Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1873-07-10
ADDRESS
HON. VIM. LAWRENCE,
Delivered Before the PhilOsOphic
Society of Franklin College,
Thursday, june goth, 1873.

Delivered Before the PhilOsOphic
Society of Franklin College,
Thursday, june goth, 1873.
Gentlemen ofthe PhiLosophic Literary
Society Nearly thirty-five years have
passed away since the Faculty of
| Franklin College conferred the degree
of Bachelor of Arts upon those who
composed the graduating class of which
was the junior mornber. In now re-
turning for the first time to the classic
scenes of boyhood days, L come to you
with mingled emotions, somewhat
similar to those which Ossian described
as pheasant, yet melancholy to the
soul" When we turn to the college
roll of years gone by, and reflect that as
to some of those whose names adOrn it
| the places which once knew them here
shall know them no more forever, the
memories OF the past, can not fail to
| bring shade of sadness. When We
turn to the venerated names of men,
bers of the Faculty whose presence in
other days luminous with science, and
shed a halo of glory on "Old Franklin" !"
but reflect also that some of these now
crest from their labOrs," the retrospect
brings with it no less of sOlemnity.
But all this is alleviated very much
by the grateful reflection that the
students and members of the Faculty
whose presence will greet US no more
did not live in vain. The good they
have done lives after them. would
not discriminate by invidious distinc-
tions where all did so well. AS class
of men collectively and generally, they
deserve the plaudit, "well done, good
ard faithful servants" II l may al
lude to one of the venerable and vener-
ated Professors whose history is insepa-
rably connected with that of Franklin
! College-one only as in some degree
sample of others, and indeed of all =
1 may say that the name of John
Armstrong will ever be cherished by
all who knew him, and in the sphere
of Mathematical science, will be i'm
mortal. 1 may reiterate from
sketch ofthe early history of Franklin
College," prepared in June, 1870, by
my distinguished friend, DIR. ]. B.
Johnston, what has been so well said
that '"'the Mathematical Diary of
Europe graduated Professor Arm
strong, with much higher honers than
did the scholars and the schools of his
own native land, because as thinker
"a writer for European Mathematical
Journalism eXplicatOr and solver of
the most difficult and complicated
tproblems-he ste cd prominent among
/ the very first scholars of the Universi-
Ilties of Great Britain and the continent"
It is to be regretted that more of his
works have not been published. He
was indeed so unpretentious, so unam-
bilious, that he knew not his almost
matchless attainments and capacity
AS compared with the multitude of
master minds in that field of science to
which his life was devoted, it is not
too much to say, he deserved all the
| high eulogism which the wealth of
lPollock's poetical genius attributed to
the grasp and grandeur of Byron's
majestic intellect. In the works of
Armstrong and those of bis pupils, in
cluding Joseph Ray, "the world re-
| nowned author of mathematical text
| books" we may say for him in the
| words of the dying Webster, 81 still
live;" or, in the grander strains Of
| Horace: -it t G H.
! s' E:regi Dao,,uaae'at,tna acre perenai,ts.
: The labors Of the living Faculty and
Alumni of Franklin College are not
yet finished. The time has, therefore,
not yet arrived to speak all tina: should
and will be said, have had a some
| what extensive acquaintance with
many of the ablest men whose elo.
aquence in the pulpit, at the bar, in leg
iSlative halls, and in popular assem-
| blages, has thrilled not this land only,
but on many occasions both hemis-
pheres. And L speak only what 1
know when i say that in all the noble
and grand qualities which adorn the
learned Professions, the departments of
literature and science, and the useful
pursuits of life, franklin College has
sent out men who have taken equal
| rank with the ablest and the best,
whose labors and whose lives have
adorned our national history.
A brief reference has been made to
some of these in the historical sketch
to which / have already referred. And
again, without intending to detract
from the well earned fame of the living
or dead Al,tnlIi of our common Alma
Mater, without pretending to speak of
the great and good qualities in which
so many of them have attained a lofty
eminence, may refer to two only who
in the rare and wonderful power of
eloquence, attained surprising degree
of excellence. .a.. .... - ..
One of these with a worldwide fame
has as q gifted orator shone resplendent
as star of the first magnitude in the
political galaxy. He may justly
claim the title of "the silver-tongued
orator of the American Congress. -
His e6quence is not as the meteor flash
which "blazes and expires" but it
comes with persuasive and continued
charm and force, marking out and il
Illuminating o pathway resplendent
with light, and beauty and glory, re-
sistless in its power to please and con-
vince. None who hear can fail to
listen, and to these he revives the age
of Cicero again. That is John A. Bing-
Another, much less known to fame
it would seem almost "bOrn to blush
unseen"-is an orator of different
type. If he could have been made
conscious of his own power, and would
have accepted some of the always open
opportunities for its exercise, 1 can not
divine what lofty emincnce he might
have reached. His was the capacity to
revive the age of Demosthenes, and
WELD the lofty and sublime elOquence
of Webster. / remember on one Occa-
sion in lS47 when, as a member of the
Ohio House of Representatives, he re-
resisted the application Of husband
for a legislative divorce from his wife,
on the ground of insanity which had
carried her to the asylum for the in
sane. With unanswerable logic he
denied the constitutional power of the
Legislature to dissolve the marriage
contract. He argued with more than
the philosophic force of Hume, the al
most indissoluble obligation of the
the marriage relation. Tears gushed
unbdden from almost every eye as he