George F. Hoar

The Whigs were in favor of using wisely, but courageously, the forces of the Nation and State to accomplish public objects for which private powers or municipal powers were inadequate.

They were satisfied if they could contribute, by counsel or labor, to the well-being of the State by the advancement of their cherished political principles.

It contained a large body of able and influential men who wielded the power of absolute disinterestedness.

Its leading men--Saltonstall, Reed, Lawrence, Lincoln, Briggs, Allen, Ashmun, Choate, Winthrop, Davis, Everett, and their associates--were men whose private and public honor was without a stain.

Its standard of personal character was of the highest.

Three things stood in the way of lovers of liberty in the Commonwealth.

When the treaty was signed, the struggle began between freedom and slavery for the control of this imperial domain.

I do not think there was ever so good a political organization in the country before, or that there ever has been a better one since.

I had pretty good company, not in the least due to any merit or standing of my own, but only because the men who were enlisted for the war in the great political battle against slavery were bound to each other by a tie to which no…

It was a pretty good education, better than that of any university, to be a young Free Soiler in Massachusetts.

And no political party in history was ever so great in the accomplishment for liberty, progress and law.

No political party in history was ever formed for objects so great and noble.

It awakened in my heart in early youth all the enthusiasm of which my nature was capable, an enthusiasm which from that day to this has never grown cold.

I became of age at just about the time when the Free Soil Party, which was the Republican party in another form, was born.

But there was something in that struggle with slavery which exalted the hearts of those who had a part in it, however humble, as no other political battle in history.

I am afraid they have of late yielded for a time to one strong temptation and missed an opportunity for still greater glory, that never will come back.

The time was ripe for the great movement that abolished slavery.

The Dane Law School was then, and I suppose it is even more true of it now, a most admirable place for learning the science of law and preparing for its practice.

The time in a Law School is never likely to be wasted if the youth have in him any spark of generous ambition.

I say that if a law student wish to acquire a vigorous and manly English style, the fit vehicle for conveying weighty thoughts to courts or juries or popular assemblages, let him give his days and nights to Robert South.

I have probably put as much hard work into life as most men on this continent.

Professor Child gained great distinction in his chosen field, but, I incline to think, would have gained the same distinction if he had devoted himself to the same pursuits and had never entered college at all.

So far as my observation extends the poor scholars who have graduated at Harvard become as useful and eminent men in after life as the good scholars.

I am not sure that the period of growth from sixteen to twenty is one when it is good for a youth to study hard.

My time was largely wasted in novel reading or reading books which had not much to do with the college studies, and lounging about in my own room or that of other students.