Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, IA [i.e. Ind.]) 1839-1854, 1849-10-24

the scene with sufficient distinctness, &C
cessory as every thing seemed and as I,
the principal parsonage in the picture
Mr.. Webster arose, when the cloth wa
removed, and in his primitive and simpl.
dictlon opened the historic purpose Of tn,
celebration. He illustrated the event O
the enlbarkation most aptly and impress
sively. as a painter illustrates historical
group. by giving the scenery around II
lie drew the mural sky and atmosphere
amid which the pilgrims resolved upon
their voyage. skeching the great men o.
that period -Shak>paare, Milton. Bacon
d others. with their contemporaneous
intellectual momenta. in a strain of mar
rative eioqnence that. quiet as it was,
showed the great master. He then out.
lined the progress of the principles of the
Pilgrims. and. by easy transition. passed
thence 10 the extension of the republic 5
power and limits. With reservation as
to his own concurrence in the grasp after
grasp that we have taken Of territory South
and West. he expressed in an outbreak of
the most glowing and overpowerng elo-
1uence his feeling as 10 liberal usare and
prompt equalization of rights to all who
are once covered with our banner Glanc.
AiS a otai iIi1ltNc ppsiIOn towards inc
Governments of Europe. he spoke of Hun
gary and lis downfall. giving that unhappy
country his complete sympathy. and
mourned over its prostration with the lam
guage and certainly with the look of a
prophet whose spirit was darkened. though
he still expressed confidence that the
liberty painted for abroad could not long
be kept under. The probable and pos 81
bic future of our own country. and the
needtul extension of the pilgrim princi-
pies through its remotest limit of space
and time formed the theme Of the great
orators impassioned conclusion
These were the topics upon which Mr..
Webster had come prepared to express
himself but he was once or twice again up
on his feet during the evening. and, in
taking his leave. he made parting adj
dress that was Of different tenor and
meditation. Unable. from illness. to join
in the convivality Of the evening. he was.
possibly. saddencd by mrth with which
his spirits could not keep pace; and. al the
same time. surrounded by those who had
met there from love 10 him. and whose
pride and idol he had always been. his
k!ndest and warmest feelings were upper
most. and his heart alone was in what he
had to say. His atfectionate attachment
to New England was the leading senti-
ment. but through his illusions to his own
advancing age and present illness there
was recognizable a wish to say what he
might wish TO have said should he never
again be SO surrounded and listened to-
1t was the most beautiful example of man
ly and restrained pathos, it seemed to me,
n w al Lar 1noIy h>
capable. No one who heard it could
doubt the existence Of deep well of tears
under that lofty temple Of intellect and
power.
Sickness, like low tide, shows the true
depths and shadows Of the harbor Of ex-
preston in face, and looked long and
earnestly at the noble invalid. both as he
sat and as he spoke. to see. if possible.
where his tide channels lay, and where his
ever buoyant greatness had at least come
nearest to running aground. lie was
really ill-much thinner than had ever
seen him, and SO deblitated that. in his
least emphatic sentences. the more diff
cult words failed of complete utterance.
Without color, without the excitement of
high spirits, fallen away in flesh. and evil
IDENTITY completely unconscious of the OBJ
servalon Of those around, he was there
without the advantages Of an ordinary
public appearance himself, and at the ebb.
Sombre as the lines are, unlighted with
health impulsc-the eyes so cavernous
and dark. the eyeiids SO livid, eyebrows so
heavy and black, and the features so ha-
bi!ually grave--it is a face Of strong affec-
lions. genial. and foreign to all unHind-
ness. There is not a trace in it where
pettiness or peevishness could lodge. and
no means in its sallow muscles for the ex-
preston Of an intellectual lit:leness or per-
version. 1t is all broad, all majestic, all
expansive and generous. The darkness
in it is the shadow Of Salvador Rosa, a
frightening Of granduer without injury to
the clearness. tits easy to imagine, look
ing at his ponderous forehead alone. how
Webster might have been Unbalanced with
a little difference of nature. Less physi-
caly powerful. or with less stong sensu-
Gus affections, he might have been an in
blowing propulsion. or without practical
mans appreciation Of the commonplace
and constancy Of everyday purpose; he
might have been a great poet, in short,
with inhrmities enough to have made
BOCti biography. w I'LL less ltiteItecl. on
the contrary, the powerful animal that he
is would have developed, prehaps, in an
:aeonism and passionat ate violence. and we
might have had mob-swaying politician.
blind with headlong impulses. and in,ox-
Gated with his power. 1t is in his conss-
tant and proportionate endowment that his
greatness lies His physical superiority.
and noble disposition. if his grand face,
in the subsidized lines of illness. tells truly
to my reading, are in just balance with his
mind. and keep its path broad and its
policy open. 1t is the great mind with the
small heart which makes dwindling and
old age Webster-incapable of
the forecast narrowness which makes the
scope of character converge when meri-
dian ambition and occupation fill it no
longer-will walk the broadening path