New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-02-25

n ,decoe, By person u intsrcoans vii
IsSous he y. ';vena activity, BY courage b
o,ost ~ J..,h hv a., 1ueocs growing eveeter an
~, ~ be- ,boSe himself Doe Of the creates
ard noblest Of the Romano
Now il i, net necessary to Put microscope
the end Of your telescope, nor TO % d worsnpef
the CRAM 70 know that al this Is the meres
traine with truth. Cicero was far froin being tn
greatest and the rOblest Of the Romans; ne wa
among the weakest. Great as rhetorcian and
scholar be unquestionsbly was; but as statesman
his course. from beginning to end, with the slnse
exception of his prosecution Of Catalina during ni
consulship, was that Of trimmer and time-server'
On no single occasion, in the midst of al the mighty
troubles Of the Republic, did Cicero exhibit true
manlness of character or utter word that was EN-
Gent in behalf of liberty.
TIE first great blow aimed at the Republic was
the formation of the First Tr umvirate. Cicero was
in the hight Of his power. Did he oppose it, No;
but he secretly cultivated all parties. Under the
law of Clodius, afterward which forced him into
voluntary exile, he went about whining like
whipped dog. In the great contest between Caesar
and Pompey, though bis personal obligation and
arstccratc tendencies put him on the side Of Pom
pey, he really did nothing. He opened not his
mouth against Cesar, and, though under arms with
Pompeys party at Dyrrachium, behaved 50 pusl-
lanimousy that Pompeys son would have run him
through with a sword but for the interposi.iOn Of
Cato.
Cato, by the way, killed himself on the tri-
umph of Cesar; but what did Cicero' Why, as
soon as Caesar was firmly in the ascendant he over
whelmed him with batteries. His speech to that
man, in behalf of Marceus is one long, falsome
outpou,ing of unlimited praise. He not only speaks
of Caesars heroic achievements as SURPRISING In
luster those Of every other general but be proc
him TO be the savior of the State-he, by whom all
wounds were to be healed, justice restored, liberty
protected, good men advanced, and the favor OF
whose cemency would Outye all trophies and
monuments. Nay, he went so far az to say that in
Caesars life not only the life Of the Republic itself,
but of the individual citizens of the Republic, was
involved and that in the case OF his death by acct
dent, or by the guilt and treason Of men, the gods
Themselves could hardly save the country
That same year, only amenth or two later, Caesar
was assassinated BY a crew Of as vuga; scoundrels
with the single exception OF Brutus, who was we'll
me ,ninr but week) % ever did deed Of wrong,
and Cicero blazoned it as "a great and glorious
action, The Just punishment of atyran.-regret-
ting even that be had not been allowed to partci-
pate in the conspiracy by which the vile murder
was Matched Subsequently, too, though be full
minated his phippics against Anthony, from his
secure retreat at Naples, it should be remembered
that these were not delivered (as least none after
the frst), but were only written out, and published
after the event. All the while he sided with
OctaYius, the very man who gave the coup dc
grace to the Republic and tstabl shed the Empire
But not to dwell on these historical questions. We
must also express our surprise at strange manner
in which Mr. ChOate Tugs in Webster, at the cad OF
his line of great DISCLAIMERS. Had Webster, he
ssys been cast on times so troubled and so hgb he
too would have enacted part Of equal splendor,
and won fame as historical Now, we take leave
10 say that Webster's life was cast in time of
grand emer sencies but that he did not act very
splendid part, or achieve an immortal fame IL Is
true that no civil war sgtaes this nation, as it did
Rome; that we are not struggling for existence, as
the Greeks were, against foreign invader; that
We are not on the eve Of tremendous popular
insu1ection, as France was; yet the discussions
which are going on in the midst Of US are not
whit inferior in their Importance not an iota less
significant, than any questions that ever arose in
Greece or Rome or France. This very Slavery
controversy is one which involves directly the des
tiny of four millions of men, and almost as directly
the character Of the largest empire that has yet
appeared in the world. 1t presents to every Amer
lean man, and has presented to him for these ten
or twenty years past the alternative whether that
immense snd glorious nation, which is rapidly rising
between the Atlantic and the Pacific, covering q
whole continent, and destined to embrace larger
multitude of men than Rome at iss utmost stretch,
shall be nation Of freemen, or nation of ogarchs.
Shall 1t be manly aud noble Republics common
wealth Of free and equal citizens-Or shall it be a
mere republican aristOcracy, in which few rule
snd enjoy the wealth and honor, while the many are
AFFECT serfs Not since the advent of Christianity
bas q more momentOus issue been opened to the
decision of any people.
Had Mr. Webster been the grea. man which Mr..
Choate would have US infer, he would have seen
this issue in its true light. "That mighty reason,
"that majestic force, that sovereign brow aud eye,
that fountain of eloquent feeling, passion imag-
"inatiop," to which Mr.. Choate audes so sopho-
mOIicsly, would not have sept calm and fathomless
as the ocean, but would have been roused into tenn
pests Of clergy. Why should We suppose tina. he
would have rolled an equal thunder and flashed an
"esual fame" with Demosthenes over the threat
ned Iher:;fa of fifty thOukaud Greeks when be