The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-07-30

se'sion, BY vote Of 80 to 0. personally carried b
INN the result at his own house, and in presence Of
his wife. Then indeed, the measure OF his glory
and OF his happiness seemed full. In the exsbarant
to use the expression of Scripture of the first martyr
was IA if 1t had been the face of An angel. Hope
elevated, and JOY brightened his crest do not
know how others feel, but II had stood in that stu
alton, would not have exchanged it for all that
kings or people could bestow."
Such eminence and such hold on the public mind
as he attained demands extraordinary intellectual
DOW er adequate mental culture, an impressive, at
tractve energetic and great character and exsranr-
binary specific power also OF influencing the convc-
tons and actions Of others by speech These all he
had.
That in the quality of pure and sheer power Of
intellect he was OF the first class of men, is
think, the universal Judgment Of all who have
personally witnessed his higher displays, and Of
all who without tina. opportunity have studied
his life in its actions and influences and stu
died bis mind i'll its recorded thoughts. To
discern the existence Of his supreme Intellectual
power was easy, inevitable. To analyze 10, to
pare or contrast it with other mental celebrities and
show how 1t differed or Iesembled WAS not so easy.
Whether, fer example. he would have exceled as
much in other fields Of exerton, in speculative
philosophy. i'll any OF its departments, is problem
impossible to determine and needless to moot. To
me 1t seems quite clear that the whole wealth d his
powers his whole emotional nature his eloquent feel
iogshis matchless capacity to affect others conductby
affecting their practical judgments, could not have
been known. could not have been poured forth in
a stream rich and strong and full could not have
so reacted on and aided and winged the mighty in.
telligence in any other walk of mind or life than
that he chore-that IN any other there must have
been some dsjoning OF qualities which God had
united-sOne divorce ofpnre intellect from the helps
or hindrances or conpanonsbip OF common sense
and beautiful genius; and that in any field of specu-
latiye ideas but half of him, or part Of him, could
have found it's sphere. What that part might have
been or done, it Is idle to inquire.
Greatly more important it is to say that this
extraordinary intellectual power was not op-
pressed, but aided and accomplished by ease
The most constant, the most severe, the most
stimulant, and by force OF will IS remarkable as
his genius, and by adequate mental and tasteful cul
ture. How much the eminent greatness 1t reachel
is due to the various and lofty competition to which
he brought, If he could, The most careful pre-
paratiUn-- with adversares cum Qwibws
certafe er0t glTiOsls, guam 0nlnO ndceTsdrtOs non
h0Jere. cum peSertin non nOdO nunqudm az dut IL
iO1um db ips0 CursnS in'pernnS. 0ut 40 Ysy gnus
Wd contra scmper alter 40 dAer0 AUGUSTUS q con'nu
mcando, ct n.omendo, ct farendo, you may well ap-
preciate.
claim much, too under the name of mere mental
culture Remark bis style, aud allow Its full weight
to the Horatian maxim, scriJend recte sapere est
rinc'pipm ct .ton,, and admi! TINT lie had deep
and exquisite Judgment largely oil the gift Of God.
But such style his is due also to art to practice,
in the matter Of style ocessan To great examples OF
hand to Cicero. through whose peuced deco stream,
flowing ever grandy the pearl shows distinct, aud
large and near, es if within the arms reach; to
virgil, whose magic OF words, whose exquisite
structure and rich economy OF expression" no
other writer equalled TO Shakespeare, Of
the style Of whose comic dialogue We may, in the
language of great critic, assert that it Is that which
In the English nation is never to become obsolete,
certain mode Of phraseoogy SO consonabt and congo
NAL to the analogy, TO principles OF the language, -
to remain settie1 and unaltereda style above gross
ness, below modish and pedantic forms Of speech,
where propriety resides; to Addison, whom Johnson,
Macintosh aud Macauay concur to put at the head of
all fine writers, for the amenity, deliclcy, and
un ostentatious elegance of his Engiish to Pope,
polished, condensed, senteDtious; 10 Johnson; to
Burke, in whom all the aftiGence and all the energy
Of our tongue i'll both its great elements Of Saxon
and Latin might be exemplned; to the study and
comparison but not The copy ing OF authors such as
these to habits OF writing, and speaking, and CON
versng the capital theory of always doing his
best-thus somewhat, think, was acquired that
remarkable production, The Last Week OF Com
bined Study and Genius rich, clear, correct, har
nonious, and weighty style OF prose.
Beyond these studies and exercises OF taste, he
had read yariously and judiciOusly. Ii any public
man, or any man. had more thoroughly mastered
British constitutional and general history, or the
history of British legislation, could dedu ,e the
progress, eras, causes, and hindrances Of British
liberty IN more prompt exact and ccpious detail, or
had III his memory at any given moment more aul-
pie political biography or Political literature have
and OF ali history, was always rich, select, and ca
tholic, and well recollecs hearing him, In 1919,
while attending commencement OF this college, at
an evening party sketch with great emphasis and
interest Of mgnier the merits of George Buchanan,
the historian of Scotlandhs latinity and eloquencS
almost equal to Li,y's, his love Of liberty aud
his genius greater, and his title to credit not much
worse. American history and American political
literature he had by heart III. long series Of nau-
ences that trained LIS for representation and free
government; that other series of influences which
moulded US into united g0vrrnmcnt-tbe colonial
era-the age Of controversy before the revelation,
every scene and every person in that great tragic
ac,ionthe age Of controversy following the rcvolu-
ton, and preceding the constitution, unlike the
earlier, in which we divided among ourselves the
greatest questions which can engage the mind Of
America, the questions of the existence of o ma
ional government of the continued existence Of tho
state governments, on the partition Of powers, on
the unpirage Of disputes between thenl--a contr0-
versy on which the destiny of the New World was
staked; every question which has successfully en-
gagged our politics, and every name which has figured
IN them, the whole stream OF our time was open,
clear. and pIeseut ever to his eye.
think, too, though noi frequent and ambitious
quoter Of authorities he had read III tho study of his
profession OF politics, and meditated, all the great
writers and thinkers by whom the principles OF re-
publican government and all FREQ governments, are
most authoritatiyely expounded. Aristotle, Cicero,
Nachisyel one Of whose discourses on living main
tsins in so mastery an argument, bow much wiser
and more constant are the people than The princea
uoCtilne " ibei'S sohAoia.Viy hiu i'i y, Jvy' h'
rngton, Milton, S;dney, Locke, know he had read
ard weighed.
Other classes Of information there WERE partly
obtained from books, partly from obseryation to
some extent reerab!e to his two main employments
Of politics and law, by which be was distinguished
Thus nobody but was struck with his
knowledge Of civil and physical geography, and to
less Extent Of geology and races-of all the great
routes and narts OF foreign, coastwise, aud inte
rior commerce-the subjects which it exchinges tho
whole circle OF industry it cQnprehends and passes
around, the kinds Of our mechanical and Inanuiac-
turing productions, and their relations to all labor
and all life, the history theories, ana practice Of
agriculture, our own and that Of other coun-
tries, and its relations TO government liberty.
happiness, and the character Of nations This
kind OF information. enriched and assisted
and accurac, Of h;s knowledge and even tho trre
compass Of his mind You must converse with him
With some degree OF freedom. There moro than in
senatorial trensied dGbete 2leRmed the true riches