WRITINGS OF SAM HousroN, 1826
56
might make the statement much stronger, I might remind this committee that after the scenes of French Town and Havre de Grace, and the deeds transacted there- which would make even the savage blush-of the resolution introduced in the Senate of Massachusetts, respecting a transaction which throbs yet in the core of every American heart. I mean, Sir, the fall of the gal- lant Lawrence: 1 When a resolution was moved in the Senate of that State, that a sentiment of approbation should be expressed of the deeds of that devoted hero, what was the reception of that resolution? It was urged against its adoption, that it would give great discontent to the good People of that Commonwealth, and and encouragement to the continuance of the "present unjust, unnecessary and iniquitous war, and it was resolved on the motion of Mr. Quincy, that a war like the present, waged without justi- fiable cause, and on the ground of conquest and ambition; that it was not becoming a moral and religious People to express any approbation of military or naval exploits, which are not imme- diately connected with our sea- coast and soil." What think you of such sentiments as these? Are they patri- otic? are they republican? Yet, forsooth, they were agreeable to the good People of Massachusetts. What was the occasion on which sentiments were expressed? Lawrence had fa!len a martyr to the liberty and honor of his country, and this was the tribute prepared for his memory. When the intelligence of his glory and his death, so intimately blended with that of his country, passed throughout this Union the whole nation felt the wound. The tear of regret did not bedew the female cheek alone. The stern warrior evidenced his sympathy; the hearty sailor paused im his laoor, and yielded to the generous impulse of his nature. But, in Massachusetts, it was immoral and irre- ligious to sanction his gallant deeds. They had no tribute to offer. To whom shall our tribute be given, if not to those who have gallantly shed the last drop of their blood to maintain our rights, and to defend all that is near and dear to us- if not to men whose example like that of Lawrence, by its power, would convert our boys into heroes? His last accents left a proud monument to his memory. Ere that gallant spirit flitted from its sphere on earth,. and filled that space in its native Heaven, to mingle with kindred spirits there, he exclaimed in burning ac- cents, "Don't give up the ship." The language of the eulogist. the monumental records of marble and of brass are mute in com- parison with the eloquence of that sentence. His memory is con-
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