...
"Mr. Webster had now recovered his composure, and, fixing his keen
eye on the Chief Justice, said in that deep tone with which he
sometimes thrilled the heart of an audience:--
"'Sir, I know not how others may feel' (glancing at the opponents
of the college before him), 'but for myself, when I see my Alma
Mater surrounded, like Caesar in the senate-house, by those who are
reiterating stab after stab, I would not, for this right hand, have
her turn to me, and say, _Et tu quoque, mi fili! And thou too, my
son!_'"
This outbreak of feeling was perfectly genuine. Apart from his personal
relations to the college, he had the true oratorical temperament, and no
man can be an orator in the highest sense unless he feels intensely, for
the moment at least, the truth and force of every word he utters. To move
others deeply he must be deeply moved himself. Yet at the same time Mr.
Webster's peroration, and, indeed, his whole speech, was a model of
consummate art. Great lawyer as he undoubtedly was, he felt on this
occasion that he could not rely on legal argument and pure reason alone.
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