The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1853-08-10
NUMBER Is.
Correspondence of the Boston Traveller.
Mr.. Choate's Euiogy on Ms. Webster
HaspvEn, July 27, 1853. !

On Daniel Webster, and truly great
and successful effort It was-Thc cir
cumstances also were in conformity with
the occasion The address was deliver
ed IN the College Church as decided on
before. The table ON the platform was
covered with pail, over the desk was
suspended the excellent portrait of the
deceased statesman, from the College
Library. 1t was dressed in Grape, with
his dying words, II still live" in largo
gilded letters attached. The church
was decorated with festoons of black
and white. The galleries we're crowded
full Of ladies'. The procession came in
with solemn dirge from the Germanians,
in worry orderly manner, and the great
er part Of the concoursc found admis-
sion, though in the most crowded oondi-
ton possible No disorder however oc-
CURED. Mr.. Choate spoke about three
hours, and yet omitted much he had de-
signed to say. cannot give you re-
port, but only some account Of his ad-
dress
Mr. Choate began by alluding to the
appropriateness of the place, circum
stances, and occaalon of the Office to
which he was called. Here, the subject
Of his address moved in the forming peri
od of his life here he walked about,
worshippcd, studied, and prepared HIM
self for his great work. Mr. Choates
illusions to the stability of the natural
objects around-the hills, the river, AS
cutncy, and the great northern constel-
lation--on which the departed used to
look. which now remain, and which va
behold while he is no more, were very
beautiful and touching. He then limited
at the numerous eulogies which had been
offered, and which left little to add to
the wealth of eulogy and alluded to
the numerous monuments to his worth,
even before his death, in pictures, busts,
and other designs. insomuch that when
he came to die little was left to speak of
but his dying moments. Yet his wri-
tings were his best monument.
Mr.. G. then ran over, rapidly, the
events of the youth Of Webster-tho
first twenty.threc years of his life-lifc
at home, at the Exeter Academy, at Dr.
Woods in Boscawen, in college, his hab-
its in pursuing the prescribed stud
les, and of his miscellaneous reading his
f first efforts in eloquence, and how the
close observer might sec in them the flu
| ture man All respected him when he
rose to speak they gave him their best
} wishes. Then followed some account Of
c his elementary professional studies at
= Salisbury and at Boston his declining
!. the clerkship the prophetic view he
: had Of the Fastening expan sion of the
a country in territory, i'll learning. arts,
y commerce, agriculture and philanthropy;
S the prcsentiment that the fame Of this
his country would be intimately inter
. woven with his own lie lived to sec
these prophetic views and presentiments
= verified ; the thirteen States of his
/, youth become the thirty-one of his age,
= himself having acted great part. At
his death, the mournful indications were
not so much-hags at half mast aud
: minute. .guns-as the sudden paleness
: visible on all mems countcnances.
Passing over further incidents which
the occasion did not require, Mr. Choatc
c proceeded to speak of his eminence as Il
g lawyer and statesman, He was the
r. greatest of American lawyers. Both he
d kept distinct, the lawyer did not tinge
n the statesman, nor the statesman tho
d lawyer He regarded authority in law
J. us much as if he had studied nothing
t else. This double power was most re-
markable. No such characteristic has
appeared in any Of the great men of
England - Sheridan Mansfield, Peel.
In America there has never been par
r r allel, though great names crowd upon us
u here.
: In describing his legal career, MIR.
/; Choate spoke with great force and pa
!, .hos, the audience responding by unmis-
f taxable signs as he alluded to the last
!. effort at Trenton in the Goodyear Patent
n case to the robbery case in Essex coun-
a ty, Mass, to the murder case at Salem,
exceeding in variety and acunen, the
speech against Hayne, and above all to
the Dartmouth College case in tho Su-
prcme Court at Washington, How
much he contributed to the favorable
c result of that triai the speaker would
r not say-he remembered well, being in
t College then, the letter, giving the Col
0 lege the first announcement of The decis
. ion, aud the slight account of the pero
: ration of Mr.. Webster's plca.-lfe sup
posed that peroration was lost, but Pro.
, fessor Goodrich of Yale College, Hho
went to Washington to hear NJ, Web
= stor on that occasion, had recently favor
7 ed him with letter in. which he had
: restored the very words.
Before readiug the letter, MIR. ChoaSe
described the scene-the great Court,
Marshall, Story, Washington and the
= others, the age Of Webster, thirty four,
the associate and the opposing counsel
) also the character of Mr. Webster's arg.
; ument as a specimen of pure reasoning,
and yet so clear, ordeEly anj, simple,
i that Judge Story, on being asked why
he took no notes in au argument four
, hours long, replied he needed none an
, argument too unmixed with any appeals
to the feelings of the Court.
After this description, Mr.. Choate
read in subduod tone, tho extract from
the letter giving the peroration Il do
not report YOU the exact words but the
, substance This case is not my case,
J not the case of Dartmouth College only,
but that of every eleemesynary instltu-
ton in the land--uay more, II is the case
of every man. Shall our Legislatures
take away our private property with i'm
/, puuity know /. is.one of the lesser
lights, q small College, but there are
those who love it." gigl but the few
| hrokan ron,ly in which wore henr.lt