The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1852-11-20

the promise, "thou shalt know hereafter surely
man thus endow ed with great gifts of intellect,
and thus at peace within, how wise he will be In the
conduct Of affairs, and how strong In his Influence
over men, He will go into life pledged and quail
fed to seek truth and discharge duty. He viii love
to promote the elevation and the happiness OF man
Passion will not be allowed 10 pervert his Judg-
ment. Sefshness will not sway him into courses
which shall promote his interests at the expense OF
the weare the happiness OF others. How will men
gather about, applaud, love- give themselves TO one
thus great and wise and good. There Is nothing
on which men expend 50 much oil the affection, en-
thusasm and rapture of their nature, upon their
guides and caders, whose gifted and powerful
minds they believe to be under the sway OF high, be
nefcent. and noble hearts He who can give vivid
expression to their thoughts and feelings clear up
their difficulties, remove their doubts, carry them
| forward to new truths, speak the word that Will
save them in the hour of crisis and give his CHEST
energies to their welfare at the sacrifice of himself
| wieds a power such CDsars, with Senates at
their heels, and legions at their beck and nations
| on their knees before them, never can possess Ut
| is a power, not over mems Tears and stupid no
ge, but power in the soul, over its CONVICTIONS
| lis affections, its moral Judgments II is power
which dignines alike him who exercises it and
those who own its sway Ii EFFORTS homage
which elevates those from whom it comes; for they
are then most truly free when they bow lowlest
before the might and majesty OF benetcent great
meas. IL is the tribute Of enlightened inteiiects,
instru consciences, and grateful hearts, to him
who has taught and blessed them; and lhis tribute
is evidence that in the best sense, they have been
made free; and at the came time one of the lofti-
eat exhibitions OF their freedom Power over pure
| hearts and free minds; power to awaken the beat
latent slumbering elements Of mans nature, Is
real power. Great men, who arc rich in intellect,
genius, and practical wisdom, and at the same time
| good men, are the mightiest kings and heroes OF
| the world. Vulgar kings lord II over mans base
mesa. These kings sway that in him which ls
| freest greatest, noblest! Such kings were WASH
| ISaroN aud WEBsrER!
| That MIR. WEBsrER was, in a remarkable de-
| gree, great, WISE and strong, was universally felt
and owned. All men, OF all sections, parties. and
| opinions have long called him pre- eminently great
| The services which he has rendered his country
have made every American citizen his debtor. 1t
| ID fit that everywhere through the land his name
should be honored his mind studied, mis- cha
| racter contemplated, and his services recalled. In
this city, which the scene OF most OF his public
labors, md in this church where he worshipped, 1t
| ia peculiarly becoming that tribute to his mem
| DRY should be paid. AS one Of the great works Of
| God, would study him. As one of Gods best
| g,fts 10 our country, we would render thanks to
| Heaven for him As one whose wisdom has in
struc,ed US, and whose patriotism has rendered us
| ine.timabie services. We would pay to his memory
warm tributes Of gratitude, admiration and respect.
| As whom we have seen TO go in and out among
| us-our fellow -citizen and neighbor-- with whom
some Of us have been permitted to hold official or
friendly and social relations, aud others to hold
relations more intimate and sacred, we bend over
his tomb with the swelling sorrow of personal
bereavement, to which the feeling that the most
wondrous mind, and one of the most beautiful
hearts that we have known. or ever expect to know
has passed away. lends regret that might be re
, | belon, and grief that might be anguish. did we
not believe that his spirit s at peace and that the
| interrupted ellowshps OF the good on earth shall
be resumed in heaven. 1t is the conviction that
/, death does but unfold good and great men into
higher being and bessedness, and that all that was
beat and purest in their natures still survives to
bless the world, that makes US realize that what is
to us the setting of the soul, ia 10 another hemi-
sphere of being its refulgent rising, and it IL this
which soothes our sorrow as they disappear, and
transmues 1t into
"a holy concord, and bright regret,
Agorious sympathy with suns that SET"
The career of Mr.. WEBsrER for the last thirty
five years has been passed under the nations eye
The circumstances OF his childhood, youth, and
early professional life. as we'll as the prominent
incidents Of his great public career, have, since
his death, been wildly recalled and presented to
our memories and hearts by the public press. IL
would the reiore be supertuous for me to present
sk.tch, and it would be impossible for me to give
history Of his life.
am aware that the attempt to apalyze and de
scribe the mental greatness of one who lowered SO
high above his fellows as MIR. WEBSTER, may wear
the aspec. OF presumption. But the truth ia, there
was nothing unintelgibc, nothing mysterious or
| felt alike by minds of very different degrees OF
culture and of power. 1t was a kind of greatness
| which. like that OF the dome of st. Peters, or Of
the Pyramids, simple and obvious, while it was
! transcenden 1t not like that of Plato or a
Kant, which only minds Of peculiar gifts and
| training can discern Men OF common powers Of
intellect and fancy, and Of the ordinary senti
mens and feelings OF our nature saw in him u
man of the kind with thcmselves-nay, they
saw in him themselues enlarged, strengthened, en-
nobed, glorihed!
faculties which, in various developments and COM
binations, make men great. In him there was
wanting no faculty which ia counted ornament
or power p the human soul. The disting ushin g
PECULIARLY of his greatness was, that not ouly
each faculty separately excellent, but that all
rightly proportoned, tremendously developed, and
beautifully and mutually helpful to each other. No
Guilty jostled or crowded out, covered
another. In that fine coniederated union no power
rebelled against, or encroached upon, or marred
either singly. or all colnbined but all ministered
to each others G ory and success. His power OF
analysis was not separated from the ability to
generalize. His vivid perception of single truths
did not diminish his power of viewing them in their
connexions His strong stern logic did not trample
upon and crush his fancy. On the contrary, his
faculties, being cultivated in due proportion, lent
to each other the check or the charm they needed.
HE clear perception OF particu ar truths and facts
prevented rash and hasty generalization; while
his fund Of general principles, relully and 9owIy,
but surely formed, ena bied him to know whence
to trace and where to place individual iacts and
phenomena they appeared. His taste
chasteDed his vivid imagination. His chastened
Imagination hung an orname mt of grace around
his neck of snewy strength. There was often a
sound Of music and q wave of bazoned banners in
the air as his arguments moved on; but these were
only the incidental accompaniment of his ma ID;
and beneath them there might ever be seen the
STEADY movement, ana Eeard the solid tramp OF
compact and emba,ted power 1t was this rare
combination of strength and beauty, grace and
power, Q. netration and comprehensiveness, " hch
rendered him e.eminent in such various fields
of thought and action. II is this which makes SO
many, who themselves excel in the depa tments in
which they assign to him pre- eminence, declare
that lie was the hrst lawyer, the first orator, the
first Statesman, the first writer Of his age
We can but briefly speak of some OF his pee u
liarites which made the people Of this country for
years bend forward TO catch every word that issued
from his lips
He had most extraordinary clearness of state
ment; his mere statement Of a case has often bet n
called q stronger argument for it than the Iabored
| plea of most other men would be.
This arose from the fact that he would allow no
vaguencss in his own conceptions. What he did
know he would know clearly or he would not
| consider IL as truly known.
And not only had he clear conceptions in his
own mind, but be would give them forth in clear
expressions. He gave no utterance to half formed
thoughts, and no half uterance 10 though hts full
formed. The full thought, fully and clearly ex
pressed-this was his rigid demand upon himself
| And where shall we find sentences and thoughts
in his Writings which we do not comprehend3 We
| cannot avoid understanding his statements. They
| stand out bold, distinct. and strong. Not of his