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IN the speech of Hon. Fisher Ames, on Jay's treaty, April 28, 1796, delivered on the floor of Congress, he says: "We are either to execute this treaty, or break our faith. To expatiate on the value of public faith, may pass with some men for declamation. To such men I have nothing to say. To others, I will urge, can any circumstance mark upon a people more turpitude and debasement? Can anything tend more to make men think themselves mean, or degrade to a lower point their estimation of virtue, and their standard of action? It would not merely demoralize mankind; it tends to break all the ligaments of society, to dissolve that mysterious charm which attracts individuals to the nation, and to inspire in its stead a repulsive sense of shame and disgust.

"What is patriotism? Is it a narrow affection for the spot where a man was born? Are the very clods where we tread entitled to this ardent preference, because they are greener? No, sir; this is not the character of the virtue, and it soars higher for its object. It is an extended self-love, mingling with all the enjoyments of life, and twisting itself with the minutest filaments of the heart. It is thus we obey the laws of society, because they are the laws of virtue. In their authority we see not the array of force and terror, but the venerable image of our country's honor. Every good citizen makes that honor his own, and cherishes it not only as precious, but as sacred. He is willing to risk his life in its defence, and is conscious that he gains protection while he gives it. For what rights of a citizen will be deemed inviolable, when a State renounces the principles that constitute their security? Or, if his life should not be invaded, what would its enjoyment be, in a country odious in the eyes of strangers, and dishonored in his own? Could he look with affection and veneration to such a country as his parent? The sense of having one would die within him. He would blush for his patriotism, if he retained any; and justly, for it would be a vice. He would be a banished man in his native land.

"I see no exception to the respect that is paid among nations to the law of good faith. If there are cases in this enlightened period when

it is violated, there are none when it is denied. It is the philosophy of politics, the religion of governments. It is observed by barbarians. A whiff of tobacco-smoke, or a string of beads, gives not merely binding force, but sanctity, to treaties. Even in Algiers, a truce may be bought for money; but, when ratified, even Algiers is too wise or too just to disown and annul its obligation. Thus, we see, neither the ignorance of savages, nor the principles of an association for piracy and rapine, permit a nation to despise its engagements. If, sir, there could be a resurrection from the foot of the gallows,-if the victims of justice could live again, collect together, and form a society,— they would, however loath, soon find themselves obliged to make justice -- that justice under which they fell the fundamental law of their state. They would perceive it was their interest to make others respect, and they would therefore soon pay some respect themselves, to the obligations of good faith."

Fisher Ames was born at Dedham, April 9, 1758, and was the youngest son of Dr. Nathaniel Ames, who was for forty years a noted author of almanacs; of whom it is related, having accidentally entered in one of them the prediction of snow in June, and a snow-storm occurring on the day named, it caused a rapid sale of his almanacs. It is related in the Massachusetts Historical Collections, that Dr. Nathaniel Ames, whose son Nathaniel was a surgeon in the army of the Revolution, had two wives, Mary and Deborah, successively of the name of Fisher. The first dying young, but not until after his mother, and her estate having vested in him, gave rise to the famous lawsuit, in which it was first determined that real estate ascended, contrary to the English rule, to the father, as next of kin, by the province law. Dr. Ames was a public taverner at Dedham; and there is a tradition that, after this case was decided, a sign-board was suspended over his door, with the painted figure of the judges, in full-bottomed wigs and robes, among whom were caricatured the two who were of adverse opinion. This being viewed as a contempt of court, it was shortly after taken down. Dr. Ames died at Dedham in 1764, aged fifty-seven years. His son Fisher was born in the Woodward mansion, on the north side of the court-house, opposite the monumental stone, surmounted by a pillar and a bust, erected in honor of William Pitt, for his services to the colonies. He graduated at Harvard College in 1774; studied law under Judge Tudor, and became a counsellor-atlaw. In 1788 he was a representative in the State Legislature; and

was elected to Congress for Suffolk county, December 18th of the same year, in opposition to Samuel Adams, and was probably the junior member of the house. He was also a delegate to the State convention on the federal constitution, in 1788; and was of the State Executive Council, in 1800. Mr. Ames married Frances, daughter of John Worthington, Esq., July 15, 1792. He continued in Congress during a period of eight years, where he displayed irresistible eloquence; and, after his memorable speech in favor of the treaty with Great Britain, from which a passage is presented at the head of this article, a member, opposed to Ames, objected to taking a vote at that time, as they had been overwhelmed by his eloquence. One day, when in the bookstore of Manning & Loring, in Boston, on observing their new edition of Perry's Dictionary, which was on the counter, in which words are accented,"Here is a book," said Ames, "showing us how to pronounce words." After a moment's reflection, he continued, "But we are told that the best standard of pronunciation is the imitation of the best speakers." The residence of Fisher Ames was in the dwelling now occupied by John Gardner, Esq. He died at Dedham, July 4, 1808. The stanzas herewith added were sung in King's Chapel, July 6, 1808, after the delivery of the eulogy of Samuel Dexter over the remains of Fisher Ames, and are ascribed to Rev. Dr. Gardiner :

"As, when dark clouds obscure the dawn,

The day-star's lustre disappears,

So Ames beheld our natal morn,

And left desponding friends in tears.
Soon as the distant cannon's roar

Announced that morn's returning ray,

He feared its early hopes were o'er,
And flew to everlasting day.
O, drop thy mantle, sainted shade,

On some surviving patriot name,
Who, great by thy example made,
May yet retrieve a nation's fame!
The manly genius, ardent thought,
The love of truth, and wit refined,
The eloquence that wonders wrought,
And flashed its light on every mind,
These gifts were thine, immortal Ames!
Of motive pure, of life sublime;
Their loss our flowing sorrow claims, -
Their praise survives the wreck of time."

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President Dwight, of Yale College, remarked of Fisher Ames that few men have so much good sense, and none with whom I have conversed, a mind so ready to furnish, at every call, the facts which should be remembered, the truths which should be declared, the arguments which should be urged, language in which they might be clearly and forcibly expressed, and images with which they might be beautifully adorned. His imagination was perhaps too brilliant, and too rich. It could hardly be said that any of the pictures which it drew were illdrawn or out of place; yet it might, I think, be truly said, that the gallery was crowded. The excess was not, however, the consequence of a defective taste, or a solicitude to shine; but the produce of a fancy over creative, always exuberant, and exerting its powers more easily in this manner than in any other. To speak and write as he actually spoke and wrote, was only to permit the thoughts and images which first offered themselves to flow from his lips or his pen.

"Mr. Ames was distinguished by a remarkable and very amiable simplicity of character. In circles where any man would have thought it an honor to shine, and where he always shone with superior lustre, he appeared entirely to forget himself, and to direct all his observations to the entertainment of the company, and the elucidation of the subject. Whenever he conversed, it was impossible to fail of receiving both instruction and delight. But the instruction flowed not from the pride of talents, or the ambition of being brilliant. Whatever was the field of thought, he expanded it; whatever was the theme of discussion, he gave it new splendor. But the manner in which he did both showed irresistibly that they were the most obvious and the least laborious employments of such a fancy. His sense of rectitude, both public and personal, was not only exact, but delicate and exquisite. His patriotism was glowing. Eminent as he was among those who were most eminent, I should more strongly covet his private character;" and President Allen says of Ames, he compelled assent more by striking allusions than by regular deductions, and for charms of conversation was unequalled. Ames was opposed to democracy, as it would end in monarchy; and was an ardent advocate of the Federal party, as being the shield of our constitution.

Though the professional brethren of Fisher Ames held him in the highest respect, they concurred with President Kirkland, who prepared the biography prefixed to his collected works, that he was more adapted for the senate than the bar. It was easy and delightful to him to illus

trate by a picture, but painful and laborious to prove by a diagram. He was a man of purest morals, of most amiable disposition, and most sincerely beloved by his friends, among whom were some of the most eminent men of that day. He was graphically sketched by Sullivan, as above the middle stature, and well formed. His features were not strongly marked. His forehead was neither high nor expansive. His eyes were blue and of middling size, his mouth handsome, his hair black, and short on the forehead, and in his latter years unpowdered. He was very erect, and when speaking he raised his head, or rather his chin, with the most projected part of his face. His face had a most complacent expression when he was speaking; and when he meant to be severe, it was seen in good-natured sarcasm, rather than in ill-natured words. It was said that the beautiful productions of his pen were the first flowings of his mind, and hardly corrected for the press. His life is supposed to have been shortened by his excessive anxiety about his country. Many of his predictions have been realized, and some of them in his lifetime. His air, manner and countenance, were those of an honest and sincere man. The condition of the country furnishes abundant proof that he was, politically, a wise man. All his mournful prophecies seem to be in the course of fulfilment."

Fisher Ames once said: "If every gravestone of a departed republic bore a lesson of wisdom and warning, the democrats would shut their eyes rather than look upon it. They have no idea of any principles, excepting their extremes when they are no longer principles;" and, in his Dangers of American Liberty, he asserts "it never happened in the world, and it never will, that a democracy has been kept out of the control of the fiercest and most turbulent spirits in the society. They breathe into it all their own fury, and make it subservient to the worst designs of the worst men;" and in another paragraph exclaims: "All history lies open for our warning,― open like a church-yard, all whose lessons are solemn, and chiselled for eternity in the hard stone;-lessons that whisper,-O! that they could thunder to republics, Your passions and your vices forbid you to be free!'"

Upon one occasion, Judge Story related the following anecdote in relation to three great men. "Samuel Dexter," said he, 66 I was one of those men whom, as was said of Burke, if you should meet on a rainy day beneath a shed, you would at once distinguish as a great A few moments' conversation with Mr. Dexter showed this; and I remember that when I first met him, not knowing who he was, I

man.

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