Weaver, Richard Thomas
Cover page
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Philosophers, Poets, Warriors, Statesmen all shine forth in forming
characters on the pages of the historian; but the benevolent in whom are
beautifully blended religion, bravery philanthropy and patriotism sink into
their graves and their noble attributes are lost in oblivion. Is this right? Is
this wise? Shall the high wrought fictions of an in[unrecovered]utive genius
have their panegyrists; the marvellous feats of strength and valor be duly
celebrated; the guardians of freedom and of national peace and prosperity be
held up as exemplars to all aspiring spirits; and the actions of the rarest and
most valuable of them all suffered to pass away like pleasant dreams, that
spring in the mind, excite the fancy for awhile and then subside into
forgetfulness? No. Though in the every-day intercourse of man with his fellow,
deeds of kindness and charity may be performed; the sick comforted; the poor
succored; and the unfortunate befriended; yet few deserve the title of the
truly benevolent; and when those bright stars rise, whatsoever land may be so
fortunate as to behold the splendor of their first appearance, and enjoy the
softening influence of their genial rays, it is the duty of us all to chant an
anthem of welcome at their coming, and erect a monument in our hearts at their
setting.
John
Howard
was born in a land and in an age that demanded the kind
intervention of some bold and humane heart. It is true that his country was not
still groping in the darkness of barbarism nor struggling in the iron chains of
superstition.
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Cities were not to be sacked, fields
to be drenched with blood or strewed with livid limbs and bodies of dying men.
All pointed to one
Jehovah,
the author of all things and civilization was in its onward progress. But what
was the view around him? The poor and distressed, who crowd every country at
every age were calling loudly for some assisting hand. Throw open the
prison-house and lazzaretto and look within. The soul shrinks from the dread
sight. Here may be heard the shreik of agony—the groan of death
commingled in one sound of undistinguished horror. Here many a haggard form
raises his sunken eyes, anxiously gazes around for relief and shuts them again
in despair and death. Here are they who have bid a long farewell to all human
kind; the wasted form; the cold and bloodless cheek tell a tale of saddest
sorrow—of friends now perhaps mingled with the dead—of hope, like a
faithless flatterer, fled in the utmost hour of need; or perhaps of a son cast
upon the bleak world's mercy.
The horrid condition of the prisons and of prison discipline had
for a long time escaped the sensibility
of all
charitable hearts. Vice prevailed to such a startling degree, that the dungeon
was converted into a seminary of wickedness and villainy. The young were
initiated by the old and confirmed in all the arts and mysteries of iniquity.
Instead of being reformed, which is the chief object of confinement, they came
forth from their cells fiends well-tutored in unrestrained ferocity, let loose
in all their fury to commit deeds of still greater horror and bloodshed. To
heighten the fearful coloring of this dreadful scene, the
king of
terrors came in the garb of loathsome
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and
lingering disease, and contagion spread its foul and putrid hands over
thousands of prisoners.– Here was a field suited to the humane and feeling
Howard
– to give warmth and animation to the heart
almost chilled by death's cold hand and bring back to the mournful soul the
joys of better days.
What language is adequate to depicture the goodness and the
fortitude of that heart which dared to contend alone, against the chilling
repukes of a frozen-hearted world and the strong arm of misfortune? That heart
which yeilded up the calm retirement of a peaceful home and consented to
sacrifice time, fortune, strength and life for the relief of distressed
humanity. No single tract of earth could bound the active powers of his mind.
In the beautiful language of
Burke; He visited all
Europe, not to
survey the sumptuousness of palaces or the stateliness of temples; not to make
accurate measurements of the remains of ancient grandeur, not to form a scale
of the curiosity of modern art; not to collect medals or collate manuscripts;
but to dive into the depths of dungeons; to plunge into the infection of
hospitals; to survey the mansions of sorrow and pain; to take the guage and
dimensions of misery depression and contempt; to remember the forgotten; to
attend to the neglected; to visit the forsaken; and to compare and collate the
distresses of all men in all countries.
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He had himself tasted the bitter cup of adversity and it seemed to
set his sympathies on fire. Impressed with the importance of his designs and
the uncertanity of human things, he burned to accomplish as much as possible
within the narrow limits of human existence. He followed up his plans with
wonderful vigor and constancy; but by no means with that heat and eagerness,
that inflamed
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and exalted imagination which
characterize the enthusiast. Hence he was not liable to catch at partial
representations; to view facts through fallacious mediums and to fall into
those mistakes which are so frequent in the man of fancy and warm feeling.
Some who knew him only by his extraordinary deeds, were ready
enough to bestow upon him that sneer of contempt, which cold and unfeeling
hearts are wont to apply to whatever has the show of high sensibility. Others
of slight acquaintance and
who discerned in
him occasional harshness were disposed to question his feeling altogether and
attribute his exertions merely to habit or to a strange and wayward humor.
Ungrateful, error-blinded men! ill-rewarders of unparalelled generosity, to
reckon for nought the sincerest exercise of man's noblest feeling. He felt as a
man should feel. He was not misled either in the estimate which he formed of
objets of utility or in his reasonings concerning the means by which they were
to be accomplished. The reformation of abuses and the relief of misery were the
great purposes which quickened his every thought, and strained every nerve; and
the tear of sensibility started in his eyes on recalling the distressful scenes
to which he had been witness, and the spirit of indignation flashed from them
at the recollection of baseness and oppression. Though his whole course of
action was an exhibition of intrepidity and fortitude, his constancy and self
collection never deserted him. He was never agitated never off his guard. His
nerves were firm and bearing
God's
impenetrable shield he was fearless of consequences. Nor was it on great
occasions alone, that this strength of mind was shown:—it raised him
above all false shame and that aim which makes a coward
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of many a brave man in the presence of a superior. No one ever less
feared the face of man than he. No one ever hesitated less in speaking bold
truths or avowing obnoxious opinions. His courage was equally passive and
active and he was prepared to make every sacrifice that a regard to strict
veracity or rigorous duty could enjoin.
Nor were the effects of thirty years' labor and peril to be felt by
his own generation alone. The whole world in all coming time will feel the
power of his mighty influence and witness the revolutions of his wonder-working
hand. He laid the foundation of all prison discipline. From the magic of his
touch the world received a fresh impetus in the career of benevolence. Nothing
has since checked its progress. It is still marching on with accelerated speed.
toward the consummation of universal love and good will.
"Nature on thy maternal breast,
For ever be his name engraved.
To all the lands where'er the tear
That mourned the Prisoner's wrongs sincere
Sad Pity's glistening cheek impearl'd
Eager he steered with every sail unfurl'd
A friend to every clime! A Patriot of the world!"
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Endnotes:
1.
University Papers, UA. The speech is written on four sheets of
paper folded in half to make a booklet. The recto of the first leaf is a title
page, on which is written "'The Life and Character of
John
Howard'
/
R.T. Weaver
/
Northampton co./N.C." The words "
Chapel
Hill/
April 1846" appear to the left of
Weaver's
name. A second hand has written "[
Richard Thomas Weaver
]" below the date. The folder
housing this speech contains fourteen additional senior speeches; thirteen are
dated April 1846, and one is dated May 1, 1846. None of the speeches contains
corrections by the professor of rhetoric; they appear to be final copies,
prepared after the professor had made his corrections and approved the
speeches. Because
Weaver's
senior speech bears a similar but not identical
title to his commencement address on "
Howard
, the Philanthropist" (
Battle 1:499),
Weaver
evidently delivered his senior speech (or a
revision of it) again at the 1846 Commencement.
2.
Edmund
Burke,
"Speech at
Bristol Previous to the Election,
6 September 1780," The
Writings and Speeches of Edmund Burke, ed.
W. M. Elofson (Oxford: Clarendon P, 1996), 3:638.
3.
William
Haley,
"Ode, Inscribed to
John
Howard
, Esq. F. R. S. Author of 'The State of English and Foreign
Prisons,'" lines 127-28 and 176-80 (1788):
"Nature on thy maternal breast,/For ever be his worth
engrav'd. [. . .] To all the lands, where'er the tear/That mourned the
Prisoner's wrongs sincere/Sad Pity's glist'ning cheek impearl'd/Eager he
steer'd with every sail unfurl'd,/A friend to every clime! a Patriot to the
World!"