Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 10.djvu/63

 Dr. B?- ewers Address.

��59

��was as precarious in those days as in ours, I will relate a circumstance which occurred while he was holding a government position in Alabama. The then secretary of state wrote him to know how far the Tombigbee river ran up into the country. He replied, "The river does not run up, but always runs down ;" and very soon he was requested to hand in his resig- nation.

I will only mention Samuel Rell of New Hampshire, Erastus Root of Connecticut, and Henry Allen of Ver- mont, and hasten on to the name of the man which marks an epoch in the history of the college, as his gigan- tic intellect and towering genius, his profound learning and his acknowl- edged superiority as a statesman and diplomatist, mark his career as an epoch in the history of our nation. I hardly need pronounce the name of Daniel Webster. He stood a tower- ing giant in the defence of his re- nowned alma mater durino; her early trials and struggles, as he always was the foremost and most successful ex- pounder of international law, the de- fender of our national constitution during his entire political career. But to say what ought to be said concern- ing this man would occupy an entire evening ; so I pass on, and mention Levi Woodbury, the governor of New Hampshire, U. S. senator and cabi- net officer, — a man of great and varied attainments ; a shrewd, suc- cessful politician, carrying great ex- ecutive ability into all the positions he occupied, and always reflecting dignity and credit upon the college from which he graduated.

Then comes Thaddeus Stevens, — the old war-horse of politics, and the

��unflinching champion of the rights of men, let their nationality or color be what it might, — keen as a lawyer, shrewd as a politician, honest as a legislator, successful in all. The de- fender of human rights, he gave no rest to himself or those around him, till, by his persistent efforts, he in- duced President Lincoln to issue the proclamation of emancipation, when the shackles fell from the limbs of four million slaves, and converted them into American citizens.

I would speak of the brilliant Choate, — the unequalled advocate and lawyer, the graceful and eflficient leg- islator ; or of Salmon P. Chase, who, as a judge on the supreme bench, a national financier and cabinet oflflcer, or as the governor of Ohio : in what- ever position he was placed, he was a brave leader and an honest man.

These were some of the men who were accounted great in my college days. Ah ! we had giants in those days. They moulded and directed public opinion ; they gave weight and dignity to political as well as to moral and religious life. I ought not to stop in the middle of the list of Dartmouth men who have been con- spicuous in the politics of our states and our nation. We cannot forget Dana, and Dinsmore, and Goodwin, and Adams, and Clark, and Elastman, and Flanders, and Gooch, and Hibbard, and George P. Marsh, and James W. Patterson, and Reed, and Root, and Charles B. Haddock, and a host of others, who have, by their eminent abilities and broad statesmanship, added new lustre each succeeding decade to the already brilliant record of the alumni of Dartmouth college. I had almost forgotten to mention

�� �