The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1857-09-08
COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES or BROWN UNIyER-
sITY-oRATIoN OF HON. SAMUEL S. cox, OF

The Providence Post of the I'd inst contains excel
lent report the eloquent oon delivered at the close
of the exercises OF Brown University de-
livercd by Hon 8 s. Cox, of Ohio The Post remarks:
We speak in terms too exalted OF this rare per-
formancc High anticipations had been formed and we
safe in saying that there no disappointment The
marked attention given by the audience during the de-
lyeryfron the beginning to the endwel attests the
interest which all felt in the subject of the address the
mode Of its treatment and the earnest impressive and
convincing of the speaker There vgor Of
logic, force and elegance OF expression richness Of
fancy, salient wit, and originality Of conception
characterng the entire Grafton which il has not been
good fortune before TO have enjoyed. Mr.. Cox,
though comparatively graduate, has already
achieved enviable reputation lawyer and man OF
letters and in the field of congressional labor upon
which he is TO enter prophecy for him useful
and successful career We wish that halls of Con-
gress could contain such menmen of broad views
Of national impulses and of expansive minds hberazed
by the rpest scholarship We presume that Mr. Coxs
Grafton viii be published in pamphlet FORM SO that all
may have the opportunity of reading who were not for
tunate enough to hear it, In place of full report we
can only to-day brief limits give short analysis
and few extracts.
''The orator began by stating his subject which
plea for of that bengnant moderation which scho
arship should nfse into hurrying and worrying Amer
lean life
After its statement he referred to the immoderaon
30 prevalent in our land Much OF it incident to
condition. The causes which gave our freedom
gave the reprcssble impulse, which will not always
stop at the safe and golden 1t hurres to
perous extremes Against these the scholar should be
our guard
Whilst we are moving amidst the exctements of the
day, do not fully realize how madly hurtng
over the swift ttng rail of progress To realize this
the orator analysed the Of impetuosty and inn
moderation
We regret that our limited space will only permit
to publish the following extracts
INDIVIDUAL ISDEPESpEYoE
In speaking on this point, Mr.. Cox said
That great deal of mmodcration springs from in
diyidual Independence Our greatest boast and virtue
when perverted become greatest shame and curse
Our easy and liberty of opinion produce that
independence which, in excessive indulgence engenders
rioous irregion and reckless enterprise Liberty with
plenty says old Englishman "begcts stomach and
heart and stomach will not be restrained. Thus We
have who appear what they Independence for
bids imitation and disdains obedience.
In older civilizations and in other lands few colossal
men stand out picturesquey In history Laures crown
only few of the great and gifted 1t is not and
and here. Some one has blessed God that have no
great men The genius of age and country has been
brought bear upon the Masses and like the telescope
of Rosse it has resolved the unshapen nebul into stars
each bright and particular each having its sphere
and revolution the least beautiful different, and i'm
portant in its orbit as the greatest.
Voltaire has drawn picture OF Athenian day. when
some favored citizen after listening to Perices from the
forum and worshipping with rhidas in the Parthenon
could adjourn from play of Sophocles to supper with
Aspasia!
Imagination could hardly picture for the refined
intellectually day of more intense enjoyment But how
many of the people of Athens boosted such day
And out of Athens all were harbarinns. Athens was
the eye of Greece and Greece the thinking head of
the world. The of antiquity had life and had
history. The individual of to-day, however humble
overrdes the forum, the altar, the literature, and tho
feast. He is the theme and boast of ALL
This individual independence, thus evoked by the &C.
MUS of our time has its eccentric orbit, and comeke
darts about system with most perplexng fear of
change. While to it we owe much that is ennobing
and sacred cannot ignore it the cause of that
which Is most outrageous and disgraceful. On bor
ders it revels in ruianism and raids In cities it
gives riots and usurpatons. In California rises in
vigilance committees deying the order of government
In New England it furnishes that prolific family of ss
in which insanity seems to be hereditary
Under this exaggerated independence crime, how
ever petty In grand in scoundr sm be
committed human being however Insignificant poor
or ensaved be injured act of perfdy official
tyranny, domestic despotism decree of judge or
act Congress- however honestly rendered solemnly
enoined exist without running the gauntlet Of its
stern censorship Thus far we'll Ldns Dec for this
courageous criticism But look again This coronct
of gold and jewels which decks individual SOW
ereignty becomes terribly beautiful, like coiled
pent, with It's sparkling ascnaton ana It's Venomous
fang
The worst form of this cxtravagant independence
for it's inspiration the higher lar. In it
is the synonym for disorder and treason In this it
is not novel in this country certainly not in Rhode
Island Roger Williams thought that he had killed the
snake here two centuries ago, when he had William Har
ris the socaed SIRE Brand indicted for treason He
only scotched It, This doctrine of the higher law, which
is receiving such splendid advocacy from many of
the gifted of orr time il they enainored of
Una fresh from the inncrmost Businesses of Nature
has long since been dsobcd and discovered the false
Duessa Of another day. So long the mind of man
mains as will there be radical differences in the views
which thinkers may take of human society. One class
will ever run to the extreme of restraint, and the
other class to the extreme of unresaint Golden beyond
all alloy is that medium wherein liberty and law hap
PLY
s o
Tho according music Of wel-miyed State"
Chief Justice Duree in his address before the r l. His
torical Society IN lS47 explained the hgher-law pro-
blem attempt of liberty to down upon earth
and realize herself entire to the complete overthrow of
all law, 1t was idea given by pure idea
subsstng only by relation to the Universal the Absolute
the Infinite the Divine that sought to down into
special form of humanity, and supplant the PLAIN
understanding Of mankind 1t of those
ideas which propose to navigate the ship by plain sailing
vcxed with winds and waves, and pcrilous
with islands, and lodges and rocks when nothing but
traverse sailing aided by the chart will do.
Far back in Rhode Island history when this noble city
n oougeries of hus the bank OF the Mooshausic
Roger Williams, armed with great good sense mot and
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