Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1859-03-17

YOUNG. as ye are, this youthful heat restrain,
Nor think your Nestor's years and wisdom vain.
A eodlikc of heroes once l knew,
Such more these angcd eyes shall view
Lives there a chief to match Pirithous' fame,
Dryas the bold or Ceneus' deathesS name;
Thcseus, cnducd with more than mortal might,
Or Poyphemus, like the gods in fight?
With these of old to tolls of battle bred,
In early youth my hardy days led;
Fired with the thirst which virtuous envy breeds,
And srnt with love of honorable deeds.
Strongest of men, they pierced the mountain boar,
Ranged the wild deserts red with monsters gore,
And from their hills the shaggy Centaurs tore.
Yet these with soft persuasive arts swayd;
When Nestor spoke, they listen'd and obey'd.
If in my youth e'en these esteem'd me wise,
Do you, young warriors, hear my age advise"
Such would seem to be the appropriate
position, at this time, of our venerable and
benevolent correspondent. They had here,
as in the present instance, just entered up
on the threshold of this renowned war-a
war of renown, not only in poetry, but in the
noble purpose Of avenging another's wrongs
and of extinguishing national guilt with ma
tional destruction. The members of the
maternal family are here confederated to
overthrow, by persuasion if we can or by
force if we must, universal despotism, to
establish a virtuous and universal freedom.
and avengc the universal and fragrant wrongs
of Gods downtrodden and degraded child
Iren. The great ocean of passion, by the
unbridled winds. has been broken into a
fury, the waves are rolling more than noun
tain high, until indeed their SUBMITS lick
the skies and there is now imminent danger
that our destiny and our genius are to be
lost to the world, and will be known here
after only in history and in song. Under
these circumstances master mind, benevo-
lent by natnre, wise from age and expert
Ience, must interpose, as did the immortal
Nestor of old, to allay the strife, to still the
commotion and call back the wandering and
excited passions to their wonted tranquility
and to an obedience to the law of their Crea-
tor. Est Tuum htes con,poncne-itis is your
province, venerable sir, to achieve this great
and good work and suffer not the hopes of
our common brotherhood to be wrecked a.
midst the turbulent and delusive throcs of
blind passion.
But, venerable, sir, this ancient war fur
nishes an analogy for another mission for
your age, wisdom, eloquence and influence.
Two of the most eloquent and influential Of
the Grecian chiefs assumed the task of re-
conciling and bringing to terms of peace the
hostile and contending nations. These
chiefs were the wise and matured Menelaus
and the comparatively youthful, vigorous,
eloquent and astute Ulysses. One of them
was honest, sincere, virtuous, benevolent
and wisc-this was the mature Menelaus :;
the other was crafty, subtle, tortuous, elo-
quent, persuasive and sophist-this was
youthful Ulysses. The calm and matured
judgment of the one tempered the vehement,
persuasive and unscrupulous subtilty of the
other. But letour great Poet again graphi-
cally delineate these two famous characters
in the following beautiful, brilliant and
glowing language:
'sThen Helen thus whom your discerning eyes
Have singled out, is Ithacus the wise:
A barren island boasts his glorious birth:
His fame for wisdom fills the spacious earth.
Autenor took the word, and thus began:
Myself, U king have seen that wondrous man,
When trusting Jove and hospitable laws,
To Troy he came, to plead the Grecian cause,
(Great Menelaus urged the same request y
My house was honour'd with each royal guest:
knew their persons, and admired their parts,
Both brave in arms, and both approved in arts.
Erect, the Spartan most engaged our view:
Ulysses, seated, greater reverence drew.
When Atreus' son harrangued the listening train,
Just was his sense, and his expression plain;
His words succinct, yet full, without a fault;
He spoke no more than just the thing he ought.
But when Ulysses rose, in thought profound,
His modest eyes he fixed upon the ground,
As one unskilPd or dumb, he seem'd to stand
Nor raised his head, stretch'd his scepter'd
hand:
But when he speaks, what elocution fows
Soft as the fleeces of descending SHOWS,
The copious accents fall with easy art
Melting they fall, and sink into the heart!
w hn1r and fJS31 ir6
Our ears rcfute the censure of our eyes,
Such is the glowing description of these
gifted men, by this inimitable Poet. There
was a nobleness Of purpose in this mission
which they, by the exercise of their joint
powers and joint influence, strove to execute.
The purpose was to save the further efusion
of blood, to heal the hostile divisions of a
common race allotted to common destiny :;
to arrest the further progress of disastrous
and bloody war, which could alone termi-
nate in injury, serious injury to one or ex-
termination to the other. The purpose of
their joint counsel and joint action failed
failed, according to the language of this po-
etical historian. by the DEGREES of the gods,
but in truth and reality on account of the
wilful perverseness of frail though beau
tiful woman; and although this wilful per-
verseness produced the destruction of ma
ton, yet it has furnished theme for theex-
ercise of the powers of the most gifted poet
that has lived; and stamped an Immortality
upon, and given name to, a nation that
otherwise would hardly have found place
in history. We are not to anticipate, vene-
rable sir, so disastrous a result in the pre-
sent contest-under the bright and glowing
light of this nineteenth century; yet the
distraction and divisions which have arisen
in this case are likely to produce perma-
nent estrangement between the two branch
es Of our family and may be attended by