The weekly Anglo-African. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1859-1861, 1859-10-22

more apparent than the general failure of
clever mediocrity He who was born to
achieve and conquer was rarely discouraged
by rising obstacles and opposing difficult
ties. If an army was to oppose Hannibal,
it must be led by bronze Scipio. View
ed in the grade of the mere animal, man
was the most helpless creature in the en-
tire range of creation; but when moved
under the divine inspiration of human
homes. his achievements had no limit. We
could not get away from thel popularl IN
stinct that true greatness is always coupled
with gravity. We could not brook the
idea of testing, laughing Washington, or
a witty Webster; yet he did not doubt that
Washington had laughed and enjoyed a
Joke, and he knew that Webster INDUCED
in the humorous; yet these were not their
leading characteristics.
The truly great soul must be actuated by
some lofty purpose. Greatness was only
developed and demonstrated by being in
advance of its time. When Calico first
taught the revolution of the earth round
the sun, the wiseacres of his day feared
that the Bible would be overthrown by his
doctrine, and that universal infdelity would
follow; yet, instead of this, the whole civ
ilized world now accepted the theory for
which Calico was prosecuted, and, withal,
Christianity had more devotees at its shrine
today than at any former period.
We might safely include simplicity of
manner as characteristic of human great
ness. Henry Clay, in his private life, was
one Of the most quiet and civil of gentle
men. John G. Calhoun was one of the
most simple and straightforward men the
the speaker had ever met with. Some
thought that Webster had possessed an
austere reservation; yet this was but a
mood The names of John Quincy Adams,
Silas Wright, .and others, were instanced
to corroborate his argument in favor OF
simplicity of manner, in this connection.
On the other hand, sham greatness was al
ways indicated by vulgar, boisterous pre-
tense. The vernacular of our streets,
which the lecturer said was poetry not yet
fossilized, was largely quoted from and
pungently applied, to illustrate this coun-
terfeit greatness. True greatness was de-
picted as giving its possessor the power of
surmounting defeat and the worlds dis
dain. He doubted not that John Milton,
in his blindness and poverty, despised and
hooted at, had felt himself infinitely hap
pier than, and superior in all respects to,
the laughing, licentious, Aattered Charles
H., by whose court he was scoffed and de-
rided. 1t was a sad condition for man to
be so great in his own estimation as to feel
it incumbent upon him to appear to the
world to know everything, as the profitable
result was that under such circumstances,
he would never find time to learn anything.
Men might be what they would-asses if
they preferred Tin which particular he felt
many would be left without any choice of
being anything else but it was sad
waste of life to affect to be forever what
they are not. There was one aspect of
greatness which was discouraging. In look
ing over the past, we were presented with
types of greatness which we could never
hope to equal, much less excel. Whether
we looked on the ancient field of histori-
ans, poets, architects, sculptors, or painters,
we should be overawed with the greatness
that to us seems beyond the reach of the
present. Yet this was not the philoso-
piers view to take of these legacies of the
past Rather should we accept them for
our aids in prosecuting the new achieve
ments that are reserved for the future. AS
in the past, so in the future, greatness
would be submitted to the fires of perse-
cution. We mistook if we supposed that
in our extreme intelligence and civiliza-
ton the course of man to high and no.
BILE purposes was not still as of old, over
burning plowshares, or that the cross did
always precede the crown.
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