Voices From the Grave-It is not the will of God that liberty, which is his word, should be silent. Citizens the moment that triumphant despots believe that they have forever taken the power of speech from ideas, it is restored by the Almighty. This tribune destroyed, he reconstructs it. Not in the midst of the public square,-not with granite or marble; there is no need of that. He reconstructs it in solitude; he reconstructs it with the grass of the cemetery, with the shade of the cypress, with the gloomy hillock made by the coffins buried in the earth,-and from this solitude, this grass, this cypress, these hidden coffins, know you, citizens, what proceeds? There comes the heartrending cry of humanitythere comes denunciation and testimony-there comes the inexorable accusation which causes the crowned criminal to turn pale - there comes the terrible protest of the dead!

"Napoleon the Little" - Nobody dreams of the Empire, you tell us. What mean, then, those cries of Vive l'empereur? and who pays for them? What means this mendicant petition for a prolongation of the president's powers? What is a prolongation? The consulate for life? And where leads the consulate for life? To the Empire! Gentlemen, here is an intrigue. We will let in daylight upon it, if you please. France must not wake up one of these fine mornings and find herself emperorridden, without knowing why. An emperor ! Let us consider the subject a little. Because there was once a man who gained the battle of Marengo, and who reigned, must the man who gained only the battle of Satory reign also? Because, ten centuries ago, Charlemagne, after forty years of glory, let fall on the face of the globe a sceptre and a sword of such proportions that no one dared to touch them; and because, a thousand years later, -for it requires a gestation of a thousand years to produce such men, another genius appeared, who took up that sword and sceptre, and stood up erect under the weight; a man who chained revolution in France, and unchained it in the rest of Europe; who added to his name the brilliant synonyms of Rivoli, Jena, Essling, Friedland, Montmirail; because this man, after ten years of a glory almost fabulous in its grandeur, let fall, in his turn, that sceptre and sword which had accomplished such colossal exploits, you would come,-you, you would presume, after him, to catch them up as he did, -he, Napoleon, after Charlemagne,—and grasp in your feeble hands this sceptre of the

-

giants, this sword of the Titans ! do?

What to

What! after Augustus must we have Augustulus? Because we have had a Napoleon the Great, must we now have Napoleon the Little?

"Providence for Us, the Politicians against Us»-When I consider all that Providence has done for us, and all that politicians have done against us, a melancholy consideration presents itself. We learn, from the statistics of Europe, that she now spends annually, for the maintenance of her armies, the sum of five hundred millions of dollars. If, for the last thirty-two years, this enormous sum had been expended in the interests of peace,-America meanwhile aiding Europe,-know you what would have happened? The face of the world would have been changed. Isthmuses would have been cut through; rivers would have been channeled ; mountains tunneled. Railroads would have covered the two continents. The merchant tonnage of the world would have increased a hundred fold. There would be nowhere barren plains, nor moors, nor marshes. Cities would be seen where now all is still a solitude. Harbors would have been dug where shoals and rocks now threaten navigation. Asia would be raised to a state of civilization. Africa would be restored to man. Abundance would flow forth from every side, from all the veins of the earth, beneath the labor of the whole family of man; and misery would disappear! And, with misery, what would also disappear? Revolutions. Yes; the face of the world would be changed. Instead of destroying one another, men would peacefully people the waste places of the earth. Instead of making revolutions, they would establish colonies. Instead of bringing back barbarism into civilization, they would carry civilization into barbarism.—(1849.) Humphrey, E. P. (American, Contemporaneous.)

Limitation-The course of nature itself seems to confirm the proposition as to the relation between sin and suffering. The most thorough inquiry into the structure of the physical universe conducts to the conclusion that it was created by a being infinitely good and intended for a race infinitely sinful. It is a magnificent palace-prison; as a palace declaring the glory of its maker, as a prison revealing the character of its inmates.

Huskisson, William (England, 1770-1830.)

Innovation-I have been charged with being the author in some instances, and the promoter in others, of innovations of a rash and dangerous nature. I deny the charge. I dare the authors of it to the proof. Gentlemen, when they talk of innovation, ought to remember, with Lord Bacon, that "Time has been and is the great Innovator." Upon that innovator I have felt it my duty cautiously to wait at a becoming distance and with proper circumspection; but not arrogantly and presumptuously to go before him, and endeavor to outstrip his course.

Hyde, Edward, Earl of Clarendon (England, 1608-1674.)

"Men Who Had Lost Their Innocence Could Not Preserve Their Courage» There cannot be a greater instance of a sick and languishing commonwealth than the business of this day. Good God! how have the guilty these late years been punished, when the judges themselves have been such delinquents! It is no marvel that an irregular, extravagant, arbitrary power, like a torrent hath broke in upon us, when our banks and our bulwarks, the laws, were in the custody of such persons. Men who had lost their innocence could not preserve their courage; nor could we look that they who had so visibly undone us themselves should have the virtue or credit to rescue us from the oppression of other men.- — (Against ship money. 1636.)

Hyperides (Greece, (?)-322.)

Leosthenes and the Patriot Dead - With us, and with all the living, as we have seen, they shall ever have renown; but in the dark underworld-suffer us to ask-who are they that will stretch forth a right hand to the captain of our dead? May we not deem that Leosthenes will be greeted with welcome and with wonder with those half-gods who bore arms against Troy,- he who set himself to deeds germane with theirs, but in this surpassed them, that while they, aided by all Hellas, took one town, he, supported by his own city alone, humbled the power that ruled Europe and Asia? They avenged the wrong offered to one woman; he stayed the insults that were being heaped on all the cities of Hellas, he and those who are sharing his last honors,- men who, coming after the heroes, wrought deeds of heroic worth. Aye, and there, I deem, will be Miltiades and Themistocles, and those others who made Hellas free, to the credit of their city, to the glory of their names,-- whom this man surpassed in courage and in counsel, seeing that, they repelled the power of the barbarians when it had come against them, but he forbade its approach; they saw the foemen fighting in their own country, but he worsted his enemies on their own soil. And surely they who gave the people trusty proof of their mutual love, Harmodius and Aristogiton, will count no friends so near to themselves, or so faithful to you, as Leosthenes and those who strove beside him, nor will they so consort with any dwellers in the place of the dead. Well may it be so, since these have done deeds not less than theirs, but, if it may be said, even greater; for they put down the despots of their own city, but these put down the despots of Hellas. O beautiful and wonderful enterprise, O glorious and magnificent devotion, O soldiership transcendent in dangers, which these offered to the freedom of Greece!-(Delivered at Athens.)

ing for which an Indian ought to be ashamed. He has fought for his countrymen, against the white man, who came, year after year, to cheat them, and take away their lands. You know the cause of our making war. It is known to all white men. They ought to be ashamed of it. The white men despise the Indians, and drive them from their homes. They smile in the face of the poor Indian, to cheat him; they shake him by the hand, to gain his confidence, to make him drunk, and to deceive him. We told them to let us alone, and keep away from us; but they followed on and beset our paths, and they coiled themselves among us like the snake. They poisoned us by their touch. We were not safe. We lived in danger. We looked up to the Great Spirit. We went to our father. We were encouraged. His great council gave us fair words and big promises; but we got no satisfaction: things were growing worse. There were no deer in the forest. The opossum and beaver were fled. The springs were drying up, and our squaws and pappooses without victuals to keep them from starving.

We called a great council, and built a large fire. The spirit of our fathers arose, and spoke to us to avenge our wrongs or die. We set up the war whoop, and dug up the tomahawk; our knives were ready, and the heart of Black Hawk swelled high in his bosom when he led his warriors to battle. He is satisfied. He will go to the world of spirits contented. He has done his duty. His father will meet him there, and commend him. Black Hawk is a true Indian, and disdains to cry like a woman. He feels for his wife, his children, and his friends. But he does not care for himself. He cares for the Nation and the Indians. They will suffer. He laments their fate. Farewell, my Nation! Black Hawk tried to save you, and avenge your wrongs. He drank the blood of some of the whites. He has been taken prisoner, and his plans are crushed. He can do no more. He is near his end. His sun is setting, and he will rise Farewell to Black Hawk!

no

more.

Logan (Speech on the Murder of His Family) I appeal to any white man to say if ever he entered Logan's cabin hungry, and he gave him not meat; if ever he came cold and naked, and he clothed him not. During the course of the last long and bloody war, Logan remained idle in his camp, an advocate of peace. Such was my love for the whites that my countrymen pointed as I passed and said: "Logan is the friend of the white man." I had even thought to have lived with you, but for the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap, the last spring, in cold blood, and unprovoked, murdered all the relations of Logan, not even sparing my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature. This called on me for revenge. I have sought it. I have killed many. I have fully glutted my vengeance. For my country,

Indian Orators- Continued

I rejoice at the beams of peace; but do not harbor a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not one.- - (1774.)

Red Jacket (Peroration of His Answer to the Missionaries in 1805) - Brother, you say you have not come to get our land or our money, but to enlighten our minds. I will now tell you that I have been at your meetings, and saw you collect money from the meeting. I cannot tell what this money was intended for, but suppose that it was for your minister, and if we should conform to your way of thinking, perhaps you might want some from us.

Brother, we are told that you have been preaching to the white people in this place. These people are our neighbors. We are acquainted with them. We will wait a little while and see what effect your preaching has upon them. If we find it does them good, makes them honest, and less disposed to cheat Indians, we will; then consider again of what you have said.

Brother, you have now heard our answer to your talk, and this is all we have to say at present. As we are going to part, we will come and take you by the hand, and hope the Great Spirit will protect you on your journey, and return you safe to your friends.

Weatherford (Speech to General Jackson) -I am in your power; do with me as you please. I am a soldier. I have done the white people all the harm I could; I have fought them, and fought them bravely. If I had an army, I would yet fight and contend to the last; but I have none; my people are all gone. I can do no more than weep over the misfortunes of my nation. Once I could animate my warriors to battle; but I cannot animate the dead. My warriors can no longer hear my voice: their bones are at Talladega, Tallushatches, Emuckfaw, and Tohopeka.

Ingalls, John J. (American, 1833-1900.)

has gone to the

On the Death of Senator Hill- Ben Hill undiscovered country. Whether his journey thither was but one step across an imperceptible frontier, or whether an interminable ocean, black, unfluctuating, and voiceless, stretches between these earthly coasts and those invisible shores - we do not know.

Whether on that August morning after death he saw a more glorious sun rise with unimaginable splendor above a celestial horizon, or whether his apathetic and unconscious ashes still sleep in cold obstruction and insensible oblivion-we do not know.

Whether his strong and subtle energies found instant exercise in another forum, whether his dexterous and disciplined faculties are now contending in a higher senate than ours for supremacy, or whether his powers were dissipated and dispersed with his parting breath we do not know.

Whether his passions, ambitions, and affections still sway, attract, and impel, whether he yet remembers us as we remember him-we do not know.

These are the unsolved, the insoluble problems of mortal life and human destiny, which prompted the troubled patriarch to ask that momentous question for which the centuries have given no answer,-"If a man die, shall he live again ?»

Every man is the centre of a circle whose fatal circumference he cannot pass. Within its narrow confines he is potential, beyond it he perishes; and if immortality be a splendid but delusive dream, if the incompleteness of every career, even the longest and most fortunate, be not supplemented and perfected after its termination here, then he who dreads to die should fear to live, for life is a tragedy more desolate and inexplicable than death. (Exordium of the Eulogy on Senator Hill of Georgia. U. S. Senate, 1883.)

Ingersoll, Robert G.

(American, 1833-1899.) "The Past Rises Before Us »- The past rises before us. We hear the roar and shriek of the bursting shell. The broken fetters fall. These heroes died. We look. Instead of slaves, we see men and women and children. The wand of progress touches the auction block, the slave pen, the whipping post, and we see homes and firesides, and schoolhouses and books and where all was want and crime and cruelty and fetters, we see the faces of the free.

These heroes are dead. They died for liberty - they died for us. They are at rest. They sleep in the land they made free, under the flag they rendered stainless, under the solemn pines, the sad hemlocks, the tearful willows, and the embracing vines. They sleep beneath the shadows of the clouds, careless alike of the sunshine or of storm, each in the windowless palace of rest. Earth may run red with other wars-they are at peace. In the midst of battle, in the roar of conflict, they found the serenity of death. [A voice-"Glory!"] I have one sentiment for the soldiers, living and dead, — cheers for the living and tears for the dead. — (Indianapolis. 1876.)

Isæus (Greek, fourth century B. C.)

The Athenian Method of Examining Witnesses-Now, you are all, I believe, persuaded that an inquisition by torture, both in public and private causes, is the best and surest mode of investigating the truth; nor, when both freemen and slaves are present and it is expedient to obtain a discovery of facts, is it your custom to examine the freemen, but to rack the slaves, and thus to extort a true relation of all that has happened; in this respect you think and act wisely, judges; for you well know that many persons examined in the usual form have given evidence indubitably false; but of all those who have been exposed to torture, none have ever been convicted of falsehood; and will this most audacious of men request to believe his artful

pretenses, and his witnesses, who swear against truth, when he declines a mode of proof so exact and conclusive? Our conduct is widely different, and, as we first proposed to discover the whole transaction by the means of torture, to which proposal we have proved that they would not consent, we think it reasonable that our witnesses should be credited.- (From the speech on the estate of Ciron, delivered at Athens, c. 375 B. C.)

Isocrates (Greek, 436–338 B. C.)

The Principles of Liberty and Good Order - Such was the authority to which, as I have said, they intrusted the maintenance of good order, which considered that those were in error who imagined that a community, in which the laws were framed with the greatest exactness, produced the best men; for, if this were so, there would be nothing to prevent all the Hellenes being on the same level, so far as the facility of adopting one another's written laws is concerned. They, on the contrary, knew that virtue is not promoted by the laws, but by the habits of daily life, and that most people turn out men of like character to those in whose midst they have severally been brought up. For, where there are a number of laws drawn up with great exactitude, it is a proof that the city is badly administered; for the inhabitants are compelled to frame laws in great numbers as a barrier against offenses. Those, however, who are rightly governed should not cover the walls of the porticoes with copies of the laws, but preserve justice in their hearts; for it is not by decrees but by manners that cities are well governed, and, while those who have been badly brought up will venture to transgress laws drawn up even with the greatest exactitude, those who have been well educated will be ready to abide by laws framed in the simplest terms. With these ideas, they did not first consider how they should punish the disorderly, but by what means they should induce them to refrain from committing any offense deserving of punishment; for they considered that this was their mission, but that eagerness to inflict punishment was a matter of malevolence!(From the "Areopagiticus.")

Jackson, Andrew (American, 1767-1845.)

Local Self-Government - My experience in public concerns and the observation of a life somewhat advanced, confirm the opinions long since imbibed by me, that the destruction of our State governments or the annihilation of their control over the local concerns of the people would lead directly to revolution and anarchy, and finally to despotism and military domination. In proportion, therefore, as the general government encroaches upon the rights of the States, in the same proportion does it impair its own power and detract from its ability to fulfill the purposes of its creation.-(Inaugural of 1833.) Jay, John (American, 1745–1829.)

When a Nation Forges Chains-When a nation led to greatness by the hand of liberty,

and possessed of all the glory that heroism, munificence, and humanity can bestow, descends to the ungrateful task of forging chains for her friends and children, and, instead of giving support to freedom, turns advocate for slavery and oppression, there is reason to suspect she has either ceased to be virtuous or been extremely negligent in the appointment of her rulers.-(Address to the people of Great Britain, 1774.)

Jefferson, Thomas (American, 1743-1826.)

Essential Principles of Americanism— About to enter, fellow-citizens, on the exercise of duties which comprehend everything dear and valuable to you, it is proper you should understand what I deem the essential principles of our government, and consequently those which ought to shape its administration. I will compress them within the narrowest compass they will bear, stating the general principle, but not all its limitations: Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none; the support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns, and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies; the preservation of the general government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet-anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad; a jealous care of the right of election by the people,-a mild and safe corrective of abuses which are lopped by the sword of revolution, where peaceable remedies are unprovided; absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the majority, the vital principle of republics, from which is no appeal but to force, the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism; a well-disciplined militia, our best reliance in peace and for the first moments of war, till regulars may relieve them; the supremacy of the civil over the military authority― economy in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burdened; the honest payment of our debts, and sacred preservation of the public faith; encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid; the diffusion of information and arraignment of all abuses at the bar of the public reason; freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of person, under the protection of the habeas corpus, and trial by juries impartially selected. These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of our sages and blood of our heroes have been devoted to their attainment; they should be the creed of our political faith; the text of civic instruction; the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust; and should we wander from them in moments of error or alarm let us hasten to retrace our steps and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety. — (Inaugural. 1801.)

Few Die, None Resign — If a due participation of office is a matter of right, how are vacancies to be obtained ? Those by death are few; by resignation, none. -- - (To a committee of New England merchants, in 1801.)

Freedom to Err-Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.

Good Government-With all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow-citizens; a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government; and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.

Self-Government Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.

Strong Government-I believe this, on the contrary, the strongest government on earth. I believe it the only one where every man, at the call of the law, would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet invasions of the public order as his own personal concern. Johnson, Andrew (American, 1808-1875.)

Swinging Around the Circle - We are swinging around the circle.- (Said of his tour in 1866.) Kennedy, John P. (American, Contemporaneous.)

Progress of the Modern World-Cast a thought over the whole field of scientific mechanical improvement and its application to human wants in the last twenty years, to go no further back,- and think what a world it has made;- how many comforts it has given to man, how many facilities; what it has done for his food and raiment, for his communication with his fellow-man in every clime, for his instruction in books, his amusements, his safety! – what new lands it has opened, what old ones made accessible! - how it has enlarged the sphere of his knowledge and conversancy with his species! It is all a great, astounding marvel, a miracle which it oppresses the mind to think of. It is the smallest boast which can be made for it to say that, in all desirable facilities in life, in the comfort that depends upon mechanism, and in all that is calculated to delight the senses or instruct the mind, the man of this day, who has secured himself a moderate competence, is placed far in advance of the most wealthy, powerful, and princely of ancient times. Kingsley, Charles (England, 1819-1875.)

"Thinking, Acting Dirt"- Our processes are hasty, imperfect, barbaric,- and their result

is vast and rapid production; but also waste, refuse, is the shape of a dangerous class. We know well how, in some manufactures, a certain amount of waste is profitable-that it pays better to let certain substances run to refuse than to use every product of the manufacture; as in a steam mill, where it pays better not to consume the whole fuel, to let the soot escape, though every atom of soot is so much wasted fuel. So it is in our present social system. It pays better, capital is accumulated more rapidly, by wasting a certain amount of human life, human health, human intellect, human morals, by producing and throwing away a regular percentage of human soot-of that thinking, acting dirt, which lies about, and, alas! breeds and perpetuates itself in foul alleys and low public houses, and all dens and dark places of the earth. But, as in the case of manufactures, the Nemesis comes swift and sure.—(1820.)

Knott, J. Proctor (American, 1830-.)

"The Centre of the Visible Universe ». This map, sir, is intended, as it appears from its title, to illustrate the position of Duluth in the United States; but if gentlemen will examine it, I think they will concur with me in the opinion that it is far too modest in its pretensions. It not only illustrates the position of Duluth in the United States, but exhibits its relations with all created things. It even goes further than this. It lifts the shadowy veil of futurity and affords us a view of the golden prospects of Duluth far along the dim vista of ages yet to come.

If gentlemen will examine it, they will find Duluth, not only in the centre of the map, but represented in the centre of a series of concentric circles one hundred miles apart, and some of them as much as four thousand miles in diameter, embracing alike, in their tremendous sweep, the fragrant savannas of the sunlit South and the eternal solitudes of snow that mantle the ice-bound North. How these circles were produced is, perhaps, one of the most primordial mysteries that the most skillful paleologist will never be able to explain. But the fact is, sir, Duluth is pre-eminently a central place, for I am told by gentlemen who have been so reckless of their own personal safety as to venture away into those awful regions where Duluth is supposed to be, that it is so exactly in the centre of the visible universe that the sky comes down at precisely the same distance all around it.-(House of Representatives, 1871.)

Knowles, James Sheridan (England, 17841862.)

Cæsar's Passage of the Rubicon- A gentleman, Mr. Chairman, speaking of Cæsar's benevolent disposition, and of the reluctance with which he entered into the civil war, observes, "How long did he pause upon the brink of the Rubicon ?" How came he to the brink of that river? How dared he cross it? Shall private men respect the boundaries of private