Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1858-07-13
OF non. RUFUS CHOATE.

gentleman. SouTH-oiDE
Examiner and South please copy.
GRAFTON OF HON. Rufus CHOATE.
The Grafton delivered by the Hon. Rufus Choate
before the Young Mems Democratic Association of
Boston, on Monday, fills six columns Of the New York
papers. 1t lie a mastery effort. We presen. the open
Ing and closing passages:
at is well that in one year, 80 busy. go secular, go
5iscordapt, there comes one day when the world IL,
and when the emotion is, our county, our whole
country and nothing bat our country 1t ls Well that
favour only Sovereign on earth-uu'y, not less the
daughter of God, not less within ia sphere supreme,
custom not old alone. but houored and useful, memo
ries. our heart, have set Il tline in ~which-scythe.
loom and anvil stiiled, wharve- silent, the h1g-our lag
unrent-the flag OF oar glory and concentration
waving on mast head, s'eeple and highland, W. may
come together, aud walk hand in hand, thoughtful,
admirinr, through thcse galleries OF civil greatness:
when We may own together the spell OF one hour oi
our history upon Us all; when faults may be forgotten,
kindness revived, virtues remembered and sketched
unblamed; when the arrogance OF reiorm, the excess-s
of reform, the strtes o: parties, the rlvairleS OF regions,
shall give place 10 a wider, warmer aud Juster senti-
ment: when, turning from the corners and dark places
of offensiveness, if such tho candle lighted by ms!ig'
nity, or envy, or ceusoriouaness, or truth has revealed
anywhere; when, turning from these, We msy go up
together to the serene and secret mountain top, and
there pause, aud there unite in the reverent e1clama
ton aud in the e1ultant prayer: How beautiful at last
are Thy tabsrnacles What people ut last Is like unto
Thee! Peace be within Thy palaces and JOY within
Thy gates. The high places are Thine and there
shalt Thou stand proudly, and innocently, aud Sc
ourely.
Happy if such a day shall not be desecrated by our
service! Happy If for US that descending sun shall look
out on q more loving, more elevated, more united
America. These, no less, no narrower, be the aims OF
our celebration. These always were the true aims OF
this celebration. In lie origin, a recital or defence oi
the grounds and the principles Of the Revolution, now
demanding aud permitting no deience-al TAKEN Tor
granted, aud all had by hear; then sometimes wasted
in a parade of vain-glp-y, cheap and vulgar; some
times profaned by the attack and iepulse OF partisan
aud local rhetoricians; lie grea! work ne distinctive
character and its chief lessons remain and vlndicate
themselves. and will do so while the eyes OF the fight.
ing or the dying shall ye, read on the stainless. ample
fo!ds the sup.rscription blsz ,ng still! IN light: Liberty
and Union, now and forever, oile and lnseparsbIe.'
81 had something to say more directly still Oh the
ethics of nationality, on tho duty oi lDstructlng the
coincidence, on the crimes OF treason, and SANDER, aud
fraud that are committed around u IN liz name, on
the Hhailowness and stupidity OF tt- doctrine that ths
mere moral sentiments, trained by r inere moral dis
cipline. may safely guide the complex ciVli ills OF the
teachers aud studies which they need TO NJ them for
40 precious, difficult and delicate a dominion; of the
high place in The scale Of duties, which, thus fitted,
they assign 10 rationality; OF The judgement which,
thus fitted, they would apply TO ohs or two oil the
common places and practices OF the tina.
Butt pass il all TO say only that thes. ethics teach
the true subordination, aud tho true reconciliation OF
apparently iucomprehensible duties Ihese only are
the casuists, or the safest casuists tor Us. Learn from
them how TO adjust this conflict between patriotism
and philanthropy. Thus, indeed, ih-re seems 10 be no
conflict, for we are philanthropi-tt i'll proportion a.
we are uniobisis. Our philanthropy we venture TO
say, lie a true philanthropy. That l. all. 1t loves all
men, it respects all rights. keeps all compacts, recOg
nizes all dangers, pities all sufterings, ignores no iac!;
master and slave ii en.olds alike.
at happens thus, that il contractsthe sphere OF our
duty somewhat, aud changes not the nature but the
times, the places, the mode OF performing them; 1t
does not make our love cold, bu II makes il cafe; IL
naturalizes il, it baptisps il into our life, Il circum
scribes il within our capaci,i g sud necessities, 1t sets
on it the great national public sea. If you say that
thus our patriotism limits our philanthropy, | answer
ours is American philanthropy. BE this the virtue
we boast, and this the name by which we know It.
at this name, in this quality, lind the standard and
the utt-rsnce of the virtue Itself. BY this, not by
broad phylacteries and chief sects; the keener hate,
the gloornier fanaticism, the louder cry, Judge, com.
pare, subordinate. Do they think that nobody is q
philanthropi-t but themselves2 We, too, look up the
long vista, and gaze, wrspt nt the dazzling ascent;
We, too, se towers rising, crowned, imperial. ana the
tribes coming 10 bend in the opening of a better day.
Bat we sse peace, order. RECOMMENDATION OF rights along
that frightening future.
ave trace all along thu. succession of reform, the
presiding Observation-Disclosures oi national lie. we zee
our morality working itself clearer and clearer; one
historical or conventional right or wrong after another
falling peacefully and still; we hear the chain break
ing, but ,here in 10 blood on Il; none of his whom 1t
bound; none OF hs who put il on him; we hear the
swol,ins chorus OF the tree, but Lla-ter and slave
uui,s in thH chorus, and there Is no discordsut shri.k
above the harmony; We see and We hail the blending
OF our own glory with the eternal light of God, hut
we see, too, shapes of love and beauty ascending aud
descending ther. US in the old vision.
'lIold fast this hope d'-'rust the philanthropy,
distrust the ethics which wuu.i, which must, turn II
into shame. Do no evil that good may come. Perform
your share, for you have Is share, IN the abolition
Slavery; perform your share, for you have q share in
the noble and generous sirite of the sections, but per
form it by keeping, by transmitting, n united, loving
and Christian America.
"Bu, why, st last. Go l exhor,, and why 90 I eeem
10 tear, on such a day as this' Is it not the nations
birthday Is i, not this country OF or love and
hopes which celebrities i'll This music OF The Glad
march, these banners ct pride and beauty, these
memories so fragrant, these resolutions oil patriotism,
30 thoughtful, these band pressed, these cohgretu.A-
lions and huazas a! 4 tears, this great heart ;arob-
bling 8udibiy-sre they lot hers, All do they not as
sure US
These forests Of mssts. these singing workshops
of labor. these fields AID plantations whitening Tor
the harvest. THE peace and plenty. this sleeping
founder, these bolts IN the closed, strong talon, do
not they al! tell US OF her health, her strength n;.d
future This shadow that Tits across our gT:sses
and is gone, this shallow ripple that darkens ihe
surface OF our broad and widening stream, anf pass.
es away this little perturbation which our ieiesc"I-
cannot find, ana which oG. sciences can hardly hnc.
but which We know cannot change the c"u!se or has
zen the doom of one star; have these any terror Tor
us7 And ua who SAUNDERS not, nor sleeps, who
keeps watchful!y the City OF his love, Oh whose wi!
:he life Of nations is Suspended, and to whom ali The
shields OF tho earth belong, our fathers God, IL he not
our God, and OF whom then, aud of what shsll We
be afraid 7"