New-York tribune., 1874-06-24
HARVARD MEMORIAL HAL
THE DEDICATION EXERCISES.
ORATIoN BY CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS-POEM
LID Ix,rp urNnRII u0I MRs

worthy the College aud the noble monument which Its
Alumni have erected to commemorate Its dead
Ihe exercises were simple, fitting and impressive
| lhe noble exterior Of tho building Is familiar
10 the public who have universally admired Its grand
proportions. while its magnificent tower, rising 200 rect
above the Cambridge Plain, has become landmark to
aapproachDg Boston the westerly side The Interior
however, has only been revealed In all It's beauty
Inc elect OF tho memorial vestibue, with its high,
wanted roof co feet above tho marble pavement its
Two great stained glass windows each like glowing.
gittering mass OF Jewels its noble Latin inscriptions:
ts long line Of marble tablets its two grand staircases
| It's daik finish and rich wood carving. is solemny
| impressive. contrast to this is found In the
grand dining hail. with its cheerful aspect, flooded with
heht on every side, and Its great trusses spring
| ing gracefully from the side walls. That feel
ing OF newness which rs apt to strike one
with painful vvdness In most structures just erected
Is absent here. The great pile II 1t were built
win history. indeed 1t One feature which
contributes TO this Is the Of portraits and busts OF
the past Presidents and other dgnares OF the College,
the ancient eigies looking harmony with the
noble oak than the plastered walls OF old Harvard Hail.
IL was hled to-day by audience which numbered over
1900 persons On the platform sat the officers and over
eers just In front OF It, an array OF gray boards and
bald heads with the light dresses and attire OF the
ladies' on either sde aud the younger graduates crowd
| ing in the rear
The exercises opened with the Halleujah Chorus from
Beehovens Mount Of Olives" sung by select choir
from tho Handel and Uaydn Society, with music by the
Germania Band. This followed by long
and earnest prayer by tho Rev. DIR. Bellows,
which was perfectly inaudible in the Of the
hail. on account Of the rush OF undergraduates trying
to get inside the hall. When this noise was quieted.
however 1t evident that the acoustic properties OF
the hall very fine. The reports OF the Building
and tho General Committees followed, after another
chorus and then the address delivered by the Hon.
Charles Francis Adams
Its deep thought and advanced ideas held the earnest
and constant attention of those OF the vast audience
who were within hearing distance. IL was not long
enough TO be tedious it seemed to be the universal
opinion that 1t was worthy Of its author.
GRAFTON OF CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.
Mr.. Adams spoke in substance as follows:
We gather In oil haunts so long cOnse-
Grated 10 the arts OF peace All around note the
evidence Of constant expansion going on during two
centuries and half of uncessng labor to multiply IA
ces for developing the sovereign powers Of intellect
and Of conscience implanted in our race.
Here, If anywhere the globes surface, we are
bound TO respre nothing less than the pure atmosphere
OF law. o. that law which Richard Hooker long ago
stamped upon the memory Of US all, as being the har-
mony Of the world. which both angels and men with
uniform consent admire the mother OF their peace
anG JOY. Her seat IS III the bosom OF God.
When is the lesson OF obedience more positive than
pending progress to maturity Discipline Is as in
separabe from the advancement OF peaceful ciyiliza-
tion the absence Of Is the forerunner OF its decline
All are so conscious of this truth tnat the repei
ton like the vapid commonplace. Yet it is
equally that day passes, hour, nor even
perhaps a minute in which IL Is not violated by some
body in every civilized community, however small.
Passions have been implanted In man well as reason
And when passions reused by objects OF desire not
permitted by reason they apt to set it asde and
secure them at all hazards by resort to force.
HOW WAR COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED.
This is In the early days OF the French revOlu-
tion, when the popular passions dehed all discipline
whatever, a silver coin issued bearing upon its
face a figure Of giant Hercules uphodmg two feeble
feminine representatives of liberty and equality shak-
ing hands with one her, the whole surrounded with
the ominous motto, Union ct Force" The emblem Ia
alarming obvious inequality OF the parties In
separation, as the progress OF that revolution
showed. effective antagonist of force
stimulated by the PASSIONS and that Is force directed
by law. Herein lies the only possible justification of
The alternative is indeed painful one. Yet the obl
CATION apycars to be absolute where force above the
law entails an imminent personal danger. to anticipate
effect by earlier application o superior fOrce ana
thus reinsIate the rule or law.
rule been observed at the worry outset OF the
amentabe dssenson of 1850. we should perhaps have
had no occasion To explain the reason why we so
highly honor memory Of young martyrs, or TO
trymen ninetenths OF whom never really bore malice
to each other.
It's no part Of nv purpose TO enter upon an exam
nation OF the merits OF this conflict Enough for tho
immediate occasion to that the difference had Its
origin In practice onnenccd IN the barbarous
times. which In the present iay Will be found
likely to defend, for the inception of which In America
neither side was responsible. WHAT wish to affirm
spropos TO the present occasion i and do it from SIN
cere conviction founded upon some means OF observa-
that down to the very uoment of the breaking out
Of hostities there had been at no time and nowhere
any spirit of enmity engendered between those who
ultimately fought with each other which would natu-
rally have prompted To such exremities. Nay,
will 90 further aud boldly asseverate that in no con
aet OF the kind which have read or heard OF, In
annals OF mankind, was there more general aver
sion the great body OF the people involved III 1t to
resort to violence than in this. This remark mean to
apply quite fully citizens Of the Slave States,
excepting perhaps the single case OF South Carolina as
TO those OF The Free States How much hard labor was
spent by few hotheaded and despera spirits concen-
rated at Washington and Few other eapi,a.s u tue
States by studied Misrepresentation OF the intentions
OF the party then coming into power to spreaa ailena-
ton among their constituency, aud now iittle they
conceived the possibility eDtallug upon themselves
by their action, the gigantic struggle when followed
the passions the people the larger States could not
be stirred up neither could deririye step nave Deen
except resorting to contrivances he most
marked of this the dramatic DISCHARGE OF
a gun nominay against Fort sumter. put aimed Dy
yrgnian much directly at the reluctant and wa
yering ajority Of the Convention Of his own state 1t
was this act ahich completed the alienation But tue
performers little conceived that at the same instant
they had overcome the almost ethargic aversion of
great multtudrs every where in the Free States TO
credit the possibility Of the prevalence OF any such
| hostility at ALL outside OF South Carolina
have ventured upon what some OF you'may THINK an
| irrelevant topic on tnis occasion for two reasons.
The first 10 show that time prior to the war or
since has any deep seated exist
ing between any considerable number OF people, let
where tney may. ience there Is no danger To
IA complete restoration Of good feeling from eeyatng
| memorials Of this KIND.
The second, to show that In the commemoration now
made honor Of the youth whose fate IL was " perish