Address delivered by request of the selectmen of the town of St. Albans, Friday, August 2, 1850, on the death of General Zachary Taylor, late president of the United States

ADDRESS

DELIVERED BY REQUEST OF THE SELECTMEN

OF THE TOWN OF ST. ALBANS,

Friday, august s, isso,

ON THE DEATH OF

GEIEBAL ZACHAEY TAYLOR,

LATE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,
BY

JOHN HENRY HOPKINS, D. D.

BISHOP OF THE DIOCESE OF VERMONT.

ST. ALBANS :

PRINTED BY E. B. WHITIN&
1850.

The undersigned, Selectmen of the town of St. Albans, regarding it as fit
that there be some public demonstration of the feelings of this community
respecting the national calamity occasioned by the death of General Zachary
Taylor, late President of the United States, have, on behalf of the citizens
of St. Albans, invited Rt. Rev. Bishop Hopkins to pronounce a discourse on
this afflicting dispensation.

It affords the undersigned much pleasure to be able to announce to their
fellow citizens, that Bishop Hopkins has accepted their invitation and that
the discourse will be delivered at the Congregational Meeting House on Fri-
day, August 2nd, 1850, at 3£ o'clock in the afternoon.

JOSEPH WEEKS, )
ANSON BUCK, } Selectmen.

JULIUS H. BROOKS,)
St Albans, July 24, 1850.

Si Albans, Vt.t August Zd, 1850.
Rev. and Dear Sir :—

The undersigned, Select-men of the town of St. Albans,
improve an early opportunity to return to you, on behalf of the citizens of
St. Albans, their grateful acknowledgments for the able and instructive Ad-
dress pronounced before them, at their request, on the evening of the 2d
inst.

Entertaining a desire in common with their fellow-citizens, that the moral
and patriotic principles, which were so eloquently enforced therein, should have
a more general, and, consequently, a more useful circulation, they respect-
fully solicit a copy for publication.

Your friends and ob't servants,

JOSEPH WEEKS, ) Select-men
ANSON BUCK, Vof the town

JULIUS H. BROOKS, $ of St. Albans.
To the Rt. Rev., the Bishop \
of the Diocese of Vermont.

J:

Burlington, Vl., August 3d, 1850.
Gentlemen :—

I comply very cheerfully with your kind request, that I would
furnish a copy of my Address for publication ; and only regret that it is not
more worthy of the subject, and of the favorable indulgence with which it
was received.

Your faithful friend

and servant in Christ,

JOHN H. HOPKINS.
To Messrs, JOSEPH WEEKS, )

ANSON BUCK, } Select-men.

JULIUS H. BROOKS, )

ADDRESS.

My Friends and Fellow-citizens :

The respected officers to whom you have committed
the civil authority of your town, have called you together
this day, to mark an occurrence of rare and peculiar
interest. u Regarding it as fit that there be some public
demonstration of the feelings of this community respect-
ing the national calamity occasioned by the death of
General Zachary Taylor, late President of the United
States," they have invited you to manifest your sym-
pathy on what they have most truly called u an afflicting
dispensation ; " and have assigned to me the duty of
expressing the sentiments appropriate to an event, which
is invested with no ordinary importance and solemnity.

In accepting the office, however, thus kindly con-
ferred, you will permit me to premise, that I have not
been influenced by any confidence in my powers to do
justice to the occasion. I see around me many, whose
qualifications for such a duty seem far superior to my
own. The fervid eloquence of the patriot, the deep
knowledge of the practised politician, the high admira-
tion of military renown, would all find ample scope in
the subject assigned to me. And I need not say to you
that these are hardly to be expected in the ministers of

Him, whose kingdom is not of this world. But notwith-
standing my conscious unfitness for the task, I did not
feel at liberty to decline it, lest my motive might seem
to be an indolent indifference to the wishes of my friends.
And therefore I have to ask for an indulgent hearing, in
the hope that although I cannot excite your feelings by
the talent of the orator, I may yet succeed in address-
ing to your understandings the words of soberness and
truth.

The order which I propose to follow is suggested by
the terms in which the invitation has been presented to
me. A brief sketch of the life and character of our
lamented Chief Magistrate, with the reasons for consid-
ering his unexpected death as " a national calamity V
and u an afflictive dispensation," will embrace the greater
part of what I design to set before you.

It appears from the slight statements which^ have met
the public eye, that General Taylor was the son of a
revolutionary patriot and soldier, from whom he doubt-
less imbibed his early predilection for the military pro-
fession, and his principles of earnest devotion to the
honor of his country. He was born in Orange County,
Virginia, on the 2nd of November, 1784, and is there-
fore one of that extraordinary band of men whom u the
Old Dominion " has raised to such exalted eminence,
in the battles and the councils of the Nation. Like
many others of our most distinguished countrymen, he
was kept in the safe and manly labors of agricultural
life, until he was of age ; and in the year 1808, he indulg-
ed his fondness for the army, by accepting the commis-
sion of 1st. Lieutenant in the Infantry. Two years af-
terwards, at the age of twenty-six, he married ; and in
the Indian war of the North-west, under General Har-
rison, during the year 1812, he distinguished himself

greatly by his cool and determined courage. This war
being ended, and the army reduced, he returned to the
pursuits of husbandry ; but in 1816 he was again in ser-
vice at Green Bay, with the rank of Major, and after-
wards served in the South, being seldom absent from
active duty. In 1819 he was promoted to the rank
of Lieutenant Colonel $ and in 1832, we find him a Colo-
nel, serving in the Black Hawk war. Four years after-
wards, he was ordered to Florida, and in 1837, he fought
the memorable battle of Okechokee, which was followed
by the close of that protracted and difficult contest, and
obtained for him the brevet rank of Brigadier General.
In 1840, he took the command of the first depart-
ment in the South-west ; and in 1845, he was ordered
to the frontier of Texas, where he established his head-
quarters at Corpus Christi. The following year, in obe-
dience to the instructions of President Polk, he marched
to the Rio Grande, and then began the series of those
brilliant and surprising victories, which fixed on him the
admiring gaze of his country, and excited the astonish-
ment of the civilized world. The battle of Palo Alto
was fought on the 8th of May, 1846, followed, the next
day, by that of Resaca de la Palma, and, on the 18th
of the same month, by the taking of Matamoras. The
ensuing September witnessed the capitulation of Mon-
terey, and February 22nd, 1847, was distinguished by
the wonderful victory of Buena Vista. Dazzled by the
splendor of a career, almost unexampled in modern war-
fare, the whole nation rang with applause and gratula-
tion, which were powerfully enhanced by the singular
modesty and simplicity of their favorite hero, and yet
more by the universal tribute of affection to his frank
kindliness and benevolence of heart. The highest office
in the gift of the people was thought by some to be the

6

proper reward of so much merit; and the idea, once sug-
gested, gained force with great rapidity, notwithstanding
the vast popularity and pre-eminent claims of other can-
didates, whom the country would have been delighted to
honor. On his return from Mexico to the United States,
in the Fall of 1847, he was received everywhere with
the most unbounded enthusiasm. In June, 1848, the
Whig Convention at Philadelphia nominated him for
President, and in November of the same year, he was
elected over General Cass, the opposing candidate, by a
majority of one hundred and sixty-three electoral votes
against one hundred and twenty-seven. His inaugura-
tion took place on the 5th of March, 1849, and he dis-
charged the duties of his exalted office, with the increas-
ing confidence and affection of* the great body of his
countrymen, for little more than a year $ when it pleased
the Almighty Ruler of nations to remove him to that
unseen and spiritual world, where the voice of praise
or censure, from human lips, can reach him no more.
On the 9th of July last, the hero passed through his
final earthly conflict, surrounded by his agonized family,
the members of his Cabinet, and many anxious friends ;
while an immense multitude thronged the public grounds,
waiting, in sad suspense, for the melancholy announce-
ment. His dying words were strongly characteristic :

a I AM PREPARED 1 HAVE ENDEAVORED TO DISCHARGE

all my official duties faithfully.^ Soon after-
wards his voice failed — he sunk calmly into his last
sleep — the blow descended gently: but it smote upon
the national heart, and the universal feeling with which
it has been received proves, beyond dispute, the deep
hold he had gained, upon the reverence, the love and
the confidence of the people.

It would be neither consistent with my ministerial

character, my friends, nor in accordance with your own
sound judgment, that I should make the slightest effort
at a studied eulogy, on this occasion. As a servant of
the Prince of peace, I can have no strong sympathy
with military glory. And standing aloof from all party
politics for more than thirty years, I am perfectly
unconscious of any prejudice, which could affect the
dispassionate exercise of the best judgment in my power.
But in the clear and unclouded light of impartial opinion,
I think it must be granted that our departed Chief Ma-
gistrate was an extraordinary example of high excellence^
uniting in one those qualities which are seldom found in
combination ; and which it is not likely that we shall ever
see again, so singularly marked, in so exalted a station.
It was not merely that his courage in the field of
battle exhibited the boldest and most daring intrepidity \
for this he shared in common with a host of heroes. —
Nor was it that he loved his country with the pure
affection of a patriot $ for this, I trust, may be asserted
of many others. Nor was it that he displayed, in union
with the most chivalric bravery, the most benevolent
temper and the kindest heart; for this too, is no uncom-
mon trait amongst the warriors of our nation. But it
was that in the midst of the most splendid military
success, he seemed almost unconscious of his acknowL
edged greatness — that he sought to do the fullest justice
to the merits of his subordinates, while he passed by his
own — that he took the largest share of the perils, the
hardships and effective service of war, while he cared
nothing for its pomp, and pride^ and glittering appendages
— that notwithstanding it was the profession of his early
choice, and that he owed his elevation to its triumphs,
yet he regarded it, at best, as a necessary evil, and
mourned over its calamities as a Christian man — that

s

when he saw himself the favorite of the nation, his ffiod-
esty shrunk back from the Presidential chair, and his
honest candor frankly professed his want of knowledge
and ability — that he could not be induced to adopt the
ordinary measures of political expediency, to propitiate
the leaders of party ^ and shewed himself nobly superior
to all the natural promptings of ambition — that after he
was placed on the loftiest pinnacle of official power, his
political opponents could find in him no trace of self-
complacency, resentment^ partiality or pride, but rested
their chief complaints on the ground that he suffered hi®
Cabinet to dictate in questions of removals and appoint-
ments, instead of taking the entire government of the
matter into his own hand— -that his independence of
sentiment was so great as to keep him aloof from all
Southern influence, notwithstanding he was himself a
slave-holder — and, in a word, that in the midst of every
temptation which this world could offer, in the shape of
honor, fame, wealth, power and popular idolatry, he
maintained the same constant character of frank sim-
plicity,^ transparent truth, cordial kindness, sober wisdom?
strict justice, and unbiased patriotism.

It is manifest that the loss of such a man, at any timey
would be regarded as a national calamity. But there
are peculiar reasons for the opinion so generally enter-
tained, that in the present distraction of our public
councils, the death of a President who united so admi-
rably the qualities of the hero and the sage, is an event
of the saddest import to the country. It may be well to
state at large the argument for this prevailing impression,
and to test its correctness by facts and principles, familiar
to us all.

The immense accession of public territory consequent
upon the settlement with Mexico, and the application of

9

California to be admitted into the Union as a Free
State, have roused a conflict in our great national legis-
lature, on the exciting subject of slavery, which has been
totally without example for duration. Many Southern
members of the highest standing have presented a form-
al menace of secession, if something be not done to pro-
tect their favorite institution from the increasing prepon-
derance of the North. The best intellects of our Coun-
try have been occupied for more than half a year in de-
vising a plan of friendly compromise, which shall give sat-
isfaction to the majority and keep our glorious confedera-
tion together. And our wisest and most experienced
statesmen agree in the opinion that the country is in
danger of an internal convulsion, which no true-hearted
American can contemplate without the liveliest appre-
hension and solicitude.

At such a time it is, that Divine Providence has seen
fit to take away our former chief magistrate, to whose
pure impartiality, prompt energy, and kindly moderation
the great body of the nation were disposed to look as
to a strong arm of defence in a day of trouble. They
saw him in full possession of every qualification which
might be desired to guide the ship of State through the
fury of the storm, and preserve it from the rocks and
shoals which threatened it with ruin. They knew him to
be devoted to his duty, fearless of danger, and prepared at
all risks, to do his utmost in the service of the Union.
They knew that he was firmly opposed to fanaticism,
whether of the North or of the South ; that he had pro-
posed to himself the principles of Washington, as the
highest an d safest model for his own administration ;
and that he was ready to put down, with all the vigor of
his character and the power of his office, the first move-
ment in any quarter, which could bear the imputation

10

of treason or conspiracy. And when they heard that
his valuable life was suddenly cut short, they felt as if
their best hope for the nation had perished, and the
clouds which hung over the public council seemed to
lower with ten fold darkness, and they mourned as if the
country had lost its most faithful guardian, its most effec-
tive friend.

Doubtless, all this was an easy and natural result of
the confidence and affection, which the character of our
departed President had won from the national heart.—
And in itself it was not only the most unquestionable
tribute that could have been rendered to his merits, but
it served to give its true force and effect to the event,
which was assuredly designed to be, in the wisdom of
Providence9 precisely what your authority has called it5
" a public calamity, and an afflictive dispensation.55

But yet, as in all similar cases, the language of regret
is not without a strong tendency to exaggeration. It is
by no means a necessary inference that this painful be-
reavement is intended to produce any evil results to the
peace or safety of our beloved country, nor that it should
be regarded otherwise than as a wholesome corrective,
appointed, in the mercy of the Almighty, to rebuke the
sins and the follies which are our worst enemies, and to
warn us not to rest our confidence on an arm of flesh,
but only on the wisdom and might of the true Ruler of
nations. To this view of the subject I would therefore
ask your attention, since it is the duty of explaining itf
in accordance with the true Christian principles of gov-
ernment, which induced me to address you, on such an
occasion. All Americans agree in acknowledging that
our great and glorious confederation has a special and
sublime mission amongst the nations of the earth, to
teach them the practical possibility and real superiority

11

of a popular constitution, in which the people are all
personally interested 5 electing, by an universal suffrage
their own law-givers and rulers, and thus making every
man, to some extent, an actual sharer in its administra-
tion 5 abolishing all privileged orders of nobility, opening
to each individual the prospect of honor and advance-
ment to which his virtues and his talents may entitle
him, but denying all access to any political rank, inde-
pendent of the judgment of his fellow citizens.

It is generally conceded, also, that our admirable
Constitution takes for granted the virtue and intelligence
of the great body of our people, and rests them both on
the only sure basis of the Christian religion. This is
demonstrable from the fact, that the admission to all our
higher offices is guarded by a solemn oath, appealing to
the great Searcher of hearts $ that the same oath, or an
affirmation equivalent thereto, is required in the
administration of justice 5 and that no one who disbe-
lieves a future state of rewards and punishments can
be allowed to give testimony on any trial. It is still
further proved by the laws of every State in the Union,
forbidding the violation of the Christian Sabbath day,
and punishing the sins of blasphemy and profanity
against the sacred Scriptures. But it is quite superflu-
ous to enlarge on this topic. For if there be a proposi-
tion about which mankind may be said to be universally
agreed, it is surely this: that there can be no true liberty
without morality, and no true morality without religion.

It is likewise granted that the peculiar blessings of
our system of government are to be found in the arts of
peaceful industry and useful enterprise, that it is neither
designed for nor adapted to wars of conquest, although
admirably suited to a war of defence ', that the military
spirit is eminently unfavorable to public and private

12

prosperity, and that while every citizen should be able
to be a soldier on occasions of necessity, every soldier
should remember that he is a citizen, so that the military
may always be subject to the civil power.

Advancing on these principles from a small beginning,
our country has gone forward with unexampled success
and prosperity, until it is now, in little more than half a
century, the admiration and wonder of the world. —
Far and wide, our example is operating amongst the na-
tions of Europe. Far and wide, there is a sentiment of
reverence for our name. Far and wide, our privileges
are the subject of envy or desire to millions of the hu-
man family. And if we are but true to our principles
and faithful to the Constitution, which rests our liberty
on the virtue and the intelligence of the people, and
bases that virtue and intelligence upon the sure founda-
tion of the Christian religion, the same blessing which
has hitherto made us a burning and a shining light, will
continue to prosper us, until ultimately, perhaps, the
diffusion of freedom may extend throughout the whole
globe, and prepare it for the great and final consummation.

But here lies the difficulty. We have not been true
to those principles. We have not been faithful to that
Constitution. We are growing proud of our prosperity
and vain of our strength. We idolize the heroes and
the statesmen of our Revolution, and forget the God
whose instruments they were. We idolize the heroes
and the statesmen who have succeeded them, and
fasten our faith to these, and worship their greatness,
and rely on their power, and forget the Almighty
Sovereign to whom both we and they are alike account-
able. And hence comes the necessity of " national
calamities, and afflictive dispensations," that God, in His
mercy, may shew us our error 5 and lead us back to

13

the Source of all lasting prosperity, in which our fath-
ers trusted 5 and remind us that it is He that ruleth
amongst the children of men.

It may be necessary, however, to specify a few of the
proofs, which shew the downward tendency of our age,
through this sad neglect of fundamental principles.

1. And first, I may refer to the mode in which our
laws for naturalization have been administered. Those
laws expressly require the Judges to be satisfied con-
cerning the moral character of the applicant, and his
intelligent approval and choice of our principles of gov-
ernment. And foreigners possessing such qualifications
as these, would, indeed, be a welcome addition to the
strength and resources of the nation. But it is notorious
that thousands are admitted year by year to all the
privileges of citizenship, without the slightest real claim
to the morality and intelligence which the laws demand.
And, thus, in many places, the whole power of the elec-
tive franchise is actually taken out of the hands of the
lawful owners, by the votes of men who are utterly unfit
to exercise the right, according to the true theory of
Republican Government.

2. From this abuse has sprung another, viz. the cor-
ruption of our elections, in which the votes of multitudes
are confessedly bought and sold, and no sort of trick or
stratagem is thought immoral, if it be only employed in
the service of party. It is surely impossible to excuse
this on any ground of true republican principles.

3. It follows quite naturally, that the candidates them-
selves are often chosen without regard to moral, and al-
ways chosen without regard to religions character. In-
deed, this last would frequently be thought rather an ob-
jection. It is true that a certain measure of knowledge
and ability is admitted to be necessary ; but this is taken

14

for granted, and the main point considered is availabil-
ity for party purposes. Here is the only cause which,
in three prominent instances, led to the selection of a
military hero for the office of President. No intelligent
man, I presume, can doubt that General Jackson be-
came the popular idol of the nation by the splendid vic-
tory of New Orleans, and that it was the name of hero
that opened his path to the Presidential Chair. Gen-
eral Harrison owed his political success to the same
popular love of martial glory, and " the hero of Tippe-
canoe ?' was the magic phrase which emblazoned his pre-
tensions. And so it was with our late lamented Presi-
dent. His surprising victories in Mexico raised him to
the rank of hero in the public eye, and had more actual
influence in procuring his election than a thousand sober
virtues could have exercised. And yet no thoughtful and
considerate mind could ever believe that the art of war
was a consistent introduction to the science of political
government, or that success in the one was any argu-
ment of fitness for the other. It was doubtless a happy
event, that those military presidents were men of rare
merits in other points of character. But it was not on
these that their favor depended with the people. They
were pure objects of hero-worship, and nothing more. —
And, therefore, I refer to them to show, that we have
quite as much regard for the shining points which catch
the popular eye, as the ages that have gone before us 5
and provided we have these, we concern ourselves but
little for the homelier qualities of morality and virtue.

4. The next topic of our reproach arises from the
political maxim that " to the victors belong the spoils,59
by which every change of administration puts thousands
of men out of office, without any fault except the unpar-
donable one of having voted for the unsuccessful candi-

15

date. On the theory of our Government in its early
youth the question to be asked concerning any public
officer was supposed to be this : u Is he honest, and is
he capable ?" But it is a long while since that theory
has been acted on, with any tolerable consistency.

5. And here we have to acknowledge the grievous
abuses of that party spirit, which is not only the cause of
the evil last mentioned^ but of an innumerable host of
other sins against justice and truth. It is party spirit
which seeks so often to sacrifice the worthy and exalt
the vile $ which studiously flatters its own candidates,
and as studiously reviles their antagonists; which calls
evil good, and good evil, and puts darkness for light, and
light for darkness 5 which separates chief friends, and
tramples recklessly on the dearest relations and most
sacred obligations of life, whenever it is enlisted in the
service of political venality. True, there is nothing new
in this. All the older nations have set us the example of
the same corruption. But our republican system de-
mands a higher and a purer principle, if we would be
exempt from the fearful convulsions of other times and
countries ; nor can we hope to do much towards the ef-
fectual reformation of foreign governments until we have
learned to purify our own.

6. The sixth point that I would notice is the deplor-
able want of public decorum and official respect, which
has so frequently, of late years, disgraced the character
of our legislative assemblies, and, at last, has even invad-
ed that most dignified body, the Senate of the United
States.

7. And when to all this, we add the new-born lust of
foreign territory; the wild and reckless crusade of our ul-
tra abolitionists against the institutions of the south; and
the equally wild and reckless spirit in whieh they have

10

been resisted ; to say nothing of other points of reprehen-
sion, surely we have reason to bow our heads in sorrow-
ful acknowledgment that the early character of our na-
tion is fast changing for the worse, that we have insen-
sibly departed far from the true theory of our republican
system, and that we need the corrective hand of Divine
Providence to curb our pride, to recall us to a sense of
our dependence on a higher power, to force us to reflect
and feel, to open our eyes to the dangers towards which
we are rapidly tending, and to awaken us to a conscious*
ness of the solemn truth that, u Righteousness exalteth
a nation, but sin is the reproach of any people.55

It is but a few yeai\«, since we all witnessed the extrav-
agance of our hero-worship in the case of President Har-
rison. It pleased God to rebuke us by a " national ca-
lamity, an afflictive dispensation.55 In a little month af-
ter his entrance upon office, he was stricken by the hand
of death, and we were called to lament what many were
disposed to think a most untimely bereavement. Two
presidents succeeded, and behold ! another hero arose,
and gave us a new opportunity to fall into our favorite
idolatry. He has been spared to us somewhat longer,
but now, he too, is taken away. Far be it from me to
deny the claims of either. Both were eminent warriors,
both were pure and honest patriots, and both had well
earned, by a life of consistent and laborous duty, the
praise and confidence of their country. But this is no
reason why we should forget that the best and greatest
men are only the instruments of a higher power ; that
all their succe ses and their triumphs are His appoint-
ment 5 that we can have nothing, either as a nation or
as individuals, except what we receive at His hands ;
that when He sees fit to withdraw one of his eminent
official servants, it is a light thing with His Providence

li

to raise up another in his place 5 and that, so long as the
great body of our citizens render all their, worship to
Him who alone is entitled to it, as their Creator, Re-
deemer and Preserver — -remembering that they must
Hot place an over-weening dependence in the powers or
virtues of any mortal, but rest with all their faith upon
the grace and goodness of the Almighty,— so long they
may be assured of His blessing : so long, the Lord will
teach their rulers truth, and their Senators wisdom :
so long, if a David be removed, a Solomon shall sue-*
ceed him 5 and the tears of mournful regret shall be fol-
lowed by the voice of joyful gratulation.

There is not, my friends, in the wide earth, at this day,
a nation which is, in all respects, so favored as our own.
None where the laws are administered with so much
equality, where the poorest man finds it so easy to gain
a competent subsistence, where there is so great an av-
erage of ordinary instruction and intelligence, where
there is so little suffering from oppression, where the road
is so open to affluence and honor, where so many of the
citizens have it in their power to become the owners of
the soil, and sit in peace under their own vine, with
none to make them afraid^— where, in a word, the good
Providence of God has showered down His best gifts
in such rich profusion, and bestowed upon the mass of
our citizens so large a measure of comfort and prosperi-
ty. But I put it to your own sound judgment to say
whether we, as a people, have made a suitable return
for all these benefits ? Have our piety and zeal kept
pace with our blessings ? On the contrary, do we not
resemble those chosen and favored Israelites, who began
to play the idolator in the very zenith of their glory and
renown 5 and, as a just punishment, were divided into
two nations, which ever after regarded each other with

18

aversion and hostility ? And although it must be grant-
ed that our idols are not like those of the ancient or
modern heathen, yet do they not involve the same sub-
stantial sin of departing from God ? Does not the in-
spired apostle expressly say that covetousness is idolatry ?
Is not the over-weening confidence placed in the ob-
jects of popular applause, another species of the same
sin ? Do we not virtually offend against the divine pre-
rogative, when we indulge our national pride, and claim
all the praise of our Country's greatness for our heroes
and our statesmen, without any just and grateful ac-
knowledgment to the Almighty Ruler ? And notwith-
standing the number of our Churches and our Ministers?
is it not true that the authority of the Bible is often set
aside, and that irreligion and infidelity are increasing ?
Hence it is, that we are in danger of far heavier calam-
ities,— far more afflicting and awful dispensations, than
that which we are called upon to deplore this day. The
distracted state of our great national legislature is thought
by many, to be ominous of approaching disunions So
great was the anxiety of our late President's mind upon
this subject, that some have confidently assigned it as one
of the causes of his death. But whether that idea be
well-founded or otherwise, it is easy to imagine how sore
a trial to his feelings it must have been, to witness the
alienation, the strife, the bitterness, which have marked^
for six long months, this first Congress of his administra-
tion. How his patriotic heart must have yearned, as he
pondered over those alarming questions : Is this glorious
confederation, indeed, threatened with dissolution ? Af-
ter leading the soldiers of the Republic so long against
our foreign enemies, shall I now be compelled to wage
battle with our brethren in a civil war ? Is the wild
spirit of ultra abolitionism to be gratified by trampling

19

down our Constitution, and deluging our land with the
blood of our own fellow citizens ? Can it be possible
that already, before that noble Constitution has lasted a
hundred years, surrounded by every privilege and bless-
ing, the envy and the admiration of the world — that so
soon, and in such circumstances of unparalleled pros-
perity, we are to be torn asunder by internal discord,
only because we can neither be content with the herit-
age which our fathers have bequeathed to us, nor thank-
ful to Providence for the marvelous superiority of our
national lot ? That such reflections must have pressed
upon the departed hero's mind, can hardly be doubted,
since we are assured, by our greatest and wisest states-
men, that this terrible risk is actually before us — that
this most awful of earthly calamities is not only possible
but probable, — nay, that it is, perhaps, nigh at hand.
May God, of His infinite mercy, avert the impending
danger ! May His spirit calm the angry storm of reck-
less violence and passion ! May His omnipotent word
say to the fury of the tempest, Peace, be still !

I know not, my friends, how far the avowal of my
own sentiments on the agitating controversy of the day
may accord with the feelings of my respected auditory.
In this matter, I speak only for myself, and desire that
every intelligent man that hears me, should enjoy the
same unbiassed freedom of opinion. But I should de-
spise myself as totally wanting in the moral courage
which becomes a Christian republican, if I shunned the
occasion of distinctly stating my own fervent hope, that
the great and wise leaders of our political councils may
succeed in their patriotic effort to calm the chafed spirits
of our southern brethren by some judicious course
through which the true intent and meaning of our noble
Constitution may be vindicated, an4 our country be re-

20

stored to unity and peace. It is not that I have any
sympathy with the institution of slavery. My feelings
and my habits are all opposed to it, and I regard it as a
serious evil, which I should rejoice to see abolished from
the earth. Were it in my power to direct the energies
of our General Government, I would gladly devote all
its vast resources to the object of purchasing the freedom
of every slave within the Union, and settling them upon
the shores of Africa, on the model of Liberia, and aiding
them to enlighten and civilize that vast continent from
which their fathers came. The Mexican war alone has
cost us one hundred millions in three years, for an ad-
vantage which is, as yet, of doubtful utility to our own
best and highest interests. And it is susceptible of a
strict arithmetical calculation, that the annual interest
of twice that sum, continued for a period of fifty years,
would suffice to emancipate our three millions of slaves,
so as to relieve the country of the whole, during the life
of the rising generation, and make them a blessing to Af-
rica and the world at large. But neither this nor any
other plan, at all commensurate with the evil, can be
adopted, without much time and grave consideration.
And, meanwhile, I cannot condemn our Southern breth-
ren as sinners, because they use an institution which the
law of God expressly allowed to ancient Israel, and
which the precepts of the Gospel were never supposed to
forbid, before the commencement of the present century.
I cannot see the justice of denouncing them, because
they claim the protection of tee Constitution for their
legal rights, as that Constitution has been expounded by
the Supreme Court of the United States, the highest tri-
bunal of our country. I cannot blame them because
they refuse to reduce themselves to beggary by emanci-
pating their slaves without a fair equivalent, nor because

21

they are unwilling to expose themselves to the danger of
the conflict and confusion, which would be the probable
if not the inevitable consequence of retaining such a
population amongst them. Nor can I wonder at the
strong excitement which they feel at the doctrine of our
ultra -abolitionists, when they hear and see themselves re-
viled as the enemies of God and man, unfit to hold com-
munion with a Christian Church, or to have a place
amongst a Christian people, merely because they main-
tain what was the doctrine of the whole Christian world,
only fifty years ago.

But here I must ask you, my friends, to note careful-
ly the distinction which the ultra-abolitionist is always
confounding. The holding of an African slave is one
thing, and the abusing him by cruelty or oppression is
another. I cannot for a moment doubt that the Bible
allows the relation of master and slave, while it con-
demns the treating of the slave in any other manner than
is consistent with the Gospel precepts of justice, kindness
and affectionate consideration. The sin therefore lies,
not in the relation itself, but in the abuse of that relation
by acts of immorality and severe ill-usage. And al-
though I freely admit that the institution is liable to
these abuses, and therefore desire most cordially, for
that and various other reasons, that it may be done
away, yet I know that there are many slave-holders who
are eminent for every Christian virtue, who treat their
slaves with all possible benevolence and care, and to
whom those slaves look up with loving attachment, as
their best earthly friends and benefactors. But the ul-
tra-abolitionist can see no difference between the use and
the abuse of the institution. According to his creed,
slavery, under all circumstances, must be an unpardon-
able sin, an unmitigated atrocity: totally forgetting that

22

if the Gospel had forbidden the allowance of slavery,
these millions of Africans who have lived and died in
the midst of Christian influence, must have remained in
their own benighted land, sunk in the extreme darkness
of the grosest idolatry, and exposed to a depth of heath-
en corruption and ferocious tyranny, in comparison with
which, the worst alleged abuses of southern bondage are
light indeed.

Frankly and fully, therefore, do I agreee, in relation
to this matter, with your great statesman, Daniel Web-
ster, and with, as I verily believe, the intelligent and re-
flecting mind which composes the majority of our clergy
and our people throughout the Northern portion of the
Union. With them, I deplore the evils of slavery.
With them, I earnestly desire its total abolition, as soon
as it can be attained in the spirit of Christian kindness
and constitutional principle. With them, I would sin-
cerely deprecate and oppose any needless extension ot
the area of slavery. But with them, also, I would refuse
to do evil that good may come. I would refuse
to relieve the slave by the ruin of the master. I
would refuse to wrest the word of God under the mistak-
en hope of advancing the march of freedom. I would
refuse to re-model the Church, by the exclusion of the
slave owner, in the face of apostolical authority. And I
would refuse to trample on the Constitution — the Su-
preme law of the land, and thus risk the commencement
of a civil war, with all its horrid and atrocious conse-
quences, only in order to force prematurely, what will
be much more likely to come to pass, in the exercise of
kindness and forbearance, and what I doubt not will
come to pass, with the consent of all concerned, in the
Lord's good time.

23

I have specified the name of Daniel Webster on this
occasion, my friends, not because he holds a different
opinion from many other eminent Statesmen, but
because he has been made the peculiar subject of so
much abuse and obloquy, for his disinterested, patriotic
and magnanimous course? in the service of the whole
Union, Alas ! have we not here another sad proof of
the violence of prejudice ? When such a man can be
so recklessly assailed by his former admirers* his very
motives calumniated, his integrity aspersed, his honor
and his purity of purpose slandered, only because he
has conscientiously preferred the performance of his
public duty to the nation at large, before his personal
interest in his own district ! These, however, are the
very circumstances which test the power of principle*
It is an easy thing to defend the truth, when truth is
popular and acceptable to our party. But the States-
man who can resolve, if necessary, to sacrifice himself
to the welfare of his Country, is a patriot indeed.

And now, my friends, to conclude — let me entreat
you, one and all, to reflect seriously on the prospect
before us. We have met together to deplore the
calamity— the afflicting dispensation, which has deprived
us of the hero, so lately raised to the highest office in
the gift of man. But he has departed in honor and m
peace. No more can his ears be pained by the conflict
of party. No more can his heart be wrung by the sad
anticipation of civil war, with all its frightful train of woe
and desolation. For him we have nothing to regret.
Years could have added nothing to his fame, nor is it for
us to say that a longer life would have enabled him ta
establish a better claim to the affection of his country.
But how do we propose to shew our reverence for his
memory ? Is it by encouraging this new and disorgari^

u

izirig doctrine that the Southern slave-holder must be de.
prived of our sympathy as a Christian or a man ? Why
then did we help to elect a Southern and a slave-holder
as our President, and why do we come here this day to
unite in lamenting his death, as an afflicting dispensa-
tion ? Shall we not rather testify our sorrow for his loss^
by aiding to the utmost of our power, in maintaining the
glorious Union, whose battles he fought during almost
forty years ? Shall we not rather imitate his patriotism
by opposing the enemies of that noble constitution, which^
under the guidance of a favoring Providence, our fa*
thers framed as a model to the world ? Shall we not
range ourselves to a man with our faithful representa-
tives, who, though they are all opposed to the extension
of slavery, are yet more opposed to the awful perils of
civil discord, as bound by oath and in conscience, to
legislate for the peace and welfare of the whole nation ?
And above all, shall we not imitate the course of those
Revolutionary heroes, who, in the hour of perilous dis-
sension, resolved to look to God as their leader and
their guide, in the prayer of humble dependence and
trusting faith, that He would vouchsafe His favor and
protection ?

True, our glorious nation has been intoxicated by a
marvelous career of prosperity. True, we have been
too much devoted to the love of gold, the power of popu-
larity, the ambition of conquest, the worship of men.
True, we have been neglectful of the divine Source of
all our blessings, and have forgotten that we are the
purchased and redeemed inheritance of the Lord of
hosts. But He has not yet cast off nor abandoned us-
Our rulers are not yet delivered over to delusion-
Our departed Chief Magistrate is succeeded by another^
as able in the Cabinet as was his predecessor in the

25

field, and animated, as we trust, by the same zeal for
the welfare of his Country. He has summoned to his
aid a band of advisers who, as a whole, have no su-
periors in the land, for talents, experience and devotion
to their official duty. If then, the feeling of the nation
be right, what forbids us to hope that the course of
our public prosperity will be onward, and still onward,
in the union of high national, and cordial, fraternal
sympathy, in the development of our vast resources, in
the increasing reverence for law and order, in a loftier
morality, and, as the spring and regulator of all the rest, in
a deeper sense of practical religion ? Thus, by due de-
grees, the North and the South may come to a harmo-
nious sentiment on the subject of slavery. The angry
spirit of crimination and recrimination once passed away,
a peaceful and united effort may be made by the whole
power of the nation, to convert the slaves into freemen,
and settle them on the coast of their father-land, as the
pioneers and guides of liberty and religion to that be
nighted continent. And then will our glorious countrj
have accomplished a deed, 4beyond all Greek, beyond all
Roman fame,' sure to carry down the names of the actors
to the remotest posterity, and to attract the applause
and admiration of a grateful world.

I have but little more to add, nor shall I trespass much
farther on your kind attention. I doubt not that many
of my respected auditors agree with me in the opinion
expressed at the commencement of my address, that the
selection of your orator has not been fortunate, and
that I am but poorly qualified to do justice to your wish-
es, on an occasion like this. On that point, at least, we
shall not differ in opinion. But I can assure you, with
perfect sincerity, that I have not sought so much to say
what might be acceptable at the moment, as to place

26

before you what I believe to be profitable, because I be-
lieve it to be true. In the ultimate power of truth, I
have the most absolute confidence, since it is truth, and
only truth, to which the Supreme Lord and Ruler of us
all has promised the final victory. Error may triumph
for a while* Even good men may be seduced by the
impulse of their own generous feelings to become its ar-
dent advocates, and in seasons of strong excitement and
controversy, it may carry them away from the calm,
pure light of Christian reason and consistency. And at
such times, the advocates of truth may be abused and vil-
ified. Yea, they may spend years under a cloud of odi-
um and calumny, and may die at last in a vain struggle
against popular delusion, as many a martyr has died be-
fore them. But truth does not die with them. Truth is
immortal, truth is eternal, because it is the offspring of
His word who liveth and abideth forever. If I have suc-
ceeded in raising any of your minds this day to that
Fountain of truth, and if, in some reasonable measure, I
have aided any amongst you to put away the violence of
party spirit, to cherish the feelings of old affection towards
all the members of our glorious Union, to regard the
existing evils of our country in a spirit of patient hope
and prayer, and mildly but firmly to discourage the dis-
organizing efforts, which endanger alike the peace of
Church and State, and which may, if not checked in sea-
son, involve our happy nation in one wide spread deluge
of anarchy and blood — then, my respected friends, I
shall console myself with the reflection that your time
has not been spent quite unprofitably, and that my hum-
ble and imperfect labor has not been altogether in vain.

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