Wilmington journal., 1873-07-18
Extract from General Clingnan's
Address :is Davidson College.

Extract from General ClingMan's
Address at Davidson College.
It was once M good fortune to wit
ness remarkable spectacle, the re- |
view of tie army of Italy, on its re- |
turn to Paris, on the 14th Of August, |
1859. The entire area of the magniti- |
cent Place Vendome was converted |
into an immense amphithe;'tre, with |
velvet cushioned seats, and graceful |
hangines of crimson and gold, and gay |
festoops, and countless flags, and or
nate columns, surmOunted with gi1ded |
statues of victory. Between the great |
triumphal column of Napoleon the
First and the balcony of the Empress,
formed of Goth of crimson and gold,
and alike tasteful and splendid, there
vas barely left space enough for the
army to pass. And as the $4,000
picked men, covered with fresh green
laurels of Magenta and Solferino, with
elastic step, came along down the Rue
de La Paix. their glittering bayonets,
gilded by the sunbeams, reminded me
of field of ripe grain, gently waving
swept by, with cheering shouts and
the music of a hundred bands, and
their varied equipments and arms, in
fantry, voltiguers, zouaves, Turcos,
guards Imperial, artillery, mailed and
crested cavalry, with captured cannon,
and banners, dinted or torn, fitting
| trophies of victory.
Looking at their splendid array,
| with its imposing and gorgeous sur
roundings, and that immense assem-
| blage of intelligent and polished spec
tatOrs, such as the modern civilization
| of Europe and America could alone
furnish, [ felt confident that that days
pageant surpassed any that had hith-
erto been presented to the eye of man.
The Roman triumphs came up in fancy
before NE, and remembering that
Caesar had won the empire OF the world
at Pharsalia with only twenty-five
thousand men, q victory which any one
of the batteries then passing would, if
used against him, have converted into
a defeat, [ compared the display before
me with that which the narrow streets
and comparatively rude population of
Rome could have furnished
AS the strains from one of the mar
tial Lands filled the air, my mind went
back suddenly to the first Roman tri-
umph, when Romulus in his robe of
state, and with laurel crown on his
brows, singing song of triumph,
) marched along on foot and carried on
his right shoulder, suspended on an
oaken trophy, the arms OF King Acron,
whom he had slsin in single combat.
. How much did not the small band OF
desperate outlaws admire the Gred.
Ronuitts, as with stalwart frame and
martial head be strobe along to the
temple of Jupiter Feretrius Was he
: not elated and happy in the thought
| Iat ht,l la1 ,l,t ln
ward OF human ambition ? Was Ma
poleon, the arbiter Of Europe, more
happy OF all the spectators in thai
bright thronc, he alone was deeply
r thoughtful and melancholy. Why was
+ this ? \ man confident of his owl
: destiny, and ut all times void Of per
/ sonal fear, he could not on that da,
apprchond the sharp shot or the eS
, ploslve shell Of the assassin. Was he
5 depressed by the thought that hi
D career had been interrupted and tha
, he had failed to make Italy free from
: the Alps to the ALriatic ? Or was II,
+ meditatinG on the tickleness Of tn
/ breath of popular applause and dread
:, ing the upheaval of some new revoll
4 tionary earthquake ? Did hc fear t.
: fall from the giddy height he had at
II tanned, or did he simply realize tn
- trutl: that he who has climbed 30 th
h topmost rolInl of the ladder of ambi
# ton, often seems to the public to sim
o because he does not continue to ris
d still higher Or did the shadows O
t coming events, mysteriously and b.
s strange anticipation, darken his mind
e | know not but neither the gorgeou
It display around, nor the triumpha
1t march, nor the spirit stirring trumpet o
! l,
II his soldiers, as they cheered their vic
e torious commander, could change tha
! thoughtful countcnance. Only one
IL was 1t lit. for 4 moment, with a smile
II when his little son, in the uniform c
st a corporal, WAS brought from the sid
d Of the Empress and placed ON hi
!, horse before him.
Ie Twelve years passed by, and tha
- majestic column, of more durable ms
1t terials and grandee height than thos
IS of Trajan OF ArtoninUs, had fallen
:. the earth by the hands and amid til
c shouts OF a beastly multitude VIII
l. We're tar more vocitarous than the
)f had been on the day when they cheer
d ed the imperial arbiter of Europe
= His armies were all captured or val
y qulshed and he a prisoner in a foi eig
% land, dying with as much pain as di
g his greater uncle.
> Pharaoh III the Red Sea; Nebucha6
) neZzar among the cattle; Alexande
y the Macedonian, dying in drunkel
+ fit; Hannibal in exile, by poison
II Julius Caesar stabbed by his friends
IS the two Napoleons captives, sinkin
st under gloomy defeat and painful dis
lie etse;-these are, by consent Of MAJ
> kind, the chiefest representatives {
l. human greatness and glorvl
8 Which of them, young gentlemen
e do you envy the most, and which wi
Il you choose for your model? AS /
IS the case of the Babylonian monarch
l. may not all these examples have bee
Il provided Ito the intent that the livin
If may know that the Most High rulet
d in the kingdom OF men, aud giveth
C to whomsoever he will, and scttetl
% over it the basest OF men,