The American Union Speaker Part 79

160. CXVIII. This selection is the peroration to Mr. Webster's second speech on Foote's resolution.

165. CXXII. This extract is taken from the address delivered by Mr. Webster on the occasion of laying the corner-stone of the extension of the National Capitol.

168. CXXIV. From the address on the laying of the corner-stone of Bunker Hill Monument, at Charleston, Ma.s.s., the 17th of June, 1825.

170. CXXV. WILLIAM PITT, first Earl of Chatham, was born at London, on the 15th of November, 1708. He became a member of Parliament in 1735, at the age of twenty-six, and was made Secretary of State in December, 1756, which office he continued to hold, with a brief interval, until October, 1761. He was appointed to the office of Lord Privy Seal in 1766, and elevated to the peerage with the t.i.tle of Earl Chatham. He died at Hayes, in Kent, on the 11th of May, 1778 in the seventieth year of his age. His devotion to the interest of the great body, especially the middling cla.s.ses, of the English nation, won for him the t.i.tle of "the Great commoner." He consecrated his great talents and commanding eloquence to the defense of the popular part of the Const.i.tution. In the latter part of his life, though suffering much from bodily infirmities, he was the champion of the American cause, standing forth, in presence of the whole British empire, to arraign, as a breach of the Const.i.tution every attempt to tax a people who had no representative in Parliament. This was the era of his n.o.blest efforts in oratory. He has been generally regarded as the most powerful orator of modern times. His success, no doubt was owing in part to his extraordinary personal advantages. In his best days before he was crippled by the gout, his figure was tall and erect; his att.i.tude imposing; his gestures energetic even to vehemence, yet tempered with dignity and grace. His voice was full and clear; his loudest whisper was distinctly heard; his middle notes were sweet and beautifully varied; and, when he elevated his voice to its highest pitch, the House was completely filled with the volume of sound. The effect was awful, except when he wished to cheer or animate; then he had spiritstirring notes which were perfectly irresistible. But although gifted by nature with a fine voice and person, he spared, no effort to add everything that art could confer, for his improvement as an orator.

174 CXXVIII. HENRY CLAY was born in Virginia, April 12, 1777, and died at Was.h.i.+ngton, June 29, 1852. In early life his advantages of education were limited. He commenced the practice of the law in 1797. His political career began in 1803, and ended in 1852. He was twice Speaker of the National House of Representatives. In 1814, he was one of the commissioners to negotiate the Treaty of Ghent. He represented the State of Kentucky in the United States Senate at various periods from 1806 till 1852. He was Secretary of State during the administration of John Quincy Adams, and he was three times the unsuccessful Whig candidate for the Presidency. He was a man of the warmest sympathies, and he captivated the hearts of all who came in contact with him. He was a patriot, and willingly sacrificed private preference to public good. He said truly in his valedictory address to the Senate,--"In all my public acts, I have had a single eye directed and a warm and devoted heart dedicated to what, in my best judgment, I believed the true interest, the honor, the union, and the happiness of my country required." He was a consummate orator. In his manner he united the gentleness of woman with the pride and dignity of the haughtiest manhood.

His style was full flowing, and manly; and his voice was sonorous, sweet, and powerful.

183. Cx.x.xVI. ELIPHALET NOTT was born in Connecticut, in 1773 and is now upwards of ninety years of age. He has occupied the office of President of Union College for about sixty years. The eloquent discourse on the death of Hamilton was delivered at Albany, in 1804.

190. CXL. JOHN HANc.o.c.k, President of the American Congress in 1776, and Signer of the Declaration, was born in Ma.s.sachusetts in 1739, and died in 1793. This extract is from an oration delivered March 5th on the anniversary of the ma.s.sacre of Boston citizens by British soldiers, which took place four years before.

191. CXLI. EDMUND BURKE, who was preeminently the great philosophical orator of our language, was born at Dublin January 1. 1730, and died at Beaconsfield, near London, July 9th, 1797. His political career commenced in the House of Commons, of which body he was a member during the greater part of his subsequent life. He wrote out six of his great speeches, the last of which was that on the Nabob of Arcot's debts. He was strenuously opposed to the American war, and two of his greatest speeches that on the Stamp Act, and that on Conciliation with America, supported the cause of the colonies. Of the latter, Mr. Everett says,--"It was less than a month before the commencement of hostilities, that Burke p.r.o.nounced that truly divine oration on 'Conciliation with America,' which in my poor judgment, excels everything, in the form of eloquence, that has come down to us from Greece or Rome." And he said further,--"Certainly, no compositions in the English tongue can take precedence of those of Burke, in depth of thought, reach of forecast, or magnificence of style. . . . . In political disquisition elaborated in the closet, the palm must perhaps be awarded to Burke over all others, ancient or modern."

203. CL. Plataea, ( pla-te'-a): Artmisium (ar-te-me'-ze-um).

220. CLXII. SIR WALTER SCOTT was born at Edinburgh, Scotland, August 15, 1711, and died at; Abbotsford, his country seat, on the banks of the Tweed, September 21, 1832. He pa.s.sed through the High School and University of his native city without attaining any marked distinction as a scholar. He made some proficiency in Latin, ethics and history, but he had no taste for Greek. He acquired a general, though not a critical knowledge, of the German, French, Italian, and Spanish languages. But from early youth he was an insatiable reader, and he stored his mind with a vast fund of miscellaneous knowledge. Romances were among his chief favorites, and he had great facility in inventing and telling stories. He became greatly distinguished as a poet before he commenced his career as a novelist. His first great poem, the Lay of the Last Minstrel, published in 1805, was received with enthusiastic admiration, and at once stamped him as a poetical genius. The appearance of Marmion, in 1808 greatly enhanced his reputation as a poet, and the Lady of the Lake, which came out two years later, was still more popular. Here he touched his highest point in poetical composition. His subsequent poems certainly added nothing to his reputation, if, indeed they sustained it. But, "as the old mine gave symptoms of exhaustion," says Bulwer, the new mine, ten times more affluent at least in the precious metals, was discovered. In 1814 he commenced that long and magnificent series of prose fictions which for seventeen years were poured out with an unprecedented prodigality, and which can onlv be compared with the dramas of Shakspeare, as presenting an endless variety of original characters scenes historical situations and adventures. In 1826, he became bankrupt, in consequence of a partners.h.i.+p with a printer and publisher, and, although fifty-five years old, he undertook the heroic task of discharging his heavy pecuniary liabilities by the productions of his pen. In six years of intense literary labor, he nearly accomplished his n.o.ble object, but before he reached the goal, he sank exhausted on the course. "In the portion of his life, from his bankruptcy to his death,"

says Mr. Hillard, "Scott's character s.h.i.+nes with a moral grandeur far above mere literary fame."

222. CLXIV. From the poem Marmion.---Tantallon's towers: the ruins of Tantallon Castle occupy a high rock projecting into the German Ocean about two miles east of North Berwick, in the southeastern part of Scotland.

223.--DOUGLAS, ARCHIBALD, Earl of Angus, a man remarkable for strength of body and mind, who died broken-hearted at calamities which befell his house and country at Flooden.

224. CLXV. Pibroch, (pi'-brok). In Scotland, a Highland air played on the bagpipe before the Highlanders when they go out to battle.---Doneuil Dhu, (donnil du): MacDonald the Black.

230. CLXIX. Parrhasius, (par-ra'-zhius): Prometheus, (pro-me'-thuse): Caucasus, (caw'-ca'-sus): lame Lemnian: Vulcan, the artisan of the Olympian G.o.ds.

232. CLXX. MRS. FELICIA HEMANS, an admirable woman and sweet hostess, was born at Liverpool, England. September 25, 1793 and died May 16, 1835. Her maiden name was Browne. She was married to Captain Hemans an officer in the British Army, but the union was not a happy one. Her imagination was chivalrous and romantic, and she delighted in picturing the ancient martial glory of England. The purity of her mind is seen in all her works. Though popular, and in many respects excellent, her poetry is calculated to please the fancy rather than to make a deep and lasting impression.

232. CLXX. A true story. Young Casabianca, a boy thirteen years old, son of the commander of the Orient, remained at his post, in the battle of the Nile after the s.h.i.+p bad taken fire and all the guns had been abandoned, and was blown up with the vessel when the flames reached the magazine.

259. CLx.x.xVI. The Royal George, of 108 guns, whilst undergoing a partial ca reening in Portsmouth Harbor, England, was overset about 10, A. M. August 29, 1782. The total loss was believed to be near 1000 souls.

263. CXC. THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY was born in the county of Leicester, England, October 25, 1800, and died December, 28, 1859. He was educated at Cambridge University. He was several times elected member of Parliament and for several years he served the government in India as member of the Supreme Council. But his fame rests mainly on his literary productions, the princ.i.p.al of which is his History of England whose popularity has never been exceeded by any other historical work in the language. His essays, which have been collected and published in six volumes, are remarkable for brilliancy of style and richness of matter. As a descriptive poet he has ex-hibited high genius in his "Lays of Ancient Rome." His "Battle of Ivry"

has the true trumpet-ring which kindles the soul and stirs the blood.--Ivry (ee'-vree): a town in France where Henry IV. gained a decisive victory over Mayenne, 1590.--oriflamme, (or'-e-flam): the ancient royal standard of France.---Mayenne, Duke: commander of the army of the League.---Remember Saint Bartholomew: the ma.s.sacre on Saint Bartholomew's Eve, August 23, 1572.

265. CXCI. Bingen,(been'-ghen).

274. CXCVII. SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE, a man remarkable for his rich poetical imagination his unrivalled colloquial eloquence, and his superior critical powers was born in Devons.h.i.+re, England, October 20, 1772, and died July 25, 1834. He was educated at Christ's Hospital, London, where he had Charles Lamb for a school-fellow, and at Jesus' College, Cambridge. He afterwards acquired a knowledge of the German language and literature at Ratzburg and Gottingen, In early life he was a Unitarian and a Jacobin, but he subsequently became a Trinitarian and a Royalist. Those who knew him thought him equal to any task; he planned great works in prose and verse which he never executed. His poetical works, of which his Ancient Mariner is the most striking and original, have been collected and published in three volumes. His language is often rich and musical, highly figurative and ornate. His Ode on France was considered by Sh.e.l.ley to be the finest English ode of modern times. His Hymn on Chamouni is equally lofty and brilliant.

274. CXCVII. Chamouni, (sha-moo'-ne): a valley in the Sardinian States, bounded on the south by Mont Blanc, the most remarkable for its picturesque sites and the wild grandeur of its glaciers.---Arve, (arve); a rapid river flowing into the Rhone.

277.--Hierarch, (hi'-e-rark ).

283. CCII. WILLIAM COLLINS, whose poems though small in number are rich in vivid imagery and beautiful description, was born in Chichester, England, December 25, 1720, and died in 1756. His odes are acknowledged to be the best of their kind in the language. His finest lyric is his Ode on the Pa.s.sions, which has been called "a magnificent gallery of allegorical paintings."

287. CCIV. JOHN DRYDEN, one of the great masters of English verse, was born in Northamptons.h.i.+re, England, August, 1631, and died May 1, 1700. His Life, by Johnson, is regarded as the most carefully written, the most eloquent and discriminating of all the "Lives of the Poets." His Life was also written by Sir Walter Scott, who edited a complete edition of his works, in eighteen volumes.--St. Cecilia: the patron-saint of music, and the reputed inventress of the organ.

298. CCX. THOMAS CAMPBELL was born at Glasgow, Scotland, July 27, 1777, and died at Boulogne, France, June 15, 1844. He was educated at the university of his native city, and afterwards studied Greek in Germany under the learned Processor Heyne. After travelling on the continent he took up his residence in London in 1803, and devoted himself to literature as a profession. In 1799, at the earlyage of twenty-two years, he published The Pleasures of Hope, a poem of great merit, which captivated all hearts by its exquisite melody, its polished diction and its generous and lofty sentiments. His second great poem, Gertrude of Wyoming, a Pennsylvania Tale, was published in 1809. His genius s.h.i.+nes most conspicuously in his shorter poems, his war-songs or lyrics, and his ballads, which have been said to form the richest offering ever made by poetry at the shrine of patriotism. Mr. Hillard says of him,--"No poet of our times has contributed so much in proportion to the extent of his writings, to that stock of established quotations which pa.s.s from lip to lip, and from pen to pen, without any thought as to their origin."

303. CCXIV. This fine pa.s.sage is from the Pleasures of Hope--pandours, (pan-dorz'), the o as in move; the metre of the line requires the accent on the first syllable: infantry soldiers in the service of Austria, from districts near Pandur, in Hungary.--hussars, (hooz'-zarz): light-armed Hungarian horse-soldiers.

304.--Kosciusko, (kos-ci-us'-ko): a Polish patriot and hero, who served on Was.h.i.+ngton's staff in the war of the Revolution. In the battle which decided the fate of Poland, in 1794, he fell from his horse covered with wounds, and was made prisoner by the enemy. He died in France, in 1817.

305. CCXV. Hohenlinden: (hohen, high; linden, lime-trees,) the name of a village in upper Bavaria, twenty miles east of Munich celebrated for the victory of the French and Bavarians, under Moreau, over the Austrians under Archduke John, December 3, 1800. This battle was witnessed by the poet Campbell from the monastery of St. Jacob. In a letter written at this time, He says: "The sight of Ingoldstadt in ruins, and Hohenlindcn covered with fire, seven miles in circ.u.mference, were spectacles never to be forgotten."

He has immortalized that conflict in these inimitable stanzas which form one of the grandest battle-pieces that ever were drawn.

305. CCXV, Iser, (e'-zer): the name of a river in the vicinity of Holhenlinden.--Frank: the ancient name of the French.--Hun: a name applied to the barbarous people of Scythia who conquered and gave name to Hungary.--Munich, (mu'-nik).

314. CCXXIII. This is considered one of the best martial lyrics in the language. Its author, FITZ-GREENE HALLECK, was born at Gifford, in Conn., August, 1795. He has written but very little, but that little is of such excellence as to make us regret that he has not written more.--Marco Bozzaris, (bot-sah'-ris): the most famous hero of modern Greece, fell in a night attack on the Turkish camp at Lapsi, the site of the ancient Plataea, August 20, 1823, and expired in the moment of victory. His last words were:--"To die for liberty is a pleasure, and not a pain."

315.--Old Plataea's Day: B. C. 479, when the Greeks, under Aristides and Pausanias, defeated the Persians with great slaughter.

317. CCXXIV. JOSEPH RODMAN DRAKE was born at New York August 7, 1795, and died September 21, 1820. The most popular of his poems is the spirited ode, The American Flag, though his fame rests chiefly on the Culprit Fay, a poem of exquisite fancy and artistic execution.

318. CCXVIII. Old Ironsides: the frigate Const.i.tution. This poem was written when it was proposed to break her up and convert her into a receiving s.h.i.+p, as unfit for service.

321. CCXXVI. CHARLES WOLFE was born at Dublin, Ireland, December 14, 1791, and died February 21, 1823.---Sir John Moore a British general, was killed at Corunna, in Spain, in a battle between the French and English January 16,

1809. He was wrapped in his military cloak and buried by night in a hasty grave on the ramparts of the town.

335. CCx.x.xVI. From the last canto of Childe Harold. Compare this with the splendid prose poem by Dr. Swains page 396.

336.--Armada, (ar-mah'-da):a naval or military armament es.p.a.cially applied to the fleet sent by Spain against England, 1588, which was dispersed and shattered by a storm.--Trafalgar, (traf-al-gar'): a cape on the coast of Spain, memorable for the great naval victory of the English under Nelson, who was killed in the action, over the French and Spanish fleets, October 21, 1805.

355. CCL. From a lecture on The Eloquence of Revolutionary Periods, delivered in Boston before the Mechanic Apprentices' a.s.sociation, February 19, 1857.

356. CCLI. From the same as above. 357.--Mirabeau, (me'-rah-boe''): the greatest of French orators. Bema: a raised place in Athens whence the orators addressed a.s.semblies of the people.

358. CCLII. From an oration delivered in Boston, July 5, 1858, before the Boston Democratic Club, his last address on general political interests.

360. CCLV. From a speech on Boston Common, in the autumn of 1861, on the occasion of presenting a flag to the 22d Regiment of Ma.s.sachusetts Volunteers, commanded by Senator Wilson.

361. CCLVI. From a speech on Boston Common in 1861, at a grand rally of Union men to promote enlistments to put down the rebellion. 365. CCLVIII.

From an oration delivered on the 4th of July, 1861, before the munic.i.p.al authorities of Boston.

387. CCLXXIV. From an address delivered before the Norfolk County Agricultural Society, September, 1863.

388. CCLXXV. From an oration delivered at Roxbury, before the munic.i.p.al authorities of the city, February 22, 1864.

391. CCLXXVI. From an address by Governor Andrew, to both branches of the legislature, at the opening of the session, January, 1863.

392. CCLXXVII. From an address before both branches of the Legislature, at the opening of the session, January, 1864.

393. CCLXXVIII. From a speech delivered in 1861 on the occasion of presenting a flag to the Second Regiment of Volunteers.

396. CCLx.x.x. From a discourse recently delivered by the author, in his own pulpit at Providence, on his return from a voyage to Europe.