Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1858-08-16

Old Observation-Disclosures mother of American liberty,
ana the generous patron Of art science, and literature
/ free institutions.
| GOV. BANKs's SPEECH.
| Mr. President 1t would be idle for me to
say that had not antie pated the call which
you make upon me today. The presence of
any person at public festival seems to be
taken, under our much abused custom, as
sufficient evidence of his readiness to make a
| speech upon any or or every subject. But
surely 1 may be permitted to say that L had
not looked for such kind illusions as you
have made, nor have power to make fitting
| Acknowledgements for the generous response
which they drew from the company present,
Visiting this beautiful town, and participant
ing in the college festival, for the first time, L
can say without reservation that it has been
to me source of hearty qualification.
The institutions of our beloved Common
wealth, for which you bid me speak, are not
less various than important. She has extend
| ed her fostering and generous care to the in
| dusttial pursuits of her children, and these
labors have been thus crowned with the
| highest industrial honors. No class of her
citizens has escaped her watchful care. For
the unfortunate who have been bereft of rea-
son for those to whom, by the dispensations
| of Providence, the divine light of reason has
| been denied; for those who, by whatever
chance, have been deprived of support, the
Commonwealth has, as it were, re-estabish-
ed the institution of the family, and has her.
self discharged every parental duty. No State
has more impartialy expounded necessary
| laws, or enforced with greater rigor, the re-
cognition Of individual and public rights.
But that care which she has given to edu-
cational interests has a stronger claim upon
ntlr off No all
cherish feeling of honorable pride, as we
watch the expansion of youthful intellect, en-
tering the primary schools, and strengthen
ing with different courses of instruction, un
til it exhibits to delighted friends that prof.
cheney and matured power, which we have
witnessed day. l am confident sir, if the
people OF the Commonwealth, tor whom l
may speak upon this occasion, could hear
what l have heard, and feel what have felt
today, as the young men who have been un-
der your charge have received their academic
honors, and entered the arena of more vigoT-
Gus and manly contests, they could never re-
greet the restricted bounty granted to Am
herst College, and which has been made
available to the college by such munifcent
benefactions as those OF the disting uished cit-
zen who honors us by his presence, and to
which you have already referred,
Such grants, private or public, may be safe
ly made. 1 feel that men are created here.
The very atmosphere fills one with refreshing
vigor. That eye must be dead to natural
beauty, which can fall unmoved upon such
landscapes as those which meet us on every
side, hill resting upon hill, until summit and
cloud are united, and enclosing a valley, itch
in the varied products of human industry,
and diversified with the beauties of nature
and art. The young gentlemen have given
us the best evidence that they have prohted
by the liberality of the State, the munifcence
of citizens, the fidelity of instructors, and the
inspiring charms of scenery which surround
them. Such vigorous mental and physical
development, such freshness of thought, such
evidence of attainment, are rarely exhibited.
Would to God that every young man of the
Commonwealth those in the shops of TOLL
in our ships upon the sea, in the field, and in
the counting house, might be blessed as they
have been, with like privilege and opportuni-
ty. Then, sir, would we send forth an army
of young men, bearing in their diplomas, the
true patents Of nobility, and, regardless of
chimes or lands from which they may have
been drawn. made Americans through the le-
climate influence of this first of American
Institutions an army, not of six hundred.
like the Fabian TROOPS, but numberless as The
sands of the sea. aud like -~Oidi~-s of the
Roman general OnaneS patriot, Ounes etaitss
GENTS.
know not if the graduates of this day,
and those who will succeed them. appreciate
the Importance OF their position, the wealth
of intellectual attainment within their reach,
and the opportunities for honorable employ
ment offered them in the times in which they
live. In my judgment, more is offered to the
American scholar than to the student of any
other land. The life sacrifices of those who
were before him have placed him some centu-
ries in advance of other States, with opportu-
nifty to scan the movements of other nations,
and to test them by the principles of abstract
right, upon considerations of expediency, or
by the laws of God. Since Greece and Rome
ruled the world, instructed men have never
been charged with higher duties or graver re-
sponsibilities.
Who better than the American scholar can
reduce to their elements the political institu-
tons of other ages; or trace the rise OF States
out of that shadowy past in which nature
and man seem but one and the same creation /?
Who can better measure the rights of rulers,
and the necessities of the goveIneds Who
can better appreciate the possible security
| and freedom which are within the grasp of
| any people competent to construct and will
| ing to submit to laws of their own creation.
and with whom unforced religion and univer-
| sal education accompany with consolation
| and counsel the steady march of life from the
cradle to the graves Who better than the
| American scholar, inspired by the study of
the history of his own country, can anaiyze
the past or predict the future of other States
| One whose eye, from some proud eminence,
| gathers at glance the various features of an
expanded country, may fail accurately to
measure the depths of ravine and chasm, but
his spirit is elevated to comprehension of
| that which is beautiful in nature. So the
| eye of the American scholar pierces the veil
which rests upon other empires and ages
| He has an equal power over the domain of
historic literature. He can trace with, greater
wisdom and impartiality, that intermingling
| of races, histories, customs, and laws, which
occurs in Saxon and Norman legends, and
from which spring so many of our own insti-
| tutions and theories, and which have here at
tanned their fullest development. 1t may be
| questioned whether the true history of Sax
ON or Norman will ever be written, until it is
accomplished by an American hand, as Pres
colt has penetrated the web of mystery that
rested upon Spanish America, and as the
young man Motley has illuminated the less
understood career of the Dutch Republic
Who could better narrate the campaigns OF
elucidate the strategy of Turenne, Eugene,
Marlborough, Frederick, or Napoleon, than
the American soldier, scholar, and statesman,
Winfield Scott 7
In addition to such fields Of honorable en-
ployment, the American people, by geograph.
ical position and political necessity, have the
deepest interest in the code of international
| law. The law of nations has not been sud.
denly created. 1t has followed the slow