tion and defence. All is peace; and God has granted you this sight of your country's happiness, ere you slumber in the grave for ever. He has allowed you to behold and to partake the reward of your patriotic toils; and he has allowed us, your sons and countrymen, to meet you here, and in the name of the present generation, in the name of your country, in the name of liberty, to thank you!

"But, alas, you are not all here! Time and the sword have thinned your ranks. Prescott, Putnam, Stark, Brooks, Read, Pomeroy, Bridge! Our eyes seek for you in vain amidst this broken band. You are gathered to your fathers, and live only to your country in her grateful remembrance, and your own bright example. But let us not too much grieve, that you have met the common fate of men. You lived, at least, long enough to know that your work had been nobly and successfully accomplished. You lived to see your country's independence established, and to sheathe your swords from war. On the light of Liberty you saw arise the light of Peace, like

another morn, Risen on mid-noon ;'—

and the sky on which you closed your eyes was cloudless.

"But-ah!-Him! the first great Martyr in this great cause! Him! the premature victim of his own selfdevoting heart! Him! the head of our civil councils, and the destined leader of our military bands; whom nothing brought hither, but the unquenchable fire of his

own spirit; Him! cut off by Providence, in the hour of overwhelming anxiety and thick gloom; falling ere he saw the star of his country rise; pouring out his generous blood, like water, before he knew whether it would fertilize a land of freedom or of bondage! how shall I struggle with the emotions, that stifle the utterance of thy name -Our poor work may perish; but thine shall endure! This monument may moulder away; the solid ground it rests upon may sink down to a level with the sea; but thy memory shall not fail! Wheresoever among men a heart shall be found, that beats to the transports of patriotism and liberty, its aspirations shall be to claim kindred with thy spirit!"

This patriotic ardor, as Mr. Whipple finely remarks, has given intensity to the purposes of the great statesman of New England, and lent the richest glow to his genius. "It has made his eloquence a language of the heart; felt and understood over every portion of the land it consecrates. On Plymouth Rock, on Bunker Hill, at Mount Vernon, by the tombs of Hamilton, and Adams, and Jefferson, and Jay, we are reminded of Daniel Webster. He has done what no national poet has yet succeeded in doing,-associated his own great genius with all in our country's history and scenery, which makes us rejoice that we are Americans. He has made the dead past a living present. Over all those events in our history which are heroical, he has cast the hues of strong feeling and vivid imagination. He cannot stand on one spot of ground, hallowed by liberty or religion, without being kindled by the genius of the place; he cannot mention a name, consecrated by

self-devotion and patriotism, without doing it eloquent homage. Seeing clearly, and feeling deeply, he makes us see and feel with him.

"That scene of the landing of the Pilgrims, in which his imagination conjures up the forms and emotions of our New England ancestry, will ever live in the national memory. We see with him, the little, bark with the interesting group on its deck, make its slow progress to the shore.' We feel, with him, 'the cold which benumbed,' and listen with him, to the winds which pierced them.' Carver, and Bradford, and Standish, and Brewster, and Allerton, look out upon us from the pictured page, in all the dignity with which virtue and freedom invest their martyrs; and we see, too, chilled and shivering childhood, houseless but for a mother's arms, couchless but for a mother's breast, till our own blood almost freezes.'

"The readiness with which the orator compels our sympathies to follow his own, is again illustrated in the orations at Bunker Hill, and in the discourse in honor of Adams and Jefferson. In reading them, we feel proud of our country, and of the great men and great principles it has cherished. The mind feels an unwonted elevation, and the heart is stirred with emotions of more than common depth, by their majesty and power. Some passages are so graphic and true, that they seem gifted with a voice, and to speak to us from the page they illumine. The intensity of feeling with which they are pervaded, rises at times with confident hope to prophecy, and lifts the soul as with wings. In that splendid close to a remarkable passage in the oration on

Adams and Jefferson, what American does not feel assured, with the orator, that their fame will be immortal ?" "Although no sculptured marble should rise to their memory, nor engraved stone bear record of their deeds, yet will their remembrance be as lasting as the land they honored. Marble columns may, indeed, moulder into dust, time may erase all impress from the crumbling stone, but their fame remains; for with AMERICAN LIBERTY it rose, and with AMERICAN LIBERTY ONLY can it perish. It was the last swelling peal of yonder choir, 'THEIR

BODIES ARE BURIED IN PEACE, BUT THEIR NAME LIVETH EVER

MORE.' I catch that solemn song, l'echo that lofty strain of funeral triumph,' THEIR NAME liveth evermore.""

In reviewing the mental traits and oratorical productions of Mr. Webster, we think that in his eloquence there are three distinct styles,—the narrative, the senatorial, and the impassioned. The first is a slow, deliberate manner, employed in stating simple facts, or plain argument; like an admirable reader, distinct and forcible, but with no display of excited elocution. This is exceedingly beautiful, because it is the nearest approach to sublimity of character, expressed in pure form, independent of all passion or emotion. "Slow seems their speed whose thoughts before them run."

His second style, is when he is interested in the discussion of some important subject, in the forum of high debate, where by the action of his own aroused mind in conflict with powerful antagonists, he has become warmed and animated. His elocution as well as his reasoning then is often magnificent, presenting altogether his best and most powerful manner. Under

ordinary circumstances, Mr. Webster may truly say, "My mind my kingdom is," and to the most casual eye, he seems born "to set a throne or chair of state in the understandings of other men." But when popular passions are furiously aroused, and the bravest champions tremble before the deepening storm, he becomes the more serenely self-possessed, and, in the unfoldings of native grandeur, instinctively assumes a look of calm, unalterable energy, “above all pain, all passion, and all pride." Such was his appearance at the opening of the great Nullification debate, when he stood erect and fearless in the general consternation, invincibly armed from head to foot, to defend the Constitution which fled to him for shelter, and palpitated in his breast.

The greatest effect ever produced by a consummate orator is achieved by his preserving the aspect and advantage of repose amidst the tempest in which he is involved, showing that he is at the same time master of the stormy elements which agitate others and swell within himself. This is not the repose of inanition or irresolution, but the repose of magnificent energy disciplined to the most practical use by self-possession. It produces the consciousness of duty performed, when evils are eradicated and victory won, is most diligent in slaying the worst monsters, and stands at length embodied before the world in Hercules leaning on his club.

Many collisions and conquests at the Capitol of this nation, justify the allusion here made. Therein Mr. Webster has repeatedly manifested a grasp and potency of mind which, we think, are found in no other living orator in the new world or old. On occasions of the