The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1850-04-10


WILL BE PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY.
tal forms of truthful historyas the geologst fash
ions the narrative Of earliest creation from the re-
mains of the antediluvian world To such, and
Mr.. President, we are all such,-loving to look
| back, as year upon year makes longer and longer
the vista that we leave behind us-to such, it must
have been subject of remark, how soon pass be
yond the limits of local interest, how soon our
| searches cease to be American, how soon we be
come involved in the past of another continent, in
| the past of the Transatlantic world. We may CON
tnue to be proud of rivers and our forests and
! feel the glow Of enthusiasm we reflect that
country reaches, lengthwise, from the great lakes
to the great gull, and extends, breadthwise, from
| ocean to ocean. But, when we leave natural OBJ
jects, and come to deal with men and mems
| thoughts Of the olden time, they are the men OF
| another land Still, the interest OF our inquiries
does not abate on this account. And why not, Mr..
President? For this reason: we have the same ties
OF association, binding US to the mighty dead OF
| England. that are enjoyed by those who now
occupy their former habitations. If their ia
| theirs were. their contemporaries,-so were ours.
did ours If their fathers listened to Chaucer and
Spenser, 80 did ours II their fathers knelt and
worshpped amid the pillared aisles Of Westminster
and York, 30 did ours. The children of one great
family have been separated, that is all, Mr.. Presi-
| dent! They retain, without regard to their loca-
tion, their pride of parentage, as they should do
And hence 1t Is that our interest in historical re-
search does not flag, that antiquarian ardor is
| not damped, when we find how soon pass from
| Americanism in our Investigations
Sir, remember the bright evening in June when
| ! stood on the elevated chancel Of the church of
Stratford on Avon, and gazed in admiration down
the nave, then lighted by the santing rays Of the
westering sun. well remember, too, my feelings
| as the guide rolled back the mating, and found
| that unconsciously had been standing on the
broad fiat stone which marks the resting place o
Shakespeare, and read the we'll known lines
| Stranger, for Jesus sake forbear
| To dig the dust enclosed here;
| Blessed be he that sDares these stones,
| And cursed be he that moves my bones"
| They were feelings, Mr.. President, that did not
yield in honest warmth of admiration of the illus
| trious dead to those of any man in England. The
| poet at whose grave stood was my Shakespeare by
| as good and fair title as the beat man living in
| the land could boast. And if / had never realized
it before, should then have been taught that Eng
| land and America were but separated homesteads.
| occupied by different members of the same house
hold, whose duty it was to cherish, despite all oc
| casions of temporary disagreement, those feelings
of affection due to their common origin, as they
pressed forward towards common destiny.
am satisfied, Mr.. President, that am Speaking
| the sentiments of all around me when say that
for these considerations. as well as others, we re-
| joice to at festive board-in midst
with all the kindlincss and homeliness Of family
| intercourse-the representative of England one,
sir whose name, both in literature and diplomacy,
| has long and honorably preceded him; and who
we feel and know, would join with us, did occasion
serve, in those Investigations into the history of
| the past that would so unite with COM
mon purpose upon common ground.
4 Ipropose then, Mr. President, as a toast;
| Sin HENRY LyTroN BULwEa--The missionary OF
a kindred nation, from whom we have derived the
sacred precepts of civil liberty and the nobes
records OF human thought. May these ever be the
| effective pledges of mutual and unbroken friend
ship between his people and our people!
This was received with hearty and continued
greeting, after which Sir HrsRy BuLwxR rose and
said:
That in rising after the Senator from Massachu-
| setts, he was reminded Of gentleman who, being
called upon TO speak after the great Mr. Burke.
said that the only way to satisfy his audience and
acquit himself handsomely Of his task by ex-
claiming, AGentlemea, I beg TO say ditto 20 the
ilusrious orator who has just sat down. This would
suit him especially his very profession that OF
silence; nevertheless there was feeling that he
would not omit to give utterance to, even allow
the eloquence Of his friend, the Senator Of Massa
chusetts TO express for him, namely, the warm and
lively gratitude which he felt for the sentiment
which had just been so kindly proposed, and SO
hatteringly received. IL he had wanted any ustra-
ton of the fact that the people of the United States
and the people of Great Britain ought 10 live on
terms Of the closest friendship with each other he
should have found such illustration in anecdote
related TO him during dinner, by his friend to the
left. 81 was wandering one day" said that gen
| tleman, "in the woods Of Baden and lost my way,
when luckily met strange gentleman. Now
had he been a German, Spaniard, Dutchman,
| an Italian, this accident would not have helped
me; should neither bave got back TO my road, nor
home to my dinner; but the strange gentleman was
an Englishman, he gave me English answers TO my
questions in English, and understood each
other as If we were Of one country we soon forgot
we were not" Exactly 50; the law OF language u
the law Of God, and they who speak the same
tongue are not intended by Providence 10 cut each
others throats. II any two people in the world
should dwell together in peace IL is those who you
have coupled in the toast just given, and who
already drawn closer together by the very fact that
il had been given. He would furthermore say that
II treaty Of eternal peace were TO be contracted
between these two people, there was no place 90
| proper for signing and ratifying such treaty as
that in which they then were, nor any witnesses
who could duly testify to its propricty, a
ciety dedicated to the purpose and pursuits Of his
| tory.
Yes il was history which united the two people in
question, by giving 10 both a common property ia
things imperishabe. Hence were gathered round
! their hearths the same household deities; and
breathed into their ears, in infancy and age, around
their cradles, and over their biers, the same holy
names. The illustrious Alfred, TO whom both coun-
| tries were indebted for their old Saxon laws; the
magnanimous Elizabeth, to whom both also were
indebted for their speaking the English and the
Spanish language; the brave and polite William,
who, while defying the great monarch of France on
the Continent, lay at home, in the recognition Of the
great principles of civil and religious liberty the
| corner stones of every solid edihce Of free govern
ment; (snd he knew that he had only to mention
civil and religious liberty in Maryland in order 20
! excite the warmest cnthusasm.) The great princes
and not only ythey-Shskspeare and Milton, Raleigh
and Bacon, Coke and Littlcton, Newton and Locke
| Blake and Marlborough, all these, and others al
most equally worthy OF mention, though he should
not then enumerate them. were in their fame and
name as much the inheritance OF all there present
| as bis own; dear and familiar 10 eyerv
American heart as 10 the heart Of every English
man on the other side of the Atlantic. But whilst
he dwelt ON those in whom the history of the mast
gave Englisbmen and Americans a CO. partnership.
and was proud of them, he proud also to soc that
as shoots fthe old tree transplanted they grew
up in the original FORM and brought forth fruit OF the
original character; and for this reason be did hom.
age 10 men worthy of the ancient race Of England
and whom future history, nevertheless would claim
as altogether American. Where, indeed, could he
ind in old England Senator and orator more clear
and concise in his logic, more copious and noble in
his Illustrations, more extensive and profound in
his requirements, than the Senator and orator from
New England-thc great Ulysses Of debate, the
wise, the variously accomplished the almost in.
comparable DANIEL WEBsTER, And where, amid
the statesmen of his country, for whom he felt
pslriotically partial, where could he point TO a
statesman more gallant in his bearing, more chiy-