To clear the guilty, and to varnish crimes,
Myself will mount the rostrum in his favor,
And strive to gain his pardon from the people.
Dec. A style like this becomes a conqueror.
Cato. Decius, a style like this becomes a Roman.
Dec. What is a Roman that is Cæsar's foe?

Cato. Greater than Cæsar: he's a friend to virtue.
Dec. Consider, Cato, you're in Utica,
And at the head of your own little senate;
You don't now thunder in the capitol,

With all the mouths of Rome to second you.

Cato. Let him consider that, who drives us hither.
'Tis Cæsar's sword has made Rome's senate little,
And thinned its ranks. Alas! thy dazzled eye
Beholds this man in a false, glaring light,

Which conquest and success have thrown upon him:
Didst thou but view him right, thou'dst see him black
With murder, treason, sacrilege, and crimes
That strike my soul with horror but to name them.

I know thou lookest on me, as on a wretch

Beset with ills, and covered with misfortunes;
But millions of worlds

Should never buy me to be like that Cæsar.

Dec. Does Cato send this answer back to Cæsar,
For all his generous cares, and proffered friendship?
Cato. His cares for me are insolent and vain.
Presumptuous man! the gods take care of Cato.
Would Cæsar show the greatness of his soul,
Let him employ his care for these my friends;
And make good use of his ill-gotten power,
By sheltering men much better than himself.

Dec. Your high, unconquered heart makes you forget
You rush on your destruction.

You are a man.

But I have done.

When I relate hereafter

The tale of this unhappy embassy,

All Rome will be in tears.

Semp.

Cato, we thank thee.

The mighty genius of immortal Rome,
Speaks in thy voice: thy soul breathes liberty.
Cæsar will shrink to hear the words thou utterest,
And shudder in the midst of all his conquests.

Luc. The senate owes its gratitude to Cato,
Who, with so great a soul, consults its safety,
And guards our lives, while he neglects his own.

LESSON XLIX.

CHIEF-JUSTICE MARSHALL.* - STORY.

1. How bright is the halo of glory which surrounds the memory of John Marshall! How brilliant, the effulgence of his posthumous fame! To have lived in his day, to have been familiar with his person, to have heard the words of wisdom, as they came from his lips, has been my privilege. Those who are to succeed us, will have only the record of what we saw, and knew, and felt. When our children shall read the story of his life, they will find it one, which, in its purity and beauty, cannot be surpassed by the history of any other man of our age.

2. And who can calculate the extent of the influence of such a character upon the hearts and minds of this people, and even upon the future destinies of this country, in regulating the dispositions of those who aspire, and those who are called to the high places of the nation? Who can say, that it will not pervade the moral atmosphere, so as to correct many of those evil tendencies, which we now see constantly developing themselves?

3. We want such men as Marshall to rise up in our midst, and shed around the chastened light of their influence. The

• John Marshall was chief-justice of the supreme court of the United States.

glare of military fame, and the glittering trappings of power, dazzle, but, too often, to delude those who gaze at them with admiration. But upon the mellow radiance of his virtues, we can all look with unclouded eyes; we can all dwell with unmingled satisfaction.

4. Is it any wonder, then, that upon the mournful intelligence that the luster of this orb of our national firmament was pale in death, — that upon its being announced that John Marshall was no more, you should have seen your public journals instantly placed in mourning; the habiliments of grief voluntarily assumed by different associations of citizens; that you should have seen in every city throughout the country, public honors decreed to his memory; that monuments should be ordered to be erected to bear the inscription of his virtues and his country's gratitude; that, in short, this whole people, from Maine to Florida, from the Atlantic to the furthest West, should rise up spontaneously to testify their sense of the national loss sustained in his death?

5. No cold indeed must have been their hearts, and dead their finer feelings, had it been otherwise. Of whom had they greater reason to be proud than of John Marshall? Who deserved a larger share of their affectionate esteem? They knew that the virtuous, honorable, peaceful career of one such man, is worth more of solid advantage and happiness, and productive of more true glory, than the victorious march of twenty conquering warriors moving in desolation and slaughter. Peace has her trophies as well as war. It is not alone from the bloody battle field that laurels are to be acquired. In that retired chamber in the capitol, once dignified by his presence, John Marshall reaped a richer harvest of renown, than Bonaparte gathered on the plains of Austerlitz,* or Wellington,† from the field of Waterloo.

* Auʼster-litz, a place near Brunn, in Moravia, where Bonaparte fought a great battle in 1805.

↑ Wel'ling-ton, (Duke of,) born, 1769, in Ireland. He defeated Bonaparte at Waterloo, a Belgian village, in 1815, and died in 1853.

LESSON L.

EULOGIUM ON THE SOUTH.-HAYNE.

[See Rule 3, p. 170.]

1. If there be one State in the Union, Mr. President, and I say it not in a boastful spirit, that may challenge comparison with any other, for a uniform, zealous, ardent, and uncalculating devotion to the Union, that State is South Carolina. Sir, from the very commencement of the Revolution up to this hour, there is no sacrifice, however great, she has not cheerfully made; no service, she has ever hesitated to perform. She has adhered to you in your prosperity; but, in your adversity, she has clung to you, with more than filial affection.

2. What, sir, was the conduct of the South during the Revolution? Sir, I honor New England for her conduct in that glorious struggle. But, great as is the praise which belongs to her, I think at least equal honor is due to the South. They espoused the quarrel of their brethren with a generous zeal, which did not suffer them to stop to calculate their interest in the dispute. Favorites of the mother country, possessed of neither ships nor seamen to create commercial rivalship, they might have found in their situation, a guarantee that their trade would be for ever fostered and protected by Great Britain. But, trampling on all considerations, either of interest or safety, they rushed into the conflict, and, fighting for principle, periled all in the sacred cause of freedom.

3. Never were there exhibited in the history of the world, higher examples of noble daring, dreadful suffering, and heroic endurance, than by the whigs of Carolina, during the Revolution. The whole State, from the mountains to the sea, was overrun by an overwhelming force of the enemy. The fruits of industry perished on the spot where they were produced, or were consumed by the foe. "The plains of

Carolina" drank up the most precious blood of her citizens. Black and smoking ruins marked the places which had been the habitations of her children! Driven from their homes into the gloomy and almost impenetrable swamps, even there, the spirit of liberty survived; and South Carolina, sustained by the example of her Sumpters, and Marions, proved by her conduct, that though her soil might be overrun, the spirit of her people was invincible.

LESSON LI.

SOUTH CAROLINA AND MASSACHUSETTS.-WEBSTER. [Exact of a speech, delivered in the United States Senate, in reply to Mr. Hyne of South Carolina, in 1830.— Rule 3, p. 169.]

1. The eulogium pronounced on the character of the State of South Carolina by the honorable gentleman, for her Revolutionary and other merits, meets my hearty concurrence. I shall not acknowledge that the honorable member goes before me, in regard for whatever of distinguished talent, or distinguished character South Carolina has produced. I claim part of the honor; I partake in the pride of her great names. I claim them for countrymen, one and all. The Laurenses,† the Rutledges, the Pinckneys, the Sumpters, the Marions, Americans, all, — whose fame is no more to be hemmed in by State lines, than their talents and patriotism were capable of being circumscribed within the same narrow limits.

2. In their day and generation, they served and honored the country, and the whole country; and their renown is of

Sump'ter and Mar'i-on were distinguished officers, and rendered valuable services in the Southern States during the Revolutionary war.

↑ Lau ́rens, Rutledge, etc., men distinguished in the American Revolution.