The Nevada Democrat. [volume] (Nevada, Calif.) 1854-1863, 1857-04-22

EIOuuence of Rufus Chontc--.JOhn Adams
Il - and Daniel Webster.

EIOquence of Rufus Choatc--Jolan Adams
fr and Daniel Webster. 4ea
Rufus Choate, one of the greatest of Ameri-
cas- living orators. whose command OF language
is boundless and llimitable--whose imagery and
symbols in their rich cluster of intellectual dia-
monds have long made his addresses and written
productions famous-recently delivered lee
ture in Boston upon the "Times of National
Revolution as affecting Deliberative Eloquence.F
1t is characterized by his peculiar rhetorical
gifts, and contains many fine passages. After
glancng at some of the great orators of antiq-'
uity. Mr.. Choate, coming down to our age paid
the following tribute to John Adams and Daniel
Webster.
Said Mr.. Choate
Again you heard that eloquence, with
higher hope of more splendid result in l776.
The leader in that great cause was our own
John Adams, of Massachusetts,. He was the or
ator alone of the revolution in which the nation
was born. Others co,operated spendidly with
him-Samuel Adams, Samuel Chase, Thomas
Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Jas. Ots-in earlier
stages. Each one of these went abroad and
scattered broadcast the seed of life into the wait
ing, virgin soil. Jefferson, the magic of style,
the power of touching the feelings with those
fair ideas of freedom and equality, dear to men,
so irresistible at that time. Henry, the inde-
scribable spell of speech, which fills the eyes,
stays the blood, turns the cheeks pale, instlling
into the foul the sweet madness of battle. Sam
uel Chase, the tone of Indignation, the proud de-
fiance, and the extraordinary art of inspiring
courage and hope. John Adams alone seemed
to have met every demand of the time. AS
question of right, as q question of prudence, as
question of honor, as question of feeling, as
q question of conscience, he knew 1t all through
and in that mighty debate which commenced as
far back as March or February, l776, to its
close, on the I'd of July, he presented it IN all
its aspects, to every passion and affectlon-ap-
pealing to the sense of wrong, evaporation, at
length, almost beyond control by the shedding
of blood-to grief, TO indignation, to self-re-
spect, to desire for happiness and safety, to the
sense of moral obligation, to the fear Of Cod
casting ont all other fear--to all these ideas
and all these passions he appealed for month al
ter month, day after day, until the result was
attained, the record of which he has left in let
ter to his wife.
Can extract from this letter he read, giving
expression to the eXultant feelings of the elder
Adams at the singing of the Declaration of In
dependency
mot single reported sentence of all his
speeches had come down to us. The greatest
spokesman of an age unto an age is dead. And
yet of these last words is not our whole America
one immortal record and reporter still How
they blaze on the pillars of the Union How
their deep sense is unfolded and interpreted by
every passing hour! How they come out to life,
and grow double, as it were, in the Frightening
rays of light which we're revealed to him. as the
tabled invisible harp gave out its music to the
mountains
"Yes, they have perishcd, yet all things
around us-our laughing harvests our songs of
labor, our commerce whitening every sea, our
secure homes our school houses our churches,
our happy people, the stainless radiant flag
how they come pealing pealing, independence
now, and independence forever prolonged
applause)
"And now, said Mr.. Choate, in conclusion, on
review of this series of the most eloquent of
men, and these circumstances of their times,
does an exceeding love dsccive us, or have we
not ourselves seen and followed mourning to
the grave of one man, who, cast upon times SO
troubled and so high, would have enacted part
Of equal splendor, and won fame as historical
our own Websterl
cloud applause.)
Was there ever a cause to be pleaded before
an assembly on earth to which he would not
have proved himself more than equal? Consid
er that he was cast on great, quiet, civil age
on an age and land marked by law, order con-
tentment. healthful progress, by intellectual
growth and beautiful, material prosperity, rest
ing on a deep and stable freedom. We saw
that great ocean, Daniel Webster, when in its
calm, but how if strong northcr had blown
over it, or hurricane of the tropics had stirred
its unsounded depths That mighty reason,
that majestic brow, that sovereign brow and
eye; that fountain of eloquent feeling, passion,
Imagination, which seems to me never to have
been compile tely comprehended upon this earth,
fathomess as a sea, and like that, demanded the
breaking up of the monsoon or the attraction
of those heavenly bodies, the lights of the world
to raise them fully and adequately, to what tri-
umphs of eloquence man ever witnessed, were
these mighty facilities unequal!
Great applause,)
Assisted by that unrivalled organ, the Greek
language of Demosthenes, would he not have
rolled an equal thunder and flashed an equal
flame? Would he not have breathed virtue in
to decaying Greece and turned back for time
the inevitable hour? And when the pillars Of
Roman liberty were shaken, would not their
last great champion have welcomed him as an
ally worthy of the cause? And was he not the
man to stand by Adams and to second the mo-
ton which has made its illustrous mover inn
mortal among men? When reason was con-
vinced, the conscience was instructed, would he
not have swept, with his all-commanding pow
er, the grander passions of grief, Indignation,
self-sacrifee and the love of country; and then,
as the independence of America gimmered
through the future, would he not, with a soul as
triumphant, a tongue as confident, and heart
of prophesy as sure as on alater festive day. he
did on the rock of the Pilgrims, bid distant gen.
erations Hail, and come,'"
WTr AM TT apprN-Ees -Thern is No necessary