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plainly and intelligibly, so that, if you "lose a single word, a single link, you break the connection," according to a remark of Bishop Heber. When a jury is impanelled, the case should be plainly stated, without Latin, in our own vernacular English, and in this way the minds of commonly sensible men may be conducted to high results of argument.

There can be no better tribunal than the people brought together in the jury-box, under the solemn sanction of an oath, and acting under the instructions of enlightened judges. In what a vast majority of cases do they decide right! I am attached to this mode of trial, and will never consent to give it up. Ad quæstionem facti respondeant juratores. In cases of doubt, the special verdict, or case stated, is an admirable expedient. The judge's mind clearly made up on a case clearly stated, becomes authority for all other like cases. There is no system of jurisprudence but the common law that enjoys this advantage. The learned Court of Session in Scotland adjudges disputed questions of law and fact. It is composed of sixteen judges, and they often differ on both law and fact, and it has happened to Sir Walter Scott, as the clerk of court, finally to put the question, "Are you on the whole in favor of the pursuer or the defender?" The same objection applies to the Roman or civil law, that system of law in every branch of which one of your distinguished citizens (the lamented Hugh S. Legaré), whose premature demise I most deeply and sincerely mourn, has been so eminent. To us it is only a great fountain of excellent general principles. There the case is not to be found; and general rules do not afford the precise analogy to the case in point.

Brethren, we are apprentices of the law, the honorable profession of the law; let us make our master a grateful return. For my own part, although largely connected with other pursuits, yet will I not forget the debt I owe to the profession of the law. It found me a youth among the granite hills of my native New England, fit for nothing but to try my fortune on any cast. It was my good fortune to be directed to the law, and the result is, I have earned an honorable competence, reared a family, and shall at least leave my children the possession of a good education, and the inheritance of a good name.

In conclusion, Gentlemen, I offer you the following toast:The Law: It has honored us, may we honor it.

RECEPTION AT COLUMBIA.*

HON. DANIEL WEBSTER'S VISIT TO COLUMBIA. - This distinguished gentleman (accompanied by his family) visited our town last week, and remained from Wednesday evening to yesterday morning. He was received with such honors and hospitalities, public and private, as it is suitable to tender to one who fills so eminent a position in our Union. On arriving, he repaired to the mansion of his friend, the Hon. W. C. Preston, President of the South Carolina College (whose more especial guest he was), and in the course of the evening was greeted by several hundred ladies and gentlemen, who had been invited to meet him. The College buildings and grounds were brilliantly illuminated by the students, whose welcome Mr. Webster acknowledged in a brief address. On Thursday, with the ladies of his party, he was elegantly entertained at Millwood, the seat of Colonel Hampton, whose stately mansion and wide domain are among the most magnificent to be seen in the South. In the evening he attended a soirée at the residence of Dr. Lieber, the distinguished Professor of History in our College. Friday morning was employed in riding over and examining the extensive plantations of B. F. Taylor, Esq. and Colonel Hampton, until two o'clock, when Mr. Webster repaired to Clark's Hotel, to receive such of our citizens as might be disposed to make acquaintance with him. Here he was addressed, in behalf of the town authorities, by W. F. De Saussure, Esq., to whom he replied in suitable terms.

The students of the College having held a meeting, and appointed a committee to tender to Mr. Webster their respects and congratulations, at four o'clock he repaired to the chapel, where Mr. Farrow, of the Senior Class, made to him the following exceedingly well composed address:

"HONORABLE SIR, -Allow me, in the name of my fellow-students of the South Carolina College, to present you the assurance of their sincere pleasure at being honored with your presence on this occasion.

* Abridged from the Columbia South Carolinian of the 17th of May, 1847.

Conscious we are that our humble tribute can add but little either to your pleasure or your fame. But taught from infancy to respect worth, we could not be silent when we see in our midst one in whom are blended the finished scholar, the able statesman, the pure patriot; one 'whose fame can no more be hemmed in by stateliness,' than the consecrated histories of Boston, Bunker Hill, and Lexington. However warm may be our gratitude to those who sustain our country's honor on the battle-field, we are not forgetful of those whose names are interwoven in the history of the councils of state and the debates of senates. And whilst we weave a willing wreath around the victor's brow, we equally offer the homage of our hearts and our understandings to men illustrious as you are, Sir, in civil life. Be assured, Sir, on our part, of a most hearty welcome amongst us."

To which Mr. Webster replied:

YOUNG GENTLEMEN OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA COLLEGE,— I thank you for the manner in which you have been pleased to receive me, and for the respect which you have manifested. You are of the generation which is to come after us, and your judg ments are to form part of the opinion of posterity, in respect to those who are now active in the scenes of life. It will be happy for me, if the mature sentiments of your manhood shall correspond with those thus expressed in your youth.

My young friends, I may well congratulate you on your present condition, and your prospects. You are members of a flourishing institution. You enjoy the teachings of a learned faculty, with a name at its head beloved in private life, highly distinguished in public life, and which confers grace as well as usefulness on these academic groves. Private and family affections cluster round you all; a thousand hopes are cherished for you; all good auspices hover over you. Every one of you may take to himself, in this respect, the language of the poet,

"Non sine Dis animosus infans."

Let me, then, say to each of you, "Carpe diem." Art is long and science is profound, and literature, in our day, is variou and extensive. But you have youth, and health, and the means of culture and improvement, and can accomplish great objects. With you it is the bright and breezy morn of life. A long day, I trust, is before you. Let me advise you to be early in prosecuting the great work, which in that day is to be done. Like

the morning of the natural day, let the morning of life begin with devotion to the Great Giver of all good; and let every succeeding hour of that life be filled with acts of duty, and friendship, and private and public beneficence. The evening of such life will be full of hopes for a better; and all will be cheered and consoled by

"that which should accompany old age,

As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends."

Young Gentlemen, all my good wishes attend you! May you here sow, with liberal broadcast, the seeds of a future harvest of honor to yourselves, gratification to your friends, and usefulness to your country!

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RECEPTION AT SAVANNAH.*

AGREEABLY to previous arrangements, at eleven o'clock on the morning of Wednesday, the 26th ultimo, the committee of thirteen waited upon Mr. Webster at his lodgings, and escorted him to the platform erected against the Greene and Pulaski monument, in Monument Square. A very large audience of both sexes was in attendance. We have seldom seen a brighter or more interesting spectacle in this city.

Mr. Webster having taken his place upon the stage, and quiet prevailing among the audience, he was addressed by Mr. Justice Wayne as follows:

"SIR,- The people of Savannah, mindful of the services which you have rendered to our common country, welcome you to our city. We mean it to be a hearty welcome.

"Unaided by those accidents of fortune which give to some men temporary notoriety, you have achieved for yourself, and mostly in the service of your country, lasting reputation as a jurist, orator, and statesman. But, more than this, and that which we think you value most, you have also, in working your way to such distinction, won as much of the confidence and friendly regards of your contemporaries as in our day any public man can hope to enjoy. Proofs of it have been given to you everywhere. They were awaiting your arrival, if sickness had not shortened your journey, wherever you might have gone. Those kindly influences are worth a thousand other triumphs. It is in such a spirit we now address you, and, if the hundreds in our view could hear my voice, theirs would respond with the same feeling.

"All that you have done, Sir, and the manner in which it has been done, will be told in our history. More than thirty years of public service have identified you with the leading political incidents of that time. Memorable things have happened. The prominent actors in them will be judged, not alone by the parts they may have taken, but by the con

* From the Savannah Republican of the 3d of June, 1847.

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