The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1849-10-08
The Plrmouth Dinner.

a uescLpuOn OF the recent dinner at HlyDOuln N
commemoration of the embarkaton of the Pilgrims.
Most of the sketch is taken up with Mr.. Webster
and his speech
There were hundred present, principally " in |
fuential BostOnians." You know Boston well
enough to understand how this would differ from |
company Of influential New YOrkers They were
mostly rich men, but they were smart men -
also-not rich fool, nor mere literary man among
them. For either disproportion of brains to the
pocket they have very little respect in Boston. "A
more keen, sagaciOus set of phYsiOgnOmies were
never collected about table, and it was impos-
sble not to recognize even in their looks the cool
inevitableness and breadtb-y calculation which |
makes Boston enterprise both more liberal and 4
certain than one from any other capital in our /
country. Among the invited guests were Mr.. Mer- |
Ger, the wealthy planter from louisiana; Gov
Woodbury., of New Hampshire; President Way
land, of Brown University Edward Everett, and |
| Mr.. Midway, grandson Of Lord Ashburton.
shall not have informed You of all the dstin-
guished presences,' however, without mentioning
that at a double window which opened from the /
dining.room to the hall like box at the opera
were seated several Of the more charming descend
ants OF the Pilgrims, and among them Mrs. Ban
croft, (wiie Of the late Minister England whom
the younger Quincy, in his speech, took occasion
to compliment very gracefully upon her fslictous
representation of the ladies of the Pilgrim stock At
the proudest court of Europe. Perhaps it would |
interest our female readers to add, that the elder
Quincy, who was also present, made spesch in
which he tary called the principal orators to order
they Mr. Webster, Mr.. Everett and Mr.. Winthrop1
having gloried the Pilgrim fore. fathers to the eY
clusion of the Pilgrim fore-n0thers without whose
assistance, he thought, the landings down to us
from Plymouth would have been very Interestingly
Interrupted.
Mr.. Webster was already in the reception room
on the arrival of the special train which brought
the guests from Boston, dressed with that cOurtlv
| particularly which becomes him. and he made his
greetings to his friends, they came in like the
Natures monarch that he is, with uncontrived
and unoppressive dignity and simplicity. He was
suffering from an annual aflicliOn to which he is
subject, In the shape of what is called in England
1 the =" hay fever Ia sort Of catarrh which comes
! to some persons with each years infusion of the
/ aroma OF nsw-cut grass into the atmosphere Il
| had evidently Frustrated his usual strength and
| spirits, and, when not conversing, he look ed
scarcely in fit condition, even for silent preser at
| a fsstvity.
AT the announ cement of dinner, Mr. Webster
who was to fill : the chair " took the m of a ven.
cradle clergyman of Plymouth who mas occupied
the same pulpit for fifty years, and he seated him
self at the CrOss-tabls between this gentleman and
| DR.. Wayland. Two long tables extended doI1,n
the large dining-hall Of the Hotel and at the nm
per extremity of one, Mr. Everett was peDinsulatsd
by Mr. Mildmay, and near the upper end of the
| other sat MIR. Winthrop, these two the principsl
oratOFIcal reliances of the occasion The ysylttv
and llie-enioYing Judge Warren, (the most agree
| able man for so eminent a one tlIat the maturing
| succession TO the Webster epoch has to sbov3 had
the management of The dinner Arrangements and
he was well appointed, no less fer his ready jud5-
meat and courtesy than as being President Of the
Pilgrim Society, and the best descended man in
New England-haviIlg, in his genealogical tree
six Of the best known names among the compapy
Of the Mayfower
think have now drawn in the outline Of the
scene with sufficient distinctness-accessorv AS
every thing seemed, and Wes to the principal per
sonages IN the picture. Mr.. Webster arose. when
the cloth was removed, and, in his primitivs and
simple dlcuon, opened ths historic purpose of the
| celebration. He illustrated the event of the en-
baFkatlon most apty and impressivelV as a paintsr
illustrates an historical group BY giving the seem
cry around It, He drew he moral sky and atr,os-
Phere amid which the pills rims resolved upon their
| Eoyage-sketchIng the great men of the period
| Shakespeare, Milton, Bacon, and others with their
| cOntempOraneOus intellectual momenta' in A stra in
OF narrative elOquence, that quiet as il WIS showed
the great master. He then outlined the progress of
the principles Of the pilgrims, and BY easy transi-
tlOn passed thence TO the extension of the rnIic's
power and limits With reservation as to 1is own
concurrence in the grasp after grasp that wa have
taken. Of territory South and West he e4nrs ssed
IN an outbreak of most glowing and oyerpowerint
elOquence, his feeling as to liberal usage AMI
prompt equalization of rights to all who are oUce
covered with our banner. CHANGING at our relative
position toward inc Governments of Eurone. he
spoke OF Hungary and its DOWNFALL giving that
unhappy country his complete sVmDathv and
mourning over its prostratiOn, with the language
and certainly with the looks prophet WHOSE
spirit was darkened, though he still expressed a
confidence that the liberty painted for abroad coud
not long be kept under The probable and possible
future OF our own country, and the needful extern
sion of the pilgrim principles through its remotest
limit OF space and time, formed the theme of the
great orators impas stoned conclusion.
These were the topics upon which Mr.. w. had
come prepared TO express himself but he was once
or twice again upon his feet, during the evening
and, in taking his leave he madea parting address
that was of different tenor and meditation, In
able from Illness to join IN the eonvivialityof the
evening, he was, possibly, eaddensd bv ,nirTb
with which his spirits could not keep mace and
at the same time, snfFou0dedby those who had mai
there from love to him,s and whose pride and All
ne had always been, his kndast and warmest feel.
lngs We're uPpermost, and his heart alone was in
what he had 10 say. His affsctionate attachment
TO New England was the leading sentiment bnt
through his illusions to his own advaneino AGE
and present illness, there was recognizable wish
to say what he might wish to have said should bes
never again be surrounded and listened 10 II was
the most beautiful example of manly and restrained
pathOs, it seemed to me, of which LANGUAGE and
looks could be capable No one who heard il couId
doubt the existence of deep we'll of tears under
that lofty temple of intellect and povvsr
Sickness, like low tide, shows tile true deptbs
and shadows of the harbOr of expires sion in face
and looked long and earnestly At the noble in.
valid, both as he sat and he spolfe TO see if DOS
sible, where his tlde-channeis lay, and where his
ever buoyant greatness had at e asa come nearest
| to running aground. He was really ill-much
thinner than had ever seen iin and so debili.
tated, that, in his least emph hEic sentences the
| more difficult words failed of complete utterance,
! Without color, without the excitement of hipb
spirits, fallen away in flesh, and evidentlF com
pletely unconscious of the observation al those
around, he was there withc at the advantages ofan
ordinary public appeaTan ;e-himself and at the
ebb. Sombre the lin es are unlighted viii
health or mpulse--the eyes so caverno1s and dart
the eyelds 50 livid, eyebrows so heavy and bIscG
and the features so hatJually grave-t is fp.ce of
strong anecllohs, genial and foreign to all uukind-
or Peevishness could lodge, and no means h. jts
sallow muscles for the expression of an in.ecr1ai
littleness or perversOn. Il is all broad--aIl ma
lestlc-all expansive and generous. The darkness
IN 1t IS the shadow of Salvador Rosa a heighten
ing OF grandeur without injury to the cslearness II
is easy to imagine looking at his ponderous fore |
head alone, how Webster might have been IN. |
balanced with little difference uf nature Less |
physically poWerful. or with less strnnn .nrsn,,.