Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-09-03
"REMINISCENCES OF PUBLIC MEN.
BY Ben: pERLEY pooRE.

sational preachd. The hall of the
House Of Representatives was crowded
to hear him, an his sermons were
wonders. Manytruisms were uttered,
drawn both from the Bible, from his
tory, and from ob(ervation, all exhibit
ing vivid, eloquent, and at times.
powerful Imagination. Metaphor was
piled upon metaph\r, smile upon com
parison, until the excess of imagry be-
came tiresome fromits excess. Para
disc had not so mann flowers in it as
Mr.. Maffit put in his ermon of an hour.
Every sentence waA illustrated and
every idea made tigurative. There was
beauty without simplicity; and gor-
geousness without power. Like the
court-garden of the Beypf Sultan, SO
beautifully described il the German
story of "Melecksala, which Ernst, a
Christian Count, captured of the Sara
Gems in his pilgrimage, wa doomed to
transform from what was beautiful to
something new, so our preacher, with
an eloquent text and prolific subject,
commenced his work of tranAformation,
jumbling in variegated conf,sion what
he found before him, makingA Vii things
different, and nothing better. The ex-
otics were mingled with thA native
flowers, and in such prof,lsion, hat the
senses ached with the abundance. An
Arabian garden filed with lavender,
musk-roses, nodding violets, o2slips,
pale primroses, lilies, all were mingled
together and spread out like ! flower
bed, but without much order. and some
times in very bad taste. Norwere these
all the sources which contribute to
paint the city," "gild refined gold,"
and "throw perfume DER the violet"
The sea and lake, the feaAlered spray
from the tumbling cataract and the
roaring rapids, the babbling brooks
running in sweet melody over the white
pebbles and the gentle cascade, the
forked lightning, seraphin and chern-
BIN, everything, indeed, from the
archangel's trumpet to the music OF
man, and from the divinity of the
Savior of man to the infidelity of man,
were scattered over the sermon like
stars along the armament Yet his
sermons were attractive inthe extreme,
and enough so to exact the closest at
tention of all, and from these even who
were compelled to listen without see
ing, and to hear from the distance but
a part of what was said. He was an ac-
complished actor. Every word was
"well spoken, and with good emphasis,
and he had voice of great compass,
fexibility, and sweetness. His style OF
preaching was so theatrical, however,
as to recall DIR. Mason's criticism when
asked if he did not think a sermon
preached that day was fine produc.
ton. Eyes, sir, said the doctor, "ele-
gantly written, we'll expressed, and
wanting in but one thing. 1t needed
to be baptized in the name of the
Father, of the Son. and of the Holy
Ghost"
Mr.. Webster delivered one of his
ahlest arguments before the Supreme
Court, about a fortnight before the in
auguration of Gen. Harrison as Presi-
dent, on what was called "The Missis-
sippi slave case" 1t appeared that the
Constitution of Mississippi, framed in
1882, declared that the sale of slaves as
merchandise from other States should
be prohibited after given time, which
Mr.. Webster considered but direction
to the State Legislature that they
frame laws to that purpore, an injunc-
ton peremptory to them, but having
no effect unless they complied with it.
1t appeared also that an attempt was
subsequently made to repeal this arti-
Gle of the Constitution; and, though a
large majority Of the people voted
for it, yet, from some formality, it did
not take place. And it further APP
peared that the Legislature did not
carry out this mandatory provision of
the Constitution till 1887, prior to
which this debt occurred, and prior to
which, too, the Legislature refused to
pass such laws. No attempt, indeed,
had been made by the authorities of
the State or the people of the State to
carry out the constitutional prohibition
as if it were law, and it's violation, if
violation it was, had been sanctioned
by other statutes of the State that had
regulated the sales of such merchan-
disc. Mr.. Webster reasoned that such
articles in the Constitution of republic
can governments were but injunctions
upon Legislatures, of which he gave
many illustrations, with which they
were bound to comply, it might be, but
if not complied with were of no effect.
That such was the construction given
to the Mississippi Constitution by the
people Of that State was clear. he rea.
soned, from the subsequent action of
the Legislature and from the general
acquiescence of the people in the pur-
chase and sale of such property. The
Constitution, he argued, was no law,
for it imposed no penalties, made no
regulations, prescribed no means
for CARRYING itself into effect.
The punishment, it is said, was the in
ability Of the party violating it TO en-
force contract; but what, asked Mr.,
Webster, if the slaves we're sold for
cash? What penalty then for the
vender? What means of enforcing the
provisions of the Constitution upon him :?
The great point of the case, however,
that which has the general interest, was
the reasoning upon the right of Missis-
sippi thus to attempt to regulate trade.
and to draw distinction between slaves
and other property, as ii in contraven~
ton OF the Constitution of the United
States, which takes to itself the regu-
lation of commerce and trade. Mr..
Webster showed that the slaye.holding