The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-01-03
yrom die n. v. Courier ana .nouiI


Plymouth was one Of the most beautiful and elo-
quent productions--as published in the Boston Ad-
yertlser--eyen of his gifted and accomplished mind
| With his impassioned and most Impressive delivery,
II must have been spoken with thrilling effect. We
cannot resist the temptation TO copy Il entire.
| Mr. Choas said; "Oa occasion like this, Mr..
President, il il were expected or even permitted that
any one should present himself before you with any
rhetorical or elaborate preparation, sure that
should have nothing left but TO acknowledge the
Kindness Of the company, TO defy even your recent
jespotc authority to say that | am already unable
! to submit to II, and there to end
"You know well enough, sir, that lawyer in
tern-time however willing 10 give advice upon
title resting upon a chain Of evidence distinct
us that stated by my friend (Mr, Quincys) 10 the
question laid before me)-you know enough of his
duties 10 tell that he is not particularly well situated
for the diffusion Of sentiment OF rhetoriei or for
myself in particular must confess, sir, that Il has
appeared 10 me that about one-hNlf Of all the law
business that ever did Ia my life has been thrown
upon the last two or three weeks, since had the
pleasure OF accepting your invitation TO be present
hercN
"BuL Mr.. President, ! was leaving the court
house this morning 10 come hither, felt that was
not coming TO celebration where speeches TO
be made, or where speeches were to be heard. |
seemed 20 myself 10 be coming, not To a Palnstre
OF oratory, and where gded phrases were to be
coined and uttered and listened TO, but to scenes
where profound and large emotions TO be silently
| felt seemed 10 be coming where hearts must swell
and eyes I'LL with tears, but where yet even elo-
quence had better be mute--to the saddes and the
grandes spot on earth the home and grave Of our
fathers. | knew should meet the wise, the ia
nous, the thoughtful wish could add the beau
tiful-united in great assembly, not in theatre
Of pleasure but sacredly and reyerently, as child
hood goes out at evening, 10 the now not too recent
tomb Of its parents; we search in veneraon for
footsteps which may show us the walks of the pas
aion the termination. as me muse IN raze upon
spot where some transcendent action has been
done, changing in a moment the history Of the
world For such occasion as that knew that
should be prepared. IL demands nothing from any
Of US, but fal love and an American heart.
'The landing Of the Pilgrims is beginning to be
celebrated everywhere. We have, Mr. President,
formerly been indebted for very delightful celebra-
tons 10 the patriotism Of the sons Of New England
elsewhere. But since we have been here, to-day, il
has seemed me that the true place for celebration
after all is only in Plymouth itself. Wheresoeyer
else this day may be commemorated or forgotten,
here forever let il be remembered--here where we
can step upon the uncrumbled rock, symbol Of iron
nerve Of durability coevl with the pillars Of the
earthhere, by the side Of that gently sloping HILL
from which sweet and delicate springs Of water
are still gushing-here, where you can almost hear
the same wirtry sea chatting against their first
burial place, the wasted bank Of earth, where is
hidden the Pilgrims graye-here, and nowhere
else is the true place for the original festival of the
commemoration.
elsewhere, eloquence and poetry and music and
painting must be called upon to help those who as
sembe in commemoration Of this day to make real
to themselves the scene OF our fathers landing.
Elsewhere men tell me, they take up powder and
dust Of the forefahers' rock and carefully place il
beneath glass cases, that whole congregations may
come round to look upon it. Thank God, we all
walked to-day upon that rock, inst where that day
it lay when those feet were first set upon il which
made it immortal in history. Appiause.l lmmor-
tai Marathon, as Runnymede, as Bunker Hill =
let me say, Nazareth and the Lake Of Genne-
sareth itself Sir, elsewhere, men have to take their
| books to read up to an idea Of the Pilgrims, to
study the history Of old customs and manners tina,
they may have clear idea Of their appearance that
they may verify correct the conceptions of Sar-
gent and Weir. But you can show the very
dresses they wore, the very platest from which
the record in their hands, setting down the Incl
dents of their first days. the saddest and grandest Of
history; OF that Sabbath Of rest yonder island
of rest where all calling them to labor-an in
cident in which you have embodied and foreshad-
owed the whole moral and religious history Of New
England [Appause.l Or you can go and find
| Ooh, that you had preserved it better) the first
| burisl place WHERE in that dreadful winter and
| spring, SO many Of them-and among them such as
Carver and Rose Standish and White and Mary
Allerton-the victims Of that dreadful season. were
gathered their graves, till the heavens should be
! be no more Wheresoever else this day shall be
commemorated forgotten, here forever let it be re-
membered [Applause.l "a
al confess, Mr.. President, that have never been
so sensible in the hour or two preceding the inn
pressive religious services of to-day, Of the some
what singular, and yet not at all imexplcabe varie-
ty and blending confusion Of mental emotions, of
which we are all conscious when we contemplate
steadfastly the Pilgrim fathers. Everybody feels
that there is peculiar charm about them; charm
whose spell we neither comprehend nor break
a charm, under the influence of which we find our
selves dwelling upon their lives as upon those Of
heroes, sometimes you catch yourself gazing up
on the sky at night, or upon picture Of Washing
| ton by Stuart, unconscious of the lapse of time.
There is strange succession of emotion in such con-
temptations; pity mingled with admiration, with won-
der, compassion, sympathy, and tears, giving place
a sensation of succor and strength and pride and
Joy, to the expression of which all language is
equal. To these considerations suppose II to be
owing, that when think of the Pilgrims, two dis
tinct classes Of persons-two distinct classes of
things-two distinct classes Of conditions--present
themselves to us at once. u' .". :Ete I.a# "
"First we think them they were in themselves,
and then as they are aggrandzed glorifed, and
lifted high by the reflex light of two centuries of
transcendent results, for which the world will be
forever their debtor. Even in that word Pilgrims
sir, there is beauty than in any other word in
the language! A pure old Saxon Bible word' fine
ly and adequately expressing that sentiment which
we feel towards them! 1t embodies at once the sen
the actual and earthly persons of these Pilgrims as
prosecuted in England and driven from their homes
as flying to Geneva end Holland; we think of that
fearful embarkation at Defhaven; we think Of them
as dispersed and sundered---the father from the
child and the wife from the misunderstanding sea
and land in search OF homes dying on this shore,
wasting no, by the rgor Of the season, but by priva-
ton, hunger, consumption, and fever of the breastp
their very graves smoothed down, we have
been reminded that the savages should not count
their number, and yet steadfastly persevering, by
Gods grace, till the Muyfower weighed her anchor
in the spring, and left them ALL without desire to
forsake the refuge which they had found in the will
derness.
"There, sir, is one aspect of one Of the saddest
and noblest Of the DEGREES Of God.
But there is another aspect in which we see them;
in which blaze Of light seems to be thrown back
upon them, that we see their countenances as
il had been the countenance Of an angel How Of
ten, when they observed through the auxiliar
and posthumous CLEAN of patriotism do those little
beginning, those poor condiiiones mgorum, lose all
the spirit of heaviness You forget the diseases Of
every wasted form and brow You see them al