The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-08-16
DANIEL WEEsrEB FIFTY.7Wo YEARS AGO.
His First Grafton at Dartmouth College.
The Initial Point Of bis Mighty Career,
OPIN ION.
FoR TIE ANNIVERSARY or TUE USI1sp FRArERynr.
AID. 1901.
BY DANIEL WEBSTER.

An ORA TIOH,


kesntins opinion gilds with various rays
The clouds that checker out cur deys.
Amid the variety presented at this anniversary In.
duge us In asking your attention for moment to
tho influence OF instability of opini0n-a subject
though not new, yet perhaps as little hackneyed as
any that falls within tho sphere Of occasional disqui-
sition. The world Is devotee to custom; scarcely
does the mind begin to expand before fashion throws
her chain over 2 moiety OF its powers, under the
names Of taste, !" fashion," prescription" and
authority" Opinion proudly trumphs in the pro-
vnces Of literature religion, politics. and manners II
bars investigation, subdues gaQius, aud like the touch
Of the torpedo deadens each faculty OF the intellect
But opinion is master no les versatile than inpe-
rious-nO less caprci0ss than austere; while its
discipline is vgor, its element is change But, f0rus
TO mark al the wanderngs Of sentiment would be end
less, since It would require III to through the
catalogue Of human But to point ut conspicu
instances In which opinion assumes the purple
and dictates with imperial authority may perhaps,
embehshed with the flights Of genius nor decorated
with the efholescence of fancy.
We want not proof that man is made for i'm
provement and excellence. Il we were inclined
ton, and other Industrious names, crowd at
into recollection to dispel doubt and silence
suspicion. Yet we know, the dreams OF enthusiasts
the Golden Age of Science, the time when the apex Of
possible perfection is attained never has been and
probably never viii be realized. The ardent philsn.
tbrOphst, of any age, looking forward through the
perspective of future years, bebolds In his
human MANURE Tl6lO8 uk0 D pyramid, anu tue arts
and sciences progressing without relapse or retarda.
ton. But this is all delusion and dream-the
web Of fancy brushed away by the breath Of expe-
rence. The majority OF mankind are still IN igno-
rance; as one nation rises to civilization, another
sinks into barbarismas this art or science fnds en-
cOuragement or cultivation that is lost and forgotten.
Where Is now the embalming Of tho ancient Egyp-
tianss Where are the speaking pictures Of
Apelcs2 or the breathing marble of Praxiteles
Where, now, is Denosthenes with eoquence
alternately blazing and obacure as the irregular
irruptions Of Vesuvus or FULLY. with clear, in
Cessant light like the Jennings of Strombolo? For
these look in vain from tbe genius Of latertimes
What, them the causes which deny to this any
other age, universal sciencef Shall we contue them
solely to the moral corruption Of MANI shall say,
too that wisdom Ia blended with weakness, and that
the imbecy OF our nature allows great latitude to
the sports Of fancy and caprice and the tyranny Of
opinion? Various causes, undoubtedly, contribute
their force to clip the wings Of haman pride
inquiry pecularties oftemper, alta hments,
tons and among the rest, the depravy of the heart
have all their respective influence. But equally con-
sequentia and pernicious these Is the influence of
opnion-is that mute obsequiousness to authority,
that taking things at secondhand, and admitting
them into creed without care examination, or,
on the other extreme, that infatuated love of novelty
which hurres us from thing to another, without
order or control These extremes arc the effects of
the same cause. differently operating; for that i'm
becility Of mind which ties a man down by dogmas
received from prescription may in another freak of
away into the new, the striking, and the brilliant
Thus opinion works wonders, without enlisting as
auxiares any other passions than love Of antiquity
or of novelty. A Free candid spirit of inquiry dis
reject each old or new ahsurdty, to retain and adopt
each old and new improvement seldom prevail
ed in any age or country. Hence opinions are as
different as the complexion. OF different minds aud
these again. as various as the features of the face.
| Mathematical philosophy does, indeed, establish a
circle within which Speculation and fancy are re-
pale of this science we are embarked on an
| ocean, without Pole star or compass. There
| can be no better exempiicatisn of our subject
than the contest between the material and ideal
about external Objects introduce all their materialism
into the doctrine Of spirit. With them, spirit must
| occupy space-can receive no impression but from
contact. There can be no thoughts without images,
and in that, the soul, and even Deity, must be ma
terial The absurdity OF this system being at length
exhibited, its ref0mers, in the rage Of innovation,
over-reached the bounds Of common sense, and dis
covered that have no proofs of the real material
existence of anything. most wonderful discovery,
and highly worthy the genius that produced it
Common abilities would Fever extend to SO great an
inconsistency. 1t requires refinement on absurdity
to draw such an inference from the premises that
exist around us Who of less talents than Berkeley :
would convert hills and rivers into tumiacal and
aqueous ideas? Or who but he could pull the sun
from his sphere in the sky by argument of logic
and place burning idea in his stead? Who but
the fashionable Hume, after writing volumes Of his
tory, could set himself down to convince us that he
had only been telling a Utopian tale that his
revolutions and conspracies had no existence but in
fancy-that his Henrys and his Edwards were moth
ing but resemblances, and that he himself in the
height Of his reputation, at best but scribblng
ideal AS these ideal philosophers sheltered them
selves in the forresses Of metaphysics their theory
however obviously Inconsistent not easily refuted
But the practical part Of their system exposed them
to ridicule. Though they might tell US that noun.
tains, seas and temples were put IDEAS yet child Of
l Ill
made sorry figure in saying that he had beaten his
brains out against ideal But the fashion of this
world passeth away, and the metaphysics OF Hume
and of Berkeley, and oil their associates, are rapidly
fastening where they will be heard of no more-t0
the land Of images ideas and resemblances. In rel
gion, the trumphs Of opinion and preudicea less
! splendid than in science. Look through the ages Of
Christianity, read the history of the prosecutions,
harrassed and destroyed tho Protcstants, and you
will acknowledge that the Colossal monument of re.
ligious tyranny has threatened to crush humanity.
The princes and herarchs Of Europe have, through
course Of centuries; committed enormities at which
human nature sartles and all under the plausible pre-
text of supporting religion. But does religion delight
in massacre and boodshed? Isit propagated by fire.
sword and desola iong Did religion suggest tn edcts
that banished the Huguenots from France? Does IL
glow in the thunders of the Papai See? Does il
stream with the blood Of the Inquistion or ascend
with the flames OF martyrdomY Did II wave the
banners Of the cruel tx over the South Americans
eop, or was it holy phrcGzy, that originated the
Crusades and laid waste the regions Of Palcs inel Is
devotion monopolzed by the inhabitants Of dull
gloomy forest, or shut up within the - walls Of
q convent2 Has religion avowed hostility With the
passions and feelings Of nature passions and feel
ings which man derives from his God. Behold che
crippled pilgrim hobbllng over mountains and cross
ing exents Of ocean, to bow and TO worship on the
desolatod ruins Of jerusalem wandering through
the blisfering sands OF Arabia TO bend before the
tomb Of Mahomett and adorea deusion Arc these
the dictates of rational gon or Ia it superstition,
whose throne is grded In bachness, that emits these
mists to benighten the intellect?
AS we approach the world of politics we eater on
region where opinion has performed It's greatest
achievements-wher It has started beyond the
limits Of common reason, and pushed itself onward
with the most eccentric flights Of the human mind.
What difference between the political sentiments
Of this day and those entertained two centuries ago
Man then torpid and unfeeling beneath the thorny
lash OF oppression A slavsh dependency, on uncon.
ditiora devotion to his masters will were his boast
and glory. Slohfu and inactive ignorant and ncapar