Beginning Life's Work

Yoohg I.ai)ii:s and Gentlemen: At the close of the relation which we liave so plessantly, and I tliink profitably sustained to each other lor i year or more past, it is perliaps iitlin! thal J sliould iirst tliank you for the respect aud deference alwaya appareut. And then, that I Bnoold congratúlate yon upoii the snccessful termina tionof your academie studies; that I shouid welcome you into the ranks of the profession, and that I sliould ofTer you my sincere wish for your advancement and preferment in all that is honorable to be achieved. This is yoor beginning. This is your comineneement. The iield is wide and the opportunities are immense. The -pace is ampie, aml it you find il a little bil crowded on the pavement " there is plenty of room at the top.'' I should say, perhaps, iliat il' J atn spared only a decide oi' yeara I expect to near from yon. Il is related of Daniel Webster, thut, Bomewhat chagrinned at not receiviiiii tlie appoinnnent of Valedictorian of his class, at Dartmoiith, lie tore his diploma into shreds upon the stage, and, turning i to llie Faculty and Trustees present, remarked, "gentlemen you will hear from me." The Valedictorian has never been heard from. lt is more than probable that the ambition ot' Webster was provoked and stimulated into a lixed and determined resolutiou to make himseli' heard in after days. All of us are making all sorts of resolutions from time to time. Resolutions are good tliings, and I believe in bringing to one's help all the externa] aids which he can oommand. Write (hem down, and if' you are not certain that they are practical, give them a short life, but steadfastly and honestly enforce their terms until you change them. They are contracta with yourself, and he who will viólate a treaty with himself, will very soon be ready to viólate a treaty with his neighbor. We are only required to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, yet it is a fact, that most men, in dealing with their neighbors, are more straightforward and honest tlian when dealing with themselves. Now you are about to go forlli to swell the number of the alumni of this renowned University. The class of '93 ! A year memorable for the greatest and graódest exhibition of the greatest national variety that history has ever recorded ; and this is the greatest, and erandest of Republics. The class of ".:!! What a miserable, wretched retrospecl it would bo, ten yeara henee, to behold one of the class of '93, who belongs to the top in habits, in character, in energy, in vigor, in professional attainments, in general achievements, groping and groveüing amid the shadow and gloom of the lower strata of human existence. Most of you have reason to be thankful that you have been born in sotne country that encourages and rewards the development of your manhood, encourages this development personally, politically, and professionally; professionally, your own observation and experience have already taught you, that you will have rival 8 and competitors that will exact from you the most indefatigable labor and study, the most unwearied struggle after attainments. Read carelully therefore, again, at the very outset, the Commentaries of Mr. Ja atice Blackstone, of Chancellor Kent, and carry with you at the same time, until you have learned them almost by heart, the Commentaries of Mr. Justice Story on the Constitution of the United States. PERSONAL DBVKLOPMKBT. lt would embarrass me to speak at any great length on personal development in these short observations. You are all mature in years; you are familiar with the personal duties and obligations of life, and I cannot imagine the necessity of urging upon you the maintenance of high ideas, lofty purposes; I cannot imagine that you can hope for deserved and lasting success without, a high standard of moral excellence, a continued presence of culture and refinement. I beg pardon, however, if you deern it intrusión, if I point you to one guide which will never fail in all political, personal and moral relations. Read the Sermón on ihe Moxint. Many of you are familiar with it, some of you, I fear, have forgotten it. It is the iifth, sixth and seventh chapters of St. Matthew. Read it carefully, read it at morning, read it at night, read it daily. It will enable yóu to solve every complication of life, whether itbe social, domestic, personal, political or professional; and it will, at least, teach you the wide difierence between building your house upon a rock and building ij upon the Band. THE LAWYER IN POLITICS. Now, as to politics. Most of you are citizens of the Republic 1 hope I shall not be guilty of any inyidious distinctions if I speak chiefly of that citizenship. It is said, that Gen. Lee, in one of the most bloody battles of the war, paused to observe, that, if he bad an army of men with the bravery and courage of the Southern troop-, and the patriotism of the Union army, he could win any battle that was ever foughl Gen. Lee was only theoretically (■(.neet. Any one" of the great nationsof Europe can bring into the field to-day an army equal to that of the United States. But in any fóreign war in wliich the United States should be engaged it is more than probable, ït 8 alniosl certain, that she would be efficiënt, that Gen. Lee's confidence wou ld not be misplaced. 1HIS IS A CIIRISTIAN COUNTRY. But, gentlemen, this is a Christian country. ïbu may carefully elimínate Vrom the Oonstitution of the United States any expresgion of the recognition of the Deity : it matters not whetheryou read the bible in the public schools, nor does it concern U8 what privileges of worship yon may extend to the Jews or Gentiles, to the Atheïst, or the Infidel, it is nevertheless true. tlial the National Sentiment of this country is pervaded and permeated through and through by the Ohristian spirit, the Christian civüization, and it is botter by )ar to submit all controvtrsies, following the example to-day of two of the greatest nationsof the globe- England and America- to the tribunal of Arbitration. NATIONAL SENTIMENT. But now as respects National Sentiment, in all your political ambitions, in all your political aspirations, try to keep in touch with the National Sentiment. It is only a few years ago (we all, you know, have prejudices) that I conceived a horrible prejudice against what is popularly known as Woman's Suifrage. I got the idea with Paul, that women ought not to speak in a meeting. I may say now, that I believe, that the National Sentiment is rapidly drifting in favor of extending to all, to every human being, the political privilege which is accorded to one. There will be no limitation based u pon race, sex, color, previous condition of servitude, or nationality. Now it seems to me ridiculous and absurd, that a yonng woman who has graduated at Harvard or the University of Michigan should be compelled to lock herself up in her domicile and engage all her time in determining the question as to what her husband shall have for dinner or supper ; denied all rights of any interest whatever, because even interest is frowned down often times, in national affaire, in this great country of which she forms so important a part and of which she is a citizen, and particularly where she represents property rights and property interests. Look well, therefore, gentlemen, to the drift of National Sentiment. FOREIGN INFLUX. So as regards the Chinese. National sentiment in this country will condemn the present method ot' treating the Chinese. Think of this great Republic, afraid of 30,000 Chinese ! Think of it ! You gentlemen from the North, who condemn the breach of duty of the Southern people towards the African people of the South, just emerging from slavery, think of it! Eight million in the aggregate and yet you are afraid to cope with the existence of 30,000 Chinese within your borders. The United States as a nation cannot prosper, at least have peaceful and uarnionioiis relations with all the nations of the earth, if it discriminates between nationalities. Let there be, if you please, a limitation upon immigration, but let that limitation be not founded upon nationality, but be uniformly applied to all nationalities alike. Good men of all nationalities we want, bad men we ought to shun and avoid. CHURCU TAXATION. Take another question, that of church taxation. Now I may agree with those who favor church taxation, but I exjjress no opinión upon any of tliese questions. What I say is only in tended as a suggeation. Churches are not sources of any revenue. Suppose, now, for the purpose of giving the state revenue, we convert all churches and charitable institutions into places of business. Don't you think the state would be the loser of a million times more than the taxes they would gather? I simply say that it is well to watch National Sentiment. I believe that National Sentiment will condemn to disappointment any aspirant for political honors who succeeds in securing lawê whieh will tax church property, although he may have all the logic on his side. This question of National Sentiment is a question of feeding wfaich cannot be avoided. So with reference to a great many other questions. I may add, in conclusión, that National 'Sentiment is always patriotic. That means supreme loyalty to the góvernment of the United States. The great state of Mississippi, which was represented so long and bo ably in the National Councila by Jeffereon Davis, in an enactment of a Constitution in l'-1'. ppt8 upon record the first declaration of an orgauized body, thal il shali he unconstitutional lora slate to take any aclion whatever looking tuwanls a wlthdrawal from the Union. Again I need say to you that National Sentiment is patriotic, it maana loyaliy, Bupreme loyalty to t he Governmenl of the Uïiitoil States. We have bul one flag; It Üoats at the head ol everv pitces8ion where a Bag ia Boatea. The boys use it, when, in their sportivo fancy, they represen! the miniature -soldiers of ihe United States. The girls use ii whon they (icck and adorn themselves as fragmenta "i' a Fourtli of July celebration. It embellishes ii' balls oí all politica] j)arlies no matter how violently arrayed against eacli oiher. It i-; yonrs. It is mine, it h "The star Spangled Banner,Oh! long may it . O'erthe land i the tree, and tlie homo of the brave."