A 
 A 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 1 
 6 
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 1 
 
 WEBSTER 
 
 The Bunker Hill 
 Monument Orations. 
 
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 241 
 
 B9W35
 
 No. 44. 
 ENGLISH CLASSIC SERIES. 
 
 THE 
 
 BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 
 
 ORATIONS. 
 
 THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT. (1825.) 
 COMPLETION OF THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT. (1843) 
 
 BY DANIEL WEBSTER. 
 
 FOR SCHOOL AND HOME USE. 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 ALBERT F. BLAISDELL. 
 
 AUTHOR OF "STUDY OF THE ENGLISH CLASSICS," "OUTLINES FOR 
 
 THE STUDY OF THE ENGLISH CLASSICS," "SHAKESPEARE 
 
 SPEAKER," "MEMORY QUOTATIONS," ANNOTATED 
 
 EDITIONS OF "CHRISTMAS CAROL," 
 
 "SKETCH BOOK," ETC. 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 
 CLARK & MAYNARD, PUBLISHERS, 
 734 BROADWAY.
 
 Two-Book Series of Arithmetics, 
 
 By JAMES B. THOMSON, LL.D., author of a Mathematical Course. 
 
 1. FIRST LESSONS IN ARITHMETIC, Oral and Written. 
 
 Fully and handsomely illustrated. For Primary Schools. 144 pp. 
 16mo, cloth. 
 
 2. A COMPLETE GRADED ARITHMETIC, Oral and Writ- 
 
 ten, upon the Inductive Method of Instruction. For Schools 
 and Academies. 400 pp. 12mo, cloth. 
 
 This entirely new series of Arithmetics by DR. THOMSON has been 
 prepared to meet the demand for a complete course in two books. The 
 following embrace some of the characteristic features of the books: 
 
 First Lessons. This volume Is intended for Primary Classes. It is 
 divided into Six Sections, and each Section into Twenty Lessons. These 
 Sections cover the ground generally required in large cities for promotion 
 from grade to grade. 
 
 The book is handsomely illustrated. Oral and slate exercises are com- 
 bined throughout. Addition and Subtraction are taught in connection, 
 and also Multiplication and Division. This is believed to be in accordance 
 with the best methods of teaching these subjects. 
 
 Complete Graded. This book unites in one volume Oral and 
 "Written Arithmetic upon the inductive method of instruction. Its aim is 
 twofold : to develop the intellect of the pupil, and to prepare him for the 
 actual business of life. In securing these objects, it takes the most direct 
 road to a practical knowledge of Arithmetic. 
 
 The pupil is led by a few simple, appropriate examples to infer for 
 himself the general principles upon which the operations and rules depend, 
 instead of taking them upon the authority of the author without explana- 
 tion. He is thus taught to put the steps of particular solutions into a 
 concise statement, or general formula. This method of developing prin- 
 ciples is an important feature. 
 
 It has been a cardinal point to make the explanations simple, the steps 
 in the reasoning short and logical, and the definitions and rules brief, clear 
 and comprehensive. 
 
 The discussion of topics which belong exclusively to the higher depart- 
 ments of the science is avoided; while subjects deemed too difficult to be 
 appreciated by beginners, but important for them when more advanced, 
 are placed in the Appendix, to be used at the discretion of the teacher. 
 
 Arithmetical puzzles and paradoxes, and problems relating to subjects 
 having a demoralizing tendency, as gambling, etc., are excluded. All that 
 is obsolete in the former Tables of Weights and Measures is eliminated, and 
 the part retained is corrected in accordance with present Jaw and usage. 
 
 Examples for Practice, Problems for Review, and Test Questions are 
 abundant in number and variety, and all are different from those in the 
 author's Practical Arithmetic. 
 
 The arrangement of subjects is systematic: no principle is anticipated, 
 or used in the explanation of another, until it has itself been explained. 
 Subjects intimately connected are grouped together in the order of their 
 dependence. 
 
 Teachers and School Officers, who are dissatisfied with the Arith- 
 metics they have in use, are invited to confer with the publishers. 
 
 CLARK & MAYNARD, Publishers, New York, 
 
 Copyright, 1885. by Clark &f Maynard.
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 SANTA BAEBARA 
 
 LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 
 
 DAXIEL, WEBSTER, one of the greatest orators and statesmen 
 that this country ever produced, was born in the town of Salis- 
 bury (now known as Franklin), New Hampshire, on the 18th 
 of January, 1782. His father, Ebenezer Webster, was a distin- 
 guished soldier and officer in the Revolutionary War. After 
 the war, he moved with his large family into what was then the 
 savage wilds of New Hampshire. He was a man of little book- 
 learning, but with his strong mind and vigorous frame he be- 
 came a sort of intellectual leader in his neighborhood. He was 
 appointed a "side-judge" for the county, a place of considera- 
 ble influence in those days. His great aim was to educate his 
 children to the utmost of his limited ability. Captain Webster 
 married Abigail Eastman for a second wife. She was a woman 
 of more than ordinary intellect, and possessed a force of char- 
 acter which was felt throughout the humble circle in which she 
 moved. She was ambitious for her two sons, Ezekiel and 
 Daniel, that they should excel. The distinction attained by 
 both, and especially by Daniel, may well be traced in part to 
 her early promptings and judicious guidance. In the last year 
 of the Revolutionary War, in the humble house which his 
 father had built in the woods on the outskirts of civilization, 
 Daniel Webster was born. During his childhood, he was sickly 
 and delicate, and gave no promise of the robust and vigorous 
 frame which he had in his manhood. It may well be supposed 
 that his early opportunities for education were very scanty. 
 Because he was frail and delicate, Daniel's parents took great 
 pains to send him to the winter schools, oftentimes three miles 
 away from home. As an older half-brother said, " Dan was 
 sent to school that he might get to know as much as the other 
 boys." It is probable that the best part of his early education 
 was derived from the judicious and experienced father, and the 
 resolute, affectionate and ambitious mother. In those days 
 books were very scarce and Daniel eagerly read every book he 
 could find. He was fond of poetry and at the age of twelve 
 could repeat from memory the greater part of Watts' " Psalms 
 and Hymns." In his " Autobiography " he says : "I remember 
 that my father brought home from" some of the lower towns 
 Pope's Essay on Man, published in a sort of pamphlet. I took 
 it, and very soon could repeat it from beginning to end. We 
 had so few books, that to read them once or twice was nothing. 
 We thought they were all to be got by heart." At the age of 
 fourteen, he was sent to Phillips Academy, in Exeter, N. H., 
 but remained only nine months on account of the poverty of 
 
 3
 
 4 LIFE OF DAXIEL WEBSTER. 
 
 the family. The future orator found his greatest trouble at 
 Exeter in declaiming. "Many a piece," says Webster "did 
 I commit to memory, and recite and rehearse, in my own 
 room, over and over again ; yet when the day came, when the 
 school collected to hear declamations, when my name was 
 called, and I saw all eyes turned to my seat, I could not raise 
 myself from it. When the occasion was over, I went home 
 and wept bitter tears of mortification." He now studied with 
 a clergyman at home and entered Dartmouth College in 1797. 
 The familiar story of how young Webster "worked his way" 
 through college and the self-denial and rigid economy he exer- 
 cised is told in his "Autobiography." After graduation, hard 
 pushed for money while studying law, how he took charge of 
 an academy at Fryeburg, Maine, for one dollar a day. He paid 
 his board by copying deeds and sent his spare money to help 
 his brother Ezekiel through Dartmouth. Webster Avas admit- 
 ted to the bar in 1805, began practice in Boscawen, and after- 
 wards in Portsmouth. He took a high rank in his profession 
 at once, and, in 1812, was elected a member of Congress. In 
 1816, he declined a re-election and removed to Boston. In the 
 next seven years he worked long and hard in his profession and 
 soon established his reputation as one of the ablest lawyers of 
 the land. In 1822 he was again sent to Congress and in 1828 he 
 was chosen a Senator. He remained in the Senate for twelve 
 years, when he was appointed Secretary of State by President 
 Harrison. In 1845 he returned to the Senate, and remained 
 until 1850, when he became Secretary of State under President 
 Fillmore. He resigned his office early in 1852 on account of his 
 health and retired to his home by the seaside at Marshfield, 
 Mass., where he died October 24 of the same year. 
 
 Daniel Webster is universally acknowledged to be the fore- 
 most of constitutional lawyers and of parliamentary debaters, 
 and without a peer in the highest realms of classic aiid patriotic 
 oratory. Many of his orations, as the famous Bunker Hill 
 Monument orations, the eulogy upon Adams and Jefferson, the 
 speech upon the trial of the murderers of Capt. Joseph White, 
 the " Reply to Hayne, " and others are universally accepted as 
 classics in modern oratory. Physically, Webster was a mag- 
 nificent specimen of a man. Such a form, such a face, such a 
 presence, are rarely given to any man. Webster's manner had 
 a wonderful impressiveness that intimacy never wore off. His 
 gracious bearing and gentle courtesy made him the delight of 
 every person he ever met. His oratory was in perfect keeping 
 with the man, gracious, logical, majestic, and often sxiblinie. 
 He was by nature free, generous and lavish in his manner of 
 living. As a result his own private finances were often much 
 embarrassed. His wealthy admirers often tided him over his 
 financial straits. Hampered as he was financially, he never 
 sullied his great fame or enriched himself or others'by political 
 jobbery.
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER, 1782-1852. 
 
 "WHO does not rank him as a great American author? Against the 
 maxim of Mr. Fox his speeches read well, and yet were good speeches 
 great speeches in delivery. So critically do they keep the right side 
 of the line which parts eloquence from rhetoric, and so far do they 
 rise above the penury of mere debate, that the general reason of the 
 country has enshrined them at once, and forever, among our classics." 
 Rufus Choate's Euloyy on Webster. 
 
 " READ his works, and feel what a blessing civil and religious liberty 
 is. Read them and feel what a blessing it is to live under a free govern- 
 ment. Read them; and if, which God forbid, the obligations of the 
 Constitution of your country hang loosely on you, rivet them with his 
 thoughts. His giant efforts are embalmed in our school books, enshrined 
 with the speeches of Burke, Sheridan, and Chatham, to animate and 
 inspire the youth of our country." 
 
 "HE has poured the measureless wealth of his own intellect into all 
 the schools and colleges of the land. There is scarcely a child in the 
 country, twelve years old, whose mind has not been enriched by his 
 speeches and orations. His speeches are destined to do more to pro- 
 mote the great objects of education, to form correct habits of thinking 
 and speaking, and to put the rising American race in possession of a 
 chastened, eloquent, powerful, literature, than any other instrumen- 
 tality of the nineteenth century.'' Rev. Hubbard Winslow. 
 
 "His speech had strength, force and dignity; his composition was 
 clear, rational, strengthened by a powerful imagination in his great 
 orations 'the lightning of passion running along the iron links of ar- 
 gument.' The one lesson which they teach to the youth of America is 
 self-respect, a manly consciousness of power, expressed simply and 
 directly to look for the substantial qualities of the thing, and utter 
 them distinctly as they are felt intensely. This was the sum of theart 
 which Webster used in his orations." E. A. Duyckinck. 
 
 "WEBSTER'S style is remarkable for clearness of statement. It is 
 singularly emphatic. It is impressive rather than brilliant, and occa- 
 sionally rises to absolute grandeur. It is evidently formed on the 
 higher English models; and the reader conjectures his love of Milton 
 from the noble simplicity of his language. Independent of their logi- 
 cal and rhetorical merit, these orations are invaluable from the nation- 
 ality of their tone and spirit. They awaken patriotic reflection and 
 sentiment, and are better adapted to warn, to enlighten, and to cheer 
 the consciousness of the citizen, than any American works, of a didac- 
 tic kind, yet produced." H. T. Tuckerman. 
 
 " HE was probably the grandest looking man of his time. Wherever 
 he went, men turned to gaze at him ; and he could not enter a room 
 without having every eye fastened upon him. His face wasvery strik- 
 ing, both in form and color. The eyebrow, the eye, and the dark and 
 deep socket in which it glowed, were full of power. His smile wns 
 beaming, warming, fascinating; lighting up his whole face like a sud- 
 den sunrise. His voice was rich, deep, and strong, filling the largest 
 space without effort, and when under excitement, rising and swel- 
 ling into a violence of sound, like the roar of a tempest." George & 
 HUliard. 
 
 5
 
 REFERENCES. 
 
 THE ablest and most complete life of Daniel Webster is that written 
 by George T. Curtis. It is full of most interesting material. The most 
 scholarly article on Webster is the eulogy delivered by George S. Hil- 
 llard. For a compact and interesting life, read Lodge's Webster in the 
 " American Statesmen Series." A valuable and suggestive essay has 
 been written by E. P. Whipple and serves as an introduction to his 
 "Webster's Great Speeches." The last mentioned work is the best 
 and most complete of the various compilations of 'Webster's works. 
 Harvey's Reminiscences of Webster and March's Reminiscences in Con- 
 gress are interesting works for general reading. Tefft's Webster and his 
 -Master-pieces, Banvard's The American Statesman and Harsha's Orators 
 and Statesmen contain much popular and interesting matter. 
 
 WHAT TO READ OF WEBSTER. 
 
 THE student who wishes to become familiar with the works of Web- 
 ster should secure a copy of '\\"hipple's Great Speeches and Orations of 
 Webster and mark with pencil the best passages in several speeches. 
 The " Bunker Hill Monument Orations" are well adapted to elemen- 
 tary study. Extracts from the argument on the "Murder of Capt. 
 Joseph White," especially the famous preliminary remarks, are of 
 absorbing interest. The Plymouth oration, on the " First Settlement 
 of New England," has been called a series of eloquent fragments. The 
 thoughts are fine, and are expressed in simple and beautiful words. 
 The celebrated eulogy upon "Adams and Jefferson,'' the speeches on 
 the "Character of Washington," the "Landing at Plymouth," and the 
 "Addition to the Capitol,'' should form apartof the education of every 
 American school-boy. Next read Mr. Webster's remarks on the death 
 of Judge Story and of Jeremiah Mason, and finally the speech on laying 
 the corner-stone for the addition to the Capitol in 1851. Of Webster's 
 speeches in the United States Senate, the student should become 
 familiar with portions of the "Reply to Hayne." It is one of those 
 grand speeches which are landmarks in the history of eloquence. The 
 speech as a whole has all the qualities which made Mr. Webster a great 
 orator. He said that his whole life had been a preparation for the reply 
 to Hayne. After selections from these orations and speeches have been 
 studied, over and over again, the student will be well prepared to con- 
 tinue his studies in Webster with the strictly parliamentary speeches 
 and discussions which have become a part of the intellectual life of 
 the country. 
 
 WEBSTER AS A MASTER OF ENGLISH STYLE. 
 
 WEBSTER ranks high among the prose writers of the country as a 
 master of English style. Like his oratory, his composition is plain, 
 natural, easy, strong, dignified, and sometimes very lofty. His 
 diction is entirely English. His words are the commonest in the lan- 
 guage. They are those that we use in our own homes, and when talk- 
 ing with every -day friends. He had a powerful historic imagination. 
 and could describe with great vividness, brevity, and force what had 
 happened in the past or might happen in the dim future. As a rule, 
 his sentences are short, pointed, and easily understood. Mr. Webster 
 was a severe critic of his own style, sparing neither time or pains 
 in revising and correcting his written orations. Aside from their 
 profound thought and glowing patriotism, his great speeches can 
 be read and studied to-day for their style alone, with the deepest 
 interest, instruction, and pleasure. The young man who is training 
 himself to think and speak on his feet should study Webster if he 
 would attain to a perfect clearness of statement, joined to the highest 
 skill in argument. He who would become a skilled debater and is 
 ambitious "to learn the science of logical defence " should study the 
 productions of this great muster of eloquence uut.il they become part 
 and parcel of his own intellectual capital. 
 
 6
 
 THE BUNKEK HILL MONUMENT. 
 
 An address delivered at the laying of the corner-stone of the Hunker Hill 
 Monument at Charlestown, Mass., on the 17th of June, 1825. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 IT was during the interim of his first and second appearance as a rep- 
 resentative from Massachusetts that Mr. Webster pronounced his first 
 oration at Bunker Hill, on the occasion of laying the corner-stone of 
 the monument to be there erected. Such a monument had long been 
 contemplated. An association for the erection of a monument to com- 
 memorate the battle of Bunker Hill had been for some time in existence 
 in Boston, of which Mr. Webster was at this time president. As the 
 fiftieth anniversary of the battle approached the 17th of June, 1825 
 it was determined that the corner-stone of the monument should be 
 laid on that day with appropriate ceremonies. Mr. Webster was 
 unanimously requested by his fellow-trustees to deliver the address. 
 General Lafayette was then making that tour through the United 
 States which became, in its progress, the most remarkable ovation ever 
 given in this country to any man, and the arrangements of his journey 
 were so made as to admit of his being present on this occasion. Every- 
 thing conspired to make the day memorable. " The morning," says 
 Mr. Frothingham in his History of the Siege of Boston, "proved propi- 
 tious. The air was cool, the sky was clear, and timely showers the 
 previous day had brightened the verdure into its loveliest hue. De- 
 lighted thousands flocked into Boston to bear a part in the proceedings, 
 or to witness the spectacle. At about ten o'clock, the procession moved 
 from the State House toward Bunker Hill. It was a splendid proces- 
 sion, and of such length that the front nearly reached Charlestown 
 Bridge, ere the rear h ad left Boston Common. It proceeded to Breed's 
 Hill, where the Grand Master of the Freemasons, the President of tho 
 Monument Association, and General Lafayette, performed the cere- 
 mony of laying the corner-stone in presence of a vast concourse of 
 people." "The procession then moved," says Edward Everett, "to a 
 spacious amphitheater, on the northern declivity of the hill, where 
 the address was delivered by Mr. Webster, in the presence of as great a 
 multitude as was ever, perhaps, assembled within the sound of a human 
 voice." This address, the text of which is given in the succeeding 
 pages, was received with unbounded enthusiasm and has long been 
 
 7
 
 8 THE BUNKER HILL 
 
 accepted as a master-piece of oratory. It should be read and re-read, 
 and its best portions committed to memory, by every advanced student 
 in our schools. 
 
 The editor has been obliged to omit such passages as are not of gen- 
 eral interest. The wording has not been changed. 
 
 1. THIS uncounted multitude before me and around me 
 proves the feeling which the occasion has excited. These 
 thousands of human faces, glowing with sympathy and joy, 
 and from the impulses of a common gratitude turned rever- 
 ently to heaven in this spacious temple of the firmament, 
 proclaim that the day, the place, and the purpose of our 
 assembling have made a deep impression on our hearts. 
 
 2. If, indeed, there be anything in local association fit to 
 affect the mind of man, we need not strive to repress the 
 emotions which agitate us here. We are among the sepul- 
 chres of our fathers. We are on ground, distinguished by 
 their valor, their constancy, and the shedding of their 
 blood. "NVe are here, not to fix an uncertain date in our 
 annals, nor draw into notice an obscure and unknown spot. 
 If our humble purpose had never been conceived, if we 
 ourselves had never been born, the 17th of June, 1775, would 
 have been a day on which all subsequent history would 
 have poured its light, and the eminence where we stand a 
 point of attraction to the eyes of successive generations. 
 But we are Americans. We live in what may be called the 
 early age of this great Continent ; and we know that our 
 posterity, through all time, are here to enjoy and suffer the 
 allotments of humanity. We see before us a probable train 
 of great events ; we know that our own fortunes have been 
 happily cast ; and it is natural, therefore, that we should be 
 moved by the contemplation of occurrences which have 
 guided our destiny before many of us were born, and settled 
 the condition in which we should pass that portion of our 
 existence which God allows to men on earth. 
 
 3. We do not read even of the discovery of this Continent, 
 without feeling something of a personal interest in the 
 event ; without being reminded how much it has affected
 
 MONUMENT ORATIONS. 
 
 our own fortunes and our own existence. It would be still 
 more unnatural for us, therefore, than for others, to con- 
 template with unaffected minds that interesting, I may say 
 that most touching and pathetic scene, when the great dis- 
 coverer of America 1 stood on the deck of his shattered bark, 
 the shades of night falling on the sea, yet no man sleeping ; 
 tossed on the billows of an unknown ocean, yet the stronger 
 billows of alternate hope and despair tossing his own 
 troubled thoughts : extending forward his harassed frame, 
 straining westward his anxious and eager eyes, till Heaven 
 at last granted him a moment of rapture and ecstasy, in 
 blessing his vision with the sight of the unknown world. 
 
 4. Nearer to our times, more closely connected with pur 
 fates, and therefore still more interesting to our feelings and 
 affections, is the settlement of our own country by colonists 
 from England. We cherish every memorial of these worthy 
 ancestors ; we celebrate their patience and fortitude ; we 
 admire their daring enterprise ; we teach our children to 
 venerate their piety ; and we are justly proud of being de- 
 scended from men who have set the world an example of 
 founding civil institutions on the great and united principles 
 of human freedom and human knowledge. To us, their 
 children, the story of their labors and sufferings can never 
 be without interest. We shall not stand unmoved on the 
 shore of Plymouth, 2 while the sea continues to wash it ; nor 
 will our brethren in another early and ancient Colony forget 
 the place of its first establishment, till their river shall cease 
 to flow by it. 3 No vigor of youth, no maturity of manhood, 
 will lead the nation to forget the spots where its infancy was 
 cradled and defended. 
 
 1. Great discoverer of America. Read full details of this anxious 
 night passed on board of the little vessel of Columbus as given in 
 Irving's Life of Columbus. 
 
 2. On the" Shore of Plymouth. In this connection read selections from 
 Webster's grand oration on the "First Settlement of New England," 
 delivered at Plymouth, December 22, 1820; also from his speech on 
 "The Landing at Plymouth," delivered December 22, 1S43. 
 
 3. An interesting account of the voyage of the early emigrants to the 
 Maryland Colony, and of its settlement, is given in the official report 
 of Father White, written probably within the first month after the 
 landing at St, Mary's, The original Latin manuscript is still preserved
 
 10 THE BUNKER HILL 
 
 5. But the great event in the history of the Continent, 
 which we are now met here to commemorate, that prodigy 
 of modern times, at once the wonder and the blessing of the 
 world, is the American Revolution. In a day of extraordi- 
 nary prosperity and happiness, of high national honor, dis- 
 tinction, and power, we are brought together, in this place, 
 by our love of country, by our admiration of exalted character, 
 by our gratitude for signal services and patriotic devotion. 
 
 6. The Society whose organ I am* was formed for the pur- 
 pose of rearing some honorable and durable monument to 
 the memory of the early friends of American Independence. 
 They have thought, that for this object no time could be 
 more propitious than the present prosperous and peaceful 
 period ; that no place could claim preference over this 
 memorable spot ; and that no day could be more auspicious 
 to the undertaking, than the anniversary of the battle which 
 was here fought. The foundation of that monument we 
 have now laid. With solemnities suited to the occasion, 
 with prayers to Almighty God for his blessing, and in the 
 midst of this cloud of witnesses, we have begun the work. 
 We trust it will be prosecuted, and that, springing from a 
 broad foundation, rising high in massive solidity and un- 
 adorned grandeur, it may remain as long as Heaven permits 
 the works of man to last, a fit emblem, both of the events in 
 memory of which it is raised, and of the gratitude of those 
 who have reared it. 
 
 7. We know, indeed, that the record of illustrious actions 
 is most safely deposited in the universal remembrance of 
 mankind. We know, that if we could cause this structure 
 to ascend, not only till it reached the skies, but till it pierced 
 them, its broad surfaces could still contain but part of that 
 which, in an age of knowledge, hath already been spread 
 
 among the archives of the Jesuits at Rome. The Ark and the 
 Dave are remembered with scarcely less interest by the descendants 
 of the sister colony, than is the Mayflower in New England, which 
 thirteen years earlier, at the same season of the year, bore thither the 
 Pilgrim Fathers. 
 
 4. Mr. Webster was at this time President of the Bunker Hill Monu 
 ment Association,
 
 MONUMENT ORATIONS. 11 
 
 over the earth, and which history charges itself with mak- 
 ing known to all future times. We know that no inscrip- 
 tion on entablatures less broad than the earth itself can carry 
 information of the events we commemorate where it has 
 not already gone ; and that no structure, which shall not 
 outlive the duration of letters and knowledge among men, 
 can prolong the memorial. But our object is, by this edifice, 
 to show our own deep sense of the value and importance of 
 the achievments of our ancestors ; and, by presenting this 
 work of gratiiude to the eye, to keep alive similar senti- 
 ments, and to footer a constant regard for the principles of 
 the Revolution. ,' Human beings are composed, not of reason 
 only, but of imagination also, and sentiment ; and that is 
 neither wasted nor misapplied which is appropriated to the 
 purpose of giving right direction to sentiments, and opening 
 proper springs of feeling in the heart.^J Let it not be sup- 
 posed that our object is to perpetuate national hostility, or 
 even to cherish a mere military spirit. It is higher, purer, 
 nobler. We consecrate our work to the spirit of national 
 independence, and we wish that the light of peace may rest 
 upon it for ever. We rear a memorial of our convic- 
 tion of that unmeasured benefit which has been con- 
 ferred on our own land, and of the happy influences 
 which have been produced, by the same events, on the 
 general interests of mankind. We come, as Americans, to 
 mark a spot which must for ever be dear to us and our pos- 
 terity. We wish that whosoever, in all coming time, shall 
 turn his eye hither, may behold that the place is not undis- 
 tinguished where the first great battle of the Revolution 
 was fought. We wish that this structure may proclaim the 
 magnitude and importance of that event to every class and 
 every age. We wish that infancy may learn the purpose of 
 its erection from maternal lips, and that weary and withered 
 age may behold it, and be solaced by the recollections which 
 it-suggests. We wish that labor may look up here, and be 
 proud, in the midst of its toil. We wish that, in those days 
 of disaster, which, as they come upon all nations, must be 
 expected to come upon us also, desponding patriotism may
 
 12 THE BUXKER HILL 
 
 turn its eyes hitherward, and be assured that the founda- 
 tions of our national power are still strong. We -wish that 
 this column, rising towards heaven among the pointed spires 
 of so many temples dedicated to God, may contribute also 
 to produce, in all minds, a pious feeling of dependence and 
 gratitude. We wish, finally, that the last object to the sight 5 
 of him who leaves his native shore, and the first to gladden 
 him who revisits it, may be something which shall remind 
 him of the liberty and glory of his country. Let it rise ! let 
 it rise, till it meet the sun in his coming ; let the earliest 
 light of the morning gild it, and parting day linger and play 
 on its summit. 
 
 8. We live in a most extraordinary age. Events so various 
 and so important that they might crowd and distinguish 
 centuries are, in our times, compressed within the compass 
 of a single life. /When has it happened that history has 
 had so much to record, in the same term of years, as since 
 the 17th of June, 1775? Our own Revolution, which, under 
 other circumstances, might itself have been expected to 
 occasion a war of half a century, has been achieved ; twenty- 
 four sovereign and independent States erected ; and a general 
 government established over them, so safe, so wise, so free, 
 so practical, that we might well wonder its establishment 
 should have been accomplished so soon, were it not far the 
 greater wonder that it should have been established at all. 
 Two or three millions of people have been augmented to 
 twelve, the great forests of the West prostrated beneath the 
 arm of successful industry, and the dwellers on the banks 
 of the Ohio and the Mississippi become the fellow-citizens 
 and neighbors of those who cultivate the hills of New 
 England. 6 We have a commerce that leaves no sea un- 
 
 5. Last object to the sight. The orator's wish has been granted. This 
 grand monument has been all these years literally a landmark ever to 
 be remembered by every American as he enters or leaves Boston 
 Harbor. 
 
 6. That which was spoken of figuratively in 1825 has, in the lapse of a 
 quarter of a century, by the introduction of railroads and telegraphic 
 lines, become a reality. It is an interesting circumstance, that the first 
 railroad on the Western Continent was constructed for the purpose of 
 accelerating the erection of this monument, Edward Everett, w!850.
 
 MONUMENT ORATIONS. 13 
 
 explored ; navies, which take no law from superior force ; 
 revenues, adequate to all the exigencies of government, 
 almost without taxation ; and peace with all nations, founded 
 on equal rights and mutual respect. 
 
 9. Europe, within the same period, has been agitated by a 
 mighty revolution, which, while it has been felt in the in- 
 dividual condition and happiness of almost every man, has 
 shaken to the centre her political fabric, and dashed against 
 one another thrones which had stood tranquil for ages. On 
 this, our Continent, our own example has been followed, 
 and colonies have sprung up to be nations. Unaccustomed 
 sounds of liberty and free government have reached us from 
 beyond the track of the sun ; and at this moment the do- 
 minion of European power in this Continent, from the place 
 where we stand to the south pole, is annihilated for ever. 7 
 
 10. In the mean time, both in Europe and America, such 
 has been the general progress of knowledge, such the im- 
 provement in legislation, in commerce, in the arts, in letters, 
 and, above all, in liberal ideas and the general spirit of the 
 age, that the whole world seems changed. 
 
 11. Yet, notwithstanding that this is but a faint abstract 
 of the things which have happened since the day of the 
 battle of Bunker Hill, we are but fifty years removed from 
 it ; 8 and we now stand here to enjoy all the blessings of our 
 own condition, and to look abroad on the brightened pros- 
 pects of the world, while we still have among us some of 
 those who were active agents in the scenes of 1775, and who 
 are now here from every quarter of New England, to visit 
 one more, and under circumstances so affecting, I had 
 almost said so overwhelming, this renowned theatre of their 
 courage and patriotism. 
 
 - 12. Venerable men ! 9 you have come dow r n to us from a 
 
 7. See President Monroe's Message to Congress, in 1823, and Mr. Web- 
 ster's speech on the Panama Mission, in 1826. 
 
 8. Fifty years removed from it. It will be interesting for the student 
 to compare the growth and development of the country at the end of 
 the century in 1875 and that of 1775 and 1825. What marked changes 
 even since 1875? 
 
 9. Venerable men. This famous passage was composed while Mr. 
 Webster was trout fishing on Cape Cod. For once, the great orator was
 
 14 THE BUNKER HILL 
 
 former generation. Heaven has bounteously lengthened 
 out your lives, that you might behold this joyous day. You 
 are now where you stood fifty years ago, this very hour, 
 with your brothers and your neighbors, shoulder to shoulder, 
 in the strife for your country. Behold, how altered ! The 
 same heavens are indeed over your heads ; the same ocean 
 rolls at your feet ; but all else how changed ! You hear now 
 no roar of hostile cannon, you see no mixed volumes of 
 smoke and flame rising from burning Charlestown. The 
 ground strewed with the dead and the dying ; the im- 
 petuous charge ; the steady and successful repulse ; the loud 
 call to repeated assault ; the summoning of all that is manly 
 to repeated resistance ; a thousand bosoms freely and fear- 
 lessly bared in an instant to whatever of terror there may 
 be in war and death ; all these you have witnessed, but 
 you witness them no more. All is peace. The heights of 
 yonder metropolis, its towers and roofs, which you then saw 
 filled w y ith wives and children and countrymen in distress 
 and terror, and looking with unutterable emotions for the 
 issue of the combat, have presented you to-day with the 
 sight of the whole happy population, come out to welcome 
 and greet you with a universal jubilee. Yonder proud ships, 
 by a felicity of position appropriately lying at the foot of 
 this mount, and seeming fondly to cling around it, are not 
 means of annoyance to you, but your country's own means 
 of distinction and defence. 10 All is peace ; and God has 
 granted you this sight of your country's happiness, ere you 
 slumber in the grave. He has allowed you to behold and 
 to partake the reward of your patriotic toils ; and he has 
 allowed us, your sons and countrymen, to meet you here, 
 
 indifferent to his favorite sport. In fact, as he states in his "Auto- 
 biography," he composed a great portion of his Bunker Hill address 
 while middle deep in Marshpee River, waiting for the trout to bite. 
 His son tells us how he quietly walked up near his father and over- 
 heard him rehearsing the passage beginning: "Venerable men,'' etc. 
 Many of Webster's orations were chiefly composed before they were 
 committed to paper. He was in the habit of preparing formal speeches 
 in the woods and especially while fishing. 
 
 10. It is necessary to inform those only who are acquainted with the 
 localities, that the'United States Navy Yard at Charlestown is situated 
 at the base of Bunker Hill.
 
 MONUMENT ORATIONS. 15 
 
 and in the name of the present generation, in the name of 
 your country, in the name of liberty, to thank you ! 
 
 13. But, alas !_you are not all here !" Time and the sword 
 have thinned your ranks. Prescott, Putnam, Stark, Brooks, 
 Read, Pomeroy, Bridge ! our eyes seek for you in vain amid 
 this broken band. You are gathered to your fathers, and 
 live only to your country in her grateful remembrance and 
 your own bright example. But let us not too much grieve, 
 that you have met the common fate of men. You lived at 
 least long enough to know that yoHr work had been nobly 
 and successfully accomplished. You lived to see your 
 country's independence established, and to sheathe your 
 swords from war. On the light of Liberty you saw arise 
 the light of peace, like 
 
 "another morn, 
 Risen on mid-ocean " ; 
 
 and the sky on which you closed your eyes was cloudless. 
 ^ 14. But, ah ! Him ! the first great martyr 13 in this great 
 cause ! Him ! the premature victim of his own self-devot- 
 ing heart ! Him ! the head of our civil councils, and the 
 destined leader of our military bands, whom nothing 
 brought hither but the unquenchable fire of his own spirit ! 
 Him ! cut off by Providence in the hour of oyerwhelming 
 anxiety and thick gloom ; falling ere he saw the star of his 
 country rise ; pouring out his generous blood like water, be- 
 fore he knew whether it would fertilize a land of freedom 
 or of bondage ! how shall I struggle with the emotions 
 that stifle the utterance of thy name ! Our poor work may 
 perish ; but thine shall endure ! This monument may 
 
 11. Not all here. About two hundred veterans of the Revolution, of 
 whom forty survivors of the battle, rode in barouches next to the 
 escort. These veterans were seated directly before Webster as he de- 
 livered this celebrated passage. "These venerable men," says Mr. 
 Frothingham, "the relics of a past generation, with emaciated frames, 
 tottering limbs, and trembling voices constituted a touching spec- 
 tacle." 
 
 12. The first great martyr, etc. Reference is made to General Joseph 
 Warren who was killed in the battle of Bunker Hill. How much this 
 patriot contributed by his voice and his pen, as well as his sword, to 
 his country's cause before his untimely death is well known to every 
 reader of American history.
 
 16 THE BUNKER HILL 
 
 moulder away ; the solid ground it rests upon may sink 
 down to a level with the sea ; but thy memory shall not 
 fail ! Wheresoever among men a heart shall be found that 
 beats to the transports of patriotism and liberty, its aspira- 
 tions shall be to claim kindred with thy spirit. 
 
 15. But the scene amidst which we stand does not permit 
 us to confine our thoughts or our sympathies to those fear- 
 less spirits who hazarded or lost their lives on this consecrated 
 spot. We have the happiness to rejoice here in the presence 
 of a most worthy representation of the survivors of the 
 whole Revolutionary army. 
 
 16. Veterans ! you are the remnant of many a well-fought 
 field. You bring with you marks of honor from Trenton 
 and Monmouth, from Yorktown, Camden, Bennington, and 
 Saratoga. Veterans of half a century ! when in your youth- 
 ful days you put everything at hazard in your country's 
 cause, good as that cause was, and sanguine as youth is, 
 still your fondest hopes did not stretch onward to an hour 
 like this ! At a period to which you could not reasonably 
 have expected to arrive, at a moment of national prosperity 
 such as you could never have foreseen, you are now met 
 here to enjoy the fellowship of old soldiers, and to receive 
 the overflowings of a universal gratitude. 
 
 17. But your agitated countenances and your heaving 
 breasts inform me that even this is not an unmixed joy. I 
 perceive that a tumult of contending feelings rushes upon 
 you. The images of the dead, as well as the persons of the 
 living, present themselves before you. The scene over- 
 whelms you, and I turn from it. May the Father of all 
 mercies smile upon your declining years, and bless them ! 
 And when you shall here have exchanged your embraces, 
 when you shall once more have pressed the hands which 
 have been so often extended to give succor in adversity, or 
 grasped in the exultation of victory, then look abroad upon 
 this lovely land which your young valor defended, and 
 mark the happiness with which it is filled ; yea, look abroad 
 upon the whole earth, and see what a name you have con- 
 tributed to give your country, and what a praise you have
 
 MONUMENT ORATIONS. 17 
 
 added to freedom, and then rejoice in the sympathy and 
 gratitude which beam upon your last days from the im- 
 proved condition of mankind ! 
 
 18. The occasion does not require of me any particular 
 account of the battle of the 17th of June, 1775, nor any de- 
 tailed narrative of the events which immediately preceded 
 it. 13 These are familiarly known to all. In the progress of 
 the great and interesting controversy, Massachusetts and 
 the town of Boston had become early and marked objects 
 of the displeasure of the British Parliament. This had been 
 manifested in the act for altering the government of the 
 Province, and in that for shutting up the port of Boston. 
 Nothing sheds more honor on our early history, and noth- 
 ing better shows how little the feelings and sentiments of 
 the Colonies were known or regarded in England, than the 
 impression which these measures everywhere produced in 
 America. It had been anticipated, that, while the Colonies 
 in general would be terrified by the severity of the punish- 
 ment inflicted on Massachusetts, the other seaports would 
 be governed by a mere spirit of gain ; and that, as Boston 
 was now cut off from all commerce, the unexpected advan- 
 tage w T hich this blow on her was calculated to confer on 
 other towns would be greatly enjoyed. How miserably 
 such reasoners deceived themselves ! How little they knew 
 of the depth, and the strength, and the intenseness of that 
 feeling of resistance to illegal acts of power, which possessed 
 the whole American people ! Everywhere the unworthy 
 boon was rejected with scorn. The fortunate occasion was 
 seized, everywhere, to show to the whole world that the 
 Colonies were SM r ayed by no local interest, no partial in- 
 terest, no selfish interest. The temptation to profit by the 
 punishment of Boston was strongest to our neighbors of 
 Salem. 14 Yet Salem was precisely the place where this 
 
 13. Events which preceded it. The student should re-read the story 
 of this period of American history in connection with the study of this 
 portion of the oration. " The causes of the American Revolution" is 
 a fruitful theme for collateral reading in this connection. 
 
 14. Salem. Before the Revolution and shortly after, the commerce of 
 Salem was of considerable importance.
 
 18 THE BUNKER HILL 
 
 miserable proffer was spurned, in a tone of the most lofty 
 self-respect and the most indignant patriotism. "We are 
 deeply affected," said its inhabitants, "with the sense of 
 our public calamities ; but the miseries that are now rapidly 
 hastening on our brethren in the capital of the Province 
 greatly excite our commiseration. By shutting up the port 
 of Boston some imagine that the course of trade might be 
 turned hither and to our benefit ; but we must be dead to 
 every idea of justice, lost to every feeling of humanity, could 
 we indulge a thought to seize on wealth and raise our for- 
 tunes on the ruin of our suffering neighbors." These noble 
 sentiments were not confined to our immediate vicinity. In 
 that day of general affection and brotherhood, the blow 
 given to Boston smote on every patriotic heart from one 
 end of the country to the other. Virginia and the Carolinas, 
 as well as Connecticut and Xew Hampshire, felt and pro- 
 claimed the cause to be their own. The Continental Con- 
 gress, then holding its first session in Philadelphia, ex- 
 pressed its sympathy for the suffering inhabitants of Boston, 
 and addresses were received from all quarters, assuring them 
 that the cause was a common one, and should be met by 
 common efforts and common sacrifices. The Congress of 
 Massachusetts responded to these assurances ; and in an ad- 
 dress to the Congress at Philadelphia, bearing the official 
 signature, perhaps among the last, of the immortal Warren, 
 notwithstanding the severity of its suffering and the magni- 
 tude of the dangers which threatened it, it was declared, 
 that this Colony, " Is ready, at all times, to spend and to be 
 spent in the cause of America." 
 
 19. But the hour drew nigh which was to put professions 
 to the proof, and to determine whether the authors of these 
 mutual pledges were ready to seal them in blood. The tid- 
 ings of Lexington and Concord had no sooner spread, than 
 it was universally felt that the time was at last come for 
 action. A spirit pervaded all ranks, not transient, not bois- 
 terous, but deep, solemn, determined. War, on their own 
 soil and at their own doors, was, indeed, a strange work 
 to the yeomanry of New England ; but their consciences
 
 MONUMENT ORATIONS. 19 
 
 were convinced of its necessity, their country called them to 
 it, and they did not withhold themselves from the perilous 
 trial. The ordinary occupations of life were abandoned ; 
 the plough was staid in the unfinished furrow ; wives gave 
 up their husbands, and mothers gave up their sons, to the 
 battles of a civil war. Death might come, in honor, on the 
 field ; it might come, in disgrace, on the scaffold. For 
 either and for both they were prepared. 
 
 20. The 17th of June saw the four New England Colonies 
 standing here, side by side, to triumph or to fall together ; 
 and there was with them from that moment to the end of 
 the war, what I hope will remain with them for ever, one 
 cause, one country, one heart. 
 
 21. The battle of Bunker Hill was attended with the most 
 important effects beyond its immediate results as a military 
 engagement. It created at once a state of open, public war. 
 There could now be no longer a question of proceeding 
 against individuals, as guilty of treason or rebellion. That 
 fearful crisis was past. The appeal lay to the sword, and the 
 only question was, whether the spirit and the resources of 
 the people would hold out till the object should be accom- 
 plished. Nor were its general consequences confined to our 
 own country. The previous proceedings of the Colonies, 
 their appeals, resolutions, and addresses, had made their 
 cause known to Europe. Without boasting, we may say, 
 that in no age or country has the public cause been main- 
 tained with more force of argument, more power of illustra- 
 tion, or more of that persuasion which excited feeling and 
 elevated principle can alone bestow, than the Revolutionary 
 state papers exhibit. 
 
 22. To this able vindication of their cause, the Colonies 
 had now added a practical and severe proof of their own 
 true devotion to it, and given evidence also of the power 
 which they could bring to its support. All now saw, that, 
 if America fell, she would not fall without a struggle. Men 
 felt sympathy and regard, as well as surprise, when they 
 beheld these infant States, remote, unknown, unaided, en- 
 counter the power of England, and in the first considerable
 
 20 THE BUNKER HILL 
 
 battle, leave more of their enemies dead on the field, in pro- 
 portion to the number of combatants, than had recently 
 been known to fall in the wars of Europe. 
 
 23. Information of these events, circulating throughout 
 the world, at length reached the ears of one who now hears 
 me. 15 He has not forgotten the emotion which the fame of 
 Bunker Hill, and the name of Warren, excited in his youth- 
 ful breast. 
 
 24. Sir, we are assembled to commemorate the establish- 
 ment of great public principles of liberty, and to do honor 
 to the distinguished dead. The occasion is too severe for 
 eulogy of the living. But, Sir, your interesting relation to 
 this country, the peculiar circumstances which surround 
 you and surround us, call on me to express the happiness 
 which we derive from your presence and aid in this solemn 
 commemoration . 
 
 25. Fortunate, fortunate man ! 16 with what measure of 
 devotion will you not thank God for the circumstances of 
 your extraordinary life ! You are connected with both 
 hemispheres and with two generations. Heaven saw fit to 
 ordain, that the electric spark of liberty should be conducted, 
 through you, from the New World to the Old ; and we, who 
 are now here to perform this duty of patriotism, have all of 
 us long ago received it in charge from our fathers to cherish 
 your name and your virtues. You will account it an in- 
 stance of your good fortune, Sir, that you crossed the seas to 
 visit us at a time which enables you to be present at this 
 solemnity. You now behold the field, the renown of which 
 reached you in the heart of France, and caused a thrill in 
 your ardent bosom. You see the lines of the little redoubt 
 thrown up by the incredible diligence of Prescott ; defended 
 
 lo. Among the earliest of the arrangements for the celebration of the 
 17th of June, 1825, was the invitation to General Lafayette to be present; 
 and he had so timed his progress through the other States as to return 
 to Massachusetts in season for the great occasion. 
 
 16. Fortunate, fortunate man ! " The thrilling eloquence of the address 
 to the old soldiers of Bunker Hill, and of the apostrophe to Warren, 
 and the s'uperb reservation of eulogy with which he spoke of and to 
 General Lafayette were perhaps unequaled, surely never surpassed by 
 Webster on any other occasion." Ticknor's Life of Webster, II. ^52.
 
 MONUMENT ORATIONS. 21 
 
 to the last extremity by his lion-hearted valor ; and within 
 which the corner-stone of our monument has now taken its 
 position. Those who survived that day, and whose lives 
 have been prolonged to the present hour, are now around 
 you. Some of them you have known in the trying scenes 
 of war. Behold ! they now stretch forth their feeble arms 
 to embrace you. Behold ! they raise their trembling voices 
 to invoke the blessing of God on you and yours for ever. 
 
 26. Sir, you have assisted us in laying the foundation of 
 this structure. You have heard us rehearse, with our feeble 
 commendation, the names of departed patriots. Monu- 
 ments and eulogy belong to the dead. We give then this 
 day to Warren and his associates. On other occasions they 
 have been given to your more immediate companions in 
 arms, to Washington, to Greene, to Gates, to Sullivan, and 
 to Lincoln. We have become reluctant to grant these, our 
 highest and last honors, further. We would gladly hold 
 them yet back from the little remnant of that immortal 
 band. Illustrious as are your merits, yet far, O very far 
 distant be the day, when any inscription shall bear your 
 name, or any tongue pronounce its eulogy ! 
 
 27. The leading reflection to which this occasion seems to 
 invite us, respects the great changes which have happened 
 in the fifty years since the battle of Bunker Hill was fought. 
 And it peculiarly marks the character of the present age, 
 that, in looking at these changes, and in estimating their 
 effect on our condition, we are obliged to consider, not what 
 has been done in our own country only, but in others also. 
 In these interesting times, while nations are making 
 separate and individual advances in improvement, they 
 make, too, a common progress ; like vessels on a common 
 tide, propelled by the gales at different rates, according to 
 their several structures and management, but all moved 
 forward by one mighty current, strong enough to bear on- 
 ward whatever does not sink beneath it. 
 
 28. A chief distinction of the present day is a community 
 of opinions and knowledge amongst men in different 
 nations, existing in a degree heretofore unknown. Knowl-
 
 22 THE BUNKER HILL 
 
 edge has, in our times, triumphed and is triumphing, over 
 distance, over difference of languages, over diversity of 
 habits, over prejudice, and over bigotry. The civilized and 
 Christian world is fast learning the great lesson, that dif- 
 ference of nation does not imply necessary hostility, and 
 that all contact need not be war. The whole world is be- 
 coming a common field for intellect to act in. Energy of 
 mind, genius, power, wheresoever it exists, may speak out 
 in any tongue, and the world will hear it. A great chord of 
 sentiment and feeling runs through the two Continents, and 
 vibrates over both. Every breeze wafts intelligence from 
 country to country ; every wave rolls it ; all give it forth, 
 and all in turn receive it. There is a vast commerce of ideas ; 
 there are marts and exchanges for intellectual discoveries, 
 and a wonderful fellowship of those individual intelligences 
 which make up the mind and the opinion of the age. Mind 
 is the great leveler of all things ; human thought is the 
 process by which human ends are ultimately answered ; 
 and the diffusion of knowledge, so astonishing in the last 
 half-century, has rendered innumerable minds, variously 
 gifted by nature, competent to be competitors or fellow- 
 workers on the theatre of intellectual operation. 
 
 29. From these causes important improvements have taken 
 place in the personal condition of individuals. Generally 
 speaking, mankind are not only better fed and better clothed, 
 but they are able also to enjoy more leisure ; they possess 
 more refinement and more self-respect. A superior tone of 
 education, manners, and habits prevail. This remark, most 
 true in its application to our own country, is also partly true 
 when applied elsewhere. It is proved by the vastly aug- 
 mented consumption of those articles of manufacture and of 
 commerce which contribute to the comforts and the decencies 
 of life ; an augmentation which has far outrun the progress 
 of population. And while the unexampled and almost in- 
 credible use of machinery would seem to supply the place of 
 labor, labor still finds its occupation and its reward ; so 
 wisely has Providence adjusted men's wants and desires to 
 their condition and their capacity.
 
 MONUMENT ORATIONS. 23 
 
 30. Any adequate survey, however, of the progress made 
 during the last half-century in the polite and mechanic arts, 
 in machinery and manufactures, in commerce and agricul- 
 ture, in letters and in science, would require volumes. I 
 must abstain wholly from these subjects, and turn for a 
 moment to the contemplation of what has been done on the 
 great questions of politics and government. This is the 
 master topic of the age ; and during the whole fifty years it 
 has intensely occupied the thoughts of men. The nature of 
 civil government, its ends and uses, have been canvassed 
 and investigated ; ancient opinions attacked and defended ; 
 new ideas recommended and resisted, by whatever power 
 the mind of man could bring to the controversy. From the 
 closet and the public halls the debate has been transferred 
 to the field ; and the world has been shaken by wars of un- 
 exampled magnitude, and the greatest variety of fortune. 
 A day of peace has at length succeeded ; and now that the 
 strife has subsided, and the smoke cleared away, we may 
 begin to see what has actually been done, permanently 
 changing the state and condition of human society. And, 
 without dwelling on particular circumstances, it is most ap- 
 parent, that, from the before mentioned causes of augmented 
 knowledge and improved individual condition, a real, sub- 
 stantial, and important change has taken place, and is tak- 
 ing place, highly favorable, on the whole, to human liberty 
 and human happiness. 
 
 31. The great wheel of political revolution began to move ' 
 in America. Here its rotation was guarded, regular and 
 safe. Transferred to the other Continent, from unfortunate/ 
 but natural causes, it received an irregular and violent im- 
 pulse ; it whirled along with a fearful celerity ; till at length; 
 like the chariot-wheels in the races of antiquity, it took fire 
 from the rapidity of its own motion, and blazed onward, 
 spreading conflagration and terror around. i 
 
 32. We learn from the result of this experiment, how for- 
 tunate was our own condition, and how admirably the 
 character of our people was calculated for setting the great 
 example of popular governments. The possession of power
 
 24 THE BUNKER HILL 
 
 did not turn the heads of the American people, for they had 
 long been in the habit of exercising a great degree of self- 
 control. Although the paramount authority of the parent 
 state existed over them, yet a large field of legislation had 
 always been open to our Colonial assemblies. They were 
 accustomed to representative bodies and the forms of free 
 government ; they understood the doctrine of the division 
 of power among different branches, and the necessity of 
 checks on each. The character of our countrymen, more- 
 over, was sober, moral and religious ; and there was little in 
 the change to shock their feelings of justice and humanity, 
 or even to disturb an honest prejudice. We had no domes- 
 tic throne to overturn, no privileged orders to cast down, 
 no violent changes of property to encounter. In the Ameri- 
 can Revolution, no man sought or wished for more than to 
 defend and enjoy his own. None hoped for plunder or for 
 spoil. Rapacity was unknown to it ; the axe was not 
 among the instruments of its accomplishment ; and we all 
 know that it could not have lived a single day under any 
 well-founded imputation of possessing a tendency adverse to 
 the Christian Religion. 
 
 33. It need not surprise us, that, under circumstances less 
 auspicious, political revolutions elsewhere, even when well 
 intended, have terminated differently. It is, indeed, a 
 great achievement, it is the master-work of the world, to 
 establish governments entirely popular on lasting founda- 
 tions ; nor is it easy, indeed, to introduce the popular prin- 
 ciple at all into governments to which it has been altogether 
 a stranger. It cannot be doubted, however, that Europe 
 has come out of the contest, in which she has been so long 
 engaged, with greatly superior knowledge, and, in many 
 respects, in a highly improved condition. Whatever benefit 
 has been acquired is likely to be retained, for it consists 
 mainly in the acquisition of more enlightened ideas. And 
 although kingdoms and provinces may be wrested from the 
 hands that hold them, in the same manner they were ob- 
 tained ; although ordinary and vulgar power may, in hu- 
 man affairs, be lost as it has been won ; yet it is the glorious
 
 MONUMENT ORATIONS. 25 
 
 prerogative of the empire of knowledge, that what it gains 
 it never loses. On the contrary, it increases by the multiple 
 of its own poM-er ; all its ends become means ; all its attain- 
 ments, helps to new conquests. Its whole abundant har- 
 vest is but so much seed wheat, and nothing has limited, 
 and nothing can limit, the amount of ultimate product. 
 
 34. Under the influence of this rapidly increasing knowl- 
 edge, the people have begun, in all forms of government, 
 to think and to reason, on affairs of state. Regarding govern- 
 ment as an institution for the public good, they demand a 
 knowledge of its operations, and a participation in its 
 exercise. A call for the representative system, wherever it 
 is not enjoyed, and where there is already intelligence 
 enough to estimate its value, is perseveringly made. Where 
 men may speak out, they demand it ; where the bayonet is 
 at their throats, they pray for it. 
 
 So. When Louis the Fourteenth 17 said, " I am the State," 
 he expressed the essence of the doctrine of unlimited power. 
 By the rules of that system, the people are disconnected 
 from the State ; they are its subjects, it is their lord. These 
 ideas, founded in the love of power, and long supported by 
 the excess and the abuse of it, are yielding, in our age, to 
 other opinions ; and the civilized Avorld seems at last to be 
 proceeding to the conviction of that fundamental and 
 manifest truth, that the powers of government are but a 
 trust, and that they cannot be lawfully exercised but for 
 the good of the community. As knowledge is more and 
 more extended, this conviction becomes more and more 
 general. Knowledge, in truth, is the great sun in the 
 firmament. Life and power are scattered with all its beams. 
 
 36. We may hope that the growing influence of~~en- 
 lightened sentiment will promote the permanent peace of 
 
 17. Louis the Fourteenth. Succeeded his father, Louis XIII, as king 
 of France in 1643. On the death of Mazarin, his great prime minister, 
 in 1661, the young king suddenly assumed the reins of government, 
 and from that time forth carried into effect with rare energy apolitical 
 theory of pure despotism. His famous saying, "L'etat c*est moi" (1 
 am the State), expressed the principle to which everything was accom- 
 modated.
 
 26 THE BUNKER HILL 
 
 the world. Wars to maintain family alliances, to uphold 
 or to cast down dynasties, and to regulate successions to 
 thrones, which have occupied so much room in the history 
 of modern times, if not less likely to happen at all, will be 
 less likely to become general and involve many nations, as 
 the great principle shall be more and more established, that 
 the interest of the world is peace, and its first great statute, 
 that every nation possesses the power of establishing a 
 government for itself. Let us thank God that we live in an 
 age when something has influence besides the bayonet, and 
 when the sternest authority does not venture to encounter 
 the scorching power of public reproach. Any attempt of the 
 kind should be met by one universal burst of indignation ; 
 the air of the civilized world ought to be made too warm to 
 be comfortably breathed by any one who would hazard it. 
 
 37. If the true spark of religious and civil liberty be 
 kindled, it will burn. Human agency cannot extinguish 
 it. .Like the earth's central fire, it may be smothered for a 
 time ; the ocean may overwhelm it ; mountains may press 
 it down ; but its inherent and unconquerable force will 
 heave both the ocean and the land, and at some time or 
 other, in some place or other, the volcano will break out 
 and flame up to heaven. 
 
 38. And, now, let us indulge an honest exultation in the 
 conviction of the benefit which the example of our country 
 has produced, and is likely to produce, on human freedom 
 and human happiness. Let us endeavor to comprehend 
 in all its magnitude, and to feel in all its importance, the 
 part assigned to us in the great drama of human affairs. 
 We are placed at the head of the system of representative 
 and popular governments. Thus far our example shows 
 that such governments are compatible, not only with re- 
 spectability and power, but with repose, with peace, with 
 security of personal rights, with good laws, and a just ad- 
 ministration. 
 
 39. Wearenotpropagandists. Wherever other sy stuns 
 a reprefered, either as being thought better in themselves, 
 or as better suited to existing condition, we leave the pref-
 
 MONUMENT ORATIONS. 27 
 
 erence to be enjoyed. Our history hitherto proves, how- 
 ever, that the popular form is practicable, and that with 
 wisdom and knowledge men may govern themselves ; and 
 the duty incumbent on us is to preserve the consistency of 
 this cheering example, and take care that nothing may 
 weaken its authority with the world. If, in our case, the 
 representative system ultimately fail, popular governments 
 must be pronounced impossible. No combination of cir- 
 cumstances more favorable to the experiment can ever be 
 expected to occur. The last hopes of mankind, therefore, rest 
 with us ; and if it should be proclaimed, that our example 
 had become an argument against the experiment, the knell 
 of popular liberty would be sounded throughout the earth. 
 
 40. These are excitements to duty ; but they are not sug- 
 gestions of doubt. Our history and our condition, all that 
 is gone before us, and all that surrounds us, authorize the 
 belief, th'at popular governments, though subject to occa- 
 sional variations, in form perhaps not always for the better, 
 may yet, in their general character, be as durable and perma- 
 nent 18 as other systems. We know, indeed, that in our 
 country any other is impossible. The principle of free gov- 
 ernments adheres to the American soil. It is bedded in it, 
 immovable as its mountains. 
 
 41. And let the sacred obligations which have devolved 
 on this generation, and on us, sink deep into our hearts. 
 Those who established our liberty and our government are 
 daily dropping from among us. The great trust now de- 
 scends to new hands. Let us apply ourselves to that which 
 is presented to us, as our appropriate object. We can win 
 no laurels in a war for independence. Earlier and worthier 
 hands have gathered them all. Nor are there places'for us 
 by the side of Solon, and Alfred, 19 and other founders of 
 
 18. Durable and permanent. The strength and durability of our pop- 
 ular form of government was put to a most severe test in the great war 
 .for the Union which began in 1861 and continued for more than four 
 years. "The great duty of defence and preservation " was maintained 
 at the cost, of thousands of lives and millions of money. 
 
 19. Solon and Alfred. Solon (born about 638 B. C.1, the most famous of 
 all the ancient Greek law-givers, established a code of laws which em-
 
 28 MONUMENT ORATIOXs. 
 
 states. Our fathers have filled them. But there remains to 
 us a great duty of defence and preservation ; and there is 
 opened to us, also, a noble pursuit, to which the spirit of the 
 times strongly invites us. Our proper business is improve- 
 ment. Let our age be the age of improvement. In a day 
 of peace, let us advance the arts of peace and the works of 
 peace. Let us develop the resources of our land, call forth 
 its powers, build up its institutions, promote all its great 
 interests, and see whether we also, in our day and genera- 
 tion, may not perform something worthy to be remembered. 
 Let us cultivate a true spirit of union and harmony. In 
 pursuing the great objects which our condition points out 
 to us, let us act under a settled conviction, and an habitual 
 feeling, that these twenty-four States are one country. Let 
 our conceptions be enlarged to the circle of our duties. Let 
 us extend our ideas over the whole of the vast field in which 
 we are called to act. Let our object be, our country, our 
 whole country, and nothing but our country. And, by the 
 blessing of God, may that country itself become a vast and 
 splendid monument, not of oppression and terror, but of 
 Wisdom, of Peace, and of Liberty, upon which the world 
 may gaze with admiration for ever ! 
 
 braced almost every subject of social importance. Alfred the Great, 
 King of England, died in 901, after a reign of thirty years. He collected 
 the laws of the Saxons, and formed them into a new code, and estab- 
 lished a tribunal for the administration of justice, which may, perhaps, 
 have suggested to a later sovereign (Henry II.) the trial by jury. 
 
 Note. In the first Bunker Hill oration Mr. "\Vebster touched his 
 highest point in the difficult task of commemorative oratory. In that 
 field he not only stands unrivaled, but no one has approached him. 
 The innumerable productions of this class by other men, many of a 
 high degree of excellence, are forgotten, while those of Webster form 
 part of the education of every American school-boy, are widely read, 
 and have entered into the literature and thought of the country. 
 Henry Cabot Lodge's Webster.
 
 THE COMPLETION OF THE BUNKER HILL 
 MONUMENT. 
 
 An address delivered on Hunker Hill, on the 17th of June, 1843. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 SEVENTEEN years had elapsed since the corner-stone of Bunker Hill 
 Monument was laid, with the address of Webster, which had become 
 imperishably associated, in every part of the Union, with the event 
 which it was designed to commemorate. It was fitting that the elo- 
 quence of Webster should crown the work. The last stone was laid in 
 its place on the morning of the 23d of July, 1842. It was determined by 
 the directors of the Association, that the completion of the work should 
 be celebrated in a manner not less imposing than that in which the 
 laying of the corner-stone had been celebrated. Many circumstances 
 conspired to increase the interest of the occasion. Webster's address 
 in 1825 had obtained the widest circulation throughout the country. 
 Passages from it had passed into household words throughout the 
 Union. They made the Bunker Hill Monument a familiar thought 
 with the people. The President and his Cabinet had accepted invita- 
 tions to be present. One hundred and eight surviving veterans of the 
 Revolution, among whom were some who were in the battle of Bunker 
 Hill, imparted a touching interest to the scene. The day was uncom- 
 monly fine ; cool for the season, and clear. Mr. Webster was stationed 
 upon an elevated platform, in front of the audience and of the monu- 
 ment towering in the background. It is estimated that a hundred 
 thousand persons were gathered about the spot, and nearly half that 
 number are supposed to have been within the reach of the orator's 
 voice. " When, after saying, 'It is not from my lips, etc. The powerful 
 speaker stands motionless before us,' he paused, and pointed in silent 
 admiration to the sublime structure, the audience burst into long and 
 loud applause. It was some moments before the speaker could go on 
 with the address." This second Bunker Hill address is naturally less 
 impassioned than the first, but it is a discourse filled with a sober 
 beauty, and with a very impressive statement of the true principle of 
 the American Revolution, and of the systems of government which, 
 derived through that revolution from English sources, were confirmed 
 and established by it. The young student cannot read and re-read this 
 
 29
 
 30 THE BUNKER HILL 
 
 oration too many times. Portions of it should become familiar as 
 household words. 
 
 To bring this address within the compass of this little book, sundry 
 portions have been omitted, but the wording has not been changed or 
 condensed. 
 
 1. A DUTY has been performed. A work of gratitude and 
 patriotism is completed. This structure, having its founda- 
 tions in soil which drank deep of early Revolutionary blood, 
 has at length reached its destined height, and now lifts its 
 summit to the skies. 
 
 2. We have assembled to celebrate the accomplishment 
 of the undertaking, and to indulge afresh in the recollec- 
 tion of the great event which it is designed to commemo- 
 rate. Eighteen years, more than half the duration of a 
 generation of mankind, have elapsed since the corner-stone 
 of this monument was laid. ' The hopes of its projectors 
 rested on voluntary contributions, private munificence, and 
 the general favor of the public. These hopes have not been 
 disappointed. 
 
 3. The Bunker Hill Monument 1 is finished. Here it 
 stands. Fortunate in the high natural eminence on which 
 
 1. The Bunker Hill Monument. The following description of the 
 Bunker Hill Monument and Square is from Mr. Frothingham's History 
 of the Siege of Boston: "Monument Square is four hundred and seven- 
 teen feet from north to south, and four hundred feet from east to west, 
 and contains nearly six acres. It embraces the whole site of the re- 
 doubt, and a part of the site of the breastwork. According to the most 
 accurate plan of the town and the battle (Page's), the monument stands 
 where the southwest angle of the redoubt was, and the whole of the 
 redoubt was between the monument and the street that bounds it on 
 the west. The small mound in the northeast corner of the square is 
 supposed to be the remainsof the breastwork. Warren fell about two 
 hundred feetwestofthemonument. Anironfenceenclosesthesquare, 
 and another surrounds the monument. The square has entrances on 
 each of its sides, and at each of its corners, and is surrounded by a walk 
 and rows of trees. The obelisk is thirty feet in diameter at the base, 
 about fifteen feet at the top of the truncated part, and was designed to 
 be two hundred and twenty feet high ; but the mortar and the seams 
 between the stones make the precise height two hundred and twenty- 
 one feet. Within the shaft is a hollow cone, with a spiral stairway 
 winding round it to its summit, which enters a circular chamber at the 
 top. There are ninety courses of stone in the shaft, six of them below 
 the ground, and eighty-four above the ground. The capstone, or apex, 
 is a single stone four feet square at the base, and three feet six inches 
 in height, weighing two and a half tons."
 
 MONUMENT ORATIONS. 31 
 
 it is placed, higher, infinitely higher in its objects and 
 purposes, it rises over the land and over the sea ; and visi- 
 ble, at their homes, to three hundred thousand of the peo- 
 ple of Massachusetts, it stands a memorial of the last, and 
 a monitor to the present, and to all succeeding generations. 
 I have spoken of the loftiness of its purpose. If it had 
 been without any other design than the creation of a work 
 of art, the granite .of which it is composed would have 
 slept in its native bed. It has a purpose, and that purpose 
 gives it its character. That purpose enrobes it with dignity 
 and moral grandeur. That well-known purpose it is which 
 causes us to look up to it with a feeling of awe. It is itself 
 the orator of this occasion. It is not from my lips, it could 
 not be from any human lips, that that strain of eloquence 
 is this day to flow most competent to move and excite the 
 vast multitudes around me. The powerful speaker * stands 
 motionless before us. It is a plain shaft. It bears no in- 
 scriptions, fronting to the rising sun, from which the future 
 antiquary shall wipe the dust. Nor does the rising sun 
 cause tones of music to issue from its summit. But at the 
 rising of the sun, and at the setting of the sun ; in the blaze 
 of noonday, and beneath the milder effulgence of lunar 
 light ; it looks, it speaks, it acts, to the full comprehension 
 of every American mind, and the awakening of glowing 
 enthusiasm in every American heart. Its silent, but awful 
 utterance ; its deep pathos, as it brings to our contempla- 
 tion the 17th of June, 1775, and the consequences which 
 have resulted to us, to our country, and to the world, from 
 the events of that day, and which we know must continue 
 to rain influence on the destinies of mankind to the end of 
 time ; the elevation with which it raises us high above the 
 ordinary feelings of life surpass all that the study of the 
 closet, or even the inspiration of genius, can produce. To- 
 day it speaks to us. Its future auditories will be the suc- 
 
 2. The powerful speaker, etc. No wonder the vast concourse of people 
 burst forth into "long and loud applause," as the great orator put ah 
 the strength of his matchless oratory into this masterly passage in his 
 .oration.
 
 32 THE BUNKER HILL 
 
 cessive generations of men, as they rise up before it and 
 gather around it. Its speech will be of patriotism and 
 courage ; of civil and religious liberty ; of free government ; 
 of the moral improvement and elevation of mankind ; and 
 of the immortal memory of those who, with heroic devo- 
 tion, have sacrificed their lives for their country. 
 
 4. In the older world, numerous fabrics exist, reared by 
 human hands, but whose object has been lost in the dark- 
 ness of ages. They are now monuments of nothing but the 
 labor and skill which constructed them. 
 
 5. The mighty pyramid itself, half buried in the sands of 
 Africa, has nothing to bring down and report to us but the 
 power of kings and the servitude of the people. If it had 
 any purpose beyond that of a mausoleum, such purpose has 
 perished from history and from tradition. If asked for its 
 moral object, its admonition, its sentiment, its instruction 
 to mankind, or any high end in its erection, it is silent ; 
 silent as the millions which lie in the dust at its base, and 
 in the catacombs which surround it. Without a just moral 
 object, therefore, made known to man, though raised against 
 the skies, it excites only conviction of power, mixed with 
 strange wonder. But if the civilization of the present race 
 of men, founded, as it is, in solid science, the true knowl- 
 edge of nature, and vast discoveries in art, and which is 
 elevated and purified by moral sentiment and by the truths 
 of Christianity, be not destined to destruction before the 
 final termination of human existence on earth, the object 
 and purpose of this edifice will be known till that hour shall 
 come. And even if civilization should be subverted, and the 
 truths of the Christian religion obscured by a new deluge of 
 barbarism, the memory of Bunker Hill and the American 
 Revolution will still be elements and parts of the knowledge 
 which shall he possessed by the last man to whom the light 
 of civilization and Christianity shall be extended. 
 
 6. Banners and badges, processions and flags, announce 
 to us, that amidst this uncounted throng are thousands of 
 natives of New England now residents in other States. 
 Welcome, ye kindred names, with kindred blood ! From
 
 MONUMENT ORATIONS. 33 
 
 the broad savannas of the South, from the newer regions of 
 the West, from amidst the hundreds of thousands of men 
 of Eastern origin who cultivate the rich valley of the Gene- 
 see or live along the chain of the Lakes, from the mountains 
 of Pennsylvania, and from the thronged cities of the coast, 
 welcome, welcome ! Wherever else you may be strangers, 
 here you are all at home. You assemble at this shrine of 
 liberty, near the family altars at which your earliest devo- 
 tions were paid to heaven, near to the temples of worship 
 first entered by you, and near to the schools and colleges in 
 which your education was received. You come hither with 
 a glorious ancestry of liberty. You bring names \vhich are 
 on the rolls of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. You 
 come, some of you, once more to be embraced by an aged 
 Revolutionary father, or to receive another, perhaps a last, 
 blessing, bestowed in love and tears, by a mother, yet sur- 
 viving to witness and to enjoy your prosperity and happi- 
 ness. 
 
 7. But if family associations and the recollections of the 
 past bring you hither with greater alacrity, and mingle 
 with your greeting much of local attachment and private 
 affection, greeting also be given, free and hearty greeting, 
 to every American citizen who treads this sacred soil with 
 patriotic feeling, and respires with pleasure in an atmos- 
 phere perfumed with the recollections of 1775 ! This occa- 
 sion is respectable, 3 nay, it is grand, it is sublime, by the 
 nationality of its sentiment. Among the seventeen milions 
 of happy people who form the American community, there 
 is not one that has not a deep and abiding interest in that 
 which it commemorates. 
 
 8. W r oe betide the man who brings to this day's worship 
 feelings less than wholly American ! Woe betide the man 
 that can stand here with the fires of local resentment burn- 
 ing, or the purpose of fomenting local jealousies and the 
 
 3. Respectable. Webster was fond of certain words, commonplace 
 enough in themselves, to which he insisted on imparting a more than 
 ordinary import. Two of these which meet us continually in reading 
 his speeches are "interesting" and "respectable." Thus he speaks of 
 " the interesting group upon the deck " of the Mayflower.
 
 34 THE BUNKER HILL 
 
 strifes of local interests festering and rankling in his heart ! 
 Union, established in justice, in patriotism, and the niosi 
 plain and obvious common interest union, founded on the 
 same love of liberty, cemented by blood shed in the same 
 common cause union has been the source of all our glory 
 and greatness thus far, and is the ground of all our highest 
 hopes. This column stands on Union. I know not that it 
 might not keep its position, if the American Union, in the 
 mad conflict of human passions, and in the strife of parties 
 and factions, should be broken up and destroyed. I know 
 not that it would totter and fall to the earth, and mingle 
 its fragments with the fragments of Liberty and the Con- 
 stitution, when State should be separated from State, and 
 faction and dismemberment obliterate forever all the hopes 
 of the founders of our republic, and the great inheritance of 
 their children. It might stand. But who, from beneath 
 the weight of mortification and shame that would oppress 
 him, could look up to behold it ? Whose eyeballs would 
 not be seared by such a spectacle ? For my part, should I 
 live to such a time, I shall avert my eyes from it for ever. 
 
 9. It is not a mere military encounter of hostile * armies 
 that the battle of Bunker Hill presents its principal claim to 
 attention. Yet, even as a mere battle, there were circum- 
 stances attending it extraordinary in character, and en- 
 titling it to peculiar distinction. It was fought on this 
 eminence ; in the neighborhood of yonder city ; in the 
 presence of many more spectators than there were combat- 
 ants in the conflict. Men, women, and children, from 
 every commanding position, were gazing at the battle, and 
 looking for its result with all the eagerness natural to those 
 who knew that the issue was fraught with the deepest con- 
 sequences to themselves, personally, as well as to their 
 country. Yet, on the 16th of June, 1775, there was nothing 
 around this hill but verdure and culture. There was, in- 
 
 4. The Battle of Bunker Hill. Read in connection with this passage 
 full details of this first important battle of the Revolution. Read cer- 
 tain portions of Frothingham's "History of the Siege of Boston," 
 Holmes' poem called " Grandmother's Story of the Battle of Bunker 
 Hill."
 
 MONUMENT ORATIONS. 35 
 
 deed, the note of awful preparation in Boston. There was 
 the Provincial army at Cambridge, with its right flank 
 resting on Dorchester, and its left on Chelsea. But here all 
 was peace. Tranquility reigned around. On the 17th, 
 every thing was changed. On this eminence had arisen, in 
 the night, a redoubt, built by Prescott, and in which he held 
 command. Perceived by the enemy at dawn, it was imme- 
 diately cannonaded from the floating batteries in the river, 
 and from the opposite shore. And then ensued the hurried 
 movement in Boston, and soon the troops of Britain em- 
 barked in the attempt to dislodge the Colonists. In an hour 
 everything indicated an immediate and bloody conflict. 
 Love of liberty on one side, proud defiance of rebellion on 
 the other, hopes and fears, and courage and daring, on both 
 sides, animated the hearts of the combatants as they hung 
 on the edge of battle. 
 
 10. Both parties were anxious to try the strength of their 
 arms. The pride of England would not permit the rebels, 
 as she termed them, to defy her to the teeth ; and, without 
 for a moment calculating the cost, the British general deter- 
 mined to destroy the fort immediately. On the other side, 
 Prescott and his gallant followers longed and thirsted for a 
 decisive trial of strength and of courage. They wished a 
 battle, and wished it at once. And this is the true secret of 
 the movements on this hill. 
 
 11. I will not attempt to describe that battle. The can- 
 nonading ; the landing of the British ; their advance ; the 
 coolness with which the charge was met ; the repulse ; the 
 second attack ; the second repulse ; the burning of Charles- 
 town ; and, finally, the closing assault, and the slow retreat 
 of the Americans, the history of all these is familiar. 
 
 12. But the consequences of the battle of Bunker Hill 
 were greater than those of any ordinary conflict, although 
 between armies of far greater force, and terminating with 
 more immediate advantage on the one side or the other. It 
 was the first great battle of the Revolution ; and not only 
 the first blow, but the blow which determined the contest. 
 It did not, indeed, put an end to the war, but in the then
 
 36 THE BUNKER HILL 
 
 existing hostile state of feeling, the difficulties could only be 
 referred to the arbitration of the sword. And one thing is 
 certain : that after the New England troops had shown 
 themselves able to face and repulse the regulars, it was 
 decided that peace never could be established, but upon the 
 basis of the Independence of the Colonies. "When the sun 
 of that day went down, the event of Independence was no 
 longer doubtful. In a few days Washington heard of the 
 battle, and he inquired if the militia had stood the fire of 
 the regulars. When told that they had not only stood that 
 fire, but reserved their own till the enemy was within eight 
 rods, and then poured it in with tremendous effect, "Then," 
 exclaimed he, " the liberties of the country are safe ! " The 
 consequences of this battle were just of the same importance 
 as the Revolution itself. 
 
 13. If there was nothing of value in the principles of the 
 American Revolution, then there is nothing valuable in the 
 battle of Bunker Hill and its consequences. But if the 
 Revolution was an era in the history of man favorable to 
 human happiness, if it was an event which marked the 
 progress of man all over the world from despotism to liberty, 
 then this monument is not raised without cause. Then the 
 battle of Bunker Hill is not an event undeserving celebra- 
 tions, commemorations, and rejoicings, now, and in all com- 
 ing times. 
 
 14. What, then, is the true and peculiar principle 5 of the 
 American Revolution, and of the systems of government 
 which it has confirmed and established ? The truth is, that 
 the American Revolution was not caused by the instanta- 
 neous discovery of principles of government before unheard 
 of, or the practical adoption of political ideas such as had 
 never before entered into the minds of men. (it was but the 
 full development of principles of government, forms of 
 society, and political sentiments, the origin of all which lay 
 back two centuries in English and American history. ) 
 
 5. True and peculiar principle. Master thoroughly Webster's able ex- 
 position of the " true and peculiar principle " of the Revolution. It is 
 the epitome of all that can be said, stamped with all the fervor of patri- 
 otic oratory.
 
 MONUMENT ORATIONS. 37 
 
 15. The discovery of America, its colonization by the 
 nations of Europe, the history and progress of the colonies, 
 from their establishment to the time when the principal of 
 them threw off their allegiance to the respective states by 
 which they had been planted, and founded governments 
 of their own, constitute one of the most interesting portions 
 of the annals of man. These events occupied three hundred 
 years ; during which period civilization and knowledge 
 made steady progress in the Old World ; so that Europe, at 
 the commencement of the nineteenth century, had become 
 greatly changed from, that Europe which began the coloni- 
 zation of America at the close of the fifteenth, or the com- 
 mencement of the sixteenth. And what is most material 
 to my present purpose is, that in the progress of the first of 
 these centuries, that is to say, from the discovery of America 
 to the settlements of Virginia and Massachusetts, political 
 and religious events took place, which most materially 
 affected the state of society and the sentiments of mankind, 
 especially in England and in parts of Continental Europe. 
 After a few feeble and unsuccessful efforts by Eng- 
 land, under Henry the Seventh, 6 to plant colonies in 
 America, no designs of that kind were prosecuted for a long 
 period, either by the English government or any of its sub- 
 jects. Without inquiring into the causes of this delay, its 
 consequences are sufficiently clear and striking. England, 
 in this lapse of a century, unknown to herself, but under the 
 providence of God and the influence of events, was fitting 
 herself for the work of colonizing North America, on such 
 principles, and by such men, as should spread the English 
 name and English blood, in time, over a great portion of 
 the Western hemisphere. The commercial spirit was greatly 
 fostered by several laws passed in the reign of Henry the 
 
 6. Henry the Seventh. The discovery of America by Columbus in 1492 
 gave a great impulse to the spirit of maritime adventure throughout 
 Western Europe. Under a commission of Henry VII, John Cabot 
 made a voyage to the New World (1497), and discovered the coast of 
 North America from Labrador southward. This was the origin of the 
 English claim to a portion of the New World. Many wise and salutory 
 laws were enacted during his reign, and commerce was greatly 
 encouraged.
 
 38 THE BUNKER HILL, 
 
 Seventh ; and in the same reign encouragement was given 
 to arts and manufactures in the eastern countries, and some 
 not unimportant modifications of the feudal system took 
 place, by allowing the breaking of entails. 
 
 16. These and other measures, and other occurrences, were 
 making way for a new class of society to emerge and show 
 itself, in a military and feudal age ; a middle class, between 
 the barons or great landholders and the retainers of the 
 crown, on the one side, and the tenants of the crown and 
 barons, and agricultural and other laborers, on the other 
 side. With the rise and growth of this new class of society, 
 not only did commerce and the arts increase, but better edu- 
 cation, a greater degree of knowledge, juster notions of the 
 true ends of government, and sentiments favorable to civil 
 liberty, began to be spread abroad, and become more and 
 more common. But the plants springing from these seeds 
 were of slow growth. The character of English society had 
 indeed begun to undergo a change ; but changes of national 
 character are ordinarily the work of time. Operative causes 
 were, however, evidently in existence, and sure to produce, 
 ultimately, their proper effect. From the accession of Henry 
 the Seventh to the breaking out of the civil wars, England 
 enjoyed much greater exemption from war, foreign and 
 domestic, than for a long period before, and during the con- 
 troversy between the houses of York and Lancaster. 7 These 
 years of peace were favorable to commerce and the arts. 
 Commerce and the arts augmented general and individual 
 knowledge; and knowledge is the only fountain, both of the 
 love and the principles of human liberty. 
 
 17. Other powerful causes soon came into active play. The 
 Reformation of Luther 8 broke out, kindling up the minds 
 
 7. York and Lancaster. The civil contests between these two great 
 families of England were styled the Wars of the Roses, from the badge 
 or symbol of each party. This civil strife broke out in 1455 and lasted 
 thirty years. It was signalized by twelve pitched battles, and marked 
 by the most unrelenting barbarity. 
 
 8. Reformation of Luther. This great movement, at first religions 
 and ecclesiastical, afterwards assumed a political and social character. 
 It engrossed the attention of a large portion of Europe during the 
 sixteenth century, materially affected the whole frame-work of society
 
 MONUMENT ORATIONS. 39 
 
 of men afresh, leading to new habits of thought, and awak- 
 ening in individuals energies before unknown even to them- 
 selves. The religious controversies of this period changed 
 society, as well as religion ; indeed it would be easy to prove, 
 if this occasion were proper for it, that they changed society 
 to a considerable extent, where they did not change the re- 
 ligion of the state. They changed man himself, in his 
 modes of thought, his consciousness of his own powers, and 
 his desire of intellectual attainment. The spirit of commer- 
 cial and foreign adventure, therefore, on the one hand, 
 which had gained so much strength and influence since the 
 time of the discovery of America, and, on the other, the 
 assertion and maintenance of religious liberty, having their 
 source indeed in the Reformation, but continued, diversified, 
 and constantly strengthened by the subsequent divisions of 
 sentiment and opinion among the Reformers themselves, 
 and this love of religious liberty drawing after it, or bring- 
 ing along with it, as it always does, an ardent devotion to 
 the principle of civil liberty also, were the powerful influ- 
 ences under which character was formed, and men trained, 
 for the great work of introducing English civilization, Eng- 
 lish law, and, what is more than all, Anglo-Saxon blood, 
 into the wilderness of North America. Raleigh 9 and his 
 companions may be considered as the creatures, principally, 
 of the first of these causes. High-spirited, full of the love of 
 personal adventure, excited, too, in some degree, by the 
 hopes of sudden riches from the discovery of mines of the 
 precious metals, and not unwilling to diversify the labors of 
 settling a colony with occasional cruising against the Span- 
 iards in the West Indian Seas, they crossed and re-crossed 
 the ocean with a frequency which surprises us, when we 
 consider the state of navigation, and which evinces a most 
 daring spirit. 
 
 and its institutions, and is called in history the Reformation. The 
 leader of the Reformation in Germany was Martin Luther. The cur- 
 rent literature that pertains to Luther and the Reformation is very 
 prolific at the present time. 
 
 9. Raleigh. The story of this gallant hero who figures so extensively 
 in history and fiction is familiar to every school-boy. Read in this 
 connection his Life and the well known story of his gallantry as given 
 in ycott's "Kenilworth,"
 
 40 THE BUNKER HILL 
 
 18. The other cause peopled New England. The May- 
 flower 10 sought our shores under no high-wrought spirit of 
 commercial adventure, no love of gold, no mixture of pur- 
 pose warlike or hostile to any human being. Like the dove 
 from the ark, ehe had put forth only to find rest. Solemn 
 supplications on the shore of the sea, in Holland, had invoked 
 for her, at her departure, the blessings of Providence. The 
 stars which guided her were the unobscured constellations 
 of civil and religious liberty. Her deck was the altar of the 
 living God. Fervent prayers on bended knees mingled, 
 morning and evening, with the voices of ocean and the 
 sighing of the wind in her shrouds. Every prosperous 
 breeze, which, gently swelling her sails, helped the Pilgrims 
 onward in their course, awoke new anthems of praise ; and 
 when the elements were wrought into fury, neither the 
 tempest, tossing their fragile bark like a feather, nor the 
 darkness and howling of the midnight storm, ever disturbed, 
 in man or woman, the firm and settled purpose of their 
 souls, to undergo all, and to do all, that the meekest patience, 
 the boldest resolution, and the highest trust in God, could 
 enable human beings to suffer or to perform. 11 
 
 19. Some differences may, doubtless, be traced at this day 
 between the descendants of the early colonists of Virginia 
 and those of New England, owing to the different influences 
 and different circumstances under which the respective set- 
 tlements were made ;' but only enough to create a pleasing 
 variety in the midst df a general family resemblance. ,'But 
 the habits, sentiments, and objects of both soon became 
 modified by local causes, growing out of their condition in 
 the New World ; and as this condition was essentially alike 
 in both, and as both at once adopted the same general rules 
 and principles of English jurisprudence, and became accus- 
 tomed to the authority of representative bodies, these differ- 
 ences gradually diminished. They disappeared by the prog- 
 
 10. The Mayflower. The frail but celeb rated vessel which brought the 
 Pilgrims to the Plymouth shore. Read portions of Longfellow's 
 " Courtship of Miles Standish." 
 
 11. Commit this graphic passage to memory, beginning: " The other 
 cause peopled New England," etc.
 
 MONUMENT OEATIONS. 41 
 
 ress of time, and the influence of intercourse. The neces- 
 sity of some degree of union and co-operation to defend 
 themselves against the savage tribes tended to excite in them 
 mutual respect and regard. They fought together in the 
 wars against France. 12 The great and common cause of the 
 Revolution bound them to one another by new links of 
 brotherhood ; and at length the present constitution of gov- 
 ernment united them happily and gloriously to form the 
 great republic of the world, and bound up their interests and 
 fortunes, till the whole earth sees that there is now for them, 
 in present possession as well as in future hope, but "One 
 Country, One Constitution, and One Destiny." 
 
 20. The colonization of the tropical region, and the whole 
 of the southern parts of the Continent, by Spain and Portu- 
 gal, was conducted on other principles, under the influence 
 of other motives, and followed by far different consequences. 
 From the time of its discovery, the Spanish government 
 pushed forward its settlements in America, not only with 
 vigor, but with eagerness ; so that long before the first per- 
 manent English settlement had been accomplished in what 
 is now the United States, Spain had conquered Mexico, 
 Peru, and Chili, and stretched her power over nearly all the 
 territory she ever acquired on this Continent. The rapidity 
 of these conquests 13 is to be ascribed in a great degree to the 
 eagerness, not to say the rapacity, of those numerous bands 
 of adventurers, who were stimulated by individual interests 
 and private hopes to subdue immense regions, and take pos- 
 session of them in the name of the crown of Spain. The 
 mines of gold and silver were the incitements to these efforts, 
 and accordingly settlements were generally made, and 
 Spanish authority established immediately on the subjuga- 
 tion of territory, that the native population might be set to 
 work by their new Spanish masters in the mines. From 
 
 12. Wars against France. Reference is made to what Is popularly 
 known as the -'French and Indian Wars," which were carried on with 
 much cruelty and bloodshed just before the war of the Revolution 
 broke out. 
 
 13. These conquests. For a full account of the Conquest of Mexico 
 and Peru by Spain, the discovery of America and all that pertains to 
 the Spanish conquests and discoveries in America, the student is re- 
 ferred to sundry chapters in Prescott's fascinating histories.
 
 4'2 THE BUNKER HILL 
 
 these facts, the love of gold gold, not produced by industry, 
 nor accumulated by commerce, but gold dug from its native 
 bed in the bowels of the earth, and that earth ravished from 
 its rightful possessors by every possible degree of enormity, 
 cruelty and crime was long the governing passion in Span- 
 ish wars and Spanish settlements in America. Even Colum- 
 bus himself did not wholly escape the influence of this base 
 motive. In his early voyages we find him passing from 
 island to island, inquiring everywhere for gold ; as if God 
 had opened the New World to the knowledge of the Old, 
 only to gratify a passion equally senseless and sordid, and to 
 offer up millions of an unoffending race of men to the de- 
 struction of the sword, sharpened both by cruelty and rapac- 
 ity. And yet Columbus was far above his age and country. 
 Enthusiastic, indeed, but sober, religious, and magnani- 
 mous ; born to great things and capable of high sentiments, 
 as his noble discourse before Ferdinand and Isabella, as well 
 as the whole history of his life, shows. Probably he sacri- 
 ficed much to the known sentiments of others, and addressed 
 to his followers motives likely to influence them. At the 
 same time, it is evident that he himself looked upon the 
 world which he discovered as a world of wealth, all ready 
 to be seized and enjoyed. 
 
 21. The conquerors and the European settlers of Spanish 
 America were mainly military commanders and common 
 soldiers. The monarchy of Spain was not transferred to this 
 hemisphere, but it acted in it, as it acted at home, through 
 its ordinary means, and its true representative, military 
 force. The robbery and destruction of the native race was 
 the achievement of standing armies, in the right of the king, 
 and by his authority, fighting in his name, for the aggran- 
 dizement of his power and the extension of his prerogatives, 
 with military ideas under arbitrary maxims, a portion of 
 that dreadful instrumentality by which a perfect despotism 
 governs a people. As there was no liberty in Spain, how 
 could liberty be transmitted to Spanish colonies? 
 
 22. The colonists of English America were of the people, 
 and a people already free. They were of the middle, indus-
 
 MONUMENT ORATIONS. 43 
 
 trious, and already prosperous class, the inhabitants of com- 
 mercial and manufacturing cities, among whom liberty first 
 revived and respired, after a sleep of a thousand years in the 
 bosom of the Dark Ages. 14 Spain descended on the New 
 World in the armed and terrible image of her monarchy and 
 her soldiery ; England approached it in the winning and 
 popular garb of personal rights, public protection, and civil 
 freedom. England transplanted liberty to America ; Spain 
 transplanted power. England, through the agency of private 
 companies and the efforts of individuals, colonized this part 
 of North America by industrious individuals, making their 
 own way in the wilderness, defending themselves against 
 the savages, recognizing their right to the soil, and with a 
 general honest purpose of introducing knowledge as well as 
 Christianity among them. Spain stooped on South America, 
 like a vulture on its prey. Everything was force. Terri- 
 tories were acquired by fire and sword. Cities were destroyed 
 by fire and sword. Hundreds of thousands of human beings 
 fell by fire and sword. Even conversion to Christianity was 
 attempted by fire and sword. 
 
 23. Behold, then, fellow-citizens, the difference resulting 
 from the operation of the two principles ! Here, to-day, on 
 the summit of Bunker Hill, and at the foot of this monu- 
 ment, behold the difference ! I would that the fifty thousand 
 voices present could proclaim it with a shout which should 
 be heard over the globe. Our inheritance was of liberty, 
 secured and regulated by law, and enlightened by religion 
 and knowledge ; that of South America was of power, stern, 
 unrelenting, tyrannical, military power. And now look to 
 the consequences of the two principles on the general and 
 aggregate happiness of the human race. Behold the results, 
 in all the regions conquered by Corte'z and Pizarro, and the 
 contrasted results here. I suppose the territory of the 
 United States may amount to one-eighth, or one-tenth, of 
 
 14. Dark Ages. According to Hallam the term applied to the Middle 
 Ages, comprising about 1,000 years, from the invasion of France by 
 Clovis, 486, to that of Naples, by Charles VIII, 1495. During this time 
 learning was at low ebb.
 
 44 THE BUNKER HILL 
 
 that colonized by Spain on this Continent ; and yet in all 
 that vast region there are but between one and two millions 
 of people of European color and European blood, while in 
 the United States there are fourteen millions who rejoice in 
 their descent from the people of the more northern part of 
 Europe. 
 
 24. But we may follow the difference in the original prin- 
 ciple of colonization, and in its character and objects, still 
 farther. We must look to moral and intellectual results ; 
 we must consider consequences, not only as they show 
 themselves in hastening or retarding the increase of popula- 
 tion and the supply of physical wants, but in their civiliza- 
 tion, improvement, and happiness. We must inquire what 
 progress has been made in the true science of liberty, in the 
 knowledge of the great principles of self-government, and 
 in the progress of man, as a social, moral, and religious 
 being. 
 
 25. I would not willingly say anything on this occasion 
 discourteous to the new governments founded on the demo- 
 lition of the power of the Spanish monarchy. They are yet 
 on their trial, and I hope for a favorable result. But truth, 
 sacred truth, and fidelity to the cause of civil liberty, com- 
 pel me to say, that hitherto they have discovered quite too 
 much of the spirit of that monarchy from which they sepa- 
 rated themselves. Quite too frequent resort is made to mili- 
 tary force ; and quite too much of the substance of the people 
 is consumed in maintaining armies, not for defence against 
 foreign aggression, but for enforcing obedience to domestic 
 authority. Standing armies are the oppressive instruments 
 for governing the people, in the hands of hereditary and 
 arbitrary monarchs. A military republic, 15 a government 
 founded on mock elections and supported only by the sword, 
 is a movement indeed, but a retrograde and disastrous move- 
 ment, from the regular and old-fashioned monarchical sys- 
 
 15. Military republic, etc. More than forty years have elapsed since 
 these glowing words were uttered. In the light of the world's history 
 since 1843 have Webster's ideas of a republic been found to be sound and 
 wise?
 
 MONUMENT ORATIONS. 45 
 
 terns. If men would enjoy the blessings of republican gov- 
 ernment, they must govern themselves by reason, by mutual 
 counsel and consultation, by a sense and feeling of general 
 interest, and by the acquiescence of the minority in the will 
 of the majority, properly expressed ; and, above all, the 
 military must be kept, according to the language of our Bill 
 of Rights, in strict subordination to the civil authority. 
 Wherever this lesson is not both learned and practised, there 
 can be no political freedom. Absurd, preposterous is it, a 
 scoff and a satire on free forms of constitutional liberty, for 
 frames of government to be prescribed by military leaders, 
 and the right of suffrage to be exercised at the point of the 
 sword. 
 
 26. Making all allowance for situation and climate, it can 
 not be doubted by intelligent minds, that the difference 
 now existing between North and South America is justly 
 attributable, in a great degree, to political institutions in the 
 Old World and in the New. And how broad that difference 
 is ! Suppose an assembly, in one of the valleys or on the side 
 of one of the mountains of the southern half of the hemi- 
 sphere, to be held, this day, in the neighborhood of a large 
 city ; what would be the scene presented ? Yonder is a vol- 
 cano, flaming and smoking, but shedding no light, moral or 
 intellectual. At its foot is the mine, sometimes yielding, 
 perhaps, large gains to capital, but in which labor is des- 
 tined to eternal and unrequited toil, and followed only by 
 penury and beggary. The city is filled with armed men ; 
 not a free people, armed and coming forth voluntarily to 
 rejoice in a public festivity, but hireling troops, supported 
 by forced loans, excessive impositions on commerce, or taxes 
 wrung from a half-fed and a half-clothed population. For 
 the great there are palaces covered with gold ; for the poor 
 there are hovels of the meanest sort. Do public improve- 
 ments favor intercourse between place and place ? So far 
 from this, the traveler can not pass from town to town, 
 without danger, every mile, of robbery and assassination. 
 I would not overcharge or exaggerate this picture ; but its 
 principal features are all too truly sketched,
 
 46 THE BUNKER HILL, 
 
 27. And how does it contrast with the scene now actually 
 before us? Look round upon these fields ; they are verdant 
 and beautiful, well cultivated, and at this moment loaded 
 with the riches of the early harvest. The hands which till 
 them are those of the free owners of the soil, enjoy ing equal 
 rights, and protected by law from oppression and tyranny. 
 Look to the thousand vessels in our sight, filling the harbor, 
 or covering the neighboring sea. They are the vehicles of 
 a profitable commerce, carried on by men who know that 
 the profits of their hardy enterprise, when they make them, 
 are their own ; and this commerce is encouraged and regu- 
 lated by wise laws, and defended, when need be, by the 
 valor and patriotism of the country. Look to that fair city, 
 the abode of so much diffused wealth, so much general hap- 
 piness and comfort, so much personal independence, and so 
 much general knowledge, and not undistinguished, I may 
 be permitted to add, for hospitality and social refinement. 
 She fears no forced contributions, no siege or sacking 
 from military leaders of rival factions. The hundred 
 temples in which her citizens worship God are in no danger 
 of sacrilege. The regular administration of the laws en- 
 counters no obstacle. The long processions of children and 
 youth, which you see this day, issuing by thousands from 
 her free schools, prove the care and anxiety with which a 
 popular government provides for the education and morals 
 of the people. Everywhere there is order; everywhere there 
 is security. Everywhere the law reaches to the highest and 
 reaches to the lowest, to protect all in their rights, and to 
 restrain all from wrong ; and over all hovers liberty, that 
 liberty for which our fathers fought and fell on this very 
 spot, with her eye ever watchful, and her eagle wing ever 
 wide outspread. 
 
 28. The English colonists in America, generally speaking, 
 were men who were seeking new homes in a new world. 
 They brought with them their families and all that wns 
 most dear to them. This was especially the case with the 
 colonists of Plymouth and Massachusetts. Many of them 
 were educated men, and all possessed their full share, ac-
 
 MONUMENT ORATIONS. 47 
 
 cording to their social condition, of the knowledge and 
 attainments of that age. The distinctive characteristic of 
 their settlement is the introduction of the civilization of 
 Europe into a wilderness, without bringing with it the 
 political institutions of Europe. The arts, sciences, and lit- 
 erature of England came over with the settlers. That great 
 portion of the common law 16 which regulates the social and 
 personal relations and conduct of men, came also. The jury 
 came : the habeas corpus canie ; the testamentary power 
 came ; and the law of inheritance and descent came also, 
 except that part of it which recognizes the rights of primo- 
 geniture, which either did not come at all, or soon gave way 
 to the rule of equal partition of estates among children. But 
 the monarchy did not come, nor the aristocracy, nor the 
 Church, as an estate of the realm. Political institutions 
 were to be framed anew, such as should be adapted to the 
 state of things. But it could not be doubtful what should be 
 the nature and character of these institutions. A general 
 social equality prevailed among the settlers, and an equality 
 of political rights seemed the natural, if not the necessary 
 consequence. 
 
 29. It has been said with much vivacity, that the felicity 
 of the American colonists consisted in their escape from the 
 past. This is true so far as respects political establishments, 
 but no farther. They brought with them a full portion of 
 all the riches, of the past, in science, in art, in morals, religion, 
 and literature. The Bible came with them. And it is 
 not to be doubted, that to the free and universal reading of 
 the Bible, in that age, men were much indebted for right 
 views of civil liberty. The Bible is a book of frith, and a 
 book of doctrine, and a book of morals, and a book of 
 ligion, of especial revelation from God ; but it is also a boo! 
 which teaches man his own individual responsibility, hi? 
 own dignity, and his equality with his fellow-man. 
 
 16. Great portion of the common law. It will be interesting for the 
 student to review his English history in this connection, and trace the 
 gradual growth of these great bulwarks of civil and religious liberty in 
 England,
 
 48 THE BUXKER HILL 
 
 30. Bacon and Locke, and Shakespeare and Milton, also 
 came with the colonists. It was the object of the first set- 
 tlers to form new political systems, but all that belonged to 
 cultivated man, to family, to neighborhood, to social rela- 
 tions, accompanied them. In the Doric phrase of one of our 
 own historians, "they came to settle on bare creation ; " but 
 their settlement in the wilderness, nevertheless, was not a 
 lodgement of nomadic tribes, a mere resting-place of roam- 
 ing savages. It was the beginning of a permanent commu- 
 nity, the fixed residence of cultivated men. Not only was 
 English literature read, but English, good English, was 
 spoken and written, before the axe had made way to let in 
 the sun upon the habitations and fields of Plymouth and 
 Massachusetts. And whatever may be said to the contrary, 
 a correct use of the English language is, at this day, more 
 general throughout the United States, than it is throughout 
 England herself. 
 
 31. But another grand characteristic is, that, in the Eng- 
 lish colonies, political affairs were left to be managed by the 
 colonists themselves. This, is another fact wholly distin- 
 guishing them in character, as it has distinguished them in 
 fortune, from the colonists of Spain. Here lies the founda- 
 tion of that experience in self-government, which has pre- 
 served order, and security, and regularity, amidst the play 
 of popular institutions. Home government was the secret 
 of the prosperity of the North American settlements. The 
 more distinguished, of the New England colonists, with a 
 most remarkaTble sagacity and a long-sighted reach into 
 futurity, refused to come to America unless they could bring 
 with them charters providing for the administration of their 
 affairs in this country. They saw from the first the evils of 
 being governed in the New World by a power fixed in the 
 Old. Acknowledging the general superiority of the crown, 
 they still insisted on the right of passing local laws, and of 
 local administration. And history teaches us the justice and 
 the value of this determination in the example of Virginia. 
 The early attempts to settle that Colony failed, sometimes 
 with the most melancholy and fatal consequences, from
 
 MONUMENT ORATIONS. 49 
 
 want of knowledge, care, and attention on the part of those 
 who had the charge of their affairs in England ; and it was 
 only after the issuing of the third charter, that its prosperity 
 fairly commenced. The cause was, that by that third char- 
 ter the people of Virginia, for by this time they deserved to 
 be so called, were allowed to constitute and establish the 
 first popular representative assembly " which ever convened 
 on this Continent, the Virginia House of Burgesses. 
 
 32. The great elements, then, of the American system of 
 government, originally introduced by the colonists, and 
 which were early in operation, and ready to be developed, 
 more and more, as the progress of events should justify or 
 demand, were, 
 
 33. Escape from the existing political system of Europe, 
 including its religious hierarchies, but the continued posses- 
 sion and enjoyment of its science and arts, its literature, and 
 its manners ; 
 
 34. Home government, or the power of making in the 
 .colony the municipal laws which were to govern it ; 
 
 Equality of rights ; 
 
 Representative assemblies, or forms of government, 
 founded on popular elections. 
 
 35. Few topics are more inviting, or more fit for philo- 
 sophical discussion, than the effect on the happiness of man- 
 kind of institutions founded upon these principles ; or, in 
 other words, the influence of the New World upon the Old. 
 
 36. Her obligations to Europe for science and art, laws, 
 literature, and manners, America acknowledges as she ought, 
 with respect and gratitude. The people of the United 
 States, descendants of the English stock, grateful for the 
 treasures of knowledge derived from their English ancestors, 
 
 17. First popular representative assembly. Yeardly, a new governor 
 of Virginia, arrived in 1610. There were then, twelve years after the 
 landing at Jamestown, but 600 colonists, and seven distinct plantations 
 or boroughs. Yeardly, having made the number of boroughs eleven, 
 called a meeting of the first colonial Assembly, or ''House of Burgesses,'' 
 to which each of the boroughs sent its own chosen representatives. A 
 written constitution, granted to the colony in 1621, still further secured 
 to the people the blessing of a representative form of government. 
 This was the first representative assembly in America.
 
 50 THE BUNKER HILL 
 
 admit also, with thanks and filial regard, that among those 
 ancestors, under the culture of Hampden and Sydney 18 and 
 other assiduous friends, that seed of popular liberty first 
 germinated, which on our soil has shot up to its full height, 
 until its branches overshadow all the land. 
 
 37. But America has not failed to make returns. If she 
 has not wholly canceled the obligation, or equaled it by 
 others of like weight, she has, at least, made respectable 
 advances towards repaying the debt. And she admits, that, 
 standing in the midst of civilized nations, and in a civilized 
 age, a nation among nations, there is a high part which she 
 is expected to act, for the general advancement of human 
 interests and human welfare. 
 
 38. American mines have filled the mints of Europe with 
 the precious metals. The productions of the American soil 
 and climate have poured out their abundance of luxuries for 
 the tables of the rich, and of necessaries for the sustenance 
 of the poor. Birds and animals of beauty and value have 
 been added to the European stocks ; and transplantations 
 from the unequaled riches of our forests have mingled them- 
 selves profusely with the elms, and ashes, and Druidical 
 oaks of England. 
 
 39. America has made contributions to Europe far more 
 important. Who can estimate the amount, or the value, of 
 the augmentation of the commerce of the world that has 
 resulted from America ? Who can imagine to himself what 
 would now be the shock to the Eastern Continent, if the 
 Atlantic were no longer traversable, or if there were no 
 longer American productions, or American markets ? 
 
 40. But America exercises influences, or holds out exam- 
 ples, for the consideration of the Old World, of a much 
 higher, because they are of a moral and political character. 
 
 41. America has furnished to Europe proof of the fact, that 
 popular institutions, founded on equalityand the principle 
 
 18. Hampden and Sydney. John Hampden (1594-1&43), a distinguished 
 English patriot, was an able advocate of human rights and a staunch 
 friend of the people. Read Macaulay's essay on Hampden. Sir Philip 
 Sydney (1554-1580) a poet, courtier and an especial favorite of Queen 
 Elizabeth. He died from a wound received at the battle of Zutphen.
 
 MONUMENT ORATIONS. 51 
 
 of representation, are capable of maintaining governments, 
 able to secure the rights of person, property, and reputation. 
 
 42. America has proved that it is practicable to elevate the 
 mass of mankind, that portion which in Europe is called 
 the laboring, or lower class, to raise them to self-respect, to 
 make them competent to act a part in the great right and 
 great duty of self-government ; and she has proved that this 
 may be done by education and the diffusion of knowledge. 
 She holds out an example, a thousand times more encour- 
 aging than ever was presented before, to those nine-tenths 
 of the human race who are born without hereditary fortune 
 or hereditary rank. 
 
 43. America has furnished to the world the character of 
 Washington ! And if our American institutions had done 
 nothing else, that alone would have entitled them to the 
 respect of mankind. 
 
 Washington ! 19 ' ' First in war, first in peace, and first 
 in the hearts of his countrymen ! " Washington is all our 
 own ! The enthusiastic veneration and regard in which the 
 people of the United States hold him, prove them to be 
 worthy of such a countryman ; while his reputation abroad 
 reflects the highest honor on his country. I would cheer- 
 fully put the question to-day to the intelligence of Europe 
 and the world, what character of the century, upon the 
 whole, stands out in the relief of history, most pure, most 
 respectable, most sublime ; and I doubt not, that, by 
 a suffrage approaching to unanimity, the answer would be 
 Washington ! 
 
 44. The structure now standing before us, by its upright- 
 ness, its solidity, its durability, is no unfit emblem of his 
 character. His public virtues and public principles were as 
 firm as the earth on which it stands ; his personal motives, 
 as pure as the serene heaven in which its summit is lost. 
 But, indeed, though a fit, it is an inadequate emblem. Tow- 
 ering high above the column which our hands have builded, 
 
 19. Washington ! Webster's srand eulogy of Washington is indeed a 
 matchless piece of oratory. Read and re-read it until every sentence is 
 indelibly fastened upon the memory.
 
 TEST QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW. 
 
 1. Who was Daniel Webster? 
 
 2. Where and when was he born ? 
 
 3. What can you say of his father and mother? 
 
 4. Tell something about Webster's boyhood days in the wilds of New 
 Hampshire. 
 
 5. What can you tell of his early love for books? 
 
 ti. Illustrate by what he afterwards told of his committing portions 
 of Pope, Addisou and other English classic authors to memory. 
 
 7. What have you learned of Webster's early school life? 
 
 8. Why were his opportunities so very meagre ? 
 
 9. Tell what you can of his brother Ezekiel. 
 
 10. Can you give the often-quoted story of the plea for the life of a 
 woodchuck, made by the two orothers ? 
 
 11. To what famous school was Daniel sent at an early age? 
 
 12. What peculiar timidity did the future orator show at this school ? 
 
 13. Repeat from memory what he said about it. 
 
 14. What other great orators have showed a similar weakness in early 
 life? 
 
 15. What college did Webster fit for and attend ? 
 
 16. What have you read of hfs college career ? 
 
 17. What local fame did he acquire at college ? 
 
 18. What did he do first after graduation ? 
 
 19. What did he do with his first savings? 
 
 20. Tell something about Ezekiel Webster's untimely death. 
 
 21. What opinion did Webster always cherish of his brother's talents ? 
 
 22. What profession did Daniel adopt? 
 
 23. Where did he first settle, and with what success? 
 
 24. What official position was he offered? 
 
 25. Was this a turning point in his career, and why? 
 
 26. What can you say of his father's disappointment? 
 
 27. Explain how a few years showed that the future orator decided 
 wisely. 
 
 28. What was his first entrance to a political career? 
 
 29. What great fame did he now rapidly gain ? 
 
 30. Mention the political positions filled by him during his life. ' 
 
 31. What can you say of his fame as a great lawyer, as a great orator, 
 and as a great statesman ? 
 
 32. Tell what you can of one or more of his great legal cases. 
 
 33. Mention the circumstances attendingthe delivery of three or more 
 of his great orations. 
 
 34. What were some of the most noteworthy things done by him as a 
 statesman ? 
 
 35. Describe Daniel Webster's personal appearance. 
 
 36. To what extent did it help his oratory? 
 
 37. What were some of his most marked personal characteristics? 
 
 38. What was the great disappointment of his life? 
 
 39. Did it hasten his death ? 
 
 40. When and where did Daniel Webster die? 
 
 41. What can you say of his last days? 
 
 42. What were the marked characteristics of his oratory ? 
 
 43. How will Webster compare with other great orators of this or any 
 other great country ? Explain in some detail.
 
 E 
 
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