Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1852-11-05
PRICEreNE CENT.
tester DaiIp 5pn.
EIegy withou, Fiction.
Ierme., PreaeAed oeto5er BIZ, Is52,
BY r. W. HIGGINsoN.

BY r. w. H1GGINsoN.
have said, we gods. But ye shall die like mes,
aud fall like one Of The prnces Psalms, LrgEia: 9: z
have remarked to you, before, that the ancient
Hebrews took dark view of death, compared with
the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans There was
n,axim among these last nations, that sswhom the
Gods love, die young But The Hebrews did not
think 50. They thought the chief rewards and pun
ishmens Of men, consisted in the events of this
e,-thai an early death was punishment Of sin,
and long life was an honor for God. Ii you look
through the Old Testament, you will find many IL
Illustrations Of this.
Nevertheless they must all die, sooner or later.
Aud then, the Hebrews with their vivid oriental
maginarions, saw clearly what an event the death
Of a distinguished man, especially was-s hat gap
/ it seemed to make in the word-what tremendous
blow 1t stuck at earthly pride-how instantly it
transferred the power, the position, the interest,
which had belonged To the most ilusrious departed,
from him 10 those left behind, inferior as those might
be. '.No man hath power over the spirit, to retain
the spirit, neither hath he any power IN the day Of
DEATH"
am struck with the impessiveness Of The dis.
tinction used in the text. eye shall die like men,
Nothing more OF less THAI thai. Nothing less, for
all must die even Jesus must have died, as TO the
body, and thai have returned 10 the dust. Nothing
more; for what can be more! there it is The
great man yields up his spirit, and the humble man
yeldsilp his; both 90 10 their account lie shall
princes; alb, there Is the distinction. There is
fall to the humble man; nay, the poor pauper, gno-
rant rieDdless, helpless during life becomes solne-
body upon The event Of death. Carriages, it may
be, follow, in procession, him who never even en-
tered carriage, or joined procession, before; no
fall for him, the world thinks. But The prince, the
public officer, the eminent man, he before whom all
men bowed during life, whose decision could
save sentence The criminal, enact law 70 free the
slave, Or send him back 70 slavery; v hat change,
L q ~.
little piece o. green turf, and jhea the turf is re-
placed aud grows greener year. and that Is all.
Here is ii fal FROM place and power, which man, AS
man merely, does not have; and 50 il is we'll writ.
ten, Ye shall die as men, and fall one of the
princes Of the earth. Men die and we do not no
ce il; the princes Of the earth fall, and hear IL;
the higher the tree, the crash echoes louder.
And, as when hear a stately tee fall, we for
get thai trees have been growing and falling ever
since the world began; we forget The princes Of
the earth who have fallen one by one. There has
been no modern inscription, grander than the III
scrpton on Ceopatra's Needle, the great Egyptian
Obersk, thousands Of years ago. The glorious
hero, the mighty warrior, whose actions great
upon the blnner-the king OF an ohedient people
man Just and vrtuous-beoyed Of the Almighty
Director of the universe who created happiness
throughout his tlominions. During his life, be es.
tablished meetings Of wise and yituoIs men, in or
der to introduce happiness and prosperity through.
out his empire. He-was, therefore, exalted by the
Almighty, Rhamsis, the third king, who, for hi
actions here below, was raised to immortality.
And vet, but in this crumbing stone, this Khan.
sis would have been but one more tarLalous name,
on long and tedious catalogues Of kings. And, as
it is perhaps that of this inscription, which
is true of one Of the sculptures Of Nineveh. 1t is
said, that OF the bricks, brought from those ia-
nous ruins besides the letters inscribed upon IT, is
marked with The iooprins Of smaI weasel, that
| must have run over The brick before it dried so
! that The records of the mighty king, and Of the d.
! nlinutve animal have been handed down lspon the
same pefe of clay, TO an equal immortality, longer
| or shorter.
| But there are sterner lessons than ihese. There
| Is no satire SO bitter as the preservation Of
the cpithefs Of greatness, when, not only the memo
~ Of the mme, but all its visible glories are past
away, 1t is said, that ftr 10 the Egyptian desert,
the traveller comes length, upon the solitary rel
les Of a gigantic stature. Two stone feet stand
fixed, forever in the sand and, by them, lies maim-
ed aud broken, head, with crumhling features, on
which cold, naughty sneer is stillapparent. And,
upon this relic is this carved epiIhet:
''My name is Ozymlndias, king Of kings
Look on my works le mighty, and despair I"
Nothing beside remains; land all around 'slhe lone
and level sands stretch far awav,'' in vast, stern
Condemnation Of this colossal vanity of Families.
Ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the
princes. We think less Of born princes now; but
among those promoted TO high station in this coun-
try, and in Europe, how many have recently been
called away Ii seems but a little while, since an
old man, who had seen stirring times in France, in
the days of Napoeon told me, exultingy that there
was one great sovereign in Europe Louis Philippe,
and one great subject, Duke OF Wellington, and that
he had grasped hands with both; and now both are
departed, and that old man departed before them.
Sir Robert Peel too, is lately gone, the great
est, perhaps, Of British statesmen, and Show
ing his greatness in the true English way;
by resisting reform, as long possible, and
then taking 1t up, with parade Of virtue or fool.
ish preience at consistency and carrying it through
better than any other could have; -because, he said
il was time now, and wise statesman must meet
every new question when IFS time had come. Ia
this country, we have lost President, during this
administration; three Massachusetts Representatives
in Congress- Henry Clay, aud Daniel Webster
pass the death Of President Taylor; It was
two years ago--a great while in the history Of this
country. Nay, that of Mr. Clay, idolized as he was
by many, personally the most popular OF his party,
aud for years lis real leader, is already half forgot
Ten, and far away that had almost passed
it by 10 my enumeration. The four Massachusetts
deaths are more recent, and have followed in close
succession. OF two Of these, shall not pause to
speak; whatever may be the interest attending these
sions, il is merged in the signal interest OF
the Others; in the case of Mr. Webster, from his
past position in the history of this country; in the
case of Mr. Rantou, 6on what would have been his
future position.
| regard Mr. Rantoul, as fair specimen ofthe
best that can be- and vet be great American
think this vocation, especially in country like ours
to be the highest position of a man. Ii has been
strongly said by English writer that, to be great
statesman, requires combination Of very great and
very mean qualities. do not say this but do
say, that 10 be leading American statesman, i'm.
plies an amount Of compromise, to which a man Of
the hiehe order cannot consent. There is power
Of management, power Of occasional concession TO
mans baser nature. power OF overlooking the
means for the sake Of the end; without which, no
drive Freedom and Slavery, this span of
black and white horses, in rein, euen in right
duectian;-bu, with which, no man Of the highest
tone can be satisfied. ! believe that Mr. Rantoul
would have rapidly become, in the Democratic par
y, what Mr. Seward is to the Wing party "a splen
did combination of skill and power, with minimum
Of compromise-one Of the pilots of Reform, of whom
once told you; without whom, no ship could enter
port, bnt with whose aid alone, no ship could ever
cross the ocean,
But this is much, and cannot be spared am
told that Mr. Ranoul rapidly rising, by his abil.
tiles and requirements, to leading place in the
House OF Representatives, and do not doubt it
Nor do doubt that he would have used the position
well. He was committed, up to a certain point, 10
Ant-Slavery principle. and his heart was so far
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