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Show 122 TIUl LIBERTY DELL. tom, and the United States Bank went down, he, the fervid advocate of both, remninccl as erect ns before, as completely alive to his personal interests. He was retained against Texas, but when Tcxns CiUllO in, in spite of him, his ncquicsccncc was He was no Kossuth to more than magnanimous. fill the world with poetic wailings over his lost The defeat Of nothing could affect Hungary. him, because be was identified with nothing. He has spent his life mostly in l\1assachusctts, tho most enlightened of the States, and in Boston the ccnt;o of its refinement, l)ut w be boasted he was not sectional, in any bad sense, so neither was he, in a. good sense. Neither his culture nor his morals savored of New England. Occosionally he mouthed tho cant of New England reform, but oftener lle ignored, ludicrously mistook, or openly <lcridcd it. Called oftener than any other man ID inaugurate incidcnta of tbe nation's progress and celebrate its glorious anniversaries, be misinterpreted tbo lessons of history, deducing conservatism WEDSTEU. 123 and reaction from the example of innovators and rebels. He has affected an over-veneration for the fathers, not for the purpose of stimulating us to imitate them, but to make us doubtful of the aJlplication of their principles, and tenacious of ancient abuses. Since his day, our country, or at least the North has entered a new era in legislation, adding to th~ negative theory of liberty the positive practice of justice and charity. This beneficent policy has eagerly sought and sedulously relieved tho unfortunate claascs of society. For the criminal it has lessened temptations, multiplied restraints, and offered encouragements to reform. For the idiot, the insane, the bereft of the functions of the senses, it has provided the compensation of extraordinary care and kindness. For the largo fraction of the people in a Slavery, tolerated still by ~ligion and law, it has at last opened tho eyes of Its sympathy, and held up hopes of distant deliverance. For all, it has maintained a system of |