embalmed in his affections.

His audience were col

lected from all quarters, and prepared to hail him as a

opening up the future.
The warrior might have

seer, declaring the past and That past was full of glories. found in it lessons of heroic valor; the philosopher, of wisdom; and the holy man, of piety. The orator had no sectarian views to gratify, no cankering prejudices to indulge, no fancied inferences to make from doubtful records. He stood among them as an enlightened statesman, a lover of his country, that had his whole heart; a country, whose records he held as sacred, whose hopes were connected with the best interests of man. He was there, as every where else, a friend of religion; but not a religious partizan; one who believes, 'that whatever disunites man from God, disunites man from man.' 'Let us rejoice,' said the orator, 'that we behold this day; let us be thankful that we have lived to see the bright and happy breaking of this auspicious morn, which commences the third century of the history of New England.' He summoned the highest faculties of our nature to connect time and place, to look before and after, and hold communion with our ancestors and our posterity. He called up the genius of the place to bring back and put before them the mighty dead, whose graves had first consecrated the soil with the hopes of the resurrection and the life to

come.

He sketched the history of the wanderings of the pilgrims with a master-hand, and pointed out the difference between them and all other colonies of

ancient or modern times; their steadfast adherence to the best principles of civil and religious liberty; their commercial enterprizes; their determined courage; and their hardy growth, were described with force and elegance. The war of independence was remembered, and the slave trade attacked, without fearing those who might be offended. The religious character of our fathers was incorporated in all they did, and all they hoped; and the remembrance of it breathes through the whole of this speech.

There was one subject touched upon in Mr. Webster's speech, the law of succession,-that should be noticed, for it shows a deep knowledge of the effect of our institutions; and what he then hazarded as a conjecture in regard to this law of succession in France, has proved an overwhelming truth in a fifth part of the time he allowed for the political effect it has produced.

Before Mr. Webster took his seat in Congress, from the district of Suffolk, in Massachusetts, the whole American people, with a few exceptions, had espoused the cause of the Greeks. The shrieks which arose from the massacre of Scio had been wafted on every wind, and pierced every heart. The interest was deep and general. The classical man ran over the history of that wonderful people; their beautiful language, and their rich and tasteful literature came all up fresh to his recollections, and he was for repaying Greece the immeasurable debt of ages. The alumni of all our

literary institutions, without an exception, were for Greece. The female heart, ready for generous sympathies, caught the infection, and assembled in favor of Greece. Societies were formed in every town and village to aid this brave people in their mighty struggle for freedom. The holy man of the altar, not given to enter into secular affairs, opened his sacred book, and finding countless texts on which to hang a discourse in favor of Christians in bondage, breathed an eloquence, the possession of which was almost unknown to himself, which opened the fountains of charity, and caused them to flow like the rock of Horeb, with sweet and divine waters. The generous, as usual, gave for the suffering Greeks most bountifully; the young child who had no definite idea of duty on the subject, hearing the preacher say that the father of the little Greek boy they had seen, died in the awful fight, and that his mother fell by the assassin's dagger, brought his all to the contribution-box, and was happy when his shining silver was gone,all gone,-for such a purpose; and the miser struggling between avarice and the sympathy he felt for Greece, (and to him any generous sympathy was new,) let fall for the Greek the bit of gold he had held from every other charity, as with the grasp of death. This is no high-wrought tale; thousands and tens of thousands can bear testimony to this statement, for they have witnessed such scenes. This was not all,-Christian spirits clad with gospel panoply came forward with new-born zeal, and offered their services

as missionaries, agents, or anything else that would benefit the cause. Youthful warriors, fed on the aliment of ancient patriotism, offered their services to gird on their sword, to sink or swim, live or die,' in the cause of freedom and the cross. All hearts yearned towards Greece, and every one wished her well, if he did not express his wishes. Anacharsis was read with new pleasure, and Mitford sought after with avidity, and even Gillie's Greece, with all its dulness, was in request from the libraries. However prudent the rulers of the nation might have felt in regard to committing themselves with the Greek revolution, the people had no fastidious impressions upon this subject. They expressed, as they always will, as long as they enjoy their present blessings, their whole soul upon the occasion. The tongue of the people may be considered as a 'chartered instrument,' it speaks right on, and is not often muzzled nor tied. But even men in high places were influenced by public feeling, and Mr. Monroe in his message to Congress, made mention of the struggles of Greece in favor of liberty. On this suggestion,' Mr. Webster brought forward a resolution for making provision by law for defraying the expenses incident to the appointment of an agent or commissioner to Greece, whenever the president should deem it expedient to make such an appointment.

These generous sentiments were all seen, known, and felt by the speaker, as is proved by his short exordium.

1

'I am afraid, Mr. Chairman, that, so far as my part in this discussion is concerned, those expectations which the public excitement existing on the subject, and certain associations easily suggested by it, have conspired to raise, may be disappointed. An occasion which calls the attention to a spot, so distinguished, so connected with interesting recollections, as Greece, may naturally create something of warmth and enthusiasm. In a grave, political discussion, however, it is necessary that that feeling should be chastised. I shall endeavor properly to repress it, although it is impossible that it should be altogether extinguished. We must, indeed, fly beyond the civilized world, we must pass the dominion of law, and the boundaries of knowledge; we must, more especially, withdraw ourselves from this place, and the scenes and objects which here surround us, if we would separate ourselves, entirely, from the influence of all those memorials of herself which ancient Greece has transmitted for the admiration and the benefit of mankind. This free form of government, this popular assembly, the common council, held for the common good, where have we contemplated its earliest models? This practice of free debate, and public discussion, the contest of mind with mind, and that popular eloquence, which, if it were now here, on a subject like this, would move the stones of the capitol,-whose was the language in which all these were first exhibited? Even the edifice in which we assemble, these proportioned columns, this ornamented architecture, all remind us that Greece has existed, and that we, like the rest of mankind, are greatly her debtors. But I have not introduced this motion in the vain hope of discharging anything of this accumulated debt of centuries. I have not acted upon the expectation, that we, who have inherited this obligation from our ancestors, should now attempt to pay it to those who may seem to have inherited, from their ancestors, a right to receive payment. My object is nearer and more immediate. I wish to take occasion of the struggle of an interesting and gallant people, in the cause of liberty and Chris