of the Constitution and the Union, many years after his death. When the first shot at Fort Sumter, like a fire-bell in the night, roused them from their slumber, and con vinced them that the great citadel of their liberties was in actual danger. Differ as we may and must as to his final course in his declining years, the one great fact can never be blotted out, that the great work of his grand and noble life was the defense of the Constitution —. so that he came to be known of all men as its one Defender — that for thirty years he preached to the listening nation the crusade of nationality, and fired New England and the whole North with its spirit. He inspired them to believe that to uphold and preserve the Union, against every foe, was the first duty of the citizen; that if the Union was saved, all was saved; that if that was lost, all was lost. He molded better even than he knew. It was his great brain that designed, his flaming heart that forged, his sublime eloquence that welded the sword, which was at last, when he was dust, to consummate his life's work, and make Liberty and Union one and in separable forever. And so, in large measure, it was with Mr. Choate. His glowing heart went out to his country with the passionate ardor of a lover. He believed that the first duty of the law yer, orator, scholar was to her. His best thoughts, his noblest words, were always for her. Seven of the best years of his life, in the Senate and House of Representatives, at the greatest personal sacrifice, he gave ab solutely to her service. On every great question that arose, he made, with infinite study and research, one of the great speeches of the debate. He commanded the affec tionate regard of his fellows, and of the watchful and listening nation. He was a profound and constant student of her history, and revelled in tracing her growth and prog ress from Plymouth Rock and Salem Har bor, until she filled the continent from sea to sea. He loved to trace the advance of
the Puritan spirit, with which he was him self deeply imbued, from Winthrop and Endicott, and Carver and Standish, through all the heroic periods and events of colonial, and revolutionary, and national life, until, in his own last years, it dominated and guided all of free America. He knew full well, and displayed in his many splendid speeches and addresses, that one unerring purpose of freedom and of Union ran through her whole history; that there was no accident in it all; that all the generations from the Mayflower down marched to one measure and followed one flag. That all the struggles, all the selfsacrifice, all the prayers and the tears, all the fear of God, all the soul-trials, all the yearnings for national life, of more than two centuries, had contributed to make the country that he served and loved. He, too, preached in season and out of season the gospel of Nationality. He was the faithful disciple of Webster, while that great Master lived, and, after his death, he bore aloft the same standard and maintained the same cause. Mr. Everett spoke nothing more than the truth, when he said in Faneuil Hall, while all the bells were tolling, at the mo ment when the vessel bringing home the dead body of his lifelong friend cast anchor in Boston Harbor: "If ever there was a truly disinterested patriot, Rufus Choate was that man. In his political career there was no shade of selfishness. Had he been willing to purchase advancement at the price often paid for it, there was never a moment, from the time he first made himself felt and known, that he could not have commanded anything that any party had to bestow. But he desired none of the rewards or honors of success." He foresaw with clear vision that the divi sion of the country into geographical parties must end in civil war. What he could not see was that there was no other way — that only by cutting out slavery by the sword, could America secure Liberty and Union too — but to the last drop of his blood, and
