher who has the absurd whim of saying what he thinks2 it does not increase the white population2 it does not improve the soil2 everything goes to decay4 ,for these reasons the islands proved bad customers to ,england4 ,it was very easy for manufacturers less shrewd than those of ,birmingham and ,manchester to see that if the state of things in the islands was altered1 if the slaves had wages1 the slaves would be clothed1 would build houses1 would fill them with tools1 with pottery1 with crockery1 with hardware2 and negro women love fine clothes as well as white women4 ,in every naked negro of those thousands1 they saw a future customer4 ,meantime1 they saw further that the slave-trade1 by keeping in barbarism the whole coast of eastern ,africa1 deprives them of countries and nations of customers1 if once freedom and civility and ,european manners could get a foothold there4 ,but the trade could not be abolished whilst this hungry ,west ,indian market1 with an appetite like the grave1 cried1 #8,more1 more1 bring me a hundred a day2' they could not expect any mitigation in the madness of the poor ,african war-chiefs4 ,these considerations opened the eyes of the dullest in ,britain4 ,more than this1 the ,west ,indian estate was owned or mortgaged in ,england1 and the owner and the mortgagee had very plain intimations that the feeling of ,english liberty was gaining every hour new mass and velocity1 and the hostility to such as resisted it would be fatal4 ,the ,house of ,commons would destroy the protection of island produce1 and interfere in ,english politics in the island legislation3 so they hastened to make the best of their position1 and accepted the bill4 ,these considerations1 ,i doubt not1 had their weight2 the interest of trade1 the interest of the revenue1 and1 moreover1 the good fame of the action4 ,it was inevitable that men should feel these motives4 ,but they do not appear to have had an excessive or unreasonable weight4 ,on reviewing this history1 ,i think the whole transaction reflects infinite honor on the people and parliament of ,england4 ,it was a stately spectacle1 to see the cause of human rights argued with so much patience and generosity and with such a mass of evidence before that powerful people4 ,it is a creditable incident in the history that when1 in #aghi1 the first privy council report of evidence on the trade 7a bulky folio embodying all the facts which the ,london ,committee had been engaged for years in collecting1 and all the examinations before the council7 was presented to the ,house of ,commons1 a late day being named for the discussion1 in order to give members time1--,mr4 ,wilberforce1 ,mr4 ,pitt1 the ,prime ,minister1 and other gentlemen1 took advantage of the postponement to retire into the country to read the report4 ,for months and years the bill was debated1 with some consciousness of the extent of its relations1 by the first citizens of ,england1 the foremost men of the earth2 every argument was weighed1 every particle of evidence was sifted and laid in the scale2 and1 at last1 the right triumphed1 the poor man was vindicated1 and the oppressor was flung out4 ,i know that ,england has the advantage of trying the question at a wide distance from the spot where the nuisance exists2 the planters are not1 excepting in rare examples1 members of the legislature4 ,the extent of the empire1 and the magnitude and number of other questions crowding into court1 keep this one in balance1 and prevent it from obtaining that ascendency1 and being urged with that intemperance which a question of property tends to acquire4 ,there are causes in the composition of the ,british legislature1 and the relation of its leaders to the country and to ,europe1 which exclude much that is pitiful and injurious in other legislative assemblies4 ,from these reasons1 the question was discussed with a rare independence and magnanimity4 ,it was not narrowed down to a paltry electioneering trap2 and1 ,i must say1 a delight in justice1 an honest tenderness for the poor negro1 for man suffering these wrongs1 combined with the national pride1 which refused to give the support of ,english soil or the protection of the ,english flag to these disgusting violations of nature4 ,forgive me1 fellow citizens1 if ,i own to you1 that in the last few days that my attention has been occupied with this history1 ,i have not been able to read a page of it without the most painful comparisons4 ,whilst ,i have read of ,england1 ,i have thought of ,new ,england4 ,whilst ,i have meditated in my solitary walks on the magnanimity of the ,english ,bench and ,senate1 reaching out the benefit of the law to the most helpless citizen in her world-wide realm1 ,i have found myself oppressed by other thoughts4 ,as ,i have walked in the pastures and along the edge of woods1 ,i could not keep my imagination on those agreeable figures1 for other images that intruded on me4 ,i could not see the great vision of the patriots and senators who have adopted the slave's cause3--they turned their backs on me4 ,no3 ,i see other pictures1--of mean men2 ,i see very poor1 very ill-clothed1 very ignorant men1 not surrounded by happy friends1--to be plain1--poor black men of obscure employment as mariners1 cooks or stewards1 in ships1 yet citizens of this our ,commonwealth of ,massachusetts1--freeborn as we1--whom the slave-laws of the ,states of ,south ,carolina1 ,georgia and ,louisiana have arrested in the vessels in which they visited those ports1 and shut up in jails so long as the vessel remained in port1 with the stringent addition1 that if the shipmaster fails to pay the costs of this official arrest and the board in jail1 these citizens are to be sold for slaves1 to pay that expense4 ,this man1 these men1 ,i see1 and no law to save them4 ,fellow citizens1 this crime will not be hushed up any longer4 ,i have learned that a citizen of ,nantucket1 walking in ,new ,orleans1 found a freeborn citizen of ,nantucket1 a man1 too1 of great personal worth1 and1 as it happened1 very dear to him1 as having saved his own life1 working chained in the streets of that city1 kidnapped by such a process as this4 ,in the sleep of the laws1 the private interference of two excellent citizens of ,boston has1 ,i have ascertained1 rescued several natives of this ,state from these ,southern prisons4 ,gentlemen1 ,i thought the deck of a ,massachusetts ship was as much the territory of ,massachusetts as the floor on which we stand4 ,it should be as sacred as the temple of ,god4 ,the poorest fishing-smack that floats under the shadow of an iceberg in the ,northern seas1 or hunts whale in the ,southern ocean1 should be encompassed by her laws with comfort and protection1 as much as within the arms of ,cape ,ann or ,cape ,cod4 ,and this kidnapping is suffered within our own land and federation1 whilst the fourth article of the ,constitution of the ,united ,states ordains in terms1 that1 8,the citizens of each ,state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several ,states40 ,if such a damnable outrage can be committed on the person of a citizen with impunity1 let the ,governor break the broad seal of the ,state2 he bears the sword in vain4#aab ,the ,governor of ,massachusetts is a trifler2 the ,state-,house in ,boston is a play-house2 the ,general ,court is a dishonored body1 if they make laws which they cannot execute4 ,the great-hearted ,puritans have left no posterity4 ,the rich men may walk in ,state ,street1 but they walk without honor2 and the farmers may brag their democracy in the country1 but they are disgraced men4 ,if the ,state has no power to defend its own people in its own shipping1 because it has delegated that power to the ,federal ,government1 has it no representation in the ,federal ,government8#aac ,are those men dumb8 ,i am no lawyer1 and cannot indicate the forms applicable to the case1 but here is something which transcends all forms4 ,let the senators and representatives of the ,state1 containing a population of a million freemen1 go in a body before the ,congress and say that they have a demand to make on them1 so imperative that all functions of government must stop until it is satisfied4 ,if ordinary legislation cannot reach it1 then extraordinary must be applied4 ,the ,congress should instruct the ,president to send to those ports of ,charleston1 ,savannah and ,new ,orleans such orders and such force as should release1 forthwith1 all such citizens of ,massachusetts as were holden in prison without the allegation of any crime1 and should set on foot the strictest inquisition to discover where such persons1 brought into slavery by these local laws at any time heretofore1 may now be4 ,that first2 and then1 let order be taken to indemnify all such as have been incarcerated4 ,as for dangers to the ,union1 from such demands6--the ,union already is at an end when the first citizen of ,massachusetts is thus outraged4 ,is it an union and covenant in which the ,state of ,massachusetts agrees to be imprisoned1 and the ,state of ,carolina to imprison8#aad ,gentlemen1 ,i am loath to say harsh things1 and perhaps ,i know too little of politics for the smallest weight to attach to any censure of mine1--but ,i am at a loss how to characterize the tameness and silence of the two senators and the ten representatives of the ,state at ,washington4 ,to what purpose have we clothed each of those representatives with the power of seventy thousand persons1 and each senator with near half a million1 if they are to sit dumb at their desks and see their constituents captured and sold2--perhaps to gentlemen sitting by them in the hall8 ,there is a scandalous rumor that has been swelling louder of late years1--perhaps wholly false1--that members are bullied into silence by ,southern gentlemen4 ,it is so easy to omit to speak1 or even to be absent when delicate things are to be handled4 ,i may as well say1 what all men feel1 that whilst our very amiable and very innocent representatives and senators at ,washington are accomplished lawyers and merchants1 and very eloquent at dinners and at caucuses1 there is a disastrous want of men from ,new ,england4 ,i would gladly make exceptions1 and you will not suffer me to forget one eloquent old man1 in whose veins the blood of ,massachusetts rolls1 and who singly has defended the freedom of speech1 and the rights of the free1 against the usurpation of the slave-holder4#aae ,but the reader of ,congressional debates1 in ,new ,england1 is perplexed to see with what admirable sweetness and patience the majority of the free ,states are schooled and ridden by the minority of slave-holders4 ,what if we should send thither representatives who were a particle less amiable and less innocent8 ,i entreat you1 sirs1 let not this stain attach1 let not this misery accumulate any longer4 ,if the managers of our political parties are too prudent and too cold2--if1 most unhappily1 the ambitious class of young men and political men have found out that these neglected victims are poor and without weight2 that they have no graceful hospitalities to offer2 no valuable business to throw into any man's hands1 no strong vote to cast at the elections2 and therefore may with impunity be left in their chains or to the chance of chains1--then let the citizens in their primary capacity take up their cause on this very ground1 and say to the government of the ,state1 and of the ,union1 that government exists to defend the weak and the poor and the injured party2 the rich and the strong can better take care of themselves4 ,and as an omen and assurance of success1 ,i point you to the bright example which ,england set you1 on this day1 ten years ago4 ,there are other comparisons and other imperative duties which come sadly to mind1--but ,i do not wish to darken the hours of this day by crimination2 ,i turn gladly to the rightful theme1 to the bright aspects of the occasion4 ,this event was a moral revolution4 ,the history of it is before you4 ,here was no prodigy1 no fabulous hero1 no ,trojan horse1 no bloody war1 but all was achieved by plain means of plain men1 working not under a leader1 but under a sentiment4 ,other revolutions have been the insurrection of the oppressed2 this was the repentance of the tyrant4 ,it was the masters revolting from their mastery4 ,the slave-holder said1 #8,i will not hold slaves4' ,the end was noble and the means were pure4 ,hence the elevation and pathos of this chapter of history4 ,the lives of the advocates are pages of greatness1 and the connection of the eminent senators with this question constitutes the immortalizing moments of those men's lives4 ,the bare enunciation of the theses at which the lawyers and legislators arrived1 gives a glow to the heart of the reader4 ,lord ,chancellor ,northington is the author of the famous sentence1 8,as soon as any man puts his foot on ,english ground1 he becomes free40 8,i was a slave10 said the counsel of ,somerset1 speaking for his client1 8for ,i was in ,america3 ,i am now in a country where the common rights of mankind are known and regarded40 ,granville ,sharpe filled the ear of the judges with the sound principles that had from time to time been affirmed by the legal authorities3 8,derived power cannot be superior to the power from which it is derived30 8,the reasonableness of the law is the soul of the law30 8,it is better to suffer every evil1 than to consent to any40 ,out it would come1 the ,god's truth1 out it came1 like a bolt from a cloud1 for all the mumbling of the lawyers4 ,one feels very sensibly in all this history that a great heart and soul are behind there1 superior to any man1 and making use of each1 in turn1 and infinitely attractive to every person according to the degree of reason in his own mind1 so that this cause has had the power to draw to it every particle of talent and of worth in ,england1 from the beginning4 ,all the great geniuses of the ,british senate1 ,fox1 ,pitt1 ,burke1 ,grenville1 ,sheridan1 ,grey1 ,canning1 ranged themselves on its side2 the poet ,cowper wrote for it3 ,franklin1 ,jefferson1 ,washington1 in this country1 all recorded their votes4 ,all men remember the subtlety and the fire of indignation which the 8,edinburgh ,review0 contributed to the cause2 and every liberal mind1 poet1 preacher1 moralist1 statesman1 has had the fortune to appear somewhere for this cause4 ,on the other part1 appeared the reign of pounds and shillings1 and all manner of rage and stupidity2 a resistance which drew from ,mr4 ,huddlestone in ,parliament the observation1 8,that a curse attended this trade even in the mode of defending it4 ,by a certain fatality1 none but the vilest arguments were brought forward1 which corrupted the very persons who used them4 ,every one of these was built on the narrow ground of interest1 of pecuniary profit1 of sordid gain1 in opposition to every motive that had reference to humanity1 justice1 and religion1 or to that great principle which comprehended them all40 ,this moral force perpetually reinforces and dignifies the friends of this cause4 ,it gave that tenacity to their point which has insured ultimate triumph2 and it gave that superiority in reason1 in imagery1 in eloquence1 which makes in all countries anti-slavery meetings so attractive to the people1 and has made it a proverb in ,massachusetts1 that 8eloquence is dog-cheap at the anti-slavery chapel40 ,i will say further that we are indebted mainly to this movement and to the continuers of it1 for the popular discussion of every point of practical ethics1 and a reference of every question to the absolute standard4 ,it is notorious that the political1 religious and social schemes1 with which the minds of men are now most occupied1 have been matured1 or at least broached1 in the free and daring discussions of these assemblies4 ,men have become aware1 through the emancipation and kindred events1 of the presence of powers which1 in their days of darkness1 they had overlooked4 ,virtuous men will not again rely on political agents4 ,they have found out the deleterious effect of political association4 ,up to this day we have allowed to statesmen a paramount social standing1 and we bow low to them as to the great4 ,we cannot extend this deference to them any longer4 ,the secret cannot be kept1 that the seats of power are filled by underlings1 ignorant1 timid and selfish to a degree to destroy all claim1 excepting that on compassion1 to the society of the just and generous4 ,what happened notoriously to an ,american ambassador in ,england1 that he found himself compelled to palter and to disguise the fact that he was a slave-breeder1 happens to men of state4 ,their vocation is a presumption against them among well-meaning people4 ,the superstition respecting power and office is going to the ground4 ,the stream of human affairs flows its own way1 and is very little affected by the activity of legislators4 ,what great masses of men wish done1 will be done2 and they do not wish it for a freak1 but because it is their state and natural end4 ,there are now other energies than force1 other than political1 which no man in future can allow himself to disregard4 ,there is direct conversation and influence4 ,a man is to make himself felt by his proper force4 ,the tendency of things runs steadily to this point1 namely1 to put every man on his merits1 and to give him so much power as he naturally exerts1--no more1 no less4 ,of course1 the timid and base persons1 all who are conscious of no worth in themselves1 and who owe all their place to the opportunities which the older order of things allowed them1 to deceive and defraud men1 shudder at the change1 and would fain silence every honest voice1 and lock up every house where liberty and innovation can be pleaded for4 ,they would raise mobs1 for fear is very cruel4 ,but the strong and healthy yeomen and husbands of the land1 the self-sustaining class of inventive and industrious men1 fear no competition or superiority4 ,come what will1 their faculty cannot be spared4 ,the ,first of ,august marks the entrance of a new element into modern politics1 namely1 the civilization of the negro4 ,a man is added to the human family4 ,not the least affecting part of this history of abolition is the annihilation of the old indecent nonsense about the nature of the negro4 ,in the case of the ship ,zong1 in #agha1 whose master had thrown one hundred and thirty-two slaves alive into the sea1 to cheat the underwriters1 the first jury gave a verdict in favor of the master and owners3 they had a right to do what they had done4 ,lord ,mansfield is reported to have said on the bench1 8,the matter left to the jury is1--,was it from necessity8 ,for they had no doubt--though it shocks one very much--that the case of slaves was the same as if horses had been thrown overboard4 ,it is a very shocking case40 ,but a more enlightened and humane opinion began to prevail4 ,mr4 ,clarkson1 early in his career1 made a collection of ,african productions and manufactures1 as specimens of the arts and culture of the negro2 comprising cloths and loom1 weapons1 polished stones and woods1 leather1 glass1 dyes1 ornaments1 soap1 pipe-bowls and trinkets4 ,these he showed to ,mr4 ,pitt1 who saw and handled them with extreme interest4 8,on sight of these10 says ,clarkson1 8many sublime thoughts seemed to rush at once into his mind1 some of which he expressed20 and hence appeared to arise a project which was always dear to him1 of the civilization of ,africa1--a dream which forever elevates his fame4 ,in #agia1 ,mr4 ,wilberforce announced to the ,house of ,commons1 8,we have already gained one victory3 we have obtained for these poor creatures the recognition of their human nature1 which for a time was most shamefully denied them40 ,it was the sarcasm of ,montesquieu1 8it would not do to suppose that negroes were men1 lest it should turn out that whites were not20 for the white has1 for ages1 done what he could to keep the negro in that hoggish state4 ,his laws have been furies4 ,it now appears that the negro race is1 more than any other1 susceptible of rapid civilization4 ,the emancipation is observed1 in the islands1 to have wrought for the negro a benefit as sudden as when a thermometer is brought out of the shade into the sun4 ,it has given him eyes and ears4 ,if1 before1 he was taxed with such stupidity1 or such defective vision1 that he could not set a table square to the walls of an apartment1 he is now the principal if not the only mechanic in the ,west ,indies2 and is1 besides1 an architect1 a physician1 a lawyer1 a magistrate1 an editor1 and a valued and increasing political power4 ,the recent testimonies of ,sturge1 of ,thome and ,kimball1 of ,gurney1 of ,philippo1 are very explicit on this point1 the capacity and the success of the colored and the black population in employments of skill1 of profit and of trust2 and best of all is the testimony to their moderation4 ,they receive hints and advances from the whites that they will be gladly received as subscribers to the ,exchange1 as members of this or that committee of trust4 ,they hold back1 and say to each other that 8social position is not to be gained by pushing40 ,i have said that this event interests us because it came mainly from the concession of the whites2 ,i add1 that in part it is the earning of the blacks4 ,they won the pity and respect which they have received1 by their powers and native endowments4 ,i think this a circumstance of the highest import4 ,their whole future is in it4 ,our planet1 before the age of written history1 had its races of savages1 like the generations of sour paste1 or the animalcules that wiggle and bite in a drop of putrid water4 ,who cares for these or for their wars8 ,we do not wish a world of bugs or of birds2 neither afterward of ,scythians1 ,caraibs or ,feejees4 ,the grand style of ,nature1 her great periods1 is all we observe in them4 ,who cares for oppressing whites1 or oppressed blacks1 twenty centuries ago1 more than for bad dreams8 ,eaters and food are in the harmony of ,nature2 and there too is the germ forever protected1 unfolding gigantic leaf after leaf1 a newer flower1 a richer fruit1 in every period1 yet its next product is never to be guessed4 ,it will only save what is worth saving2 and it saves not by compassion1 but by power4 ,it appoints no police to guard the lion but his teeth and claws2 no fort or city for the bird but his wings2 no rescue for flies and mites but their spawning numbers1 which no ravages can overcome4 ,it deals with men after the same manner4 ,if they are rude and foolish1 down they must go4 ,when at last in a race a new principle appears1 an idea1--that conserves it2 ideas only save races4 ,if the black man is feeble and not important to the existing races1 not on a parity with the best race1 the black man must serve1 and be exterminated4#aaf ,but if the black man carries in his bosom an indispensable element of a new and coming civilization2 for the sake of that element1 no wrong nor strength nor circumstance can hurt him3 he will survive and play his part4 ,so now1 the arrival in the world of such men as ,toussaint1 and the ,haytian heroes1 or of the leaders of their race in ,barbadoes and ,jamaica1 outweighs in good omen all the ,english and ,american humanity4 ,the anti-slavery of the whole world is dust in the balance before this1--is a poor squeamishness and nervousness3 the might and the right are here3 here is the anti-slave3 here is man3 and if you have man1 black or white is an insignificance4 ,the intellect1--that is miraculous6 ,who has it1 has the talisman3 his skin and bones1 though they were of the color of night1 are transparent1 and the everlasting stars shine through1 with attractive beams4 ,but a compassion for that which is not and cannot be useful or lovely1 is degrading and futile4 ,all the songs and newspapers and money subscriptions and vituperation of such as do not think with us1 will avail nothing against a fact4 ,i say to you1 you must save yourself1 black or white1 man or woman2 other help is none4 ,i esteem the occasion of this jubilee to be the proud discovery that the black race can contend with the white3 that in the great anthem which we call history1 a piece of many parts and vast compass1 after playing a long time a very low and subdued accompaniment1 they perceive the time arrived when they can strike in with effect and take a master's part in the music4 ,the civility of the world has reached that pitch that their more moral genius is becoming indispensable1 and the quality of this race is to be honored for itself4 ,for this1 they have been preserved in sandy deserts1 in rice-swamps1 in kitchens and shoe-shops1 so long3 now let them emerge1 clothed and in their own form4 ,there remains the very elevated consideration which the subject opens1 but which belongs to more abstract views than we are now taking1 this1 namely1 that the civility of no race can be perfect whilst another race is degraded4 ,it is a doctrine alike of the oldest and of the newest philosophy1 that man is one1 and that you cannot injure any member1 without a sympathetic injury to all the members4 ,america is not civil1 whilst ,africa is barbarous4#aag ,these considerations seem to leave no choice for the action of the intellect and the conscience of the country4 ,there have been moments in this1 as well as in every piece of moral history1 when there seemed room for the infusions of a skeptical philosophy2 when it seemed doubtful whether brute force would not triumph in the eternal struggle4 ,i doubt not that1 sometimes1 a despairing negro1 when jumping over the ship's sides to escape from the white devils who surrounded him1 has believed there was no vindication of right2 it is horrible to think of1 but it seemed so4 ,i doubt not that sometimes the negro's friend1 in the face of scornful and brutal hundreds of traders and drivers1 has felt his heart sink4 ,especially1 it seems to me1 some degree of despondency is pardonable1 when he observes the men of conscience and of intellect1 his own natural allies and champions1--those whose attention should be nailed to the grand objects of this cause1 so hotly offended by whatever incidental petulances or infirmities of indiscreet defenders of the negro1 as to permit themselves to be ranged with the enemies of the human race2 and names which should be the alarums of liberty and the watchwords of truth1 are mixed up with all the rotten rabble of selfishness and tyranny4#aah ,i assure myself that this coldness and blindness will pass away4 ,a single noble wind of sentiment will scatter them forever4 ,i am sure that the good and wise elders1 the ardent and generous youth1 will not permit what is incidental and exceptional to withdraw their devotion from the essential and permanent characters of the question4 ,there have been moments1 ,i said1 when men might be forgiven who doubted4 ,those moments are past4 ,seen in masses1 it cannot be disputed1 there is progress in human society4 ,there is a blessed necessity by which the interest of men is always driving them to the right2 and1 again1 making all crime mean and ugly4 ,the genius of the ,saxon race1 friendly to liberty2 the enterprise1 the very muscular vigor of this nation1 are inconsistent with slavery4 ,the ,intellect1 with blazing eye1 looking through history from the beginning onward1 gazes on this blot and it disappears4 ,the sentiment of ,right1 once very low and indistinct1 but ever more articulate1 because it is the voice of the universe1 pronounces ,freedom4 ,the ,power that built this fabric of things affirms it in the heart2 and in the history of the ,first of ,august1 has made a sign to the ages1 of his will4 ,v ,,war ,the archangel ,hope ,looks to the azure cope1 ,waits through dark ages for the morn1 ,defeated day by day1 but unto ,victory born4 ,,war ,it has been a favorite study of modern philosophy to indicate the steps of human progress1 to watch the rising of a thought in one man's mind1 the communication of it to a few1 to a small minority1 its expansion and general reception1 until it publishes itself to the world by destroying the existing laws and institutions1 and the generation of new4 ,looked at in this general and historical way1 many things wear a very different face from that they show near by1 and one at a time1--and1 particularly1 war4 ,war1 which to sane men at the present day begins to look like an epidemic insanity1 breaking out here and there like the cholera or influenza1 infecting men's brains instead of their bowels1--when seen in the remote past1 in the infancy of society1 appears a part of the connection of events1 and1 in its place1 necessary4 ,as far as history has preserved to us the slow unfoldings of any savage tribe1 it is not easy to see how war could be avoided by such wild1 passionate1 needy1 ungoverned1 strong-bodied creatures4 ,for in the infancy of society1 when a thin population and improvidence make the supply of food and of shelter insufficient and very precarious1 and when hunger1 thirst1 ague and frozen limbs universally take precedence of the wants of the mind and the heart1 the necessities of the strong will certainly be satisfied at the cost of the weak1 at whatever peril of future revenge4 ,it is plain1 too1 that in the first dawnings of the religious sentiment1 that blends itself with their passions and is oil to the fire4 ,not only every tribe has war-gods1 religious festivals in victory1 but religious wars4 ,the student of history acquiesces the more readily in this copious bloodshed of the early annals1 bloodshed in ,god's name too1 when he learns that it is a temporary and preparatory state1 and does actively forward the culture of man4 ,war educates the senses1 calls into action the will1 perfects the physical constitution1 brings men into such swift and close collision in critical moments that man measures man4 ,on its own scale1 on the virtues it loves1 it endures no counterfeit1 but shakes the whole society until every atom falls into the place its specific gravity assigns it4#aai ,it presently finds the value of good sense and of foresight1 and ,ulysses takes rank next to ,achilles4 ,the leaders1 picked men of a courage and vigor tried and augmented in fifty battles1 are emulous to distinguish themselves above each other by new merits1 as clemency1 hospitality1 splendor of living4 ,the people imitate the chiefs4 ,the strong tribe1 in which war has become an art1 attack and conquer their neighbors1 and teach them their arts and virtues4 ,new territory1 augmented numbers and extended interests call out new virtues and abilities1 and the tribe makes long strides4 ,and1 finally1 when much progress has been made1 all its secrets of wisdom and art are disseminated by its invasions4 ,plutarch1 in his essay ,on the ,fortune of ,alexander1 considers the invasion and conquest of the ,east by ,alexander as one of the most bright and pleasing pages in history2 and it must be owned he gives sound reason for his opinion4 ,it had the effect of uniting into one great interest the divided commonwealths of ,greece1 and infusing a new and more enlarged public spirit into the councils of their statesmen4 ,it carried the arts and language and philosophy of the ,greeks into the sluggish and barbarous nations of ,persia1 ,assyria and ,india4 ,it introduced the arts of husbandry among tribes of hunters and shepherds4 ,it weaned the ,scythians and ,persians from some cruel and licentious practices to a more civil way of life4 ,it introduced the sacredness of marriage among them4 ,it built seventy cities1 and sowed the ,greek customs and humane laws over ,asia1 and united hostile nations under one code4 ,it brought different families of the human race together1--to blows at first1 but afterwards to truce1 to trade and to intermarriage4 ,it would be very easy to show analogous benefits that have resulted from military movements of later ages4 ,considerations of this kind lead us to a true view of the nature and office of war4 ,we see it is the subject of all history2 that it has been the principal employment of the most conspicuous men2 that it is at this moment the delight of half the world1 of almost all young and ignorant persons2 that it is exhibited to us continually in the dumb show of brute nature1 where war between tribes1 and between individuals of the same tribe1 perpetually rages4 ,the microscope reveals miniature butchery in atomies and infinitely small biters that swim and fight in an illuminated drop of water2 and the little globe is but a too faithful miniature of the large4 ,what does all this war1 beginning from the lowest races and reaching up to man1 signify8 ,is it not manifest that it covers a great and beneficent principle1 which ,nature had deeply at heart8 ,what is that principle8--,it is self-help4 ,nature implants with life the instinct of self-help1 perpetual struggle to be1 to resist opposition1 to attain to freedom1 to attain to a mastery and the security of a permanent1 self-defended being2 and to each creature these objects are made so dear that it risks its life continually in the struggle for these ends4 ,but whilst this principle1 necessarily1 is inwrought into the fabric of every creature1 yet it is but one instinct2 and though a primary one1 or we may say the very first1 yet the appearance of the other instincts immediately modifies and controls this2 turns its energies into harmless1 useful and high courses1 showing thereby what was its ultimate design2 and1 finally1 takes out its fangs4 ,the instinct of self-help is very early unfolded in the coarse and merely brute form of war1 only in the childhood and imbecility of the other instincts1 and remains in that form only until their development4 ,it is the ignorant and childish part of mankind that is the fighting part4 ,idle and vacant minds want excitement1 as all boys kill cats4 ,bull-baiting1 cockpits and the boxer's ring are the enjoyment of the part of society whose animal nature alone has been developed4 ,in some parts of this country1 where the intellectual and moral faculties have as yet scarcely any culture1 the absorbing topic of all conversation is whipping2 who fought1 and which whipped8 ,of man1 boy or beast1 the only trait that much interests the speakers is the pugnacity4#abj ,and why8 ,because the speaker has as yet no other image of manly activity and virtue1 none of endurance1 none of perseverance1 none of charity1 none of the attainment of truth4 ,put him into a circle of cultivated men1 where the conversation broaches the great questions that besiege the human reason1 and he would be dumb and unhappy1 as an ,indian in church4 ,to men of a sedate and mature spirit1 in whom is any knowledge or mental activity1 the detail of battle becomes insupportably tedious and revolting4 ,it is like the talk of one of those monomaniacs whom we sometimes meet in society1 who converse on horses2 and ,fontenelle expressed a volume of meaning when he said1 8,i hate war1 for it spoils conversation40 ,nothing is plainer than that the sympathy with war is a juvenile and temporary state4 ,not only the moral sentiment1 but trade1 learning and whatever makes intercourse1 conspire to put it down4 ,trade1 as all men know1 is the antagonist of war4 ,wherever there is no property1 the people will put on the knapsack for bread2 but trade is instantly endangered and destroyed4 ,and1 moreover1 trade brings men to look each other in the face1 and gives the parties the knowledge that these enemies over sea or over the mountain are such men as we2 who laugh and grieve1 who love and fear1 as we do4 ,and learning and art1 and especially religion weave ties that make war look like fratricide1 as it is4 ,and as all history is the picture of war1 as we have said1 so it is no less true that it is the record of the mitigation and decline of war4 ,early in the eleventh and twelfth centuries1 the ,italian cities had grown so populous and strong that they forced the rural nobility to dismantle their castles1 which were dens of cruelty1 and come and reside in the towns4 ,the popes1 to their eternal honor1 declared religious jubilees1 during which all hostilities were suspended throughout ,christendom1 and man had a breathing space4 ,the increase of civility has abolished the use of poison and of torture1 once supposed as necessary as navies now4 ,and1 finally1 the art of war1 what with gunpowder and tactics1 has made1 as all men know1 battles less frequent and less murderous4 ,by all these means1 war has been steadily on the decline2 and we read with astonishment of the beastly fighting of the old times4 ,only in ,elizabeth's time1 out of the ,european waters1 piracy was all but universal4 ,the proverb was1--8,no peace beyond the line20 and the seaman shipped on the buccaneer's bargain1 8,no prey1 no pay40 ,the celebrated ,cavendish1 who was thought in his times a good ,christian man1 wrote thus to ,lord ,hunsdon1 on his return from a voyage round the world3 8,sept4 #aehh4 ,it hath pleased ,almighty ,god to suffer me to circumpass the whole globe of the world1 entering in at the ,strait of ,magellan1 and returning by the ,cape of ,buena ,esperana2 in which voyage1 ,i have either discovered or brought certain intelligence of all the rich places of the world1 which were ever discovered by any ,christian4 ,i navigated along the coast of ,chili1 ,peru1 and ,new ,spain1 where ,i made great spoils4 ,i burnt and sunk nineteen sail of ships1 small and great4 ,all the villages and towns that ever ,i landed at1 ,i burned and spoiled4 ,and had ,i not been discovered upon the coast1 ,i had taken great quantity of treasure4 ,the matter of most profit to me was a great ship of the king's1 which ,i took at ,california10 etc4 ,and the good ,cavendish piously begins this statement1--8,it hath pleased ,almighty ,god40 ,indeed1 our ,american annals have preserved the vestiges of barbarous warfare down to more recent times4 ,i read in ,williams's ,history of ,maine1 that 8,assacombuit1 the ,sagamore of the ,anagunticook tribe1 was remarkable for his turpitude and ferocity above all other known ,indians2 that1 in #agje1 ,vaudreuil sent him to ,france1 where he was introduced to the king4 ,when he appeared at court1 he lifted up his hand and said1 #8,this hand has slain a hundred and fifty of your majesty's enemies within the territories of ,new ,england4' ,this so pleased the king that he knighted him1 and ordered a pension of eight livres a day to be paid him during life40 ,this valuable person1 on his return to ,america1 took to killing his own neighbors and kindred1 with such appetite that his tribe combined against him1 and would have killed him had he not fled his country forever4 ,the scandal which we feel in such facts certainly shows that we have got on a little4 ,all history is the decline of war1 though the slow decline4 ,all that society has yet gained is mitigation3 the doctrine of the right of war still remains4 ,for ages 7for ideas work in ages1 and animate vast societies of men7 the human race has gone on under the tyranny--shall ,i so call it8--of this first brutish form of their effort to be men2 that is1 for ages they have shared so much of the nature of the lower animals1 the tiger and the shark1 and the savages of the water-drop4 ,they have nearly exhausted all the good and all the evil of this form3 they have held as fast to this degradation as their worst enemy could desire2 but all things have an end1 and so has this4#aba ,the eternal germination of the better has unfolded new powers1 new instincts1 which were really concealed under this rough and base rind4 ,the sublime question has startled one and another happy soul in different quarters of the globe1--,cannot love be1 as well as hate8 ,would not love answer the same end1 or even a better8 ,cannot peace be1 as well as war8 ,this thought is no man's invention1 neither ,st4 ,pierre's nor ,rousseau's1 but the rising of the general tide in the human soul1--and rising highest1 and first made visible1 in the most simple and pure souls1 who have therefore announced it to us beforehand2 but presently we all see it4 ,it has now become so distinct as to be a social thought3 societies can be formed on it4 ,it is expounded1 illustrated1 defined1 with different degrees of clearness2 and its actualization1 or the measures it should inspire1 predicted according to the light of each seer4 ,the idea itself is the epoch2 the fact that it has become so distinct to any small number of persons as to become a subject of prayer and hope1 of concert and discussion1--that is the commanding fact4 ,this having come1 much more will follow4 ,revolutions go not backward4 ,the star once risen1 though only one man in the hemisphere has yet seen its upper limb in the horizon1 will mount and mount1 until it becomes visible to other men1 to multitudes1 and climbs the zenith of all eyes4 ,and so it is not a great matter how long men refuse to believe the advent of peace3 war is on its last legs2 and a universal peace is as sure as is the prevalence of civilization over barbarism1 of liberal governments over feudal forms4 ,the question for us is only ,how soon8 ,that the project of peace should appear visionary to great numbers of sensible men2 should appear laughable even1 to numbers2 should appear to the grave and good-natured to be embarrassed with extreme practical difficulties1--is very natural4 #8,this is a poor1 tedious society of yours1' they say3 #8we do not see what good can come of it4 ,peace6 why1 we are all at peace now4 ,but if a foreign nation should wantonly insult or plunder our commerce1 or1 worse yet1 should land on our shores to rob and kill1 you would not have us sit1 and be robbed and killed8 ,you mistake the times2 you overestimate the virtue of men4 ,you forget that the quiet which now sleeps in cities and in farms1 which lets the wagon go unguarded and the farmhouse unbolted1 rests on the perfect understanding of all men that the musket1 the halter and the jail stand behind there1 ready to punish any disturber of it4 ,all admit that this would be the best policy1 if the world were all a church1 if all the men were the best men1 if all would agree to accept this rule4 ,but it is absurd for one nation to attempt it alone4'#abb ,in the first place1 we answer that we never make much account of objections which merely respect the actual state of the world at this moment1 but which admit the general expediency and permanent excellence of the project4 ,what is the best must be the true2 and what is true--that is1 what is at bottom fit and agreeable to the constitution of man--must at last prevail over all obstruction and all opposition4 ,there is no good now enjoyed by society that was not once as problematical and visionary as this4 ,it is the tendency of the true interest of man to become his desire and steadfast aim4 ,but1 further1 it is a lesson which all history teaches wise men1 to put trust in ideas1 and not in circumstances4 ,we have all grown up in the sight of frigates and navy-yards1 of armed forts and islands1 of arsenals and militia4 ,the reference to any foreign register will inform us of the number of thousand or million men that are now under arms in the vast colonial system of the ,british ,empire1 of ,russia1 ,austria and ,france2 and one is scared to find at what a cost the peace of the globe is kept4 ,this vast apparatus of artillery1 of fleets1 of stone bastions and trenches and embankments2 this incessant patrolling of sentinels2 this waving of national flags2 this reveille and evening gun2 this martial music and endless playing of marches and singing of military and naval songs seem to us to constitute an imposing actual1 which will not yield in centuries to the feeble1 deprecatory voices of a handful of friends of peace4 ,thus always we are daunted by the appearances2 not seeing that their whole value lies at bottom in the state of mind4 ,it is really a thought that built this portentous war-establishment1 and a thought shall also melt it away4#abc ,every nation and every man instantly surround themselves with a material apparatus which exactly corresponds to their moral state1 or their state of thought4 ,observe how every truth and every error1 each a thought of some man's mind1 clothes itself with societies1 houses1 cities1 language1 ceremonies1 newspapers4 ,observe the ideas of the present day1--orthodoxy1 skepticism1 missions1 popular education1 temperance1 anti-masonry1 anti-slavery2 see how each of these abstractions has embodied itself in an imposing apparatus in the community2 and how timber1 brick1 lime and stone have flown into convenient shape1 obedient to the master-idea reigning in the minds of many persons4#abd ,you shall hear1 some day1 of a wild fancy which some man has in his brain1 of the mischief of secret oaths4 ,come again one or two years afterwards1 and you shall see it has built great houses of solid wood and brick and mortar4 ,you shall see a hundred presses printing a million sheets2 you shall see men and horses and wheels made to walk1 run and roll for it3 this great body of matter thus executing that one man's wild thought4 ,this happens daily1 yearly about us1 with half thoughts1 often with flimsy lies1 pieces of policy and speculation4 ,with good nursing they will last three or four years before they will come to nothing4 ,but when a truth appears1--as1 for instance1 a perception in the wit of one ,columbus that there is land in the ,western ,sea2 though he alone of all men has that thought1 and they all jeer1--it will build ships2 it will build fleets2 it will carry over half ,spain and half ,england2 it will plant a colony1 a state1 nations and half a globe full of men4 ,we surround ourselves always1 according to our freedom and ability1 with true images of ourselves in things1 whether it be ships or books or cannons or churches4 ,the standing army1 the arsenal1 the camp and the gibbet do not appertain to man4 ,they only serve as an index to show where man is now2 what a bad1 ungoverned temper he has2 what an ugly neighbor he is2 how his affections halt2 how low his hope lies4 ,he who loves the bristle of bayonets only sees in their glitter what beforehand he feels in his heart4 ,it is avarice and hatred2 it is that quivering lip1 that cold1 hating eye1 which built magazines and powder-houses4 ,it follows of course that the least change in the man will change his circumstances2 the least enlargement of his ideas1 the least mitigation of his feelings in respect to other men2 if1 for example1 he could be inspired with a tender kindness to the souls of men1 and should come to feel that every man was another self with whom he might come to join1 as left hand works with right4 ,every degree of the ascendency of this feeling would cause the most striking changes of external things3 the tents would be struck2 the men-of-war would rot ashore2 the arms rust2 the cannon would become street-posts2 the pikes1 a fisher's harpoon2 the marching regiment would be a caravan of emigrants1 peaceful pioneers at the fountains of the ,wabash and the ,missouri4 ,and so it must and will be3 bayonet and sword must first retreat a little from their ostentatious prominence2 then quite hide themselves1 as the sheriff's halter does now1 inviting the attendance only of relations and friends2 and then1 lastly1 will be transferred to the museums of the curious1 as poisoning and torturing tools are at this day4 ,war and peace thus resolve themselves into a mercury of the state of cultivation4 ,at a certain stage of his progress1 the man fights1 if he be of a sound body and mind4 ,at a certain higher stage1 he makes no offensive demonstration1 but is alert to repel injury1 and of an unconquerable heart4#abe ,at a still higher stage1 he comes into the region of holiness2 passion has passed away from him2 his warlike nature is all converted into an active medicinal principle2 he sacrifices himself1 and accepts with alacrity wearisome tasks of denial and charity2 but1 being attacked1 he bears it and turns the other cheek1 as one engaged1 throughout his being1 no longer to the service of an individual but to the common soul of all men4 ,since the peace question has been before the public mind1 those who affirm its right and expediency have naturally been met with objections more or less weighty4 ,there are cases frequently put by the curious1--moral problems1 like those problems in arithmetic which in long winter evenings the rustics try the hardness of their heads in ciphering out4 ,and chiefly it is said1--,either accept this principle for better1 for worse1 carry it out to the end1 and meet its absurd consequences2 or else1 if you pretend to set an arbitrary limit1 a 8,thus far1 no farther10 then give up the principle1 and take that limit which the common sense of all mankind has set1 and which distinguishes offensive war as criminal1 defensive war as just4 ,otherwise1 if you go for no war1 then be consistent1 and give up self-defence in the highway1 in your own house4 ,will you push it thus far8 ,will you stick to your principle of non-resistance when your strong-box is broken open1 when your wife and babes are insulted and slaughtered in your sight8 ,if you say yes1 you only invite the robber and assassin2 and a few bloody-minded desperadoes would soon butcher the good4 ,in reply to this charge of absurdity on the extreme peace doctrine1 as shown in the supposed consequences1 ,i wish to say that such deductions consider only one half of the fact4 ,they look only at the passive side of the friend of peace1 only at his passivity2 they quite omit to consider his activity4 ,but no man1 it may be presumed1 ever embraced the cause of peace and philanthropy for the sole end and satisfaction of being plundered and slain4 ,a man does not come the length of the spirit of martyrdom without some active purpose1 some equal motive1 some flaming love4 ,if you have a nation of men who have risen to that height of moral cultivation that they will not declare war or carry arms1 for they have not so much madness left in their brains1 you have a nation of lovers1 of benefactors1 of true1 great and able men4 ,let me know more of that nation2 ,i shall not find them defenceless1 with idle hands swinging at their sides4 ,i shall find them men of love1 honor and truth2 men of an immense industry2 men whose influence is felt to the end of the earth2 men whose very look and voice carry the sentence of honor and shame2 and all forces yield to their energy and persuasion4 ,whenever we see the doctrine of peace embraced by a nation1 we may be assured it will not be one that invites injury2 but one1 on the contrary1 which has a friend in the bottom of the heart of every man1 even of the violent and the base2 one against which no weapon can prosper2 one which is looked upon as the asylum of the human race and has the tears and the blessings of mankind4 ,in the second place1 as far as it respects individual action in difficult and extreme cases1 ,i will say1 such cases seldom or never occur to the good and just man2 nor are we careful to say1 or even to know1 what in such crises is to be done4 ,a wise man will never impawn his future being and action1 and decide beforehand what he shall do in a given extreme event4 ,nature and ,god will instruct him in that hour4 ,the question naturally arises1 ,how is this new aspiration of the human mind to be made visible and real8 ,how is it to pass out of thoughts into things8 ,not1 certainly1 in the first place1 in the way of routine and mere forms1--the universal specific of modern politics2 not by organizing a society1 and going through a course of resolutions and public manifestoes1 and being thus formally accredited to the public and to the civility of the newspapers4 ,we have played this game to tediousness4 ,in some of our cities they choose noted duellists as presidents and officers of anti-duelling societies4 ,men who love that bloated vanity called public opinion think all is well if they have once got their bantling through a sufficient course of speeches and cheerings1 of one1 two1 or three public meetings2 as if they could do anything3 they vote and vote1 cry hurrah on both sides1 no man responsible1 no man caring a pin4 ,the next season1 an ,indian war1 or an aggression on our commerce by ,malays2 or the party this man votes with have an appropriation to carry through ,congress3 instantly he wags his head the other way1 and cries1 ,havoc and war6 ,this is not to be carried by public opinion1 but by private opinion1 by private conviction1 by private1 dear and earnest love4 ,for the only hope of this cause is in the increased insight1 and it is to be accomplished by the spontaneous teaching1 of the cultivated soul1 in its secret experience and meditation1--that it is now time that it should pass out of the state of beast into the state of man2 it is to hear the voice of ,god1 which bids the devils that have rended and torn him come out of him and let him now be clothed and walk forth in his right mind4 ,nor1 in the next place1 is the peace principle to be carried into effect by fear4 ,it can never be defended1 it can never be executed1 by cowards4 ,everything great must be done in the spirit of greatness4 ,the manhood that has been in war must be transferred to the cause of peace1 before war can lose its charm1 and peace be venerable to men4 ,the attractiveness of war shows one thing through all the throats of artillery1 the thunders of so many sieges1 the sack of towns1 the jousts of chivalry1 the shock of hosts1--this namely1 the conviction of man universally1 that a man should be himself responsible1 with goods1 health and life1 for his behavior2 that he should not ask of the state protection2 should ask nothing of the state2 should be himself a kingdom and a state2 fearing no man2 quite willing to use the opportunities and advantages that good government throw in his way1 but nothing daunted1 and not really the poorer if government1 law and order went by the board2 because in himself reside infinite resources2 because he is sure of himself1 and never needs to ask another what in any crisis it behooves him to do4#abf ,what makes to us the attractiveness of the ,greek heroes8 of the ,roman8 ,what makes the attractiveness of that romantic style of living which is the material of ten thousand plays and romances1 from ,shakspeare to ,scott2 the feudal baron1 the ,french1 the ,english nobility1 the ,warwicks1 ,plantagenets8 ,it is their absolute self-dependence4 ,i do not wonder at the dislike some of the friends of peace have expressed at ,shakspeare4 ,the veriest churl and ,jacobin cannot resist the influence of the style and manners of these haughty lords4 ,we are affected1 as boys and barbarians are1 by the appearance of a few rich and wilful gentlemen who take their honor into their own keeping1 defy the world1 so confident are they of their courage and strength1 and whose appearance is the arrival of so much life and virtue4 ,in dangerous times they are presently tried1 and therefore their name is a flourish of trumpets4 ,they1 at least1 affect us as a reality4 ,they are not shams1 but the substance of which that age and world is made4 ,they are true heroes for their time4 ,they make what is in their minds the greatest sacrifice4 ,they will1 for an injurious word1 peril all their state and wealth1 and go to the field4 ,take away that principle of responsibleness1 and they become pirates and ruffians4#abg ,this self-subsistency is the charm of war2 for this self-subsistency is essential to our idea of man4 ,but another age comes1 a truer religion and ethics open1 and a man puts himself under the dominion of principles4 ,i see him to be the servant of truth1 of love and of freedom1 and immovable in the waves of the crowd4 ,the man of principle1 that is1 the man who1 without any flourish of trumpets1 titles of lordship or train of guards1 without any notice of his action abroad1 expecting none1 takes in solitude the right step uniformly1 on his private choice and disdaining consequences1--does not yield1 in my imagination1 to any man4 ,he is willing to be hanged at his own gate1 rather than consent to any compromise of his freedom or the suppression of his conviction4 ,i regard no longer those names that so tingled in my ear4 ,this is a baron of a better nobility and a stouter stomach4 ,the cause of peace is not the cause of cowardice4 ,if peace is sought to be defended or preserved for the safety of the luxurious and the timid1 it is a sham1 and the peace will be base4 ,war is better1 and the peace will be broken4 ,if peace is to be maintained1 it must be by brave men1 who have come up to the same height as the hero1 namely1 the will to carry their life in their hand1 and stake it at any instant for their principle1 but who have gone one step beyond the hero1 and will not seek another man's life2--men who have1 by their intellectual insight or else by their moral elevation1 attained such a perception of their own intrinsic worth that they do not think property or their own body a sufficient good to be saved by such dereliction of principle as treating a man like a sheep4 ,if the universal cry for reform of so many inveterate abuses1 with which society rings1--if the desire of a large class of young men for a faith and hope1 intellectual and religious1 such as they have not yet found1 be an omen to be trusted2 if the disposition to rely more1 in study and in action1 on the unexplored riches of the human constitution1--if the search of the sublime laws of morals and the sources of hope and trust1 in man1 and not in books1 in the present1 and not in the past1 proceed2 if the rising generation can be provoked to think it unworthy to nestle into every abomination of the past1 and shall feel the generous darings of austerity and virtue1 then war has a short day1 and human blood will cease to flow4 ,it is of little consequence in what manner1 through what organs1 this purpose of mercy and holiness is effected4 ,the proposition of the ,congress of ,nations is undoubtedly that at which the present fabric of our society and the present course of events do point4 ,but the mind1 once prepared for the reign of principles1 will easily find modes of expressing its will4 ,there is the highest fitness in the place and time in which this enterprise is begun4 ,not in an obscure corner1 not in a feudal ,europe1 not in an antiquated appanage where no onward step can be taken without rebellion1 is this seed of benevolence laid in the furrow1 with tears of hope2 but in this broad ,america of ,god and man1 where the forest is only now falling1 or yet to fall1 and the green earth opened to the inundation of emigrant men from all quarters of oppression and guilt2 here1 where not a family1 not a few men1 but mankind1 shall say what shall be2 here1 we ask1 ,shall it be ,war1 or shall it be ,peace8 ,,vi ,,the ,,fugitive ,,slave ,,law ,,address ,,to ,,citizens ,,of ,,concord #c ,,may1 #ahea ,the ,eternal ,rights1 ,victors over daily wrongs3 ,awful victors1 they misguide ,whom they will destroy1 ,and their coming triumph hide ,in our downfall1 or our joy3 ,they reach no term1 they never sleep1 ,in equal strength through space abide2 ,though1 feigning dwarfs1 they crouch and creep1 ,the strong they slay1 the swift outstride2 ,fate's grass grows rank in valley clods1 ,and rankly on the castled steep1-- ,speak it firmly1 these are gods1 ,are all ghosts beside4 ,,the ,,fugitive ,,slave ,,law ,,fellow ,,citizens3 ,i accepted your invitation to speak to you on the great question of these days1 with very little consideration of what ,i might have to offer3 for there seems to be no option4 ,the last year has forced us all into politics1 and made it a paramount duty to seek what it is often a duty to shun4 ,we do not breathe well4 ,there is infamy in the air4 ,i have a new experience4 ,i wake in the morning with a painful sensation1 which ,i carry about all day1 and which1 when traced home1 is the odious remembrance of that ignominy which has fallen on ,massachusetts1 which robs the landscape of beauty1 and takes the sunshine out of every hour4 ,i have lived all my life in this state1 and never had any experience of personal inconvenience from the laws1 until now4 ,they never came near me to any discomfort before4 ,i find the like sensibility in my neighbors2 and in that class who take no interest in the ordinary questions of party politics4 ,there are men who are as sure indexes of the equity of legislation and of the same state of public feeling1 as the barometer is of the weight of the air1 and it is a bad sign when these are discontented1 for though they snuff oppression and dishonor at a distance1 it is because they are more impressionable3 the whole population will in a short time be as painfully affected4 ,every hour brings us from distant quarters of the ,union the expression of mortification at the late events in ,massachusetts1 and at the behavior of ,boston4 ,the tameness was indeed shocking4 ,boston1 of whose fame for spirit and character we have all been so proud2 ,boston1 whose citizens1 intelligent people in ,england told me they could always distinguish by their culture among ,americans2 the ,boston of the ,american ,revolution1 which figures so proudly in ,john ,adams's ,diary1 which the whole country has been reading2 ,boston1 spoiled by prosperity1 must bow its ancient honor in the dust1 and make us irretrievably ashamed4 ,in ,boston1 we have said with such lofty confidence1 no fugitive slave can be arrested1 and now1 we must transfer our vaunt to the country1 and say1 with a little less confidence1 no fugitive man can be arrested here2 at least we can brag thus until to-morrow1 when the farmers also may be corrupted4 ,the tameness is indeed complete4 ,the only haste in ,boston1 after the rescue of ,shadrach1#abh last ,february1 was1 who should first put his name on the list of volunteers in aid of the marshal4 ,i met the smoothest of ,episcopal ,clergymen the other day1 and allusion being made to ,mr4 ,webster's treachery1 he blandly replied1 8,why1 do you know ,i think that the great action of his life40 ,it looked as if in the city and the suburbs all were involved in one hot haste of terror1--presidents of colleges1 and professors1 saints1 and brokers1 insurers1 lawyers1 importers1 manufacturers3 not an unpleasing sentiment1 not a liberal recollection1 not so much as a snatch of an old song for freedom1 dares intrude on their passive obedience4 ,the panic has paralyzed the journals1 with the fewest exceptions1 so that one cannot open a newspaper without being disgusted by new records of shame4 ,i cannot read longer even the local good news4 ,when ,i look down the columns at the titles of paragraphs1 8,education in ,massachusetts10 8,board of ,trade10 8,art ,union10 8,revival of ,religion10 what bitter mockeries6 ,the very convenience of property1 the house and land we occupy1 have lost their best value1 and a man looks gloomily at his children1 and thinks1 8,what have ,i done that you should begin life in dishonor80 ,every liberal study is discredited1--literature and science appear effeminate1 and the hiding of the head4 ,the college1 the churches1 the schools1 the very shops and factories are discredited2 real estate1 every kind of wealth1 every branch of industry1 every avenue to power1 suffers injury1 and the value of life is reduced4 ,just now a friend came into my house and said1 8,if this law shall be repealed ,i shall be glad that ,i have lived2 if not ,i shall be sorry that ,i was born40 ,what kind of law is that which extorts language like this from the heart of a free and civilized people8 ,one intellectual benefit we owe to the late disgraces4 ,the crisis had the illuminating power of a sheet of lightning at midnight4 ,it showed truth4 ,it ended a good deal of nonsense we had been wont to hear and to repeat1 on the #aith of ,april1 the #agth of ,june1 the #dth of ,july4 ,it showed the slightness and unreliableness of our social fabric1 it showed what stuff reputations are made of1 what straws we dignify by office and title1 and how competent we are to give counsel and help in a day of trial4 ,it showed the shallowness of leaders2 the divergence of parties from their alleged grounds2 showed that men would not stick to what they had said1 that the resolutions of public bodies1 or the pledges never so often given and put on record of public men1 will not bind them4 ,the fact comes out more plainly that you cannot rely on any man for the defence of truth1 who is not constitutionally or by blood and temperament on that side4 ,a man of a greedy and unscrupulous selfishness may maintain morals when they are in fashion3 but he will not stick4 ,however close ,mr4 ,wolf's nails have been pared1 however neatly he has been shaved1 and tailored1 and set up on end1 and taught to say1 8,virtue and ,religion10 he cannot be relied on at a pinch3 he will say1 morality means pricking a vein4 ,the popular assumption that all men loved freedom1 and believed in the ,christian religion1 was found hollow ,american brag2 only persons who were known and tried benefactors are found standing for freedom3 the sentimentalists went downstream4#abi ,i question the value of our civilization1 when ,i see that the public mind had never less hold of the strongest of all truths4 ,the sense of injustice is blunted1--a sure sign of the shallowness of our intellect4 ,i cannot accept the railroad and telegraph in exchange for reason and charity4 ,it is not skill in iron locomotives that makes so fine civility1 as the jealousy of liberty4 ,i cannot think the most judicious tubing a compensation for metaphysical debility4 ,what is the use of admirable law-forms1 and political forms1 if a hurricane of party feeling and a combination of monied interests can beat them to the ground8 ,what is the use of courts1 if judges only quote authorities1 and no judge exerts original jurisdiction1 or recurs to first principles8 ,what is the use of a ,federal ,bench1 if its opinions are the political breath of the hour8 ,and what is the use of constitutions1 if all the guaranties provided by the jealousy of ages for the protection of liberty are made of no effect1 when a bad act of ,congress finds a willing commissioner8 ,the levity of the public mind has been shown in the past year by the most extravagant actions4 ,who could have believed it1 if foretold that a hundred guns would be fired in ,boston on the passage of the ,fugitive ,slave ,bill8 ,nothing proves the want of all thought1 the absence of standard in men's minds1 more than the dominion of party4 ,here are humane people who have tears for misery1 an open purse for want2 who should have been the defenders of the poor man1 are found his embittered enemies1 rejoicing in his rendition1--merely from party ties4 ,i thought none1 that was not ready to go on all fours1 would back this law4 ,and yet here are upright men1 compotes mentis1 husbands1 fathers1 trustees1 friends1 open1 generous1 brave1 who can see nothing in this claim for bare humanity1 and the health and honor of their native ,state1 but canting fanaticism1 sedition and 8one idea40 ,because of this preoccupied mind1 the whole wealth and power of ,boston--two hundred thousand souls1 and one hundred and eighty millions of money--are thrown into the scale of crime3 and the poor black boy1 whom the fame of ,boston had reached in the recesses of a vile swamp1 or in the alleys of ,savannah1 on arriving here finds all this force employed to catch him4 ,the famous town of ,boston is his master's hound4 ,the learning of the universities1 the culture of elegant society1 the acumen of lawyers1 the majesty of the ,bench1 the eloquence of the ,christian pulpit1 the stoutness of ,democracy1 the respectability of the ,whig party are all combined to kidnap him4 ,the crisis is interesting as it shows the self-protecting nature of the world and of the ,divine laws4 ,it is the law of the world1--as much immorality as there is1 so much misery4 ,the greatest prosperity will in vain resist the greatest calamity4 ,you borrow the succour of the devil and he must have his fee4 ,he was never known to abate a penny of his rents4 ,in every nation all the immorality that exists breeds plagues4 ,but of the corrupt society that exists we have never been able to combine any pure prosperity ,there is always something in the very advantages of a condition which hurts it4 ,africa has its malformation2 ,england has its ,ireland2 ,germany its hatred of classes2 ,france its love of gunpowder2 ,italy its ,pope2 and ,america1 the most prosperous country in the ,universe1 has the greatest calamity in the ,universe1 negro slavery4 ,let me remind you a little in detail how the natural retribution acts in reference to the statute which ,congress passed a year ago4 ,for these few months have shown very conspicuously its nature and impracticability4 ,it is contravened3 #a4 ,by the sentiment of duty4 ,an immoral law makes it a man's duty to break it1 at every hazard4 ,for virtue is the very self of every man4 ,it is therefore a principle of law that an immoral contract is void1 and that an immoral statute is void4 ,for1 as laws do not make right1 and are simply declaratory of a right which already existed1 it is not to be presumed that they can so stultify themselves as to command injustice4 ,it is remarkable how rare in the history of tyrants is an immoral law4 ,some color1 some indirection was always used4 ,if you take up the volumes of the 8,universal ,history10 you will find it difficult searching4 ,the precedents are few4 ,it is not easy to parallel the wickedness of this ,american law4 ,and that is the head and body of this discontent1 that the law is immoral4 ,here is a statute which enacts the crime of kidnapping1--a crime on one footing with arson and murder4 ,a man's right to liberty is as inalienable as his right to life4 ,pains seem to have been taken to give us in this statute a wrong pure from any mixture of right4 ,if our resistance to this law is not right1 there is no right4 ,this is not meddling with other people's affairs3 this is hindering other people from meddling with us4 ,this is not going crusading into ,virginia and ,georgia after slaves1 who1 it is alleged1 are very comfortable where they are3--that amiable argument falls to the ground3 but this is befriending in our own ,state1 on our own farms1 a man who has taken the risk of being shot1 or burned alive1 or cast into the sea1 or starved to death1 or suffocated in a wooden box1 to get away from his driver3 and this man who has run the gauntlet of a thousand miles for his freedom1 the statute says1 you men of ,massachusetts shall hunt1 and catch1 and send back again to the dog-hutch he fled from4 ,it is contrary to the primal sentiment of duty1 and therefore all men that are born are1 in proportion to their power of thought and their moral sensibility1 found to be the natural enemies of this law4 ,the resistance of all moral beings is secured to it4 ,i had thought1 ,i confess1 what must come at last would come at first1 a banding of all men against the authority of this statute4 ,i thought it a point on which all sane men were agreed1 that the law must respect the public morality4 ,i thought that all men of all conditions had been made sharers of a certain experience1 that in certain rare and retired moments they had been made to see how man is man1 or what makes the essence of rational beings1 namely1 that whilst animals have to do with eating the fruits of the ground1 men have to do with rectitude1 with benefit1 with truth1 with something which is1 independent of appearances3 and that this tie makes the substantiality of life1 this1 and not their ploughing1 or sailing1 their trade or the breeding of families4 ,i thought that every time a man goes back to his own thoughts1 these angels receive him1 talk with him1 and that1 in the best hours1 he is uplifted in virtue of this essence1 into a peace and into a power which the material world cannot give3 that these moments counterbalance the years of drudgery1 and that this owning of a law1 be it called morals1 religion1 or godhead1 or what you will1 constituted the explanation of life1 the excuse and indemnity for the errors and calamities which sadden it4 ,in long years consumed in trifles1 they remember these moments1 and are consoled4 ,i thought it was this fair mystery1 whose foundations are hidden in eternity1 which made the basis of human society1 and of law2 and that to pretend anything else1 as that the acquisition of property was the end of living1 was to confound all distinctions1 to make the world a greasy hotel1 and1 instead of noble motives and inspirations1 and a heaven of companions and angels around and before us1 to leave us in a grimacing menagerie of monkeys and idiots4 ,all arts1 customs1 societies1 books1 and laws1 are good as they foster and concur with this spiritual element3 all men are beloved as they raise us to it2 hateful as they deny or resist it4 ,the laws especially draw their obligation only from their concurrence with it4 ,i am surprised that lawyers can be so blind as to suffer the principles of ,law to be discredited4 ,a few months ago1 in my dismay at hearing that the ,higher ,law was reckoned a good joke in the courts1 ,i took pains to look into a few law-books4 ,i had often heard that the ,bible constituted a part of every technical law library1 and that it was a principle in law that immoral laws are void4 ,i found1 accordingly1 that the great jurists1 ,cicero1 ,grotius1 ,coke1 ,blackstone1 ,burlamaqui1 ,montesquieu1 ,vattel1 ,burke1 ,mackintosh1 ,jefferson1 do all affirm this4 ,i have no intention to recite these passages ,i had marked3--such citation indeed seems to be something cowardly 7for no reasonable person needs a quotation from ,blackstone to convince him that white cannot be legislated to be black71 and shall content myself with reading a single passage4 ,blackstone admits the sovereignty 8antecedent to any positive precept1 of the law of ,nature10 among whose principles are1 8that we should live on1 should hurt nobody1 and should render unto every one his due10 etc4 8,no human laws are of any validity1 if contrary to this40 8,nay1 if any human law should allow or enjoin us to commit a crime0 7his instance is murder71 8we are bound to transgress that human law2 or else we must offend both the natural and divine40 ,lord ,coke held that where an ,act of ,parliament is against common right and reason1 the common law shall control it1 and adjudge it to be void4 ,chief ,justice ,hobart1 ,chief ,justice ,holt1 and ,chief ,justice ,mansfield held the same4 ,lord ,mansfield1 in the case of the slave ,somerset1 wherein the dicta of ,lords ,talbot and ,hardwicke had been cited1 to the effect of carrying back the slave to the ,west ,indies1 said1 8,i care not for the supposed dicta of judges1 however eminent1 if they be contrary to all principle40 ,even the ,canon ,law says 7in malis promissis non expedit servare fidem71 8,neither allegiance nor oath can bind to obey that which is wrong40 ,no engagement 7to a sovereign7 can oblige or even authorize a man to violate the laws of ,nature4 ,all authors who have any conscience or modesty agree that a person ought not to obey such commands as are evidently contrary to the laws of ,god4 ,those governors of places who bravely refused to execute the barbarous orders of ,charles ,,ix4 for the famous 8,massacre of ,st4 ,bartholomew10 have been universally praised2 and the court did not dare to punish them1 at least openly4 8,sire10 said the brave ,orte1 governor of ,bayonne1 in his letter1 8,i have communicated your majesty's command to your faithful inhabitants and warriors in the garrison1 and ,i have found there only good citizens1 and brave soldiers2 not one hangman3 therefore1 both they and ,i must humbly entreat your majesty to be pleased to employ your arms and lives in things that are possible1 however hazardous they may be1 and we will exert ourselves to the last drop of our blood40#acj ,the practitioners should guard this dogma well1 as the palladium of the profession1 as their anchor in the respect of mankind4 ,against a principle like this1 all the arguments of ,mr4 ,webster are the spray of a child's squirt against a granite wall4 #b4 ,it is contravened by all the sentiments4 ,how can a law be enforced that fines pity1 and imprisons charity8 ,as long as men have bowels1 they will disobey4 ,you know that the ,act of ,congress of ,september #ah1 #ahej1 is a law which every one of you will break on the earliest occasion4 ,there is not a manly ,whig1 or a manly ,democrat1 of whom1 if a slave were hidden in one of our houses from the hounds1 we should not ask with confidence to lend his wagon in aid of his escape1 and he would lend it4 ,the man would be too strong for the partisan4 ,and here ,i may say that it is absurd1 what ,i often hear1 to accuse the friends of freedom in the ,north with being the occasion of the new stringency of the ,southern slave-laws4 ,if you starve or beat the orphan1 in my presence1 and ,i accuse your cruelty1 can ,i help it8 ,in the words of ,electra in the ,greek tragedy1 8',tis you that say it1 not ,i4 ,you do the deeds1 and your ungodly deeds find me the words40 ,will you blame the ball for rebounding from the floor1 blame the air for rushing in where a vacuum is made or the boiler for exploding under pressure of steam8 ,these facts are after laws of the world1 and so is it law1 that1 when justice is violated1 anger begins4 ,the very defence which the ,god of ,nature has provided for the innocent against cruelty is the sentiment of indignation and pity in the bosom of the beholder4 ,mr4 ,webster tells the ,president that 8he has been in the ,north1 and he has found no man1 whose opinion is of any weight1 who is opposed to the law40 ,oh1 ,mr4 ,president1 trust not the information6 ,the gravid old ,universe goes spawning on2 the womb conceives and the breasts give suck to thousands and millions of hairy babes formed not in the image of your statute1 but in the image of the ,universe2 too many to be bought off2 too many than they can be rich1 and therefore peaceable2 and necessitated to express first or last every feeling of the heart4 ,you can keep no secret1 for whatever is true some of them will unreasonably say4 ,you can commit no crime1 for they are created in their sentiments conscious of and hostile to it2 and unless you can suppress the newspaper1 pass a law against book-shops1 gag the ,english tongue in ,america1 all short of this is futile4 ,this dreadful ,english ,speech is saturated with songs1 proverbs and speeches that flatly contradict and defy every line of ,mr4 ,mason's statute4 ,nay1 unless you can draw a sponge over those seditious ,ten ,commandments which are the root of our ,european and ,american civilization2 and over that eleventh commandment1 8,do unto others as you would have them do to you10 your labor is vain4 #c4 ,it is contravened by the written laws themselves1 because the sentiments1 of course1 write the statutes4 ,laws are merely declaratory of the natural sentiments of mankind1 and the language of all permanent laws will be in contradiction to any immoral enactment4 ,and thus it happens here3 ,statute fights against ,statute4 ,by the law of ,congress ,march #b1 #ahjg1 it is piracy and murder1 punishable with death1 to enslave a man on the coast of ,africa4 ,by law of ,congress ,september1 #ahej1 it is a high crime and misdemeanor1 punishable with fine and imprisonment1 to resist the renslaving a man on the coast of ,america4 ,off soundings1 it is piracy and murder to enslave him4 ,on soundings1 it is fine and prison not to renslave4 ,what kind of legislation is this8 ,what kind of constitution which covers it8 ,and yet the crime which the second law ordains is greater than the crime which the first law forbids under penalty of the gibbet4 ,for it is a greater crime to renslave a man who has shown himself fit for freedom1 than to enslave him at first1 when it might be pretended to be a mitigation of his lot as a captive in war4 #d4 ,it is contravened by the mischiefs it operates4 ,a wicked law cannot be executed by good men1 and must be by bad4 ,flagitious men must be employed1 and every act of theirs is a stab at the public peace4 ,it cannot be executed at such a cost1 and so it brings a bribe in its hand4 ,this law comes with infamy in it1 and out of it4 ,it offers a bribe in its own clauses for the consummation of the crime4 ,to serve it1 low and mean people are found by the groping of the government4 ,no government ever found it hard to pick up tools for base actions4 ,if you cannot find them in the huts of the poor1 you shall find them in the palaces of the rich4 ,vanity can buy some1 ambition others1 and money others4 ,the first execution of the law1 as was inevitable1 was a little hesitating2 the second was easier2 and the glib officials became1 in a few weeks1 quite practised and handy at stealing men4 ,but worse1 not the officials alone are bribed1 but the whole community is solicited4 ,the scowl of the community is attempted to be averted by the mischievous whisper1 8,tariff and ,southern market1 if you will be quiet3 no tariff and loss of ,southern market1 if you dare to murmur40 ,i wonder that our acute people who have learned that the cheapest police is dear schools1 should not find out that an immoral law costs more than the loss of the custom of a ,southern city4 ,the humiliating scandal of great men warping right into wrong was followed up very fast by the cities4 ,new ,york advertised in ,southern markets that it would go for slavery1 and posted the names of merchants who would not4 ,boston1 alarmed1 entered into the same design4 ,philadelphia1 more fortunate1 had no conscience at all1 and1 in this auction of the rights of mankind1 rescinded all its legislation against slavery4 ,and the ,boston 8,advertiser10 and the 8,courier10 in these weeks1 urge the same course on the people of ,massachusetts4 ,nothing remains in this race of roguery but to coax ,connecticut or ,maine to outbid us all by adopting slavery into its constitution4 ,great is the mischief of a legal crime4 ,every person who touches this business is contaminated4 ,there has not been in our lifetime another moment when public men were personally lowered by their political action4 ,but here are gentlemen whose believed probity was the confidence and fortification of multitudes1 who1 by fear of public opinion1 or through the dangerous ascendency of ,southern manners1 have been drawn into the support of this foul business4 ,we poor men in the country who might once have thought it an honor to shake hands with them1 or to dine at their boards1 would now shrink from their touch1 nor could they enter our humblest doors4 ,you have a law which no man can obey1 or abet the obeying1 without loss of self-respect and forfeiture of the name of gentleman4 ,what shall we say of the functionary by whom the recent rendition was made8 ,if he has rightly defined his powers1 and has no authority to try the case1 but only to prove the prisoner's identity1 and remand him1 what office is this for a reputable citizen to hold8 ,no man of honor can sit on that bench4 ,it is the extension of the planter's whipping-post2 and its incumbents must rank with a class from which the turnkey1 the hangman and the informer are taken1 necessary functionaries1 it may be1 in a state1 but to whom the dislike and the ban of society universally attaches4 #e4 ,these resistances appear in the history of the statute1 in the retributions which speak so loud in every part of this business1 that ,i think a tragic poet will know how to make it a lesson for all ages4 ,mr4 ,webster's measure was1 he told us1 final4 ,it was a pacification1 it was a suppression1 a measure of conciliation and adjustment4 ,these were his words at different times3 8there was to be no parleying more20 it was 8irrepealable40 ,does it look final now8 ,his final settlement has dislocated the foundations4 ,the state-house shakes likes a tent4 ,his pacification has brought all the honesty in every house1 all scrupulous and good-hearted men1 all women1 and all children1 to accuse the law4 ,it has brought ,united ,states swords into the streets1 and chains round the court-house4 8,a measure of pacification and union40 ,what is its effect8 ,to make one sole subject for conversation and painful thought throughout the continent1 namely1 slavery4 ,there is not a man of thought or of feeling but is concentrating his mind on it4 ,there is not a clerk but recites its statistics2 not a politician but is watching its incalculable energy in the elections2 not a jurist but is hunting up precedents2 not a moralist but is prying into its quality2 not an economist but is computing its profit and loss3 ,mr4 ,webster can judge whether this sort of solar microscope brought to bear on his law is likely to make opposition less4 ,the only benefit that has accrued from the law is its service to education4 ,it has been like a university to the entire people4 ,it has turned every dinner-table into a debating-club1 and made every citizen a student of natural law4 ,when a moral quality comes into politics1 when a right is invaded1 the discussion draws on deeper sources3 general principles are laid bare1 which cast light on the whole frame of society4 ,and it is cheering to behold what champions the emergency called to this poor black boy2 what subtlety1 what logic1 what learning1 what exposure of the mischief of the law2 and1 above all1 with what earnestness and dignity the advocates of freedom were inspired4 ,it was one of the best compensations of this calamity4 ,but the ,nemesis works underneath again4 ,it is a power that makes noonday dark1 and draws us on to our undoing2 and its dismal way is to pillory the offender in the moment of his triumph4 ,the hands that put the chain on the slave are in that moment manacled4 ,who has seen anything like that which is now done8 ,the words of ,john ,randolph1 wiser than he knew1 have been ringing ominously in all echoes for thirty years1 words spoken in the heat of the ,missouri debate4 8,we do not govern the people of the ,north by our black slaves1 but by their own white slaves4 ,we know what we are doing4 ,we have conquered you once1 and we can and will conquer you again4 ,ay1 we will drive you to the wall1 and when we have you there once more1 we will keep you there and nail you down like base money40 ,these words resounding ever since from ,california to ,oregon1 from ,cape ,florida to ,cape ,cod1 come down now like the cry of ,fate1 in the moment when they are fulfilled4 ,by white slaves1 by a white slave1 are we beaten4#aca ,who looked for such ghastly fulfilment1 or to see what we see8 ,hills and ,halletts1 servile editors by the hundred1 we could have spared4 ,but him1 our best and proudest1 the first man of the ,north1 in the very moment of mounting the throne1 irresistibly taking the bit in his mouth and the collar on his neck1 and harnessing himself to the chariot of the planters4 ,the fairest ,american fame ends in this filthy law4 ,mr4 ,webster cannot choose but regret his law4 ,he must learn that those who make fame accuse him with one voice2 that those who have no points to carry that are not identical with public morals and generous civilization1 that the obscure and private who have no voice and care for none1 so long as things go well1 but who feel the disgrace of the new legislation creeping like miasma into their homes1 and blotting the daylight1--those to whom his name was once dear and honored1 as the manly statesman to whom the choicest gifts of ,nature had been accorded1 disown him3 that he who was their pride in the woods and mountains of ,new ,england is now their mortification1--they have torn down his picture from the wall1 they have thrust his speeches into the chimney4 ,no roars of ,new ,york mobs can drown this voice in ,mr4 ,webster's ear4 ,it will outwhisper all the salvos of the 8,union ,committees'0 cannon4 ,but ,i have said too much on this painful topic4 ,i will not pursue that bitter history4#acb ,but passing from the ethical to the political view1 ,i wish to place this statute1 and we must use the introducer and substantial author of the bill as an illustration of the history4 ,i have as much charity for ,mr4 ,webster1 ,i think1 as any one has4 ,i need not say how much ,i have enjoyed his fame4 ,who has not helped to praise him8 ,simply he was the one eminent ,american of our time1 whom we could produce as a finished work of ,nature4 ,we delighted in his form and face1 in his voice1 in his eloquence1 in his power of labor1 in his concentration1 in his large understanding1 in his daylight statement1 simple force2 the facts lay like the strata of a cloud1 or like the layers of the crust of the globe4 ,he saw things as they were1 and he stated them so4 ,he has been by his clear perceptions and statements in all these years the best head in ,congress1 and the champion of the interests of the ,northern seaboard3 but as the activity and growth of slavery began to be offensively felt by his constituents1 the senator became less sensitive to these evils4 ,they were not for him to deal with3 he was the commercial representative4 ,he indulged occasionally in excellent expression of the known feeling of the ,new ,england people3 but1 when expected and when pledged1 he omitted to speak1 and he omitted to throw himself into the movement in those critical moments when his leadership would have turned the scale4 ,at last1 at a fatal hour1 this sluggishness accumulated to downright counteraction1 and1 very unexpectedly to the whole ,union1 on the #gth ,march1 #ahej1 in opposition to his education1 association1 and to all his own most explicit language for thirty years1 he crossed the line1 and became the head of the slavery party in this country4 ,mr4 ,webster perhaps is only following the laws of his blood and constitution4 ,i suppose his pledges were not quite natural to him4 ,mr4 ,webster is a man who lives by his memory1 a man of the past1 not a man of faith or of hope4 ,he obeys his powerful animal nature2--and his finely developed understanding only works truly and with all its force1 when it stands for animal good2 that is1 for property4 ,he believes1 in so many words1 that government exists for the protection of property4 ,he looks at the ,union as an estate1 a large farm1 and is excellent in the completeness of his defence of it so far4 ,he adheres to the letter4 ,happily he was born late1--after the independence had been declared1 the ,union agreed to1 and the constitution settled4 ,what he finds already written1 he will defend4 ,lucky that so much had got well written when he came4 ,for he has no faith in the power of self-government2 none whatever in extemporizing a government4 ,not the smallest municipal provision1 if it were new1 would receive his sanction4 ,in ,massachusetts1 in #aggf1 he would1 beyond all question1 have been a refugee4 ,he praises ,adams and ,jefferson1 but it is a past ,adams and ,jefferson that his mind can entertain4#acc ,a present ,adams and ,jefferson he would denounce4 ,so with the eulogies of liberty in his writings1--they are sentimentalism and youthful rhetoric4 ,he can celebrate it1 but it means as much from him as from ,metternich or ,talleyrand4 ,this is all inevitable from his constitution4 ,all the drops of his blood have eyes that look downward4 ,it is neither praise nor blame to say that he has no moral perception1 no moral sentiment1 but in that region--to use the phrase of the phrenologists--a hole in the head4 ,the scraps of morality to be gleaned from his speeches are reflections of the mind of others2 he says what he hears said1 but often makes signal blunders in their use4 ,in ,mr4 ,webster's imagination the ,american ,union was a huge ,prince ,rupert's drop1 which1 if so much as the smallest end be shivered off1 the whole will snap into atoms4 ,now the fact is quite different from this4 ,the people are loyal1 law-loving1 law-abiding4 ,they prefer order1 and have no taste for misrule and uproar4 ,the destiny of this country is great and liberal1 and is to be greatly administered4 ,it is to be administered according to what is1 and is to be1 and not according to what is dead and gone4 ,the union of this people is a real thing1 an alliance of men of one flock1 one language1 one religion1 one system of manners and ideas4 ,i hold it to be a real and not a statute union4 ,the people cleave to the ,union1 because they see their advantage in it1 the added power of each4 ,i suppose the ,union can be left to take care of itself4 ,as much real union as there is1 the statutes will be sure to express2 as much disunion as there is1 no statute can long conceal4 ,under the ,union ,i suppose the fact to be that there are really two nations1 the ,north and the ,south4 ,it is not slavery that severs them1 it is climate and temperament4 ,the ,south does not like the ,north1 slavery or no slavery1 and never did4 ,the ,north likes the ,south well enough1 for it knows its own advantages4 ,i am willing to leave them to the facts4 ,if they continue to have a binding interest1 they will be pretty sure to find it out3 if not1 they will consult their peace in parting4 ,but one thing appears certain to me1 that1 as soon as the constitution ordains an immoral law1 it ordains disunion4 ,the law is suicidal1 and cannot be obeyed4 ,the ,union is at an end as soon as an immoral law is enacted4 ,and he who writes a crime into the statute-book digs under the foundations of the ,capitol to plant there a powder-magazine1 and lays a train4 ,i pass to say a few words to the question1 ,what shall we do8 #a4 ,what in our federal capacity is our relation to the nation8 #b4 ,and what as citizens of a state8 ,i am an ,unionist as we all are1 or nearly all1 and ,i strongly share the hope of mankind in the power1 and therefore1 in the duties of the ,union2 and ,i conceive it demonstrated1--the necessity of common sense and justice entering into the laws4 ,what shall we do8 ,first1 abrogate this law2 then1 proceed to confine slavery to slave states1 and help them effectually to make an end of it4 ,or shall we1 as we are advised on all hands1 lie by1 and wait the progress of the census8 ,but will ,slavery lie by8 ,i fear not4 ,she is very industrious1 gives herself no holidays4 ,no proclamations will put her down4 ,she got ,texas and now will have ,cuba1 and means to keep her majority4 ,the experience of the past gives us no encouragement to lie by4 ,shall we call a new ,convention1 or will any expert statesman furnish us a plan for the summary or gradual winding up of slavery1 so far as the ,republic is its patron8 ,where is the ,south itself8 ,since it is agreed by all sane men of all parties 7or was yesterday7 that slavery is mischievous1 why does the ,south itself never offer the smallest counsel of her own8 ,i have never heard in twenty years any project except ,mr4 ,clay's4 ,let us hear any project with candor and respect4 ,is it impossible to speak of it with reason and good nature8 ,it is really the project fit for this country to entertain and accomplish4 ,everything invites emancipation4 ,the grandeur of the design1 the vast stake we hold2 the national domain1 the new importance of ,liberia2 the manifest interest of the slave states2 the religious effort of the free states2 the public opinion of the world2--all join to demand it4 ,we shall one day bring the ,states shoulder to shoulder and the citizens man to man to exterminate slavery4 ,why in the name of common sense and the peace of mankind is not this made the subject of instant negotiation and settlement8 ,why not end this dangerous dispute on some ground of fair compensation on one side1 and satisfaction on the other to the conscience of the free states8 ,it is really the great task fit for this country to accomplish1 to buy that property of the planters1 as the ,british nation bought the ,west ,indian slaves4 ,i say buy1--never conceding the right of the planter to own1 but that we may acknowledge the calamity of his position1 and bear a countryman's share in relieving him2 and because it is the only practicable course1 and is innocent4 ,here is a right social or public function1 which one man cannot do1 which all men must do4 ',tis said it will cost two thousand millions of dollars4 ,was there ever any contribution that was so enthusiastically paid as this will be8 ,we will have a chimney-tax4 ,we will give up our coaches1 and wine1 and watches4 ,the churches will melt their plate4 ,the father of his country shall wait1 well pleased1 a little longer for his monument2 ,franklin for his1 the ,pilgrim ,fathers for theirs1 and the patient ,columbus for his4 ,the mechanics will give1 the needle-women will give2 the children will have cent-societies4 ,every man in the land will give a week's work to dig away this accursed mountain of sorrow once and forever out of the world4#acd ,nothing is impracticable to this nation1 which it shall set itself to do4 ,were ever men so endowed1 so placed1 so weaponed8 ,their power of territory seconded by a genius equal to every work4 ,by new arts the earth is subdued1 roaded1 tunnelled1 telegraphed1 gas-lighted2 vast amounts of old labor disused2 the sinews of man being relieved by sinews of steam4 ,we are on the brink of more wonders4 ,the sun paints2 presently we shall organize the echo1 as now we do the shadow4 ,chemistry is extorting new aids4 ,the genius of this people1 it is found1 can do anything which can be done by men4 ,these thirty nations are equal to any work1 and are every moment stronger4 ,in twenty-five years they will be fifty millions4 ,is it not time to do something besides ditching and draining1 and making the earth mellow and friable8 ,let them confront this mountain of poison1--bore1 blast1 excavate1 pulverize1 and shovel it once for all1 down into the bottomless ,pit4 ,a thousand millions were cheap4 ,but grant that the heart of financiers1 accustomed to practical figures1 shrinks within them at these colossal amounts1 and the embarrassments which complicate the problem2 granting that these contingencies are too many to be spanned by any human geometry1 and that these evils are to be relieved only by the wisdom of ,god working in ages1--and by what instrument1 whether ,liberia1 whether flax-cotton1 whether the working out this race by ,irish and ,germans1 none can tell1 or by what sources ,god has guarded his law2 still the question recurs1 ,what must we do8 ,one thing is plain1 we cannot answer for the ,union1 but we must keep ,massachusetts true4 ,it is of unspeakable importance that she play her honest part4 ,she must follow no vicious examples4 ,massachusetts is a little state3 countries have been great by ideas4 ,europe is little compared with ,asia and ,africa2 yet ,asia and ,africa are its ox and its ass4 ,europe1 the least of all the continents1 has almost monopolized for twenty centuries the genius and power of them all4 ,greece was the least part of ,europe4 ,attica a little part of that1--one tenth of the size of ,massachusetts4 ,yet that district still rules the intellect of men4 ,juda was a petty country4 ,yet these two1 ,greece and ,juda1 furnish the mind and the heart by which the rest of the world is sustained2 and ,massachusetts is little1 but1 if true to itself1 can be the brain which turns about the behemoth4 ,i say ,massachusetts1 but ,i mean ,massachusetts in all the quarters of her dispersion2 ,massachusetts1 as she is the mother of all the ,new ,england states1 and as she sees her progeny scattered over the face of the land1 in the farthest ,south1 and the uttermost ,west4 ,the immense power of rectitude is apt to be forgotten in politics4 ,but they who have brought the great wrong on the country have not forgotten it4 ,they avail themselves of the known probity and honor of ,massachusetts1 to endorse the statute4 ,the ancient maxim still holds that never was any injustice effected except by the help of justice4 ,the great game of the government has been to win the sanction of ,massachusetts to the crime4 ,hitherto they have succeeded only so far as to win ,boston to a certain extent4 ,the behavior of ,boston was the reverse of what it should have been3 it was supple and officious1 and it put itself into the base attitude of pander to the crime4 ,it should have placed obstruction at every step4 ,let the attitude of the states be firm4 ,let us respect the ,union to all honest ends4 ,but also respect an older and wider union1 the law of ,nature and rectitude4 ,massachusetts is as strong as the ,universe1 when it does that4 ,we will never intermeddle with your slavery1--but you can in no wise be suffered to bring it to ,cape ,cod and ,berkshire4 ,this law must be made inoperative4 ,it must be abrogated and wiped out of the statute-book2 but whilst it stands there1 it must be disobeyed4 ,we must make a small state great1 by making every man in it true4 ,it was the praise of ,athens1 8,she could not lead countless armies into the field1 but she knew how with a little band to defeat those who could40 ,every ,roman reckoned himself at least a match for a ,province4 ,every ,dorian did4 ,every ,englishman in ,australia1 in ,south ,africa1 in ,india1 or in whatever barbarous country their forts and factories have been set up1--represents ,london1 represents the art1 power and law of ,europe4 ,every man educated at the ,northern school carries the like advantages into the ,south4 ,for it is confounding distinctions to speak of the geographic sections of this country as of equal civilization4 ,every nation and every man bows1 in spite of himself1 to a higher mental and moral existence2 and the sting of the late disgraces is that this royal position of ,massachusetts was foully lost1 that the well-known sentiment of her people was not expressed4 ,let us correct this error4 ,in this one fastness let truth be spoken and right done4 ,here let there be no confusion in our ideas4 ,let us not lie1 not steal1 nor help to steal1 and let us not call stealing by any fine name1 such as 8,union0 or 8,patriotism40 ,let us know that not by the public1 but by ourselves1 our safety must be bought4 ,that is the secret of ,southern power1 that they rest not on meetings1 but on private heats and courages4 ,it is very certain from the perfect guaranties in the constitution1 and the high arguments of the defenders of liberty1 which the occasion called out1 that there is sufficient margin in the statute and the law for the spirit of the ,magistrate to show itself1 and one1 two1 three occasions have just now occurred1 and past1 in either of which1 if one man had felt the spirit of ,coke or ,mansfield or ,parsons1 and read the law with the eye of freedom1 the dishonor of ,massachusetts had been prevented1 and a limit set to these encroachments forever4 ,,vii ,,the ,,fugitive ,,slave ,,law ,,lecture ,,read ,,in ,,the ,,tabernacle1 ,,new ,,york ,,city ,,march #g1 #ahed1 ,,on ,,the ,,fourth ,,anniversary ,,of ,,daniel ,,webster',s ,,speech ,,in ,,favor ,,of ,,the ,,bill 8,of all we loved and honored1 naught ,save power remains1-- ,a fallen angel's pride of thought1 ,still strong in chains4 ,all else is gone2 from those great eyes ,the soul has fled3 ,when faith is lost1 when honor dies1 ,the man is dead60 ,whittier1 ,ichabod6 99 99 99 99 99 8,we that had loved him so1 followed him1 honoured him1 ,lived in his mild and magnificent eye1 ,learned his great language1 caught his clear accents1 ,made him our pattern to live and to die6 ,shakspeare was of us1 ,milton was for us1 ,burns1 ,shelley1 were with us1--they watch from their graves6 ,he alone breaks from the van and the freemen1 --,he alone sinks to the rear and the slaves60 ,browning1 ,the ,lost ,leader4 ,,the ,,fugitive ,,slave ,,law ,i do not often speak to public questions2--they are odious and hurtful1 and it seems like meddling or leaving your work4 ,i have my own spirits in prison2--spirits in deeper prisons1 whom no man visits if ,i do not4 ,and then ,i see what havoc it makes with any good mind1 a dissipated philanthropy4 ,the one thing not to be forgiven to intellectual persons is1 not to know their own task1 or to take their ideas from others4 ,from this want of manly rest in their own and rash acceptance of other people's watchwords come the imbecility and fatigue of their conversation4 ,for they cannot affirm these from any original experience1 and of course not with the natural movement and total strength of their nature and talent1 but only from their memory1 only from their cramped position of standing for their teacher4 ,they say what they would have you believe1 but what they do not quite know4#ace ,my own habitual view is to the well-being of students or scholars4 ,and it is only when the public event affects them1 that it very seriously touches me4 ,and what ,i have to say is to them4 ,for every man speaks mainly to a class whom he works with and more or less fully represents4 ,it is to these ,i am beforehand related and engaged1 in this audience or out of it--to them and not to others4 ,and yet1 when ,i say the class of scholars or students1--that is a class which comprises in some sort all mankind1 comprises every man in the best hours of his life2 and in these days not only virtually but actually4 ,for who are the readers and thinkers of #ahed8 ,owing to the silent revolution which the newspaper has wrought1 this class has come in this country to take in all classes4 ,look into the morning trains which1 from every suburb1 carry the business men into the city to their shops1 counting-rooms1 work-yards and warehouses4 ,with them enters the car--the newsboy1 that humble priest of politics1 finance1 philosophy1 and religion4 ,he unfolds his magical sheets1--twopence a head his bread of knowledge costs--and instantly the entire rectangular assembly1 fresh from their breakfast1 are bending as one man to their second breakfast4 ,there is1 no doubt1 chaff enough in what he brings2 but there is fact1 thought1 and wisdom in the crude mass1 from all regions of the world4 ,i have lived all my life without suffering any known inconvenience from ,american ,slavery4 ,i never saw it2 ,i never heard the whip2#acf ,i never felt the check on my free speech and action1 until1 the other day1 when ,mr4 ,webster1 by his personal influence1 brought the ,fugitive ,slave ,law on the country4 ,i say ,mr4 ,webster1 for though the ,bill was not his1 it is yet notorious that he was the life and soul of it1 that he gave it all he had3 it cost him his life1 and under the shadow of his great name inferior men sheltered themselves1 threw their ballots for it and made the law4 ,i say inferior men4 ,there were all sorts of what are called brilliant men1 accomplished men1 men of high station1 a ,president of the ,united ,states1 ,senators1 men of eloquent speech1 but men without self-respect1 without character1 and it was strange to see that office1 age1 fame1 talent1 even a repute for honesty1 all count for nothing4 ,they had no opinions1 they had no memory for what they had been saying like the ,lord's ,prayer all their lifetime3 they were only looking to what their great ,captain did3 if he jumped1 they jumped1 if he stood on his head1 they did4 ,in ordinary1 the supposed sense of their district and ,state is their guide1 and that holds them to the part of liberty and justice4 ,but it is always a little difficult to decipher what this public sense is2 and when a great man comes who knots up into himself the opinions and wishes of the people1 it is so much easier to follow him as an exponent of this4 ,he too is responsible2 they will not be4 ,it will always suffice to say1--8,i followed him40 ,i saw plainly that the great show their legitimate power in nothing more than in their power to misguide us4 ,i saw that a great man1 deservedly admired for his powers and their general right direction1 was able1--fault of the total want of stamina in public men1--when he failed1 to break them all with him1 to carry parties with him4 ,in what ,i have to say of ,mr4 ,webster ,i do not confound him with vulgar politicians before or since4 ,there is always base ambition enough1 men who calculate on the immense ignorance of the masses2 that is their quarry and farm3 they use the constituencies at home only for their shoes4 ,and1 of course1 they can drive out from the contest any honorable man4 ,the low can best win the low1 and all men like to be made much of4 ,there are those too who have power and inspiration only to do ill4 ,their talent or their faculty deserts them when they undertake anything right4 ,mr4 ,webster had a natural ascendancy of aspect and carriage which distinguished him over all his contemporaries4 ,his countenance1 his figure1 and his manners were all in so grand a style1 that he was1 without effort1 as superior to his most eminent rivals as they were to the humblest2 so that his arrival in any place was an event which drew crowds of people1 who went to satisfy their eyes1 and could not see him enough4 ,i think they looked at him as the representative of the ,american ,continent4 ,he was there in his ,adamitic capacity1 as if he alone of all men did not disappoint the eye and the ear1 but was a fit figure in the landscape4#acg ,i remember his appearance at ,bunker's ,hill4 ,there was the ,monument1 and here was ,webster4 ,he knew well that a little more or less of rhetoric signified nothing3 he was only to say plain and equal things1--grand things if he had them1 and1 if he had them not1 only to abstain from saying unfit things1--and the whole occasion was answered by his presence4 ,it was a place for behavior more than for speech1 and ,mr4 ,webster walked through his part with entire success4 ,his excellent organization1 the perfection of his elocution and all that thereto belongs1--voice1 accent1 intonation1 attitude1 manner1--we shall not soon find again4 ,then he was so thoroughly simple and wise in his rhetoric2 he saw through his matter1 hugged his fact so close1 went to the principle or essential1 and never indulged in a weak flourish1 though he knew perfectly well how to make such exordiums1 episodes and perorations as might give perspective to his harangues without in the least embarrassing his march or confounding his transitions4 ,in his statement things lay in daylight2 we saw them in order as they were4 ,though he knew very well how to present his own personal claims1 yet in his argument he was intellectual1--stated his fact pure of all personality1 so that his splendid wrath1 when his eyes became lamps1 was the wrath of the fact and the cause he stood for4 ,his power1 like that of all great masters1 was not in excellent parts1 but was total4 ,he had a great and everywhere equal propriety4 ,he worked with that closeness of adhesion to the matter in hand which a joiner or a chemist uses1 and the same quiet and sure feeling of right to his place that an oak or a mountain have to theirs4 ,after all his talents have been described1 there remains that perfect propriety which animated all the details of the action or speech with the character of the whole1 so that his beauties of detail are endless4 ,he seemed born for the bar1 born for the senate1 and took very naturally a leading part in large private and in public affairs2 for his head distributed things in their right places1 and what he saw so well he compelled other people to see also4 ,great is the privilege of eloquence4 ,what gratitude does every man feel to him who speaks well for the right1--who translates truth into language entirely plain and clear6 ,the history of this country has given a disastrous importance to the defects of this great man's mind4 ,whether evil influences and the corruption of politics1 or whether original infirmity1 it was the misfortune of his country that with this large understanding he had not what is better than intellect1 and the source of its health4 ,it is a law of our nature that great thoughts come from the heart4 ,if his moral sensibility had been proportioned to the force of his understanding1 what limits could have been set to his genius and beneficent power8 ,but he wanted that deep source of inspiration4 ,hence a sterility of thought1 the want of generalization in his speeches1 and the curious fact that1 with a general ability which impresses all the world1 there is not a single general remark1 not an observation on life and manners1 not an aphorism that can pass into literature from his writings4 ,four years ago to-night1 on one of those high critical moments in history when great issues are determined1 when the powers of right and wrong are mustered for conflict1 and it lies with one man to give a casting vote1--,mr4 ,webster1 most unexpectedly1 threw his whole weight on the side of ,slavery1 and caused by his personal and official authority the passage of the ,fugitive ,slave ,bill4 ,it is remarked of the ,americans that they value dexterity too much1 and honor too little2 that they think they praise a man more by saying that he is 8smart0 than by saying that he is right4 ,whether the defect be national or not1 it is the defect and calamity of ,mr4 ,webster2 and it is so far true of his countrymen1 namely1 that the appeal is sure to be made to his physical and mental ability when his character is assailed4 ,his speeches on the seventh of ,march1 and at ,albany1 at ,buffalo1 at ,syracuse and ,boston are cited in justification4 ,and ,mr4 ,webster's literary editor believes that it was his wish to rest his fame on the speech of the seventh of ,march4 ,now1 though ,i have my own opinions on this seventh of ,march discourse and those others1 and think them very transparent and very open to criticism1--yet the secondary merits of a speech1 namely1 its logic1 its illustrations1 its points1 etc41 are not here in question4 ,nobody doubts that ,daniel ,webster could make a good speech4 ,nobody doubts that there were good and plausible things to be said on the part of the ,south4 ,but this is not a question of ingenuity1 not a question of syllogisms1 but of sides4 ,how came he there8#ach ,there are always texts and thoughts and arguments4 ,but it is the genius and temper of the man which decides whether he will stand for right or for might4 ,who doubts the power of any fluent debater to defend either of our political parties1 or any client in our courts8 ,there was the same law in ,england for ,jeffries and ,talbot and ,yorke to read slavery out of1 and for ,lord ,mansfield to read freedom4 ,and in this country one sees that there is always margin enough in the statute for a liberal judge to read one way and a servile judge another4 ,but the question which ,history will ask is broader4 ,in the final hour1 when he was forced by the peremptory necessity of the closing armies to take a side1--did he take the part of great principles1 the side of humanity and justice1 or the side of abuse and oppression and chaos8 ,mr4 ,webster decided for ,slavery1 and that1 when the aspect of the institution was no longer doubtful1 no longer feeble and apologetic and proposing soon to end itself1 but when it was strong1 aggressive1 and threatening an illimitable increase4 ,he listened to ,state reasons and hopes1 and left1 with much complacency we are told1 the testament of his speech to the astonished ,state of ,massachusetts1 vera pro gratis2 a ghastly result of all those years of experience in affairs1 this1 that there was nothing better for the foremost ,american man to tell his countrymen than that ,slavery was now at that strength that they must beat down their conscience and become kidnappers for it4 ,this was like the doleful speech falsely ascribed to the patriot ,brutus3 8,virtue1 ,i have followed thee through life1 and ,i find thee but a shadow40#aci ,here was a question of an immoral law2 a question agitated for ages1 and settled always in the same way by every great jurist1 that an immoral law cannot be valid4 ,cicero1 ,grotius1 ,coke1 ,blackstone1 ,burlamaqui1 ,vattel1 ,burke1 ,jefferson1 do all affirm this1 and ,i cite them1 not that they can give evidence to what is indisputable1 but because1 though lawyers and practical statesmen1 the habit of their profession did not hide from them that this truth was the foundation of ,states4 ,here was the question1 ,are you for man and for the good of man2 or are you for the hurt and harm of man8 ,it was the question whether man shall be treated as leather8 whether the ,negro shall be1 as the ,indians were in ,spanish ,america1 a piece of money8 ,whether this system1 which is a kind of mill or factory for converting men into monkeys1 shall be upheld and enlarged8 ,and ,mr4 ,webster and the country went for the application to these poor men of quadruped law4 ,people were expecting a totally different course from ,mr4 ,webster4 ,if any man had in that hour possessed the weight with the country which he had acquired1 he could have brought the whole country to its senses4 ,but not a moment's pause was allowed4 ,angry parties went from bad to worse1 and the decision of ,webster was accompanied with everything offensive to freedom and good morals4 ,there was something like an attempt to debauch the moral sentiment of the clergy and of the youth4 ,burke said he 8would pardon something to the spirit of liberty40 ,but by ,mr4 ,webster the opposition to the law was sharply called treason1 and prosecuted so4 ,he told the people at ,boston 8they must conquer their prejudices20 that 8agitation of the subject of ,slavery must be suppressed40 ,he did as immoral men usually do1 made very low bows to the ,christian ,church1 and went through all the ,sunday decorums2 but when allusion was made to the question of duty and the sanctions of morality1 he very frankly said1 at ,albany1 8,some higher law1 something existing somewhere between here and the third heaven1--,i do not know where40 ,and if the reporters say true1 this wretched atheism found some laughter in the company4 ,i said ,i had never in my life up to this time suffered from the ,slave ,institution4 ,slavery in ,virginia or ,carolina was like ,slavery in ,africa or the ,feejees1 for me4 ,there was an old fugitive law1 but it had become1 or was fast becoming1 a dead letter1 and1 by the genius and laws of ,massachusetts1 inoperative4 ,the new ,bill made it operative1 required me to hunt slaves1 and it found citizens in ,massachusetts willing to act as judges and captors4 ,moreover1 it discloses the secret of the new times1 that ,slavery was no longer mendicant1 but was become aggressive and dangerous4 ,the way in which the country was dragged to consent to this1 and the disastrous defection 7on the miserable cry of ,union7 of the men of letters1 of the colleges1 of educated men1 nay1 of some preachers of religion1--was the darkest passage in the history4 ,it showed that our prosperity had hurt us1 and that we could not be shocked by crime4 ,it showed that the old religion and the sense of the right had faded and gone out2 that while we reckoned ourselves a highly cultivated nation1 our bellies had run away with our brains1 and the principles of culture and progress did not exist4 ,for ,i suppose that liberty is an accurate index1 in men and nations1 of general progress4 ,the theory of personal liberty must always appeal to the most refined communities and to the men of the rarest perception and of delicate moral sense4 ,for there are rights which rest on the finest sense of justice1 and1 with every degree of civility1 it will be more truly felt and defined4 ,a barbarous tribe of good stock will1 by means of their best heads1 secure substantial liberty4 ,but where there is any weakness in a race1 and it becomes in a degree matter of concession and protection from their stronger neighbors1 the incompatibility and offensiveness of the wrong will of course be most evident to the most cultivated4 ,for it is1--is it not8--the essence of courtesy1 of politeness1 of religion1 of love1 to prefer another1 to postpone oneself1 to protect another from oneself4 ,that is the distinction of the gentleman1 to defend the weak and redress the injured1 as it is of the savage and the brutal to usurp and use others4 ,in ,massachusetts1 as we all know1 there has always existed a predominant conservative spirit4 ,we have more money and value of every kind than other people1 and wish to keep them4 ,the plea on which freedom was resisted was ,union4 ,i went to certain serious men1 who had a little more reason than the rest1 and inquired why they took this part8 ,they answered that they had no confidence in their strength to resist the ,democratic party2 that they saw plainly that all was going to the utmost verge of licence2 each was vying with his neighbor to lead the party1 by proposing the worst measure1 and they threw themselves on the extreme conservatism1 as a drag on the wheel3 that they knew ,cuba would be had1 and ,mexico would be had1 and they stood stiffly on conservatism1 and as near to monarchy as they could1 only to moderate the velocity with which the car was running down the precipice4 ,in short1 their theory was despair2 the ,whig wisdom was only reprieve1 a waiting to be last devoured4 ,they side with ,carolina1 or with ,arkansas1 only to make a show of ,whig strength1 wherewith to resist a little longer this general ruin4 ,i have a respect for conservatism4 ,i know how deeply founded it is in our nature1 and how idle are all attempts to shake ourselves free from it4 ,we are all conservatives1 half ,whig1 half ,democrat1 in our essences3 and might as well try to jump out of our skins as to escape from our ,whiggery4 ,there are two forces in ,nature1 by whose antagonism we exist2 the power of ,fate1 ,fortune1 the laws of the world1 the order of things1 or however else we choose to phrase it1 the material necessities1 on the one hand1--and ,will or ,duty or ,freedom on the other4 ,may and ,must1 and the sense of right and duty1 on the one hand1 and the material necessities on the other3 ,may and ,must4 ,in vulgar politics the ,whig goes for what has been1 for the old necessities1--the ,musts4 ,the reformer goes for the ,better1 for the ideal good1 for the ,mays4 ,but each of these parties must of necessity take in1 in some measure1 the principles of the other4 ,each wishes to cover the whole ground2 to hold fast and to advance4 ,only1 one lays the emphasis on keeping1 and the other on advancing4 ,i too think the musts are a safe company to follow1 and even agreeable4 ,but if we are ,whigs1 let us be ,whigs of nature and science1 and so for all the necessities4 ,let us know that1 over and above all the musts of poverty and appetite1 is the instinct of man to rise1 and the instinct to love and help his brother4 ,now1 ,gentlemen1 ,i think we have in this hour instruction again in the simplest lesson4 ,events roll1 millions of men are engaged1 and the result is the enforcing of some of those first commandments which we heard in the nursery4 ,we never get beyond our first lesson1 for1 really1 the world exists1 as ,i understand it1 to teach the science of liberty1 which begins with liberty from fear4 ,the events of this month are teaching one thing plain and clear1 the worthlessness of good tools to bad workmen2 that official papers are of no use2 resolutions of public meetings1 platforms of conventions1 no1 nor laws1 nor constitutions1 any more4 ,these are all declaratory of the will of the moment1 and are passed with more levity and on grounds far less honorable than ordinary business transactions of the street4 ,you relied on the constitution4 ,it has not the word slave in it2 and very good argument has shown that it would not warrant the crimes that are done under it2 that1 with provisions so vague for an object not named1 and which could not be availed of to claim a barrel of sugar or a barrel of corn1 the robbing of a man and of all his posterity is effected4 ,you relied on the ,supreme ,court4 ,the law was right1 excellent law for the lambs4 ,but what if unhappily the judges were chosen from the wolves1 and give to all the law a wolfish interpretation8 ,you relied on the ,missouri ,compromise4 ,that is ridden over4 ,you relied on ,state sovereignty in the ,free ,states to protect their citizens4 ,they are driven with contempt out of the courts and out of the territory of the ,slave ,states1--if they are so happy as to get out with their lives1#adj--;and now you relied on these dismal guaranties infamously made in #ahej2 and1 before the body of ,webster is yet crumbled1 it is found that they have crumbled4 ,this eternal monument of his fame and of the ,union is rotten in four years4 ,they are no guaranty to the free states4 ,they are a guaranty to the slave states that1 as they have hitherto met with no repulse1 they shall meet with none4 ,i fear there is no reliance to be put on any kind or form of covenant1 no1 not on sacred forms1 none on churches1 none on bibles4 ,for one would have said that a ,christian would not keep slaves2--but the ,christians keep slaves4 ,of course they will not dare to read the ,bible8 ,won't they8 ,they quote the ,bible1 quote ,paul1#ada quote ,christ1 to justify slavery4 ,if slavery is good1 then is lying1 theft1 arson1 homicide1 each and all good1 and to be maintained by ,union societies4 ,these things show that no forms1 neither constitutions1 nor laws1 nor covenants1 nor churches1 nor bibles1 are of any use in themselves4 ,the ,devil nestles comfortably into them all4 ,there is no help but in the head and heart and hamstrings of a man4 ,covenants are of no use without honest men to keep them2 laws of none but with loyal citizens to obey them4 ,to interpret ,christ it needs ,christ in the heart4 ,the teachings of the ,spirit can be apprehended only by the same spirit that gave them forth4 ,to make good the cause of ,freedom1 you must draw off from all foolish trust in others4 ,you must be citadels and warriors yourselves1 declarations of ,independence1 the charter1 the battle and the victory4 ,cromwell said1 8,we can only resist the superior training of the ,king's soldiers1 by enlisting godly men40 ,and no man has a right to hope that the laws of ,new ,york will defend him from the contamination of slaves another day until he has made up his mind that he will not owe his protection to the laws of ,new ,york1 but to his own sense and spirit4 ,then he protects ,new ,york4 ,he only who is able to stand alone is qualified for society4 ,and that ,i understand to be the end for which a soul exists in this world1--to be himself the counterbalance of all falsehood and all wrong4 8,the army of unright is encamped from pole to pole1 but the road of victory is known to the just40 ,everything may be taken away2 he may be poor1 he may be houseless1 yet he will know out of his arms to make a pillow1 and out of his breast a bolster4 ,why have the minority no influence8 ,because they have not a real minority of one4#adb ,i conceive that thus to detach a man and make him feel that he is to owe all to himself1 is the way to make him strong and rich2 and here the optimist must find1 if anywhere1 the benefit of ,slavery4 ,we have many teachers2 we are in this world for culture1 to be instructed in realities1 in the laws of moral and intelligent nature2 and our education is not conducted by toys and luxuries1 but by austere and rugged masters1 by poverty1 solitude1 passions1 ,war1 ,slavery2 to know that ,paradise is under the shadow of swords2#adc that divine sentiments which are always soliciting us are breathed into us from on high1 and are an offset to a ,universe of suffering and crime2 that self-reliance1 the height and perfection of man1 is reliance on ,god4#add ,the insight of the religious sentiment will disclose to him unexpected aids in the nature of things4 ,the ,persian ,saadi said1 8,beware of hurting the orphan4 ,when the orphan sets a-crying1 the throne of the ,almighty is rocked from side to side40 ,whenever a man has come to this mind1 that there is no ,church for him but his believing prayer2 no ,constitution but his dealing well and justly with his neighbor2 no liberty but his invincible will to do right1--then certain aids and allies will promptly appear3 for the constitution of the ,universe is on his side4 ,it is of no use to vote down gravitation of morals4 ,what is useful will last1 whilst that which is hurtful to the world will sink beneath all the opposing forces which it must exasperate4 ,the terror which the ,marseillaise struck into oppression1 it thunders again to-day1-- 8,tout est soldat pour vous combattre40 ,everything turns soldier to fight you down4 ,the end for which man was made is not crime in any form1 and a man cannot steal without incurring the penalties of the thief1 though all the legislatures vote that it is virtuous1 and though there be a general conspiracy among scholars and official persons to hold him up1 and to say1 8,nothing is good but stealing40 ,a man who commits a crime defeats the end of his existence4 ,he was created for benefit1 and he exists for harm2 and as well-doing makes power and wisdom1 ill-doing takes them away4 ,a man who steals another man's labor steals away his own faculties2 his integrity1 his humanity is flowing away from him4 ,the habit of oppression cuts out the moral eyes1 and1 though the intellect goes on simulating the moral as before1 its sanity is gradually destroyed4 ,it takes away the presentiments4 ,i suppose in general this is allowed1 that if you have a nice question of right and wrong1 you would not go with it to ,louis ,napoleon1 or to a political hack1 or to a slave-driver4 ,the habit of mind of traders in power would not be esteemed favorable to delicate moral perception4 ,american slavery affords no exception to this rule4 ,no excess of good nature or of tenderness in individuals has been able to give a new character to the system1 to tear down the whipping-house4 ,the plea in the mouth of a slave-holder that the negro is an inferior race sounds very oddly in my ear4 8,the masters of slaves seem generally anxious to prove that they are not of a race superior in any noble quality to the meanest of their bondmen40 ,and indeed when the ,southerner points to the anatomy of the negro1 and talks of chimpanzee1--,i recall ,montesquieu's remark1 8,it will not do to say that negroes are men1 lest it should turn out that whites are not40 ,slavery is disheartening2 but ,nature is not so helpless but it can rid itself at last of every wrong4#ade ,but the spasms of ,nature are centuries and ages1 and will tax the faith of short-lived men4 ,slowly1 slowly the ,avenger comes1 but comes surely4 ,the proverbs of the nations affirm these delays1 but affirm the arrival4 ,they say1 8,god may consent1 but not forever40 ,the delay of the ,divine ,justice--this was the meaning and soul of the ,greek ,tragedy2 this the soul of their religion4 8,there has come1 too1 one to whom lurking warfare is dear1 ,retribution1 with a soul full of wiles2 a violator of hospitality2 guileful without the guilt of guile2 limping1 late in her arrival40 ,they said of the happiness of the unjust1 that 8at its close it begets itself an offspring and does not die childless1 and instead of good fortune1 there sprouts forth for posterity ever-ravening calamity30-- 8,for evil word shall evil word be said1 ,for murder-stroke a murder-stroke be paid4 ,who smites must smart40 ,these delays1 you see them now in the temper of the times4 ,the national spirit in this country is so drowsy1 preoccupied with interest1 deaf to principle4 ,the ,anglo-,saxon race is proud and strong and selfish4 ,they believe only in ,anglo-,saxons4 ,in #ahbe ,greece found ,america deaf1 ,poland found ,america deaf1 ,italy and ,hungary found her deaf4 ,england maintains trade1 not liberty2 stands against ,greece2 against ,hungary2 against ,schleswig-,holstein2 against the ,french ,republic whilst it was a republic4 ,to faint hearts the times offer no invitation1 and torpor exists here throughout the active classes on the subject of domestic slavery and its appalling aggressions4 ,yes1 that is the stern edict of ,providence1 that liberty shall be no hasty fruit1 but that event on event1 population on population1 age on age1 shall cast itself into the opposite scale1 and not until liberty has slowly accumulated weight enough to countervail and preponderate against all this1 can the sufficient recoil come4 ,all the great cities1 all the refined circles1 all the statesmen1 ,guizot1 ,palmerston1 ,webster1 ,calhoun1 are sure to be found befriending liberty with their words1 and crushing it with their votes4 ,liberty is never cheap4 ,it is made difficult1 because freedom is the accomplishment and perfectness of man4 ,he is a finished man2#adf earning and bestowing good2 equal to the world2 at home in ,nature and dignifying that2 the sun does not see anything nobler1 and has nothing to teach him4 ,therefore mountains of difficulty must be surmounted1 stern trials met1 wiles of seduction1 dangers1 healed by a quarantine of calamities to measure his strength before he dare say1 ,i am free4 ,whilst the inconsistency of slavery with the principles on which the world is built guarantees its downfall1 ,i own that the patience it requires is almost too sublime for mortals1 and seems to demand of us more than mere hoping4 ,and when one sees how fast the rot spreads1--it is growing serious1--,i think we demand of superior men that they be superior in this1--that the mind and the virtue shall give their verdict in their day1 and accelerate so far the progress of civilization4 ,possession is sure to throw its stupid strength for existing power1 and appetite and ambition will go for that4 ,let the aid of virtue1 intelligence and education be cast where they rightfully belong4 ,they are organically ours4 ,let them be loyal to their own4 ,i wish to see the instructed class here know their own flag1 and not fire on their comrades4 ,we should not forgive the clergy for taking on every issue the immoral side2 nor the ,bench1 if it put itself on the side of the culprit2 nor the ,government1 if it sustain the mob against the laws4#adg ,it is a potent support and ally to a brave man standing single1 or with a few1 for the right1 and out-voted and ostracized1 to know that better men in other parts of the country appreciate the service and will rightly report him to his own and the next age4 ,without this assurance1 he will sooner sink4 ,he may well say1 #8,if my countrymen do not care to be defended1 ,i too will decline the controversy1 from which ,i only reap invectives and hatred4' ,yet the lovers of liberty may with reason tax the coldness and indifferentism of scholars and literary men4 ,they are lovers of liberty in ,greece and ,rome and in the ,english ,commonwealth1 but they are lukewarm lovers of the liberty of ,america in #ahed4 ,the universities are not1 as in ,hobbes's time1 8the core of rebellion10 no1 but the seat of inertness4 ,they have forgotten their allegiance to the ,muse1 and grown worldly and political4 ,i listened1 lately1 on one of those occasions when the university chooses one of its distinguished sons returning from the political arena1 believing that senators and statesmen would be glad to throw off the harness and to dip again in the ,castalian pools4 ,but if audiences forget themselves1 statesmen do not4 ,the low bows to all the crockery gods of the day were duly made3--only in one part of the discourse the orator allowed to transpire1 rather against his will1 a little sober sense4#adh ,it was this3 #8,i am1 as you see1 a man virtuously inclined1 and only corrupted by my profession of politics4 ,i should prefer the right side4 ,you1 gentlemen of these literary and scientific schools1 and the important class you represent1 have the power to make your verdict clear and prevailing4 ,had you done so1 you would have found me its glad organ and champion4 ,abstractly1 ,i should have preferred that side4 ,but you have not done it4 ,you have not spoken out4 ,you have failed to arm me4 ,i can only deal with masses as ,i find them4 ,abstractions are not for me4 ,i go then for such parties and opinions as have provided me with a working apparatus4 ,i give you my word1 not without regret1 that ,i was first for you2 and though ,i am now to deny and condemn you1 you see it is not my will but the party necessity4' ,having made this manifesto and professed his adoration for liberty in the time of his grandfathers1 he proceeded with his work of denouncing freedom and freemen at the present day1 much in the tone and spirit in which ,lord ,bacon prosecuted his benefactor ,essex4 ,he denounced every name and aspect under which liberty and progress dare show themselves in this age and country1 but with a lingering conscience which qualified each sentence with a recommendation to mercy4 ,but ,i put it to every noble and generous spirit1 to every poetic1 every heroic1 every religious heart1 that not so is our learning1 our education1 our poetry1 our worship to be declared4 ,liberty is aggressive1 ,liberty is the ,crusade of all brave and conscientious men1 the ,epic ,poetry1 the new religion1 the chivalry of all gentlemen4 ,this is the oppressed ,lady whom true knights on their oath and honor must rescue and save4 ,now at last we are disenchanted and shall have no more false hopes4 ,i respect the ,anti-,slavery ,society4 ,it is the ,cassandra that has foretold all that has befallen1 fact for fact1 years ago2 foretold all1 and no man laid it to heart4 ,it seemed1 as the ,turks say1 8,fate makes that a man should not believe his own eyes40 ,but the ,fugitive ,law did much to unglue the eyes of men1 and now the ,nebraska ,bill leaves us staring4 ,the ,anti-,slavery ,society will add many members this year4 ,the ,whig ,party will join it2 the ,democrats will join it4 ,the population of the free states will join it4 ,i doubt not1 at last1 the slave states will join it4 ,but be that sooner or later1 and whoever comes or stays away1 ,i hope we have reached the end of our unbelief1 have come to a belief that there is a divine ,providence in the world1 which will not save us but through our own coperation4 ,,viii ,,the ,,assault ,,upon ,,mr4 ,,sumner ,,speech ,,at ,a ,,meeting ,,of ,,the ,,citizens ,,in ,,the ,,town ,,hall1 ,,in ,,concord1 ,,may #bf1 #ahef ,his erring foe1 ,self-assured that he prevails1 ,looks from his victim lying low1 ,and sees aloft the red right arm ,redress the eternal scales4 ,,the ,,assault ,,upon ,,mr4 ,,sumner ,,mr4 ,,chairman3 ,i sympathize heartily with the spirit of the resolutions4 ,the events of the last few years and months and days have taught us the lessons of centuries4 ,i do not see how a barbarous community and a civilized community can constitute one state4 ,i think we must get rid of slavery1 or we must get rid of freedom4 ,life has not parity of value in the free state and in the slave state4 ,in one1 it is adorned with education1 with skilful labor1 with arts1 with long prospective interests1 with sacred family ties1 with honor and justice4 ,in the other1 life is a fever2 man is an animal1 given to pleasure1 frivolous1 irritable1 spending his days in hunting and practising with deadly weapons to defend himself against his slaves and against his companions brought up in the same idle and dangerous way4 ,such people live for the moment1 they have properly no future1 and readily risk on every passion a life which is of small value to themselves or to others4 ,many years ago1 when ,mr4 ,webster was challenged in ,washington to a duel by one of these madcaps1 his friends came forward with prompt good sense and said such a thing was not to be thought of2 ,mr4 ,webster's life was the property of his friends and of the whole country1 and was not to be risked on the turn of a vagabond's ball4 ,life and life are incommensurate4 ,the whole state of ,south ,carolina does not now offer one or any number of persons who are to be weighed for a moment in the scale with such a person as the meanest of them all has now struck down4 ,the very conditions of the game must always be1--the worst life staked against the best4 ,it is the best whom they desire to kill4 ,it is only when they cannot answer your reasons1 that they wish to knock you down4 ,if1 therefore1 ,massachusetts could send to the ,senate a better man than ,mr4 ,sumner1 his death would be only so much the more quick and certain4 ,now1 as men's bodily strength1 or skill with knives and guns1 is not usually in proportion to their knowledge and mother-wit1 but oftener in the inverse ratio1 it will only do to send foolish persons to ,washington1 if you wish them to be safe4 ,the outrage is the more shocking from the singularly pure character of its victim4 ,mr4 ,sumner's position is exceptional in its honor4 ,he had not taken his degrees in the caucus and in hack politics4 ,it is notorious that1 in the long time when his election was pending1 he refused to take a single step to secure it4 ,he would not so much as go up to the state house to shake hands with this or that person whose good will was reckoned important by his friends4 ,he was elected4 ,it was a homage to character and talent4 ,in ,congress1 he did not rush into party position4 ,he sat long silent and studious4 ,his friends1 ,i remember1 were told that they would find ,sumner a man of the world like the rest2 #8'tis quite impossible to be at ,washington and not bend2 he will bend as the rest have done4' ,well1 he did not bend4 ,he took his position and kept it4 ,he meekly bore the cold shoulder from some of his ,new ,england colleagues1 the hatred of his enemies1 the pity of the indifferent1 cheered by the love and respect of good men with whom he acted2 and has stood for the ,north1 a little in advance of all the ,north1 and therefore without adequate support4 ,he has never faltered in his maintenance of justice and freedom4 ,he has gone beyond the large expectation of his friends in his increasing ability and his manlier tone4 ,i have heard that some of his political friends tax him with indolence or negligence in refusing to make electioneering speeches1 or otherwise to bear his part in the labor which party organization requires4 ,i say it to his honor4 ,but more to his honor are the faults which his enemies lay to his charge4 ,i think1 sir1 if ,mr4 ,sumner had any vices1 we should be likely to hear of them4 ,they have fastened their eyes like microscopes for five years on every act1 word1 manner and movement1 to find a flaw1--and with what result8 ,his opponents accuse him neither of drunkenness nor debauchery1 nor job1 nor speculation1 nor rapacity1 nor personal aims of any kind4 ,no2 but with what8 ,why1 beyond this charge1 which it is impossible was ever sincerely made1 that he broke over the proprieties of debate1 ,i find him accused of publishing his opinion of the ,nebraska conspiracy in a letter to the people of the ,united ,states1 with discourtesy4 ,then1 that he is an abolitionist2 as if every sane human being were not an abolitionist1 or a believer that all men should be free4 ,and the third crime he stands charged with1 is1 that his speeches were written before they were spoken2 which1 of course1 must be true in ,sumner's case1 as it was true of ,webster1 of ,adams1 of ,calhoun1 of ,burke1 of ,chatham1 of ,demosthenes2 of every first-rate speaker that ever lived4 ,it is the high compliment he pays to the intelligence of the ,senate and of the country4 ,when the same reproach was cast on the first orator of ancient times by some caviller of his day1 he said1 8,i should be ashamed to come with one unconsidered word before such an assembly40 ,mr4 ,chairman1 when ,i think of these most small faults as the worst which party hatred could allege1 ,i think ,i may borrow the language which ,bishop ,burnet applied to ,sir ,isaac ,newton1 and say that ,charles ,sumner 8has the whitest soul ,i ever knew40 ,well1 sir1 this noble head1 so comely and so wise1 must be the target for a pair of bullies to beat with clubs4 ,the murderer's brand shall stamp their foreheads wherever they may wander in the earth4 ,but ,i wish1 sir1 that the high respects of this meeting shall be expressed to ,mr4 ,sumner2 that a copy of the resolutions that have been read may be forwarded to him4 ,i wish that he may know the shudder of terror which ran through all this community on the first tidings of this brutal attack4 ,let him hear that every man of worth in ,new ,england loves his virtues2 that every mother thinks of him as the protector of families2 that every friend of freedom thinks him the friend of freedom4 ,and if our arms at this distance cannot defend him from assassins1 we confide the defence of a life so precious to all honorable men and true patriots1 and to the ,almighty ,maker of men4#adi ,,ix ,,speech ,,at ,,the ,,kansas ,,relief ,,meeting ,,in ,,cambridge ,,wednesday ,,evening1 ,,september #aj1 #ahef ,and ye shall succor men2 ',tis nobleness to serve2 ,help them who cannot help again3 ,beware from right to swerve4 ,,speech ,,on ,,affairs ,,in ,,kansas ,i regret1 with all this company1 the absence of ,mr4 ,whitman of ,kansas1 whose narrative was to constitute the interest of this meeting4 ,mr4 ,whitman is not here2 but knowing1 as we all do1 why he is not1 what duties kept him at home1 he is more than present4 ,his vacant chair speaks for him4 ,for quite other reasons1 ,i had been wiser to have stayed at home1 unskilled as ,i am to address a political meeting1 but it is impossible for the most recluse to extricate himself from the questions of the times4 ,there is this peculiarity about the case of ,kansas1 that all the right is on one side4 ,we hear the screams of hunted wives and children answered by the howl of the butchers4 ,the testimony of the telegraphs from ,st4 ,louis and the border confirm the worst details4 ,the printed letters of border ruffians avow the facts4 ,when pressed to look at the cause of the mischief in the ,kansas laws1 the ,president falters and declines the discussion2 but his supporters in the ,senate1 ,mr4 ,cass1 ,mr4 ,geyer1 ,mr4 ,hunter1 speak out1 and declare the intolerable atrocity of the code4 ,it is a maxim that all party spirit produces the incapacity to receive natural impressions from facts2 and our recent political history has abundantly borne out the maxim4 ,but these details that have come from ,kansas are so horrible1 that the hostile press have but one word in reply1 namely1 that it is all exaggeration1 'tis an ,abolition lie4 ,do the ,committee of ,investigation say that the outrages have been overstated8 ,does their dismal catalogue of private tragedies show it8 ,do the private letters8 ,is it an exaggeration1 that ,mr4 ,hopps of ,somerville1 ,mr4 ,hoyt of ,deerfield1 ,mr4 ,jennison of ,groton1 ,mr4 ,phillips of ,berkshire1 have been murdered8 ,that ,mr4 ,robinson of ,fitchburg has been imprisoned8 ,rev4 ,mr4 ,nute of ,springfield seized1 and up to this time we have no tidings of his fate8 ,in these calamities under which they suffer1 and the worst which threaten them1 the people of ,kansas ask for bread1 clothes1 arms and men1 to save them alive1 and enable them to stand against these enemies of the human race4 ,they have a right to be helped1 for they have helped themselves4 ,this aid must be sent1 and this is not to be doled out as an ordinary charity2 but bestowed up to the magnitude of the want1 and1 as has been elsewhere said1 8on the scale of a national action40 ,i think we are to give largely1 lavishly1 to these men4 ,and we must prepare to do it4 ,we must learn to do with less1 live in a smaller tenement1 sell our apple-trees1 our acres1 our pleasant houses4 ,i know people who are making haste to reduce their expenses and pay their debts1 not with a view to new accumulations1 but in preparation to save and earn for the benefit of the ,kansas emigrants4 ,we must have aid from individuals1--we must also have aid from the state4 ,i know that the last legislature refused that aid4 ,i know that lawyers hesitate on technical grounds1 and wonder what method of relief the legislature will apply4 ,but ,i submit that1 in a case like this1 where citizens of ,massachusetts1 legal voters here1 have emigrated to national territory under the sanction of every law1 and are then set on by highwaymen1 driven from their new homes1 pillaged1 and numbers of them killed and scalped1 and the whole world knows that this is no accidental brawl1 but a systematic war to the knife1 and in defiance of all laws and liberties1--,i submit that the governor and legislature should neither slumber nor sleep till they have found out how to send effectual aid and comfort to these poor farmers1 or else should resign their seats to those who can4 ,but first let them hang the halls of the state-house with black crape1 and order funeral service to be said for the citizens whom they were unable to defend4 ,we stick at the technical difficulties4 ,i think there never was a people so choked and stultified by forms4 ,we adore the forms of law1 instead of making them vehicles of wisdom and justice4 ,i like the primary assembly4 ,i own ,i have little esteem for governments4 ,i esteem them only good in the moment when they are established4 ,i set the private man first4 ,he only who is able to stand alone is qualified to be a citizen4 ,next to the private man1 ,i value the primary assembly1 met to watch the government and to correct it4 ,that is the theory of the ,american ,state1 that it exists to execute the will of the citizens1 is always responsible to them1 and is always to be changed when it does not4 ,first1 the private citizen1 then the primary assembly1 and the government last4 ,in this country for the last few years the government has been the chief obstruction to the common weal4 ,who doubts that ,kansas would have been very well settled1 if the ,united ,states had let it alone8 ,the government armed and led the ruffians against the poor farmers4 ,i do not know any story so gloomy as the politics of this country for the last twenty years1 centralizing ever more manifestly round one spring1 and that a vast crime1 and ever more plainly1 until it is notorious that all promotion1 power and policy are dictated from one source1--illustrating the fatal effects of a false position to demoralize legislation and put the best people always at a disadvantage2--one crime always present1 always to be varnished over1 to find fine names for2 and we free statesmen1 as accomplices to the guilt1 ever in the power of the grand offender4 ,language has lost its meaning in the universal cant4 ,representative ,government is really misrepresentative2 ,union is a conspiracy against the ,northern ,states which the ,northern ,states are to have the privilege of paying for2 the adding of ,cuba and ,central ,america to the slave marts is enlarging the area of ,freedom4 ,manifest ,destiny1 ,democracy1 ,freedom1 fine names for an ugly thing4 ,they call it otto of rose and lavender1--,i call it bilge-water4 ,they call it ,chivalry and ,freedom2 ,i call it the stealing all the earnings of a poor man and the earnings of his little girl and boy1 and the earnings of all that shall come from him1 his children's children forever4 ,but this is ,union1 and this is ,democracy2 and our poor people1 led by the nose by these fine words1 dance and sing1 ring bells and fire cannon1 with every new link of the chain which is forged for their limbs by the plotters in the ,capitol4 ,what are the results of law and union8 ,there is no ,union4 ,can any citizen of ,massachusetts travel in honor through ,kentucky and ,alabama and speak his mind8 ,or can any citizen of the ,southern country who happens to think kidnapping a bad thing1 say so8 ,let ,mr4 ,underwood of ,virginia answer4 ,is it to be supposed that there are no men in ,carolina who dissent from the popular sentiment now reigning there8 ,it must happen1 in the variety of human opinions1 that there are dissenters4 ,they are silent as the grave4 ,are there no women in that country1--women1 who always carry the conscience of a people8 ,yet we have not heard one discordant whisper4 ,in the free states1 we give a snivelling support to slavery4 ,the judges give cowardly interpretations to the law1 in direct opposition to the known foundation of all law1 that every immoral statute is void4 ,and here of ,kansas1 the ,president says3 8,let the complainants go to the courts20 though he knows that when the poor plundered farmer comes to the court1 he finds the ringleader who has robbed him dismounting from his own horse1 and unbuckling his knife to sit as his judge4 ,the ,president told the ,kansas ,committee that the whole difficulty grew from 8the factious spirit of the ,kansas people respecting institutions which they need not have concerned themselves about40 ,a very remarkable speech from a ,democratic ,president to his fellow citizens1 that they are not to concern themselves with institutions which they alone are to create and determine4 ,the ,president is a lawyer1 and should know the statutes of the land4 ,but ,i borrow the language of an eminent man1 used long since1 with far less occasion3 8,if that be law1 let the ploughshare be run under the foundations of the ,capitol20--and if that be ,government1 extirpation is the only cure4 ,i am glad to see that the terror at disunion and anarchy is disappearing4 ,massachusetts1 in its heroic day1 had no government--was an anarchy4 ,every man stood on his own feet1 was his own governor2 and there was no breach of peace from ,cape ,cod to ,mount ,hoosac4 ,california1 a few years ago1 by the testimony of all people at that time in the country1 had the best government that ever existed4 ,pans of gold lay drying outside of every man's tent1 in perfect security4 ,the land was measured into little strips of a few feet wide1 all side by side4 ,a bit of ground that your hand could cover was worth one or two hundred dollars1 on the edge of your strip2 and there was no dispute4 ,every man throughout the country was armed with knife and revolver1 and it was known that instant justice would be administered to each offence1 and perfect peace reigned4 ,for the ,saxon man1 when he is well awake1 is not a pirate but a citizen1 all made of hooks and eyes1 and links himself naturally to his brothers1 as bees hook themselves to one another and to their queen in a loyal swarm4 ,but the hour is coming when the strongest will not be strong enough4 ,a harder task will the new revolution of the nineteenth century be than was the revolution of the eighteenth century4 ,i think the ,american ,revolution bought its glory cheap4 ,if the problem was new1 it was simple4 ,if there were few people1 they were united1 and the enemy three thousand miles off4 ,but now1 vast property1 gigantic interests1 family connections1 webs of party1 cover the land with a network that immensely multiplies the dangers of war4#aej ,fellow citizens1 in these times full of the fate of the ,republic1 ,i think the towns should hold town meetings1 and resolve themselves into ,committees of ,safety1 go into permanent sessions1 adjourning from week to week1 from month to month4 ,i wish we could send the sergeant-at-arms to stop every ,american who is about to leave the country4 ,send home every one who is abroad1 lest they should find no country to return to4 ,come home and stay at home1 while there is a country to save4 ,when it is lost it will be time enough then for any who are luckless enough to remain alive to gather up their clothes and depart to some land where freedom exists4 ,x ,,remarks ,,at ,a ,,meeting ,,for ,,the ,,relief ,,of ,,the ,,family ,,of ,,john ,,brown1 ,,at ,,tremont ,,temple1 ,,boston ,,november #ah1 #ahei 8,john ,brown in ,kansas settled1 like a steadfast ,yankee farmer1 ,brave and godly1 with four sons--all stalwart men of might4 ,there he spoke aloud for ,freedom1 and the ,border strife grew warmer ,till the ,rangers fired his dwelling1 in his absence1 in the night2 ,and ,old ,brown1 ,osawatomie ,brown1 ,came homeward in the morning to find his house burned down4 ,then he grasped his trusty rifle1 and boldly fought for ,freedom2 ,smote from border unto border the fierce invading band3 ,and he and his brave boys vowed--so might ,heaven help and speed 'em-- ,they would save those grand old prairies from the curse that blights the land2 ,and ,old ,brown1 ,osawatomie ,brown1 ,said1 #8,boys1 the ,lord will aid us6' and he shoved his ramrod down40 ,,edmund ,,clarence ,,stedman1 ,john ,brown4 ,,john ,,brown ,,mr4 ,,chairman1 ,,and ,,fellow ,,citizens3 ,i share the sympathy and sorrow which have brought us together4 ,gentlemen who have preceded me have well said that no wall of separation could here exist4 ,this commanding event which has brought us together1 eclipses all others which have occurred for a long time in our history1 and ,i am very glad to see that this sudden interest in the hero of ,harper's ,ferry has provoked an extreme curiosity in all parts of the ,republic1 in regard to the details of his history4 ,every anecdote is eagerly sought1 and ,i do not wonder that gentlemen find traits of relation readily between him and themselves4 ,one finds a relation in the church1 another in the profession1 another in the place of his birth4 ,he was happily a representative of the ,american ,republic4 ,captain ,john ,brown is a farmer1 the fifth in descent from ,peter ,brown1 who came to ,plymouth in the ,mayflower1 in #afbj4 ,all the six have been farmers4 ,his grandfather1 of ,simsbury1 in ,connecticut1 was a captain in the ,revolution4 ,his father1 largely interested as a raiser of stock1 became a contractor to supply the army with beef1 in the war of #ahab1 and our ,captain ,john ,brown1 then a boy1 with his father was present and witnessed the surrender of ,general ,hull4 ,he cherishes a great respect for his father1 as a man of strong character1 and his respect is probably just4 ,for himself1 he is so transparent that all men see him through4 ,he is a man to make friends wherever on earth courage and integrity are esteemed1 the rarest of heroes1 a pure idealist1 with no by-ends of his own4 ,many of you have seen him1 and every one who has heard him speak has been impressed alike by his simple1 artless goodness1 joined with his sublime courage4 ,he joins that perfect ,puritan faith which brought his fifth ancestor to ,plymouth ,rock with his grandfather's ardor in the ,revolution4 ,he believes in two articles1--two instruments1 shall ,i say8--the ,golden ,rule and the ,declaration of ,independence2 and he used this expression in conversation here concerning them1 8,better that a whole generation of men1 women and children should pass away by a violent death than that one word of either should be violated in this country40 ,there is a ,unionist1--there is a strict constructionist for you4 ,he believes in the ,union of the ,states1 and he conceives that the only obstruction to the ,union is ,slavery1 and for that reason1 as a patriot1 he works for its abolition4 ,the governor of ,virginia has pronounced his eulogy in a manner that discredits the moderation of our timid parties4 ,his own speeches to the court have interested the nation in him4 ,what magnanimity1 and what innocent pleading1 as of childhood6 ,you remember his words3 8,if ,i had interfered in behalf of the rich1 the powerful1 the intelligent1 the so-called great1 or any of their friends1 parents1 wives or children1 it would all have been right4 ,but ,i believe that to have interfered as ,i have done1 for the despised poor1 was not wrong1 but right40#aea ,it is easy to see what a favorite he will be with history1 which plays such pranks with temporary reputations4 ,nothing can resist the sympathy which all elevated minds must feel with ,brown1 and through them the whole civilized world2 and if he must suffer1 he must drag official gentlemen into an immortality most undesirable1 of which they have already some disagreeable forebodings4 ,indeed1 it is the reductio ad absurdum of ,slavery1 when the governor of ,virginia is forced to hang a man whom he declares to be a man of the most integrity1 truthfulness and courage he has ever met4 ,is that the kind of man the gallows is built for8 ,it were bold to affirm that there is within that broad commonwealth1 at this moment1 another citizen as worthy to live1 and as deserving of all public and private honor1 as this poor prisoner4#aeb ,but we are here to think of relief for the family of ,john ,brown4 ,to my eyes1 that family looks very large and very needy of relief4 ,it comprises his brave fellow sufferers in the ,charlestown ,jail2 the fugitives still hunted in the mountains of ,virginia and ,pennsylvania2 the sympathizers with him in all the states2 and1 ,i may say1 almost every man who loves the ,golden ,rule and the ,declaration of ,independence1 like him1 and who sees what a tiger's thirst threatens him in the malignity of public sentiment in the slave states4 ,it seems to me that a common feeling joins the people of ,massachusetts with him4 ,i said ,john ,brown was an idealist4 ,he believed in his ideas to that extent that he existed to put them all into action2 he said #8he did not believe in moral suasion1 he believed in putting the thing through4' ,he saw how deceptive the forms are4 ,we fancy1 in ,massachusetts1 that we are free2 yet it seems the government is quite unreliable4 ,great wealth1 great population1 men of talent in the executive1 on the bench1--all the forms right1--and yet1 life and freedom are not safe4 ,why8 ,because the judges rely on the forms1 and do not1 like ,john ,brown1 use their eyes to see the fact behind the forms4 ,they assume that the ,united ,states can protect its witness or its prisoner4 ,and in ,massachusetts that is true1 but the moment he is carried out of the bounds of ,massachusetts1 the ,united ,states1 it is notorious1 afford no protection at all2 the government1 the judges1 are an envenomed party1 and give such protection as they give in ,utah to honest citizens1 or in ,kansas2 such protection as they gave to their own ,commodore ,paulding1 when he was simple enough to mistake the formal instructions of his government for their real meaning4#aec ,the state judges fear collision between their two allegiances2 but there are worse evils than collision2 namely1 the doing substantial injustice4 ,a good man will see that the use of a judge is to secure good government1 and where the citizen's weal is imperilled by abuse of the federal power1 to use that arm which can secure it1 viz41 the local government4 ,had that been done on certain calamitous occasions1 we should not have seen the honor of ,massachusetts trailed in the dust1 stained to all ages1 once and again1 by the ill-timed formalism of a venerable bench4 ,if judges cannot find law enough to maintain the sovereignty of the state1 and to protect the life and freedom of every inhabitant not a criminal1 it is idle to compliment them as learned and venerable4 ,what avails their learning or veneration8 ,at a pinch1 they are no more use than idiots4 ,after the mischance they wring their hands1 but they had better never have been born4#aed ,a ,vermont judge1 ,hutchinson1 who has the ,declaration of ,independence in his heart2 a ,wisconsin judge1 who knows that laws are for the protection of citizens against kidnappers1 is worth a court-house full of lawyers so idolatrous of forms as to let go the substance4 ,is any man in ,massachusetts so simple as to believe that when a ,united ,states ,court in ,virginia1 now1 in its present reign of terror1 sends to ,connecticut1 or ,new ,york1 or ,massachusetts1 for a witness1 it wants him for a witness8 ,no2 it wants him for a party2 it wants him for meat to slaughter and eat4 ,and your habeas corpus is1 in any way in which it has been1 or1 ,i fear1 is likely to be used1 a nuisance1 and not a protection2 for it takes away his right reliance on himself1 and the natural assistance of his friends and fellow citizens1 by offering him a form which is a piece of paper4 ,but ,i am detaining the meeting on matters which others understand better4 ,i hope1 then1 that1 in administering relief to ,john ,brown's family1 we shall remember all those whom his fate concerns1 all who are in sympathy with him1 and not forget to aid him in the best way1 by securing freedom and independence in ,massachusetts4 ,,xi ,,john ,,brown ,,speech ,,at ,,salem1 ,,january #f1 #ahfj 8,a man there came1 whence none could tell1 ,bearing a touchstone in his hand1 ,and tested all things in the land ,by its unerring spell4 ,a thousand transformations rose ,from fair to foul1 from foul to fair3 ,the golden crown he did not spare1 ,nor scorn the beggar's clothes4 444 ,then angrily the people cried1 #8,the loss outweighs the profit far2 ,our goods suffice us as they are3 ,we will not have them tried4' ,and since they could not so avail ,to check his unrelenting quest1 ,they seized him1 saying1 #8,let him test ,how real is our jail6' ,but though they slew him with the sword1 ,and in the fire his touchstone burned1 ,its doings could not be o'erturned1 ,its undoings restored4 ,and when1 to stop all future harm1 ,they strewed its ashes to the breeze1 ,they little guessed each grain of these ,conveyed the perfect charm40 ,,william ,,allingham4 ,,john ,,brown ,,mr4 ,,chairman3 ,i have been struck with one fact1 that the best orators who have added their praise to his fame1--and ,i need not go out of this house to find the purest eloquence in the country1--have one rival who comes off a little better1 and that is ,,john ,,brown4 ,everything that is said of him leaves people a little dissatisfied2 but as soon as they read his own speeches and letters they are heartily contented1--such is the singleness of purpose which justifies him to the head and the heart of all4 ,taught by this experience1 ,i mean1 in the few remarks ,i have to make1 to cling to his history1 or let him speak for himself4 ,john ,brown1 the founder of liberty in ,kansas1 was born in ,torrington1 ,litchfield ,county1 ,connecticut1 in #ahjj4 ,when he was five years old his father emigrated to ,ohio1 and the boy was there set to keep sheep and to look after cattle and dress skins2 he went bareheaded and barefooted1 and clothed in buckskin4 ,he said that he loved rough play1 could never have rough play enough2 could not see a seedy hat without wishing to pull it off4 ,but for this it needed that the playmates should be equal2 not one in fine clothes and the other in buckskin2 not one his own master1 hale and hearty1 and the other watched and whipped4 ,but it chanced that in ,pennsylvania1 where he was sent by his father to collect cattle1 he fell in with a boy whom he heartily liked and whom he looked upon as his superior4 ,this boy was a slave2 he saw him beaten with an iron shovel1 and otherwise maltreated2 he saw that this boy had nothing better to look forward to in life1 whilst he himself was petted and made much of2 for he was much considered in the family where he then stayed1 from the circumstance that this boy of twelve years had conducted alone a drove of cattle a hundred miles4 ,but the colored boy had no friend1 and no future4 ,this worked such indignation in him that he swore an oath of resistance to slavery as long as he lived4 ,and thus his enterprise to go into ,virginia and run off five hundred or a thousand slaves was not a piece of spite or revenge1 a plot of two years or of twenty years1 but the keeping of an oath made to heaven and earth forty-seven years before4 ,forty-seven years at least1 though ,i incline to accept his own account of the matter at ,charlestown1 which makes the date a little older1 when he said1 8,this was all settled millions of years before the world was made40 ,he grew up a religious and manly person1 in severe poverty2 a fair specimen of the best stock of ,new ,england2 having that force of thought and that sense of right which are the warp and woof of greatness4 ,our farmers were ,orthodox ,calvinists1 mighty in the ,scriptures2 had learned that life was a preparation1 a 8probation10 to use their word1 for a higher world1 and was to be spent in loving and serving mankind4#aee ,thus was formed a romantic character absolutely without any vulgar trait2 living to ideal ends1 without any mixture of self-indulgence or compromise1 such as lowers the value of benevolent and thoughtful men we know2 abstemious1 refusing luxuries1 not sourly and reproachfully1 but simply as unfit for his habit2 quiet and gentle as a child in the house4 ,and1 as happens usually to men of romantic character1 his fortunes were romantic4 ,walter ,scott would have delighted to draw his picture and trace his adventurous career4 ,a shepherd and herdsman1 he learned the manners of animals1 and knew the secret signals by which animals communicate4#aef ,he made his hard bed on the mountains with them2 he learned to drive his flock through thickets all but impassable2 he had all the skill of a shepherd by choice of breed and by wise husbandry to obtain the best wool1 and that for a course of years4 ,and the anecdotes preserved show a far-seeing skill and conduct which1 in spite of adverse accidents1 should secure1 one year with another1 an honest reward1 first to the farmer1 and afterwards to the dealer4 ,if he kept sheep1 it was with a royal mind2 and if he traded in wool1 he was a merchant prince1 not in the amount of wealth1 but in the protection of the interests confided to him4 ,i am not a little surprised at the easy effrontery with which political gentlemen1 in and out of ,congress1 take it upon them to say that there are not a thousand men in the ,north who sympathize with ,john ,brown4 ,it would be far safer and nearer the truth to say that all people1 in proportion to their sensibility and self-respect1 sympathize with him4 ,for it is impossible to see courage1 and disinterestedness1 and the love that casts out fear1 without sympathy4 ,all women are drawn to him by their predominance of sentiment4 ,all gentlemen1 of course1 are on his side4 ,i do not mean by 8gentlemen10 people of scented hair and perfumed handkerchiefs1 but men of gentle blood and generosity1 8fulfilled with all nobleness10 who1 like the ,cid1 give the outcast leper a share of their bed2 like the dying ,sidney1 pass the cup of cold water to the dying soldier who needs it more4 ,for what is the oath of gentle blood and knighthood8 ,what but to protect the weak and lowly against the strong oppressor8 ,nothing is more absurd than to complain of this sympathy1 or to complain of a party of men united in opposition to slavery4 ,as well complain of gravity1 or the ebb of the tide4 ,who makes the abolitionist8 ,the slave-holder4 ,the sentiment of mercy is the natural recoil which the laws of the universe provide to protect mankind from destruction by savage passions4 ,and our blind statesmen go up and down1 with committees of vigilance and safety1 hunting for the origin of this new heresy4 ,they will need a very vigilant committee indeed to find its birthplace1 and a very strong force to root it out4 ,for the arch-abolitionist1 older than ,brown1 and older than the ,shenandoah ,mountains1 is ,love1 whose other name is ,justice1 which was before ,alfred1 before ,lycurgus1 before slavery1 and will be after it4#aeg ,,xii ,,theodore ,,parker ,,an ,,address ,,at ,,the ,,memorial ,,meeting ,,at ,,the ,,music ,,hall1 ,,boston1 ,,june #ae1 #ahfj 8,here comes ,parker1 the ,orson of parsons1 a man ,whom the ,church undertook to put under her ban4-- 444 ,there's a background of ,god to each hard-working feature1 ,every word that he speaks has been fierily furnaced ,in the blast of a life that has struggled in earnest3 ,there he stands1 looking more like a ploughman than priest1 ,if not dreadfully awkward1 not graceful at least2 444 ,but his periods fall on you1 stroke after stroke1 ,like the blows of a lumberer felling an oak1 ,you forget the man wholly1 you're thankful to meet ,with a preacher who smacks of the field and the street1 ,and to hear1 you're not over-particular whence1 ,almost ,taylor's profusion1 quite ,latimer's sense40 --,,lowell1 ,a ,fable for ,critics4 ,,theodore ,,parker ,at the death of a good and admirable person we meet to console and animate each other by the recollection of his virtues4 ,i have the feeling that every man's biography is at his own expense4 ,he furnishes not only the facts but the report4 ,i mean that all biography is autobiography4 ,it is only what he tells of himself that comes to be known and believed4 ,in ,plutarch's lives of ,alexander and ,pericles1 you have the secret whispers of their confidence to their lovers and trusty friends4 ,for it was each report of this kind that impressed those to whom it was told in a manner to secure its being told everywhere to the best1 to those who speak with authority to their own times and therefore to ours4 ,for the political rule is a cosmical rule1 that if a man is not strong in his own district1 he is not a good candidate elsewhere4 ,he whose voice will not be heard here again could well afford to tell his experiences2 they were all honorable to him1 and were part of the history of the civil and religious liberty of his times4 ,theodore ,parker was a son of the soil1 charged with the energy of ,new ,england1 strong1 eager1 inquisitive of knowledge1 of a diligence that never tired1 upright1 of a haughty independence1 yet the gentlest of companions2 a man of study1 fit for a man of the world2 with decided opinions and plenty of power to state them2 rapidly pushing his studies so far as to leave few men qualified to sit as his critics4#aeh ,he elected his part of duty1 or accepted nobly that assigned him in his rare constitution4 ,wonderful acquisition of knowledge1 a rapid wit that heard all1 and welcomed all that came1 by seeing its bearing4 ,such was the largeness of his reception of facts and his skill to employ them that it looked as if he were some president of council to whom a score of telegraphs were ever bringing in reports2 and his information would have been excessive1 but for the noble use he made of it ever in the interest of humanity4 ,he had a strong understanding1 a logical method1 a love for facts1 a rapid eye for their historic relations1 and a skill in stripping them of traditional lustres4 ,he had a sprightly fancy1 and often amused himself with throwing his meaning into pretty apologues2 yet we can hardly ascribe to his mind the poetic element1 though his scholarship had made him a reader and quoter of verses4 ,a little more feeling of the poetic significance of his facts would have disqualified him for some of his severer offices to his generation4 ,the old religions have a charm for most minds which it is a little uncanny to disturb4 ',tis sometimes a question1 shall we not leave them to decay without rude shocks8 ,i remember that ,i found some harshness in his treatment both of ,greek and of ,hebrew antiquity1 and sympathized with the pain of many good people in his auditory1 whilst ,i acquitted him1 of course1 of any wish to be flippant4 ,he came at a time when1 to the irresistible march of opinion1 the forms still retained by the most advanced sects showed loose and lifeless1 and he1 with something less of affectionate attachment to the old1 or with more vigorous logic1 rejected them4 ',tis objected to him that he scattered too many illusions4 ,perhaps more tenderness would have been graceful2 but it is vain to charge him with perverting the opinions of the new generation4 ,the opinions of men are organic4 ,simply1 those came to him who found themselves expressed by him4 ,and had they not met this enlightened mind1 in which they beheld their own opinions combined with zeal in every cause of love and humanity1 they would have suspected their opinions and suppressed them1 and so sunk into melancholy or malignity--a feeling of loneliness and hostility to what was reckoned respectable4 ',tis plain to me that he has achieved a historic immortality here2 that he has so woven himself in these few years into the history of ,boston1 that he can never be left out of your annals4 ,it will not be in the acts of city councils1 nor of obsequious mayors2 nor1 in the state-house1 the proclamations of governors1 with their failing virtue--failing them at critical moments--that coming generations will study what really befell2 but in the plain lessons of ,theodore ,parker in this ,music ,hall1 in ,faneuil ,hall1 or in legislative committee rooms1 that the true temper and authentic record of these days will be read4 ,the next generation will care little for the chances of elections that govern governors now1 it will care little for fine gentlemen who behaved shabbily2 but it will read very intelligently in his rough story1 fortified with exact anecdotes1 precise with names and dates1 what part was taken by each actor2 who threw himself into the cause of humanity and came to the rescue of civilization at a hard pinch1 and who blocked its course4 ,the vice charged against ,america is the want of sincerity in leading men4 ,it does not lie at his door4 ,he never kept back the truth for fear to make an enemy4 ,but1 on the other hand1 it was complained that he was bitter and harsh1 that his zeal burned with too hot a flame4 ,it is so difficult1 in evil times1 to escape this charge6 for the faithful preacher most of all4 ,it was his merit1 like ,luther1 ,knox and ,latimer1 and ,john ,baptist1 to speak tart truth1 when that was peremptory and when there were few to say it4 ,but his sympathy for goodness was not less energetic4 ,one fault he had1 he overestimated his friends1--,i may well say it1--and sometimes vexed them with the importunity of his good opinion1 whilst they knew better the ebb which follows unfounded praise4 ,he was capable1 it must be said1 of the most unmeasured eulogies on those he esteemed1 especially if he had any jealousy that they did not stand with the ,boston public as highly as they ought4 ,his commanding merit as a reformer is this1 that he insisted beyond all men in pulpits--,i cannot think of one rival--that the essence of ,christianity is its practical morals2 it is there for use1 or it is nothing2 and if you combine it with sharp trading1 or with ordinary city ambitions to gloze over municipal corruptions1 or private intemperance1 or successful fraud1 or immoral politics1 or unjust wars1 or the cheating of ,indians1 or the robbery of frontier nations1 or leaving your principles at home to follow on the high seas or in ,europe a supple complaisance to tyrants1--it is a hypocrisy1 and the truth is not in you2 and no love of religious music or of dreams of ,swedenborg1 or praise of ,john ,wesley1 or of ,jeremy ,taylor1 can save you from the ,satan which you are4 ,his ministry fell on a political crisis also2 on the years when ,southern slavery broke over its old banks1 made new and vast pretensions1 and wrung from the weakness or treachery of ,northern people fatal concessions in the ,fugitive ,slave ,bill and the repeal of the ,missouri ,compromise4 ,two days1 bitter in the memory of ,boston1 the days of the rendition of ,sims and of ,burns1 made the occasion of his most remarkable discourses4 ,he kept nothing back4 ,in terrible earnest he denounced the public crime1 and meted out to every official1 high and low1 his due portion4#aei ,by the incessant power of his statement1 he made and held a party4 ,it was his great service to freedom4 ,he took away the reproach of silent consent that would otherwise have lain against the indignant minority1 by uttering in the hour and place wherein these outrages were done1 the stern protest4 ,but whilst ,i praise this frank speaker1 ,i have no wish to accuse the silence of others4 ,there are men of good powers who have so much sympathy that they must be silent when they are not in sympathy4 ,if you don't agree with them1 they know they only injure the truth by speaking4 ,their faculties will not play them true1 and they do not wish to squeak and gibber1 and so they shut their mouths4 ,i can readily forgive this1 only not the other1 the false tongue which makes the worse appear the better cause4 ,there were1 of course1 multitudes to censure and defame this truth-speaker4 ,but the brave know the brave4 ,fops1 whether in hotels or churches1 will utter the fop's opinion1 and faintly hope for the salvation of his soul2 but his manly enemies1 who despised the fops1 honored him2 and it is well known that his great hospitable heart was the sanctuary to which every soul conscious of an earnest opinion came for sympathy--alike the brave slave-holder and the brave slave-rescuer4 ,these met in the house of this honest man--for every sound heart loves a responsible person1 one who does not in generous company say generous things1 and in mean company base things1 but says one thing1 now cheerfully1 now indignantly1 but always because he must1 and because he sees that1 whether he speak or refrain from speech1 this is said over him2 and history1 nature and all souls testify to the same4 ,ah1 my brave brother6 it seems as if1 in a frivolous age1 our loss were immense1 and your place cannot be supplied4 ,but you will already be consoled in the transfer of your genius1 knowing well that the nature of the world will affirm to all men1 in all times1 that which for twenty-five years you valiantly spoke2 that the winds of ,italy murmur the same truth over your grave2 the winds of ,america over these bereaved streets2 that the sea which bore your mourners home affirms it1 the stars in their courses1 and the inspirations of youth2 whilst the polished and pleasant traitors to human rights1 with perverted learning and disgraced graces1 rot and are forgotten with their double tongue saying all that is sordid for the corruption of man4 ,the sudden and singular eminence of ,mr4 ,parker1 the importance of his name and influence1 are the verdict of his country to his virtues4 ,we have few such men to lose2 amiable and blameless at home1 feared abroad as the standard-bearer of liberty1 taking all the duties he could grasp1 and more1 refusing to spare himself1 he has gone down in early glory to his grave1 to be a living and enlarging power1 wherever learning1 wit1 honest valor and independence are honored4#afj ,,xiii ,,american ,,civilization ,to the mizzen1 the main1 and the fore ,up with it once more6-- ,the old tri-color1 ,the ribbon of power1 ,the white1 blue and red which the nations adore6 ,it was down at half-mast ,for a grief--that is past6 ,to the emblem of glory no sorrow can last6 ,,american ,,civilization ,use1 labor of each for all1 is the health and virtue of all beings4 ,ich dien1 ,i serve1 is a truly royal motto4 ,and it is the mark of nobleness to volunteer the lowest service1 the greatest spirit only attaining to humility4 ,nay1 ,god is ,god because he is the servant of all4 ,well1 now here comes this conspiracy of slavery1--they call it an institution1 ,i call it a destitution1--this stealing of men and setting them to work1 stealing their labor1 and the thief sitting idle himself2 and for two or three ages it has lasted1 and has yielded a certain quantity of rice1 cotton and sugar4 ,and1 standing on this doleful experience1 these people have endeavored to reverse the natural sentiments of mankind1 and to pronounce labor disgraceful1 and the well-being of a man to consist in eating the fruit of other men's labor4 ,labor3 a man coins himself into his labor2 turns his day1 his strength1 his thought1 his affection into some product which remains as the visible sign of his power2 and to protect that1 to secure that to him1 to secure his past self to his future self1 is the object of all government4 ,there is no interest in any country so imperative as that of labor2 it covers all1 and constitutions and governments exist for that1--to protect and insure it to the laborer4 ,all honest men are daily striving to earn their bread by their industry4 ,and who is this who tosses his empty head at this blessing in disguise1 the constitution of human nature1 and calls labor vile1 and insults the faithful workman at his daily toil8 ,i see for such madness no hellebore1--for such calamity no solution but servile war and the ,africanization of the country that permits it4 ,at this moment in ,america the aspects of political society absorb attention4 ,in every house1 from ,canada to the ,gulf1 the children ask the serious father1--8,what is the news of the war to-day1 and when will there be better times80 ,the boys have no new clothes1 no gifts1 no journeys2 the girls must go without new bonnets2 boys and girls find their education1 this year1 less liberal and complete4#afa ,all the little hopes that heretofore made the year pleasant are deferred4 ,the state of the country fills us with anxiety and stern duties4 ,we have attempted to hold together two states of civilization3 a higher state1 where labor and the tenure of land and the right of suffrage are democratical2 and a lower state1 in which the old military tenure of prisoners or slaves1 and of power and land in a few hands1 makes an oligarchy3 we have attempted to hold these two states of society under one law4 ,but the rude and early state of society does not work well with the later1 nay1 works badly1 and has poisoned politics1 public morals and social intercourse in the ,republic1 now for many years4 ,the times put this question1 ,why cannot the best civilization be extended over the whole country1 since the disorder of the less-civilized portion menaces the existence of the country8 ,is this secular progress we have described1 this evolution of man to the highest powers1 only to give him sensibility1 and not to bring duties with it8 ,is he not to make his knowledge practical8 to stand and to withstand8 ,is not civilization heroic also8 ,is it not for action8 has it not a will8 8,there are periods10 said ,niebuhr1 8when something much better than happiness and security of life is attainable40 ,we live in a new and exceptionable age4 ,america is another word for ,opportunity4 ,our whole history appears like a last effort of the ,divine ,providence in behalf of the human race2 and a literal1 slavish following of precedents1 as by a justice of the peace1 is not for those who at this hour lead the destinies of this people4 ,the evil you contend with has taken alarming proportions1 and you still content yourself with parrying the blows it aims1 but1 as if enchanted1 abstain from striking at the cause4#afb ,if the ,american people hesitate1 it is not for want of warning or advices4 ,the telegraph has been swift enough to announce our disasters4 ,the journals have not suppressed the extent of the calamity4 ,neither was there any want of argument or of experience4 ,if the war brought any surprise to the ,north1 it was not the fault of sentinels on the watch-tower1 who had furnished full details of the designs1 the muster and the means of the enemy4 ,neither was anything concealed of the theory or practice of slavery4 ,to what purpose make more big books of these statistics8 ,there are already mountains of facts1 if any one wants them4 ,but people do not want them4 ,they bring their opinion into the world4 ,if they have a comatose tendency in the brain1 they are pro-slavery while they live2 if of a nervous sanguineous temperament1 they are abolitionists4 ,then interests were never persuaded4 ,can you convince the shoe interest1 or the iron interest1 or the cotton interest1 by reading passages from ,milton or ,montesquieu8 ,you wish to satisfy people that slavery is bad economy4 ,why1 the ,edinburgh ,review pounded on that string1 and made out its case1 forty years ago4 ,a democratic statesman said to me1 long since1 that1 if he owned the state of ,kentucky1 he would manumit all the slaves1 and be a gainer by the transaction4 ,is this new8 ,no1 everybody knows it4 ,as a general economy it is admitted4 ,but there is no one owner of the state1 but a good many small owners4 ,one man owns land and slaves2 another owns slaves only4 ,here is a woman who has no other property1--like a lady in ,charleston ,i knew of1 who owned fifteen sweeps and rode in her carriage4 ,it is clearly a vast inconvenience to each of these to make any change1 and they are fretful and talkative1 and all their friends are2 and those less interested are inert1 and1 from want of thought1 averse to innovation4 ,it is like free trade1 certainly the interest of nations1 but by no means the interest of certain towns and districts1 which tariff feeds fat2 and the eager interest of the few overpowers the apathetic general conviction of the many4 ,banknotes rob the public1 but are such a daily convenience that we silence our scruples and make believe they are gold4 ,so imposts are the cheap and right taxation2 but1 by the dislike of people to pay out a direct tax1 governments are forced to render life costly by making them pay twice as much1 hidden in the price of tea and sugar4 ,in this national crisis1 it is not argument that we want1 but that rare courage which dares commit itself to a principle1 believing that ,nature is its ally1 and will create the instruments it requires1 and more than make good any petty and injurious profit which it may disturb4 ,there never was such a combination as this of ours1 and the rules to meet it are not set down in any history4 ,we want men of original perception and original action1 who can open their eyes wider than to a nationality1 namely1 to considerations of benefit to the human race1 can act in the interest of civilization4 ,government must not be a parish clerk1 a justice of the peace4 ,it has1 of necessity1 in any crisis of the state1 the absolute powers of a dictator4 ,the existing administration is entitled to the utmost candor4 ,it is to be thanked for its angelic virtue1 compared with any executive experiences with which we have been familiar4 ,but the times will not allow us to indulge in compliment4 ,i wish ,i saw in the people that inspiration which1 if government would not obey the same1 would leave the government behind and create on the moment the means and executors it wanted4 ,better the war should more dangerously threaten us1--should threaten fracture in what is still whole1 and punish us with burned capitals and slaughtered regiments1 and so exasperate the people to energy1 exasperate our nationality4 ,there are ,scriptures written invisibly on men's hearts1 whose letters do not come out until they are enraged4 ,they can be read by war-fires1 and by eyes in the last peril4 ,we cannot but remember that there have been days in ,american history1 when1 if the free states had done their duty1 slavery had been blocked by an immovable barrier1 and our recent calamities forever precluded4 ,the free states yielded1 and every compromise was surrender and invited new demands4 ,here again is a new occasion which heaven offers to sense and virtue4 ,it looks as if we held the fate of the fairest possession of mankind in our hands1 to be saved by our firmness or to be lost by hesitation4 ,the one power that has legs long enough and strong enough to wade across the ,potomac offers itself at this hour2 the one strong enough to bring all the civility up to the height of that which is best1 prays now at the door of ,congress for leave to move4 ,emancipation is the demand of civilization4 ,that is a principle2 everything else is an intrigue4 ,this is a progressive policy1 puts the whole people in healthy1 productive1 amiable position1 puts every man in the ,south in just and natural relations with every man in the ,north1 laborer with laborer4 ,i shall not attempt to unfold the details of the project of emancipation4 ,it has been stated with great ability by several of its leading advocates4 ,i will only advert to some leading points of the argument1 at the risk of repeating the reasons of others4 ,the war is welcome to the ,southerner2 a chivalrous sport to him1 like hunting1 and suits his semi-civilized condition4 ,on the climbing scale of progress1 he is just up to war1 and has never appeared to such advantage as in the last twelvemonth4 ,it does not suit us4 ,we are advanced some ages on the war-state1--to trade1 art and general cultivation4 ,his laborer works for him at home1 so that he loses no labor by the war4 ,all our soldiers are laborers2 so that the ,south1 with its inferior numbers1 is almost on a footing in effective war-population with the ,north4 ,again1 as long as we fight without any affirmative step taken by the government1 any word intimating forfeiture in the rebel states of their old privileges under the law1 they and we fight on the same side1 for slavery4 ,again1 if we conquer the enemy1--what then8 ,we shall still have to keep him under1 and it will cost as much to hold him down as it did to get him down4 ,then comes the summer1 and the fever will drive the soldiers home2 next winter we must begin at the beginning1 and conquer him over again4 ,what use then to take a fort1 or a privateer1 or get possession of an inlet1 or to capture a regiment of rebels8 ,but one weapon we hold which is sure4 ,congress can1 by edict1 as a part of the military defence which it is the duty of ,congress to provide1 abolish slavery1 and pay for such slaves as we ought to pay for4 ,then the slaves near our armies will come to us2 those in the interior will know in a week what their rights are1 and will1 where opportunity offers1 prepare to take them4 ,instantly1 the armies that now confront you must run home to protect their estates1 and must stay there1 and your enemies will disappear4 ,there can be no safety until this step is taken4 ,we fancy that the endless debate1 emphasized by the crime and by the cannons of this war1 has brought the free states to some conviction that it can never go well with us whilst this mischief of slavery remains in our politics1 and that by concert or by might we must put an end to it4 ,but we have too much experience of the futility of an easy reliance on the momentary good dispositions of the public4 ,there does exist1 perhaps1 a popular will that the ,union shall not be broken1--that our trade1 and therefore our laws1 must have the whole breadth of the continent1 and from ,canada to the ,gulf4 ,but since this is the rooted belief and will of the people1 so much the more are they in danger1 when impatient of defeats1 or impatient of taxes1 to go with a rush for some peace2 and what kind of peace shall at that moment be easiest attained1 they will make concessions for it1--will give up the slaves1 and the whole torment of the past half-century will come back to be endured anew4 ,neither do ,i doubt1 if such a composition should take place1 that the ,southerners will come back quietly and politely1 leaving their haughty dictation4 ,it will be an era of good feelings4 ,there will be a lull after so loud a storm2 and1 no doubt1 there will be discreet men from that section who will earnestly strive to inaugurate more moderate and fair administration of the government1 and the ,north will for a time have its full share and more1 in place and counsel4 ,but this will not last2--not for want of sincere good will in sensible ,southerners1 but because ,slavery will again speak through them its harsh necessity4 ,it cannot live but by injustice1 and it will be unjust and violent to the end of the world4#afc ,the power of ,emancipation is this1 that it alters the atomic social constitution of the ,southern people4 ,now1 their interest is in keeping out white labor2 then1 when they must pay wages1 their interest will be to let it in1 to get the best labor1 and1 if they fear their blacks1 to invite ,irish1 ,german and ,american laborers4 ,thus1 whilst ,slavery makes and keeps disunion1 ,emancipation removes the whole objection to union4 ,emancipation at one stroke elevates the poor-white of the ,south1 and identifies his interest with that of the ,northern laborer4 ,now1 in the name of all that is simple and generous1 why should not this great right be done8 ,why should not ,america be capable of a second stroke for the well-being of the human race1 as eighty or ninety years ago she was for the first1--of an affirmative step in the interests of human civility1 urged on her1 too1 not by any romance of sentiment1 but by her own extreme perils8 ,it is very certain that the statesman who shall break through the cobwebs of doubt1 fear and petty cavil that lie in the way1 will be greeted by the unanimous thanks of mankind4 ,men reconcile themselves very fast to a bold and good measure when once it is taken1 though they condemned it in advance4 ,a week before the two captive commissioners were surrendered to ,england1 every one thought it could not be done3 it would divide the ,north4 ,it was done1 and in two days all agreed it was the right action4#afd ,and this action1 which costs so little 7the parties injured by it being such a handful that they can very easily be indemnified71 rids the world1 at one stroke1 of this degrading nuisance1 the cause of war and ruin to nations4 ,this measure at once puts all parties right4 ,this is borrowing1 as ,i said1 the omnipotence of a principle4 ,what is so foolish as the terror lest the blacks should be made furious by freedom and wages8 ,it is denying these that is the outrage1 and makes the danger from the blacks4 ,but justice satisfies everybody1--white man1 red man1 yellow man and black man4 ,all like wages1 and the appetite grows by feeding4 ,but this measure1 to be effectual1 must come speedily4 ,the weapon is slipping out of our hands4 8,time10 say the ,indian ,scriptures1 8drinketh up the essence of every great and noble action which ought to be performed1 and which is delayed in the execution40#afe ,i hope it is not a fatal objection to this policy that it is simple and beneficent thoroughly1 which is the tribute of a moral action4 ,an unprecedented material prosperity has not tended to make us ,stoics or ,christians4 ,but the laws by which the universe is organized reappear at every point1 and will rule it4 ,the end of all political struggle is to establish morality as the basis of all legislation4 ,it is not free institutions1 it is not a republic1 it is not a democracy1 that is the end1--no1 but only the means4 ,morality is the object of government4#aff ,we want a state of things in which crime shall not pay4 ,this is the consolation on which we rest in the darkness of the future and the afflictions of to-day1 that the government of the world is moral1 and does forever destroy what is not4 ,it is the maxim of natural philosophers that the natural forces wear out in time all obstacles1 and take place3 and it is the maxim of history that victory always falls at last where it ought to fall2 or1 there is perpetual march and progress to ideas4 ,but in either case1 no link of the chain can drop out4 ,nature works through her appointed elements2 and ideas must work through the brains and the arms of good and brave men1 or they are no better than dreams4 99 99 99 99 99 ,since the above pages were written1 ,president ,lincoln has proposed to ,congress that the government shall coperate with any state that shall enact a gradual abolishment of slavery4 ,in the recent series of national successes1 this message is the best4 ,it marks the happiest day in the political year4 ,the ,american ,executive ranges itself for the first time on the side of freedom4 ,if ,congress has been backward1 the ,president has advanced4 ,this state-paper is the more interesting that it appears to be the ,president's individual act1 done under a strong sense of duty4 ,he speaks his own thought in his own style4 ,all thanks and honor to the ,head of the ,state6 ,the message has been received throughout the country with praise1 and1 we doubt not1 with more pleasure than has been spoken4 ,if ,congress accords with the ,president1 it is not yet too late to begin the emancipation2 but we think it will always be too late to make it gradual4 ,all experience agrees that it should be immediate4#afg ,more and better than the ,president has spoken shall1 perhaps1 the effect of this message be1--but1 we are sure1 not more or better than he hoped in his heart1 when1 thoughtful of all the complexities of his position1 he penned these cautious words4 ,,xiv ,,the ,,emancipation ,,proclamation ,,an ,,address ,,delivered ,,in ,,boston ,,in ,,september1 #ahfb ,to-day unbind the captive1 ,so only are ye unbound2 ,lift up a people from the dust1 ,trump of their rescue1 sound6 ,pay ransom to the owner ,and fill the bag to the brim4 ,who is the owner8 ,the slave is owner1 ,and ever was4 ,pay him4 ,o ,north6 give him beauty for rags1 ,and honor1 ,o ,south6 for his shame2 ,nevada6 coin thy golden crags ,with freedom's image and name4 ,up6 and the dusky race ,that sat in darkness long1-- ,be swift their feet as antelopes1 ,and as behemoth strong4 ,come1 ,east and ,west and ,north1 ,by races1 as snow-flakes1 ,and carry my purpose forth1 ,which neither halts nor shakes4 ,my will fulfilled shall be1 ,for in daylight or in dark1 ,my thunderbolt has eyes to see ,his way home to the mark4 ,,the ,,emancipation ,,proclamation ,in so many arid forms which states encrust themselves with1 once in a century1 if so often1 a poetic act and record occur4 ,these are the jets of thought into affairs1 when1 roused by danger or inspired by genius1 the political leaders of the day break the else insurmountable routine of class and local legislation1 and take a step forward in the direction of catholic and universal interests4 ,every step in the history of political liberty is a sally of the human mind into the untried ,future1 and has the interest of genius1 and is fruitful in heroic anecdotes4 ,liberty is a slow fruit4 ,it comes1 like religion1 for short periods1 and in rare conditions1 as if awaiting a culture of the race which shall make it organic and permanent4 ,such moments of expansion in modern history were the ,confession of ,augsburg1 the plantation of ,america1 the ,english ,commonwealth of #afdh1 the ,declaration of ,american ,independence in #aggf1 the ,british emancipation of slaves in the ,west ,indies1 the passage of the ,reform ,bill1 the repeal of the ,corn-,laws1 the ,magnetic ,ocean ,telegraph1 though yet imperfect1 the passage of the ,homestead ,bill in the last ,congress1 and now1 eminently1 ,president ,lincoln's ,proclamation on the twenty-second of ,september4 ,these are acts of great scope1 working on a long future and on permanent interests1 and honoring alike those who initiate and those who receive them4 ,these measures provoke no noisy joy1 but are received into a sympathy so deep as to apprise us that mankind are greater and better than we know4#afh ,at such times it appears as if a new public were created to greet the new event4 ,it is as when an orator1 having ended the compliments and pleasantries with which he conciliated attention1 and having run over the superficial fitness and commodities of the measure he urges1 suddenly1 lending himself to some happy inspiration1 announces with vibrating voice the grand human principles involved2--the bravos and wits who greeted him loudly thus far are surprised and overawed2 a new audience is found in the heart of the assembly1--an audience hitherto passive and unconcerned1 now at last so searched and kindled that they come forward1 every one a representative of mankind1 standing for all nationalities4 ,the extreme moderation with which the ,president advanced to his design1--his long-avowed expectant policy1 as if he chose to be strictly the executive of the best public sentiment of the country1 waiting only till it should be unmistakably pronounced1--so fair a mind that none ever listened so patiently to such extreme varieties of opinion1--so reticent that his decision has taken all parties by surprise1 whilst yet it is just the sequel of his prior acts1--the firm tone in which he announces it1 without inflation or surplusage1--all these have bespoken such favor to the act that1 great as the popularity of the ,president has been1 we are beginning to think that we have underestimated the capacity and virtue which the ,divine ,providence has made an instrument of benefit so vast4 ,he has been permitted to do more for ,america than any other ,american man4 ,he is well entitled to the most indulgent construction4 ,forget all that we thought shortcomings1 every mistake1 every delay4 ,in the extreme embarrassments of his part1 call these endurance1 wisdom1 magnanimity2 illuminated1 as they now are1 by this dazzling success4 ,when we consider the immense opposition that has been neutralized or converted by the progress of the war 7for it is not long since the ,president anticipated the resignation of a large number of officers in the army1 and the secession of three states1 on the promulgation of this policy71--when we see how the great stake which foreign nations hold in our affairs has recently brought every ,european power as a client into this court1 and it became every day more apparent what gigantic and what remote interests were to be affected by the decision of the ,president1--one can hardly say the deliberation was too long4 ,against all timorous counsels he had the courage to seize the moment2 and such was his position1 and such the felicity attending the action1 that he has replaced government in the good graces of mankind4 8,better is virtue in the sovereign than plenty in the season10 say the ,chinese4 ',tis wonderful what power is1 and how ill it is used1 and how its ill use makes life mean1 and the sunshine dark4 ,life in ,america had lost much of its attraction in the later years4 ,the virtues of a good magistrate undo a world of mischief1 and1 because ,nature works with rectitude1 seem vastly more potent than the acts of bad governors1 which are ever tempered by the good nature in the people1 and the incessant resistance which fraud and violence encounter4 ,the acts of good governors work a geometrical ratio1 as one midsummer day seems to repair the damage of a year of war4 ,a day which most of us dared not hope to see1 an event worth the dreadful war1 worth its costs and uncertainties1 seems now to be close before us4 ,october1 ,november1 ,december will have passed over beating hearts and plotting brains3 then the hour will strike1 and all men of ,african descent who have faculty enough to find their way to our lines are assured of the protection of ,american law4 ,it is by no means necessary that this measure should be suddenly marked by any signal results on the negroes or on the rebel masters4 ,the force of the act is that it commits the country to this justice1--that it compels the innumerable officers1 civil1 military1 naval1 of the ,republic to range themselves on the line of this equity4 ,it draws the fashion to this side4 ,it is not a measure that admits of being taken back4 ,done1 it cannot be undone by a new administration4 ,for slavery overpowers the disgust of the moral sentiment only through immemorial usage4 ,it cannot be introduced as an improvement of the nineteenth century4 ,this act makes that the lives of our heroes have not been sacrificed in vain4 ,it makes a victory of our defeats4 ,our hurts are healed2 the health of the nation is repaired4 ,with a victory like this1 we can stand many disasters4 ,it does not promise the redemption of the black race2 that lies not with us3 but it relieves it of our opposition4 ,the ,president by this act has paroled all the slaves in ,america2 they will no more fight against us3 and it relieves our race once for all of its crime and false position4 ,the first condition of success is secured in putting ourselves right4 ,we have recovered ourselves from our false position1 and planted ourselves on a law of ,nature3-- 8,if that fail1 ,the pillared firmament is rottenness1 ,and earth's base built on stubble40#afi ,the government has assured itself of the best constituency in the world3 every spark of intellect1 every virtuous feeling1 every religious heart1 every man of honor1 every poet1 every philosopher1 the generosity of the cities1 the health of the country1 the strong arms of the mechanic1 the endurance of farmers1 the passionate conscience of women1 the sympathy of distant nations1--all rally to its support4 ,of course1 we are assuming the firmness of the policy thus declared4 ,it must not be a paper proclamation4 ,we confide that ,mr4 ,lincoln is in earnest1 and as he has been slow in making up his mind1 has resisted the importunacy of parties and of events to the latest moment1 he will be as absolute in his adhesion4 ,not only will he repeat and follow up his stroke1 but the nation will add its irresistible strength4 ,if the ruler has duties1 so has the citizen4 ,in times like these1 when the nation is imperilled1 what man can1 without shame1 receive good news from day to day without giving good news of himself8 ,what right has any one to read in the journals tidings of victories1 if he has not bought them by his own valor1 treasure1 personal sacrifice1 or by service as good in his own department8 ,with this blot removed from our national honor1 this heavy load lifted off the national heart1 we shall not fear henceforward to show our faces among mankind4 ,we shall cease to be hypocrites and pretenders1 but what we have styled our free institutions will be such4#agj ,in the light of this event the public distress begins to be removed4 ,what if the brokers' quotations show our stocks discredited1 and the gold dollar costs one hundred and twenty-seven cents8 ,these tables are fallacious4 ,every acre in the free states gained substantial value on the twenty-second of ,september4 ,the cause of disunion and war has been reached and begun to be removed4 ,every man's house-lot and garden are relieved of the malaria which the purest winds and strongest sunshine could not penetrate and purge4 ,the territory of the ,union shines to-day with a lustre which every ,european emigrant can discern from far2 a sign of inmost security and permanence4 ,is it feared that taxes will check immigration8 ,that depends on what the taxes are spent for4 ,if they go to fill up this yawning ,dismal ,swamp1 which engulfed armies and populations1 and created plague1 and neutralized hitherto all the vast capabilities of this continent1--then this taxation1 which makes the land wholesome and habitable1 and will draw all men unto it1 is the best investment in which property-holder ever lodged his earnings4 ,whilst we have pointed out the opportuneness of the ,proclamation1 it remains to be said that the ,president had no choice4 ,he might look wistfully for what variety of courses lay open to him2 every line but one was closed up with fire4 ,this one1 too1 bristled with danger1 but through it was the sole safety4 ,the measure he has adopted was imperative4 ,it is wonderful to see the unseasonable senility of what is called the ,peace ,party1 through all its masks1 blinding their eyes to the main feature of the war1 namely1 its inevitableness4 ,the war existed long before the cannonade of ,sumter1 and could not be postponed4 ,it might have begun otherwise or elsewhere1 but war was in the minds and bones of the combatants1 it was written on the iron leaf1 and you might as easily dodge gravitation4 ,if we had consented to a peaceable secession of the rebels1 the divided sentiment of the border states made peaceable secession impossible1 the insatiable temper of the ,south made it impossible1 and the slaves on the border1 wherever the border might be1 were an incessant fuel to rekindle the fire4 ,give the ,confederacy ,new ,orleans1 ,charleston1 and ,richmond1 and they would have demanded ,st4 ,louis and ,baltimore4 ,give them these1 and they would have insisted on ,washington4 ,give them ,washington1 and they would have assumed the army and navy1 and1 through these1 ,philadelphia1 ,new ,york1 and ,boston4 ,it looks as if the battle-field would have been at least as large in that event as it is now4 ,the war was formidable1 but could not be avoided4 ,the war was and is an immense mischief1 but brought with it the immense benefit of drawing a line and rallying the free states to fix it impassably1--preventing the whole force of ,southern connection and influence throughout the ,north from distracting every city with endless confusion1 detaching that force and reducing it to handfuls1 and1 in the progress of hostilities1 disinfecting us of our habitual proclivity1 through the affection of trade and the traditions of the ,democratic party1 to follow ,southern leading4#aga ,these necessities which have dictated the conduct of the federal government are overlooked especially by our foreign critics4 ,the popular statement of the opponents of the war abroad is the impossibility of our success4 8,if you could add10 say they1 8to your strength the whole army of ,england1 of ,france and of ,austria1 you could not coerce eight millions of people to come under this government against their will40 ,this is an odd thing for an ,englishman1 a ,frenchman or an ,austrian to say1 who remembers ,europe of the last seventy years1--the condition of ,italy1 until #ahei1--of ,poland1 since #agic1--of ,france1 of ,french ,algiers1--of ,british ,ireland1 and ,british ,india4 ,but granting the truth1 rightly read1 of the historical aphorism1 that 8the people always conquer10 it is to be noted that1 in the ,southern ,states1 the tenure of land and the local laws1 with slavery1 give the social system not a democratic but an aristocratic complexion2 and those states have shown every year a more hostile and aggressive temper1 until the instinct of self-preservation forced us into the war4 ,and the aim of the war on our part is indicated by the aim of the ,president's ,proclamation1 namely1 to break up the false combination of ,southern society1 to destroy the piratic feature in it which makes it our enemy only as it is the enemy of the human race1 and so allow its reconstruction on a just and healthful basis4 ,then new affinities will act1 the old repulsion will cease1 and1 the cause of war being removed1 ,nature and trade may be trusted to establish a lasting peace4 ,we think we cannot overstate the wisdom and benefit of this act of the government4 ,the malignant cry of the ,secession press within the free states1 and the recent action of the ,confederate ,congress1 are decisive as to its efficiency and correctness of aim4 ,not less so is the silent joy which has greeted it in all generous hearts1 and the new hope it has breathed into the world4 ,it was well to delay the steamers at the wharves until this edict could be put on board4 ,it will be an insurance to the ship as it goes plunging through the sea with glad tidings to all people4 ,happy are the young1 who find the pestilence cleansed out of the earth1 leaving open to them an honest career4 ,happy the old1 who see ,nature purified before they depart4 ,do not let the dying die3 hold them back to this world1 until you have charged their ear and heart with this message to other spiritual societies1 announcing the melioration of our planet3-- 8,incertainties now crown themselves assured1 ,and ,peace proclaims olives of endless age40#agb ,meantime that ill-fated1 much-injured race which the ,proclamation respects will lose somewhat of the dejection sculptured for ages in their bronzed countenance1 uttered in the wailing of their plaintive music1--a race naturally benevolent1 docile1 industrious1 and whose very miseries sprang from their great talent for usefulness1 which1 in a more moral age1 will not only defend their independence1 but will give them a rank among nations4#agc ,,xv ,,abraham ,,lincoln ,,remarks ,,at ,,the ,,funeral ,,services ,,held ,,in ,,concord1 ,,april #ai1 #ahfe 8,nature1 they say1 doth dote1 ,and cannot make a man ,save on some worn-out plan1 ,repeating us by rote3 ,for him her ,old-,world moulds aside she threw1 ,and1 choosing sweet clay from the breast ,of the unexhausted ,west1 ,with stuff untainted shaped a hero new1 ,wise1 steadfast in the strength of ,god1 and true4 ,how beautiful to see ,once more a shepherd of mankind indeed1 ,who loved his charge1 but never loved to lead2 ,one whose meek flock the people joyed to be1 ,not lured by any cheat of birth1 ,but by his clear-grained human worth1 ,and brave old wisdom of sincerity6 ,they knew that outward grace is dust2 ,they could not choose but trust ,in that sure-footed mind's unfaltering skill1 ,and supple-tempered will ,that bent1 like perfect steel1 to spring again and thrust4 444 ,nothing of ,europe here1 ,or1 then1 of ,europe fronting mornward still1 ,ere any names of ,serf and ,peer ,could ,nature's equal scheme deface2 444 ,here was a type of the true elder race1 ,and one of ,plutarch's men talked with us face to face40 ,,lowell1 ,commemoration ,ode4 ,,abraham ,,lincoln ,we meet under the gloom of a calamity which darkens down over the minds of good men in all civil society1 as the fearful tidings travel over sea1 over land1 from country to country1 like the shadow of an uncalculated eclipse over the planet4 ,old as history is1 and manifold as are its tragedies1 ,i doubt if any death has caused so much pain to mankind as this has caused1 or will cause1 on its announcement2 and this1 not so much because nations are by modern arts brought so closely together1 as because of the mysterious hopes and fears which1 in the present day1 are connected with the name and institutions of ,america4 ,in this country1 on ,saturday1 every one was struck dumb1 and saw at first only deep below deep1 as he meditated on the ghastly blow4 ,and perhaps1 at this hour1 when the coffin which contains the dust of the ,president sets forward on its long march through mourning states1 on its way to his home in ,illinois1 we might well be silent1 and suffer the awful voices of the time to thunder to us4 ,yes1 but that first despair was brief3 the man was not so to be mourned4 ,he was the most active and hopeful of men2 and his work had not perished3 but acclamations of praise for the task he had accomplished burst out into a song of triumph1 which even tears for his death cannot keep down4 ,the ,president stood before us as a man of the people4 ,he was thoroughly ,american1 had never crossed the sea1 had never been spoiled by ,english insularity or ,french dissipation2 a quite native1 aboriginal man1 as an acorn from the oak2 no aping of foreigners1 no frivolous accomplishments1 ,kentuckian born1 working on a farm1 a flatboatman1 a captain in the ,black ,hawk ,war1 a country lawyer1 a representative in the rural legislature of ,illinois2--on such modest foundations the broad structure of his fame was laid4 ,how slowly1 and yet by happily prepared steps1 he came to his place4 ,all of us remember--it is only a history of five or six years--the surprise and the disappointment of the country at his first nomination by the convention at ,chicago4 ,mr4 ,seward1 then in the culmination of his good fame1 was the favorite of the ,eastern ,states4 ,and when the new and comparatively unknown name of ,lincoln was announced 7notwithstanding the report of the acclamations of that convention71 we heard the result coldly and sadly4 ,it seemed too rash1 on a purely local reputation1 to build so grave a trust in such anxious times2 and men naturally talked of the chances in politics as incalculable4 ,but it turned out not to be chance4 ,the profound good opinion which the people of ,illinois and of the ,west had conceived of him1 and which they had imparted to their colleagues1 that they also might justify themselves to their constituents at home1 was not rash1 though they did not begin to know the riches of his worth4#agd ,a plain man of the people1 an extraordinary fortune attended him4 ,he offered no shining qualities at the first encounter2 he did not offend by superiority4 ,he had a face and manner which disarmed suspicion1 which inspired confidence1 which confirmed good will4 ,he was a man without vices4 ,he had a strong sense of duty1 which it was very easy for him to obey4 ,then1 he had what farmers call a long head2 was excellent in working out the sum for himself2 in arguing his case and convincing you fairly and firmly4 ,then1 it turned out that he was a great worker2 had prodigious faculty of performance2 worked easily4 ,a good worker is so rare2 everybody has some disabling quality4 ,in a host of young men that start together and promise so many brilliant leaders for the next age1 each fails on trial2 one by bad health1 one by conceit1 or by love of pleasure1 or lethargy1 or an ugly temper1--each has some disqualifying fault that throws him out of the career4 ,but this man was sound to the core1 cheerful1 persistent1 all right for labor1 and liked nothing so well4 ,then1 he had a vast good nature1 which made him tolerant and accessible to all2 fair-minded1 leaning to the claim of the petitioner2 affable1 and not sensible to the affliction which the innumerable visits paid to him when ,president would have brought to any one else4#age ,and how this good nature became a noble humanity1 in many a tragic case which the events of the war brought to him1 every one will remember2 and with what increasing tenderness he dealt when a whole race was thrown on his compassion4 ,the poor negro said of him1 on an impressive occasion1 8,massa ,linkum am eberywhere40 ,then his broad good humor1 running easily into jocular talk1 in which he delighted and in which he excelled1 was a rich gift to this wise man4 ,it enabled him to keep his secret2 to meet every kind of man and every rank in society2 to take off the edge of the severest decisions2 to mask his own purpose and sound his companion2 and to catch with true instinct the temper of every company he addressed4 ,and1 more than all1 it is to a man of severe labor1 in anxious and exhausting crises1 the natural restorative1 good as sleep1 and is the protection of the overdriven brain against rancor and insanity4 ,he is the author of a multitude of good sayings1 so disguised as pleasantries that it is certain they had no reputation at first but as jests2 and only later1 by the very acceptance and adoption they find in the mouths of millions1 turn out to be the wisdom of the hour4 ,i am sure if this man had ruled in a period of less facility of printing1 he would have become mythological in a very few years1 like sop or ,pilpay1 or one of the ,seven ,wise ,masters1 by his fables and proverbs4 ,but the weight and penetration of many passages in his letters1 messages and speeches1 hidden now by the very closeness of their application to the moment1 are destined hereafter to wide fame4 ,what pregnant definitions2 what unerring common sense2 what foresight2 and1 on great occasion1 what lofty1 and more than national1 what humane tone6 ,his brief speech at ,gettysburg will not easily be surpassed by words on any recorded occasion4 ,this1 and one other ,american speech1 that of ,john ,brown to the court that tried him1 and a part of ,kossuth's speech at ,birmingham1 can only be compared with each other1 and with no fourth4 ,his occupying the chair of state was a triumph of the good sense of mankind1 and of the public conscience4 ,this middle-class country had got a middle-class president1 at last4 ,yes1 in manners and sympathies1 but not in powers1 for his powers were superior4 ,this man grew according to the need4 ,his mind mastered the problem of the day2 and as the problem grew1 so did his comprehension of it4 ,rarely was man so fitted to the event4 ,in the midst of fears and jealousies1 in the ,babel of counsels and parties1 this man wrought incessantly with all his might and all his honesty1 laboring to find what the people wanted1 and how to obtain that4 ,it cannot be said there is any exaggeration of his worth4 ,if ever a man was fairly tested1 he was4 ,there was no lack of resistance1 nor of slander1 nor of ridicule4 ,the times have allowed no state secrets2 the nation has been in such ferment1 such multitudes had to be trusted1 that no secret could be kept4 ,every door was ajar1 and we know all that befell4 ,then1 what an occasion was the whirlwind of the war4 ,here was place for no holiday magistrate1 no fair-weather sailor2 the new pilot was hurried to the helm in a tornado4 ,in four years1--four years of battle-days1--his endurance1 his fertility of resources1 his magnanimity1 were sorely tried and never found wanting4 ,there1 by his courage1 his justice1 his even temper1 his fertile counsel1 his humanity1 he stood a heroic figure in the centre of a heroic epoch4 ,he is the true history of the ,american people in his time4 ,step by step he walked before them2 slow with their slowness1 quickening his march by theirs1 the true representative of this continent2 an entirely public man2 father of his country1 the pulse of twenty millions throbbing in his heart1 the thought of their minds articulated by his tongue4 ,adam ,smith remarks that the axe1 which in ,houbraken's portraits of ,british kings and worthies is engraved under those who have suffered at the block1 adds a certain lofty charm to the picture4 ,and who does not see1 even in this tragedy so recent1 how fast the terror and ruin of the massacre are already burning into glory around the victim8 ,far happier this fate than to have lived to be wished away2 to have watched the decay of his own faculties2 to have seen--perhaps even he--the proverbial ingratitude of statesmen2 to have seen mean men preferred4 ,had he not lived long enough to keep the greatest promise that ever man made to his fellow men1--the practical abolition of slavery8 ,he had seen ,tennessee1 ,missouri and ,maryland emancipate their slaves4 ,he had seen ,savannah1 ,charleston and ,richmond surrendered2 had seen the main army of the rebellion lay down its arms4 ,he had conquered the public opinion of ,canada1 ,england and ,france4#agf ,only ,washington can compare with him in fortune4 ,and what if it should turn out1 in the unfolding of the web1 that he had reached the term2 that this heroic deliverer could no longer serve us2 that the rebellion had touched its natural conclusion1 and what remained to be done required new and uncommitted hands1--a new spirit born out of the ashes of the war2 and that ,heaven1 wishing to show the world a completed benefactor1 shall make him serve his country even more by his death than by his life8 ,nations1 like kings1 are not good by facility and complaisance4 8,the kindness of kings consists in justice and strength40 ,easy good nature has been the dangerous foible of the ,republic1 and it was necessary that its enemies should outrage it1 and drive us to unwonted firmness1 to secure the salvation of this country in the next ages4 ,the ancients believed in a serene and beautiful ,genius which ruled in the affairs of nations2 which1 with a slow but stern justice1 carried forward the fortunes of certain chosen houses1 weeding out single offenders or offending families1 and securing at last the firm prosperity of the favorites of ,heaven4 ,it was too narrow a view of the ,eternal ,nemesis4 ,there is a serene ,providence which rules the fate of nations1 which makes little account of time1 little of one generation or race1 makes no account of disasters1 conquers alike by what is called defeat or by what is called victory1 thrusts aside enemy and obstruction1 crushes everything immoral as inhuman1 and obtains the ultimate triumph of the best race by the sacrifice of everything which resists the moral laws of the world4#agg ,it makes its own instruments1 creates the man for the time1 trains him in poverty1 inspires his genius1 and arms him for his task4 ,it has given every race its own talent1 and ordains that only that race which combines perfectly with the virtues of all shall endure4#agh ,,xvi ,,harvard ,,commemoration ,,speech ,,july #ba1 #ahfe 8#8,old classmate1 say ,do you remember our ,commencement ,day8 ,were we such boys as these at twenty8' ,nay1 ,god called them to a nobler task than ours1 ,and gave them holier thoughts and manlier powers1-- ,this is the day of fruits and not of flowers6 ,these #8boys' we talk about like ancient sages ,are the same men we read of in old pages-- ,the bronze recast of dead heroic ages6 ,we grudge them not1 our dearest1 bravest1 best1-- ,let but the quarrel's issue stand confest3 ',tis ,earth's old slave-,god battling for his crown ,and ,freedom fighting with her visor down40 ,,holmes4 99 99 99 99 99 8,many loved ,truth1 and lavished life's best oil ,amid the dust of books to find her1 ,content at last1 for guerdon of their toil1 ,with the cast mantle she hath left behind her4 ,many in sad faith sought for her1 ,many with crossed hands sighed for her2 ,but these1 our brothers1 fought for her1 ,at life's dear peril wrought for her1 ,so loved her that they died for her1 ,tasting the raptured fleetness ,of her divine completeness3 ,their higher instinct knew ,those love her best who to themselves are true1 ,and what they dare to dream of1 dare to do2 ,they followed her and found her ,where all may hope to find1 ,not in the ashes of the burnt-out mind1 ,but beautiful1 with danger's sweetness round her4 ,where faith made whole with deed ,breathes its awakening breath ,into the lifeless creed1 ,they saw her plumed and mailed1 ,with sweet1 stern face unveiled1 ,and all-repaying eyes1 look proud on them in death40 ,,lowell1 ,commemoration ,ode4 ,,harvard ,,commemoration ,,speech ,,mr4 ,,chairman1 ,,and ,,gentlemen3 ,with whatever opinion we come here1 ,i think it is not in man to see1 without a feeling of pride and pleasure1 a tried soldier1 the armed defender of the right4 ,i think that in these last years all opinions have been affected by the magnificent and stupendous spectacle which ,divine ,providence has offered us of the energies that slept in the children of this country1--that slept and have awakened4 ,i see thankfully those that are here1 but dim eyes in vain explore for some who are not4 ,the old ,greek ,heraclitus said1 8,war is the ,father of all things40 ,he said it1 no doubt1 as science1 but we of this day can repeat it as political and social truth4 ,war passes the power of all chemical solvents1 breaking up the old adhesions1 and allowing the atoms of society to take a new order4 ,it is not the ,government1 but the ,war1 that has appointed the good generals1 sifted out the pedants1 put in the new and vigorous blood4 ,the ,war has lifted many other people besides ,grant and ,sherman into their true places4 ,even ,divine ,providence1 we may say1 always seems to work after a certain military necessity4 ,every nation punishes the ,general who is not victorious4 ,it is a rule in games of chance that the cards beat all the players1 and revolutions disconcert and outwit all the insurgents4 ,the revolutions carry their own points1 sometimes to the ruin of those who set them on foot4 ,the proof that war also is within the highest right1 is a marked benefactor in the hands of the ,divine ,providence1 is its morale4 ,the war gave back integrity to this erring and immoral nation4 ,it charged with power1 peaceful1 amiable men1 to whose life war and discord were abhorrent4 ,what an infusion of character went out from this and other colleges6 ,what an infusion of character down to the ranks6 ,the experience has been uniform that it is the gentle soul that makes the firm hero after all4 ,it is easy to recall the mood in which our young men1 snatched from every peaceful pursuit1 went to the war4 ,many of them had never handled a gun4 ,they said1 8,it is not in me to resist4 ,i go because ,i must4 ,it is a duty which ,i shall never forgive myself if ,i decline4 ,i do not know that ,i can make a soldier4 ,i may be very clumsy4 ,perhaps ,i shall be timid2 but you can rely on me4 ,only one thing is certain1 ,i can well die1 but ,i cannot afford to misbehave40 ,in fact the infusion of culture and tender humanity from these scholars and idealists who went to the war in their own despite--,god knows they had no fury for killing their old friends and countrymen--had its signal and lasting effect4 ,it was found that enthusiasm was a more potent ally than science and munitions of war without it4 8,it is a principle of war10 said ,napoleon1 8that when you can use the thunderbolt you must prefer it to the cannon40 ,enthusiasm was the thunderbolt4 ,here in this little ,massachusetts1 in smaller ,rhode ,island1 in this little nest of ,new ,england republics it flamed out when the guilty gun was aimed at ,sumter4 ,mr4 ,chairman1 standing here in ,harvard ,college1 the parent of all the colleges2 in ,massachusetts1 the parent of all the ,north2 when ,i consider her influence on the country as a principal planter of the ,western ,states1 and now1 by her teachers1 preachers1 journalists and books1 as well as by traffic and production1 the diffuser of religious1 literary and political opinion2--and when ,i see how irresistible the convictions of ,massachusetts are in these swarming populations1--,i think the little state bigger than ,i knew4 ,when her blood is up1 she has a fist big enough to knock down an empire4 ,and her blood was roused4 ,scholars changed the black coat for the blue4 ,a single company in the ,forty-fourth ,massachusetts ,regiment contained thirty-five sons of ,harvard4 ,you all know as well as ,i the story of these dedicated men1 who knew well on what duty they went1--whose fathers and mothers said of each slaughtered son1 8,we gave him up when he enlisted40 ,one mother said1 when her son was offered the command of the first negro regiment1 8,if he accepts it1 ,i shall be as proud as if ,i had heard that he was shot40#agi ,these men1 thus tender1 thus high-bred1 thus peaceable1 were always in the front and always employed4 ,they might say1 with their forefathers the old ,norse ,vikings1 8,we sung the mass of lances from morning until evening40 ,and in how many cases it chanced1 when the hero had fallen1 they who came by night to his funeral1 on the morrow returned to the war-path to show his slayers the way to death6 ,ah6 young brothers1 all honor and gratitude to you1--you1 manly defenders1 ,liberty's and ,humanity's bodyguard6 ,we shall not again disparage ,america1 now that we have seen what men it will bear4 ,we see--we thank you for it--a new era1 worth to mankind all the treasure and all the lives it has cost2 yes1 worth to the world the lives of all this generation of ,american men1 if they had been demanded4#ahj ,,xvii ,,address ,,at ,,the ,,dedication ,,of ,,the ,,soldiers' ,,monument ,,in ,,concord1 ,,april #ai1 #ahfg 8,they have shown what men may do1 ,they have proved how men may die1-- ,count1 who can1 the fields they have pressed1 ,each face to the solemn sky60 ,,brownell4 99 99 99 99 99 8,think you these felt no charms ,in their gray homesteads and embowered farms8 ,in household faces waiting at the door ,their evening step should lighten up no more8 ,in fields their boyish feet had known8 ,in trees their fathers' hands had set1 ,and which with them had grown1 ,widening each year their leafy coronet8 ,felt they no pang of passionate regret ,for those unsolid goods that seem so much our own8 ,these things are dear to every man that lives1 ,and life prized more for what it lends than gives4 ,yea1 many a tie1 through iteration sweet1 ,strove to detain their fatal feet2 ,and yet the enduring half they chose1 ,whose choice decides a man life's slave or king1 ,the invisible things of ,god before the seen and known3 ,therefore their memory inspiration blows ,with echoes gathering on from zone to zone2 ,for manhood is the one immortal thing ,beneath ,time's changeful sky1 ,and1 where it lightened once1 from age to age1 ,men come to learn1 in grateful pilgrimage1 ,that length of days is knowing when to die40 ,,lowell1 ,concord ,ode4 ,,address ,,dedication ,,of ,,soldiers' ,,monument ,,in ,,concord1 ,,april #ai1 #ahfg ,,fellow ,,citizens3 ,the day is in ,concord doubly our calendar day1 as being the anniversary of the invasion of the town by the ,british troops in #agge1 and of the departure of the company of volunteers for ,washington1 in #ahfa4 ,we are all pretty well aware that the facts which make to us the interest of this day are in a great degree personal and local here2 that every other town and city has its own heroes and memorial days1 and that we can hardly expect a wide sympathy for the names and anecdotes which we delight to record4 ,we are glad and proud that we have no monopoly of merit4 ,we are thankful that other towns and cities are as rich2 that the heroes of old and of recent date1 who made and kept ,america free and united1 were not rare or solitary growths1 but sporadic over vast tracts of the ,republic4 ,yet1 as it is a piece of nature and the common sense that the throbbing chord that holds us to our kindred1 our friends and our town1 is not to be denied or resisted1--no matter how frivolous or unphilosophical its pulses1--we shall cling affectionately to our houses1 our river and pastures1 and believe that our visitors will pardon us if we take the privilege of talking freely about our nearest neighbors as in a family party2--well assured1 meantime1 that the virtues we are met to honor were directed on aims which command the sympathy of every loyal ,american citizen1 were exerted for the protection of our common country1 and aided its triumph4 ,the town has thought fit to signify its honor for a few of its sons by raising an obelisk in the square4 ,it is a simple pile enough1--a few slabs of granite1 dug just below the surface of the soil1 and laid upon the top of it2 but as we have learned that the upheaved mountain1 from which these discs or flakes were broken1 was once a glowing mass at white heat1 slowly crystallized1 then uplifted by the central fires of the globe3 so the roots of the events it appropriately marks are in the heart of the universe4 ,i shall say of this obelisk1 planted here in our quiet plains1 what ,richter says of the volcano in the fair landscape of ,naples3 8,vesuvius stands in this poem of ,nature1 and exalts everything1 as war does the age40 ,the art of the architect and the sense of the town have made these dumb stones speak2 have1 if ,i may borrow the old language of the church1 converted these elements from a secular to a sacred and spiritual use2 have made them look to the past and the future2 have given them a meaning for the imagination and the heart4 ,the sense of the town1 the eloquent inscriptions the shaft now bears1 the memories of these martyrs1 the noble names which yet have gathered only their first fame1 whatever good grows to the country out of the war1 the largest results1 the future power and genius of the land1 will go on clothing this shaft with daily beauty and spiritual life4 ',tis certain that a plain stone like this1 standing on such memories1 having no reference to utilities1 but only to the grand instincts of the civil and moral man1 mixes with surrounding nature1--by day with the changing seasons1 by night the stars roll over it gladly1--becomes a sentiment1 a poet1 a prophet1 an orator1 to every townsman and passenger1 an altar where the noble youth shall in all time come to make his secret vows4#aha ,the old ,monument1 a short half-mile from this house1 stands to signalize the first ,revolution1 where the people resisted offensive usurpations1 offensive taxes of the ,british ,parliament1 claiming that there should be no tax without representation4 ,instructed by events1 after the quarrel began1 the ,americans took higher ground1 and stood for political independence4 ,but in the necessities of the hour1 they overlooked the moral law1 and winked at a practical exception to the ,bill of ,rights they had drawn up4 ,they winked at the exception1 believing it insignificant4 ,but the moral law1 the nature of things1 did not wink at it1 but kept its eye wide open4 ,it turned out that this one violation was a subtle poison1 which in eighty years corrupted the whole overgrown body politic1 and brought the alternative of extirpation of the poison or ruin to the ,republic4#ahb ,this new ,monument is built to mark the arrival of the nation at the new principle1--say1 rather1 at its new acknowledgment1 for the principle is as old as ,heaven1--that only that state can live1 in which injury to the least member is recognized as damage to the whole4 ,reform must begin at home4 ,the aim of the hour was to reconstruct the ,south2 but first the ,north had to be reconstructed4 ,its own theory and practice of liberty had got sadly out of gear1 and must be corrected4 ,it was done on the instant4 ,a thunderstorm at sea sometimes reverses the magnets in the ship1 and south is north4 ,the storm of war works the like miracle on men4 ,every ,democrat who went ,south came back a ,republican1 like the governors who1 in ,buchanan's time1 went to ,kansas1 and instantly took the free-state colors4 ,war1 says the poet1 is 8the arduous strife1 ,to which the triumph of all good is given40#ahc ,every principle is a war-note4 ,when the rights of man are recited under any old government1 every one of them is a declaration of war4 ,war civilizes1 rearranges the population1 distributing by ideas1--the innovators on one side1 the antiquaries on the other4 ,it opens the eyes wider4 ,once we were patriots up to the town-bounds1 or the state-line4 ,but when you replace the love of family or clan by a principle1 as freedom1 instantly that fire runs over the state-line into ,new ,hampshire1 ,vermont1 ,new ,york and ,ohio1 into the prairie and beyond1 leaps the mountains1 bridges river and lake1 burns as hotly in ,kansas and ,california as in ,boston1 and no chemist can discriminate between one soil and the other4 ,it lifts every population to an equal power and merit4 ,as long as we debate in council1 both sides may form their private guess what the event may be1 or which is the strongest4 ,but the moment you cry 8,every man to his tent1 ,o ,israel60 the delusions of hope and fear are at an end2--the strength is now to be tested by the eternal facts4 ,there will be no doubt more4 ,the world is equal to itself4 ,the secret architecture of things begins to disclose itself2 the fact that all things were made on a basis of right2 that justice is really desired by all intelligent beings2 that opposition to it is against the nature of things2 and that1 whatever may happen in this hour or that1 the years and the centuries are always pulling down the wrong and building up the right4 ,the war made the ,divine ,providence credible to many who did not believe the good ,heaven quite honest4 ,every man was an abolitionist by conviction1 but did not believe that his neighbor was4 ,the opinions of masses of men1 which the tactics of primary caucuses and the proverbial timidity of trade had concealed1 the war discovered2 and it was found1 contrary to all popular belief1 that the country was at heart abolitionist1 and for the ,union was ready to die4 ,as cities of men are the first effects of civilization1 and also instantly causes of more civilization1 so armies1 which are only wandering cities1 generate a vast heat1 and lift the spirit of the soldiers who compose them to the boiling point4 ,the armies mustered in the ,north were as much missionaries to the mind of the country as they were carriers of material force1 and had the vast advantage of carrying whither they marched a higher civilization4 ,of course1 there are noble men everywhere1 and there are such in the ,south2 and the noble know the noble1 wherever they meet2 and we have all heard passages of generous and exceptional behavior exhibited by individuals there to our officers and men1 during the war4 ,but the common people1 rich or poor1 were the narrowest and most conceited of mankind1 as arrogant as the negroes on the ,gambia ,river2 and1 by the way1 it looks as if the editors of the ,southern press were in all times selected from this class4 ,the invasion of ,northern farmers1 mechanics1 engineers1 tradesmen1 lawyers and students did more than forty years of peace had done to educate the ,south4#ahd 8,this will be a slow business10 writes our ,concord captain home1 8for we have to stop and civilize the people as we go along40 ,it is an interesting part of the history1 the manner in which this incongruous militia were made soldiers4 ,that was done again on the ,kansas plan4 ,our farmers went to ,kansas as peaceable1 ,god-fearing men as the members of our school committee here4 ,but when the ,border raids were let loose on their villages1 these people1 who turned pale at home if called to dress a cut finger1 on witnessing the butchery done by the ,missouri riders on women and babes1 were so beside themselves with rage1 that they became on the instant the bravest soldiers and the most determined avengers4#ahe ,and the first events of the war of the ,rebellion gave the like training to the new recruits4 ,all sorts of men went to the war1--the roughs1 men who liked harsh play and violence1 men for whom pleasure was not strong enough1 but who wanted pain1 and found sphere at last for their superabundant energy2 then the adventurous type of ,new ,englander1 with his appetite for novelty and travel2 the village politician1 who could now verify his newspaper knowledge1 see the ,south1 and amass what a stock of adventures to retail hereafter at the fireside1 or to the well-known companions on the ,mill-dam2 young men1 also1 of excellent education and polished manners1 delicately brought up2 manly farmers1 skilful mechanics1 young tradesmen1 men hitherto of narrow opportunities of knowing the world1 but well taught in the grammar-schools4 ,but perhaps in every one of these classes were idealists1 men who went from a religious duty4 ,i have a note of a conversation that occurred in our first company1 the morning before the battle of ,bull ,run4 ,at a halt in the march1 a few of our boys were sitting on a rail fence talking together whether it was right to sacrifice themselves4 ,one of them said1 #8he had been thinking a good deal about it1 last night1 and he thought one was never too young to die for a principle4' ,one of our later volunteers1 on the day when he left home1 in reply to my question1 ,how can you be spared from your farm1 now that your father is so ill8 said3 8,i go because ,i shall always be sorry if ,i did not go when the country called me4 ,i can go as well as another40 ,one wrote to his father these words3 8,you may think it strange that ,i1 who have always naturally rather shrunk from danger1 should wish to enter the army2 but there is a higher ,power that tunes the hearts of men1 and enables them to see their duty1 and gives them courage to face the dangers with which those duties are attended40 ,and the captain writes home of another of his men1 8,b comes from a sense of duty and love of country1 and these are the soldiers you can depend upon40#ahf ,none of us can have forgotten how sharp a test to try our peaceful people with1 was the first call for troops4 ,i doubt not many of our soldiers could repeat the confession of a youth whom ,i knew in the beginning of the war1 who enlisted in ,new ,york1 went to the field1 and died early4 ,before his departure he confided to his sister that he was naturally a coward1 but was determined that no one should ever find it out2 that he had long trained himself by forcing himself1 on the suspicion of any near danger1 to go directly up to it1 cost him what struggles it might4 ,yet it is from this temperament of sensibility that great heroes have been formed4 ,our first company was led by an officer who had grown up in this village from a boy4#ahg ,the older among us can well remember him at school1 at play and at work1 all the way up1 the most amiable1 sensible1 unpretending of men2 fair1 blond1 the rose lived long in his cheek2 grave1 but social1 and one of the last men in this town you would have picked out for the rough dealing of war1--not a trace of fierceness1 much less of recklessness1 or of the devouring thirst for excitement2 tender as a woman in his care for a cough or a chilblain in his men2 had troches and arnica in his pocket for them4 ,the army officers were welcome to their jest on him as too kind for a captain1 and1 later1 as the colonel who got off his horse when he saw one of his men limp on the march1 and told him to ride4 ,but he knew that his men had found out1 first that he was captain1 then that he was colonel1 and neither dared nor wished to disobey him4 ,he was a man without conceit1 who never fancied himself a philosopher or a saint2 the most modest and amiable of men1 engaged in common duties1 but equal always to the occasion2 and the war showed him still equal1 however stern and terrible the occasion grew1--disclosed in him a strong good sense1 great fertility of resource1 the helping hand1 and then the moral qualities of a commander1--a patience not to be tired out1 a serious devotion to the cause of the country that never swerved1 a hope that never failed4 ,he was a ,puritan in the army1 with traits that remind one of ,john ,brown1--an integrity incorruptible1 and an ability that always rose to the need4 ,you will remember that these colonels1 captains and lieutenants1 and the privates too1 are domestic men1 just wrenched away from their families and their business by this rally of all the manhood in the land4 ,they have notes to pay at home2 have farms1 shops1 factories1 affairs of every kind to think of and write home about4 ,consider what sacrifice and havoc in business arrangements this war-blast made4 ,they have to think carefully of every last resource at home on which their wives or mothers may fall back2 upon the little account in the savings bank1 the grass that can be sold1 the old cow1 or the heifer4 ,these necessities make the topics of the ten thousand letters with which the mail-bags came loaded day by day4 ,these letters play a great part in the war4 ,the writing of letters made the ,sunday in every camp3--meantime they are without the means of writing4 ,after the first marches there is no letter-paper1 there are no envelopes1 no postage-stamps for these were wetted into a solid mass in the rains and mud4 ,some of these letters are written on the back of old bills1 some on brown paper1 or strips of newspaper2 written by fire-light1 making the short night shorter2 written on the knee1 in the mud1 with pencil1 six words at a time2 or in the saddle1 and have to stop because the horse will not stand still4 ,but the words are proud and tender1--8,tell mother ,i will not disgrace her20 8tell her not to worry about me1 for ,i know she would not have had me stay at home if she could as well as not40 ,the letters of the captain are the dearest treasures of this town4 ,always devoted1 sometimes anxious1 sometimes full of joy at the deportment of his comrades1 they contain the sincere praise of men whom ,i now see in this assembly4 ,if ,marshal ,montluc's#ahh ,memoirs are the ,bible of soldiers1 as ,henry ,,iv4 of ,france said1 ,colonel ,prescott might furnish the ,book of ,epistles4 ,he writes1 8,you don't know how one gets attached to a company by living with them and sleeping with them all the time4 ,i know every man by heart4 ,i know every man's weak spot1--who is shaky1 and who is true blue40 ,he never remits his care of the men1 aiming to hold them to their good habits and to keep them cheerful4 ,for the first point1 he keeps up a constant acquaintance with them2 urges their correspondence with their friends2 writes news of them home1 urging his own correspondent to visit their families and keep them informed about the men2 encourages a temperance society which is formed in the camp4 8,i have not had a man drunk1 or affected by liquor1 since we came here40 ,at one time he finds his company unfortunate in having fallen between two companies of quite another class1--8'tis profanity all the time2 yet instead of a bad influence on our men1 ,i think it works the other way1--it disgusts them40 ,one day he writes1 8,i expect to have a time1 this forenoon1 with the officer from ,west ,point who drills us4 ,he is very profane1 and ,i will not stand it4 ,if he does not stop it1 ,i shall march my men right away when he is drilling them4 ,there is a fine for officers swearing in the army1 and ,i have too many young men that are not used to such talk4 ,i told the colonel this morning ,i should do it1 and shall1--don't care what the consequence is4 ,this lieutenant seems to think that these men1 who never saw a gun1 can drill as well as he1 who has been at ,west ,point four years40 ,at night he adds3 8,i told that officer from ,west ,point1 this morning1 that he could not swear at my company as he did yesterday2 told him ,i would not stand it anyway4 ,i told him ,i had a good many young men in my company whose mothers asked me to look after them1 and ,i should do so1 and not allow them to hear such language1 especially from an officer1 whose duty it was to set them a better example4 ,told him ,i did not swear myself and would not allow him to4 ,he looked at me as much as to say1 ,do you know whom you are talking to8 and ,i looked at him as much as to say1 ,yes1 ,i do4 ,he looked rather ashamed1 but went through the drill without an oath40 ,so much for the care of their morals4 ,his next point is to keep them cheerful4 ',tis better than medicine4 ,he has games of baseball1 and pitching quoits1 and euchre1 whilst part of the military discipline is sham fights4 ,the best men heartily second him1 and invent excellent means of their own4 ,when1 afterwards1 five of these men were prisoners in the ,parish ,prison in ,new ,orleans1 they set themselves to use the time to the wisest advantage1--formed a debating-club1 wrote a daily or weekly newspaper1 called it 8,stars and ,stripes40 ,it advertises1 8prayer-meeting at #g o'clock1 in cell ,no4 #h1 second floor10 and their own printed record is a proud and affecting narrative4 ,whilst the regiment was encamped at ,camp ,andrew1 near ,alexandria1 in ,june1 #ahfa1 marching orders came4 ,colonel ,lawrence sent for eight wagons1 but only three came4 ,on these they loaded all the canvas of the tents1 but took no tent-poles4 8,it looked very much like a severe thunderstorm10 writes the captain1 8and ,i knew the men would all have to sleep out of doors1 unless we carried them4 ,so ,i took six poles1 and went to the colonel1 and told him ,i had got the poles for two tents1 which would cover twenty-four men1 and unless he ordered me not to carry them1 ,i should do so4 ,he said he had no objection1 only thought they would be too much for me4 ,we only had about twelve men the rest of the company being1 perhaps1 on picket or other duty1 and some of them have their heavy knapsacks and guns to carry1 so could not carry any poles4 ,we started and marched two miles without stopping to rest1 not having had anything to eat1 and being very hot and dry40 ,at this time ,captain ,prescott was daily threatened with sickness1 and suffered the more from this heat4 8,i told ,lieutenant ,bowers1 this morning1 that ,i could afford to be sick from bringing the tent-poles1 for it saved the whole regiment from sleeping outdoors2 for they would not have thought of it1 if ,i had not taken mine4 ,the major had tried to discourage me2--said1 #8perhaps1 if ,i carried them over1 some other company would get them2'--,i told him1 perhaps he did not think ,i was smart40 ,he had the satisfaction to see the whole regiment enjoying the protection of these tents4#ahi ,in the disastrous battle of ,bull ,run this company behaved well1 and the regimental officers believed1 what is now the general conviction of the country1 that the misfortunes of the day were not so much owing to the fault of the troops as to the insufficiency of the combinations by the general officers4 ,it happened1 also1 that the ,fifth ,massachusetts was almost unofficered4 ,the colonel was1 early in the day1 disabled by a casualty2 the lieutenant-colonel1 the major and the adjutant were already transferred to new regiments1 and their places were not yet filled4 ,the three months of the enlistment expired a few days after the battle4 ,in the fall of #ahfa1 the old artillery company of this town was reorganized1 and ,captain ,richard ,barrett received a commission in ,march1 #ahfb1 from the state1 as its commander4 ,this company1 chiefly recruited here1 was later embodied in the ,forty-seventh ,regiment1 ,massachusetts ,volunteers1 enlisted as nine months' men1 and sent to ,new ,orleans1 where they were employed in guard duty during their term of service4 ,captain ,humphrey ,h4 ,buttrick1 lieutenant in this regiment1 as he had been already lieutenant in ,captain ,prescott's company in #ahfa1 went out again in ,august1 #ahfd1 a captain in the ,fifty-ninth ,massachusetts1 and saw hard service in the ,ninth ,corps1 under ,general ,burnside4 ,the regiment being formed of veterans1 and in fields requiring great activity and exposure1 suffered extraordinary losses2 ,captain ,buttrick and one other officer being the only officers in it who were neither killed1 wounded nor captured4#aij ,in ,august1 #ahfb1 on the new requisition for troops1 when it was becoming difficult to meet the draft1--mainly through the personal example and influence of ,mr4 ,sylvester ,lovejoy1 twelve men1 including himself1 were enlisted for three years1 and1 being soon after enrolled in the ,fortieth ,massachusetts1 went to the war2 and a very good account has been heard1 not only of the regiment1 but of the talents and virtues of these men4 ,after the return of the three months' company to ,concord1 in #ahfa1 ,captain ,prescott raised a new company of volunteers1 and ,captain ,bowers another4 ,each of these companies included recruits from this town1 and they formed part of the ,thirty-second ,regiment of ,massachusetts ,volunteers4 ,enlisting for three years1 and remaining to the end of the war1 these troops saw every variety of hard service which the war offered1 and1 though suffering at first some disadvantage from change of commanders1 and from severe losses1 they grew at last1 under the command of ,colonel ,prescott1 to an excellent reputation1 attested by the names of the thirty battles they were authorized to inscribe on their flag1 and by the important position usually assigned them in the field4 ,i have found many notes of their rough experience in the march and in the field4 ,in ,mc,clellan's retreat in the ,peninsula1 in ,july1 #ahfb1 8it is all our men can do to draw their feet out of the mud4 ,we marched one mile through mud1 without exaggeration1 one foot deep1--a good deal of the way over my boots1 and with short rations2 on one day nothing but liver1 blackberries1 and pennyroyal tea40--8,at ,fredericksburg we lay eleven hours in one spot without moving1 except to rise and fire40 ,the next note is1 8cracker for a day and a half1--but all right40 ,another day1 8had not left the ranks for thirty hours1 and the nights were broken by frequent alarms4 ,how would ,concord people10 he asks1 8like to pass the night on the battle-field1 and hear the dying cry for help1 and not be able to go to them80 ,but the regiment did good service at ,harrison's ,landing1 and at ,antietam1 under ,colonel ,parker2 and at ,fredericksburg1 in ,december1 ,lieutenant-,colonel ,prescott loudly expressed his satisfaction at his comrades1 now and then particularizing names3 8,bowers1 ,shepard and ,lauriat are as brave as lions40#aia ,at the battle of ,gettysburg1 in ,july1 #ahfc1 the brigade of which the ,thirty-second ,regiment formed a part1 was in line of battle seventy-two hours1 and suffered severely4 ,colonel ,prescott's regiment went in with two hundred and ten men1 nineteen officers4 ,on the second of ,july they had to cross the famous wheat-field1 under fire from the rebels in front and on both flanks4 ,seventy men were killed or wounded out of seven companies4 ,here ,francis ,buttrick1 whose manly beauty all of us remember1#aib and ,sergeant ,appleton1 an excellent soldier1 were fatally wounded4 ,the ,colonel was hit by three bullets4 8,i feel10 he writes1 8,i have much to be thankful for that my life is spared1 although ,i would willingly die to have the regiment do as well as they have done4 ,our colors had several holes made1 and were badly torn4 ,one bullet hit the staff which the bearer had in his hand4 ,the color-bearer is brave as a lion2 he will go anywhere you say1 and no questions asked2 his name is ,marshall ,davis40 ,the ,colonel took evident pleasure in the fact that he could account for all his men4 ,there were so many killed1 so many wounded1--but no missing4 ,for that word 8missing0 was apt to mean skulking4 ,another incident3 8,a friend of ,lieutenant ,barrow complains that we did not treat his body with respect1 inasmuch as we did not send it home4 ,i think we were very fortunate to save it at all1 for in ten minutes after he was killed the rebels occupied the ground1 and we had to carry him and all our wounded nearly two miles in blankets4 ,there was no place nearer than ,baltimore where we could have got a coffin1 and ,i suppose it was eighty miles there4 ,we laid him in two double blankets1 and then sent off a long distance and got boards off a barn to make the best coffin we could1 and gave him burial40 ,after ,gettysburg1 ,colonel ,prescott remarks that our regiment is highly complimented4 ,when ,colonel ,gurney1 of the ,ninth1 came to him the next day to tell him that 8folks are just beginning to appreciate the ,thirty-second ,regiment3 it always was a good regiment1 and people are just beginning to find it out20 ,colonel ,prescott notes in his journal1--8,pity they have not found it out before it was all gone4 ,we have a hundred and seventy-seven guns this morning40 ,let me add an extract from the official report of the brigade commander3 8,word was sent by ,general ,barnes1 that1 when we retired1 we should fall back under cover of the woods4 ,this order was communicated to ,colonel ,prescott1 whose regiment was then under the hottest fire4 ,understanding it to be a peremptory order to retire then1 he replied1 #8,i don't want to retire2 ,i am not ready to retire2 ,i can hold this place2' and he made good his assertion4 ,being informed that he misunderstood the order1 which was only to inform him how to retire when it became necessary1 he was satisfied1 and he and his command held their ground manfully40 ,it was said that ,colonel ,prescott's reply1 when reported1 pleased the ,acting-,brigadier-,general ,sweitzer mightily4 ,after ,gettysburg1 the ,thirty-second ,regiment saw hard service at ,rappahannock ,station2 and at ,baltimore1 in ,virginia1 where they were drawn up in battle order for ten days successively3 crossing the ,rapidan1 and suffering from such extreme cold1 a few days later1 at ,mine ,run1 that the men were compelled to break rank and run in circles to keep themselves from being frozen4 ,on the third of ,december1 they went into winter quarters4 ,i must not follow the multiplied details that make the hard work of the next year4 ,but the campaign in the ,wilderness surpassed all their worst experience hitherto of the soldier's life4 ,on the third of ,may1 they crossed the ,rapidan for the fifth time4 ,on the twelfth1 at ,laurel ,hill1 the regiment had twenty-one killed and seventy-five wounded1 including five officers4 8,the regiment has been in the front and centre since the battle begun1 eight and a half days ago1 and is now building breastworks on the ,fredericksburg road4 ,this has been the hardest fight the world ever knew4 ,i think the loss of our army will be forty thousand4 ,every day1 for the last eight days1 there has been a terrible battle the whole length of the line4 ,one day they drove us2 but it has been regular bull-dog fighting40 ,on the twenty-first1 they had been1 for seventeen days and nights1 under arms without rest4 ,on the twenty-third1 they crossed the ,north ,anna1 and achieved a great success4 ,on the thirtieth1 we learn1 8,our regiment has never been in the second line since we crossed the ,rapidan1 on the third40 ,on the night of the thirtieth1--8,the hardest day we ever had4 ,we have been in the first line twenty-six days1 and fighting every day but two2 whilst your newspapers talk of the inactivity of the ,army of the ,potomac4 ,if those writers could be here and fight all day1 and sleep in the trenches1 and be called up several times in the night by picket-firing1 they would not call it inactive40 ,june fourth is marked in the diary as 8,an awful day2--two hundred men lost to the command20 and not until the fifth of ,june comes at last a respite for a short space1 during which the men drew shoes and socks1 and the officers were able to send to the wagons and procure a change of clothes1 for the first time in five weeks4 ,but from these incessant labors there was now to be rest for one head1--the honored and beloved commander of the regiment4 ,on the sixteenth of ,june1 they crossed the ,james ,river1 and marched to within three miles of ,petersburg4 ,early in the morning of the eighteenth they went to the front1 formed line of battle1 and were ordered to take the ,norfolk and ,petersburg ,railroad from the rebels4 ,in this charge1 ,colonel ,george ,l4 ,prescott was mortally wounded4 ,after driving the enemy from the railroad1 crossing it1 and climbing the farther bank to continue the charge1 he was struck1 in front of his command1 by a musket-ball which entered his breast near the heart4 ,he was carried off the field to the division hospital1 and died on the following morning4 ,on his death-bed1 he received the needless assurances of his general that 8he had done more than all his duty10--needless to a conscience so faithful and unspotted4 ,one of his townsmen and comrades1 a sergeant in his regiment1 writing to his own family1 uses these words3 8,he was one of the few men who fight for principle4 ,he did not fight for glory1 honor1 nor money1 but because he thought it his duty4 ,these are not my feelings only1 but of the whole regiment40 ,on the first of ,january1 #ahfe1 the ,thirty-second ,regiment made itself comfortable in log huts1 a mile south of our rear line of works before ,petersburg4 ,on the fourth of ,february1 sudden orders came to move next morning at daylight4 ,at ,dabney's ,mills1 in a sharp fight1 they lost seventy-four in killed1 wounded and missing4 ,here ,major ,shepard was taken prisoner4 ,the lines were held until the tenth1 with more than usual suffering from snow and hail and intense cold1 added to the annoyance of the artillery fire4 ,on the first of ,april1 the regiment connected with ,sheridan's cavalry1 near the ,five ,forks1 and took an important part in that battle which opened ,petersburg and ,richmond1 and forced the surrender of ,lee4 ,on the ninth1 they marched in support of the cavalry1 and were advancing in a grand charge1 when the white flag of ,general ,lee appeared4 ,the brigade of which the ,thirty-second ,regiment formed part was detailed to receive the formal surrender of the rebel arms4 ,the homeward march began on the thirteenth1 and the regiment was mustered out in the field1 at ,washington1 on the twenty-eighth of ,june1 and arrived in ,boston on the first of ,july4 ,fellow citizens3 ,the obelisk records only the names of the dead4 ,there is something partial in this distribution of honor4 ,those who went through those dreadful fields and returned not deserve much more than all the honor we can pay4 ,but those also who went through the same fields1 and returned alive1 put just as much at hazard as those who died1 and1 in other countries1 would wear distinctive badges of honor as long as they lived4 ,i hope the disuse of such medals or badges in this country only signifies that everybody knows these men1 and carries their deeds in such lively remembrance that they require no badge or reminder4 ,i am sure ,i need not bespeak your gratitude to these fellow citizens and neighbors of ours4 ,i hope they will be content with the laurels of one war4 ,but let me1 in behalf of this assembly1 speak directly to you1 our defenders1 and say1 that it is easy to see that if danger should ever threaten the homes which you guard1 the knowledge of your presence will be a wall of fire for their protection4 ,brave men6 you will hardly be called to see again fields as terrible as those you have already trampled with your victories4 ,there are people who can hardly read the names on yonder bronze tablet1 the mist so gathers in their eyes4 ,three of the names are of sons of one family4#aic ,a gloom gathers on this assembly1 composed as it is of kindred men and women1 for1 in many houses1 the dearest and noblest is gone from their hearth-stone4 ,yet it is tinged with light from heaven4 ,a duty so severe has been discharged1 and with such immense results of good1 lifting private sacrifice to the sublime1 that1 though the cannon volleys have a sound of funeral echoes1 they can yet hear through them the benedictions of their country and mankind4 ,,appendix ,in the above ,address ,i have been compelled to suppress more details of personal interest than ,i have used4 ,but ,i do not like to omit the testimony to the character of the ,commander of the ,thirty-second ,massachusetts ,regiment1 given in the following letter by one of his soldiers3-- ,,near ,,petersburg1 ,,virginia1 ,june #bj1 #ahfd4 ,,dear ,,father3 ,with feelings of deep regret1 ,i inform you that ,colonel ,prescott1 our brave and lamented leader1 is no more4 ,he was shot through the body1 near the heart1 on the eighteenth day of ,june1 and died the following morning4 ,on the morning of the eighteenth1 our division was not in line4 ,reveille was at an early hour1 and before long we were moving to the front4 ,soon we passed the ground where the ,ninth ,corps drove the enemy from their fortified lines1 and came upon and formed our line in rear of ,crawford's ,division4 ,in front of us1 and one mile distant1 the ,rebels' lines of works could be seen4 ,between us and them1 and in a deep gulley1 was the ,norfolk and ,petersburg ,railroad4 ,soon the order came for us to take the railroad from the enemy1 whose advance then held it4 ,four regiments of our brigade were to head the charge2 so the #cb;d ,massachusetts1 #fb;d1 #iast and #aeeth ,pennsylvania regiments1 under command of ,colonel ,gregory1 moved forward in good order1 the enemy keeping up a steady fire all the time4 ,all went well till we reached the road4 ,the ,rebels left when they saw us advance1 and1 when we reached the road1 they were running away4 ,but here our troubles began4 ,the banks1 on each side of the road1 were about thirty feet high1 and1 being stiff clay1 were nearly perpendicular4 ,we got down well enough1 because we got started1 and were rolled to the bottom1 a confused pile of ,yanks4 ,now to climb the other side6 ,it was impossible to get up by climbing1 for the side of it was like the side of a house4 ,by dint of getting on each other's shoulders and making holes for our feet with bayonets1 a few of us got up2 reaching our guns down to the others1 we all finally got over4 ,meanwhile1 a storm of bullets was rained upon us4 ,through it all1 ,colonel ,prescott was cool and collected1 encouraging the men to do their best4 ,after we were almost all across1 he moved out in front of the line1 and called the men out to him1 saying1 8,come on1 men2 form our line here40 ,the color-bearer stepped towards him1 when a bullet struck the ,colonel1 passed through him1 and wounded the color-bearer1 ,sergeant ,giles of ,company ,g4 ,calmly the ,colonel turned1 and said1 8,i am wounded2 some one help me off40 ,a sergeant of ,company ,b1 and one of the #bast ,pennsylvania1 helped him off4 ,this man told me1 last night1 all that the ,colonel said1 while going off4 ,he was afraid we would be driven back1 and wanted these men to stick by him4 ,he said1 8,i die for my country40 ,he seemed to be conscious that death was near to him1 and said the wound was near his heart2 wanted the sergeant of ,company ,b to write to his family1 and tell them all about him4 ,he will write to ,mrs4 ,prescott1 probably2 but if they do not hear from some one an account of his death1 ,i wish you would show this to ,mrs4 ,prescott4 ,he died in the division hospital1 night before last1 and his remains will probably be sent to ,concord4 ,we lament his loss in the regiment very much4 ,he was like a father to us1--always counselling us to be firm in the path of duty1 and setting the example himself4 ,i think a more moral man1 or one more likely to enter the kingdom of heaven1 cannot be found in the ,army of the ,potomac4 ,no man ever heard him swear1 or saw him use liquor1 since we were in the service4 ,i wish there was some way for the regiment to pay some tribute to his memory4 ,but the folks at home must do this for the present4 ,the ,thirty-second ,regiment has lost its leader1 and calls on the people of ,concord to console the afflicted family of the brave departed1 by showing their esteem for him in some manner4 ,he was one of the few men who fight for principle1--pure principle4 ,he did not fight for glory1 honor nor money but because he thought it his duty4 ,these are not my feelings only1 but of the whole regiment4 ,i want you to show this to every one1 so they can see what we thought of the ,colonel1 and how he died in front of his regiment4 ,god bless and comfort his poor family4 ,perhaps people think soldiers have no feeling1 but it is not so4 ,we feel deep anxiety for the families of all our dear comrades4 ,,charles ,,bartlett1 ,sergeant ,company ,g1 #cb;d ,mass4 ,vols4#aid ,,xviii ,,editors' ,,address ,,massachusetts ,,quarterly ,,review1 ,,december1 #ahdg ,the old men studied magic in the flowers1 ,and human fortunes in astronomy1 ,and an omnipotence in chemistry1 ,preferring things to names1 for these were men1 ,were unitarians of the united world1 ,and1 wheresoever their clear eye-beams fell1 ,they caught the footsteps of the ,same4 ,our eyes ,are armed1 but we are strangers to the stars1 ,and strangers to the mystic beast and bird1 ,and strangers to the plant and to the mine4 ,the injured elements say1 #8,not in us2' ,and night and day1 ocean and continent1 ,fire1 plant and mineral say1 #8,not in us2' ,and haughtily return us stare for stare4 ,for we invade them impiously for gain2 ,we devastate them unreligiously1 ,and coldly ask their pottage1 not their love4 ,therefore they shove us from them1 yield to us ,only what to our griping toil is due2 ,but the sweet affluence of love and song1 ,the rich results of the divine consents ,of man and earth1 of world beloved and loved1 ,the nectar and ambrosia are withheld4 ,,editors' ,,address ,the ,american people are fast opening their own destiny4 ,the material basis is of such extent that no folly of man can quite subvert it2 for the territory is a considerable fraction of the planet1 and the population neither loath nor inexpert to use their advantages4 ,add1 that this energetic race derive an unprecedented material power from the new arts1 from the expansions effected by public schools1 cheap postage and a cheap press1 from the telescope1 the telegraph1 the railroad1 steamship1 steam-ferry1 steam-mill2 from domestic architecture1 chemical agriculture1 from ventilation1 from ice1 ether1 caoutchouc1 and innumerable inventions and manufactures4 ,a scholar who has been reading of the fabulous magnificence of ,assyria and ,persia1 of ,rome and ,constantinople1 leaves his library and takes his seat in a railroad-car1 where he is importuned by newsboys with journals still wet from ,liverpool and ,havre1 with telegraphic despatches not yet fifty minutes old from ,buffalo and ,cincinnati4 ,at the screams of the steam-whistle1 the train quits city and suburbs1 darts away into the interior1 drops every man at his estate as it whirls along1 and shows our traveller what tens of thousands of powerful and weaponed men1 science-armed and society-armed1 sit at large in this ample region1 obscure from their numbers and the extent of the domain4 ,he reflects on the power which each of these plain republicans can employ2 how far these chains of intercourse and travel reach1 interlock and ramify2 what levers1 what pumps1 what exhaustive analyses are applied to ,nature for the benefit of masses of men4 ,then he exclaims1 ,what a negro-fine royalty is that of ,jamschid and ,solomon6 ,what a substantial sovereignty does my townsman possess6 ,a man who has a hundred dollars to dispose of--a hundred dollars over his bread--is rich beyond the dreams of the ,csars4 ,keep our eyes as long as we can on this picture1 we cannot stave off the ulterior question1--the famous question of ,cineas to ,pyrrhus1#aie--the ,,where ,,to of all this power and population1 these surveys and inventions1 this taxing and tabulating1 mill-privilege1 roads1 and mines4 ,the aspect this country presents is a certain maniacal activity1 an immense apparatus of cunning machinery which turns out1 at last1 some ,nuremberg toys4 ,has it generated1 as great interests do1 any intellectual power8 ,where are the works of the imagination--the surest test of a national genius8 ,at least as far as the purpose and genius of ,america is yet reported in any book1 it is a sterility and no genius4 ,one would say there is nothing colossal in the country but its geography and its material activities2 that the moral and intellectual effects are not on the same scale with the trade and production4 ,there is no speech heard but that of auctioneers1 newsboys1 and the caucus4 ,where is the great breath of the ,new ,world1 the voice of aboriginal nations opening new eras with hymns of lofty cheer8 ,our books and fine arts are imitations2 there is a fatal incuriosity and disinclination in our educated men to new studies and the interrogation of ,nature4 ,we have taste1 critical talent1 good professors1 good commentators1 but a lack of male energy4 ,what more serious calamity can befall a people than a constitutional dulness and limitation8 ,the moral influence of the intellect is wanting4 ,we hearken in vain for any profound voice speaking to the ,american heart1 cheering timid good men1 animating the youth1 consoling the defeated1 and intelligently announcing duties which clothe life with joy1 and endear the face of land and sea to men4#aif ,it is a poor consideration that the country wit is precocious1 and1 as we say1 practical2 that political interests on so broad a scale as ours are administered by little men with some saucy village talent1 by deft partisans1 good cipherers2 strict economists1 quite empty of all superstition4 ,conceding these unfavorable appearances1 it would yet be a poor pedantry to read the fates of this country from these narrow data4 ,on the contrary1 we are persuaded that moral and material values are always commensurate4 ,every material organization exists to a moral end1 which makes the reason of its existence4 ,here are no books1 but who can see the continent with its inland and surrounding waters1 its temperate climates1 its west-wind breathing vigor through all the year1 its confluence of races so favorable to the highest energy1 and the infinite glut of their production1 without putting new queries to ,destiny as to the purpose for which this muster of nations and this sudden creation of enormous values is made8 ,this is equally the view of science and of patriotism4 ,we hesitate to employ a word so much abused as patriotism1 whose true sense is almost the reverse of its popular sense4 ,we have no sympathy with that boyish egotism1 hoarse with cheering for one side1 for one state1 for one town3 the right patriotism consists in the delight which springs from contributing our peculiar and legitimate advantages to the benefit of humanity4 ,every foot of soil has its proper quality2 the grape on two sides of the same fence has new flavors2 and so every acre on the globe1 every family of men1 every point of climate1 has its distinguishing virtues4 ,certainly then this country does not lie here in the sun causeless2 and though it may not be easy to define its influence1 men feel already its emancipating quality in the careless self-reliance of the manners1 in the freedom of thought1 in the direct roads by which grievances are reached and redressed1 and even in the reckless and sinister politics1 not less than in purer expressions4 ,bad as it is1 this freedom leads onward and upward1--to a ,columbia of thought and art1 which is the last and endless end of ,columbus's adventure4 ,lovers of our country1 but not always approvers of the public counsels1 we should certainly be glad to give good advice in politics4 ,we have not been able to escape our national and endemic habit1 and to be liberated from interest in the elections and in public affairs4 ,nor have we cared to disfranchise ourselves4 ,we are more solicitous than others to make our politics clear and healthful1 as we believe politics to be nowise accidental or exceptional1 but subject to the same laws with trees1 earths and acids4 ,we see that reckless and destructive fury which characterizes the lower classes of ,american society1 and which is pampered by hundreds of profligate presses4 ,the young intriguers who drive in bar-rooms and town-meetings the trade of politics1 sagacious only to seize the victorious side1 have put the country into the position of an overgrown bully1 and ,massachusetts finds no heart or head to give weight and efficacy to her contrary judgment4 ,in hours when it seemed only to need one just word from a man of honor to have vindicated the rights of millions1 and to have given a true direction to the first steps of a nation1 we have seen the best understandings of ,new ,england1 the trusted leaders of her counsels1 constituting a snivelling and despised opposition1 clapped on the back by comfortable capitalists from all sections1 and persuaded to say1 ,we are too old to stand for what is called a ,new ,england sentiment any longer4 ,rely on us for commercial representatives1 but for questions of ethics1--who knows what markets may be opened8 ,we are not well1 we are not in our seats1 when justice and humanity are to be spoken for4 ,we have a bad war1 many victories1 each of which converts the country into an immense chanticleer2 and a very insincere political opposition4#aig ,the country needs to be extricated from its delirium at once4 ,public affairs are chained in the same law with private2 the retributions of armed states are not less sure and signal than those which come to private felons4 ,the facility of majorities is no protection from the natural sequence of their own acts4 ,men reason badly1 but ,nature and ,destiny are logical4#aih ,but1 whilst we should think our pains well bestowed if we could cure the infatuation of statesmen1 and should be sincerely pleased if we could give a direction to the ,federal politics1 we are far from believing politics the primal interest of men4 ,on the contrary1 we hold that the laws and governors cannot possess a commanding interest for any but vacant or fanatical people2 for the reason that this is simply a formal and superficial interest2 and men of a solid genius are only interested in substantial things4 ,the ,state1 like the individual1 should rest on an ideal basis4 ,not only man but ,nature is injured by the imputation that man exists only to be fattened with bread1 but he lives in such connection with ,thought and ,fact that his bread is surely involved as one element thereof1 but is not its end and aim4 ,so the insight which commands the laws and conditions of the true polity precludes forever all interest in the squabbles of parties4 ,as soon as men have tasted the enjoyment of learning1 friendship and virtue1 for which the ,state exists1 the prizes of office appear polluted1 and their followers outcasts4 ,a journal that would meet the real wants of this time must have a courage and power sufficient to solve the problems which the great groping society around us1 stupid with perplexity1 is dumbly exploring4 ,let it now show its astuteness by dodging each difficult question and arguing diffusely every point on which men are long ago unanimous4 ,can it front this matter of ,socialism1 to which the names of ,owen and ,fourier have attached1 and dispose of that question8 ,will it cope with the allied questions of ,government1 ,nonresistance1 and all that belongs under that category8 ,will it measure itself with the chapter on ,slavery1 in some sort the special enigma of the time1 as it has provoked against it a sort of inspiration and enthusiasm singular in modern history8 ,there are literary and philosophical reputations to settle4 ,the name of ,swedenborg has in this very time acquired new honors1 and the current year has witnessed the appearance1 in their first ,english translation1 of his manuscripts4 ,here is an unsettled account in the book of ,fame2 a nebula to dim eyes1 but which great telescopes may yet resolve into a magnificent system4 ,here is the standing problem of ,natural ,science1 and the merits of her great interpreters to be determined2 the encyclopdical ,humboldt1 and the intrepid generalizations collected by the author of the ,vestiges of ,creation4 ,here is the balance to be adjusted between the exact ,french school of ,cuvier1 and the genial catholic theorists1 ,geoffroy ,st4-,hilaire1 ,goethe1 ,davy and ,agassiz4 ,will it venture into the thin and difficult air of that school where the secrets of structure are discussed under the topics of mesmerism and the twilights of demonology8 ,what will easily seem to many a far higher question than any other is that which respects the embodying of the ,conscience of the period4 ,is the age we live in unfriendly to the highest powers2 to that blending of the affections with the poetic faculty which has distinguished the ,religious ,ages8 ,we have a better opinion of the economy of ,nature than to fear that those varying phases which humanity presents ever leave out any of the grand springs of human action4 ,mankind for the moment seem to be in search of a religion4 ,the ,jewish cultus is declining2 the ,divine1 or1 as some will say1 the truly ,human1 hovers1 now seen1 now unseen1 before us4 ,this period of peace1 this hour when the jangle of contending churches is hushing or hushed1 will seem only the more propitious to those who believe that man need not fear the want of religion1 because they know his religious constitution1--that he must rest on the moral and religious sentiments1 as the motion of bodies rests on geometry4 ,in the rapid decay of what was called religion1 timid and unthinking people fancy a decay of the hope of man4 ,but the moral and religious sentiments meet us everywhere1 alike in markets as in churches4 ,a ,god starts up behind cotton bales also4 ,the conscience of man is regenerated as is the atmosphere1 so that society cannot be debauched4 ,the health which we call ,virtue is an equipoise which easily redresses itself1 and resembles those rocking stones which a child's finger can move1 and a weight of many hundred tons cannot overthrow4 ,with these convictions1 a few friends of good letters have thought fit to associate themselves for the conduct of a new journal4 ,we have obeyed the custom and convenience of the time in adopting this form of a ,review1 as a mould into which all metal most easily runs4 ,but the form shall not be suffered to be an impediment4 ,the name might convey the impression of a book of criticism1 and that nothing is to be found here which was not written expressly for the ,review2 but good readers know that inspired pages are not written to fill a space1 but for inevitable utterance2 and to such our journal is freely and solicitously open1 even though everything else be excluded4 ,we entreat the aid of every lover of truth and right1 and let these principles entreat for us4 ,we rely on the talents and industry of good men known to us1 but much more on the magnetism of truth1 which is multiplying and educating advocates for itself and friends for us4 ,we rely on the truth for and against ourselves4 ,,xix ,,address ,,to ,,kossuth ,,at ,,concord1 ,,may #aa1 #aheb ,god said1 ,i am tired of kings1 ,i suffer them no more2 ,up to my ear the morning brings ,the outrage of the poor4 ,my angel1--his name is ,freedom1-- ,choose him to be your king2 ,he shall cut pathways east and west1 ,and fend you with his wing4 ,,address ,,to ,,kossuth ,,sir1--,the fatigue of your many public visits1 in such unbroken succession as may compare with the toils of a campaign1 forbid us to detain you long4 ,the people of this town share with their countrymen the admiration of valor and perseverance2 they1 like their compatriots1 have been hungry to see the man whose extraordinary eloquence is seconded by the splendor and the solidity of his actions4 ,but1 as it is the privilege of the people of this town to keep a hallowed mound which has a place in the story of the country2 as ,concord is one of the monuments of freedom2 we knew beforehand that you could not go by us2 you could not take all your steps in the pilgrimage of ,american liberty1 until you had seen with your eyes the ruins of the bridge where a handful of brave farmers opened our ,revolution4 ,therefore1 we sat and waited for you4 ,and now1 ,sir1 we are heartily glad to see you1 at last1 in these fields4 ,we set no more value than you do on cheers and huzzas4 ,but we think that the graves of our heroes around us throb to-day to a footstep that sounded like their own3-- 8,the mighty tread ,brings from the dust the sound of liberty40#aii ,sir1 we have watched with attention your progress through the land1 and the varying feeling with which you have been received1 and the unvarying tone and countenance which you have maintained4 ,we wish to discriminate in our regard4 ,we wish to reserve our honor for actions of the noblest strain4 ,we please ourselves that in you we meet one whose temper was long since tried in the fire1 and made equal to all events2 a man so truly in love with the greatest future1 that he cannot be diverted to any less4 ,it is our republican doctrine1 too1 that the wide variety of opinions is an advantage4 ,i believe ,i may say of the people of this country at large1 that their sympathy is more worth1 because it stands the test of party4 ,it is not a blind wave2 it is a living soul contending with living souls4 ,it is1 in every expression1 antagonized4 ,no opinion will pass but must stand the tug of war4 ,as you see1 the love you win is worth something2 for it has been argued through2 its foundation searched2 it has proved sound and whole2 it may be avowed2 it will last1 and it will draw all opinion to itself4 ,we have seen1 with great pleasure1 that there is nothing accidental in your attitude4 ,we have seen that you are organically in that cause you plead4 ,the man of ,freedom1 you are also the man of ,fate4 ,you do not elect1 but you are elected by ,god and your genius to the task4 ,we do not1 therefore1 affect to thank you4 ,we only see in you the angel of freedom1 crossing sea and land2 crossing parties1 nationalities1 private interests and self-esteems2 dividing populations where you go1 and drawing to your part only the good4 ,we are afraid that you are growing popular1 ,sir2 you may be called to the dangers of prosperity4 ,but1 hitherto1 you have had in all centuries and in all parties only the men of heart4 ,i do not know but you will have the million yet4 ,then1 may your strength be equal to your day4 ,but remember1 ,sir1 that everything great and excellent in the world is in minorities4#bjj ,far be from us1 ,sir1 any tone of patronage2 we ought rather to ask yours4 ,we know the austere condition of liberty--that it must be reconquered over and over again2 yea1 day by day2 that it is a state of war2 that it is always slipping from those who boast it to those who fight for it3 and you1 the foremost soldier of freedom in this age1--it is for us to crave your judgment2 who are we that we should dictate to you8 ,you have won your own4 ,we only affirm it4 ,this country of workingmen greets in you a worker4 ,this republic greets in you a republican4 ,we only say1 #8,well done1 good and faithful4'--,you have earned your own nobility at home4 ,we admit you ad eundem 7as they say at ,college74 ,we admit you to the same degree1 without new trial4 ,we suspend all rules before so paramount a merit4 ,you may well sit a doctor in the college of liberty4 ,you have achieved your right to interpret our ,washington4 ,and ,i speak the sense not only of every generous ,american1 but the law of mind1 when ,i say that it is not those who live idly in the city called after his name1 but those who1 all over the world1 think and act like him1 who can claim to explain the sentiment of ,washington4 ,sir1 whatever obstruction from selfishness1 indifference1 or from property 7which always sympathizes with possession7 you may encounter1 we congratulate you that you have known how to convert calamities into powers1 exile into a campaign1 present defeat into lasting victory4 ,for this new crusade which you preach to willing and to unwilling ears in ,america is a seed of armed men4 ,you have got your story told in every palace and log hut and prairie camp1 throughout this continent4 ,and1 as the shores of ,europe and ,america approach every month1 and their politics will one day mingle1 when the crisis arrives it will find us all instructed beforehand in the rights and wrongs of ,hungary1 and parties already to her freedom4 ,,xx ,,woman ,a ,,lecture ,,read ,,before ,,the ,,woman',s ,,rights ,,convention1 ,,boston1 ,,september #bj1 #ahee ,the politics are base1 ,the letters do not cheer1 ,and 'tis far in the deeps of history1 ,the voice that speaketh clear4 ,yet there in the parlor sits ,some figure in noble guise1-- ,our ,angel in a stranger's form2 ,or ,woman's pleading eyes4 99 99 99 99 99 8,lo1 when the ,lord made ,north and ,south1 ,and sun and moon ordained he1 ,forth bringing each by word of mouth ,in order of its dignity1 ,did man from the crude clay express ,by sequence1 and1 all else decreed1 ,he formed the woman2 nor might less ,than ,sabbath such a work succeed40 ,,coventry ,,patmore4 ,,woman ,among those movements which seem to be1 now and then1 endemic in the public mind1--perhaps we should say1 sporadic1--rather than the single inspiration of one mind1 is that which has urged on society the benefits of action having for its object a benefit to the position of ,woman4 ,and none is more seriously interesting to every healthful and thoughtful mind4 ,in that race which is now predominant over all the other races of men1 it was a cherished belief that women had an oracular nature4 ,they are more delicate than men1--delicate as iodine to light1--and thus more impressionable4 ,they are the best index of the coming hour4 ,i share this belief4 ,i think their words are to be weighed2 but it is their inconsiderate word1--according to the rule1 #8take their first advice1 not the second3' as ,coleridge was wont to apply to a lady for her judgment in questions of taste1 and accept it2 but when she added--8,i think so1 because--0 8,pardon me1 madam10 he said1 8leave me to find out the reasons for myself40 ,in this sense1 as more delicate mercuries of the imponderable and immaterial influences1 what they say and think is the shadow of coming events4 ,their very dolls are indicative4 ,among our ,norse ancestors1 ,frigga was worshipped as the goddess of women4 8,weirdes all10 said the ,edda1 8,frigga knoweth1 though she telleth them never40 ,that is to say1 all wisdoms ,woman knows2 though she takes them for granted1 and does not explain them as discoveries1 like the understanding of man4 ,men remark figure3 women always catch the expression4 ,they inspire by a look1 and pass with us not so much by what they say or do1 as by their presence4 ,they learn so fast and convey the result so fast as to outrun the logic of their slow brother and make his acquisitions poor4#bja ',tis their mood and tone that is important4 ,does their mind misgive them1 or are they firm and cheerful8 ',tis a true report that things are going ill or well4 ,and any remarkable opinion or movement shared by woman will be the first sign of revolution4 ,plato said1 ,women are the same as men in faculty1 only less in degree4 ,but the general voice of mankind has agreed that they have their own strength2 that women are strong by sentiment2 that the same mental height which their husbands attain by toil1 they attain by sympathy with their husbands4 ,man is the will1 and ,woman the sentiment4 ,in this ship of humanity1 ,will is the rudder1 and ,sentiment the sail3 when ,woman affects to steer1 the rudder is only a masked sail4 ,when women engage in any art or trade1 it is usually as a resource1 not as a primary object4 ,the life of the affections is primary to them1 so that there is usually no employment or career which they will not with their own applause and that of society quit for a suitable marriage4 ,and they give entirely to their affections1 set their whole fortune on the die1 lose themselves eagerly in the glory of their husbands and children4 ,man stands astonished at a magnanimity he cannot pretend to4 ,mrs4 ,lucy ,hutchinson1 one of the heroines of the ,english ,commonwealth1 who wrote the life of her husband1 the ,governor of ,nottingham1 says1 8,if he esteemed her at a higher rate than she in herself could have deserved1 he was the author of that virtue he doted on1 while she only reflected his own glories upon him4 ,all that she was1 was him1 while he was hers1 and all that she is now1 at best1 but his pale shade40 ,as for ,plato's opinion1 it is true that1 up to recent times1 in no art or science1 nor in painting1 poetry or music1 have they produced a masterpiece4 ,till the new education and larger opportunities of very modern times1 this position1 with the fewest possible exceptions1 has always been true4 ,sappho1 to be sure1 in the ,olympic ,games1 gained the crown over ,pindar4 ,but1 in general1 no mastery in either of the fine arts--which should1 one would say1 be the arts of women--has yet been obtained by them1 equal to the mastery of men in the same4 ,the part they play in education1 in the care of the young and the tuition of older children1 is their organic office in the world4 ,so much sympathy as they have makes them inestimable as the mediators between those who have knowledge and those who want it3 besides1 their fine organization1 their taste and love of details1 makes the knowledge they give better in their hands4 ,but there is an art which is better than painting1 poetry1 music1 or architecture1--better than botany1 geology1 or any science2 namely1 ,conversation4 ,wise1 cultivated1 genial conversation is the last flower of civilization and the best result which life has to offer us1--a cup for gods1 which has no repentance4 ,conversation is our account of ourselves4 ,all we have1 all we can1 all we know1 is brought into play1 and as the reproduction1 in finer form1 of all our havings4 ,women are1 by this and their social influence1 the civilizers of mankind4 ,what is civilization8 ,i answer1 the power of good women4 ,it was ,burns's remark when he first came to ,edinburgh that between the men of rustic life and the polite world he observed little difference2 that in the former1 though unpolished by fashion and unenlightened by science1 he had found much observation and much intelligence2 but a refined and accomplished woman was a being almost new to him1 and of which he had formed a very inadequate idea4 8,i like women10 said a clear-headed man of the world2 8they are so finished40 ,they finish society1 manners1 language4 ,form and ceremony are their realm4 ,they embellish trifles4 ,all these ceremonies that hedge our life around are not to be despised1 and when we have become habituated to them1 cannot be dispensed with4 ,no woman can despise them with impunity4 ,their genius delights in ceremonies1 in forms1 in decorating life with manners1 with properties1 order and grace4 ,they are1 in their nature1 more relative2 the circumstance must always be fit2 out of place they lose half their weight1 out of place they are disfranchised4 ,position1 ,wren said1 is essential to the perfecting of beauty2--a fine building is lost in a dark lane2 a statue should stand in the air2 much more true is it of woman4 ,we commonly say that easy circumstances seem somehow necessary to the finish of the female character3 but then it is to be remembered that they create these with all their might4 ,they are always making that civilization which they require2 that state of art1 of decoration1 that ornamental life in which they best appear4 ,the spiritual force of man is as much shown in taste1 in his fancy and imagination1--attaching deep meanings to things and to arbitrary inventions of no real value1--as in his perception of truth4 ,he is as much raised above the beast by this creative faculty as by any other4 ,the horse and ox use no delays2 they run to the river when thirsty1 to the corn when hungry1 and say no thanks1 but fight down whatever opposes their appetite4 ,but man invents and adorns all he does with delays and degrees1 paints it all over with forms1 to please himself better2 he invented majesty and the etiquette of courts and drawing-rooms2 architecture1 curtains1 dress1 all luxuries and adornments1 and the elegance of privacy1 to increase the joys of society4 ,he invented marriage2 and surrounded by religion1 by comeliness1 by all manner of dignities and renunciations1 the union of the sexes4 ,and how should we better measure the gulf between the best intercourse of men in old ,athens1 in ,london1 or in our ,american capitals1--between this and the hedgehog existence of diggers of worms1 and the eaters of clay and offal1--than by signalizing just this department of taste or comeliness8 ,herein woman is the prime genius and ordainer4 ,there is no grace that is taught by the dancing-master1 no style adopted into the etiquette of courts1 but was first the whim and the mere action of some brilliant woman1 who charmed beholders by this new expression1 and made it remembered and copied4 ,and ,i think they should magnify their ritual of manners4#bjb ,society1 conversation1 decorum1 flowers1 dances1 colors1 forms1 are their homes and attendants4 ,they should be found in fit surroundings--with fair approaches1 with agreeable architecture1 and with all advantages which the means of man collect3 8,the far-fetched diamond finds its home ,flashing and smouldering in her hair4 ,for her the seas their pearls reveal1 ,art and strange lands her pomp supply ,with purple1 chrome and cochineal1 ,ochre and lapis lazuli4 ,the worm its golden woof presents4 ,whatever runs1 flies1 dives or delves ,all doff for her their ornaments1 ,which suit her better than themselves40#bjc ,there is no gift of ,nature without some drawback4 ,so1 to women1 this exquisite structure could not exist without its own penalty4 ,more vulnerable1 more infirm1 more mortal than men1 they could not be such excellent artists in this element of fancy if they did not lend and give themselves to it4 ,they are poets who believe their own poetry4 ,they emit from their pores a colored atmosphere1 one would say1 wave upon wave of rosy light1 in which they walk evermore1 and see all objects through this warm-tinted mist that envelops them4 ,but the starry crown of woman is in the power of her affection and sentiment1 and the infinite enlargements to which they lead4 ,beautiful is the passion of love1 painter and adorner of youth and early life3 but who suspects1 in its blushes and tremors1 what tragedies1 heroisms and immortalities are beyond it8 ,the passion1 with all its grace and poetry1 is profane to that which follows it4 ,all these affections are only introductory to that which is beyond1 and to that which is sublime4 ,we men have no right to say it1 but the omnipotence of ,eve is in humility4 ,the instincts of mankind have drawn the ,virgin ,mother-- 8,created beings all in lowliness ,surpassing1 as in height above them all40#bjd ,this is the ,divine ,person whom ,dante and ,milton saw in vision4 ,this is the victory of ,griselda1 her supreme humility4 ,and it is when love has reached this height that all our pretty rhetoric begins to have meaning4 ,when we see that1 it adds to the soul a new soul1 it is honey in the mouth1 music in the ear and balsam in the heart4 8,far have ,i clambered in my mind1 ,but nought so great as ,love ,i find4 ,what is thy tent1 where dost thou dwell8 #8,my mansion is humility1 ,heaven's vastest capability4' ,the further it doth downward tend1 ,the higher up it doth ascend40#bje ,the first thing men think of1 when they love1 is to exhibit their usefulness and advantages to the object of their affection4 ,women make light of these1 asking only love4 ,they wish it to be an exchange of nobleness4 ,there is much in their nature1 much in their social position which gives them a certain power of divination4 ,and women know1 at first sight1 the characters of those with whom they converse4 ,there is much that tends to give them a religious height which men do not attain4 ,their sequestration from affairs and from the injury to the moral sense which affairs often inflict1 aids this4 ,and in every remarkable religious development in the world1 women have taken a leading part4 ,it is very curious that in the ,east1 where ,woman occupies1 nationally1 a lower sphere1 where the laws resist the education and emancipation of women1--in the ,mohammedan faith1 ,woman yet occupies the same leading position1 as a prophetess1 that she has among the ancient ,greeks1 or among the ,hebrews1 or among the ,saxons4 ,this power1 this religious character1 is everywhere to be remarked in them4#bjf ,the action of society is progressive4 ,in barbarous society the position of women is always low--in the ,eastern nations lower than in the ,west4 8,when a daughter is born10 says the ,shiking1 the old ,sacred ,book of ,china1 8she sleeps on the ground1 she is clothed with a wrapper1 she plays with a tile2 she is incapable of evil or of good40 ,and something like that position1 in all low society1 is the position of woman2 because1 as before remarked1 she is herself its civilizer4 ,with the advancements of society1 the position and influence of woman bring her strength or her faults into light4 ,in modern times1 three or four conspicuous instrumentalities may be marked4 ,after the deification of ,woman in the ,catholic ,church1 in the sixteenth or seventeenth century1--when her religious nature gave her1 of course1 new importance1--the ,quakers have the honor of having first established1 in their discipline1 the equality in the sexes4 ,it is even more perfect in the later sect of the ,shakers1 where no business is broached or counselled without the intervention of one elder and one elderess4 ,a second epoch for ,woman was in ,france1--entirely civil2 the change of sentiment from a rude to a polite character1 in the age of ,louis ,,xiv41--commonly dated from the building of the ,htel de ,rambouillet4#bjg ,i think another important step was made by the doctrine of ,swedenborg1 a sublime genius who gave a scientific exposition of the part played severally by man and woman in the world1 and showed the difference of sex to run through nature and through thought4 ,of all ,christian sects this is at this moment the most vital and aggressive4 ,another step was the effect of the action of the age in the antagonism to ,slavery4 ,it was easy to enlist ,woman in this2 it was impossible not to enlist her4 ,but that ,cause turned out to be a great scholar4 ,he was a terrible metaphysician4 ,he was a jurist1 a poet1 a divine4 ,was never a ,university of ,oxford or ,gttingen that made such students4 ,it took a man from the plough and made him acute1 eloquent1 and wise1 to the silencing of the doctors4 ,there was nothing it did not pry into1 no right it did not explore1 no wrong it did not expose4 ,and it has1 among its other effects1 given ,woman a feeling of public duty and an added self-respect4 ,one truth leads in another by the hand2 one right is an accession of strength to take more4 ,and the times are marked by the new attitude of ,woman2 urging1 by argument and by association1 her rights of all kinds1--in short1 to one half of the world2--as the right to education1 to avenues of employment1 to equal rights of property1 to equal rights in marriage1 to the exercise of the professions and of suffrage4 ,of course1 this conspicuousness had its inconveniences4 ,but it is cheap wit that has been spent on this subject2 from ,aristophanes1 in whose comedies ,i confess my dulness to find good joke1 to ,rabelais1 in whom it is monstrous exaggeration of temperament1 and not borne out by anything in nature1--down to ,english ,comedy1 and1 in our day1 to ,tennyson1#bjh and the ,american newspapers4 ,in all1 the body of the joke is one1 namely1 to charge women with temperament2 to describe them as victims of temperament2 and is identical with ,mahomet's opinion that women have not a sufficient moral or intellectual force to control the perturbations of their physical structure4 ,these were all drawings of morbid anatomy1 and such satire as might be written on the tenants of a hospital or on an asylum for idiots4 ,of course it would be easy for women to retaliate in kind1 by painting men from the dogs and gorillas that have worn our shape4 ,that they have not1 is an eulogy on their taste and self-respect4 ,the good easy world took the joke which it liked4 ,there is always the want of thought2 there is always credulity4 ,there are plenty of people who believe women to be incapable of anything but to cook1 incapable of interest in affairs4 ,there are plenty of people who believe that the world is governed by men of dark complexions1 that affairs are only directed by such1 and do not see the use of contemplative men1 or how ignoble would be the world that wanted them4 ,and so without the affection of women4 ,but for the general charge3 no doubt it is well founded4 ,they are victims of the finer temperament4 ,they have tears1 and gayeties1 and faintings1 and glooms and devotion to trifles4 ,nature's end1 of maternity for twenty years1 was of so supreme importance that it was to be secured at all events1 even to the sacrifice of the highest beauty4 ,they are more personal4 ,men taunt them that1 whatever they do1 say1 read or write1 they are thinking of themselves and their set4 ,men are not to the same degree temperamented1 for there are multitudes of men who live to objects quite out of them1 as to politics1 to trade1 to letters or an art1 unhindered by any influence of constitution4 ,the answer that lies1 silent or spoken1 in the minds of well-meaning persons1 to the new claims1 is this3 that though their mathematical justice is not to be denied1 yet the best women do not wish these things2 they are asked for by people who intellectually seek them1 but who have not the support or sympathy of the truest women2 and that1 if the laws and customs were modified in the manner proposed1 it would embarrass and pain gentle and lovely persons with duties which they would find irksome and distasteful4 ,very likely4 ,providence is always surprising us with new and unlikely instruments4 ,but perhaps it is because these people have been deprived of education1 fine companions1 opportunities1 such as they wished1--because they feel the same rudeness and disadvantage which offends you1--that they have been stung to say1 #8,it is too late for us to be polished and fashioned into beauty1 but1 at least1 we will see that the whole race of women shall not suffer as we have suffered4' ,they have an unquestionable right to their own property4 ,and if a woman demand votes1 offices and political equality with men1 as among the ,shakers an ,elder and ,elderess are of equal power1--and among the ,quakers1--it must not be refused4 ,it is very cheap wit that finds it so droll that a woman should vote4 ,educate and refine society to the highest point1--bring together a cultivated society of both sexes1 in a drawing-room1 and consult and decide by voices on a question of taste or on a question of right1 and is there any absurdity or any practical difficulty in obtaining their authentic opinions8 ,if not1 then there need be none in a hundred companies1 if you educate them and accustom them to judge4 ,and1 for the effect of it1 ,i can say1 for one1 that all my points would sooner be carried in the ,state if women voted4 ,on the questions that are important1--whether the government shall be in one person1 or whether representative1 or whether democratic2 whether men shall be holden in bondage1 or shall be roasted alive and eaten1 as in ,typee1 or shall be hunted with bloodhounds1 as in this country2 whether men shall be hanged for stealing1 or hanged at all2 whether the unlimited sale of cheap liquors shall be allowed2--they would give1 ,i suppose1 as intelligent a vote as the voters of ,boston or ,new ,york4 ,we may ask1 to be sure1--,why need you vote8 ,if new power is here1 of a character which solves old tough questions1 which puts me and all the rest in the wrong1 tries and condemns our religion1 customs1 laws1 and opens new careers to our young receptive men and women1 you can well leave voting to the old dead people4 ,those whom you teach1 and those whom you half teach1 will fast enough make themselves considered and strong with their new insight1 and votes will follow from all the dull4 ,the objection to their voting is the same as is urged1 in the lobbies of legislatures1 against clergymen who take an active part in politics2--that if they are good clergymen they are unacquainted with the expediencies of politics1 and if they become good politicians they are worse clergymen4 ,so of women1 that they cannot enter this arena without being contaminated and unsexed4 ,here are two or three objections3 first1 a want of practical wisdom2 second1 a too purely ideal view2 and1 third1 danger of contamination4 ,for their want of intimate knowledge of affairs1 ,i do not think this ought to disqualify them from voting at any town-meeting which ,i ever attended4 ,i could heartily wish the objection were sound4 ,but if any man will take the trouble to see how our people vote1--how many gentlemen are willing to take on themselves the trouble of thinking and determining for you1 and1 standing at the door of the polls1 give every innocent citizen his ticket as he comes in1 informing him that this is the vote of his party2 and how the innocent citizen1 without further demur1 goes and drops it in the ballot-box1--,i cannot but think he will agree that most women might vote as wisely4 ,for the other point1 of their not knowing the world1 and aiming at abstract right without allowance for circumstances1--that is not a disqualification1 but a qualification4 ,human society is made up of partialities4 ,each citizen has an interest and a view of his own1 which1 if followed out to the extreme1 would leave no room for any other citizen4 ,one man is timid and another rash2 one would change nothing1 and the other is pleased with nothing2 one wishes schools1 another armies1 one gunboats1 another public gardens4 ,bring all these biases together and something is done in favor of them all4 ,every one is a half vote1 but the next elector behind him brings the other or corresponding half in his hand3 a reasonable result is had4 ,now there is no lack1 ,i am sure1 of the expediency1 or of the interests of trade or of imperative class interests being neglected4 ,there is no lack of votes representing the physical wants2 and if in your city the uneducated emigrant vote numbers thousands1 representing a brutal ignorance and mere animal wants1 it is to be corrected by an educated and religious vote1 representing the wants and desires of honest and refined persons4 ,if the wants1 the passions1 the vices1 are allowed a full vote through the hands of a half-brutal intemperate population1 ,i think it but fair that the virtues1 the aspirations should be allowed a full vote1 as an offset1 through the purest part of the people4 ,as for the unsexing and contamination1--that only accuses our existing politics1 shows how barbarous we are1--that our policies are so crooked1 made up of things not to be spoken1 to be understood only by wink and nudge2 this man to be coaxed1 that man to be bought1 and that other to be duped4 ,it is easy to see that there is contamination enough1 but it rots the men now1 and fills the air with stench4 ,come out of that3 it is like a dance-cellar4 ,the fairest names in this country in literature1 in law1 have gone into ,congress and come out dishonored4 ,and when ,i read the list of men of intellect1 of refined pursuits1 giants in law1 or eminent scholars1 or of social distinction1 leading men of wealth and enterprise in the commercial community1 and see what they have voted for and suffered to be voted for1 ,i think no community was ever so politely and elegantly betrayed4 ,i do not think it yet appears that women wish this equal share in public affairs4 ,but it is they and not we that are to determine it4 ,let the laws be purged of every barbarous remainder1 every barbarous impediment to women4 ,let the public donations for education be equally shared by them1 let them enter a school as freely as a church1 let them have and hold and give their property as men do theirs2--and in a few years it will easily appear whether they wish a voice in making the laws that are to govern them4 ,if you do refuse them a vote1 you will also refuse to tax them1--according to our ,teutonic principle1 ,no representation1 no tax4 ,all events of history are to be regarded as growths and offshoots of the expanding mind of the race1 and this appearance of new opinions1 their currency and force in many minds1 is itself the wonderful fact4 ,for whatever is popular is important1 shows the spontaneous sense of the hour4 ,the aspiration of this century will be the code of the next4 ,it holds of high and distant causes1 of the same influences that make the sun and moon4 ,when new opinions appear1 they will be entertained and respected1 by every fair mind1 according to their reasonableness1 and not according to their convenience1 or their fitness to shock our customs4 ,but let us deal with them greatly2 let them make their way by the upper road1 and not by the way of manufacturing public opinion1 which lapses continually into expediency1 and makes charlatans4 ,all that is spontaneous is irresistible1 and forever it is individual force that interests4 ,i need not repeat to you--your own solitude will suggest it--that a masculine woman is not strong1 but a lady is4 ,the loneliest thought1 the purest prayer1 is rushing to be the history of a thousand years4 ,let us have the true woman1 the adorner1 the hospitable1 the religious heart1 and no lawyer need be called in to write stipulations1 the cunning clauses of provision1 the strong investitures2--for woman moulds the lawgiver and writes the law4 ,but ,i ought to say1 ,i think it impossible to separate the interests and education of the sexes4 ,improve and refine the men1 and you do the same by the women1 whether you will or no4 ,every woman being the wife or the daughter of a man1--wife1 daughter1 sister1 mother1 of a man1 she can never be very far from his ear1 never not of his counsel1 if she has really something to urge that is good in itself and agreeable to nature4 ,slavery it is that makes slavery2 freedom1 freedom4 ,the slavery of women happened when the men were slaves of kings4 ,the melioration of manners brought their melioration of course4 ,it could not be otherwise1 and hence the new desire of better laws4 ,for there are always a certain number of passionately loving fathers1 brothers1 husbands and sons who put their might into the endeavor to make a daughter1 a wife1 or a mother happy in the way that suits best4 ,woman should find in man her guardian4 ,silently she looks for that1 and when she finds that he is not1 as she instantly does1 she betakes her to her own defences1 and does the best she can4 ,but when he is her guardian1 fulfilled with all nobleness1 knows and accepts his duties as her brother1 all goes well for both4 ,the new movement is only a tide shared by the spirits of man and woman2 and you may proceed in the faith that whatever the woman's heart is prompted to desire1 the man's mind is simultaneously prompted to accomplish4#bji ,,xxi ,,address ,,to ,,the ,,inhabitants ,,of ,,concord ,,at ,,the ,,consecration ,,of ,,sleepy ,,hollow ,,september #bi1 #ahee ,,sleepy ,,hollow 8,no abbey's gloom1 nor dark cathedral stoops1 ,no winding torches paint the midnight air2 ,here the green pines delight1 the aspen droops ,along the modest pathways1 and those fair ,pale asters of the season spread their plumes ,around this field1 fit garden for our tombs4 ,and shalt thou pause to hear some funeral-bell ,slow stealing o'er the heart in this calm place1 ,not with a throb of pain1 a feverish knell1 ,but in its kind and supplicating grace1 ,it says1 ,go1 pilgrim1 on thy march1 be more ,friend to the friendless than thou wast before2 ,learn from the loved one's rest serenity2 ,to-morrow that soft bell for thee shall sound1 ,and thou repose beneath the whispering tree1 ,one tribute more to this submissive ground2-- ,prison thy soul from malice1 bar out pride1 ,nor these pale flowers nor this still field deride3 ,rather to those ascents of being turn ,where a ne'er-setting sun illumes the year ,eternal1 and the incessant watch-fires burn ,of unspent holiness and goodness clear1-- ,forget man's littleness1 deserve the best1 ,god's mercy in thy thought and life contest40 ,,william ,,ellery ,,channing4 ,,address ,,to ,,the ,,inhabitants ,,of ,,concord ,,at ,,the ,,consecration ,,of ,,sleepy ,,hollow ,,september #bi1 #ahee ,,citizens ,,and ,,friends3 ,the committee to whom was confided the charge of carrying out the wishes of the town in opening the cemetery1 having proceeded so far as to enclose the ground1 and cut the necessary roads1 and having laid off as many lots as are likely to be wanted at present1 have thought it fit to call the inhabitants together1 to show you the ground1 now that the new avenues make its advantages appear2 and to put it at your disposition4 ,they have thought that the taking possession of this field ought to be marked by a public meeting and religious rites3 and they have requested me to say a few words which the serious and tender occasion inspires4 ,and this concourse of friendly company assures me that they have rightly interpreted your wishes4 ,here followed1 in the address1 about three pages of matter which ,mr4 ,emerson used later in his essay on ,immortality1 which may be found in the volume ,letters and ,social ,aims1 beginning on page #cbd1 8,the credence of men10 etc41 and ending on pages #cbf-bg with the sentence1 8,meantime the true disciples saw1 through the letters1 the doctrine of eternity which dissolved the poor corpse and nature also1 and gave grandeur to the passing hour40 ,in these times we see the defects of our old theology2 its inferiority to our habit of thoughts4 ,men go up and down2 ,science is popularized2 the irresistible democracy--shall ,i call it8--of chemistry1 of vegetation1 which recomposes for new life every decomposing particle1--the race never dying1 the individual never spared1--have impressed on the mind of the age the futility of these old arts of preserving4 ,we give our earth to earth4 ,we will not jealously guard a few atoms under immense marbles1 selfishly and impossibly sequestering it from the vast circulations of ,nature1 but1 at the same time1 fully admitting the divine hope and love which belong to our nature1 wishing to make one spot tender to our children1 who shall come hither in the next century to read the dates of these lives4 ,our people accepting this lesson from science1 yet touched by the tenderness which ,christianity breathes1 have found a mean in the consecration of gardens4 ,a simultaneous movement has1 in a hundred cities and towns in this country1 selected some convenient piece of undulating ground with pleasant woods and waters2 every family chooses its own clump of trees2 and we lay the corpse in these leafy colonnades4 ,a grove of trees1--what benefit or ornament is so fair and great8 they make the landscape2 they keep the earth habitable2 their roots run down1 like cattle1 to the water-courses2 their heads expand to feed the atmosphere4 ,the life of a tree is a hundred and a thousand years2 its decays ornamental2 its repairs self-made3 they grow when we sleep1 they grew when we were unborn4 ,man is a moth among these longevities4 ,he plants for the next millennium4 ,shadows haunt them2 all that ever lived about them cling to them4 ,you can almost see behind these pines the ,indian with bow and arrow lurking yet exploring the traces of the old trail4 ,modern taste has shown that there is no ornament1 no architecture alone1 so sumptuous as well disposed woods and waters1 where art has been employed only to remove superfluities1 and bring out the natural advantages4 ,in cultivated grounds one sees the picturesque and opulent effect of the familiar shrubs1 barberry1 lilac1 privet and thorns1 when they are disposed in masses1 and in large spaces4 ,what work of man will compare with the plantation of a park8 ,it dignifies life4 ,it is a seat for friendship1 counsel1 taste and religion4 ,i do not wonder that they are the chosen badge and point of pride of ,european nobility4 ,but how much more are they needed by us1 anxious1 overdriven ,americans1 to stanch and appease that fury of temperament which our climate bestows6 ,this tract fortunately lies adjoining to the ,agricultural ,society's ground1 to the ,new ,burial ,ground1 to the ,court ,house and the ,town ,house1 making together a large block of public ground1 permanent property of the town and county1--all the ornaments of either adding so much value to all4 ,i suppose all of us will readily admit the value of parks and cultivated grounds to the pleasure and education of the people1 but ,i have heard it said here that we would gladly spend for a park for the living1 but not for a cemetery2 a garden for the living1 a home of thought and friendship4 ,certainly the living need it more than the dead2 indeed1 to speak precisely1 it is given to the dead for the reaction of benefit on the living4 ,but if the direct regard to the living be thought expedient1 that is also in your power4 ,this ground is happily so divided by ,nature as to admit of this relation between the ,past and the ,present4 ,in the valley where we stand will be the ,monuments4 ,on the other side of the ridge1 towards the town1 a portion of the land is in full view of the cheer of the village and is out of sight of the ,monuments2 it admits of being reserved for secular purposes2 for games1--not such as the ,greeks honored the dead with1 but for games of education2 the distribution of school prizes2 the meeting of teachers2 patriotic eloquence1 the utterance of the principles of national liberty to private1 social1 literary or religious fraternities4 ,here we may establish that most agreeable of all museums1 and agreeable to the temper of our times1--an ,arboretum1--wherein may be planted1 by the taste of every citizen1 one tree1 with its name recorded in a book2 every tree that is native to ,massachusetts1 or will grow in it2 so that every child may be shown growing1 side by side1 the eleven oaks of ,massachusetts2 and the twenty willows2 the beech1 which we have allowed to die out of the eastern counties2 and here the vast firs of ,california and ,oregon4 ,this spot for twenty years has borne the name of ,sleepy ,hollow4 ,its seclusion from the village in its immediate neighborhood had made it to all the inhabitants an easy retreat on a ,sabbath day1 or a summer twilight1 and it was inevitably chosen by them when the design of a new cemetery was broached1 if it did not suggest the design1 as the fit place for their final repose4 ,in all the multitudes of woodlands and hillsides1 which within a few years have been laid out with a similar design1 ,i have not known one so fitly named4 ,sleepy ,hollow4 ,in this quiet valley1 as in the palm of ,nature's hand1 we shall sleep well when we have finished our day4 ,what is the ,earth itself but a surface scooped into nooks and caves of slumber--according to the ,eastern fable1 a bridge full of holes1 into one or other of which all the passengers sink to silence8 ,nay1 when ,i think of the mystery of life1 its round of illusions1 our ignorance of its beginning or its end1 the speed of the changes of that glittering dream we call existence1--,i think sometimes that the vault of the sky arching there upward1 under which our busy being is whirled1 is only a ,sleepy ,hollow1 with path of ,suns1 instead of foot-paths2 and ,milky ,ways1 for truck-roads4 ,the ground has the peaceful character that belongs to this town2--no lofty crags1 no glittering cataracts2--but ,i hold that every part of ,nature is handsome when not deformed by bad ,art4 ,bleak sea-rocks and sea-downs and blasted heaths have their own beauty2 and though we make much ado in our praises of ,italy or ,andes1 ,nature makes not so much difference4 ,the morning1 the moonlight1 the spring day1 are magical painters1 and can glorify a meadow or a rock4 ,but we must look forward also1 and make ourselves a thousand years old2 and when these acorns1 that are falling at our feet1 are oaks overshadowing our children in a remote century1 this mute green bank will be full of history3 the good1 the wise and great will have left their names and virtues on the trees2 heroes1 poets1 beauties1 sanctities1 benefactors1 will have made the air timeable and articulate4 ,and hither shall repair1 to this modest spot of ,god's earth1 every sweet and friendly influence2 the beautiful night and beautiful day will come in turn to sit upon the grass4 ,our use will not displace the old tenants4 ,the well-beloved birds will not sing one song the less1 the high-holding woodpecker1 the meadow-lark1 the oriole1 robin1 purple finch1 bluebird1 thrush and red-eyed warbler1 the heron1 the bittern will find out the hospitality and protection from the gun of this asylum1 and will seek the waters of the meadow2 and in the grass1 and by the pond1 the locust1 the cricket and the hyla1 shall shrilly play4 ,we shall bring hither the body of the dead1 but how shall we catch the escaped soul8 ,here will burn for us1 as the oath of ,god1 the sublime belief4 ,i have heard that death takes us away from ill things1 not from good4 ,i have heard that when we pronounce the name of man1 we pronounce the belief of immortality4 ,all great natures delight in stability2 all great men find eternity affirmed in the promise of their faculties4 ,why is the fable of the ,wandering ,jew agreeable to men1 but because they want more time and land to execute their thoughts in8 ,life is not long enough for art1 nor long enough for friendship4 ,the evidence from intellect is as valid as the evidence from love4 ,the being that can share a thought and feeling so sublime as confidence in truth is no mushroom4 ,our dissatisfaction with any other solution is the blazing evidence of immortality4 ,,xxii ,,robert ,,burns ,,speech ,,delivered ,,at ,,the ,,celebration ,,of ,,the ,,burns ,,centenary1 ,,boston ,,january #be1 #ahei 8,his was the music to whose tone ,the common pulse of man keeps time ,in cot or castle's mirth or moan1 ,in cold or sunny clime4 ,praise to the bard6 his words are driven1 ,like flower-seeds by the far winds sown1 ,where'er1 beneath the sky of heaven1 ,the birds of fame have flown40 ,,halleck4 ,,robert ,,burns ,,mr4 ,,president1 ,,and ,,gentlemen3 ,i do not know by what untoward accident it has chanced1 and ,i forbear to inquire1 that1 in this accomplished circle1 it should fall to me1 the worst ,scotsman of all1 to receive your commands1 and at the latest hour too1 to respond to the sentiment just offered1 and which indeed makes the occasion4 ,but ,i am told there is no appeal1 and ,i must trust to the inspirations of the theme to make a fitness which does not otherwise exist4 ,yet1 ,sir1 ,i heartily feel the singular claims of the occasion4 ,at the first announcement1 from ,i know not whence1 that the #beth of ,january was the hundredth anniversary of the birth of ,robert ,burns1 a sudden consent warmed the great ,english race1 in all its kingdoms1 colonies and states1 all over the world1 to keep the festival4 ,we are here to hold our parliament with love and poesy1 as men were wont to do in the ,middle ,ages4 ,those famous parliaments might or might not have had more stateliness and better singers than we1--though that is yet to be known1--but they could not have better reason4 ,i can only explain this singular unanimity in a race which rarely acts together1 but rather after their watch-word1 ,each for himself1--by the fact that ,robert ,burns1 the poet of the middle class1 represents in the mind of men to-day that great uprising of the middle class against the armed and privileged minorities1 that uprising which worked politically in the ,american and ,french ,revolutions1 and which1 not in governments so much as in education and social order1 has changed the face of the world4 ,in order for this destiny1 his birth1 breeding and fortunes were low4 ,his organic sentiment was absolute independence1 and resting as it should on a life of labor4 ,no man existed who could look down on him4 ,they that looked into his eyes saw that they might look down the sky as easily4#baj ,his muse and teaching was common sense1 joyful1 aggressive1 irresistible4 ,not ,latimer1 nor ,luther struck more telling blows against false theology than did this brave singer4 ,the ,confession of ,augsburg1 the ,declaration of ,independence1 the ,french ,rights of ,man1 and the ,marseillaise1 are not more weighty documents in the history of freedom than the songs of ,burns4 ,his satire has lost none of its edge4 ,his musical arrows yet sing through the air4 ,he is so substantially a reformer that ,i find his grand plain sense in close chain with the greatest masters1--,rabelais1 ,shakspeare in comedy1 ,cervantes1 ,butler1 and ,burns4 ,if ,i should add another name1 ,i find it only in a living countryman of ,burns4#baa ,he is an exceptional genius4 ,the people who care nothing for literature and poetry care for ,burns4 ,it was indifferent--they thought who saw him--whether he wrote verse or not3 he could have done anything else as well4 ,yet how true a poet is he6 ,and the poet1 too1 of poor men1 of gray hodden and the guernsey coat and the blouse4 ,he has given voice to all the experiences of common life2 he has endeared the farmhouse and cottage1 patches and poverty1 beans and barley2 ale1 the poor man's wine2 hardship2 the fear of debt2 the dear society of weans and wife1 of brothers and sisters1 proud of each other1 knowing so few and finding amends for want and obscurity in books and thoughts4#bab ,what a love of ,nature1 and1 shall ,i say it8 of middle-class ,nature4 ,not like ,goethe1 in the stars1 or like ,byron1 in the ocean1 or ,moore1 in the luxurious ,east1 but in the homely landscape which the poor see around them1--bleak leagues of pasture and stubble1 ice and sleet and rain and snow-choked brooks2 birds1 hares1 field-mice1 thistles and heather1 which he daily knew4 ,how many 8,bonny ,doons0 and 8,john ,anderson my jo's0 and 8,auld lang synes0 all around the earth have his verses been applied to6 ,and his love-songs still woo and melt the youths and maids2 the farm-work1 the country holiday1 the fishing-cobble are still his debtors to-day4 ,and as he was thus the poet of the poor1 anxious1 cheerful1 working humanity1 so had he the language of low life4 ,he grew up in a rural district1 speaking a patois unintelligible to all but natives1 and he has made the ,lowland ,scotch a ,doric dialect of fame4 ,it is the only example in history of a language made classic by the genius of a single man4 ,but more than this4 ,he had that secret of genius to draw from the bottom of society the strength of its speech1 and astonish the ears of the polite with these artless words1 better than art1 and filtered of all offence through his beauty4 ,it seemed odious to ,luther that the devil should have all the best tunes2 he would bring them into the churches2 and ,burns knew how to take from fairs and gypsies1 blacksmiths and drovers1 the speech of the market and street1 and clothe it with melody4 ,but ,i am detaining you too long4 ,the memory of ,burns1--,i am afraid heaven and earth have taken too good care of it to leave us anything to say4 ,the west winds are murmuring it4 ,open the windows behind you1 and hearken for the incoming tide1 what the waves say of it4 ,the doves perching always on the eaves of the ,stone ,chapel opposite1 may know something about it4 ,every name in broad ,scotland keeps his fame bright4 ,the memory of ,burns1--every man's1 every boy's and girl's head carries snatches of his songs1 and they say them by heart1 and1 what is strangest of all1 never learned them from a book1 but from mouth to mouth4 ,the wind whispers them1 the birds whistle them1 the corn1 barley1 and bulrushes hoarsely rustle them1 nay1 the music-boxes at ,geneva are framed and toothed to play them2 the hand-organs of the ,savoyards in all cities repeat them1 and the chimes of bells ring them in the spires4 ,they are the property and the solace of mankind4#bac ,,xxiii ,,remarks ,,at ,,the ,,celebration ,,of ,,the ,,three ,,hundredth ,,anniversary ,,of ,,the ,,birth ,,of ,,shakspeare ,,by ,,the ,,saturday ,,club ,,at ,,the ,,revere ,,house1 ,,boston1 #ahfd ,england's genius filled all measure ,of heart and soul1 of strength and pleasure1 ,gave to mind its emperor ,and life was larger than before2 ,and centuries brood1 nor can attain ,the sense and bound of ,shakspeare's brain4 ,the men who lived with him became ,poets1 for the air was fame4 ,,shakspeare ',tis not our fault if we have not made this evening's circle still richer than it is4 ,we seriously endeavored1 besides our brothers and our seniors1 on whom the ordinary lead of literary and social action falls--and falls because of their ability--to draw out of their retirements a few rarer lovers of the muse--8seld-seen flamens0--whom this day seemed to elect and challenge4 ,and it is to us a painful disappointment that ,bryant and ,whittier as guests1 and our own ,hawthorne1--with the best will to come1--should have found it impossible at last2 and again1 that a well-known and honored compatriot1 who first in ,boston wrote elegant verse1 and on ,shakspeare1 and whose ,american devotion through forty or fifty years to the affairs of a bank1 has not been able to bury the fires of his genius1--,mr4 ,charles ,sprague1--pleads the infirmities of age as an absolute bar to his presence with us4 ,we regret also the absence of our members ,sumner and ,motley4 ,we can hardly think of an occasion where so little need be said4 ,we are all content to let ,shakspeare speak for himself4 ,his fame is settled on the foundations of the moral and intellectual world4 ,wherever there are men1 and in the degree in which they are civil--have power of mind1 sensibility to beauty1 music1 the secrets of passion1 and the liquid expression of thought1 he has risen to his place as the first poet of the world4 ,genius is the consoler of our mortal condition1 and ,shakspeare taught us that the little world of the heart is vaster1 deeper and richer than the spaces of astronomy4 ,what shocks of surprise and sympathetic power1 this battery1 which he is1 imparts to every fine mind that is born6 ,we say to the young child in the cradle1 #8,happy1 and defended against ,fate6 for here is ,nature1 and here is ,shakspeare1 waiting for you6' ',tis our metre of culture4 ,he is a cultivated man--who can tell us something new of ,shakspeare4 ,all criticism is only a making of rules out of his beauties4 ,he is as superior to his countrymen1 as to all other countrymen4 ,he fulfilled the famous prophecy of ,socrates1 that the poet most excellent in tragedy would be most excellent in comedy1 and more than fulfilled it by making tragedy also a victorious melody which healed its own wounds4 ,in short1 ,shakspeare is the one resource of our life on which no gloom gathers2 the fountain of joy which honors him who tastes it2 day without night2 pleasure without repentance2 the genius which1 in unpoetic ages1 keeps poetry in honor and1 in sterile periods1 keeps up the credit of the human mind4 ,his genius has reacted on himself4 ,men were so astonished and occupied by his poems that they have not been able to see his face and condition1 or say1 who was his father and his brethren2 or what life he led2 and at the short distance of three hundred years he is mythical1 like ,orpheus and ,homer1 and we have already seen the most fantastic theories plausibly urged1 as that ,raleigh and ,bacon were the authors of the plays4 ,yet we pause expectant before the genius of ,shakspeare--as if his biography were not yet written2 until the problem of the whole ,english race is solved4 ,i see1 among the lovers of this catholic genius1 here present1 a few1 whose deeper knowledge invites me to hazard an article of my literary creed2 that ,shakspeare1 by his transcendant reach of thought1 so unites the extremes1 that1 whilst he has kept the theatre now for three centuries1 and1 like a street-bible1 furnishes sayings to the market1 courts of law1 the senate1 and common discourse1--he is yet to all wise men the companion of the closet4 ,the student finds the solitariest place not solitary enough to read him2 and so searching is his penetration1 and such the charm of his speech1 that he still agitates the heart in age as in youth1 and will1 until it ceases to beat4 ,young men of a contemplative turn carry his sonnets in the pocket4 ,with that book1 the shade of any tree1 a room in any inn1 becomes a chapel or oratory in which to sit out their happiest hours4 ,later they find riper and manlier lessons in the plays4 ,and secondly1 he is the most robust and potent thinker that ever was4 ,i find that it was not history1 courts and affairs that gave him lessons1 but he that gave grandeur and prestige to them4 ,there never was a writer who1 seeming to draw every hint from outward history1 the life of cities and courts1 owed them so little4 ,you shall never find in this world the barons or kings he depicted4 ',tis fine for ,englishmen to say1 they only know history by ,shakspeare4 ,the palaces they compass earth and sea to enter1 the magnificence and personages of royal and imperial abodes1 are shabby imitations and caricatures of his1--clumsy pupils of his instruction4 ,there are no ,warwicks1 no ,talbots1 no ,bolingbrokes1 no ,cardinals1 no ,harry ,fifth1 in real ,europe1 like his4 ,the loyalty and royalty he drew were all his own4 ,the real ,elizabeths1 ,jameses and ,louises were painted sticks before this magician4 ,the unaffected joy of the comedy1--he lives in a gale1--contrasted with the grandeur of the tragedy1 where he stoops to no contrivance1 no pulpiting1 but flies an eagle at the heart of the problem2 where his speech is a ,delphi1--the great ,nemesis that he is and utters4 ,what a great heart of equity is he6 ,how good and sound and inviolable his innocency1 that is never to seek1 and never wrong1 but speaks the pure sense of humanity on each occasion4 ,he dwarfs all writers without a solitary exception4 ,no egotism4 ,the egotism of men is immense4 ,it concealed ,shakspeare for a century4 ,his mind has a superiority such that the universities should read lectures on him1 and conquer the unconquerable if they can4 ,there are periods fruitful of great men2 others1 barren2 or1 as the world is always equal to itself1 periods when the heat is latent1--others when it is given out4 ,they are like the great wine years1--the vintage of #ahdg1 is it8 or #ahce8--which are not only noted in the carte of the table d'hte1 but which1 it is said1 are always followed by new vivacity in the politics of ,europe4 ,his birth marked a great wine year when wonderful grapes ripened in the vintage of ,god1 when ,shakspeare and ,galileo were born within a few months of each other1 and ,cervantes was his exact contemporary1 and1 in short space before and after1 ,montaigne1 ,bacon1 ,spenser1 ,raleigh and ,jonson4 ,yet ,shakspeare1 not by any inferiority of theirs1 but simply by his colossal proportions1 dwarfs the geniuses of ,elizabeth as easily as the wits of ,anne1 or the poor slipshod troubadours of ,king ,ren4 ,in our ordinary experience of men there are some men so born to live well that1 in whatever company they fall1--high or low1--they fit well1 and lead it6 but1 being advanced to a higher class1 they are just as much in their element as before1 and easily command3 and being again preferred to selecter companions1 find no obstacle to ruling these as they did their earlier mates2 ,i suppose because they have more humanity than talent1 whilst they have quite as much of the last as any of the company4 ,it would strike you as comic1 if ,i should give my own customary examples of this elasticity1 though striking enough to me4 ,i could name in this very company--or not going far out of it--very good types1 but in order to be parliamentary1 ,franklin1 ,burns and ,walter ,scott are examples of the rule2 and king of men1 by this grace of ,god also1 is ,shakspeare4 ,the ,pilgrims came to ,plymouth in #afbj4 ,the plays of ,shakspeare were not published until three years later4 ,had they been published earlier1 our forefathers1 or the most poetical among them1 might have stayed at home to read them4 ,,xxiv ,,humboldt ,,an ,,abstract ,,of ,,mr4 ,,emerson',s ,,remarks ,,made ,,at ,,the ,,celebration ,,of ,,the ,,centennial ,,anniversary ,,of ,,the ,,birth ,,of ,,alexander ,,von ,,humboldt1 ,,september #ad1 #ahfi 8,if a life prolonged to an advanced period bring with it several inconveniences to the individual1 there is a compensation in the delight of being able to compare older states of knowledge with that which now exists1 and to see great advances in knowledge develop themselves under our eyes in departments which had long slept in inactivity40 ,,humboldt1 ,letter to ,ritter4 ,,humboldt ,humboldt was one of those wonders of the world1 like ,aristotle1 like ,julius ,csar1 like the ,admirable ,crichton1 who appear from time to time1 as if to show us the possibilities of the human mind1 the force and the range of the faculties1--a universal man1 not only possessed of great particular talents1 but they were symmetrical1 his parts were well put together4 ,as we know1 a man's natural powers are often a sort of committee that slowly1 one at a time1 give their attention and action2 but ,humboldt's were all united1 one electric chain1 so that a university1 a whole ,french ,academy1 travelled in his shoes4 ,with great propriety1 he named his sketch of the results of science ,cosmos4 ,there is no other such survey or surveyor4 ,the wonderful ,humboldt1 with his solid centre and expanded wings1 marches like an army1 gathering all things as he goes4 ,how he reaches from science to science1 from law to law1 folding away moons and asteroids and solar systems in the clauses and parentheses of his encyclopdic paragraphs6 ,there is no book like it2 none indicating such a battalion of powers4 ,you could not put him on any sea or shore but his instant recollection of every other sea or shore illuminated this4 ,he was properly a man of the world2 you could not lose him2 you could not detain him2 you could not disappoint him1 for at any point on land or sea he found the objects of his researches4 ,when he was stopped in ,spain and could not get away1 he turned round and interpreted their mountain system1 explaining the past history of the continent of ,europe4 ,he belonged to that wonderful ,german nation1 the foremost scholars in all history1 who surpass all others in industry1 space and endurance4 ,a ,german reads a literature whilst we are reading a book4 ,one of their writers warns his countrymen that it is not the ,battle of ,leipsic1 but the ,leipsic ,fair ,catalogue1 which raises them above the ,french4 ,i remember ,cuvier tells us of fossil elephants2 that ,germany has furnished the greatest number2--not because there are more elephants in ,germany1--oh no2 but because in that empire there is no canton without some well-informed person capable of making researches and publishing interesting results4 ,i know that we have been accustomed to think they were too good scholars1 that because they reflect1 they never resolve1 that 8in a crisis no plan-maker was to be found in the empire20 but we have lived to see now1 for the second time in the history of ,prussia1 a statesman of the first class1 with a clear head and an inflexible will4 ,,xxv ,,walter ,,scott ,,remarks ,,at ,,the ,,celebration ,,by ,,the ,,massachusetts ,,historical ,,society ,,of ,,the ,,centennial ,,anniversary ,,of ,,his ,,birth1 ,,august #ae1 #ahga ,,scott1 the delight of generous boys4 ,as far as ,sir ,walter ,scott aspired to be known for a fine gentleman1 so far our sympathies leave him4444 ,our concern is only with the residue1 where the man ,scott was warmed with a divine ray that clad with beauty every sheet of water1 every bald hill in the country he looked upon1 and so reanimated the well-nigh obsolete feudal history and illustrated every hidden corner of a barren and disagreeable territory4 ,lecture1 8,being and ,seeing10 #ahch4 ,,walter ,,scott ,the memory of ,sir ,walter ,scott is dear to this ,society1 of which he was for ten years an honorary member4 ,if only as an eminent antiquary who has shed light on the history of ,europe and of the ,english race1 he had high claims to our regard4 ,but to the rare tribute of a centennial anniversary of his birthday1 which we gladly join with ,scotland1 and indeed with ,europe1 to keep1 he is not less entitled--perhaps he alone among literary men of this century is entitled--by the exceptional debt which all ,english-speaking men have gladly owed to his character and genius4 ,i think no modern writer has inspired his readers with such affection to his own personality4 ,i can well remember as far back as when ,the ,lord of the ,isles was first republished in ,boston1 in #ahae1--my own and my school-fellows' joy in the book4#bad ,marmion and ,the ,lay had gone before1 but we were then learning to spell4 ,in the face of the later novels1 we still claim that his poetry is the delight of boys4 ,but this means that when we reopen these old books we all consent to be boys again4 ,we tread over our youthful grounds with joy4 ,critics have found them to be only rhymed prose4 ,but ,i believe that many of those who read them in youth1 when1 later1 they come to dismiss finally their school-days' library1 will make some fond exception for ,scott as for ,byron4 ,it is easy to see the origin of his poems4 ,his own ear had been charmed by old ballads crooned by ,scottish dames at firesides1 and written down from their lips by antiquaries2 and finding them now outgrown and dishonored by the new culture1 he attempted to dignify and adapt them to the times in which he lived4 ,just so much thought1 so much picturesque detail in dialogue or description as the old ballad required1 so much suppression of details and leaping to the event1 he would keep and use1 but without any ambition to write a high poem after a classic model4 ,he made no pretension to the lofty style of ,spenser1 or ,milton1 or ,wordsworth4 ,compared with their purified songs1 purified of all ephemeral color or material1 his were vers de socit4 ,but he had the skill proper to vers de socit1--skill to fit his verse to his topic1 and not to write solemn pentameters alike on a hero or a spaniel4 ,his good sense probably elected the ballad to make his audience larger4 ,he apprehended in advance the immense enlargement of the reading public1 which almost dates from the era of his books1--which his books and ,byron's inaugurated2 and which1 though until then unheard of1 has become familiar to the present time4 ,if the success of his poems1 however large1 was partial1 that of his novels was complete4 ,the tone of strength in ,waverley at once announced the master1 and was more than justified by the superior genius of the following romances1 up to the ,bride of ,lammermoor1 which almost goes back to schylus for a counterpart as a painting of ,fate1--leaving on every reader the impression of the highest and purest tragedy4#bae ,his power on the public mind rests on the singular union of two influences4 ,by nature1 by his reading and taste an aristocrat1 in a time and country which easily gave him that bias1 he had the virtues and graces of that class1 and by his eminent humanity and his love of labor escaped its harm4 ,he saw in the ,english ,church the symbol and seal of all social order2 in the historical aristocracy the benefits to the state which ,burke claimed for it2 and in his own reading and research such store of legend and renown as won his imagination to their cause4 ,not less his eminent humanity delighted in the sense and virtue and wit of the common people4 ,in his own household and neighbors he found characters and pets of humble class1 with whom he established the best relation1--small farmers and tradesmen1 shepherds1 fishermen1 gypsies1 peasant-girls1 crones1--and came with these into real ties of mutual help and good will4 ,from these originals he drew so genially his ,jeanie ,deans1 his ,dinmonts and ,edie ,ochiltrees1 ,caleb ,balderstones and ,fairservices1 ,cuddie ,headriggs1 ,dominies1 ,meg ,merrilies1 and ,jenny ,rintherouts1 full of life and reality2 making these1 too1 the pivots on which the plots of his stories turn2 and meantime without one word of brag of this discernment1--nay1 this extreme sympathy reaching down to every beggar and beggar's dog1 and horse and cow4 ,in the number and variety of his characters he approaches ,shakspeare4 ,other painters in verse or prose have thrown into literature a few type-figures2 as ,cervantes1 ,de ,foe1 ,richardson1 ,goldsmith1 ,sterne and ,fielding2 but ,scott portrayed with equal strength and success every figure in his crowded company4 ,his strong good sense saved him from the faults and foibles incident to poets1--from nervous egotism1 sham modesty or jealousy4 ,he played ever a manly part4#baf ,with such a fortune and such a genius1 we should look to see what heavy toll the ,fates took of him1 as of ,rousseau or ,voltaire1 of ,swift or ,byron4 ,but no3 he had no insanity1 or vice1 or blemish4 ,he was a thoroughly upright1 wise and great-hearted man1 equal to whatever event or fortune should try him4 ,disasters only drove him to immense exertion4 ,what an ornament and safeguard is humor6 ,far better than wit for a poet and writer4 ,it is a genius itself1 and so defends from the insanities4 ,under what rare conjunction of stars was this man born1 that1 wherever he lived1 he found superior men1 passed all his life in the best company1 and still found himself the best of the best6 ,he was apprenticed at ,edinburgh to a ,writer to the ,signet1 and became a ,writer to the ,signet1 and found himself in his youth and manhood and age in the society of ,mackintosh1 ,horner1 ,jeffrey1 ,playfair1 ,dugald ,stewart1 ,sydney ,smith1 ,leslie1 ,sir ,william ,hamilton1 ,wilson1 ,hogg1 ,de ,quincey1--to name only some of his literary neighbors1 and1 as soon as he died1 all this brilliant circle was broken up4 ,,xxvi ,,speech ,,at ,,banquet ,,in ,,honor ,,of ,,the ,,chinese ,,embassy ,,boston1 #ahfj ,nature creates in the ,east the uncontrollable yearning to escape from limitation into the vast and boundless1 to use a freedom of fancy which plays with all works of ,nature1 great or minute1 galaxy or grain of dust1 as toys and words of the mind2 inculcates a beatitude to be found in escape from all organization and all personality1 and makes ecstasy an institution4 ,,speech ,,at ,,the ,,banquet ,,in ,,honor ,,of ,,the ,,chinese ,,embassy ,,mr4 ,,mayor3 ,i suppose we are all of one opinion on this remarkable occasion of meeting the embassy sent from the oldest ,empire in the world to the youngest ,republic4 ,all share the surprise and pleasure when the venerable ,oriental dynasty--hitherto a romantic legend to most of us--suddenly steps into the fellowship of nations4 ,this auspicious event1 considered in connection with the late innovations in ,japan1 marks a new era1 and is an irresistible result of the science which has given us the power of steam and the electric telegraph4 ,it is the more welcome for the surprise4 ,we had said of ,china1 as the old prophet said of ,egypt1 8,her strength is to sit still40 ,her people had such elemental conservatism that by some wonderful force of race and national manners1 the wars and revolutions that occur in her annals have proved but momentary swells or surges on the pacific ocean of her history1 leaving no trace4 ,but in its immovability this race has claims4 ,china is old1 not in time only1 but in wisdom1 which is gray hair to a nation1--or1 rather1 truly seen1 is eternal youth4 ,as we know1 ,china had the magnet centuries before ,europe2 and block-printing or stereotype1 and lithography1 and gunpowder1 and vaccination1 and canals2 had anticipated ,linnus's nomenclature of plants2 had codes1 journals1 clubs1 hackney coaches1 and1 thirty centuries before ,new ,york1 had the custom of ,new ,year's calls of comity and reconciliation4 ,i need not mention its useful arts1--its pottery indispensable to the world1 the luxury of silks1 and its tea1 the cordial of nations4 ,but ,i must remember that she has respectable remains of astronomic science1 and historic records of forgotten time1 that have supplied important gaps in the ancient history of the western nations4 ,then she has philosophers who cannot be spared4 ,confucius has not yet gathered all his fame4 ,when ,socrates heard that the oracle declared that he was the wisest of men1 he said1 it must mean that other men held that they were wise1 but that he knew that he knew nothing4 ,confucius had already affirmed this of himself3 and what we call the ,,golden ,,rule ,,of ,,jesus1 ,confucius had uttered in the same terms five hundred years before4 ,his morals1 though addressed to a state of society unlike ours1 we read with profit to-day4 ,his rare perception appears in his ,,golden ,,mean1 his doctrine of ,reciprocity1 his unerring insight1--putting always the blame of our misfortunes on ourselves2 as when to the governor who complained of thieves1 he said1 8,if you1 sir1 were not covetous1 though you should reward them for it1 they would not steal40 ,his ideal of greatness predicts ,marcus ,antoninus4 ,at the same time1 he abstained from paradox1 and met the ingrained prudence of his nation by saying always1 8,bend one cubit to straighten eight40 ,china interests us at this moment in a point of politics4 ,i am sure that gentlemen around me bear in mind the bill which the ,hon4 ,mr4 ,jenckes of ,rhode ,island has twice attempted to carry through ,congress1 requiring that candidates for public offices shall first pass examinations on their literary qualifications for the same4 ,well1 ,china has preceded us1 as well as ,england and ,france1 in this essential correction of a reckless usage2 and the like high esteem of education appears in ,china in social life1 to whose distinctions it is made an indispensable passport4 ,it is gratifying to know that the advantages of the new intercourse between the two countries are daily manifest on the ,pacific coast4 ,the immigrants from ,asia come in crowds4 ,their power of continuous labor1 their versatility in adapting themselves to new conditions1 their stoical economy1 are unlooked-for virtues4 ,they send back to their friends1 in ,china1 money1 new products of art1 new tools1 machinery1 new foods1 etc41 and are thus establishing a commerce without limit4 ,i cannot help adding1 after what ,i have heard to-night1 that ,i have read in the journals a statement from an ,english source1 that ,sir ,frederic ,bruce attributed to ,mr4 ,burlingame the merit of the happy reform in the relations of foreign governments to ,china4 ,i am quite sure that ,i heard from ,mr4 ,burlingame in ,new ,york1 in his last visit to ,america1 that the whole merit of it belonged to ,sir ,frederic ,bruce4 ,it appears that the ambassadors were emulous in their magnanimity4 ,it is certainly the best guaranty for the interests of ,china and of humanity4 ,,xxvii ,,remarks ,,at ,,the ,,meeting ,,for ,,organizing ,,the ,,free ,,religious ,,association1 ,,boston ,,may #cj1 #ahfg ,in many forms we try ,to utter ,god's infinity1 ,but the ,boundless hath no form1 ,and the ,universal ,friend ,doth as far transcend ,an angel as a worm4 ,the great ,idea baffles wit1 ,language falters under it1 ,it leaves the learned in the lurch2 ,nor art1 nor power1 nor toil can find ,the measure of the eternal ,mind1 ,nor hymn nor prayer nor church4 ,,remarks ,,at ,,the ,,meeting ,,for ,,organizing ,,the ,,free ,,religious ,,association ,,mr4 ,,chairman3 ,i hardly felt1 in finding this house this morning1 that ,i had come into the right hall4 ,i came1 as ,i supposed myself summoned1 to a little committee meeting1 for some practical end1 where ,i should happily and humbly learn my lesson2 and ,i supposed myself no longer subject to your call when ,i saw this house4 ,i have listened with great pleasure to the lessons which we have heard4 ,to many1 to those last spoken1 ,i have found so much in accord with my own thought that ,i have little left to say4 ,i think that it does great honor to the sensibility of the committee that they have felt the universal demand in the community for just the movement they have begun4 ,i say again1 in the phrase used by my friend1 that we began many years ago1--yes1 and many ages before that4 ,but ,i think the necessity very great1 and it has prompted an equal magnanimity1 that thus invites all classes1 all religious men1 whatever their connections1 whatever their specialties1 in whatever relation they stand to the ,christian ,church1 to unite in a movement of benefit to men1 under the sanction of religion4 ,we are all very sensible--it is forced on us every day--of the feeling that churches are outgrown2 that the creeds are outgrown2 that a technical theology no longer suits us4 ,it is not the ill will of people--no1 indeed1 but the incapacity for confining themselves there4 ,the church is not large enough for the man2 it cannot inspire the enthusiasm which is the parent of everything good in history1 which makes the romance of history4 ,for that enthusiasm you must have something greater than yourselves1 and not less4 ,the child1 the young student1 finds scope in his mathematics and chemistry or natural history1 because he finds a truth larger than he is2 finds himself continually instructed4 ,but1 in churches1 every healthy and thoughtful mind finds itself in something less2 it is checked1 cribbed1 confined4 ,and the statistics of the ,american1 the ,english and the ,german cities1 showing that the mass of the population is leaving off going to church1 indicate the necessity1 which should have been foreseen1 that the ,church should always be new and extemporized1 because it is eternal and springs from the sentiment of men1 or it does not exist4#bag ,one wonders sometimes that the churches still retain so many votaries1 when he reads the histories of the ,church4 ,there is an element of childish infatuation in them which does not exalt our respect for man4 ,read in ,michelet1 that in ,europe1 for twelve or fourteen centuries1 ,god the ,father had no temple and no altar4 ,the ,holy ,ghost and the ,son of ,mary were worshipped1 and in the thirteenth century the ,first ,person began to appear at the side of his ,son1 in pictures and in sculpture1 for worship1 but only through favor of his ,son4 ,these mortifying puerilities abound in religious history4 ,but as soon as every man is apprised of the ,divine ,presence within his own mind1--is apprised that the perfect law of duty corresponds with the laws of chemistry1 of vegetation1 of astronomy1 as face to face in a glass2 that the basis of duty1 the order of society1 the power of character1 the wealth of culture1 the perfection of taste1 all draw their essence from this moral sentiment1 then we have a religion that exalts1 that commands all the social and all the private action4 ,what strikes me in the sudden movement which brings together to-day so many separated friends1--separated but sympathetic1--and what ,i expected to find here1 was some practical suggestions by which we were to reanimate and reorganize for ourselves the true ,church1 the pure worship4 ,pure doctrine always bears fruit in pure benefits4 ,it is only by good works1 it is only on the basis of active duty1 that worship finds expression4 ,what is best in the ancient religions was the sacred friendships between heroes1 the ,sacred ,bands1 and the relations of the ,pythagorean disciples4 ,our ,masonic institutions probably grew from the like origin4 ,the close association which bound the first disciples of ,jesus is another example2 and it were easy to find more4 ,the soul of our late war1 which will always be remembered as dignifying it1 was1 first1 the desire to abolish slavery in this country1 and secondly1 to abolish the mischief of the war itself1 by healing and saving the sick and wounded soldiers1--and this by the sacred bands of the ,sanitary ,commission4 ,i wish that the various beneficent institutions which are springing up1 like joyful plants of wholesomeness1 all over this country1 should all be remembered as within the sphere of this committee1--almost all of them are represented here1--and that within this little band that has gathered here to-day1 should grow friendship4 ,the interests that grow out of a meeting like this should bind us with new strength to the old eternal duties4 ,,xxviii ,,speech ,,at ,,the ,,second ,,annual ,,meeting ,,of ,,the ,,free ,,religious ,,association1 ,,at ,,tremont ,,temple ,,friday1 ,,may #bh1 #ahfi ,thou metest him by centuries1 ,and lo6 he passes like the breeze2 ,thou seek'st in globe and galaxy1 ,he hides in pure transparency2 ,thou ask'st in fountains and in fires1 ,he is the essence that inquires4 ,,speech ,,at ,,second ,,annual ,,meeting ,,of ,,the ,,free ,,religious ,,association ,,friends3 ,i wish ,i could deserve anything of the kind expression of my friend1 the ,president1 and the kind good will which the audience signifies1 but it is not in my power to-day to meet the natural demands of the occasion1 and1 quite against my design and my will1 ,i shall have to request the attention of the audience to a few written remarks1 instead of the more extensive statement which ,i had hoped to offer them4 ,i think we have disputed long enough4 ,i think we might now relinquish our theological controversies to communities more idle and ignorant than we4 ,i am glad that a more realistic church is coming to be the tendency of society1 and that we are likely one day to forget our obstinate polemics in the ambition to excel each other in good works4 ,i have no wish to proselyte any reluctant mind1 nor1 ,i think1 have ,i any curiosity or impulse to intrude on those whose ways of thinking differ from mine4 ,but as my friend1 your presiding officer1 has asked me to take at least some small part in this day's conversation1 ,i am ready to give1 as often before1 the first simple foundation of my belief1 that the ,author of ,nature has not left himself without a witness in any sane mind3 that the moral sentiment speaks to every man the law after which the ,universe was made2 that we find parity1 identity of design1 through ,nature1 and benefit to be the uniform aim3 that there is a force always at work to make the best better and the worst good4#bah ,we have had not long since presented us by ,max ,mller a valuable paragraph from ,st4 ,augustine1 not at all extraordinary in itself1 but only as coming from that eminent ,father in the ,church1 and at that age1 in which ,st4 ,augustine writes3 8,that which is now called the ,christian religion existed among the ancients1 and never did not exist from the planting of the human race until ,christ came in the flesh1 at which time the true religion which already existed began to be called ,christianity40 ,i believe that not only ,christianity is as old as the ,creation1--not only every sentiment and precept of ,christianity can be paralleled in other religious writings1--but more1 that a man of religious susceptibility1 and one at the same time conversant with many men1--say a much-travelled man1--can find the same idea in numberless conversations4 ,the religious find religion wherever they associate4 ,when ,i find in people narrow religion1 ,i find also in them narrow reading4 ,nothing really is so self-publishing1 so divulgatory1 as thought4 ,it cannot be confined or hid4 ,it is easily carried2 it takes no room2 the knowledge of ,europe looks out into ,persia and ,india1 and to the very ,kaffirs4 ,every proverb1 every fine text1 every pregnant jest1 travels across the line2 and you will find it at ,cape ,town1 or among the ,tartars4 ,we are all believers in natural religion2 we all agree that the health and integrity of man is self-respect1 self-subsistency1 a regard to natural conscience4 ,all education is to accustom him to trust himself1 discriminate between his higher and lower thoughts1 exert the timid faculties until they are robust1 and thus train him to self-help1 until he ceases to be an underling1 a tool1 and becomes a benefactor4 ,i think wise men wish their religion to be all of this kind1 teaching the agent to go alone1 not to hang on the world as a pensioner1 a permitted person1 but an adult1 self-searching soul1 brave to assist or resist a world3 only humble and docile before the source of the wisdom he has discovered within him4 ,as it is1 every believer holds a different creed2 that is1 all the churches are churches of one member4 ,all our sects have refined the point of difference between them4 ,the point of difference that still remains between churches1 or between classes1 is in the addition to the moral code1 that is1 to natural religion1 of somewhat positive and historical4 ,i think that to be1 as ,mr4 ,abbot has stated it in his form1 the one difference remaining4 ,i object1 of course1 to the claim of miraculous dispensation1--certainly not to the doctrine of ,christianity4#bai ,this claim impairs1 to my mind1 the soundness of him who makes it1 and indisposes us to his communion4 ,this comes the wrong way2 it comes from without1 not within4 ,this positive1 historical1 authoritative scheme is not consistent with our experience or our expectations4 ,it is something not in ,nature3 it is contrary to that law of ,nature which all wise men recognize2 namely1 never to require a larger cause than is necessary to the effect4 ,george ,fox1 the ,quaker1 said that1 though he read of ,christ and ,god1 he knew them only from the like spirit in his own soul4 ,we want all the aids to our moral training4 ,we cannot spare the vision nor the virtue of the saints2 but let it be by pure sympathy1 not with any personal or official claim4 ,if you are childish1 and exhibit your saint as a worker of wonders1 a thaumaturgist1 ,i am repelled4 ,that claim takes his teachings out of logic and out of nature1 and permits official and arbitrary senses to be grafted on the teachings4 ,it is the praise of our ,new ,testament that its teachings go to the honor and benefit of humanity1--that no better lesson has been taught or incarnated4 ,let it stand1 beautiful and wholesome1 with whatever is most like it in the teaching and practice of men2 but do not attempt to elevate it out of humanity1 by saying1 #8,this was not a man1' for then you confound it with the fables of every popular religion1 and my distrust of the story makes me distrust the doctrine as soon as it differs from my own belief4 ,whoever thinks a story gains by the prodigious1 by adding something out of nature1 robs it more than he adds4 ,it is no longer an example1 a model2 no longer a heart-stirring hero1 but an exhibition1 a wonder1 an anomaly1 removed out of the range of influence with thoughtful men4 ,i submit that in sound frame of mind1 we read or remember the religious sayings and oracles of other men1 whether ,jew or ,indian1 or ,greek or ,persian1 only for friendship1 only for joy in the social identity which they open to us1 and that these words would have no weight with us if we had not the same conviction already4 ,i find something stingy in the unwilling and disparaging admission of these foreign opinions--opinions from all parts of the world--by our churchmen1 as if only to enhance by their dimness the superior light of ,christianity4 ,meantime1 observe1 you cannot bring me too good a word1 too dazzling a hope1 too penetrating an insight from the ,jews4 ,i hail every one with delight1 as showing the riches of my brother1 my fellow soul1 who could thus think and thus greatly feel4 ,zealots eagerly fasten their eyes on the differences between their creed and yours1 but the charm of the study is in finding the agreements1 the identities1 in all the religions of men4#bbj ,i am glad to hear each sect complain that they do not now hold the opinions they are charged with4 ,the earth moves1 and the mind opens4 ,i am glad to believe society contains a class of humble souls who enjoy the luxury of a religion that does not degrade2 who think it the highest worship to expect of ,heaven the most and the best2 who do not wonder that there was a ,christ1 but that there were not a thousand2 who have conceived an infinite hope for mankind2 who believe that the history of ,jesus is the history of every man1 written large4#bba ,,xxix ,,address ,,at ,,the ,,opening ,,of ,,the ,,concord ,,free ,,public ,,library ,the bishop of ,cavaillon1 ,petrarch's friend1 in a playful experiment locked up the poet's library1 intending to exclude him from it for three days1 but the poet's misery caused him to restore the key on the first evening4 8,and ,i verily believe ,i should have become insane10 says ,petrarch1 8if my mind had longer been deprived of its necessary nourishment40 ,,address ,,at ,,the ,,opening ,,of ,,the ,,concord ,,free ,,public ,,library ,the people of ,massachusetts prize the simple political arrangement of towns1 each independent in its local government1 electing its own officers1 assessing its taxes1 caring for its schools1 its charities1 its highways4 ,that town is attractive to its native citizens and to immigrants which has a healthy site1 good land1 good roads1 good sidewalks1 a good hotel2 still more1 if it have an adequate town hall1 good churches1 good preachers1 good schools1 and if it avail itself of the ,act of the ,legislature authorizing towns to tax themselves for the establishment of a public library4 ,happier1 if it contain citizens who cannot wait for the slow growth of the population to make these advantages adequate to the desires of the people1 but make costly gifts to education1 civility and culture1 as in the act we are met to witness and acknowledge to-day4 ,i think we cannot easily overestimate the benefit conferred4 ,in the details of this munificence1 we may all anticipate a sudden and lasting prosperity to this ancient town1 in the benefit of a noble library1 which adds by the beauty of the building1 and its skilful arrangement1 a quite new attraction1--making readers of those who are not readers1--making scholars of those who only read newspapers or novels until now2 and whilst it secures a new and needed culture to our citizens1 offering a strong attraction to strangers who are seeking a country home to sit down here4 ,and ,i am not sure that when ,boston learns the good deed of ,mr4 ,munroe1 it will not be a little envious1 nor rest until it has annexed ,concord to the city4 ,our founder has found the many admirable examples which have lately honored the country1 of benefactors who have not waited to bequeath colleges and hospitals1 but have themselves built them1 reminding us of ,sir ,isaac ,newton's saying1 8that they who give nothing before their death1 never in fact give at all40 ,i think it is not easy to exaggerate the utility of the beneficence which takes this form4 ,if you consider what has befallen you when reading a poem1 or a history1 or a tragedy1 or a novel1 even1 that deeply interested you1--how you forgot the time of day1 the persons sitting in the room1 and the engagements for the evening1 you will easily admit the wonderful property of books to make all towns equal3 that ,concord ,library makes ,concord as good as ,rome1 ,paris or ,london1 for the hour2--has the best of each of those cities in itself4 ,robinson ,crusoe1 could he have had a shelf of our books1 could almost have done without his man ,friday1 or even the arriving ship4 ,every faculty casts itself into an art1 and memory into the art of writing1 that is1 the book4 ,the sedge ,papyrus1 which gave its name to our word paper1 is of more importance to history than cotton1 or silver1 or gold4 ,its first use for writing is between three and four thousand years old1 and though it hardly grows now in ,egypt1 where ,i lately looked for it in vain1 ,i always remember with satisfaction that ,i saw that venerable plant in #ahcc1 growing wild at ,syracuse1 in ,sicily1 near the fountain of ,arethusa4 ,the chairman of ,mr4 ,munroe's trustees has told you how old is the foundation of our village library1 and we think we can trace in our modest records a correspondent effect of culture amidst our citizens4 ,a deep religious sentiment is1 in all times1 an inspirer of the intellect1 and that was not wanting here4 ,the town was settled by a pious company of non-conformists from ,england1 and the printed books of their pastor and leader1 ,rev4 ,peter ,bulkeley1 sometime fellow of ,saint ,john's ,college in ,cambridge1 ,england1 testify the ardent sentiment which they shared4 8,there is no people10 said he to his little flock of exiles1 8but will strive to excel in something4 ,what can we excel in if not in holiness8 ,if we look to number1 we are the fewest2 if to strength1 we are the weakest2 if to wealth and riches1 we are the poorest of all the people of ,god through the whole world4 ,we cannot excel1 nor so much as equal other people in these things1 and if we come short in grace and holiness too1 we are the most despicable people under heaven4 ,strive we therefore herein to excel1 and suffer not this crown to be taken away from us40#bbb ,the religious bias of our founders had its usual effect to secure an education to read their ,bible and hymn-book1 and thence the step was easy for active minds to an acquaintance with history and with poetry4 ,peter ,bulkeley sent his son ,john to the first class that graduated at ,harvard ,college in #afdb1 and two sons to later classes4 ,major ,simon ,willard's son ,samuel graduated at ,harvard in #afei1 and was for six years1 from #agja to #agjg1 vice-president of the college2 and his son ,joseph was president of the college from #agha to #ahjd2 and ,concord counted fourteen graduates of ,harvard in its first century1 and its representation there increased with its gross population4#bbc ,i possess the manuscript journal of a lady1 native of this town 7and descended from three of its clergymen71 who removed into ,maine1 where she possessed a farm and a modest income4 ,she was much addicted to journeying and not less to reading1 and whenever she arrived in a town where was a good minister who had a library1 she would persuade him to receive her as a boarder1 and would stay until she had looked over all his volumes which were to her taste4 ,on a very cold day1 she writes in her diary1 8,life truly resembles a river--ever the same--never the same2 and perhaps a greater variety of internal emotions would be felt by remaining with books in one place than pursuing the waves which are ever the same4 ,is the melancholy bird of night1 covered with the dark foliage of the willow and cypress1 less gratified than the gay lark amid the flowers and suns8 ,i think that you never enjoy so much as in solitude with a book that meets the feelings10 and in reference to her favorite authors1 she adds1 8,the delight in others' superiority is my best gift from ,god40#bbd ,lemuel ,shattuck1 by his history of the town1 has made all of us grateful to his memory as a careful student and chronicler2 but events so important have occurred in the forty years since that book was published1 that it now needs a second volume4 ,henry ,thoreau we all remember as a man of genius1 and of marked character1 known to our farmers as the most skilful of surveyors1 and indeed better acquainted with their forests and meadows and trees than themselves1 but more widely known as the writer of some of the best books which have been written in this country1 and which1 ,i am persuaded1 have not yet gathered half their fame4 ,he1 too1 was an excellent reader4 ,no man would have rejoiced more than he in the event of this day4 ,in a private letter to a lady1 he writes1 8,do you read any noble verses8 ,for my part1 they have been the only things ,i remembered1--or that which occasioned them1--when all things else were blurred and defaced4#bbe ,all things have put on mourning but they3 for the elegy itself is some victorious melody in you1 escaping from the wreck4 ,it is a relief to read some true books wherein all are equally dead1 equally alive4 ,i think the best parts of ,shakspeare would only be enhanced by the most thrilling and affecting events4 ,i have found it so3 and all the more1 that they are not intended for consolation40 ,nathaniel ,hawthorne's residence in the ,manse gave new interest to that house whose windows overlooked the retreat of the ,british soldiers in #agge1 and his careful studies of ,concord life and history are known wherever the ,english language is spoken4#bbf ,i know the word literature has in many ears a hollow sound4 ,it is thought to be the harmless entertainment of a few fanciful persons1 and not at all to be the interest of the multitude4 ,to these objections1 which proceed on the cheap notion that nothing but what grinds corn1 roasts mutton and weaves cotton1 is anything worth1 ,i have little to say4 ,there are utilitarians who prefer that ,jesus should have wrought as a carpenter1 and ,saint ,paul as a tent-maker4 ,but literature is the record of the best thoughts4 ,every attainment and discipline which increases a man's acquaintance with the invisible world lifts his being4 ,everything that gives him a new perception of beauty multiplies his pure enjoyments4 ,a river of thought is always running out of the invisible world into the mind of man4 ,shall not they who received the largest streams spread abroad the healing waters8 ,it was the symbolical custom of the ancient ,mexican priests1 after the annual extinction of the household fires of their land1 to procure in the temple fire from the sun1 and thence distribute it as a sacred gift to every hearth in the nation4 ,it is a just type of the service rendered to mankind by wise men4 ,homer and ,plato and ,pindar and ,shakspeare serve many more than have heard their names4 ,thought is the most volatile of all things4 ,it cannot be contained in any cup1 though you shut the lid never so tight4 ,once brought into the world1 it runs over the vessel which received it into all minds that love it4 ,the very language we speak thinks for us by the subtle distinctions which already are marked for us by its words1 and every one of these is the contribution of the wit of one and another sagacious man in all the centuries of time4 ,consider that it is our own state of mind at any time that makes our estimate of life and the world4 ,if you sprain your foot1 you will presently come to think that ,nature has sprained hers4 ,everything begins to look so slow and inaccessible4 ,and when you sprain your mind1 by gloomy reflection on your failures and vexations1 you come to have a bad opinion of life4 ,think how indigent ,nature must appear to the blind1 the deaf1 and the idiot4 ,now if you can kindle the imagination by a new thought1 by heroic histories1 by uplifting poetry1 instantly you expand1--are cheered1 inspired1 and become wise1 and even prophetic4 ,music works this miracle for those who have a good ear2 what omniscience has music6 so absolutely impersonal1 and yet every sufferer feels his secret sorrow reached4 ,yet to a scholar the book is as good or better4 ,there is no hour of vexation which on a little reflection will not find diversion and relief in the library4 ,his companions are few3 at the moment1 he has none3 but1 year by year1 these silent friends supply their place4 ,many times the reading of a book has made the fortune of the man1--has decided his way of life4 ,it makes friends4 ',tis a tie between men to have been delighted with the same book4 ,every one of us is always in search of his friend1 and when unexpectedly he finds a stranger enjoying the rare poet or thinker who is dear to his own solitude1--it is like finding a brother4 ,dr4 ,johnson hearing that ,adam ,smith1 whom he had once met1 relished rhyme1 said1 8,if ,i had known that1 ,i should have hugged him40 ,we expect a great man to be a good reader1 or in proportion to the spontaneous power should be the assimilating power4 ,there is a wonderful agreement among eminent men of all varieties of character and condition in their estimate of books4 ,julius ,csar1 when shipwrecked1 and forced to swim for life1 did not gather his gold1 but took his ,commentaries between his teeth and swam for the shore4 ,even the wild and warlike ,arab ,mahomet said1 8,men are either learned or learning3 the rest are blockheads40 ,the great ,duke of ,marlborough could not encamp without his ,shakspeare4 ,the ,duchess d',abrantes1 wife of ,marshal ,junot1 tells us that ,bonaparte1 in hastening out of ,france to join his army in ,germany1 tossed his journals and books out of his travelling carriage as fast as he had read them1 and strewed the highway with pamphlets4 ,napoleon's reading could not be large1 but his criticism is sometimes admirable1 as reported by ,las ,casas2 and ,napoleon was an excellent writer4 ,montesquieu1 one of the greatest minds that ,france has produced1 writes3 8,the love of study is in us almost the only eternal passion4 ,all the others quit us in proportion as this miserable machine which gives them to us approaches its ruin4 ,study has been for me the sovereign remedy against the disgusts of life1 never having had a chagrin which an hour of reading has not put to flight40 ,hear the testimony of ,seldon1 the oracle of the ,english ,house of ,commons in ,cromwell's time4 8,patience is the chiefest fruit of study4 ,a man1 that strives to make himself a different thing from other men by much reading gains this chiefest good1 that in all fortunes he hath something to entertain and comfort himself withal40 ,i have found several humble men and women who gave as affectionate1 if not as judicious testimony to their readings4 ,one curious witness was that of a ,shaker who1 when showing me the houses of the ,brotherhood1 and a very modest bookshelf1 said there was ,milton's ,paradise ,lost1 and some other books in the house1 and added 8that he knew where they were1 but he took up a sound cross in not reading them40 ,in #afah 7#hth ,march7 ,john ,kepler came upon the discovery of the law connecting the mean distances of the planets with the periods of their revolution about the sun1 that the squares of the times vary as the cubes of the distances4 ,and he writes1 8,it is now eighteen months since ,i got the first glimpse of light1--three months since the dawn1--very few days since the unveiled sun1 most admirable to gaze on1 burst out upon me4 ,nothing holds me4 ,i will indulge in my sacred fury4 ,i will triumph over mankind by the honest confession that ,i have stolen the golden vases of the ,egyptians#bbg to build up a tabernacle for my ,god far away from the confines of ,egypt4 ,if you forgive me1 ,i rejoice2 if you are angry1 ,i can bear it3 the die is cast2 the book is written2 to be read either now or by posterity4 ,i care not which4 ,it may well wait a century for a reader1 since ,god has waited six thousand years for an observer like myself40 ,in books ,i have the history or the energy of the past4 ,angels they are to us of entertainment1 sympathy and provocation4 ,with them many of us spend the most of our life1--these silent guides1--these tractable prophets1 historians1 and singers1 whose embalmed life is the highest feat of art2 who now cast their moonlight illumination over solitude1 weariness and fallen fortunes4 ,you say1 'tis a languid pleasure4 ,yes1 but its tractableness1 coming and going like a dog at our bidding1 compensates the quietness1 and contrasts with the slowness of fortune and the inaccessibleness of persons4 ,you meet with a man of science1 a good thinker or good wit1--but you do not know how to draw out of him that which he knows4 ,but the book is a sure friend1 always ready at your first leisure1--opens to the very page you desire1 and shuts at your first fatigue1--as possibly your professor might not4 ,it is a tie between men to have read the same book1 and it is a disadvantage not to have read the book your mates have read1 or not to have read it at the same time1 so that it may take the place in your culture it does in theirs1 and you shall understand their allusions to it1 and not give it more or less emphasis than they do4 ,yet the strong character does not need this sameness of culture4 ,the imagination knows its own food in every pasture1 and if it has not had the ,arabian ,nights1 ,prince ,le ,boo1 or ,homer or ,scott1 has drawn equal delight and terror from haunts and passages which you will hear of with envy4 ,in saying these things for books1 ,i do not for a moment forget that they are secondary1 mere means1 and only used in the off-hours1 only in the pause1 and1 as it were1 the sleep1 or passive state of the mind4 ,the intellect reserves all its rights4 ,instantly1 when the mind itself wakes1 all books1 all past acts are forgotten1 huddled aside as impertinent in the august presence of the creator4 ,their costliest benefit is that they set us free from themselves2 for they wake the imagination and the sentiment1--and in their inspirations we dispense with books4 ,let me add then1--read proudly2 put the duty of being read invariably on the author4 ,if he is not read1 whose fault is it8 ,i am quite ready to be charmed1--but ,i shall not make believe ,i am charmed4 ,but there is no end to the praise of books1 to the value of the library4 ,who shall estimate their influence on our population where all the millions read and write8 ,it is the joy of nations that man can communicate all his thoughts1 discoveries and virtues to records that may last for centuries4 ,but ,i am pleading a cause which in the event of this day has already won3 and ,i am happy in the assurance that the whole assembly to whom ,i speak entirely sympathize in the feeling of this town in regard to the new ,library1 and its honored ,founder4 ,,xxx ,,the ,,fortune ,,of ,,the ,,republic 8,there is a mystery in the soul of state ,which hath an operation more divine ,than breath or pen can give expression to40 ,,the ,,fortune ,,of ,,the ,,republic ,it is a rule that holds in economy as well as in hydraulics that you must have a source higher than your tap4 ,the mills1 the shops1 the theatre and the caucus1 the college and the church1 have all found out this secret4 ,the sailors sail by chronometers that do not lose two or three seconds in a year1 ever since ,newton explained to ,parliament that the way to improve navigation was to get good watches1 and to offer public premiums for a better time-keeper than any then in use4 ,the manufacturers rely on turbines of hydraulic perfection2 the carpet-mill1 on mordants and dyes which exhaust the skill of the chemist2 the calico print1 on designers of genius who draw the wages of artists1 not of artisans4 ,wedgwood1 the eminent potter1 bravely took the sculptor ,flaxman to counsel1 who said1 8,send to ,italy1 search the museums for the forms of old ,etruscan vases1 urns1 water-pots1 domestic and sacrificial vessels of all kinds40 ,they built great works and called their manufacturing village ,etruria4 ,flaxman1 with his ,greek taste1 selected and combined the loveliest forms1 which were executed in ,english clay2 sent boxes of these as gifts to every court of ,europe1 and formed the taste of the world4 ,it was a renaissance of the breakfast-table and china-closet4 ,the brave manufacturers made their fortune4 ,the jewellers imitated the revived models in silver and gold4 ,the theatre avails itself of the best talent of poet1 of painter1 and of amateur of taste1 to make the ensemble of dramatic effect4 ,the marine insurance office has its mathematical counsellor to settle averages2 the life-assurance1 its table of annuities4 ,the wine-merchant has his analyst and taster1 the more exquisite the better4 ,he has also1 ,i fear1 his debts to the chemist as well as to the vineyard4 ,our modern wealth stands on a few staples1 and the interest nations took in our war was exasperated by the importance of the cotton trade4 ,and what is cotton8 ,one plant out of some two hundred thousand known to the botanist1 vastly the larger part of which are reckoned weeds4 ,what is a weed8 ,a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered1--every one of the two hundred thousand probably yet to be of utility in the arts4 ,as ,bacchus of the vine1 ,ceres of the wheat1 as ,arkwright and ,whitney were the demi-gods of cotton1 so prolific ,time will yet bring an inventor to every plant4 ,there is not a property in ,nature but a mind is born to seek and find it4 ,for it is not the plants or the animals1 innumerable as they are1 nor the whole magazine of material nature that can give the sum of power1 but the infinite applicability of these things in the hands of thinking man1 every new application being equivalent to a new material4#bbh ,our sleepy civilization1 ever since ,roger ,bacon and ,monk ,schwartz invented gunpowder1 has built its whole art of war1 all fortification by land and sea1 all drill and military education1 on that one compound1--all is an extension of a gun-barrel1--and is very scornful about bows and arrows1 and reckons ,greeks and ,romans and ,middle ,ages little better than ,indians and bow-and-arrow times4 ,as if the earth1 water1 gases1 lightning and caloric had not a million energies1 the discovery of any one of which could change the art of war again1 and put an end to war by the exterminating forces man can apply4 ,now1 if this is true in all the useful and in the fine arts1 that the direction must be drawn from a superior source or there will be no good work1 does it hold less in our social and civil life8 ,in our popular politics you may note that each aspirant who rises above the crowd1 however at first making his obedient apprenticeship in party tactics1 if he have sagacity1 soon learns that it is by no means by obeying the vulgar weathercock of his party1 the resentments1 the fears and whims of it1 that real power is gained1 but that he must often face and resist the party1 and abide by his resistance1 and put them in fear2 that the only title to their permanent respect1 and to a larger following1 is to see for himself what is the real public interest1 and to stand for that2--that is a principle1 and all the cheering and hissing of the crowd must by and by accommodate itself to it4 ,our times easily afford you very good examples4 ,the law of water and all fluids is true of wit4 ,prince ,metternich said1 8,revolutions begin in the best heads and run steadily down to the populace40 ,it is a very old observation2 not truer because ,metternich said it1 and not less true4 ,there have been revolutions which were not in the interest of feudalism and barbarism1 but in that of society4 ,and these are distinguished not by the numbers of the combatants nor the numbers of the slain1 but by the motive4 ,no interest now attaches to the wars of ,york and ,lancaster1 to the wars of ,german1 ,french and ,spanish emperors1 which were only dynastic wars1 but to those in which a principle was involved4 ,these are read with passionate interest and never lose their pathos by time4 ,when the cannon is aimed by ideas1 when men with religious convictions are behind it1 when men die for what they live for1 and the mainspring that works daily urges them to hazard all1 then the cannon articulates its explosions with the voice of a man1 then the rifle seconds the cannon and the fowling-piece the rifle1 and the women make the cartridges1 and all shoot at one mark2 then gods join in the combat2 then poets are born1 and the better code of laws at last records the victory4 ,now the culmination of these triumphs of humanity--and which did virtually include the extinction of slavery--is the planting of ,america4 ,at every moment some one country more than any other represents the sentiment and the future of mankind4 ,none will doubt that ,america occupies this place in the opinion of nations1 as is proved by the fact of the vast immigration into this country from all the nations of ,western and ,central ,europe4 ,and when the adventurers have planted themselves and looked about1 they send back all the money they can spare to bring their friends4 ,meantime they find this country just passing through a great crisis in its history1 as necessary as lactation or dentition or puberty to the human individual4 ,we are in these days settling for ourselves and our descendants questions which1 as they shall be determined in one way or the other1 will make the peace and prosperity or the calamity of the next ages4 ,the questions of ,education1 of ,society1 of ,labor1 the direction of talent1 of character1 the nature and habits of the ,american1 may well occupy us1 and more the question of ,religion4 ,the new conditions of mankind in ,america are really favorable to progress1 the removal of absurd restrictions and antique inequalities4 ,the mind is always better the more it is used1 and here it is kept in practice4 ,the humblest is daily challenged to give his opinion on practical questions1 and while civil and social freedom exists1 nonsense even has a favorable effect4 ,cant is good to provoke common sense4444 ,the trance-mediums1 the rebel paradoxes1 exasperate the common sense4 ,the wilder the paradox1 the more sure is ,punch to put it in the pillory4 ,the lodging the power in the people1 as in republican forms1 has the effect of holding things closer to common sense2 for a court or an aristocracy1 which must always be a small minority1 can more easily run into follies than a republic1 which has too many observers--each with a vote in his hand--to allow its head to be turned by any kind of nonsense3 since hunger1 thirst1 cold1 the cries of children and debt are always holding the masses hard to the essential duties4 ,one hundred years ago the ,american people attempted to carry out the bill of political rights to an almost ideal perfection4 ,they have made great strides in that direction since4 ,they are now proceeding1 instructed by their success and by their many failures1 to carry out1 not the bill of rights1 but the bill of human duties4 ,and look what revolution that attempt involves4 ,hitherto government has been that of the single person or of the aristocracy4 ,in this country the attempt to resist these elements1 it is asserted1 must throw us into the government not quite of mobs1 but in practice of an inferior class of professional politicians1 who by means of newspapers and caucuses really thrust their unworthy minority into the place of the old aristocracy on the one side1 and of the good1 industrious1 well-taught but unambitious population on the other1 win the posts of power and give their direction to affairs4 ,hence liberal congresses and legislatures ordain1 to the surprise of the people1 equivocal1 interested and vicious measures4 ,the men themselves are suspected and charged with lobbying and being lobbied4 ,no measure is attempted for itself1 but the opinion of the people is courted in the first place1 and the measures are perfunctorily carried through as secondary4 ,we do not choose our own candidate1 no1 nor any other man's first choice1--but only the available candidate1 whom1 perhaps1 no man loves4 ,we do not speak what we think1 but grope after the practicable and available4 ,instead of character1 there is a studious exclusion of character4 ,the people are feared and flattered4 ,they are not reprimanded4 ,the country is governed in bar-rooms1 and in the mind of bar-rooms4 ,the low can best win the low1 and each aspirant for power vies with his rival which can stoop lowest1 and depart widest from himself4 ,the partisan on moral1 even on religious questions1 will choose a proven rogue who can answer the tests1 over an honest1 affectionate1 noble gentleman2 the partisan ceasing to be a man that he may be a sectarian4 ,the spirit of our political economy is low and degrading4 ,the precious metals are not so precious as they are esteemed4 ,man exists for his own sake1 and not to add a laborer to the state4 ,the spirit of our political action1 for the most part1 considers nothing less than the sacredness of man4 ,party sacrifices man to the measure4#bbi ,we have seen the great party of property and education in the country drivelling and huckstering away1 for views of party fear or advantage1 every principle of humanity and the dearest hopes of mankind2 the trustees of power only energetic when mischief could be done1 imbecile as corpses when evil was to be prevented4 ,our great men succumb so far to the forms of the day as to peril their integrity for the sake of adding to the weight of their personal character the authority of office1 or making a real government titular4 ,our politics are full of adventurers1 who having by education and social innocence a good repute in the state1 break away from the law of honesty and think they can afford to join the devil's party4 ',tis odious1 these offenders in high life4 ,you rally to the support of old charities and the cause of literature1 and there1 to be sure1 are these brazen faces4 ,in this innocence you are puzzled how to meet them2 must shake hands with them1 under protest4#bcj ,we feel toward them as the minister about the ,cape ,cod farm1--in the old time when the minister was still invited1 in the spring1 to make a prayer for the blessing of a piece of land1--the good pastor being brought to the spot1 stopped short3 8,no1 this land does not want a prayer1 this land wants manure40 8',tis virtue which they want1 and wanting it1 ,honor no garment to their backs can fit40#bca ,parties keep the old names1 but exhibit a surprising fugacity in creeping out of one snake-skin into another of equal ignominy and lubricity1 and the grasshopper on the turret of ,faneuil ,hall gives a proper hint of the men below4 ,everything yields4 ,the very glaciers are viscous1 or relegate into conformity1 and the stiffest patriots falter and compromise2 so that will cannot be depended on to save us4 ,how rare are acts of will6 ,we are all living according to custom2 we do as other people do1 and shrink from an act of our own4 ,every such act makes a man famous1 and we can all count the few cases--half a dozen in our time--when a public man ventured to act as he thought without waiting for orders or for public opinion4 ,john ,quincy ,adams was a man of an audacious independence that always kept the public curiosity alive in regard to what he might do4 ,none could predict his word1 and a whole congress could not gainsay it when it was spoken4 ,general ,jackson was a man of will1 and his phrase on one memorable occasion1 8,i will take the responsibility10 is a proverb ever since4#bcb ,the ,american marches with a careless swagger to the height of power1 very heedless of his own liberty or of other people's1 in his reckless confidence that he can have all he wants1 risking all the prized charters of the human race1 bought with battles and revolutions and religion1 gambling them all away for a paltry selfish gain4 ,he sits secure in the possession of his vast domain1 rich beyond all experience in resources1 sees its inevitable force unlocking itself in elemental order day by day1 year by year2 looks from his coal-fields1 his wheat-bearing prairie1 his gold-mines1 to his two oceans on either side1 and feels the security that there can be no famine in a country reaching through so many latitudes1 no want that cannot be supplied1 no danger from any excess of importation of art or learning into a country of such native strength1 such immense digestive power4 ,in proportion to the personal ability of each man1 he feels the invitation and career which the country opens to him4 ,he is easily fed with wheat and game1 with ,ohio wine1 but his brain is also pampered by finer draughts1 by political power and by the power in the railroad board1 in the mills1 or the banks4 ,this elevates his spirits1 and gives1 of course1 an easy self-reliance that makes him self-willed and unscrupulous4 ,i think this levity is a reaction on the people from the extraordinary advantages and invitations of their condition4 ,when we are most disturbed by their rash and immoral voting1 it is not malignity1 but recklessness4 ,they are careless of politics1 because they do not entertain the possibility of being seriously caught in meshes of legislation4 ,they feel strong and irresistible4 ,they believe that what they have enacted they can repeal if they do not like it4 ,but one may run a risk once too often4 ,they stay away from the polls1 saying that one vote can do no good6 ,or they take another step1 and say #8,one vote can do no harm6' and vote for something which they do not approve1 because their party or set votes for it4 ,of course this puts them in the power of any party having a steady interest to promote which does not conflict manifestly with the pecuniary interest of the voters4 ,but if they should come to be interested in themselves and in their career1 they would no more stay away from the election than from their own counting-room or the house of their friend4 ,the people are right-minded enough on ethical questions1 but they must pay their debts1 and must have the means of living well1 and not pinching4 ,so it is useless to rely on them to go to a meeting1 or to give a vote1 if any check from this must-have-the-money side arises4 ,if a customer looks grave at their newspaper1 or damns their member of ,congress1 they take another newspaper1 and vote for another man4 ,they must have money1 for a certain style of living fast becomes necessary2 they must take wine at the hotel1 first1 for the look of it1 and second1 for the purpose of sending the bottle to two or three gentlemen at the table2 and presently because they have got the taste1 and do not feel that they have dined without it4 ,the record of the election now and then alarms people by the all but unanimous choice of a rogue and a brawler4 ,but how was it done8 ,what lawless mob burst into the polls and threw in these hundreds of ballots in defiance of the magistrates8 ,this was done by the very men you know1--the mildest1 most sensible1 best-natured people4 ,the only account of this is1 that they have been scared or warped into some association in their mind of the candidate with the interest of their trade or of their property4 ,whilst each cabal urges its candidate1 and at last brings1 with cheers and street demonstrations1 men whose names are a knell to all hope of progress1 the good and wise are hidden in their active retirements1 and are quite out of question4 8,these we must join to wake1 for these are of the strain ,that justice dare defend1 and will the age maintain40#bcc ,yet we know1 all over this country1 men of integrity1 capable of action and of affairs1 with the deepest sympathy in all that concerns the public1 mortified by the national disgrace1 and quite capable of any sacrifice except of their honor4 ,faults in the working appear in our system1 as in all1 but they suggest their own remedies4 ,after every practical mistake out of which any disaster grows1 the people wake and correct it with energy4 ,and any disturbances in politics1 in civil or foreign wars1 sober them1 and instantly show more virtue and conviction in the popular vote4 ,in each new threat of faction the ballot has been1 beyond expectation1 right and decisive4 ,it is ever an inspiration1 ,god only knows whence2 a sudden1 undated perception of eternal right coming into and correcting things that were wrong2 a perception that passes through thousands as readily as through one4 ,the gracious lesson taught by science to this country is that the history of ,nature from first to last is incessant advance from less to more1 from rude to finer organization1 the globe of matter thus conspiring with the principle of undying hope in man4 ,nature works in immense time1 and spends individuals and races prodigally to prepare new individuals and races4 ,the lower kinds are one after one extinguished2 the higher forms come in4#bcd ,the history of civilization1 or the refining of certain races to wonderful power of performance1 is analogous2 but the best civilization yet is only valuable as a ground of hope4 ,ours is the country of poor men4 ,here is practical democracy2 here is the human race poured out over the continent to do itself justice2 all mankind in its shirt-sleeves2 not grimacing like poor rich men in cities1 pretending to be rich1 but unmistakably taking off its coat to hard work1 when labor is sure to pay4#bce ,this through all the country4 ,for really1 though you see wealth in the capitals1 it is only a sprinkling of rich men in the cities and at sparse points2 the bulk of the population is poor4 ,in ,maine1 nearly every man is a lumberer4 ,in ,massachusetts1 every twelfth man is a shoemaker1 and the rest1 millers1 farmers1 sailors1 fishermen4 ,well1 the result is1 instead of the doleful experience of the ,european economist1 who tells us1 8,in almost all countries the condition of the great body of the people is poor and miserable10 here that same great body has arrived at a sloven plenty1--ham and corn-cakes1 tight roof and coals enough have been attained2 an unbuttoned comfort1 not clean1 not thoughtful1 far from polished1 without dignity in his repose2 the man awkward and restless if he have not something to do1 but honest and kind for the most part1 understanding his own rights and stiff to maintain them1 and disposed to give his children a better education than he received4 ,the steady improvement of the public schools in the cities and the country enables the farmer or laborer to secure a precious primary education4 ,it is rare to find a born ,american who cannot read and write4 ,the facility with which clubs are formed by young men for discussion of social1 political and intellectual topics secures the notoriety of the questions4 ,our institutions1 of which the town is the unit1 are all educational1 for responsibility educates fast4 ,the town-meeting is1 after the high-school1 a higher school4#bcf ,the legislature1 to which every good farmer goes once on trial1 is a superior academy4 ,the result appears in the power of invention1 the freedom of thinking1 in the readiness for reforms1 eagerness for novelty1 even for all the follies of false science2 in the antipathy to secret societies1 in the predominance of the democratic party in the politics of the ,union1 and in the voice of the public even when irregular and vicious1--the voice of mobs1 the voice of lynch law1--because it is thought to be1 on the whole1 the verdict1 though badly spoken1 of the greatest number4 ,all this forwardness and self-reliance1 cover self-government2 proceed on the belief that as the people have made a government they can make another2 that their union and law are not in their memory1 but in their blood and condition4 ,if they unmake a law1 they can easily make a new one4 ,in ,mr4 ,webster's imagination the ,american ,union was a huge ,prince ,rupert's drop1 which will snap into atoms if so much as the smallest end be shivered off4 ,now the fact is quite different from this4 ,the people are loyal1 law-abiding4 ,they prefer order1 and have no taste for misrule and uproar4 ,america was opened after the feudal mischief was spent1 and so the people made a good start4 ,we began well4 ,no inquisition here1 no kings1 no nobles1 no dominant church4 ,here heresy has lost its terrors4 ,we have eight or ten religions in every large town1 and the most that comes of it is a degree or two on the thermometer of fashion2 a pew in a particular church gives an easier entrance to the subscription ball4 ,we began with freedom1 and are defended from shocks now for a century by the facility with which through popular assemblies every necessary measure of reform can instantly be carried4 ,a congress is a standing insurrection1 and escapes the violence of accumulated grievance4 ,as the globe keeps its identity by perpetual change1 so our civil system1 by perpetual appeal to the people and acceptance of its reforms4 ,the government is acquainted with the opinions of all classes1 knows the leading men in the middle class1 knows the leaders of the humblest class4 ,the ,president comes near enough to these2 if he does not1 the caucus does1 the primary ward and town-meeting1 and what is important does reach him4 ,the men1 the women1 all over this land shrill their exclamations of impatience and indignation at what is short-coming or is unbecoming in the government1--at the want of humanity1 of morality1--ever on broad grounds of general justice1 and not on the class-feeling which narrows the perception of ,english1 ,french1 ,german people at home4 ,in this fact1 that we are a nation of individuals1 that we have a highly intellectual organization1 that we can see and feel moral distinctions1 and that on such an organization sooner or later the moral laws must tell1 to such ears must speak1--in this is our hope4 ,for if the prosperity of this country has been merely the obedience of man to the guiding of ,nature1--of great rivers and prairies1--yet is there fate above fate1 if we choose to spread this language2 or if there is fate in corn and cotton1 so is there fate in thought1--this1 namely1 that the largest thought and the widest love are born to victory1 and must prevail4 ,the revolution is the work of no man1 but the eternal effervescence of ,nature4 ,it never did not work4 ,and we say that revolutions beat all the insurgents1 be they never so determined and politic2 that the great interests of mankind1 being at every moment through ages in favor of justice and the largest liberty1 will always1 from time to time1 gain on the adversary and at last win the day4 ,never country had such a fortune1 as men call fortune1 as this1 in its geography1 its history1 and in its majestic possibilities4 ,we have much to learn1 much to correct1--a great deal of lying vanity4 ,the spread eagle must fold his foolish wings and be less of a peacock2 must keep his wings to carry the thunderbolt when he is commanded4 ,we must realize our rhetoric and our rituals4 ,our national flag is not affecting1 as it should be1 because it does not represent the population of the ,united ,states1 but some ,baltimore or ,chicago or ,cincinnati or ,philadelphia caucus2 not union or justice1 but selfishness and cunning4 ,if we never put on the liberty-cap until we were freemen by love and self-denial1 the liberty-cap would mean something4 ,i wish to see ,america not like the old powers of the earth1 grasping1 exclusive and narrow1 but a benefactor such as no country ever was1 hospitable to all nations1 legislating for all nationalities4 ,nations were made to help each other as much as families were2 and all advancement is by ideas1 and not by brute force or mechanic force4 ,in this country1 with our practical understanding1 there is1 at present1 a great sensualism1 a headlong devotion to trade and to the conquest of the continent1--to each man as large a share of the same as he can carve for himself1--an extravagant confidence in our talent and activity1 which becomes1 whilst successful1 a scornful materialism1--but with the fault1 of course1 that it has no depth1 no reserved force whereon to fall back when a reverse comes4 ,that repose which is the ornament and ripeness of man is not ,american4 ,that repose which indicates a faith in the laws of the universe1--a faith that they will fulfil themselves1 and are not to be impeded1 transgressed or accelerated4 ,our people are too slight and vain4 ,they are easily elated and easily depressed4 ,see how fast they extend the fleeting fabric of their trade1--not at all considering the remote reaction and bankruptcy1 but with the same abandonment to the moment and the facts of the hour as the ,esquimau who sells his bed in the morning4 ,our people act on the moment1 and from external impulse4 ,they all lean on some other1 and this superstitiously1 and not from insight of his merit4 ,they follow a fact2 they follow success1 and not skill4 ,therefore1 as soon as the success stops and the admirable man blunders1 they quit him2 already they remember that they long ago suspected his judgment1 and they transfer the repute of judgment to the next prosperous person who has not yet blundered4 ,of course this levity makes them as easily despond4 ,it seems as if history gave no account of any society in which despondency came so readily to heart as we see it and feel it in ours4 ,young men at thirty and even earlier lose all spring and vivacity1 and if they fail in their first enterprise throw up the game4 ,the source of mischief is the extreme difficulty with which men are roused from the torpor of every day4 ,blessed is all that agitates the mass1 breaks up this torpor1 and begins motion4 ,corpora non agunt nisi soluta2 the chemical rule is true in mind4 ,contrast1 change1 interruption1 are necessary to new activity and new combinations4 ,if a temperate wise man should look over our ,american society1 ,i think the first danger that would excite his alarm would be the ,european influences on this country4 ,we buy much of ,europe that does not make us better men2 and mainly the expensiveness which is ruining that country4 ,we import trifles1 dancers1 singers1 laces1 books of patterns1 modes1 gloves and cologne1 manuals of ,gothic architecture1 steam-made ornaments4 ,america is provincial4 ,it is an immense ,halifax4 ,see the secondariness and aping of foreign and ,english life1 that runs through this country1 in building1 in dress1 in eating1 in books4 ,every village1 every city1 has its architecture1 its costume1 its hotel1 its private house1 its church1 from ,england4 ,our politics threaten her4 ,her manners threaten us4 ,life is grown and growing so costly that it threatens to kill us4 ,a man is coming1 here as there1 to value himself on what he can buy4 ,worst of all1 his expense is not his own1 but a far-off copy of ,osborne ,house or the ,elyse4 ,the tendency of this is to make all men alike2 to extinguish individualism and choke up all the channels of inspiration from ,god in man4 ,we lose our invention and descend into imitation4 ,a man no longer conducts his own life4 ,it is manufactured for him4 ,the tailor makes your dress2 the baker your bread2 the upholsterer1 from an imported book of patterns1 your furniture2 the ,bishop of ,london your faith4 ,in the planters of this country1 in the seventeenth century1 the conditions of the country1 combined with the impatience of arbitrary power which they brought from ,england1 forced them to a wonderful personal independence and to a certain heroic planting and trading4 ,later this strength appeared in the solitudes of the ,west1 where a man is made a hero by the varied emergencies of his lonely farm1 and neighborhoods must combine against the ,indians1 or the horse-thieves1 or the river rowdies1 by organizing themselves into committees of vigilance4 ,thus the land and sea educate the people1 and bring out presence of mind1 self-reliance1 and hundred-handed activity4 ,these are the people for an emergency4 ,they are not to be surprised1 and can find a way out of any peril4 ,this rough and ready force becomes them1 and makes them fit citizens and civilizers4 ,but if we found them clinging to ,english traditions1 which are graceful enough at home1 as the ,english ,church1 and entailed estates1 and distrust of popular election1 we should feel this reactionary1 and absurdly out of place4 ,let the passion for ,america cast out the passion for ,europe4 ,here let there be what the earth waits for1--exalted manhood4 ,what this country longs for is personalities1 grand persons1 to counteract its materialities4 ,for it is the rule of the universe that corn shall serve man1 and not man corn4 ,they who find ,america insipid--they for whom ,london and ,paris have spoiled their own homes--can be spared to return to those cities4 ,i not only see a career at home for more genius than we have1 but for more than there is in the world4 ,the class of which ,i speak make themselves merry without duties4 ,they sit in decorated club-houses in the cities1 and burn tobacco and play whist2 in the country they sit idle in stores and bar-rooms1 and burn tobacco1 and gossip and sleep4 ,they complain of the flatness of ,american life2 8,america has no illusions1 no romance40 ,they have no perception of its destiny4 ,they are not ,americans4 ,the felon is the logical extreme of the epicure and coxcomb4 ,selfish luxury is the end of both1 though in one it is decorated with refinements1 and in the other brutal4 ,but my point now is1 that this spirit is not ,american4 ,our young men lack idealism4 ,a man for success must not be pure idealist1 then he will practically fail2 but he must have ideas1 must obey ideas1 or he might as well be the horse he rides on4 ,a man does not want to be sun-dazzled1 sun-blind2 but every man must have glimmer enough to keep him from knocking his head against the walls4 ,and it is in the interest of civilization and good society and friendship1 that ,i dread to hear of well-born1 gifted and amiable men1 that they have this indifference1 disposing them to this despair4 ,of no use are the men who study to do exactly as was done before1 who can never understand that to-day is a new day4 ,there never was such a combination as this of ours1 and the rules to meet it are not set down in any history4 ,we want men of original perception and original action1 who can open their eyes wider than to a nationality1--namely1 to considerations of benefit to the human race1--can act in the interest of civilization2 men of elastic1 men of moral mind1 who can live in the moment and take a step forward4 ,columbus was no backward-creeping crab1 nor was ,martin ,luther1 nor ,john ,adams1 nor ,patrick ,henry1 nor ,thomas ,jefferson2 and the ,genius or ,destiny of ,america is no log or sluggard1 but a man incessantly advancing1 as the shadow on the dial's face1 or the heavenly body by whose light it is marked4 ,the flowering of civilization is the finished man1 the man of sense1 of grace1 of accomplishment1 of social power1--the gentleman4 ,what hinders that he be born here8 ,the new times need a new man1 the complemental man1 whom plainly this country must furnish4 ,freer swing his arms2 farther pierce his eyes2 more forward and forthright his whole build and rig than the ,englishman's1 who1 we see1 is much imprisoned in his backbone4 ',tis certain that our civilization is yet incomplete1 it has not ended nor given sign of ending in a hero4 ',tis a wild democracy2 the riot of mediocrities and dishonesties and fudges4 ,ours is the age of the omnibus1 of the third person plural1 of ,tammany ,hall4 ,is it that ,nature has only so much vital force1 and must dilute it if it is to be multiplied into millions8 ,the beautiful is never plentiful4 ,then ,illinois and ,indiana1 with their spawning loins1 must needs be ordinary4 ,it is not a question whether we shall be a multitude of people4 ,no1 that has been conspicuously decided already2 but whether we shall be the new nation1 the guide and lawgiver of all nations1 as having clearly chosen and firmly held the simplest and best rule of political society4 ,now1 if the spirit which years ago armed this country against rebellion1 and put forth such gigantic energy in the charity of the ,sanitary ,commission1 could be waked to the conserving and creating duty of making the laws just and humane1 it were to enroll a great constituency of religious1 self-respecting1 brave1 tender1 faithful obeyers of duty1 lovers of men1 filled with loyalty to each other1 and with the simple and sublime purpose of carrying out in private and in public action the desire and need of mankind4 ,here is the post where the patriot should plant himself2 here the altar where virtuous young men1 those to whom friendship is the dearest covenant1 should bind each other to loyalty2 where genius should kindle its fires and bring forgotten truth to the eyes of men4 ,it is not possible to extricate yourself from the questions in which your age is involved4 ,let the good citizen perform the duties put on him here and now4 ,it is not by heads reverted to the dying ,demosthenes1 or to ,luther1 or to ,wallace1 or to ,george ,fox1 or to ,george ,washington1 that you can combat the dangers and dragons that beset the ,united ,states at this time4 ,i believe this cannot be accomplished by dunces or idlers1 but requires docility1 sympathy1 and religious receiving from higher principles2 for liberty1 like religion1 is a short and hasty fruit1 and like all power subsists only by new rallyings on the source of inspiration4 ,power can be generous4 ,the very grandeur of the means which offer themselves to us should suggest grandeur in the direction of our expenditure4 ,if our mechanic arts are unsurpassed in usefulness1 if we have taught the river to make shoes and nails and carpets1 and the bolt of heaven to write our letters like a ,gillot pen1 let these wonders work for honest humanity1 for the poor1 for justice1 genius and the public good4#bcg ,let us realize that this country1 the last found1 is the great charity of ,god to the human race4 ,america should affirm and establish that in no instance shall the guns go in advance of the present right4 ,we shall not make coups d'tat and afterwards explain and pay1 but shall proceed like ,william ,penn1 or whatever other ,christian or humane person who treats with the ,indian or the foreigner1 on principles of honest trade and mutual advantage4 ,we can see that the ,constitution and the law in ,america must be written on ethical principles1 so that the entire power of the spiritual world shall hold the citizen loyal1 and repel the enemy as by force of nature4 ,it should be mankind's bill of rights1 or ,royal ,proclamation of the ,intellect ascending the throne1 announcing its good pleasure that now1 once for all1 the world shall be governed by common sense and law of morals4 ,the end of all political struggle is to establish morality as the basis of all legislation4 ',tis not free institutions1 'tis not a democracy that is the end1--no1 but only the means4 ,morality is the object of government4 ,we want a state of things in which crime will not pay2 a state of things which allows every man the largest liberty compatible with the liberty of every other man4 ,humanity asks that government shall not be ashamed to be tender and paternal1 but that democratic institutions shall be more thoughtful for the interests of women1 for the training of children1 and for the welfare of sick and unable persons1 and serious care of criminals1 than was ever any the best government of the ,old ,world4 ,the genius of the country has marked out our true policy1--opportunity4 ,opportunity of civil rights1 of education1 of personal power1 and not less of wealth2 doors wide open4 ,if ,i could have it1--free trade with all the world without toll or custom-houses1 invitation as we now make to every nation1 to every race and skin1 white men1 red men1 yellow men1 black men2 hospitality of fair field and equal laws to all4#bch ,let them compete1 and success to the strongest1 the wisest and the best4 ,the land is wide enough1 the soil has bread for all4 ,i hope ,america will come to have its pride in being a nation of servants1 and not of the served4 ,how can men have any other ambition where the reason has not suffered a disastrous eclipse8 ,whilst every man can say ,i serve1--to the whole extent of my being ,i apply my faculty to the service of mankind in my especial place1--he therein sees and shows a reason for his being in the world1 and is not a moth or incumbrance in it4 ,the distinction and end of a soundly constituted man is his labor4 ,use is inscribed on all his faculties4 ,use is the end to which he exists4 ,as the tree exists for its fruit1 so a man for his work4 ,a fruitless plant1 an idle animal1 does not stand in the universe4 ,they are all toiling1 however secretly or slowly1 in the province assigned them1 and to a use in the economy of the world2 the higher and more complex organizations to higher and more catholic service4 ,and man seems to play1 by his instincts and activity1 a certain part that even tells on the general face of the planet1 drains swamps1 leads rivers into dry countries for their irrigation1 perforates forests and stony mountain chains with roads1 hinders the inroads of the sea on the continent1 as if dressing the globe for happier races4 ,on the whole1 ,i know that the cosmic results will be the same1 whatever the daily events may be4 ,happily we are under better guidance than of statesmen4 ,pennsylvania coal-mines and ,new ,york shipping and free labor1 though not idealists1 gravitate in the ideal direction4 ,nothing less large than justice can keep them in good temper4 ,justice satisfies everybody1 and justice alone4 ,no monopoly must be foisted in1 no weak party or nationality sacrificed1 no coward compromise conceded to a strong partner4 ,every one of these is the seed of vice1 war and national disorganization4 ,it is our part to carry out to the last the ends of liberty and justice4 ,we shall stand1 then1 for vast interests2 north and south1 east and west will be present to our minds1 and our vote will be as if they voted1 and we shall know that our vote secures the foundations of the state1 good will1 liberty and security of traffic and of production1 and mutual increase of good will in the great interests4 ,our helm is given up to a better guidance than our own2 the course of events is quite too strong for any helmsman1 and our little wherry is taken in tow by the ship of the great ,admiral which knows the way1 and has the force to draw men and states and planets to their good4 ,such and so potent is this high method by which the ,divine ,providence sends the chiefest benefits under the mask of calamities1 that ,i do not think we shall by any perverse ingenuity prevent the blessing4 ,in seeing this guidance of events1 in seeing this felicity without example that has rested on the ,union thus far1 ,i find new confidence for the future4 ,i could heartily wish that our will and endeavor were more active parties to the work4 ,but ,i see in all directions the light breaking4 ,trade and government will not alone be the favored aims of mankind1 but every useful1 every elegant art1 every exercise of the imagination1 the height of reason1 the noblest affection1 the purest religion will find their home in our institutions1 and write our laws for the benefit of men4#bci ,,notes ,,the ,,lord',s ,,supper ,mr4 ,emerson did not wish to have his sermons published4 ,all that was worth saving in them1 he said1 would be found in the ,essays4 ,yet it seemed best1 to ,mr4 ,cabot and to ,mr4 ,emerson's family1 that this one sermon should be preserved4 ,a record of a turning-point in his life1 it showed at once his thought and his character2 for he not only gives the reasons why he believes the rite not authoritatively enjoined1 and hence recommends its modification or discontinuance1 but with serenity and sweetness renders back his trust into his people's hands1 since he cannot see his way longer to exercise it as most of them desire4 ,in the month of ,june1 #ahcb1 ,mr4 ,emerson had proposed to the church1 apparently with hope of their approval1 that the ,communion be observed only as a festival of commemoration1 without the use of the elements4 ,the committee to whom the proposal was referred made a report expressing confidence in him1 but declining to advise the change1 as the matter was one which they could not properly be called upon to decide4 ,the question then came back to the pastor1 whether he was willing to remain in his place and administer the rite in the usual form4 ,he went alone to the ,white ,mountains1 then seldom visited1 to consider the grave question whether he was prepared1 rather than to continue the performance of a part of his priestly office from which his instincts and beliefs recoiled1 to sacrifice a position of advantage for usefulness to his people to whom he was bound by many ties1 and in preparation for which he had spent long years4 ,he wrote1 at ,conway1 ,new ,hampshire3 8,here among the mountains the pinions of thought should be strong1 and one should see the errors of men from a calmer height of love and wisdom40 ,his diary at ,ethan ,allan ,crawford's contains his doubts and questionings1 which ,mr4 ,cabot has given in his ,memoir4 ,yet there was but one answer for him1 and after a fortnight1 he came back clear in his mind to give his decision1 embodied in this sermon1 to his people4 ,on the same day that it was preached1 he formally resigned his pastorate4 ,the church was loth to part with him4 ,it was hoped that some other arrangement might be made4 ,mr4 ,cabot learned that 8several meetings were held and the proprietors of pews were called in1 as having #8an undoubted right to retain ,mr4 ,emerson as their pastor1 without reference to the opposition of the church4' ,at length1 after two adjournments and much discussion1 it was decided by thirty votes against twenty-four to accept his resignation4 ,it was voted at the same time to continue his salary for the present40 ,thus ,mr4 ,emerson and his people parted in all kindness1 but1 as ,mr4 ,cabot truly said1 their difference of views on this rite 8was in truth only the symptom of a deeper difference which would in any case sooner or later have made it impossible for him to retain his office2 a disagreement not so much about particular doctrines or observances as about their sanction1 the authority on which all doctrines and observances rest40 ,in the farewell letter which ,mr4 ,emerson wrote to the people of his church1 he said3-- 8,i rejoice to believe that my ceasing to exercise the pastoral office among you does not make any real change in our spiritual relation to each other4 ,whatever is most desirable and excellent therein remains to us4 ,for1 truly speaking1 whoever provokes me to a good act or thought has given me a pledge of his fidelity to virtue1--he has come under bonds to adhere to that cause to which we are jointly attached4 ,and so ,i say to all you who have been my counsellors and coperators in our ,christian walk1 that ,i am wont to see in your faces the seals and certificates of our mutual obligations4 ,if we have conspired from week to week in the sympathy and expression of devout sentiments2 if we have received together the unspeakable gift of ,god's truth2 if we have studied together the sense of any divine word2 or striven together in any charity2 or conferred together for the relief or instruction of any brother2 if together we have laid down the dead in a pious hope2 or held up the babe into the baptism of ,christianity2 above all1 if we have shared in any habitual acknowledgment of the benignant ,god1 whose omnipresence raises and glorifies the meanest offices and the lowest ability1 and opens heaven in every heart that worships him1--then indeed we are united1 we are mutually debtors to each other of faith and hope1 engaged to persist and confirm each other's hearts in obedience to the ,gospel4 ,we shall not feel that the nominal changes and little separations of this world can release us from the strong cordage of this spiritual bond4 ,and ,i entreat you to consider how truly blessed will have been our connection if1 in this manner1 the memory of it shall serve to bind each one of us more strictly to the practice of our several duties40 #a ,page #ah1 note #a4 ,the doctrine of the offices of ,jesus1 even in the ,unitarianism of ,dr4 ,channing1 was never congenial to ,mr4 ,emerson's mind4 ,he notes the same with regard to his father1 and even to his ,aunt ,mary1 in spite of her ,calvinism4 ,any interposed personality between the ,creator and the created was repugnant to him4 ,even in ,march1 #ahca1 he is considering in his journal that his hearers will say1 8,to what purpose is this attempt to explain away so safe and holy a doctrine as that of the ,holy ,spirit8 ,why unsettle or disturb a faith which presents to many minds a helpful medium by which they approach the idea of ,god80 and he answers1 8,and this question ,i will meet4 ,it is because ,i think the popular views of this principle are pernicious1 because it does put a medium1 because it removes the idea of ,god from the mind4 ,it leaves some events1 some things1 some thoughts1 out of the power of ,him who causes every event1 every flower1 every thought4 ,the tremendous idea1 as ,i may well call it1 of ,god is screened from the soul4444 ,and least of all can we believe--,reason will not let us--that the presiding ,creator commands all matter and never descends into the secret chambers of the ,soul4 ,there he is most present4 ,the ,soul rules over matter4 ,matter may pass away like a mote in the sunbeam1 may be absorbed into the immensity of ,god1 as a mist is absorbed into the heat of the ,sun--but the soul is the kingdom of ,god1 the abode of love1 of truth1 of virtue40 #b ,page #ai1 note #a4 ,in the hope of satisfying those of his people who held to the letter of the ,scriptural ,law1 ,mr4 ,emerson made the foregoing clear statement with regard to the authority for the rite1 from the professional point of view4 ,it seems quite unlike his usual method1 and there is little doubt that in it appears the influence of his elder brother1 ,william1 whose honest doubts had led him to abandon even earlier the profession of his fathers4 ,in the introductory note to the chapter on ,goethe1 in ,representative ,men1 is given an account of his unsuccessful pilgrimage to ,weimar1 in hopes that the great mind of ,germany could solve these doubts4 ,there is a letter still preserved1 written by ,william1 soon after his return1 to his venerable kinsman at ,concord1 ,dr4 ,ripley1 in which he explains with great clearness his own reasons for not believing that the ,communion rite was enjoined by ,jesus for perpetual observance4 ,the argument on scriptural grounds there clearly stated is substantially the same as that which his younger brother makes use of in the beginning of this sermon4 ,thus far he has spoken of outward authority2 from this point onward he speaks from within--the way native to him4 #c ,page #be1 note #a4 ,mr4 ,emerson left the struggles of the ,past behind1 and did not care to recall them4 ,thus1 writing of ,lucretia ,mott1 whom he met when giving a course of lectures in ,philadelphia1 in ,january1 #ahdc1 he said3-- 8,me she taxed with living out of the world1 and ,i was not much flattered that her interest in me respected my rejection of an ordinance1 sometime1 somewhere4 ,also yesterday--for ,philadelphian ideas1 like love1 do creep where they cannot go--,i was challenged on the subject of the ,lord's ,supper1 and with great slowness and pain was forced to recollect the grounds of my dissent in that particular4 ,you may be sure ,i was very tardy with my texts40 ,mr4 ,emerson's journal during the period of trial and decision1 in the mountains1 shows that he was reading with great interest the life of ,george ,fox4 ,the simplicity of the ,society of ,friends1 their aversion to forms and trust in the inward light1 always appealed to him4 ,in his essay on ,the ,preacher he says3-- 8,the supposed embarrassments to young clergymen exist only to feeble wills4444 ,that gray deacon1 or respectable matron with ,calvinistic antecedents1 you can readily see1 would not have presented any obstacle to the march of ,st4 ,bernard or of ,george ,fox1 of ,luther or of ,theodore ,parker40 ,this hints at the help he had found in the ,quaker's history in his time of need4 ,,historical ,,discourse ,,at ,,concord ,mr4 ,emerson's ,discourse was printed soon after its delivery1 and with it1 in an ,appendix1 the following notice of the celebration of the second centennial anniversary of the incorporation of the town1 sent to him by 8a friend who thought it desirable to preserve the remembrance of some particulars of this historical festival40 8,at a meeting of the town of ,concord1 in ,april last1 it was voted to celebrate the ,second ,centennial ,anniversary of the settlement of the town1 on the #abth ,september following4 ,a committee of fifteen were chosen to make the arrangements4 ,this committee appointed ,ralph ,waldo ,emerson1 ,orator1 and ,rev4 ,dr4 ,ripley and ,rev4 ,mr4 ,wilder1 ,chaplains of the ,day4 ,hon4 ,john ,keyes was chosen ,president of the ,day4 8,on the morning of the #abth ,september1 at half past #aj o'clock1 the children of the town1 to the number of about #ejj1 moved in procession to the ,common in front of the old church and court-house and there opened to the right and left1 awaiting the procession of citizens4 ,at #aa o'clock1 the ,concord ,light ,infantry1 under ,captain ,moore1 and the ,artillery under ,captain ,buttrick1 escorted the civic procession1 under the direction of ,moses ,prichard as ,chief ,marshal1 from ,shepherd's hotel through the lines of children to the ,meeting-house4 ,the ,south gallery had been reserved for ladies1 and the ,north gallery for the children2 but 7it was a good omen7 the children overran the space assigned for their accommodation1 and were sprinkled throughout the house1 and ranged on seats along the aisles4 ,the old ,meeting-house1 which was propped to sustain the unwonted weight of the multitude within its walls1 was built in #agab1 thus having stood for more than half the period to which our history goes back4 ,prayers were offered and the ,scriptures read by the aged minister of the town1 ,rev4 ,ezra ,ripley1 now in the #heth year of his age2--another interesting feature in this scene of reminiscences4 ,a very pleasant and impressive part of the services in the church was the singing of the #ajgth psalm1 from the ,new ,england version of the psalms made by ,eliot1 ,mather1 and others1 in #afci1 and used in the church in this town in the days of ,peter ,bulkeley4 ,the psalm was read a line at a time1 after the ancient fashion1 from the ,deacons' seat1 and so sung to the tune of ,st4 ,martin's by the whole congregation standing4 8,ten of the surviving veterans who were in arms at the ,bridge1 on the #aith ,april1 #agge1 honored the festival with their presence4 ,their names are ,abel ,davis1 ,thaddeus ,blood1 ,tilly ,buttrick1 ,john ,hosmer1 of ,concord2 ,thomas ,thorp1 ,solomon ,smith1 ,john ,oliver1 ,aaron ,jones1 of ,acton2 ,david ,lane1 of ,bedford2 ,amos ,baker1 of ,lincoln4 8,on leaving the church1 the procession again formed1 and moved to a large tent nearly opposite ,shepherd's hotel1 under which dinner was prepared1 and the company sat down to the tables1 to the number of four hundred4 ,we were honored with the presence of distinguished guests1 among whom were ,lieutenant-,governor ,armstrong1 ,judge ,davis1 ,alden ,bradford 7descended from the #b;d governor of ,plymouth ,colony71 ,hon4 ,edward ,everett1 ,hon4 ,stephen ,c4 ,phillips of ,salem1 ,philip ,hone1 ,esq41 of ,new ,york1 ,general ,dearborn1 and ,lieutenant-,colonel ,r4 ,c4 ,winthrop 7descended from the #ast governor of ,massachusetts74 ,letters were read from several gentlemen expressing their regret at being deprived of the pleasure of being present on the occasion4 ,the character of the speeches and sentiments at the dinner were manly and affectionate1 in keeping with the whole temper of the day4 8,on leaving the dinner-table1 the invited guests1 with many of the citizens1 repaired to the court-house to pay their respects to the ladies of ,concord1 who had there1 with their friends1 partaken of an elegant collation1 and now politely offered coffee to the gentlemen4 ,the hall1 in which the collation was spread1 had been decorated by fair hands with festoons of flowers1 and wreaths of evergreen1 and hung with pictures of the ,fathers of the ,town4 ,crowded as it was with graceful forms and happy faces1 and resounding with the hum of animated conversation1 it was itself a beautiful living picture4 ,compared with the poverty and savageness of the scene which the same spot presented two hundred years ago1 it was a brilliant reverse of the medal2 and could scarcely fail1 like all the parts of the holiday1 to lead the reflecting mind to thoughts of that ,divine ,providence1 which1 in every generation1 has been our tower of defence and horn of blessing4 8,at sunset the company separated and retired to their homes2 and the evening of this day of excitement was as quiet as a ,sabbath throughout the village40 ,within the year1 ,mr4 ,emerson had come to make his home for life in the ancestral town1 and had become a householder4 ,two days after the festival1 he drove to ,plymouth in a chaise1 and was there married to ,lidian ,jackson1 and immediately brought his bride to her ,concord home4 ,his aged step-grandfather was the senior chaplain at the ,celebration1 and his brother ,charles1 who was to live with him in the new home1 was one of the marshals4 ,in preparation for this address ,mr4 ,emerson made diligent examination of the old town records1 and spent a fortnight in ,cambridge consulting the works on early ,new ,england in the ,college ,library4 ,i reproduce most of his references to his authorities exactly1 although there are1 no doubt1 newer editions of some of the works4 #d ,page #cj1 note #a4 ,this story is from ,bede's ,ecclesiastical ,history 7chapter xiii41 ,bohn's ,antiquarian ,library74 ,mr4 ,emerson used it in full as the exordium of his essay on ,immortality1 in ,letters and ,social ,aims4 #e ,page #cj1 note #b4 ,the poem 8,hamatreya10 wherein appear the names of many of these first settlers1 might well be read in connection with the opening passages of this address4 ,mr4 ,emerson's right of descent to speak as representative of ,peter ,bulkeley1 who was the spiritual arm of the settlement1 as ,simon ,willard was its sword-arm1 may here be shown3 ,rev4 ,joseph ,emerson of ,mendon 7son of ,thomas of ,ipswich1 the first of the name in this country7 married ,elizabeth1 daughter of ,rev4 ,edward ,bulkeley1 who succeeded his father1 the ,rev4 ,peter ,bulkeley1 as minister of ,concord4 ,edward1 the son of ,joseph of ,mendon and ,elizabeth ,bulkeley1 was father of ,rev4 ,joseph ,emerson of ,malden1 who was father of ,rev4 ,william ,emerson of ,concord1 who was father of ,rev4 ,william ,emerson of ,harvard and ,boston1 the father of ,ralph ,waldo ,emerson4 #f ,page #ca1 note #a4 ,neal's ,history of ,new ,england1 vol4 i41 p4 #acb4 #g ,page #ca1 note #b4 ,neal1 vol4 i41 p4 #cba4 #h ,page #ca1 note #c4 ,shattuck's ,history of ,concord1 p4 #aeh4 #i ,page #cb1 note #a4 ,on ,september #b1 #afce1 the ,general ,court passed this order3-- 8,it is ordered that there shalbe a plantacon att ,musketequid that there shalbe #f myles of land square to belong to it1 that the inhabitants thereof shall have three yeares imunities from all public charges except traineings2 ,further1 that when any that plant there shall have occacon of carryeing of goods thither1 they shall repaire to two of the nexte magistrates where the teames are1 whoe shall have the power for a yeare to presse draughts1 att reasonable rates1 to be payed by the owners of the goods1 to transport their goods thither att seasonable tymes3 the name of the place is changed here after to be called ,concord40 #aj ,page #cb1 note #b4 ,shattuck1 p4 #e4 #aa ,page #cc1 note #a4 ,in his lecture on ,boston 7published in the volume ,natural ,history of ,intellect7 ,mr4 ,emerson gives an amusing enumeration of some troubles which seemed so great to the newcomers from the ,old ,world3 he mentions their fear of lions1 the accident to ,john ,smith from 8the most poisonous tail of a fish called a sting-ray10 the circumstance of the overpowering effect of the sweet fern upon the ,concord party1 and the intoxicating effect of wild grapes eaten by the ,norse explorers1 and adds3 8,nature has never again indulged in these exasperations4 ,it seems to have been the last outrage ever committed by the sting-rays1 or by the sweet fern1 or by the fox-grapes4 ,they have been of peaceable behavior ever since40 #ab ,page #cd1 note #a4 ,johnson's ,wonder-,working ,providence1 chap4 xxxv4 ,mr4 ,emerson abridged and slightly altered some sentences4 #ac ,page #ce1 note #a4 ,mourt1 ,beginning of ,plymouth1 #afba1 p4 #fj4 #ad ,page #ce1 note #b4 ,johnson1 p4 #ef4 ,josselyn1 in his ,new ,england's ,rarities ,discovered1 speaks with respect of 8,squashes1 but more truly squontersquashes2 a kind of mellon1 or rather gourd2 444 some of these are green2 some yellow2 some longish like a gourd2 others round1 like an apple3 all of them pleasant food1 boyled and buttered1 and seasoned with spice4 ,but the yellow squash--called an apple-squash 7because like an apple7 and about the bigness of a pome-water is the best kind40 ,wood1 in his ,new ,england ,prospect1 says3 8,in summer1 when their corn is spent1 isquotersquashes is their best bread1 a fruit much like a pumpion40 #ae ,page #cf1 note #a4 ,nashawtuck1 a small and shapely hill between the ,musketaquid and the ,assabet streams1 at their point of union1 was a pleasant and convenient headquarters for a sagamore of a race whose best roadway for travel and transportation was a deep1 quiet stream1 the fish of which they ate1 and also used for manure for their cornfields along the bluffs4 ,indian graves have been found on this hill4 #af ,page #cf1 note #b4 ,josselyn's ,voyages to ,new ,england1 #afch4 #ag ,page #cf1 note #c4 ,hutchinson's ,history of ,massachusetts1 vol4 i41 chap4 #f4 #ah ,page #cf1 note #d4 ,thomas ,morton1 ,new ,england ,canaan1 p4 #dg4 #ai ,page #cg1 note #a4 ,shattuck1 p4 #f4 ,the old ,middlesex ,hotel1 which stood during the greater part of the nineteenth century on the southwest side of the ,common1 opposite the court- and town-houses1 had fallen into decay in #aijj1 and was bought and taken down by the town as an improvement to the public square to commemorate the one hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of ,concord ,fight4 ,it is probable that ,jethro's ,oak1 under which the treaty was made1 stood a little nearer the house of ,rev4 ,peter ,bulkeley1 the site of which1 about one hundred paces distant on the ,lowell road1 is now marked by a stone and bronze tablet4 #bj ,page #ch1 note #a4 ,depositions taken in #afhd1 and copied in the first volume of the ,town ,records4 #ba ,page #ci1 note #a4 ,johnson's ,wonder-,working ,providence4 #bb ,page #ci1 note #b4 ,new ,england's ,plantation4 #bc ,page #ci1 note #c4 ,e4 ,w4's ,letter in ,mourt1 #afba4 #bd ,page #dj1 note #a4 ,peter ,bulkeley's ,gospel ,covenant2 preached at ,concord in ,new ,england4 #b;d edition1 ,london1 #afea1 p4 #dcb4 #be ,page #da1 note #a4 ,see petition in ,shattuck's ,history1 p4 #ad4 #bf ,page #da1 note #b4 ,shattuck1 p4 #ad4 ,this was the meadow and upland on the ,lowell road1 one mile north of ,concord1 just beyond the river4 ,on the farm stands the unpainted 8lean-to0 house1 now owned by the daughters of the late ,edmund ,hosmer4 #bg ,page #db1 note #a4 ,concord ,town ,records4 #bh ,page #dc1 note #a4 ,bancroft1 ,history of the ,united ,states1 vol4 i41 p4 #chi4 #bi ,page #dd1 note #a4 ,savage's ,winthrop1 vol4 i41 p4 #aad4 #cj ,page #dd1 note #b4 ,colony ,records1 vol4 i4 #ca ,page #dd1 note #c4 ,see ,hutchinson's ,collection1 p4 #bhg4 #cb ,page #df1 note #a4 ,winthrop's ,journal1 vol4 i41 pp4 #abh1 #abi1 and the editor's note4 #cc ,page #df1 note #b4 ,winthrop's ,journal1 vol4 ii41 p4 #afj4 #cd ,page #dh1 note #a4 ,town ,records4 ,with the exception of the anecdotes in this and the following sentence1 almost the whole of this account of the theory and practice of the ,new ,england town-meeting was used by ,mr4 ,emerson in his oration1 given in ,december1 #ahgj1 before the ,new ,england ,society in ,new ,york4 ,the greater part of the matter used in that address is included in the lecture on ,boston1 in the volume ,natural ,history of ,intellect4 ,the ,new ,england ,society of ,new ,york recently published the ,orations delivered before it previous to #ahga1 including ,mr4 ,emerson's1 as far as it could be recovered from the scattered manuscript1 and the newspaper reports of the time4 #ce ,page #ej1 note #a4 ,hutchinson's ,collection1 p4 #bg4 #cf ,page #ea1 note #a4 ,shattuck1 p4 #bj4 8,the ,government1 #ac ,nov41 #afdd1 ordered the county courts to take care of the ,indians residing within their several shires1 to have them civilized1 and to take order1 from time to time1 to have them instructed in the knowledge of ,god40 #cg ,page #eb1 note #a4 ,shepard's ,clear ,sunshine of the ,gospel1 ,london1 #afdh4 #ch ,page #eb1 note #b4 ,these rules are given in ,shattuck's ,history1 pp4 #bb-bd1 and were called 8,conclusions and orders made and agreed upon by divers ,sachems and other principal men amongst the ,indians at ,concord in the end of the eleventh ,month 7called ,january7 ,an4 #afdf40 ,the following are interesting specimens of these3-- ,rule #b4 8,that there shall be no more ,powwawing amongst the ,indians4 ,and if any shall hereafter powwaw1 both he that shall powwaw1 and he that shall procure him to powwaw1 shall pay twenty shillings apiece40 ,rule #d4 8,they desire they may understand the wiles of ,satan1 and grow out of love with his suggestions and temtations40 ,rule #e4 8,that they may fall upon some better course to improve their time than formerly40 ,rule #ae4 8,they will wear their haire comely1 as the ,english do1 and whosoever shall offend herein shall pay four shillings40 ,rule #bc4 8,they shall not disguise themselves in their mournings as formerly1 nor shall they keep a great noyse by howling40 ,rule #bd4 8,the old ceremony of a maide walking alone and living apart so many days1 fine twenty shillings40 #ci ,page #ec1 note #a4 ,shepard1 p4 #i4 #dj ,page #ed1 note #a4 ,wilson's ,letter1 #afea4 #da ,page #ed1 note #b4 ,news from ,america1 p4 #bb4 #db ,page #ed1 note #c4 ,winthrop1 vol4 ii41 p4 #b4 #dc ,page #ee1 note #a4 ,hutchinson1 vol4 i41 p4 #ij4 #dd ,page #ee1 note #b4 ,hutchinson1 vol4 i41 p4 #aab4 #de ,page #ee1 note #c4 ,winthrop1 vol4 ii41 p4 #ba4 #df ,page #ee1 note #d4 ,hutchinson1 vol4 i41 p4 #id4 #dg ,page #ee1 note #e4 ,bulkeley's ,gospel ,covenant1 p4 #bji4 #dh ,page #ee1 note #f4 ,winthrop1 vol4 ii41 p4 #id4 #di ,page #ef1 note #a4 ,gospel ,covenant1 p4 #cja4 #ej ,page #eg1 note #a4 ,shattuck1 p4 #de4 #ea ,page #eg1 note #b4 ,hutchinson1 vol4 i41 p4 #agb4 #eb ,page #eg1 note #c4 ,see his instructions from the ,commissioners1 his narrative1 and the ,commissioners' letter to him1 in ,hutchinson's ,collection1 pp4 #bfa-bgj4 #ec ,page #eh1 note #a4 ,hutchinson's ,history1 vol4 i41 p4 #bed4 #ed ,page #eh1 note #b4 ,hubbard's ,indian ,wars1 p4 #aai1 ed4 #ahja4 ,mr4 ,charles ,h4 ,walcott1 in his ,concord in the ,colonial ,period 7,estes ,lauriat1 ,boston1 #ahhd71 gives a very interesting account of the ,brookfield fight4 #ee ,page #eh1 note #c4 ,hubbard1 p4 #bja4 #ef ,page #ei1 note #a4 ,hubbard1 p4 #ahe4 #eg ,page #ei1 note #b4 ,hubbard1 p4 #bde4 #eh ,page #fj1 note #a4 ,shattuck1 p4 #ee4 #ei ,page #fj1 note #b4 ,hubbard1 p4 #bfj4 #fj ,page #fa1 note #a4 ,neal's ,history of ,new ,england1 vol4 i41 p4 #cba4 #fa ,page #fa1 note #b4 ,mather1 ,magnalia ,christi1 vol4 i41 p4 #cfc4 #fb ,page #fa1 note #c4 8,tradition has handed down the following anecdote4 ,a consultation among the ,indian chiefs took place about this time on the high lands in ,stow1 and1 as they cast their eyes towards ,sudbury and ,concord1 a question arose which they should attack first4 ,the decision was made to attack the former4 ,one of the principal chiefs said3 #8,we no prosper if we go to ,concord--the ,great ,spirit love that people--the evil spirit tell us not to go--they have a great man there--he great pray4' ,the ,rev4 ,edward ,bulkeley was then minister of the town1 and his name and distinguished character were known even to the red men of the forest40--,shattuck's ,history1 p4 #ei1 note4 #fc ,page #fa1 note #d4 ,on this occasion the name of ,hoar1 since honored in ,concord through several generations1 came to the front4 ,john ,hoar1 the first practitioner of law in ,concord1 an outspoken man of sturdy independence1 who1 for uttering complaints that justice was denied him in the courts1 had been made to give bonds for good behavior and 8disabled to plead any cases but his oune in this jurisdiction10 who had been fined #aj for saying that 8the ,blessing which his ,master ,bulkeley pronounced in dismissing the publique ,assembly was no more than vane babling10 and was twice fined for non-attendance at public worship1 proved to be the only man in town who was willing to take charge of the ,praying ,indians of ,nashobah1 whom the ,general ,court ordered moved to ,concord during ,philip's ,war4 ,the magistrates who had persecuted him had to turn to him1 and he made good provision on his own place for the comfort and safe-keeping of these unfortunates1 and their employment1 when public opinion was directed against them with the cruelty of fear4 ,soon1 however1 ,captain ,mosley1 who had been secretly sent for by some citizens1 came with soldiers into the meeting-house1 announced to the congregation that he had heard that 8there were some heathen in town committed to one ,hoar1 who1 he was informed1 were a trouble and disquiet to them20 therefore1 if the people desired it1 he would remove them to ,boston4 ,no one made objection1 so he went to ,mr4 ,hoar's house1 counted the ,indians and set a guard1 ,hoar vigorously protesting4 ,he came next day2 ,hoar bravely refused to give them up1 so ,mosley removed them by violence and carried the ,indians to ,deer ,island1 where they suffered much during the winter4 ,see ,walcott's ,concord in the ,colonial ,period4 #fd ,page #fb1 note #a4 ,sprague's ,centennial ,ode4 #fe ,page #fb1 note #b4 ,shattuck1 chap4 iii4 ,walcott1 chap4 iii4 #ff ,page #fc1 note #a4 ,hutchinson's ,collection1 p4 #dhd4 #fg ,page #fc1 note #b4 ,hutchinson's ,collection1 pp4 #edc1 #edh1 #eeg1 #eff4 #fh ,page #fc1 note #c4 ,hutchinson's ,history1 vol4 i41 p4 #ccf4 ,the month of ,april has been fateful for ,concord1 especially its nineteenth day4 ,on that day the military company under ,lieutenant ,heald marched to ,boston to take part in the uprising of the freemen of the colony against ,andros4 ,on that same day1 in #agge1 the minute-men and militia of ,concord1 promptly reinforced by the soldiers of her daughter and sister towns1 marched down to the guarded ,north ,bridge and returned the fire of the ,royal troops in the opening battle of the ,revolution4 ,again on the nineteenth of ,april1 #ahfa1 the 8,concord ,artillery0 7so-called1 although then a company of the ,fifth ,infantry1 ,m4 ,v4 ,m47 left the village for the front in the ,war of the ,rebellion2 and yet again in the last days of ,april1 #ahih1 the same company1 then1 as now1 attached to the ,sixth ,regiment1 ,m4 ,v4 ,m41 marched from the village green to bear its part in the ,spanish ,war4 #fi ,page #fd1 note #a4 ,town ,records4 #gj ,page #fd1 note #b4 ,the following minutes from the ,town ,records in #afib may serve as an example3-- 8,john ,craggin1 aged about #fc years1 and ,sarah his wife1 aet4 about #fc years1 do both testify upon oath that about #b years ago ,john ,shepard1 sen4 of ,concord1 came to our house in ,obourne1 to treat with us1 and give us a visit1 and carried the said ,sary ,craggin to ,concord with him1 and there discoursed us in order to a marriage between his son1 ,john ,shepard1 jun4 and our daughter1 ,eliz4 ,craggin1 and1 for our incouragement1 and before us1 did promise that1 upon the consummation of the said marriage1 he1 the said ,john ,shepard1 sen4 would give to his son1 ,john ,shepard1 jun4 the one half of his dwelling house1 and the old barn1 and the pasture before the barn2 the old plow-land1 and the old horse1 when his colt was fit to ride1 and his old oxen1 when his steers were fit to work4 ,all this he promised upon marriage as above said1 which marriage was consummated upon ,march following1 which is two years ago1 come next ,march4 ,dated ,feb4 #be1 #afib4 ,taken on oath before me4 ,wm4 ,johnson40 #ga ,page #fd1 note #c4 ,town ,records1 ,july1 #afih4 #gb ,page #fd1 note #d4 ,records1 ,nov4 #agaa4 #gc ,page #fe1 note #a4 ,records1 ,may1 #agab4 #gd ,page #ff1 note #a4 ,records1 #agce4 #ge ,page #ff1 note #b4 ,whitfield in his journal wrote3 8,about noon ,i reached ,concord4 ,here ,i preached to some thousands in the open air2 and comfortable preaching it was4 ,the hearers were sweetly melted down4444 ,the minister of the town being1 ,i believe1 a true child of ,god1 ,i chose to stay all night at his house that we might rejoice together4 ,the ,lord was with us4 ,the ,spirit of the ,lord came upon me and ,god gave me to wrestle with him for my friends1 especially those then with me4444 ,brother ,b--s1 the minister1 broke into floods of tears1 and we had reason to cry out it was good for us to be here40 #gf ,page #fg1 note #a4 ,church ,records1 ,july1 #agib4 #gg ,page #fg1 note #b4 ,the ,rev4 ,daniel ,bliss has left the name of having been an earnest1 good man1 evidently emotional4 ,his zealous and impassioned preaching gave offence to some of the cooler and more conservative clergy1 and indeed bred discord in the church of ,concord4 ,the 8aggrieved brethren0 withdrew1 and1 for want of a church1 held public worship at a tavern where was the sign of a black horse1 hence were called 8the ,black ,horse ,church40 ,their complaints preferred against ,mr4 ,bliss resulted in councils which drew in most of the churches of ,middlesex into their widening vortex4 ,yet he remained the honored pastor of the town until his death4 ,his daughter ,phebe married the young ,william ,emerson1 his successor2 he was therefore ,mr4 ,emerson's great-grandfather4 #gh ,page #fg1 note #c4 ,town ,records4 #gi ,page #gj1 note #a4 ,town ,records4 #hj ,page #ga1 note #a4 ,town ,records4 #ha ,page #ga1 note #b4 ,the spirited protest of this ,county ,convention1 presided over by ,hon4 ,james ,prescott of ,groton1 is given in full in ,shattuck's ,history1 pp4 #hb-hg4 #hb ,page #gb1 note #a4 ,general ,gage1 the ,governor1 having refused to convene the ,general ,court at ,salem1 the ,provincial ,congress of delegates from the towns of ,massachusetts was called by conventions of the various counties to meet at ,concord1 ,october #aa1 #aggd4 ,the delegates assembled in the meeting-house1 and organized1 with ,john ,hancock as ,president1 and ,benjamin ,lincoln as ,secretary4 ,called together to maintain the rights of the people1 this ,congress assumed the government of the province1 and by its measures prepared the way for the ,revolution4 #hc ,page #gb1 note #b4 ,this eloquent sermon to the volunteers of #agge1 still preserved in ,,ms41 is very interesting4 ,the young minister shows them the dignity of their calling1 warns them of the besetting sins of ,new ,england soldiery1 explains to them the invasion of their rights and that they are not rebels1 tells them that he believes their fathers foresaw the evil day and did all in their power to guard the infant state from encroachments of unconstitutional power1 and implores the sons to be true to their duty to their posterity4 ,he fully admits the utter gloom of the prospect1 humanly considered3 would ,heaven hold him innocent1 he would counsel submission1 but as an honest man and servant of ,heaven he dare not do so1 and with great spirit bids his injured countrymen 8,arise6 and plead even with the sword1 the firelock and the bayonet1 the birthright of ,englishmen 444 and if ,god does not help1 it will be because your sins testify against you1 otherwise you may be assured40 #hd ,page #gd1 note #a4 ,journal1 ,july1 #ahce4 8,it is affecting to see the old man's ,thaddeus ,blood memory taxed for facts occurring #fj years ago at ,concord fight4 #8,it is hard to bring them up2' he says1 #8the truth never will be known4' ,the ,doctor ,ripley1 like a keen hunter1 unrelenting1 follows him up and down1 barricading him with questions4 ,yet cares little for the facts the man can tell1 but much for the confirmation of the printed ,history4 #8,leave me1 leave me to repose4'0 ,thaddeus ,blood1 who was only twenty years old at the time of ,concord fight1 later became a schoolmaster1 hence was always known as 8,master ,blood40 ,he was one of the ,concord company stationed at ,hull1 in #aggf1 which took part in the capture of ,lieutenant-,colonel ,campbell and his battalion of the #gast 7,frazer7 ,highlanders as they sailed into ,boston ,harbor1 not being aware of the evacuation of the town4 ,they were confined at ,concord until their exchange4 ,see ,sir ,archibald ,campbell of ,inverneill1 sometime ,prisoner of ,war in the ,jail at ,concord1 ,massachusetts4 ,by ,charles ,h4 ,walcott1 ,boston1 #ahih4 #he ,page #gd1 note #b4 ,in his poem in memory of his brother ,edward1 written by the riverside near the battle-ground1 ,mr4 ,emerson alluded to ,yon stern headstone1 ,which more of pride than pity gave ,to mark the ,briton's friendless grave4 ,yet it is a stately tomb2 ,the grand return ,of eve and morn1 ,the year's fresh bloom1 ,the silver cloud1 ,might grace the dust that is most proud4 #hf ,page #gf1 note #a4 ,captain ,miles commanded the ,concord company that joined the ,northern ,army at ,ticonderoga in ,august1 #aggf1 as part of ,colonel ,reed's regiment4 #hg ,page #gg1 note #a4 ,judge ,john ,s4 ,keyes1 who clearly remembers the incidents of this celebration1 seen from a boy's coign of vantage1 the top of one of the inner doors of the church1 tells me that the ten aged survivors of the battle1 who sat in front of the pulpit1 bowed in recognition of this compliment by the orator1 and then the audience all bowed to them4 ,the sanctity of the church forbade in those days cheering or applause even at a civic festival4 #hh ,page #gg1 note #b4 ,the following was ,mr4 ,emerson's note concerning his authorities3-- 8,the importance which the skirmish at ,concord ,bridge derived from subsequent events1 has1 of late years1 attracted much notice to the incidents of the day4 ,there are1 as might be expected1 some discrepancies in the different narratives of the fight4 ,in the brief summary in the text1 ,i have relied mainly on the depositions taken by order of the ,provincial ,congress within a few days after the action1 and on the other contemporary evidence4 ,i have consulted the ,english narrative in the ,massachusetts ,historical ,collections1 and in the trial of ,horne 7,cases adjudged in ,king's ,bench2 ,london1 #ahjj1 vol4 ii41 p4 #fgg72 the inscription made by order of the legislature of ,massachusetts on the two field-pieces presented to the ,concord ,artillery2 ,mr4 ,phinney's ,history of the ,battle at ,lexington2 ,dr4 ,ripley's ,history of ,concord ,fight2 ,mr4 ,shattuck's narrative in his ,history1 besides some oral and some manuscript evidence of eye-witnesses4 ,the following narrative1 written by ,rev4 ,william ,emerson1 a spectator of the action1 has never been published4 ,a part of it has been in my possession for years3 a part of it ,i discovered1 only a few days since1 in a trunk of family papers3-- 8#8#agge1 #ai ,april4 ,this morning1 between #a and #b o'clock1 we were alarmed by the ringing of the bell1 and upon examination found that the troops1 to the number of #hjj1 had stole their march from ,boston1 in boats and barges1 from the bottom of the ,common over to a point in ,cambridge1 near to ,inman's ,farm1 and were at ,lexington ,meeting-house1 half an hour before sunrise1 where they had fired upon a body of our men1 and 7as we afterward heard7 had killed several4 ,this intelligence was brought us at first by ,dr4 ,samuel ,prescott1 who narrowly escaped the guard that were sent before on horses1 purposely to prevent all posts and messengers from giving us timely information4 ,he1 by the help of a very fleet horse1 crossing several walls and fences1 arrived at ,concord at the time above mentioned2 when several posts were immediately despatched1 that returning confirmed the account of the regulars' arrival at ,lexington1 and that they were on their way to ,concord4 ,upon this1 a number of our minute-men belonging to this town1 and ,acton1 and ,lyncoln1 with several others that were in readiness1 marched out to meet them2 while the alarm company were preparing to receive them in the town4 ,captain ,minot1 who commanded them1 thought it proper to take possession of the hill above the meeting-house1 as the most advantageous situation4 ,no sooner had our men gained it1 than we were met by the companies that were sent out to meet the troops1 who informed us1 that they were just upon us1 and that we must retreat1 as their number was more than treble ours4 ,we then retreated from the hill near the ,liberty ,pole1 and took a new post back of the town upon an eminence1 where we formed into two battalions1 and waited the arrival of the enemy4 ,scarcely had we formed1 before we saw the ,british troops at the distance of a quarter of a mile1 glittering in arms1 advancing towards us with the greatest celerity4 ,some were for making a stand1 notwithstanding the superiority of their number2 but others more prudent thought best to retreat till our strength should be equal to the enemy's by recruits from neighboring towns that were continually coming in to our assistance4 ,accordingly we retreated over the bridge1 when the troops came into the town1 set fire to several carriages for the artillery1 destroyed #fj bbls4 flour1 rifled several houses1 took possession of the town-house1 destroyed #ejj lb4 of balls1 set a guard of #ajj men at the ,north ,bridge1 and sent up a party to the house of ,colonel ,barrett1 where they were in expectation of finding a quantity of warlike stores4 ,but these were happily secured1 just before their arrival1 by transportation into the woods and other by-places4 ,in the mean time1 the guard set by the enemy to secure the pass at the ,north ,bridge were alarmed by the approach of our people1 who had retreated1 as mentioned before1 and were now advancing with special orders not to fire upon the troops unless fired upon4 ,these orders were so punctually observed that we received the fire of the enemy in three several and separate discharges of their pieces before it was returned by our commanding officer2 the firing then soon became general for several minutes1 in which skirmish two were killed on each side1 and several of the enemy wounded4 ,it may here be observed1 by the way1 that we were the more cautious to prevent beginning a rupture with the ,king's troops1 as we were then uncertain what had happened at ,lexington1 and knew not,a that they had began the quarrel there by first firing upon our people1 and killing eight men upon the spot4 ,the three companies of troops soon quitted their post at the bridge1 and retreated in the greatest disorder and confusion to the main body1 who were soon upon the march to meet them4 ,for half an hour1 the enemy1 by their marches and counter-marches1 discovered great fickleness and inconstancy of mind1 sometimes advancing1 sometimes returning to their former posts2 till1 at length they quitted the town1 and retreated by the way they came4 ,in the mean time1 a party of our men 7#aej7 took the back way through the ,great ,fields into the east quarter1 and had placed themselves to advantage1 lying in ambush behind walls1 fences and buildings1 ready to fire upon the enemy on their retreat4'0 #hi ,page #gh1 note #a4 ,fifty years after his death the town erected a cenotaph to the memory of its brave young minister1 whose body lies by the shore of ,otter ,creek1 near ,rutland1 ,vermont4 ,on it they wrote3-- 8,enthusiastic1 eloquent1 affectionate and pious1 he loved his family1 his people1 his ,god and his ,country1 and to this last he yielded the cheerful sacrifice of his life40 #ij ,page #gh1 note #b4 ,town ,records1 ,dec4 #agge4 #ia ,page #gi1 note #a4 ,these facts are recorded by ,shattuck in his ,history4 #ib ,page #gi1 note #b4 ,bradford's ,history of ,massachusetts1 vol4 ii41 p4 #aac4 #ic ,page #gi1 note #c4 ,shattuck4 #id ,page #hj1 note #a4 ,town ,records1 ,may #c1 #aghb4 #ie ,page #ha1 note #a4 ,town ,records1 ,sept4 #i1 and ,bradford's ,history1 vol4 i41 p4 #bff4 #if ,page #ha1 note #b4 ,the ,rev4 ,grindall ,reynolds1 late pastor of the ,first ,church in ,concord1 wrote an interesting account of ,shays's ,rebellion1 and various papers concerning his adopted town which are included in his ,historical and ,other ,papers1 published by his daughter in #ahie4 #ig ,page #ha1 note #c4 ,town ,records1 ,oct4 #ba4 #ih ,page #hb1 note #a4 ,town ,records1 ,may #g4 #ii ,page #hb1 note #b4 ,town ,records1 #ahcd and #ahce4 ,in #aijc-d the town1 with a population of about #ejjj1 appropriated for public purposes #fe1geb1 the amount for school purposes being #bh1jjj4 #ajj ,page #hb1 note #c4 ,the ,unitarian and the 8,orthodox0 7as the ,trinitarian ,congregationalist society has always been called in ,concord7 churches have for a century been good neighbors1 and for many years have held union meetings on ,thanksgiving ,day4 ,at the time of ,mr4 ,emerson's discourse it is doubtful if ,concord contained a single ,catholic or ,episcopalian believer4 ,the beginning of the twentieth century finds a larger body of ,catholic worshippers than the four other societies contain4 ,yet all live in charity with one another4 #aja ,page #hc1 note #a4 ,mr4 ,emerson's honored kinsman1 ,rev4 ,ezra ,ripley1 who sat in the pulpit that day1 was eighty-four years old1 and when1 six years later1 he died1 he had been pastor of the ,concord church for sixty-three years4 #ajb ,page #hc1 note #b4 ,lemuel ,shattuck1 author of the excellent ,history of ,concord1 which was published before the end of the year4 #ajc ,page #he1 note #a4 ,in ,mr4 ,emerson's lecturing excursions during the following thirty-five years1 he found with pleasure and pride the sons of his ,concord neighbors important men in the building up the prairie and river towns1 or the making and operating the great highways of emigration and trade4 ,,letter ,,to ,,president ,,van ,,buren ,april #ai1 #ahch1 ,mr4 ,emerson made this entry in his ,journal3-- 8,this disaster of the ,cherokees1 brought to me by a sad friend to blacken my days and nights6 ,i can do nothing2 why shriek8 why strike ineffectual blows8 ,i stir in it for the sad reason that no other mortal will move1 and if ,i do not1 why1 it is left undone4 ,the amount of it1 to be sure1 is merely a scream2 but sometimes a scream is better than a thesis4444 8,yesterday wrote the letter to ,van ,buren1--a letter hated of me1 a deliverance that does not deliver the soul4 ,i write my journal1 ,i read my lecture with joy2 but this stirring in the philanthropic mud gives me no peace4 ,i will let the republic alone until the republic comes to me4 ,i fully sympathize1 be sure1 with the sentiments ,i write2 but ,i accept it rather from my friends than dictate it4 ,it is not my impulse to say it1 and therefore my genius deserts me2 no muse befriends2 no music of thought or word accompanies40 ,yet his conscience then1 and many a time later1 brought him to do the brave1 distasteful duty4 ,,address ,,on ,,emancipation ,,in ,,the ,,british ,,west ,,indies ,the tenth anniversary of the emancipation by ,act of ,parliament of all slaves in the insular possessions of ,great ,britain in the ,west ,indies was celebrated in ,concord1 in the year #ahdd1 by citizens of thirteen ,massachusetts towns1 and they invited ,mr4 ,emerson to make the ,address4 ,the ,rev4 ,dr4 ,channing1 on whose mind the wrongs of the slave had weighed ever since he had seen them in ,santa ,cruz1 had spoken on ,slavery in ,faneuil ,hall in #ahcg1 had written on the subject1 and his last public work had been a speech on the anniversary of the ,west ,indian ,emancipation in #ahdb1 in the village of ,lenox4 ,the public conscience was slowly becoming aroused1 especially among the country people1 who had not the mercantile and social relations with the ,southerner which hampered the action of many people in the cities4 ,yet even in ,concord the religious societies appear to have closed their doors against the philanthropists who gathered to celebrate this anniversary in #ahdd1 but the energy of the young ,thoreau1 always a champion of ,freedom1 secured the use of the ,court-,house1 and he himself rang the bell to call the people together4 ,it is said that ,mr4 ,emerson1 while minister of the ,second ,church in ,boston1 had held his pulpit open to speakers on behalf of liberty1 and to his attitude in #ahce ,harriet ,martineau bears witness in her ,autobiography4 ,after speaking of the temperamental unfitness of these brother scholars1 ,charles and ,waldo1 to become active workers in an ,abolitionist organization1 she says3 8,yet they did that which made me feel that ,i knew them through the very cause in which they did not implicate themselves4 ,at the time of the hubbub against me in ,boston1 ,charles ,emerson stood alone in a large company and declared that he would rather see ,boston in ashes than that ,i or anybody should be debarred in any way from perfectly free speech4 ,his brother ,waldo invited me to be his guest in the midst of my unpopularity1 and during my visit told me his course about this matter of slavery4 ,he did not see that there was any particular thing for him to do in it then2 but when1 in coaches or steamboats or anywhere else1 he saw people of color ill treated1 or heard bad doctrine or sentiment propounded1 he did what he could1 and said what he thought4 ,since that date he has spoken more abundantly and boldly1 the more critical the times became2 and he is now1 and has long been1 identified with the ,abolitionists in conviction and sentiment1 though it is out of his way to join himself to their organization40 ,mr4 ,cabot in his ,memoir,b gives several pages of extracts from ,mr4 ,emerson's journal showing his feelings at this time1 before the slave power1 aggressive and advancing1 left him1 as a lover of ,freedom1 no choice but to fight for her as he could1 by tongue and pen1 in seasons of peril4 ,this ,address was printed in ,england1 as well as in ,america1 the autumn after its delivery here4 ,in a letter to ,carlyle written ,september #a1 ,mr4 ,emerson says he is sending proof to the ,london publisher4 8,chapman wrote to me by the last steamer1 urging me to send him some manuscript that had not yet been published in ,america hoping for copyright1 and promising half profits4444 ,the request was so timely1 since ,i was not only printing a book1 but also a pamphlet1 that ,i came to town yesterday and hastened the printers1 and have now sent him proofs of all the ,address1 and of more than half of the book40 ,he requests ,carlyle to have an eye to its correct reproduction1 to which his friend faithfully attended4 #ajd ,page #ajj1 note #a4 ,it was characteristic of ,mr4 ,emerson that1 as a corrective to the flush of righteous wrath that man should be capable of laying hands on another ,to coin his labor and sweat1 came his sense of justice1 and the power of seeing the planter's side1 born into such a social and political condition1 by breeding and climatic conditions unable to toil1 and with his whole inheritance vested in slaves4 ,in a speech in ,new ,york in #ahee1 ,mr4 ,emerson urged emancipation with compensation to the owners1 by general sacrifices to this great end by old and young throughout the ,north1 not as the planters' due1 but as recognizing their need and losses4 ,yet with all due consideration for the planters' misfortune of condition1 he said1 on the main question1 8,it is impossible to be a gentleman and not be an abolitionist40 #aje ,page #ajc1 note #a4 ,sole estate his sire bequeathed1-- ,hapless sire to hapless son1-- ,was the wailing song he breathed1 ,and his chain when life was done4 ,these lines from 8,voluntaries0 in the ,poems1 and the stanza which there follows them1 are recalled by this passage4 #ajf ,page #ajf1 note #a4 ,granville ,sharp 7#agcd-ahac7 was a broad-minded scholar and determined philanthropist4 ,he left the study of law to go into the ordnance office1 which he left1 when the ,american ,revolution came on1 disapproving of the course of the government4 ,in the case of one of the slaves whom he defended1 the ,lord ,mayor discharged the negro1 but his master would not give him up4 ,the case then went before the ,court of ,kings ,bench1 and the twelve judges decided in #aggb that a man could not be held in1 or transported from1 ,england4 ,in ,june1 #aghg1 ,sharp with ,clarkson and ten others1 nine of whom were ,quakers1 formed a committee 8for effecting the abolition of the slave trade20 ,sharp was chairman4 ,defeated in ,parliament in #aghh and #aghi1 they were joined by ,pitt and ,fox in #agij4 ,in #agic the ,commons passed an act for gradual abolition of the trade1 which was rejected by the ,peers4 ,this occurred again in #agie and #ahjd4 ,in #ahjf1 the ,fox and ,grenville ,ministry brought forward abolition of the trade as a government measure4 ,it was carried in #ahjg4 ,then the enemies of slavery began to strive for its gradual abolition throughout the ,british dominions1 ,clarkson1 ,wilberforce and ,buxton being the principal leaders4 ,the course of events1 however1 showed that immediate emancipation would be a better measure4 ,the government brought this forward in #ahbc1 modified by an apprenticeship system4 ,the bill with this feature and some compensation to owners was passed in #ahcc4 #ajg ,page #ajh1 note #a4 ,in the essay on ,self-,reliance ,mr4 ,emerson said3 8,an institution is the lengthened shadow of one man2 as ,monachism1 of the ,hermit ,antony2 the ,reformation1 of ,luther2 ,quakerism1 of ,fox2 ,methodism1 of ,wesley2 ,abolition1 of ,clarkson40 #ajh ,page #aab1 note #a4 ,the 8prdials0 seem to have been the slaves born into captivity1 as distinguished from imported slaves4 #aji ,page #aae1 note #a4 ,emancipation in the ,west ,indies3 ,a ,six ,months' ,tour in ,antigua1 ,barbadoes and ,jamaica1 in the year #ahcg4 ,j4 ,a4 ,thome and ,j4 ,h4 ,kimball1 ,new ,york1 #ahch4 #aaj ,page #abj1 note #a4 ,this was very soon after the coronation of the young ,queen ,victoria1 which occurred in the previous year4 #aaa ,page #abe1 note #a4 8,all things are moral1 and in their boundless changes have an unceasing reference to spiritual nature4 ,therefore is nature glorious with form1 color and motion2 that every globe in the remotest heaven1 every chemical change from the rudest crystal up to the laws of life 444 every animal function from the sponge up to ,hercules1 shall hint or thunder to man the laws of right and wrong1 and echo the ,ten ,commandments40--,nature1 ,addresses and ,lectures1 p4 #dj4 ,see also the last sentence in 8,prudence10 ,essays1 ,first ,series4 #aab ,page #aca1 note #a4 8,for he a ruler is the minister of ,god to thee for good4 ,but if thou do that which is evil1 be afraid2 for he beareth not the sword in vain3 for he is the minister of ,god1 a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil40 ,epistle to the ,romans1 xiii4 #d4 #aac ,page #acb1 note #a4 ,the cause for ,mr4 ,emerson's indignation was great and recent4 ,his honored townsman1 ,samuel ,hoar1 ,esq41 sent by the ,state of ,massachusetts as her commissioner to ,south ,carolina to investigate the seizures1 imprisonments1 punishments1 and even sale of colored citizens of ,massachusetts who had committed no crime1 had been expelled with threats of violence from the city of ,charleston4 7,see 8,samuel ,hoar10 in ,lectures and ,biographical ,sketches47 #aad ,page #acc1 note #a4 ,a union then of honest men1 ,or union never more again4 8,boston10 ,poems4 #aae ,page #acd1 note #a4 ,john ,quincy ,adams1 who1 though disapproving1 as untimely1 the legislation urged on ,congress by the abolitionists1 yet fought strongly and persistently against the rules framed to check their importunity1 as inconsistent with the right of petition itself4 #aaf ,page #add1 note #a4 ,here comes in the doctrine of the ,survival of the ,fittest that appears in the 8,ode inscribed to ,w4 ,h4 ,channing10 but1 even more than there1 tempered by faith in the strength of humanity4 ,see the 8,lecture on the ,times10 given in #ahda 7,nature1 ,addresses and ,lectures1 p4 #bbj71 for considerations on slavery more coolly philosophical than ,mr4 ,emerson's warm blood often admitted of1 during the strife for liberty in the period between the ,mexican and ,civil ,wars4 #aag ,page #ade1 note #a4 ,to-day unbind the captive1 ,so only are ye unbound2 ,lift up a people from the dust1 ,trump of their rescue1 sound6 8,boston ,hymn10 ,poems4 #aah ,page #adf1 note #a4 ,in the early version of the 8,boston0 poem were these lines3-- ,o pity that ,i pause6 ,the song disdaining shuns ,to name the noble sires1 because ,of the unworthy sons4 444 ,your town is full of gentle names1 ,by patriots once were watchwords made2 ,those war-cry names are muffled shames ,on recreant sons mislaid4 ,,war ,in the winter and early spring of #ahch1 the ,american ,peace ,society held a course of lectures in ,boston4 ,this lecture was the seventh in the course4 ,mr4 ,alcott wrote in his diary at that time3-- 8,i heard ,emerson's lecture on ,peace1 as the closing discourse of a series delivered at the ,odeon before the ,american ,peace ,society4444 ,after the lecture ,i saw ,mr4 ,garrison1 who is at this time deeply interested in the question of ,peace1 as are many of the meekest and noblest souls amongst us4 ,he expressed his great pleasure in the stand taken by ,mr4 ,emerson and his hopes in him as a man of the new age4 ,this great topic has been brought before the general mind as a direct consequence of the agitation of the abolition of slavery40 ,the lecture was printed in #ahdi sthetic ,papers1 edited by ,miss ,elizabeth ,p4 ,peabody4 ,although the chronicles of the campaigns and acts of prowess of the masterly soldiers were always attractive reading to ,mr4 ,emerson1--much more acts of patriotic devotion in the field1--and he was by no means committed as a non-resistant1 he saw that war had been a part of evolution1 and that its evils might pave the way for good1 as flowers spring up next year on a field of carnage4 ,he knew that evolution required an almost divine patience1 yet his good hope was strengthened by the signs of the times1 and he desired to hasten the great upward step in civilization4 ,it is evident from his words and course of action during the outrages upon the peaceful settlers of ,kansas1 and when ,sumter was fired upon and ,washington threatened1 that he recognized that the hour had not yet come4 ,he subscribed lavishly from his limited means for the furnishing ,sharp's rifles to the 8,free ,state men40 ,in the early days of the ,war of the ,rebellion he visited ,charlestown ,navy-,yard to see the preparations1 and said1 8,ah6 sometimes gunpowder smells good40 ,in the opening of his address at ,tufts ,college1 in ,july1 #ahfa1 he said1 8,the brute noise of cannon has a most poetic echo in these days1 as instrument of the primal sentiments of humanity40 ,several speeches included in this volume show that at that crisis his feeling was1 as he had said of the forefathers' 8deed of blood0 at ,concord ,bridge1-- ,even the serene ,reason says ,it was well done4 ,but all this was only a postponement of hope4 #aai ,page #aeb1 note #a4 ,with regard to schooling a man's courage for whatever may befall1 ,mr4 ,emerson said3 8,our culture therefore must not omit the arming of the man4 ,let him hear in season that he is born into the state of war1 and that the commonwealth and his own well-being require that he should not go dancing in the weeds of peace1 but warned1 self-collected and neither defying nor dreading the thunder1 let him take both reputation and life in his hand1 and with perfect urbanity dare the gibbet and the mob by the absolute truth of his speech and the rectitude of his behavior40--8,heroism10 ,essays1 ,first ,series4 8,a state of war or anarchy1 in which law has little force1 is so far valuable that it puts every man on trial40--8,the ,conservative10 ,nature1 ,addresses and ,lectures4 #abj ,page #aef1 note #a4 ,mr4 ,emerson used to take pleasure in a story illustrating this common foible of mankind4 ,a returned ,arctic explorer1 in a lecture1 said1 8,in this wilderness among the ice-floes1 ,i had the fortune to see a terrible conflict between two ,polar bears--0 8,which beat80 cried an excited voice from the audience4 #aba ,page #afj1 note #a4 ,in his description of the ,tower of ,london in the journal of #ahcd1 it appears that the suits of armor there set up affected ,mr4 ,emerson unpleasantly1 suggesting half-human destructive lobsters and crabs4 ,it is1 ,i believe1 said that ,benvenuto ,cellini learned to make the cunning joints in armor for men from those of these marine warriors4 ,in the opening paragraphs of the essay on ,inspiration ,mr4 ,emerson congratulates himself that the doleful experiences of the aboriginal man were got through with long ago4 8,they combed his mane1 they pared his nails1 cut off his tail1 set him on end1 sent him to school and made him pay taxes1 before he could begin to write his sad story for the compassion or the repudiation of his descendants1 who are all but unanimous to disown him4 ,we must take him as we find him10 etc4 #abb ,page #afb1 note #a4 ,in ,english ,traits1 at the end of the chapter on ,stonehenge1 ,mr4 ,emerson gave a humorous account of his setting forth the faith or hope of the non-resistants and idealists in ,new ,england1 to the amazed and shocked ears of ,carlyle and ,arthur ,helps4 #abc ,page #afd1 note #a4 8,as the solidest rocks are made up of invisible gases1 as the world is made of thickened light and arrested electricity1 so men know that ideas are the parents of men and things2 there was never anything that did not proceed from a thought40--8,the ,scholar10 ,lectures and ,biographical ,sketches4 #abd ,page #afd1 note #b4 ,in 8,the ,problem0 he says of the ,parthenon and ,england's abbeys that out of ,thought's interior sphere ,these wonders rose to upper air4 #abe ,page #afg1 note #a4 ,mr4 ,emerson in his conversation frankly showed that he was not yet quite prepared to be a non-resistant4 ,he would have surely followed his own counsel where he says1 8,go face the burglar in your own house10 and he seemed to feel instinctive sympathy with what ,mr4 ,dexter1 the counsel1 said in the speech which he used to read me from the ,selfridge trial3-- 8,and may my arm drop powerless when it fails to defend my honor60 ,he exactly stated his own position in a later passage1 where he says that 8in a given extreme event ,nature and ,god will instruct him in that hour40 #abf ,page #agb1 note #a4 ,thoreau lived frankly and fearlessly up to this standard4 #abg ,page #agc1 note #a4 ,this same view is even more attractively set forth in 8,aristocracy0 7,lectures and ,biographical ,sketches1 pp4 #cf-dj74 ,rev4 ,dr4 ,cyrus ,a4 ,bartol1 in an interesting paper on 8,emerson's ,religion10,c gives1 among other reminiscences1 the following3 8,i asked him if he approved of war4 #8,yes1' he said1 #8in one born to fight4'0 ,,the ,,fugitive ,,slave ,,law1 ,,concord1 #ahea ,the opening passages of this speech to his friends and neighbors show how deeply ,mr4 ,emerson was moved4 ,he could no longer be philosophical1 as in the 8,ode0 inscribed to his friend ,william ,channing1 and in earlier addresses4 ,the time had come when he might at any moment be summoned to help the marshal's men seize and return to bondage the poor fugitive who had almost reached the safety of ,england's protection4 ,such men were frequently passing through ,concord1 concealed and helped by the good ,bigelow1 the blacksmith1 and his wife1 the ,thoreaus1 ,mrs4 ,brooks1 and even once at a critical moment by her husband1 the law-abiding 8',squire0 himself4 ,mr4 ,emerson instantly took his stand1 and did not hesitate to run atilt against the dark giant1 once so honored4 ,the question of secession for conscience' sake had come up among the ,abolitionists4 ,mr4 ,emerson had stood for ,union1 yet felt that there could be nothing but shame in ,union until the humiliating statute was repealed4 ,meanwhile he fell back on the reserve-right of individual revolution as the duty of honest men4 ,the ,free-,soilers soon after renominated ,dr4 ,john ,gorham ,palfrey for a seat in ,congress1 and in his campaign ,mr4 ,emerson delivered this speech in several ,middlesex towns4 ,in ,cambridge he was interrupted by young men from the college1 ,southerners1 it was said1 but it appears that the disturbance was quite as much due to 8,northern men who were eager to keep up a show of fidelity to the interest of the ,south10 as a ,southern student said in a dignified disclaimer4 ,mr4 ,cabot in his ,memoir gives an interesting account by ,professor ,james ,b4 ,thayer of ,mr4 ,emerson's calm ignoring of the rude and hostile demonstration4 ,writing to ,carlyle1 in the end of ,july1 #aheg1 ,mr4 ,emerson said3 8,in the spring1 the abomination of our ,fugitive ,slave ,bill drove me to some writing and speech-making1 without hope of effect1 but to clear my own skirts40 ,this was the reaction which could not but be felt by him where he had been forced to descend into the dust and conflict of the arena from the serene heights4 ,he wrote in his journal next year3-- 8,philip ,randolph a valued friend was surprised to find me speaking to the politics of anti-slavery in ,philadelphia4 ,i suppose because he thought me a believer in general laws and that it was a kind of distrust of my own general teachings to appear in active sympathy with these temporary heats4 ,he is right so far as it is becoming in the scholar to insist on central soundness rather than on superficial applications4 ,i am to give a wise and just ballot1 though no man else in the republic doth4 ,i am to demand the absolute right1 affirm that1 and do that2 but not push ,boston into a showy and theatrical attitude1 endeavoring to persuade her she is more virtuous than she is4 ,thereby ,i am robbing myself more than ,i am enriching the public4 ,after twenty1 fifty1 a hundred years1 it will be quite easy to discriminate who stood for the right1 and who for the expedient40 ,yet however hard the duty of the hour might be1 ,mr4 ,emerson never failed in his duty as a good citizen to come to the front in dark days4 8,in spite of all his gracefulness and reserve and love of the unbroken tranquillity of serene thought1 he was by the right of heredity a belligerent in the cause of ,freedom40 #abh ,page #aha1 note #a4 ,shadrach was hurried to ,concord after his rescue1 and by curious coincidence ,edwin ,bigelow1 the good village blacksmith who there harbored him and drove him to the ,new ,hampshire line1 was one of the jurors in the trial of another rescue case4 #abi ,page #ahc1 note #a4 ,mr4 ,emerson wrote in his journal1 after ,mr4 ,hoar's return3-- 8,the position of ,massachusetts seems to me to be better for ,mr4 ,hoar's visit to ,south ,carolina in this point1 that one illusion is dispelled4 ,massachusetts was dishonored before1 but she was credulous in the protection of the ,constitution1 and either did not believe1 or affected not to believe in that she was dishonored4 ,now all doubt on that subject is removed1 and every ,carolina boy will not fail to tell every ,massachusetts boy whenever they meet how the fact stands4 ,the ,boston merchants would willingly salve the matter over1 but they cannot hereafter receive ,southern gentlemen at their tables without a consciousness of shame40 #acj ,page #aib1 note #a4 ,apparently from ,vattel1 book i41 ch4 i41 p4 #gi4 #aca ,page #bja1 note #a4 ,but there was chaff within the flour1 ,and one was false in ten1 ,and reckless clerks in lust of power ,forgot the rights of men2 ,cruel and blind did file their mind1 ,and sell the blood of human kind4 ,your town is full of gentle names ,by patriots once were watchwords made2 ,those war-cry names are muffled shames ,on recreant sons mislaid4 ,what slave shall dare a name to wear ,once ,freedom's passport everywhere8 ,see note to poem 8,boston40 ,mr4 ,charles ,francis ,adams's ,life of ,richard ,h4 ,dana gives light on the phrase used in the first of these verses4 ,the following passage is from ,mr4 ,dana's journal during the trial of ,anthony ,burns1 the fugitive3-- 8,choate1 ,i had an amusing interview with4 ,i asked him to make one effort in favor of freedom1 and told him that the #ahej delusion was dispelled and all men were coming round1 the ,board of ,brokers and ,board of ,aldermen were talking treason1 and that he must come and act4 ,he said he should be glad to make an effort on our side1 but that he had given written opinions against us in the ,sims case on every point1 and that he could not go against them4 8#8,you corrupted your mind in #ahej4' 8#8,yes4 ,filed my mind4' 8#8,i wish you would file it in court for our benefit4'0 ,shakspeare said1-- 8,for ,banquo's issue have ,i filed my mind40 #acb ,page #bjb1 note #a4 ,mr4 ,f4 ,b4 ,sanborn1 in his ,life of ,thoreau1 says that ,webster gave1 as a reason for not visiting ,concord in his later years1 that 8,many of those whom ,i so highly esteemed in your beautiful and quiet village have become a good deal estranged1 to my great grief1 by abolitionism1 free-soilism1 transcendentalism and other notions which ,i cannot but regard as so many vagaries of the imagination40 #acc ,page #bjd1 note #a4 ,or who1 with accent bolder1 ,dare praise the freedom-loving mountaineer8 ,i found by thee1 ,o rushing ,contoocook6 ,and in thy valleys1 ,agiochook6 ,the jackals of the negro-holder4 444 ,virtue palters2 ,right is hence2 ,freedom praised1 but hid2 ,funeral eloquence ,rattles the coffin-lid4 ,poems1 8,ode10 inscribed to ,w4 ,h4 ,channing4 ,see also what is said of 8the treachery of scholars0 in the last pages of 8,the ,man of ,letters10 ,lectures and ,biographical ,sketches4 #acd ,page #bji1 note #a4 ,this appeal for a general movement in the free states to free the slaves and to recompense the planters1 unhappily brought up to the institution1 for their loss1 was so much better in an anti-slavery address in ,new ,york1 in #ahee1 than in the ,concord speech four years earlier1 that ,i have substituted the later version here4 ,in ,mr4 ,cabot's ,memoir1 pp4 #eeh-eic1 a portion of the ,new ,york speech1 including this paragraph1 is given4 ,,the ,,fugitive ,,slave ,,law1 ,,new ,,york1 #ahed ,writing to his friend ,carlyle on ,march #aa1 #ahed1 ,mr4 ,emerson said3-- 8,one good word closed your letter in ,september 444 namely1 that you might come westward when ,frederic was disposed of4 ,speed ,frederic1 then1 for all reasons and for this6 ,america is growing furiously1 town and state2 new ,kansas1 new ,nebraska looming up in these days1 vicious politicians seething a wretched destiny for them already at ,washington4 ,the politicians shall be sodden1 the ,states escape1 please ,god6 ,the fight of slave and freeman drawing nearer1 the question is sharply1 whether slavery or whether freedom shall be abolished4 ,come and see40 ,four days before thus writing1 he had given this address1 to a fairly large audience1 in the 8,tabernacle0 in ,new ,york ,city1 for1 however dark the horizon looked1 the very success of the slave power was working its ruin4 ,encouraged by the submission of the ,north to the passage of the evil law to pacify them1 they had resolved to repeal the ,missouri ,compromise1 which confined slavery to a certain latitude4 ,it was repealed within a few days of the time ,mr4 ,emerson made this address4 ,during the debate1 ,charles ,sumner said to ,douglas1 8,sir1 the bill you are about to pass is at once the worst and the best on which ,congress has ever acted4444 ,it is the worst bill because it is a present victory for slavery4444 ,sir1 it is the best bill on which ,congress has ever acted1 for it annuls all past compromises with slavery and makes any future compromises impossible4 ,thus it puts ,freedom and ,slavery face to face and bids them grapple4 ,who can doubt the result80 ,the rendition to slavery of ,anthony ,burns from ,boston in ,may wrought a great change in public feeling there4 ,even the commercial element in the ,north felt the shame4 ,though not a worker in the anti-slavery organization1 ,mr4 ,emerson had always been the outspoken friend of freedom for the negroes4 ,witness his tribute in #ahcg to ,elijah ,lovejoy1 the martyr in their cause 7see 8,heroism10 ,essays1 ,first ,series1 p4 #bfb1 and note74 ,but the narrow and uncharitable speech and demeanor of many 8philanthropists0 led him to such reproofs as the one quoted by ,dr4 ,bartol1 8,let them first be anthropic10 or that in 8,self-,reliance0 to the angry bigot3 8,go love thy infant2 love thy wood-chopper2 be good-natured and modest2 have that grace2 and never varnish your hard1 uncharitable ambition with this incredible tenderness for black folk a thousand miles off40 ,but now the foe was at the very gate4 ,the duty to resist was instant and commanding4 ,mr4 ,emerson wrote in his journal1 soon after3-- 8,why do we not say1 ,we are abolitionists of the most absolute abolition1 as every man that is a man must be8444 ,we do not try to alter your laws in ,alabama1 nor yours in ,japan1 or in the ,feejee ,islands2 but we do not admit them1 or permit a trace of them here4 ,nor shall we suffer you to carry your ,thuggism1 north1 south1 east or west into a single rod of territory which we control4 ,we intend to set and keep a cordon sanitaire all around the infected district1 and by no means suffer the pestilence to spread4 8,it is impossible to be a gentleman1 and not be an abolitionist1 for a gentleman is one who is fulfilled with all nobleness1 and imparts it2 is the natural defender and raiser of the weak and oppressed40 ,with ,mr4 ,emerson's indignation at ,webster's fall was mingled great sorrow4 ,from his youth he had admired and revered him4 ,the verses about him printed in the ,appendix to the ,poems show the change of feeling4 ,he used to quote ,browning's 8,lost ,leader0 as applying to him1 and admired ,whittier's fine poem 8,ichabod0 78,the glory is departed10 ,i4 ,samuel1 iv41 #ba1 #bb7 on his apostasy4 ,mr4 ,emerson's faithfulness to his sense of duty1 leading him1 against his native instincts1 into the turmoil of politics1 striving to undo the mischief that a leader once revered had wrought in the minds of ,americans1 is shown in the extract from his journal with regard to this lecture3-- 8,at ,new ,york ,tabernacle1 on the #gth ,march1 ,i saw the great audience with dismay1 and told the bragging secretary that ,i was most thankful to those that staid at home2 every auditor was a new affliction1 and if all had staid away1 by rain or preoccupation1 ,i had been best pleased40 #ace ,page #bag1 note #a4 ,in ,lectures and ,biographical ,sketches1 in the essay on ,aristocracy1 and also in that on ,the ,man of ,letters1 the duty of loyalty to his thought and his order is urged as a trait of the gentleman and the scholar1 and in the latter essay1 the scholar's duty to stand for what is generous and free4 #acf ,page #bai1 note #a4 ,mr4 ,emerson in his early youth did come near slavery for a short time4 ,his diary at ,st4 ,augustine1 quoted by ,mr4 ,cabot in his ,memoir1 mentions that1 while he was attending a meeting of the ,bible ,society1 a slave-auction was going on outside1 but it does not appear that he actually saw it4 #acg ,page #bba1 note #a4 ,carlyle described ,webster as 8a magnificent specimen4444 ,as a ,logic-fencer1 ,advocate1 or ,parliamentary ,hercules1 one would incline to back him at first sight against all the extant world4 ,the tanned complexion1 that amorphous1 crag-like face1 the dull black eyes under their precipice of brows1 like dull anthracite furnaces needing only to be blown1 the mastiff-mouth1 accurately closed3--,i have not traced as much of silent ,berserkir-rage1 that ,i remember of1 in any other man40,d #ach ,page #bbe1 note #a4 ,mr4 ,james ,s4 ,gibbons 7of the ,new ,york ,tribune7 in a letter written to his son two days after this speech was delivered1 says1 referring evidently to this passage3-- 8,emerson gave us a fine lecture on ,webster4 ,he made him stand before us in the proportions of a giant2 and then with one word crushed him to powder40 #aci ,page #bbf1 note #a4 ,professor ,john ,h4 ,wright of ,harvard ,university has kindly furnished me with the passage from ,dio ,cassius1 xlvii4 #di1 where it is said of ,brutus3-- 1 ' '1 ' ' 1-- 1 ' 1-- which he renders1 8,he cried out this sentiment of ,heracles1 #8,o wretched ,virtue1 after all1 thou art a name1 but ,i cherished thee as a fact4 ,fortune's slave wast thou2' and called upon one of those with him to slay him40 ,professor ,wright adds that ,theodorus ,prodromus1 a ,byzantine poet of the twelfth century1 said1 8,what ,brutus says 7,o ,virtue1 etc47 ,i pronounce to be ignoble and unworthy of ,brutus's soul40 ,it seems very doubtful whence the ,greek verses came4 #adj ,page #bcc1 note #a4 ,just ten years earlier1 ,hon4 ,samuel ,hoar1 the ,commissioner of ,massachusetts1 sent to ,charleston1 ,south ,carolina1 in the interests of our colored citizens there constantly imprisoned and ill used1 had been expelled from that state with a show of force4 ,see ,lectures and ,biographical ,sketches4 #ada ,page #bcd1 note #a4 ,the sending back of ,onesimus by ,paul was a precedent precious in the eyes of pro-slavery preachers1 ,north and ,south1 in those days1 ignoring1 however1 ,paul's message1 8,not now as a servant1 but above a servant1 a brother beloved1 specially to me1 but how much more unto thee1 both in the flesh and in the ,lord4 ,if thou count me therefore a partner1 receive him as myself40,e #adb ,page #bce1 note #a4 ,the hydrostatic paradox has been before alluded to as one of ,mr4 ,emerson's favorite symbols1 the balancing of the ocean by a few drops of water4 ,in many places he dwells on the power of minorities--a minority of one4 ,in 8,character0 7,lectures and ,biographical ,sketches7 he says1 8,there was a time when ,christianity existed in one child40 ,for the value and duty of minorities1 see ,conduct of ,life1 pp4 #bdi ff41 ,letters and ,social ,aims1 pp4 #bai1 #bbj4 #adc ,page #bcf1 note #a4 ,this was a saying of ,mahomet4 ,what follows1 with regard to the divine sentiments always soliciting us1 is thus rendered in 8,my ,garden30 ,ever the words of the gods resound2 ,but the porches of man's ear ,seldom in this low life's round ,are unsealed1 that he may hear4 #add ,page #bcf1 note #b4 ,this is the important key to the essay on ,self-,reliance4 #ade ,page #bch1 note #a4 ,in the 8,sovereignty of ,ethics0 ,mr4 ,emerson quotes an ,oriental poet describing the ,golden ,age as saying that ,god had made justice so dear to the heart of ,nature that1 if any injustice lurked anywhere under the sky1 the blue vault would shrivel to a snake-skin1 and cast it out by spasms4 #adf ,page #bdj1 note #a4 ,there seems to be some break in the construction here probably due to the imperfect adjustment of lecture-sheets4 ,it would seem that the passage should read3 8,liberty is never cheap4 ,it is made difficult because freedom is the accomplishment and perfectness of man--the finished man2 earning and bestowing good20 etc4 #adg ,page #bda1 note #a4 ,see ,lectures and ,biographical ,sketches1 pp4 #bdf and #bea4 #adh ,page #bdb1 note #a4 ,the occasion alluded to was ,hon4 ,robert ,c4 ,winthrop's speech to the alumni of ,harvard ,college on ,commencement ,day in #aheb4 ,what follows is not an abstract1 but ,mr4 ,emerson's rendering of the spirit of his address4 ,,the ,,assault ,,upon ,,mr4 ,,sumner ,one evening in ,may1 ,judge ,hoar came to ,mr4 ,emerson's house1 evidently deeply stirred1 and told in a few words the startling news that the great ,senator from ,massachusetts had been struck down at his desk by a ,representative from ,south ,carolina1 and was dangerously hurt4 ,the news was heard with indignant grief in ,concord1 and a public meeting was held four days later in which ,mr4 ,emerson and others gave vent to this feeling4 ,among ,mr4 ,emerson's papers are the fragmentary notes on ,sumner1 given below1 without indication as to when they were used4 ,,charles ,,sumner ,clean1 self-poised1 great-hearted man1 noble in person1 incorruptible in life1 the friend of the poor1 the champion of the oppressed4 ,of course ,congress must draw from every part of the country swarms of individuals eager only for private interests1 who could not love his stern justice4 ,but if they gave him no high employment1 he made low work high by the dignity of honesty and truth4 ,but men cannot long do without faculty and perseverance1 and he rose1 step by step1 to the mastery of all affairs intrusted to him1 and by those lights and upliftings with which the spirit that makes the ,universe rewards labor and brave truth4 ,he became learned1 and adequate to the highest questions1 and the counsellor of every correction of old errors1 and of every noble reform4 ,how nobly he bore himself in disastrous times4 ,every reform he led or assisted4 ,in the shock of the war his patriotism never failed4 ,a man of varied learning and accomplishments4 ,he held that every man is to be judged by the horizon of his mind1 and ,fame he defined as the shadow of excellence1 but that which follows him1 not which he follows after4 ,tragic character1 like ,algernon ,sydney1 man of conscience and courage1 but without humor4 ,fear did not exist for him4 ,in his mind the ,american idea is no crab1 but a man incessantly advancing1 as the shadow of the dial or the heavenly body that casts it4 ,the ,american idea is emancipation1 to abolish kingcraft1 feudalism1 black-letter monopoly1 it pulls down the gallows1 explodes priestcraft1 opens the doors of the sea to all emigrants1 extemporizes government in new country4 ,sumner has been collecting his works4 ,they will be the history of the ,republic for the last twenty-five years1 as told by a brave1 perfectly honest and well instructed man1 with social culture and relation to all eminent persons4 ,diligent and able workman1 with rare ability1 without genius1 without humor1 but with persevering study1 wide reading1 excellent memory1 high stand of honor 7and pure devotion to his country71 disdaining any bribe1 any compliances1 and incapable of falsehood4 ,his singular advantages of person1 of manners1 and a statesman's conversation impress every one favorably4 ,he has the foible of most public men1 the egotism which seems almost unavoidable at ,washington4 ,i sat in his room once at ,washington whilst he wrote a weary procession of letters1--he writing without pause as fast as if he were copying4 ,he outshines all his mates in historical conversation1 and is so public in his regards that he cannot be relied on to push an office-seeker1 so that he is no favorite with politicians4 ,but wherever ,i have met with a dear lover of the country and its moral interests1 he is sure to be a supporter of ,sumner4 ,it characterizes a man for me that he hates ,charles ,sumner3 for it shows that he cannot discriminate between a foible and a vice4 ,sumner's moral instinct and character are so exceptionally pure that he must have perpetual magnetism for honest men2 his ability and working energy such1 that every good friend of the ,republic must stand by him4 ,those who come near him and are offended by his egotism1 or his foible 7if you please7 of using classic quotations1 or other bad tastes1 easily forgive these whims1 if themselves are good1 or magnify them into disgust1 if they themselves are incapable of his virtue4 ,and when he read one night in ,concord a lecture on ,lafayette we felt that of all ,americans he was best entitled by his own character and fortunes to read that eulogy4 ,every ,pericles must have his ,cleon3 ,sumner had his adversaries1 his wasps and back-biters4 ,we almost wished that he had not stooped to answer them4 ,but he condescended to give them truth and patriotism1 without asking whether they could appreciate the instruction or not4 ,a man of such truth that he can be truly described3 he needs no exaggerated praise4 ,not a man of extraordinary genius1 but a man of great heart1 of a perpetual youth1 with the highest sense of honor1 incapable of any fraud1 little or large2 loving his friend and loving his country1 with perfect steadiness to his purpose1 shunning no labor that his aim required1 and his works justified him by their scope and thoroughness4 ,he had good masters1 who quickly found that they had a good scholar4 ,he read law with ,judge ,story1 who was at the head of the ,law ,school at ,harvard ,university1 and who speedily discovered the value of his pupil1 and called him to his assistance in the ,law ,school4 ,he had a great talent for labor1 and spared no time and no research to make himself master of his subject4 ,his treatment of every question was faithful and exhaustive1 and marked always by the noble sentiment4 #adi ,page #beb1 note #a4 ,with this message of comfort to ,sumner1 struck down for his defence of ,liberty1 may be contrasted what is said of ,webster when he abandoned her cause3-- 8,those to whom his name was once dear and honored1 as the manly statesman to whom the choicest gifts of ,nature had been accorded1 disown him3 444 he who was their pride in the woods and mountains of ,new ,england is now their mortification1--they have torn his picture from the wall1 they have thrust his speeches into the chimney10 etc4--8,address on the ,fugitive ,slave ,law10 at ,concord1 #ahea4 ,,speech ,,on ,,affairs ,,in ,,kansas ,by an act of ,congress1 passed in ,may1 #ahed1 the territories of ,kansas and ,nebraska were organized1 and in a section of that act it was declared that the ,constitution and all the laws of the ,united ,states should be in force in these territories1 except the ,missouri ,compromise ,act of #ahbj1 which was declared inoperative and void4 ,the act thereby repealed had confined slavery to the region of the ,louisiana ,purchase south of latitude #cf1 #cj ,north4 ,foreseeing the probable success of this measure to increase the area of slavery1 ,emigrant ,aid ,societies had been formed in ,massachusetts first1 and later1 in ,connecticut1 which assisted ,northern emigrants to the settlement of this fertile region4 ,settlers from the ,northwestern ,states also poured in1 and also from ,missouri1 the latter bringing slaves with them4 ,a fierce struggle1 lasting for some years and attended with bloodshed and barbarities1 began at once1 hordes of armed men from the border state of ,missouri constantly voting at ,kansas elections and intimidating the free state settlers1 and even driving parties of immigrants out of the state4 ,franklin ,pierce was then ,president1 and threw the influence and power of the administration on the side of the pro-slavery party in ,kansas4 ,despairing of redress from ,washington1 the settlers from the free states appealed in their distress to their friends at home1 and sent ,mr4 ,whitman1 ,rev4 ,mr4 ,nute1 and later1 ,john ,brown1 to make known to them their wrongs1 and ask moral and material aid1 especially arms to defend their rights1 and reinforcements of brave settlers4 ,meetings were held1 not only in the cities1 but in the country towns1 and1 certainly in the latter1 were well attended by earnest people who gave1 a few from their wealth1 but many from their poverty1 large sums to help 8bleeding ,kansas40 ,in response to the petitions of the friends of ,freedom1 who urged the ,legislature of ,massachusetts to come to the rescue1 a joint committee was appointed by the ,general ,court to consider the petitions for a state appropriation of ten thousand dollars to protect the interests of the ,north and the rights of her citizens in ,kansas1 should they be again invaded by ,southern marauders4 ,john ,brown addressed this committee in ,february1 #ahef4 ,he made a clear and startling statement of the outrages he had witnessed and the brave struggles of the settlers1 and told of the murder and imprisonment and maltreatment of his sons1 seven of whom were in ,kansas with him during the struggle4,f ,mr4 ,emerson always attended the meetings in aid of ,kansas in ,concord1 gave liberally to the cause1 and spoke there and elsewhere when called upon4 #aej ,page #bfc1 note #a4 ,george ,bancroft1 the historian1 said of the conclusion of this speech3-- 8,emerson as clearly as any one1 perhaps more clearly than any one at the time1 saw the enormous dangers that were gathering over the ,constitution4444 ,it would certainly be difficult1 perhaps impossible1 to find any speech made in the same year that is marked with so much courage and foresight as this of ,emerson4444 ,even after the inauguration of ,lincoln several months passed away before his ,secretary of ,state or he himself saw the future so clearly as ,emerson had foreshadowed it in #ahef40;,g ,,john ,,brown3 ,,speech ,,at ,,boston ,mr4 ,f4 ,b4 ,sanborn1 in his ,familiar ,letters of ,thoreau1 says that he introduced ,john ,brown to ,thoreau in ,march1 #aheg1 and ,thoreau introduced him to ,emerson4 ,this was at the time when ,brown came on to awaken the people of ,massachusetts to the outrages which the settlers and their families were suffering1 and procure aid for them4 ,his clear-cut face1 smooth-shaven and bronzed1 his firmly shut mouth and mild but steady blue eyes1 gave him the appearance of the best type of old ,new ,england farmers2 indeed he might well have passed for a rustic brother of ,squire ,hoar4 ,mr4 ,emerson was at once interested in him and the story of the gallant fight that the ,free-,state men in ,kansas were making1 though ,brown was very modest about his own part and leadership4 ,indeed he claimed only to be a fellow worker and adviser4 ,i think that soon after this time1 on one of his visits to ,concord1 he stayed at ,mr4 ,emerson's house2 certainly he spent the evening there4 ,the last time he came to ,concord he was a changed man2 all the pleasant look was gone4 ,his gray hair1 longer and brushed upright1 his great gray beard and the sharpening of his features by exposure and rude experiences gave him a wild1 fierce expression4 ,his speech in the ,town ,hall was excited1 and when he drew a huge sheath-knife from under his coat and showed it as a symbol of ,missouri civilization1 and last drew from his bosom a horse-chain and clanked it in air1 telling that his son had been bound with this and led bareheaded under a burning sun beside their horses1 by ,united ,states dragoons1 and in the mania brought on by this inhuman treatment had worn the rusty chain bright1--the old man recalled the fierce ,balfour of ,burley in ,scott's ,old ,mortality4 ,it was a startling sight and sent a thrill through his hearers4 ,yet on earlier occasions his speech had been really more effective1 when a quiet farmer of mature years1 evidently self-contained1 intelligent1 truthful and humane1 simply told in ,new ,england towns what was going on in ,kansas1 the outrages committed upon the settlers1 the violation of their elementary rights under the ,constitution1--and all this connived at by the general government4 ,he opened the eyes of his hearers1 even against their wills1 to the alarming pass into which the slave power had brought the affairs of the country4 ,but now wrong and outrage1 not only on others but terribly suffered in his own family1 had made ,brown feel that not he but 8,slavery was an outlaw0 against which he 8held a commission direct from ,god ,almighty0 to act4 ,a friend quoted him as having said1 8,the loss of my family and the troubles in ,kansas have shattered my constitution1 and ,i am nothing to the world but to defend the right1 and that1 by ,god's help1 ,i have done and will do40 ,the people were not ready to follow him in revolutionary measures1 but when on his own responsibility he had precipitated the inevitable conflict by breaking with a government1 then so unrighteous1 and offered his life as a sacrifice for humanity1 they could not but do homage to him as a hero1 who was technically a traitor4 ,he had cut the ,gordian knot which they had suffered to be tied tighter4 ,of course ,mr4 ,emerson had known nothing of ,john ,brown's plan for a raid into the slave states4 ,it was the motive and courage he honored1 not the means4 ,he wrote3 8,i wish we should have health enough to know virtue when we see it1 and not cry with the fools and the newspapers1 #8,madman6' when a hero passes40 ,on the first day of ,november1 ,john ,brown had been sentenced to death4 ,this meeting in ,boston1 to give aid to his family1 was held on the eighteenth1 just two weeks before his execution4 ,the verses which serve as motto are from ,mr4 ,edmund ,clarence ,stedman's poem written at the time1 which ,mr4 ,emerson used to read aloud to his family and friends with much pleasure4 #aea ,page #bfi1 note #a4 8,this court acknowledges1 ,i suppose1 the validity of the ,law of ,god4 ,i see a book kissed here which ,i suppose to be the ,bible1 or1 at least1 the ,new ,testament4 ,that teaches me that all things #8whatsoever ,i would that men should do unto me1 ,i should do even so to them4' ,it teaches me further to #8remember them which are in bonds as bound with them4' ,i endeavored to act up to that instruction4 ,i say ,i am yet too young to understand that ,god is any respecter of persons4 ,i believe that to have interfered as ,i have done1 as ,i have always freely admitted that ,i have done1 in behalf of ,his despised poor1 was not wrong1 but right4 ,now1 if it is deemed necessary that ,i should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice1 and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children1 and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked1 cruel and unjust enactments--,i submit3 so let it be done40 ,from the ,speech of ,john ,brown to the ,court4 #aeb ,page #bgj1 note #a4 ,among the sheets of the lecture 8,courage0 is one which seems to have been used at that time3-- 8,governor ,wise and ,mr4 ,mason no doubt have some right to their places4 ,it is some superiority of working brain that put them there1 and the aristocrats in every society4 ,but when they come to deal with ,brown1 they find that he speaks their own speech1--has whatever courage and directness they have1 and a great deal more of the same2 so that they feel themselves timorous little fellows in his hand2 he outsees1 outthinks1 outacts them1 and they are forced to shuffle and stammer in their turn4 8,they painfully feel this1 that he is their governor and superior1 and the only alternative is to kneel to him if they are truly noble1 or else 7if they wish to keep their places71 to put this fact which they know1 out of sight of other people1 as fast as they can4 ,quick1 drums and trumpets strike up6 ,quick1 judges and juries1 silence him1 by sentence and execution of sentence1 and hide in the ground this alarming fact4 ,for1 if everything comes to its right place1 he goes up1 and we down40 #aec ,page #bga1 note #a4 ,commodore ,hiram ,paulding1 in #aheg1 had broken up ,walker's filibustering expedition at ,nicaragua4 ,the arrest of ,walker on foreign soil the government did not think it wise wholly to approve4 #aed ,page #bgb1 note #a4 ,the allusion is to the trials of the fugitives ,shadrach1 ,sims and ,burns in ,boston4 ,the story of these humiliations is told in full and in a most interesting manner in the diary of ,richard ,h4 ,dana1,h whose zeal in the cause of these poor men did him great honor4 ,during the trial of ,sims1 a chain was put up1 as a barrier against the crowd1 around the ,united ,states ,court-,house1 and the stooping of the judges to creep under this chain in order to enter the court-house was considered symbolic of their abject attitude towards the aggressive slave power4 ,,john ,,brown3 ,,speech ,,at ,,salem ,the second of ,december1 on which day ,john ,brown was executed at ,charlestown1 ,virginia1 was bright in that ,state1 but in ,new ,england was of a strange sultriness with a wind from the south and a lowering sky4 ,at noon1 the hour appointed for his death1 in ,concord 7as in many ,new ,england towns7 the men and women who honored his character and motives gathered and made solemn observance of a day and event which seemed laden with omens4 ,there was a prayer1 ,i think offered by the ,rev4 ,edmund ,sears of ,wayland1,i ,mr4 ,emerson read ,william ,allingham's beautiful poem 8,the ,touchstone0 which is used as the motto to this speech1 ,thoreau read with sad bitterness ,sir ,walter ,raleigh's 8,the ,soule's ,errand40 ,hon4 ,john ,s4 ,keyes read some appropriate verses from ,aytoun's 8,execution of ,montrose0 and ,mr4 ,sanborn a poem which he had written for the occasion4 #aee ,page #bgi1 note #a4 ,here1 as often in ,mr4 ,emerson's speech and writing1 is shown his respect for the old religion of ,new ,england and its effect on the thought and character of her people4 ,as ,lowell said of them in his ,concord ,ode in #ahge3-- 8,and yet the enduring half they chose1 ,whose choice decides a man life's slave or king1 ,the invisible things of ,god before the seen and known40 #aef ,page #bgi1 note #b4 ,i well remember the evening1 in my school-boy days1 when ,john ,brown1 in my father's house1 told of his experiences as a sheep-farmer1 and his eye for animals and power over them4 ,he said he knew at once a strange sheep in his flock of many hundred1 and that he could always make a dog or cat so uncomfortable as to wish to leave the room1 simply by fixing his eyes on it4 #aeg ,page #bha1 note #a4 8,heroism feels and never reasons1 and therefore is always right2 and although a different breeding1 different religion and greater intellectual activity would have modified or even reversed the particular action1 yet1 for the hero1 that thing he does is the highest deed1 and is not open to the censure of philosophers and divines40--8,heroism10 ,essays1 ,first ,series4 8,i can leave to ,god the time and means of my death1 for ,i believe now that the sealing of my testimony before ,god and man with my blood will do far more to further the cause to which ,i have earnestly devoted myself than anything else ,i have done in my life40--,letter of ,john ,brown to a friend4 ,,theodore ,,parker ,theodore ,parker1 worn by his great work in defence of liberal religion and in every cause of suffering humanity1 had succumbed to disease and died in ,florence in ,may1 #ahfj1 not quite fifty years of age4 ,born in the neighbor town of ,lexington when ,emerson was seven years old1 they had been friends probably from the time when the latter1 soon after settling in ,concord1 preached for the society at ,east ,lexington1 from #ahcf for two years4 ,parker was1 during this period1 studying divinity1 and was settled as pastor of the ,west ,roxbury church in #ahcg4 ,in that year he is mentioned by ,mr4 ,alcott as a member of the ,transcendental ,club and attending its meetings in ,boston4 ,when1 in ,june1 #ahch1 ,mr4 ,emerson fluttered the conservative and the timid by his ,divinity ,school ,address1 the young ,parker went home and wrote1 8,it was the most inspiring strain ,i ever listened to4444 ,my soul is roused1 and this week ,i shall write the long-meditated sermons on the state of the church and the duties of these times40 ,mr4 ,parker was one of those who attended the gathering in ,boston which gave birth to the ,dial1 to which he was a strong contributor4 ,three years after its death1 he1 with the help of ,mr4 ,james ,elliot ,cabot and ,mr4 ,emerson1 founded the ,massachusetts ,quarterly ,review1 vigorous though short-lived1 of which he was the editor4 ,parker frequently visited ,emerson1 and the two1 unlike in their method1 worked best apart in the same great causes4 ,rev4 ,william ,gannett says1 8,what ,emerson uttered without plot or plan1 ,theodore ,parker elaborated to a system4 ,parker was the ,paul of transcendentalism40 ,mr4 ,edwin ,d4 ,mead1 in his chapter on ,emerson and ,theodore ,parker1,j gives the following pleasant anecdote3-- 8,at one of ,emerson's lectures in ,boston1 when the storm against ,parker was fiercest1 a lecture at which a score of the religious and literary leaders of the city were present1 ,emerson1 as he laid his manuscript upon the desk and looked over the audience1 after his wont1 observed ,parker2 and immediately he stepped from the platform to the seat near the front where ,parker sat1 grasping his hand and standing for a moment's conversation with him4 ,it was not ostentation1 and it was not patronage3 it was admiring friendship1--and that fortification and stimulus ,parker in those times never failed to feel4 ,it was ,emerson who fed his lamp1 he said2 and ,emerson said that1 be the lamp fed as it might1 it was ,parker whom the time to come would have to thank for finding the light burning40 ,parker dedicated to ,emerson his ,ten ,sermons on ,religion4 ,in acknowledging this tribute1 ,mr4 ,emerson thus paid tribute to ,parker's brave service3-- 8,we shall all thank the right soldier whom ,god gave strength to fight for him the battle of the day40 ,when ,mr4 ,parker's failing forces made it necessary for him to drop his arduous work and go abroad for rest1 ,mr4 ,emerson was frequently called to take his place in the ,music ,hall on ,sundays4 ,i think that this was the only pulpit he went into to conduct ,sunday services after #ahch4 ,it is told that ,parker1 sitting1 on ,sunday morning1 on the deck of the vessel that was bearing him away1 never to return1 smiled and said3 8,emerson is preaching at ,music ,hall to-day40 #aeh ,page #bhf1 note #a4 ,mr4 ,emerson wrote in his journal3-- 8,the ,duc de ,brancas said1 #8,why need ,i read the ,encyclopdie8 ,rivarol visits me4' ,i may well say it of ,theodore ,parker40 #aei ,page #bij1 note #a4 ,richard ,h4 ,dana wrote in his diary1 ,november #c1 #ahec3-- 8,it is now ten days since ,webster's death4444 ,strange that the best commendation that has appeared yet1 the most touching1 elevated1 meaning eulogy1 with all its censure1 should have come from ,theodore ,parker6 ,were ,i ,daniel ,webster1 ,i would not have that sermon destroyed for all that had been said in my favor as yet40 #afj ,page #bic1 note #a4 ,i copy from ,mr4 ,emerson's journal at the time of ,mr4 ,parker's death these sentences which precede some of those included in this address3-- 8,theodore ,parker has filled up all his years and days and hours4 ,a son of the energy of ,new ,england2 restless1 eager1 manly1 brave1 early old1 contumacious1 clever4 ,i can well praise him at a spectator's distance1 for our minds and methods were unlike1--few people more unlike4 ,all the virtues are solitaires4 ,each man is related to persons who are not related to each other1 and ,i saw with pleasure that men whom ,i could not approach1 were drawn through him to the admiration of that which ,i admire40 ,,american ,,civilization ,on ,january #ca1 #ahfb1 ,mr4 ,emerson lectured at the ,smithsonian ,institution in ,washington on ,american ,civilization4 ,just after the outbreak of war in the ,april preceding1 he had given a lecture1 in a course in ,boston on ,life and ,literature1 which he called 8,civilization at a ,pinch10 the title suggesting how it had been modified by the crisis which had suddenly come to pass4 ,in the course of the year the flocking of slaves to the ,union camps1 and the opening vista of a long and bitter struggle1 with slavery now acknowledged as its root1 had brought the question of ,emancipation as a war-measure to the front4 ,of course ,mr4 ,emerson saw hope in this situation of affairs1 and when he went to ,washington with the chance of being heard by men in power there1 he prepared himself to urge the measure1 as well on grounds of policy as of right4 ,so the ,boston lecture was much expanded to deal with the need of the hour4 ,there is no evidence that ,president ,lincoln heard it2 it is probable that he did not2 nor is it true that ,mr4 ,emerson had a long and earnest conversation with him on the subject next day1 both of which assertions have been made in print4 ,mr4 ,emerson made an unusual record in his journal of the incidents of his stay in ,washington1 and though he tells of his introduction to ,mr4 ,lincoln and a short chat with him1 evidently there was little opportunity for serious conversation4 ,the ,president's secretaries had1 in #ahhf1 no memory of his having attended the lecture1 and the ,washington papers do not mention his presence there4 ,the following notice of the lecture1 however1 appeared in one of the local papers3 8,the audience received it1 as they have the other anti-slavery lectures of the course1 with unbounded enthusiasm4 ,it was in many respects a wonderful lecture1 and those who have often heard ,mr4 ,emerson said that he seemed inspired through nearly the whole of it1 especially the part referring to slavery and the war40 ,a gentleman in ,washington1 who took the trouble to look up the question as to whether ,mr4 ,lincoln and other high officials heard it1 says that ,mr4 ,lincoln could hardly have attended lectures then3-- 8,he was very busy at the time1 ,stanton the new war secretary having just come in1 and storming like a fury at the business of his department4 ,the great operations of the war for the time overshadowed all the other events4444 ,it is worth remarking that ,mr4 ,emerson in this lecture clearly foreshadowed the policy of ,emancipation some six or eight months in advance of ,mr4 ,lincoln4 ,he saw the logic of events leading up to a crisis in our affairs1 to #8emancipation as a platform with compensation to the loyal owners' 7his words as reported in the ,star74 ,the notice states that the lecture was very fully attended40 ,very possibly it may be with regard to this address that we have the interesting account given of the effect of ,mr4 ,emerson's speaking on a well-known ,english author4 ,dr4 ,garnett1 in his ,life of ,emerson1 says3-- 8,a shrewd judge1 ,anthony ,trollope1 was particularly struck with the note of sincerity in ,emerson when he heard him address a large meeting during the ,civil ,war4 ,not only was the speaker terse1 perspicuous1 and practical to a degree amazing to ,mr4 ,trollope's preconceived notions1 but he commanded his hearers' respect by the frankness of his dealing with them4 #8,you make much of the ,american eagle1' he said1 #8you do well4 ,but beware of the ,american peacock4' ,when shortly afterwards ,mr4 ,trollope heard the consummate rhetorician1 he discerned at once that oratory was an end with him1 instead of1 as with ,emerson1 a means4 ,he was neither bold nor honest1 as ,emerson had been1 and the people knew that while pretending to lead them he was led by them40 ,mr4 ,emerson revised the lecture and printed it in the ,atlantic ,monthly for ,april1 #ahfb4 ,it was afterwards separated into the essay 8,civilization10 treating of the general and permanent aspects of the subject 7printed in ,society and ,solitude71 and this urgent appeal for the instant need4 ,the few lines inspired by the ,flag are from one of the verse-books4 #afa ,page #bih1 note #a4 ,mr4 ,emerson himself was by no means free from pecuniary anxieties and cares in those days4 ,journal1 #ahfb4 8,poverty1 sickness1 a lawsuit1 even bad1 dark weather1 spoil a great many days of the scholar's year1 hinder him of the frolic freedom necessary to spontaneous flow of thought40 #afb ,page #cjj1 note #a4 ,this was during the days of apparent inaction when1 after the first reverses or minor successes of the raw ,northern armies1 the magnitude of the task before them and the energy of their opponents was realized1 and recruiting1 fortification1 organization was going on in earnest in preparation for the spring campaign4 ,general ,scott had resigned2 ,general ,mc,clellan was doing his admirable work of creating a fit army1 and ,secretary ,cameron had been succeeded by the energetic and impatient ,stanton4 ,but the government was still very shy of meddling with slavery for fear of disaffecting the ,war ,democrats and especially the ,border ,states4 #afc ,page #cjg1 note #a4 ,a short time before this address was delivered ,mr4 ,moncure ,d4 ,conway 7a young ,virginian1 who1 for conscience' sake1 had left his charge as a ,methodist preacher and had abandoned his inheritance in slaves1 losing in so doing the good will of his parents1 and become a ,unitarian minister and an abolitionist7 had read in ,concord an admirable and eloquent lecture called 8,the ,rejected ,stone40 ,this stone1 slighted by the founders1 although they knew it to be a source of danger1 had now 8become the head of the corner10 and its continuance in the national structure threatened its stability4 ,mr4 ,emerson had been much struck with the excellence and cogency of ,mr4 ,conway's arguments1 based on his knowledge of ,southern economics and character1 and in this lecture made free use of them4 #afd ,page #cjh1 note #a4 ,mason and ,slidell1 the emissaries sent by the ,confederacy to excite sympathy in its cause in ,europe1 had been taken off an ,english vessel at the ,bermudas by ,commodore ,wilkes1 and were confined in ,fort ,warren in ,boston ,harbor4 ,president ,lincoln's action in surrendering them at ,england's demand had been a surprise to the country1 but was well received4 #afe ,page #cji1 note #a4 ,from the ,veeshnoo ,sarma4 #aff ,page #cji1 note #b4 ,see in the address on ,theodore ,parker the passage commending him for insisting 8that the essence of ,christianity is its practical morals2 it is there for use or nothing10 etc4 #afg ,page #caa1 note #a4 ,in the agitation concerning the abolition of slavery in the ,british colonies1 gradual emancipation was at first planned1 as more reasonable and politic1 but1 in the end1 not only the reformers but the planters came in most cases to see that immediate emancipation was wiser4 ,,the ,,emancipation ,,proclamation ,on the #bb;d of ,september1 ,president ,lincoln at last spoke the word so long earnestly desired by the friends of ,freedom and the victims of slavery1 abolishing slavery on the first day of the coming year in those states which should then be in rebellion against the ,united ,states4 ,at a meeting held in ,boston in honor of this auspicious utterance1 ,mr4 ,emerson spoke1 with others4 ,the address was printed in its present form in the ,atlantic ,monthly for ,november1 #ahfb4 #afh ,page #caf1 note #a4 ,it may be interesting in this connection to recall the quiet joy with which ,mr4 ,emerson in his poem 8,the ,adirondacs0 celebrates man's victory over matter1 and its promise to human brotherhood1 when the ,atlantic ,cable was supposed to be a success in #aheh4 #afi ,page #cbj1 note #a4 ,milton1 8,comus40 #agj ,page #cba1 note #a4 ,it is pleasant to contrast this passage with the tone of sad humiliation which prevails in the address on the ,fugitive ,slave ,law given in ,concord in #ahea4 #aga ,page #cbd1 note #a4 ,see the insulting recognition of this disgraceful attitude of the ,north by ,john ,randolph1 quoted by ,mr4 ,emerson in his speech on the ,fugitive ,slave ,law in ,concord in #ahea4 #agb ,page #cbf1 note #a4 ,shakspeare1 ,sonnet cvii4 #agc ,page #cbf1 note #b4 ,the tragedy of the negro is tenderly told in the poem 8,voluntaries10 which was written just after they had gallantly stood the test of battle in the desperate attack on ,fort ,wagner4 ,on the first day of the year #ahfc1 when ,emancipation became a fact throughout the ,united ,states1 a joyful meeting was held in ,boston1 and there ,mr4 ,emerson read his 8,boston ,hymn40 ,,abraham ,,lincoln ,in the year #ahfe1 the people of ,concord gathered on the ,nineteenth of ,april1 as had been their wont for ninety years1 but this time not to celebrate the grasping by the town of its great opportunity for freedom and fame4 ,the people came together in the old meeting-house to mourn for their wise and good ,chief ,magistrate1 murdered when he had triumphantly finished the great work which fell to his lot4 ,mr4 ,emerson1 with others of his townsmen1 spoke4 #agd ,page #cca1 note #a4 ,on the occasion of his visit to ,washington in ,january1 #ahfb1 ,mr4 ,emerson had been taken to the ,white ,house by ,mr4 ,sumner and introduced to the ,president4 ,mr4 ,lincoln's first remark was1 8,mr4 ,emerson1 ,i once heard you say in a lecture that a ,kentuckian seems to say by his air and manners1 #8,here am ,i2 if you don't like me1 the worse for you4'0 ,the interview with ,mr4 ,lincoln was necessarily short1 but he left an agreeable impression on ,mr4 ,emerson's mind4 ,the full account of this visit is printed in the ,atlantic ,monthly for ,july1 #aijd1 and will be included among the selections from the journals which will be later published4 #age ,page #ccb1 note #a4 ,mr4 ,emerson's poem1 8,the ,visit10 shows how terrible the devastation of the day of a public man would have seemed to him4 #agf ,page #ccf1 note #a4 ,the brave retraction by ,thomas ,taylor of the hostile ridicule which ,punch had poured on ,lincoln in earlier days contained these verses3-- 8,beside this corpse1 that bears for winding-sheet ,the ,stars and ,stripes he lived to rear anew1 ,between the mourners at his head and feet1 ,say1 scurrile jester1 is there room for you8 8,yes1 he had lived to shame me from my sneer1 ,to lame my pencil1 and confute my pen2-- ,to make me own this kind of princes peer1 ,this rail-splitter a true-born king of men40 ,the whole poem is included in ,mr4 ,emerson's collection ,parnassus4 #agg ,page #ccg1 note #a4 ,this thought is rendered more fully in the poem 8,spiritual ,laws10 and in the lines in 8,worship10-- ,this is he men miscall ,fate1 ,threading dark ways1 arriving late1 ,but ever coming in time to crown ,the truth1 and hurl wrong-doers down4 #agh ,page #cch1 note #a4 ,the following letter was written by ,mr4 ,emerson in ,november1 #ahfc1 to his friend1 ,mr4 ,george ,p4 ,bradford1 who1 as ,mr4 ,cabot says1 came nearer to being a 8crony0 than any of the others3-- ,,concord4 ,,dear ,,george1--,i hope you do not need to be reminded that we rely on you at #b o'clock on ,thanksgiving ,day4 ,bring all the climate and all the memories of ,newport with you4 ,mr4 ,lincoln in fixing this day has in some sort bound himself to furnish good news and victories for it4 ,if not1 we must comfort each other with the good which already is1 and with that which must be4 ,yours affectionately1 ,r4 ,w4 ,,emerson4 ,a year later1 he wrote to the same friend3-- 8,i give you joy of the ,election4 ,seldom in history was so much staked on a popular vote--,i suppose never in history4 8,one hears everywhere anecdotes of late1 very late1 remorse overtaking the hardened sinners and just saving them from final reprobation40 ,journal1 #ahfd-fe4 8,why talk of ,president ,lincoln's equality of manners to the elegant or titled men with whom ,everett or others saw him8 ,a sincerely upright and intelligent man as he was1 placed in the chair1 has no need to think of his manners or appearance4 ,his work day by day educates him rapidly and to the best4 ,he exerts the enormous power of this continent in every hour1 in every conversation1 in every act2--thinks and decides under this pressure1 forced to see the vast and various bearings of the measures he adopts3 he cannot palter1 he cannot but carry a grace beyond his own1 a dignity1 by means of what he drops1 e4 g41 all pretension and trick1 and arrives1 of course1 at a simplicity1 which is the perfection of manners40 ,,harvard ,,commemoration ,,speech ,it was a proud and sad1 and yet a joyful day1 when ,harvard welcomed back those of her sons who had survived the war4 ,all who could come were there1 from boys to middle-aged men1 from private soldier to general1 some strong and brown1 and others worn and sick and maimed1 but all on that day proud and happy4 ,the names of the ninety-three of ,harvard's sons who had fallen in the war were inscribed on six tablets and placed where all could see4 ,in the church1 where then the college exercises were held1 the venerable ex-president1 ,dr4 ,walker1 read the ,scriptures1 ,rev4 ,phillips ,brooks offered prayer1 a hymn by ,robert ,lowell was sung1 and the address was made by the ,rev4 ,george ,putnam4 ,in the afternoon the alumni1 civic and military1 with their guests1 were marshalled by ,colonel ,henry ,lee into a great pavilion behind ,harvard ,hall1 where they dined4 ,hon4 ,charles ,g4 ,loring presided2 ,governor ,andrew1 ,general ,meade1 ,general ,devens and other distinguished soldiers spoke1 and poems by ,dr4 ,holmes and ,mrs4 ,julia ,ward ,howe were read4 ,the president of the day called on ,mr4 ,emerson as representative of the poets and scholars whose thoughts had been an inspiration to ,harvard's sons in the field4 #agi ,page #cdd1 note #a4 ,this was the mother of ,robert ,gould ,shaw1 who lost his life a few months later1 leading his dusky soldiers up the slopes of ,fort ,wagner4 ,it was in his honor that ,mr4 ,emerson wrote in the 8,voluntaries10-- ,stainless soldier on the walls4 ,knowing this1--and knows no more1-- ,whoever fights1 whoever falls1 ,justice conquers evermore1 ,justice after as before1-- ,and he who battles on her side1 ,god1 though he were ten times slain1 ,crowns him victor glorified1 ,victor over death and pain4 #ahj ,page #cde1 note #a4 8,o ,beautiful6 my ,country6 ours once more6 444 ,what words divine of lover or of poet ,could tell our love and make thee know it1 ,among the ,nations bright beyond compare8 ,what were our lives without thee8 ,what all our lives to save thee8 ,we reck not what we gave thee2 ,we will not dare to doubt thee1 ,but ask whatever else1 and we will dare60 ,lowell1 8,commemoration ,ode40 ,,address ,,at ,,the ,,dedication ,,of ,,the ,,soldiers' ,,monument ,,in ,,concord ,in #ahcf1 the 8,battle ,monument0 to commemorate 8the ,first organized ,resistance to ,british ,aggression0 had been erected 8in ,gratitude to ,god and ,love of ,freedom0 on 8the spot where the first of the ,enemy fell in the ,war which gave ,independence to the ,united ,states40 ,thirty-three years later1 on the ,nineteenth day of ,april1 with its threefold patriotic memories for ,concord1,k the people gathered on the village common to see their new memorial to valor4 ,the inscription on one of its bronze tablets declared that ,,the ,,town ,,of ,,concord ,,builds ,,this ,,monument ,,in ,,honor ,,of ,,the ,,brave ,,men ,,whose ,,names ,,it ,,bears3 ,,and ,,records ,,with ,,grateful ,,pride ,,that ,,they ,,found ,,here ,a ,,birthplace1 ,,home ,,or ,,grave4 ,the inscription on the other tablet is the single sentence1-- ,,they ,,died ,,for ,,their ,,country ,,in ,,the ,,war ,,of ,,the ,,rebellion with the forty-four names4 ,hon4 ,john ,s4 ,keyes as ,president of the ,day opened the ceremonies with a short address4 ,the ,rev4 ,grindall ,reynolds made the prayer4 ,an ,ode written by ,mr4 ,george ,b4 ,bartlett was sung to the tune of ,auld ,lang ,syne4 ,hon4 ,ebenezer ,rockwood ,hoar1 the ,chairman of the ,monument ,committee1 read the ,report1 in itself an eloquent and moving speech4 ,this was followed by ,mr4 ,emerson's ,address4 ,mr4 ,f4 ,b4 ,sanborn contributed a ,poem1 and afterwards short speeches were made by ,senator ,george ,s4 ,boutwell1 ,william ,schouler1 the efficient ,adjutant-,general of the ,state1 and by ,colonels ,parker and ,marsh respectively of the ,thirty-second and ,forty-seventh regiments of ,massachusetts ,volunteers1 in which the ,concord companies had served4 ,the exercises were concluded by the reading of a poem by ,mr4 ,sampson ,mason1 an aged citizen of the town4 ,it was a beautiful spring day4 ,the throng was too large for the town hall1 so1 partly sheltered from the afternoon sun by the town elm1 thickening with its brown buds1 they gathered around the town-house steps1 which served as platform for the speakers4 #aha ,page #cea1 note #a4 ,compare1 in the ,poems1 the lines in 8,the ,problem0 on the adoption by ,nature of man's devotional structures4 #ahb ,page #ceb1 note #a4 ,great men in the ,senate sate1 ,sage and hero1 side by side1 ,building for their sons the ,state1 ,which they shall rule with pride4 ,they forbore to break the chain ,which bound the dusky tribe1 ,checked by the owners' fierce disdain1 ,lured by 8,union0 as the bribe4 ,destiny sat by1 and said1 #8,pang for pang your seed shall pay1 ,hide in false peace your coward head1 ,i bring round the harvest day4' #ahc ,page #cec1 note #a4 ,wordsworth's ,sonnet1 ,no4 xiv41 in 8,poems dedicated to ,national ,independence10 part ii4 #ahd ,page #cee1 note #a4 ,mr4 ,emerson had in mind the astonishing fertility of resource in difficulties shown by the ,eighth ,massachusetts ,regiment in the march from ,annapolis to ,washington1 as told by ,major ,theodore ,winthrop in 8,new ,york ,seventh ,regiment4 ,our march to ,washington0 7,atlantic ,monthly ,june1 #ahfa74 ,see 8,resources10 ,letters and ,social ,aims1 p4 #adc4 ,judge ,hoar in his report on this occasion said1 8,two names on the tablet recall the unutterable horrors of ,andersonville1 and will never suffer us to forget that our armies conquered barbarism as well as treason40 #ahe ,page #cef1 note #a4 ,between #ahef and #ahei ,john ,brown and other ,free-,state men1 ,mr4 ,whitman1 ,mr4 ,nute and ,preacher ,stewart1 had told the sad story of ,kansas to the ,concord people and received important aid4 #ahf ,page #ceh1 note #a4 ,this was ,captain ,charles ,e4 ,bowers1 a shoemaker1 and ,mr4 ,emerson's next neighbor1 much respected by him1 whose forcible speaking at anti-slavery and ,kansas aid meetings he often praised4 ,when the war came1 ,mr4 ,bowers1 though father of a large family1 and near the age-limit of service1 volunteered as a private in the first company1 went again as an officer in the ,thirty-second ,massachusetts ,regiment1 and served with credit in the ,army of the ,potomac until discharged for disability4 #ahg ,page #ceh1 note #b4 ,george ,l4 ,prescott1 a lumber dealer and farmer1 later ,colonel of the ,thirty-second ,regiment1 ,u4 ,s4 ,v4 ,he was of the same stock as ,colonel ,william ,prescott1 the hero of ,bunker ,hill4 ,judge ,hoar said of him1 8,an only son1 an only brother1 a husband and a father1 with no sufficient provision made for his wife and children1 he had everything to make life dear and desirable1 and to require others to hesitate for him1 but he did not hesitate himself40 #ahh ,page #cfa1 note #a4 ,blaise de ,montluc1 a ,gascon officer of remarkable valor1 skill and fidelity1 under ,francis ,i4 and several succeeding kings of ,france4 #ahi ,page #cfe1 note #a4 ,it was well said by ,judge ,hoar3 8,his instinctive sympathies taught him from the outset1 what many higher in command were so slow and so late to learn1 that it is the first duty of an officer to take care of his men as much as to lead them4 ,his character developed new and larger proportions1 with new duties and larger responsibilities40 #aij ,page #cff1 note #a4 ,the ,buttricks were among the original settlers of ,concord1 and the family has given good account of itself for nearly two hundred and seventy years1 and still owns the farm on the hill whence ,major ,john led the yeomen of ,middlesex down to force the passage of the ,north ,bridge4 ,seven representatives of that family of sturdy democrats volunteered at the beginning of the ,war of the ,rebellion4 ,two were discharged as physically unfit1 but the others served in army or navy with credit1 and two of them lost their lives in the service4 ,alden ,buttrick had fought the ,border ,ruffians in ,kansas4 ,humphrey1 a mason by trade1 but a mighty hunter1 left his wife and little children at the first call1 and was first sergeant of ,prescott's company4 ,mr4 ,emerson omits to state that he was commissioned lieutenant in the ,forty-seventh ,regiment the following year4 ,his service1 especially as captain in the ,fifty-ninth ,regiment1 was arduous and highly creditable4 #aia ,page #cfh1 note #a4 ,edward ,o4 ,shepard1 who had been master of the ,concord ,high ,school1 afterwards a successful lawyer1 had an excellent war record1 and rose to be lieutenant-colonel of the ,thirty-second ,regiment4 ,george ,lauriat left the gold-beater's shop of ,ephraim ,w4 ,bull 7the producer of the ,concord ,grape7 to go to the war in ,concord's first company4 ,modest and brave1 he became an excellent officer and returned captain and brevet-major of the ,thirty-second ,regiment4 #aib ,page #cfh1 note #b4 ,francis ,buttrick1 younger brother of ,humphrey1 a handsome and attractive youth1 had lived at ,mr4 ,emerson's home to carry on the farm for him4 #aic ,page #cge1 note #a4 ,these three were ,asa1 ,john and ,samuel ,melvin4 ,asa died of wounds received before ,petersburg2 both his brothers of sickness1 ,samuel after long suffering in the prison-pen at ,andersonville4 ,they came of an old family of hunter-farmers in ,concord4 ,close by the wall next the street of the ,old ,hill ,burying ,ground is the stone in memory of one of their race1 whose 8,martial ,genius early engaged him in his ,country's cause under command of the valiant ,captain ,lovel in that hazardous ,enterprise where our hero1 his ,commander1 with many brave and valiant ,men bled and died40 #aid ,page #cgi1 note #a4 ,the writer of this letter1 a quiet1 handsome school-boy the year before the war broke out1 lived just across the brook behind ,mr4 ,emerson's house4 ,he was an excellent soldier in the ,thirty-second ,regiment1 and renlisted as a veteran in #ahfd4 ,,editors' ,,address1 ,,massachusetts ,,quarterly ,,review ,mr4 ,cabot1 in his ,memoir1 says that just before ,mr4 ,emerson sailed for ,europe in #ahdg1 ,theodore ,parker1 ,dr4 ,s4 ,g4 ,howe and others 7,mr4 ,cabot was one of these7 met to consider whether there could not be 8a new quarterly review which should be more alive than was the ,north ,american to the questions of the day40 ,charles ,sumner and ,thoreau are mentioned as having been present4 ,colonel ,higginson says that ,mr4 ,parker wished it to be 8the ,dial with a beard40 ,it was decided that the undertaking should be made4 ,mr4 ,parker wished ,mr4 ,emerson to be editor1 but he declined4 ,a committee was chosen--,emerson1 ,parker and ,howe--to draft a manifesto to the public4 ,mr4 ,emerson wrote the paper here printed1 but when the first number of the ,review came to him in ,england1 was annoyed at finding his name set down as one of the editors4 ,i think that the only paper he ever wrote for it1 beyond the 8,address to the ,public10 was a notice of 8,some ,oxford ,poetry10--the recently published poems of ,john ,sterling and ,arthur ,hugh ,clough4 ,theodore ,parker was the real editor4 ,during its three years of life the ,massachusetts ,quarterly--now hard to obtain--was a brave1 independent and patriotic magazine1 and1 like the ,dial1 gives the advancing thought of the time in literary and social matters1 and also in religion and politics4 #aie ,page #chd1 note #a4 ,plutarch tells that ,cineas1 the wise counsellor of ,pyrrhus1 king of the ,epirots1 asked his monarch when he set forth to conquer ,rome what he should do afterwards4 ,pyrrhus said he could then become master of ,sicily4 8,and then80 asked ,cineas4 ,the king told of further dreams of conquest of ,carthage and ,libya4 8,but when we have conquered all that1 what are we to do then80 8,why then1 my friend10 said ,pyrrhus1 laughing1 8we will take our ease1 and drink and be merry40 ,cineas1 having brought him thus far1 replied1 8,and what hinders us from drinking and taking our ease now1 when we have already those things in our hands at which we propose to arrive through seas of blood1 through infinite toils and dangers1 innumerable calamities which we must both cause and suffer80 #aif ,page #chf1 note #a4 8,to live without duties is obscene40--8,aristocracy10 ,lectures and ,biographical ,sketches4 #aig ,page #chi1 note #a4 ,this was shortly after the annexation of ,texas1 and during the successful progress of the ,mexican ,war4 ,the slave power1 although awakening opposition by its insatiable demands1 was still on the increase4 ,charles ,sumner1 though a rising statesman1 had not yet entered ,congress4 #aih ,page #chi1 note #b4 ,for ,destiny never swerves1 ,nor yields to men the helm4 8,the ,world-,soul10 ,poems4 ,,address ,,to ,,kossuth ,on a beautiful day in ,may1 #aheb1 ,louis ,kossuth1 the exiled governor of ,hungary1 who had come to this country to solicit her to interfere in ,european politics on behalf of his oppressed people1 visited the towns of ,lexington and ,concord1 and spoke to a large assemblage in each place4 ,kossuth was met at the ,lexington line by a cavalcade from ,concord1 who escorted him to the village1 where he received a cordial welcome4 ,the town hall was crowded with people4 ,the ,hon4 ,john ,s4 ,keyes presided1 and ,mr4 ,emerson made the address of welcome4 ,kossuth1 in his earnest appeal for ,american help1 addressed ,mr4 ,emerson personally in the following passages1 after alluding to ,concord's part in the struggle for ,freedom in #agge3-- 8,it is strange1 indeed1 how every incident of the present bears the mark of a deeper meaning around me4 ,there is meaning in the very fact that it is you1 sir1 by whom the representative of ,hungary's ill-fated struggle is so generously welcomed 444 to the shrine of martyrs illumined by victory4 ,you are wont to dive into the mysteries of truth and disclose mysteries of right to the eyes of men4 ,your honored name is ,emerson2 and ,emerson was the name of a man who1 a minister of the gospel1 turned out with his people1 on the #aith of ,april of eternal memory1 when the alarm-bell first was rung4444 ,i take hold of that augury1 sir4 ,religion and ,philosophy1 you blessed twins1--upon you ,i rely with my hopes to ,america4 ,religion1 the philosophy of the heart1 will make the ,americans generous2 and philosophy1 the religion of the mind1 will make the ,americans wise2 and all that ,i claim is a generous wisdom and a wise generosity40 #aii ,page #cih1 note #a4 ,i am unable to find the source of these lines4 #bjj ,page #cii1 note #a4 ,for the power of minorities1 see 8,progress of ,culture10 ,letters and ,social ,aims1 pp4 #baf-bai1 and 8,considerations by the ,way10 ,conduct of ,life1 pp4 #bdh1 #bdi4 ,,woman ,perhaps the pleasantest word ,mr4 ,emerson ever spoke about women was what he said at the end of the war3 8,everybody has been wrong in his guess except good women1 who never despair of an ideal right40 ,mr4 ,emerson's habitual treatment of women showed his real feeling towards them4 ,he held them to their ideal selves by his courtesy and honor4 ,when they called him to come to their aid1 he came4 ,men must not deny them any right that they desired2 though he never felt that the finest women would care to assume political functions in the same way that men did4 ,mr4 ,cabot gives in his ,memoir 7p4 #dee7 a letter which ,mr4 ,emerson wrote1 five years before this speech was made1 to a lady who asked him to join in a call for a ,woman's ,suffrage ,convention4 ,his distaste for the scheme clearly appears1 and though perhaps felt in a less degree as time went on1 never quite disappeared4 ,at the end of the notes on this address is given the greater part of a short speech which he wrote many years later1 but which he seems never to have delivered4 ,colonel ,thomas ,wentworth ,higginson is reported in the ,woman's ,journal as having said at the ,new ,england ,women's ,club1 ,may #af1 #aijc1 that ,mr4 ,cabot put into his ,memoir what ,mr4 ,emerson said in his early days1 when he was opposed to woman's suffrage 7the letter above alluded to71 and 8left out all those warm and cordial sentences that he wrote later in regard to it1 culminating in his assertion that1 whatever might be said of it as an abstract question1 all his measures would be carried sooner if women could vote40 ,this last assertion1 though not in the ,memoir1 ,mr4 ,cabot printed in its place in the present address1 and the only other address on the subject which is known to exist1 ,mr4 ,cabot did not print probably because ,mr4 ,emerson never delivered it4 #bja ,page #djf1 note #a4 ,this passage from the original is omitted3-- 8,a woman of genius said1 #8,i will forgive you that you do so much1 and you me that ,i do nothing4'0 #bjb ,page #daa1 note #a4 ,this sentence originally ended1 8,and their convention should be holden in a sculpture-gallery40 #bjc ,page #dab1 note #a4 ,from ,the ,angel in the ,house1 by ,coventry ,patmore4 #bjd ,page #dac1 note #a4 ,milton1 ,paradise ,lost4 ,because of the high triumph of ,humility1 his favorite virtue1 ,mr4 ,emerson1 though commonly impatient of sad stories1 had always a love for the story of ,griselda1 as told by ,chaucer1 alluded to below4 ,in spite of its great length1 he would not deny it a place in his collection ,parnassus4 #bje ,page #dac1 note #b4 ,from 8,love and ,humility10 by ,henry ,more 7#afad-hg74 #bjf ,page #dad1 note #a4 ,these anecdotes followed in the original speech3-- 8#8,i use the ,lord of the ,kaaba2 what is the ,kaaba to me8' said ,rabia4 #8,i am so near to ,god that his word1 8,whoso nears me by a span1 to him come ,i a mile10 is true for me4' ,a famed ,mahometan theologian asked her1 #8,how she had lifted herself to this degree of the love of ,god8' ,she replied1 #8,hereby1 that all things which ,i had found1 ,i have lost in him4' ,the other said1 #8,in what way or method hast thou known him8' ,she replied1 #8,o ,hassan6 thou knowest him after a certain art and way1 but ,i without art and way4' ,when once she was sick1 three famed theologians came to her1 ,hassan ,vasri1 ,malek and ,balchi4 ,hassan said1 #8,he is not upright in his prayer who does not endure the blows of his ,lord4' ,balchi said1 #8,he is not upright in his prayer who does not rejoice in the blows of his ,lord4' ,but ,rabia1 who in these words detected some trace of egoism1 said1 #8,he is not upright in his prayer1 who1 when he beholds his ,lord1 forgets not that he is stricken4'0 #bjg ,page #dae1 note #a4 ,see 8,clubs10 in ,society and ,solitude1 p4 #bdc4 #bjh ,page #dag1 note #a4 8,the ,princess0 is the poem alluded to4 ,mr4 ,emerson liked it1 but used to say it was sad to hear it end with1 ,go home and mind your mending4 #bji ,page #dbf1 note #a4 ,the internal evidence shows that the short speech given below was written after the war4 ,all that is important is here given4 ,there were one or two paragraphs that essentially were the same as those of the #ahee address4 ,on the manuscript is written1 apparently in ,mr4 ,emerson's hand1 in pencil1 8,never read10 and evidently in his hand1 the title1 thus3-- ,discours ,manqu ,,woman ,i consider that the movement which unites us to-day is no whim1 but an organic impulse1--a right and proper inquiry1--honoring to the age4 ,and among the good signs of the times1 this is of the best4 ,the distinctions of the mind of ,woman we all recognize2 their affectionate1 sympathetic1 religious1 oracular nature2 their swifter and finer perception2 their taste1 or love of order and beauty1 influencing or creating manners4 ,we commonly say1 ,man represents ,intellect2 and ,woman1 ,love4 ,man looks for hard truth4 ,woman1 with her affection for goodness1 benefit4 ,hence they are religious4 ,in all countries and creeds the temples are filled by women1 and they hold men to religious rites and moral duties4 ,and in all countries the man--no matter how hardened a reprobate he is--likes well to have his wife a saint4 ,it was no historic chance1 but an instinct1 which softened in the ,middle ,ages the terror of the superstitious1 by gradually lifting their prayers to the ,virgin ,mary and so adopting the ,mother of ,god as the efficient ,intercessor4 ,and now1 when our religious traditions are so far outgrown as to require correction and reform1 'tis certain that nothing can be fixed and accepted which does not commend itself to ,woman4 ,i suppose women feel in relation to men as 'tis said geniuses feel among energetic workers1 that1 though overlooked and thrust aside in the press1 they outsee all these noisy masters3 and we1 in the presence of sensible women1 feel overlooked1 judged1--and sentenced4 ,they are better scholars than we at school1 and the reason why they are not better than we twenty years later may be because men can turn their reading to account in the professions1 and women are excluded from the professions4 ,these traits have always characterized women4 ,we are a little vain of our women1 as if we had invented them4 ,i think we exaggerate the effect of ,greek1 ,roman and even ,oriental institutions on the character of woman4 ,superior women are rare anywhere1 as superior men are4 ,but the anecdotes of every country give like portraits of womanhood1 and every country in its ,roll of ,honor has as many women as men4 ,the high sentiment of women appears in the ,hebrew1 the ,hindoo2 in ,greek women in ,homer1 in the tragedies1 and ,roman women in the histories4 ,their distinctive traits1 grace1 vivacity1 and surer moral sentiment1 their self-sacrifice1 their courage and endurance1 have in every nation found respect and admiration4 ,her gifts make woman the refiner and civilizer of her mate4 ,civilization is her work4 ,man is rude and bearish in colleges1 in mines1 in ships1 because there is no woman4 ,let good women go passengers in the ship1 and the manners at once are mended2 in schools1 in hospitals1 in the prairie1 in ,california1 she brings the same reform4444 ,her activity in putting an end to ,slavery2 and in serving the hospitals of the ,sanitary ,commission in the war1 and in the labors of the ,freedman's ,bureau1 have opened her eyes to larger rights and duties4 ,she claims now her full rights of all kinds1--to education1 to employment1 to equal laws of property4 ,well1 now in this country we are suffering much and fearing more from the abuse of the ballot and from fraudulent and purchased votes4 ,and now1 at the moment when committees are investigating and reporting the election frauds1 woman asks for her vote4 ,it is the remedy at the hour of need4 ,she is to purify and civilize the voting1 as she has the schools1 the hospitals and the drawing-rooms4 ,for1 to grant her request1 you must remove the polls from the tavern and rum-shop1 and build noble edifices worthy of the ,state1 whose halls shall afford her every security for deliberate and sovereign action4 ',tis certainly no new thing to see women interest themselves in politics4 ,in ,england1 in ,france1 in ,germany1 ,italy1 we find women of influence and administrative capacity1--some ,duchess of ,marlborough1 some ,madame de ,longueville1 ,madame ,roland1--centres of political power and intrigue4444 ,but we have ourselves seen the great political enterprise of our times1 the abolition of ,slavery in ,america1 undertaken by a society whose executive committee was composed of men and women1 and which held together until this object was attained4 ,and she may well exhibit the history of that as her voucher that she is entitled to demand power which she has shown she can use so well4 ',tis idle to refuse them a vote on the ground of incompetency4 ,i wish our masculine voting were so good that we had any right to doubt their equal discretion4 ,they could not easily give worse votes1 ,i think1 than we do4 ,,consecration ,,of ,,sleepy ,,hollow ,,cemetery ,within a quarter of a mile of ,concord ,common was a natural amphitheatre1 carpeted in late summer with a purple bloom of wild grass1 and girt by a horseshoe-shaped glacial moraine clothed with noble pines and oaks4 ,it was part of ,deacon ,brown's farm1 and reached by a lane1 with a few houses on it1 cut through a low part of the ridge of hills which sheltered the old town4 ,when the ,deacon died1 the town laid out a new road to ,bedford1 cutting off this 8,sleepy ,hollow0 7as the townspeople who enjoyed strolling there had named it7 from the rest of the farm4 ,mr4 ,john ,s4 ,keyes saw the fitness of the ground for a beautiful cemetery1 and induced the town to buy it for that purpose2 and as chairman of the committee1 laid out the land4 ,the people of the village--for ,concord had nothing suburban about it then--gathered there one beautiful ,september afternoon to choose their resting-places and consecrate the ground4 ,mr4 ,emerson made the address on the slope just below the place where1 beneath a great pine1 the tree he loved best1 he had chosen the spot for his own grave4 ,much of his essay on ,immortality was originally a part of this discourse1 and therefore that portion is omitted here1 its place in the essay being indicated4 ,,robert ,,burns ,it is pleasant to be able to let ,dr4 ,holmes1 who was present at the ,burns ,festival1 speak for himself and ,lowell and ,judge ,hoar of ,mr4 ,emerson's speech on that day4 ,i have heard the ,judge tell the story of his friend's success with the same delight4 8,on the #beth of ,january1 #ahei1 ,emerson attended the ,burns ,festival1 held at the ,parker ,house in ,boston1 on the ,centennial ,anniversary of the poet's birth4 ,he spoke1 after the dinner1 to the great audience with such beauty and eloquence that all who listened to him have remembered it as one of the most delightful addresses they ever heard4 ,among his hearers was ,mr4 ,lowell1 who says of it that #8every word seemed to have just dropped down to him from the clouds4' ,judge ,hoar1 who was another of his hearers1 says that1 though he has heard many of the chief orators of his time1 he never witnessed such an effect of speech upon men4 ,i was myself present on that occasion1 and underwent the same fascination that these gentlemen and the varied audience before the speaker experienced4 ,his words had a passion in them not usual in the calm1 pure flow most natural to his uttered thoughts2 white-hot iron we are familiar with1 but white-hot silver is what we do not often look upon1 and his inspiring address glowed like silver fresh from the cupel40 ,the strange part of all the accounts given by the hearers is that ,mr4 ,emerson seemed to speak extempore1 which can hardly have been so4 ,no account of the ,festival1 or ,mr4 ,emerson's part therein1 appears in the journals1 except a short page of praise of the felicitous anecdotes introduced by other after-dinner speakers4 #baj ,page #ddj1 note #a4 ,here comes out that respect for labor which affected all ,mr4 ,emerson's relations to the humblest people he met4 ,in the ,appendix to the ,poems it appears in the verses beginning1-- ,said ,saadi1 ,when ,i stood before ,hassan the camel-driver's door4 #baa ,page #dda1 note #a4 ,thomas ,carlyle4 #bab ,page #dda1 note #b4 ,mr4 ,emerson here recalls his childhood and that of his brothers1 as in the passage in 8,domestic ,life10 in ,society and ,solitude1 that has been often referred to in these notes4 #bac ,page #ddc1 note #a4 ,among some stray lecture-sheets was the following on the scholar or poet3-- 8,given the insight1 and he will find as many beauties and heroes and strokes of genius close by him as ,dante or ,shakspeare beheld4 ,it was in a cold moor farm1 in a dingy country inn1 that ,burns found his fancy so sprightly4 ,you find the times and places mean4 ,stretch a few threads over an olian harp1 and put it in the window and listen to what it says of the times and of the heart of ,nature4 ,you shall not believe the miracle of ,nature is less1 the chemical power worn out4 ,watch the breaking morning1 or the enchantments of the sunset40 ,,shakspeare ,the following notes on ,shakspeare were written by ,mr4 ,emerson for the celebration in ,boston by the ,saturday ,club of the ,three ,hundredth ,anniversary of the poet's birth4 ,in ,mr4 ,cabot's ,memoir of ,emerson1 vol4 ii41 page #fba1 apropos of ,mr4 ,emerson's avoidance of impromptu speech on public occasions1 is this statement3-- 8,i remember his getting up at a dinner of the ,saturday ,club on the ,shakspeare anniversary in #ahfd1 to which some guests had been invited1 looking about him tranquilly for a minute or two1 and then sitting down2 serene and unabashed1 but unable to say a word upon a subject so familiar to his thoughts from boyhood40 ,yet on the manuscript of this address ,mr4 ,emerson noted that it was read at the ,club's celebration on that occasion1 and at the ,revere ,house4 78,parker's0 was the usual gathering-place of the ,club47 ,the handwriting of this note shows that ,mr4 ,emerson wrote it in his later years1 so it is very possible that ,mr4 ,cabot was right4 ,mr4 ,emerson perhaps forgot to bring his notes with him to the dinner1 and so did not venture to speak4 ,and the dinner may have been at 8,parker's40 ,,alexander ,,von ,,humboldt ,the ,boston ,society of ,natural ,history celebrated the ,one ,hundredth ,anniversary of the birth of ,humboldt4 ,dr4 ,robert ,c4 ,waterston presided at the ,music ,hall1 where ,agassiz made the address4 ,in the evening there was a reception in ,horticultural ,hall4 ,the occasion was made memorable by the ,society by the founding of a ,humboldt and ,agassiz scholarship in the ,museum of ,comparative ,zology in ,cambridge4 ,poems by ,dr4 ,holmes and ,mrs4 ,howe were read4 ,professor ,e4 ,j4 ,young and ,dr4 ,charles ,t4 ,jackson gave reminiscences of ,humboldt2 ,colonel ,higginson1 the ,rev4 ,dr4 ,hedge and others spoke4 ,mr4 ,emerson's remarks are taken from an abstract given in the account of the celebration published by the ,society4 ,,walter ,,scott ,although ,mr4 ,emerson1 in the period between #ahch and #ahdh especially1 when considering the higher powers of poetry1 spoke slightingly of ,scott1--in the ,dial papers as 8objective0 and 8the poet of society1 of patrician and conventional ,europe10 or in ,english ,traits as a writer of 8a rhymed travellers' guide to ,scotland10--he had always honor for the noble man1 and affectionate remembrance for the poems as well as the novels4 ,in the poem 8,the ,harp10 when enumerating poets1 he calls ,scott 8the delight of generous boys10 but the generosus puer was his own delight2 the hope of the generation lay in him1 and his own best audience was made up of such4 ,in the essay 8,illusions10 he says that the boy 8has no better friend than ,scott1 ,shakspeare1 ,plutarch and ,homer4 ,the man lives to other objects1 but who dare affirm that they are more real80 ,in the essay 8,aristocracy10 he names among the claims of a superior class1 8,genius1 the power to affect the ,imagination10 and presently speaks of 8those who think and paint and laugh and weep in their eloquent closets1 and then convert the world into a huge whispering-gallery1 to report the tale to all men and win smiles and tears from many generations10 and gives ,scott and ,burns among the high company whom he instances4 ,mr4 ,emerson's children can testify how with regard to ,scott he always was ready to become a boy again4 ,as we walked in the woods1 he would show us the cellar-holes of the ,irish colony that came to ,concord to build the railroad1 and he named these deserted villages ,derncleugh and ,ellangowan4 ,the sight recalled ,meg ,merrilies' pathetic lament to the laird at the eviction of the gypsies1 which he would then recite4 8,alice ,brand10 the 8,sair ,field o' ,harlaw10 which old ,elspeth sings to the children in ,the ,antiquary1 and 8,helvellyn0 were again and again repeated to us with pleasure on both sides4 ,with special affection in later years when we walked in ,walden woods he would croon the lines from 8,the ,dying ,bard10-- 8,dinas ,emlinn1 lament1 for the moment is nigh1 ,when mute in the woodlands thine echoes shall die40 ,perhaps he had foreboding for his loved woods1 beginning to be desecrated with rude city picnics1 and since burned over repeatedly by the fires from the railroad1-- 8,when half of their charms with ,cadwallon shall die40 ,of this poem he wrote in the journal of #ahde3-- 8#8,dinas ,emlinn' of ,scott1 like his #8,helvellyn1' shows how near to a poet he was4 ,all the ,birmingham part he had1 and what taste and sense6 ,yet never rose into the creative region4 ,as a practitioner or professional poet he is unrivalled in modern times40 ,yet he immediately adds1 8,in lectures on ,poetry almost all ,scott would be to be produced40 #bad ,page #dfc1 note #a4 ,mr4 ,emerson took especial pleasure in the passage in the ,lord of the ,isles where the old abbot1 rising to denounce excommunicated ,bruce to his foes1 is inspired against his will to bless him and prophesy his triumph as ,scotland's deliverer4 ,mr4 ,emerson1 writing in his journal in #ahdb of his impatience of superficial city life1 during a visit to ,new ,york1 alludes to the renewed comfort he had in the ,lord of the ,isles3 8,life goes headlong4 ,each of us is always to be found hurrying headlong in the chase of some fact1 hunted by some fear or command behind us4 ,suddenly we meet a friend4 ,we pause4 ,our hurry and empressement look ridiculous4444 ,when ,i read the ,lord of the ,isles last week at ,staten ,island1 and when ,i meet my friend1 ,i have the same feeling of shame at having allowed myself to be a mere huntsman and follower40 ,his boyish love for the ,lay of the ,last ,minstrel remained through life4 ,as we walked on ,sunday afternoons he recited to his children the stanzas about 8the custom of ,branksome ,hall10 and the passage where the ,ladye of ,branksome defies the spirits of the flood and fell2 and the bleak mile of road between ,walden woods and home would often call out from him 8,the way was long1 the wind was cold1 ,the ,minstrel was infirm and old10 etc4 #bae ,page #dfe1 note #a4 ,the ,bride of ,lammermoor was the only dreary tale that ,mr4 ,emerson could abide1 except ,griselda4 ,journal1 #ahef4 8,eugne ,sue1 ,dumas1 etc41 when they begin a story1 do not know how it will end1 but ,walter ,scott1 when he began the ,bride of ,lammermoor1 had no choice2 nor ,shakspeare1 nor ,macbeth40 #baf ,page #dfg1 note #a4 ,journal4 8,we talked of ,scott4 ,there is some greatness in defying posterity and writing for the hour40 ,,speech ,,at ,,the ,,banquet ,,in ,,honor ,,of ,,the ,,chinese ,,embassy ,when the ,chinese ,embassy visited ,boston in the summer of #ahfh a banquet was given them at the ,st4 ,james ,hotel1 on ,august #ba4 ,the young ,emerson1 sounding an early note of independence of the past1 had written in #ahbd3-- ,i laugh at those who1 while they gape and gaze1 ,the bald antiquity of ,china praise2-- but later he learned to revere the wisdom of ,asia4 ,about the time when the ,dial appeared1 many sentences of ,chinese wisdom are found in his journal1 and also in the magazine among the 8,ethnical ,scriptures40 ,,remarks ,,at ,,the ,,organization ,,of ,,the ,,free ,,religious ,,association ,in the spring of #ahfg1 a call for a public meeting was issued by ,octavius ,b4 ,frothingham1 ,william ,j4 ,potter and ,rowland ,connor 8to consider the conditions1 wants and progress of ,free ,religion in ,america40 ,the response was so large as to surprise the committee1 and ,horticultural ,hall was completely filled on ,may #cj4 ,rev4 ,octavius ,b4 ,frothingham presided4 ,the committee had invited as speakers the ,rev4 ,h4 ,blanchard of ,brooklyn from the ,universalists1 ,lucretia ,mott from the ,society of ,friends1 ,robert ,dale ,owen from the ,spiritualists1 the ,rev4 ,john ,weiss from the ,left ,wing of the ,unitarians1 ,oliver ,johnson from the ,progressive ,friends1 ,francis ,e4 ,abbot1 editor of the ,index2 and also ,david ,a4 ,wasson1 ,colonel ,t4 ,w4 ,higginson and ,mr4 ,emerson4 ,the meeting was very successful and the ,free ,religious ,association was founded4 ,mr4 ,emerson's genial and affirmative attitude at this meeting was helpful and important4 ,he wished the new movement to be neither aggressive towards the beliefs of others1 nor merely a religion of works1 purely beneficently utilitarian4 ,doubtless there were many young and active radicals strong for destructive criticism4 ,mr4 ,emerson wished to see that in their zeal to destroy the dry husk of religion they should not bruise the white flower within4 ,his counsel to young men was1 8,omit all negative propositions4 ,it will save ninety-nine one hundredths of your labor1 and increase the value of your work in the same measure40 #bag ,page #dgi1 note #a4 ,in the journal of #ahcg he said1 8,why rake up old manuscripts to find therein a man's soul8 ,you do not look for conversation in a corpse40 ,and elsewhere1 8,in religion the sentiment is all1 the ritual or ceremony indifferent40 ,,speech ,,at ,,the ,,second ,,annual ,,meeting ,,of ,,the ,,free ,,religious ,,association #bah ,page #dhf1 note #a4 ,mrs4 ,julia ,ward ,howe writes of ,mr4 ,emerson1-- 8,he knew from the first the victory of good over evil2 and when he told me1 to my childish amazement1 that the angel must always be stronger than the demon1 he gave utterance to a thought most familiar to him1 though at the time new to me40,l #bai ,page #dhh1 note #a4 ,in the essay on ,character 7,lectures and ,biographical ,sketches71 he says1 8,the establishment of ,christianity in the world does not rest on any miracle but the miracle of being the broadest and most humane doctrine40 8,the word ,miracle1 as pronounced by ,christian churches1 gives a false impression2 it is ,monster4 ,it is not one with the blowing clover and the falling rain40--8,address in ,divinity ,college10 ,nature1 ,addresses and ,lectures4 #bbj ,page #dij1 note #a4 ,mr4 ,emerson's doctrine was not to attack beliefs1 but give better3 8,true genius will not impoverish1 but will liberate40 ,in a letter to one of his best friends who had joined the ,church of ,rome he said1 perhaps in #aheh3 8,to old eyes how supremely unimportant the form under which we celebrate the justice1 love and truth1 the attributes of the deity and the soul60 #bba ,page #dia1 note #a4 ,dr4 ,holmes1 in his tribute to his friend1 after his death1 read before the ,massachusetts ,historical ,society1 said3-- 8,what could we do with this unexpected1 unprovided for1 unclassified1 half unwelcome newcomer1 who had been for a while potted1 as it were1 in our ,unitarian cold greenhouse1 but had taken to growing so fast that he was lifting off its glass roof and letting in the hail-storms8 ,here was a protest that outflanked the extreme left of liberalism1 yet so calm and serene that its radicalism had the accents of the gospel of peace4 ,here was an iconoclast without a hammer1 who took down our idols from their pedestals so tenderly that it seemed like an act of worship40 ,,address ,,at ,,the ,,opening ,,of ,,the ,,concord ,,free ,,public ,,library ,the ,town of ,concord1 in the year #aghb1 chose a committee of ten leading citizens to give instructions to its selectmen4 ,the third of the seventeen articles proposed by them read thus3 8,that care be taken of the ,books of ,marters and other bookes1 and that they be kept from abusive usage1 and not lent to persons more than one month at one time40 ,this indicates the root of a town library4 ,a constitution of a ,library ,company1 dated #aghd1 is extant4 ,in #ahjf a ,social ,library was incorporated1 which was merged in the ,town ,library in #ahea4 ,the books were kept in a room in the ,town ,house which was open for borrowers on ,saturdays4 ,william ,munroe1 son of a ,concord tradesman who vied with the ,thoreaus in the manufacture of lead pencils1 after leaving the ,concord schools went into business1 and later into the manufacture of silk4 ,his intelligence and force of character secured prosperity4 ,he loved ,concord1 and1 to use his own words1 8desired to testify my regard to my native town by doing something to promote the education and intelligence1 and thus the welfare and prosperity of its people40 ,he gave to ,concord a lot of land in the heart of the town and a building for a ,free ,public ,library1 which1 with great care and thoroughness1 he had built thereon and duly furnished2 and made handsome provision for care of the land and the extension of the building later4 ,he added a generous gift for books of reference and standard works4 ,the town thankfully accepted the gift1 placed their books in it1 and chose their library committee4 ,on a fine autumn day in #ahgc1 the library was opened with public ceremonies4 ,mr4 ,munroe in a short and modest speech explained his purpose2 ,mr4 ,h4 ,f4 ,smith1 on behalf of the new library committee1 reported its action and the gifts which had poured in2 ,judge ,hoar received the property on behalf of the ,board of ,corporation1 and ,mr4 ,emerson1 but lately returned with improved health from his journey to the ,nile1 made the short address4 ,writing was now very difficult for him1 but the occasion pleased and moved him1 and his notes on books and on ,concord1 and the remembrance of his friends the ,concord authors but lately gone1 served him1 and the day passed off well4 #bbb ,page #dih1 note #a4 ,the ,gospel ,covenant1 printed in ,london in #afdf1 and quoted by ,mr4 ,emerson in the 8,historical ,discourse40 #bbc ,page #dii1 note #a4 ,major ,simon ,willard1 a ,kentish merchant was ,peter ,bulkeley's strong coadjutor in the founding of ,concord4 ,he also is alluded to in the 8,historical ,discourse40 #bbd ,page #ejj1 note #a4 ,these extracts are from the diary of ,miss ,mary ,moody ,emerson4 #bbe ,page #ejj1 note #b4 ,this letter was written not long after the death of ,john ,thoreau1 ,henry's dearly loved brother1 and also of little ,waldo ,emerson1 to whom he became greatly attached while he was a member of ,mr4 ,emerson's household4 #bbf ,page #eja1 note #a4 ,mr4 ,emerson here speaks for others4 ,he could not read ,hawthorne because of the gloom of his magic mirror1 but the man interested and attracted him1 though even as neighbors they seldom met4 #bbg ,page #ejf1 note #a4 ,mr4 ,emerson notes that this is an allusion to the 8,harmonies of ,ptolemy40 ,,the ,,fortune ,,of ,,the ,,republic ,in #ahfc1 during the dark days of the ,civil ,war1 before the tide had fully turned in the field1 while disaffection showed itself in the ,north1 and ,england and ,france threatened intervention1 ,mr4 ,emerson gave a hopeful lecture1 the basis of the present discourse1 on the ,fortune of the ,republic4 ,after the war it was adapted to the new and happier conditions4 ,on the #cjth of ,march1 #ahgh1 six years after ,mr4 ,emerson had withdrawn from literary work1 and but four years before his death1 he was induced to read the lecture in the ,old ,south ,church1 in a course planned by the committee1 to save the venerable building4 ,the church was filled1 ,mr4 ,emerson's delivery was good1 and he seemed to enjoy the occasion4 ,it was probably his last speech in public1 and so fitly closes the volume4 #bbh ,page #eac1 note #a4 ,this passage occurred in the early lecture3-- 8,it is the distinction of man to think1 and all the few men who1 since the beginning of the world1 have done anything for us were men who did not follow the river1 or ship the cotton1 or pack the pork1 but who thought for themselves4 ,what the country wants is personalities1--grand persons1--to counteract its materialities1 for it is the rule of the universe that corn shall serve man1 and not man1 corn40 #bbi ,page #eai1 note #a4 ,here followed3 8,what we call #8,kentucky1' or #8,vallandigham1' or #8,fernando ,wood' is really the ignorance and nonsense in us1 stolid stupidity which gives the strength to those names4444 ,it is our own vice which takes form1 or gives terror with which these persons affect us40 #bcj ,page #ebj1 note #a4 ,this refers to a young ,massachusetts scholar1 of promise and beauty1 whom ,mr4 ,emerson had been pleased with1 as a fellow voyager4 ,he soon was corrupted by politics4 ,coming up1 at a reception1 to shake hands with ,mr4 ,emerson he was thus greeted3 8,if what ,i hear of your recent action be true1 ,i must shake hands with you under protest40 ,soon after1 this aspirant for power attended the dinner given to ,brooks after his cowardly assault on ,sumner2 but the moment the ,emancipation ,proclamation had been approved by the people1 he became an ornamental figurehead at ,republican and reform gatherings4 #bca ,page #ebj1 note #b4 ,from the last scene of ,cynthia's ,revels1 by ,ben ,jonson4 #bcb ,page #eba1 note #a4 8,the one serious and formidable thing in ,nature is a will40--8,fate10 ,conduct of ,life1 p4 #cj4 ,see also 8,aristocracy10 in ,lectures and ,biographical ,sketches1 p4 #ej4 #bcc ,page #ebd1 note #a4 ,ben ,jonson1 ,the ,golden ,age ,restored4 #bcd ,page #ebf1 note #a4 ,she spawneth men as mallows fresh4 8,nature10 ,,ii41 ,poems4 ,see also the 8,song of ,nature10 in the ,poems4 #bce ,page #ebf1 note #b4 ,in the earlier lecture was this passage3-- 8,the roots of our success are in our poverty1 our ,calvinism1 our thrifty habitual industry1--in our snow and east wind1 and farm-life and sea-life4444 8,there is in this country this immense difference from ,europe1 that1 whereas all their systems of government and society are historical1 our politics are almost ideal4 ,we wish to treat man as man1 without regard to rank1 wealth1 race1 color1 or caste1--simply as human souls4 ,we lie near to ,nature1 we are pensioners on ,nature1 draw on inexhaustible resources1 and we interfere the least possible with individual freedom40 #bcf ,page #ebg1 note #a4 ,in the 8,historical ,discourse0 in this volume1 ,mr4 ,emerson tells of the evolution of the town-meeting of ,new ,england and its working excellence1 and of the latter also in 8,social ,aims0 and 8,eloquence10 in ,letters and ,social ,aims4 #bcg ,page #edj1 note #a4 ,for you can teach the lightning speech1 ,and round the globe your voices reach4 8,boston10 ,poems4 #bch ,page #eda1 note #a4 ,i will divide my goods2 ,call in the wretch and slave3 ,none shall rule but the humble1 ,and none but ,toil shall have4 8,boston ,hymn10 ,poems4 #bci ,page #edd1 note #a4 ,the following passages came from the earlier lecture3-- 8,i must be permitted to read a quotation from ,de ,tocqueville1 whose censure is more valuable1 as it comes from one obviously very partial to the ,american character and institutions3-- 8#8,i know no country in which there is so little true independence of opinion and freedom of discussion as in ,america' 7vol4 i41 p4 #bei740 8,i am far from thinking it late4 ,i don't despond at all whilst ,i hear the verdicts of ,european juries against us--,renan says this2 ,arnold says that4 ,that does not touch us4 8',tis doubtful whether ,london1 whether ,paris can answer the questions which now rise in the human mind4 ,but the humanity of all nations is now in the ,american ,union4 ,europe1 ,england is historical still4 ,our politics1 our social frame are almost ideal4 ,we have got suppled into a state of melioration4 ,when ,i see the emigrants landing at ,new ,york1 ,i say1 ,there they go--to school4 8,in estimating nations1 potentiality must be considered as well as power2 not what to-day's actual performance is1 but what promise is in the mind which a crisis will bring out40 8,the war has established a chronic hope1 for a chronic despair4 ,it is not a question whether we shall be a nation1 or only a multitude of people4 ,no1 that has been conspicuously decided already2 but whether we shall be the new nation1 guide and lawgiver of all nations1 as having clearly chosen and firmly held the simplest and best rule of political society4 8,culture1 be sure1 is in some sort the very enemy of nationality and makes us citizens of the world2 and yet it is essential that it should have the flavor of the soil in which it grew1 and combine this with universal sympathies4 ,thus in this country are new traits and distinctions not known to former history4 ,colonies of an old country1 but in new and commanding conditions4 ,colonies of a small and crowded island1 but planted on a continent and therefore working it in small settlements1 where each man must count for ten1 and is put to his mettle to come up to the need4444 8,pray leave these ,english to form their opinions4 ',tis a matter of absolute insignificance what those opinions are4 ,they will fast enough run to change and retract them on their knees when they know who you are4444 8,i turn with pleasure to the good omen in the distinguished reception given in ,london to ,mr4 ,beecher4 ,it was already prepared by the advocacy of ,cobden1 ,bright and ,forster1 ,mill1 ,newman1 ,cairnes and ,hughes1 and by the intelligent ,americans already sent to ,england by our ,government to communicate with intelligent men in the ,english ,government and out of it4 ,but ,mr4 ,beecher owed his welcome to himself4 ,he fought his way to his reward4 ,it is one of the memorable exhibitions of the force of eloquence1--his evening at ,exeter ,hall4 ,the consciousness of power shown in his broad good sense1 in his jocular humor and entire presence of mind1 the surrender of the ,english audience on recognizing the true master4 ,he steers the ,behemoth1 sits astride him1 strokes his fur1 tickles his ear1 and rides where he will4 ,and ,i like the well-timed compliment there paid to our fellow citizen when the stormy audience reminds him to tell ,england that ,wendell ,phillips is the first orator of the world4 ,one orator had a right to speak of the other1--,byron's thunderstorm1 where 8#8,jura answers from his misty shroud ,back to the joyous ,alps who call to him aloud4' 8,the young men in ,america to-day take little thought of what men in ,england are thinking or doing4 ,that is the point which decides the welfare of a people1--which way does it look8 ,if to any other people1 it is not well with them4 ,if occupied in its own affairs1 and thoughts1 and men1 with a heat which excludes almost the notice of any other people1--as the ,jews1 as the ,greeks1 as the ,persians1 as the ,romans1 the ,arabians1 the ,french1 the ,english1 at their best times have done1--they are sublime2 and we know that in this abstraction they are executing excellent work4 ,amidst the calamities that war has brought on our ,country1 this one benefit has accrued1--that our eyes are withdrawn from ,england1 withdrawn from ,france1 and look homeward4 ,we have come to feel that 8#8,by ourselves our safety must be bought2' to know the vast resources of the continent2 the good will that is in the people2 their conviction of the great moral advantages of freedom1 social equality1 education and religious culture1 and their determination to hold these fast1 and by these hold fast the ,country1 and penetrate every square inch of it with this ,american civilization4444 8,americans--not girded by the iron belt of condition1 not taught by society and institutions to magnify trifles1 not victims of technical logic1 but docile to the logic of events2 not1 like ,english1 worshippers of fate2 with no hereditary upper house1 but with legal1 popular assemblies1 which constitute a perpetual insurrection1 and by making it perpetual save us from revolutions40 ,,footnotes ,a ,mr4 ,emerson believed the 8not0 had been accidentally omitted1 and it can hardly be questioned that he was right in his supposition4 ,b ,vol4 ii41 pp4 #dbd-dcc4 ,c ,the ,genius and ,character of ,emerson2 ,lectures at the ,concord ,school of ,philosophy1 edited by ,f4 ,b4 ,sanborn4 ,boston3 ,james ,r4 ,osgood ,co41 #ahhe4 ,d ,correspondence of ,carlyle and ,emerson1 vol4 i41 pp4 #bfj1 #bfa4 ,e ,epistle of ,paul to ,philemon1 i4 #af1 #ag4 ,f ,see the report of this speech in ,redpath's ,life of ,captain ,john ,brown4 ,boston3 ,thayer ,eldridge1 #ahfj4 ,g 8,review of ,holmes's ,life of ,emerson10 ,north ,american ,review1 ,february1 #ahhe4 ,h ,richard ,henry ,dana2 a ,biography4 ,by ,charles ,francis ,adams4 ,houghton1 ,mifflin ,co41 #ahij4 ,in chapter viii4 of this book is a very remarkable account of ,john ,brown and his family at their home at ,north ,elba in #ahdi1 when ,mr4 ,dana and a friend1 lost in the ,adirondac woods1 chanced to come out upon the ,brown clearing and were kindly received and aided4 ,i ,while waiting for the services to begin1 ,mr4 ,sears wrote some verses4 ,the following lines1 which ,mrs4 ,emerson saw him write1 were a prophecy literally fulfilled within three years by the ,union armies singing the ,john ,brown song3-- 8,but not a pit six feet by two ,can hold a man like thee2 ,john ,brown shall tramp the shaking earth ,from ,blue ,ridge to the sea40 ,j ,in the very interesting work ,the ,influence of ,emerson1 published in ,boston in #aijc1 by the ,american ,unitarian ,association4 ,k ,see note #c to page #fc of the 8,historical ,discourse40 ,l 8,emerson's ,relation to ,society10 in ,the ,genius and ,character of ,emerson1 ,lectures at the ,concord ,school of ,philosophy1 edited by ,f4 ,b4 ,sanborn4 ,boston3 ,j4 ,r4 ,osgood ,co41 #ahhe4