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 THE 
 
 M E M O R ^ 
 
 T 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 
 3^ 
 
 HEV. NOAH HUNT SCHENCK, A. M. 
 
 DELIVKRKIt IN BALTIMORE ON THE EVKNINO OK 
 
 FKIilUTARY 2-2na, 18H1. 
 
 <j^ *^. — _. 
 
 B A L T I M O R E : 
 
 ENTZ .<v: BASH. No. 36 N. C h a r i, es-st. 
 
 JOHN W . WOODS, PRINTER. 
 
 1861. 
 
 
.63 
 
OE ATIOI^; 
 
 Two years ago, and on this day, sacred in the 
 calendar of patriotism, it was my honored lot to par- 
 ticipate in one of the proudest pageants that ever 
 glittered in the sunlight. It was an oblation to the 
 Memory of Washington, offered by the great metropo- 
 lis of the North- West, offered by a city "born in a 
 day" to the memory of him to whom, under God, it 
 owed that pregnant and progressive civilization, in 
 whose mighty throes it had found gigantic birth. 
 It was a demonstration of American feeling, which 
 spoke well for our manhood and well for our coun- 
 try. A procession of citizens, miles in extent, com- 
 posed of all creeds, all parties, of every rank and 
 vocation, and all fraternizing in the brotherhood 
 of patriots, all harmonizing in the love of our com- 
 mon country, and in veneration for him whose right 
 hand laid its corner-stone ; stretching its long drawn 
 lines through the streets and avenues of that great 
 
 *This Oration was delivered by the Rev. Mr. Schenck, at the request of the vestry of 
 the Church of the Ascension, Baltimore, the proceeds to be applied to their benefit. The ves- 
 try have now obtained Mr. Schenck's kind assent to its publication as a further contribution 
 to the fund sought to be raised for this Church. It isbelieved that the Christian and patriotic 
 sentiment of this Oration is ''a word in season" to the country. Persons desiring copies for 
 circulation will please address Eutz & Bash, Baltimore, Md. 
 
city, the Queen of the Lakes, the Venice of the 
 North ; winding its stately march along the lake shore, 
 and then inland skirting the prairie, by the forests of 
 shipping and the humming marts of business, around 
 altars and homes, and embracing all in its moving 
 coil of living and earnest hearts ; appealing to our 
 love of country by unfurling that country's flag, a 
 standard in whose folds the breath of dishonor has 
 never wantoned ; reviving the inspiring memories of 
 our histor}^ and awakening the echoes of '76, by the 
 martial tones of our National Anthems which pealed 
 cheerily on the air, and made the welkin ring ; re- 
 calling the past not only, but as if declaring with a si- 
 lent but actual eloquence, that "peace hath her vic- 
 tories as well as war," and that the present was ful- 
 filling, at least in part, the trust which the past had 
 bequeathed her, presenting in the regalia of moral 
 and philanthropic associations, in the emblems of ge- 
 nius and industry, in the signs of civic worth and 
 wealth, in the implements of honest labor, in the 
 marshalled bands of those prepared upon "occasion 
 quick," to battle the devouring element, and in the 
 serried ranks of citizen soldiery, only waiting the 
 drum-call to action to vindicate their country's hon- 
 or or defend its shrines, thus evidencing the glories 
 of the present, thus producing to view the ties which 
 bind the people together in social and civil compact, 
 thus telling of the past and teaching of the present, 
 and (as we shall presently observe) prophesying of 
 the future, did the procession of that da}' move as "a 
 voice walking," proclaiming through the streets in 
 mighty diapason, in blended and harmonious tone, 
 that however the ship of state may at times drift 
 
from her moorings, the broad pennant of her first 
 commander is never to be taken from the mast-head, 
 that however we may be split by faction, however 
 distracted by partisan poUcies, or even torn by dis- 
 union itself, however sunken from the high standard 
 of political virtue, the noble patriotism which distin- 
 guished the natal period and early years of the Re- 
 public, that despite all the influences of these degen- 
 erate days, the memory of Washington is never to 
 fade, the love for the Father of our Country is never 
 to grow cold in the hearts of the people. 
 
 Such were the scenes and lessons of that day ; and 
 now when two years have passed, and we find our- 
 selves in the midst of great historic events, I would 
 fain behold those scenes re-enacted, and have those 
 lessons more distinctly impressed. There is a deep 
 and practical significancy now in every effort made 
 to the honor of Washington's memory. There has long 
 been manifest a growing disposition in the American 
 mind, to do amj^le justice to the character and deeds 
 of the first and greatest of our heroes. Let this dis- 
 position now develop and culminate in these days, 
 when we so sorely feel the need of another Washing- 
 ton. Next in value to the state of his august jDres- 
 ence in her councils, is a proper appreciation by the 
 people of the merits of his lofty character, and the 
 worth of his patriotic deeds. 
 
 When the elder Adams, thrilling with the inspira- 
 tion of the statesman and the patriot, spoke propheti- 
 cally of the manner in which the coming generations 
 of freemen should celebrate each anniversary of their 
 national independence, he failed to foresee that the 
 birthday of Washington would one day be hailed by 
 
6 
 
 his grateful countrymen, in its annual recurrence, as 
 no less an occasion of jubilee. And now that we are 
 beginning more amply to appreciate the heritage 
 which his militar}'' prowess and his sagacious states- 
 manship have bequeathed us, now in these times of 
 political craft and meanness, when his virtuous great- 
 ness seems in the contrast to shine down upon us 
 with a stronger and more chastened light, the great 
 heart of the nation is pulsating with a more earnest 
 love, and the common mind swayed by a deeper 
 veneration ; and now, too, this love and veneration 
 are seeking through various channels to declare their 
 being and their force. I do not regard the biography 
 of Irving, the oration of Everett, or the laudable ef- 
 fort to purchase for the nation, the home and tomb 
 of Washington as agencies which have produced the 
 revival of deep feeling for his memory. They are 
 only the results of this deejoened feeling, and yet are 
 contributing not a little to intensify it. It had its 
 fresh stimulus in the exigencies of our present politi- 
 cal condition. We have had orations and biographies 
 and efforts to purchase the spot hallowed as his home 
 when living, and now, the sepulchre of what in him 
 was mortal, but never before has a word written or 
 spoken of Washington, never before has an appeal 
 for aid, to redeem to the country the Mecca of her 
 loyal children, so vibrated the chords of love and 
 veneration and patriotism. The splendid pageants 
 which now greet the anniversary of his birth in all 
 our great cities, tell of this rekindled feeling in the 
 heart of the country for the memory of Washington. 
 But even civic festivals and imposing ceremonials are 
 vain to tell of that deep rooted, that burning love 
 
which sways the breasts of Americans, as they hear 
 reverently pronounced, the name of him to whom 
 they owe so much of the glory of their nation, and 
 to whom they are so largely indebted for their liber- 
 ty as citizens. Let us thank God for the existence 
 not only, but for the present strengthening of this 
 sentiment. The latter is an omen of great good, and 
 that we may to the end of our existence as a nation 
 testify of our gratitude for the gift of Washington, 
 and our joy at the revival of a just reverence for his 
 memory, let us this 3'ear, in the midst of a louder ac- 
 claim than has ever yet hailed the day, surrounded 
 by ampler and richer testimonials of love than have 
 ever been offered, — and yet in the midst of a thicker 
 gloom than has ever settled upon our country, and 
 yet surrounded by more of the elements of national 
 disruption and suicide, than have ever combined, — 
 thus constrained by circumstances of civil weal and 
 woe, let us on this anniversary of Washington's birth, 
 inaugurate it, or solemnly re-enact it a JSTational 
 Holiday. Let this day be celebrated henceforth not 
 by ]3ortions of, but by the whole people ; not in our 
 larger towns, but in cities and hamlets alike. Let 
 neighboring states send friendly greeting to each 
 other in the booming of cannon. Let "the spirit 
 stirring drum and the ear-piercing fife," the clanging 
 trumpet and the deep trombone unite their tones in 
 jubilant strain. Let our proud banner, with its con- 
 stellation sparkling with the glories of a hundred 
 victories on land and sea, be flung out to the ca- 
 resses of the free winds of heaven. Let multitudes 
 of freemen defile through street and highway in dig- 
 nified procession, as animated by a common feeling 
 
8 
 
 of veneration for, and as marshalled by the spirit of 
 him whose name they honor ; and, most of all, let 
 prayers ascend from every altar, that the God of na- 
 tions will so order the councils of our country and 
 direct its destinies, that each succeeding generation 
 shall more highly honor the name, and more closely 
 emulate and imitate the character and conduct of 
 Washington. So shall we make this day, not an oc- 
 casion of mirthful or exciting festivities, but of a 
 tempered and holy joy. Let it then be regarded as 
 a civil sabbath to our people. And, as suggested by 
 the analogy of the natural seasons, this anniversary 
 stands related to the anniversary of our nation's 
 birth as spring-time to harvest, so let us hereafter and 
 always remember, as we unite in celebrating these 
 days, sacred to the glory of our history and our na- 
 tional honor, that the birth of Washington was the 
 germinating of that seed which afterward yielded the 
 rich harvest of American freedom and prosperity ; 
 and thus shall our political sabbaths, the days of Feb- 
 ruary and July, stand related to each other, not only 
 in the beautiful order of the natural seasons, but in 
 the providential ordering of the great epochs of our 
 country's history, and thus, moreover, shall they 
 through ail the coming ages bear witness, that the 
 true is always the advance-guard of the triumphcmt. 
 I have already remarked that the present freshen- 
 ing of Washington feeling is attributable to the pres- 
 ent condition of the state. Now, that noble patriot- 
 ism and cultivated statesmanship and stern political 
 virtue have given place to petty ambitions and parti- 
 san schemings and the mercenary lust for office, — now, 
 when many of those whose voice in the Senate or 
 
9 
 
 counsel in the Cabinet would be an earnest of na- 
 tional welfare, retire from the rude jostlings of con- 
 tending parties, and decline standing in the high 
 places of power if they must stand by the side of 
 those whom they cannot respect, — now, when many 
 of the wisest and purest of our citizens, shunning the 
 vulgar association of demagogues and placemen, are 
 made to feel that "the post of honor is the private 
 station," the better sense of the people is disposed I 
 think to turn away from the teachings of the present, 
 and seek "the old paths," the hopeful heart is only 
 confident of the future, as it may now see grafted up- 
 on the body politic scions gathered from the old 
 Revolutionary tree. By studying the principles and 
 the men of the primitive days of the Republic, and 
 reproducing in present legislation the prudent policies 
 of those perilous times may we only hope to trans- 
 mit untarnished to our posterity the heirloom of 
 national integrity. And in this patriotic exercise 
 let us not be guided by the lesser lights, but only by 
 him who like the natural sun, was at once the ra- 
 diating and gravitating centre of the system of which 
 he was a member. To the character of Washington 
 let us go to learn lessons of virtue as christian citi- 
 zens. To the political principles of Washington let 
 us go to gather the elements of sound and honorable 
 and permanent legislation. To the militarjj carrcr of 
 Washington let us recur to be taught how to serve 
 our country with unswerving faithfulness and digni- 
 fied humility. To the administration of Washington 
 let us turn for an example of a wfse, calm and pros- 
 perous rule, for instruction in the most difficult prob- 
 lem of political economy, viz. the adaptation of a 
 
10 
 
 new theory of government to successful practice. 
 To the last days of his life let us direct the eye of 
 memory, and contemplate the beautiful blending of 
 greatness and goodness, of the statesman and the 
 christian, of the magistrate and the citizen, and there 
 learn what sweet returns flow to him who consistent- 
 ly and to the end subordinates self to duty, and see 
 what a glory-light gilds the old age of him who never 
 bartered a principle or compromised a truth. To 
 the sepulchre of Washington let us go, and while we 
 drop a tear of tribute to departed worth, thank God 
 that we have so pure a shrine, a sj)ot so hallowed, 
 where the lover of his country and his kind may 
 breathe an air of lofty patriotism and heroic virtue. 
 These are the lessons needful to be impressed upon 
 the mind and heart of the country and especially in 
 this age. Our people must be taught to hold the 
 memory of Washington as the palladium of jDolitical 
 virtue, as they hold the constitution that of our political 
 existence. And we have reason to believe that the 
 "sober second thought" of our countrymen is begin- 
 ning to react against the degeneracy of the times. The 
 most wholesome indication of this is the renewed de- 
 votion now manifesting to the memory of him who 
 stands in our history as the distinct type of a true 
 American citizen. While then we hail the dawning of 
 this brighter day, let us mark it in the calendar of 
 national events to be hereafter remembered as the 
 period when the anniversary of W^ashington's birth 
 was first claimed by all the people as a season of gen- 
 eral jubilee. So let the birthdays of our country 
 and its venerated Father go hand in hand down the 
 stretched-out vistas of our glorious future, each year 
 
11 
 
 repeating to the ages the story of "the hour and the 
 man" in which and by which the broad foundation 
 of American hberty was hiid, — each year pointing 
 the eye of those wdio officer the ship of state to the 
 constitution as the compass, to the will of God as the 
 pole star, and to the memory of Washington as the 
 chart, by the united help of which our staunch ship 
 shall avoid every foundering rock and outlive every 
 storm. 
 
 I do not propose, even if it were possible in the 
 narrow space allotted to a production like this, to 
 attempt anything like a portraiture of the character 
 of Washington, or a delineation of those stirring 
 scenes in which he was the prominent actor, — much 
 ♦less to present you a consecutive argument designed 
 to show the hand' of Providence in his timely birth 
 and balanced life, in the incorporation of his noble 
 principles into the organic life of the infant Republic, 
 or the important and diversified influence which the 
 life and work of this great man have already exer- 
 cised and are still to wield in shaping the destinies of 
 modern government. Rather do I embrace the oc- 
 casion to say some earnest hearty things about him 
 whose character and career are familiar to every 
 lover of his country, whose name is a household word 
 in every American home and whose fame is our 
 land's chiefest glory. And there is nothing new to 
 be said about Washington. Jt were a shame to us, 
 if it w^ere otherwise More than half a century has 
 passed away in the retreating march of time since he 
 closed his eyes upon this land he served so well, he 
 loved so dearly, he honored sohighlj-. Since then he 
 has been the property of the historian, the biograph- 
 
12 
 
 er, the political economist and the patriot citizen. 
 The incidents of his career and the arcana of his 
 character have been blazoned to the world on the 
 classic pages of our history, and it only remains for 
 the coming poet to make them the argument of our 
 yet unwritten American epic. But though volumes 
 have been written and read, though countless eulo- 
 gies have been pronounced, though the sound of 
 panegyric has floated in deathless cadences upon the 
 air, the ear grows not weary with the story of our 
 Washington. This half century has taken nothing 
 from the freshness of his fame, or abated a tittle of 
 the popular relish for his "eventful history,'' The 
 more frequentl}^ we drink at this fountain the sweeter 
 seem its waters. As we return each time to the 
 contemplation of his life, we find indeed no novelties, 
 no newly revealed features of character or facts of 
 biograph}^, but we discover in ourselves a keener zest, 
 a constantly increasing relish, and, at once, a livelier 
 gratitude that we have so bright a page in our 
 country's annals, so pure a shrine, so wise an oracle, as 
 the common property of all who reverence virtue or 
 aspire to noble deeds. Under the hope that our 
 present excursion may measurably procure for us 
 such results as these, let us linger for a time in the 
 shadow of this truly great man, and rest the eye not 
 upon that greatness, nor upon those principles and 
 deeds of his from which it sprung, but rather upon 
 the consec[uences of that greatness, as they are to be 
 observed in that period of our history which has 
 elapsed since his death, and as they may be expect- 
 ed in the present and coming time to mark and 
 mould our destiny. P\illen as we are upon "times 
 
13 
 
 so sadly out of joint," I conceive this to be the 
 proper, as it certainly is the practical, treatment of 
 the memory of Washington when it is now made the 
 topic of popular discourse. Let me then open up to 
 view this aspect of the noble theme by presenting 
 you certain propositions, the argument of which 
 however, I regret I have here no space properly to 
 expand or elaborate. 
 
 I. And jirst: in the character of Washington ice have 
 the hey to the history of our confederacy as it has un- 
 folded since he left the helm of state. I speak not of 
 the revolutionary period, the formation of our federal 
 constitution, or his own administration. As pre- 
 dicate of events then enacted, my proposition is self- 
 evident. Then, his brain and heart, his voice and 
 hand were the instruments which conceived and 
 shaped, which uttered and executed the policies for 
 conserving the common weal and advancing the de- 
 velopment of American institutions. But when 
 death stopped the working of that busy brain and 
 stilled the throbbings of that faithful heart and sti- 
 fled that commanding voice and palsied that strong 
 hand, it was impotent to hush the eloquent teachings 
 of his character, or quench the light of those great 
 principles which had governed his public and private 
 life. These have since, and as I would fain believe, 
 are still making an impress deep and broad, as well 
 upon our national councils as upon the common 
 mind of the country. A single citation from our 
 later history must suffice both to illustrate and en- 
 force our proposition. The second conflict with the 
 mother country presents a strange parallel to the 
 first, the Revolutionary struggle. Not so much in the 
 
14 
 
 depressing circumstances which marked our entrance 
 upon both, or in the glorious triumph in which both 
 were terminated, not so much in that the first de- 
 stroyed the prestige of the vaunted "British bayonet," 
 as did the second that of the no-less- vaunted "wooden 
 walls ;" but when we observe the spirit which in both 
 conflicts resisted encroachments upon the inalienable 
 rights of the individual citizen, the disposition to 
 contend for no more than a just vindication of those 
 rights, the tempered but determined morale of those 
 who bore arms in their country's defence, cheerfully 
 meeting the most fearful odds, feeling themselves 
 thrice armed in the justness of their cause, the 
 grateful joy which pervaded the land when peace 
 was re-established, and the alacrity with which the 
 sword was exchanged for the plough-share, and the 
 quick revival of all the peaceful arts, we cannot but 
 believe that there is in this parallelism of events 
 more than the chanced analogy of circumstances. 
 We must believe that the same living power gave 
 tone and direction to them all ; and as all concede 
 that the former conflict in its events and immediately 
 resulting consequences was controlled and directed 
 and stamped by the living presence of Washington, 
 it follows, indisputably, that the latter was in like 
 manner controlled by his still living j^rinciples. Nay ! 
 both in the war of the Revolution and in the "Late 
 war," and also in their out-flowing consequences, we 
 find re-produced and consistently observed the regi- 
 men of Washington's life as an individual. The his- 
 torical record of both is but the nationalized portrai- 
 ture of the elements of his character. Thus do we ob- 
 serve Washington's biography to be the prototype of 
 
15 
 
 American history, his hfe foreshadowing in miniature 
 the maturing character and the developing career of 
 this great repubUc. 
 
 11. Taught by such observations that Washington 
 "though dead yet speaketh," we may go on and safe- 
 ly aver, that Ids charader is an earnest of our country's 
 future greatness, for so long as we malce his life tlie 
 imttern of political virtue and his principles the guide 
 posts of politiccd progress. As no hand so pure ever 
 laid the corner stone of a nation, as no influence so 
 salutary ever tempered the elements which entered 
 into national life and character, so may we hope that 
 while our fabric of government bears the impress of 
 that hand, and the influence of him who wielded it 
 continues to be recognized, our land shall not cease 
 to produce those rich harvests of prosperity, which 
 since the hour of her emancipation have made the 
 valleys to sing and the hills to skip with jo_y. To 
 him who sees God in history our country is not now, 
 has never been, an experiment in government. The 
 only period of our history which may be regarded as 
 experimental was that of the Revolution, and that 
 was anterior to our proper national existence. The 
 triumj)hant vindication of the principles which enter- 
 ed into that struggle, and the efficiency of Washing- 
 ton's character as a lever for their elevation is suf- 
 ficient surety to the government which is based on 
 those principles and to the people who emulate the 
 virtues of that character to regard the civil institu- 
 tutions of the United States as permanently estab- 
 lished. K'ay, how divinely directed seem those coun- 
 sels which accepted for the frame work of the State 
 the principles which had been tested on the battle 
 
16 
 
 fields of the Revolution ; how divinely ordered the 
 destinies of this land to which has been given as its 
 political Mentor the purest character known to his- 
 tory ; how divinely guaranteed seems that country's 
 future, when the constitution and laws, when popu- 
 lar sentiment and the standards of political virtue are 
 all impressed by the master mind not only but chas- 
 tened by the God-regarding principles of such an one 
 as Washington. No, the mission of this free land is 
 not yet wrought out, and the power which gave it 
 existence as a nation will sustain it, that it may fill 
 the office appointed it in the coming ages. I do not 
 think this office is to demonstrate the capacity of the 
 people for self-government. Important as this may 
 be in certain aspects, ours is a noble work. If "the 
 powers that be are ordained of God," a calm survey 
 of our history and our institutions must assure us 
 that the American Republic has been consecrated an I 
 agency for the development of the moral and intel- ' 
 iectual faculties of all orders of men, as preparatory 
 to that final earthly condition of our race as civil and / 
 moral beings, to which the finger of prophesy so un- \^ 
 erringly points. The clue to this theory of our des- 
 tiny is to be discovered in the character of him who 
 built and launched our ship of state. The proof of 
 this theor}^ is furnished in our unexampled progress 
 in those arts which enlighten and dignify and grace 
 the individual ; having already produced, in the prac- 
 tical working of our institutions, a type of character, 
 everywhere to be observed in the rank and file of 
 the people, heretofore unknown to the world, but 
 which is printing on the page of the future records 
 of national glory and individual happiness. The 
 
 / 
 
17 
 
 realitij of this theory is forcibl}' demonstrated at this 
 time when the flinty strata of our character is so 
 much overhiid by the rubbish deposit of the pkice- 
 mau, the demagogue and the fanatical morahst, but 
 which cannot prevent the frequent and bold out-crop- 
 pings of those essential truths of our political life 
 and those early establislied laws of our political pro- 
 gress, which I believe to be as indestructible as the 
 laureled rock of the Alleghanies, as enduring as the 
 snow-crowned mountains of California. But these 
 truths and laws, what are they but fragments of that 
 code which constituted and controlled the inner life 
 and public policy of Washington, and which he wove 
 into the texture of the state ; so that whether it be 
 in re-assuming the "masterly inactive" position of 
 "non-intervention" in foreign quarrels, or continuing 
 to "avoid entangling alliances," or again repudiating 
 the claim of "right of search," or opposing the breasts 
 and bayonets of the people to the encroachments of a 
 neighboring power, or expanding the agencies for 
 fostering the genius and encouraging the industry of 
 the people, we still recognize the swaying of that 
 hand which first held the helm, we still hear the 
 clarion tones of that voice whose mighty utterances 
 were the oracles of our country's infancy. And thus 
 onward in the future shall our institutions be borne, 
 working out their high destiny faithful to the j)ur- 
 poses of their venerated founder — so long as they 
 cxmform to his life as a ijattern and to his principles as 
 the guide posts of p)r ogress. 
 
 III. And this introduces a third proposition, viz. that 
 the memory of Washington must do for this and suc- 
 ceeding ages, ichat his life did for the first age of the 
 2 
 
18 
 
 Republic. We must make the memory of our 
 country's founder a reality, a living and controlling 
 influence in its whole subsequent history. As the 
 breast of Scotland heaves and the avenging clay- 
 more spurns the scabbard at the name of Robert 
 Bruce, and as the "sons of France awake to glory" 
 as they hear pronounced the magic name of Napo- 
 leon, so let the name of a greater than either arouse 
 in the "sons of Columbia" a thrilling memory of his 
 deeds and a noble emulation of his virtues. The 
 memory of Washington, the birth-right possession of 
 every American citizen, the heritage of everj^ patriot 
 in every land, is for us and for our children a legacy 
 to be used for the welfare of our common country. 
 Though it be the poetry of our history it appeals 
 not to the brain of the dreamer or the heart of the 
 enthusiast. It is a truer poetry than that. Its cadences 
 blend in the cabinet consultation and the legislative 
 debate. Its truths are for the chamber of diplomacy, 
 the military council, the academy of learning and the 
 retreats of quiet industry. They follow the free 
 plowman as he "stalks afield." They follow the 
 pioneer into western wilds. They follow the mariner 
 over foreign seas. They penetrate the happy seclu- 
 sion of the American home. They enter the clois- 
 ters of our inner life. They make lustrous the stars 
 of our national flag and gild the spires which point 
 heavenward from our public altars. Thus the mem- 
 ory of Washington becomes the poetry of American 
 practical life. Thus presenting it, we clothe it in 
 the regalia of that office we believe it is apj^ointed 
 to fill, and an office for which it is eminenth' capaci- 
 tated. Filling this office, it will accomplish for this 
 
19 
 
 and succeeding ages what the life of Wasliington ef- 
 fected for the age it adorned. And I am not indulg- 
 ing in language of extravagant assertion. Neither 
 would I attempt to dwarf the hideous dimensions of 
 those great national evils, to the correction of which 
 I would invoke the blessed memory of our revered 
 Washington. 
 
 I recognize the fact, humiliating as it is, that dis- 
 union is an accomplished thing. The merest sciolist 
 in history and government must observe that events 
 of startling magnitude are tianspiring before our 
 eyes, events which are to have a more important 
 bearing upon the future of our nation than the 
 ephemera of our political world have wit to see 
 or honesty to acknowledge. Many of these events 
 are such as shall bring the blush to the cheek of 
 our posterity. Do not suppose, fellow freemen 
 of the land of Washington, that these events are 
 the circumstances of national suicide. Do not sup- 
 pose them to be the prelude to the appalling trage- 
 dy of civil war. We have too much of love for 
 country — too much of love for Washington — too 
 much of the fear of God for that. We are doubtless 
 in the midst of revolution j not the revolution of 
 anarchy, however, but the revolution of transition. 
 We are passing from the first to the second era of 
 national greatness. The country is struggling now 
 to free itself from the swathing-bands of its infancy. 
 Its unexpected and unexampled growth has enhanced 
 the difficulty of the efibrt, and no wonder if in the 
 struggle there should be dislocation or other injury. 
 Still the great child must be free. In its broad and 
 burly youth, in its ruddy and robust strength, it 
 
20 
 
 must put away childish things at whatever cost. 1 
 think this is the historical aspect of our present civil 
 calamities. The old issues are effete and mainl}^ ig- 
 nored. Those which are not ignored are inflated 
 with the j)oisonous breath of fimaticism and intoler- 
 auce to dimensions as monstrous and to an import- 
 ance as factitious as the ambition and ability of their 
 advocates. And here let me not be misunderstood. 
 The exigency seems to demand no change in the 
 organic life of this union of compacted sovereignties. 
 There are no institutions existing under our govern- 
 ment which the cause of religion or humanity or free- 
 dom or peace requires should be radically changed, 
 much less violently uprooted. But there is a sj)irit 
 of fanaticism on the one side and a spirit of intoler- 
 ance on the other which had their birth here in the 
 elements of American colonization, and which have 
 increased in rigidit}^ as the nation has grown, until 
 the strain cramps the body politic to a degree unen- 
 durable. These are the swaddling clothes of our 
 infancy from which we now would have the country 
 freed. These are the things, (and w^e would include 
 both the policy and the politician,) which must be 
 put away even at the risk of dislocation, that the 
 countrj^ may mount up to a higher standard of na- 
 tional existence. Every thing has prepared her, — the 
 blessing of God, the energy of the people, — everything 
 that pictures a truer greatness and a broader life 
 enters into the mosaic of that ascending pavement 
 which is prepared for the stately steppings of the 
 rising Republic. But mounting from one level to 
 a higher is an effort of fearful magnitude to a nation 
 like this, involving as it does so much rending of old 
 
21 
 
 political tie?, so much of adjustment and rearrange- 
 ment. Moreover, while the effort is making, the 
 body politic is to a degree defenceless ; the old de- 
 fences are removed to make way for expansion, 
 while the new are only constructing and not jet 
 adequate to the office appointed them. We are now 
 in this transition state. The change is so full of 
 fearful sights and sounds, is attended by so much 
 of commercial distress, is already signalized by the 
 shattering off from the union rock crystal fragments 
 of great size and beauty, that "men's hearts fail them 
 for fear;" and in the distractions of the present hour 
 know not but that they are surrounded by the signs 
 or even the scenes of national disruption. From the 
 heights of true statesmanship, however, these things 
 are to be observed in their true relations, and thence 
 are discerned but as the penalties of national great- 
 ness. Other governments have had trials equal to 
 if not greater than this which ours is undergoing, and 
 have emerged chastened and strengthened. We 
 have had in our short career already more than 
 one crisis, designed to teach us preparatory lessons 
 for this, 
 
 A great and a free government invariably records 
 a history chequered with trial and triumph. The 
 greater and more free, and the more brilliant her 
 triumphs, the sharper and more frequent her 
 trials. We have become so habituated to prosperity, 
 that I fear we are poorly prepared for trial. But it 
 has come. Shall we meet it and pass through it 
 bravely and humbly, or like madmen dash into the 
 vortex of anarchy. Are there not elements of 
 strength incur government sufficient for an exigency 
 
22 
 
 like the present? Is there not a patriotic sentiment 
 which can safely steer our ship of state through 
 breakers like these ? Can we not experience the 
 convulsions incident to the change from childhood 
 to youth, the first great trial of our republican life, 
 without sinking apathetically ; and suffering disin- 
 tegration as though it were our manifest destiny ; 
 expiring miserably, as though the past had no glories, 
 the present no encouragements and the future no 
 hopes ? May I say that I am deeply convinced that 
 the dark side of this picture is a fancy which is 
 never to be reduced to a fact. Not but what the 
 skies may yet grow darker, not but what govern- 
 ment perplexity and commercial disaster may yet 
 increase, not but what we may have years of dis- 
 traction, with a ruined commerce, a broken credit 
 and an almost infinite complication of inter-state 
 difficulties. These things may come, but these things 
 will pass away. And as they come not without a 
 cause, so will they pass not away without the exer- 
 cise of wholesome agencies for their removal. Let 
 the country have time to breathe — let the people 
 have an opportunity to vote — let the political vam- 
 pires be exterminated — let the memory of Washing- 
 ton be elevated into a beacon-light, and all will yet 
 be well. 
 
 However men may differ upon the many matters 
 now in controversy before the people, I suspect there 
 is little variance of opinion touching one and the most 
 important point of all, viz. that the sentiment of the 
 hour is no corrective for the evils from which we 
 suffer, that no relief is to be found for us in the coun- 
 sels of our politicians, whether in Congress or conven- 
 
23 
 
 tion, that we must first elevate the tone of the popu- 
 h\r mind and heart, bringing them from under the 
 influence of the partisan fury of the day, and im- 
 pregnating them with the sentiments of lofty patriot- 
 ism and virtuous citizenship which our grandfathers 
 saw in the life and learned from the Hps of Wash- 
 ington. 
 
 We are not living in an age of great men. A 
 race of giants has just disappeared from the stage, 
 and the coming men are still behind the scenes. We 
 have little to hope from those who by the mere stress 
 of political necessity are now in the leading positions 
 of the state. We have little to hope from the abso- 
 lute triumph of any of the rival policies now sub- 
 mitted to the people, but we have everytliing to hope 
 from a general re-kindling of Washington feeling 
 throughout the land ; we have the amplest warrant 
 for believing that if our people are freshly instructed 
 in the wisdom of the Revolutionary era, and fired 
 with the spirit which glowed at Trenton and gleam- 
 ed at Yalley Forge and glittered at Yorktown, if the 
 people can be taught to make the memory of Wash- 
 ington the controlling sentiment of their civil life, — 
 there shall be a reunion of the dissevered elements 
 of our nationality, there shall be assuagement of hos- 
 tile feelino-, there shall be restoration of confidence, 
 there shall be resumption of national progress, and 
 renewed expansion of all the great elements of our 
 civil and social constitution. Thus must we make 
 the immorij of Washington perform for this and suc- 
 ceeding ages what his life did for the first age of the 
 Republic. 
 
24 
 
 As in the times which tried men's souls, the dark- 
 est days of the Revohition, he assuaged the jealousies 
 and averted the threatened outbreak between the 
 Southern and New England regiments, so must the 
 genius of his life now be invoked to adjust the geo- 
 graphical differences and extinguish the sectional 
 animosities which distract and divide the coun- 
 try. Let the turbulent spirits of our every latitude 
 turn to the founder of their common country, and 
 behold him as the "chief of that band of patriots 
 who when the parts of our rescued land were dissolv- 
 ing, formed a constitution to substantiate and per- 
 petuate the blessings which the Revolution had prom- 
 ised to bestow." Let them behold him again when 
 called to the chief magistracy, "quit the retirement 
 be loved, and in a season more tempestuous than 
 war itself, with calm and wise determination, preserve 
 the true interests of the nation and contribute more 
 than any other could contribute to the establishment 
 of that system of policy which will I trust, yet pre- 
 serve our peace, our honor and our independence." 
 Such a retrospect can scarcely fail to bring back the 
 fiery partisan from his insane excursion to the con- 
 fines of anarchy. Especially at this critical hour 
 would we lift up in wisdom and in warning before 
 the disorganizer, the fanatic, and the s^Dirits of unrest, 
 whose mouths are fixed to trumpets of agitation and 
 alarm, the embalmed and fragrant memory of our coun- 
 try's sainted patron, and while we hold their minds 
 in patriotic contemplation, we would recite to them 
 in the language of a daughter of Baltimore, whose 
 warning words have just been wafted across the sea : 
 
25 
 
 "Brothers lie ware ; the storm is high, 
 Our ship of state strains heavily, 
 
 And her flag, whose spangles have lit the sky, 
 Is fluttering — tattered and torn to be. 
 
 God of our father Washington 
 Our trust is in Thy arm alone ; 
 
 Count Thou her stars, keep every one 
 Peace, brothers, peace." 
 
 then, as the poetry of our history, as the cor- 
 rective of political error, as the earnest of a glorious 
 future, as the prompting of a common gratitude, let 
 us keep green the memory of Washington. More 
 than sixty years, with their springs of verdure, their 
 summer harvests, their gorgeous autumal days and 
 their white mantled winters, have laid their offerings 
 on his tomb : more than one generation has passed 
 away, nay, the past year has witnessed the taking-ofT 
 of the sole survivor of that band of true men, who ral- 
 lied to the battle-standard of Washington, — but who 
 lived to be visited and greeted on free American soil by 
 the heir expectant of the British throne, the royal rep- 
 resentative of that George, against whom the old sol- 
 dier had borne the bayonet, — there are now but few 
 remaining who have ever looked upon the living 
 form of Washington ; and yet we have all seen him ; 
 we all know him ; we have received and returned 
 the pressure of his honest hand: we are familiar 
 with every feature in his face ; that stalwart form 
 has crossed our path in all time of our patriotic 
 reverie ; he is a living Washington to us to-day who 
 love and venerate him, as he was to those who knew 
 him by the natural senses. Though dead, he thus 
 liveth. And as he was honored in life, so would we 
 honor him now, and so let him be honored forever. 
 
26 
 
 That we may know how he was reverenced by those 
 who knew him in Ufe, let me conclude this line of 
 remark by citing a word from the address of condol- 
 ence presented by the Senate to President Adams on 
 learning the bereavement the comitry had sustained 
 in the death of him, who had just been declared in 
 the resolutions adopted in the House of Representa- 
 tives "first in war, first in peace and first in the 
 hearts of his countrymen." "Thanks to God his 
 glory is consummated, Washington yet lives on earth 
 in his spotless example — his spirit is in heaven. Let 
 his countrymen consecrate the memory of the heroic 
 general, the patriotic statesman, and the virtuous 
 sage ; let them teach their children that the fruits of 
 his labors and his example are their inheritance." 
 To which replies the President : "His example is 
 now complete, and it will teach wisdom and virtue 
 to magistrates, citizens and men, not only in the 
 present age, but in future generations, as long as our 
 history shall be read." 
 
 As pertinent to the theme and the occasion, may I 
 be permitted to offer the tribute of a God-speed to 
 that patriotic effort which the women of our country 
 are now making to secure to the nation, as the com- 
 mon property of its citizens, the spot which Washing- 
 ton hallowed to the American heart as his home 
 when living, and as the place of sepulture of what 
 in him was earthy. While warmly seconding the 
 appeal which has gone forth inviting each one to 
 share the honor of presenting Mount Yernon to the 
 American people, I do so from considerations affect- 
 . ing not the memory of Washington but ourselves. 
 His fame does not demand the tribute. It needs it 
 
27 
 
 not. It needs no monuments, "no storied urn or 
 animated bust." He is one of the few of earth, who 
 have risen higher than earth's material agencies can 
 elevate. But it behooves us to be exercised in 
 offices of remembrance and works of reverence, that 
 we may thus keep in view the moral and political 
 lineaments of our great departed chieftain. To this 
 audience, a large majority of whom have doubtless 
 ere this made offerings to the cause in hand, I may 
 present what seems to me a noble incentive to 
 co-operation in this laudable enterprise, viz. that as 
 Washington coined the strength of his manhood, 
 casting into the mint of patriotism brain and heart 
 and muscle, that he might buy and bequeath to us 
 this free and favored land, so should we gladly em- 
 brace the occasion to buy, that we may bequeath to 
 our posterity, as one of the treasures of the peoj^le, 
 that fair domain whose turf was once familiar with 
 the footsteps of our country's father, and whose 
 drooping willows now sway their long arms sadly 
 over his sepulchre. Thus far the appeal of our 
 warm-hearted countrywomen has met a cordial re- 
 sponse. Their labor of love is well nigh complete. 
 We will trust that a still wider and warmer sympa- 
 thy will enable them speedily to consummate it. As 
 they planned and are now executing this noble 
 work, so shall the glory of it be wholly theirs, and to 
 the honor of American women shall it be said in all 
 coming time, that to them the nation is indebted for 
 the most endearing and enduring memorial of its 
 founder. 
 
 Would to God we might fully believe, as I think, 
 without presumption, we measurably may believe, 
 
28 
 
 that the hearty outburst which has this year, despite 
 the gloom, welcomed the anniversary of Washington's 
 birth, may not effervesce in the plaudits of the hour, 
 in the high wrought enthusiasm which pealing bands 
 and streaming banners may inspire. From the cities 
 and hamlets of the West, from the great metropolis 
 of the North, from Charleston and New Orleans, and 
 other centres of population at the South, the news- 
 papers of this morning inform us, "the anniversary 
 of Washington's birth is celebrated with unusual 
 demonstrations of regard." It is a glorious omen. 
 It is to me the first star which has peered forth from 
 ■ the thick gloom of our storm-charged skies. 
 that these demonstrations may have a meaning for, 
 and make their mark upon the hearts of all the 
 people. And shall it not be so ? A few hours more, 
 and this day will be swallowed up in the all-de- 
 vouring past. Its proud processions, its commemo- 
 rative exercises, its splendid banquets, its military 
 displays, will presently pass away into the deepen- 
 ing night of forgetfulness. Nay, those who partici- 
 pate in this civic pageantr}^, will presently take their 
 places in another procession, which moves inevitably 
 onward, never counter-marching, its vanward col- 
 umns always mounting upon that arch, which spans 
 the dread hereafter ; these scenes will be forgotten, 
 and these n]en will die, but God grant that the feel- 
 ing of veneration for the memory of Washington, 
 which has this day coalesced the hearts of vast mul- 
 titudes of our people, may not pass away, may not 
 be forgotten, may never die. Let it continue to 
 coalesce the warm hearts of the American people. 
 Let it bind together, as with silken bands, the 
 
29 
 
 now jarring and dissevered sections of this noble 
 confederacy of states. The memory of Washington 
 is the common property of all the people. North 
 and Sonth, East and A¥est here occupy common 
 ground, can here meet and revive common memo- 
 ries, can read a common history, and here auspicate 
 the future glory of a never-to-be-dissolved Ameri- 
 can Union. Accept then the Memory of Washing- 
 ton as the genius of Amercan liberty, and the ear- 
 nest of American greatness. Let it rekindle the 
 wasted fires of patriotism. Let it animate our 
 people to deeds of virtuous heroism. Let it calm 
 the tempest of disunion. Let it rebuke the corrup- 
 tions of misrule. Let it stimulate the peaceful arts. 
 Let its amber light gild with holy radiance, the roof- 
 tree of the humble citizen, and the lordly dome of 
 the capitol. Our country has had a glorious past. 
 She has basked in the smiles of Heaven. The pres- 
 ent is big with hopes and fears. What the future 
 shall bring us we could distinctly announce, were we 
 assured that the American heart would continue to 
 cherish the memory of Washington, and the Ameri- 
 can mind continue to be moulded by the genius of 
 his character. 
 
 I believe that the "word in season" now to our 
 bewildered people is "the memory of Washington." 
 It is idle to attempt to blink the fact, that this con- 
 federacy of sovereign states is in process of disinte- 
 gration. The cohering forces which have held them 
 together, seem so far weakened as to be ineffectual. 
 It is chimerical to suppose that disruption will not 
 sooner or later be followed by conflict under the lead 
 of the now reigning sentiment. Never was there a 
 
30 
 
 time so opportune for pleading the memory of Wash- 
 ington. We implore you, fellow freemen, to open 
 your minds to the wisdom, and your hearts to the 
 hallowing influences of this sentiment, and under its 
 guidance to strive before God among men, by argu- 
 ment and by act, yet to preserve in its integrity this 
 splendid fabric of free and christian government. It 
 has come down to us as a priceless heirloom, a glori- 
 ous inheritance. let us not lightly barter our in- 
 estimable birthright. By the consecrated memory 
 of those who spared not their fortunes or their 
 lives in securing to us, their children, this invaluable 
 heritage, by the incalculable worth of the great in- 
 terests — religious, social and industrial, which are de- 
 pendant for their welfare upon the continuance of 
 peace and order, by considerations of duty to our 
 children and the generations yet unborn, let us re- 
 cognize it not only as a patriot, but a christian duty 
 to labor in every way, not inconsistent with personal 
 honor and reserved civil right, for the re-construc- 
 tion and perpetuation of the American Union. And 
 it is not yet too late. It is never too late for God- 
 fearing, patriotic, earnest men. It is without the 
 purview of my present purpose, as it is beyond my 
 ability, and unbecoming my profession, to prescribe 
 the political duty of intelligent citizens. But after 
 recalling to you the memory of Washington, and 
 presenting it as the only sure corrective of existing 
 evils, I may be permitted to say that there is a 
 manifest and special responsibility devolving upon 
 the citizens of this commonwealth at this momen- 
 tous crisis. Our geographical position in this con- 
 federacy, the conservative spirit, the warm patriotic 
 
31 
 
 feeling of the people, the local associations of our 
 national banner, as here emblazoned with that noble 
 hymn of liberty which may never be erased from its 
 striped and starry folds, — everything seems to invoke 
 the men of Maryland to stand boldly forth and plead 
 for the integrity of the Union in times like these. 
 Let them and all true men enlist under God every 
 honest agency which may stay the suicidal march of 
 our nation. Let them be animated to the effort by a 
 glow of Washington feeling. Let them be stimulated 
 in the effort, by the inspiriting memories of our bril- 
 liant history, by the remembrance of what God has 
 done for us and our fathers, by the contemplation of 
 our prosperous and peaceful surroundings, as we stand 
 "full high advanced," a peer among the nations, and 
 moreover, by consideration of the mighty stake we 
 hold for tlie future. Our national existence is not so 
 cheap a franchise as to be wantonly wafted away on 
 the hot breath of the demagogue, or the mad shouts 
 of an excited populace. Lot temperate debate take 
 the place of infuriated appeals and passionate decla- 
 mation, r.et hymns of concession float upon the 
 wind, and drown out in their melody the hoarse war 
 note, which in threatening undertone is muttered 
 through the air. Let us direct the excited mind of the 
 countr}' away from the present, and occupy it with 
 the past and the future. Thus only may we manacle 
 the madness of the hour, only thus fix the eye of the 
 country upon its duty and its glory. Only thus can 
 we auspicate a future of divine blessing and national 
 greatness. Only thus may we hope to have secured 
 to succeeding and remote generations what was guar- 
 anteed by the life and work, and what can only be 
 
32 
 
 perpetuated by preserving in unfading freshness the 
 memory of Washington. Only thus can we make 
 sure that in coming and even far distant ages, there 
 shall be generations of American freemen who will 
 reverberate the hymns of liberty so long familiar to 
 the ear of this free and christian land, and then as 
 now voice forth in the cadences of grateful devotion, 
 
 "Great God we thank for this home, 
 
 This bounteous birth-land of the free, 
 Where wanderers from afar may come, 
 
 And breathe the air of liberty. 
 Still may her flowers untrammeled sprino^, 
 
 Her harvests wave, her cities rise, 
 And yet till time shall fold his wing 
 
 Remain earth's loveliest paradise." 
 

 
 
 
 
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