Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1857-03-04

vice, his eloquence, havsall the harmony, all the
singeness ali the siupcity, ali the transpafent fire
of q masterpiece Of Attic aft. He ahAedoned him
self to the great work of serving his country for
thirty years, till little poison in ring was all his
dyiag country had to give him. Death by poison
in the temple of Neptune tears, praise and wonder
forever moret -. ss...s.g = sS5z
Mr.. Choate then passed q glowing eulogy upon
the characteristics of Demosheiles an orator, and
upon his devotion to the welfare of his country.
That spirit he then said, SO hopeful, 80 bold. was
clearsighted too and he could not fail to that he
had come upon the last days of Greece. The old
Greek public life was in its decay. The outward
life of Athens seemed unchanged, certainly and yet,
all gone. The laws of Themistocles were there,
but the men of Marathon, where were they2 In
stead vanity, ecminacy, sordid avarice, disrust of
the GODS total loss of religious belief the theatre,
the banquet, the garland dripping with wine. The
once bright, consummate flower was fading on its
stalk and the one long prayer of orator that
these dry bones might live. Through all the fire
and sublimity of his exhortations, there seemed
halfexpressed halEindulged consciousness that all
passed and all vain. 1t seems if the ora.
tor vas prophet also, and the vision he saw sad.
dencd the voice he uttered. He almost acknowl-
edges himself that the inspiration he feels is the in
spiration Of despair:
II see hand you cannot see;
hear q voice you cannot hear"
The scene when Demosthenes, after the triumph
of Philip, stood be fore his countrymen candidate
for the golden crown then portrayed in eloquent
and touching language. How Demosthenes address
ed Them in the noblcst deIiberative dsquisiton
uttered by mortal lips, all men know. He reviewed
the grand and melancholy story gave them to
how it had been appointed them to act in the final
extremity of Greece, what dignity and tragic inter-
est belonged to their fate, and how gloriousy they
had been minded without calculation Of the chances
Of success or failure, to stand fall in the passes of
dear mother land. "All that Greece, men OF Athens
all she had Of letters of renown of liberty, ali
represented by you, and nobly have you striven to
defend it. Grandy you resolved, grandly you
sisted, grandy have you fallen" That day, the
stricken heart of the people Of Athens folded its
tor and statesman to its love, and set on his head
forever the crown of gold.
The next type OF revolution-that in which q
ton preserves its life, but is compelled to change its
free institutions for those of tyranny-was lustrat-
cd by the case Of Rome, when she became the Rome
of the Caesars. or that revolution Cicero the
orator-that most consum,nate production, take HIN
all together, Of the Latin type of genius. MIR.
Choate considered Cicero this occasion, more
particularly AS the orator Of an expiring common
wealth. with whose life the light of Roman freedom
went out; and it fit that when the grander
themes Of freedom were forbidden, that eloquence
should die. Nor did she start to life again for 1900
years, when Mrabeau launched her awakened thun.
derS from the tribune of revolutionary France In
the last two years u his lie he the orator. rcjoccd
to say that no worsEippers of the Caesars, OF that
time or this, cnvier or Sncerer at regulations,
prctends to find, by liking microscope OH the end
Of o telescope, one spot OIL the sun going down.
[Applause.] In all thngs-by wise counscls. by To-
borious correspondence, by personal intercourse
with other patriots, by universal activity, by cour-
age, by contempt Of death, by eoquence growing
sweeter and nobler 10 the end-he showed himself
Of the greatest and noblest of the Romans. In
OF his fourteen last pleadngs in the senate house
and before the people he said-"For myself make
I.,f dad
was young; will not desert her now when I am
old. dcspiscd the swords of Catalina; shall trem.
BILE at those Of Anthony? Nay most freely would
surrender this form to bloody death, so that may
preserve freedom to the state" That lofty purpose
it was his to retain; that death it was his to vel
freedom, he had the joy and triumph not to survive
the loss Of liberty. Mr. Choatc said in this
ton, that he aware there theory OF histo-
~ which would deprive Cicero and all the other
names Of the republic of Rome Of their crown and
honor and place il upon the brows of the first and
second Caesars That theory was, that it was time
the republic should end, and the empire begin, and
that Cicero ought to have recognised it. But was
not such theory about poor heartless and arrant
q piece Of pedantry any in all the folly and nom
ofearning? This judsmen, ola mans acti by
the light Of events that deve,ope themselves 500
years after he is dead-how long has that been
thought jus. aud honest? Is success all at to
stand for the test of excellency Of conduct-of ex
cellency Of honor? Because offences must come,
shall not the moral judi mcnts Of mankind continue
TO dcnoancc the woe against him by whom they
come. lie sorry to see the name of DE Quincy
among those who lad adopted this theory. Our
own brilliant historian, Elliot, holds different opin-
ion. [Applauscl 1t is easy to say that the empire
should have in the place of the republic, be-
cause NOBODY can dispute it I; it seems TO be new,
and sounds like philosophy; but when they carry it
far TO say they Sec no grandeur in the struggle
Of the free with the circumstances of virtue, and con-
sricnce with force aud feel no sympathy with pat
riotism attempting to defend its country against
treason he had only to hate it all incredulously.
Tun now to another form OF revolution, in which
people, who were not a nation, became one. How
unlike the elo4uence of such revolution to that of
which he had been speaking. The confident voice
of the young giant rings through it His look Of
fire, now fixed on the ground, now strained toward
the distant goal-his heart assured and high, and
throbbing with the first strange, delicious feeling Of
national life. Twice in q century men heard it. First
in the history of Ireland, when Mr.. Graltan stood
up and said-''I now address free people. Ages
have passed away, and this is the first moment in
which you could be distinguished by that appel!a-
ton. l found Ireland on her knees l have traced
her progress from in uras to arms. from to H.
berty, from libertybo glory Spirit Of Swift, spirit
of Molyneux, your genius has prevailed. Ireland
is nation; and, in, that character hail her, and
bowling to her august presence say, Lioe torerer "
Loud cheers.
Again you heard that eloquence. with higher
hope of a more splendid result in 1776 The leader
in that great cause was our own John Adams of
Massachusetts,. He was the orator alone of the re-
volution in which the nation born. Others CO.
operated splendidly with him-Samuel Adams, Sam
uel Chase. Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, James
OTIS in the earlier stages. Each of these went
abroad and scattered broadcast the seed of life in
the waiting, virgin SOIL Jefferson, the magic ofstyle
the power of touching the feelings with those fair
ideas of freedom and euuality dear men so ire
sisbe ut that time Henry, the indescripab!e spell