Class Book. AMHERST COLLEGE. N ^%ntjn$i 24^ /cPJ^. AMHERST : J. S, & C. ADAMS PRINTERS. 1836, LI 1^1 03 '1 9 8 12. CONTENTS. Page. 1. Oratio Salutatoria 5 2. Essay. Martyrdom to principle - - - - 9 3. Essay. Scepticism of men of genius - . _ 21 4. Essay. Idiidelity subversive of civil liberty - - 45 5. Dissertation. Blind admiration of men of genius 48 G. Disputation. Which is the more prejudicial to benevolent enterprise, infidelity or war ? » - - . 13 7. Essay. Copy-right law ------ 2b 8. Dissertation. American biography ... 33 9. Oration, The triumph of truth. - - - - 36 10, Disputation. Is the progress of knowledge to be attributed more to genius than enthusiasm in common minds '? 41 IT. Dissertation. Influence of the imagination on eloquence 31 12, Disputation. Ought the attempt to civilize the Indians of thiscountry lobe abandoned] . - - . 82 13, Oration. The obligations of genius to common minds 68 14. Oration. Mutability of national characteristics - 51 15. Disputation, Is the influence of severe or commendatory criticism, more favorable to literature? - - - 77 16, Oration. The home of genius .... 57 17. Philosophical Oration, The relation of right to the will of the Deity ..--...„ 87 18. Oration. Taste— as connected with national character 62 19, Oration. Intellectual character of the men of the Pvevolu- tion -....._-- 91 SO. Oration, Immortality of mental influence, with the Vale-. dictory Addresses -_._.- % NOTE. It occurred to the authors of the following pieces, a few days previous to Commencement, that they might secure to themselves each other's last Collegiate exercise in the most convenient form by collecting and publishing them, in a volume like the present — thus laying a foundation for recollections of deep interest in after life. A few copies of the following articles therefore are presented in this form exclusively for the members' of thej graduating class, and through them, if they choose, for their friends. And should a stray number fall under the observation of any other than those al- ready mentioned — we bespeak the exercise of charity, — perhaps special forgiveness— at any rate charity. — As an apology for the nu- merous typographical errors, it may be prape^ to state that the several exercises were printed during the Senior vacation, in|the ab- sence of most of the authors ; and mistakes consequently occur- red which might have been avoided by a personal revision. The most important of these are noticed in the errata. Amherst College, Aug. 24, 1836. ERRATA. Pages, line 4, from top,/o?-aliis read alio. 6. 8. bottom, /or hoc rcfficZhac. 15. 7. after 'Hymns of praise have often ascended from the battle-field,' rea^Z'but none can ever arise from the in- fidel's breast,' 19. 7. bottom,/or piety rmcZ pity. 26. 11 top./o?- soon rca^Z low. ■ 38, 8. bottom/o?" power ?e«c? former. 39. 13. /or adopted reatJ adapted, *.' 12, '• /o?" savage reto^^ scourge. 40 6. top /or these read! the. '• " bottom ?-efld' till every false hypothesis' &c» 56. 2. top /or It read Its. 76. 6. top/or CatalinareacZCataline. 77. 5. bottom/Qr where refficZwhea. COMMENCEMENT BOOK, ORATIO SALUTATORIA. By a. H. Bullock, Royalston. Reditum hujus diei solennis et nos et te, Prceses ven- erande, oportet gratulari, festivitatibus ej usque Isetari. Nunc nobis in mentem venit, anniversario proximi anni, tuus locus ab aliis occupatus. In litore peregrino, eodem tempore, gaudebas. Q,uanquam tui desiderio affecti su- mus, nostri animos tamen, te juvisse in Capitolio Anglico rem literariam religionemque fama accipere, perfudit gau- dio. Nunc peregre rediis. Nos et omnes, quia hodie nobis ante oculos versaris, valde delectat. Classem alter- teram Collegii ad metam pertingere hodie spectandum est. Etiamsi prssceptiones tuas nob habuimus omnibus in arti- bus, — etiamsi in templum philosophise morumque ab alio introducti sumus, proximo anno, doctique profunda rerum divinarum penetrare, usque eo quo opus est, comparationis filo tenui perducti ; tamen multis de causis, de nobis opti- me meritus es, nam quamdiu respicere possumus, per an- nos quatuor, et sub tua curatione nos ipsos extitisse remin- 1 () COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. isci, tamdiu in te solicitudinem nobis benevolam. Consilia paterna, instructiones pretiosas, fuisse videmus. Pro illis omnibus recordationes benignas gratiasque ingenuas nos- tras volentes prsebuimus. Hunc Collegium, te prsesidente, sospitet Deus. Salve, Prceses venerate et carissime ! Sit ros cceH super habitationem vestram. Curatores honorandi et nohilissimi : Ad has jedes sa- cras quotannis redire in consuetudinem ventum est — mos Igetissimus, utilissimus, sacerrimus. Via Collegii peracta auspicate ducentibus vobis, vos frequentes nostrum offici- um ultimum exsequi videre permagne gratulamur. Vos- met gratissimos nobis fecistis. Usque dum concordiam felicem nobis prsestatam a sapientibus legibus vestris recordi delectabit, et linguse Grsecse et Latinse studium omnesque artes liberales hujus seminarii, tamdiu nomina vestra memoriis nostris consecrabuntur. — Nobis concedite precationem faustam. In futurum siquando aut ante ocu- los aut in cogitatione nostra versamini, beneficia a Deo vobis implorabimus. Salvete, homines benignissimi ! Listructores literati et dilecti : A quibus docti sumus artes et scientias qu« nimirum et nostrum et aliorum ani- mos illuminant, certe eos oportet salutare. Nos memores beneficiorum vestrum prssstare optamus. Nostris ab ani- mis, recitationis conclavis disciplina, colloquii amicitia, cur- ationis anxietas, affectus gratiss movent. Qu^ voces hoc occasione in templo hoc audientur, qui vultus cohortantes hie adspiciuntur, quse Isetitia hunc concursum excitet, vestra causa testimonium dicunt. Vestrum gratia, vehementer conabimur tempore futuro ; permagne vestra interest nos esse valentes bonosque nam quo minus ingeniis possimus, non vobis omnes laudem dabunt. Semper in bene meritos professores animos prsestabimus. COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. 7 Apud vos, socii amatissimi, dicendom est mihi. Jam- dudum factum est, cum Collegii aulas intravimus. Q.uas oblectationes literarias, eas pariter, comrauniter comperi- mus per omne tempus ; quas si necesse sit dirimere, dolore dirimemus. Hujus diei spectaculum— hoc cujusmodi est ! Cursus academici anxietates et angustias videmus prceteri- tas, — Hujus nostrum meritorum tribunalis ut benevolen- tiam conciliemus, sensus oblectemus, satisfaciamus expec- tationes videndum est. Cavendum est ne spem temerariam habeamus, nam banc frequentiam ad effectos magnos nori dubito spectare, — eloquentice candidatos, quas doctrinas et virtutes acquisiverint, eas pro scientia, literis, libertate ex- ercituros esse. Separatio hodierna anniversaria, fratres dilecti — quam tristis, prteterito tempore in memoria habito ! Q,uam solicitudine repleta, futuro prospecto ! Nostra setate, baud fere quisquis Mascenas versatur : nee non nunquam, juratores aut judices faventes: atque necesse est ut rerum divinarum Curatores operam et dolorem ferant, baud scio an prsemoriantur. Igitur, sodales fortes, alacres, coeli arbitrio freti vela pandite. Denique quid superest, nisi ut vos salutem, semel in perpetuum salutem '.^ Gluod commune vinculum omnium artium, amicitiee et religionis fecimus validissimum nobilissimumque, hoc disrumpi minime fas aut in vita aut in morte aut in seter- nitate. Salvete, Spectalores audientes : Nostris ingeniis mon- umentum diuturnum nobisque jucundissimum, vestrum ora approbationesque putamus. Quam nos rem agimus ? — nihil aliud, nisi ut frontem nostram vestrse manus mollissi- msd circumdant laureola. — Nunc salvete, seniores exultan- tes— 'vosque juniores et jam quadam gravitate obsessi : et 8 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. preecipue vos sophomores magniloqui : et vos, nostrse novi hospites fraternitatis, victaros hie sine solicitudine, sine tristitia, precamus. B eii i eakft ss matronse, salutem vobis 'vere oportet dicamus, bonitates vestri laudemus, et vos in partes nostrum trahemus. Atqui ante omnes, vos, paellas formositate nitentes^prsetimemnsttamen delectamur adire. Virginis os subridens moerorem dispellit. Cnjus- vis harum piiiellarum, quisquis horum ad gradum initian- dorum, amicitias conciliavit? salve tu — mehercle, extra jocum, salve ! ^Jam postremo, salvete, enmnes mihi ante ocnlos versati. Senes et juvenes ! homines et mnlieres ! docti indoctique ! vos in mane, vos in asternum salutam.iis. ESSAY. Martyrdom fo Princijjh. By John A. Delano, Ar/iherst. The great aim of mankind is at eliect. They seek to produce some sensation in the hody politic, thereby ren- dering themselves ' the observed of all observers.' _ Any thing which will act upon men, (of whom it has been said that they will be lazy when they can,) and stimulate to action not wholly vicious in its character — whatever is adapted to bring out the intellectual or bodily powers should be seized upon with the utmost tenacity. To the mind no less than to the body, is attached a certain sluggish- ness which must be shaken off by some extraneous force, or broken up by some violent mental tempest before it can act with the necessary concentration. As the air after a hot and enervating day weighs down the body with a -deadly oppressiveness until the lightning has dissipated its noxious vapors, and given it an invigorating influence, so the the mind lies in indolence till awakened by the whisperings of hope or the lashings of ambition. There is something highly agreeable in standing forth the ob- ject on which the Argus eyes of the public are centered with a scrutiny closer than that of Rome's severest censors, yet pursuing a course either direct or tortuous, and pre- serving the grand mark at which one is ^immg— effect— without swerving in the least from the great impelling 1* 10 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. power — principle. He advances with a single end in view, gradually destroying all external circumstances that may have influenced him, — -breaking each round of the ladder as he rises, till he stands upon the broad platform at the top — his Principles. Ruinous consequences would follow if these bulwarks to virtue were removed, and each should give his passions the rein unrestrained by any con- servative power — if the will should run masterless, and action be governed by conflicting interests alone. Since oth- erwise there would be occasioned the ruption or rather the total disorganization of the social compact, need it be a mat- ter of wonder if Philanthropy and Benevolence furnish many who are ready to stand or fail with their princi- ples? Nay, so far from it, that every one who would gain confidence in his opinions must make his motto Principles or Nothing, and gird himself for their defence either with the brazen armor of Impudence, or the iron mail of Hypocrisy, for if sincere, there are ten chances to one that his motives and principles will be misunderstood. And not only must one rant and rave about the purity of his designs, and the sacredness of his principles even to the confounding both him^self and adversary, but rather than desert his cause he must fall beneath the ruins of his prin- ciples after seeing his rival inscribe upon the fabric he had reared the soul-sickening ' Tekel.' What admiration do such heroes not deserve ! having sacrificed friends, and fortune, happiness, every thing, to close their bright career by a glorious self-devoted martyrdom to principle. Many a heart has quickened its pulsations when the noble feats of some gallant knight, battling for the cross in ' Paynim Land' have inspired the pages of romance. The Ci'usa C ItI M E N C E M E N T E X E R C I S E S. 11 der sacrificed all for his honor and his ' Ladye love,' each step to whose affections was a blow upon the crest of the turbaned Pagan. Patriotism has been the theme of pan- egyric and song. It is natural that mind should sympa- thise with mind. But if deeds of chivalry fire the heart, and a country's benefactor desires a remembrance, is there no chord left which shall vibrate at the recital of every thing valuable and dear sacrificed upon the altar of Prin- ciple ? There is something too grand, too magnificent in the idea of yielding a voluntary offering, private feelings and happiness to stern unyielding principle. In no age more than the present has there been manifested a more praise-worthy zeal to stand boldly forth in defence of one's opinions or nobly fall with them. The advocate for long established institutions, wnth firm resolve to maintain the customs of his ancestors unimpair- ed, is ready to inflict a speech of some hours duration on the unhappy party w^ho, through a belief in the superior wisdom, of the present generation compared with their fa- thers of witchcraft memory, venture to assert the prefer- ence of a close-tonsured cranium, to the sesquipedalian queue of former times. "With no less zeal and eloquence does the daring innovator sneer at the consummate folly of our venerable fathers for preferring the ponderous bell crown to the nice dapper little hat of '36. Each party, whether innovator or antiquary, trusting to the justice of his own cause is prepared to go any lengths. — Aye ! he will lead you a chase through the musty parchments of ancient history and the voluminous annals of mod- ern times, to shew the important fact that Cyrus the Per- sian wore his natural hair, aud that C4eorge the Third wore 12 COMMENCEMENTEXERCISES. There are also martyrs of political principles, both ad- ministration and anti-administration, champions of manu- facturing and commercial interests, advocates of internal improvement and defenders of a contrary policy, the man who is ready to die for his country and the one who is willing to die for his whiskey. There are those politi- ticians who will grant all to their opponents but the great principle that an article costing five cents is dearer than one costing four, and there, are as many who will contend that the contrary is true. These too are martyrs to Principle. The present is an era distinguished for benevolent en- terprise, exerted in the grand object of ameliorating the condition of mankind by the diffusion of civilization. To every society, no matter what its end, there must be an Anti — probably to furnish martyrs to counterbalance. Ev- ery scheme must have its supporters, from the maintainers of the great plan of enlightening a heathen world, to the advocates of a vegetable diet as best adapted to the happi- ness of man. The latter must certainly fall martyrs to their principles if carried out as commenced. In truth the world is crowded with such martyrs. To every opin- ion there are numbers ready to sacrifice all that is valua- ble in life rather than depart one iota from their princi- ples. It is a mistaken sensibility that leads' men to la- ment the lot of those who have forfeited so much to gain the object of their highest aspirations. DISPUTATION. Infidelity and War :— -their coniimrative infiuence on benevolent enterprise. By William C. Treadwell, Salem, When Napoleon was in the zenith of his glory, it seemed for a time as if the last hope of the world was about to expire. He made every dwelling a castle, and turned the implements of peaceful toil and even the bells of the churches into the murderous weapons of war. Re- venge and lust prevailed to the subversion of all religion, — the most endearing ties were sundered, — and the vine- clad hills of the fairest portion of the world resembled the entrance to the abodes of hell. But France, — devotedi guilty France, — had seen another and a gloomier picture. Infidelity had been long brooding over the ruins of that mighty Empire, and cherishing the infancy of that vile offspring which grew up into such an impious race. It moved like some mighty spirit on the face of the waters, but, instead of light and joy, there sprang up only dark- ness and sorrow. It erected the highway on which the burning chariot of war rolled, and the scaffold on which the unfortunate king and nobles were cruelly murdered, — whilst the temples of the Most High were desecrated and his servants slain by the sword. Its altar was the guillo- tine,— -its priest the executioner,— its oblations the blood of murdered innocence, and its judges the blood-thirsty Jacobins, 14 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. It is difficult to draw the parallel between the two states of such a mighty empire, but one characteristic of infideli- ty is plainly shown, — the secrecy and silence with which it performs its work. The effects of war are visible to all ; — in the cities destroyed — the victims slain and scat- tered in its path — and the convulsions arising in society. Its sound is heard afar off, causing trembling and alarm before it is f^lt, whilst infidelity steals along with the noiseless tread of the pestilence. The one resembles the earthquake which removes all the ancient landmarks and levels the proudest works of art : — the other the destroy- ing angel, who breathes upon a sleeping host whilst they melt silently away. Besides, the effects of the latter are far more enduring than those of the former. It is indeed but seldom that the gates of Janus can be closed, especial- ly in our own time ; but in any particular place war is a transient evil. The fields can again be made to yield their increase, — the villages may be rebuilt, and all nature may smile in plenty and peace. The husbandman may return to his toil and the family to their fireside, whilst the busy hum of industry will again greet the ear. But for the soul laboring under this foul disease, the use of a remedy is almost hopeless. It has left its former abode of innocence, and a flaming sword moves every way to guard the entrance. It has cast away the only anchor of hope, and thrown itself into the grasp of that law which is as eternal as the existence and as terrible as the wrath of its Author. Thus the permanency and secrecy of infidelity unite to destroy every benevolent feeling of the heart. There is not one throb of benevolent sympathy, — no soli- tary feeling of compassion for distress or of love for virtue COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. 15 but finds its grave here. It is the water of oblivion for every anxious care and the opiate for every motive to in- tense and continued action. From the nature of the case, it must be so. To the eye of the believer the world presents a scene of misery hitherto unequalled. Instead of being filled with the glory of its Maker, it is covered with altars on which strange fire is continually ascending. Moloch still sits upon his bloody throne, and the corrupt mythology of the ancients is supplanted by the more debasing rites of paganism. The wickedness and crime of Christendom meet with a response from the darkness of heathenism, whilst the misery thus brought upon mankind is equalled only by its duration. But the infidel turns away from all this as the creation of a fiery imagination, The bow of promise which animates the true believer is to him the por- tentous signal full of doubt and gloom. Even admitting the reality of thesulTering, he can provide no remedy, — so that his heart is doubly closed to any appeals to its sympathies. Such are some of the evils of infidelity. War may par- alyze the tender emotion for a time, and shut up the com- passionate heart. It may sunder the strongest ties and leave its victims solitary and broken-hearted. But it can- not enter the heart and do its work there with such com- plete success. Hymns of praise have often ascended from the battle field. The one is felt to be an evil, — the other is hailed at its first approach and even while the poison is rankling in his breast the victim is proud in his fancied security. The ' Saint's Everlasting Rest' was composed amidst the tumults of a camp, and the strongest posts in the army of Christ have been filled by men w^ho put off their temporal weapons to put on their spiritual. It cannot be 16 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. maintained that the spirit of war is consistent with that of Christianity, On the contrary, the nations shall learn war no more, when the mild spirit of Christianity per- vades every heart, Yet, parallel with that glorious event, and equally celebrated by a redeemed world, will be the utter extinction of infidelity from among men. , •^ DISPUTATION. Infidelity and War : — their co7nparative influence on benevolent enterprise. By Sylvander Hutchinson, Sutton. The obstacles to the universal triumph of benevolence which have already been surmounted are numerous and great. But the work is not yet accomplished. Infidelity and war still exert a mighty influence for all that is evil and against all that is good. I would not pluck from the dark brow of infidelity its sable wreath, or contribute in the least to render its real character less conspicuous. But destructive as it is to benevolent enterprise, I shall plead for the blood stained honors of war in this unholy cause. The success of benevolent effort is, to a g-reat ex- tent, dependent on pecuniary resources. But when the wealth of a community is exhausted in naval and military preparations and in sustaining armies, benevolent enter- prise must languish or expire. It has been estimated that the United States have expended in war and warlike pre- parations, four hundred and fifty millions since' the revo- lution. England is groaning under a debt of three thou- sand millions, contracted by war. But the amount actual- ly appropriated to the support of war is not all that is ab- stracted from useful purposes. Whole provinces, with their cities, villages, and ripening harvests, are sometimes given up to pillage and spoliation. And the march of a 2 18 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. retreating army is marked with devastation and ruin, that the pursuers may find nought but a barren waste. Nor is this all; valuable lives are sacrificed, even the lives of those whose hands were ready for every good work. But infidelity demands not — it destroys not the wealth of the community ; it requires not the sacrifice of life. When a country becomes the seat of war, there is an end to system- atic, benevolent eflbrt. The foundations of society are broken up, charitable institutions destroyed, and intercom- munication cut off. Those who have been the almoners of temporal and spiritual blessings to the destitute must now engage in the mortal strife, either at the command of su- perior power, or to defend themselves. The olive branch of peace must be exchanged for the sword, and the deeds of benevolence for the work of death. When v/ar breaks out in the vicinity of successful mis- sionary operations, the injury efiected is incalculable. The missionary is driven from his field of labor, and those who have just begun to learn the arts and enjoy the bles- sings of civilization, are left to grope their way back again to the darkness of paganism. It is thus that the pioneer of the gospel is compelled, with a heavy heart and tearful eye, to witness the entire destruction of that which has cost him years of laborious toil. Infidelity may hold with an iron grasp its deluded victims, and drag them in tri- umph at its chariot wheels. But war enslaves both riends and foes. The former exerts a moral — the latter both physical and moral power. It is often asserted that infidelity is the cause of war, and and therefore justly chargeable with all its ruinous effects . To this it may be replied, that war is as really the cause COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES, 19 of infidelity. For there is no place where it springs up with such luxuriance as in the camp. And the reply is worth as much as the assertion. The influence of the spirit of war on the formation of character ought not to be overlooked ; for this is the principal foundation for errors of judgment, as to its destructive tendency. This spirit has been popular with the majority of mankind in all ages. It has been incorporated with our systems of education. Hence the mind is early prepared to contemplate scenes of carnage and blood without just abhorrence, and even with approbation. History, also, adds its influence to create and perpetuate the illusion. It presents the bright side of the picture while ft conceals the other from our view. In consequence of this state of things, a warlike spirit has be- come interwoven with all our associations and habits of thought. And this is the reason why so few rightly esti- mate its pernicious influence on the cause of benevolence. It is not so with infidelity. There is not here the same danger of misjudging. It does not bear upon its front the attractive motto "patriotism and national glory.' Its real character will oftener show itself, and community on- ly need the alarm to resist its influence. The necessary tendency of war is to destroy benevolent feeling, to blunt the moral sense, and open the flood gates of iniquity. The guilty passions swell and rage, — piety and compassion give place to the rancor of hostile feeling, — the feeble re- straints of virtue yield to the accumulating pressure, and vice pours forth its flood of bitter waters. Amidst these conflicting elements there is little disposition to practice the works of love, and little opportunity for its motives to operate upon the mind. Infidelity, though it removes the 20 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. great motive to the practice of benevolence — the authority of the scriptures — leaves others untouched by its withering hand. Regard for his own reputation or compassion for the afflicted, may induce the infidel to embark in- the same benevolent enterprises in which the christian engages from higher motives. But it may be difficult, at last, to decide the question : War and infidelity — benevolence has no sympathy with either. She weeps over them both. Let all the friends of man unite their efforts to hasten the introduction of that day when infidelity shall hide its head in darkness, and the blasts of the trumpet and the roar of cannon shall be exchanged for the songs of Zion and the triumphs of the gospel. . ESSAY. Scepticism of Scientific Men. By Lycortas L. Bruuer, Wilhraham, Long has the mind been under the influence of scepti- cism. Every science introduced into the world, has afford- ed some materials for its more extended circulation. To sustain it, its supporters have been compelled to resort to almost every resource. But they have found their firmest hold in the more abstruse departments of knowledge — in those beyond the gaze of common minds, and too obscured by mists and clouds for the distinct perception of men of a vision less keen. The mysticisms and sophisms of the schoolmen were most fruitful in giving currency to sceptical dogmas. The philosophers of those times, professing to possess the only desirable knowledge as well as the keys that gained access to it, held the world in entire submis- sion. No doctrines were too absurd to be believed. To them,, the earth on which they trod was but an ima- ginary existence : — themselves, their own bodies were not. So it was with physical science. Principles of a different character, indeed, but of equal absurdity, prevailed throughout its whole extent. The two sciences have been in a measure connected. Whatever conclusion was at- tained in theory in mental was carried out in practice in natural science. The devotees of both sciences have ex- 2* 22 COMMENCE MENTEXERCISE^. erted themselves to their utmost to palm upon the world principles of the most pernicious tendency. On the one hand we have seen the mighty mind of Hume, with con- scious pride and power, striking- against every gystem clashing with his own, or crushing it within his fatal grasp. On the other hand, we have seen the proud, conceited dissolute BufFon, enticing and alluring hy the lofty harmony of his style and by his majestic ima- ges, while he intensely plies his povv^ers through a long life to discover, if possible, defects or contradic- tions in the works of nature, that he may employ them in destroying the few remaining seeds of piety in man and throw over the world a universal scepticism. So many others have been employed in these sciences who have cherished atheistical sentiments, that some have been led to suppose there was in them a magic influence which thus perverted the reason. They have on this account condemned all the abstruse sciences as dangerous in their tendencies alike to the intellect and the heart. They have supposed that it was impossible for men to be cor- rect and independent reasoners without necessarily swerv- ing from the common faith. But such is not the case. The fault is not in the science ; — it is not accountable for their errors. Men have been led to doubt by other causes, and in many .instances they have adopted and published sceptical opinions merely from selfish considerations. Pride or literary vanity has been in a majority of instan- ces the sole cause of all their disbelief In natural science, unwilling that nature should be her own lawgiver, they have wished to prescribe laws for her operations. They would not search for facts, and, by legitimate inference>s COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. 23 from them, build up a correct system. It was too humili- ating for their proud natures. It is this same spirit which has led so many mental philosophers into inextricable dif- ficulties. They have begun by denying the self-evident principles on which all truth rests, and have thus arrived at the most absurd conclusions. It is this pride which is the most effectual barrier to all advancement in any science, and which has done more than any thing else for the dissemination of error. This was the predominant passion of both BufFon and Hume. It is indeed wonder- ful that men gifted with such powers of mind should be thus influenced. But so great was their pride that when once they had taken a step, they could not endure the thought of retracing it. When such becomes the ruling passion truth must suffer, for the mind is ready to embrace the most startling theories. The system of scepticism throughout, with all its boasted liberality, is a narrow, illiberal, and selfish sys- tem. The sceptic, too, is, of all men, the most cred- ulous. He will give his assent to doctrines the most unfounded, and with the least degree of evidence. But his religious belief is not unsettled by the sciences. When the mind is divested of all prejudice, instead of exerting a sceptical influence, they tend to liberalize it — to enlarge its views and give greater scope to its faculties. It is under the influence of science that the mind has made and is destined to make its noblest efforts. The sceptic sees no beauty in the earth smiling in its loveliness, nor in the heavens with their myriads of sparkling gems. To him ' they are as brass, and the earth under his feet is iron.' All is a co*nfused, forsaken 24 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. mass, — the result of mere chance. But the man of up- right mind sees in eveiy opening* and in every falling leaf the hand of his Creator. It is but recently that men have been willing to believe that science and religion could be reconciled. When science was in its infancy, it was thought impossible that a believer in Christianity could be at the same time a Naturalist or a Philosopher. - But the times have changed, and the scales have been turned. The shafts of Infidelity now either fall harmlessly to the ground or are hurled back with retributive vengeance up- on their employers. Infidelity and Atheism are fast pass- ing away and will soon be forgotten, or remembered only as the follies of a corrupt age. Soon will the altars of science and religion be united to mingle their fires and send up a purer and steadier flame. ESSAY. The Copy-right haw. By Robert F. Fassitt, Philadelphia, Pa, The native of old Albion looks with delight at the records of the deeds of her statesmen and warriors. The fame of her battles bravely fought and hardly won, fills him with a noble pride for the superiority of his country. But it is with higher emotions, that he turns to the con- templation of her literature, and the blush of conscious merit colors his cheek on such a retrospection. He knows that when the fame of her heroes shall scarcely twinkle in coming ages, the productions of her immortal minds will be as fresh and vigorous as ever. The American while he can point with exultation to the deeds of the Revolution, and the noble achievements of its patriots, when he comes to the contemplation of our literature, feels conscious of our inferiority. What then is the cause of this inferiority? Has the blood of our Brit- ish ancestors grown sluggish in our veins, and does it no longer answer to the calls of fame ? Have our free insti- tutions checked the growth of the rising plant of genius'? Do our mountains and rivers, our majestic'scenery, cramp and curb the imagination? Why, whilst even British bards have sung the romantic legends of our aborigines, do not these scenes inspire our native authors ? 26 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. These are not the causes of our inferiority. We must refer it in part to the laws so unjust to American author- ship, and beneficial to speculating publishers. Under the present system, an English author cannot obtain a copy- right for his work in this country, but immediately on its publication it is ready for any one to appropriate it to his own nse. And so eagerly is this done that in a short time from the announcement of its publication in England, it is issued as re-published from the American press. You might as well expect the honest mechanic to sell his hard wrought products, as soon as the thief that steals them, as to suppose that our authors are able to devote their time and talents to the pursuit of literature, while publishers have an opportunity of vending stolen trash to the public. The pursuits of literature perhaps more than any other require the devotion of the whole mind. The days of Chatterton and Tasso, would be re-acted in Amer- ica were our authors so to devote their time, and they would die in the garret, of absolute starvation, if indeed they were rich enough to afford one. We might hear of another genius like Tasso, writing sonnets to the eyes of his cat for the lustre they afforded him. Our literature held in check by such a weight, equal to that which old Atlas bore upon his shoulders, cannot be expected to exhib- it the richness and grace we fondly hope for. The moral consequences of such a system are enough to bring about its correction. In the mass of English re- publications, the vilest trash is poured forth on the commu- nity, and books are published, the very reading of which is enough to cast a blight on the morality of our land. Witness the thousands of works weekly issued : — examine COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. 27 their contents, and investigate their tendency. What are they but descriptions of polished vice, and high colored praises of refined profligacy, like highly tinted pictures, calculated to mislead the mass, and commanding from all but the wise louder applause than the more modest, but more natural productions of first rate artists. So much for the disease ; — now for the cure. Establish an international copy-right law, by which the English author can be defended from American publishers, and by so doing, we will but protect from unfair competition, our own authors, and give them a fair opportunity to display their native talents. Justice and our own advantage here go hand in hand, and while the former calls on us for pro- tection against legalized villainy, the latter loudly echoes the call, and adds to the considerations of justice. Let a just and equitable international copy-right law be put in opera- tion, and literature will then become an object of undivid- ed attention, and American travellers in foreign lands need no longer blush to hear it mentioned. It is considered proper to protect our manufactures, and nourish the rising germ of national enterprise : — why then not cherish o ur literature, in whose annals the actions of the present day are to be recorded. Let then these considerations be duly weighed, remove the weight from off the young shoulders of our literature, and England will soon discover that her blood has not stagnated in our veins, and she may soon learn to envy the fame of some American Shakspeare or Milton. DISSERTATION. American Biography. By Samuel C Damon, Holden. The time has come to collect the maierials for Ameri- can history. Family records, old libraries, and the pub- lic archives must be inspected, and their contents preserv- ed from decay. A national diary kept, sketches of indi- vidual character carefully delineated. Yes — American biography presents superior claimxS upon our attention, as one department of the nation's history. Its intrinsic excellence will now be shown. With some nations, the custom has been to deify their mighty dead, to rank their ancestors as equal with their gods ; and in their solemn temples they have not scrupled to pay divine honors to their memories. But no such claims do we urge for the subjects of American biography ; no deifi- cation shall they receive at our hands ; we grant them no equality with our God, and we shall rear for them no al- tars in the places of our worship- They were men — living, acting, reasoning men, like ourselves. As such, with a knowledge of their lives, and the fruits of their labors re- maining, a failure to give them a place in our history, would evince an utter destitution of every generous feel- ing. An event has not transpired since the first plans were COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. 29 projected in England, for peopling this country, which has not produced men fully adequate to the exigencies of the times; arid although the wild theorist and sordid specula- tor gave the first impulse to a system of colonial settle- ments; yet their movements were seconded by the sturdy yeomanry of Holland, England, and Scotland. The youthful graduates of Oxford and Cambridge esteemed it an honor to spend their years of vigorous manhood, in laying the foundations of civil and religious institutions, which should call into exercise the noblest feelings of our nature, and foster the growing energies of the youthful nation. Prodigal of our encomiums upon the men of those days, we are in danger of exhausting our fund of praise, before the claims of their immediate successors are examined. Signals so bright are planted at Jamestown, and Ply- mouth that other historical events are but dimly shadowed forth in the venerable chronicles of the past. The mind seizing upon these as starting points, does not stop for reflection until the grand and sublime scenes of the rev- olution bring under full contribution its mighty energies. Imagine not, however, that during a period of one hun- dred and fifty years, none arose worthy of our remem- brance — none who claim a notice from the faithful biogra- pher. Think not that a mere handful of enthusiastic ad- venturers, spread over a wide territorj?", increased in num- bers to three millions, and became thirteen regularly es- tablished colonies, without producing men worthy to be ranked among statesmen, philosophers and divines. America did produce generals, orators and statesmen, be- fore the days of Washington, Henry, and Jefferson, 3 30 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. These were the men who brought forth the top-stone of the temple of liberty amidst the universal shouting of a ransomed nation. But there were many beside w^ho laid its foundations and reared its w^alls. The biographies of the men to whom I have alluded are the nation's family record. They tell us of our fa- thers and grandsires. They point us to their birth places and to their graves'. They are purely American — for historians can make no mention of Flessian troops who fought our battles, of impressed seamen who manned our fleets, or of hireling orators, who defended our cause at home, or abroad. Plants, such as those our biographers describe, are indigenous to American soil alone : their growth and development needed, in addition to the mild- ness of our summer, the bracing w^inds of our winters and the driving blasts of the storms which sweep over the hills and through the vallies of New England. It is the memory of such men we would cherish — not by erecting statues of marble, for tbey may crumble, nor by chiseling their names upon blocks of granite, for these inscriptions may be effaced. But let their mouldering dust be m.ade to live again, by some American Plutarch, Avho shall give a simple narrative of their lives, to be read by their descendants. Well written biographies would form a chain that would bind the present to the past, and additional links would successively be joined until there should remain but one surviving representative of the nation who should bear the name, and claim the honors of an American Citizen, DISSERTATION. The influence of the Imagiyiation on Eloquence. By Charles H. Doolittle, Herkimer, N. Y, The imagination however lightly esteemed, exerts more or less influence over men in every variety of condition Every pleasing anticipation that flits across the mind en- couraging to action — the man trembling in vievt^ of the in- evitable consequences of his acts, or moved to pity by the suffering of fellow being — exhibits its power, especially over the great incitements to action, the passions and the feelings. This power of combination, of presenting what would, in reality, be the consequences of certain acts, it seems highly important for the Orator to regard. Not merely because it gives purity and sublimity to composi- tion ; but because it may disorganize the whole mind : for when left to play in v^^ikl luxuriance, it flees the judgment, and escaping from matters of real life, renders eloquence all but visionary, whicjh, like the morning dew lingering around the m.ountain's summit in rich and lovely beauty, vanishes at the first dawn of reason or truth. This re- minds the orator of its great influence over his own art, and of the necessity of its cultivation, that, while he escapes from the visionary, he may enrich his style with varied illustra- tions, and give it force by the strength they necessarily add. It has been thought to cultivate the imagination is to withdraw the mind from the influence matters of 32 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. real life, are calculated to exert, to regale amid the sports of fancy, unfit for sober reality. But this exhibits a mistaken zeal, tending to destroy the true balance of the mind, which originates in a lack of sagacity and an ima- gination devoid of the requisite culture. When controlled by a sound judgment, and directed by an acute sagacity instead of exhausting itself in idle soarings, it lends wings to the mind and bears it away to remote conclusions. Transcending the limits of simple vision, on the principles of suggestion it may furnish the mind with new and impor- tant ideas. A great difference in eloquence may be traced to a dif- ference of feeling in the Orator. It is only when he feels the magnitude of his cause, and the inevitable consequen- ces, that his mind is the most rapid in its conceptions — it is then only that it transcends itself. ' Feel the subject the" roughly' was a precept given near a century ago, as the most essential to true eloquence, and is now recommended by its correctness. This is the influence the imagination exerts. Were man destitute of the power to unite conceptions of the past or past feelings, how little would the suiFerings, and op- pressions of others move him ! Those subjects, which of all others give scope for the most sublime eloquence, could not arouse the dormant energies of his mind. He is una- ble to raise his own mind and consequently fails to ef- fect, what the truly eloquent always will, an elevation of the mind. In cases of misfortunes, he must have the power of imagining the actual state of the case, that he may feel the full force of circumstances; and thus be ena- bled to present it in all its bearings. He must have a jus^ COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. 33 view of the present and consequent suffering ere he can burst forth in that deep toned eloquence, which sways the passions, and feelings of men. It is when, through the instrumentality of the imagination, his whole soul is kindled as ' with a live coal from off the altar,' that ^nq feel his power; it is then the sublime impassioned eloquence takes possession of our hearts, and carries with it the full current of our feelings, as well as the judgment ; for when the heart is warnied, and the passions excited, the judg- ment is affected with the greatest facility. On those occasions when liberty is just expiring amid a general apathy, when men are to be impressed with their danger, reanimated, and induced to action, what could the speaker accomplish without the ability to present the state of affairs — what would in reality be the results of cer- tain acts ?- Could he raise their minds above petty jealous- ies, that they might link together in the noble enterprise ? No, the power is not there. But it is on such occasions, that imagination gives to eloquence a soul-kindling fire, as the orator presents in view the several conceptions of the past, and paints with vividness the misery and remorse that awaits them. The Demosthenes of America drew co- piously from this source when he so happily kindled that- generous devotion to humanity and country, which has left for us inestimable blessings. This power has been exhibited by the great masters of eloquence in every age, and must be so cultivated by all who would excel in that art as to serve the high purpose for which it was crea- ted. In the splendid era of British Eloquence, the master spirits who lighted up the nation, by its aid brought truths nearer the minds of individuals, and adorned them 3* 3^ ■ COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. with greater energy. And it always gives fitness to elo- quence — an adaptation to the nature and circumstances of the case. Men may be told they should feel, they may be told that certain acts will terminate in a never ending pang ; yet looks will seem to indicate, that the speaker has given them an opiate. He must present that which will be reality so as to interest and make them feel. He must feel himself; for there is a sympathy between the speaker and his auditors. A want of interest, in the one, is met by a cold indifference, in the other, which, so far from exciting to action, dampens whatever of ardor existed. It it be the object of the orator to please, how can it be effected with greater facility than by addressing the imagination ? The beautiful creations of the imagination are far more pleas- ing to the minds of men than the harmony and beauty visible throughout creation. And when we recollect that the great business of the orator is to persuade, a hap- py influence of the imagination again beams upon this art; for when the mind is cheered, and that which is presented rendered attractive, the barrier, that too often intercepts persuasion, is swept away. There are tiiose who appear to think that the feelings and passions should never be mov- ed — men in- whom it would seem humanity had been di- vested of her brightest robes. The passions and feelings never to be exercised ! Are we then to warp the ima- gination, and keep suppressed every noble feeling in the auditors ? ' As messenger of Morpheus, on them casts Sweet slombering deaw, the which to sleep them biddes.' No, the orator must touch the chords of his own heart, and COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. 85 summon the sympathies of his listeners to a responsive swell of harmony which pure reasoning never can awake, ere the queen of arts unfolds her charms and reigns victo- rious over the human soul. If, then, we would urge on our footsteps in the most sublime of acquisitions, let the imagination sway her sceptre unquestioned in her own — her beautiful dominions ! . ORATION. The Triumph of Truth. By Alvah G. Dunning, Enfield, N. Y. The universal prevalence of truth and her complete ascendancy over every antagonist principle is a result most ardently desired by all the virtuous and intelligent. But while we expect the glorious triumph of truth over all error, its progress has as yet been confined within narrow limits. Although a few pencils from the sun of truth, have, from the beginning, shed their cheering light upon our earth, yet the greatest portion of it has been wrapped in the shades of the thickest darkness. But this state of things is not always to continue. ' Truth is the represen- tation of things as they are.' It must therefore ultimately become universal. • Man loves knowledge, and the beams of truth More welcome touch his understanding's eye Than all the blandishments of soimds his ear Than all of taste his tongue.' It is easy to mark its progress in every department. In philosophy, consisting of physical and mental, the false systems with which truth has had to contend, have been as numerous as the pride, and the presumption of men could devise. She has already triumphed over many of COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. $7 these systems, and others are fast disappearing before her light. Men are ever dispose'd to lay claim to knowledge : hence, before they could acquire, by observation and ex- periment a correct knowledge of the phenomena of nature, they invented hypotheses which bore at once the stamp of ignorance and presumption. Here was the prime and prolific source of all the errors which have distracted tjie philosophic world. This was the fountain whence sprung those fanciful theories respecting the eternal existence of molecular matter always floating about in the boundless regions of space and possessing antipathies and elective affinities. These theories exhibited the most extravagant forms and the greatest instability. Almost every philoso- pher had an hypothesis respecting the phenomena of ter- restrial and celestial bodies peculiar to himself One supposed that the stars were patches of clouds light- ed up in the night and extinguished in the morning — that there were many suns and moons, and that different climates were accommodated with distinct sets. The firmament, according to another, is an arch of stone, and the stars are stones whirled from the surface of the earth by the swift movement of the circumambient air, which set them on fire and gave them a circular motion. A third asserted that the stars were hot pumice-stones ori- ginally fixed in the sphere of the heavens, and serving as lamps in the night, but designed chiefly as breathing-holes of the world.- Others still affirmed that the sun was glob- ular and hollow, containing fire within, which produced light by streaming out through a cavity on one side. When this cavity was stopped the sun was eclipsed. But truth was destined to dispel all these and similar visionary 38 COMMENCEMENT EXERC ISES. speculations. - It was her light which was to attract all eyes and eclipse all other systems. The first gleam of tiLitK with respect to celestial phe- nomena, was presented by the sagacious talents of Pytha- goras, four centuries before the Christian era. But the high honor of proposing the true theory of the planetary motions, accompanied with such arguments as should car- ry conviction to the understanding of the . intelligent and unprejudiced, was reserved for the Polish astronomer 2000 years afterward. Since that period the boundaries of astronomical truth have been rapidly extended by the labors of Kepler, Newton, Laplace, and others. In other branches of" natural philosophy the success of truth has been equally brilliant. The Utopian schemes of transmuting the baser metals into gold, of discovering the elixir of life, of solving all possible problems by a wood- en machine, and writing poetry by the multiplication table, no longer stimulate the efforts, or excite the admiration of any who lay claim to common sense. — In mental science too, the progressive triumph of truth has been no less ex- tensive. The ethereal species, forms, shadows, and images of Aristotle, Plato, and their disciples have been dislodged by the talents of Reid and his successors, and exist only as the monuments of power, folly, and ignorance. The admission that the human mind is inadequate to the inves- tigation of final causes, cleared the way for the very rapid extension of scientific truth. Henceforth the intellectual telescope will be pointed, not to the discovery of objects be- low the horizon, but to those within the compass of vision. In moral philosophy, also, truth has gathered her lau- rels. The relations and consequent duties which exist be- COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. 39 tween individuals of the race were long shrouded in dark- ness and often falsely represented. The selfish inclina- tions of men were often taken as the measure of obligation. Integrity and truth were not always considered as indispen- sible to morality. The rays of truth in this science, at first few, and scarcely sufficient to mark the boundary between light and darkness, have been thickening till the eye can trace the lineaments of rectitude and moral beauty. In the science of government, truth has been gradually advancing in her conquests. The false systems which re- garded the subject as the slave of the government have given place to more enlightened and correct views. The ruler is beginning to be regarded no longer as a being of a superior nature, not amenable to human tribunals, but as a servant to whom is committed an important trust, and whose guilt is greatly enhanced if he is unfaithful in its execution. The truth has at length beamed on the world, that man vv^hen properly instructed is capable of self-gov- ernment, — that he is formed with faculties adopted to the control of reason — that he is not to be ruled by a savage, — that he has capacity to perceive, and discretion to pursue what relates to his own interest. The conquests which truth has gained in religion are the most glorious, and most worthy of consideration. Here the light of truth, at first obscure, has been constantly increasing, dispelling the mists of superstition and idolatry, and elevating the mind to the sublime principles of nat- ural and revealed religion. Revelation has been the prin- cipal instrument employed to lead on to victory in this de- partment of truth. To the Jewish lavv'giver was first en- trusted this heavenly instrument. By him was lit up the 40 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. lamp of truth which has sent out its rays to distant regions. The clearness and intensity of this light was for more than twenty centuries steadily advancing, by means of the sacred declarations of the prophets, exposing the ialse doc- trines of those who made a pretence to superior wdsdom and sanctity. At last, all these scattered rays, which had glimmered on the earth since the creation of man, were collected and increased to a tenfold intensity by the Great Teacher of truth. The Apostles caught the light and scattered it rapidly among the nations. But soon truth was to experience a sad reverse. Her glory was eclipsed by the deep shadows of error. Long was her triumph impeded and her power restrained. But after the reign of a thousand years of the most ridiculous absurdities and and error, Luther and his coadjutors arose to lead her on to new victories. Her car rolled victorious over the necks of her foeSj and her power was great. Since that time the messengers of God have blown the trumpet of truth upon more than a hundred different keys. Her ultimate and complete triumph is written among the decreeg of the Holy One. Her victories shall multiply till every hypoth- esis shall be abolished. Then shall truth be the sovereign of intellect. The mind nourished by her quickening beams will expand and flourish like a plant enjoying the full influence of the sun after the refreshing of a summer's shower, DISPUTATION. Is the progress of knoioledge more indebted to genius than to the enthusiasm of common 7nind ? By Nathan Allen, Princeton. Lemuel N. Baldwin, Attvater, Ohio* In all that is splendid in the achievements of mind en- thusiasm is said to have had a principal agency. But vsrithout detracting one iota from its influence in connec- tion with common mind, we believe that, where enthusi- asm has contributed her thousand mites, genius has con- tributed her ten thousand to advance the progress of learn- ing ; and that this position can be established from the nature of the mind and the history of its operations. What makes the most important discoveries and im- provements in the world of matter and mind? What soars into the regions of unlimited space, and traces most successfully the laws and relations of the material uni- verse ? And what first penetrates the arcana of nature's works and discloses to an admiring world her long hid- den mysteries? Is it common mind ? No: it is more — it is lofty genius. And no amount of enthusiasm can com- pensate for a deficiency in intellect. Men of ordinary mind do not take the lead in the progress of knowledge. * The negative of this question was taken by Mr, Baldwin, but, owing to necessary absence, he did not participate in the exercises of Commencement. 42 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. Its first principles lie above or below their reach, and some more daring spirits must ascend to convey them dov/n and adapt them to their capacities, or descend into the abyss below to bring up the gems and pearls. If not, these principles must remain forever concealed from the world. It is the prerogative of genius alone to create the spark — kindle the flame, and light up the pathway of suc- cessive generations. And a single discovery, or train of thought, will sometimes tell more in the advancement of learning than the combined labors of thousands. Where would have been the happiness, prosperity, and greatness of this nation, had not the adventurer of Genoa lived? And as we look back through the long vista of time, we find that a few such geniuses have been the mainsprings in aifecting the best interests of man, — that a few have given direction to^the feelings, thoughts, and ac- tions of the countless throng in every age and nation. In the origin and progress of every branch of learning, a few pioneers boldly issue forth — bring light to its first prin- ciples, and pave the way for a lower order of mind. And to whom belong the glory, and to whom are we most in- debted, if not to the first originating mind ? We natural- ly ascribe to genius nearly all the discoveries in the sci- entific Vv^orld, and justly too. For all science is founded on facts — facts, not as they exist in nature, but in thought — in the sentient mind. And it is not in the nature or pow- er of ordinary mind, however influenced by the glowing file of enthusiasm, to discover these facts — analyze them — draw such inferences and make such classifications as will establish the true and only true principles of a science. There must be some giant spirit to spy out the ground COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. 43 and lay out the work. This may be seen in the history of Astronomy, and what is true of this science is true of all. Who discovered its grand and sublime truths ? Are they the achievements of common mind? No. It requir- ed the genius of a Copernicus to pierce the veil of existing error — clear away the accumulated rubbish of ages and reach the sacred recesses of truth. It was only the gen- ius of a Newton and a Kepler, that could explore the penetralia of nature, and investigate her laws: — and of a Galileo, that could annihilate distance — build highways to the heavens, and extend the boundaries of science almost to infinity by his wonderful inventions. It seems a wise design of Providence that some master-spirits should arise at different periods in the world to remove mountain obstacles, and prepare materials of thought and labor for their own and succeeding generations. They have been the prime agents in bringing on the golden eras of Litera- ture and Science, and presided over them as guardian de- ities. And they have been burning and shining lights in ages and nations enveloped in more than midnight dark- ness. The immortal bard of Scio, and the unrivalled ora- tor of Athens, moulded the character of Greece, and exert- ed an untold influence on all her future history at home and abroad. And when the sun of liberty had been long 'set in darkness in Rome, a man of genius arose, who gave birth not only to Italian, but to all European Literature. All our standard works, that have escaped the ravages of time and the wrecks of change and decay, bear indelibly engraved upon them the impress of genius. They con- stitute the great store-house of literature in all ages, and neither time nor space can limit their .influence. 44 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. In all the great reforms and mighty revolutions that have changed the entire facfe of society, a few have mar- shalled the ranks and led on the way to coriquest and vic- tory. It was only the matchless powers of a Luther and a Knox that could break the death-like slumbers of Eu- rope, and kindle the torch of liberty on every altar. There must of necessity be some bold champions to rally the forces, and stand foremost in the glorious contests be- tween light and darkness, truth and error. Men of ordi- nary mind, inflamed by ardent enthusiasm, contribute very little efficient help to advance the progress of knowledge. They are like wandering stars or meteors, which dazzle for a tim-e, only to bewilder and blind their admirers when gone. But a man of genius is like the sun traveling in the greatness of his strength. It is in the lower regions of the atmosphere that the storms and elements rage : — above, where genius ranges unfettered, all is serene and prosper- ous. In the progress of knowledge, men of genius stand along at successive distances, and form, as it were, a gol- den chain which is carried on through all ages, and will forever connect the nations of the earth. ESSAY. Infidelity subversive of Civil Liberty. By Robert T. Conant, Bar re. There are certain elemeDts in man's moral constitutioii, which every one who aspires to the office and honor of a reformer should study with the utmost attention, if he would attain any other reputation than that of a rash ex- perimentalist, reckless of human happiness. Among these elements we find a principle' of mora] evil ever reigning in the heart of man. Prisons and chains, and ministers of vengeance armed with the sword in the cause of injur- ed justice, do but too clearly evince the truth of the declar- ation that ' the heart of man is fully set in him to do evil.' This is a fact so obvious to all, that no m.an practically dis- believes it. It is only y/hen charged upon himself, as ex- posing him to the fearful retribution of divine justice, that any one pretends to deny it. Nor is the fact that human law is altogether inadequate to check the violence and selfishness of man's nature less obvious. The fountain of evil it must leave forever untouched. It can detect onlv such crimes are capable of proof, and punish only such as it can detect. Again, ' In the corrupted currents of this world, Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice ; And oft 'tis seen the wicked prize itself Buys out the law.' 4* 46 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. These defects make a fearful breach in the entrench- ments of human justice. Human law is limited in its operation. There is one department of man which it can- not reach: malice and revenge, envy and hatred, avarice and lust, are left to grow in the bosom undisturbed, and to pour forth their bitter waters without restraint. Litera- ture and philosophy may for a moment stay the tide of des- olation in its course, but soon these accumulated waters overleap these feeble barriers, and sweep them away like shreds of gossamer, or the chaff of the summer thrash- ing-floor, before the angry tempest. Religion alone furnishes a remedy for these evils. Tt points the offender to an eye that never sleeps. It opens to his view the book of Omniscience; — shows him the Almighty arm clothed with vengeance, and reveals the brow of eternal justice frowning on his ungodliness. It summons him to a court where ' There is no shuffling, where the action lies In his true nature ; and we ourselves compelled, Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults, To give in evidence.' Infidelity on the other hand, conceals the omniscient eye, the Almighty arm, and the glittering sword of justice, from the offender's view. Man is thus left free to run his own career, and anarchy like a ' wild deluge ' sweeps the land. It is a truth, which almost every page of history confirms, that immorality begets anarchy and confusion ; of which, despotic tyrrany is the legitimate offspring. Society must be deeply corrupted before the calm of social and civil COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. 47 life caD be disturbed by the storm of faction : — before those tumultuous and angry waves can rise on its surface whicfi bore a Nero, a Sylla, a Caligula to that eminence in cru- elty which shall render their names illustrious in the an- nals'of butchery and crime, so long as time shall last. I know full well that the world has often been amused with fables about a harmless and moral infidelity, whose gentle spirit, so far from disturbing the quiet of the nations, should, with kindliest touch, allay the angry ferment of passion, and give peace to a world long the scene of bloody strife. But as well might you talk of a tame and harm- less wolf, which, instead of devouring the flock, should watch it with a ' shepherd's care,' or of a hyena, with whose mane the child might play familiarly, or of a cock- atrice about whose den the infant might sport itself un- harmed. Such animals never were, and while nature's laws remain unaltered, never will be harmless. As often as ^olus, with inverted trident, pierces the cavern where the pent winds war and rage, so often will they rush forth and fill the earth with their uproar. In like manner, as often as the restraints which God's law imposes are re- moved, men's passions will burst forth, and the nations will be compelled to reap their natural fruit — ' Oppression, slavery, tyranny, war : Confusion, desolation, trouble, shame.' DISSERTATION. Blind Admiration of Originoi Genius. By Wolcott Marsh, New Hartford, Ct. Wherever any extraordinary display of genius is made, thither are the curious eyes of men directed. The statesman and the scholar, the orator and the hero, the philosopher and the poet, each in his turn, like a blazing meteor, has been a mark for the world to look upon and admire. They love to soar in regions far beyond the bounds ordinarily prescribed to human thought, plucking new flowers from unfrequented ground, while the multi- tude, far in the plain below, are left to gaze with half- affrighted admiration upon the giddy height. But though few walk on these high places, and direct the movements of nations, holding in their hands the des- tinies of their fellow creatures, yet m.ost are capable of judging correctly of their excellencies, and are susceptible of real pleasure from the beauties of their productions. There is a string which vibrates to the sweet numbers of Homer and the thrilling eloquence of Demosthenes, Deserving, however, as are these favored ones of our regard — to load them with indiscriminate praises, and to yield them our unbounded admiration, is as servile as its consequences are fatal. It has a pernicious influence on the mind of the admirer himself. Forgetting that they are human, and therefore erring beings, he eagerly seizes every sentiment that falls COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. 49 from their lips, and, without examination, adopts it as his own. Thus his mind is rendered feeble, and averse to close investigation, through want of that discipline, and that independence of thought which it would otherwise acquire. Were men of genius always disposed to employ their powers for the benefit of their fellow men, the danger would be less. But how often do we find, in connection with illustrious talents, the most corrupt passions raging with unbridled fury. The most savage barbarity — an in- satiable thirst for blood — a deadly hatred to our race, are their frequ ent attendants ! We might suppose that vices so palpably gross need only to be seen to be abhorred, And so they would, unfolded by ordinary minds, But the dazzling splendor of genius blinds the eyes of many to the moral defects of its possessor, or throws around them so alluring a garb as to render them to some even attrac- tive. Thus Voltaire who had conceived the diabolical pur- pose of overturning the religion of Jesus, at first artfully concealed his main design ; — meanwhile dipping his pen in the fatal poison, and scattering far and wide his intoxi- cating pamphlets, to prepare the w-ay for the final over- throw. At length, as if urged on by demoniacal influence, a frenzied multitude from all parts of Europe flocked to his standard, inspiring hopes of a glorious triumph. Frederic IL king of Prussia, was for a time one of his most zealous co-operators. What, but a blind admiration of the genius of that heaven-daring man, could have indu- ced him to embark in so impious an enterprise — an at- tempt to ' Crush the Wretch,^ and to efface from the earth the last traces of a religion of which he knew little, and 50 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. into the evidence of wliich he had never deigned to in- quire. ? Hume was another of like character with Voltaire — equally successful in gaining admirers, and corrupting them with sentiments equally pernicious. Alas ! how many have turned aside from the path of rectitude be- cause invited by a superior, who would have disdained to go with a meaner mind. Now, as in former times, at the appearance of uncom- mon geniuses, multitudes are ready to exclaim, ' The gods are come down in the likeness of men.' Like them, too, they are ready to do them homage, regardless alike of their vices and their virtues. Erecting their altars to unknown gods, it is not strange that they themselves are often the first to be immolated upon them. Many have been wafted on the breezes of popular favor to a tyrant's throne, to wield a tyrants sceptre ; and thus has the blind adoration of their menial subjects been richly rewarded. Yet while the blood is streaming before their eyes, and the cries of the oppressed are still ringing in their ears, these inconsiderate worshippers cannot withhold their praises. Bonaparte — because he ravaged the earth with fire and sword, and drenched it in human gore, to an ex- tent unparalleled in his own age — is forsooth, a genius, and must be held up by many to the admiration of a world. Avjay with such, fawning sycophants. Shall we grasp as gold every thing that glitters ? The sun daz- zles our eyes — shall we therefore say, it has no dark spots ? Genius does not exist in an unmixed state ; and when men shall have learned accurately to distin- guish and separate it from the baser materials with which it is alloyed, then, and not till'then, will these evils cease- ORATION. The Mutability of National Characteristics. By Loyal C. Kellogg, Benson, Vt. It is not the object of historical philosophy to attract the fancy or charm the imagination. The endless series, of revolutions which have marked the various chapters in the chronicles of time occured for a different and nobler purpose. History is worthy of attention only as it tends to enlighten the intellect and elevate the heart. The spec- tacles, exhibited by the records of the past, of the decay of genius and power,— of the achievements and fortunes of ambition, — and the vicissitudes of empires, will attract and detain even the common eye, but in the view of the philos- opher they are invested with the most solemn and impres- sive lessons of practical and moral utility. The prejudices which fix our attention upon the fortunes of earthly. splendor are deeply seated in our nature. We are bound to the past by the beautiful morality of our reli- gion. The intellect, casting its eye over the broad sweep of its past exertions, becomes acquainted with its own great- ness, and rejoices in the consciousness of its immortality. Antiquity is a principal source of knowledge : "'. ' Far in her realm withdrawn Old empires sit in sullenness and gloom, And glorious ages gone, Lie deep within the shadow of her womb.' 52 COMMENCE MENTEXERCISES. The retrospect of the past consults the nobler nature of man, and enables him to extend the brief duration of his own existence, for it crowds whatever was real in departed excellence or viciousness within the compass of his earth- ly thoughts and sympathies. It widens the horizon of the philosopher, for it s.preads before his eyes a boundless prospect of the wisdom and perfections of an overruling and divine Providence. The progressive changes of national characteristics in- volve the examination of the condition of society as it nas appeared in the different ages of the world. The shad- owy recollections of the traditional periods furnish all that is known of the rude state of mankind before the times of written history. The operation of the principles of war and dissension gathered men into communities, and the necessity of protection gave an origin to forms of gov- ernment. Civil society was founded on the animosities of war and national rivalry. The establishment of interest and property formed habits of industry, and encouraged the arts which are necessary to the accommodation of hu- man life. From such a humble origin arose the institutions and practices which have contributed so essentially to so- cial security and individual happiness. The early condi- tion of most of the nations of antiquity is very imperfectly known, for their history is overspread with a darkness al- most impenetrable. We have satisfactory evidence, how- ever, that they became the sport of the usual revolutions, and were swept out of existence by the common flood of national casualties. The changes of national character may be best illustrat- ed by referring to the history of the two republics of anti- COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. 53 quity to which the eye of the scholar ever turns with rev- erence and delight. Greece, the land of mighty men, majestic amid the ruins of its magnificence, allures us, by the recollections of the past and the exhibitions of the present, to the solemn reflections with which time has in- vested its history. Its petty tribes, in their progress to civilization, become powerful states. For the rudeness of the pastoral ages it insensibly substitutes the graces of the most polished refinement. The darkness of ignorance is dispelled by the light of knowledge. Its forms of govern- ment are established upon more enlightened principles, and the influence of its republics is stamped upon the mind of all succeeding ages. Its national partialities and the brilliant exploits of martial prowess inspire the enthusiasm of the poet and the orator. The mild influence of the prevailing philosophy refines the fierceness of passion, and society, though it has assumed an artificial appearance, is as I|eautiful and vigorous as in the times of its early simplicity. But with the blessings of civilization come also its curses. Wealth introduces luxury and all its at- tendant evils. A corrupt mythology removes all the bar- riers which close the heart to the infection of vice, and plunges all classes of society into the black gulph of mor- al debauchery. The public spirit is enervated, — public morals are relaxed, and the general depravity hastens the national downfall. The days of its glory have passed away. All that was perishable of its fame became extinct with its political existence. Yet, the elegance and taste of its arts, the loveliness of its literature, and the manliness of its oratory still remain. Greece is a brilliant name 54 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. upon the page of history-j and its fate is awfully — sublime- ly instructive. Scarcely less interesting- are the different changes in the annals of Roman society. How few of the institutions of Numa survived to the times of Justinian ! — and those, how modified by experience ! New motives of conduct and new forms of government established and subverted difier- ent features of national character. That virtue "which ex- tended the conquests of Rome from the Euphrates to the Rhine was destined to be buried in the common profliga- cy. The nation w4iich once claimed to be mistress of the world sunk, in its turn, from its high estate into a condi- tion of the most profound degradation. All that was no- ble in the institutions of society, — all that contributed to its grace and happiness, was submerged in the general overthrow. The simplicity of its republicari' origin was lost in the splendors of the empire, and these again were vailed in the dark shroud of barbarism. All that remains to the children of Romulus of the most magnificent mon- ument of greatness ever raised by human hands is com- prised within the limits of a petty state in Italy. The mind, as it contemplates the ruins of the old orders of society and government, is filled with astonishment and admiration. The mutability of national characteristics displays in strong relief the vindication of the eternal principles of morality and religion. The designs of Providence are not to be mistaken. Wisdom and virtue are as essential to the success of national as of individual character. It reminds us of the vanity of earthly gran- deur when acquired upon any other foundation than that of rectitude and wisdom. Go and ask of History — the COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. ■ 55 oracle of the past — where are the kingdoms which once gave laws to the world, — the throne of the Caliphs, — the empire of the Carlovingians, — the sceptre of Napoleon? — And her solemn response shall be :-^' they slumber in the sepulchre of nations.' It teaches us the nature of true glory. What is the name which Sesostris and the Pharaohs have inscribed in history compared with that which belongs to the quiet and peaceful Ptolemies ? Which is most endur- ing — the fame of the warrior or that of the lawgiver ? Which commands the most admiration among men, — which is most endeared to our hourly thoughts, — a character dis- tingaished only by greatness or one which combines both goodness and greatness ? It enables us to affix a proper value to the institutions which adorn our social state, for it reminds us that they have resulted from the experience of suffering and sorrowing humanity for a long series of ages. It opens to us new and solemn duties, for it associ- ates in our minds the loftiest contemplations of philanthro- py and piety. In all circumstances of life, whether in the administra- tion of public affairs or in the discharge of social duties' we are indissolubly -connected with the future, — we are compelled to act for eternity. Nothing could so feelingly make us tremble for the future destiny of our native land as the fortunes of the empires of antiquity. We are sur- rounded by the time-honored witnesses of the past. They point out to us, by their impressive experience, the perils we must encounter. Notwithstanding the dangers which are thickening around our path, we will not despair of the republic. We will not divorce liberty from the restraints and the protection of the law. We will not sacrifice it on 56 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. the altars which have been builded by the virtues of our fathers. It influences are dear to us, for we owe to them all the blessings of life. Let us impress upon them a per- fection and durability unknown to the history of the past : — let the fabric of civil society be supported by the majes- tic pillars of piety and patriotism, and thus a state of chas- tened freedom shall be incorporated with the very exist- ence of time. ORATION. The Ho7ne of Ge7iius. By Roswell D. Hitchcock, East Machias, Me. Genius has its years of infancy. Culture gives it the power to captivate and chain us. There may be the same burning passion kindling alike its earlier and its later pro- ductions, there may be the same nervous feeling ; time and- study bring along a manlier strength — cool, far- reaching thought — tempered, yet intenser passions. There are powers rich in promise, there are sensibilities which a touch will thrill, there is a soul of fiery make and high resolve; there must belong and weary years of study, there must be labor which wastes the strength, and care which drinks up the spirits. Uncultivated genius is like the slumbering electricity of scattered clouds — they Hoat above but do not startle us ; the winds must drive them together and give the lightning birth. Nothing without toil — is the law of heaven, stretching alike over the empire of matter and of mind. It is a law which regulates our mental being. We must not over- leap it. Nature and the history of the past teach us that the mind and heart must undergo a training. There are circumstances peculiarly favorable to the developement of the intellectual powers ; these constitute the school of Genius. It is a fact, not to be forgotten, that the mind has not ex- 5* 58 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES.- panded equally well in every quarter of the globe, and un- der every form of government. It has been a matter of no trifling moment whether the orator was free or mana- cled — ^born in a temperate or a torrid clime. There are suns too hot, there are winters too rough, despotisms too grinding, for the highest perfection of our nature. With such a climate and such scenery as this land has, what hinders it from becoming the home of Genius ? Look abroad upon these United States, stretching like a broad belt of light from the vast Atlantic to the vaster Pacific, with giant mountains piercing the heavens, with floods of wa- ters rolling to the ocean, with thundering cataracts tum- bling from their giddy heights ; — it is, it is the noblest land for thought which God has made. In childhood we loved nature for her own beauties : — how much warmer is that love when we feel that all these glo- ries were fitted up for the education of immortal minds. There v/as always beauty in that bow painted on the bo- som of the cloud ; now it is doubly beautiful, for it puri- fies and exalts the feelings. That summer sun-set has been richer than ever, since it taught us to think of life as wasting, and counselled us to spend it so virtuously that a golden light might linger thus about its close. We love the first gray twilight of morning, because it stirs new thoughts within us. And, at night, when the stars come out one by one in the deep blue vault, we drink in rich lessons of celestial wisdom. The rushing of the ocean- storm was always grand, but how much more so when we learnt to mingle with its blasts the restless breathings of the soul. Who, that has been thrilled and staggered by the dark power of Schiller's tragedies, has not thought COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. 59 how much he learned, when in his boyhood he once stole away to watch the lightning-, till his soul sent forth flash- es as fitful and as strong as those which rent the air. The greatest intellects of every age have been those who, casting aside the descriptions of earlier thinkers, have gone forth to receive their own impressions ; they have studied nature in storm and in sunshine till the mind within has answered back to the calls of the world with- out. In America, with scenery majestic in itself and sa- cred in its associations. Genius is yet to dwell. Perhaps thought and feeling are guided by nothing so much as by government and religion. With mild lavirs and a pure religion w'e can bear up manfully against the physical obstacles to our success. The soil and situation may not be iavorable — the climate may be enervating; we will call to mind, that the land of the Ptolemies, now trod by an ignoble race, was once the abode of civilization and the arts, with the same blazing suns, the same deserts hem- ming it in. Give us freedom, and we can take the poorest gifts of Heaven, and use them for pur good ; make us slaves, and we sink dowm nerveless and dispirited. Hope- less servitude inflicts a withering curse ; it destroys even the last energies of despair. The states of antiquity gave birth to philosophers and orators because they were Re- publics, and though the populace were fickle, there was a spirit, pervading their courts and their senates, which awed the haughtiness of power, though it could not al- ways stay the violence of the people. But where is the record of a nation which has risen to eminence beneath a lawless sway? There may have been individual men, but they were scattered and solitary, like things of life up- 60 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. on a desert. There is in man that natural indolence — that tendency to inaction, which requires that, at least, the arm of civil power should not be outstretched to persecute. Political excitement has calledf orth the noblest exer- tions of human intellect. The spirit of reform bursts open the senate house, puts the orator in his place, and the arches, at first taught to echo suppliant tones, noAV send back the stirring notes of patriotism. It was, so here ; it was so in England and on the continent. Mira- beau, the greatest orator of France, was, no less than Na- poleon, the creature of the Revolution. The latter snatch- ed the diadem of the Bourbons, and it became as starless on his brow as the iron crown he wore beyond the Alps. The former was the fiercest spirit in the council chamber — the terrible champion of a reckless liberty. He remem- bered that ' Th' aspiring youth, that lir'd the Ephesian dome. Outlives, m fame, the pious fool that rear'd it.' And with a desperate ambition did he push up the engines which were to level the monarchy. The spirit of our Revolution called out orators whose names shall live long after the tide of centuries will have swept away the institutions that now exist. If men are ever eloquent, it is when, standing over the graves of their sires, they plead to avert a vassalage more bitter than death. Add to this the high motives drawn from our reli- gion, enforcing, as it does, a pure morality, making cer- tain an immortality which the boasted philosophy of Greece, in its highest reachings, did but hope for ; and you have that which alone could have lifted Plato and COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. 61 Socrates entirely above the gross mythology of their coun- trymen — that which would have given Genius a more last- ing abode. Need it be said that this is the best land for intellectual greatness which the sun has yet smiled upon? Here is a climate to invigorate, here are laws to fling around us a sacred protection, and Christianity to teach us the dignity of our nature. The last seventy-five years have been a proud era in the history of mind ; it has been made so by the spirit of political reform. The voices of our early orators died not with the tumult of those angry times ; they went pealing across the ocean, and are now breaking in fearful tones wherever man wrongs his fel- low-man ; they caused Ireland to start as at the loved voice of her own Grattan ; they cheered on Greece to rear amid her classic ruins a new Republic ; they called on Poland to hang out her banner, once more, on the battle- ments of Warsaw, though it might be but to mark out her grave. Standing on the shore of the Atlantic, you may soon hear the thunder of battle mingling with the voice of the tempest, as it sweeps in its might across the waters ; then will the spirit of freedom give Genius a home in ev- ery land. ORATION. Taste as connected loith Natio7ial Character. By Alfred B. Ely, Monson. We are indebted for our knowledge of character to the connection subsistino- between the various affections of the human mind. Such are the reciprocal relations of the mental qualities, that, by our intimacy with one, we seem to be introduced to an acquaintance with the rest. And mark, — in the single developements w^e may study the traces which distinguish the general character. Of this principle, the faculty of taste furnishes a most beautiful exhibition. It is, at once, the eye, the ear, the tongue, and the hand of the mind. It fills out the dim outlines which the imagination and fancy have conceived, and presents in a tangible form the creations of the intel- lect. It is the mirror in which the mind delights to view itself, and in which, if rightly applied, we may see its pe- culiar features distinctly traced. And this power of indi- cation is by no means confined to individuals. The same criterion will apply, and with equal force, to communities. The peculiarities of a nation's character, as in individuals, manifest themselves mos: clearly in the peculiarity of its taste, which adapts itself chamelion-like to the different fluctuations of society, and hcL.^u constitutes a faithful in- dex of its distinguishing traits. m COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. 63 In illustration of this point, we might go back to the remotest ages of antiquity, and follow the history of na- tions up to the present time. We shall invariably find the taste accommodating itself to the times. While in the sav- , age state of a nation's infancy, its features are of a coarse, uncultivated kind; — as civilization advances, they become more regular and refined, until true knowledge, in an en- lightened community, raises the standard of purity and correctness. There are people whose national character, like some stagnant pool in the deep glen of the mountains, has remained undisturbed and unaltered by the commo- tions of time. The Chinese, who live, think, and act as did their fathers ages ago ; — the Hindoos, with their never- ending distinctions of caste; — the wandering Arab, whose hand is against every man, and every man's hand against him ; and the bearded Turk, with his turban and Alcoran, meeting every thing with the well known cry of Allah-il- Allah. With such, taste has never varied; innovatioHj were it only dreamed of, would be sin. The same beaten path must be trodden, and with the same ideas of beauty which centuries before were cast and stereotyped. But let us look at those communities Avhich have exhibit- ed constant fluctuations in character and taste, for a more perfect illustration of the principle that taste is a test of national character. The simple ballads of the itinerant story-teller, and the songs of the hereditary bard, so com- mon in the infancy of our race, indicate a people just merging into childhood, wild, rough, and uncultivated ; but noble, generous, and promising future greatness. Look at the nations during the dark ages, when superstition ruled, with an iron rod, the minds of men, and the taste 64 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. for the abstruse absurdities of their philosophers, — the monkish legends and superstitious lore of their ghostly- fathers plainly marks their character. Then turn to the chivalrous nations of the east and south of Europe, at the time when the gentle lover and fierce warrior were synon- ymous, — when a smile from ruby lips was a sufficient in- citenient to deeds of daring and death, and the approval of sparkling eyes was the highest reward. And here also their tastes will tell their character. Adopting the beauti- ful phraseology of the biographer of Milton, their delight was in * the spirit stirring joust and tournament, the stream- ing of gonfalons, the glitter of dancing plumes, the wail- ing of barbaric trumpets, and the sound of the silver clari- on.' ' Tales of chivalrous emprize, of gentle knights that pricked along the plain, the cruelty of inexorable beauty, and the achievements of unconquerable love,' recited in the plaintive ditties, and martial songs of the gallant Trou- badours, comprised their literature, and indicated what they were. A depraved taste for the licentious, and wanton in writing, the pert and flippant in wit, the double-entendre and obscene jest in conversation, and the seducing, volup- tuous address, plainly discovers the dissolute court and people of the second Charles ; while on the contrary, lofty principles, puritanical precision in manner, and a stern rigidity in all things, marked the time of Cromwell. Classical recollections would lead us to glance at Italy. But the days of her intellectual greatness have passed away. We see only the ruins of the old Roman mind. Its stern decision, its lofty energy, and commanding dignity, have departed. Trifling, indolence, and treachery, have usurp- ^j <:i>o,v r^iopo nnd the -nponlo 1-^.-^ fj^g abject slaves of pas- COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. 65 sion. Hence, also, there has been a change as it regards the national taste. — The line arts, of which Italy has long and justly been considered the great school and center of perfection, now constitute her highest boast. But an ex- clusive cultivation of these elegancies by no means indi- cates intellectual greatness. They require ardent feelings and a quick and glowing imagination, but they foster not the loftier and more dignified traits of character. These, from misuse, soon totter and decay. But the taste of the Ital- ians, even in this respect, is not what it once was. The chaste and noble simplicity of the ancient masters has sunk into comparative neglect, while the sensual and vo- luptuous, attract a crowd of eager admirers. Here also we may read the chtiracter of the nation, indellibly stamp- ed upon the taste of the people. At the present day, however, in enlightened communi- ties, there is no surer index of a nation's character than the style of its literature. The time has been, (until re- cently), when men of education, and talents, exercised a kind of sovereignty in the literary world. Legitimate mas- ters of the press, they have controlled and measured out the intelligence of the people, while at the same time, they were entirely free from any re-acting influence of their inferiors. But as general information has increased, and books have multiplied so as to constitute no inconsid- erable article of traffic, the tables have turned. The ruler is now to be ruled, and the reader dictates to, and controls the writer. Books have come under the regular laws of trade, and the author, like the manufacturer, must produce such a commodity as his readers will receive. Says the author of Saturday Evening, * Our modern literature has 6 66 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. One Reason, and of this reason the buyer is the sovereign, the vender tl)e interpeter, and the writer the slave.' Literary works, produced under such circumstances, cannot indeed but be ephemeral ; they will pass away with the spirit of the age, but this very circumstance renders them a surer index of its character. The reciprocal influence of taste upon national charac- ter, demands a moment's consideration. The different qualities of the mind are so intimately, and as it were sym- pathetically connected in their operations, that no one can be affected independently of the rest. Although it may depend for the state of its developement upon the general character, still it will exert a re-acting influence propor- tioned to its exercise. Thus the taste of any people is re- flected back, in its influences, upon themselves, silently and imperceptibly modifying their character, and sowing the seeds of change. The effects of that meretricious taste for the fine arts which is creeping into many of our cities, is already begin ning tobefelt, — breaking through the barrier of decency and spreading a demoralizing influence over society. The taste for the light and evanescent productions of modern literature, — the fee-fo-fum of the press, so common at the present day, cannot but exert an injurious influence. It crowds out works of a more elevated character, and not only fails to store the mind with useful knowledge, but tends to fritter away the little common sense nature may have given. — There are however indications of a better state of things, there are many burning lights which beam out upon the darkness ; and the increase of general intelli- gence and the favorable reception of works of a weightier COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. 67 and more lasting kind seem harbingers of a purer, health- ier taste. The character of our own nation bears upon its face the elements of excitement. With the great waters it is stirred by every breeze of popular commotion. And, in agitation, ' like the troubled sea its waters cast up mire and dirt.' In the scum and impurities which rise and over- spread the surface of the seething mass, many read the prophetic monitions of speedy dissolution. But who, from the discolored foam, shall say that gems of a pure, and never-fading lustre are not imbedded in the unfathom- ed depths ? Who shall affirm, that there is not that be- neath which no mind can reach, but which, unmoved, and clear as the crystal rock, shall endure forever. ORATION. 3?he obligations of Genius to Comm.on Minds. By David Andrews, Declham. <&- Hitherto the presumption has been, that the widen- ing circle of knowledge is indebted for its increasing ex- tension, to some great concentration — some burning inten- sity of intellect. Genius, in the creed of many, is the gre.at central orb, which has emitted every ray of light, that has gleamed on our pathway in science and literature. There have always been an idolized few, whom succeed- ing generations have extolled as the benefactors of the race: Poetry has wound her wreaths around their brows, and the historic muse has trumpeted their fame to poster- ity, while the pall of forgetfulness has been drawn over the humbler operatives, employed in laying the founda- tions, and building up the walls of the great temple of truth, which Genius has set off with her stucco and frieze- work, and around which she has erected her imposing colonnades. But the day is coming for the impartial adjustment of the claims of the different orders of mind for the agency each has exerted in the great cause of mental illumination. Time — the great advocate of truth — begins to disclose the fact, that the superior orders of intellect are greatly in ar- rears to mediocrity of talent ; that modern genius is well- nigh an insolvent debtor to ancient; and this, again, to COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. 69 common minds. Look into any of the most lauded pro- ductions of modern times and you will find them decked with gems which have glittered in other attire. If we glance at the single department of poetry — the art, which in early times operated as such a powerful an- tagonist to the sway of ignorance and barbarism, we shall find that it has ever made its home with the common peo- ple. They have not only been its patrons, but many num- bered among them have been the favored ones of the muses. The sons of the classic land of song, if they did not all chant to the lyre, had an ear to listen to the flowino- melo- dies of the bards ; else the Iliad and the Odyssey could not have survived until some kind hand gave them a form for perpetuity. Fame, indeed, crowns Scio's Bard as the ' Prince of Poets ; ' but his great genius was but the con- centration of many lesser ones which shone out before his sjun arose. Before Aim,- lived a Linus, a Eumolpus, and a Melampus. Before him, poetry had her sanctuaries m the villas, which spotted hill and dale in Thessaly. Before him, Parnassus was inhabited, and Helicon's waters began to flow. Who can doubt that there was many a son of Apollo, >who 'swept the lyre' in that chivalrous army, which could war ten long years around the city of Priam for one woman ? — a species of errantry far surpassing even that of the days of the Troubadours. It v/as the same prevalent spirit which personified virtue and piety in the form of a Hercules, and endowed him with super-human powers. The same reciprocal influence has been exerted between the higher and lowei orders of mind in late — as in earlier times. What was the mind of Milton but a great mirror 6* 70 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. which reflected the converging rays that fell upon it from a myriad of lesser intelligencies ? It was the great mag- azine of the literary lore of all anterior ages. Shakspeare felt the moulding influence of a Chaucer and a Ben Jon- son, Their numbers were his cradle-songs. He not only strolled over the plain of Pharsalia, and saw where Pom- pey was shorn of his glory — stood at the tomb of CEesar, and beheld where he had wrested from him his sceptre, — he not only took a school-boy ramble while the dew of his youth was on him amongst the stupendous relics of Egyp- tian folly, — but he was nursed amidst ballads and ballad singers. It was here, that his rising genius received its bias. It was here, that his taste was formed and his fancy took its wing. His aliment was that very species of poet- ry — the natural product of the common mind — which gathers up the interesting incidents of domestic life and juvenile love, and dresses them out in the fascinating dra- pery of song. Burns too, though an erratic genius, was the common pro-perty of the Scots. They made him what he was, sung his lays, and still kindle over his sentiment- ality. Would time permit, we might speak of the aid many of the arts and sciences have derived from mediocrity of talent. We might show the obligations of philosophy to the same grade of intellect — proud Philoso-phy, which has often been as far elevated above nature and fact — her pro- per sphere — as Zenith is above Nadir. In this province she has gathered her facts ; and it has been by a reference to common sense, that her errors have been corrected. How was Philosophy recovered from the ridiculous vaga- ries of the schools, benighted under a cloud of their own COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. 71 misty images, forms, and phantasms 7 How was she brought back from her wild wanderings, when the sophis- tical Hume caught up the Berkleian method of reason- ing, and applied it to mind as well as matter, thus attempt- ing to break down the dike, and inundate us with a flood of scepticism? It was by, Reid's simple statement of the fundamental laws of common belief; — by insisting, upon w^hat is the resistless conviction of every man in his sober senses, that the objects of sensation are real entities, and net airy phantoms floating about the mind. Ever since the spirit of freedom asserted her claims amongst the powers, that have divided the empire of the world, she has found her most unblenching advocates in the middle classes of society. These have asserted, and defended Heaven's high behest against lawless oppression, while the titled and the great have been subservient to crowns and sceptres. Trace to their source the principles which have secured for us, what words cannot express?, but v^hat our hearts feel, and our 'eyes see all around us, and you will find that they originated in those stormy times under the reign of Henry VIH, and his successors, when the waves of persecution beat hard against the Pu- ritans. It was among these, of whom the land was not worthy, that the voice was afterwards heard, saying ; ' Arise, let us depart ; for the spirit of liberty has no rest- ing place here.' Taught lessons of wisdom in the school of adversity, these patient yet dauntless adventurers in the cause of freedom did 'depart;' they raised their banner on these hills in the name of Him, who had hitherto been the right arm of their defence. And when they found that the monster which they had once fled, did not sleep, 72 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. but was active against them, and a blow was to be struck, that should save a nation, it was the voice of a multitude echoing along these shores, in these valleys, and over these hillSj concentrated and poured forth in tones of thrilling eloquence by the Otises, the Adamses, and the Henrys of that day, which gave tension to nerve, and sinew for the execution. It is to the common sentiment of an honest, intelligent yeomanry at the dawn of the revolution * Let us brake the yoke of the oppressor,' that we are indebted for the full tide of prosperity upon which we are now float- ing. Jefferson was not the author of that celebrated in- strument — our Declaration ; it is but this common senti- ment gathered up, and drawn out in legible propositions. Such has been the influence of a grade of intellect hith- erto but little estimated in casting the relative proportions of merit due to the benefactors of mankind. Why then should a few ' Homers in Poetry, Bacons in Philosophy, or Washingtons even in ' freedom's holy war' share all our encomiums, while the less pretending, who have acted an equally important part in Time's great drama, are suffered to sink into the grave of oblivion? Let us remember our debt of gratitude to these, while we burn our incense at the altars of Genius. DISPUTATION. The comparative infiueiice of severe and commendatory criticism on the cause of literojture. By James C. Bryant, New Boston, N. H, Against critics there has long existed a violent preju- dice. By some they have been regarded as morose mis- anthropes, possessing no sympathy with their fellow man — as a race of literary harpies, prowling about the press, rioting in the ruin of individual character and tri- umphing with fiendish joy over a fallen foe. To escape such false and malicious representations — to avoid the un- bounded malediction heaped upon them in the faithful dis- charge of their duties, critics have adopted a course of more than questionable utility— that of conferring upon authors almost indiscriminate commendation. Intellectual as well as physical power can be attained only by vigorous and protracted exercise. Man, naturally indolent, must be stimulated to exertion. His slumbering energies must be excited to action. Mind must be brought into contact with mind ; and scintillations of genius are always brightest when the percussion is most severe. The oak, rising in solitary grandeur upon the mountain's brow, owes its strength to the rocking tempest, and the winds of winter that whistle through its leafless branches. And he who, from some lofty eminence in the intellectual world, can discern far below him those who were once 74 COMMENCE MENTEXERCISES. his competitors, may often ascribe his superiority to those obstacles which once clustered around his path, threaten- ing to arrest his progress at every step. Severe criticism furnishes the stimulus demanded by the intellectual constitution of man. The fire which con- sumes the dross, at the same time purifies the gold. And if criticism falls upon some writings with scorching, with- ering power, the works of real genius come from the or- deal purified and refined — shining with new beauty and lusture. From severe criticism the man of high attain- ments has much to hope and nothing to fear. If with an energy self created and self sustained, he can rise above the circle where meaner minds revolve, and soar through untrodden fields of thought and imagination, this will secure to him the sole enjoyment of his own well merited honors. If a fiery sword guards the passages to the temple of fame, the same weapon is a sufficient guar- antee of undisturbed possession, to all who press forward, surmount obstacles and enter the gates. The literature of the present day demands severe and faithful criticism. A history of American authors would be little more than a disgusting recital of abortive attempts to produce som.ething which should survive its author A few; works, it is true, still live. They will survive the ravages of time and bear the names of their authors down to posterity, to be crowned with fresher glories each suc- ceeding age. But where are the multitudes who expected to immortalize themselves by writing without study, and composing without thought? Where are those produc- tions which were fondly expected to triumph over the des- olations ot time and pour their effulgence down the vista of COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. 75 coming years ? The monamental marble will tell all that is known of the authors ; but no monument marks the spot where their works are thrown to moulder into airy nothingness. The current of oblivion has borne them away ; and happy for American literature, should a re- fluent surge never throw back a straggling volume upon our coast. And is this scene to be acted and re-acted per- petually % Is one age to efface all vestige of the preced- ing, leaving its own feeble impress to be, in turn, erased by its successor? Shall a prolific press forever disgorge up- pon us its crude contents, only to be read — despised — .for- gotten ? This will be the case while the present system of reviewing is continued, while the meed of indiscriminate praise is awarded to all, while the insignificant author may strut in stolen honors, no one daring to pluck his borrowed plumage and hold him up to merited scorn and reprobation. But let some Johnson arise in our land, who can wield ' The pen of a ready writer,' and rebuke vi- cious authors with an imperial power, and half a century will produce in the literary world such a revolution as this country never witnessed. But such a change cannot be effected so long as the general interests of literature are sacrificed to individual aggrandizement, and the public press is made a pander to private gratification. A reasonable application of the critic's knife would have freed our literature from many huge excrescences which now deform it. But though the past is irretrievable, the future is not devoid of hope. The obvious tendency of causes now in operation, and the progress of the human mind towards the high destiny that awaits it, indicate that a brighter day is about to dawn. True, the bard of Man- 76 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. tua no longer makes the balmy plains and vine-clad hills of Italy, vocal with the praises of his own ' plus ^neas.' Silent is the harp oi Orpheus and the tyre of Homer— des- olate are the halls and groves of the Academy — voiceless the tongues that once thundered invectives against Philip and Catalina. Bat did genius expire when the Macedo- nian conquered Greece ? Was the sun of science setting in eternal gloom when it cast long and dismal shadows upon the land of poetry and eloquence and song? Let the records of science — let the achievments of genius the last three centuries ansv/er the question. Too long has literature been associated with what is revolting in pagan superstition, or polluting in more refin- ed Christendom. It is in our power to furnish such a spec- tacle as the world never saw — a literature associated with all that is thrilling and grand and glorious in the religion of the cross — a literature before which genius shall never stand abashed, or modesty be put to the blush. Let it then be purified, elevated, refined. Let it no longer be prostituted to the base passions of avarice and ambition. Let its foundations be laid broad and deep in severe, pro- tracted thought ; and the superstructure will rise in fair and graceful proportions, an ornament to our country — a blessing to the world. DISPUTATION. Is t]ie Injiuence of severe or commendatory Criticism more favorable to Literature ? By E. C. Pritchett, Lo7ido?i, England. Loud and frequent is the boast that this is a practical age ; — an age when the gross and tangible is the general object of pursuit ; while the spiritual/ unseen though no less real, is either overlooked or ranked among secondary things. Hence many with utilitarian scorn will turn aside from a literary discussion. But let it be remembered that the transcript of his fellow's thoughts deals with man's mind; which, as it may be swayed to good or evil, is hap- piness or woe ; ' in itself Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.' Not unimportant is it then to consider the effects of Criti- cism, which occupies no small extent and maintains no mean rank in the Confederacy of Letters. Criticism is the tenth Muse. And where does she exhibit more of in- tellectual and moral beauty — when dealing censure, how- ever just, or when wreathing the laudatory chaplet around the brows of the poet and the sage ? It is an undoubted truth that benevolent emotions exert a favorable influence on the genius. The harp of the 7 78 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. soul like that of Memnon's statue discourses most excel- lent music, when the rising sun of gladness and good will sheds his sweet radiance. Hence we may infer that the literature of commendatory criticism will excel that w^hich evinces a more censorious tone. Again, our mental exercises take their character from the objects to which they are directed. Grandeur and beaut}^ will distinguish the productions of that mind which loves to contemplate the grand and beautiful. The critic, then, who prefers to dwell on the praiseworthy, will from that very circumstance be enabled to enrich and adorn his mother-tongue with profound reasoning, glowing thought, and noble sentiment. Such is the result which might be expected — but we are not left to mere conjecture. Among Johnson's ' Lives of the Poets,' that of Savage is justly most esteemed — Savage was Johnson's friend — the memory of old companionship softened the stern critic, and led him to hold up the excel- lencies of his former comrade rather than his defects. Thus w^as produced that model of critical biography. Turn w^e to a living example — look at the contrast between Christo- pher North the reviewer of Sotheby's Homer, and Christo- pher North the tormentor of some hapless Cockney bard- While he is dissecting the poetaster, the ridiculous is his sublime — sarcasm and derision the highest flight of his gen- ius. But anon there looms up on his mental vision the epic majesty of him, the blind and aged of Scio, who in his dark and lonely musings on the Hellespont's resounding shore, ' Beheld the Iliad and the Odyssey Rise to the swelling of the voiceful sea.' COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. 79 Christopher now holds converse with the spirit of Chap- man rude and strong, with tuneful Pope or sternly simple Cowper, or the more ample and vigorous Sotheby. He marks the loftiest of the grand, the most enchanting of the beautiful — He enlists the aid of intellectual and moral phi- losophy to explain how and why this charms or that awes the soul, while his over-flowing imagination pours forth a full gushing floj^d of illustration. Thus it is with critical literature. What is the bearing of the question on the more general interests of letters 1 A refined public opinion must exert a corresponding influ- ence on authors. And it maybe said that the predomin- ance of censure will contribute to this end ; because the detection and exposure of error will be a safe-guard against it ; and will render more accurate the general standard of taste. But do we reason thus in analogous cases ? Will he become an eminent connoisseur in the fine arts, who spends his time in attending to the blemishes in a sign- painter's daub, or in noting the uncouth deformity of a misshapen idol? No — he must go study the works of the old masters, ' Titian's tints and Guide's air,' the won- ders of the Sistine Chapel, the sunny splendor of a Claude Lorraine — and the marble chiselled by a Phidias, a Buon- arotti, a Chantrey and Canova. So in morals — let a man be accustomed to the sight of vice ; and though at the be- ginning he may detest the monster, yet there is great dan- ger that at length he will 'first endure, then pity, then em- brace.' Even so let the prevailing tone of criticism be severity: and the public taste, grown familiar with faults, will be 80 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. blunted — the standard of excellence will be degraded — and as the demand, so Vv ill be the supply. But what would be the direct influence on the commu- nity of authors ? Some men are painfully alive to an un- favorable sentence — they shrink away, and let the fangs of wounded vanity and disappointed ambition gnaw their hearts to death. Their first crude productions might have ripened. into golden fruitage, but all is lost — we linger by their graves, and sigh at the thought of w^hat they might have been. Such were Kirke White and John Jileats. Anoth- er equally sensitive concentrates his energies for a venge- ful retaliaftion — The w'orld which before sneered with the critics, changes sides — the critics themselves bow to an es- tablished reputation — But the triumphant vindicator of his own merits despises both, even w-hen anxious for their praise. He delights to show that he can enforce homage — his pen wdll be dipped too often in gall and wormwood — his w^ords \vill breathe "with scorn and sullen ^vrath. Such was Byron — There are many who seem to think that the whole of his inspiration was malice and all uncharitable- ness — that he was nothing if not Satanic ; and then they bless the Edinburgh Review which first wrought up his fierce passions, and so aroused his poetic fire. We would not ' o' er his cold ashes upbraid him,' but we mourn that he ever learned to spurn the opinion of his fellow-men, reckless whether it were right or wrong. He rejoiced to blazon forth his scorn — and so lust and hate polluted the stream, wdiich like the fountain of Blandusia, might have flowed purer than chrystal. That eagle of song too often stooped to unworthy prey — but his noblest flights were not sustained by the impetus of malign emotions — he soared COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. 8i aloft when his eye turned away from his own wrongs, and gazed upward on the bright effulgence of ideal beauty. The scourge, which lashes the soul into either submis- sion or rage, will ijot stimulate it to honorable deeds. Away with it — let not critical literature, public taste, and authors be degraded by the prevalence of censure — Let the hope of glory rather than the fear of disgrace animate him who devotes his time to literary toil. 7* • DISPUTATION. Ought the atte?npts to civilize the Indians of this coun- try to be ahajidonecl ? By I. F. FIoLTON, Vertnont. It is not wise to abandon a g-ood cduse as hopeless, until the obstacles to its success have been found insurmountable. The peculiar obstacles to Indian missions originate chief- ly in the influence of our own people on the missionaries and on the Indians; discouraging the one, and demoraliz- ing the other. This influence is principally exerted by traders and other intruders who have been led there by an insatiable thirst for gain, or have fled from impending jus- tice, and the restraints of civilized society. Here they lead a wild, lawless, and often a degraded life, defying all au- thority, human and divine, reckless of the future, and ready to commit any crime which avarice or depravity may prompt. - The Indians read the example of these demi-sava- ges, as a practical commentary on Christianity ; and in vain will you present them the gospel, till you convince them that it has its fruits unto holiness. And where are the m.issionaries, who, unmoved, can pursue their task — in itself so peculiarly trying to human patience — while their plans are frustrated and their char- acters vilified by outlaws, whose gains have been dimin- ished, and influence weakened by the improvement of the Indians. But when we add to this the persecution of civil COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. 83 authority equally unprincipled and avaricious, (as in the imprisonment of Worcester and Butler, and in the plun- dering of the missionary premises at Dwight,) need we wonder that our missionaries would rather encounter can- nibals, than the offscouring of civilization, countenanced by the government of Georgia? A sense of the wrongs that the Indians have suffered at our hands, has induced a prejudice against our religion. The history of our connection with the Indians, from Massasoit to Oseola, would form a volume not unlike the history of the Bucaneers, There are ' bloody leaves' ir^ the chronicles of Indian wrongs, to which the annals of African slavery can scarce furnish a parallel, I say no- thing of those pecuniary wrongs which they have suffered from governments with whom might makes right, and traders who deem superior intelligence a sufficient war- rant for transcendant villany. The story of Logan needs no repetition. Near the same time, a whole colony of christian converts were butchered in cold blood — literally butchered — because they would not unite with us in a war against their own tribe. The inhabitants of another colo- ny took refuge in a prison in Philadelphia, and the Qua- kers themselves took arms to save them from the fury of christian blood hounds. Think you the Indian has for- gotten his wrongs ? He never forgets. He rejects our re- ligion as stained with the blood of his brethren. But the introduction of ardent spirits has done more to defeat the efforts of benevolence than any other cause. To the Indian it is the Lotus whose taste enthralls its vic- tim ; the Circean cup which transforms him to a brute or a fiend, debasing his proud mind and robbing him of the 84 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. rude virtues of the savage. It has been to him the box of Pandora, pouring forth diseases which his simple reme- dies cannot combat ; the apple of discord which has bred strife among themselves, and involved them in calamitous wars with the whites, in which their young men have fallen and left no name, — none of their blood in the veins of the living. Finally it has been the besom of destruction which has swept this whole land of its abori- ginal inhabitants. Such have been the obstacles to Indian missions. But they are passing away. The last act in the tragedy of national injustice is nearly past. The forcible removal of the Indians, in itself an act of infamous injustice, has broken up in sotne degree their savage habits, and placed them in far better circumstances for instruction. Being confined within narrow bounds, and on soil of inferior quality, surrounded by sands and fens and mountains, they have no room to wander, and nothing to fear from those intruders who rioted in their prosperity without any inclination to share their adversity. They are also stript of every thing which might tempt government again to stain its honor with robbery. Those acts of partial res- titution which we can make, vvill in some degree efface from their minds two centuries of wrongs. But our greatest hope is from the power of reform, Vvhich is ban- ishing the means of intoxication from our land ; and no- thing but a vigorous effort is Avanting to prevent the traffic in alcohol am.ong the Indians. This effort we must make. The present posture of Indian affairs imperiously demands increased exertion to save them from the destruction into which American cupidity has almost plunged them» COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. 85 But we must not forget that tlie Indian character pre- sents its peculiar facilities, as well as difficulties. They have no civil authority to prescribe the religion of the people ; no heathen rites, no priesthood endued with that peculiar cunning which always characterizes the minis- ters of a false religion. The field is clear. Tradition, so commonly the very citadel of idolatry, here seems even to invite the explanations of the Bible, These favorable circumstances are of themselves sufficient to counterbal- ance the special difficulties of Indian missions. Nor must we forget that their conversion was one object which led our pilgrim fathers to the shores of New England ; — that their early labors were crowned with success, and that the labors of our own day have been equally su"ccess- ful. The Cherokees have exhibited the rare spectacle of a republic constituted, an alphabet adopted, and a periodical printed by a people who, fifty years ago, were as savage as our ancestors in the days of Julius Ccesar. Where should we look for more favorable soil for missionary ex- ertion ? In other tribes the same results are slowly ta- king place ; and not a station but has been more success- ful than our mission to Palestine. And the tribes of the Pacific too, whose cry for help has come to our ears — shall we bid their messengers go back alone, and die hea- then ? But aside from these encouragements, independent of all these brightning prospects, the simple fact that the chief obstacles to their convertion originated with us, that they are sufferers by our injustice, desolated, degraded, and almost exterminated by our vices, forbids the idea of 86 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. abandoning this ill fated race, God and the world have thrown the responsibility of their conversion upon us ;— we* must not, we will not leave them to perish unpitied and neglected, only to occupy a deeper place in the world of woe for their connection with a christian people. PHILOSOPHICAL ORATION. The relation of Right to the will of the Deity. By J. G. D. Stearns, New Ipswich, N, H. The foundation of right, the nature and obligation of virtue, have been favorite subjects of speculative philosophy in every age of the world. And on no subject in ethics has speculation been wilder or more diverse. The grov- eling sensualist has philosophised here, under the guidance of his wild passions, rather than his reason. The dwarfish materialist has here brought into play all the power of his moral mechanics. And here too the dreamy transcenden- talist has wandered, and mused, an.d had his visions. Soaring beyond the sphere for which his powers were fitted, the finite striving to explore the infinite is bewilder- ed and lost in the trackless expanse : it wanders, and strug- gles, and falls at last into the gulf of atheism. It was probably in view of the dangers of such specula- tion, and under a laudable zeal for the honor of the divine character, that many good men have been led to place the foundation of right in the will of the Deity. This theory, it is believed, places virtue on the clearest and safest ground. The will of God is plainly manifested by the light of na- ture and the clearer record of inspiration, and if it be the foundation as it is the rule of right, all the errors and dangers of philosophy are at once avoided. 88 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. But there is no gain to truth or to virtue from such a theory. To urge the claims of virtue founded on the mere will even of an infinite Being is to inculcate passive submission to mere will and power. Such a theory finds ,no according response in the nature of man. We know, we feel, that it is the rectitude of the law — the holiness of the will, which alone constitutes our obligation to obedi- ence. This theory is at war too Avith philosophy as it is with our nature. Right is not a creation of the Deity. It is antecedent in its nature to the Divine will. If God created right, he must have done it at some definite point of time in the past eternity of duration. Prior then to that time it had no existence. There was no such thing as right and wrong in the universe. And the Deity himself whom we now adore for the glory of his moral perfec- tions had no moral character. Though all his infinite en- ergies were incessaiTtly exerted in voluntary action none of those acts were either right, or wrong. But God al- ways acts moralljr. His very first act was a right act, and every act of his is right. Rectitude then is not a con- sequent of the divine volition. We cannot conceive the non-existence of right, any more than we can of space or duration ; and that which it is impossible to conceive not to exist, must exist necessari- ly. We cannot conceive of absolute nothing. Some- thing must exist by necessity. Right, is among the things that are necessary, and hence uncreated. Moreover, if right is right simply because God willed it to be right, and for no other reason, it follows, that in themselves there is no difference between right and wrong ; COM MENCE El ENT EXERCISES. 89 that vice is just as excellent as virtue and virtue just as hateful and worthless as vice ; and had God willed, vice v/ould have been virtue and virtue vice, — a conclusion too shocking to conscience and reason for human belief. Right, then, is not founded on the will of God. It is in- dependent of all will and all power. Omnipotence itself can neither create nor alter it, for it is not the subject of power. Ifc is a cimple idea, distinct and ultimate of itself, and hence, incapable of analysis or definition. It is, how- ever, intelligible to every moral being: for, by the very constitution of his being he has a power of discerning moral qualities. That power is conscience, the highest, noblest power of man, connecting him with all that is sub- lime in virtue and glorious in immortality. Such then is the- nature of right, — self-existent, independent, un- changeable, eternal, universal, binding on every moral being. Is it objected to this view of right, that it is derogatory to the Deity ? So far is this from being true, it is the view which gives the highest glory to the Deit}?-. What con- stitutes the essential glory of the Adorable Supreme? Is it not the perfect rectitude, the infinite holiness of his character ? Is it not that he always does right ? that he acts, not from mere arbitrary will, but from a regard to the eternal principles of rectitude, of truth, justice, and benev- olence ? Right though so independent in its nature, is not unaf- fected by the divine will. The will of God increases our obligation to virtue, both in consequence of our moral re- lations to him and his ov/n infinite excellence. It is right to love all beings though God had not commanded it ; but 8 90 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. the divine command imposes higher obligations to do the same. Moreover, many things in themselves indifferent, are rendered obligatory by the will of God. And in all cases his will though not the foundation is the rule of duty. The ethical theory which makes right in its nature in- dependent and eternal, and the will of God the rule, is the only theory which alike answers the demands of true philosophy, establishes the claims of virtue on a firm and immoveable basis, and shields it from the attacks of false philosophy. We say to the sensualist, your scheme that makes virtue consist in the gratification of your own selfish passions is all a baseless fabric. It has no foundation in right, — that right which is eternal and condemns your desires as base and sinful. We say to the utility loving materialist, virtue is not a thing of circumstances. It rests on a basis which your philosophy is not large enough to compiehend, and which will survive when your philoso- *phy has perished. We say to the atheist, your impious attempt to deprive the universe of its God will not if suc- cessful give your soul that freedom from all restraint, to which you so ardently aspire. Right — eternal right will still exist making virtue still virtue, and vice still vice ; and obligation to love the one and hate the other, unscaih- ed and unimpaired, will still press upon your soul, and overwhelm you with all the horrors of despair. ORATION. Intellectual character of the men of the Revolution. By Stewart Robinson, Martinsburg, Va. The fathers of the American Republic, as the heroes of '76 have been honored with no measured meed of praise. Benefactors of a great nation, proverbial for its admira- tion of military achievments, national gratitude, and the spirit of the people alike delight to do them honor. Hence, on every return of the great national jubilee, the story of their toils, and battles, and defeats and victories is the constant theme of patriotic eloquence — and every fu- ture return of that day will only swell the note, as it ech- oes it on to coming generations. And this is no excessive eulogy. They fairly deserve it all. Heroes never endured more nobly ; or achieved more. Braver men never marched to a battle-field, than the men that fought and fell at Lexington. The blood that hallowed Bunker Hill, and dyed the plains of Camden was brave and noble blood, as ever honored any cause in the an- nals of war. But there are recollections clustering around the days the of Revolution, to awaken the enthusiasm of the scholar, not less than that of the soldier and patriot. We need not point, as our chief boast, to the martial prow- ess of the great names in American History. There are virtues portrayed on the pages of that history that we ad- mire far more. The godlike virtues of the champion of 92 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. truth and freedom are portrayed there — the displays of genius — the triumph of mind in effecting the progress of enligiitened principle are recorded there — to the eternal honor of those venerated names. Their claim to this higher character has not been urged as it may be. It rests on grounds equally sure with their claim to the char- acter of Heroes. One great fact in history remains a standing evidence of their martial greatness. They fought and triumphed against England vv/hen her name was terrible to all the earth. Let a similar fact prove their intellectual greatness. They grappled mind with mind, in an intellectual contest for their own rights and the rights of men universally — and there, too, they triumphed against a generation of English statesmen that presented an array of intellectual power — such as never honored England before nor since. In the mental structure of those men there was a same- ness in some of the leading characteristics. Reared un- der all the irregularities of a colonial education, and the constant agitation peculiar to the times — the intellectual character became irregular and rugged, but strong and bold — of massive mxaterial and adapted to the trial in per- ilous tiraes. There were diversities, however, in that character, and its modes of development were various. First, there was the intellect of action — such w'as that of Washington, and with him those distinguished ia the field. The whole intellectual power of the man was con- centrated in action, and in his great acts have been reared a monument of that power which will never perish. The world of letters has indeed monopolized the title of intel- Ipr.tucbl for ^<^'=: '^""^ favorites, and we are Avcnt to 83sociate COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. ' . 93 little of mental power with actions however great. But there has been mind in the world beside that expended on the tomes of the schools. Alexander, and Caesar and Na- poleon never gained their terrible ascendency without the aid of mind. • They never ruled the storm of popular pas- sion, taming the fierce natures of society, and yoking the tiger spirits of faction to their car of triumph, all by mere physical force. Greatness of action is doubtless a devel- opment of intellectual greatness, and, combined with wis- dom of action is an exhibition of mind in its noblest forms. In this view V/ashington stands pre-eminent in the his- tory of the world. It is hard to describe such a character as his. — It is known to us only through his great acts — yet there is in it something higher and purer than action alone can indicate. The spirit gleams through the clay, so brightly indeed, that we hardly know not the clay is there. Such is the energy and intensity of the intellectual power, that it infuses itself into, and elevates the character of his actions, till action itself seems to lose its comm^on na- ture and assume a nobler and a hiofher. There was another class of mind, developed in a mode more purely intellectual This was the intellect of Phi- losophy. Such were JefTerson and Franklin with the po- litical writers of the age. These in the world of science would have been ranked with Aristotle, Bacon, or New- ton. The same burning love of freedom — the same in- vincible energy impelled these as the others. But these were roused bv a moral excitement. Buried amid the silent shades of Monticello, Jefferson w^ould shake the world without armies or fleets, or the munitions of war. Calmly and coolly he threw from him the fetters of custom 94 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES'. and prejudice which fettered other men, though Aristo- cratic birth and education bound those fetters more closely on him than on many others. Calmly too he girded him- self to fight the great battle of human liberty. And he wielded a power that would scatter like dust to the winds of heaven the castles of tyranny which ages had reared and rooted firm, and covered over with the mould of abuse and coruption. There was another class of mind — that adapted to in- cite to action. Such were Adams and Henry with all the orators of the Revolution. Their power will never be questioned. They have thrown around their age the charm of enchantment. The lonely relic of that noble age, even now at the -distance of sixty years finds his voice choked into silence and the tears gathering in his dim eyes, as if the spell had'again come over him, when he would tell us of Patrick Henry. And the grave voice of History and many tongued tradition alike labor in vain for words to tell us of their wondrous power. We can only bring them before us now as the objects of imagina- tion. We seem to watch the orator as he rises before the congregated mind on which he is now to practice the enchantment. He has no vulgar tricks of oratory — these will not serve him. He is to plead before intelligent, thinking men, not the cause of his own country merely, but that of the world. We watch him now ' Untwisting- all the chords that tie The hidden soul of harmony.' We listen now to the calm yet earnest voice of sober rea- son — and follow him now as he rises to more impassioned COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. 95 tones in the call to action, and now as with the suppressed- breath — the heaving chest — the lightning-glancing eye, he denounces the violators of the rights of man. No ar- mor is proof against that power. It marks triumphantly the supremacy of the mind within. Such are the men whom heaven raised up to found the American Republic. Heaven did raise them up — for none but the wisdom of heaven ever formed a combination of mind so exactly adapted to the great work they had to do. One of these classes of mind, without the other, would have been great indeed, but not effectual. All combined they were just the minds adapted to achieve the will of heaven — and they did achieve it gloriously. The character of those men alrea- dy resembles that which it has taken ages to acquire for other men. It needs not the shades of time to hide its failures and magnify its greatness. It stands before us in the same clear and simple and majestic attributes as it did ■ before those who saw it a living, acting character. It will go down just the sa.me to the latest ages. ORATION. The Immortality of Mental injluence^ — with the Valedictory Addresses, By William B. FIomer, Boston. The idea of eternity is essentially involved in the ope- rations of the human mind. If banished in one form, it will attach itself to some new association, and resume its prominence in the internal government. To the ancients, the immortality of the soul was shrouded in darkness, but they found a splendid stimulus to exertion in the immortal- ity of its influence. If they did not look upon an inextin- guishable source of light, the medium of its diffusion was Immensity. What was the diminutive center, to the radi- ations which could never be recalled 1 Ambitious desires thus cherished, were nobly realised. The indebtedness of the^ present to the past, is almost in- conceivable to one who has not followed down the influ- ence of departed mind, and traced the commingling of its treasures in our own philosophy' and literature. Where would have been our mental science if the ancient sap'es had not struggled through their toilsome investigations, though it might often have been With eyes that rolled in vain To find the piercing ray, but found no dawn. In the seclusion of the grove they unravelled the intrica- COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. 97 cies of natare, not merely in the presence of admiring pu- pils, but to a multitude whom no man can number — a mul- titude than can but correct and re-model what can never be supplanted in the affections of the world. The posthumous influence of the classical poets is still more distinct and interesting. They left behind them a debasing superstition embodied in such forms of r:ereirl- cious beauty, as to kindle a passionate attachment which ao-es of refinement and civilization could not extinguish. Men fell down to worship before the sp^ "did altar, but the god was not there, and unconsciouslj :' ey paid their tribute to the handicraft of the creator, They left be- hind them principles of morality and of g6yernm.ent which held Society together for centuries. They changed the political aspect of kingdoms, and Ic- g after they wrote, the Conqueror of the world dreamed c :t the schemes of his quenchless ambition with their lifesome pictures be- neath his pillow. Critics made them the basis of rhetori- cal systems, and drew from them the code of laws to which the literary v/orld has subscribed allegiance. Many an image — a Avord — a thought — originating with them — will operate eternally in giving birth to new successions of images, or words, or thoughts, and each of these in turn, has a power of its own to move on in endless progression. More than all, these classical poets live and breathe in the spirit of our own Scholarship, mingling their own with the destinies of new minds, and adding immortality to im- mortality. There is another thought connected with the posthu- mous influence of ancient authors, We are deeply in- debted to some, no trace of whose existence remains ; and 98 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. who never receive the homage of our admiration. We tread over the sepulchres of nations. The dissolving ele- ments of mortality commingle with the earth that nour- ishes our bodies. We breathe the air that is exhaled from the ashes of the dead. Yet their memories rot, in the very- process by which they form a part of our material nature. — Just so is it in the intellectual world. Minds have been forg"otten because decojnposed to enter into the constituent elements of the general intellect. Their sentiments were incorporated with the opinions of the world, and when mankind had committed their instructions to memory, the master spirit was no longer needed for reference. Writings that had become common place from the very value that had stamped them on the human breast, were thus left to sink to eternal oblivion, like a stream that is lost in the vastness of its own overfxow. There is another class exerting a mighty influence on posterity, not through their own writings, but by the agen- cy of the biographer. The transcript of their thoughts and feelings by another hand, becomes the guide of an en- ergy that could not direct and sustain itself The door that seemed forever closed in the agony of the last strug- gle, is thrown wide open, and the very power that spread the pall of death, will usher the spirit into a sphere that is infinite in extent. Thus life begins when it ceases, and it seems as if the voice that was soft and humble gathered compass and richness from the echoing walls of the sep- ulchre. In our day there is a general disposition to underrate the posthumous influence of the mind. The universal de- sire of immortality has been coolly resolved by philoso- COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. 99 phers into an illusion of the imagination. They have forgotten that it is an instinctive emotion, which the efforts of man may vary, but can never eradicate. Even poetry has lent her charm to confuse the brightness of earthly antic- ipations, and has thrown over the prospect of the future the dreaminess of her most evanescent images. Perhaps these speculations of worldly im.mortality are naturally absorbed in the hope of another and higher sphere of existence, yet they open a boundless field for thought, and enlarge our apprehensions of the dignity of ,the human mind. An enlightened philosopy must teach us that this eternal influence is not confined to the learned and intellectual. In the wonderful power of association, it reveals to us an enchantress that dispenses her incantations to all alike. Thoughts that have been once breathed out in language or action she holds in the prison house of the memory, and they come forth at her bidding. Wherever mind exists, it leaves an impression which can never be effaced. ' It shall not return unto Thee void.' If there be such a thing as mental evaporation, the drops that vanish into thin air, are gathered to mantle the horizon for a season and descend again in showers that water the earth. ■ . - It is an important and a humbling consideration that this wonderful energy is inherent to the constitution of the mind. As independent is it of any impulse we may im- part, as the minute configurations of matter which are fraught with consequences so momentous to the physical universe. It is an exhibition of the Deity employing lit- tle causes for the execution of his most stupendous designs. A single mind obscure and uneducated, is laden with des- 100 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. tinies which make its own individual eternity, a compara- tive trifle. It has an influence which is living on in an- other direction, and by the life it imparts to new minds, constantly branching out into new influences alike im- mortal. Far like the comet's way, through infinite space. Stretches the long nntravelled path of light Into the depth of ages : we may trace Distant the brightening glory of its flight Till the receding rays are lost to hurnc.n sight. In this view of the subject it is easy to see that the il- lustrious authors to whose influence we have alluded, w^ere a m.edium for the transmission of minds that preceded them. It was but a reciprocation of influence upon the vulgar herd, a discharge of the debt they owed the infe- rior. The mightiest movements of society, attributed to the hero they have immortalized, might be traced back to a far humbler source. The unpretending sentence utter- ed in the privacy of the closet has started a train of stu- pendous consequences. The delicate hand of maternal in- fluence has moulded the destines of empires, through the wisdom and prowess whose first germ it woke to being, and nurtured with tender assiduity. We ourselves are the subjects of this iransmigratio7i of intellect. ' Our fathers — where are they V A voice from the inner sanctu- ary of the soul proclaims that they are here. 'And the pro- phets — do they live forever V And the walls of the temple of God, send back the echo — ' they live forever.' The invisible spirits of the past are about us and within us. The thoughts suggested by the forgotten ancestor of a by-gone age, blend with the music of his voice, who died but yesterday — We COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. 101 tread in the footsteps of the departed, yet we know it not An unseen hand impels us. We turn, but the shadow eludes our grasp. By such influences we who are now to bid farewell to the associations of college life are surrounded. To those who occupied these stations before us, and whom this day of our annual festivity has gathered once more to the classic scenes of early years, we acknowledge ourselves intellectual debtors. We are proud in the consciousness that we form a portion of that chain of mental influence which binds this institution to eternity. Honored and Reverend Trustees, — We are indebted to you for this inestimable privilege. It was secured to us not without labour and solicitude. * Clouds and darkness prevented the dawn,' but you waited for their dissipation. In the wide diflusion of the light, whose rising you aided, you behold your own minds, acting on unborn generations, and there is your reward. Gentlemen, we are this day reminded that, in your in- fluence over us, and those who shall follow us, you have linked yourselves in with the dead. * A valued member of your board who participated in similar scenes a twelve- month since, is now no more. With expanded vision that departed associate is contemplating the influence of your exertions : and when you too shall he called away, may it be to see it widening and brightening till the eye of immortality can no longer follow it. * Israel E, Trask Esq. of Springfield. 9 102 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. Beloved President, The hour of our removal frem your parental guidance has now arrived. It seems but yesterday that you wel- comed us to the threshold of your beloved college, and now you are called to extend the parting hand, and dis- charge the last duties of farewell instruction. We have lingered awhile to refresh ourselves in 'the house of the In- terpreter,' and now he points us to 'the highway whose walls are salvation.' We cannot realize the solicitude which burdens your mind at this moment. You have studied and you know our weaknesses. From the eminence which age and experience afford, you already follow us in prospect through the winding mazes of our pathway, and over the dark mountains where many a traveller has stumbled to rise no more. If the father lives in the spirit and character of the son, be it our prayer that our minds may mature as you have guided their first developements, and your impressions abidingwithin us, there shall be many to rise up and call you blessed. Respected Instructors; — To you also thisjs an interesting and solemn occasion. Your account, with immortal minds is about to be sealed up. You may not watch their progress, but -there is the image you have stamped upon them, and there it will re- main forever ; haerent infixi pectore vultus Verbaque. We are oppressed by the thought, that we too are re- sponsible for the manner in which Ave have yielded to those influences, but the remembrance of ourneglect serves COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. 103 to enhance the value of your instructions. — They shall be cherished among our fondest memories. We too, Classmates, are this day called to separate. A crowd of emotions rises on the mind, as we contemplate the dissolution of the bond by which we have so long been connected. Painful recollections rush upon us, but this is no place to recount them. ' The heart knoweth its own bit- terness.' Let the secrecy of the closet witness the fervor of our penitence, and the ear of private friendship-' listen to the unburdening of feelings which cannot be here ex- pressed. We have reached another point of transition. It is a point of immense moral interest whether we look at the past or the future- We leave behind us impressions which can never be efTaced. Our intellectual characters have been interweaving themselves with the early devel- opements of our still youthful institution. - We carry along with us, likewise influences that are eternal. The inter- change of thought and feeling we have here enjoyed has not been destitute of power upon ourselves. — It cannot be de- nied that new associations will crowd from the mind these attachments, and the sympathies which are now bleeding, the hand of time can bind up and heal. Yet memory will linger with interest upon the scenes fromwhich we are now about to separate, and old-age will leap over the oblivious chasm of maturity to find them. But should that ambassa- dor between the past and future — should memory— be un- faithful and forget the trust, the connection can never be dis- solved. We are indisolubly linked in with one another's des- tinies. There is not a mind so humble that its traces will 104 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. not be seen in the progress of its fellows, and that will not it- self bear off some portion of the common treasury. It is as if for four years our separate intellectual existences have commnigled and floAved on together, and this day the single channel breaks forth into its numerous outlets. Classmates, we are not all here to day. * Six of .those who joined hand in hand with us at first, the companions of our trials, our studies, our hopes, are in eternity. Truly the influences of the departed press upon us here. We are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses, that speak to our hearts with an eloquence that cannot be resisted. To two only we were permitted the privilege .of dis- charging the last rites of affectionate sympathy. The heavy remains of fone we conveyed to unsuspecting friends preceded but an hour by the heavier tidings of his death. The bones of the J other repose in yonder Churchyard. We followed them to their narrow home. A stone marks out the spot, where we laid them, and discloses the cheer- ing inscription — ' Thy brother shall rise again '—Let it be inscribed upon our hearts, and when in future life we hear of the departure of one after another of our number, let it recur to us with elevating and consoling energy — ' Thy brother shall rise again' — God grant that to each of us that resurrection may be full of glory. * S.E, Wight, Troy, N. Y. Died. April, 1833. J. P. Leland Natick, " July, 1834. t P, C. Walker Belchertown, '• Nov., 1834. B. W. Kellogg, Windham, Me. " April, 1835, H.N.Whipple, Hardwick, Vt. ;^ * ' April, 1835, + D. C. RowelL Cornish, N. H. April, 1836