The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-08-19

the wish Of excelliDg. But there 10 an
essential difference in its direction. CR'
saT'B ambition was NOT subordinate tqshn
II took the LEAD in. us AdeehonSi
Il electrified his Boul and bFeathed ~
every action. He chose rather 70 qe
doomed 70 everlasting fame than quietly
to fecline on virtue, and rest in oblivion.
Had there been other conquegts Tor
Caesar 10 achieve; had not the Roman
empire touched the Two extremes
Of the then known world, he bad
never borne arms against his cOun:
try. But he aimed at conquest, and
no conquest remained but that Of the.
Roman State. He would undoubtedly
have chosen 10 fight IN q more plausible
cause; il would have been highly pleasing
to him to have the laurel OF virtue
entWined in the Wreaths Of his greatness.
But, says Addison, his great fOreiAlhers had
left him nought TO conquer but his eoun-
try! Liberty therefore must bleed that the
pride OF q Caesar may be grat6ed!
In Washington ambition was a second
AIRY principle. 1t was subservient 10 bis
integrity, and rose and fell BY virtues
incest rules" An Indictment to exertion,
a spring to his patriotism, 1t added bril-
liancy to his merit and the force Of lntul'
ton to his genius. ~, Il,
lie united his own glory with the good
Of his country and every stroke Of his arm,
that added a laurel 10 his brow erected a
new pillar in the temple Of freedom:
Thus various are the effects OF ambition.
It can enslave q nation, or it can buHt the
munacles Of despOtism, and make the OPP
pressed rejoice; It can intuse the s0utot q
hyeua into the breast Of Cesar or breathe
the spirit OF Z celestial into the bosom oil
Washington. DAHL WEBSTER,
Dqrtm. College, Cd. Oh, 1900.
The above essay is good enough in It's
way, as Mark Twain said about the hand
writing Of Christopher Columbus when
shown some Of his manuscript at Genoa,
but, as he also said, I'VE have boys in
America only fourteen years old who can
write a. well rs that" So we might say,
that We have boys in the Lindsey Inst.
tute of this city, for instaucethe boys who
edited the Lindsey Echo last year, who
could quite equal the above article and
still not feel as II they had achieved ever
lasting fame, or were even on the high
road to immortal honors.
The second production has the merit Of
brevity as its conspicuous characteristic.
As we said, it was written in Webster's
graduating year at Dartmouth, and reads
as follows:
QUESTION.
Is deception ever justifable? That the
end i~Ustities the means is a doctrine too
pernicious in It's consequences to be gen.
orally admitted. But there are cases in
which the goOdt6 be obtained is far great
er than the evil resulting from the use OF
means otherwise wrong. So deception,
though commonly not iustihable, some
times produce so much good that VI are
warranted in the use Of it.
No one supposes, for example, that it is
wrong to deceive 4 mailman in order 10
disarm him; or 10 deceive ahighwayman
for the sake OF saving life; or TO use
stratagem in a Just a The eason l ep.
prehend to be this: the highwayman,
when he sets out on his business Of plum.
der expects that every man whom he as.
saults will deceive him If possible; the
author Of an unjust war, too, looks out for
stTatagem from the enemy. In these cases
deception has the nature Of . covenant
between the parties, and i, therefore,
every way %justida6le.
DANIEL wEssrRR.
DAETXoUTH CoELEGE, May 4th, 1901.
The above essays have now seen the
light for the first time, and We have no
doub: many persons will read them with
interest on account Of their illustrious au.
thor. But the most important and inter.
esting of all the manuscripts We found in
the collection alluded to was the following
letter from the great statesman to his
brother, Ezekiel Webster, announcing his
triumph in the celebrated Dartmouth Col.
lege case, before the Supreme Court ofthe
United States in 1919. The case is one OF
the best known in the annals OF the coun.
try, inasmuch as it settled a great princi.
pie Of law-vz-the inviolability Of char.
tiers, even charters granted las in this
easel by q foreign power prior to the for
nation OF our present form Of government.
The charter Of Dartmouth College was
granted by George the Third of England
in 1863, under a grant from the
Earl OF Dartmouth, and the 10 .called
Dartmouth College case grew out OF an
effort Of tile State of New Hampshire TO
invalidate the charter and establish upon
its ruins a University after a plan OF its
own. This attempted change was bitterly
resisted by the College, int in the State
Courts and afterwards in the Supreme
Court OF the United States. When the
decision was announced, Webster, who
had been the champion Of his alma mater,
sat down on the inspiration OF the moment
and wrote the following letter to his
brother:
Ny Dear E.
All Is safe. Judgment was rendered
this morning reversing the judgment in
New HsmpshiIe. Present, Marshall,
Washington, Livingstone, johnson, Duvai
and Storey, all conCnrring but Duval, and
he giving no reason to the contrary. The
opinion was delivered by the Chief Jus.
ticc. 1t wa very able and very elaborate.
1t goes the whole length, and It leaves not
an inch for the University to stand on.
Yours atfectionately,
D. wEBsTEE.
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The Proposed Extension OF the r.. W. 4