Part 9 (2/2)

”Is like a circle in the water, Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself Till, by broad-spreading, it disperse to naught”

I pass froression to the statement that the chief means of self-i, Meo through the world with our eyes open--to see what is before us All s Our powers of observation take on the hues of daily life

The artist, in a strange city or foreign land, observes only the specimens of taste and beauty or their opposites; the mechanic studies anew the principles of his science as applied to the purposes of life; the architect transfers to his own es of churches, cathedrals, temples, and palaces; while the philanthropist rejoices in cellars and lanes, that he e the face and heart ofthe lead of Mr Jefferson, has beautifully illustrated the nature of the power of observation We do not see even the faces of our coer observes a family likeness which is invisible to the fareement, and decides upon them; while the latter has observed and studied the more numerous points of difference, until he is blind to all others Hence a portrait er, which, to an intimate acquaintance, is barren in expression, and destitute of character Therefore, the artist wisely and properly esteemed himself successful when his as approved by the wife or the e We should so behold it as to be instructed by all that is The distant star paints its iht sent forth thousands of years ago; yet its lesson is not of itself, but of the universe and its mysteries, and of the Creator out of whose divine hand all things have come

Conversation is at once an art, an accomplishment, and a science It leads to valuable practical results It has a place, and by no means an inferior place, in the schools Facts stated, questions proposed, or theories illustrated, in conversation, are permanently impressed upon the mind It is in the power of the teacher to communicate much information in this way, and it is in the power of us all to make conversation a means of improve_, so systeh as to be called study, is, no doubt, the best culture he can enjoy In the first place, books are accessible to all, and they may be had at all times They can be used in moments of leisure, in solitude, in the hours when sleep is too proud to wait on us, and when friends are absent or indifferent to our lot Conversation , or it may leave us a debtor; when the book-seller's bill is settled, we have no account with the author

If I am permitted to speak to all, pupils as well as teachers, I am inclined to say, ”Do not consider your education finished when you leave hoht then to commence With system and care, you may read works of literature and history, or devote yourself to eneral thing, however, it is not wise to attempt too much at once The custom of the schools is to require each pupil to attend to several branches at the same time; but this course cannot be recommended to adult persons with disciplined minds It see topic, for a tiest that works of fiction, poetry, and roht not to be read until the ood foundation of solid learning is laid Such works tend to reeable; but they are also calculated to make us dissatisfied with theobtained the ele is absolutely essential--syste us First, that men often attain intellectual eminence without study; and, secondly, that exclusive devotion to books is the price of success Whoever neglects study, whatever his natural abilities, will find himself distanced by inferior men; and, on the other hand, whoever will devote three hours each day to the syste the leading persons of the age But, while we observe, converse, and read, the power of memory and the habit of reflection should be cultivated The habit of reflection is a great aid to the e we daily acquire

No previous age of the world has offered so great encouragement, whether in fame or money, to men of science and literature, as the present

Fore of princes, or withered by their neglect; but now they are encouraged and paid by the people, and reap where they have sohether kings will or not The poverty of authors was once proverbial; but now the only authors who are poor are poor authors Good learning, integrity, and ability, are well compensated in all the professions Some one remarked to Mr Webster, ”That the profession of the laas crowded”--”Yes,” said he, ”rather crowded below, but there is plenty of room above” Littleness and mediocrity always seek the paths worn by superior men; and the truly illustrious in literature and science are few in number compared with those who attempt to tread in the footsteps of their illustrious predecessors; but none of these things ought to deter youngthe lists, without fear of failure The world is usually just, and it will ultimately award the tokens of its approbation to those who deserve success

And there is a happy peculiarity in talent,--the variety is so great that the co authors, are there two so alike that they can be considered competitors or rivals? The nation has applauded and set the seal of its approbation upon the eloquence of Henry, Otis, Adams, Ames, Pinckney, Wirt, Calhoun, Clay, and Webster, not because these men resembled one another, but because each had peculiarities and excellences of his own The sa orators, and in all the eloquence and learning of antiquity which time has spared and history has transmitted to us It is said that when Aristides wrote the sentence of his own banishiven by the peasant was that he was ”tired with hearing him called the Just” And the world sometimes appears to be restive under the influence of reeable or not, is both pereneration respect its own leadingand intellect of other days The influence of ancient Greece still remains We copy her architecture, borrow from her philosophy, admire her poetry, and boith humility before the remnants of her majestic literature So the policy of Rome is perceptible in the civilization of every European country, and it is a potent element in the laws and jurisprudence of America The eloquence of Deeneration of civilized enius of Hannibal has stimulated the ambition of warriors from his own time to that of Napoleon; while Shakspeare's power has been the wonder of all reat representative fact in mental philosophy, which we cannot too much contemplate, that Demosthenes and Cicero not only enchained the thousands of Greece and Rome in whose presence they stood, but that their eloquence has had a controlling influence over e in which they spoke was unknown The words that the houseless Ho in the streets of Smyrna have commanded the admiration of all later tiarden, on which are preserved the fragarden was once adorned, attract and instruct the wanderers and students about Athens

But let us not deceive ourselves with the idea that we can illustrate anew the greatness which has distinguished a fewcenturies of the world's existence Be not ilory There is a path for each one, and his duty lies therein Yet the leading ht not to be hid fro, for they serve to show the extent of the field in which human powers lect no present opportunity of good either to yourself or to others; and the rule of the successful student is to gather infor that it will prove useful to hie has furnished two , the other dead,--quite opposite in talents and attainments, whose power and influence may not have been surpassed in ancient or modern times I speak of Kossuth and Webster Our history has no parallel for the first Most ay or severe, radical or conservative, were touched by his ic words He came from a land of which we knew little, and so laid open the history of its wrongs that he enlisted multitudes in its behalf I speak not now of the views he presented, nor of the deht error and asked wrong, so the more wonderful was his career No doubt his cause did much for him; but other patriots and exiles have had equal opportunities with Kossuth, yet no one has so swayed the public uished in intellect, aand strong religious sentiments, all of which were combined and blended in his addresses to the people But he spoke a language whose rudilected the chief rule of Grecian eloquence With one theary; with one object, only,--her relief and elevation,--he coeneral attention of the American mind The mission of Kossuth in America deserves to be remeeneration reat personal popularity His presence was reeable, and soenial ers, and terrible to his enee expressive, but never popular He wrote as a man would dictate an essay which was to appear as a posthumous work His eloquence was not that which often passes for eloquence upon the stump or at the bar He seldom attempted to court the people, and when he did, it was as if he mocked himself, and scorned the spirit which could be moved by the breezes of popular favor He was not free from faults, personal and political; yet he acquired a control which has not been possessed by any ton Whenever he was to speak, the public were anxious to hear and to read Hardly any man has had the fortune to present his views in addresses, letters, and speeches, to so large a portion of his countrymen; yet the people whom he addressed, and ere anxious for his words and opinions, did not always, or even generally, agree with him Mr Webster's poas chiefly, if not solely, intellectual He had not the personal qualities of Mr Clay or General Jackson; he was not, like Mr Jefferson the chosen exponent of a political creed, and the adreat political party; nor had he the ed patriotiston, which made him first in the hearts of his countrymen Mr Webster stands alone His domain is the intellect, and thus far in America he is without a rival To Mr Webster, and to all ifts and attainreat words: ”A superior and coreat ift, is not a te place to returning darkness It is rather a spark of fervent heat, as well as radiant light, with power to enkindle the coliht follows, but it leaves the world all light, all on fire, from the potent contact of its own spirit”

Soreatness ht to lead you in the way of improvement by considerations too purely personal and selfish, I will implore you, in conclusion, as teachers and as citizens, to consider yourselves as the servants of your country and your race There can be no real greatness of enerosity of soul If a superior huift of God, how is he wanting in true religion who fails to dedicate it to humanity, justice, and virtue!

An e at one view, and as in the present reat states, ancient anda like fate for his own beloved land, has predicted that in two centuries there will be three hundred e of England, reading its authors, and glorying in their descent If this be so, what lin to the work, or how estimate the duty, of those intrusted with the education of the young?

Who can say what share of responsibility for the future of America is upon the teachers of the land?

LIBERTY AND LEARNING

[An Address delivered at Montague, July 4th, 1857]

I congratulate you upon the auspicious hty-first anniversary of our National Independence; and its return, now and ever, should be the occasion of gratitude to the Author of all good, that He hath vouchsafed to our fathers and to their descendants the wisdom to establish and the wisdom to preserve the institutions of Liberty in Aratulate you that you accept this anniversary as the occasion for considering the subject of education Ignorant and blind worshi+ppers of Liberty can do but little for its support; but, whatever of change or decay may come to our institutions, Liberty itself can never die in the presence of a people universally and thoroughly educated It is not, then, inappropriate nor unphilosophical for us to connect Education and Liberty together; and I therefore propose, after presenting sohts upon the Declaration of Independence, and its relations to the A, its neglect, and the means by which it ical in their nature, and are harmonious or inharmonious as the affairs of men are controlled by principle, policy, or accident Huassiz, and Pierce, by observation, philosophy, and mathematics, demonstrate the harmony of the physical creation In the etable or anies and conditions of life; in the coral reef and the e; in the hill-side rivulet that reen;” in the ocean current that bathes and vivifies a continent; in the setting of the leaf upon its ste of Uranus in itsobt, they trace a lahose harlory, and whose es, the ress of the human race, as a whole and in its parts, are obedient, likewise, to law; and are, therefore, logical in their character, though generally lacking in precision of connection and order of succession Or it may be, rather, that we lack power to trace the connection between events that depend in part, at least, upon the prejudices, passions, vices, and weaknesses, of ic of human affairs waits for a philosopher who shall study and co millions of our race, as the philosophers now study and couaranty that this can ever be done As mind is above matter, the mental philosopher enters upon thethis fact in mind, it appears to be true that every person of observation, reading, and reflection, is soer nue of physical science And especially must the student of history have a system of mental philosophy; but often, no doubt, his systeeneral notice Every historian connects the events of his narrative by some thread of philosophy or speculation; every reader observes soh he es of national and ethnological life; and even the observer whose vision is limited by his own horizon in time and space marks a dependence, and speaks of cause and effect All this follows from the existence and nature of man Man is not inert, nor even passive, anize itself into facts and for in character, it may be, yet subject to a laise and fixed as that of planetary motion

The Independence of the British Colonies in America, declared on the 4th of July, 1776, is not an isolated fact; nor is the Declaration itself a hasty and overwrought production of a young and enthusiastic adventurer in the cause of liberty

The passions and the reason of men connected the Declaration of Independence with the -street, of March 5th, 1770; with the passage and repeal of the Stamp Act; with the attempt to enforce the Writs of assistance; with the act to close the port of Boston; with the peace of 1763; with the Act of Settlement of 1688; with the execution of Charles I, and the Protectorate of Cromwell; with the death of Hampden; with the confederation of 1643; with the royal charters granted to the respective colonies; with the compact made on board the Mayflower; and, finally, and distinctly, and chiefly,--as the basis of the greatest legal argument of modern times, made by the Massachusetts House of Representatives, frorant of the Great Charter to the nobles and people of England in 1215, which is itself based upon the concessions of Edward the Confessor, and the affirmation of the Saxon laws in the eleventh century Our Independence is, then, one logical fact or event in a long succession, to the enumeration of which we may yet add the confederation of 1778, the constitution of 1787, the French Revolution of 1789, the rapid increase of American territory and States, the revolutionary spirit of continental Europe, the reforovernment at home, the wisecareer of prosperity based upon the cardinal doctrine of the equality of all men before the law

Nor can any reader of the Declaration itself assume that it contains one statement, proposition, idea, or word, not carefully considered, and carefully expressed It was not the production of hasty, thoughtless, or reckless reat event States, counties, and towns, had made the most distinct expressions of opinion upon the relations of the colonies to the mother country On the 7th of June, 1776, Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, ress of the United Colonies, a resolution declaring, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states; that they are absolved froiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between theht to be, totally dissolved The subject was considered on the tenth; and, on the eleventh instant, the co of Thoer Sherston, was appointed On the twenty-fifth of June, a Declaration of the Deputies of Pennsylvania, in favor of Independence, was read On the twenty-eighth, the credentials of the delegates from New Jersey, in which they were instructed to favor Independence, were presented; and on the first of July siates were laid before Congress At this tiress proceeded to consider the Declaration and resolution reported by the committee The Declaration was carefully considered, and materially amended in committee of the whole, on the first, second, third, and fourth, when it was finally adopted It was then signed by the president and secretary, and copies were transrossnature by every member, was not passed until the nineteenth of July, and it was not really signed until the second of August following It is not likely, considering the circuress, a whom may be mentioned John Hancock, Samuel Adae Gerry, John Witherspoon, a descendant of John Knox, the Scottish Reforuished for coolness, probity, and patriotisht or word unworthy its sacred associations, and the character of the A symptoms of public sentiment that the Declaration of Independence is by some publicly condemned, and by others quietly accepted as entitled to just the consideration, and no iven to an excited advocate's speech to a jury, or a deue, or the daily contribution of the partisan editor to the stock of political capital that aids the election of his favorite candidates And upon this evidence is the nation and the world to be taught that but little was meant by the assertions, ”that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that a these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, govern their just powers frooverned”? Would it not be wiser to test the government we have, by a statesmanlike application of the principles of the Declaration of Independence in the ement of public affairs?