New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-10-17
GRIT
A LECTURE BY EDWIN p. wHIPPLE.
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A LECTURE BY EDWIN p. WHIPPLE.
The opening lecture Of the course Of eg in aid o.
New-Yoik Regiments was given in Irving Hall on
Tuesday evening by F. P. Whpple Of Boston. The
nall was about half filed, and il ID needless 10 add
the audience were very attentive, occasionally
aprlaudiug a well-put thought striking exposition
u a prin,iple. Mr.. Whipple subject was GIT,
a word suggestive to some organizations OF teeth
" set on cOge, bot Of which the lecturer sad there
was defiance in the very gOund. Gr1t was snlil aud
" III thrust into heart and backbone 20 ~ to form
part Of the physical substance Of = an pr.
johnson was a sample Of tue effect
of grit on socisl life. Wherefore lacked
tlis quality. His Abolitonism tofiened down r.
The com, any If Cabinet Miuitters. Proceeding from
so,il lite 10 buiness life the lecturer said tGt ths
ruin which overlook merchants was not 20 much
from iack Of business talent as OF business nerve. a
man wac thought a cuunudgeon if he would not ruin
iimrclf TO ylease others, and fool if he did. Ia
busness tie perfection OF git wos saying NO, and
laying il with such an empha,is a. TO scare OIL all
usr les and spouger. In public HE bone Will orain
would carry against brain without backbone. lying
an o. iuion 10 a mans tongue would not make him
representative OF that opinion. After the conflict,
lis name would not be found among the dead or the
wounsed, but among the missing. TIE true motto
was measures in r.en, Calhoun and Webster, ia
their speeches in 1873 on the question whether the
Constitution was q compact between sovereign
S,stes furnished rare examples Of gr1t. There was
really the most deadly autugouism; II wac tbe tug
uf soul viii SOUL and each felt that defeat
wonld be worse than death. Carlyle, IN his
Intense hatred Of the eighteenth century ex-
auy,r Of git taking eccentric drec i3ni and ~
bis lat work he had sild q Ut the only sensible
tliug that century ever did 10 blow oct it, OWL
brains ia the French Revolution. Some people re-
piled 10 . que.lou, some 90 the motive. Il was g1i
IN Luther that prompted biz rely to the skeptic.
questlOb--where God was before lie was M b aven
He was build ng tell fer such idle, presumI tuou-
fools as VOL" Grit sometimes gave . seventy "a
character that was not always attractive. Til.
effect was seen in the reiOrners VI abuses, a. q tt
PRAYER OF their Indignant morality occasionally was:
- Almighty God, condemn them, for they kgDa
what they do" In religion, John Knox -tena' ious
pug1iaC ous thoroughly honest, and thoroughly n
surnest-was an example Of grit. - was Oliver
Cromwell, a fanatic, politician, demsgogue, apc
a dictator, seeking The Kingdom OF heaven, b1'
determined to take the Kingdom Of England by the
way Nhatever he dared 10 think be dared to do
The responsibility for BIS acts be threw on the GOI
If battles aud on the God Ci-CrOmwell. lie WA
rather an exam pie Of git than OF beroism. In con-
dnsou. tie lecturer said that M character wat
worth having that lacked the persistency and de
termination given by gTit No one should 90 creep
ipp and erin cling sbout the world ~ il be ma
ure's sycophant, begging night TO exist; but rather
by indomable grit show bOi only Thai be kuoWs
something, but that he 70 something Our country
WIS engaged in q deatb-gspple; let not the weak
aud timid cry for pence while all the strong and hon
ct were tor war. To hint that DAVIS would cue
coed was not only Iecreancy 70 Freedom, but bias
uhemy against God. Anything was betier than ia
he M Ger the insOeut domination horde OF slave
holders Our consent 20 that would never be gwen,
aud ID could never be extJrted.
But little justice can be done a lecture Of this kind
in sketch, as much Of its beauty and power lay in
Us striking forms Of expression.