USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Beverly > An address delivered in the First Parish, Beverly, October 2, 1867 : on the two-hundredth anniversary of its formation > Part 6
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In the new and wider sphere on which he at once entered, he soon proved himself the right man in the right place. His executive abilities were of a high order, which - I have the authority of the late Judge White, who was his pupil, and sub- sequently his associate in the college faculty, for saying - fitted him to fill even a wider sphere of duty than any to which he was called. The gentleman just alluded to, whom so many of us have been accustomed to respect and love, relates, in illustrating his readiness of resource and decision of character, that when, in the chapel, before an assembly of the officers and students, he had sentenced one of the latter to a punishment not the sever- est, who immediately broke out into language most disrespectful and rebellious, he calmly summoned the members of the govern- ment present around him, and, after a few moments' consulta- tion, with equal calmness subjected the offender to the highest collegiate penalty, - that of expulsion. His administration, like his character, had prominent features, and also traits in striking contrast with each other. Behind a veil of strict reserve were a
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vein of humor and wit, and a keen relish for them. Dignified in aspect, at times almost stern, he was mild and benignant in spirit. Formal in manner, he was tender and loving at heart. Under a sway affectionate, and parental even, he exerted stead- ily the magnetism of a strong will. "Having been called," says Quincy, " to the president's chair in the midst of the Revo- lutionary war, when the general tone of morals was weak and the spirit of discipline enervated, he sustained the authority of his station with consummate steadfastness and prudence. He found the seminary embarrassed ; he left it free and prosperous. His influence was uniformly happy, and, throughout his whole connection with the institution, he enjoyed the entire confidence of his associates in the government, the respect of the students, and the undeviating approbation and support of the public."
His death - which occurred in September, 1804, after some years of failing health, and which closed the longest term of service but one in the series of Harvard's Presidents, that of nearly twenty-three years - was the signal for wide-spread lamentation and profound regrets. But nowhere was the event more sincerely and deeply mourned, nowhere up to this day is he more reverently and gratefully remembered, than in this scene of his first and only ministry. Since the termination of that ministry, more than fourscore years have passed away ; but memorials are not wanting to keep fresh and fragrant among us the recollection of him who fulfilled it. The venerable mansion, still standing, in which he lived, in which centred his domestic joys and laborious studies ; the beautiful green before it, where he exercised at once body and mind, where he ob- served the courses of nature, watched the stars, their relative positions, the motions of the heavenly bodies whose orbits he delighted to follow and calculate; these streets he daily walked, these dwellings in which he was greeted as pastor and friend, this temple at whose altar he ministered in holy things; this Bible now before me, which, rising superior to the narrow and anti-Episcopalian prejudices that had previously prevailed in this church and the Puritan churches generally, he caused to be procured for the public reading of the Scriptures in divine
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service, and from which the lively and sacred oracles have for nearly a century been uttered in the hearing of the people here worshipping ; moreover, and best, the influence he exerted on those to whom he ministered, which has not ceased, and will not cease to be transmitted to their successors, - all these are present and living remembrancers of him, and through them, though a long time dead, he yet is with us.
An interval of over three years occurred between the retire- ment of President Willard and the settlement of his successor, - produced perhaps partly by fastidiousness of taste, partly by differing predilections for individuals among the numerous can- didates employed and heard, partly also by growing diver- sities of theological sentiment, and probably in no small part from the unsettled state of affairs springing out of the war, and the consequences immediately following it. At length the choice fell on Joseph Mckean, whom any religious society would have been fortunate in choosing and securing for its pastoral office, which having accepted he was ordained in May, 1785, - his honored predecessor preaching the ordination sermon from the text, " For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." And no words could have better delincated the chief elements in the charac- ter of both. Of McKean might it truly be said, that he had the sound mind in a sound body. He had what I esteem a decided advantage, - to have been brought up under the influ- ences of country life. "From his carly youth he was strong and athletic, able to support fatigue and endure hardship ; and in his youth, and long after, excelled in all the manly exercises to which the active and hardy ycomanry of our country were then accustomed." A noted wrestler once, and as the ex- periment proved in all probability never again, called on him to test their relative strength and skill. The challenger was promptly conducted to a retired spot on the premises ; and the suddenness with which he was reduced from an erect to a reclining posture convinced him that the minister of this parish was not less competent to wrestle with flesh and blood, than with spiritual wickedness. His talents were solid, rather than bril-
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liant, - discriminating judgment being a marked quality of his mind. Beyond his professional avocations, in which he was well informed, diligent, and faithful, the exact sciences were favorite objects of his pursuit. Contributions on these were made by him to the Transactions of the American Academy, - which, together with a few occasional sermons, and the in- augural address at Brunswick, are his only publications. Of - his printed discourses is one, which was delivered under pecu- liar circumstances, and produced an extensive and strong impres- sion. Its subject is, "Speaking Evil of Rulers." It was preached soon after Jefferson's accession to the Presidency, to an assembly, the mass of which, including the preacher him- self, was strenuously opposed to the new administration. It reproved calmly, but firmly and unsparingly, the lax and violent speech toward the powers that be, then prevalent and too com- mon at all times. Yet so mildly, so judiciously and effectively, was the rebuke conveyed, that, when heard, or widely as it was perused, it was generally acknowledged to be just and whole- some ; and, as we read it now, must be admitted not merely to have been specially adapted to that emergency, but to be of universal application. Mr. McKean was, in truth, remarkably sagacious in discerning the characters of men, and equally wise and skilful in dealing with them. Thus was he peculiarly fitted to guide and control the young men gathered in a seminary of learning such as that over which he was ultimately called to preside. Altogether, he possessed, by nature and acquired ex- cellence, a combination of gifts, which singularly qualified him for exerting a positive and extended influence. Imposing in stature and bearing, earnest in whatever he undertook, always frank, generous, and magnanimous, never compromising the dignity and decorum becoming a minister and a gentleman, con- descending and tender to the humble and lowest, the courteous and recognized peer of the most refined and exalted in rank or station, he secured to an uncommon degree the respect, affec- tion, and confidence of all with whom he came in contact, alike high and low, rich and poor, and of whatever condition. His advice was sought and relied on by persons of every class, in
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matters secular and civil, as well as pertaining directly to his profession. He took an intelligent and active interest in the grand and stirring political events that were passing before him. The record of his name and co-operation stands conspicuous by the side of that of eminent leaders in important affairs of the town, the State, and nation. Nor was he more ready to impart " of his wise counsel, than when occasion required to labor with his strong arms and hands. Thus, when the great cable for the now nobly historic frigate " Constitution " was in preparation here, and its speedy completion was very desirable, he volun- teered his valuable assistance in its manufacture ; so, and vari- ously otherwise, manifesting his own patriotic enthusiasm and devotion, and by his example kindling and keeping alive a corre- sponding flame in others' breasts. Possessing such characteristics as have been just described, he could hardly fail to be honored, influential, and beloved among his parishioners, his fellow- townsmen, and in the community wherever known. They emi- nently fitted him to be .useful, acceptable, and ever-welcome, in performing the more retired duties of the pastoral office. In the pulpit he was solemn, devout, instructive, sustained, and impressive. His sermons were plain and practical, -intended not for display of learning or sensational effect, but to do good, to awaken and deepen moral and religious impressions, - yet often composed with careful elaboration. Having been born and brought up among the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, who settled in Londonderry, New Hampshire, he had received and retained a tinge of Calvinistic associations, of which he may never have been rid. But he was far from obtruding them on the notice of his hearers ; and dwelt, and in public and private de- lighted to dwell, on the main fundamental principles and precepts of Christianity, that reach far down beyond any mere dogmas of man's invention or discovery. That he was no more than what was termed a moderate Calvinist, is evidenced by the fact, that toward the close of his ministry measures were adopted for forming out of this a new society, - not on account of the over- grown state of the parish, which then in all probability was the largest in New England, numbering little if any less than
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three thousand souls ; but ostensibly and avowedly because a sufficiently rigid standard of orthodoxy was not upheld in it, and by its minister. He was indeed thoroughly and truly a liberal Christian, claiming for himself the unrestricted right to prove all things, to hold and utter what he believed to be true and good, and conceding to all men of all minds an equal right and title.
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After seventeen years' devoted service and usefulness here, with lasting mutual regrets, and friendships more enduring, he relinquished his pastoral relation, and assumed the duties, and trials too, of first President of Bowdoin College ; a position to which he was urgently called, for which his character and abili- ties peculiarly qualified him, and where they found ample scope for exercise. On this new sphere he entered with alacrity, and in the five short years allotted to him he accomplished much. Though summoned from earth in the midst of his days, being only in his fiftieth year when the summons came, he left behind him a rising and prosperous institution of learning, based on broad and secure foundations ; and now the taper he lighted upon it has become a burning and shining light in the East.
The ministry last sketched fell, as I have intimated, on troubled times. True, there was no open and declared war, - always to be reckoned among ,the direst of evils and calamities. But there were heavy debts accumulated during the Revolution, onerous taxes consequent thereon, a currency depreciated almost to no value at all, commerce and business stagnant or in stark derangement; rebellion, even in staid Massachusetts, against the constituted authorities ; the confederation of States felt to be, what it has been aptly compared to, a rope of sand; the framing and adoption of the Federal constitution of government ; the admin- istrations of Washington, and the elder Adams, and the incoming of Jefferson's ; interspersed with agitating questions and party conflicts at home, with threatening wars and jeopardized indepen- dence from abroad. All these difficulties and exigencies were met by members of this parish in a manner alike able and note- worthy.
Without enumerating in detail the services thus rendered, I
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must be permitted to detain you for a few moments, in remark- ing the striking part performed by some of your own number, and another intimately connected with you, in the most mo- mentous issue ever presented to this nation ; being nothing less than the existence and indefinite extension of negro slavery in our land, or its total extirpation from it. To the lot of Nathan Dane, for more than a half century a consistent and devout member of this society, it fell, or rather he wisely and bravely assumed the responsibility, of taking the great initiatory step toward banishing that plague-spot on the body politic, that dark stain on our country's escutcheon, that foul disgrace and burning shame of our republican institutions. A native of the county town of Ipswich, a graduate with high distinction at Harvard, he commenced and pursued through a prolonged life the profes- sion of his choice ; earning, by his diligence and abilities, the title -pronounced upon him by no less an authority than Judge Story - of Father of American Law, and, by his reputation and liberal endowments, leaving his name to designate the law school of the university in which he was trained, and to which, through a long life, he was warmly attached. Above all did he honor himself and dignify his profession, by being true, honest, just, and worthy, as a lawyer, not less than as a man and Christian. Instead of fostering litigation, ,as self-interest and professional bias might have seemed to prompt, he habitually and from prin- ciple discouraged it; thus carrying out in spirit, and all the more effectively from the motives which would naturally have been supposed to lead him to a contrary course, the spirit of the rule adopted in the first Boston church within five years from its formation, that none shall sue till certain persons named " have had the hearing and deciding of the case, if they can." To his honorable and disinterested conduct in this regard have been ascribed, by those with the best opportunities of observing and judging it, the peculiar aversion to litigiousness, and compara- tively rare cases of contestants at court, among the population with which, as legal adviser and practitioner, he was more im- mediately connected. A man with character founded on such a basis, was not slow in being called by the suffrages of an intelli-
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gent and patriotic constituency to public service, to assist in framing the laws he was so fitted to expound and apply. In 1785, he was elected to the State legislature, in which he per- formed valuable service ; at least, this may be inferred from his being commissioned, the following year, a member of the old Congress. Scarcely had he taken his seat, when he was ad- vanced to a commanding position in that body. In the year 1787, - that year ever memorable in the history of our country and his own fame, - he, as chairman of a committee, reported resolves for assembling at Philadelphia (that name symbolical of national as well as brotherly union) the convention that framed the Constitution of the United States ; and that same year he drafted and carried to its final passage the ordinance by which slavery was for ever banished from, and freedom secured to, the whole vast territory north-west of the Ohio River. Mingled with his various and engrossing occupations as a lawyer and statesman, together with necessary attention to his private affairs, were historical and theological investigations, for both of which he had a decided taste. The immense amount he accomplished, as a public man, a student, writer, and author, can be accounted for only by marvellous industry, combined with uncommon men- tal and physical powers. Through his long and laborious life, he was blessed with the sympathy, counsel, and active co-opera- tion of a wife whom, though childless, many of us remember as truly a mother in Israel ; to whom, departing at a very advanced age, was specially due the scriptural eulogium, " She hath done what she could." She accompanied him, while a member of Congress, during some of its sessions. Often has it been my privilege to listen to vivid descriptions, by that venerable couple, of scenes of absorbing interest, witnessed by them at the seat of government, in the closing years of the old Confederation, and under the administration of Washington.
But the singular felicity, the rare opportunity well and glo- riously improved, which the genius of our civil history will assign to Mr. Dane, consist in his having been the author of the Ordinance of '87, for the government of the North-western Territory. " We are accustomed," said Daniel Webster, in the
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Senate, " to praise the lawgivers of antiquity ; we help to per- petuate the fame of Solon and Lycurgus : but I doubt whether one single law of any lawgiver, ancient or modern, has produced effects of more distinct, marked, and lasting character than the Ordinance of 1787." Its prohibition of involuntary servitude, resting on original compact, reaching deeper down than all local laws or constitutions, stamped on the virgin soil the enduring imprint of freedom, and barred it for ever from being trod by the feet of slaves. Where, I cannot but here ask, should we have been, where would our nation be now, if this seasonable provision had not been made ? How different, probably, would have been the result of the late tremendous civil war, had the great North-west been originally given over to slavery, and been in alliance with the slave power, instead of sending forth from her teeming millions hosts of brave men to fight the battles of liberty, - her world-renowned generals, moreover, to conduct our armies to victorious triumph.
Nathan Dane's is not the only voice from among you that has made itself heard and felt in the halls of Congress on this momentous subject. More than threescore years had passed, during which the evil, that the Ordinance was specially designed to forefend, grew steadily in magnitude and force; became an object of serious alarm and conscientious horror to multitudes of true patriots, of devout and Christian men and women ; caused Jefferson, from the midst of a slaveholding community, to ex- claim, " I tremble for my country, when I remember that God is just ; " had raised an agitation which was no ghost to " down at the bidding" of any man or body of men, but which, the more loudly and fiercely it was denounced, would be the more deter- minedly carried on, as relating to a mighty wrong, in the awful consequences of which not slaves only, but the whole people, shared, and for which a responsibility, moral, if not civil, - and by not a few taken in both lights, - was widely and intensely felt. It was felt to be, and was, a canker at the root, a cancer at the vitals, which had sent a subtle and deleterious influence through the veins and arteries, and was eating into the heart, of the nation. Yet it had its apologists, advocates, and supporters,
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with a controlling agency at the seat of the national govern- ment, demanding its recognition as a general rather than sec- tional interest, - not only that the law for return of fugitive slaves should be rigidly executed in all the States, slave and free alike, but that masters should be at liberty to take their slaves into any part of the country, and in the territories espe- cially bring slavery into direct and full competition with free- dom. Moreover, there were not wanting those, and they were not few, who were ready to denounce and stigmatize with base aspersions, and visit with ostracism, any who boldly stood up for human rights and civil liberty against such monstrous and out- rageous assumptions. Personal safety was often risked and seriously endangered in the case of standard-bearers in free- dom's cause. Threats of life-peril were breathed against them, which were not always empty or unexecuted.
It was in this juncture of political affairs, in this posture of our national concerns and interests, that Robert Rantoul, Jr., entered on his duties as a member of Congress. He had some- time before volunteered, amid severe reproach, not to say oblo- quy, and in spite of the prevailing sentiment, in the defence of a fugitive slave, whose rendition was claimed under the operation of the Fugitive-slave Law. That law he maintained was unconstitutional, and therefore by due legal process to be set aside and rendered inoperative. Whatever may be the con- clusions at which different minds might arrive on the point, it must be admitted that it was discussed by him with consummate ability. On that occasion he was associated with, and nobly sustained by, another of your attached and highly esteemed fellow-parishioners, Charles G. Loring, - whose presence, pre- vented by extreme illness, we sadly miss to-day, - whose pen, tongue, and purse, and talents and weight of character, have ever been forward to enlist in every good cause, and through our late public trials have rendered service of incalculable benefit. Mr. Rantoul's position having been thus clearly de- fined and well understood, he was early called on, after taking his seat in Congress, to defend that position. This he did with a frankness and power which, while delighting his friends, con-
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manded the unfeigned respect and deference, admiration even, of his bitterest opponents. Listen to these carnest, searching, viewed in the light of recent events almost prophetic, utter- ances, which experience has proved wise and true, as they were brave, at the time they were delivered : -
" Do the Southern gentlemen know what they are doing ? Do they mean to throw the whole power over the subject of slavery into the hands of the Federal Government ? You do it here. Do gentlemen desire that two-thirds of the white men of the country, aye, a great many more than two-thirds very soon, . . . should take the subject of slavery into their hands, - to let it agitate, and agitate, and con- vulse the whole nation, until it shall finally be treated as it will be treated, if it becomes the fuel of a universal conflagration through this land. Let Southern gentlemen take warning in this matter. . . . It may result in civil war and anarchy. I say that is possible ; but in my opinion it is a mere possibility. But it is a possibility that prudent men ought to look at, because bad management may drive the chariot off the precipice, when, with the slightest degree of pru- dence and skill, the course would be perfectly safe. It may result in civil war, if badly managed indeed, without any sort of prudence. . . . Slavery will not last for ever, for the seeds of its death are within itself. Now almost the whole civilized world have got rid of it ; and that portion of the civilized world which still retains this institution, retains a temporary institution, and it must look about to see how, with the least inconvenience and suffering to itself, that temporary institution is to come to an end. That is the great ques- tion for Southern men ; and if it is to be pressed upon this govern- ment, - and I think it ought not to be, - then it is the great question for Northern men. . . . Agitation is not to be quieted by hard words. Hard words will have very little success on either side. This ques- tion of slavery can be quieted only in two ways. One way will be for the South to let it alone ; and then, if everybody at the North would let it alone, which no man can promise, it would be quieted. The other would be, to talk about it like reasonable men. Take it up as you take up any other great national interest, and try to get at the merits of it. When you do that, it will be then as quietly ap- proached and treated as any other subject ; and, by the blessing of Providence ou your honest endeavors, a way will be found to pass through that transition of social system through which most of
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the nations of Europe have passed within a comparatively recent period."
When he who thus spoke had been stricken down by fatal disease, in the meridian of his powers and the full tide of their successful exertion, and the lips from which such eloquent and forcible words proceeded were sealed in the silence of death, his successor, Charles W. Upham, did not hesitate to take up the gauntlet he had so courageously accepted and ably met, but which had fallen from his lifeless hand, and did battle with similar ability, courage, and sagacious foresight on the great, exciting topic ; which, though coming up under some variation of form, was still the same in substance, and in the intent and purpose for which the controversy was raised. It is very observable, that the two representatives of this district, belong- ing (I may on this occasion add) to this and the mother parish, should have coincided to the extent they did in the sentiments they held and uttered at that period, and in the distinguished part they bore in the war of words and ideas which preceded the im- pending conflict of arms. In the debate of 1854 in Congress, on the Kansas and Nebraska bill, Mr. Upham said (and what has occurred since gives deep significance to the language then used) : -
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