EVERETT, EDWARD. 



329 



was equalled only by the inflated pomp of its 

 phraseology. The fame of the youthful student 

 long lingered round the walls of Harvard, and 

 his name was widely quoted as a prodigy of 

 precocious genius. After leaving college, he 

 was appointed to the office of tutor, which at 

 that period was deemed not the least among 

 the academic honors of his Alma Mater. In 

 connection with the duties of this post, he pur- 

 sued the study of theology, and in 1813 suc- 

 ceeded the eloquent and greatly admired Buck- 

 minster, as pastor of the Brattle Street Church 

 in Boston. His congregation represented the 

 most intelligent and refined circles in that city, 

 and he immediately rose to distinction as an 

 eloquent and impressive pulpit orator. Less 

 than twenty years of age, his almost juvenile 

 presence and singular youthful beauty formed 

 a strange contrast to the maturity and wisdom 

 of his thoughts, the classic elegance of his style, 

 and the chaste gravity of his elocution. During 

 the next year he published a " Defence of Chris- 

 tianity," in reply to a young man named Eng- 

 lish who had obtained a certain notoriety by 

 renouncing the Christian faith while studying 

 for the ministry, and making a profession of 

 Judaism. The work of Mr. Everett was received 

 with a wonder and delight which at this day 

 it is difficult to imagine, but the tradition of 

 which is unimpaired in the literary history of 

 New England. It was remarkable for its pro- 

 digious array of Biblical and philological learn- 

 ing, its frequent use of the researches of German 

 theologians, whose names had then scarcely 

 been heard of in this country, and its occasional 

 passages of tender and pathetic eloquence. 



In the same year he was elected Eliot Pro- 

 fessor of Greek literature in Harvard College, 

 and in order to qualify himself more fully for 

 the duties of the office, he entered upon an ex- 

 tended course of European travel and study. 

 After four years' residence at some of the prin- 

 cipal universities and capitals of Europe, during 

 which time he had pursued an extensive range 

 of study, embracing the ancient classics, the 

 modern languages, the history and principles of 

 the civil law and public law, together with the 

 political systems of Europe, he returned to Cam- 

 bridge in the year 1819. His accession to the 

 academic staff gave an almost incredible im- 

 pulse to the students of the University ; his ap- 

 pearance was hailed as a new and splendid light 

 in the literary horizon, " another morn risen on 

 mid noon;" his lectures in the branch of learn- 

 ing to which his professorship was devoted, and 

 his Sunday discourses in the college chapel, 

 produced a sensation almost unprecedented in 

 the annals of purely didactic eloquence. During 

 the same year, he took charge of " The North 

 American Review," which he conducted till 

 1824, in the summer of which year he delivered 

 his celebrated Phi Beta Kappa oration, to an 

 immense audience at Cambridge, including Gen. 

 Lafayette, who was then in the midst of his tri- 

 umphant progress through the United States. 

 The subject of this oration was, " The circum- 



stances favorable to the progress of Literature 

 in America." The oration, both in its matter 

 and the eloquence of its delivery, was well 

 worthy of the fame of the rising orator. A wri- 

 ter in the "Christian Examiner" of November, 

 1850, thus describes the effects it produced upon 

 the audience : " The sympathies of his audienco . 

 went with him in a rushing stream as he painted 

 in glowing hues the political, social, and literary 

 future of our country. They drank with thirsty 

 ears his rapid generalizations and his sparkling 

 rhetoric. The whole assembly put on one coun- 

 tenance of admiration and assent. As with 

 skilful and flying hands the orator ran over the 

 chords of national pride and patriotic feeling, 

 every bosom throbbed in unison to his touch ; 

 and when the fervid declamation of the con- 

 cluding paragraph was terminated by the simple 

 pathos of the personal address to Lafayette, his 

 hearers were left in a state of emotion far too 

 deep for tumultuous applause." 



This was the first of a series of discourses 

 pronounced by Mr. Everett on public occasions 

 during the next forty years, embracing every 

 variety of topic connected with our national 

 history, character, and prospects, and which, 

 combine in an eminent degree the peculiar 

 charm of popular oratory with those substantial 

 merits of thought and style which do not shrink 

 from the cold criticism of the closet. 



In 1824, Mr. Everett commenced his political 

 career as member of Congress from Middlesex, 

 in which district he resided for many years. By 

 several reflections he served ten years in the na- 

 tional House of Representatives, and during the 

 whole period he held the important post of mem- 

 ber of the Committee on Foreign Affairs ; and in 

 the Twentieth Congress^though belonging to 

 the minority in politics, he was appointed chair- 

 man of that committee by the Democratic 

 Speaker, Mr. Stevenson, of Virginia. During 

 nearly the whole of his Congressional course 

 he was placed on the most important select 

 committees, and in every instance was appointed 

 to draw up the majority or minority report. 



Among the important topics which he thus 

 discussed in his reports, and some of which 

 he subsequently handled with great ability in 

 the pages of the "North American Review," 

 were the question of the Panama Mission, the 

 minority report of the Retrenchment Commit- 

 tee, the Georgia Controversy (in which he took 

 strong grounds in favor of the Indians), the 

 minority report of the Bank Investigating Com- 

 mittee, the minority report of the Committee 

 on Foreign Relations on the Controversy with 

 France in the spring of 1835, two or three re- 

 ports on the French Spoliation Claims, some 

 letters to Mr. Canning in 1827, on the Colonial 

 Trade, and a full discussion of the South Carolina 

 doctrine of nullification. This subject was sub- 

 sequently, in October, 1830, further handled 

 with great ability in the "North American 

 Review." 



In the autumn of 1834 he declined a renomi- 

 nation to Congress, and was chosen Governor 



