South Carolina and the whole South which we have seen met with a promptitude, energy, gallantry, and effect that has forced the assailant to cry out an hundred times that he was still alive, though we all could see that he was most cruelly pounded. Memory, Mr. President, is the lowest faculty of the human mind-the irrational animals possess it in common with man- the poor beasts of the field have memory. They can recollect the hand that feeds and the foot that kicks them; and the instinct of self-preservation tells them to follow one and to avoid the other. Without any knowledge of Greek or Latin, these mute, irrational creatures" fear the Greek offering presents "; they shun the food offered by the hand that has been lifted to take their life. This is their instinct; and shall man, the possessor of so many noble faculties, with all the benefits of learning and experience, have less memory, less gratitude, less sensibility to danger, than these poor beasts? And shall he stand less upon his guard, when the hand that smote is stretched out to entice? Shall man, bearing the image of his Creator, sink thus low? Shall the generous son of the West fall below his own dumb and reasonable cattle in all the attributes of memory, gratitude, and sense of danger? Shall his "Timeo Danaos" have been taught him in vain? Shall he forget the things VOL. IX.-10. |