are assembled to pay to the memory of such a man; a man not only honored by me, in common with the whole country, but tenderly cherished as a faithful friend, from the morning of his days, and almost from the morning of mine; one with whom through life I was delighted to take sweet counsel; for whom I felt an affection never chilled for a moment, during nearly forty years since it sprung up. I knew our dear friend, sir, from the time that he entered the law school at Cambridge; I was associated with him as one of the Massachusetts delegation, in the House of Representatives of the United States, between whom and myself there was an entire community of feeling and opinion on all questions of men and measures; and with whom, in these late years, as his near neighbor, and especially when illness confined him at home, I have enjoyed opportunities of the most intimate social intercourse. Now that he is gone, sir, I feel that one more is taken away of those most trusted and loved, and with whom I had most hoped to finish the journey; nay, sir, one whom, in the course of nature, I should have preceded to its end, and who would have performed for me the last kindly office, which I, with drooping spirit, would fain perform for him. since the death of Mr. Webster, he shone without a rival. With such endowments, formed at the best schools of professional education, exercised with unwearied assiduity, through a long professional life, under the spur of generous ambition, and the heavy responsibility of an ever growing reputation to be sustained-if possible to be raised - he could fill no second place. But he did not, like most eminent jurists, content himself with the learning or the fame of his profession. He was more than most men in any profession, in the best sense of the word, a man of letters. He kept up his academical studies in after life. He did not think it the part either of wisdom or good taste to leave behind him at school, or at college, the noble languages of the great peoples of antiquity; but he continued through life to read the Greek and Roman classics. He was also familiar with the whole range of English literature; and he had a respectable acquaintance with the standard French authors. This wide and varied circle of reading not only gave a liberal expansion to his mind, in all directions, but it endowed him with a great wealth of choice but unstudied language, and enabled him to command a richness of illustration, whatever subject he had in hand, beyond most of our public speakers and writers. This taste for reading was formed in early life. While he was at the law school at Cambridge, I was accustomed to meet him more frequently than any other person of his standing, in the alcoves of the Library of the University. As he advanced in years, and acquired the means of gratifying his taste in this respect, he formed a miscellaneous collection, probably as valuable as any other in Bos But although with a willing heart I undertake the duty you have devolved upon me, I can not but feel how little remains to be said. It is but echoing the voice, which has been heard from every part of the country-from the Bar, from the Press, from every association from which it could with propriety be uttered, to say that he stood at the head of his profession in this country. If, in his own or any other part of the Union, there was his superior in any branch of legal know-ton; and he was accustomed playfully to ledge, there was certainly no one who united, to the same extent, profound learning in the law, with a range almost boundless of miscellaneous reading, reasoning powers of the highest order, intuitive quickness of perception, a wariness and circumspection never taken by surprise, and an imagination, which rose on a bold and easy wing to the highest heaven of invention. These powers, trained by diligent cultivation, these attainments, combined and applied with sound judgment, consummate skill and exquisite taste, necessarily placed him at the head of the profession of his choice; where, say, that every Saturday afternoon, after the labor of the week, he indulged himself in buying and bringing home a new book. Thus reading with a keen relish, as a relaxation from professional toil, and with a memory that nothing worth retaining escaped, he became a living storehouse of polite literature, out of which, with rare facility and grace, he brought forth treasures new and old, not deeming these last the least precious. Though living mainly for his profession, Mr. Choate engaged to some extent in public life, and that at an early age, as a member of the Legislature of Massachu setts, and of the National House of Representatives, and in riper years as a Senator of the United States, as the successor of Mr. Webster, whose entire confidence he enjoyed, and whose place he, if any one, was not unworthy to fill. In these different positions he displayed consummate ability. His appearance, his silent demeanor in either house of Congress commanded respect. He was one of the few whose very presence in a public assembly was a call to order. In the daily routine of legislation he did not take an active part. He rather shunned clerical work, and consequently avoided, as much as duty permitted, the labor of the committee room; but on every great question that came up while he was a member of either house of Congress, he made a great speech; and when he had spoken there was very little left for any one else to say on the same side of the question. I remember, on one occasion, after he had been defending, on broad national grounds, the policy of affording a moderate protection to our native industry, showing that it was not merely a local but a national interest, and seeking to establish this point by a great variety of illustrations, equally novel and ingenious, a Western member, who had hitherto wholly dissented from this view of the subject, exclaimed that he " was the most persuasive speaker he had ever heard." But though abundantly able to have filled a prominent place among the distinguished active statesmen of the day, he had little fondness for political life, and no aptitude whatever for the out-door's management; for the electioneering legerdemain; for the wearisome correspondence with local great men; and the heartbreaking drudgery of franking cart-loads of speeches and public documents to the four winds, which are necessary at the present day to great success in a political career. Still less adroit was he in turning to some personal advantage whatever topic happens for the moment to attract public attention; fishing with even freshly baited hook in the turbid waters of an ephemeral popularity. In reference to some of the arts by which political advancement is sought and obtained, he once said to me, with that well-known characteristic look, in which sadness and compassionate pleasantry were about equally mingled: "They did not do such things in Washington's day." If ever there was a truly disinterested patriot Rufus Choate was that man. In his political career there was no shade of selfishness. Had he been willing to purchase advancement at the price often paid for it, there never was a moment, from the time he first made himself felt and known, that he could not have commanded any thing which any party could bestow. But he desired none of the rewards or honors of success. On the contrary he, not only for his individual self, regarded office as a burden-an obstacle in the way of cultivation of his professional and literary tastes-but he held that of necessity, and in consequence of the strong tendency of our parties to assume a sectional character, conservative opinions, seeking to moderate between the extremes which agitate the country, must of necessity be in the minority; that it was the "mission" of men who hold such opinions, not to fill honorable and lucrative posts, which are unavoidably monopolized by active leaders, but to speak prudent words on great occasions, which would command the respect, if they do not enlist the sympathies, of both the conflicting parties, and insensibly influence the public mind. He comprehended and accepted the position; he knew that it was one liable to be misunderstood, and sure to be misrepresented at the time; but not less sure to be justified when the interests and passions of the day are buried beneath the clods of the valley. But this ostracism to which his conservative opinions condemned him, produced not a shade of bitterness in his feelings. His patriotism was as cheerful as it was intense. He regarded our confederated Republic, with its wonderful adjustment of State and Federal organizationthe States bearing the burden and descending to the details of local administration, the General Government molding the whole into one general nationality, and representing it in the family of nations as the most wonderful phenomenon in the political history of the world. Too much of a statesman to join the unreflecting disparagement, with which other great forms of national polity are often spoken of in this country; he yet considered the oldest, the wisest, and most suc cessful of them, the British Constitution, as a far less wonderful political system than our confederated republic. The territorial extent of the country; the beautiful =་ play into each other of its great commer- | eulogy on Daniel Webster at Dartmouth With such gifts, such attainments, and such a spirit, he placed himself, as a matter of course, not merely at the head of the jurists and advocates, but of the public speakers of the country. After listening to him at the bar, in the Senate, or upon the academic or popular platform, you felt that you had heard the best that could be said in either place. That mastery which he displayed at the forum and in the deliberative assembly was not less conspicuous in every other form of public address. As happens in most cases of eminent jurists and statesmen, possessing a brilliant imagination and able to adorn a severe course of reasoning with the charms of a glowing fancy or a sparkling style, it was sometimes said of him, as it was said before him of Burke and Erskine, of Ames and Pinkney-that he was more of a rhetorician than a logician, that he dealt in words and figures of speech more than in facts or arguments. These are the invidious comments by which dull or prejudiced men seek to disparage those gifts which are furthest from their own reach. It is, perhaps, by his discourses on academical and popular occasions that he is most extensively known in the community, as it is these which were listened to with delighted admiration by the largest audiences. He loved to treat a purely literary theme; and he knew how to throw a magic freshness like the cool morning dew on a cluster of purple grapes -over the most familiar topics at a patriotio celebration. Some of these occasional performances will ever be held among the brightest gems of our literature. The But he does not deal exclusively in those ponderous sentences. There is nothing of the artificial Johnsonian balance in his style. It is as often marked by a pregnant brevity as by a sonorous amplitude. He is sometimes satisfied, in concise epigrammatic clauses, to skirmish with his light troops and drive in the enemy's outposts. It is only on fitting occasions, when great principles are to be vindicated and solemn truths told; when some moral or political Waterloo or Solferino is to be fought, that he puts on the entire panoply of his gorgeous rhetoric. It is then that his majestic sentences swell to the dimensions of his thought; that you hear afar off the awful roar of his rifled ordnance; and when he has stormed the hights, and broken the center, and trampled the squares, and turned the staggering wings of the adversary, that he sounds his imperial clarion along the whole line of battle, and moves forward with all his hosts, in one overwhelming charge. Our friend was, in all the personal relations of life, the most unselfish and disinterested of men. Commanding from an early period a valuable clientelage, and rising rapidly to the summit of his profes sion, and to the best practice in the Courts of Massachusetts and in the Supreme Court of the United States, with no expensive tastes or habits, and a manner of life highly unostentatious and simple, advancing years overtook him with but slender provision for their decline. He reaped little but fame, where he ought to have reaped both fame and fortune. A career which in England would have been. crowned with affluence, and probably with distinguished rank and office, found him at sixty chained to the treadmill of laborious practice. He might, indeed, be regarded as a martyr to his profession. He gave to it his time, his strength, and, neglecting due care of regular bodily exercise and occasional entire relaxation, he might be said to have given to it his life. He assumed the racking anxieties and feverish excitements of his clients. From the courts, where he argued the causes intrusted to him, with all the energy of his intellect, rousing into corresponding action an overtasked nervous system, these cares and anxieties followed him to the weariness of his midnight vigils, and the unrest of his sleepless pillow. In this way, he led a long professional career, worn and harassed with other men's cares, and sacrificed ten added years of professional usefulness to the intensity with which he threw himself into the discharge of his duties, in middle life. brilliant of the age-not to recite his biography nor to pronounce his eulogy. The impressive silence of this great assembly of men, who have laid aside their peculiar cares, at noontide, in token of an affectionate respect, speaks more than any tongue, that is here, could give utterance to. Mr. Choate was not a native of Boston; but here was the chosen seat of his study and his toil. Here was the field over which he scattered the ripe fruits of his trained genius. It was this community which he adorned. It was here, in this chosen home, which no accident of birth had assigned to him, that he loved to labor and to rest. Rarely in public office, he was still a public man in the largest sense, and all were proud of him. The old honored him, and the young loved him, and both old and young admired him. He exhibited a marvelous combination of powers, which seldom act together. What in most men would have seemed to be inconsistencies, conspired in him to thoroughness. There are other recollections of our friend's career, other phases of his charac- It seldom comes to pass that such an ter, on which I would gladly dwell; but accumulation of learning, practically apthe hour has elapsed, and it is not neces-plied without a tinge of pedantry, is laid sary. The gentlemen who have preceded low, by a single arrow, in the dust. me, his professional brethren, his pastor, the press of the country, generously allowing past differences of opinion to be buried in his grave, have more than made up for any deficiency in my remarks. His work is done-nobly, worthily done. Never more in the temples of justice never more in the Senate Chamber-never more in the crowded assembly more in this consecrated hall where he so often held listening crowds in rapt admiration, shall we catch the unearthly glance of his eye, or listen to the strange sweet music of his voice. To-morrow we shall follow him the pure patriot-the consummate jurist-the eloquent orator-the honored citizen- the beloved friend, to the last resting-place; and who will not feel, as we lay him there, that a brighter genius and a warmer heart are not left among living men? REMARKS OF J. T. STEVENSON. never Gentlemen: The prevalence of a public sorrow, which seemed to be seeking an appropriate form of expression, has induced a number of our fellow-citizens to take the necessary steps for having this place opened for your meeting to-day. Death, with its summons, which will not be unheeded, has called us here, to contemplate its victory over all that was mortal of a brilliant man-one of the most Who, that has listened to him, has not been dazzled almost to dizziness by the vivid flashes of his imagination, at the same time that he has been carried steadily forward by the irresistible force of the logic of prose-poet and the imaginative logician? Most men, with an imagination like his, are tempted to let all their thoughts run riot in its luxuries. Most men, with logical powers to be compared with his, leave them unadorned in their exercise. But the offspring of his brain had all the commanding strength of the one, and all the bewitching grace of the other. He captivated while he convinced. Probably none, before whom he was called upon to hold up the protecting shield of the law, were unjustly convicted; while some, who needed mercy more than justice, may have found it through the seductive power of his eloquence. A careful culture, deep research, accurate learning, a refined wit, an exuberant fancy, a brilliant imagination, quick perceptions, a cloudless intellect, a genial disposition, a full heart and magnetic man ners, each pressed, with its varied forces, into the active service of a passion for intellectual eminence, made Mr. Choate, what he certainly was, inimitable. He stood out among men a genius; though he walked with them, a charming companion. He will be remembered. The music of his voice will still play upon the chords of our memories, though the lips which gave tone to it are sealed. The expressive eye will still beam upon us, though its lids is closed in the unbroken sleep. The smile which lighted up his studyworn features into beauty, will not be soon forgotten, though it has ceased to play. It seemed, therefore, proper that we, who may have been connected with him by no other ties than those of a common citizenship, should come together to acknowledge the void that is left, not only in the profession, which he courted and adorned, but in the larger circle of the whole community, in which he labored and shone. ORATION OF THE HON. HON. EDWARD EVERETT.* [DELIVERED IN BOSTON, SEPT. 17, 1859, AT THE INAUGURATION OF THE STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER, IN THE STATE-HOUSE GROUNDS, ON THE TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING OF THE CITY OF BOSTON.] MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY: On behalf of those by whose contributions this statue of Mr. Webster has been procured, and of the Committee intrusted with the care of its erection, it is my pleasing duty to return to you, and through you to the Legislature of the Commonwealth, Our dutiful acknowledgments, for the permission kindly accorded to us, to place the Statue in the Public Grounds. We feel, sir, that in allowing this monumental work to be erected in front of the Capitol of the State, a distinguished honor has been paid to the memory of Mr. Webster. To you, sir, in particular, whose influence was liberally employed to bring about this result, and whose personal attendance and participation have added so much to the interest of the day, we are under the highest obligations. We depart from our usual rule in regard to Foreign Literature in this journal, in order to place before our readers in this permanent form, a great oration on a memorable occasion, rich in the eloquence and affluence of historic interest and thought, worthy of the theme, the character and the memory of the great American Statesman, whom his countrymen delight to honor. This discourse has been corrected by the Author, and published in this form by his permission.-ED. ECLEC. To you, also, Mr. Mayor, and to the City Council, we return our cordial thanks for your kind consent to act on our behalf, in delivering this cherished. Memorial of our honored fellow-citizen into the custody of the Commonwealth, and for your sympathy and assistance in the duties of the occasion. To you, our distinguished Guests, and to you, Fellow-Citizens, of either sex, who come to unite with us in rendering these monumental honors, who adorn the occasion with your presence, and cheer us with your countenance and favor, we tender a respectful and grateful welcome. The inclemency of the weather has, as you are well aware, made a change in our arrangements for your reception necessary, and compelled us to flee from the public grounds to this spacious hall. But we will not murmur at this slight inconvenience. We are not the only children for whom the Universal Parent cares. The rain, which has incommoded and disappointed us, is most welcome to the husbandman and the farmer. It will yield their last fullness to the maturing fruits and grains; it will clothe the parched fields with autumnal verdure, and revive the failing pasturage; it will replenish the |