Select Speeches of Daniel Webster

Select Speeches of Daniel
Webster [with accents]

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Title: Select Speeches of Daniel Webster
Author: Daniel Webster
Release Date: February, 2005 [EBook #7600] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on May 17,
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Edition: 10

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SPEECHES OF DANIEL WEBSTER ***

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SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL WEBSTER
1817-1845
WITH PREFACE, INTRODUCTION, AND NOTES BY
A. J. GEORGE, A.M.
Instructor in Rhetoric and English Literature in the Newton, Mass.,
High School
"The front of Jove himself; An eye like Mars to threaten and command;
A combination and a form indeed, Where every god did seem to set his
seal, To give the world assurance of a man"
Boston, U.S.A. D.C. Heath & Co., Publishers 1903

TO THE HON. GEORGE F. HOAR, LL.D. A WORTHY
SUCCESSOR OF DANIEL WEBSTER IN THE SENATE OF THE
UNITED STATES

Blest Statesman He, whose Mind's unselfish will Leaves him at ease
among grand thoughts: whose eye Sees that, apart from magnanimity,
Wisdom exists not; nor the humbler skill Of Prudence, disentangling
good and ill With patient care. What tho' assaults run high, They daunt
not him who holds his ministry, Resolute, at all hazards, to fulfil Its
duties; prompt to move, but firm to wait; Knowing, things rashly
sought are rarely found; That, for the functions of an ancient State--
Strong by her charters, free because imbound, Servant of Providence,
not slave of Fate-- Perilous is sweeping change, all chance unsound.

Preface.

Burke and Webster are models in the forensic literature of our own
language as truly as are Demosthenes and Cicero in the language of the
ancient classics. Each has distinct and inimitable characteristics which
give force and beauty to his work. The study of each should be ordered
in such a way as to put one in touch with those qualities of mind and
heart, of intellectual and moral manhood, by which each became a
leader in political philosophy and a model in literary style. One who
studies such authors in order to formulate a historical or a personal
estimate merely, or to compare each as to certain externals of rhetorical
form, has lost the true perspective of literary judgment.
Reading in the school and in the home is far too often pursued with a
purpose to controvert and prove rather than to weigh and consider.
Reading which does not result in enlarging, stimulating, and refining
one's nature is but a busy idleness. The schools must see to it that the
desultory and dissipating methods of reading, so prevalent in the home,
are not encouraged. Pupils must be stimulated first of all to enjoy what
is beautiful in nature and in art: for here is
"A world of ready wealth, Their minds and hearts to bless--
Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health, Truth breathed by
cheerfulness."
The wisdom of the classroom is too often "art tongue-tied by
authority," and hence it is not wisdom at all, but a sham and a pretence.
Not until pupils rise to the spontaneity which betokens a genuine love
for the work in hand do they secure the richest results.
The publication of the masterpieces of the epic, the lyric, and the drama;
of the novel, the essay, and the oration, in a convenient form and at
such a price as to bring them within the reach of our schools, makes it
inexcusable if pupils are allowed to be ignorant of the great literary,
ethical, and artistic impulses which have touched and quickened the life
of the past.
Burke's American Orations present him at his best as a statesman, an
orator, and a stylist. When the edition of those speeches was prepared, a
selection from Webster's great speeches was