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Show 354 M. D. Conway. sent to General Washington. Perhap you remember the hi -tory oC that sword ; how Frederick the G r 'at, after a serie" of the mo~t stupcndou wars which the world ever ,aw, from the battle of 1\iollwitz, in 1741, to the peace conceded to suppliant Austria, in 1770, having fnlfilled his mis 'ion of punishing the mo t criminal nation which ever existed, and placing all the uationalities of Europe on a freer ba -i , then looked over the ocean and aw an earnest and deeply wronged people contending with an oppressor; how nearly his la t public act was to extend to our nation in that conllict a helping hand, by employing lie sian troops across the Atlantic, and levying the same toll on the English recruits cro sing his dominions as on ''bought and old cattle; " and how, when we conquered our freedom, he forwarded fi·orn Potsdam to l\Iount Vern on a Pru ·sian sword of honor, marked with the c words: " From the oldest general in the world to the greatest." If the spirit of \Vashington could still rule in our land, I believe it would ltavc pre. cntcd that sword to John Brown a: its rightful iuhcrit01·, with the words: "l1"rom the greatest gencml in the world to the purest." Think not that the ~c arc the word ' of cnthu iusm ; they arc the words of truth and obernc ·s. If in any degree a Cause elevates the deed, if the altar Banctifieth the gift laid thereon, then that sword made an ascent and no descent when held in the hands of John Brown. Frederick was an in trument in the hands of the overruling power to advance the rights of man, but l10 was not a hero. lie thought not of humanity: when he entered the long series of war which brought about so much good, he said, privately, "Ambition, intcrc t, the desire to make people talk about me, carried the day, and I decided to make war." lie was a nobler man at la t; but his grc·at deed· were, all ·ummcd up, not equal in elevation to that which was expiated on the gallows la ' t Friday. Now let us turn to the next heir of the sword of honor, the I~"ather of our Country. Nowhere with more reverence than here shall M. D. Conway. 35'5 be spoken the name of Washington 1 Yet what was the cau.~0 for which he o l.H·ay ly fough t ? Why, ICing George had touched the pocket of New England; that wa.~ it- a few -hi ling · tax more than was right, brought about tllC AmPrican Revolution. AI ·o, Wa -hington Iuvl the sympathy of the two leading powers of the world, Pru ia and France, and the selfintcre t of every soldier wa concerned. The cause was a just can-e, but it was not a purely human one. But thi:s man, arming his heart with the Book whieh says, "Remember those who arc in bonds as bound with them," and the Declarntion of Independence, of which he seems to be one of the very fi~w genuine believer in out· times, marchc on to a certain deal It; marchc's over the d 'ad bodi 'S of his son to the ~caffoldlaying his all upon t.hc altar of the ju t God. Do we a<lmirc Hampden, who, rather than pny an unjust tax of hvPJJ iy ~hilling:;;, ri -ked his h 'ad that he might bring a throned tyrant to the block?- how much more should we admi,:c the old I>uritan, who, for a proto t again. t the great crime of our country, again. t five millions of hi brethren, gave him" •If mHl hi' son to a cruel <h'ath? The traitor of Charlo 1. i~ om· hero; the traitor of Governor 'Vi ·c will b"'comc our saint. I am appealing to you as men of lwart and r ason ; not a. 111L'n whose opinions m·e dependent on the cotton mat·ket, or on the platforms of parties. I set a. ide the human wi~<lom of thi movement. I set aside the q ne tion of the abstract r ' L't itude of the methoLl. The taturc of a hero dwarf.::; such considerations. It was his conviction of duty- that is enough. Can I not admire Socrates or Ilypatia bccau e I do not agree with the heathenism, for which they yielded up their li n':' ? '"~here heroism comes, where self-devotion comes, where 1 he sublime pa 'sion for the right come", there God come. ; there a will uumeasui·able by all prudential gaug is exccutcu, and we may as well que tion the moral propriety of a streak of lightning or an earthquake as of that deed. Thou martyr of a noble faith 1 Thou God-maddened old |
