Morning journal and courier., 1881-09-09
Inaugural Addresses.

Inaugural Addresses. 1 How Some Presidents Have InduIged i, the Classics.
 Cincinnati Enquirerl
 General Taylor, when President, nlthougI | the document was read and submitted to hi Cabinet, had sentence, (which was subse quently altered in the printed documents, il ! which it was boastingly averred that om
 country Twas at peace with all the world, J and "had amicable relations with the rest of mankind" When 'tall the world" was em- braced, 'fhe rest of mankind" must have been intended for the undiscovered country which John Gloves Symmes expected to bring to light from the ''bowels of mother earth.''
 The inaugural address of President Harri- son, well written and with many excellent things in it, was so much devoted to English classics and to Roman history as to create much sport It was document like Cover nor Dennison's, that one could safely swear
 by, for there was nothing in the heavens or
 on earth like 1t. Dennisons was ridiculous for its big and unmeaning words and his at
 tempt to show off his knowledge of a dead
 language, while that of General Harrison was
 almost as much laughed at from his drawing
 on Roman and Grecian history and the say
 ings of English authors.
 The inaugural. in it's first paragraph, de-
 clares an intention to present to the people a
 summary of the principles which would gov
 ern the new administration, and in doing this
 he thus commences:
 ''It was the remark of Roman consul in
 an early day of that celebrated republic, that
 a more striking contrast was observable in
 the conduct of candidates for offices of power
 and trust before and after obtaining them,
 they seldom carrying out in the latter case
 the pledges and promises made in the
 former. However much the world may have
 improved, in many respects, in the lapse of
 upward of 2,00O years since the remark was
 made by the virtuous and indignant Roman,
 I fear that strict examination of the
 annals of the modern electoral governments
 would develop similar instances of violated
 confidence"
 The President did this, no doubt, to pave
 the way for unavoidable breaking of promi-
 ses made in the heat of 8 canvass. If the
 custom of breaking promises and pledges by
 candidates existed in Rome 2,OOO years ago,
 how faithfully it has been transmitted to the
 present generation! Again, the inaugural, in
 relation to the political parties, says =
 'It was the beautiful remark of distin-
 guished English writer that in the Roman
 Senate Octavius had party and Anthony had
 a party, but the commonwealth had none.
 Yet the Senate continued to meet in the
 Temple of Liberty, to talk of the sacredness
 and beauty of the commonwealth, and to gaze
 at the statues of the elder Brutus and of the
 Custii and Decii, and the people assemble in
 the forum, not as in the days of Camillus and
 the Scipios, to cast their free votes for annual
 magistrates or pass upon the acts of the Sen
 ate, but to receive from the hands of the
 leaders of the respective parties their share of
 the spells, and to shout for one or the other,
 as those collected in Gaul or Egypt and the
 r cio xrnu1d furpiSb tha Iarpar diui- dend. The spirit of liberty had fled, and, avoiding the abodes of civilization, had sought protection in the wilds of Scythia and Scandinavia. And so, under the operation of the same causes and influences, 1t will fly from our capital and our forum. A calamity so awful, not only to our country, but to the world, must be deprecated by every pa triot, and every tendency to state of things likely to produce it, if not immediately checked. Such tendency has existed-does exist.''
 And so on to the length of the entire in augural, the good old man, for none doubted General Harrison's goodness of heart or the purity of his patriotism, went on drawing his illustrations from Roman history and English writers. The address was prepared at his home and written at his leisure. A day or two before his inaugural, Daniel Webster Gas the tale is told in book of interesting rem iniscences of Webster, by his devoted friend and confident, Harvey met General Harri- son, and suggested to the President that as he (Harrison) was overwhelmed with busi- ness, MT. Webster had sketched an ''inaugur- ar' for him. MT. Webster had been selected for Secretary of State. The general replied that it was not necessary, as he had it already written. "Will you allow me to take it home and read it tonight? ?" asked MT. Webster. Certainly said the President, stand please let me take yours" Go fhau oyoho1,uo1 nfc ing when they met, General Harrison said to Mir. Webster 'If should read your inau- gural instead of mine everybody would know you wrote it, and that I did not. This is the only official paper I propose to write, for I do not intend to interfere with my secreta- ries but this is sort of acknowledgment on my part to the American people of the great honor they have conferred upon me in elect ing me to the Presidency, and, although my is not so suitable as yours, still 1t is mine, and propose to let the people have it just as have written it. I must deliver my own, instead of yours"
 When Mr. Webster found that the Presi- dent was bent upon using his own inaugural, T quote from the book) MT. Webster desired to modify it, and to get in some things that were not there and to get out some things that were there, for, as it then stood, he said 1t had no more to do with the affairs of the American government and people than chapter in the Koran. General Harrison consented to let MT. Webster sake it, and he spent large portion of the next day in modifying it. He was engaged to dine with MT. Seaton, of the firm of Gates k Seaton, of the National I1atelligencer, one of the warmest of MT. Webster's admirers. When Mr. Webster came in, Mrs. Seaton re- marked to him, as he arrived late, that he looked fatigued and worried. Mir. Web- ster was sorry that she had waited dinner for him. "That is no consequence at all, MT. Webster" said she, "but am sorry to see you so worried and tired. hope nothing has gone wrong. I really hope nothing has happened. "You would think that something had happened if you knew what have done. I have killed seventeen Roman proconsuls as dead as smelts every one of them l'' That is he had purged the inaugural of that many illusions to them. If the anecdote is true-Mr. Webster is it's author-the inaugural of General Harrison must have been condensed edition of "Gib- bon's Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, /" instead of an inaugural address of an Ameri- can President