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OBITUARY ADDRESSES

ft 1AJ8ION OF THE DEATH

HON. J< HN C. CALHOUN,

A SENATOR OF SOUTH CAROLINA,

SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES,

APRIL 1, 1850.

PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE SENATE OP THE UNITED STATES.

WASHINGTON:

PRINTED BY JNO. T. TOWERS.

1850.

OBITUARY ADDRESSES

DELIVERED ON THE

OCCASION OF THE DEATH

HON. JOHN C. CALHOUN,

A SENATOR OF SOUTH CAROLINA,

IN THE

SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES,
APRIL 1, 1850.

WITH THE

FUNERAL SERMON

EEV. C. M. BUTLEK, D.D.,

CHAPLAIN OF THE SENATE,

PREACHED IN THE SENATE, APRIL 2, 1850.

PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES.

WASHINGTON:

PRINTED BY JNO. T. TOWERS.

1850.

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IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES,
APRIL 3, 1850.

Mr. Cass addressed the Senate as follows: —

Mr. President — I present the following resolution, and
ask its immediate and unanimous consideration. This is
due, not less to the memory of him we have lost, than to the
feelings of the country in whose service he passed a life
without spot and without reproach.

Resolved, That the committee of arrangements he directed
to cause to be published in pamphlet form, and in such
manner as may seem to them appropriate, for the use of the
Senate, ten thousand copies of the addresses made by the
members of the Senate, together with the discourse of the
Reverend Dr. Butler upon the occasion of the death of the
Honorable John C. Calhoun.

Passed the Senate, April 3, 1850.

Attest, ASBURY DICKINS,

Secretary.

-ft

California-

cuaryTBdress is,

In the Senate of the United States.
Monday, April lst } 1850.

On the motion of Mr. King, the reading of the
Journal of Thursday was dispensed with.

Mr. Butler rose and said : —

Mr. President, I rise to discharge a mournful
duty, and one which involves in it considerations
well calculated to arrest the attention of this body.
It is, to announce the death of my late colleague,
the Hon. John Caldwell Calhoun. He died at his
lodgings in this city, yesterday morning, at half-past
seven o'clock. He was conscious of his approaching
end, and met death with fortitude and uncommon
serenity. He had many admonitions of its approach,
and without doubt, he had not been indifferent to
them. With his usual aversion to professions, he
said nothing for mere effect on the world, and his
last hours were an exemplification of his life and
character, truth and simplicity.

Mr. Calhoun, for some years past, had been suf-
fering under a pulmonary complaint, and under its
effects could have reckoned but on a short exist-

ence. Such was his own conviction. The imme-
diate cause of his death was an affection of the
heart. A few hours before he expired, he became
sensible of his situation ; and when he was unable
to speak, his eye and look evinced recognition and
intelligence of what was passing. One of the last
directions he gave was to a dutiful son, who had
been attending him, to put away some manuscripts
which had been written a short time before, under
his dictation.

Mr. Calhoun was the least despondent man I
ever knew; and he had, in an eminent degree, the
self-sustaining power of intellect. His last days,
and his last remarks, are exemplifications of what
I have just said. Mental determination sustained
him, when all others were in despair. We saw
him, a few days ago, in the seat near me, which he
had so long and honorably occupied; we saw the
struggle of a great mind exerting itself to sustain and
overcome the weakness and infirmities of a sinking
body. It was the exhibition of a wounded eagle,
with his eyes turned to the heavens in which he had
soared, but into which his wings could never carry
him again.

Mr. President, Mr. Calhoun has lived in an
eventful period of our Republic, and has acted a
distinguished part. I surely do not venture too
much, when I say that his reputation forms a striking
part of a glorious history. Since 1811 until this

time, he has been responsibly connected with the
Federal Government. As Representative, Senator,
Cabinet *Minister, and Vice President, he has been
identified with the greatest events in the political
history of our country. And I hope I may be per-
mitted to say that he has been equal to all the duties
which were devolved upon him in the many critical
junctures in which he was placed. Having to act
a responsible part, he always acted a decided part.
It would not become me to venture upon the judg-
ment which awaits his memory. That will be formed
by posterity before the impartial tribunal of history.
It may be that he will have had the fate, and will
have given to him the judgment that has been
awarded to Chatham

I should do the memory of my friend injustice
were I not to speak of his life in the spirit of his-
tory. The dignity of his whole character would
rebuke any tone of remark which truth and judg-
ment would not sanction.

mother of my colleague was a Miss Caldwell, born
in Charlotte county, Virginia. The character of
his parents had no doubt a sensible influence on the
destiny of their distinguished son. His father had
energy and enterprise, combined with perseverance
and great mental determination. His mother be-
longed to a family of revolutionary heroes. Two
of her brothers were distinguished in the Eevolu-
tion. Their names and achievements are not left
to tradition, but constitute a part of the history of
the times.

Mr. Calhoun was born in the Eevolution, and in
his childhood felt the influence of its exciting tradi-
tions. He derived from the paternal stock, intellect
and self-reliance, and from the Caldwell's, enthusiasm
and impulse. The traditions of the Eevolution had
a sensible influence on his temper and character.

his brother-in-law. Dr. Waddel, in Columbia county,
Georgia. Scarcely had he commenced his literary
course before his father and sister died. His brother-
in-law, Dr. Waddel, devoted himself about this time
to his clerical duties, and was a great deal absent
from home.

On his second marriage, he resumed the duties of
his academy; and, in his nineteenth year, Mr. Cal-
houn put himself under the charge of this distin-
guished teacher. It must not be supposed that his
mind, before this, had been unemployed. He had
availed himself of the advantages of a small library,
and had been deeply inspired by his reading of his-
tory. It was under such influences that he entered
the academy of his preceptor. His progress was
rapid. He looked forward to a higher arena with
eagerness and purpose.

He became a student in Yale College in 1802, and
graduated two years afterwards with distinction,
as a young man of great ability, and with the re-
spect and confidence of his preceptors and fellows.
What they have said and thought of him would
have given any man a high reputation. It is the
pure fountain of a clear reputation. If the stream
has met with obstructions, they were such as have
only shown its beauty and majesty.

After he had graduated, Mr. Calhoun studied
law, and for a few years practiced in the courts of
South Carolina, with a reputation that has descend-

ed to the profession. He was then remarkable for
some traits that have since characterized him. He
was clear in his propositions, and candid in his in-
tercourse with his brethren. The truth and justice
of the law inculcated themselves on his mind, and
when armed with these, he was a great advocate.

His forensic career was, however, too limited to
make a prominent part in the history of his life. He
served for some years in the Legislature of his native
State ; and his great mind made an impression on
her statutes, some of which have had a great prac-
tical operation on the concerns of society. From
the Legislature of his own State he was transferred
to Congress ; and from that time his career has been
a part of the history of the Federal Government.

Mr. Calhoun came into Congress at a time of
deep and exciting interest — at a crisis of great mag-
nitude. It was a crisis of peril to those who had
to act in it, but of subsequent glory to the actors
and the common history of the country. The in-
vincibility of Great Britain had become a proverbial
expression, and a war with her was full of terrific
issues. Mr. Calhoun found himself at once in a
situation of high responsibility — one that required
more than speaking qualities and eloquence to fulfil
it. The spirit of the people required direction ; the
energy and ardor of youth were to be employed in
affairs requiring the maturer qualities of a statesman.
The part which Mr. Calhoun acted at this time

has been approved and applauded by co temporaries,
and now forms a part of the glorious history of those
times.

The names of Clay, Calhoun, Cheyes, and
Lowndes, Grundy, Porter, and others, carried asso-
ciations with them that reached the heart of the na-
tion. Their clarion notes penetrated the army,* they
animated the people, and sustained the Administra-
tion of the Government. With such actors, and in
such scenes — the most eventful of our history — to
say that Mr. Calhoun did not perform a second
part, is no common praise. In debate he was equal
with Randolph, and in council he commanded the
respect and confidence of Madison. At this period
of his life he had the quality of Themistocles — to
inspire confidence — which, after all, is the highest of
earthly qualities in a public man ; it is a mystical
something, which is felt, but cannot be described.

The events of the war were brilliant and honor-
able to both statesmen and soldiers, and their history
may be read with enthusiasm and delight. The
war terminated with honor ; but the measures which
had to be taken, in a transition to a peace establish-
ment, were full of difficulty and embarrassment.

* Governor Dodge (now a senator on this floor), who was at that
time a gallant officer of the army, informs me that the speeches of
Calhoun and Clay were publicly read to the army, and exerted a
most decided influence on the spirits of the men.

This distinguished statesman, with his usual intrepi-
dity, did not hesitate to take a responsible and lead-
ing part. Under the influence of a broad patriotism,
he acted with an uncalculating liberality to all the
interests that were involved, and which were brought
under review of Congress. His personal adversary
at this time, in his admiration for his genius, paid
Mr. Calhoun a beautiful compliment for his noble
and national sentiments, and views of policy. The
gentleman to whom I refer, is Mr. Grosvenor, of
N. Y., who used the following language in debate : —
" He had heard with peculiar satisfaction the
able, manly, and constitutional speech of the gen-
tleman from South Carolina. (Here Mr. Grosvenor
recurring in his own mind to a personal difference
with Mr. Calhoun, which arose out of the warm
party discussions during the war, paused for a mo-
ment, and then proceeded.)

" Mr. Speaker, I will not be restrained. No bar-
rier shall exist, which I will not leap over for the
purpose of offering to that gentleman my thanks
for the judicious, independent, and national course
which he has pursued in this House for the last two
years, and particularly on the subject now before us.
Let the honorable gentleman continue with the same
manly independence, aloof from party views and
local prejudices, to pursue the great interests of his
country, and to fulfil the high destiny for which it
is manifest he was born. The buzz of popular ap-

plause may not cheer him on his way, but he will
inevitably arrive at a high and happy elevation in
the view of his country and the world."

At the termination of Mr. Madison's administra-
tion, Mr. Calhoun had acquired a commanding
reputation; he was regarded as one of the sages of 'I
the Republic. In 1817, Mr. Monroe invited him to
a place in his Cabinet. Mr. Calhoun's friends
doubted the propriety of his accepting it, and some
of them thought he would put a high reputation at
hazard in this new sphere of action. Perhaps these
suggestions fired his high and gifted intellect; he
accepted the place, and went into the War Depart-
ment under circumstances that might have appalled
other men. His success has been acknowledged.
What was complex and confused, he reduced to
simplicity and order. His organization of the War
Department, and his administration of its undefined
duties, have made the impression of an author,
having the interest of originality, and the sanction
of trial.

To applicants for office, Mr. Calhoun made few
promises, and hence he was not accused of delusion
and deception. When a public trust was involved,
he would not compromise with duplicity or tempo-
rary expediency.

At the expiration of Mr. Monroe's administration,
Mr. Calhoun's name became connected with the
Presidency ; and from that time to his death he had

to share the fate of all others who occupy prominent
situations.

The remarkable canvass for the President to suc-
ceed Mr. Monroe, terminated in returning three dis-
tinguished men to the House of Representatives,
from whom one was to be elected. Mr. Calhoun
was elected Vice President by a large majority. He
took his seat in the Senate, as Vice President, on
the 4th of March, 1825, having remained in the
War Department over seven years.

While he was Vice President, he was placed in
some of the most trying scenes of any man's life. I
do not now choose to refer to anything that can
have the elements of controversy ; but I hope I may
be permitted to speak of my friend and colleague in
a character in which all will join in paying him
sincere respect. As a presiding officer of this body,
he had the undivided respect of its members. He
was punctual, methodical, and impartial, and had a
high regard for the dignity of the Senate, which, as
a presiding officer, he endeavored to preserve and
maintain. He looked upon debate as an honorable
contest of intellect for truth. Such a strife has its
incidents and its trials; but Mr. Calhoun had, in
an eminent degree, a regard for parliamentary dig-
nity and propriety.

Upon General Hayne's leaving the Senate to
become Governor of South Carolina, Mr. Calhoun
resigned the Vice Presidency, and was elected in

his place. All will now agree that such a position
was environed with difficulties and dangers. His
own State was under the ban, and he was in the
national Senate to do her justice under his consti-
tutional obligations. That part of his life posterity
will review, and, I am confident, will do it full and
impartial justice.

After his senatorial term had expired, he went
into retirement by his own consent. The death of
Mr. Upshur — so full of melancholy associations —
made a vacancy in the State Department; and it
was by the common consent of all parties that Mr.
Calhoun was called to fill it. This was a fribute of
which any public man might well be proud. It was
a tribute to truth, ability, and experience. Under T^
Mr. Calhoun's counsels, Texas was brought into
the Union. His name is associated with one of the j
most remarkable events of history — that of one Re- 1
public being annexed to another by the voluntary [
consent of both. He was the happy agent to bring
about this fraternal association. It is a conjunction
under the sanction of his name, and by an influence
exerted through his great and intrepid mind. Mr.
Calhoun's connection with the Executive depart-
ment of the Government terminated with Mr.
Tyler's administration. As a Secretary of State, he
won the confidence and respect of foreign ambassa-
dors, and his dispatches were characterized by clear-
ness, sagacity, and boldness.

He was not allowed to remain in retirement long.
For the last five years he has been a member of
this body, and has been engaged in discussions that
have deeply excited and agitated the country. He
has died amidst them. I had never had any par-
ticular association with Mr. Calhoun until I be-
came his colleague in this body. I had looked on
his fame as others had done, and had admired his
character. There are those here who know more
of him than I do. I shall not pronounce any such
judgment as may be subject to a controversial
criticism. But I will say, as a matter of justice,
from my own personal knowledge, that I never
knew a fairer man in argument, or a juster man in
purpose. His intensity allowed of little compro-
mise. While he did not qualify his own positions
to suit the temper of the times, he appreciated the
unmasked propositions of others. As a Senator, he
commanded the respect of the ablest men of the
body of which he was a member ; and I believe I
may say that, where there was no political bias to
influence the judgment, he had the confidence of
his brethren. As a statesman, Mr. Calhoun's re-
putation belongs to the history of the country, and
I commit it to his countrymen and posterity.

In my opinion, Mr. Calhoun deserves to occupy
the first rank as a parliamentary speaker. He had
always before him the dignity of purpose, and he
spoke to an end. From a full mind, fired by genius,

he expressed his ideas with clearness, simplicity, and
force ; and in language that seemed to be the vehicle
of his thoughts and emotions. His thoughts leaped
from his mind, like arrows from a well-drawn bow.
They had both the aim and force of a skillful
archer. He seemed to have had little regard for
ornament ; and when he used figures of speech, they
were only for illustration. His manner and coun-
tenance were his best language ; and in these there
was an exemplification of what is meant by Action
in that term of the great Athenian orator and
statesman, whom, in so many respects, he so closely
resembled. They served to exhibit the moral ele-
vation of the man.

In speaking of Mr. Calhoun as a man and a
neighbor, I am sure I may speak of him in a sphere
in which all will love to contemplate him. Whilst
he was a gentleman of striking deportment, he was
a man of primitive taste and simple manners. He
had the hardy virtues and simple tastes of a repub-
lican citizen. No one disliked ostentation and ex-
hibition more than he did. When I say he was a
good neighbor, I imply more than I have expressed.
It is summed up under the word justice. I will
J venture to say, that no one in his private relations
could ever say that Mr. Calhoun treated him with
injustice, or that he deceived him by professions or
concealments. His private character was illus-
trated by a beautiful propriety, and was the exem-

plification of truth, justice, temperance, and fidelity
to all his engagements.

I will venture another remark. Mr. Calhoun
was fierce in his contests with political adversaries.
He did not stop in the fight to count losses or be-
stow favors. But he forgot resentments, and for-
gave injuries inflicted by rivals, with signal magna-
nimity. Whilst he spoke freely of their faults, he
could with justice appreciate the merits of all the
public men of whom I have heard him speak. He
I was sincerely attached to the institutions of this
1 country, and desired to preserve them pure and
Wake them perpetual.

\ By the death of Mr. Calhoun, one of the bright-
est luminaries has been extinguished in the political
firmament. It is an event which will produce a
deep sensation throughout this broad land, and the
civilized world.

I have forborne to speak of his domestic rela-
tions. They make a sacred circle, and I will not
invade it.

Mr. Butler then offered the following resolutions :

Resolved unanimously, That a committee be appointed by the
Vice President to take order for superintending the funeral of the
Hon. John Caldwell Calhoun, which will take place to-morrow,
at 12 o'clock meridian, and that the Senate will attend the same.

Resolved unanimously, That the members of the Senate, from a
sincere desire of showing every mark of respect due to the memory
of the Hon. John Caldwell Calhoun, deceased, late a member

thereof, will go into mourning for him for one month, by the usual
mode of wearing crape on the left arm.

Resolved unanimously, That ; as an additional mark of respect to
the memory of the deceased, the Senate do now adjourn.

Mr. Clay. — Mr. President, prompted by my own
feelings of profound regret, and by the intimations
of some highly esteemed friends, I wish, in rising to
second the resolutions which have been offered, and
which have just been read, to add a few words to
what has been so well and so justly said by the sur-
viving colleague of the illustrious deceased.

My personal acquaintance with him, Mr. Presi-
dent, commenced upwards of thirty-eight years ago.
We entered at the same time, together, the House
of Representatives at the other end of this building.
The Congress, of which we thus became members,
was that amongst whose deliberations and acts was
the declaration of war against the most powerful
nation, as it respects us, in the world. During the
preliminary discussions which arose in the prepara-
tion for that great event, as well as during those
which took place when the resolution was finally
adopted, no member displayed a more lively and
patriotic sensibility to the wrongs which led to that
momentous event than the deceased whose death we
all now so much deplore. Ever active, ardent, able,
no one was in advance of him in advocating the
cause of his country, and denouncing the foreign

injustice which compelled us to appeal to arms. Of
all the Congresses with which I have had any ac-
quaintance since my entry into the service of the
Federal Government, in none, in my humble opinion,
has been assembled such a galaxy of eminent and
able men as were in the House of Kepresentatives
of that Congress which declared the war, and in that
immediately following the peace ; and, amongst that
splendid constellation, none shone more bright and
brilliant than the star which is now set.

It was my happiness, sir, during a large part of
the life of the departed, to concur with him on all
great questions of national policy. And, at a later
period, when it was my fortune to differ from him
as to measures of domestic policy, I had the happi-
ness to agree with him generally as to those which
concerned our foreign relations, and especially as to
the preservation of the peace of the country. During
the long session at which the war was declared, we
were messmates, as were other distinguished mem-
bers of Congress from his own patriotic State. I
was afforded, by the intercourse which resulted from
that fact, as well as the subsequent intimacy and
intercourse which arose between us, an opportunity
to form an estimate, not merely of his public, but of
his private life ; and no man with whom I have ever
been acquainted, exceeded him in habits of temper-
ance and regularity, and in all the freedom, frank-
ness, and affability of social intercourse, and in all

the tenderness, and respect, and affection, which he
manifested towards that lady who now mourns more
than any other the sad event which has just occurred.
Such, Mr. President, was the high estimate I formed
of his transcendent talents, that, if at the end of his
service in the executive department, under Mr.
Monroe's administration, the duties of which he per-
formed with such signal ability, he had been called
to the highest office in the Government, I should
have felt perfectly assured that under his auspices,
the honor, the prosperity, and the glory of our coun-
try would have been safely placed.

Sir, he has gone ! No more shall we witness from
yonder seat the flashes of that keen and penetrating
eye of his, darting through this chamber. No more
shall we be thrilled by that torrent of clear, concise,
compact logic, poured out from his lips, which, if it
did not always carry conviction to our judgment,
always commanded our great admiration. Those
eyes and those lips are closed forever !

And when, Mr. President, will that great vacancy
which has been created by the event to which we
are now alluding, when will it be filled by an equal
amount of ability, patriotism, and devotion, to what
he conceived to be the best interests of his country ?

Sir, this is not the appropriate occasion, nor would
I be the appropriate person to attempt a delineation
of his character, or the powers of his enlightened
mind. I will only say, in a few words, that he

possessed an elevated genius of the highest order;
that in felicity of generalization of the subjects of
which his mind treated, I have seen him surpassed
by no one ; and the charm and captivating influence
of his colloquial powers have been felt by all who
have conversed with him. I was his senior, Mr.
President, in years — in nothing else. According to
the course of nature, I ought to have preceded him.
It has been decreed otherwise ; but I know that I
shall linger here only a short time and shall soon
follow him.

And how brief, how short is the period of human
existence allotted even to the youngest amongst us !
Sir, ought we not to profit by the contemplation of
this melancholy occasion? Ought we not to draw
from it the conclusion how unwise it is to indulge
in the acerbity of unbridled debate? How unwise
to yield ourselves to the sway of the animosities
of party feeling? How wrong it is to indulge in
those unhappy and hot strifes which too often exas-
perate our feelings and mislead our judgments in
the discharge of the high and responsible duties
which we are called to perform ? How unbecoming,
if not presumptuous, it is in us, who are the tenants
of an hour in this earthly abode, to wrestle and
struggle together with a violence which would not
be justifiable if it were our perpetual home!

In conclusion, sir, while I beg leave to express
my cordial sympathies and sentiments of the deep-

est condolence towards all who stand in near relation
to him, I trust we shall all be instructed by the
eminent virtues and merits of his exalted character,
and be taught by his bright example to fulfill our
great public duties by the lights of our own judg-
ment and the dictates of our own consciences, as he
did, according to his honest and best comprehension
of those duties, faithfully and to the last.

Mr. Webster. — I hope the Senate will indulge
me- in adding a very few words to what has been
said. My apology for this presumption is the very
long acquaintance which has subsisted between Mr.
Calhoun and myself. We are of the same age. I
made my first entrance into the House of Repre-
sentatives in May, 1813, and there found Mr. Cal-
houn. He had already been in that body for two
or three years. I found him then an active and
efficient member of the assembly to which he be-
longed, taking a decided part, and exercising a
decided influence, in all its deliberations.

From that day to the day of his death, amidst all
the strifes of party and politics, there has subsisted
between us, always, and without interruption, a
great degree of personal kindness.

Differing widely on many great questions respect-
ing the institutions and government of the country,
those differences never interrupted our personal and
social intercourse. I have been present at most of

the distinguished instances of the exhibition of his
talents in debate. I have always heard him with
pleasure, often with much instruction, not unfre-
quently with the highest degree of admiration.

Mr. Calhoun was calculated to be a leader in
whatsoever association of political friends he was
thrown. He was a man of undoubted genius, and
of commanding talent. All the country and all the
world admit that. His mind was both perceptive
and vigorous. It was clear, quick, and strong.

Sir, the eloquence of Mr. Calhoun, or the manner
of his exhibition of his sentiments in public bodies,
was part of his intellectual character. It grew out
of the qualities of his mind. It was plain, strong,
terse, condensed, concise; sometimes impassioned —
still always severe. Rejecting ornament, not often
seeking far for illustration, his power consisted in
the plainness of his propositions, in the closeness of
his logic, and in the earnestness and energy of his
manner. These are the qualities, as I think, which
have enabled him through such a long course of
years to speak often, and yet always command at-
tention. His demeanor as a Senator is known to
us all — is appreciated, venerated by us all. No
man was more respectful to others; no man carried
himself with greater decorum, no man with superior
dignity. I think there is not one of us but felt
when he last addressed us from his seat in the
Senate, his form still erect, with a voice by no

means indicating such a degree of physical weakness
as did, in fact, possess him, with clear tones, and an
impressive, and, I may say, an imposing manner,
who did not feel that he might imagine that we saw
before us a Senator of Rome, when Rome survived.

Sir, I have not in public nor in private life,
known a more assiduous person in the discharge of
his appropriate duties. I have known no man who
wasted less of life in what is called recreation, or
employed less of it in any pursuits not connected with
the immediate discharge of his duty. He seemed to
have no recreation but the pleasure of conversation
with his friends. Out of the chambers of Congress,
he was either devoting himself to the acquisition of
knowledge pertaining to the immediate subject of
the duty before him, or else he was indulging in
those social interviews in which he so much de-
lighted.

My honorable friend from Kentucky has spoken
in just terms of his colloquial talents. They cer-
tainly were singular and eminent. There was a
charm in his conversation not often found. He
delighted, especially, in conversation and intercourse
with young men. I suppose that there has been no
man among us who had more winning manners, in
such an intercourse and conversation, with men
comparatively young, than Mr. Calhoun. I believe
one great power of his character, in general, was his
conversational talent. I believe it is that, as well

as a consciousness of his high integrity, and the
greatest reverence for his intellect and ability, that
has made him so endeared an object to the people of
the State to which he belonged.

Mr. President, he had the basis, the indispensable
basis, of all high character; and that was, unspotted
integrity — unimpeached honor and character. If
he had aspirations, they were high, and honorable,
and noble. There was nothing groveling, or low,
or meanly selfish, that came near the head or the
heart of Mr. Calhoun. Firm in his purpose, per-
fectly patriotic and honest, as I am sure he was, in
the principles that he espoused, and in the measures
that he defended, aside from that large regard for
that species of distinction that conducted him to
eminent stations for the benefit of the republic, I
do not believe he had a selfish motive, or selfish
feeling.

However, sir, he may have differed from others of
us in his political opinions, or his political princi-
ples, those principles and those opinions will now
descend to posterity under the sanction of a great
name. He has lived long enough, he has done
enough, and he has done it so well, so successfully,
so honorably, as to connect himself for all time with
the records of his country. He is now a historical
character. Those of us who have known him here,
will find that he has left upon our minds and our
hearts a strong and lasting impression of his person,

his character, and his public performances, which,
while we live, will never be obliterated. We shall
hereafter, I am sure, indulge in it as a grateful re-
collection that we have lived in his age, that we
have been his cotemporaries, that we have seen
him, and heard him, and known him. We shall
delight to speak of him to those who are rising up
to fill our places. And, when the time shall come
when we ourselves shall go, one after another, in
succession, to our graves, we shall carry with us a
deep sense of his genius and character, his honor
and integrity, his amiable deportment in private life,
and the purity of his exalted patriotism.

Mr. Rusk. — Mr. President: I hope it will not
be considered inappropriate for me to say a word
upon this solemn occasion. Being a native of the
same State with the distinguished Senator whose
death has cast such a gloom upon this Senate and
the audience here assembled, I had the good for-
tune, at an early period of my life, to make his
acquaintance. At that time he was just entering
on that bright career which has now terminated.
I was then a boy, with prospects anything but
flattering. To him, at that period, I was indebted
for words of kindness and encouragement; and
often since, in the most critical positions in which
I have been placed, a recurrence to those words of
encouragement has inspired me with resolution to

meet difficulties that beset my path. Four years
ago, I had the pleasure of renewing that acquaint-
ance, after an absence of some fifteen years ; and
this took place after he had taken an active part in
the question of annexing Texas to the United
States, adding a new sense of obligation to my
feeling of gratitude.

In the stirring questions that have agitated the
country, it was my misfortune sometimes to differ
from him, but it is a matter of heartfelt gratifica-
tion for me to know that our personal relations re-
mained unaltered. And, sir, it will be a source of
pleasant though sad reflection to me throughout
life to remember, that on the last day on which he
occupied his seat in this chamber, his body worn
down by disease, but his mind as vigorous as ever,
we held a somewhat extended conversation on the
exciting topics of the day, in which the same kind
feelings, which had so strongly impressed me in
youth, were still manifested toward me by the
veteran statesman. But, sir, he is gone from among
us; his voice will never again be heard in this
chamber; his active and vigorous mind will partici-
pate no more in our councils; his spirit has left a
world of trouble, care, and anxiety, to join the
spirits of those patriots and statesmen who have
preceded him to a brighter and better world. If,
as many believe, the spirits of the departed hover
around the places they have left, I earnestly pray

that his may soon be permitted to look back upon
our country, which he has left in excitement, con-
fusion, and apprehension, restored to calmness, se-
curity, and fraternal feeling as broad as the bounds
of our Union, and as fixed as the eternal principles of
justice in which our Government has its foundation.

Mr. Clemens. — I do not expect, Mr. President, to
add anything to what has already been said of the
illustrious man, whose death we all so deeply de-
plore; but silence upon an occasion like this, would
by no means meet the expectations of those whose
representative I am. To borrow a figure from the
Senator from Kentucky, the brightest star in the
brilliant galaxy of the Union has gone out, and
Alabama claims a place among the chief mourners
over the event. Differing often from the^ great
Southern statesman on questions of public policy,
she has yet always accorded due homage to his
genius, and still more to that blameless purity of
life which entitles him to the highest and the no-
blest epitaph which can be graven upon a mortal
tomb. For more than forty years an active parti-
cipant in all the fierce struggles of party, and sur-
rounded by those corrupting influences to which the
politician is so often subjected, his personal character
remained not only untarnished, but unsuspected.
He walked through the flames, and even the hem
of his garment was unscorched.

It is no part of my purpose to enter into a recital
of the public acts of John C. Calhoun. It has al-
ready been partly done by his colleague ; but, even
that, in my judgment, was unnecessary. Years after
the celebrated battle of Thermopylae, a traveler, on
visiting the spot, found a monument with the simple
inscription, " Stranger, go tell at Lacedaemon that
we died in obedience to her laws." u Why is it," he
asked, "that the names of those who fell here are
not inscribed on the stone?" "Because," was the
proud reply, "it is impossible that any Greek should
ever forget them." Even so it is with him of whom
I speak. His acts are graven on the hearts of his
countrymen, and time has no power to obliterate the
characters. Throughout this broad land

" The meanest rill, the mightiest river,
Rolls mingling with his fame forever."

Living, sir, in an age distinguished above all others
for its intelligence, surrounded throughout his whole
career by men, any one of whom would have marked
an era in the world's history, and stamped the time
in which he lived with immortality, Mr. Calhoun
yet won an intellectual eminence, and commanded
an admiration not only unsurpassed but unequaled,
in all its parts, by any of his giant compeers. That
great light is now extinguished; a place in this
Senate is made vacant which cannot be filled. The
sad tidings have been borne upon the lightning's

wing to the remotest corners of the Republic, and
millions of freemen are now mourning with us over
all that is left of one who was scarcely "lower than
the angels."

I may be permitted, Mr. President, to express my
gratification at what we have heard and witnessed
this day. Kentucky has been heard through the
lips of one, who is not only her greatest statesman,
but the world's greatest living orator. The great
expounder of the constitution, whose massive intel-
lect seems to comprehend and give clearness to all
things beneath the sun, has spoken for the Common-
wealth of Massachusetts. From every quarter the
voice of mourning is mingled with notes of the
highest admiration. These crowded galleries, the
distinguished gentlemen who fill this floor, all
indicate that here have

u Bards, artists, sages, reverently met,
To waive each separating plea
Of sect, clime, party, and degree,
All honoring him on whom nature all honor shed."

The resolutions were then unanimously adopted.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES.

Tuesday, April 2, 1850.

The remains of the deceased were brought into the Senate at 12
o'clock, attended by the Committee of Arrangements and the Pall-
bearers.

Committee of Arrangements.

Mr. MASON,

Mr. DAVIS, of Miss.,

Mr. ATCHISON,

Mr. DODGE, of Wisconsin,
Mr. DICKINSON,
Mr. GREENE.

Mr. MANGUM,
Mr. CLAY,
Mr. WEBSTER,

Pall-Bearers.

Mr. CASS,
Mr. KING,
Mr. BERRIEN.

A SERMON

PREACHED IN THE SENATE CHAMBER,

APRIL 2, 1850,

AT THE FUNERAL OF THE

HON. JOHN C. CALHOUN,

SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES FROM SOUTH CAROLINA.

BY THE REV. C. M. BUTLER, D. D.,

CHAPLAIN OF THE SENATE.

I have said ye are gods, and all of you are children of the Most
High ; but ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes. —
Psalm lxxxii. 6, 7.

One of the princes is fallen ! A prince in intel-
lect ; a prince in his sway over human hearts and
minds ; a prince in the wealth of his own generous
affections, and in the rich revenues of admiring love
poured into his heart ; a prince in the dignity of
his demeanor — this prince has fallen — fallen !

And ye all, his friends and peers, illustrious
statesmen, orators, and warriors — " I have said ye
are gods, and all of you are children of the Most
High ; hut ye shall die like men, and fall like this
one of the princes !"

The praises of the honored dead have been, here

I :

and elsewhere, fitly spoken. The beautifully blend-
ed benignity, dignity, simplicity, and purity of the
husband, the father, and the friend; the integrity,
sagacity, and energy of the statesman; the com-
pressed in tenseness, the direct and rapid logic of
the orator ; all these have been vividly portrayed
by those who themselves illustrate what they de-
scribe. There seem still to linger around this hall
echoes of the voices, which have so faithfully sketched
the life, so happily discriminated the powers, and so
affectionately eulogized the virtues of the departed,
that the muse of history will note down the words,
as the outline of her future lofty narrative, her nice
analysis, and her glowing praise.

But the echo of those eulogies dies away. All
that was mortal of their honored object lies here
unconscious, in the theatre of his glory. " Lord of
the lion heart and eagle eye" — there he lies ! that
strong heart still, that bright eye dim ! Another
voice claims your ear. The minister of God, stand-
ing over the dead, is sent to say — " Ye are gods,
and all of you are children of the Most High; but
ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the
princes." He is sent to remind you that there are
those here, not visible to the eye of sense, who are
greater than the greatest of ye all — even Death, and
Death's Lord and Master.

Death is here. I see him stand over his prostrate
victim, and grimly smile, and shake at us his unsated

spear, and bid us all attend this day on him. He
is King to-day, and leads us all captive in his train,
to swell his triumph and proclaim his power. And
there is no visitant that can stand before the soul of
man, with such claims on his awed, intent, and
teachable attention. When, as on a day, and in a
scene like this, he holds us in his presence and bids
us hear him — who can dare to disregard his man-
date ? Oh, there is no thought or fact, having re-
ference to this brief scene of things, however it may
come with a port and tone of dignity and power,
which does not dwindle into meanness, in the presence
of that great thought, that great fact, which has
entered and darkened the Capitol to-day — Death !
To make us see that by a law perfectly inevitable
and irresistible, soul and body are soon to separate ;
that this busy scene of earth is to be suddenly and for-
ever left ; that this human heart is to break through
the circle of warm, congenial, familiar and fostering
sympathies and associations, and to put off, all alone,
into the silent dark — this is the object of the dread
message to us of death. And as that message is
spoken to a soul which is conscious of sin ; which
knows that it has not within itself resources for self-
purification, and self-sustaining peace and joy ; which
realizes, in the very core of its conscience, retribu-
tion as a moral law ; it comes fraught with the un-
rest, which causes it to be at once dismissed, or which
lodges it in the soul, a visitant whose first coming is

gloom, but whose continued presence shall be glory.
Then the anxious spirit, peering out with intense
earnestness into the dark unknown, may, in vain,
question earth of the destiny of the soul, and lift to
heaven the passionate invocation —

" Answer me, burning stars of night,
Where hath the spirit gone ;
Which, past the reach of mortal sight,
E'en as a breeze hath flown f"

And the stars answer him, " We roll

In pomp and power on high ;
But of the never dying soul,

Ask things that cannot die l"

" Things that cannot die !" God only can tell us
of the spirit-world. He assures us, by his Son, that
death is the child of sin. He tells us what is the
power of this king of terrors. He shows us that in
sinning " Adam all die." He declares to us that,
sinful by nature and by practice, we are condemned
to death ; that we are consigned to wo ; that we are
unfit for Heaven; that the condition of the soul
which remains thus condemned and unchanged, is far
drearier and more dreadful beyond, than this side,
the grave. No wonder that men shrink from con-
verse with death; for all his messages are woful
and appalling.

But, thanks be to God! though death be here,
so also is death's Lord and Master. "As in Adam

all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."
That Saviour, Christ, assures us that all who repent,
and forsake their sins, and believe in him, and live
to him, shall rise to a life glorious and eternal, with
Him and His, in Heaven. He tells us that if we
are his, those sharp shafts which death rattles in
our ears to-day, shall but transfix, and only for a
season, the garment of our mortality ; and that the
emancipated spirits of the righteous shall be borne,
on angel wings, to that peaceful paradise where they
shall enjoy perpetual rest and felicity. Then it
need not be a gloomy message which we deliver to
you to-day, that " ye shall die as men and fall like
one of the princes ;" for it tells us that the humblest
of men may be made equal to the angels; and that
earth's princes may become "kings and priests
unto God!"

In the presence of these simplest yet grandest
truths; with these thoughts of death and the con-
queror of death ; with this splendid trophy of his
power proudly held up to our view by death, I
need utter to you no commonplace on the vanity
of our mortal life, the inevitableness of its termina-
tion, and the solemnities of our after-being. Here
and now, on this theme, the silent dead is preach-
ing to you more impressively than could the most
eloquent of the living. You feel now, in your in-
most heart, that that great upper range of things
with which you are connected as immortals; that

moral administration of God, who stretches over the
infinite of existence; that magnificent system of
ordered governments, to whose lower circle we now
belong, which consists of thrones, dominions, prin-
cipalities, and powers, which rise,

" Orb o'er orb, and height o'er height/'

to the enthroned Supreme ; — you feel that this, your
high relation to the Infinite and Eternal, makes poor
and low the most august and imposing scenes and
dignities of earth, which flit, like shadows, through
your three-score years and ten. Oh happy will it
be, if the vivid sentiment of the hour become the
actuating conviction of the life ! Happy will it be,
if it take its place in the centre of the soul, and in-
form all its thoughts, feelings, principles, and aims!
Then shall this lower system of human things be
consciously linked to, and become part of, and take
glory from that spiritual sphere, which, all unseen,
encloses us, whose actors and heroes are "angels and
archangels, and all the company of heaven." Then
would that be permanently and habitually felt by
all, which was here, and in the other chamber yester-
day so eloquently expressed, that " vain are the per-
sonal strifes and party contests in which you daily
engage, in view of the great account which you may
all so soon be called upon to render;"* and that "it

* Mr. Winthrop's speech in the House of Representatives.

is unbecoming and presumptuous in those who are
the tenants of an hour in this earthly abode, to
wrestle and struggle together with a violence which
would not be justifiable if it were your perpetual
home."* Then, as we see to-day, the sister States,
by their Eepresentatives, linked hand in hand, in
mournful attitude, around the bier of one in whose
fame they all claim a share, we should look upon
you as engaged in a sacrament of religious patriotism,
whose spontaneous, unpremeditated vow, springing
consentient from all your hearts, and going up
unitedly to heaven, would be — " Liberty and Union,
now and forever, one and inseparable !"

But I must no longer detain you. May we all

"So live, that when our summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan, that moves
To that mysterious realm, where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
"We go not like the quarry-slave at night
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach our grave
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams."

I 1

& THE

DEATH AND FUNERAL CEREMONIES

£ OP

|J0HN CALDWELL CALHOUN,

£ CONTAINING

THE SPEECHES, REPORTS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS J
I CONNECTED THEREWITH,

THE

ORATION OF THE HON. R. B, RHETT,

BEFORE THE LEGISLATURE

(fee. &c.

PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE LEGISLATURE.

COLUMBIA, S. C. |

PRINTED BY A. S. JOHNSTON.

1850.

2>ouTh C-a^o^Lria. Qr^v? e -Y

THE

DEATH AND FUNERAL CEREMONIES

JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN

CONTAINING

THE SPEECHES, REPORTS, AND OTHER DOCUMENTS
CONNECTED THEREWITH,

THE

ORATION OF THE HON. R. B. EHETT,

BEFORE THE LEGISLATURE,

&c. &c.

PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE LEGISLATURE;

COLUMBIA, S. C.

PRINTED BY A. S. JOHNSTON.

1850.

CONTENTS.

Message of the Governor of South Carolina to the Legislature,

concerning the death of Mr. Calhoun 1

Proceedings in the Senate of the United States 9

Mr. Butler's Speech ,. 9

Mr. Clay's Speech... - 18

Mr. Webster's Speech 21

Mr. Rusk's Speech. ._ 24

Mr. Clemens' s Speech . 25

Sermon, by Rev. Mr. Butler 28

Mr. Holmes's Speech, in the House of Representatives 36

Mr. Winthrop's Speech 47

Mr. Venable's Speech 50

Report of D. Ravemel. Esq. Chairman of Committee of Twenty-
Five--- - - -.. 55

Programe of Proceedings in Washington 73

Passage through Fredericksburg 74

Proceeding at Richmond . 75

Proceedings at Petersburg 78

Proceedings at Wilmington 81

Minutes of the Final Meeting of the Committee of Twenty-five. 82

Narrative of proceedings in Charleston by the Mayor - 86

Resolution of the City Council of Charleston, in relation to the

disposal of the body of Mr. Calhoun 108

Gov. Seabrook's letter on the same subject.. 109

Lieut. DeSaussure's letter, tendering services of Washington Ar-
tillery Company » 109

Letter of Chairman of Vestry of St. Philip's Church 110

Resolutions of the Legislature of Pennsylvania 1 10

Proceedings in the Legislature of New York 112

Proceedings of the New York Historical Society 115

Gov. Seabrook to Hon. R. B. Rhett, requesting him to deliver an
oration before the Legislature, on the life, character, and ser-
vices of Mr. Calhoun 117

Mr. Rhett's reply 118

Mr. Rhett's Oration 119

[ Library,

Vc eWorld

MESSAGE

THE GOVERNOR OF SOUTH CAROLINA,

TO THE LEGISLATURE,

IN RELATION TO

THE DEATH OE MR. CALHOUN.

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, )

Columbia, Nov. 27, 1850. \ ,
Fellow- Citizens of the Senate,

and House of Representatives :

Since your adjournment in December last, South Carolina has
presented a scene of sadness and affliction. In a few months,
four of her faithful public servants, exercising distinguished and
highly responsible public trusts, under the Federal and State Go-
vernments, have passed from time to eternity. To this bereave-
ment, it behooves us as a people, humbly to submit, in the en-
couraging assurance that the chastenings of Providence are
tempered with mercy and loving kindness.

On ths 31st of March, in the City of Washington, John Cald-
well Calhoun, one of the Senators from this State, terminated
his earthly career. Th3 announcement of the death of so eminent
a citizen called forth the strongest manifestations of grief from a

2 THE GOVERNOR'S MESSAGE.

large portion of the Republic. In intensity of feeling and deep
pervading gloom, it renewed the heart-felt exhibition of mourn-
ing which occurred in December, '99, when the fatal truth was
realized that George Washington had ceased to be numbered
with the living.

While this great Confederacy of co-equal Sovereignties, through
their common agent, portrayed in lofty terms the character and
services of the deceased, several of the States themselves, as well
as the people of many sections of the Union, in the most im-
pressive forms in which sorrow is susceptible of expression, pro-
claimed to the political communities of the world that a great
man, morally and intellectually, had fallen. The accompanying
resolutions of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the re-
ports of the late Mayor of Charleston, and the Committee of 25,
appointed by the Executive to bring the remains of our late Se-
nator to South Carolina, alone furnish satisfactory evidence on
this subject.

Although it may be with truth affirmed, that personally Mr.
Calhoun was unknown to his countrymen, yet, perhaps^ no pub-
lic servant ever had a stronger hold on their affections. This
was the result o£ a settled belief, that to deep sagacity, an enlight-
ened judgment, and profound wisdom, he added a patriotic ardor
and integrity of purpose which no force of circumstances could
subdue or weaken. If, from a fearless assumption of responsi-
bility, and entire freedom from party trammels, on all questions
involving principle, he was occasionally exposed to the rebukes
of a certain class of politicians, still, the meed of the people's
admiration, if not actual concurrence, was never withheld from
him.

With all the lofty qualifications of a consummate statesman?
our great leader was deficient in the lower, yet not unfrequently
important, attributes of the mere politician. In determining the
relative influence of circumstances on the progress and destiny
of nations, and in estimating the force of their combinations, his
perspicacity was pre-eminent. Unadapted to the character of his
mind, and the elevated ends at which he aimed, the task of car-

THE GOVERNOR'S MESSAGE. 3

rying an assailable point by address, adroitness in contrivance,,
or other expedients, formed no part of his labors. Possessing a
thorough knowledge of the human mind, and the springs of hu-
man action, political causes and their effects, he could, with rare-
penetration, unfold. In the moral, as in the physical world, there
are fixed laws, which, under the same circumstances, produce-
like results. In steadfastly adhering to these as his guide, he
was at all times able to eliminate the truth of a case amidst the ob-
scurity and embarrassment that encompassed it. Far in advance-
of the age in which he lived, the discoveries of his intellectual
vision, which the ordinary eye was incapable of appreciating,
were, on certain subjects, often considered as the visionary specu-
lations of an habitual alarmist. In illustration of his prophetic
power, the wide-spread effects of abolition aggression might be
appropriately cited. If his admonitions and warnings, so early
and solemnly uttered in the Senate, had been practically attend-
ed to, the present perilous condition of the Southern community
never would have been reached ; nor would the mind of the
public have been startled by a proposition to amend the charter
of Union, as a measure necessary to secure the permanence
and safety of the domestic institutions of the South.

Because it was the fundamental law, Mr. Calhoun was among
the most ardent and undeviating supporters of the Federal Con-
stitution. Guided by the soundest principles of political ethics,
he justly maintained that the only safe and effectual mode of pre-
serving a partnership, whether among individuals or States, was
to resist every encroachment on the terms of agreement. One
act of unchecked usurpation, he was well aware, would consti-
tute a precedent for another, until, by a series of unwarrantable
measures, adopted at various, and it may be distant dates, the
distinctive characteristics of the original covenant no longer ex-
isted in practice. The time of resistance to unlawful authority
is at the commencement of its assaults, because the power of the
many, under the panoply of might, is perpetually encroaching on
the rights of the few. The tendency of all majorities, moreover,
is to despotism. In their recognition of the Ordinance of '87,

4 THE GOVERNOR'S MESSAGE.

unwarrantably enacted by the old confederation, and in assent-
ing to the Act admitting Missouri into the Union, the Plantation
States unwittingly inflicted perhaps an incurable evil upon their
institutions and domestic quiet.

Mr. Calhoun's name is intimately associated with the history
of the United States for the last forty years. During that event-
ful period, every measure of high public interest received the im-
press of his master mind. On the science of Government, as ex-
emplified in the operation of our institutions, and that of the Re-
publics of antiquity, his speeches and writings have shed a flood
of light. While he admitted that the Constitution of our country
was the work of pure and patriotic men, and is a proud monu-
ment of human wisdom, yet, in neglecting to provide ample se-
curities for the weaker section of the community, and relying too
confidently on parchment barriers for the protection of the social
organization of the respective parties, its framers have furnish-
ed instruments for the destruction of their own labors, by a slow,
but certain, process.

Always on the side of liberty and justice, the South Carolina
statesman was sleeplessly vigilant in detecting the insidious ad-
vances of power, and confining the central authority within its
strictly constitutional orbit. Aware of the centripetal tendency
of all political associations, under a federal head, he labored so
unceasingly to maintain the Union by preserving the integrity of
its members, as to subject himself, among the latitudinarians, to the
imputation of Southern predilection. Duty and patriotism alike
impelled him to the adoption of this course.

The Congress, at an early period of our history, had not only
-exercised ungranted powers, but had applied them to the promo-
tion of sectional purposes, first by openly plundering, through the
forms of law, the property of one half the States for the benefit
<of the other half; but more recently by other means, which
threatened the extinction of their independence and sovereignty.
To compel submission to its edicts, the authority of the Execu-
tive had been unwarrantably enlarged. Prior, indeed, to that de-
spotic enactment— the Force Bill— the President of the United

THE GOVERNOR'S MESSAGE. 5

States had announced his solemn resolution that, should resist-
ance by a State to any measure of the General Government be
attempted, he would suppress it with the entire military force of
the country. In fine, separately and unitedly, the Executive and
Legislative departments had each avowed and assumed the right
of determining the extent of its own powers, and thereby repudi-
ating any title in the States to enforce the restrictions they had
originally imposed on the several fiduciaries of the Federal Com-
pact.

In opposing, on every occasion, with all the strength of his gi-
gantic intellect, these bold and reckless attempts to convert a Re-
public of checks and balances into a Democracy, governed by
the will of an interested and irresponsible majority, the pen of
the eulogist is alone furnished with abundant matter to exhibit in
its true light Mr. Calhoun's reverence for the noble bequest of our
fathers, and his deep devotion to the principles of constitutional
liberty. His elaborate exposition of the prominent doctrine of
the State Rights school ; that the Union of '89 was a Union of
States, and not of individuals ; and as an unavoidable deduc-
tion, that " in cases of deliberate and dangerous infractions of the
Constitution, the States, as parties to the compact, have the right,
and are in duty bound, to interpose to arrest the progress of the
evil, and to maintain within their respective limits the authorities,
rights and liberties appertaining to them ;" is unsurpassed for
clearness of conception, logical reasoning, and sound conclusion,
by any intellectual effort of ancient or modern days. If the im-
portant truths it embodies be disregarded by the American peo-
ple, it is not difficult to predict that, at no distant day, the bond
which unites their respective sovereignties will be severed forever..

Had Mr. Calhoun been a party zealot, he probably would have
been elevated to the post of Chief Magistrate. It is certain that
at one time, the road of ambition was open before him, but he
" chose to tread the rugged path of duty." For a quarter of a
century, the acknowledged leader of the State Rights party, he
labored assiduously, by precept and example, to detect and estab-
lish its land-marks. Keeping steadily in view the great ends of

6 THE GOVERNOR'S MESSAGE.

his system, the possibility of their immediate or prospective at-
tainment, depending on the comparative difficulty of the circum-
stances under which he was called to act, was nevertheless an
aim, in his judgment, to be constantly kept in view. For this
reason, he would, at times, in his Senatorial capacity, assail the
measures of his own political friends, and by co-operating with
their opponents, render himself liable to the charge of inconsist-
ency, if not dereliction of duty, while in reality he was only
maintaining his own independence and consistency. These oc-
casions involved generally considerations affecting directly, or in-
cidentally, the relative powers of the Federal and State Govern-
ments.

Our faithful sentinel died at his post, his mind dwelling
to the latest moment on the mighty topic which had for many
years engrossed his undivided attention. He had long seen the
dangers the domestic institutions of the South would have to en-
counter, unless averted by the influence of wise and patriotic
counsels. His last speech so ably portrayed the peril of our situ-
ation, and the causes which had produced it, that had it pleased
Providence to give him the hour he seemed so anxious to possess,
another successful invasion of the guaranties of the Constitution,
unless truth proved powerless on the occasion, would not have
resulted from federal action. His potential voice, alas, will never
again be heard ! The record of his opinions and acts constitute
his legacy to his countrymen. By scrupulously avoiding the gui-
dance of a levelling philosophy, and crushing in embryo the de-
lusive and unfraternal measures which the spirit of a turbulent
and restless age has engendered, we shall be following the ex-
ample of him whose whole life was a continuous effort to adapt
:his intellectual energies to their proper function — the search of
immutable truth.

Mr. Calhoun had nearly attained the full age allotted to man ;
he had rendered invaluable services to his country, and the cause
of constitutional government ; his public career having been as
distinguished for the political evils he had averted, as the good
he had accomplished ; whilst his character, in all the relations of

THE GOVERNOR'S MESSAGE. 7

private life, was such as the breath of calumny had never ven-
tured to assail. Let, then, the erection of a memorial, worthy
both of his exalted reputation and of the enduring gratitude of
the people of South Carolina, be the crowning act of their constitu-
tional authorities. Erect it where the framers of our laws and
the youth of our State may, as they contemplate it, imbibe the
noblest principles of patriotism, of wisdom, and of virtue.

In accordance with these views, I recommend that the lot of
four acres in front of the State House be purchased, with the con-
sent of the owners of the property, at a fair valuation ; that a
monument to receive his remains, composed entirely of the pro-
ducts of -our soil, be erected in the centre; and that the grounds,
skilfully ornamented with shrubbery, be converted into a public
walk.

It is known that for several years Mr. Calhoun employed the
intervals of leisure left him by pressing public engagements, in
preparing for the press some political works, which he deemed
of importance, not only to his own reputation, but to the inter
ests of the country. These, embracing an elementary treatise
on Government, and an elaborate disquisition on the Constitu-
tion of the United States, he had just completed before his death.
The two would make, perhaps, an octavo volume of about 450
pages. An inspection of the lesser work, that at my requef t was
exhibited to me by his eldest son, during a visit which I made at
the family residence, and the opinion of a highly competent
judge, who has given to the larger work a rigid examination,
warrant me in saying, that perhaps no contribution on the same
or similar subject, equals them in amount of thought, argument
and research. It may safely be predicted, that the entire compo-
sition will stand as distinguished in the political literature of the
day, as the illustrious statesman himself was preeminent among
the public characters of his time. The exalted fame of the au-
thor, and the honor and proud position of the State which he so
long loved and served, forbid that these monuments of his
genius, and of his untiring industry and devotion to the public
weal, should be given to the world in the ordinary way. Nor

8 THE GOVERNOR'S MESSAGE.

would the common usage, so often condemned by the deceased,
of appealing to the Federal Government for its countenance and
support, be sanctioned by the people of the State. I feel assured,
too, that his family, who have yielded his mortal remains to the
land of his birth, will never surrender into other hands, the dis-
tinctive memorials of his predominant intellect, and of his pub-
lic and private virtues.

I therefore recommend that these, as well as other important
papers which he left behind him, be applied for and published in
this State, by legislative authority ; that the Governor be author-
ized and requested to employ a suitable person to superintend the
publication of two editions, one in the best style of modern ty-
pography, and the other to be furnished at as cheap a rate as pos-
sible ; and that whatever profits may accrue, be for the benefit of
Mr. Calhoun's family.

Every citizen within our limits should possess a copy of this
legacy to the cause of constitutional liberty. It will teach him
not only to understand, but to estimate the value of his rights.
As the time of decisive action has arrived, let it be entered on the
record, that South Carolina has not only preserved the uncon-
querable spirit of independence, but the sacred oracles of po-
litical wisdom.

WHITEMARSH B. SEABROOK.

PROCEEDINGS

IN THE

SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES.

In the Senate of the United States,
Monday, April 1st, 1850.

On the motion of Mr. King, the reading of the Journal of
Thursday was dispensed with.

Mr. Butler rose and said : —

Mr. President, I rise to discharge a mournful duty, and one
which involves in it considerations well calculated to arrest the
attention of this body. It is, to announce the death of my late
colleague, the Hon. John Caldwell Calhoun. He died at
his lodgings in this city, yesterday morning, at half-past seven
o'clock. He was conscious of his approaching end, and met
death with fortitude and uncommon serenity. He had many ad-
monitions of its approach, and without doubt, he had not been
indifferent to them. With his usual aversion to professions, he
said nothing for mere effect on the world, and his last hours were
an exemplification of his life and character, truth and simplicity.

Mrr Calhoun, for some years past, had been suffering under a
pulmonary complaint, and under its effects, could have reckoned
but on a short existence. Such was his own conviction. The
immediate cause of his death was an affection of the heart. A
few hours before he expired, he became sensible of his situation ;

10 PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE

and when he was unable to speak, his eye and look evinced re-
cognition and intelligence of what was passing. One of the last
directions he gave was to a dutiful son, who had been attending
him, to put away some manuscripts which had been written a
short time before, under his dictation.

Mr. Calhoun was the least despondent man I ever knew ; and
he had, in an eminent degree, the self-sustaining power of intel-
lect. His last days, and his last remarks, are exemplifications of
what I have just said. Mental determination sustained him,
when all others were in despair. We saw him a few days ago,
in the seat near me, which he had so long and honorably occu-
pied ; we saw the struggle of a great mind exerting itself to sus-
tain and overcome the weakness and infirmities of a sinking body.
It was the exhibition of a wounded eagle, with his eyes turned
to the heavens in which he had soared, but into which his wings
could never carry him again.

Mr. President, Mr. Calhoun has lived in an eventful period
of our Republic, and has acted a distinguished part. I surely
do not ventute too much, when I say that his reputation forms a
striking part of a glorious history. Since 1811 until this time,
he has been responsibly connected with the Federal Government.
As Representative, Senator, Cabinet Minister, and Vice President,
he has been identified with the greatest events in the political
history of our country. And I hope I may be permitted to say>
that he has been equal to all the duties which were devolved up-
on him in the many critical junctures in which he was placed. —
Having to act a responsible part, he always acted a decided part.
It would not become me to venture upon the judgment which
awaits his memory. That will be formed by posterity before the
impartial tribunal of history. It may be that he will have had
the fate, and will have given to him, the judgment that has been
awarded to Chatham.

I should do the memory of my friend injustice were I not to
speak of his life in the spirit of history. The dignity of his
whole character would rebuke any tone of remark which truth
and judgment would not sanction.

OF THE UNITED STATES. 11

Mr. Calhoun was a native of South Carolina, and was born
in Abbeville district, on the 18th March, 1782. He was of an
Irish family. His father, Patrick Calhoun, was born in Ireland,
and at an early age came to Pennsylvania, thence moved to the
western part of Virginia, and after Braddock's defeat, moved to
South Carolina, in 1756. He and his family gave a name to
what is known as the Calhoun settlement in Abbeville district.
The mother of my colleague was a Miss Caldwell, born in Char-
lotte county, Virginia. The character of his parents had no
doubt a sensible influence on the destiny of their distinguished
son. His father had energy and enterprise, combined with per-
severance and great mental determination. His mother belonged
to a family of revolutionary heroes. Two of her brothers were
distinguished in the Revolution. Their names and achieve-
ments are not left to tradition, but constitute a part of the history
of the times.

Mr. Calhoun was born in the Revolution, and in his child-
hood felt the influence of its exciting traditions. He derived
from the paternal stock, intellect and self-reliance, and from the
Caldwells, enthusiasm and impulse. The traditions of the Re-
volution had a sensible influence on his temper and character.

Mr. Calhoun, in his childhood, had but limited advantages of
what is termed a literary tuition. His parents lived in a newly-
settled country, and among a sparse population. This popula-
tion had but a slight connection with the lower country of South
Carolina, and were sustained by emigrants from Virginia and
Pennsylvania. There was, of course, but limited means of in-
struction to children. They imbibed most of their lessons from
the conversation of their parents. Mr. Calhoun has always
expressed himself deeply sensible of that influence. At the age
of thirteen, he was put under the charge of his brother-in-law,
Dr. Waddel, in Columbia county, Georgia. Scarcely had he
commenced his literary course before his father and sister died.
His brother-in-law, Dr. Waddel, devote dhimself about this time
to his clerical duties, and was a great deal absent from home.

On his second marriage, he resumed the duties of his acade-

12 PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE

my ; and, in his nineteenth year, Mr. Calhoun put himself un-
der the charge of this distinguished teacher. It must not be sup-
posed that his mind, before this, had been unemployed. He had
availed himself of the advantages of a small library, and had
been deeply inspired by his reading of history. It was under
such influences that he entered the academy of his preceptor. —
His progress was rapid. He looked forward to a higher arena,
with eagerness and purpose.

He became a student in Yale College in 1802, and graduated
two years afterwards with distinction, as a young man of great
ability, and with the respect and confidence of his preceptors and
fellows. What they have said and thought of him would have
given any man a high reputation. It is the pure fountain of a
clear reputation. If the stream has met with obstructions, they
were such as have only shown its beauty and majesty.

After he had graduated, Mr. Calhoun studied law, and for a
few years practised in the courts of South Carolina, with a repu-
tation that has descended to the profession. He was then re-
markable for some traits that have since characterized him. He
was clear in his propositions, and candid in his intercourse with his
brethren. The truth and justice of the law inculcated them-
selves on his mind, and when armed with these, he was a great
advocate.

His forensic career was, however, too limited to make a promi-
nent part in the history of his life. He served for some years in
the Legislature of his native State ; and his great mind made an
impression on her statutes, some of which have had a great prac-
tical operation on the concerns of society. From the Legislature
of his own State he was transferred to Congress ; and from that
time his career has been a part of the history of the Federal Go-
vernment.

Mr. Calhoun came into Congress at a time of deep and exci-
ting interest — at a crisis of great magitude. It was a crisis of
peril to those who had to act in it, but of subsequent glory to the
actors and the common history of the country. The invincibili-
ty of Great Britain had become a proverbial expression, and a

OF THE UNITED STATES. 13

war with her was full of terrific issues. Mr. Calhoun found
himself at once in a situation of high responsibility — one that
required more than speaking qualities and eloquence to fulfil it.
The spirit of the people required direction ; the energy and ardor
of youth were to be employed in affairs requiring the maturer
qualities of a statesman. The part which Mr. Calhoun acted at
this time has been approved and applauded by cotemporaries,
and now forms a part of the glorious history of those times.

The names of Clay, Calhoun, Cheves, and Lowndes,
Grundy, Porter, and others, carried associations with them
that reached the heart of the nation. Their clarion notes pene-
trated the army,* they animated the people, and sustained the
Administration of the Government. With such actors, and in
such scenes — the most eventful of our history — to say that Mr.
Calhoun did not perform a second part, is no common praise.
In debate he was equal with Randolph, and in council he com-
manded the respect and confidence of Madison. At this period
of his life he had the quality of Themistocles — to inspire confi-
dence — which, after all, is the highest of earthly qualities in a
public man ; it is a mystical something, which is felt, but cannot
be described.

The events of the war were brilliant and honorable to both
statesmen and soldiers, and their history may be read with en-
thusiasm and delight. The war terminated with honor; but
the measures which had to be taken, in a transition to a peace
establishment, were full of difficulty and embarrassment. This
distinguished statesman, with his usual intrepidity, did not hesi-
tate to take a responsible and leading part. Under the influ-
ence of a broad patriotism, he acted with an uncalculating lib-
erality to all the interests that were involved, and which were
brought under review of Congress. His personal adversary at
this time, in his admiration for his genius, paid Mr. Calhoun a

# Governor Dodge, (now a Senator on this floor.) who was at that time
a gallant officer of the army, informs me that the speeches of Calhoun
and Clay were publicly read to the army, and exerted a most decided
nfluence on the spirits of the men.

14 PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE

beautiful compliment for his noble and national sentiments, and
views of policy. The gentieman to whom I refer is Mr. Gros-
venor, of N. Y., who used the following language in debate :

" He had heard with peculiar satisfaction, the able, manly, and
constitutional speech of the gentleman from South Carolina.
(Here Mr. Grosvenor recurring in his own mind to a personal
difference with Mr. Calhoun, which arose out of the warm par-
ty discussions during the war, paused for a moment, and then
proceeded.)

" Mr. Speaker, I will not be restrained. No barrier shall ex-
ist which I will not leap over, for the purpose of offering to that
gentleman my thanks for the judicious, independent and national
course which he has pursued in this House for the last two years,
and particularly on the subject now before us. Let the honor-
able gentleman continue with the same manly independence,
aloof from party views and local prejudices, to pursue the great
interests of his country, and to fulfil the high destiny for which
it is manifest he was born. The buzz of popular applause may
not cheer him on his way, but he will inevitably arrive at a high
and happy elevation, in the view of his country and the world."

At the termination of Mr. Madison's administration, Mr. Cal-
houn had acquired a commanding reputation ; he was regarded
as one of the sages of the Republic. In 1817, Mr. Monroe invi-
ted him to a place in his Cabinet. Mr. Calhoun's friends doubt-
ed the propriety of his accepting it, and some of them thought he
would put a high reputation at hazard in this new sphere of ac-
tion. Perhaps these suggestions fired his high and gifted intel-
lect ; he accepted the place, and went into the War Department,
under circumstances that might have appalled other men. His
success has been acknowledged. What was complex and con-
fused, he reduced to simplicity and order. His organization of
the War Department, and his administration of its undefined
duties, have made the impression of an author, having the inter-
est of originality, and the sanction of trial.

To applicants for office, Mr. Calhoun made few promises, and
hence he was not accused of delusion and deception. When a

OF THE UNITED STATES. 15

public trust was involved, he would not compromise with dupli-
city or temporary expediency.

At the expiration of Mr. Monroe's administration, Mr. Cal-
houn's name became connected with the Presidency ; and from
that time to his death he had to share the fate of all others who
occupy prominent situations.

The remarkable canvass for the President to succeed Mr.
Monroe, terminated in returning three distinguished men to the
House of Representatives, from whom one was to be elected.
Mr. Calhoun was elected Yice President by a large majority.
He took his seat in the Senate as Vice President, on the 4th of
March, 1825, having remained in the War Department over
seven years.

While he was Yice President, he was placed in some of the
most trying scenes of any man's life. I do not now choose to
refer to anything that can have the elements of controversy ; but
I hope I may be permitted to speak of my friend and colleague
in a character in which all will join in paying him sincere re-
spect. As a presiding officer of this body, he had the undivided
respect of its members. He was punctual, methodical and im-
partial, and had a high regard for the dignity of the Senate,
which, as a presiding officer, he endeavored to preserve and main-
tain. He looked upon debate as an honorable contest of intel-
lect for truth. Such a strife has its incidents and its trials ; but
Mr. Calhoun had, in an eminent degree, a regard for parliamen-
tary dignity and propriety.

Upon General Hayne's leaving the Senate to become Governor
of South Carolina, Mr. Calhoun resigned the Vice Presidency,
and was elected in his place. All will now agree, that such a
position was environed with difficulties and dangers. His own
State was under the ban, and he was in the national Senate to
do her justice under his constitutional obligations. That part of
his life posterity will review, and I am confident will do it full
and impartial justice.

After his senatorial term had expired, he went into retirement,
by his own consent. The death of Mr. Upshur — so full of mel •

16 PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE

ancholy associations — made a vacancy in the State Department ;
and it was by the common consent of all parties, that Mr. Cal-
houn was called to fill it. This was a tribute of which any
public man might well be proud. It was a tribute to truth, abil-
ity and experience. Under Mr. Calhoun's counsels, Texas was
brought into the Union. His name is associated with one of the
most remarkable events of history — that of one Republic being
annexed to another by the voluntary consent of both. He was
the happy agent to bring about this fraternal association. It is
a conjunction under the sanction of his name, and by an influ-
ence exerted through his great and intrepid mind. Mr. Cal-
houn's connection with the Executive department of the Gov-
ernment, terminated with Mr. Tyler's administration. As a Sec-
retary of State, he won the confidence and respect of foreign am-
bassadors, and his dispatches were characterized by clearness,
sagacity and boldness.

He was not allowed to remain in retirement long. For the
last five years he has been a member of this body, and has been
engaged in discussions that have deeply excited and agitated
the country. He has died amidst them. I had never had any
particular association with Mr. Calhoun, until I became his
colleague in this body. I had looked on his fame as others had
done, and had admired his character. There are those here who
know more of him than I do. I shall not pronounce any such
judgment as may be subject to a controversial criticism. But I
will say, as a matter of justice, from my own personal knowl-
edge, that I never knew a fairer man in argument, or a juster
man in purpose. His intensity allowed of little compromise.
While he did not qualify his own positions to suit the temper of
the times, he appreciated the unmasked propositions of others.
As a Senator, he commanded the respect of the ablest men of
the body of which he was a member ; and I believe I may say,
that where there was no political bias to influence the judgment,
he had the confidence of his brethren. As a statesman, Mr.
Calhoun's reputation belongs to the history of the country, and
I commit it to his countrymen and posterity.

OF THE UNITED STATES. 17

In my opinion, Mr. Calhoun deserves to occupy the first rank
as a parliamentary speaker. He had always before him the
dignity of purpose, and he spoke to an end. From a full mind,
fired by genius, he expressed his ideas with clearness, simplici-
ty and force ; and in language that seemed to be the vehicle of
his thoughts and emotions. His thoughts leaped from his mind,
like arrows from a well-drawn bow. They had both the aim
and force of a skilful archer. He seemed to have had little re-
gard for ornament ; and when he used figures of speech, they
were only for illustration. His manner and countenance were
his best language ; and in these there was an exemplification of
what is meant by Action in that term of the great Athenian ora-
tor and statesman, whom, in so many respects, he so closely re-
sembled. They served to exhibit the moral elevation of the
man.

In speaking of Mr. Calhoun as a man and a neighbor, I am
sure I may speak of him in a sphere in which all will love to
contemplate him. Whilst he was a gentleman of striking de-
portment, he was a man of primitive taste and simple manners.
He had the hardy virtues and simple tastes of a republican citi-
zen. No one disliked ostentation and exhibition more than he
did. When I say he was a good neighbor, I imply more than
I have expressed. It is summed up under the word justice. I
will venture to say, that no one in his private relations could
ever say that Mr. Calhoun treated him with injustice, or that
he deceived him by professions or concealments. His private
character was illustrated by a beautiful propriety, and was the
exemplification of truth, justice, temperance, and fidelity to all
his engagements.

I will venture another remark. Mr. Calhoun was fierce in
his contests with political adversaries. He did not stop in the
fight to count losses or bestow favors. But he forgot resentments,
and forgave injuries inflicted by rivals, with signal magnanimi-
ty. Whilst he spoke freely of their faults, he could with justice
appreciate the merits of all the public men of whom I have heard
him speak. He was sincerely attached to the institutions of this
2

18 PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE

country, and desired to preserve them pure and make them per-
petual.

By the death of Mr. Calhoun, one of the brightest luminaries
has been extinguished in the political firmament. It is an event
which will produce a deep sensation throughout this broad land,
and the civilized world.

I have forborne to speak of his domestic relations. They
make a sacred circle, and I will not invade it.

Mr. Butler then offered the following resolutions :

j Resolved unanimously. That a committee be appointed by the Yice
President to take order for superintending the funeral of the Hon.
John Caldwell Calhoun, which will take place tomorrow, at 12
o'clock meridian, and that the Senate will attend the same.

Rosolvcd unanimously, That the members of the Senate, from a sin-
cere desire of showing every mark of respect due to the memory of the
Hon; John Caldwell Calhoun, deceased, late a member thereof, will
go into mourning for him for one month, by the usual mode of wearing
crape on the left arm.

Resolved unanimously, That, as an additional mark of respect to the
memory of the deceased, the Senate do now adjourn.

Mr. Clay.— Mr. President, prompted by my own feelings
of profound regret, and by the intimations of some highly es-
teemed friendsj I wish, in rising to second the resolutions which
have been offered, and which have just been read, to add a few
words to what has been so well and so justly said by the survi-
ving colleague of the illustrious deceased.

My personal acquaintance with him, Mr. President, com-
menced upwards of thirty-eight years ago. We entered at the
same time, together, the House of Representatives at the other
end of this building. The Congress of which we thus became
members, was that amongst whose deliberations and acts was
the declaration of war against the most powerful nation, as it
xespects us, in the world. During the preliminary discussions

OF THE UNITED STATES. 19

which arose in the preparation for that great event, as well as
during those which took place when the resolution was finally
adopted, no member displayed a more lively and patriotic sensi-
bility to the wrongs which led to that momentous event than
the deceased whose death we all now so much deplore. Ever
active, ardent, able, no one was in advance of him in advocating
the cause of his country, and denouncing the foreign injustice
which compelled us to appeal to arms. Of all the Congresses
with which I have had any acquaintance since my entry into
the service of the Federal Government, in none, in my humble
opinion, has basn assembled such a galaxy of eminent and able
men, as were in the House of Representatives of that Congress
which declared the war, and in that immediately following the
peace; and, amongst that splendid constellation, none shone
more bright and brilliant than the star which is now set.

It was my happiness, sir, during a large part of the life of the
departed, to concur with him on all great questions of national
policy. And, at a later period, when it was my fortune to differ
from him as to measures of domestic policy, I had the happiness
to agree with him generally as to those which concerned our for-
l '« eign relations, and especially as to the preservation of the peace
of the country. During the long session at which the war was
declared, we were messmates, as were other distinguished mem-
bers of Congress from his own patriotic State. I was afforded,
by the intercourse which resulted from that fact, as well as the
subsequent intimacy and intercourse which arose between us, an
opportunity to form an estimate, not merely of his public, but of
his private life ; and no man with whom I have ever been ac-
quainted, exceeded him in habits of temperance and regularity,
and in all the freedom, frankness, and affability of social inter-
course, and in all the tenderness, and respect, and affection,
which he manifested towards that lady who now mourns more
than any other, the sad event which has just occurred. Such,
Mr. President, was the high estimate I formed of his transcen-
dent talents, that if, at the end of his service in the Executive
Department, under Mr. Monroe's administration, the duties of

20 PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE

which he performed with such signal ability, he had been called
to the highest office in the Government, I should have felt per-
fectly assured that under his auspices, the honor, the prosperity,
and the glory of our country would have been safely placed.

Sir, he has gone ! No more shall we witness from yonder
seat the flashes of that keen and penetrating eye of his, darting
through this chamber. No more shall we be thrilled by that tor-
rent of clear, concise, compact logic, poured out from his lips,
which, if it did not always carry conviction to our judgment, al-
ways commanded our great admiration. Those eyes and those
lips are closed forever !

And when, Mr. President, will that great vacancy which

has been created by the event to which we are now alluding,

\ when will it be filled by an equal amount of ability, patriotism,

' and devotion, to what he conceived to be the best interests of his

' country?

Sir, this is not the appropriate occasion, nor would I be the ap-
propriate person to attempt a delineation of his character, or the
powers of his enlightened mind. I will only say, in a few words,
that he possessed an elevated genius of the highest order ; that
in felicity of generalization of the subjects of which his mind
treated, I have seen him surpassed by no one ; and the charm
and captivating influence of his colloquial powers have been
felt by all who have conversed with him. I was his senior, Mr.
President, in years — in nothing else. According to the course
of nature, I ought to have preceded him. It has been decreed
otherwise ; but I know that I shall linger here only a short time,
and shall soon follow him.

And how brief, how short is the period of human existence al-
lotted even to the youngest amongst us ! Sir, ought we not to
profit by the contemplation of this melancholy occasion ? Ought
we not to draw from it the conclusion how unwise it is to in-
dulge in the acerbity of unbridled debate ? How unwise to yield
ourselves to the sway of the animosities of party feeling ? How
wrong it is to indulge in those unhappy and hot strifes which too
often exasperate our feelings and mislead our judgments in the

OF THE UNITED STATES. 21

discharge of the high and responsible duties which we are call-
ed to perform ? How unbecoming, if not presumptuous, it is in
us, who are the tenants of an hour in this earthly abode, to wres-
tle and struggle together with a violence which would not be jus-
tifiable if it were our perpetual home !

In conclusion, sir, while I beg leave to express my cordial sym-
pathies and sentiments of the deepest condolence towards all who
stand in near relation to him, I trust we shall all be instructed
by the eminent virtues and merits of his exalted character, an$U
be taught by his bright example to fulfil our great public duties '
by the lights of our own judgment and the dictates of our own
consciences, as he did, according to his honest and best compre-
hension of those duties, faithfully and to the last "'

Mr. Webster. — I hope the Senate will indulge me in adding
a very few words to what has been said. My apology for this
presumption is the very long acquaintance which has subsisted
between Mr. Calhoun and mysel£ We are of the same age. —
I made my first entrance into the House of Representatives in
May, 1813, and there found Mr. Calhoun. He had already
been in that body for two or three years. I found him then an
active and efficient member of the assembly to which he be-
longed, taking a decided part, and exercising a decided influence,
in all its deliberations.

From that day to the day of his death, amidst all the strifes
of party and politics, there has subsisted between us, always, and
without interruption, a great degree of personal kindness.

Differing widely on many great questions respecting the insti-
tutions and government of the country, those differences never
interrupted our personal and social intercourse. I have been
present at most of the distinguished instances of the exhibition
of his talents in debate. I have always heard him with plea-
sure, often with much instruction, not unfrequently with the
highest degree of admiration.

Mr. Calhoun was calculated to be a leader in whatsoever as-
sociation of political friends he was thrown. He was a man of

22 PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE

undoubted genius, and of commanding talent. All the conntry
aaid all the world admit that. His mind was both perceptive and
vigorous. It was clear, quick, and strong.

Sir, the eloquence of Mr. Calhoun, or the manner of his exhi-
bition of his sentiments in public bodies, was part of his intellec-
tual character. It grew out of the qualities of his mind. It was
plain, strong, terse, condensed, concise ; sometimes impassioned —
still always severe. Rejecting ornament, not often seeking far
for illustration, his power consisted in the plainness of his pro-
positions, in the closeness of his logic, and in the earnestness and
energy of his manner.. These are the qualities, as I think, which
have enabled him, through such a long course of years, to speak
often, and yet always command attention. His demeanor as a
Senator is known to us all — is appreciated, venerated by us all.
No man was more respectful to others ; no man carried himself
with greater decorum, no man with superior dignity. I think
there is not one of us but felt, when he last addressed us from
his seat in the Senate, his form still erect, with a voice by no
means indicating such a degree of physical weakness as did, in
fact, possess him, with clear tones, and an impressive, and, I
may say, an imposing manner, who did not feel that he might
imagine that we saw before us a Senator of Rome, when Rome
survived.

Sir, I have not in public nor in private life known a more as-
siduous person in the discharge of his appropriate duties. I have
4 known no man who wasted less of life in what is called re-
creation, or employed less of it in any pursuits not connected
with the immediate discharge of his duty. He seemed to have
no recreation but the pleasure of conversation with his friends.
Out of the chambers of Congress, he was either devoting himself
to the acquisition of knowledge pertaining to the immediate sub-
ject of the duty before him, or else he was indulging in those so-
cial interviews in which he so much delighted.

My honorable friend from Kentucky has spoken in just terms
of his colloquial talents. .They certainly were singular and emi-
nent. There was a charm in his conversation not often found.

OF THE UNITED STATES. 23

He delighted, especially, in conversation and intercourse with
young men. I suppose that there has been no man among us
who had more winning manners, in such an intercourse and con-
versation, with men comparatively young, than Mr. Calhoun.
I believe one great power of his character, in general, was his
conversational talent, I believe it is that, as well as a conscious-
ness of his high integrity, and the greatest reverence for his in-
tellect and ability, that has made him so endeared an object to
the people of the State to which he belonged.

Mr. President, he had the basis, the indispensable basis, oF~^
all high character ; and that was, unspotted integrity — unim-
peached honor and character. If he had aspirations, they were
high, and honorable, and noble. There was nothing groveling,
or low, or meanly selfish, that came near the head or the heart of
Mr. Calhoun. Firm in his purpose, perfectly patriotic and hon- '•
est, as I am sure he was, in the principles that he espoused, and
in the measures that he defended, aside from that large regard
for that species of distinction that conducted him to eminent sta-
tions for the benefit of the republic, I do not believe he had a sel-
fish motive, or selfish feeling.

However, sir, he may have differed from others of us in his po-
litical opinions, or his political principles, those principles and
those opinions will now descend to posterity under the sanction
of a great name. He has lived long enough, he has done enough,
and he has done it so well, so successfully, so honorably, as to
connect himself for all time with the records of his country. He
is now a historical character. Those of us who have known
him here, will find that he has left upon our minds and our hearts
a strong and lasting impression of his person, his character, and
his public performances, which, while we live, will never be oblit-
erated. We shall hereafter, I am sure, indulge in it as a grateful
recollection that we have lived in his age, that we have been his
cotemporaries, that we have seen him, and heard him, and known
him. We shall delight to speak of him to those who are rising
up to fill our places. And, when the time shall come when we
ourselves shall go, one after another, in succession, to our graves,

24 PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE

we shall carry with us a deep sense of his genius and character,
his honor and integrity, his amiable deportment in private life,
and the purity of his exalted patriotism.

Mr. Rusk. — Mr. President : I hope it will not be considered
inappropriate for me to say a word upon this solemn occasion. — ■
Being a native of the same State with the distinguished Senator
whose death has cast such a gloom upon this Senate and the
audience here assembled, I had the good fortune, at an early pe-
riod of my life, to make his acquaintance. At that time he was
just entering on that bright career which has now terminated. —
I was then a boy, with prospects anything but flattering. To
him, at that period, I was indebted for words of kindness and en-
couragement ; and often since, in the most critical positions in
which I have been placed, a recurrence to those words of encour-
agement has inspired me with resolution to meet difficulties that
beset my path. Four years ago, I had the pleasure of renewing
that acquaintance, after an absence of some fifteen years ; and
this took place after he had taken an active part in the question
of annexing Texas to the United States, adding a new sense of
obligation to my feeling of gratitude.

In the stirring questions that have agitated the country, it was
my misfortune sometimes to differ from him, but it is a matter of
heartfelt gratification for me to know that our personal relations
remained unaltered. And, sir, it will be a source of pleasant
though sad reflection to me, throughout life, to remember, that on
the last day on which he occupied his seat in this chamber, his
body worn down by disease, but his mind as vigorous as ever, we
held a somewhat extended conversation on the exciting topics of
the day, in which the same kind feelings, which had so strongly
impressed me in youth, were still manifested toward me by the
veteran statesman. But, sir, he is gone from among us ; his voice
will never again be heard in this chamber ; his active and vigo-
rous mind will participate no more in our councils ; his spirit has
left a world of trouble, care, and anxiety, to join the spirits of
those patriots and statesmen who have preceded him to a bright-

OF THE UNITED STATES. 25

er and better world. If, as many believe, the spirits of the de-
parted hover around the places they have left, I earnestly pray
that his may soon be permitted to look back upon our country,
which he has left in excitement, confusion, and apprehension,
restored to calmness, security, and fraternal feeling, as broad as
the bounds of our Union, and as fixed as the eternal principles
of justice in which our Government has its foundation.

Mr. Clemens. — I do not expect, Mr. President, to add any-
thing to what has already been said of the illustrious man, whose
death we all so deeply deplore ; but silence upon an occasion like
this, Would by no means meet the expectations of those whose
representative I am. To borrow a figure from the Senator from
Kentucky, the brightest star in the brilliant galaxy of the Union
has gone out, and Alabama claims a place among the chief
mourners over the event. Differing often from the great South-
ern statesman orf questions of public policy, she has yet always
accorded due homage to his genius, and still more to that blame-
less purity of life which entitles him to the highest and the no-
blest epitaph which can be graven upon a mortal tomb. For /
more than forty years an active participant in all the fierce strug- [
gles of party, and surrounded by those corrupting influences to
which the politician is so often subjected, his personal character
remained not only untarnished, but unsuspected. He walked
through the flames, and even the hem of his garment was un-
scorched.

It is no part of my purpose to enter into a recital of the public
acts of John C. Calhoun. It has already been partly done by
his colleague ; but, even that, in my judgment, was unnecessary.
Years after the celebrated battle of Thermopylae, a traveller, on
visiting the spot, found a monument with the simple inscription,
'•Stranger, go tell at Lacedaemon that we died in obedience to her
laws." " Why is it," he asked, " that the names of those who fell
here are not inscribed on the stone ?" " Because," was the proud
reply, " it is impossible that any Greek should ever forget them."
Even so it is with him of whom I speak. His acts are graven

26 PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE

on the hearts of his countrymen, and time has no power to oblit-
erate the characters. Throughout this broad land

" The meanest rill, the mightiest river,
Rolls mingling with his fame forever."

Living, sir, in an age distinguished above all others for its in-
telligence, surrounded throughout his whole career by men, any
one of whom would have marked an era in the world's history,
and stamped the time in which he lived with immortality, Mr.
Calhoun yet won an intellectual eminence, and commanded an
admiration not only unsurpassed but unequalled, in all its parts,
by any of his giant compeers. That great light is now extin-
guished ; a place in this Senate is made vacant which cannot be
filled. The sad tidings have been borne upon the lightning's
wing to the remotest corners of the Republic, and millions of free-
men are now mourning with us over all that is left of one who
was scarcely " lower than the angels."

I may be permitted, Mr. President, to express my gratifica-
tion at what we have heard and witnessed this day. Kentucky
has been heard through the lips of one who is not only her
greatest statesman, but the world's greatest living orator. The
great expounder of the constitution, whose massive intellect
seems to comprehend and give clearness to all things beneath the
sun, has spoken for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. From
every quarter the voice of mourning is mingled with notes of the
highest admiration. These crowded galleries, the distinguished
gentlemen who fill this floor, all indicate that here have

" Bards, artists, sages, reverently met,

To waive each separating plea

Of sect, clime, party, and degree,

AH honoring him on whom nature all honor shed."

The resolutions were then unanimously adopted.

OF THE UNITED STATES. 27

Tuesday, April 2, 1850.
The remains of the deceased were brought into the Senate at
12 o'clock, attended by the Committee of Arrangements and the
Pall-bearers.

Committee of Arrangements.

Mr. MASON,

Mr. DAVIS, of Miss.

Mr. ATCHISON,

Mr. MANGUM,
Mr. CLAY,
Mr. WEBSTER,

Mr. DODGE, of Wisconsin,
Mr. DICKINSON,
Mr. GREENE.

Pall-Bearers.

Mr. CASS,
Mr. KING,
Mr. BERRIEN.

The funeral cortege left the Senate chamber for the Congres-
sional Burial-Ground, where the body was temporarily deposited,
in the following order :

The Chaplains of both. Houses of Congress.
Physicians who attended the deceased.
Committee of Arrangements.
Pall-Bearers.
The family and friends of the deceased.
The Senator and Representatives from the State of South Caro-
lina, as mourners.
The Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate of the United States.
The Senate of the United States, preceded by the Vice President
of the United States 'and their Secretary.
The Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Representatives.
The House of Representatives, preceded by their Speaker and

Clerk.

The President of the United States.

The Heads of Departments.

The Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the Supreme Court

of the United States and its officers.

The Diplomatic Corps.

Judges-of the United States.

Officers of the Executive Departments.

Officers of the Army and Navy.

The Mayor and Councils of Washington.

Citizens and Strangers.

A SERMON

PREACHED IN THE SENATE CHAMBER,

APRIL 2, 1850,

AT THE FUNERAL OF THE

HON. JOHN C. CALHOUN,

SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES FROM SOUTH CAROLINA.

BY THE REV. C. M. BUTLER, D. D.,

CHAPLAIN OF THE SENATE.

I have said ye are gods, and all of yon are children of the Most High ;
hut ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes — Psalm
lxxxii. 6, 7.

One of the princes is fallen ! A prince in intellect ; a prince
in his sway over human hearts and minds ; a prince in the
wealth of his own generous affections, and in the rich revenues
of admiring love poured into his heart ; a prince in the dignity
of his demeanor — this prince has fallen — fallen !

And ye all, his friends and peers, illustrious statesmen, orators,
and warriors — " I have said ye are gods, and all of you are chil-
dren of the Most high ; but ye shall die like men, and fall like
this one of the princes !"

The praises of the honored dead have "been, here and else-
where, fitly spoken. The beautifully blended benignity, dignity,
simplicity, and purity of the husband, the father and the friend ;
the integrity, sagacity, and energy of the statesman j the com-

OF THE UNITED STATES, 29

pressed intenseness, the direct and rapid logic of the orator ; all
these have been vividly portrayed by those who themselves illus-
trate what they describe. There seem still to linger around this
hall echoes of the voices, which have so faithfully sketched the
life, so happily discriminated the powers, and so affectionately
eulogized the virtues of the departed, that the muse of history
will note down the words, as the outline of her future lofty nar-
rative, her nice analysis, and her glowing praise.

But the echo of those eulogies dies away. All that was mor-
tal of their honored object lies here unconscious, in the theatre
of his glory. "Lord of the lion heart and eagle eye" — there he
lies ! that strong heart still, that bright eye dim ! Another voice
claims your ear. The minister of God, standing over the dead,
is sent to say — " Ye are gods, and all of you are children of the
Most High ; but ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the
princes." He is sent to remind you that there are those here, not
visible to the eye of sense, who are greater than the greatest of
ye all — even Death, and Death's Lord and Master.

Death is here. I see him stand over his prostrate victim, and
grimly smile, and shake at us his unsated spear, and bid us all
attend this day on him. He is King to-day, and leads us all
captive in his train, to swell his triumph and proclaim his power.
And there is no visitant that can stand before the soul of man,
with such claims on his awed, intent, and teachable attention. — -
When, as on a day, and in a scene like this, he holds us in his
presence and bids us hear him — who can dare to disregard his
mandate ? Oh, there is no thought or fact, having reference to
this brief scene of things, however it may come with a port and
tone of dignity and power, which does not dwindle into mean-
ness, in the presence of that great thought, that great fact, which
has entered and darkened the Capitol to-day — Death ! To
make us see that by a law perfectly inevitable and irresistible,
soul and body are soon to separate ; that this busy scene of earth
is to be suddenly and forever left ; that this human heart is to
break through the circle of warm, congenial, familiar and foster-
ing sympathies and associations, and to put off, all alone, into

30 PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE

the silent dark — this is the object of the dread message to us of
death. And as that message is spoken to a soul which is con-
scious of sin ; which knows that it has not within itself resources
for self-purification, and self-sustaining peace and joy ; which
realizes, in the very core of its conscience, retribution as a moral
law ; it comes fraught with the unrest, which causes it to be at
once dismissed, or which lodges it in the soul, a visitant whose
first coming is gloom, but whose continued presence shall he glo-
ry. Then the anxious spirit, peering out with intense earnest-
ness into the dark unknown, may, in vain, question earth of the
destiny of the soul, and lift to heaven the passionate invocation —

u Answer me, burning stars of night,

Where hath the spirit gone ;
Which, past the reach of mortal sight,

E'en as a breeze hath flown ?"

And the stars answer him, " We roll

In pomp and power on high ;
But of the never dying soul,

Ask things that cannot die !' 3

" Things that cannot die !" God only can tell us of the spirit-
world. He assures us, by his Son, that death is the child of sin.
He tells us what is the power of this king of terrors. He shows
us that in sinning " Adam all die." He declares to us that, sin-
ful by nature and by practice, we are condemned to death ; that
we are consigned to wo ; that we are unfit for Heaven ; that the
condition of the soul which remains thus condemned and un-
changed, is far drearier and more dreadful beyond, than this side,
the grave. No wonder that men shrink from converse with
death ; for all his messages are woful and appalling.

But, thanks be to God ! though death be here, so also is
death's Lord and Master. " As in Adam all die, even so in
Christ shall all be made alive." That Saviour, Christ, assures
us that all who repent, and forsake their sins, and believe in him,
and live to him, shall rise to a life glorious and eternal; with Him

OF THE UNITED STATES. 31

and His, in Heaven. He tells us that if we are his, those sharp
shafts which death rattles in our ears to-day, shall but transfix,
and only for a season, the garment of our mortality ; and that the
emancipated spirits of the righteous shall be borne, on angel
wings, to that peaceful paradise where they shall enjoy perpetual
rest and felicity. Then it need not be a gloomy message which
we deliver to you to-day, that " ye shall die as men and fall like
one of the princes ;" for it tells us that the humblest of men may
be made equal to the angels, and that earth's princes maybe come
" kings and priests unto God !"

In the presence of these simplest yet grandest truths ; with
these thoughts of death, and the conqueror of death ; with
this splendid trophy of his power proudly held up to our
view by death, I need utter to you no commonplace on the
vanity of our mortal life, the inevitableness of its termination,
and the solemnities of our after-being. Here and now, on
this theme, the silent dead is preaching to you more impres-
sively than could the most eloquent of the living. You feel now,
in your inmost heart, that that great upper range of things with
which you are connected as immortals ; that moral administra-
tion of God, who stretches over the infinite of existence ; that mag-
nificent system of ordered governments, to whose lower circle we
now belong, which consists of thrones, dominions, principalities,
and powers, which rise,

" Orb o'er orb, and height o'er height,"
to the enthroned Supreme ; — you feel that this, your high rela-
tion to the Infinite and Eternal, makes poor and low the most au-
gust and imposing scenes and dignities of earth, which flit, like
shadows, through your three-score years and ten. Oh happy
will it be, if the vivid sentiment of the hour become the actuating
conviction of the life ! Happy will it be, if it take its place in the
centre of the soul, and inform all its thoughts, feelings, principles,
and aims ! Then shall this lower system of human things be
consciously linked to, and become part of, and take glory from
that spiritual sphere, which, all unseen, encloses us, whose actors
and heroes are " angels and archangels, and all the company of

32 PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE

Heaven." Then would that be permanently and habitually felt
by all, which was here, and in the other chamber yesterday so el-
oquently expressed, that " vain are the personal strifes and party
contests in which you daily engage, in view of the great account
which you may all so soon be called upon to render ;"* and that
it is unbecoming and presumptuous in those who are " the tenants
of an hour in this earthly abode, to wrestle and struggle together
with a violence which would not be justifiable if it were your per-
petual home."f Then, as we see to-day, the sister States, by
their Representatives, linked hand in hand, in mournful attitude,
around the bier of one in whose fame they all claim a share, we
should look upon you as engaged in a sacrament of religious pa-
triotism, whose spontaneous, unpremeditated vow, springing con-
sentient from all your hearts, and going up unitedly to Heaven,
would be — " Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inse*
parable !"

But I must no longer detain you. May we all

" So live, that when our summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan, that moves
To that mysterious realm, where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
We go not like the quarry-slave at night
Scourged to his dun 6 eon, but, sustained and soothed
By an unfalteriDg trust, approach our grave
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams."

* Mr. "VVinthrop's speech in the House of Representatives,
t Mr. Clay's speech in he Senate.

OF THE UNITED STATES. 33

In the Senate of the U. S. )
April 3d, 1850. \
Resolved, As a mark of the respect entertained by the Senate,
for the memory of the late John Caldwell Calhoun, a Sena-
tor from South Carolina, and for his long and distinguished ser-
vice in the Public Councils, that his remains be removed at the
pleasure of his surviving family, in charge of the Sergeant-at-
arms, and attended by a committee of the Senate, to the place
designated for their interment, in the bosom of his native State ;
and that such committee, to consist of six Senators, be appointed
by the President of the Senate, who shall have full power to car-
ry the foregoing resolution into effect.

(Attest.) ASBURY DICKINS, Secretary.

In the Senate op the U. S.
April 4th, 1850.
In pursuance of the foregoing resolution,

Mr. MASON,

Mr. DAYIS, op Mississippi,

Mr. BERRIEN,

were appointed the committee.

(Attest.) ASBURY DICKENS, Secretary.

Mr. WEBSTER,
Mr. DICKINSON, and
Mr. DODGE, op Iowa,

In the Senate op the U..S. )
April 9, 1850. \

Mr. Webster having been, on his motion, excused from serving
on the committee to attend the remains of the late John C. Cal-
houn to the State of South Carolina : On motion by Mr. Mason,
Ordered, That a member be appointed by the Vice President to
supply the vacancy, and Mr. Clarke was appointed.

(Attest.) ASBURY DICKINS, Secretary.

34 PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE

In the Senate of the U. S. )
April 3d, 1850. jj
Resolved, That the Vice President be requested to communi-
cate to the Executive of the State of South Carolina, informa-
tion of the death of the Hon. John C. Calhoun, late a Senator
from the said State.

(Attest.) ASBURY DICKINS. Secretary.

Senate Chamber, \

April 3d, 1850. \
Sir : — In pursuance of a resolution of the Senate, a copy of
which is enclosed, it becomes my duty to communicate to you,
the painful intelligence of the decease of the Hon. John Cald-
well Calhoun, late a Senator of the United States from the
State of South Carolina, who died in this city, the 31st ultimo.
I have the honor to be, sir,

Your obedient servant,

MILLARD FILLMORE,
Vice President of the U. S. and
President of the Senate.
His Excellency,

Governor of the State of South Carolina,

Columbia.

Senate of the U. S. 1
Washington City, April 4, 1850. \

To His Excellency, Whitcmarsh B. Seabrook,

Governor of South Carolina.
Sir : — I have the honor to make known to you, that a commit-
tee of the Senate has been appointed to attend the remains of
their late honored associate, Mr, Calhoun, to the place that
may be designated for his interment in his native State, when the
surviving family shall express a wish for their removal.

OF THE UNITED STATES. 35

It is desirable to the committee to know whether this removal
is contemplated by them ; and should it be, that they be inform-
ed as soon as may be, (but entirely at the convenience of the fami-
ly) when they may desire it.

Knowing the deep interest that will be taken by the State of
South Carolina in the matter spoken of, I take the liberty, by this
note, of asking that you will at proper time learn what may be
necessary to answer the foregoing inquiry, and apprise me, as
Chairman of the committee, a few days in advance.
With great respect,

I have the honor to be,

<fcc. &c. &c.

J. M. MASON.

Washington, April 16, 1850.
His Excellency, Whitemarsh B. Seabrook,

Governor of South Carolina.
Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your let-
ter of the 11th inst. handed to me by Mr. Ravenel ; and on behalf
of my associates on the committee of the Senate and of myself,
to accept the hospitalities you have kindly proffered to us on
behalf of the State, on our arrival in South Carolina.

We are directed, by the order of the Senate, to attend the re-
mains of Mr. Calhoun " to the place designated for their inter-
ment in hif native State" — a duty we expect strictly to dis-
charge, and are gratified to find by your communication, that it
will be in accordance with the wishes of your fellow citizens of
Carolina.

Mr. Ravenel, of the committee of South Carolina, will have
apprized you of the time of our probable arrival in Charleston,
which we learn will be on Thursday, the 25th of this month.
With great respect,

I have the honor to be,

<fec. &c. (fee.
J. M. MASON, Chair. Com. Senate.

PROCEEDINGS

IN THE

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

In the House of Representatives.

Washington, April 1st, 1850.

Mr. Vinton, rising, said that the House might soon expect to
receive the usual message from the Senate, announcing the mel-
ancholy event occurring yesterday, (the death of the honorable
Senator Calhoun.) Instead of proceeding with the ordinary
business of legislation, he would therefore move the suspension
of the rules, that the House might take a recess until the Senate
were ready to make that communication.

The question on this motion being put, it was unanimously
agreed to.

So the House then took a recess until one o'clock and ten min-.
utes, p. m. at which hour the Secretary of the Senate, Mr. Dick-
ins, appearing at the bar,

The Speaker called the House to order.

The Secretary of the Senate then announced that he had been
directed to communicate to the House information of the death
of John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, late a Senator from the
State of South Carolina, and delivered the resolutions adopted by
the Senate on the occasion.

Mr. Holmes, of South Carolina, rose and addressed the House
as follows :

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 37

It becomes, Mr. Speaker, my solemn duty to announce to this
House the decease of the honorable John C. Calhoun, a Sena-
tor of the State of South Carolina. He expired at his lodgings in
this city yesterday morning, at seven o'clock. He lives no lon-
ger among the living ; he sleeps the sleep of a long night which
knows no dawning. The sun which rose so brightly on this
morning, brought to him no healing in its beams.

We, the Representatives of our State, come to sorrow over the
dead ; but the virtue and the life and the services of the deceased,
were not confined by metes and bounds ; but standing on the
broad expanse of this Confederacy, he gave his genius to the
States, and his heart to his entire country. Carolina will not,
therefore, be suffered to mourn her honored son in secret cells and
solitary shades ; but her sister States will gather around her in
this palace of the nation, and bending over that bier, weep as
she weeps, and mourn with the deep, afflictive mourning of her
heart. Yes, sir, her honored son — honored in the associations of
his birth, which occurred when the echoes and the shouts of free-
dom had not yet died along his native hills, born of parents who
had partaken of the toils, been affected by the struggles, and
fought in the battles for liberty — seemed as if he were baptized
in the very fount of freedom. Reared amid the hardy scenery
of nature, and amid the stern, pious, and reserved population,
unseduced yet by the temptations, and unnerved by the luxu-
ries of life, he gathered from surrounding objects and from the
people of his association, that peculiar hue and coloring which so
transcendently marked his life. Unfettered by the restraints of
the school house, he wandered in those regions which surroun-
ded his dwelling, unmolested, and indulged those solitary
thoughts, in rambling through her mighty forests, which gave
that peculiar cast of thinking and reflection to his mighty soul.
He was among a people who knew but few books, and over
whose minds learning had not yet thrown its effulgence. But
they had the Bible ; and with his pious parents, he gathered rich
lore, which surpasses that of Greek or Roman story. At an age
when youths are generally prepared to scan the classics, he was

38 PROCEEDINGS IN THE

yet uninitiated in their rudiments. Under the tuition of the ven-
erable Doctor Waddel, his relative and friend, he quickly ac-
quired what that gentleman was able to impart, and even then
began to develop those mighty powers of clear perception, rapid
analysis, quick comprehension, vast generalization, for wnich he
was subsequently so eminently distinguished. He remained but
a very short time at his school, and returned again to his rustic
employments. But the spirit had been awakened — the inspira-
tion had come like to a spirit from on high ; and he felt that with-
in him were found treasures that learning was essential to un-
fold. He gathered up his patrimony, he hastened to the College
of Yale, and there, under the tuition of that accomplished scho-
lar and profound theologian, Rev. Dr. Dwight, he 'became in a
short period, the first among the foremost, indulging not in the
enjoyments, in the luxuries, and the dissipations of a college life,
but with toil severe, with energy unbending, with devotion to
his studies, he became (to use the language of a contemporary)
" a man among boys." In a conflict intellectual with his great
master, the keen eye of Dr. Dwight discerned the [great qualifi-
cations which marked the man, and prophesied the honors that
have fallen in his pathway. He was solitary, and associated
not much with his class. He indulged his propensity to' soli-
tude ; he walked among the elms that surround that ancient col-
lege ; and in the cells, in the secret shades of that institution, he
felt that dawning on his mind which was to precede the brighter
and the greater day ; and raising himself from the materiality
around him, he soared on the wings of contemplation to heights
sublime, and wending his flight along the zodiac, raised his head
among the stars. The honors of the college became his meed,
and departing thence with the blessings and the benedictions of
his venerable instructor, he repaired for a short period to the
school of Litchfield, and there imbibed those principles of the
common law, based upon the rights of man, and throwing a cor-
don around the British and the American citizen. He left, and
upon his return home was greeted by the glowing presence of
his friends, who had heard from a distance the glad tidings of his

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 39

studies and his success. He took at once his position among his
neighbors. He was sent by them to the councils of the State ;
and there, amid the glittering array of lofty intellects and eno-
bled characters, he became first among the first.

But that sphere was too limited for the expansibility of a mind
which seemed to know no limit but the good of all mankind. At
the age of twenty eight, he was transferred to this hall. He
came not, sir, to a bower of ease ; he came not in the moment
of a sunshine of tranquility ; he came when the country was
disturbed by dissention from within, and pressed out by the great
powers of Europe, then contending for the mastery of the world,
and uniting and harmonizing in this, and this alone — the de-
struction of American institutions, the annihilation of American
trade. The whole country (boy as I then was, I well remember)
seemed as if covered with an eternal gloom. The spirits of the
best men seemed crushed amid that pressure, and the eye of
hope scarce found consolation in any prospect of the future. But
he had not been long in these halls, before he took the guage and
measurement of the depth of these calamities, and the compass
of its breadth. He applied himself most vigorously to the appli-
cation of the remedies to so vital a disease. He found that mis-
taken policy had added to the calamities on the ocean, that still
further calamity of fettering, with a restrictive system, the very
motions and energies of the people. He looked down and saw
that there was a mighty pressure, a great weight upon the re-
sources of this country, which time had gradually increased, and
he resolved at once, with that resolution which characterized
him— with that energy which impelled him direct to his pur-
pose — to advise what was considered a remedy too great almost
for the advice of any other — once, weak as we were in numbers,
unprepared as we were in arms, diminished as were our resour-
ces, to bid defiance to Britain, and assume the attitude of a con-
flicting nation for its rights.

Fortunately for the country, that advice was taken, and then
the great spirit of America, released from her shackles, burst up
and made her leave her incumbent, prostrate condition, and stand

40 PROO.LjIHJL'J.1>V^O Ax* x

erect before the people of the world, and shake her spear in bold
defiance. In that war, his counsels contributed as much, I am
informed, as those of any man, to its final success. At a period
when our troops on the frontier, under the command of the Go,-
vernor of New York, were about to retire from the line, and that
Governor had written to Mr. Madison that he had exhausted his
own credit, and the credit of all those whose resources he could
command, and his means were exhausted, and unless in a short
period money was sent on to invigorate the troops, the war must
end, and our country bow down to a victorious foe ; sir, upon
that occasion, Mr. Madison became so disheartened, that he as-
sembled his counsellors, and asked for advice and aid, but advice
and aid they had not to give. At length Mr. Dallas, the Secre-
tary of the Treasury, said to Mr. Madison — you are sick ; retire
to your chamber ; leave the rest to us. I will send to the Capi-
tol for the youthful Hercules, who hitherto has borne the war
upon his shoulders, and he will counsel us a remedy. Mr. Cal-
houn came. He advised an appeal to the States for the loan of
their credit. It seemed as if a new light had burst upon the ca-
binet. His advice was taken. The States generously responded
to the appeal. These were times of fearful import. We were
engaged in war with a nation whose resources were ample, while
ours were crippled. Our ships-of-war, few in number, were com-
pelled to go forth on the broad bosom of the deep, to encounter
those fleets which had signalized themselves at the battles of
Abouker and Trafalgar, and annihilated the combined navies of
France and Spain. But there was an inward strength — there
was an undying confidence — in the hearts of a free people ; and
they went forth to battle and to conquest.

Sir, the clang of arms and the shouts of victory had scarcely
died along the dark waters of the Niagara — the war upon the
plains of Orleans had just gone out with a blaze of glory — when
all eyes were instinctively turned to this youthful patriot, who
had rescued his country in the dark hour of her peril. Mr. Mon-
roe transferred him to his Cabinet ; and upon that occasion, so
confused was the Department of War, so complicated and disor-

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 41

dered, that Mr. Wm. Lowndes, a friend to Mr. Calhoun, advi-
sed him against risking the high honors he had achieved upon
this floor, for the uncertain victories of an Executive position. —
But no man had pondered more thoroughly the depths of his
own mind and the purposes of his own heart — none knew so
well the undaunted resolution and energy that always charac-
terized him ; and he resolved to accept, and did. He related to
me what was extremely characteristic ; he went into the Depart-
ment, but became not of it for awhile. He gave no directions —
he let the machinery move on by its own impetus. In the mean
time he gathered, with that minuteness which characterized him,
all the facts connected with the working of the machinery — ■
with that power of generalization which was so remarkable, com-
bined together in one system all the detached parts, instituted
the bureaus, imparting individual responsibility to each, and re-
quiring from them that responsibility in turn, but uniting them
all in beautiful harmony, and creating in the workings a perfect
unity. And so complete did that work come from his hands,
that at this time there has been no change material in this de-
partment. It has passed through the ordeal of another war, and
it still remains fresh, and without symptoms of decay. He knew
that if we were to have wars, we should have the science to
conduct them ; and he therefore directed his attention to West
Point, which, fostered by his care, became the great school of
tactics and of military discipline, the benefits of which have so
lately been experienced in the Mexican campaign.

But, sir, having finished this work, his mind instinctively
looked for some other great object on which to exercise its pow-
ers. He beheld the Indian tribes, broken down by the pressure
and the advances of civilization, wasting away before the vices,
and acquiring none of the virtues, of the white man. His heart
expanded with a philanthropy as extensive as the human race.
He immediately conceived the project of collecting them into one
nation, of transfering them to the other side of the great river,
and freeing them at once from the temptations and the cupidity
of the Christian man.

42 PROCEEDINGS IN THE

Sir, he did not remain in office to accomplish this great object.
But he had laid its foundation so deep, he had spread out his
plans so broad, that he has reared to himself, in the establish-
ment of that people, a brighter monument, more glorious tro-
phies, than can be plucked upon the plains of war. The tri-
umphs of war are marked by desolated towns and conflagrated
fields ; nis triumphs will be seen in the collection of the Indian
tribes, constituting a confederation among themselves, in the
schoolhouses in the valleys, in the churches that rise with their
spires from the hill-top, in the clear sunshine of Heaven. The
music of that triumph is not heard in the clangor of the trumpet,
and the rolling of the drum, but swells from the clang of the an-
vil, and the tones of the water-wheel, and the cadence of the mill-
stream, that rolls down for the benefit of the poor red man.

Sir, he paused not in his career of usefulness ; he was trans-
ferred, by the votes of a grateful people, to the chair of the se-
cond office of the government. There he presided with a firm-
ness, an impartiality, with a gentleness, with a dignity, that all
admired. And yet it is not given unto man to pass unscathed
the fiery furnace of this world. While presiding over that body
of ambassadors from sovereign States, while regulating their
councils, the tongue of calumny assailed him, and accused him
of official corruption in the Riprap contract. Indignantly he left
the chair, demanded of the Senators an immediate investigation
by a committee, and came out of the fire like gold refined in the
furnace. From that time to the day that terminated his life, no
man dared to breathe aught against the spotless purity of his
character.

But while in that chair, Mr. Calhoun perceived that there
was arising a great and mighty influence to over-shadow a por-
tion of this land. From a patriotic devotion to his country, he
consented on this floor, in 1816, upon the reduction of the war
duties, to a gradual diminution of the burdens, and thus saved
the manufacturers from annihilation. But that interest, then a
mere stripling, weak, and requiring nurture, fostered by this ali-
ment, soon increased in strength, and became potent, growing

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 43

with a giant's growth, and attained a giant's might, and was in-
clined tyrannously to use it as a giant. He at once resigned his
seat, gave up his dignified position, mingled in the strifes of the
arena,, sounded the toscin of alarm, waked up the attention of
the South, himself no less active than those whom he thus
aroused, and at length advised his own State, heedless of danger,
to throw herself into the breach for the protection of that sacred
Constitution, whose every precept he had imbibed, whose every
condition he had admired. Sir, although hostile fleets floated
in our waters, and armies threatened our cities, he quailed not ;
and at length the pleasing realization came to him and to the
country, like balm to the wounded feelings, and by a generous
compromise on all parts, the people of the South were freed from
onerous taxation, and the North yet left to enjoy the fruits of her
industry, and to progress in her glorious advancement in all that
is virtuous in industry and elevated in sentiment.

But he limited not his scope to our domestic horizon. He look-
ed abroad at our relations with the nations. He saw our in-
crease of strength. He measured our resources, and was willing
at once to settle all our difficulties with foreign powers on a per-
manent basis. With Britain we had causes of contention, of
deep and long standing. He resolved, if the powers of his in-
tellect could avail aught before he departed hence, that these
questions should be settled for a nation's honor and a nation's
safety. He faltered not. I know (for I was present) that when
the Ashburton treaty was about to be made — when there were
apprehensions in the cabinet that it would not be sanctioned by
the Senate — a member of that cabinet called to consult Mr. Cal-
houn, and to ask if he would give it his generous support. The
reply of Mr. Calhoun at that moment was eminently satisfacto-
ry, and its annunciation to the cabinet gave assurance to the dis-
tinguished Secretary of State, who so eminently had conducted
this important negotiation. He at once considered the work as
finished ; for it is the union of action in the intellectual, as in the
physical, world that moves the spheres into harmony.

When the treaty was before the Senate, it was considered in

44 PROCEEDINGS IN THE

secret session ; and I never shall forget, that sitting upon yonder
side of the House, the colleague of Mr. Calhoun — who at that
time was not on social terms with him — my friend, the honorable
Mr. Preston, whose heart throbbed with an enthusiastic love of
all that is elevated — left his seat in the Senate, and came to my
seat in the House, saying " I must give vent to my feelings : Mr.
Calhoun has made a speech which has settled the question of
the Northeastern boundary. All his friends — nay, all the Sena-
tors — have collected around to congratulate him, and I have come
out to express my emotions, and declare that he has covered him-
self with a mantle of glory."

Sir, after a while, he retired from Congress ; but the unfortu-
nate accident on board the Princeton, which deprived Virginia
of two of her most gifted sons, members of the cabinet, imme-
diately suggested the recall of Mr. Calhoun from his retirement
in private life, and the shades of his own domicil, to aid the coun-
try in a great exigency. His nomination as Secretary of State
was sent to the Senate, and, without reference to a committee, was
unanimously confirmed. Sir, when he arrived here, he perceiv-
ed that the Southern country was in imminent peril, and that the
arts and intrigues of Great Britain were about to wrest from us
that imperial territory which is now the State of Texas. By his
wisdom, and the exercise of his great administrative talents, the
intrigues of Great Britain were defeated, and that portion of the
sunny South was soon annexed to this Republic.

With the commencement of Mr. Polk's administration, he re-
tired once more from public life, but he retired voluntarily. Mr.
Buchanan (for I might as well relate the fact) called upon me,
took me to the embrasure of one of those windows, and said : " I
am to be Secretary of State ; the President appreciates the high
talents of Mr. Calhoun, and considers the country now encir-
cled by danger upon the Oregon question. Go to Mr. Calhoun,
and tender to him the mission to the Court of St. James — special
or general, as he may determine — with a transfer of the Oregon
question entirely to his charge."

Never can I forget how the muscles of his face became tense,

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 45

how his great eye rolled, as he received the terms of the propo-
sal. " No, sir — no, (he replied.) If the embassies of all Europe
were clustered into one, I would not take it at this time ; my
country is in danger ; here ought to be the negotiation, and
here will I stand," Sir, he retired to his farm ; but the President
in his inaugural, had indicated so strongly his assertion of the
entirety of the Oregon treaty ; had inspirited the people of the
West almost to madness, and in like manner had dispirited the
merchants of the East, and of the North and South, that a pre-
sentiment of great dangers stole over the hearts of the people,
and a war seemed inevitable, with the greatest naval power of
the earth. Impelled by their apprehensions, the merchants sent
a message to Mr. Calhoun, and begged him again to return to
the councils of the nation. His predecessor generously resigned.
He came, and when he came, though late, he beheld dismay on
the countenances of all. There was a triumphant majority in
both parts of this Capitol of the Democratic party, who, with a
few exceptions, were for carrying out the measures of Mr. Polk.
The Whigs, finding that they were too few to stem the current,
refused to breast themselves to the shock. But when Mr. Cal-
houn announced on the floor of the Senate, the day after his ar-
rival, his firm determination to resist and save from the mad-
ness of the hour, this great country, they immediately rallied,
and soon his friends in this House and in the Senate gathered
around him, and the country was safe. Reason triumphed, and
the republic was relieved of the calamities of a war. This was
the last great work he ever consummated.

But he saw other evils ; he beheld this republic about to lose
its poise from a derangement of its weights and levers ; he was
anxious to adjust the balance, and to restore the equilibrium ; he
exercised his mind for that purpose ; he loved this Union, for I
have often heard him breathe out that love ; he loved the equal-
ity of the States, because he knew that upon that equality rested
the stability of the government ; he admired that compact — the
Constitution of our fathers — and esteemed it as a great cove-

46 PROCEEDINGS IN THE

nant between sovereign States, which if properly observed, would
make us the chosen people of the world.

At length the acting of the spirit chafed the frail tenement of
mortality, and to the eye of his friends, the tide of life began to
ebb ; but, sir, with an undying confidence in his powers — with
a consciousness of the dangers which encircled his physical na-
ture, but without regardto his own sufferings, in the solitudes of
disease, unable in the midst of disease even to hold a pen, he
dictated his last great speech. That speech has gone forth to the
world, and the judgment of that world will now impartially be
stamped upon it.

Sir, when his health began gradually to recover, his spirit im-
pelled him, against the advice of his friends, into the Senate
chamber ; and there, with a manliness of purpose, with a deci-
sion of tone^ with a clearness of argument, with a rapidity of
thought, he met and overthrew his antagonists one by one, as
they came up to the attack. But weakened by the strife, al-
though he retired victorious and encircled with a laurel wreath,
he fell exhausted by his own efforts, and soon expired on the
plains. And now where is he ? Dead, dead, sir ; lost to his
country and his friends.

"For him no more the blazing hearth shall burn,
Nor wife nor children more shall he behold,"

nor sacred home. But he shall shortly rest amid his own native
hills, with no dirge but the rude music of the winds, and after
awhile, no tears to moisten his grave but the dews of Heaven.

But though dead, he still liveth ; he liveth in the hearts of his
friends, in the memory of his services, in the respect of the
States, in the affections, the devoted affections of that house-
hold he cherished. He will live in the tomes of time, as
they shall unfold their pages, rich with virtues, to the eyes of the
yet unborn. He lives, and will continue to live, for countless
ages, in the advance of that science to which, by his intellect, he
so much contributed, in the disenthralment of man from the re-
strictions of government, in the freedom of intercourse of na-

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 47

tions, and kindreds, and tongues, which makes our common mo-
ther earth throw from her lap her bounteous plenty unto all her
children. And it may be, that with the example set to other na-
tions, there shall arise a union of thought and sentiment, and
that the strong ties of interest, and the silken cords of love, may
unite the 'hearts of all, until from the continents and the isles of
the sea, there will come up the gratulations of voices, that shall
mingle with the choral song of the angelic host—" Peace on
earth ; good will to all mankind."

I move, sir, the adoption of the following resolutions.

Resolved, That this House has heard with deep sensibility, the an-
nounc:ment of the death of the Hon. John C Calhoun, a Senator
from the State of South Carolina.

Resolved, That as a testimony of respect for the memory of the de-
ceased, the members and officers of this House will wear the usual badge
of mourning for thirty days.

Resolved, That the proceedings of this House, in relation to the
death of the Hon. John C Calhoun, be communicated to the family
of the deceased, by the Clerk.

Resolved, That this House will attend the funeral of the deceased in
a body ; and, as a further mark of respect for his memory, that it do
now adjourn,

Mr. Winthrop rose to second the resolutions offered by Mr.
Holmes, and proceeded as follows :

I am not unaware, Mr. Speaker, that the voice of New Eng-
land has already been heard to-day, in its most authentic and
most impressive tones, in the other wing of this Capitol. — •
But it has been suggested to me, and the suggestion has met
with the promptest assent from my own heart, that here, also,
that voice should not be altogether mute on this occasion.

The distinguished person, whose death has been announced
to us in the resolutions of the Senate, belonged, not indeed, to us.
It is not ours to pronounce his eulogy. It is not ours, certainly,
to appropriate his fame. But it is ours to bear witness to his
character, to do justice to his virtues, to unite in paying honor to

48 PROCEEDINGS IN THE

his memory, and to offer our heart-felt sympathies, as I now do,
to those who have been called to sustain so great a bereavement.

We have been told, sir, by more than one adventurous naviga-
tor, that it was worth all the privations and perils of a protracted
voyage beyond the line, to obtain even a passing view of the
Southern Cross — that great constellation of the Southern hemis-
phere. We can imagine, then, what would be the emotions of
those who have always enjoyed the light of that magnificent
luminary, and who have taken their daily and their nightly di-
rection from its refulgent rays, if it were suddenly blotted out
from the sky.

Such, sir, and so deep, I can conceive to be the emotions at
this hour, of not a few of the honored friends and associates
whom I see around me.

Indeed, no one who has been ever so distant an observer of the
course of public affairs, for a quarter of a century past, can fail
to realize that a star of the first magnitude has been struck from
our political firmament. Let us hope, sir, that it has only been
transferred to a higher and purer sphere, where it may shine on
with undimmed brilliancy forever !

Mr. Speaker, it is for others to enter into the details of Mr.
Calhoun's life and services. It is for others to illustrate and to
vindicate his peculiar opinions and principles. It is for me to
speak of him only as he was known to the country at large, and
to all, without distinction of party, who have represented the
country of late years, in either branch of the national councils.

And speaking of him thus, sir, I cannot hesitate to say, that,
among what may be called the second generation of American
statesmen, since the adoption of the Federal Constitution, there
has been no man of a more marked character, of more pronounc-
ed qualities, or of a wider and more deserved distinction.

The mere length and variety of his public service, in almost
every branch of the National Government, running through a
continuous period of almost forty years — as a member of this
House, as Secretary of War, as Yice President of the United

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 49

States, as Secretary of State, and as Senator from his own ador-
ed and adoring South Carolina — would alone have secured him
a conspicuous and permanent place upon our public records.

But he has left better titles to remembrance than any which
mere office can bestow.

There was an unsullied purity in his private life ; there was
an inflexible integrity in his public conduct ; there was an inde-
scribable fascination in his familiar conversation ; there was a con-
densed energy in his formal discourse ; there was a quickness of
perception, a vigor of deduction, a directness and a devotedness of
purpose, in all that he said, or wrote, or did ; there was a Roman
dignity in his whole senatorial deportment; which, together,
made up a character which cannot fail to be contemplated and
admired to the latest posterity.

I have said, sir, that New England can appropriate no part of
his fame. But we may be permitted to remember that it was in
our schools of learning and of law that he was trained up for
the great contests which awaited him in the forum of the Senate
chamber. Nor can we forget how long and how intimately he
was associated in the Executive or deliberative branches of the
Government with more than one of our own most cherished
statesmen.

The loss of such a man, sir, creates a sensible gap in the pub-
lic councils. To the State which he represented, and the section
of country with which he was so peculiarly identified, no stran-
ger tongue may venture to attempt words of adequate consola-
tion. But let us hope that the event may not be without a whole-
some and healing influence upon the troubles of the times. Let
us heed the voice, which comes to us all, both as individuals and
as public officers, in so solemn and signal a providence of God.
Let us remember that, whatever happens to the Republic, we
must die ! Let us reflect how vain are the personal strifes and
partisan contests in which we daily engage, in view of the great
account which we may so soon be called on to render ! As Ci-
cero exclaimed, in considering the death of Crassus : " Of alia-
4

50 PROCEEDINGS IN THE

cemhominum spent, fragilem que fortunam, et inanes nostras
contentionesP

Finally, sir. let us find fresh bonds of brotherhood and of union
in the cherished memories of those who have gone before us ;
and let us resolve that, so far as in us lies, the day shall never
come when New England men may not speak of the great names
of the South, whether among the dead or among the living, as
of Americans and fellow-countrymen !

Mr. Tenable rose and said : Mr. Speaker, in responding to
the announcement just made by the gentleman from South Caro-
lina, (Mr. Holmes,) I perform a sad and melancholy office. Did
I consult my feelings alone, I would be silent. In the other end
of this' building we have just heard the touching eloquence of
two venerable and distinguished Senators, his cotemporaries and
compatriots. Their names belong to their country as well as his ;
and I thought, while each was speaking, of the valiant warrior,
clothed in armor, who, when passing the grave of one with
whom he had broken lances and crossed weapons, dropped a tear
upon his dust, and gave testimony to his skill, his valor, and his
honor. He whose spirit has fled needs no effort of mine to place
his name on the bright page of history, nor would any eulogy
which I might pronounce, swell the vast tide of praises which
will flow perennially from a nation's gratitude. The great Ame-
rican statesman who has fallen by the stroke of death, has left
the impress of his mind upon the generations among whom he
lived — has given to posterity the mines of his recorded thoughts
to reward their labor with intellectual wealth — has left an exam-
ple of purity and patriotism on which the wearied eye may rest,
"And gaze upon the great,
Where neither guilty glory glows,
Nor despicable state."

For more than forty years his name is conspicuous in our his-
tory. Born at the close of the revolutionary war, he was in full
maturity to guide the councils of his country in our second con-
test with England. Never unmindful of her claims upon him,
he has devoted a long life to her service, and has closed it, like a

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 51

gallant warrior, with his armor buckled on him. " Death made
no conquest of this conqueror ; for now he lives in fame, though
not in life." The only fame, sir, which he ever coveted — an im-
pulse to great and honorable deeds — a fame which none can de-
spise who have not renounced the virtues which deserve it. It
is at least some relief to our hearts, now heaving with sighs at
this dispensation of Heaven, that he now belongs to bright, to
enduring history ; for his was one of " the few, the immortal
names that were not born to die." Of his early history the gen-
tleman who preceded me has spoken ; of his illustrious life, I
need not speak ; it is known to millions now living, and will be
familiar to the world in after times.

But, sir, I propose to say something of him in his last days.
Early in the winter of 1848-'9 his failing health gave uneasiness
to his friends. A severe attack of bronchitis, complicated with
an affection of the heart, disqualified him for the performance of
his senatorial duties with the punctuality which always distin-
guished him. It was then that I became intimately acquainted
with his mind, and, above all, with his heart. Watching by his
bedside, and during his recovery, I ceased to be astonished at the
power which his master-mind and elevated moral feelings had
always exerted upon those who were included within the circle
of his social intercourse. It was a tribute paid spontaneously to
wisdom, genius, truth. Patriotism, honesty of purpose, and pu-
rity of motive, rendered active by the energies of such an intel-
lect as hardly ever falls to any man, gathered around him sin-
cere admirers and devoted friends. That many have failed to
appreciate the value of the great truths which he uttered, or to
listen to the warnings which he gave, is nothing new in the his-
tory of great minds. Bacon wrote for posterity, and men of pro-
found sagacity always think in advance of their generation.
His body was sinking under the invasion of disease before I formed
his acquaintaintance, and he was passing from among us before
I was honored with his friendship. I witnessed with astonish-
ment the influence of his mighty mind over his weak physical
structure. Like a powerful steam engine on a frail bark, every

52 PROCEEDINGS IN THE

revolution of the wheel tried its capacity for endurance to the ut-
most. But yet his mind moved on, and, as if insensible to
the decay of bodily strength, put forth, without stint, his une-
qualled powers of thought and analysis, until nature well-nigh
sunk under the imposition. His intellect preserved its vigor
while his body was sinking to decay. The menstruum retained
its powers of solution, while the frail crucible which contained it
was crumbling to atoms. During his late illness, which, with a
short intermission, has continued since the commencement of
this session of Congress, there was no abatement of his intellec-
tual labors. They were directed as well to the momentous ques-
tions now agitating the public mind, as to the completion of a
work which embodies his thoughts on the subject of government
in general and our own Constitution in particular ; thus distin-
guishing his last days by the greatest effort of his mind, and be-
queathing it as his richest legacy to posterity.

Cheerful in a sick chamber, none of the gloom which usually
attends the progress of disease annoyed him ; severe in ascertain-
ing the truth of conclusions, because unwilling to be deceived
himself, he scorned to deceive others ; skilful in appreciating the
past, and impartial in his judgment of the present, he looked to
the future as dependant on existing causes, and fearlessly gave
utterance to his opinions of its nature and character ; the philo-
sopher and the statesman, he discarded expedients by which
men " construe the times to their necessities." He loved the truth
for the truth's sake, and believed that to temporize is but to in-
crease the evil which we seek to remove. The approach of death
brought no indication of impatience — no cloud upon his intellect.
To a friend who spoke of the time and manner in which it was
best to meet death, he remarked : " I have but little concern
about either ; I desire to die in the discharge of my duty ; I have
an unshaken reliance upon the providence of God."

I saw him four days after his last appearance in the Senate
chamber, gradually sinking under the power of his malady, with-
out one murmer at his affliction, always anxious for the interest
of his country, deeply absorbed in the great question which agi-

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 53

tates the public mind, and earnestly desiring its honorable adjust-
ment, unchanged in the opinions which he had held and uttered
for many years, the ardent friend of the Union and the Constitu-
tion, and seeking the perpetuity of our institutions, by inculca-
ting the practice of justice and the duties of patriotism.

Aggravated symptoms, on the day before his death, gave no-
tice of his approaching end. I left him late at night, with but
faint hopes of amendment ; and, on being summoned early the
next morning, I found him sinking in the cold embrace of death;
calm, collected, and conscious of his situation, but without any
symptom of alarm, his face beaming with intelligence, without
one indication of suffering or of pain. I watched his counte-
nance, and the lustre of that bright eye remained unchanged, un-
til the silver cord was broken, and then it went out in instanta-
neous eclipse. When I removed my hand from closing his eyes
he seemed as one who had fallen into a sweet and refreshing
slumber. Thus, sir, closed the days of John Caldwell Cal-
houn, the illustrious American statesman. His life and services
shall speak of the greatness of by-gone days with undying testi-
mony. Another jewel has fallen from our crown ; an inscruta-
ble Providence has removed from among us one of the great
lights of the age. But it is not extinguished. From a height to
which the shafts of malice or the darts of detraction never reach,
to which envy cannot crawl, or jealousy approach, it will shine
brighter and more gloriously ; sending its rays over a more exten-
ded horizon, and blessing mankind by its illumination. The
friend of constitutional liberty will go to his writings for truth
and to his life for a model. We, too, should be instructed by his
experience, while his presages for the future should infuse cau-
tion into our counsels, and prudence into our actions. His voice,
now no more heard in the Senate, will speak most potentially
from the grave. Personal opposition has died with his death.
The aspiring cannot fear him, nor the ambitious dread his eleva-
tion. His life has become history, and his thoughts the property
of his countrymen.

Sir, while we weep over his grave, let us be consoled by the

54 PROCEEDINGS IN THE

assurance that " honor decks the turf that wraps his clay." He
was our own, and his fame is also ours. Let us imitate his great
example, in preferring truth and duty to the approbation of men,
or the triumphs of party. Be willing to stand alone for the right,
nor surrender independence for any inducement. He was
brought up in the society of the men of the Revolution, saw the
work of our Constitution since its formation, was profoundly
skilled in construing its meaning, and sought by his wisdom
and integrity to give permanency to the Government which it
created. If such high purposes be ours, then our sun, like his,
will go down serenely, and we shall have secured " a peace above
all other dignities — a calm and quiet conscience."

The question was then taken on the resolutions offered by Mr.
Holmes, and they were unanimously agreed to.

And thereupon the House adjourned.

REPORT

THE COMMITTEE OF TWENTY-FIVE.

Charleston, May 24th, 1850.
His Excellency, Whitemarsh B. Seabrook,

Governor of the State of South Carolina,

Dear Sir : — I have received your Excellency's note of the
29th ultimo, addressed to me, as Chairman of the Committee of
Twenty-five, on the removal of the remains of the Hon. John
C. Calhoun ; and desiring of me, " as early as my convenience
may permit, a narrative of the occurrences on the way, from the
day of our leaving Charleston, to the time when the body was
surrendered to you."

Your note has been laid before the committee, and with their
concurrence, the following report is respectfully submitted.

The committee was appointed by your Excellency, under the
second resolution of the meeting held in this city, on the eve-
ning of the 2d ultimo, to give expression to the public sorrow,
on the death of the Hon. John C. Calhoun. We were desired
" to proceed to Washington, to procure and bring home his re-
mains, and to co-operate in all other measures for their final dis-
position."

On the 5th ult. the day the committee met to organize, our
newspapers announced the appointment, by the Senate of the
United States, of a committee of six members of that distinguish-
ed body, to take charge of the remains of Mr. Calhoun, and to
attend them to their final resting place in his native State. [This
high honor modified the duty which had been assigned to us. It

56 REPORT OF THE

had become the office of the Senators, to convey and deliver the
remains ; ours, in manifestation of the respect of our people, to
attend them as mourners.

A general understanding in reference to the melancholy duty
to be performed, was held by correspondence, between the Hon.
James M. Mason, the chairman of the committee of the Senate,
and the chairman of this committee ; and under a resolution of
the latter, three of our number were requested to proceed to
Washington, to confer with the committee of the Senate, and
keep our authorities and committee at home advised of their ar-
rangements. The chairman being one of this sub-committee,
H. A. DeSaussure, Esq. was appointed chairman pro tempore of
the committee of twenty-five.

The departure of the sub-committee, however, was to be de-
ferred until Mrs. Calhoun should have been consulted, and her
desires ascertained respecting the removal and ultimate dispo-
sition of the remains. This object having been effected, and
her acquiescence in the measures proposed by your Excellency
received, the sub-committee, consisting of the chairman, and
Messrs. A. Huger and C. G. Memminger, proceeded to Washing-
ton, and arrived there on the 13th and 14th April.

Mr. Mason, the Chairman of the Senate's committee, had been
called by business from Washington. He returned on the 15th,
and on the next morning his committee met, and appointed
Monday, the 22nd April, as the day of departure with their
solemn charge. Communications by telegraph to the committee,
through Mr. DeSaussure, the Chairman pro tern, gave informa-
tion of this arrangement, and of our expectation that the cor-
tege would arrive in Charleston on Thursday morning, the 25th
April.

On the arrival of the sub-committee in Washington, they found
all the public buildings draped with emblems of mourning, by
order of the President of the United States ; and their reception
by the committee of the Senate, and by other distinguished citi-
zens, manifested the deep interest felt in the purpose of their visit.

On the morning of the 16th April, Robert Beale, Esq. Sergeant-

COMMITTEE OF TWENTY-FIVE. 57

at-arms of the Senate, called on the suh-committe by direction
of the committee of the Senate, to express their desire that we
should consider ourselves guests, during our stay in Washing-
ton ; informed us that apartments had been provided for our ac-
commodation, and requested us to appoint an hour to receive the
Committee, who would call and conduct us to the hotel they had
selected. We accordingly named an hour, at which they called
with carriages, and conducted us to the City Hotel, introduced
us to a private parlour and comfortable rooms, informed us that
instructions had been given to meet our directions in all respects,
and that a carriage would be in waiting subject to our orders.

The invitation was extended to our associates of the commit-
tee of twenty-five, to consider themselves guests on their arrival,
with information that like arrangements would be made for their
comfort and convenience.

Of the twenty-five gentlemen originally named on the com-
mittee, four were deprived, by circumstances, of the privilege of
uniting in the duties of our appointment, viz : Messrs. Henry
W. Conner, Arthur P. Hayne, A. G. Magrath and James Gads-
den ; and in their stead, Messrs. George S. Bryan, Matthew I.
Keith, P. H. Seabrook and J. E. Leland, joined us by your Ex-
cellency's request.

Twenty members of the committee arrived in Washington on
Saturday, the 20th April, and were met at the landing by the
Sergeant-at-arms with carriages, and conducted to the lodgings
provided for them. These gentlemen had been expected on the
previous day, and the Sergeant-at-arms was at the landing to
receive them. But their passage from Charleston had been bois-
terous, and they arrived at Wilmington after the cars had left it.
It thus became necessary for them to remain in Wilmington till
the next day. They were immediately requested to consider
themselves the guests of the city ; and enjoyed the kindest at-
tentions from the authorities and citizens. These attentions were
acknowledged by the committee, in resolutions adopted at Wil-
mington, and communicated by Mr. DeSaussure, the Chairman
pro tern.

58 REPORT OF THE

All of our committee were now in Washington, excepting two,
the Hon. Wm. Aiken, who was unexpectedly detained, and Jno.
E. Carew, Esq. who accompanied his colleagues as far as Rich-
mond, where he received information hy telegraph of the sud-
den illness of his father, which obliged him to return.

We were joined on our way homeward, at Wilmington, by
Mr. Aiken, and at the wharf in Charleston, by Mr. Carew. Our
number therefore was complete during the ceremonies in Charles-
ton.

Two of the sons of Mr. Calhoun, Mr. Andrew Pickens Cal-
houn, and Maj. Patrick Calhoun, of the U. S. Army, accompanied
the committee of twenty-five from Charleston to Washington,
and were received by the committee of the Senate as guests. —
Their presence at all the ceremonies incident to our mournful
duty, deepened their solemnity.

To the Sergeant-at-arms, the immediate charge of the remains,
from the vault in Washington to their delivery in South Caro-
lina, had been committed by the Senators. To six respectable
attendants, selected by him, had been assigned the duty of bear-
ing them whenever removed during the journey. The remains
were enclosed in an iron coffin, furnished with six handles,
which rendered the transfer from one conveyance to another,
safe and convenient,

In accordance with a programme issued by the Hon. Chair-
man of the Senate committee, the remains were brought to the
eastern front of the Capitol at 8 o'clock, on Monday morning, the
22d April, in charge of the Sergeant-at-arms and his attend,
ants, all in full suits of black. The committee of the Senate,
with the two sons of the deceased, the Hon. Mr. Tenable, of
North Carolina, and the Hon. Mr. Holmes, of South Carolina,
members of the House of Representatives, invited by the Sen-
ate's committee to join the escort ; the committee of South Car-
olina, and many distinguished citizens, were in ' attendance. —
These, in a long train of carriages, followed the hearse in slow
procession from the steps of the Capitol, along the south side of
Capitol Hill and down the Maryland Avenue, and thence to the

COMMITTEE OF TWENTY-FIVE. 59

wharf on the Potomac, where the steamer Baltimore awaited us.
The steamer bore appropriate insignia of the melancholy service
she was to perform, both the exterior and interior being shroud-
ed in mourning. The body was carried on board and placed
in the upper saloon, which had been prepared for its reception,
and for the accommodation of the committees and friends.

Immediately after this, the corpse of a young gentleman re-
cently appointed a Cadet at West Point, a son of the Hon. H.
W. Hilliard, of Alabama, a member of the House of Representa-
tives, was brought in and placed by that of Mr. Calhoun. The
afflicted parents were in attendance, and a general sympathy
with their deep private grief was added to the public sorrow.

We were now ready to leave the city of Washington. Of the
committee of the Senate, five were present, viz : the Hon. James
M. Mason, of Virginia, Chairman, the Hon. Daniel S. Dickinson,
of New York, the Hon. John H. Clarke, of Rhode Island, the
Hon. Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, and the Hon. Augustus C.
Dodge, of Iowa. The Hon. John M. Berrien, of Georgia, had
been called to Savannah by the illness of a member of his fami-
ly, but we are gratified to say, that he was enabled to meet his
colleagues on their arrival in Charleston, and there to unite with
them in the solemnities of the occasion.

Among the attendants on the solemn offices just commenced,
were the Hon. William Seaton, the Mayor of Washington, and
Lieut. Thomas B. Huger, of South Carolina, appointed by Com-
modore Parker, of the Home Squadron, in expression of his re-
spect, to accompany the remains as his flag officer. These gen-
tlemen attended us officially to the landing on the territory of
Virginia. Mr. Clarke Mills, the artist, of this city, now employed
at Washington in completing the equestrian statue of Jackson,
accompanied the committee of South Carolina by invitation. —
The public are indebted to Mr. Mills for having prepared him-
self for perpetuating not only the head and countenance of Mr.
Calhoun, but his manly form. A study of his manner in the
Senate and in private, with other advantages which he has se-
cured, will enable him to apply his genius to a representation in

60 REPORT OF THE

statuary, of this distinguished son of Carolina, of which we may
confidently anticipate the highest value.

The Hon. Mr. Webster, one of the six Senators first appointed
on the committee of that body, who found it necessary to ask to
be excused from the duty which the appointment involved, was
nevertheless desirous of paying a last tribute of respect to the
memory of Mr. Calhoun, by accompanying us to the landing
in Virginia. The state of his health preventing him, it is due to
the occasion to transmit with this report his two notes, communi-
cating his intention, and his reasons for relinquishing it.

Crowds of person had collected to witness the mournful de-
parture ; but an unbroken silence prevailed as our boat moved
from her moorings.

On approaching Alexandria, we found the flags of the ship-
ping, and flags displayed from the public buildings, at half mast,
and in mourning. No incident of special interest occurred on our
further progress down the Potomac, except the passing of Mount
Vernon. As we drew near, the speed of our boat was moderated.
Moving slowly on. we paused, as it were, in silent respect.

Mount Vernon belongs to history. It commands the attention
of every traveller. It associates, throughout the world, the dig-
nity of worth in private life with all that is rational in civil lib-
erty, with all that is wise in government, with all that is pure
in the service of country. To us it is sacred ground, impressing
every mind with awe ; filling every heart with gratitude — an un-
seen presence is there ; and no unhallowed thought finds place.
Every packet that passes tolls its bell in honor of the Father of
his Country. On this occasion, the customary answer of the
heart was wrought into high emotion. We bore what was mor-
tal of one illustrious man, by all that is mortal of the great type
of illustrious men. No bosom was unmoved ; scarcely an eye
was tearless. " Deep called unto deep," as the muffled knell of
our boat paid its passing tribute.

Arrived at Aquia Creek, we found in readiness a special train,
provided by the Richmond and Aquia Creek Rail Road Compa-
ny ; and deputations of distinguished citizens from Richmond and

COMMITTEE OF TWENTY-FIVE. 61

from Fredericksburg, together with a military escort from the lat-
ter city, awaiting our arrival. The deputation from Fredericks-
burg were a joint committee of officers of the corporation and cit-
izens, and consisted of the Hon. R. B. Semple, Mayor, B. S.
Herndon, Recorder, John Minor, member of Council, Thos. B.
Barton, Commonwealth's Attorney, John J. Chew, Clerk, and Col.
Hugh Mercer and Eustace Conway, Esq. citizens. The milita-
ry escort consisted of the Fredericksburg Guards, under com-
mand of Captain Wm. S. Barton.

The deputation from Richmond were the Hon. John Y. Ma-
son, J. Lyons, G. A. Myers, and Wm. F. Ritchie, Esquires ; and
were accompanied by Edward Robinson, Esq. the President of
the Richmond and Aquia Rail Road Company.

The remains were landed on the shores of Virginia, and re-
ceived with honors by the deputations and by the military. Du-
ring a solemn dirge by the Band of the Fredericksburg Guards,
the remains were conveyed to a car prepared for them, and for
the special attendants. The committees of the Senate and of
South Carolina, the Sons, and others in attendance with the de-
putations, were conducted to another car ; and the Fredericks-
surg Guards preceded them in a third. Our approach to Frede-
ricksburg was announced by minute guns ; our passage by the
city honored by the tolling of bells and solemn music. We
stopped a short time to interchange courtesies with the citizens,
when we proceeded to Milford, at which place we were invited
to partake of a collation, and here the deputation from Frede-
ricksburg took leave of us. Resuming our journey, we arrived
at Richmond at half past 4 o'clock, P. M. and were met at the
boundary of the city by marshals on horseback, and by assem-
blages which indicated a reception of no ordinary character. — ■
Military and civic honors, public and private tributes, were har-
moniously combined. A hearse, prepared for the occasion, with
solemn decorations, and drawn by four black horses appropriate-
ly clad, each led by a groom in mourning ; a splendid military
escort ; a large procession of citizens ; and an array of equipages^
to receive the committee, deputations and public officers ; were

62 REPORT OP THE

the manifestations of the general desire in the capitol of Virginia
to honor the departed, and to show respect to those who accom-
panied his remains. The silence was not once broken by the im-
mense throng of spectators. The stores and places of business
were closed — vthe bells were tolled — the procession moved onward
to mournful dirges until it reached the capitol. Here the milita-
ry were placed in open order, and the body, borne by the attend-
ants, the several committees and deputations, the Governor,
public officers, and citizens uncovered, passed through them, en-
tered the capitol, and were conducted to the hall of the House of
Delegates, where the remains were deposited for the night, under
a military guard, appointed by his Excellency Gov. Floyd. The
solemnity was closed by a short address and prayer from the Rev.
Stephen Taylor. This simple, touching ceremony over, the com-
mittees and their friends were conducted in carriages to apart-
ments provided for us at the Exchange Hotel, as the guests of
the city ; at half past 7 o'clock, the escort (with the exception of
the sons of Mr. Calhoun, to whom a private parlor had been as-
signed) were conducted to dinner. The Hon. John Y. Mason,
the chairman of the committee of citizens, presided, assisted by
J. Lyons, Esq. His Excellency the Governor and Counc il, the
Mayor and City Council of Richmond, and the gentlemen com-
posing the deputations from other parts of the State, being pre-
sent. After dinner, Judge Mason rose, and delicately intimating
his unwillingness, under the circumstances which had brought us
together, to encroach upon the liberty of their guests to retire at
pleasure, addressed the meeting as follows, viz :

" The gentlemen, whom it is our happiness to entertain as the
honored guests of the city of Richmond, are engaged in the me-
lancholy duty of conveying the lifeless remains of an illustrious
citizen from the scene of his public service, where he has fallen
in the discharge of his duty, to their final resting place, in the bo-
som of his native State. On this mournful occasion, the inter-
change of sentiment common in festive entertainments, would
not be appropriate ; but before we separate, there is one sentiment
which I venture to propose — a sentiment to which the people of

COMMITTEE OF TWENTY-FIVE. 63

Virginia would cordially respond, and in which, I am sure, all
present will take pleasure in uniting.

" Honored be the memory of John Caldwell Calhoun, the
beloved and lamented son of South Carolina ; a son worthy of
the utmost love of an adoring mother."

The delicate compliment of the Chairman to the guests, and
the respect to our State and her lamented son, expressed in the
sentiment, were acknowledged by the Chairman of the commit-
tee, in a reply to the following effect, viz :

<• Mr. Chairman : You have said rightly, that the present is
not an occasion for the interchange of sentiment common to fes-
tive entertainments. We have met under mournful circumstan-
ces. But the sentiment you have been pleased to offer, accords
with the solemnity of the occasion ; and an acknowledgment in
the same spirit, will not be deemed inappropriate. Indeed I
should fail to do justice to my own feelings, and, I am very sure,
to the feelings of my colleagues, were I not to embrace the op-
portunity, to express our deep sense of the respect shown to our
State and to her lamented dead, not only in the sentiment just of-
fered, and in its reception, but in the impressive ceremonies
through which we have this day passed. It is impossible, sir, to
dissociate them. They came together, and fill our hearts. Al-
low me, then, for these noble and generous tributes, to tender
our cordial thanks.

" Our whole country has made its offerings of honor to the de-
parted ; and we would not indicate any insidious distinction
among these spontaneous expressions of public feeling. They
are all acceptable ; all valued. But under circumstances like
the present. I may be permitted, without the risk of such an im-
putation, to ask from what quarter of our wide-spread country,
can sympathy and honor be more gratifying, than from the
Commonwealth of Virginia ? Virginia, the eldest in this sister-
hood of States ! Virginia, nurtured in the principles of a sound,
rational, regulated liberty ! Virginia, which has at all times fur-
nished so ample a contingent of talent and worth, to the service
of our common country ! Virginia, whose soil intombs the Fa-

64 REPORT OF THE

ther of his Country ! Associations such as these, impart their
character to her tributes, and add to the power and comfort of
her sympathy.

" I have said, Mr. Chairman, that the soil of your State in-
tombs the Father of his Country. This privilege has conferred
upon her a distinction which all lands would be proud to possess.
But let me add, in reference to a sentiment I am about to pro-
pose, that she enjoys a higher and nobler distinction — she educa-
ted Washington. Washington was a Providential man ; reared
up by God for Providential purposes ; purposes not confined to
one country, but comprehending in their results the civil interests
of the world ; not limited to the age, but destined to influence
ages to come. And Washington was the son of Virginia. Born
and nurtured within her borders, his character was formed, and
his mind developed under her influences. He derived from her,
and gave to her, his first energies. It was through her confi-
dence, and in her service, that he was prepared for his more en-
larged relations ; for his high destiny ; his great mission. In
accordance with these views, Mr. Chairman, I offer "The land
that nurtured Washington."

Both sentiments were drunk standing, and in silence ; and after
the last, the company retired.

The two committees and their friends enjoyed every possible
comfort and attention at the hotel ; and in accordance with ar-
rangements for resuming our journey, we were conducted in car-
riages at 10 o'clock, on Tuesday morning, to the Capitol. Gov.
Floyd was present, to receive us, and to re-deliver to the commit-
tee of the Senate the charge he had taken for the night. On
this occasion His Excellency made the following address, viz :
" Gentlemen of the Committees of Congress,

and of Citizens of South Carolina :

u I deliver to your hands the precious charge which, as the
Governor of Virginia, was deposited with me for the night. Vir-
ginia has performed the last sad office within her power of reve-
rence and respect to the remains of the honored dead. And I

COMMITTEE OF TWENTY-FIVE. 65

can say for her citizens, that no sad and sorrowful duty could
have been executed by them with a more melancholy interest.

" The spontaneous outpouring of our population, which you
witnessed yesterday, is but a slight manifestation of the exaltad
admiration which beats strong in the bosom of the Common-
wealth for the virtues and the genius of the departed statesman,

" His virtues were enough to redeem this generation ; his ge-
nius sufficiently great to enrich the empire. But this is not the
time for eulogy. In your sorrows and bereavement we offer you
all we have, and all you can receive, our deep and heart-felt
sympathy. Virginia will mingle freely her tears with those of
Carolina, over the fresh earth which is so shortly to cover all
that can ever perish of the illustrious dead.

" I take a mournful pleasure in officiating personally, in these
ceremonies. I knew him well, and esteemed him for those vir-
tues which won the hearts of the nation ; and admired him for
that intellect which secured to him the admiration of the world."

Mr. James M. Mason, the Chairman of the Senate committee,
rose and said :

" Governor Floyd : — The committee of the Senate of the
United States receive back at your hands from the State of Vir-
ginia, the remains of their late colleague, the illustrious Cal-
houn. The solemn and imposing reception which awaited
them yesterday, at the confines of this city, by the citizens and
the civil authorities of the City of Richmond, and their honored re-
pose during the past night in the halls of their Capitol, under
the safe-guard of the State, most touchingly evince the deep
sense entertained by Virginia of the pure and lofty patriotism
which ever guided him in life, and will remain a proud memo-
rial to future ages. In discharge of the trust confided to us by
the Senate, we shall pursue our melancholy way, sir, to the final
resting place allotted for his remains, in his native State, bearing
with us a grateful sense of the tribute paid to his memory at the
Capital of Virginia, by these imposing solemnities, and of the
generous hospitalities which have been extended to the entire
5

66 REPORT OF THE

escort, by the City of Richmond. Before taking leave, however,
you will allow me to refer to the commitree of citizens of the
State of South Carolina, who have been deputed to repair to
Washington, and to imite on this sad occasion, in rendering
merited honor to the memory of her illustrious dead ; a deputa-
tion of her most grave and valued citizens, whose presence here
most feelingly manifests their own profound respect for the
statesman who is no more, whilst it testifies how deeply Caroli-
na mourns the loss of her patriot son — the gifted sage — the vir-
tuous man, John Caldwell Calhoun."

The Chairman of our committee then said :

" Governor Floyd : — I am at a loss for words to express, for
myself and my associates from South Carolina, the feelings ex-
cited by this solemn occasion ; and in the attempt to give them
utterance, the sincerity of the heart must supply the place of set
forms of speech.

We are deeply affected by the honors with which the remains
of the lamented dead were yesterday received at the border of
Virginia ; by the manifestations of respect during our progress ;
by the touching ceremonies of the reception here ; by those
through which we are now passing ; and by the kindness shown
to all who have been deputed to the melancholly offices in which
we are engaged. These generous testimonials on the part of
Virginia, to the worth of this cherished son of South Carolina,
will find a cordial answer from every heart within his native
State.

" Senates and assemblies of the people and distinguished in-
dividuals, have recorded their sense of the merits of the depart-
ed statesman and of the public loss. These valued tributes will
impress the country. But those of Virginia are enhanced by her
sympathy, so manifest at every stage of our passage through her
territory.

" And, sir, her offerings are full of associations of the highest
interest. They recall the talent and worth which Virginia her-
self has given to the country. She is the mother of great men.

COMMITTEE OF TWENTY-FIVE. 67

Her sons walk by the light of a galaxy of her own. She has a
right to praise, and we feel the value of her tributes.

" Your Excellency, and the Hon. Chairman of the committee
of Senators, have both been pleased to refer, in strong and grate-
ful terms, to the pure and elevated character of Mr. Calhoun.
Of all the grounds of public favor, this is the most gratifying. —
It is the recognition of high moral worth that gives to all public
honors their chief value. Wisdom may command, eloquence
may win, and station influence ; but it is virtue only that conse-
crates our powers. " Power to do good," said Lord Bacon, " is
the true and lawful end of all aspiring." Ambition, to be virtu-
ous, must be virtuously directed ; and moral worth is an essen-
tial element in any just standard of public character. These
ceremonies, then, are no mere pageant. They are the testimony
of public opinion, to high virtue guiding high intellect. They
will fix the attention of the young on the true grounds of all de-
sirable distinction. Let our young men be incited to virtuous
distinction ; let them emulate virtuous example ; let them draw
their fires from the altars of a pure devotion, and our country
must be safe.

" In taking leave, permit me to offer our thanks for the part
which you have taken personally in these mournful honors ; and
to express my regret that the feelings appropriate to an occasion
so imposing, have received from me so inadequate an expres-
sion."

A most touching and solemn offering to the Throne of Grace,
by the Rev. Mr. Reed, concluded the ceremonies in the capitol.
The remains were then conveyed to the hearse, and the proces-
sion being formed, we went in carriages, as on the preceding day,
to the sounds of solemn music and the tolling of bells, to the
Railroad depot. We were received in cars specially provided
and prepared for us, and proceeded to Petersburg. We were ac-
companied from Richmond to the boundary of the State, by a
deputation appointed by his Excellency, Gov. Floyd, and con-
sisting of T. T. Giles, G. M. Carrington, B. B. Minor, and H, C.

68 REPORT OF THE

Cabell, Esqrs. We arrived at Petersburg about noon, and were
met by his Honor, Mr. Corling, the Mayor, the entire magistracy
and common council, and by the venerable Judge May, the
Chairman, and his committee of citizens, with a large military
detachment. The whole cortege were accommodated in private
carriages, followed by a numerous procession of citizens, to St.
Paul's Church, on Walnut street. We found the Church hung
throughout in mourning. Here the remains were deposited, on
a bier in charge of the military, to await our departure, with the
regular train of that evening, for Wilmington. During the pro-
cession every store was closed, and some of the houses exhibited
badges of mourning.

The church was filled with ladies and gentlemen, to witness
the silent but impressive ceremony. The committees, with all
associated with them, and the deputation from Richmond, were
conducted from the church to the hotel at the Petersburg and
Roanoke Railroad depot, where we were received as guests of
the city. Here a sumptuous dinner awaited us, after receiving
the visits and courtesies of the citizens : The Hon. Judge May,
Daniel Lyon, and Thomas Wallace, Esqrs. representing the city
at dinner. At 8 o'clock that evening, we proceeded on our way
to Weldon, and travelled all night. At about 2 o'clock on the
morning of Wednesday, we reached Weldon, whither a detach-
ment from four uniform companies of Petersburg, under the
command of Lieut. Allfriend, had accompanied us. Here they
were to take leave. The detachment was formed into line, and
the Chairman of the Senate and South Carolina committees ad-
dressed to them appropriate acknowledgments. To these, Lieut.
Allfriend replied, assuring us that u however mournful the occa-
sion, the part they had taken was deemed by them a duty and a
privilege."

At the distance of about 40 miles from Wilmington, we were
met by a deputation of ten gentlemen from that city, consisting
of Dr. De Rossett, Sen. (a gentleman 83 years of age,) Chairman,
and Messrs. J. F. McCrea, Sen. P. R. Dickinson, W. C. Betten-
caurt, James Owen, Thos. H. Wright, John Walker, and Thorn-

COMMITTEE OF TWENTY-FIVE. 69

as Loring. of Wilmington, and F. J. Hill, of Brunswick, and
James Iredell, of Raleigh. These gentlemen tendered to us the
hospitalities of Wilmington. We reached that city at 1 o'clock.
A gun was fired on our arrival as a signal, at which the flags of
the public buildings and the shipping were struck at half mast ;
the bells began to toll and the military to fire minute guns. We
were now informed that arrangements had been made for the re-
ception of the whole company at the hotel, as guests of the city ;
but that it having been suggested to them that delay in leaving
Wilmington might interfere with the ceremonies of the reception
in Charleston the next day, they requested that their desires
should not interfere with our arrangements. This delicate and
considerate course left us at liberty to embark without delay. —
To this end, the body was placed on a hearse, appropriately de-
corated for the occasion, drawn by a white horse, with coverings
of black, and a procession formed from the cars to the steamer.
The citizens were arranged in a long double line, and stood un-
covered, whilst the procession passed through them to solemn
music. The ceremony was deeply impressive. The body was
placed on board the steamer Nina, which had been prepared and
sent by your Excellency to receive it, with the committees in at-
tendance. We were here met by Capt. William Blanding, who
had been requested by the City Council to proceed to Wilming-
ten in the Nina, as Master of Ceremonies. The Wilmington and
Raleigh Rail Road Company had also in waiting one of their
boats, the Wilmington, the use of which had been kindly ten-
dered to and accepted by our city authorities. A part of the com-
pany in attendance went in each boat ; and by this arrangement,
the comfort of all was greatly promoted. We were accompanied
to Charleston by a deputaiion of sixteen citizens of Wilming-
ton, of whom Dr. De Rossett, the elder, was chairman ; and also
by a deputation of four from the Board of Directors of the Wil-
mington and Raleigh Rail Road Company, of whom Gen. James
Owen was Chairman. The two steamers left Wilmington to-
gether about 3 o'clock, P. M. for Charleston.

On the detail thus given of the honors paid to the memory of

70 REPORT OF THE

Mr. Calhoun, it may be remarked, that at each of the cities
through which we passed, the ceremonies had some appropriate
peculiarity. The simple and silent movement from the capitol
at Washington, where the eloquence of public and individual
sorrow had so recently been heard ; the emblems of respect at
Alexandria ; the honors to our sad procession as it moved slowly
through Fredericksburg, with the military and civic escort of that
city ; the more elaborate arrangements at Richmond for the re-
ception and charge of the remains for the night, and their re-de-
livery the next day, with the kind attention to the comfort of the
committees ; the full and imposing procession through Peters-
burg, the church draped in crape, and the informal courtesies of
the citizens ; the numerous array of private citizens at Wilming-
ton, through whom the procession passed to the boat ; all exhib-
ited the common purpose in these several communities, with va-
riety in the modes, of manifesting their respect to the memory of
the dead, and their kindness to the living.

To these more formal tributes were added other testimonials
less imposing, but not less touching. At several small places
along the road, the discharge of cannon was the manifestation
of respect. As we passed a farm near Wilmington, North Caro-
lina, the owner, an elderly man, stood at the road-side, uncover-
ed, his right hand resting on a small pine, hung with emblems
of mourning, with his two servants standing behind him, also
uncovered. And a short time before this, a distant bell had
sounded the modest tribute of a rural neighborhood, where no
assemblage was seen. It ought also to be remembered that at
every place, all who composed the cortege were received as
guests ; that through the entire line of travel, conveyances had
been tendered, and were provided without charge ; and that the
Wilmington and Raleigh Rail Road Company would permit no
charge to the South Carolina Committee on their way to Wash-
ington.

And whilst the committee of twenty-live thus report the dis-
tinguished honors paid to the memory of the lamented Cal-
houn, they gratefully recall the respect and kindness shown to

COMMITTEE OF TWENTY-FIVE. 71

themselves, for their work's sake. To the Honorable the com-
mittee of the Senate of the United States, to the citizens of
Washington, Fredericksburgh, Richmond, Petersburgh and Wil-
mington, and especially to the authorities and committees of the
several cities, their thanks are due, and they would thus record
their acknowledgments.

We entered the harbor of Charleston at 9 o'clock on Thurs-
day morning, the 25th April. A fog made the city indistinct to
view, until we had approached quite near to it, when we ob-
served that the houses were hung with emblems of mourning.
The tone of deep feeling produced by the silent eloquence of
these tokens, was made deeper by the Sabbath-like stillness of
the city. On our approaching the revenue cutter Crawford, in
the roads, she commenced the firing of minute guns. The Nina
took her in tow, and a procession of boats was formed, consist-
ing of the Nina and Wilmington, the revenue cutter and the
steamers Matamora and Pilot ; the two latter with citizens on
board. These vessels, all displaying emblems of mourning, ar-
ranged with remarkable care and taste, moved slowly several
times along the entire line of the city, from the Southern point of
the Battery to the landing place at Smith's wharf, until the
hour appointed for the landing. This novel procession was felt
by all to increase the deep solemnity of the occasion. At 12
o'clock, the body of J. C. Calhoun was landed on the soil of
his native State, to receive the honors of his own sorrowing peo-
ple. The description of these honors belongs to others.

In conclusion, the committee would remark, that the manifes-
tations of respect to the memory of our lamented fellow citizen,
were tributes both to distinguished talents and services, and to
moral excellence universally felt and acknowledged. With the
public tributes were combined the most gratifying private recog-
nitions of the purity and elevation of purpose exhibited through-
out his life.

Mr. Calhoun was indeed in the vale of years ; venerable for
ripe knowledge and long service ; but the bond between his
country and himself, amid the conflicts of opinion, and the as-

REPORT OF THE

perities of parties, was this moral element, which adorned not
only the evening of his life, but its morning and noon. This,
joined to great powers, made up the man, whose memory the
country deems it a privilege to honor.

Let us trust, then, that the regrets and the honors which have
followed him to the tomb, will impress upon the young men of
our country, the value of high character and virtuous purposes.
With these, the useful employment of talent is limited to no one
period of life ; M for honorable age is not that which standeth in
length of time, nor that is measured by number of years ; but
wisdom is the gray hair unto men, and an unspotted life is old
age."

I have the honor to be,

Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
DANIEL RAYENEL, Chairman
Com. Twenty-five.

The Committee of Twenty-five consisted of the following
gentlemen.

Daniel Ravenel,
C. G. Memminger,
Alfred Huger,
H. A. DeSaussure,
James Rose,
Henry Gourdin,
G. A. Trenholm,
Chas. Edmondston,
Col. J. A. Leland,
S. Y. Tupper,
Mm. M. Martin,
P. C. Gaillard,
Wm, Aiken,

John E. Carew,
Chas. T. Lowndes,
P. Della Torre,
Thomas Lehre,
Col. James Legare,
Col. E. M. Seabrook,
Geo. N. Reynolds,
John Russell,
Col. M. I. Keith,
A. Moise, jr.
Geo. S. Bryan,
Paul H. Seabrook.

PAPERS

ACCOMPANYING THE PRECEDING REPORT,

PROGRAMME OF PROCEEDINGS IN WASHINGTON.

The remains of Mr. Calhoun will be brought to the Capitol
in a hearse, by 8 o'clock. A. M. in the morning of Monday, the
22d inst. in charge of the Sergeant-at-arms, and will so remain
in his charge, and with those assistants present who are to ac-
company it to the South. They will be at the Eastern front.

Carriages will be sent for the committee of the Senate and Mr.
Tenable and Mr. Holmes, of S. C. their guests, and for the com-
mittee from South Carolina, to their respective lodgings, to be
there punctually at half past seven. They will rendezvous at
the eastern front of the Capitol ; and at 8 o'clock punctually, a
baggage-wagon, in charge of a messenger, will convey the bag-
gage of the South Carolina committee, and have it on board be-
fore the procession arrives.

The body, in charge of the Sergeant-at-arms with his assist-
ants, and the committee, will leave the Capitol at 8 o'clock,
punctually, and proceed to the mail boat — passing on the south-
ern side of Capitol Hill, and along Maryland Avenue.

The Sergeant-at-arms will communicate a copy of this to
Daniel Ravenel, Esq. Chairman of the committee for South Car-
olina, and to Mr. Venable and Mr. Holmes.

(Signed) JAMES M. MASON.

n ' REPORT OF THE

PASSAGE THROUGH FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA.

The following information has been kindly furnished by the
Hon. R. B. Semple, Mayor of Fredericksburg, in compliance with
a request from the Chairman of the Committee.

Names of the individuals who participated in the demonstra-
tions of respect to the remains of Mr. Calhoun on their passage
through Fredericksburg.

Officers of the Corporation :
R. B. Semple, Mayor,
Dr. B. R. Herndon, Recorder,
John Minor, Councilman,

Thomas B. Barton, Commonwealth's Attorney, \ Committee.
John J. Chew, Clerk of Hustings Court.
Citizens :
Col. Hugh Mercer,
Eustace Conway.

Military :

Capt. William S. Barton, of Fredericksburg Guards.
First Liet. Jas. H. Lawrence, " "

Second " J. L. Jones, " "

Third " Wm. A. Metcalf, " «

Fourth " C.B.White, " ',

Band :
Capt. John W. Adams, and twelve others.

The following orders were issued on the occasion :

1st. A committee, consisting of the Mayor, Recorder, Col. Hugh
Mercer, (only surviving son of Gen. Hugh Mercer,) and Messrs.
Barton, Conway, Chew and Minor, to meet the remains at the
Creek and accompany them to town.

2nd. That the Fredericksburg Guards, accompanied by their
Band, attend the committee to the Creek, and perform such evo-
lutions as may be suitable to the occasion.

3rd. That a hearse be prepared to carry the remains through
the principal streets of the town.

COMMITTEE OF TWENTY-FIVE. 75

4th. That minute guns be fired from 10 o'clock, A. M. to 3
o'clock, P. M.

5th. That the bells of the town be tolled from 10 o'clock, A.
M. to 3 o'clock, P. M.

All these orders were fully executed, save the third, which, the
committee were informed by the Richmond committee, would in-
terfere with previous arrangements, and therefore could not be
earned out.

The Mayor concludes his communication with the following
remarks.

" Upon no occasion, have we seen the people of this town more
disposed to pay honor to the memory of one, for whose transcen-
dant abilities, and undimmed virtues, however they may have
differed with him politically, they entertained the utmost reve-
ence. And personally, it gives me great pleasure to say, that
upon no occasion in the course of my official duties, have I been
more conscious of discharging a duty, than in these offices to the
memory of one of the greatest patriots and purest men this coun-
try has produced."

RESOLUTIONS OF "THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
RICHMOND."

At a meeting of the Council of the City of Richmond, called
by the President, and held on Thursday, the 18th day of April >
1850.

Present, Gustavus A. Myers, President, William C. Allen, Jas\
Bosher, Joseph M. Carrington, Samuel D. Denoon, Simon Cul-
len, Wellington Goddin, Conway Robinson, David J. Saunders,
James M. Talbott, Richard O. Haskins, and Lewis W. Chamber
layne.

The following preamble and resolutions were unanimously
adopted by the Council —

Whereas, it is understood that the remains of John C. Cal-

76 REPORT OF THE

houn, late a Senator from our sister State of South Carolina, will
be brought to this city on Monday afternoon, in charge of a joint
committee from his native State, and from the House of Repre-
sentatives and Senate of the United States ; and this Council,
being desirous, on the part of the citizens of Richmond, of mani-
festing every respect to the memory of a man not less distin-
guished for the purity of his private life than illustrious as a
statesman and patriot,

Resolved, That Messrs. Haskins, Chamberlayne and Allen,
be a committee on the part of the Council ; and Messrs, Loftin,
N. Ellett, George E. Sadler, George M. Carrington, James H.
Poindexter, James Winston, Hugh Riliegh, Richard B. Haxall,
William F. Ritchie, Thomas R. Price, Col. John Rutherford,
Nicholas Mills, Judge John S. Caskie, William H. Macfarland,
William Rutherford, Mann S. Valentine, Robert G. Scott, and
Joseph Mayo, a committee of the citizens of Richmond, to co-
operate with any committee that may be appointed by the Exec-
utive of this Commonwealth, in making suitable arrangements
for the reception of the remains of the late John C. Calhoun,
on their arrival in this city. And that the committee, on behalf
of the Council and citizens, be requested to invite the joint com-
mittee and all others attending the remains, to consider them-
selves as the guests of this city.

Resolved, That the said committee of the Council and citizens
inform the joint committee thereof, and make the necessary ar-
rangements for their accommodation.

On motion of Mr. Chamberlayne,

Ordered, That the President be added to the committee on the
part of the Council.

And then the Council adjourned.
A copy from the journal of the Council.

WM. P. SHEPPARD, C. C. R.

His Excellency, Gov. Floyd, also appointed a Committee to
act with the committee of the citizens. At a meeting of the

COMMITTEE OF TWENTY-FIVE. 77

joint committees, a sub-committee of arrangements was appoint-
ed, of which the Hon. John Y. Mason was named the Chairman,
and the Hon. John Y. Mason, Gustavus A. Myers, James Lyons
and Wm. F. Ritchie, Esquires, were requested to proceed to the
Potomac River, and receive those in charge of the remains at the
border of the State.

At the request of the Governor, deputations were in attendance
from other parts of the State.

The following programme of the arrangements was published
in the Richmond papers of Monday morning, 22d April, viz :

ORDER OF PROCESSION,

To be observed on reception of the remains of the late Hon.
John C. Calhoun, Monday afternoon, the 22d inst.
Military Escort.
The Hearse.

Relations and friends of the deceased, with committees of Con-
gress and South Carolina in charge of the remains.
The Joint Committee of Arrangements, appointed by the Go-
vernor, Council and Citizens of Richmond.
The Clergy.
The Governor, Council and Officers of the State.
The Judges of the State and Federal Courts.
Officers of the Army and Navy of the Unired States.
The Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen and Common Council of the
City of Richmond.
The different Societies of the City.
The Citizens.
The procession will be formed at 4 o'clock, at a point near the
entrance to Buchanan's Spring ; its right upon the left of the

Military.

The following named gentlemen are appointed as Assistant
Marshals : Col. Jno. A. Meredith, Col. Henry W. Q,uarles, Col.
George "W. Munford, Col. George N. Johnson, Col. J. W. Spauld-
ing, Major Thomas H. Ellis, Major H. C. Cabell, Capt. R. G.

78 REPORT OF THE

Scott, Jr. Capt. Thomas J. Evans, B. B. Minor, D. C. Randolph,
and Thomas J. Deane, Esqrs.

The Marshals are requested to meet at the Chamberlain's Of-
fice at 10 o'clock, on Monday morning.

BE'NJ. SHEPPARD, Chief Marshal.

The Governor requests the following named gentlement to act
as pall-bearers at the funeral ceremonies of the late Mr. John C.
Calhoun : Messrs. John Y. Mason, James D. Halyburton, Wm.
Daniel, John M. Patton, B. W. S. Cabell, J. B. Harvie, Wm. H.
Richardson, and John A. Meredith.

PROCEEDINGS AT PETERSBURGH, VA.

From information afforded by the Hon. Charles Corling,
Mayor,

Programme of Arrangements, from the Petersburgh Papers

of 23rd April,

COMMON HALL.

The members of the Common Hall are requested to meet at

their room this morning at 10 o'clock, for the purpose of meeting

the remains of the Hon. John C. Calhoun, deceased.

April 23. CHAS. CORLING, Mayor.

The Committee appointed by the Common Hall to arrange the
details of the reception of the remains of the lamented patriot
and statesman, John C. Calhoun, report as follows :

1st. That the Common Hall assemble at the Court House at
10 o'clock, A. M., and proceed to the Richmond and Petersburgh
Railroad depot in a body, and accompany the remains thence to
its temporary resting place at the Episcopal Church, on Walnut
street.

COMMITTEE OF TWENTY-FIVE. 79

2nd. That the citizens desirous of uniting in the sad offices
of respect to the illustrious dead, be respectfully requested to as-
semble at the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad depot, at half
past 10, A. M. of this day.

3rd. That the commandants of our Volunteer Companies be
requested to furnish detachments of their different corps to escort
and guard the remains while in our town ; that the Artillery
Company be requested to fire minute guns, and the bells of the
different churches be tolled while the procession is moving.

4th. That the church in which the remains shall be tempora-
rily deposited, be clothed in mourning, and that the citizens be
requested to close their doors from half past 11, A. M., when the
body will arrive at this place, until the procession shall have
passed.

5th. That John F. May, Francis Major, Wm. T. Joynes, Wm,
Brownley, H. B. Gaines, James Dunlop, Robert Birchett, Robert
R. Collier, John Sturdivant, Jno. W. Syme, Jos. C. Swan, D. M.
Bernard, G. V. Scott and Peter P. Batte, committee of citizens,
be requested to act with the committee of the Hall, to receive
and entertain the Joint Committee of Congress, the committee
of the State of South Carolina, and the friends and mourners of
the deceased, as guests of the town.

6th. That Jordan Branch, Esq. be appointed Marshal, with
authority to appoint assistants.

7th. That the citizens be requested to send their carriages to
the depot at half past 10 o'clock.

CHARLES CORLING, J
ANDREW KEVAN, } Committee.
THOMAS WALLACE. )

The following extracts from Mr. Corling's letter, will be read
with interest.

" I rejoice to say that our entire Magistracy and Common
Council, in a body, attended the remains from the Richmond
depot ; and the citizens with great unanimity, responded to the
recommendations of the committee, sanctioned by the people and
our Common Hall. The third resolution only contemplated de-

80 REPORT OF THE

tachments of the Volunteers to protect the procession and guard
the remains ; but all the Volunteers insisted upon uniting in the
last offices of respect to one whose death is felt to be a common
loss."

" The Petersburgh Grays — Capt Joseph V. Scott.

" Petersburgh Artillery — Capt. D'Arcey Paul.

" Cockade Blues — Capt. Robert Downan.
and " Petersburgh Riflemen — Capt. James S. Gilliam,
constituted the military who took part in the procession.

" We deeply regretted that we could not, by more than mere
outward demonstrations of respect, evince to you how deeply we
sympathised in South Carolina's and our country's loss. We
loved and admired John C. Calhoun. With a mind that could
grasp the affairs of a universe, he possessed a heart that made
him ever accessible to the humblest of his fellow citizens. Dif-
fer with him as men might, yet all admitted him to be the man
of the age. The fame of South Carolina will grow prouder in
the annals of history, because her glories are linked forever with
the memory of her illustrious son."

Marshall.
JORDAN BRANCH, Esq.

Assistant Marshalls.
Chas. F. Collier, John Rowlett,
Robert Foster, Daniel Dodson,

G. V. Rambant, Franklin Pegram.

The array of equipages both at Richmond and at Petersburgh,
attracted general attention. Many of them were elegant ; all of
them in good taste. These were all private equipages, sent by
the citizens for the accommodation of the committees, officers,
deputations, and others composing the cortege. The coachmen
and footmen at both cities were distinguished by long bands of
fine white cambric, on black hats, and tied with black ribbons,
and by like bands tied around the left arm.

COMMITTEE OF TWENTY-FIVE. 81

PROCEEDINGS AT WILMINGTON, N. C.

Extract from the Programme of Arrangements.

* A committee of ten, consisting of —

A. J. De Rossett, Sen. James Owen,

James F. McRee, Sen. Thomas H. Wright,

P. R. Dickinson, John Walker,

Wm. C. Bettencaurt, Thomas Loring,

F. J. Hill, of Brunswick, James Iredell, of Raleigh,

will proceed up the line of the Wilmington and Raleigh Rail-
road, to receive the remains, and escort them on their passage
through this place. These gentlemen will also act as Pall-bear-
ers in the procession.

" The citizens generally, are requested to close their stores, to
suspend all operations of business, and to meet at the depot at
12 o'clock. There the procession will be formed, under the di-
rection of W. C. Howard, Chief Marshall ; receive the remains
in open order, and escort them to the foot of Market street,
where the boat from Charleston will be in waiting."

The following gentlemen acted as Marshalls.

r ■

Chief Marshall.
WILLIAM C. HOWARD.

Assistant Marshalls.
J. G. Green, E. W. Hall.

Crape was provided by the City for the Clergy, Pall-bearers,
and citizens.

The following gentlemen formed the deputations from the
City of Wilmington, and the Board of the Wilmington and Re-
leigh Railroad company, who accompanied the remains to
Charleston, by invitation, viz :
6

82 REPORT OF THE

Dr. A. J. DeROSETT, Sen. Chair, of deputation of Wilmington'
Gen. JAS. OWEN, Chairman of deputation of Railroad Board.
C. W. Hull, J. T. M'Kee,

R. H. Cowan, J. G. Green,

C D. Ellis, A. A. Brown,

L. H. Marsteller, Dr. J. Swann,
E. Cantwell, P. M. Walker,

H. Nutt, Jas. T. Miller,

J. Fulton, H. R. Savage,

M. Costin, Dr. DeRossett, Jr.

John Cowan, Wm. C. Bettencaurt.

MINUTES OF THE FINAL MEETING OF THE COMMIT-
TEE OF TWENTY-FIVE.

Council Chamber, )

Charleston, 24th May, 1850. [

At a meeting of the Committee of Twenty-five, appointed by
his Excellency the Governor, there were present, Daniel Rave-
nel, Esq. Chairman, Samuel G. Tupper, Secretary ; Messrs. De-
Saussure, Huger, Lowndes, Aiken, E. M. Seabrook, Bryan, Moise,
Jr. Reynolds, Jr. Torre, Russell, Legare and Edmondston.

The Chairman submitted a communication, received by him
from his Excellency Governor Seabrook, requesting him to fur-
nish a narrative of the proceedings of the committee from the
time of their departure from Charleston until their return. The
Chairman then read a letter in reply, which he had prepared ;
being a full report of proceedings and incidents connected with
the visit of the committee to Washington, in which particular
reference was made to the many and imposing solemnities which
marked the transit of the remains of Mr. Calhoun from Wash-
ington to Charleston.

Mr. DeSaussure, after expressing his great satisfaction with
the report, moved that it be approved of by the committee, and

COMMITTEE OF TWENTY-FIVE. 83

that the Chairman be requested to place the same in the hands
of His Excellency the Governor; which was unanimously adopted.

On motion of Ex-Gov. Aiken, it was

Resolved, That the Chairman be requested to write out and
communicate to the Governor, with his report for publication, the
addresses made by him at Richmond.

Mr. Moise having expressed a desire to offer a resolution in re»-
ference to the Chairman, the Chairman retired, when Alfred Hu-
ger, Esq. was called to the Chair. Mr. Moise then offered com-
plimentary resolutions in reference to the Chairman and Chair-
man fro tern, of the committee, which were unanimuosly adopt-
ed, and Mr. Huger was requested to transmit them to the Go-
vernor.

On the return of the Chairman, Mr. Ravenel, he was impres-
sively addressed by Mr. Huger, and the substance of the above
resolutions communicated to him ; to which Mr. Ravenel feelingly
responded in acknowledgment of the compliment.

Col. Seabrook then offered a resolution of thanks to the Sec-
retary and Treasurer of the committee, which was unanimously
adopted, with a request that the Chairman would communicate
the same to Governor Seabrook.

The committee then adjourned sine die.

S. Y. TUPPER, Secretary.

Note. — In compliance with one of the above resolutions, the report
of tbe Committee of Twenty-Five was so modified as to include, as part
of the narrative, the several addresses made at Richmond.

EXTRACT FROM THE MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE
COMMITTEE OF TWENTY-FIVE.

The Chairman having left the room, after the adoption of his
report by the committee, the Hon. Alfred Huger was requested to
take the Chair.

84 REPORT OF THE

A. Moise, Jr. Esq., then rose, and solicited for a short time the
attention of the committee, as this meeting would, in all proba-
bility, be its last. It had been charged with duties the most sa-
cred and responsible. The mission upon which it had been sent
by South Carolina, was perhaps the most solemn, delicate and
interesting, which she had ever delegated to her sons. That
mission had now become a subject of deep historic interest, and
the touching incidents associated with it, would not soon fade
from the public mind and heart. It was indeed vividly impress-
ed upon both. It was an event in which not only South Caro-
lina, but the whole nation, had manifested an intense interest,
and yielded a universal and spontaneous sympathy.

Mr. Moise said that much of the difficulty and responsibility
which the duties of the committee involved, had necessarily fall-
en upon its Chairman, Daniel Ravenel, Esq. ; and he would avail
of the temporary absence of that gentleman to submit what he
felt assured would meet a prompt and cordial response.

Mr. Moise then offered the following resolutions —

Resolved, That the committee appointed by his Excellency
the Governor, to convey to South Carolina the remains of the
Hon. John C. Calhoun, desire to place on record their high ap-
preciation of the services of their Chairman, Daniel Ravenel, Esq.
The entire propriety, and delicacy of sentiment, conspicuous in
the discharge of his varied duties, have not failed deeply to im-
press his colleagues ; and the unaffected modesty which graced
his whole deportment, while it has increased their estimation of
the successful service he has rendered, admonishes them to say
no more on the present occasion. Less, they could not say, in
justice to themselves.

Resolved, That the acknowledgments of the committee are
also due the Hon. Henry A. DeSaussure, for the zeal, urbanity,
and dignity, with which he conducted the duties of Chair, du-
ring the necessary absence of the Chairman.

Resolved, That a copy of these proceedings be sent by the Se-
cretary to the Hon. Alfred Huger, with the request that they be

COMMITTEE OF TWENTY-FIVE. 85

transmitted to his Excellency the Governor for publication, with
the report of Daniel Ravenel, Esq.

The resolutions were seconded by Col. P. Delia Torre, and
unanimously adopted.

SAMUEL Y. TUPPER, Secretary.

Charleston, May, 1850.

Charleston, June 1st, 1850.
Dear Sir : — At the last meeting of the Committee of Twenty-
five, the preamble and resolutions herewith enclosed, were, du-
ring the temporary absence of Mr. Ravenel, unanimously adopted.
The committee have instructed me to request that these reso-
lutions be appended to the " Narrative*' of our mournful mission ;
a document which is submitted to your Excellency by your own
desire.

I have the honor to be,

with great respect,

Your obd't. serv't.

ALFRED HUGER.
His Excellency, Gov. Seabrook.

NARRATIVE

OF THE

FUNEEAL HONOES
PAID TO THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN,

AT CHARLESTON, S. C.

On the evening of the 31st March, 1850, telegraphic dispatch-
es from Washington announced the death of the Hon. J. C. Cal-
houn, at the seat of Government. The next day, when the in-
telligence became generally known, the dejection that dwelt upon
the countenances of all, revealed the public sense of the deep
calamity that had fallen upon the country ; a settled gloom rest-
ed upon the city of Charleston ; the busy operations of life were
suspended, and the heart of the whole community seemed for
awhile to stand still. The bells of St. Michael's Church were tolled
throughout the day, and the shipping in harbor displayed their
colors at half mast ; the melancholy truth was apparent that
Calhoun was no more !

All that now remained for an afflicted people, was to endeavor
to clothe the public sentiment of love and veneration for his
memory, with those external demonstrations of respect to all that
was mortal, commensurate with his exalted virtue and public
service.

MAYOR OF CHARLESTON. 87

The City Council immediately convened, when the sad intel-
ligence was officially communicated by the Mayor, and the fol-
lowing resolutions unanimously adopted.

" Resolved, That Council have heard with feelings of deep
emotion, the death of the Hon. J. C. Calhoun, in whose decease
the country has lost a patriot, distinguished by long and illustri-
ous service, and the State a cherished and devoted son.

" Resolved, That in token of respect to the eminent abilities
and elevated virtues of the deceased, a suitable monument be
forthwith erected to his memory in the centre of the city square,
and that a committee of Council, of which his Honor the Mayor
shall be Chairman, be appointed to carry out the intention of
this resolution.

" Resolved^ That a committee of Council be also appointed
to co-operate, if desired, with any committee of citizens that may
be appointed to-morrow evening, in making all proper and ne-
cessary arrangements for the reception of the body of the de-
ceased, as well as in paying other suitable marks of respect to his
memory.

" Resolved) That the Mayor be requested to communicate these
resolutions to the family of the deceased, tendering to them the
sympathies of Council in this, their afflicting bereavement."

The next evening, the 2nd April, pursuant to a call at the de-
sire of the citizens, a public meeting was held at the City Hall.
Long before the appointed hour, a dense crowd, representing all
classes and interests, thronged the hall. The meeting was or-
ganized by the call of the Hon. T. L. Hutchinson, Mayor of the
city, to the chair, and the appointment of F. P. Porcher and H.
P. Walker, Esqrs. Secretaries. The Chairman thus announced
the object of the meeting.

" Fellow Citizens : — The occasion that draws us together is
the saddest that has ever darkened the hearts of Carolinians.
A great affliction has befallen the land ; an especial calamity
has overshadowed us. A nation mourns, but ours is the pecu-
liar grief. Calhoun is no more ! The foremost spirit of the
time has been quenched forever. The incorruptible patriot, the

88 REPORT OF THE

statesman without guile ; the orator upon whose accents Senates
hung in silence ; the honest politician, whose love of country-
taught him to forget the love of self; the public man who, with
every incentive and every opportunity for personal aggrandize-
ment, scorned all ways as unsanctified, that swerved one hair's
breadth from truth and rectitude ; who devoted a life of forty-
years to the service of his country, moving in an independant
sphere, for it may justly be said, that he was allied to no political
sect, but held himself aloof, to stand forth when duty called him
to sway by his reason and his judgment, the impulses of the
hour to the right course ; and amid the perils and contentions of
forty years, the strife of party and the asperity of prejudice, has
left a spotless fame, and a career that makes ambition virtue.

" He was the defender of Southern rights, the guardian of the
Constitution, an ardent lover of the Union ; his searching fore-
sight first detected in their remotest depths those evils which he
foretold would arise to endanger the political bands that secure
this Confederacy — and whose shadows now darkening around
and above us, have endowed him with a prophet's vision ; whose
dying words, spoken as if from the tomb, have pointed the
means whereby these dangers may be averted, and the peace
and harmony of the country restored — his last legacy to the peo-
ple and the Union he loved so well.

"The death of Mr. Calhoun is an affliction that comes directly
home to " men's business and bosoms ;" at this parlicular period,
when the eyes of all men were upon him, and the hopes of the
South rested in him, as an ark amid the political blackness lower-
ing around, this dispensation of Providence comes with stun-
ning effect. He has left his life as a model, his precepts as our
guide. High as is the estimate of his ability and public service,
he stands too near us to permit his intellect and its effects upon
the age, to be viewed in all its noble proportions — time will
place future generations in the proper position to survey him
with just admiration. He belongs to posterity ; but even now,
since death has veiled the mortal man, he appears to the mental
eye like some great statue of- antiquity — classic in outline, digni-

MAYOR OF CHARLESTON. 89

fied in posture, majestic and serene — his purity gleaming from the
lustre of the marble, and standing in bold relief against the blue
of heaven.

" He has taken his place among the master spirits of the uni-
verse, sent for some wise end, whose mission is to be achieved.
" Though dead he yet speaketh." The work allotted to him by
his Divine master may be left unfinished, but the foundation is
traced, the structure designed, the influence of his mind and its
deep-seated wisdom remains — the future will confirm that he is
one of

" The dead but scepter'd sovereigns, who still rule
Our spirits from their urns."

" The annals of his country, for nearly a half century, are his
biography. His proper eulogy belongs to the historian, who has
only to recount with truthfulness the actions of his life, in their
public and private relations, to shew to the world the excellence
of the gift bestowed by God, and the reasonableness of a nation's
grief that deplores his loss.

" The object of the present meeting is to give expression to the
bereavement felt by this community, and to adopt such measures
of respect to his memory as the occasion demands."

The Hon. F. H. Elmore, laboring under severe indisposition,
addressed himself briefly to the subject of the meeting, and moved
the adoption of the following Preamble and Resolutions.

The citizens of Charleston, in common with the people of the
whole State of South Carolina, feel that an irreparable misfor-
tune has befallen us in the death of our Senator John Cald-
well Calhoun. He has been endeared to us by more than
forty years of faithful services, first in our State Legislature, and
afterward in the Federal Government. In all that time, and on
all occasions of public need, when his State or his country called
(and on no great emergency did they fail to do so) he put every
object of personal or selfish advantage aside, and surrendered
himself wholly to the public good.

To us, to South Carolina — we all know he gave the unlimited
devotion of his pure heart. To us, and to his whole country,

90 REPORT OF THE

in common, he yielded, with prodigality, all the capacities of his
mighty mind ; a wisdom gained in the deepest study of our
Constitution and system of government, and ripened by his own
long experience and reflections on its administration ; a knowl -i
edge of national and State affairs, and of their relations with
great measures and interests, unsurpassed ; abilities pre-eminent
in every department of governmental science, and our internal
policy ; and a statesmanship and sagacity far-seeing, profound,
comprehensive and patriotic.

Honesty, candor and truthfulness, imparted to these great and
shining qualities, a higher power and wider influence over the
opinions of his countrymen and the policy of their government,
than even his brilliant genius and commanding intellect. And
this power and influence so honorably acquired, was ever as use-
fully employed, on all domestic questions, in the side of justice,
moderation and constitutional right ; and in our relations with
Foreign Powers, for the maintenance of our National honor, and
the preservation of peace with all nations of the world.

By the use he made of his great capacities, Mr. Calaoun has
run up a heavy debt on his country, and on mankind — a debt
which will be more and more felt and acknowledged in the pro-
gress of future times. The lessons of his wisdom and the lights
of his knowledge cannot now be lost. They will guide, not only
our own and other times, but our own and other nations. Al-
though he has gone from us forever, these and his example re-
main — a great example of forty years in the affairs of life — forty
eventful and trying years, in which, while discharging many
high public trusts, and fulfilling the duties of the home circle,
as the father of a family, friend and neighbor, there is not a blot
or stain upon his purity or uprightness as a public man or pri-
vate citizen ; no reproach for backwardness or doubt in assuming
the position of duty, or of slackness or want of firmness or fidel-
ity in maintaining it.

In all that long period, he was ever in the advanced front of
every great national question, and maintained openly and man-
fully, on all occasions, what he deemed right, with a courage that

MAYOR OF CHARLESTON. 91

was never subdued or gave way. In his private life, he was de-
serving of all commendation for the symplicity and frugality of
his style of living ; for his modest and hearty hospitality ; for his
constant and active industry. He was no less deserving of admi-
ration in public affairs, for his high resolve and unconquerable
spirit. And above all others, in this last act, which is just fin-
ished, has he, at a moment and in a cause where such an exam-
ple has inappreciable value, given us a lesson of patriotism and
of exalted courage, far more heroic than a thousand deaths in
the field of battle, in calmly and resolutely surrendering his life,
through the slow process ot months and months of wasting dis-
ease, rather than abandon the post where the call of duty sta-
tioned him. Be it therefore

Resolved, That we, the citizens of Charleston, deplore the
death of our Senator, John Caldwell Calhoun, as a heavy
and irreparable public misfortune.

Resolved, That we concur in the arrangements made by the
City Council for the reception of the body of Mr. Calhoun, and
that his Excellency, the Governor, be requested to appoint a
committee, to consist of twenty-five persons, to proceed to Wash-
ington, to procure and bring his remains to Charleston, and to
co-operate in all other measures for their final disposition.

Resolved, That this meeting also highly approve the resolu-
tion of the City Council to erect a monument to his memory in
the city square, as a fitting tribute to a faithful and illustrious
public servant.

Resolved, That the City Council of Charleston be requested
to select some fit and proper person to prepare and deliver an eu-
logy and funeral oration on the life, character, and services of
Mr. Calhoun.

Resolved, That this meeting recommend that the usual badge
of mourning be worn by all for thirty days.

Resolved, That this meeting deeply sympathise with the fami-
ly of Mr. Calhoun in their affliction and loss ; and that the
Chairman of this meeting be requested to forward them copies
of these proceedings.

92 REPORT OF THE

His Excellency Governor Whitemarsh B. Seabrook, in second-
ing the motion of the Hon. F. H. Elmore, feelingly alluded to the
loss the State had sustained.

The meeting was then eloquently addressed by the Hon. B.
F. Porter and Col. Arthur P. Hayne, when the question was ta-
ken, and the preamble and resolutions were unanimously adopted.

O. A. Andrews, Esq. rose and felicitously alluded to the assid-
uous attention paid by the Hon. Mr. Venable, of North Carolina,
and other friends, to our deceased Senator, during his last illnesSj
and moved the adoption of the following resolution :

Resolved, That the devoted attention and active sympathy
which marked the course of the Hon. Mr. Tenable, of North
Carolina, and other friends, to our deceased Senator, have exci-
ted our profound sensibility. We feel that in ministering to him,
they have also ministered to us. We will cherish these offices
of kindness to our departed statesman in grateful recollection.

Which was also unanimously adopted.

In accordance with the 2nd resolution adopted at the public
meeting, his Excellency, the Governor, appointed the following
Committee of Twenty-five :

DANIEL RAYENEL, Chairman,

H. W. Conner,

John E. Carew,

H. A. DeSaussure,

Col. James Gadsden,

James Legare,

C. G. Memminger,

E. M. Seabrook,

C. T. Lowndes,

James Rose,

P. Delia Torre,

Henry Gourdin,

Thos. Lehre,

Alfred Huger,

Col. A. P. Hayne,

S. Y. Tupper,

Chas. Edmondston,

W. M. Martin,

A. G. Magrath,

P. C. Gaillard,

A. Moise, Jr.

William Aiken,

G. N. Reynolds,

G. A. Trenholm,

John Russell. *

* The duties assigned to this committee, and the completeness with
which they were performed, are detailed in the interesting report of the
Chairman of the committee.

MAYOR OF CHARLESTON. 93

J On the 5th April the City Council again assembled, and in
conformity with the 4th resolution, adopted at the public meeting
of citizens, appointed General Hammond to deliver the funeral
oration on the life, character and services of Mr. Calhoun. The
following communication was then read :

Charleston, April 5th, 1850.
To the Honorable the

Mayor and Aldermen :

Gentlemen :— At a meeting, held this day, of the Committee
of Twenty-five, appointed by his Excellency, the Governor, to
proceed to Washington to receive and bring home the remains of
the Hon. J. C. Calhoun, the following resolution was adopted,
which is respectfully submitted for the consideration and action
of your honorable body :

Resolved, That as it has been communicated to this commit-
tee that the Senate of the United States has made a special de-
putation to attend the body of Mr. Calhoun to the State of
South Carolina, the Chairman of this committee be requested to
communicate this information to the Mayor and Aldermen of
the city of Charleston ; and that in consequence of this informa-
tion, it be respectfully suggested to the City Council to appoint a
committee from the parishes of St. Philip and St. Michael, to co-
operate with the committee of Council, in reference to such ar-
rangements as may be necessary in connection with the expected
arrival of the body of Mr. Calhoun:

DANIEL RAYENEL, Chairman.

Whereupon the following resolution was adopted :

Resolved^ That the Mayor appoint a committee of forty citi-
zens of the parishes of St. Philip and St. Michael, to co-operate
with the committee from Council, in making all necessary ar-
rangements for the reception of the remains of Mr. Calhoun.

The following resolutions were also severally moved and
adopted :

Resolved^ That in the opinion of Council, the city of Charles-
ton, the chief metropolis of the State, may, with propriety, ask
for herself the distinction of being selected as the final resting

REPORT OF THE

place of the illustrious Calhoun ; and that the Mayor, in be-
half of Council and the citizens of Charleston, be requested to
communicate with the family of the deceased, and earnestly en-
treat that the remains of him we loved so well should be permit-
ted to repose among us.

Resolved, That the Mayor be further requested to communi-
cate with his Excellency, the Governor of the State, and respect-
fully solicit his co-operation in this matter.

Resolved^ That his Honor the Mayor, by proclamation, re-
quest the citizens of Charleston to suspend all business on the
day of the arrival of the remains of our late Senator, John C.
Calhoun, in order that every citizen may be able to pay a last
tribute of respect to him who served us so long, so faithfully, and
so well.

In conformity with the resolutions adopted by the City Coun-
cil, the following committee of citizens was appointed to co-ope-
rate with the committee from Council in making all arrange-
ments incident to the occasion.

Chan. B. F. Dunkin,
Hon. E. Frost,
Hon. J. S. Ashe,
Hon. W. D. Porter,
Hon. W. J. Grayson,
N. Heyward,
James Simons,
D. E. Huger.junr.
Nelson Mitchell,
F. D. Richardson,
W. H. Houston,
J. L. Petigru,

F. Lanneau,
I. W. Hayne,
W. B. Pringle,
W. C. Dukes,
Jno. Rutledge,
Gen. Schnierle,
T. Tupper,
Robert Adger,

G. N. Reynolds,
W. M. Lawton,

E. Sebring,
Robert Martin,
David Lopez,
Dr. Bellinger,
J. H. Ladson,
And. McDowall,
A. J. White,
W. J. Bennett,
R. N. Gourdin,
J. F. Blacklock,
M. C. Mordecai,
Wm. Lloyd,
Wm. Middleton,
S. J. Wagner,
Wm. Bird,
Dr. T. Y. Simons,
G. S. Bryan,
R. W. Hare,
Alex. Gordon,
Dr. Horlbeck,
E. L. Kerrison,
Chas. Brennan.

MAYOR OF CHARLESTON. 95

The committee on the part of the City Council were Aldermen
Banks, Gilliland ; Porcher, McNellage, and Drummond.

The committees at once entered upon the varied duties as-
signed them— they divided themselves into sub-committees, each
charged with its specific duty. The magnitude of the arrange-
ments, the short period of time allowed for their completion, and
the ultimate success that crowned the whole when put into action,
attest the energy, zeal, and correct taste exercised on the occasion.
A chief Marshal, A. G. Magrath, Esq., twelve Marshals and
twelve assistant Marshals, were appointed to prepare and arrange
the order of Procession. A special Guard of Honor, Col. A. O.
Andrews, Chairman, was nominated, charged with the duty of
being in constant attendance on the remains, to render all neces-
sary aid in their removal, from the time of their arrival to their
deposit in the City Hall. A committee, consisting of two hundred
of some of the most respected citizens, the venerable Jacob Bond
I'on, Chairman, was also appointed to serve as an Honorary
Guard over the remains while they lay in state in the City Hall, and
to distribute themselves into separate watches during the night.

In various parts of the State, public meetings were held expres-
sive of the general grief, and deputations appointed to repair to
Charleston to participate in the funeral ceremonies — to these de-
putations the hospitalities of the city of Charleston were tendered,
through the municipal authorities, and committees appointed to
meet them on their arrival and provide for their comfort.

The Directors of the Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad ten-
dered a free passage along their line, and the Steamers of the
Company, to the committee appointed by the Executive of South
Carolina — the friends and relatives of the deceased, and the fune-
ral cortege that should accompany the remains — the States
through which the Body was to pass on its homeward way
seemed with one accord to rise up and do reverence to his mem-
ory.

The boom of the signal gun over the waters of Charleston har-
bor, on the morning of the 25th of April, announced that the mor-
tal remains of Carolina's great Statesman were approaching their

96 REPORT OF THE

native shores to receive the last honors of a mourning people.
At 12 m., the steamer Nina, hearing the Body, touched Smith's
wharf — on board were the committee of the United States Senate
and House of Representatives, the Sergeant-at-Arms of the Sen-
ate, the committee of citizens from Wilmington, North Carolina,
the committee of twenty-five from South Carolina, and the sub-
committee of arrangements. The revenue cutter Gallatin, the
steamers Metamora and Pilot, acting as an escort, with colors at
half mast and draped in mourning, lay in her wake. Profound
silence reigned around — no idle spectator loitered on the spot —
the curiosity incident to the hour was merged into a deep feeling
of respect, that evinced itself by being present only where that
sentiment could with most propriety be displayed. The solemn
minute gun — the wail of the distant bell, the far off spires shrou-
ded in the drapery of grief— the hearse and its attendant mourn-
ers waiting on the spot, alone bore witness that the pulse of life
still beat within the city — that a whole people in voiceless woe
were about to receive and consign to earth all that was mortal of
a great and good citizen. The arrangements for landing having
been made, the committee of Reception advanced, and through its
Chairman tendered a welcome, and the hospitalities of the city,
to the committee of citizens from Wilmington, North Carolina —
to which the Chairman of that committee feelingly responded.
The body, enclosed in an iron case, partially shaped to the form,
was then borne by the Guard of Honor (clad in deep mourning,
with white silk scarfs across the shoulder,) 'from the boat to the
magnificent funeral Car drawn up to receive it ; the pall prepared
of black velvet, edged with heavy silk fringe, and enflounced in
silver, with the escutcheon of the State of South Carolina in the
centre and four corners, was spread over it. The Pall Bearers,
composed of twelve Ex-Governors and Lt. Governors of the State,
arranged themselves at the sides of the Car, the procession ad-
vanced preceded by a military escort of three companies, the Ger-
man Fusiliers, Washington Light Infantry, and Marion Artillery,
under the command of Captain Manigault. The various com-
mittees and family of the deceased followed in carriages, the dri-

MAYOR OF CHARLESTON. 97

vers and footmen clad in mourning, with hatbands and scarfs of
white crape. In this order the funeral train slowly moved for-
ward to the sound of muffled drums to the Citadel square, the
place assigned in the arrangements made where the committee
from the Senate of the United States would surrender the remains
under their charge to the Executive of South Carolina, and the
funeral procession proceed to the City Hall.

At the Citadel a most imposing spectacle was presented. The
entire front and battlements were draped in mourning, and its
wide portal heavily hung with black — the spacious area on the
South was densely filled with the whole military force of the
city drawn up in proper array ; at different points, respectively
assigned them, stood the various orders of Free Masons, the In-
dependent Order of Odd Fellows, the Sons of Temperance, the
Order of Rechabites, in their rich regalia, the different Fire Com-
panies in uniform, the various Societies and Associations — the
pupils of public and private schools with their tutors, bearing
banners inscribed with the names of the several States of the con-
federacy, their arms and mottoes. The Seamen with their Pas-
tor, the Rev. Mr. Yates, bearing a banner with this inscription
" The Children of Old Ocean mourn for him" — and citizens on
horse and foot. The most perfect order prevailed, no sound was
heard, but the subdued murmur of the collected thousands. At
the appointed hour the funeral Car slowly entered the grounds
from the east, and halted before the gates of the Citadel ; the
hush of death brooded over all as the hearse towering aloft, its
mourning curtains waving in air revealed to the assembled mul-
titude the sarcophagus reposing within.

In the centre of the square, and directly fronting the gates of
the Citadel, stood the Governor of the State, attended by the mem-
bers of the Senate and House of Representatives and the Dele-
gates from different sections of the State. On the right the May-
or and Aldermen of the city, habited in deep mourning, their
wands of office bound with crape ; on the left, the Rev'd. the Cler-
gy of all denominations. In front of the funeral car were ar-
ranged the various committees who had attended the removal of
7

98 REPORT OF THE

the remains from the seat of Government ; at the proper moment
they slowly advanced with heads uncovered, preceded by the
Sergeant-at-Arms of the U. S. Senate, with his golden rod, to the
spot occupied by the Governor and Suite. Alderman Banks,
Chairman of the Committee of Reception, stood forth, and an-
nounced to the Governor the presence of the Hon. Mr. Mason,
Chairman of the Senate's Committee, who, with a manner deeply
solemn and impressive, thus surrendered his sacred trust.
" Governor Seabrook :

" The Senate of the United States by its order has deputed a
committee of six Senators, to bring back the remains of their col-
league, your illustrious statesman, John Caldwell Calhoun,
to his native State. He fell in the fullness of his fame, without
stain or blot, without fear and without reproach, a martyr to the
great and holy cause to which his life had been devoted, the safe-
ty and equality of the Southern States in their federal alliance.

It is no disparagement to your State or her people, to say their
loss is irreparable, for Calhoun was a man of a century ; but to
the entire South, the absence of his counsels can scarcely be
supplied : with a judgment stern, with decided and indomitable
purpose, there was united a political and moral purity, that threw
around him an atmostphere which nothing unholy could breathe
and yet live. But, sir, I am not sent here to eulogise your ho-
nored dead ; that has been already done in the Senate House, with
the memories of his^recent triumphs there clustering around us,
and by those far abler than I. It is our melancholy duty only,
which I have performed on behalf of the committee of the Senate,
to surrender all that remains of him on earth to the State of
South Carolina, and having done this, our mission is ended.
We shall return to our duties in the Senate, and those performed,
to our separate and distant homes, bearing with us the treasured
memory of his exalted worth and the great example of his devo-
ted and patriotic life."

Mr. Mason having concluded, Governor Seabrook responded :

■ I receive, Mr. Chairman, with the deepest emotions, the mor-
tal remains of him for whom South Carolina entertained an un-

MAYOR OF CHARLESTON. 99

bounded affection. Implicitly relying on the faithful exercise of
his great moral and intellectual endowments, on no occasion, for
a period of about forty years, which constituted indeed his whole
political life, did her confidence in him surfer the slightest abate-
ment. Although the spirit that animated its tenement of clay
now inhabits another and a purer mansion, yet the name of John
Caldwell Calhoun will live while time shall be permitted to
endure. That name is printed in indelible characters on the
hearts of those whose feelings and opinions he so truly reflected,
and will forever be fondly cherished, not only by his own coun-
trymen, but by every human being who is capable of apprecia-
ting the influence of a gigantic intellect, unceasingly incited by
the dictates of wisdom, virtue and patriotism.

"In the name of the people of the State he so dearly loved, I
tender, through you, to the Senate of the United States, their
warmest acknowledgments for the honors conferred by that dis-
tinguished body on the memory of our illustrious statesman ; and,
by this committee, I ask their acceptance of their heartfelt grati-
tude for the very kind and considerate manner in which, gentle-
men, the melancholy yet honorable task assigned you has been
executed.

" The first of April, 1850, exhibited a scene in the halls of the
Federal Congress remarkable for its moral sublimity. On that
day, the North and the South, the East and the West, together
harmoniously met at the altar consecrated to the noblest affec-
tions of our nature, and moved by a common impulse, portrayed
in strains of fervid eloquence, before the assembled wisdom of
the land, the character and services of him around whose bier
we are assembled. To every member of the Senate and House
of Representatives, whose voice was heard on that solemn occa-
sion. South Carolina proffers the right hand of fellowship.

" I trust it will not be considered a departure from the strictest
rules of propriety, to say to an honorable member of Congress
before me, that the Palmetto State owes him a debt of gratitude
which, at her bidding, and in obedience to my own feelings, I
am imperatively summoned at this time to liquidate in part. —

100 REPORT OF THE

From the first day of Mr. Calhoun's protracted illness, to the
moment when death achieved his victory, you, Mr. Venable,
were rarely absent from his bed-side. With the anxious solici-
tude of a devoted friend, you ministered to his wants, and watch-
ed the reflux of that noble stream whose fertilizing powers were
about to be buried in the great ocean of eternity. For services
so disinterested, spontaneously bestowed by a stranger, I offer
the tribute of thanks, warm, from overflowing hearts."

Mr. Venable replied :

* The manner in which your Excellency has been pleased to
refer to the attention which I was enabled to bestow on our illus-
trious friend, has deeply affected my heart. It is but the repeat-
ed expression of the feelings of the people of Charleston, on the
same subject, contained in a resolution which has reached me,
and for which manifestation of kindness, I now return to you
and to them my most sincere and heartfelt thanks. Nothing has
so fully convinced me of the extended popularity, I should rath-
er say, feeling of veneration, towards the statesman, whose death
has called us together to-day, as the high estimate which you
and your people have placed upon the services of an humble
friend. Sir, the impulses of humanity would have demanded
nothing less, and that man is more than rewarded who is per-
mitted to soothe the pain or alleviate the suffering of a philoso-
pher, sage, patriot, and statesman, so exalted above his cotempo-
raries, that were we not admonished by his subjection to the in-
vasion of disease and death, we might well doubt whether he
did not belong to a superior race. To be even casually associa-
ted with his memory, in the gratitude of a State, is more than a
reward for any services which I could render him. Sir, as his
life was a chronicle of instructive events, so his death but fur-
nished a commentary on that life. It is said of Hampden, when
in the agonies of death, rendered most painful by the nature of
his wound, that he exclaimed — ' O God of my fathers, save, save
my country !" thus breathing the desire of his soul on earth into
the vestibule of the court of heaven. So our illustrious friend,
but a few hours before his departure, employed the last effort in

MAYOR OF CHARLESTON. 101

which he was enabled to utter more than a single sentence, say-
ing, 'If I had my health and strength to devote one hour to my
country in the Senate, I could do more than in my whole life.' —
He is gone ! and when, m my passage here, I saw the manifes-
tations of deep feeling, of heartfelt veneration, in Virginia and
my own Carolina, I felt as one making a pilgrimage to the
tomb of his father, whose sad heart was cheered by sponta-
neous testimonials of the merits of the one he loved and honor-
ed. But when, with this morning's dawn, I approached your
harbor and saw the city in the peaceful rest of the Sabbath,
heard not the stroke of a hammer or the hum of voices engaged
in the business of life ; when, from the deck of the steamer, in
the midst of your harbor, I could descry the habiliments of mourn-
ing which consecrated your houses ; the stillness — the solemn
stillness — spoke a language that went to my heart. But when,
added to this, I behold this vast multitude of mourners, I ex-
claim : ' A people's tears water the dust of one who loved and
served them.' No military fame was his ; he never set a squad-
ron in the field. The death of the civilian and patriot who loved
his country, and his whole country, gave rise to this great de-
monstration of sorrow and regard. Permit me again to assure
your Excellency and the people of Charleston, and of South Car-
olina, that I shall ever cherish, as one of the dearest recollections
of my life, the expressions of kindness which have been made
to me as the friend and the companion in the sick chamber of
John C. Calhoun. His society and his friendship were more
than a compensation for any attentions which any man could
bestow. Such were his gifts, that whether in sickness or in
health, no man retired from a conversation with him who was not
greatly his debtor. By the courtesies of this day and the asso-
ciation of my name with his, I am both his debtor and yours ;
the sincere acknowledgment of which, I tender to your Excel-
lency, requesting that it may be received by you, both for your-
self and the people whose sovereignty you represent."

Governor Seabrook now turned to the Hon. T. Leger Hutch-
inson, Mayor of the city, and said —

102 REPORT OF THE

" Mr. Mayor : — I commit to your care these precious remains.
After the solemn ceremonies of the day, I request that you put
over them a Guard of Honor, until the hour shall arrive to con-
sign them to their temporary resting place."
To which the Mayor replied —

" Gov. Seabrook : — As the organ of the corporation of the city
of Charleston, I receive from you, with profound emotion, the
mortal remains of John Caldwell Calhoun — a sacred trust,
confided to us, to be retained until the desire of the people of
South Carolina, expressed through their constituted authorities,
shall be declared respecting their final resting place."

The ceremony of the reception of the body from the hands of
the Senatorial committee by the Executive of the State being
over, the members constituting the civic and military portions of
the solemn pageant were, with consummate skill, arranged in
their respective positions by the Chief Marshal and his^assistants.
With order and precision each department fell into its allotted
place, and the whole mass moved onward, a vast machine, obey-
ing, with perfect motion, the impulse given by the directing power.
The gates opening from the Citadel square upon Boundary
street, (the name since changed to Calhoun street,) through which
the procession passed, were supported on each side by Palmet-
to trees, draped in mourning ; from the branches which over-
arched the gate-way hung the escutcheon of the State ; between
the folds of funeral cloth, in wnich it was enveloped, appeared
the inscription — " Carolina mourns." The following was the
order and route of procession as laid down in the programme of
the Marshals.

Marshal.

Music.

Cavalry.

Detachment of U. S. Troops from Fort Moultrie, under

Col. Irwin.

Troops of the 4th Brigade.

Marshal.

Sub-Committe of Ten.

MAYOR OF CHARLESTON. 103

Mayor and Aldermen of the City.
Funeral Car with the Body.

•"O

►d

£
P

*-i

£>

P-

t-i

»-i

»-►>

ffi

• I— <

Family of the deceased.

Senate Committee, and Committee of House of Representatives.

Committee of Twenty-five.

Committee of Pendleton.

Committee of Forty, and other Committees in attendance on

the Body.

Marshal.

Music.

His Excellency the Governor, and Suite.

Foreign Consuls.

Civil and Military Officers of the United States.

Civil and Military Officers of the State of South Carolina.

Members of the Senate and House of Representatives.

Revolutionary Officers and Soldiers.

Surviving Officers and members of Palmetto Regiment.

Committees and Delegates from South Carolina, and other

States.

Marshal.

Music.

Fire Department.

Marshal.

Music.

104 REPORT OF THE

Professors and Students of the Colleges of the State and City.

Teachers and scholars of High Schools, and of private

Academies and Schools.

Teachers and Scholars of Free Schools.

Instructors and Children of the Orphan House.

Marshal.

Music.

St. Andrew's Society.

St. George's Society.

South Carolina Society.
Charleston Library Society.

Fellowship Society.

German Friendly Society.

The Cincinnati.

The '76 Association.

St. Patrick's Benevolent Society.

New England Society.

Charleston Port Society.

Hibernian Society.

Medical Society.

Hebrew Orphan Society.

Mechanics' Society.

Charleston Marine Society.

Typographical Society.

Charleston Chamber of Commerce.

Hebrew Benevolent Society.

French Benevolent Society.

South Carolina Mechanics Association.

Methodist Benevolent Society.

The Bible Society.

MAYOR OF CHARLESTON. 105

4th of July Association.
The Irish Mutual Benevolent Society.
Marshal.
Music.
Order of Ancient Free Masons.
Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Order of the Sons of Temperance.
Independent order of Rechabites.
Marshal.
Temperance Societies.
Marshal.
Music.
Captains of Yessels.
Seamen in Port.
Marshal.
Citizens of the State, and adjoining States.
Marshal.
Citizens on Horseback.
The procession moved from the Citadel square down Bounda-
ry to King Street, down King Street to Hasell, through Hasell
to Meeting street, down Meeting to South Bay Battery, along
the Battery to East Bay, up East Bay to Broad Street to the
City Hall.

Along the streets through which the procession passed, the
public and private buildings and Temples of worship were
draped with mourning, the windows and doors of the houses
were closed, and no one was seen to gaze upon the spectacle ; it
seemed that those who did not participate directly in the obse-
quies, were mourning within.

When the head of the escort reached the City Hall, it halted ;
the troops formed into line on the South side of Broad Street, fa-
cing the City Hall. The funeral car, drawn by six horses, ca-

106 REPORT OF THE

parisoned in mourning trappings that touched the ground, each
horse attended by a groom clad in black, slowly moved along the
line until it reached the front steps of the City Hall. The divi-
sion composing the procession then passed through the space in-
tervening between the body and the military, with heads un-
covered — the Marshals having the respective divisions in charge,
dismounted, and leading their horses, proceeded to the points
where the divisions were to be dismissed. When the last divi-
sion had passed through, the body was then removed from the
funeral car by the Guard of Honor, borne up the steps, and re-
ceived at the threshold of the City Hall by the Mayor and Al-
dermen ; it was then deposited within the magnificent catafal-
que prepared for its reception.

Here the body remained in state until the next day, under the
special charge of the Honorary Guard of two hundred citizens,
who kept watch at intervals during the day and night. Thous-
ands of citizens and strangers of all sexes, ages and conditions
in life, repaired to the City Hall to pay their tribute of respect to
the illustrious dead ; the most perfect propriety and -decorum
prevailed ; the incessant stream of visiters entered by the main
doors, passed upward to the catafalque, ascended, gazed upon
the sarcophagus resting within, and in silence retired through
the passage in the rear. The iron case that enshrined the body,
and the tomb-shaped structure upon which it lay, were covered
with flowers, the offerings of that gentler sex, who in sorrow had
lingered around its precincts.

The ceremonies of the day completed, the various deputations
and committees of this and other States, who had repaired to the
city in performance of the mournful duties assigned them, were
invited to the Council Chamber, where the hospitalities of the
city were tendered by the municipal authorities ; they were af-
terwards escosted to the lodgings provided for them by the com-
mittees appointed for the purpose. The committee from the
Senate and House of Representatives of the United States re-
paired to the head quarters of his Excellency, Gov. Seabroook,

MAYOR OF CHARLESTON. 107

where they were received and entertained as the guests of South
Carolina during their stay.

The next day, the 26th of April, was appointed for the re-
moval of the remains to the tomb. At early dawn the bells re-
sumed their toll ; business remained suspended, and all the evi-
dences of public mourning were continued.

At 10 o'clock, a civic procession, under the direction of the
Marshals, having been formed, the body was then removed from
the catafalque in the City Hall, and borne on a bier by the guard
of honor to St. Philip's Church ; on reaching the church, which
was draped in deepest mourning, the cortege proceeded up the
centre aisle to a stand covered with black velvet, upon which the
bier was deposited. After an anthem sung by a full choir, the
Right Rev. Dr. Gadsden, Bishop of the Diocese, with great feel-
ing and solemnity read the burial service, to which succeeded an
eloquent funeral discourse by the Rev. Mr. Miles. The holy rites
ended, the body was again borne by the guard of honor to the West-
ern cemetery of the church, to the tomb erected for its tempora-
ry abode, a solid structure of Masonry raised above the surface,
and lined with cedar wood. Near by, pendent from the tall
spar that supported it, drooped the flag of the Union, its folds
mournfully sweeping the verge of the tomb, as swayed by the
passing wind. Wrapped in the pall that first covered it on reach-
ing the "shores of Carolina, the iron coffin, with its sacred trust,
was lowered to its resting place, and the massive marble slab,
simply inscribed with the name of " Calhoun," adjusted to its
position. The lingering multitude then slowly passed from the
burial ground —

" And we left him alone with his glory."

The last offices of respect and veneration, such as no man
ever received from the hearts and hands of Carolinians, had
been rendered, but it was felt by all that no monument could be
raised too high for his excellence, no record too enduring for his
virtue.

"Tanto nomini nullum par elogium."

108 RESOLUTIONS, LETTERS, &c

For many weeks after the interment, the marble that covered
the tomb was daily strewn with roses and other fragrant flow-
ers, and vases containing such, and filled with water freshly re-
newed, were placed around, the spontaneous offerings of the
people. An oak, the emblem of his strength of character, was
planted at the foot, and a willow, whose branches soon drooped
over the grave, became a type of the general sorrow.

T. L. HUTCHINSON, Mayor of Charleston.

RESOLUTIONS OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF CHARLES-
TON, IN RELATION TO THE DISPOSAL OF
THE BODY OF MR. CALHOUN

Council Chamber, \

April 5th, 1850. J

The following resolutions were unanimously adopted :

Resolved, That in the opinion of Council, the city of Charles-
ton — the chief metropolis of the State — may, with propriety, ask
for herself the distinction of being selected as the final resting
place of the illustrious Calhoun. And that his Honor, the May-
or, in behalf of Council and the citizens of Charleston, be re-
quested to communicate with the family of the deceased, and
earnestly entreat that the remains of him whom we loved so
well should be permitted to repose amongst us.

Resolved, That the Mayor be further requested to communi-
cate with his Excellency, the Governor of the State, and respect-
fully solicit his co-operation in this matter.

From the minutes.

JAMES C. NORRIS, Clerk of Council.
To his Excellency,

Governor Seabrook.

RESOLUTIONS, LETTERS, &c. 109

TO T. L. HUTCHINSON, IN RELATION TO THE TEMPO-
RARY DEPOSITS OF MR. CALHOUN'S REMAINS.

Executive Department, )

Edisto Island, April 15, 1850. \
Hon. T. Leger Hutchinson,

Sir : In my letter to you, of the 10th inst. I stated my resolu-
tion concerning the disposal of the remains of Mr. Calhoun, on
their arrival in this State.

Mr. Gourdin, on the part of the citizens of Charleston, and Mr.
Banks, of the City Council, having called on me to reiterate the
ardent desire of the people of your city, that the body of our il-
lustrious statesman should temporarily be deposited in the me-
tropolis, there to await the final action of the Legislature, it is
only necessary for me to assure you, that to the wish of the sons
of Mr. Calhoun, now, I believe, in Charleston, I shall most
cheerfully assent. To them, therefore, I re-refer the delicate mat-
ter, in the firm persuasion that their decision will meet with uni-
versal approval.

As germain to the subject, it is proper I should repeat what I
personally said to you, that whatever arrangements may be made
by the people and authorities of Charleston, will be acceptable
to me, without any interference on my part. I submit the mode
and manner of accomplishing the object in view to their judg-
ment. Very respectfully,

Your obedient serv't.
WHITEMARSH B. SEABROOK.

FROM LIEUT. W. G. DeSAUSSURE, TENDERING THE

SERVICES OF THE WASHINGTON ARTILLERY

TO GUARD THE REMAINS OF MR. CALHOUN ON

THEIR ARRIVAL IN CHARLESTON.

Charleston, April 15th, 1850.
To his Excellency, W. B. Seabrook,

Governor of the State of South Carolina :
Sir : Understanding that in the reception of the remains of
Mr. Calhoun, the military of this place will be called upon to

110 RESOLUTIONS, LETTERS, &c.

participate in the solemn ceremonies, I beg leave respectfully to
tender to you as a Guard of Honor, during the night that the re-
mains will rest in Charleston, the Washington Artillery.
I remain, sir, very respectfully,

Your Excellency's obedient servant,

WIMOT G. DeSAUSSURE,
Lieut. ComoVg. Washington Artillery.

Charleson, 6th May, 1850.
Dear Sir : — At a meeting of the congregation of St. Philip's
Church, held yesterday, the 5th inst. the following resolution was
unanimously adopted, which I take great pleasure in sending to
you:

" Resolved, That the Vestry are hereby authorized to grant to
the State the lot or square of land in our cemetery now occupied
by the tomb of Mr. Calhoun, if it be determined upon as his
burial place ; and are requested to make no charge for its occu-
pation temporarily for the deposite of his remains, should they
be removed.

I am, very respectfully,

Your obedient servant,

THOMAS G. PRIOLEAU.
Chair'n. of the Vestry of St. Philip's Church.
To Robert N. Gourdin,

Chairman Sub-Committee, fyc.

RESOLUTIONS OF THE LEGISLATURE OF PENNSYL-
VANIA IN RELATION TO THE DEATH OF MR.
CALHOUN.

Executive Chamber, \
Harrisburg, April 22d, 1850. \

To His Excellency W. B. Seabrook,

Governor of the State of South Carolina.

Dear Sir : — The accompanying Resolutions of the Legislature

of this State have been presented to me for transmission to your

RESOLUTIONS, LETTERS, <fcc. Ill

Excellency, with a request that the same be communicated . to
the Legislature of South Carolina.

In performing this duty, allow me to express my personal re-
gard for the social and public virtues of the illustrious deceased,
and my deep sense of the great loss which this dispensation of
Providence has inflicted upon the American Nation.
I have the honor to be,

Very respectfully, yours, &c,

WM. F. JOHNSTON.

RESOLUTIONS

Of the Legislature of Pennsylvania relative to the death of the
Hon. John C. Calhoun.

Whereas, it has pleased an all wise Providence to remove from
the scenes of earth, one of America's most distinguished sons
whose name has been associated with her history during the last
forty years, and whose distinguished talent, private virtues, and
purity of character, have shed lustre on her name.

And whereas, it is becoming and proper that society, whilst
humbly bowing to the dispensations of infinite wisdom, should, in
such cases, testify its sense of the worth and exalted character of
the illustrious deceased, by appropriate tributes of respect to his
memory, forgetting all points of difference, and cherishing the
recollection only of his virtues.

Be it therefore resolved unanimously by the Senate and House
of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in
General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority
of the same,

That this General Assembly has heard with profound sensi-
bility and heartfelt sorrow, of the death of the Hon. John C.
Calhoun, of South Carolina, for whom, in his long and distin-
guished public career, whilst often differing from his views and
policy, we have ever entertained the most profound respect j and

112 RESOLUTIONS, LETTERS, &c.

in whose private virtues, and personal chaiacter, there has been
everything to win admiration, and conciliate offection.

Resolved, That as a further testimony of respect for the me-
mory of the deceased, an extract from the Journal of each House,
to be signed by the Speakers, be communicated to the Governor,
with a request that he forward the same to the Widow and Fam-
ily of the deceased, with a letter of condolence, expressing the
sincere sympathy of this General Assembly with them in this,
their afflicting bereavement.

Resolved^ That the Governor be further requested to forward
a copy of the foregoing Resolutions to the Governor of South
Carolina, with a request that he communicate the same to the
Legislature of said Commonwealth.

J. S. McCALMONT,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
V. BEST,
Speaker of the Senate.
Approved the sixth day of April, one thousand eight hundred
and fifty. WM. F. JOHNSTON.

NEW YORK LEGISLATURE.

Senate — Tuesday. — The Governor transmitted the following
communication.

State of New York, Executive Department,

Albany, April 2, 1850.
To the Legislature :

We learn from the public journals, that the Hon. John C. Cal-
houn died at Washington, on the morning of Sunday last. His
death is an event of interest, and a source of grief to all sections
of the country, in whose service nearly the whole of his active
life has been spent. I believe, therefore, that I consult the pub-
lic sense of propriety, not less than my own feelings, in giving

RESOLUTIONS, LETTERS, &c. 113

you this official information of his decease.

Mr. Calhoun became connected with the Federal Govern-
ment at an early age, and died in its service. He has been a
member of the House of Representatives, Secretary of State,
Secretary of War, Senator in Congress, and Yice President of the
United States.

In each of these stations he has been distinguished for abili-
ty, integrity and independence. He has taken a prominent part
in every great question which has agitated the country during
the last forty years, and has exerted a commanding influence up-
on the whole course of our public policy.

In his death the nation has lost a statesman of consummate
ability, and of unsullied character. It is fitting that this State
should evince sorrow at his death, by such action as her Repre-
sentatives may deem appropriate.

HAMILTON FISH.

Mr. Morgan offered the following resolution :

That a select committee of .three be appointed on the part ot
the Senate, to meet with a committee on the part of the Assem-
bly, to report resolutions expressive of the sense of the Legisla-
ture, relative to the death of the Hon. John C. Calhoun, and
that the Senate will meet at 4 o'clock this afternoon, to hear the
report of said committee.

The resolution was unanimously adopted.

The Select Committee on the part of the Senate on the Cal-
houn resolutions, are Messrs. Morgan, Man and Babcock.

Assembly.

The Governor transmitted to the House a Message announ-
cing the death of Mr. Calhoun.

The proceedings of the Senate on this subject were read, des-
ignating a committee on the part of the Senate, and requesting
a like committee on the part of the House.

Mr. Ford, after a few appropriate remarks, moved a concur-
rence in the resolution of the Senate.

Mr. Raymond concurred in the motion, and paid a brief trib-
ute to the memory of the deceased, as a citizen and statesman.
8

114 RESOLUTIONS, LETTERS, &c.

Mr. Bacon followed, conceding to Mr. Calhoun great intel-
lect and virtue. Messrs. Monroe and Varnum also sustained
the motion.

The resolutions were unanimously adopted, and the chair
named Messrs. Ford, Monroe, Godard, Raymond and Church, as
the committee on the part of the House. Recess to 4.

Evening Session.

Mr. Morgan, from the Joint Select committee appointed on
the Message of the Governor, announcing the death of the Hon.
John C. Calhoun, offered the following resolutions, which were
unanimously adopted.

Resolved^ That the Legislature of the State of New York
have heard with deep regret, of the death of the Hon. John C.
Calhoun, United States Senator from South Carolina ; that they
entertain sentiments of profound respect for the pre-eminent
ability, the unsullied character and the high-minded indepen-
dence, which, throughout his life, distinguished his devotion to
the public service ; and that they unite with their fellow-citizens
throughout the Union, in deploring his death as a public
calamity.

Resolved, That the Governor of this State be requested to
transmit a copy of these resolutions to the President of the Sen-
ate of the United States, with a request that the same be entered
on their journal ; and a copy to the Governor of the State of
South Carolina, with a request that he transmit the same to the
family of the deceased.

Resolved j That as a token of respect to the memory of the de-
ceased, the public offices be closed, and the flag at the Capitol be
displayed at half-mast for twenty-four hours, and that the Sen-
ate do now adjourn.

The same resolutions were passed by the Assembly, which
also adjourned.

RESOLUTIONS, LETTERS, &c. 115

PROCEEDINGS OF THE N. Y. HISTORICAL SOCIETY,

ON THE OCCASION OF THE DEATH OF

MR. CALHOUN.

At a stated meeting of the New York Historical Society, held
at its rooms in the New York University, on Tuesday evening,
the 2nd day of April, 1850, the Hon. Luther Bradish, Presi-
dent, presiding.

Dr. Alexander H. Stephens announced the death of the Hon.
John C. Calhoun, in the following words :

Mr. President : — This is a time of gloom. Yesterday, over
our public edifices, the national flag, half hoisted, drooped heavi-
ly — its stars obscured. A public calamity was indicated. It
was the death of Mr. Calhoun. His home, sir, was nearly one
thousand miles distant. Who will so far forget the Roman max-
im, as to despair of the Republic when there is such sympathy
between its remote members ? It is an evidence of unity, and
every expression of it is a new bond of union.

I have risen, Mr. President, to move that the death of John
Caldwell Calhoun be entered upon your journal, with the ex-
pression of the profound veneration entertained by this Society
for his high character, his unsurpassed abilities, and his pre-emi-
nent public services. The name of Calhoun is historical ; it is
mete that an historical society should mark its estimate of his
character. His was a beacon light to a wide-spread region : lofty,
pure, and brilliant. Long the guide of anxious patriotism, it will
be seen no more forever.

Let it be permitted even to me, sir, to mingle private grief with
universal public mourning. While yet a stripling at Yale, I
hung upon the first lispings of his young eloquence, and marked
with admiration, the intellectual vigor of the new grown Hercu-
les. In after life, College recollections were a cord of friendship
between us, no strand of which was ever broken. We are told
by his friend, Mr. Holmes, that he early read the Bible. Your
venerable predecessor, the illustrious Gallatin, was also early
brought up in the study of that sacred volume, and lived to know
its value. He declared to me, and charged me to say to Gen.

116 RESOLUTIONS, LETTERS, &c.

Taylor, that he rejoiced in his election, that he occupied a posi-
tiyn on which all patriots, all good men, all christian men, could
rally around and support him. The facts I state go to show the
value of the early study of the Bible as a means of intellectual
culture.

Gallatin, tracing his ancestry some centuries back, to a Syndic
of Geneva, loved to speak of his maternal parentage ; so too, Cal-
houn referred with pride to the Caldwell stock, to which his mo-
ther belonged. Who does not remember the mother of the Grac-
chi, and of Napoleon ? Sir, if we would improve our race, we
should develope the moral and intellectual faculties of our daugh-
ters.

The affection of Mr. Calhoun for his family, his friends, his
State, and his section, was so warm as to become, perhaps, too
exclusive. Distant friends so thought, and blamed him ; they
did not know the temptations to which he yielded.

In heart, Mr. Calhoun was a Raphael, in mind, a Michael An-
gelo. As an orator and a Cabinet Minister, his most marked fea-
tures were his power of condensation and of organization. In
the first, he had no equal ; in the last, since the days of Hamilton,
our country has not seen his superior. When he entered the
War Department, where he passed the most useful lustrum of
his life, order came out of chaos. The incidents of his death
suggest a comparison with Chatham. They were alike self-re-
liant, fearless, incorruptible. But Calhoun sought only results,
Chatham sometimes studied display. One looked only to the
matter in hand, the other also to himself. In manner and dic-
tion, Calhoun was ever severely plain. Chathom, in style, was
often ornate — in manner, gorgeous. Chatham's inconsistency
was in sentiment and action, and it was palpable. Calhoun,
ever consistent in action, was only over refined and subtle in ar-
gument. More uniformly than Chatham, he prized true great-
ness above the trappings of office and of title. In other points
of view, Calhoun was like only unto himself. Had he been
forced to act more and think less, the world would have seen in
him a more useful, perhaps an unequalled, man.

RESOLUTIONS, LETTERS, &c 117

As a medical man, I am so presumptuous as to suggest this
opinion : Mr. Calhoun's death (I speak not of the occasion, but
the cause of it,) was an intellectual death. An overworked mind
dwelling too long on its one object — on its one thought — his coun-
try. The rapid current, ever running in one narrow channel,
deepened its bed, until the banks caved in, and a scene of deso-
lation succeeded to the fair landscape. What a lesson to intense
thinkers ! But other landscapes in the skies shall be formed by
its waters, and they shall descend again and purify the air. —
Even so may his fall purify the political atmosphere.

I offer the following resolution :

Resolved, That the death of John Caldwell Calhoun be
entered upon the journal of this Society, with the expression of
the profound veneration entertained by it for his high character,
his unsurpassed abilities, and his pre-eminent public services.

The resolution, seconded by J. De Peyster Ogden, Esq. and
responded to by the Rev. Dr. DeWitt, was passed unanimously ;
and

The Society then adjourned.

Extract from the minutes.

ANDREW WARNER, Recording Secretary.

GOVERNOR SEABROOK TO HON. R. BARNWELL RHETT.

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, )

Charleston, April 11th, 1850. $
Dear Sir : — Your intimate relations with Mr. Calhoun, tho-
rough knowledge of his history, and ability to discharge the hon-
orable trust, have induced me to request that you will, before the
Legislature, at its next session, on a day convenient to yourself,
deliver an oration on the life, character and public services of the
deceased.

With sentiments of respect,

I remain your obedient servant,

WHITEMARSH B. SEABROOK.
JR. Barnwell Rhett, Esq,

118 RESOLUTIONS, LETTERS, &c.

HON. R. B. RHETT TO GOVERNOR SEABROOK.

The Oaks, April 18th, 1850.
Dear Sir : — I received by the last mail the request of your
Excellency, that I would deliver, before the Legislature of the
State at its next sitting, an oration on the life, character and ser-
vices of Mr. Calhoun. After the able and eloquent pens
which have been and will be employed on this distinguished
theme, I may not be able to produce anything novel or interest-
ing, beyond what the theme itself will naturally occasion. But
your object is to do honor on the part of the State to the illustri-
ous dead. Heartily sympathizing with this object, I will co-ope-
rate with your Excellency to the extent of my ability, and ac-
cept the appointment.

Believe me, dear sir,

Your most humble,

and obedient servant,

R. B. RHETT.
To His Excellency, Governor Seabrook.

ORATION

THE HON. E. BAMWELL RHETT,

BEFORE THE LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA,

NOVEMBER 28, 1850

Gentlemen of the Senate, and

House of Representatives :

The Governor of the State has appointed me to deliver before
you, " an Oration on the life, services, and character," of the late
John 0. Calhoun.

Great men, in all ages, have been considered as reflecting dis-
tinction on the States of their nativity ; and therefore, public hon-
ors have been rendered to their remains by their country ; and
the chisel of the Sculptor, the pen of the Poet, and the voice of the
Orator, have been invoked to celebrate and perpetuate their
memories. This time-honored custom, practiced by every peo-
ple, should especially be observed by Republics towards great
public men, who, whilst living, have lived for their country, and
dying, have left behind them enduring monuments of their ge-
nius and patriotism. Republics rest on the virtues of their pub-
lic men. Other forms of Government may live, and often live
more surely, without love of country ; but with republics, patri-
otism is life.

To cherish this great virtue, therefore, is not only the impulse
of gratitude, but the dictate of the most obvious policy. And
to the dying statesman, (so far as this world is concerned, and
next only to the remembrance of him by those whose hearts are
one with him in the domestic circle,) what can be so cheering, so

120 MR. RHETT'S ORATION.

consoling, as the conviction that he shall not be forgotton by his
country ; and that, unmindful of his errors and weaknesses, his
countrymen, gathering together as we now do, in the halls of
their Legislature, amidst the emblems of mourning hung around
them, with all the dignitaries of the State to participate in their
sorrow, shall think only of those virtues and services which, bear-
ing him up to a lofty fame, have also borne with him his native
State, and united her name with his own, throughout the civil-
ized world ! For the sake of the living and the dead, we this
day pay public honors to the late John C. Calhoun.

A distinguished statesman and philosopher has observed,
that the characters of men are formed before they are seven
years old. This observation, although perhaps a little exagge-
rated, is true in the general position it is intended to affirm —
that all the great elements of character are stamped into the mind
before childhood, or boyhood, has ended. Here begins the moral
inequality of men, by which one is raised to honor, and another
to dishonor. Men seldom change in their moral characteristics,,
from what they are at their earlier periods of existence. Man-
hood is not the seed-time, but the harvest, of our principles. We
then act upon them, as they are grown within us, and carry
them out in the moral warfare of life, for good or evil, to others
and ourselves.

Mr. Calhoun was ushered into life by that first and greatest
of all earthly blessings, a good parentage. His father was a
brave, intelligent and patriotic man, used to the dangers and pri-
vations of a frontier life, and schooled in the great principles of
liberty, by the hard contest of our Revolution. His mother was
of a family whose sufferings attested their gallant devotion to
the cause of freedom. Two out of three of her uncles fell in
battle, and the third was long immured in the dungeon of a
prison-ship, at St. Augustine. From such parents, a son might
well be expected to arise of elevated morality, and of the no-
blest patriotism. Born in the midst of the Revolution, he grew
up by the side of those who had participated in its arduous and
bloody conflicts, and caught from their lips the stern lesson they

MR. RHETT'S ORATION. 121

inculcated with their swords in the battle-field, that " resistance
to tyranny is obedience to God." The public opinion of our
whole community, just after the Revolution, was eminently pa-
triotic. Men were esteemed, not according to the factitious con-
sequence which wealth or fashion can impart, but according to
the services they had rendered in that great struggle by which
we acquired our liberties. Amidst such influences, such a mind
as Mr. Calhoun's must have moved as in a kindred element,
and drank in the inspirations of patriotism which filled the air
with its voiceless but resistless teachings. Living in the coun- \
try, retirement deepened all his impressions. There were no city
pleasures around him, to beckon him away from virtue ; no city
vices, to sap the energies and cripple the noble impulses of his
nature. Nor did affluence lay its benumbing hand on his aspi-
rations. Self-denial and labour, not ease and luxury, were his
early lot ; and the habits these inspired, led him on to a life of
continual industry, and of glorious usefulness and success. Un-
der such influences, Mr. Calhoun's early life was passed. Youth
had nearly flown, and he was engaged in the simple pursuit of
planting, when his brother urged him, at the age of nineteen, to
enter upon one of the liberal professions. But content with the
peaceful and unambitious employment of agriculture, he de-
clined the proposal, placing against it, what he deemed, imprac-
ticable conditions. He required that his mother, with whom he
lived, should give a free consent to his leaving her ; and that his
brother should engage to provide him with the means, for seven
years, to educate and prepare him for a profession. Fortunately
for his country, these kind and generous relations appreciated
him far higher than he appears to have estimated himself. His
mother, with that disinterested love which mothers only can
feel, freely bade him go from her side, to tread the paths of im-
provement and usefulness, and his brother pledged the means
he required. His classical and collegiate course justified their
fondest anticipations. Whilst instructors predicted his future
greatness, all his associates at school and college remember
their fellow-student with admiration and affection, and tell with

122 MR. RHETT'S ORATION.

pride and pleasure, of their early connexion with him. His
preparation for the Bar was so thorough and ample, that, with
his commanding abilities, on entering it, he stepped at once to
the head of his profession. Such a man could not long remain
in private life. He was soon elected to our State Legislature, at
the head of the ticket. From the State Legislature, where he
distinguished himself by his thorough knowledge and anticipa-
tion of public affairs, he was sent, in 1810, to the Congress of
the United States.

Gentlemen, to delineate Mr. Calhoun's life, we must portray
his conduct and services. ¥ Our lives are two-fold," made up of
internal and external actions. Our internal life, which is our
real life, consists of thoughts, intentions and emotions. This,
no eye can see, no hand can write, but the eye and hand of Om-
nipotence ; and it will only be read at the great day of account.
Our external life consists of our conduct and services to other
men, and to our country. These we can investigate, and from
them, we may infer the hidden life, out of which flows all of our
visible actions.

Mr. Calhoun's public life and services cover an immense
tract of intellectual achievements. To follow him at every
step of his triumphant progress, may well become the biogra-
pher, but is not compatible with the brief task assigned to me.
I shall not, therefore, attempt what it would be impossible to
perform, consistently with your patience or the time allotted me,
but shall content myself with the humble endeavour to exhibit
him before you as a statesman, upon three subjects only — the
war of 1812, the tariff, and slavery. Upon his policy and
speeches with respect to these great subjects, I know he chiefly
rested his title to future fame.

The war of 1812 was a great war. It was great, not on ac-
count of the hosts engaged in battle, or the millions who were
slaughtered in its progress, but on account of the principles it
vindicated, and the manner in which those principles were vin-
dicated. Viewed merely as a contest against unjust power, it is
by no means an ordinary event in the history of nations. Great

MR. RHETT'S ORATION. 123

Britain aimed at nothing short of recolonizing the United States.
All she ever desired in founding us as colonies — and all she ever
sought to accomplish, before her pretensions of taxing us, was
the control of our commerce. This she endeavoured to do
through her orders in council, and the lawless depredations they
authorized. Practically, she asserted, and attempted to enforce
the pretension, that the United States should carry on no com-
merce with Europe, except by her permission, and from her
ports. In this point of view, the war of 1812 was a war for
national independence. But it was far greater in the principles
which it involved. The rights of neutrals, between belligerent
nations, have been for ages a matter of contention. The object
of this war was to vindicate these rights, against the pretended
right of search, and that of paper blockades falsely set up by
Great Britain. It did not settle, by distinct acknowledgment,
the rights of neutrals on these points, but it practically estab-
lished them by tacit consent. The United States are now too
powerful on the ocean, for any nation to make an enemy of her
by attempting to enforce against her as a neutral, the old preten-
sions of Great Britain. A change of positions is gradually ta-
king place ; and at no distant day, Great Britain, no longer the
first power on the ocean, will need the protecting shield of these
principles, against the greater strength of other nations. With
the United States of America in the ascendant, all the great mar-
itime States of the world will thus be in their favor, and will
look back to the war of 1812, as the great source of their triumph
and vindication.

In such a contest — a contest for national independence and
the liberty of the seas — Mr. Calhoun was found amongst the
first to counsel against submission. In the Congress of 1810,
and that of 1811, he raised his voice for open and uncompromi-
sing resistance. His proud and free spirit disdained the non-in-
tercourse policy, which Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison had put
in force throughout the United States. This policy was the re-
sult of fear of the power of Britain. She had determined to
plunder us ; and we, to escape her plundering, denied ourselves

124 MR. RHETT'S ORATION.

all the benefits of the free commerce to which we were entitled
by the laws of nations, and self-infliction, not resistance, was the
policy of these distinguished statesmen. Fear is, indeed, the
worst of all counsellors ; and when, instead of enforcing right,
it adds to our wrongs and sufferings, it is as injurious as it is con-
temptible. The consequence in this case was, that the patriot-
ism of the country seemed to be guaged by our gains ; an inter-
nal dissatisfaction spread throughout all those parts of the Union
most immediately affected by this timid policy. Contrasting it
with war, Mr. Calhoun denounced it, in one of the first speeches
he delivered in Congress, in a strain of philosophic invective sel-
dom equalled in the annals of oratory.

" This system," he argued, " renders Government odious. The
farmer enquires why he gets no more for his produce, and he is
told, it is owing to the embargo or commercial restrictions. In
this he sees only the hand of his own government, and not the
acts of violence and injustice which this system is intended to
counteract. His censures fall on the Government. This is an
unhappy state of the public mind ; and even, I might say, in a
government resting essentially on public opinion, a dangerous
one. In war, it is different. Its privations, it is true, may be
equal or greater ; but the public mind, under the strong impulses
of that state of things, becomes steeled against sufferings. The
difference is almost infinite between the passive and active state
of the mind. Tie down a hero, and he feels the puncture of a
pin ; throw him into battle, and he is almost insensible to vital
gashes. So in war. Impelled alternately by hope and fear, sti-
mulated by revenge, depressed by shame, or elevated by victory,
the people become invincible. No privation can shake their for-
titude ; no calamity break their spirit. Even when equally suc-
cessful, the contrast between the two systems is striking. War
and restriction may leave the country equally exhausted ; but
the latter not only leaves you poor, but, even when successful,
dispirited, divided, discontented, with diminished patriotism, and
the morals of a considerable portion of your people corrupted. —
Not so in war. In that state, the common danger unites all,
strengthens the bonds of society, and feeds the flames of patri-
otism. The national character mounts to energy. In exchange
for the expenses and privations of war, you obtain military and
naval skill, and a more perfect organization of such parts of your
administration as are connected with the science of national de-

MR. RHETT'S ORATION. 125

fence. Sir, are these advantages to be counted as trifles in the
present state of the world ? Can they be measured by monied
valuation ? I would prefer a single victory over the enemy, by
sea or by land, to all the good we shall ever derive from the con-
tinuation of the non-importation Act. I know not that a victory
would produce an equal pressure on the enemy ; but I am cer-
tain of what is of greater consequence, it would be accompanied
by more salutary effects on ourselves. The memory of Saratoga,
Princeton, and Eutaw, is immortal. It is there you will find the
country's boast and pride — the inexhaustible source of great and
heroic sentiments. But what will history say of restriction ? —
What examples worthy of imitation will it furnish to posterity 1
What pride, what pleasure, will our children find in the events
of such times ? Let me not be considered romantic. This na-
tion ought to be taught to rely on its courage, its fortitude, its
skill and virtue, for protection. These are the only safe-guards in
the hour of danger. Man was endued with these great qualities
for his defence. There is nothing about him that indicates that
he is to conquer by endurance. He is not encrusted in a shell ;
he is not taught to rely upon his insensibility, his passive suffer-
ing, for a defence. No, sir, it is on the invincible mind, on a
magnanimous nature, he ought to rely. Here is the superiority
of our kind. It is these that render man the lord of the world.
It is the destiny of his condition, that nations rise above nations,
as they are endued in a greater degree with these brilliant qual-
ities."

He brought forward propositions at this session of Congress to
prepare foi war ; and at the next session reported, as Chairman
of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the declaration of war, writ-
ten by Mr. Monroe, the Secretary of State. After the downfall
of Napoleon, in 1813, Great Britain, disembarrassed of the con-
tests in Europe, was left, with her veteran troops, to carry on the
war with the United States. The opposition in Congress and
out of Congress sought to paralyze the efforts made to carry on
the war successfully. They were fully and powerfully repre-
sented in Congress. Alluding to the reverses of our arms on our
frontiers, Mr. Webster sarcastically exclaimed : " This was not
the entertainment to which we were invited ! !" And throughout
the New England States, the decided front of opposition to its
continuance was raised. In this state of things, it was strongly

126 MR. RHETT'S ORATION.

urged in Congress, that our condition was desperate ; and that,
at any cost, the war should be closed. The opposition was de-
veloped on the Loan Bill, now brought forward to carry on the
war. Mr. Calhoun advocated a stern prosecution of the war,
and delivered that speech which was read at the head of our ar-
mies. It is impossible, even at this day, to read the conclusion
without catchihg the fire of its lofty eloquence.

" This country is left alone to support the rights of neutrals. —
Perilous is the condition, and arduous the task. We are not in-
timidated. We stand opposed to British usurpation, and, by our
spirit and efforts, have done all in our power to save the last ves-
tiges of neutral rights. Yes, our embargoes, non-intercourse,
non-importation, and finally, war, are all exertions to preserve
the rights of this and other nations from the deadly grasp of
British maritime policy. But, (say our opponents,) these efforts
are lost, and our condition hopeless. If so, it only remains for us
to assume the garb of our condition. We must submit, humbly
submit, beg pardon, and hug our chains. It is not wise to pro-
voke, where we cannot resist. But first, let us be well assured of
the hopelessness of our state before we sink into submission. —
On what do our opponents rest their despondent and slavish be-
lief? On the recent events in Europe ? I admit they are great,
and well calculated to impose on the imagination. Our enemy
never presented a more imposing exterior. His fortune is at the
flood. But I am admonished by universal experience that such
prosperity is the most precarious of human conditions. From
the flood, the tide dates its ebb. From the meridian, the sun
commences his decline. Depend upon it, there is more of sound
philosophy than of fiction in the fickleness which poets attribute
to fortune. Prosperity has its weakness, adversity its strength.
In many respects our enemy has lost by those very changes
which seem so very much in his favor. He can no more claim
to be struggling for existence ; no more to be fighting the battles
of the world in defence of the liberties of mankind. The magic
cry of " French influence," is lost. In this very hall we are not
strangers to that sound. Here, even here, the cry of " French
influence," that baseless fiction, that phantom of faction, now ban-
ished, often resounded. I rejoice that the spell is broken by which
it was attempted to bind the spirit of this youthful nation. The
minority can no longer act under cover, but must come out and
defend their opposition on its own intrinsic merits. Our exam-
ple can scarcely fail to produce its effects on other nations inter-
ested in the maintenance of maritime rights. But if, unfortu-

MR. RHETT'S ORATION. 127

nately, we should be left alone to maintain the contest, and if,
which may God forbid, necessity should compel us to yield for
the present, yet our generous efforts will not have been lost. A
mode of thinking and a tone of sentiment have gone abroad
which must stimulate to future and more successful struggles. — ■
What could not be effected with eight millions of people, will be
done with twenty. The great cause will never be yielded — no,
never, never. Sir, I hear the future audibly announced in the
past, in the splendid victories over the Guerriere, Java, and Ma-
cedonian. We and all nations, by these victories, are taught a
lesson never to be forgotten. Opinion is power. The charm of
British naval invincibility is gone."

This war was called the Carolina war. More eminent states-
men from South Carolina than from any other State of the
Union, enforced and sustained it by their counsels ; and it was
closed victoriously at New Orleans, by the military prowess of
a South Carolinian. But were it not that Lowndes and Cheves
and Williams were his colleagues, it might well be called a Cal- I )
houn war. It was a type of all the political contests in which I /
he was afterwards engaged — ever struggling for right and liberty, j 1
against oppression and power. I

This war placed Mr. Calhoun amongst the foremost spirits
of his time. On the elevation of Mr. Monroe to the Presidency,
he was called into his cabinet, as Secretary of War. This de-
partment was involved in the utmost confusion. But soon order
and responsibility arose throughout all its arrangements and de-
tails. His genius yet presides over this department in its admi-
rable organization, which no one who has succeeded him has
attempted to alter or improve. His great abilities were stamped
on all the documents he produced at the call of Congress, or of
the Executive ; and at the close of Mr. Monroe's administration,
he stood prominently forward for the Presidency. Pennsylvania
nominated him for this distinguished office ; and had South
Carolina supported the nomination, the probability is he would,
at that early day, have reached the Presidential chair. But she
in preference nominated William Lowndes, another of her dis-
tinguished sons.

William Lowndes was one of the greatest, yet one of the

128 MR. RHETT'S ORATION.

blandest and most amiable of men. No one could approach
him without emotions of affection and admiration. In confer-
ring with him, you felt as if communing with a bright and se-
rene spirit, fresh from the crystal fountains of truth, without a
spot on its snowy vestments. You were not so much dazzled
by the splendour, as attracted by the mild light of his clear and
beautiful intelligence, like the light of bright but distant stars.
He did not, perhaps he could not, crush, by the overwhelming
weight of his logic, the mind of his hearer — but softly subduing
it to his purposes, he won it away from itself, and made it wil-
ling to be won. His native delicacy taught him that most dif-
ficult of all achievments to a very superior mind, not to offend
by his superiority. You came to him with ease and confidence,
you left him full of thought and gladness. Instead of hum-
bling in his intercourse, he lifted up the feebler minds of others,
and made them willing to bow to the gentle majesty of so much
goodness and so much power. Mr. Lowndes had no enemies.
To wound the feelings of another, even to protect his own, was
beyond the gentleness of his noble nature. He had, of course,
friends, warm friends, whose admiration of him as a man and
as a statesman, was equalled only by their love. Between such
a man and Mr. Calhoun, there was an instinctive assimilation.
They appreciated and loved each other. When, therefore, they
were both nominated for the Presidency, and thus placed in the
attitude of rivals, Mr. Calhoun hastened to Mr. Lowndes. He
assured him that he had had no agency in his own nomination
by Pennsylvania ; and expressed the hope, that the acts of their
friends would not at all affect the personal relations of friendship
and esteem between themselees. Mr. Lowndes warmly recipro-
cated the desire af Mr. Calhoun, and to his death the feelings
of confidence and friendship between these two great men re-
mained unimpaired — a striking instance of the nobleness of their
generous natures.

Mr. Lowndes died before the Presidential canvass came to a
close ; and General Jackson, in the meantime, being taken up by
Pennsylvania, as a candidate for the Presidency, Mr. Calhoun

MR. RHETT'S ORATION. 129i

was supported on all the Presidential tickets, for the Vice Presi-
dency, t^e was elected, of course, to this distinguished office ;
but Gen. Jackson, although highest by the vote of the electoral
colleges, did not obtain the constitutional majority required for
electing him to the Presidency. The election was thrown into
the House of Representatives, and by a combination between
Mr. Adams and Mr. Clay, Mr. Adams was made President of
the United States.

This administration was not long in developing its Federal
tendencies, and Mr. Calhoun joined the opposition for its over-
throw.

The weak, as well as the vital, point of liberty in all free go-
vernments, is in the laying and expending of the taxes ; and to
this point, consolidation most naturally drifts in consummating
its policy. If the government could but be made omnipotent in
regard to taxation and expenditure, its omnipotence in all other
matters would soon follow. Our Anglo-Saxon ancestors, by the
habeas corpus Act, and the trial by jury, had long since thrown
indestructible barriers around the liberty of the person, against
the encroachments of tyranny ; but liberty, as to property, in the
imposition of the taxes, is still a matter of strife and contention.
It was fought for in the Revolution in England in the middle of
the seventeenth century. It was fought for by our ancestors, in
our own Revolution of 1776. We won it in that fierce contest,
but lost it almost as soon as it was won, by the operations of the
General Government. The concession made by the Constitution
to the General Government, of the power of laying duties on im-
ports, was fatal to all equality and justice in taxation. For, even
though the duties should be laid with a single eye to revenue,
they would be levied upon the commerce created by the exports,
and must be unequal in their operation upon those to whom the
exports belong. But when, in the working of this method of
raising revenue for the support of the General Government, mil-
lions of people and sections of the Union become interested to
obtain advantages by its perversion or excess, it is vain to look
for justice or equality. The taxes, so far from being burdens, as
9

130 MR. RHETT'S ORATION.

all taxes should be, are. on the contrary, sources of gain and pros-
perity. The higher the taxes levied on foreign commodities, the
greater are their gains, either from the higher prices which they
obtain for articles they manufacture similar to those taxed on im-
portation, or from the total exclusion of the foreign commodity.
Under such a policy, injustice and oppression reign in the exer-
cise of the taxing power ; and the Government becomes only an
instrument for wresting property from one citizen to bestow it on
another. Under such a policy, corruption likewise reigns in the
exjiending power — for the more the public treasury can be ex-
hausted and wasted, the higher must be the taxes to fill its cof-
fers. Hence arises a tyranny as remorseless as it is sateless. It
was this policy, under the name of the American system, which
Mr. Adams's administration sought to consummate in the tariff
bill of 1828. Fortunately for liberty, tyranny seldom has bounds
in its aggressions. It will not be satisfied with light oppressions ;
but goes on to crush its victims, or drive them to resistance.
The tariffs of 1818, of '22, of '24 and '28— shewed the successive
steps of its unalterable progress. It was impossible for such a
mind as Mr. Calhoun's, after the opportunity his election to the
vice-presidency, from the leisure it afforded, presented for mature
consideration, not to comprehend the whole operation of this po-
licy, and to hate and resist it. When it was supposed that the
votes would be equal in the Senate, on this Bill, and thus that,
as Vice President, his vote would be wanted to determine its
fate, he declared his determination to vote against it, and to for-
feit his position as Vice-President, on the electoral ticket of the
Democratic party — then certain of success — rather than support
this " Bill of abominations." But the Bill passed without his
vote. It was received in South Carolina with the most decided
marks of popular indignation. Resistance was openly pro-
claimed against it at many meetings held by the people, in dif-
ferent parts of the State. In Colleton District, where the first
movements were made, the Governor of the State was requested
immediately to convene the Legislature together, in order that
the State should determine on the mode and measure of redress.

MR. RHETT'S ORATION. 131

In this emergency, the eyes of many were turned towards Mr.
Calhoun for counsel and direction ; and two of the most distin-
guished statesmen from the lower country visited him during
the summer at his residence, Fort Hill. Mr. Calhoun was in
favour of resistance, but of resistance within the pale of the Con-
stitution, by the peaceable remedy of nullification, whose aim
was to check effectually these encroachments upon our rights,
but at the same time to preserve the Union. At the succeeding
sitting of the Legislature, those in favour of calling a Convention
of the people by the Legislature, were defeated ; but an able ex-
position, the work of Mr. Calhoun, was put forth by the State,
demonstrating the grievances of the tariff, and defending the
right of state-interposition, for their redress. A protest was also
adopted by the legislature, and sent on to Washington, to be re-
corded on the journals of Congress. It was prepared by one of
Carolina's most gifted sons.

Hugh S. Legare was a man of too much heart for politics.
His French temperament, quick to resent, yet easy to forgive ;
warm, guileless, and confiding, rendered him too unhappy and
too disappointed, when tossed on the boisterous and adverse
waves of public life. He had none of that cold patience, or buoy-
ant hope, which often makes disaster the occasion of after rejoi-
cing ; or defeat the means of awakening new and higher ener-
gies. Yet he had a genius capable of mastering every science —
an industry which travelled with untiring steps over the whole
domain of literature ; and a spirit of blazing intensity, which drew
to itself and consumed all that was great or truthful or beautiful
in the thoughts of other men. How often did his oratory resound
in this hall ; filling us with admiration at its pure and deep ca-
dences ! Vigorous thought, clothed in the drapery of the warm-
est and most nervous language, and borne on the wings of a lof-
ty and impetuous spirit, characterized his striking powers in de-
bate. Alas ! the eagle fell as he reached the mountain top ! He
died on the very summit, where his glorious scholarship, mighty
attainments, and brilliant genius, would have made him a name
amongst the great statesmen of the world. Although he deemed

132 MR. RHETT'S ORATION.

himself slighted and wronged by his native State, he turned to
her, to the last, with a full and yearning heart.

a Heu ! quanto minus est cum reliquis versare,
Quam tui memminisse."

The protest of South Carolina against the Tariff Act of 1828,
was recorded on the Journals of Congress ; and the Presidential
election coming on, Gen. Jackson was elected to the Presidency.
His native State had been the first to nominate him for this dis-
tinguished office, after his defeat in the House of Representatives.
The strong hope entertained of redress through his administra-
tion, was a leading cause of the defeat of those in the Legislature
of South Carolina, who advocated the call of a Convention. But
his first message to Congress dispelled all such hopes. Instead
of recommending a reduction of the tariff to the wants of the
Treasury, in view of the payment of the public debt, he proposed
that the tariff should be kept up, and that the surplus in the Trea-
sury, which must accumulate, should be distributed among the
States. If this policy, the policy of the manufacturers, should pre-
vail, it was plain that the tariff would remain, with all its oppres-
sions, unchanged forever — whilst the independence of the States
would be swallowed up in the vortex of consolidation. At the
next session of Congress, Gen. Jackson, as if to chide the tardy
movements of our oppressors, repeated his recommendation of this
policy for the adoption of Congress. Thus presenting to the peo-
ple of South Carolina, either a permanent system of distributing
the surplus revenue, and a perpetual protective tariff, or resistance.
South Carolina determined to meet this alternative and to resist.
Although equally assailed by the two great parties of the country,
and abandoned by her sister States in the South, under the gui-
dance of her great statesman she moved on to the vindication of
her rights and liberties. To prepare her for the contest, and at
the same time to defend the principles on which he desired she
would ground her resistance, Mr. Calhoun put forth an ad-
dress, characterized by his usual great ability. The scheme of
the Constitution, by which the people of a country so various in
its productions, and so different in climate and institutions, may

MR. RHETT'S ORATION. 133

live under one Government, consistently with liberty, he exposes
as follows:

" So momentous and diversified are the interests of our country,
that they could not be fairly represented in a single government
organized so as to give to each great and leading interest a sepa-
rate and distinct voice, as in governments to which I have referred.
A plan was adopted better suited to our situation, but perfectly
novel in its character. The powers of government were divided ;
not as heretofore, in reference to classes, but geographically.
One general Government was formed for the whole, to which was
delegated all the powers supposed to be necessary to regulate the
interests common to all the States, leaving others subject to the
separate control of the States, being, from their local and peculiar
character, such that they could not be subject to the will of a ma-
jority of the whole Union, without the certain hazard of injustice
and oppression. It was thus that the interests of the whole were
subjected, as they ought to be, to the will of the whole ; while the
peculiar, local interests were left under the control of the States
separately, to whose custody only they could be safely confided.
This distribution of power, settled solemnly by a constitutional
compact, to which all the States are parties, constitutes the pecul-
iar character and excellence of our political system. It is truly
and emphatically American, without example or parallel.

" To realize its perfection, we must view the General Govern-
ment and those of the States as a whole, each in its proper sphere
independent; each perfectly adapted to its respective objects; the
States acting separately, representing and protecting the local
and peculiar interests ; acting jointly, through one General Gov-
ernment, with the weight respectively assigned to each by the
Constitution, representing and protecting the interest of the whole,
and thus perfecting, by an admirable but simple arrangement, the
great principle of representation and responsibility, without which
no government can be free or just. To preserve this sacred dis-
tribution, as originally settled, by coercing each to move in its
prescribed orb, is the great and difficult problem, on the solution
of which the duration of our Constitution, of our Union, and in
all probability, our liberty, depends. How is this to be effected?"

Mr. Calhoun answered this question, by pointing to the States
— at once the creators and guardians of the Constitution — to ar-
rest, by their interposition, the encroachments of the federal head,
and thus preserve the distribution of powers under the Consti-
tution.

"The great and leading principle is, that the General Govern-

134 MR. RHETT'S ORATION.

ment emanated from the people of the several States, forming
distinct political communities, and acting in their separate and
sovereign capacities, and not from all the people forming one ag-
gregate political community ; that the Constitution of the United
States is, in fact, a compact, to which each State is a party, in
the character already described ; and that the several States, or
parties, have a right to judge of its infractions, and in case of a
deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise of power, not dele-
gated, they have the right, in the last resort, to use the language
of the Virginia resolutions, 'to interpose for arresting the progress
of the evil, and for maintaining, within their respective limits, the
authorities, rights and liberties appertaining to them.' This right
of interposition, thus solemnly asserted by the State of Virginia,
be it called what it may — state-right, veto, nullification, or by
any other name — I conceive to be the fundamental principle of
our system, resting on facts historically as certain as our Revo-
lution itself, and deductions as simple and demonstrative as those
of any political or moral truth whatever ; and I firmly believe
that on its recognition depends the stability and safety of our
political institutions."

Such is the doctrine of nullification. It was doubtless first
perceived and broached by Mr. Jefferson, and supported by Mr.
Madison, as a part of our system of government, in his celebrated
Report on the Alien and Sedition Laws, in the Virginia Legisla-
ture. But nullification, as a great principle of all government —
nullification, in its admirable philosophy — is the discovery of
Mr. Calhoun. The difference between his expositions and those
of Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison on this subject, is the difference
between gold in the rock and gold extracted and refined, and
prepared for universal use in the commerce of the world. Whe-
ther nullification is a part of the system of Government organized
by the Constitution of the United States, may be doubtful. The
Virginia statesmen generally, and many of our own statesmen,
whose abilities and patriotism no one ever doubted, limited the
right of a State to secession. The principle, however, as devel-
\ oped by Mr. Calhoun, must endure forever, as the only founda-
\ tion on which free governments can be erected. Government is
\a great practical necessity, resulting from the condition of our
nallen nature. If this nature were perfect, no man would do in-
justice to another, and there would be no need of government ;

MR. RHETT'S ORATION. 135

but because our nature is imperfect, and man will not do justice
to his fellow-man, governments are instituted to enforce justice
by the power of all. But the power of all in government, on
account of the frailty or the wickedness of men, tends again to
injustice, because those who control it, or are entrusted with its
administration, pervert its powers for their own selfish aggran-j
dizement. Hence the difficulty of maintaining a free and justj
Government. We are obliged to use the very instruments to
guide its operations whose frailty and corruption occasioned its
primal necessity. There is but one expedient to guard against
this frailty and corruption ; and that is, by so organizing and dis-
tributing the powers of government amongst its Various agents,
as to make one a check on the abuse of another, and enable all
interests and sections to protect themselves by only yielding such
powers as are common and equal in their exercise. In this con-
sists the whole science of confederated republican governments.
Unlimited power in government, either in one man or in many,
is despotism. Divided power, checking wrong, and enforcing
justice, is liberty. In developing and enforcing this great prin-
ciple, which, like attraction amongst the heavenly bodies, is the
great law of all free governments, Mr. Calhoun stands unri-
valled among the statesmen of ancient or modern days. On his
labours and accomplishments on this great subject, I know that
he chiefly rested his title to future fame. When, during General
Jackson's administration, he acted with the Whigs, in the Senate
of the United States, and was claimed as one of them, he declared
that he belonged to neither of the great parties in the Union, but
was a Nullifier. Long after the names of Whig and Democrat
should be buried in oblivion, he hoped to live as a nullifier — the
great nullifier — whose principles would guide and bless the world
with liberty. He lived to see — from a disregard of these princi-
ples — that beautiful fabric of free government, organized by the
Constitution of the United States, rent to its foundation, and
tottering to its fall. But even in its fall shall shine forth more
clearly the great truths he inculcated ; and future generations,
seeking liberty, will avoid the whirlpool of consolidation into

136 MR. RHETT'S ORATION.

which we have recklessly plunged, in spite of all his warnings,
to rise probably again only in divided fragments.

The crisis approached in 1832, in consequence of the payment
of the public debt, and Mr. Calhoun addressed another power-
ful disquisition on the powers of Government, in a letter, to Gov-
ernor Hamilton. As the true relations which the States in this
Union bear towards the General Government may soon be a mat-
ter of practical and vital importance, a few extracts, elucidating
this subject, may not be inappropriate. The right of secession
rests upon this relation.

" By a State may be meant either the government of a State,
or the people, as forming a separate and independent commu-
nity ; and by the people, either the American people, taken col-
lectively, as forming one great community, or as the people of
the several States, forming, as above stated, separate and inde-
pendent communities. These distinctions are essential in the
enquiry. If by the people be meant the people collectively, and
not the people of the several States, taken separately ; and if it
be true, indeed, that the Constitution is the work of the American
people, collectively ; if it originated with them, and derives its
authority from their will, then there is an end of the argument.
The right claimed for a State, of defending her reserved powers
against the General Government, would be an absurdity. View-
ing the American people collectively as the source of political
power, the rights of the States would be mere concessions — con-
cessions from the common majority, and to be revoked by them
with the same facility that they were granted. The States
would, on this supposition, bear to the Union the same relation
that counties do to the States ; and it would, in that case, be just
as preposterous to discuss the right of interposition, on the part
of a State, against the General Government, as that of the coun-
ties against the States themselves. That a large portion of the
people of the United States thus regard the relation between the
State and the General Government, including many who call
themselves the friends of State-Rights and opponents of consoli-
dation, can scarcely be doubted ; as it is only on that supposition
it can be explained that so many of that description should de-
nounce the doctrine for which the State contends, as so absurd.
But fortunately, the supposition is entirely destitute of truth. So
far from the Constitution being the work of the American people
collectively, no such political body either now or ever did exist.
In that character the people of this country never performed a

MR.RHETT'S ORATION. 137

single political act, nor indeed can, without an entire revolution
in all our political relations.

" I challenge an instance. From the beginning, and in all the
changes of political existence through which we have passed, the
people of the United States have been united as forming political
communities, and not as individuals. Even in the first stage of
existence, they formed distinct colonies, independent of each
other, and politically united only through the British crown.
In their first imperfect union, for the purpose of resisting the en-
croachments of the mother-country, they united as distinct politi-
cal communities ; and passing from their colonial condition, in
the act announcing their independence to the world, they de-
clared themselves, by name and enumeration, free and independ-
ent States. In that character, they formed the old confederation ;
and when it was proposed to supersede the articles of the confede-
ration, by the present Constitution, they met in Convention as
States, acted and voted as States ; and the Constitution, when
formed, was submitted for ratification to the people of the several
States; it was ratified by them as States, each State for itself;
each, by its ratification, binding its own citizens ; the parts thus
separately binding themselves, and not the whole the parts ; to
which, if it be added, that it is declared, in the preamble of the
Constitution, to be ordained by the people of the United States,
and in the article of ratification, when ratified, it is declared ' to
be binding- between the States so ratifying' — the conclusion is
inevitable, that the Constitution is the work of the people of the
States, considered as separate and independent political commu-
nities ; that they are its authors — their power created it, their
voice clothed it with authority — that the Government formed is
really their agent ; and that the Union, of which the Constitution
is the bond, is a union of States, and not of individuals. No one
who regards his character for intelligence and truth, has ever
ventured directly to deny these facts so certain ; but while they
are too certain for denial, they are also too conclusive in favour
of the rights of the States for admission."

The crisis at length came. The passage of the tariff Act of
1832, proclaimed on all sides to be a final adjustment, could not
be satisfactory to South Carolina. It was too inconsiderable in
the amount of its reductions, to arrest the policy of distribution ;
whilst, by its exemption from taxation to the manufacturers, it
was more of a protective tariff in principle, than the Act of 1828.
The resistance party in South Carolina carried the elections in
the fall. The Legislature, by the two-thirds majority, called a

138 MR. RHETT'S ORATION.

Convention of the people. The times were dark and lowering ;
and South Carolina required at the helm of her affairs a man of
endoubted sagacity, patriotism and courage. She turned her
eyes to Gen. Robert Y. Hayne, her Senator in Congress.

Gen. Hayne was the idol of the people, and repaid their devo-
tion by a fidelity as true as theirs. He loved South Carolina as
the knight of old his bride. He loved popularity, not for the
sake of its honors or emoluments, but because the heart of his
humanity delighted to beat in unison with the warm pulsations
of others. He rejoiced in the public service, as the boy who
laughs and bounds and drives the ball before him. His man-
ners were the perfection of frank and winning courtesy. But
the spirit of the soldier radiated from every look and tone. In
obeying the voice of the State, he brought to her service a deter-
mination to protect her from aggression or invasion, which no
terrors could daunt. He stood, the proud delight and confidence
of all. His inaugural address, on assuming the office of Gov-
ernor, penetrated the souls of all who heard him, and drew tears
of kindred sympathy from some of the sternest of us. He was
an orator in the full meaning of oratory, the art of persuasion.
Free and fast, the words floated on his silvery voice, whilst in-
genuous and manly candour gave potency to the arguments of
his fine intellect. In the meridian of his powers he left public
life ; and borne along by the prosperity and the ambitious im-
agination of the country, entered, with his usual intrepidity, into
the great scheme of uniting, by iron bonds, the South and West
in commercial intercourse. His name would be written on the
Alleganies, and future generations would bless the wisdom and
energy by which this great work was accomplished. But con-
vulsion and ruin swept over the commercial world. The pro-
ject failed. His heart sunk beneath the calamity. Eager gain
carped at his doings ; jealous misfortune turned upon him her
cold reproachful eye. He died, the noblest victim of those dis-
astrous times.

Mr. Calhoun was elected unanimously to fill the seat in the
Senate of the United States, made vacant by the resignation of

MR.RHETT'S ORATION. 139

General Hayne. The Convention of the State met, and passed
an ordinance nullifying the Tariff Laws of the United States
within the limits of South Carolina. Mr. Calhoun stood forth
in the Senate, the leading champion of the State, placed by his
policy in opposion to every State in the Union, and to all the au-
thorities of the General Government, with President Jackson at
its head.

Gen. Jackson was a most remarkable man. Born and reared
and living, the greater part of his life, in a newly settled country,
his character partook of the defects such an existence naturally
engenders. His education was very limited. He learned nothing
from books, of the great thoughts of the great men other ages
have produced ; but human nature, as he met it in the pathway
of life, he thoroughly studied and understood. The feeble en-
forcement of the laws on our frontiers, necessarily made a man
of his bold and reckless temper not very regardful of law. His
will was his law, and with his own right arm he enforced it.
Thus, from the circumstances of his life, as well as natural dis-
position, arose that aptitude and skill in contention which made
him the most formidable of personal foes ; but they also made
him the most faithful of friends. He identified himself with those
to whom he was attached, with a blind devotion which only very
generous natures can feel, but which meaner spirits are so apt
to take advantage of, and abuse. To conquer and rule men, if
not his leading passion, was certainly his greatest attribute. With
a powerful, although rude intellect, to support his fierce and iron
will, he could not be otherwise than great — great amongst men —
great in the field — great as a civil ruler. No man was ever more
feared, no man was ever more implicitly obeyed, wherever he
moved ; confidence in him, and distrust in others, irresistably
spread over the minds of those who came within the charm of his
fearful influence. Yet, in his turn, he was easily influenced by
those who bowed before his sway, and had won his confidence.
Placability was not possible in such a nature. He hated intense-
ly, and forgave only those enemies whom he humbled, or who
humbled themselves before his imperious domination.

140 MR.RHETT'S ORATION.

Such was the man, at least at this period of his life, armed
with all the authority of the Government, whom Mr. Calhoun
faced in this great controversy. With General Jackson, it was,
perhaps, not only a political, but a personal contest. For in the
correspondence which had taken place between Mr. Calhoun
and himself, relative to his Florida campaign, Mr. Calhoun had
fairly towered over him. And to his death, Mr. Calhoun be-
lieved that this correspondence originated in the wily counsels of
Mr. Van Buren ; who sought, by instigating a quarrel between
General Jackson and himself, to supersede him, through the in-
fluence of General Jacksen, in the commanding position he then
occupied in the Democratic party. Most assuredly, Mr. Cal-
houn was the only man who stood in Mr. Van Buren's way
for the Presidency. But this difference with General Jackson
would not have destroyed his lofty position in the Democratic
party, as second to General Jackson alone, had he not taken sides
with his oppressed and suffering State, and trod with her the
rugged paths of nullification. How far General Jackson's feel-
ings of personal hostility carried him in this controversy, it is
impossible to affirm ; but no one could have pursued a course
more reckless and unconstitutional, according to those views of
the Constitution |which he had ever maintained. At a previous
session of Congress, he was so satisfied with the positions as-
sumed by General Hayne, in his speech on Foote's resolutions,
in his contest with Mr. Webster, that he had it printed on satin,
framed and hung up, as a memorial of his approbation. This
speech distinctly affirmed the doctrine of nullification, and of
secession. Yet when South Carolina acted on its principles,
and Mr. Calhoun represented them in the Senate of the United
States, General Jackson abandoned them all ; and his proclama-
tion laid down the broadest doctrines of consolidation, in order to
support the unconstitutional measures he required of Congress,
to coerce South Carolina into submission. He virtually denied
the right of secession, as well as that of nullification ; and sur-
passed Mr. Webster himself in his federalism. The pen of Mr.
Livingston was used in writing the proclamation ; but Mr. Liv-

MR.RHETT'S ORATION. 141

ingston, like General Jackson, had ever belonged to the Republi-
can party, and had, moreover, delivered a speech on Foote's res-
olutions, maintaining the rights and sovereignty of the States,
and repudiating the very doctrines he afterwards put forth in
the proclamation. The tergiversation of General Jackson and
Mr. Livingston, supported by the whole Republican party in
Washington, in the passage of the Force Bill, shows how vain
it is to rely on any principles, or any party, to arrest the policy
of the predominating majority in the Union. As the Constitu-
tion was then disregarded, to enforce the policy and wishes of a
mere majority ; and the sword substituted for the guaranties it
gave, so most probably it will be, in all future aggressions. Av-
arice will not give up its prey to right. Power will not put up
its sword at the bidding of reason. Force will be the only bond
of the Union — the sole arbiter of the limitations of the Consti-
tution.

In his great speech on the Force bill, Mr. Calhoun manifest-
ed the high and dauntless spirit which animated him. He met
General Jackson's personal hostility, he met his doctrines and
his policy, with a commanding maintenance of the right, and
a lofty defiance of power, that must be admired as long as the re-
membrance of those times shall endure. He did not remain on
the defensive, but in repelling General Jackson's imputations on
his motives and patriotism in his proclamation, turned the wea-
pons of his assailant against himself.

" The canvass, he said, in favor of Gen. Jackson's election to
the Presidency, was carried on with great zeal, in conjunction
with that active inquiry into the reserved rights of the States, on
which final reliance was placed. But little did the people of Car-
olina dream, that the man whom they were thus striving to ele-
vate to the highest seat of power, would prove so utterly false to
all their hopes. Man is indeed ignorant of the future ; nor was
there ever a stronger illustration of the observation, than is afford-
ed by the result of that election. The very event on which they
had built their hopes, has been turned against them ; and the
very individual to whom they looked as a deliverer, and whom,
under that impression, they strove for so many years to elevate
to power, is now the most powerful instrument in the hands of
his and their bitterest opponents, to put down them and their
cause.

142 MR.RHETT'S ORATION.

"Scarcely had he been elected, when it became apparent, from
the organization of his Cabinet, and other indications, that all
their hopes of relief through him were blasted. The admission
of a single individual into the Cabinet, under the circumstances
which accompanied that admission, threw all into confusion.
The mischievous influence over the President, through which
this individual was admitted into the Cabinet, soon became
apparent. Instead of turning his eyes forward to the period of
the payment of the public debt, which was then near at hand,
and to the present dangerous political crisis, which was inevi-
table, unless averted by a timely and wise system of measures,
the attention of the President was absorbed by mere party
arrangements and circumstances too disreputable to be men-
tioned here, except by the most distant allusion.

"Here I must pause for a moment, to repel a charge which
has been so often made, and which even the President has reiter-
ated in his proclamation — the charge that I have been actuated,
in the part which I have taken, by feelings of disappointed am-
bition. I again repeat that I deeply regret the necessity of no-
ticing myself in so important a discussion, and that nothing can
induce me to advert to my own course, but the conviction that it
is due to the cause, at which a blow is aimed through me. It is
only in this view that I notice it.

"It illy became the Chief Magistrate to make this charge.
The course which the State took, and which led to the present
controversy between her and the General Government, was taken
as far back as 1828 — in the very midst of that severe canvass
which placed him in power — and in that very canvass, Carolina
openly avowed and zealously maintained those very principles
which he, the Chief Magistrate, now officially pronounces to be
treason and rebellion. That was the period at which he ought
to have spoken. Having remained silent then, and having, un-
der his approval, implied by that silence, received the support and
the vote of the State. I, if a sense of decorum did not prevent it,
might recriminate, with the double charge of deception and in-
gratitude. My object, however, is not to assail the President, but
to defend myself against a most unfounded charge. The time
alone at which the course upon which this charge of disappointed
ambition is founded, will, of itself, repel it, in the eye of every un-
prejudiced and honest man. The doctrine which I now sustain,
under the present difficulties, I openly avowed and maintained,
immediately after the Act of 1828 — that " bill of abominations,"
as it has been so often and properly termed. Was I at that
period disappointed in any views of ambition which I might be
supposed to entertain? I was Yice President of the United

MR. RHETT'S ORATION. 143

States, elected by an overwhelming majority. I was a candi-
date for re-election on the ticket with General Jackson himself,
with a certain prospect of a triumphant success of that ticket,
and with a fair prospect of the highest office to which an Ameri-
can citizen can aspire. What was my course under these pros-
pects ? Did I look to my own advancement, or to an honest and
faithful discharge of my duty ? Let facts speak for themselves.
The road of ambition lay before me — I had but to follow the
corrupt tendency of the times — but I chose to tread the rugged
path of duty."

His denunciations of the Force Bill are in a mingled strain of
reasoning, invective, and defiance, worthy a great advocate of
liberty. It is justly amenable to all his denunciations ; for as an
aggression on the rights and sovereignty of the States, it stands
unparalleled. It was a sufficient cause for a speedy and violent
revolution. It was, in fact, a revolution itself; for it reversed the
whole order of the system of the Federal Government. Instead
of the States being the masters and partners of the system, it
made the General Government the master and proprietor of the
States. They are its dependents, to be controlled by force, under
the dictation of a majority in Congress, and a tyrannical Presi-
dent. There is not a word in the Constitution which justifies
the assumption that the States ever intended to concede to the
General Government the power to coerce them, by military force,
under any circumstances. Even if a State made war on a sister
State, there is no authority for the General Government to inter-
fere. The power given to Congress ' to repel invasions, and sup-
press insurrections,' and to the President, 'to see that the laws
are faithfully executed,' were not conceded by the States to enable
the General Government to coerce them, but to aid them in pre-
serving peace within their borders. But tyranny never wants
pretexts for oppression ; whilst its precedents never die, but with
its power. In view of things around us, it is well to listen to the
stern language of Mr. Calhoun against this last claim of power
on the part of the General Government, to seal consolidation by
blood :

" This bill proceeds on the ground that the entire sovereignty
of this country belongs to the American people, as forming one

144 MR.RHETTS ORATION.

great community, and regards the States as mere fractions or
counties, and not as an integral part of the Union, having no
more right to resist the encroachments of the Government than a
county has to resist the authority of a State ; and treating such
resistance as the lawless acts of so many individuals, without
possessing sovereignty, or political rights. It has been said that
the bill declares war against South Carolina. No ! It decrees
the massacre of her citizens ! War has something ennobling
about it, and, with all its horrors, brings into action the highest
qualities, intellectual and moral. It was perhaps in the order of
Providence that it should be permitted for that very purpose.
But this bill declares no war, except indeed it be that which
savages wage — a war, not against the community, but the citi-
zens of whom that community is composed. But I regard it as
worse than savage warfare — as an attempt to take away life
under the color of law, without trial by jury, or any other safe-
guard which the Constitution has thrown around the life of the
citizen ! It authorizes the President, or even his deputies, when
they may suppose the law to be violated, without the interven-
tion of a Court or jury, to kill without mercy or discrimination !
It has been said, by the Senator from Tennessee, (Mr. Grundy)
to be a measure of peace ! Yes, such peace as the wolf gives to
the lamb — the kite to the dove ! Such peace as Russia gives to
Poland, or death to its victim ! A peace, by extinguishing the
political existence of the State, by awing her into an abandon-
ment of the exercise of every power which constitutes her a sove-
reign community. It is to South Carolina a question of self pre-
servation ; and I pronounce it, that should this bill pass, and an
attempt be made to enforce it, it will be resisted at every hazard
— even that of death itself. Death is not the greatest calamity :
there are others still more terrible to the free and brave, and
among them may be placed the loss of liberty and honor. There
are thousands of her brave sons, who, if need be, are prepared
cheerfully to lay down their lives in defence of the State, and
the great principles of constitutional liberty, for which she is con-
tending. God forbid that this should become necessary ! It
never can be, unless this Government is resolved to bring the
question to extremity, when her gallant sons will stand prepared
to perform the last duty — to die nobly.

" It is said the bill ought to pass, because the law must be en-
forced. The imperial edict must be executed. It is under such
sophistry, couched in general terms, without looking to the limit-
ations which must ever exist in the practical exercise of power,
that the most cruel and despotic acts ever have been covered. It
was such sophistry as this that cast Daniel into the lion's den,

MR. RHETT'S ORATION. 145

and the three Innocents into the fiery furnace. Under the same
sophistry the bloody edicts of Nero and Caligula were executed.
The law must be enforced. Yes, the Act imposing the ' tea-tax'
must be executed. This was the very argument which impelled
Lord North and his administration in that mad career which
forever separated us from the British crown. Under a similar
sophistry, 'that religion must be protected/ how many martyrs
have been tied to the stake ! What ! acting on this vague ab-
straction, are you prepared to enforce a law, without considering
whether it be just or unjust, constitutional or unconstitutional?
Will you collect money when it is acknowledged that it is not
wanted ? He who earns the money, who digs it from the earth
with the sweat of his brow, has a just title to it, against the uni-
verse. No one has a right to touch it without his consent, except
his Government, and it only to the extent of its legitimate wants ;
to take more is robbery, and you propose, by this bill, to enforce
robbery, by murder. Yes : to this result you must come, by this
miserable sophistry, this vague abstraction, of enforcing the law,
without a regard to the fact whether the law be just or unjust,
constitutional or unconstitutional.

" In the same spirit we are told that the Union must be pre-
served, without regard to the means. And how is it proposed
to preserve the Union? By force! Does any man in his senses
believe that this beautiful structure — this harmonious aggregate
of States, produced by the joint consent of all — can be preserved
by force ? Its very introduction will be the certain destruction
of this Federal Union. No ! no ! You cannot keep the States
united in their constitutional and federal bonds by force. Force
may indeed hold the parts together, but such union would be
the bond between master and slave — a union of exaction on one
side, and of unqualified obedience on the other. That obedience
which, we are told by the Senator of Pennsylvania, is the Union !
Yes, exaction on the side of the master ; for this very bill is in-
tended to collect what can no longer be called taxes-— the volun-
tary contribution of a free people — but tribute — tribute, to be col-
lected under the mouths of the cannon ! Your Custom-House is
already transformed to a garrison, and that garrison with its bat-
teries turned, not against the enemy of your country — but on
subjects (I will not say citizens) on whom you propose to levy
contributions. Has reason fled from our borders? Have we
ceased to reflect ? It is madness to suppose that the Union can
be preserved by force. I tell you plainly, that the bill, should it
pass, cannot be enforced. It will prove only a blot upon your
statute-book — a reproach to the year, and a disgrace to the
American Senate. I repeat that it will not be executed ; it will
10

146 MR. RHETT'S ORATION.

rouse the dormant spirit of the people, and open their eyes to the
approach of despotism. The country has sunk into avarice and
political corruption, from which nothing can arouse it, but some
measure on the part of Government, of folly and madness, such
as that now under consideration."

The concluding paragraph of this speech developes so truly
the nature of the contest, and its results, that I cannot forbear
transcribing it.

u We have now sufficient experience to ascertain that the ten-
dency to conflict, in the action of the General Government, is
between the southern and other sections. The latter, having a
decided majority, must habitually be possessed of the powers of
the Government, both in this and in the other house ; and being
governed by that instinctive love of power, so natural to the
human breast, they must become the advocates of the power of
Government, and in the same degree opposed to the limitations ;
while the weaker section is as necessarily thrown on the other
side of the limitations. One section is the natural guardian of
the delegated powers, and the other of the reserved ; and the
struggle on the side of the former will be to enlarge the powers,
while that on the opposite side will be to restrain them within
their constitutional limits. The contest will, in fact, be a con-
test between power and liberty, and such I consider the present
— a contest in which the weaker section, with its peculiar labor,
productions and institutions, has at stake all that can be dear to
preserve. Should we be able to maintain, in their full vigour,
our reserved rights, liberty and prosperity will be our portion ;
but if we yield, and permit the stronger interest to concentrate
within itself all the powers of the Government, then will our fate
be more wretched than that of the aborigines whom we have
expelled. In this great struggle between the delegated and re-
served powers, so far from repining that my lot and that of those
whom I represent is cast on the side of the latter, I rejoice that
such is the fact ; for though we participate in but few of the
advantages of the Government, we are compensated, and more
than compensated, in not being so much exposed to its corrup-
tions. Nor do I repine that the duty so difficult to be discharged
as the defence of the reserved powers against, apparently, such
fearful odds, has been assigned to us. To discharge successfully
this high duty, requires the highest qualities, moral and intel-
lectual ; and should we perform it with a zeal and ability in pro-
portion to its magnitude, instead of being mere planters, our sec-
tion will become distinguished for its patriots and statesmen.
But, on the other hand, if we prove unworthy of this high

MR. RHETT'S ORATION. 147

destiny— if we yield to the steady encroachments of power, the
severest calamity and most debasing corruption will overspread
the land. Every southern man, true to the interests of his sec-
tion, and faithful to the duties which Providence has allotted to
him, will be forever excluded from the honors and emoluments
of this Government, which will be reserved for those only who
have qualified themselves by political prostitution."

Mr. Calhoun was not left to take the whole field of debate to
himself. Mr. Webster, the greatest advocate for consolidation,
since the day of Alexander Hamilton, undertook to reply to the
principles laid down in certain resolutions he had oifered in the
Senate, affirmative of the constitutional doctrines on which rest-
ed the right of State interposition. I am not, I think, governed
by any undue partiality, when I say that no unprejudiced mind
can read his reply to Mr. Webster, without yielding the palm of
victory to Mr. Calhoun. Take Mr. Webster's concessions, and
he was overthrown by their inevitable deductions. Admit that
the States were ever sovereign — and that the Constitution is a
compact, — and the right of either State interposition or secession
is inevitable. A more admirable specimen of logic in debate,
was never embalmed in the English language. Mr. Calhoun
seemed to feel that he had at least a foeman worthy of his steel j
and that the two great antagonistic principles of government,
which had agitated the Union from its foundation, were now to
grapple each other in a mortal death-struggle. He conquered.
The triumph was ours ; but where are the fruits of victory ?
Where is that constitutional liberty which the blazing sword of
his spirit won for us in this great controversy ?

The Tariff difficulty was terminated by the Tariff Act of
1833 — commonly called the Compromise Act. This Act was
introduced by Mr. Clay into the Senate of the U. States ; and
supported by him as a compromise, and a final adjustment of the
Tariff question. Its whole merit consisted in its finality. It
proposed to continue the protective policy for nine years, in order
that those engaged in manufactures should have due time to ac-
commodate their interests to the change of policy, which it would
ordain. For seven years the reductions of the duties were to be

148 MR. RHETT'S ORATION.

very inconsiderable, being only ten per cent of the excess over
20 per cent ; but in the two last years, the remaining excess was
to come down to 20 per cent ad valorem : and here, at this level
as a maximum, with a free list for the benefit of the manufactu-
rers, the Tariff was to remain forever.

A compromise with wrong doers, is always of doubtful wis-
dom ; for those who have not principles to restrain them from
the perpetration of injustice in the first instance, will seldom be
withheld from renewing it by any mere considerations of good
faith. Such men are far more apt to practice hypocrisy for the
purpose of disarming opposition, than to carry out, with fidelity,
engagements which must overthrow their policy. Mr. Calhoun
(as, at the time, the whole world, but the few in his secrets,) be-
lieved Mr. Clay, when he asserted, in the Senate, that the Act of
? 33 was & final settlement of the Tariff, and a final abandonment
of the protective policy. It appears now, by his late confessions
in the Senate, that he himself, in concert with the manufactu-
rers, in proposing and passing this Act, meditated and practised
a gigantic fraud upon the Senate and the country. Neither he
nor they ever intended that the protective policy should be aban-
doned. They never intended that the Act should be in opera-
tion longer than the seven years, during which it gave ample
protection to the manufacturers. They intended that before the
last reductions should take place, by which the South was to be
benefited, the Act was to be overthrown, and the protective policy
renewed. When, however, by propositions in Congress, in con-
sequence of the overflowing revenue which this Tariff produced,
there was danger that the reductions of the first years should be
hastened, Mr. Clay did not scruple to make appeals, on the floor
of the Senate, to the Senators from South Carolina and the South,
to maintain the solemn faith of this compromise. They did
maintain it ; and Mr. Calhoun, in his speech on the Tariff of
1842, alluding to Mr. Clay's pledges on these occasions, says :
" That the Act of 1842 would entirely supersede the Compro-
ise Act, and violate pledges openly given here in this Chamber,
by its distinguished author, and the present Governor of Mas-

MR. RHETT'S ORATION. 149

sachusetts, (Mr. Davis,) then a member of this body, that if we
of the South would adhere to the compromise, while it ivas oper-
ating favorably to the manufacturing interest, they would stand
by it when it came to operate favorably to us"

But these public pledges did not alter the secret arrangements
entered into with the manufacturers ; and true to his secret, but
false to his public pledges, Mr. Clay afterwards importuned Pres-
ident Van Buren to overthrow the compromise, by recommending
increased duties. Failing in this, in 1842, he offered resolutions
in the Senate, just before he resigned his seat, entirely at variance
with its provisions. Mr. Calhoun was ignorant of the premed-
itated treachery ; but could not fail to see the open manifestation
of it, in these resolutions, although they professed to respect the
compromise. In his speech exposing them, he said, " That
while they profess to respect the Compromise Act, they violate it
in almost every essential particular but one, the ad valorem prin-
ciple ; and even that, I fear, it is intended to set aside by the jug-
gle of home valuation." He was not aware that this Act, from
its inception, was a game of juggling, and nothing else, on the
part of the manufacturers, and their great leader ; and that their
faith, like their policy, was only that of robbers. Of course, in
1842, so soon as they had the power, they carried out their secret
purposes, and consummated their fraud by the entire overthrow
of the Tariff Act of 1833. The Tariff of '42 was modified by
the Tariff of '46, although identical in principle ; but from the
indications at our last session of Congress, the protective policy
is again to be renewed in all its oppressive features, as the ir-
revocable policy of the master section of the Union.

I come now, gentlemen, to that last great subject on which
Mr. Calhoun rendered his last services to us and to the Union —
the subject of slavery. His prophetic warnings and earnest en-
deavors to awake the public mind of the country, to the dangers
which environed this question, must afford matter for profound
contemplation, and the deepest admiration, to the future historian
who shall record our times. He probably will narrate, that when
Mr. Calhoun died the Union lost its last and best counsellor

4WcA ^WlxfiwJ

150 MR. RHETT'S ORATION.

and friend ; and that when his great conservative spirit no longer
stood in the councils of the country, to arrest the rising tide of
consolidation, it rose unchecked, and bursting over the barriers of
the Constitution, buried the Union beneath its foul and turbid
waters.

The subject of slavery is difficult of comprehension to those
only who study it in the light of abstract principles ; and unfor-
tunately these comprise the greater part of its enquirers. It is
very largely a question of facts, which must necessarily qualify
and alter all abstract reasoning concerning it. The very leaves
of the forest, and the sands on the sea shore, vary in size and
form. The whole animal creation, from the insect which crawls,
to man, the lord of all, teems with variety. Nothing is equal —
nothing is alike ; whilst the broad marks of distinction and ine-
quality are stamped on every species of every kind of animal or
human existence. Yet the abolitionists, on the subject of slave-
ry, insist upon it that all men, and races of men, are equal in
their moral and intellectual endowments. If the hypotheses are
true on which they rest their deductions, there will be no dispu-
tation as to their conclusions. Are all men equal ? If so, then
all ought to be, and, from the nature of things, will be, equally
free. Are the races of men equal in intellectual and moral attri-
butes '? If they are, they ought to enjoy, and must enjoy, equal
privileges in society, and equal political rights. But what says
Nature to these enquiries, answering from her analogies, through-
out all creation, animate and inanimate ? It has pleased the
Almighty Creator of the universe, to make men unequal — un-
equal in intellect, in character and circumstances. As all men
differ in external form and features, so do they diner in their in-
ternal, mental and moral characteristics. What is the result ?
Why, that the strong must rule, the weak serve. Would the
weak be happier by ruling, instead of serving ; or would the
strong be happier by serving, instead of ruling ? If it were pos-
sible to force into existence such an unnatural condition of things,
it is plain that nothing bu t confusio n_and misery would be the
result. Men j instead of occupying the spheres of duty and use-

MR. RHETT'S ORATION. 151

fulness, to which they are best adapted, would be placed in those
for which they are least qualified. By the natural order of
things, in every age, and under all forms of government, there
have been the poor — and there have been those who serve. Is it
wrong that any should be poor, or that any should serve '? Then
blame the Creator, who has thus ordained things from the begin-
ning, by making men, and the races of men, unequal ; not man,
who did not make, and cannot unmake, his nature. Where there
is but one race in a community, there may be political equality
in rights — but this cannot give equality in mind, character and
condition. Servitude still prevails in one form or another, from
a necessity as stern as the laws. But, where the races are differ-
ent — and one race is inferior to the other — the inferior race must
be exterminated, or fall into such a state of subjection as to pre-
sent motives for their preservation to the stronger race. The
Anglo-Saxon race, at least, will not amalgamate with others ;
and when any of the inferior races have been placed in a condi-
tion of competition and equality with them, annihilation has al-
ways been their doom, or they have left the country to the infe-
rior race. Of all the races of men, the negro race is the most in-
ferior. From tbe earliest records of history, they have been
slaves to the other races, and have never risen, by their own un- ;
aided energies, from a condition of barbarism to any degree of
enlightened civilization. In the condition of slavery alone have
they ever been of any use to the world : and where the govern-
ance and protection this condition produces have been with-
drawn, they have relapsed into indolence, ignorance and barbar-
irm. This is the experience of the world. The hoarded facts
of centuries are before us, to enlighten us on the subject of Afri-
can slavery. All facts are despised ; and fanaticism, with furi-
ous and mad abstractions, cries out for emancipation. Mr. Cal-
houn was not slow in perceiving the true bearings of the insti-
tution of African slavery in the Southern States. He was the
first, I believe, of great Statesmen in the country, who denounced
the cant — that slavery is an evil— ^a curse.

"I take higher ground," he exclaimed, "I hold that, in the pre-

152 MR.RHETT'S ORATION.

sent state of civilization, where two races of different origin, and
distinguished by colour, and other physical differences, as well
as intellectual, are brought together, the relation now existing in
the slaveholding States, between the two races, is, instead of an
evil, a good — a positive good I feel myself called on to speak
freely upon this subject, where the honour and interests of those
I represent are involved. I appeal to facts. Never, before, has
the black race of Central Africa, from the dawn of history to
the present day, attained a condition so civilized and so im-
proved, not only physically, but morally and intellectually. It
came amongst us in a low, degraded and savage condition, and,
in the course of a few generations, it has grown up, under the fos-
tering care of our institutions, reviled as they have been, to its
present comparatively civilized condition. This, with the rapid
increase of numbers, is conclusive proof of the general happi-
ness of the race, in spite of all exaggerated tales to the contrary.
In the mean time, the white or European Race has not degene-
rated. It has kept pace with its brethren in other sections of the
Union where slavery does not exist. It is odious to make
comparisons ; but I appeal to all sides, whether the South is not
equal in virtue, intelligence and patriotism, courage, disinterested-
ness, and all the high qualities which adorn our nature. I ask
whether we have not contributed our full share of talents and
political wisdom, in forming and sustaining this political fabric ;
and whether we have not constantly inclined strongly to the side
of liberty, and been the first to see, and the first to resist, the en-
croachments of power."

" The first in Congress to see, and the first to resist the en-
croachments of power," on this momentous subject, was, un-
doubtedly, our great Statesman. Go back with me, gentlemen,
fourteen years, and behold Mr. Calhoun standing in the Senate
of the United States. He is opposing the reception of abolition
petitions. Mark how his prophetic vision, looking before and
after, takes in the whole scope of the past, the present, and the
future, on this momentous question.

" Several years since, in a discussion with one of the Senators
from Massachusetts, (Mr. Webster,) before this fell spirit had
shewed itself, I then predicted that the doctrine of the Procla-
mation and the Force Bill — that this Government had a right, in
the last resort, to determine the extent of its own powers, and
enforce it at the point of the bayonet, which was so warmly
maintained by that Senator — would, at no distant day, arouse
the dormant spirit of abolitionism ; I told him that the doctrine

w^l

MR. RHETT'S ORATION. 153

was tantamount to the assumption of unlimited power, on the
part of the Government, and that such would be the impression
on the public mind in a large portion of the Union. The con-
sequence would be inevitable — a large portion of the Northern
States believed slavery to be a sin. and would believe it to be an
obligation of conscience to abolish it, if they should 'feel them-
selves in any degree responsible for its continuance, and that his
doctrine would, necessarily, lead to the belief of such responsi-
bility. I then predicted that it would commence, as it has, with
this fanatical portion of society ; and that they would begin
their operations on the weak, the ignorant, the young, and the
thoughtless, and would gradually extend upwards, till they be-
came strong enough to obtain political control, when he, and
others holding the highest stations in society, would, however
reluctant, be compelled to yield to their doctrine, or be driven
into obscurity. But four years have since elapsed, and all this
is already in a course of regular fulfilment.

" Standing at the point of time at which we have now arrived,
it will not be more difficult to trace the course of future events
than it was then.

" Those who imagine that the spirit now abroad in the North
will die away of itself, without a shock or convulsion, have
formed a very inadequate conception of its leal character. It
will continue to rise and spread, unless prompt and efficient
measures to stay its progress be adopted. Already it has taken
possession of the pulpit, of the schools, and, to a considerable
extent, of the press ; those great instruments by which- the- mind
of the rising generation will be formed. However sound the
great body of the non-slaveholding States are at present, in a
few years they will be succeeded by those who will have been
taught to hate the people and institutions of nearly one-half of
this Union, with a hatred more deadly than one hostile nation
ever entertained towards another. It is easy to see the end. ]3y
the necessary course of events, if left to themselves, we must
become, finally, two people. It is impossible, under the deadly
Hatred wliieirmusT spring up between the two great sections, if
the present causes are permitted to operate unchecked, that we
should continue under the same political system. The conflict-
ing elements will burst the Union asunder, as powerful as are
the links which hold it together. Abolition and the Union can-
not co-exist. As the friend of the Union, I openly proclaim it ;
and the sooner it is known the better. The former may now be
controlled, but in a short time it will be beyond the power of
men to arrest the course of events. * We

love and cherish the Union, we remember with the kindest feel-

154 MR. RHETT'S ORATION.

ings our common origin, with pride our common achievements —
and fondly anticipate the common greatness and glory that seem
to await us ; but origin, achievements and anticipations of com-
ing greatness are to us as nothing compared to this question. It
is to us a vital question. It involves not only our liberty, but
what is greater, (if, to freemen, any thing can be) existence
itself. The relation which now exists between the two races in
the slaveholding States, has existed tor two centuries. It has
grown with our growth, and strengthened with our strength. It
has entered into and modified all our institutions, civil and
political. None other can be substituted. We will not — cannot
permit it to be destroyed. If we were base enough to do so, we
would be traitors to our section, to ourselves, our families, and to
posterity. It is our anxious desire to protect and preserve this
relation, by the joint action of this Government, and the con-
federated States of the Union ; but if, instead of closing the
door, — if, instead of denying all jurisdiction and all interference
in this question — the doors of Congress are to be thrown open ;
and if we are to be exposed here, in the heart of the Union, to
an endless attack on our rights, our character and institutions —
if the other States are to stand and look on without attempting
to suppress these attacks originating within their borders ; and,
finally, if this is to be our fixed and permanent condition as
members of this confederacy, we will then be compelled to turn
our eyes on ourselves. Come what will, should it cost every
drop of blood, and every cent of property, we must defend our-
selves ; and if compelled, we would stand justified by all laws,
I „ human and divine. * * * * * ****
" If we do not defend ourselves, none will defend us ; if we
yield, we will be more and more pressed as we recede ; and if
I we submit, we will be trampled under foot. Be assured that
I emancipation itself would not satisfy these fanatics. That
I gained, the next step would be, to raise the negroes to a social
*"" and political equality with the whites ; and that being effected,
we would soon find the present condition of the two races
reversed. They, and their Northern allies, would be the mas-
\ ters, and we the slaves. * * * * * * *

^- " There is but one way to defend ourselves. We must meet
the enemy on the frontier — on the question of receiving ; we
must secure that important pass — it is our Thermopylae. The
power of resistance, by an universal law of our nature, is on the
exterior. Break through the shell — penetrate the crust, and
there is no resistance within. In the present contest, the ques-
tion of receiving constitutes our frontier. It is the first, the exte-
rior question ; that covers and protects all the others. Let it be

MR. RHETT'S ORATION. 155

penetrated by receiving this petition, and not a point of resis-
tance can be found within, as far as this Government is con-
cerned. If we cannot maintain ourselves there, we cannot on
any interior position. Of all the questions that can be raised,
there is not one on which we can rally on ground more tenable
for ourselves, or more untenable for our opponents, not excepting
the ultimate question of abolition in the States. For our right
to reject this petition, is as clear and unquestionable, as that
Congress has no right to abolish slavery in the States."

Gentlemen, fourteen years have passed since the Free-States,
by the presentation of abolition petitions, first evinced their in-
tention to interfere with the institution of slavery in the South.
Fourteen years have now shed their light on the predictions,
warnings, and policy of Mr. Calhoun. His predictions have
been fulfilled, his warnings realized, and his course sustained.
It may be a question of doubt whether, after the triumph of
consolidation in the Tariff Act of 1828, and the Force-Bill,
the Union could possibly have been preserved, or was, indeed,
worth preserving, with its warped and vicious tendencies ; for
interference with the subject of slavery inevitably followed.
But if the Union could have been preserved, there was one, and
but one way of saving it — by shutting out the subject of slavery
from the halls of Congress. The 21st. Rule excluded abolition
petitions from the consideration of Congress. It was the only s
expedient by which the South could be protected from incendia-
ry agitations. And upon its preservation depended Southern
freedom and equality, and the continuance of the Union. It
was, as Mr. Calhoun said, our frontier — the Thermopylae of
the South. And the determination of the North to overleap its
barriers, was only proof of the necessity of its continuance, and
of the rising and presumptuous spirit of abolition. This deter-
mination should have been met by a determination equally
strong on the part of the South, to dissolve the Union the
instant of its abrogation. If, at this early stage of the con-
troversy, five States, nay two States, of the South, had instructed
their Representatives to withdraw from Congress immediately
on such an exigency, the Rule would have remained to this day ;
or if repealed, and the Union in consequence had been dissolved)

156 MR.RHETT'S ORATION.

the result would have been, new guaranties under a re-Union,
which would have assured to the South permanent equality and
respect. But after the 21st Rule was repealed in the House of
Representatives, and the South had tamely submitted, "it was
beyond the power of man to arrest the course of events." The
only alternatives left to the South were, an abolition government,
or a dissolution of the Union. Things have not since changed.
The same alternatives now remain before us. They have only
gone on to their maturer developement.

The emancipation of the slaves in the British West India
Islands gave a powerful stimulus to anti-slavery fanaticism in
the Free States of the Union. England, in this, followed France.
She had set the example, when in the drunken and bloody
saturnalia of her first Revolution, she liberated the slaves of St.
Domingo. And what were the results of that first liberation of
the African slave ? What encouragement to pursue this policy
was afforded by that experiment to other nations 1 Under negro
dominion, the exports of the Island fell, in forty years, from
20,000,000, annually, to 2,000,000. The culture of sugar was
abandoned ; and the chief source of commerce remaining, was
the coffee gathered from the spontaneous production of the
ground, in places where old plantations formerly stood. Igno-
rance and superstition, and a barbarism truly African, settled
over the Queen Island of the Antilles. England saw the result,
and yet despite experience, borne away by fanaticism, incredu-
lous of the real character of the negro, determined to make her-
self the experiment of negro emancipation. The dogma, that
free-labour is more profitable than slave-labour — because a man
will work more for himself than for another — is true of the Anglo
Saxon race. The British statesmen supposed it would be true
of the negro also. They anticipated increased production from
the West India Islands, and, consequently, cheaper supplies to
British subjects and to the world, of all the tropical productions.
These, in all ages, have been the chief resource and instruments
of commerce ; because most contributing to the necessities and
comforts of man.

MR.RHETT'S ORATION. 157

In the midst of the experiment, three vessels, with slaves on
board, were driven, by stress of weather, at different times, from
the coast of the United States into British West India Ports.
The slaves were taken forcibly out of the vessels, and were eman-
cipated. The Government of the United States required com-
pensation for the negroes thus liberated. In the case of two of
the vessels, the demand was granted, because the apprentice
system, preparatory to entire emancipation in the British West
India Islands, had not terminated. But it was refused in the
case of the third — the Enterprise — because, at the time she enter-
ed the British port, slavery had been abolished by law. In this
decision of the British Government, the administration of Mr.
Yan Buren acquiesced. But Mr. Calhoun was not satisfied.
He saw that acquiesence had the effect of throwing the institu-
tion of slavery without the pale of the laws of nations. All
other property was deemed inviolable, was sacredly protected
from interference, when driven by the act of God into a friendly
port. And if slaves were to be excepted, they were excepted
only because, by the laws of nations, they are not property.
He, therefore, moved Resolutions in the Senate, asserting the
true doctrine on this point, and maintained them by a most able
speech. The speech was unanswered ; the resolutions passed
the Senate ; and in the negotiations of the Treaty of Washing-
ton, assurances were given by the British negotiator, that out-
rages of this kind should never be repeated. They have never
been repeated.

A few years passed by, and in the British West India Islands
the practical effects of emancipation became visible. They, too,
took the downward course of St. Domingo ; and instead of in-
creased supplies of the tropical productions by African free labor,
a rapid decline in all productions whatsoever, characterize the
daily retrogression of the negro, to his condition in his native
jungle. Great Britain awakes from her dream of independence.
As her West Indies decline in exports, she sees herself more and
more dependent on Brazil, Cuba and the United States for their
slave-grown produce. What course shall she pursue to retrieve

/ph

158 MR.RHETT'S ORATION.

her folly? Controlling in any way the tropical productions, she
would achieve her own independence and control the commerce
of the world. And how can this be done ? Abolish slavery in
Brazil, Cuba and the United States — let negro indolence and
barbarism prevail over these regions, as in Hayti and her own
West Indies; and the East Indies, under her direction, would
become the only source of supplying the world with the produce
of the tropics. This is the only clue (giving the politicians of
England credit for statesmanship) to their policy in striving to ex-
tend emancipation over Texas, and to keep her out of the Union.
There is no statesmanship in fanaticism. Fanaticism is feebler

I reason, mastered by a stronger imagination or passion. Its mists,
if any had obscured the vision of British statesmen, must have
been dispelled when they repealed the duties in favor of their
West India colonies, and against slave-grown productions.

Mr. Calhoun saw through this policy : Texas became neces-
sary to the safety of the South — as necessary then, as California
and New Mexico are now — to prevent the circumscribing and
hemming-in of the South, by free States, hostile to her institu-
tions. With a view to the protection of the South on this great
subject, he left his retirement, and accepted the appointment of
Secretary of State, tendered him by President Tyler, and unani-
mously confirmed by the Senate, without a reference. He made
a treaty, admitting Texas into the Union. It failed in the Sen-
ate ; but the discussion awakened at the rejection of the treaty,
had entered into the popular mind ; and to enlighten it still fur-
ther, Mr. Calhoun wrote that admirable dispatch to Mr. King,
our Minister to Prance. Here he exposed the designs of Eng-
land, exhibiting the true bearing of the annexation of Texas
upon other nations. To this dispatch, perhaps, more than to
any other cause, we may attribute the final success of the meas-
ure. It lifted the question above mere sectional considerations,
and gave it an aspect entirely new. Shall we be dependent on
England, or England on us ? shall England or shall the United
States control the commerce of the world? Such views operated
powerfully all over the country, but especially in the South, whose

MR.RHETT'S ORATION. 159

ruin was essential to the success of the British scheme. At the
next Congress, the measure of annexing Texas was again brought
forward, and was carried. In gaining this great victory for the
South, many able men co-operated. It may not be just to them
to say, as was alleged in the Senate Chamber, that Mr. Calhoun
was the author of this annexation : it is, however, safe to affirm,
that, but for Mr. Calhoun, Texas would never have been a part
of the Union.

This measure being happily concluded, it was thought by
many that the institution of slavery was secure from the inter-
vention of northern fanatics at home, or of foreign nations abroad.
It proved, however, to be but another step in the progress of things,
making up for the South the grand alternative of Abolition or Dis-
union.

Out of the annexation of Texas sprung the Mexican War.
Mr. Calhoun perceived that a war with Mexico would jeopard
all advantages the South had just won by the acquisition of
Texas. At its very commencement, the North declared their
intention to appropriate all territory that might be acquired from
Mexico, by either conquest or treaty. Those who believed that
the General Government was irreformable — that nothing could
arrest its downward progress to consolidation — that it was irre-
trievably gone under the dominion of the Free States, and that
the South would have sooner or later to seek safety from the
dangers and oppressions it would spread over them, in a disso-
lution of the Union, were not at all alarmed at such declarations.
Their fulfilment would only force on that issue between the free
and slave States which must come, and which every considera-
tion of policy on the part of the slave States required should be
speedily determined. But Mr. Calhoun had no sympathy with
views like these. He loved the Union for itself. He loved it,
because it had been the object of his great and patriotic labors —
the theatre of all his achievements. The South he loved more :
"There he had garnered up his heart, where either he must live
or bear no life." And the dread alternative of choosing between
them, he could not contemplate without grief and alarm. To

160 MR. RHETT'S ORATION.

save both, he opposed the Mexican War. He opposed it in its in-
ception, as unnecessary — in its continuance, as boding only evil.
"Every Senator knows," said he, in one of his speeches during
the war, " that I was opposed to the war ; but none knows but
myself the depth of that opposition. With my conceptions of its
character and consequences^ it was impossible for me to vote for
it. When, accordingly, I was deserted by every friend on this
side the House, including my then honorable colleague among
the rest, (Mr. McDuffie.) I was not shaken in the least degree
in reference to my course. On the passage of the Act recogniz-
ing the war, I said, to many of my friends, that a deed had been
done from which the country would not be able to recover for a
long time, if ever;" and added, "it has dropped a curtain between
the present and the future, which to me is impenetrable ; and for
the first time in my life, I am unable to see the future." He also
added, " that it has closed the first volume of our political his-
tory under the Constitution, and opened the second; and that no
mortal could tell what would be written in it."

How majestic his solitary position in the Senate on this occa-
sion ! How sad his prophetic forebodings ! The curtain is lift-
ing, and the hideous features of triumphant Abolition are scowl-
ing behind it. The new volume of our political history is opened,
and Revolution is written on its pages ; revolution, by consolida-
tion — or revolution, by disunion. His speech on the Three Mill-
ion Bill showed from whence the darkness rose which obscured
his mental vision.

"But there is," he said, "a still deeper, a still more terrific diffi-
culty to be met — a difficulty more vital than those to which I
have alluded — a difficulty arising out of a division of sentiment,
which went to the very foundation of our Government. How
should these lands be disposed of, if any were acquired? To
whose benefit should they accrue? Should they accrue to the
exclusive benefit of one portion of the Union ? We were told,
and he was fearful that appearances too well justified the asser-
tion, that all parties in the non-slaveholding portion of the Union
insisted that they should have the exclusive control of this ac-
quired territory — that such provision should be made as should
exclude those who were interested in the institutions of the South
from a participation in the advantages to be derived from the
application of those institutions to the territory thus acquired.

"Sir, if the non-slaveholding States, having no other interest
in the question excepting their aversion to slavery— if they can

MR. RHETT'S ORATION. 161

come to this conclusion, with no interest in the matter but this, I
turn and ask gentlemen what must be the feeling of the popula-
tion of the slaveholding States, who are to be deprived of their
constitutional rights, and despoiled of the property belonging to
them — assailed in the most vulnerable point (for to them this
question was a question of safety, of self-preservation, and not a
mere question of policy) : and thus to be despoiled by those who
were not concerned ? If there were sternness and determination
on one side, they might be assured there would be on the other."

But not content with expressing his opinions on the Three
Million Bill, Mr. Calhoun afterwards offered a series of resolu-
tions on this " still more terrific difficulty," affirming the equal
constitutional rights of the States to any territory which may be
acquired by the war. These resolutions he supported by a
speech, which concluded in the following strain :

" I see my way in the Constitution. I cannot in any compro-
mise. A compromise is but an act of Congress. It may be over-
ruled at any time. It gives us no security. But the Constitution
is stable. It is a rock. On it we can stand. It is a firm and
stable ground, on which we can better stand in opposition to
fanaticism than on the shifting sands of compromise. Let us be
done with compromises. Let us go back and stand upon the
Constitution !

"Well, sir, what if the decision of this body shall deny us this
high constitutional right, not the less clear because deduced from
the whole body of the instrument, and the nature of the subject
to which it relates ? What, then, is the question 1 I will not
undertake to decide. It is a question for our constituents — the
slaveholding States — a solemn and a great question. If the de-
cision should be adverse, I trust and do believe that they will
take under solemn consideration what they ought to do. I give
no advice. It would be hazardous and dangerous for me to do
so. But I may speak as an individual member of that section
of the Union. There I drew my first breath. There are all my
hopes. There are my family and connections. I am a planter
— a cotton planter. I am a southern man, and a slaveholder — a
kind and merciful one, I trust — and none the worse for being a
slaveholder. I say, for one, I would rather meet any extremity
on earthy than give up one inch of our equality — one inch of
what belongs to us, as members of this great Republic. What !
acknowledge inferiority? The surrender of life is nothing to
sinking down into acknowledged inferiority.

" I have examined this subject largely — widely. I think I see
the future, if we do not stand up as we ought. In my humble
11

162 MR. RHETT'S ORATION.

opinion in that case, the condition of Ireland is prosperous and
happy — the condition of Hindostan is prosperous and happy —
the condition of Jamaica is prosperous and happy, to what the
southern States will be, if they should not now stand up man-
fully in defence of their rights."

The war continued ; and the year after, was closed. The
" terrific difficulty" came. We acquired an immense extent of
territory from Mexico, and the free States manifested the deter-
mination of excluding the slave States, and of taking the whole
of it for themselves. A caucus of the southern representatives
in Congress assembled in the Senate Chamber. The result of
their counsels was, an Address to the people of the southern
States, written by Mr. Calhoun, and signed by a large portion
of the southern representatives. It contained nothing but a sim-
ple statement of facts — the more powerful, from its very simpli-
city. At that session all efforts at compromise were defeated by
the free States, in combination with a few southern representa-
tives. It was clear that the free States would be content with
nothing short of the total exclusion of the southern States from
all our territories. Mr. Calhoun's health, long feeble, now gave
manifest signs of a sure decline. He fainted three times during
the session, in the lobby of the Senate — worn out by anxiety and
working — but working on still. On one of these occasions I
heard that he had fallen, and had been borne into the Yice
President's room. I hastened to him, and found him sitting on
a sofa by the fireside, with his coat and waistcoat off. It was a
cold, bitter day. As I approached him, he said, extending his
hand — " Ah ! Mr. Rhett, my career is nearly done. The great
battle must be fought by you younger men." "I hope not. sir,"
was my reply — " for never was your life more precious, or your
counsels more needed for the guidance and salvation of the
South." He answered — "there, indeed, is my only regret at
going — the South — the poor South !" and his eyes filled with
tears, I entreated him to put on his clothes. " I cannot," he
said — "I am burning up — wait until I am cool." He was burn-
ing up — burning up by the internal fire of his own intense spirit,
fed by ever restless anxieties for the Union, and his own, his be-
loved South. At the earnest remonstrances of friends, he kept

MR. RHETT'S ORATION. 163

out of the Senate Chamber, and his health seemed to improve
towards the close of this session ; but few expected to see him
again in Washington. They did not know the man — how self-
abandoned was his sense of duty — how insignificant was health
or life, where the safety or honor of the South or his native State
was concerned. He believed — and believed truly, that the next
session of Congress would settle — and settle forever, for good or
evil, the destiny of the Union and the South.

To have strength enough to reach Washington at the opening
of Congress, and to be there — was a necessary sequence in the
nature of things. But he was soon driven to his chamber, by
the stern hand of approaching death. With his mind and heart
labouring and full with the portentous issues before the country,
he wrote in his sick chamber that last effort of his great mind —
his last speech — that master-piece of lucid logic, calm wisdom
and noble patriotism, which we — we, his countrymen, for whom
he lived and died, "will not willingly let die." Tablets of brass
or marble, on which it may be recorded, may fail ; but it shall
not fail in its effects. It shall live forever, in the redeemed
honour and liberties of the South. It was the last flash of the
sun, to show the ship of State her only port of safety, as darkness
and the howling tempest closed around her. He died — for his
work was done. If the South would not heed his warnings and
counsels, why should he live ? But if she regarded them — and
would more regard them, when uttered by his dying lips — why
should he not die? His work was done. Yet he wished for
one more hour in the Senate Chamber, ere he departed. What
longed he to utter there ? Had his mighty spirit devised some
new way to save the Union, consistent with the liberties of the
South ? Or did he wish to utter there that word which all his
lifetime he could not speak, although wrong and oppression tor-
tured him — that word, which dying despair could alone wring
from his aching heart — disunion ! ! The secret counsels of that
longed-for hour, he was not permitted to disclose, and they lie
buried with him in his grave ; but he had said enough for duty
. — enough for liberty and honour — enough for our salvation. If
we will not heed his warnings, and follow the counsels he has

164 MR.RHETT'S ORATION.

left us, neither would we be persuaded, though he arose from
the dead.

Gentlemen : — The character of Mr. Calhoun has been drawn
by a hundred pens, which, although differing in their colouring,
agree in the grand features which composed it. As a States-
man, he will be estimated in our day according to party affinities.
He stood too often above the two great parties of the country,
not to be hated by the party bigots of both ; but the time will
come, perhaps is near at hand, when the passions and prejudices
which party awakens, will be allayed — when events will have
tested the wisdom of his counsels, and the correctness of his
principles, — and history, with her iron pen, will engrave on her
imperishable tablets, the true character of his statesmanship.
She will, probably, record that, as a practical Statesman, his
great defect was, that he pursued principles too exclusively.
Principles are unerring ; but in their practice and application in
the affairs of Government, we have to deal with erring man.
Hence, the necessity often of qualification. Hence, too, the ne-
cessity, in public life, of address on the part of a great political
leader to obtain success in the controul and governance of men —
kindness towards their dissent — patience with their errors — and
a boundless charity. Mr. Calhoun sunk himself too much,
and put his principles too high, in his personal relations. If this
feature of his character made him, apparently, too easily part
with friends, it made him, also, the most placable of foes. No
matter what had been his former personal relations, he could co-
operate with any one in pursuing any policy he thought the in-
terest of the country required. The politics of some men are
made by their associations and friendships — the politics of others
are controlled by their enmities. Mr. Calhoun was above all
personal influences. The good of his country, according to
those great principles he had wrought out, appeared to govern
his whole political course. This peculiarity made him a great
Statesman ; but he was not a great party-leader. He understood
principles — he understood how they should be enforced — but he
did not understand how best to controul and use, for their en-
forcement, that compound of truth and error — reason and preju-
dice — passion and weakness — man. To this cause, perhaps,

MR. RHETT'S ORATION. 165

more than to any other, it may be attributed that, although the
head of his party in creating and elaborating its principles, he
never obtained the highest office it could bestow. If he sought
this highest office — he sought it and would have accepted it,
only for the purpose of enforcing his principles. Conscious of
his pure intents and mighty powers, he believed that if he had
the controul of the administration of the Government, he could
keep it within the prescribed limits of the Constitution, and save
and perpetuate the Union. But could he, could any man,
however great, popular, and just, have arrested the onward
march of consolidation, under the unscrupulous ambition, fana-
ticism, and avarice of the Free States ? Aristotle, Locke, Syd-
ney, Russell, Hume, were theoretical Statesmen. Pericles,
Walpole, Chatham, Fox, Peel, were practical Statesmen. Burke
was both a theoretical and a practical Statesman — and the great-
est in the combination of all the qualifications of states-
manship England has ever produced. But, unfortunately, he
lived at a time, and amidst circumstances, which induced him
to lean on the side of order, privilege and government, rather
than that of liberty. Mr. Calhoun, although his inferior in cul-
tivation and in the gorgeous splendour of his imagination — was
not his inferior in naked reasoning, deep analysis, and a profound
knowledge of the principles of free Government. The one had
the British Constitution, with all its anomilies and abuses, to de-
fend — the other, the Constitution of the United States, in its
federative and free principles, (the most wonderful political pro-
duction of the world) to elucidate and enforce. Burke exhibited
a more beautiful efflorescence — but Calhoun the soundest fruit.
In theoretic statesmanship, Aristotle, from amongst the ancients,
will, probably, alone stand beside him ; but as a practical states-
man, many, both in ancient and modern times, may rank above
him ; because he failed in enforcing his policy. But he did not
look to his personal success, nor to the practical enforcement of
his policy, as the measure of his fame. He looked to future
ages ; and trusting to the improvement of men in civilization,
and the extension of free Governments, he anticipated the happy
period, when the liberties of the world, in a thousand Republics,
would rest on the mighty foundations his genius had wrought

166 MR. RHETT'S ORATION.

out and laid down for their erection and eternal duration. Turn-
ing to the immortality before us in our after life, the remem-
brance of us by the world we must soon leave, may be of very
little moment. This is the voice of reason. And yet, there is a
yearning for a name amongst future generations — there is a
thirst to live with them, by the blessings we may impart, which
has nerved the noblest minds to the noblest efforts and sacrifices.
It was from this yearning on earth after a glorious immortality,
that the ancient philosopher inferred the soul's immortality in an
after life. Mr. Calhoun, doubtless, believed the great principles
of free government he originated and advocated, to be as eternal
as truth itself, and as lasting as man ; and was he not animated,
too, with the inspiring hope, that his name would live with them
in all after ages ? Thousands of generous spirits, since the en-
trance of civilized man on this continent, have lived and died
with the hope of a prolonged fame amongst future generations ;
but I can discover but two men who will probably obtain this
fame — Washington and Calhoun — the former, as the founder
of a great Republic — the latter, as the discoverer of the true
principles of free government. The political knaves and charla-
tans of our day, who have overturned the Constitution of the
United States, with all its beautiful proportions, and wonderful
contrivances for the perpetuation of liberty, will only be remem-
bered, if remembered at all, amongst the vulgar herd who have
cursed their generation by their faithless fanaticism, avarice or
ambition.

Mr. Calhoun's mind, in its characteristics, was as striking
as it was great. It stood forth like the Egyptian Pyramids —
vast, simple, and grand. It was essentially Southern, with none
of that affectation, pretension and glitter about it, which deforms
the literature and oratory of the Northern people. Meritricious
ornament was as unsuitable to it as verdure on the top of the
highest Andes. No flowers grew on the banks of the mighty
river of his thoughts, as it broke its way through mountains,
and left rocks and gigantic cliffs beetling over it. Yet there is
an earnestness and elevation in his language, which bears the
mind on, as if on a swift, deep current. His close, compact and
impregnable logic, moved with the precision and measured tread
of a Spartan phalanx, gtone upon stone, he reared the pilejDf^

MR.RHETT'S ORATION. 167

his fair argument, until at length it stood a lofty temple, with its
steeples and domes looking up to heaven, and bathed in the
light of "eternal truth. If he failed to convince, (for conviction
is not always uie result of reason) he never failed to elicit admi-
ration or wonder at the expositions of his intellect. In debate,
he was collected and deliberate, but when warmed in argument,
he looked the embodiment of fiery thought. In conversation, he
failed — that is, he failed for such a mind — because his conversa-
tion was reasoning. Conversation in society is not sought for
the purpose of business or instruction ; still less, for the exercise
of logical reasoning. It is rather sought, to play with, or to
banish thought, than to excite it. Amusement — intellectual
amusement — the amusement which wit imparts, or the affections
excite, are the great objects of conversation. Mr. Calhoun,
although always cheerful, had but little wit, and still less of that
acerbity or malignity of temper, which gives wit its sharpest
edge and deepest interest in exposing the folly or weaknesses of
others. He discoursed, rather than conversed ; and so rapid and
forcible were his thoughts, that his hearers listened and admired
rather than replied, for comprehension was often at fault. Young
men, especially, delighted to look down into his intellect, as if
hanging over the deep clear lakes of Florida, where the smallest
pebbles and shells are seen at the greatest depths.

But the crowning glory of Mr. Calhoun's character was in his
private life. He said himself, on one occasion to a friend — " I have
been defamed and vilified in every particular but in my private
life ; and thank God ! there, neither envy, malice, nor falseheod
has dared to assail me." When the sad news of his death arrived,
his neighbors, with whom he had lived thirty years, with one
accord assembled together, and having expressed their grief at
their loss, they sent a deputation to request that his body may be
laid amongst them. They wished to cherish the sad semblance
of still being near him ; and to bring their children to the green
sod where he lay, and tell them of the simple-hearted friend —
the good counsellor — the blessed peace-maker — the pure and
deathless patriot, whose bosom it covers. But what shall we
say of that patience — that purity — that tenderness — with which

168 MR. RHETT'S ORATION.

he embraced all beneath his roof? Shall we speak of those do-
mestic relations, which give us all that is left us of our first
estate ; and whose dissolution by the hand of death, there is but
one Physician who can cure— there is but one balm which can
heal ? Shall we enter into his home, where bleeding hearts are
still mourning his absence and their desolation, — and tearful
eyes are looking at those places which once knew him, but shall
now know him no more forever ? No, no !— We turn away in
grief for them— in grief for ourselves.

Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives, I
have finished, although feebly performed, the mournful task
assigned me. Our last honours to the honoured dead, are about
to close. You were not ungrateful for the services he rendered
you ; and he tried to repay you by a filial devotion, which ceased
only with life. State and Statesman, you have held to each
other, as only those can do, who esteem and love one ano-
ther, without doubt, or fear, or shame. You have been reproach-
ed for trusting him too confidingly ; and he has been reproached
for seeking too intensely and exclusively your interests and hon-
our. Let those without the State, blame or upbraid. We rejoice
that we have upheld him, as we have done ; and now, when we
can no longer feel his mighty arm supporting us, we would not
give our dead statesman for all the living statesmen of this
broad continent. We mourn our loss; — but we value the trea-
sures his life and intellect have left us, more than " the wealth
of Ormus and of Ind." We mourn our loss; — but, standing
over his remains, we cannot but hate the tyranny that hurried
him to his grave, — and love the liberty for which he lived, and
wasted, and died. Cherishing his memory, we dare not be
slaves. Looking to his example and precepts, wemust ancTwiir
te free. If his home, whilst living, was sacred to purity aniL
honor, his last resting place shall not be polluted by the foul

! footsteps of traitors to liberty. And. when over the long track
of ages to come, the star oThis genius shall still shine on, to lead
the nations to freedom, — it shall not be forgotten that South
Carolina, the land of his nativity, reared him — sustained him —
and honoured him to the last.

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THOUGHTS SUITED TO THE PRESENT CRISIS,

■ A SERMON.

ON OCCASION OF jeflo

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THE DEATH OF HON. JOHN C. CALHOUN,

PREACHED IN THE CHAPEL

OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA COLLEGE,

APRIL, 21, 1850.

15 Y

JAMES H. THORNWELL,

PROFESSOR OF SACRED LITERATURE AND THE EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. ^

PUBLISHED BY THE STUDENTS

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h HOTJTMRTA. S. C.

COLUMBIA, S. C.

PRINTED BY A. S. JOHNSTON.

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THOUGHTS SUITED TO THE PRESENT CRISIS,

A SERMON,

ON OCCASION OF

THE DEATH OF HON. JOHN 0. CALHOUN,

PREACHED IN THE CHAPEL

OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA COLLEGE,

APRIL. 21, 18SO.

JAMES H. THORNWELL,

PROFESSOR OF SACRED LITERATURE AND THE EVIDENCES OP CHRISTIANITY.

PUBLISHED BY THE STUDENTS

COLUMBIA, S. C.

PRINTED BY A. S. JOHNSTON.

1850.

I Library, jj

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" Be wise noic, therefore, O ye kings ; be instructed, ye judges of
the Earth; serve the Lord ivith fear and rejoice ivitli trembling" —
Psalm ii. 10, 11.

Three weeks ago this day, as the first bell was giving us
the signal to prepare for assembling ourselves in the house
of God, for the purpose of rendering our morning homage
to the Father of all mercies, a spirit endeared to us by
many ties was winging its flight to the eternal world.
That bell which summoned us to prayer seems to have
kept time with his expiring breath — and before we had
gathered ourselves in this hall, or assumed the devout
posture of worshippers, South Carolina's honoured son —
and one of America's distinguished statesmen, was num-
bered with the dead. On the wings of lightning the
sad intelligence was borne to us. The feeling of every
heart was that a great man had fallen — and perhaps few
were so hardened as not to acknowledge, at least for the
moment, that in this death there was a message of God
to the people, the councils and rulers of this land. Death,
it is true, is no rare visiter in this world of sin — and a re-
fined skepticism might suggest that, as there was nothing
extraordinary in the case before us, of an old man,
enfeebled by disease and wasted by intellectual toil, sink-
ing beneath the burden of infirmity and care — nothing

4 THOUGHTS SUITED TO

extraordinary in the nature or operations of the malady
which brought him to his end, that we should undertake
to make nothing of it but the natural operation of natural
causes. Some may complacently tell us that a great man
has sickened — a great man has died — a star has been
struck from the firmament — and its light is lost. We
may speculate upon the probable effects of the phenome-
non — as we speculate upon any other important event —
but it is the weakness of superstition and credulity to find
in it any immediate interposition of God.

Fortified as this species of skepticism may be by a
shallow philosophy, there is something in the time and
circumstances of the death we have assembled to con-
template, and the position and relations of the distinguish-
ed victim, that will make the heart play truant to the
head, and extort the confession of the Egyptian Magicians,
that the finger of God is here. Behold the time ! Never
in the annals of our confederacy has there been a more
critical period than this. Never has a Congress met un-
der circumstances so full of moment and responsibility.
Never has the Senate of these United States been called
to deliberate on questions so solemn and eventful, as those
which were before it when our Senator received the
mandate that his work was done. To my mind nothing
less than the problem of national existence is involved in
the issues before the councils of our country. Shall this
Union, consecrated by patriot blood — founded on prin-
ciples of political wisdom which the world has wondered
at and admired — and which has conducted us to a pitch
of elevation and of influence, which have made us a study

THE PRESENT CRISIS. 5

among the philosophers of Europe, shall this Union — which
in all our past history has been our glory and defence, be
broken up — and the confederated States of this repub-
lick left to float upon the wide sea of political agitation
and disorder 1 The magnitude of this catastrophe de-
pends not at all upon the shock which it would give to
our most cherished sentiments — upon breaking up the
continuity of our national recollections and interrupting
the current of patriotic emotion — though this deserves to
be seriously considered. But there are deeper, more
awful consequences involved. To suppose that this con-
federacy can be dissolved without cruel, bloody, ferocious
war, terminating in a hatred more intense than any which
ever yet disgraced the annals of any people — is to set at
defiance all the lessons of history ; and to suppose that
in the present state of the world — when the bottomless
pit seems to have been opened, and every pestilential
vapour tainting the atmosphere — when a false philosophy
has impregnated the whole mass of the people abroad
with absurd and extravagant notions of the very nature
and organization of society and the true ends of govern-
ment — to suppose that amid this chaos of opinion, which
has cursed the recent revolutions of Europe — we could
enter upon the experiment of framing new constitutions
without danger, is to arrogate a wisdom to ourselves to
which the progress of events, in some sections of the land,
shows we are not entitled. I cannot disguise the convic-
tion that the dissolution of this Union — as a political ques-
tion — is the most momentous which can be proposed in
the present condition of the world. Consider the position

6 THOUGHTS SUITED TO

and influence of these United States. - To say that this
vast republick is, under God, the arbiter of the destinies
of this whole continent, that it is for us to shape the
character of all America — that our laws — our institutions
— our manners, must tell upon the degenerate nations of
the South, and sooner or later absorb the hardier sons of
the North, is to take too contracted a view of the sub-
ject. With the Pacific on the one side and the Atlantic
on the other — we seem to hold the nations in our hands.
With one arm on Europe and the other on Asia, it is for
us to determine the political condition of the race for
ages yet to come. Our geographical position, in connec-
tion with the inventions of modern science and the im-
provements of modern enterprize, makes us the very
heart of the world. Our life must be propelled by the
oceans which engirdle our shores through every country
on the globe — the beating of our pulse must be felt in
every nation of the earth. We stand, indeed, in refer-
ence to free institutions and the progress of civilization,
in the momentous capacity of the federal representatives
of the human race.

But the accomplishment of the lofty destiny to which
our position evidently calls us, depends upon Union as
well as Progression. Our glory has departed — the spell
is broken — whenever we become divided among our-
selves. Ichabod may then be written upon our walls,
and the clock of the world will be put back for genera-
tions and centuries. What a question, therefore, is
that — whether we shall go forward in that career on
which we have so auspiciously entered, and accomplish

THE PRESENT CRISIS. 7

the destiny to which the providence of God seems con-
spicuously to have called us — or suffer the hopes of hu-
manity to be crushed, and freedom to be buried in eter-
nal night. It is not extravagant to fancy that we can
see the unborn millions of our own descendants uniting
with countless multitudes of the friends of liberty in all
climes, in fervent supplications to the American Con-
gress for the salvation of the American Union. The liber-
ty of the world is at stake. The American Congress is
now deliberating upon the civil destinies of mankind.

But the interests of freedom are not the only ones
involved. The interests of religion are deeply at stake.
To Britain and America, Protestant Christianity looks
for her surest friends, and her most zealous and perse-
vering propagators. With the dissolution of this Union,
all our schemes of Christian benevolence and duty —
our efforts to convert the world — to spread the knowl-
edge of Christianity among all people, and to translate
the Bible into all languages, must be suddenly and
violently interrupted. It would be the extinction of that
light which is beginning to dawn upon the millions of
China — the total eclipse of that star of hope which is
beginning to rise upon the isles of the sea. The conse-
quences, civil, political, religious, which would result,
not simply to us, but to mankind, from the destruction of
this glorious confederacy, cannot be contemplated with-
out horrour — and make the present, beyond all controver-
sy, the most important and solemn crisis that has ever
been presented in the history of our country. Such was
the time. Behold now the man ! He was precisely

8 THOUGHTS SUITED TO

the individual to whom, in such a crisis, his own State
would have most cheerfully confided her destiny. With
an understanding distinguished for perspicacity — a firm-
ness equal to any emergency — a perseverance absolutely
indomitable — with a masterly intellect and a true and
faithful heart, the South looked to him for defence, for
protection, for guidance. He is permitted to mingle in
the councils of the nation — utter his voice with one foot
in the grave — and then he is withdrawn forever — with-
drawn, too, when he feels hishead clearer and his prospect
of usefulness brighter than it had ever been before.
Why at this time is his voice stilled in death 1 Why
was he not permitted to utter those last words which lay
upon his heart 1 Why, when the highest of all sublu-
nary interests was at stake, was one of our purest and
brightest Statesmen refused permission to continue in the
conflict? Surely this was the finger of God. It was no
casualty — it was no accident of fortune — it was no de-
cree of destiny — it was the act of the Almighty.

No temper is more constantly commended in the Scrip-
tures than devout contemplation of the events of Provi-
dence. The atheism which disregards the works is as
severely condemned as the stupidity which despises the
word of God. They are said to be wise, who observe
and ponder the operation of His hands — who mark His
goings forth and contemplate His paths as the great
moral Ruler of the universe. They are wise who per-
ceive in Providence its wonderful analogies to grace —
who feel that the plans and purposes and principles of
the Divine government are stamped to some extent upon

THE PRESENT CRISIS. 9

all the Divine proceedings — that the moral, natural and
physical, all harmonize with the spiritual and eternal,
and that the events which are constantly taking place
around them, give emphasis and illustration to the truths
of revelation. Beside what may be styled the natural
history of the universe, its stability and order, its unifor-
mity and proportion, beside the operation of general
laws and the connections and dependencies of a syste-
matic whole, there is a secret lore which the good man
gathers from the phenomena of nature— a recognition
of God in His moral character, dealing with His moral
and responsible creatures. Death, as a natural event, is
one thing — as a moral phenomenon another. In the one
aspect we may speculate upon its causes, its symptoms,
its effects. We may discuss fevers and coughs and
agues— talk about the vital organs, and make a consis-
tent theory of physiology. But the whole train of
natural events which physiology discusses and which
terminate in the dissolution of the frame, must be
viewed in subordination to the moral government of
God, in order to be properly understood and duly
appreciated. It is in this aspect that the contemplation
of Providence becomes a matter of religious wisdom,
and yields lessons for the improvement of the heart as
well as the instruction of the head. To deny the agen-
cy of God, because events are brought about in a natural
order, which is to make the uniformity of nature a plea for
atheism, is a stupidity as absurd as it is deplorably com-
mon. Who, we may ask, established this natural order 1
Who keeps it in continuance I Who brings into being
2

10 THOUGHTS SUITED TO

each successive link in the chain of sequences 1 And
who has arranged the whole series so that every thing
occurs at the appointed time and in the proper place 1

But while philosophy and religion conspire in teach-
ing that the hand of God must be devoutly recognized
in all the operations of Providence, the investigation of
final causes is circumscribed within narrow limits. We
can only study them in relation to ourselves. To scru-
tinize the purposes which God means certainly to ac-
complish, and explore the ultimate reasons of His visita-
tions to the children of men— to say precisely what was
the design of the Almighty in such and such a proceeding,
were beyond the limits of mortal penetration. He work-
eth all things according to the counsel of His own will.
The hidden springs which move that will— the ends
which God actually intends to achieve, we are not com-
petent to discover. But the relations of these events to
us — their tendencies and adaptations are obvious and
patent— and these tendencies are so many expressions
of the Divine pleasure— so many intimations of what
God would have us to do or forbear. His Providence
often carries lessons on its face which it is criminal stupi-
dity not to perceive, and criminal insensibility not to
feel. His visitations are often messages to men, as pal-
pable and clear as if the heavens were opened and an
angel commissioned to speak from- the skies.

That there are events brought about in the regu-
lar operation of secondary causes, which from their
importance and their juncture, have all the effect of a
miracle, in rousing attention and extorting the confession

THE PRESENT CRISIS. ft

of the presence of God, requires only to be stated in order
to be owned. Though no encroachments upon the es-
tablished order of sublunary things, they are invasions
upon the dull uniformity of thought — they disturb the
tranquillity which sees nothing in the world but a suc-
cession of antecedents and consequents, which appear
and disappear, exciting no other feeling than that they
are a matter of course — they break the slumbers of a
practical Atheism and provoke the acknowledgement
that there is a God in the heavens — who has done what-
soever He pleased — that there are watchers and a Holy
one who rule in the kingdom of heaven and distribute dy-
nasties and thrones with sovereign authority. There are
events in which the natural is lost in something which is
felt not to be a matter of course— we pause before them—
we spontaneously give heed to them as having a special
significance— we interrogate them as strange and unex-
pected visiters— and through them, if we are wise, we
shall learn lessons that it was worth v of a miracle to
teach. Precisely of this character is the event which
has hung our own Commonwealth in mourning— has
struck the nation with awe— has roused the attention
of all classes in the community and has elicited publick
expressions of sorrow and lamentation from societies,
clubs, schools, colleges, districts, towns, cities and legisla-
tive assemblies. This spontaneous expression of grief—
every where — from all parties — from every portion of the
land — from the pulpit and the press — the intense interest
the death of our illustrious Senator has excited — place it
beyond all question in the category of those events in

12 THOUGHTS SUITED TO

which God solemnly announces His own sovereignty and
communicates a message to the children of men as if by
a legate from the skies.

Upon occasions of this sort, it has been justly remark-
ed by one, who of all others, knew best how to improve
them, "the greatest difficulty a speaker has to surmount
is already obviated — attention is awake — an interest is
excited, and all that remains is to lead the mind, already
sufficiently susceptible, to objects of permanent utility —
he originates nothing — it is not so much he that speaks
as the events which speak for themselves — he only pre-
sumes to interpret the language and to guide the confus-
ed emotions of a sorrowful and swollen heart into the
channels of piety."

It is not the office of the pulpit, however, to praise the
dead or flatter the living. As it surveys departed great-
ness with a different eye from the eye of sense, it can
bring no offerings to the altar of human glory, nor erect
a monument to the achievements of human genius. The
preacher, in common with other men, may drop a tear
at the urn of the patriot, and dwell with delight upon those
rare gifts which the Supreme Disposer of all things has
conferred upon a mighty statesman. He, too, is a man
and a citizen — and in these relations he may feel and
weep as others weep at the extinction of a great light.
But as the ancient prophets were required, in the pro-
clamation of their messages, to suppress the voice of na-
ture and to speak with a dignity and majesty befitting
the oracles of God, so the pulpit must stand aloof from
the language of panegyric, know neither friendship nor

THE PRESENT CRISIS. 13

hatred, and seek to extract from the dispensations of
Providence only those lessons of the Divine word, they
are suited to illustrate and enforce. As we bury our
dead this day, and as men, patriots and citizens, mourn
that the delight of our eyes and pride of our hearts has
been removed from us at a stroke, let us recognize the
hand of the Almighty and inquire, with solemnity and
reverence, what the instructions are which the judge of
all tr^th is imparting to the country by this dark
visitation. A Senator has fallen — a statesman has per-
ished — a man has died. In these aspects, the mourn-
ful occurrence may be regarded as the voice of God,
teaching a fitting lesson to the councils, rulers and people
of the land.

• I. A Senator has fallen ! There is a message here to
those who are entrusted with the cares of government
and the business of legislation. The introduction of
death, in a form so awful and astounding, into the Senate
of the United States, was a proclamation from heaven, to
all who are called to deliberate upon the affairs of the
country, that their ways are before the eyes of the Lord,
and that He pondereth all their goings. Whatever may
be the cause, it is impossible to contemplate death in our
own species as a merely natural event. We may endea-
vour by a shallow philosophy to persuade ourselves that it
was the original lot of our race — that we were designed,
like the beasts that perish, to appear and disappear in suc-
cession — to fret and strut our hour upon the stage, and
then be seen no more — that like drink and food and sleep,
it constitutes an element of our destined course — and is

14 THOUGHTS SUITED TO

no more remarkable than any other phenomenon of our
being. But no philosophy can impress these sentiments
upon the heart — our moral nature rises in rebellion against
them, and the instinctive feeling of mankind is that it is a
dread and awful thing to die. Having sprung, as we are
informed by the sure word of prophecy, from a moral
cause — being a judicial visitation of God — how natural
soever the instruments may be by which it is brought about
— the fixed associations of the mind connect it with moral
retribution — and every conscience responds to the declar-
ation of the apostle — that it is appointed unto men once to
die — and after death the judgment. You cannot behold
a corpse — you cannot stand by a grave — without feeling
that though the body is there, the soul is gone to receive
its final award. The very language in which the event
is familiarly described, indicates the instinctive belief that
the man is still in being in all the mystery of his identity
—and that he has taken a journey to a world from which
he is to depart no more. We say that he is gone — gone
to his final home — to his fixed and everlasting abode. His
being is not extinguished. He has laid aside the habiliments
of mortality — the robes and decorations of a sublunary
state — to stand in the nakedness of his moral nature be-
fore the bar of God. The man — what was simply the
man — that upon which the law pressed — the intellectual
life — is unclothed that naked, as it came to run its career
of probation, naked it may return to give an account of the
deeds done in the body. Hence the awful solemnity of
death — it is the precursor of judgment. God's minister
to summon God's creatures to God's tremendous bar. It

THE PRESENT CRISIS. 15

is accordingly a great thing to die. The keys of death
and hell are in the hands of Him who sitteth upon the
throne — and it is a solemn act of mediatorial government
to open the doors of the invisible world and consign a
deathless spirit to its destined position. We say that
such and such an one is dead. The very sound is omi-
nous and its portentous meaning has been fearfully por-
trayed — "an immortal spirit has finished its earthly career
— has passed the barriers of the invisible world — to appear
before its maker, in order to receive that sentence which
will fix its irrecoverable doom, according to the deeds
done in the body. An event has taken place which has
no parallel in the revolutions of time, the consequences
of which have not room to expand themselves within a
narrower sphere than an endless duration. An event has
occurred the issues of which must ever baffle and elude
all finite comprehensions, by concealing themselves in the
depths of that abyss, that eternity, which is the dwelling
place of Deity, where there is sufficient space for the
destiny of each, among the innumerable millions of the
human race, to develope itself, and without interference
or confusion, to sustain and carry forward its separate in-
finity of interest." This is true of the departure of the
meanest individual to the world of spirits. But the
familiarity of the scene and the small degree of interest
which attaches to the humble and obscure — the narrow
circle within which that dissolution is mourned as a ca-
lamity, or deplored as a loss, prevents the impressions
which death as a judicial visitation is suited to make upon
the mind from exerting their full and appropriate effect.

16 THOUGHTS SUITED TO

" In the private departments of life, the distressing inci-
dents which occur are confined to a narrow circle. The
hope of an individual is crushed — the happiness of a
family is destroyed — but the social system is unimpaired
and its movements experience no impediment and sus-
tain no sensible injury. The arrow passes through the
air which soon closes over it and all is tranquil. But
when the great lights and ornaments of the world, placed
aloft to conduct its inferior movements, are extinguished,
such an event resembles the Apocalyptic vial, poured into
that element which changes its whole temperature and
is the presage of fearful commotions — of thunders, light-
nings and tempests." Such an event reveals the presence
of God — and summons imagination and thought to the
contemplation of those august realities which await the
revelation of the last hour. Such an event brings eternity
before us with all its dread and tremendous retributions
and presses upon the soul the burden of an awful and
oppressive responsibility. It makes us feel the magni-
tude of our being — and the stoutest heart is roused for a
moment and startled at the summons — prepare to meet
thy God.

The lesson of responsibility, of course, tells with more
direct and powerful effect upon those who are intimately
associated in pursuit — friendship — or profession with the
victim of the destroyer. He being dead speaks pre-emi-
nently to them. Through his grave they are invited to
contemplate eternity, and his departed spirit reminds
them of the hour in which they too shall be called to
lay aside the vestments of mortality. It tells them to do

THE PRESENT CRISIS. 17

their work as in the eye of God — to think and act and de-
liberate and feel, in full view of the account which
they must render at last. It tells them that a moral
character attaches alike to their persons and their deeds
— and that the complexion of their destiny depends upon
the spirit in which they discharge the duties of their sta-
tion. When consigning a body to the tomb, or witnessing
the last gasp of a dying friend— we seem to stand upon the
very borders of the unseen world— to be walking on the
shore of that boundless ocean— in which all the streams
of time are swallowed up— we almost hear the thunder of
its billows— and feel the heavings of its waves — and a
sense of immortality rushes upon the soul which at once
oppresses and expands. We feel like rising and shaking
ourselves from the dust— and the resolution is involunta-
rily adopted — though in the vast majority of cases too
speedily forgotten— to do with our might whatsoever our
hands find to do— since the night cometh when no man
can work.

No lesson could be more seasonable, in the present cri-
sis of our national affairs, than the responsibility of rulers
and legislators to God the judge of all. That this doc-
trine is inadequately apprehended, the history of legis-
lation in this and every other country is a mournful proof.
There are two errors— widely prevalent— which have a
direct and necessary tendency to despoil it of its full
and just proportions— one is, that national responsibility
is limited, in its operation and effects, to the dispensa-
tions of Providence in the present world— and the other
is, that where there exists not, as there should exist
3

18 THOUGHTS SUITED TO

no where, a national establishment of religion, the distinc-
tive sanctions of religion cannot be introduced. The
effect of both errors is the same in relation to the retri-
butions of a future world. And although one appears to
be widely removed from the other, in that it acknow-
ledges the fact of national responsibility, yet its mistake
in limiting the Divine visitations to our present and sub-
lunary state, divests the doctrine of all its awful and com-
manding majesty. It invests the Almighty, as the ruler
of nations, with limited power and with temporary judg-
ments — it places at His disposal the plague, pestilence and
famine — war, earthquakes and tornadoes — but it robs Him
of that thunder w^hich holds individuals in check — of that
vengeance which makes the future so terrible to the wor-
kers of iniquity. He may ride upon the whirlwind and
direct the storm — he may grind the nations as the small
dust of the balance — he may extinguish their lights —
throw them back into barbarism — but for their national
sins he cannot visit them in the w T orld of spirits.

As the ordinary course of affairs affords but slight indi-
cations of any marked visitation for national iniquities —
as communities seem to be dealt with upon very much the
same principle as private individuals — one event happen-
ing alike to all, this defective theory of national responsi-
bility amounts in practice to a total destruction of any ef-
fective sense of responsibility at all. Seed time and har-
vest — commerce and trade — the various elements of na-
tional prosperity, seem to be so largely within the com-
pass of human calculation and foresight, that wdiere ap-
pearances, according to the established connections of

THE PRESENT CRISIS. 19

antecedents and consequents, promise well for the future,
these anticipations will be adopted as the real guide of
conduct rather than any apprehensions of sudden and
violent interpositions of Divine justice. Men judge of the
future by the indications of the present — or the expe-
rience of the past — and if they have nothing to deter
them from evil but the prospect of immediate calamity,
they will seldom find reason to be alarmed. The conse-
quence upon statesmen and legislators is very much the
same with the natural effects of the doctrine of universal
salvation upon other individuals. The conclusion which
they cannot but draw from the facts of Providence would
be as unfavourable to moral distinctions and the rectitude
of the Divine administration as if they reasoned from the
fortunes of individuals. They could not but believe, either
that God was indifferent to the moral conduct of organized
communities — or that if He punished, it was so seldom —
so irregularly, and except in rare and extraordinary cases,
so imperceptibly, that no serious estimate should be made
of His pleasure or displeasure in settling any great ques-
tion of national policy. The final result would be a prac-
tical atheism which would completely exclude Him from
the councils of the country.

The other error conducts to this result directly and im-
mediately. It maintains that as a nation, in its organic
capacity, cannot make a profession of religion — cannot
worship God nor believe the Gospel of His grace — there-
fore it is exempt from His controul — and bound to have
no special respect to His laws. This doctrine confounds
the national obligations of religion with the existence of

20 THOUGHTS SUITED TO

a national Church. And as the establishment of any sect,
or any particular species of religion, is an encroachment
upon the rights of conscience, it is concluded that all re-
ligion must be excluded from halls of legislation, courts of
judicature or seats of power. The impression prevails,
to a melancholy extent, that the administration of the
country is an affair in which God has no interest and
should, by no means, be consulted, and in conformity with
this impression many look for it as a matter of course that
all the measures of the State shall be independent of any
relations to religion. There are those who would ex-
clude it from public institutions of learning — from the ar-
my, the navy, — as well as from the halls of Congress.

In both errors the fallacy is committed of overlooking
one of the most obvious and fundamental principles of
moral philosophy. All responsibility, in the last analysis,
is personal and individual. The responsibility of a nation
is not the responsibility of an organic whole considered as
such, but of all the individuals who collectively compose it.
The State is a compendious expression for certain rela-
tions in which moral and responsible persons exist to-
wards each other — the duties of the State are all the
duties of individuals — the crimes of the State are the
crimes of individuals — the sins of the State are the sins
of individuals, and the prosperity and the glory of the
State are the prosperity and glory of individuals. The
State is nothing apart from the men who constitute it.
They exist in society, with reciprocal rights and obliga-
tions, and the company of individuals so existing is the
State. To protect and defend these rights — to maintain

THE PRESENT CRISIS. 21

the supremacy of justice — to give each individual the
scope for the developement, without interference or colli-
sion, of his separate and distinct personality, with a simi-
lar privilege to others, is the primary end of govern-
ment — which must still be conducted by individuals and
carries along with it only individual responsibility. In
all the relations, in all the employments, in all the depart-
ments of the State, every one who is called to act is still
only a man — and he brings to his labours all the measure
of responsibility which appertains to his capacities and
knowledge considered simply as a man. He is every
where — in every office — in every trust, an immortal be-
ing, under the law of God — and the sanctions of that law
extend as clearly and completely to his political conduct
as to any other actions of his life. That law knows no
manner of distinction betwixt the statesman and the man
— the stateman is only the man, in new relations, involv-
ing new applications of the eternal principles of right.
An honest man and a corrupt politician are a contradic-
tion in terms.

It is hence obvious how the obligations and sanctions
of religion press upon communities and nations. A State
is bound to be religious, in the sense that every man in it
is bound to fear God and to work righteousness A
State is bound to reverence the gospel, in the sense that
all its members are obliged, on pain of the second death ,
to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ — and a State is re-
quired to glorify God, in the sense that all its citizens —
whether in private stations or posts of dignity and trust —
are required, in whatever they do, to seek the glory of

22 THOUGHTS SUITED TO

His great name. When a legislature passes a law, it is
done by the votes of individuals — and these individuals
are all responsible as such, for the votes that they give.
If any man has lent his sanction, in his public and official
relations, to aught that transgresses the law of God, or
slights the institutions of the Gospel, it is sin upon his soul
to be visited and punished as any other wickedness of
his life. God treats him as an individual, in such and
such relations, with such and such duties growing out
of them.

His responsibilities, therefore, as a ruler — a legislator —
a judge, are precisely of the same fundamental nature —
have precisely the same fundamental character — with
his responsibilities in the private walks of life. He is
summoned as a man to God's bar — and the scrutiny is
made into all that the man has done, in the various rela-
tions which he has been called to sustain — and he is just
as liable to be sent to hell for a corrupt vote — a political
intrigue — or a political fraud, as for lying, hypocrisy or
treachery in the private walks of life. The law of God
as completely bound him in one position as in another —
and in every position, a man should recognize himself as
God's subject who must give an account at God's bar
of all that he has done in all the relations in which God's
Providence has placed him. This is the doctrine of the
Scriptures as well as the plain dictate of unsophisticated
reason.

The mandate of the text is given to kings and judges,
as individuals, or men occupying high posts of power or
renown. " Be wise now therefore O ye kings, be in-

THE PRESENT CRISIS. 23

structed ye judges of the earth — serve the Lord with fear
and rejoice with trembling — kiss the the Son lest He
be angry and ye perish from the way when His wrath
is kindled but a little."

If this doctrine could be impressed upon our public
men and upon the heart of the nation, it would soon
give us in our national councils, what the present cri-
sis so eminently demands — statesmen instead of job-
bers and politicians. There is not and cannot be a more
painful spectacle, than to see the interests of a great peo-
ple tossed to and fro by the schemes and intrigues and
chicane of men, who have neither the fear of God before
their eyes nor the love of their country in their hearts.
We cannot but dread some impending calamity when
we see the honour and prosperity and glory of a nation
made the sport " of the party tactics and the little selfish
schemes of little men, who by the visitation of God, hap-
pen to have some controul over a great subject and some
influence in a great commonwealth." It is a lamentation
and shall be for a lamentation — that the most momentous
interests, requiring for their adjustment amplitude of
mind, integrity of purpose — simplicity of aim — broad
and general considerations of truth and justice — should
so often be the sacrifice of dwarfish politicians — who are
unable to extend their vision beyond the domain of self
— or the almost equally narrow circle of section, party,
or clique — that in affairs which call for the counsels
of men — of men who are in some degree sensible of what
it is to be a man — who have God's smile or frown before
them — that in such affairs, we should be dependent on

24 THOUGHTS SUITED TO

the guidance of pigmies— yea of worse than pigmies—
of beings who profess to be immortal— to be working out
a destiny for eternity, and yet who can rise to no loftier
ends than the flesh pots of Egypt. A statesman is a sub-
lime character— a jobbing politician too little for con-
tempt.

Aristotle, in designating the points of correspondence
between a pure democracy and a despotism— -the ethical
characters of which he makes the same — has noted the
affinity between the parasite of a court and a popular
demagogue. " They are not unfrequently"— says he—
" the same identical men— and always bear a close anal-
ogy." The distinguishing characteristic of each is an ut-
ter destitution of elevated principle, arising from the ab-
sence of any just sense of moral responsibility. The
schemes of each are only contrivances for personal ag-
grandizement. The most momentous interests of the
nation are viewed as the occasions or instruments of pri-
vate or party ends. Every thing proceeds from selfish
and sordid calculation, while the supremacy of right and
the authoritative voice of duty, the highest policy of a
true statesman — are little reverenced by these pests of
the Commonwealth. The parasite of a court is designa-
ted in Greek by a term which condenses the very essence
of the meanness contained in flattery, hypocrisy and
fawning. The cure of such eruptions upon the surface
of political society is a pervading sense of personal respon-
sibility. Impregnated with this sentiment— none would
assume duties which they were incompetent to discharge
—because none would be willing to jeopard the interests

THE PRESENT CRISIS. 25

of salvation for the brief importance of an hour. Who
would wear a crown steeped in poison or occupy a
throne with a drawn sword above his head ? The solem-
nities of eternity would be made to protect the interests
of time.

For the purpose of teaching this lesson — the lesson of
personal responsibility for the manner and spirit in which
they have discharged the duties of their trust, the event
which we this day contemplate, may have been permit-
ted to take place. The bar of God, the tribunal of eter-
nal justice, was reared in the halls of legislation. A
signal example was given of one who, in the midst of his
duties, was called to his final account. Each survivor was
reminded of what soon would be true of him. The scene
was touching and solemn beyond description, when the
dead body of our departed Senator, in the scene of his
greatest glory, was made a monitor of God, eternity and
retribution to those who were deliberating upon the
greatest question that has ever arisen in the history of
any people. From the tomb he seemed to say— remem-
ber, Senators, that you must soon give an account of your
stewardship. The eyes of God are on you— "raise
your conceptions to the magnitude and importance
of the duties that devolve upon you," — "let your com-
prehension be as broad as the country for which you
act— your aspirations as high as its certain destiny" —
deliberate, vote — decide— as if the next moment you
were to be with me in the world of spirits— at the bar of
God — in a changeless state. Remember that you occupy
a sublime position— a spectacle to the Deity, to angels and

4 A (r>

26 THOUGHTS SUITED TO

to men. The civil destinies of the world hang on your
decision. Rise to the dignity and grandeur of your cal-
ling as immortal beings, and instead of seeking to conci-
liate a section— to promote a party— or to aggrandize
yourselves— instead of contracting your views to the idle
and ephemeral applauses of earth, aim at the approbation
of angels and of God. This was the language in which
He, being dead, yet spoke to his companions and brethren
in the Senate — and his voice we trust has not been whol-
ly unheard. The noble eulogy of Webster— the touch-
ing tribute of Clay— the tone imparted to the Senate, lead
to the hope that, notwithstanding recent and flagrant
outrages, there exists in that august assembly a sense of
responsibility, which wisely directed may, under God,
prove the salvation of the country. But whether regard-
ed or disregarded, it is the office of the pulpit to proclaim
to our rulers that God will bring them into judgment
for their public and official conduct— that however they
may overlook every thing but the success of their sel-
fish schemes or the commendation of their persons, God
demands of them a supreme regard for justice, truth and
religion— it is the office of the preacher to tell them, that
if they say or do aught contrary to the principles of
eternal rectitude, they say or do it at the peril of their
souls— and to remind them from the memorable example
of Herod that, though an infatuated mob may shout in its
blindness, it is the voice of God and not of man — the judg-
ments of heaven may consign their souls to the lowest hell.
Lightly and carelessly as it is sought, the office of a
legislator is a solemn trust. It is wicked to aspire to it

THE PRESENT CRISIS. 27

without being prepared for its duties — and when it is
bought or secured by the corruption of the people, it is
the wages of iniquity which God will surely turn into a
curse. How can that man entertain any adequate con-
viction of his responsibility to God, in discharging the
functions of a place into which he was introduced by an
open contempt of the Deity 1 I confess frankly, that I
tremble for my country when I contemplate the deplor-
able extent to which politicks are turned into a trade —
when I see the shocking separation in the national mind
betwixt the candidate and the man — the politician and
the citizen. To counteract this tendency, to impress
upon all, the individual and personal nature of responsi-
bility — to inculcate the supremacy of right every where,
in all relations, is an end worthy of the extinction of the
brightest lights of the land. To make us feel the all-
pervading authority of the moral law and of the Chris-
tian faith — to bring us to the recognition of the truth, that
in all the diversified scenes to which the Providence of
God allots the children of men — they are still to be re-
garded as Christians and as men — developing the char-
acter and manifesting the principles upon which their eter-
nal destiny depends, is a consummation cheaply purchased
by events, which in the figured language of the Scriptures,
are compared to the eclipse of suns — the destruction of
the stars and the convolution of the heavens. And if the
death of our illustrious Senator shall contribute to inspire
the breasts of our Senators and Representatives with
the sentiments which befit their station, it will be his lot to
have served his country as gloriously in death as in life.

28 THOUGHTS SUITED TO

II. The lesson which this event, considered as the
death of a statesman, is suited to impart, is addressed
to the people at large, and comes with pointed emphasis,
in the present crisis of affairs, to the people of the South,
and particularly to us in South Carolina. It is better
to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man —
it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence
in princes. In God is my salvation and glory — the rock
of my strength and my refuge is in God — trust in Him,
at all times, ye people, pour out your heart before Him
— God is a refuge for us — surely men of low degree
are vanity and men of high degree are a lie — to be
laid in the balance they are altogether lighter than van-
ity. Thus saith the Lord — cursed be the man that
trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm — whose heart
departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath
in the desert and shall not see when good cometh." Woe
to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take coun-
sel, but not of me — that cover with a covering, but not
of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin — that walk to
go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth, to
strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh and to
trust in the shadow of Egypt.

The lesson which the Providence of God was contin-
ually inculcating upon the heathen nations, whose affairs
are incidentally mentioned in the Scriptures, is that the
Most High ruleth in the kingdoms of men— and accom-
plishes His pleasure among the armies of heaven and the
inhabitants of earth. The dominion of Jesus Christ as
Mediator extends to nations as well as individuals — States

THE PRESENT CRISIS. 29

and governments are the instruments of God, ordained in
their respective departments, to execute His schemes —
and the Divine Redeemer bears written upon his vesture
and thigh a name which indicates universal sovereignty
—Lord of Lords and King of Kings. They are a part of
that series of Providential arrangrnents, by which the mo-
ral purposes of God, in reference to the race, are conducted
to their issue — and as much the appointments of His will
as the family, or the Church. There is not the same di-
rect interposition in the organization of civil and political
communities as in the constitution of the Church — but
the necessity of the State is founded in the nature of man
— springs from the moral relations of individuals— grows
with the growth and strengthens with the strength of
human society. It is the spontaneous offspring of a so-
cial state — and in the same sense the creature of God,
that the society from which it springs and from which it
cannot be severed is the Divine ordination. There never
was an absurder, and I may add, a more mischievous fic-
tion, than that political communities are conventional ar-
rangements, suggested by the inconveniences of a natural
state of personal independence, and deriving their author-
ity from the free consent of those who are embraced in
them. Political societies are not artificial combinations to
which men have been impelled by chance or choice, but
the ordinance of God, through the growth and propaga-
tion of the species, for the perfection and education of the
race. The first State, according to the Scriptures, was not
distinct from the family. But as households were multi-
plied, though the tie of consanguinity was still the ground

30 THOUGHTS SUITED TO

upon which authority was recognized, and natural affec-
tion and habitual association combined to invest the pa-
triarch with the highest jurisdiction, a class of ideas be-
gan to expand themselves which rested upon other prin-
ciples than those of blood. Moral relations— more ex-
tensive and commanding than that of father, husband,
wife or child, the relations of man to man— of reciprocal
rights and reciprocal obligations, were brought into view
and the patriarch became a magistrate— the representa-
tive of justice, as well as a father— the representative of
family affection. That the distinctive boundaries of these
distinct relations were at once understood— that they are
even now adequately apprehended where the nearest
approximations to primitive society obtain, is by no means
affirmed. It was only in the progress of a long, slow,
providental education that the real nature of the common-
wealth, as contradistinguished from other communities,
began to be unfolded. The State was developed with the
progress of society— and as the necessity of its existence
is laid in man's nature— as the supremacy of its claims-
its high and awful sovereignty, is nothing but the supre-
macy of justice and of right, amon^ moral and responsi-
ble agents, the State, through whatever organic arrange-
ments its power may be expressed, is the creature of God,
the sacred ordinance of heaven. It is not a thing which
can be made or unmade, it is part and parcel of the con-
stitution of our nature as at once social and responsible.
This view of the State connects it at once with the
moral purposes of the Deity— and the whole history
of the world shows that its developement, which is the

THE PRESENT CRISIS. 31

progress of liberty, depends upon the providential dispo-
sition of events over which the agency of man has no di-
rect controul. All solid governments and all permanent
liberty have grown much more out of circumstances than
out of fixed and definite purposes of man. A nation of
slaves cannot establish a free government — it is a thin or
for which God must have prepared the way, and all
efforts to rise suddenly from a condition of despotism
into that of freedom have been attended with licentious-
ness, anarchy and crime. True liberty is a thing of
growth — there is first a stock of acknowledged rights
which are transmitted in the w T ay of inheritance— the pro-
gress of society enlarges it with fresh and fresh additions
—there is a conglomeration of the new and the old—
a connecting link betwixt the past and the present — and
the consolidation of inheritance and acquisition is the se-
curity of liberty. Hence from the very nature of man and
the very nature of the State, and the very nature of liber-
ty, political communities must receive their shape and di-
rection from the circumstances in which the great Dispo-
ser of events has placed any people. The doctrine of de-
pendence upon God is, accordingly, intertwined in the
very fibres of the commonwealth. The State is a school
in which the Deity is conducting a great process of edu-
cation, and providential circumstances determine alike the
lessons to be taught and the capacity of the scholars to
learn them. The dangers, as in all schools, are those which
spring from indocility of temper — or from rashness and
impetuosity, which would outstrip the leadings of Provi-
dence. Each indicates a spirit of independence of God —

32 THOUGHTS SUITED TO

and each is apt to be rebuked with expressions of His dis-
pleasure. The difficulty with communities that have been
long accustomed to the reign of despotism is, that they
are too dull to learn — they are backward to follow the
intimations of circumstances — they stagnate in their cor-
ruptions; and the outbreaks of revolutions are sometimes
necessary to rouse the people and put them in the atti-
tude of progress. They distrust the Almighty and re-
fuse to move until they are driven.

The difficulty with free and growing communities is,
that, in the consciousness of imaginary wisdom and
strength, they anticipate the slow progress of events,
and casting off their dependence upon God, undertake to
accomplish their destiny by their own skill and resour-
ces. They rely partly upon principles — partly upon
men — partly upon both. Overlooking the concurrence
of Providence which is essential to the success of political
combinations and arrangements, they vainly imagine that
they can create the circumstances upon which they are
dependent. There is a magic in their doctrines, or a
charm in their schemes, or a power in their champions,
which can subdue the elements and accomplish the work
of Him whose prerogative alone it is to speak and it is
done — to command and it stands fast. But the lesson of
the Bible and of experience is " that in the midst of all
our preparations, we shall, if we are wise, repose our chief
confidence in Him who has every element at His dispo-
sal — who can easily disconcert the wisest counsels, con-
found the mightiest projects, and save, when He pleases,
by many or by few. While the vanity of such a preten-

THE PRESENT CRISIS. 33

ded reliance on Providence as supersedes the use of
means is readily confessed, it is to be feared we are not
sufficiently careful to guard against a contrary extreme,
in its ultimate effects not less dangerous. If to depend on
the interposition of Providence without human exertion
be to tempt God ; to confide in an arm of flesh when seek-
ing His aid is to deny Him ; the former is to be pitied for
its weakness — the latter to be censured for its impiety,
nor is it easy to say which affords the worst omen of suc-
cess."

That this lesson is eminently seasonable in the present
crisis of the nation, none can be tempted to doubt. It is
possible that our confidence in the great statesman, whose
death a nation has lamented, may have been such as to
provoke the jealousy of that God, who will not give His
glory to another. We may have relied more upon his
power of argument — his energy of persuasion — his inte-
grity of character — his publick and private influence,
than upon the secret operations of that Spirit, who con-
trols the movements of kings and turns the hearts of the
children of men as the rivers of water are turned. It is
evident that what is needed at the present crisis is a spir-
it of patriotism — of justice and of loyalty to God. It is
the temper of the people and of the rulers upon which,
under God, the salvation of the country depends. If the
whole nation could be animated with a single purpose
to do what is right — if factions and parties and local and
temporary interests could be forgotten — if the presiding
genius in our halls of legislation were the sublime and
heroick principle of justice — if every member there could
5

34 THOUGHTS SUITED TO

be brought to feel that he was the representative of the
whole nation, bound to promote, cherish and defend the
interests of all, in conformity with the spirit and provi-
sions of the constitution — if fanaticism could be rebuked
and selfishness suppressed, and power awed into a sense
of responsibility — who doubts but that all our difficulties
would be speedily adjusted — that the clouds which threa-
ten us would be rolled away, and the sun of union and
liberty burst out again in meridian refulgence ? The pro-
duction of this temper is not within the compass of man.
To change the current of established associations — to
dissolve the charms of prejudice — to break the fetters
of interest — to enlighten the blindness of fanaticism and
make power obedient to right — these are not the feats
of argument or skill — they require the finger of God. It
is He alone who can give the spirit of a sound mind.
He alone has direct access to the souls of men— and in
the removal of him, whom we were tempted to make
our stay and our prop— He is exhorting us to trust only in
Himself. Well will it be for us if we can learn the les-
son.

It becomes us, however, to remember that a people
can trust in God only when they are seeking the ends
of righteousness and truth. Our dependence upon Him
should teach us the lesson that righteousness exalteth a
nation and sin is a reproach to any people. We cannot
expect the patronage of heaven to schemes of injustice
and of wrong. The State is an element of God's moral
administration— and to secure His favour it must sedu-
lously endeavour to maintain the supremacy of right.

THE PRESENT CRISIS. 35

He may overrule the wickedness of the people for good-
He may even permit unrighteous kingdoms to flourish
notwithstanding their iniquity— but as the habitation of
His throne is justice and truth, it will be found, in regard
to communities, as well as individuals, that Godliness is
profitable for all things, having the promise of the life
that now is and of that which is to come. " There is in
the bosom of all human societies a desire and a power
of ceaseless progress. It is struggling now— it will strug-
gle to the end. Many failures have passed— many are
still to come. Not until men clearly see the real and the
only security for their great developement, will these fail-
ures cease. If they will put their hands in the great hand
of God, He will lead them firmly in the way. What is
just, what is right, what is good, let them do these and
they will fail no more— what is wrong, what is unjust,
what is evil, let them do these, under whatever pretext
of political necessity and they cannot but suffer and fail
—renew the struggle, and suffer and fail again— it is
this great lesson which an open Bible and free institu-
tions are teaching the human race." Freedom must de-
generate into licentiousness unless the supremacy of
right is maintained. We must co-operate in our spirit
and temper and aims with the great moral ends for which
the State was instituted, if we would reach the highest
point of national excellence and prosperity. The ulti-
mate purpose of God is that the dominion of Jesus should
be universally acknowledged— and that nation only will
finally and permanently prosper, whose people have
caught the spirit and habitually obey the precepts of the

36 THOUGHTS SUITED TO

Gospel. Every weapon that is formed against Him
must be broken ; and the people that will not submit to
His authority must be crushed by His power. Why do
the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing 1
The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take
counsel together against the Lord and against His anoint-
ed, saying— let us break their bands asunder and cast
away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh— the Lord shall have them in derision. Then
shall He speak unto them in His wrath and vex them in
His sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my
holy hill of Zion--I will declare the decree. The Lord
hath said unto me— thou art my Son— this day have I
begotten thee. Ask of me and I shall give the heathen
for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth
for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of
iron-— thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's ves-
sel. Be wise now therefore O ye kings, be instructed
ye judges of the earth— serve the the Lord with fear and
rejoice with trembling— kiss the Son lest He be angry
and ye perish from the way when His wrath is kindled
but a little.

If the accounts, which the Scriptures give, of the exal-
tation and universal dominion of Jesus, are to be relied on,
there can be no doubt but that Christianity lies at the foun-
dation of national prosperity. People and rulers must be
imbued with the spirit and observe the institutions of the
Gospel. We insist upon no national establishment of
religion— upon no human encroachments on the rights
of conscience, but we do insist upon the individual and

THE PRESENT CRISIS. 37

personal obligations of every man, throughout the broad
extent of the country, to be a Christian, and the corres-
ponding obligation to act as a Christian in all the depart-
ments of life, whether public or private. As Christiani-
ty is the presiding spirit of all modern civilization, it is
the only defence of nations against barbarism, rude-
ness, anarchy and crime. Let Jesus be enthroned in
every heart— and the nation that is made up of Christian
men will soon be a praise and a joy in every land.

But where the people and rulers know not the medi-
atorial King, whom God has set upon the Holy hill of
Zion — where His Sabbaths are profaned, His temples
deserted, His grace despised — His favour must be with-
drawn — the fountains of national virtue must dry up —
and that land must ultimately be given to wasting and
desolation. The strongest security within which the in-
stitutions of this country can be entrenched, is the pre-
valence of the Christian religion. The State is an ordi-
nance of God as God is in Christ reconciling the world
unto Himself; and to those who have considered the
bearings of the mediatorial government upon the pros-
perity of States, there is nothing surprising in the pre-
sent darkness which overshadows the land. It is the
rebuke of ungodliness and infidelity. From the highest
to the lowest gradations in Society — from the chair of
State, the halls of legislation, the courts of justice, the
popular assemblies of the land, the cry of blasphemy,
profaneness and atheism, has gone to heaven. God's
Sabbaths are polluted for the purposes of gain — licenti-
ous and unprincipled demagogues make it a business to

38 THOUGHTS SUITED TO

cheat the people with flatteries and adulations which are
alike dangerous and blasphemous — offices are sought by
open chicanery and corruption ; and amid scenes of re-
velry and riot — more befitting the orgies of Bacchus
than the deliberations of a free people, the greatest ques-
tions of the nation are discussed. The debauchery of
the people, and the triumph of demagogues, has always
been attended with the worst form of slavery — that bon-
dage of the soul in which every man is afraid to enter-
tain an opinion of his own — in which the individual is
merged in the mass ; and when this result is reached,
the moral economy of the State being defeated, we can
look for nothing but the righteous judgments of God. —
The reign of licentiousness is the prelude of national
dissolution. The people that will not have Jesus to reign
over them, must be slain before Him. He is exalted at
God's right hand, above all principality and power and
dominion, and we must submit to his sceptre, or perish
from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little.

III. But this event may be finally considered as the
death simply of a man, and in this aspect of the case, the
pulpit, it seems to me, w^ould but inadequately discharge
its duty, if it failed to inculcate the distinctive provisions
of the Gospel, as the only means of securing a triumph
over this last enemy. There are many who admire the
morality and praise the spirit of Christianity, but who
are content to form no higher conception of its power
than that of a moral institute, distinguished from the phi-
losophical systems of men, by the larger compass of its
views, and the more commanding influence of its sane-

THE PRESENT CRISIS. 39

tions. This is particularly the case with the educated
men of the country. It is painful to witness the fact that
so many of this class — to which it will be your distinc-
tion to belong — while professing, from the superficial at-
tention they have given to the subject, to believe that
there is something in the Gospel; yet either from a lurk-
ing skepticism, or the absorbing influence of other cares
and pursuits, are, for the most part, profoundly ignorant
of what constitutes its essence and its glory. They view
it from a distance — or detect nothing in it but an author-
itative statement of the principles and tenets of natural
religion. But ask them the question — what a sinner
must do to be saved 1 and the nakedness of their an-
swers will evince too clearly that the great problem of
redemption has never been earnestly considered. The
difficulty is that they have never felt the malignity of sin.
They have never experienced the sentence of condem-
nation in their own souls ; and the consequence is that,
however they may respect the voice of Jesus as a teach-
er, they cannot be brought to submit to Him as a Saviour.
The characteristic distinction of the Gospel, is that it is
the religion of a sinner. It is a grand dispensation of
Providence and grace to rescue man from the condem-
nation and ruin, into which the whole race has been
plunged by rebellion against God. The necessity of its
arrangements is laid in the very nature of moral distinc-
tions—from which it results that sin cannot be pardoned
by an act of authoritative mercy. Without the shedding
of blood there is no remission, and he alone can be pro-
perly denominated a Christian, he alone is entitled to the

40 THOUGHTS SUITED TO

rewards and blessings of Christianity— who, from a deep
consciousness of guilt and rain, has fled for refuge to the
hope set before him in the Gospel. The calumniated
doctrines of grace are the life and soul of our religion.
Personal union with Jesus by the indwelling of the Holy
Spirit is indispensable to a real participation in the ben-
efits of redemption. Through faith in the Divine Re-
deemer death the last enemy is conquered, subdued, de-
stroyed. It becomes a glorious thing to die — it is only a
birth into a new and everlasting state of blessedness and
glory. It is the prerogative of the faithful, and of them
alone, to depart from the world in triumph. There is
no case on record — it has never happened in the expe-
rience of man — that death was welcomed — hailed with
rapture and delight — by any but those for whom its sting
had been extracted by the blood of the great Mediator.
Still we must guard against the delusion that the condition,
of peace or consternation, in which a man expires, is any
certain indication of his future state. The righteous,
through the temporary darkness of unbelief, through ig-
norance, or doubt of their acceptance in the beloved, or as
a just visitation for past neglect, may be permitted to
pass from the world in apprehension and alarm ; while
the impenitent and wicked may be bolstered, in their
last hours, with the same fatal props which have deceived
them through life. The errors which have shaped their
conduct may cling to them until the veil is withdrawn
and eternity has become a matter of experience. It is
no uncommon thing, it is true, for conscience, in the final
struggle, to assert her supremacy — especially in the case

THE PRESENT CRISIS. 41

of those, whose unbelief and disobedience have been a
conflict with reason and judgment. They are permitted,
yet further, to look into futurity, and to read something
of the fearful scroll which will be produced against them
at the bar of God ; and they shrink back, with shudder
and dismay, from the awful catastrophe that awaits them.
Stung by remorse and enlightened by the Scriptures,
they feel that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of
the living God. Death is, indeed, a terrible object — the
very king of terrors— they writhe and agonize and strug-
gle against his encroachments. Clinging to life with the
tenacity of despair, compelled and yet afraid to die—
they curse the day and the hour in which it was said
that a man child was born into the world.

" In that dread moment, how the frantic soul
Raves round the walls of her clay tenement ;
Runs to each avenue and shrieks for help,
But shrieks in vain ! How wishfully she looks
On all she's leaving, now no longer her's !
A little longer, yet a little longer,
Oh ! might she stay to wash away her stains,
And fit her for her passage. Mournful sight !
Her very eyes weep blood ; and every groan
She heaves is big with horrours. But the foe
Like a staunch murderer, steady to his purpose,
Pursues her close through every lane of life,
Nor misses once the track, but presses on ;
Till forced at last to the tremendous verge,
At once she sinks to everlasting ruin."

Such is the end of an awakened sinner !
There are others who depart from life with as much
insensibility as they eat or drink or sleep. Such men are
6

42 THOUGHTS SUITED TO

preeminently sensual. They have never risen to any
just conceptions of themselves — of moral responsibility —
of final retribution — of an immortal being. They have
never felt that life was an earnest or serious reality — it
has been to them merely a routine of mechanical obser-
vances, and as they have lived like beasts, they die like
dogs.

There are others, of a nobler mould, who reconcile
themselves to dissolution by the considerations of a stoical
philosophy. They look upon death as an appointment of
nature — an inevitable event, and they endeavour to pre-
pare themselves to submit to it with dignity and grace,
since resistance is vain and escape impossible. They meet
it, therefore, with the fortitude and courage with which they
would encounter any other calamity. But still it is a ca-
lamity — it is not a messenger to be greeted — not an object
of congratulation, of triumph and of joy. To this attain-
ment paganism was competent before life and immortali-
ty were brought to light in the Gospel. The philosophers
of the ancient world, by their dim and misty speculations,
were nerved to die like heroes, though none could die
like conquerors. But to be content with submission
when victory is within our reach is heroism no longer.
To endure when we might subdue is a low ambition.
How different is the death of a Christian ! I am now
ready to be offered, says the apostle, and the time of my
departure is at hand — I have fought a good fight — I have
finished my course — I have kept the faith. Henceforth
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which
the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day,

THE PRESENT CRISIS. 43

and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his
appearing. We are conquerors and more than oonquer-
ors through him that loved us. Through death He has
destroyed him that had the power of death, that is the
devil, and delivered them who through fear of death
were all their life-time subject to bondage. It is the
glory of Christianity to erect its trophies upon the tomb.
Death and hell were alike led in triumph at the chariot
wheels of Christ, and those who are in Him can sing the
song of exaltation and of victory amid the agonies of
their dissolviug clay.

Let me beg you, my young friends, however you may
be tempted by the examples of the great, not to be con-
tented with distant, partial, defective views of the econ-
omy of God's grace. It is not the greatness of their in-
tellects which keeps them at a distance from Christ — it
is not that they have discovered religion to be a cheat —
not that they have weighed its evidences in the balances
and found them wanting — it is simply because they have
never examined the subject. From the natural aliena-
tion of the heart from God, the influence of early preju-
dice, the distractions of business — the turmoil of ambi-
tion — the absorbing power of their pursuits — they have
kept aloof from this inquiry— and though they have won
for themselves a name which posterity will not willingly
let die — the very qualities of mind by which they have
been enabled to do so, would lead them, if properly di-
rected, to condemn their inattention to religion as an act
of folly, of distraction and of madness. Deceive not your-
selves with vain hopes — Jesus is the only Saviour — in

44 THOUGHTS SUITED TO

the day of final retribution there will be no respect of
persons. On that great day shall be seen " no badge of
State, no mark of age, or rank, or national attire — or robe
professional or air of trade." As in the grave whither we
are all hastening, the rich and the poor are promiscu-
ously mingled together, the distinctions of honour and of
wealth vanish away as colours disappear in the dark, so
in the last day none can be found to claim the titles
which were only current upon earth. It will then be
only " a congregation vast of men — of unappendaged
and unvarnished men — of all but moral character bereav-
ed." The virtues or the crimes which appertain to each
are all that he can carry to the bar of the Judge. All
else will be left in the tomb — as the worthless badges of
mortal and not immortal men.

There is a distinction, however, that shall never fade
away — the distinction created among men by the pos-
session of the Spirit and a personal union with Christ.
In the great day to which we have referred, when God
shall arise to shake terribly the earth, and the destinies
of all the race shall be irrevocably fixed — our right to
life will depend entirely on the witness of the Holy
Ghost. None can sustain their title as sons, but those
whom He has sealed unto the day of redemption. To
appear without His signet on our foreheads and His
impress upon our hearts is to awake to shame and
everlasting contempt. It will not be a question whether
we have been great or mean, honoured or despised —
rich or poor — it will avail nothing that Senates hung
in rapture on our lips and nations bowed obedient to

THE PRESENT CRISIS. 45

our nod — bat it will be a question — the question — the
turning-point of destiny — whether we have the Spirit
of God's Son. If we have been among the misera-
ble skepticks — who have not so much as heard whether
there be a Holy Ghost — if our Christianity has been
nothing more than a baptized paganism — if we have
despised evangelical religion under the name of fan-
aticism — and laughed at pretensions to grace as the
effervescence of enthusiasm — if, from any cause, we have
failed to be born again and to become new creatures, in
Christ Jesus, however admiring multitudes may have
chaunted our requiem and shook the very arches of hea-
vens with their plaudits— unlimited duration will be the
period assigned us to lament our folly and bewail the
consequences of our terrible delusion. My young friends
be not deceived— an endless duration is your destiny —
feel its greatness— look above the earth— look to your
home in the skies — seek for glory, honour, immortality —
but seek them only in the Gospel of God's grace. Resolve
first to lay hold upon eternal life— and then you shall never
need any good thing on earth. What stronger proof
could you demand of the undying nature of the soul than
that which is furnished in the last moments of our de-
parted Senator 1 What stronger proof that our real exis-
tence begins only at the point of death 1 Prepare for that
existence— and your life here will be glorious— your
death triumphant— and your end everlasting peace.

UTION AGAINST HUMAN DEPENDENCE.

A SERMON.

DELIVERED

T. PETER'S CHURCH, CHARLESTON

ON SUNDAY, THE 7th OF APRIL 1850.

BY WM. H. BARNWELL,

RECTOR OF ST. PETERS.

ON THE OCCASION OF THE DEATH

OF THE

[ON. JOHN C CALHOUN

PUBLISHED BY REQUEST.

CHARLESTON:
EDWARD C. COUNCELL, PRINTER, NO. 119 EAST-BAY,

1850.

g^v

Hs X

TO THE PEOPLE OF SOUTH-CAROLINA.
DEEPLY AFFLICTED,

BY THE LOSS OF THEIR GREAT STATESMAN,

THIS SERMON PREACHED ON THE OCCASION OF HIS DEATH,

AND DESIGNED,

NOT SO MUCH TO SET FORTH THE VIRTUES OF THE DECEASED,

ASS TO INCULCATE THE NECESSITY

OF RELYING UPON THE LIVING GOD,

IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED,

BY THEIR FRIEND AND FELLOW CITIZEN,

WM. H. BARNWELL.

CHARLESTON, APRIL 13, 1850.
Rev. Wm. H. Barnwell,

Rev. and Dear Sir— Permit us, as members of your congregation,
to express our gratification at your Sermon preached on Sunday last,
in reference to the death of Mr. Calhoun, and to request a copy of
the same for publication.

We are, dear sir,

Yours very respectfullj',

CHAS. EDMONDSTON,
JAS. ROSE.
GEO. M. COFFIN,
GEO. A. TRENHOLM,
C. G. MEMMINGER,
CHAS. A. DESAUSSURE,
W. C. BEE,
HOPSON P1NCKNEY.
C. T. MITCHELL,
ROBT. A. PRINGLE,
M. W. COLCOCK,
JAS. S. G1BBES.
CHAS. N. HUBERT,
THEO. D. WAGNER.

CHARLESTON, APRIL 15, 1850.

Gentlemen — Yours of the 13th was duly received. It affords me
satisfaction to learn that you were gratified with the discourse refer-
red to in your communication ; and in compliance with your request
I herewith enclose a copy for publication.

Very sincerely and respectfully,
Your friend and pastor,

WM. H. BARNWELL.

Messrs. Chas. Edmondston, Jas. Rose, and others.

Library* J

^s- °t California

SERMON.

Isaiah, 3-22. — " Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is
he to be accounted of?"

The name of this Prophet, Isaiah, literally the Salvation
of God, expresses the chief topics of his predictions — the
coming of the Messiah, and the deliverance it was to accom-
plish. His disclosures of the birth, person, sufferings and
glory of the Redeemer, are so vivid and full, as to entitle him
to the name of the Evangelic Seer. His vision overleaps time
and space, and places before himself and his hearers, events to
occur in periods and countries exceedingly remote. The general
scope of his writings, was to rebuke the sins, not only of Judah,
but of the ten tribes of Israel and the Gentiles ; to invite per-
sons of every rank and nation to repentance, by promises of
pardon and peace ; and to comfort the truly pious (in the midst
of all the calamities and judgments denounced against the
wicked) with prophetic assurances of the true Messiah, which in
their distinctness seem almost to anticipate the Gospel History.

The particular prophetic discourse from which the text is
taken, includes the second, third and fourth chapters of this
Sacred writer ; and while the kingdom of the Messiah, and the
conversion of the Gentiles are foreshown in the former part of
it ; the punishment of the unbelieving Jews, for their idolatrous
practice, their confidence in their own strength and distrust of
God's protection ; the destruction of idolatry consequent to the
coming of Christ ; the calamities of the Babylonian invasion
and captivity ; together with an amplification of the distress of
the proud and luxurious daughters of Zion, would form a picture
utterly apalling, but for the promises, with which it closes, to the
remnant who shall have escaped, of a future restoration to the
favor and protection of God.

It is in the midst of the minatory part of these prophetic
announcements, that the inspired bard, in the peculiarly para-
bolic style of Hebrew poetry, which under images taken from

things natural, artificial, religious and historical, exhibits things
divine, spiritual, moral and political, utters one of the most
striking descriptions of the abasement of human pride before
the majesty of Jehovah, that the mind of man has ever con-
ceived and given expression to.

" Enter into the Rock ! and hide, thee in the dust,
For fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his Majesty.
The lofty looks of man shall be humbled,
And the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down,
And the Lord alone, shall be exalted in that day,
For the day of the Lord of Hosts shall be
Upon everyone that is proud and lofty,

And upon every one that is lifted up, and he shall be brought low ;
And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up,
And upon all the oaks of Bashan,
Andupon all the high mountains.
And upon all the hills that are lifted up,
And upon every high tower,
And upon every fenced wall,
■ And upon all the ships of Tarshish,
And upon all pleasant 'pictures.
And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down,
And the haughtiness of men shall be made low :
And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.
And the idols He shall utterly abolish.
And they shall go into the holes of the rocks,
And into the caves of the earth,

For fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His Majesty,
When He ariseth to shake terribly the earth.

In that day, a man shall cast his idols oj silver and his idols of gold,
Which they made, each one for himself to worship,
To the moles and to the bats;
To go into the clefts of the rocks,
And into the tops of the ragged rocks,
For the fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty,
When He ariseth to shake terribly the earth."

Then, as if to intimate, that God's judgment was provoked

by an idolatrous dependence upon human means, he cautions
them against this, in the words before us —

" Cease ye from man, ivkose breath is in his nostrils ;
For wherein is he to be accounted of?' 1

We have here then, a solemn remonstrance against undue
reliance upon man, based upon his mortality and insufficiency.
And the use to be made of it is, I presume, anticipated by you.

The nation seems to feel afflicted, and our commonwealth
mourns over her departed statesman, like a mother over an
only son. Whatever prejudices may have prevailed against
him, during his life, are apparently, dispersed by the stroke of
that Divine hand, which has removed him from earth ; and
those who in the discharge of their public duties, had felt them-
selves constrained to differ from him most widely, have seemed
to take a mournful satisfaction in proffering their prompt and
decided testimony to the purity of his character, and the great-
ness of his abilities.

You will not, of course, expect me, either to touch upon
party politics, or to attempt any thing like a eulogy of the illus-
trious dead. The pulpit is certainly not the appropriate place
for political discussions ; nor is there any disposition on my
part, to interfere at present with the allotted province of others,
by obtruding upon you my own views, either of the great
questions which have agitated the nation, since this distinguished
statesman entered upon public life, or of the course he has
pursued in reference to them.

My object is, only as your Minister, to improve to your spirit-
ual good, a striking event in the Providence of God, which has
probably occupied more of your thoughts and conversation,
since last we met, than any other subject, unconnected with
your personal concerns.

One who is set as a watchman upon the Towers of Zion,
ought not to be an unobservant or uninterested spectator of
events which engross the public mind. Hoping to influence
for God, as it is his province to do, so far as he may, the wills
of his hearers ; and expecting to accomplish this pious end, by
appeals to their understandings and their hearts ; it is important

tfiat he should not only be familiar with the intellectual and
emotional nature of man in general ; but that for the timely
inculcation of Divine Truth, he should avail himself of any
insight he may obtain into the particular state of mind and
feeling, which passing occurrences produce, either in his own
congregation or in the community at large. " A word spoken
in due season, hoiu good is it"

That there is needed at present, throughout our Union, a
solemn remonstrance against an undue reliance upon human
abilities, whether to devise plans for the better government of
mankind, or to carry them into operation, can scarcely be ques-
tioned ; and if the death of one whose profound political saga-
city was universally acknowledged, and whose noble, devoted
patriotism has been signally evinced for so long a period, shall
have the effect of turning the confidence of the people from
man, whose breath is in his nostrils, and who in his highest
and best developments of mental power is but little to be
accounted of, to God who liveth forever, and who only is a
present help in every time of need ; the loss, which not only
our native State, but the civilized world, has sustained in this
afflictive event, will be more than compensated.

The Jews, to whom Isaiah's warning was delivered, were
prone to rely upon their alliances with the surrounding Heathen
Nations, the Egyptians, Syrians and Assyrians, instead of con-
fiding in their own covenant God ; and His jealousy, which is
represented in Scripture, as one of His chief though most terri-
ble attributes, is thus incessantly exasperated against them.
u The Egyptians" saith He, in a woe denounced against this
practice> through this same Prophet, Isaiah, " The Egyptians,
are men, and not God ; and their horses flesh and not spirit.
When the Lord shall stretch out His hand, both he that helpeth
shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down ; and they
shall all fail together"

It can scarcely be charged upon the people of these United
States, that they are inclined to rely upon any foreign
power for aid ; or that they are tempted to forget God, by
entanglements with the affairs of other nations. In this res-
pect, the counsel of him who has justly been called the Father
of his Country, has been in general complied with ; though
a political philosopher who should attempt to trace our

last war with Great Britain to its hidden springs, may perhaps
discover some of them in the sympathies, by which the two
great parties that divided the country, had become respectively
attached to France and England, the chief belligerents of the
day.

But whether as a nation, we are not withdrawn from a pro-
per dependence upon the Almighty, by an extravagant estimate
of ourselves, is a question, which it is to be feared even the
most overweening admirer of our country, would be constrained
to settle against us. Nor is there reason to hope, that the jea-
lousy of the Great Sovereign of the Universe, will be less pro-
voked by an estrangement from Him, which results out of an
undue dependence upon talent, education, attainment, expe-
rience, skill, popular opinion, and our Federal and State Con-
stitutions, than by those Heathenish alliances which were the
great source of idolatry on the part of the Jews.

Not that these things are unimportant in their place ; or are
not to be often times regarded as the grounds for devout grati-
tude to God. Who that contemplates with the most sober con-
sideration, that innate force of the human mind, which inclines
it spontaneously to the easy acquisition of knowledge, or the
successful execution of practical affairs, but must admire its
mysterious power 1 And who that witnesses the steady but
almost miraculous results of education, applying as it were
a vegetative principle to the mental faculties, and causing them
to grow, bud, blossom and bear fruit ; can fail to appreciate it
highly, as a most efficient instrumentality ? Or who can reflect
upon the immense power derived from knowledge ; putting one
man in possession of the experience of ages — or who can turn
his thoughts to the vast advantages of experience ; judging of
men and things, not upon the vague basis of conjecture, but
upon the certain conclusions of one who has tried them— or
who can observe the consummate effects of skill ; marshalling
and arranging the substances of matter, or the principles of
nature, or the thoughts of the mind, nay and often the purposes
and actions of men in a wonderful manner ? — Who can take
such a view of these advantages, without being thankful, that
the Ruler of the Universe has bestowed them so largely upon
our fellow countrymen? Or who can notice without awe,

the insensible, yet tremendous agency of popular opinion, heav-
ing like some billow from shore to shore? Or who can
examine the admirably contrived, and beautifully balanced
system of our Great Federal Republic — without regarding it as
a model for all men capable of self-government, and desiring
not only its perpetuity here, but its extension every where? Yet
to one of spiritual discernment, all of these blessing with which
we have been so highly favored by a beneficent Providence,
may clearly appear to have become Idols ; — and it may be
justly said — not only of the more worldly and sensual, but of
the more refined and intellectual and virtuous and patriotic.

" They worship the work of their own hands,
That which their own fingers have made."

In the history of nations, as of individuals, there occur criti-
cal periods, when the most important consequences hang upon
particular acts, which impart to the future its cast and color.
That such a crisis is at hand in our national affairs, seems to
be the general apprehension ; and that one, who of all others
was the best qualified in talent, education, knowledge, expe-
rience, skill, control over popular opinion, and familiarity with
the principles of the Confederacy, to give direction to affairs,
should be struck down in his sphere of high and responsible
duty, just ai the time when his services were most needed, and
when too, according to his own calm judgment, as expressed
but the evening before his death, he could accomplish more
good, by an hour's speech, than he had ever done before ; seems
a forcible illustration of the Prophet's warning to cease relying
upon man, whose breath is in his nostrils.

Nor is itprobable that had his valuable life been prolonged, and
health been restored to him, he would have been able to produce
the effect he desired and toiled for. It seems incidental to the
'very nature of Republican Governments, that public men of ex-
traordinary ability and sterling integrity, should be viewed with
jealousy, not only by those whose political views and interests
differ from theirs ; but by those who in the main agree with them.
Hence, statesmen of the first order, have been frequently superse-
ded, by persons far inferior, but from circumstances, more popular,

It cannot be doubted, that the deceased, was regarded with the
more jealousy out of his native State, on account of the
unbounded influence, which for so long a time, he had enjoyed
within it. By both of the political parties, he was looked upon
as one who would not hesitate in any public emergency, that
seemed to demand it, to act an independent part. By both of
the sections, North and South, he was regarded as standing
somewhat in the way of some present or prospective favorite
candidate for the Chief Magistracy of the Union. So that
even of him, who had made Government, especially our own
Constitutional Government, his ardent and laborious study ;
who had filled with the most signal success, and spotless purity
most of the highest offices of that Government ; — who carried
habitually into every duty that he undertook, a lofty enthusiasm,
a comprehensive forecast, an intrepid purpose, and an indefati-
gable assiduity, even of him so profound, so experienced, so
honored and so efficient, there is reason to think, that many
who could not but admire him, were beginning to say with the
Prophet, wherein is he to be accounted of?"

The reciprocal attachment between himself and his native
State, one of the most remarkable features of his character, and
circumstances of his life, should impress with peculiar force
upon her citizens, the necessity of ceasing from man.

True, he never forsook, never betrayed her. Never ceased
to watch over her political welfare, with a sleepless vigilance —
never failed to warn her of even distant danger — never hesita-
ted to front every foe that assailed her, — and to sacrifice freely
in her cause, every high hope of personal ambition. If ever
there was a Statesman, who in that stern and hazardous, yet
necessary warfare of politics, where so many of the greatest
talents and experience, have suffered themselves to be frightened
from their steadfastness, or corrupted from their integrity, or
enticed from their devotion — if ever there was a Statesman,
who could claim from his constituents entire confidence ; the
voice of South-Carolina, not sobbing as it now is over his loss,
but in the firm and unaltered tones of more than forty years
proud and affectionate reliance, proclaims — this was he. And
yet see the vanity of making man our stay ! His breath flickers
from his nostrils, when most needed to make his last appeal in
2

her cause j and into that hall which had been to him the field
of so many intellectual battles — less bloody it is true, but not
less severe and galling than those of the sword — he is brought
forth like a slain, but unconquered hero, stretched upon his
bier.

If there be no impropriety in so applying the touching pas-
sage of Scripture, it seems to me, our beloved commonwealth
might be personified, as the Royal Minstrel of Israel uttering
that pathetic lamentation over his best earthly friend.

;{ How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle !

Jonathan ! thou wast slain in thine high places,

1 am distressed for thee my brother Jonathan :
Very pleasant hast thou been unto me.

Thy love to me was ivonderful.

Passing the love of women,

How are the mighty fallen.

And the weapons of war perished /"

He, does not seem to me, to have studied profoundly either
the nature of man, or the characteristics of the age, who is not
ready to acknowledge the vast ascendancy of energy over
numbers, of mind over matter, of virtue over every thing else ;
and glancing back upon the history of our common country,
for the last forty years, and inquiring into the causes of that
immense influence, which our great Statesman exerted ; we
shall discover an illustration of these truths, so important, not
only to the political and social, but to the moral welfare, both
of the public and of individuals. Had he been the citizen of a
large and populous State, whose votes in the Electoral College,
might have settled almost any Presidential question ; or had he
been possessed of great wealth, which with shame be it spoken,
exercises but too potent a sway over the people ; or had he con-
descended to those arts of chicanery, by which popularity is
too often obtained ; we might the less wonder at the almost
magical power, which for so long a time he wielded. But his
native State was comparatively small and feeble — bright it is
true, in the waning prestige of Revolutionary glory, and in
the character of many of her living sons— but yet gradually

losing her rank in the scale of confederated constellations, as
State after State emerged from the horizon and ascended above
her. His private means were always limited ; — probably, never
more than enough to sustain and educate his family. His
lofty scorn of every thing mean and debasing, kept him aloof
from the petty intrigues of personal and party politics. Yet
what a vast place has he filled in the public history of his
generation, and what a strong impulse has his genius given to
the spirit of his age — that invisible, impalpable, but mighty
influence, which pervades and moulds and in the end, controls
affairs. Whence was this ? Even his enemies will be now
ready to ascribe it to his mind, his eneigy, his virtue. And
when they say this, they not only place his character upon the
firmest and loftiest human pedestal • but they render involun-
tarily perhap?, a high homage to the Deity ; while they add
force and emphasis to the Prophet's warning. " Cease ye from
man, whose breath is in his nostrils ; for wherein is he to be
accounted off

It would be treason to Natural as well as Revealed Religion,
not to maintain the legitimate supremacy of intellect, will and
benevolence. Fame would be worthless, nay, would be per-
nicious, if accorded to one who could lay no claim to these.
But God and man, concur in this ; that without a mind to
discern duty, and without a purpose to perform it, and above
all without a heart disinterestedly to desire its performance ;
none can be fully qualified for that proper fulfilment of high
and responsible offices, which in all ages and nations entitles
one to the confidence of his contemporaries, and the praises of
posterity. You need not be informed, that God is the author
and preserver of every clear and vigorous mind, of every firm
and energetic will, and of every virtuous and benevolent
emotion. The student of Scripture, and the mere observer of
human conduct, however they differ in other things, probably
agree in ascribing ultimately to the Deity, not only many of the
results of human actions, but much that contributes to the for-
mation of individual character. Nor can any but an Atheist,
contemplate such a life as that we are noticing, without per*
ceiving what the deceased himself believed in, the controlling

influence of a Divine Mind, and a particular Providence, ful-
filling all events, and shaping all characters, according to an
infinitely wise and good and fore-ordained plan. To conceive
of a mind like that of the deceased, being constituted by
chance ; or to conceive of his purposes, fraught as they have
been with momentous consequences, being determined without
God; or to conceive of his virtuous principles being formed, and
his kind emotions, being exercised without any control what-
ever from Him in u whose hands are the hearts of all men as
streams of water ;" would be as contrary to the deductions of
sound philosophy as to the teachings of Scripture. If, in any
piece of complicated machinery, you should perceive a combi-
nation of powers, directed with force to one end, and that end a
useful one ; would you not laugh to scorn the impertinence,
whether learned or simple, which should attempt to convince
you, that natural laws merely, and not mind; accident and not
design ; curiosity and not the desire of usefulness, had wrought
such an instrument ? If you beheld a body of troops, composed
of the various kinds of the service, performing with mechani-
cal, almoot noiseless precision, a great variety of military evo-
lutions ; would you not smile at the childlike simplicity, which
should surmise that, each weapon, and each war-horse, and
each rank and each man, was moved by some magical or some
independent influence ; and not, that there was one command-
ing mind, who had settled it all at his council board, and was
reviewing his machinery to see how it worked ? And if you
saw a terrible yet grand mass of living valor like this, glowing
to evince its skill, not on mere fields of sport, but on the bloody
arena of battle, against those who were conceived to be ene-
mies ; should you see a large, well disciplined, well officered
army, red-hot for war, restrained in the desired work of destruc-
tion, or invasion ; and reserved only for purposes of peace and
usefulness ; you would wonder at the perverseness, which
ascribed so beneficial and humane, and philanthropic a result,
to any but a good motive on the part of him who originated it.
The wisdom, the energy, the humanity, which would be con-
spicuous in one who deeming an efficient army, necessary for
the safety of his country — prepares one, and then, when it had
been prepared, advocates Peace ; would command forever the

* 17

world's admiration. It will be for the eulogist of this departed
son of South-Carolina — with the blood of revolutionary heroes
in his veins — born and living among scenes teeming with tradi-
tions of British cruelty — bred in habits of hardy independence,
which looked only at the end, and despisid intervening obsta-
cles — entering upon public life at a time when the women of
our country, glowed at the insults which the haughty cross of
St. George, dominant on every wave, inflicted upon the Eagle ;
and when " Free Trade and Sailors' Rights" was the watch-
word of our very boys — having carried by his immense influ-
ence, against an old and talented and most respectable party,
the party of Washington himself, the party of the leading minds
in his own native State, measures preliminary to the Declara-
tion of war with England — having conducted with triumphant
executive ability, in the face of immense difficulties, the hostili-
ties to a prosperous close—having re-organized the War De-
partment with wonderful method and efficiency — having con-
tributed to develope all the resources bf the country even at the
expense of the General Revenue, and at the sacrifice of some
of his cherished political theories — having previously favored
the acquisition of new territory — and having just completed the
annexation of Texas, through his jealousy of British interfer-
ence—it will be for the eulogist of Mr. Calhoun to say how
much credit he ought to receive on the score of philanthropy,
when thus descended, thus trained, thus stimulated to war
with England, by all the associations of the past, and perhaps
all the prospects of personal elevation for the future— he stood
forth in the Senate Chamber— on the Oregon Question— and
against his party — advocated Peace. But 1 refer to the sub-
ject now, not so much to excite in your minds admiration for
the dead,— though trusting as I do, that the time will come,
referred to by Isaiah in the very chapter before us, when

<: Men shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
And their spears into pruning hooks,
When nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war any more."

I doubt not this instance of wise and strong and humane
2*

forbearance, will beam forth among the brightest of History.
I refer to it, however, for the purpose of awakening gratitude
to God, and cautioning you not to rely upon man, but upon
Him concerning whom the Psalmist has declared — " The
shields of the earth belong unto God ; He is greatly exalted."
To admire the character and conduct of the human instru-
ment, who under such circumstances, served to protect our
country and Great Britain, nay, our common humanity from
such a war ; and yet to withold admiration from that exalted
Being, upon whom that instrument professedly relied, and who,
unquestionably had both prepared him for that crisis, and that
crisis for him ; would be as illogical as irreligious. I do not
say that we have any right to withold from the man, the praise
which is justly due to him for his foresight and firmness and
enlarged benevolence. What, as God's Minister, I claim, is,
that the Chief Supreme Honor of making the man, what he
was, and enabling him to act as he did, be ascribed to Him —
and what I entreat of you is, be persuaded by the very case
before us, to cease from man, for wherein is he to be accounted
of? Lauded as the humanity of our Statesman was, for act-
ing so nobly as a " shield " against war with England, and for
attempting to prevent, and bring to a close that with Mexico —
still, when after a life spent, not in the service of the South,
but of the whole Union, — with a frame broken down by Sena-
torial toils, and burnt out, by the workings of its ardent and
patriotic spirit — with a foresight acknowledged to be almost
prophetic, he implores, with confessions of weakness, which
coming from such a source, ought to have proved overpower-
ing — one section of his country, to forbear from aggressions upon
the chartered Institutions of the other. — Institutions among
which many of our noblest and best men had grown up,
had lived and died — Institutions which he ha 1 proved to
demonstration, were essential to the very existence of the
inferior race subject to them, and without which, he had
conclusively shown, that the prosperity of the whole country,
and the cause of civilization would be thrown back — when,
with almost dying lips — nay, through the lips of another, for
his own were too feeble for the utterance of his last weighty
charge — he solemnly implored forbearance and the preservation

of Constitutional Equality, he is censured even by some of his
political friends, and his enlarged humanity, and conservative
wisdom, misconstrued into self-interest, and sectional prejudice
by the most generous of his opponents. " Cease ye then from
man, whose breath is in his nostrils ; for wherein is he to be
accounted off

The infinite disparity which exists, between the mind, will
and excellence of man, even in his highest condition, and
those of God, should impress upon all the admonition of the
text.

The human mind is, unquestionably, an object of great inter-
est, and a source of immense power. When originally large
and strong and fully developed and disciplined, it sets man upon
an eminence only little lower than the angels. It looks intui-
tively, not only into the nature of things around ; but into its
own nature, and aspires to know somewhat of the nature of
God. It analyses, not only material, but immaterial objects.
It investigates, not only the Laws which regulate matter, and
ascertains and establishes the principles of Natural Science;
but it searches with deep and earnest scrutiny, those still more
hidden laws, which govern the political state, and forms and
arranges the difficult science of Government. None of the
pursuits of the human mind ought to be discouraged or despis-
ed. But next to Theology, the science of the soul, and Meta-
physics the science of the mind, Government is entitled to be
regarded as the most noble and dignified study; whether
we view the materials, upon which it works, the mental
powers it demands, or the momentous results that flow from it.
While the Naturalist is classifying the physical world ; inform-
ing us of the nature and habits and qualities of objects animate
and inanimate which belong to our globe ; the Political Philo-
sopher contemplates the History of Nations, diving down into
the fundamental principles, upon which generations of the
human race have been governed, and determining the con-
ditions upon which rational and intelligent beings, having
emerged from the savage state, have been enabled to live toge-
ther in harmony, and prosper in Political Union.

When a mind of high order, qualified by nature and educa-
tion and experience for such a study, puts forth its powers in

close application, it is engaged in a work, that tasks it to the
utmost, and the conclusions to which it comes, must be regard-
ed with great deference, so long as man continues to be the
subject of Government. The welfare of the remotest Nations,
that important welfare which consists in good government, may-
be affected by its labors. In the judgment of mankind, those
minds which have toiled successfully in these pursuits, have
ranked among the highest and noblest. Their abstractions and
theories sway multitudes, long after they are departed. But
compare with the greatest of these, the Divine Mind, and how
infinite the disparity ! Conceive, so for as you can, of this Mind
of Minds — Original— Omniscient — One— enthroned in Eternity ;
and planning in the counsel of the Mysterious Trinity in Unity,
the Constitution and Government not of all mankind only, but
of Angels and Arch-Angels— nay, arranging with infallible
precision how fallen men are to be redeemed, and revolted
spirits to be controlled — how innumerable myriads of rational,
free, responsible beings, in Heaven, on earth, and under the
earth, are to be so swayed and directed forever, as to bring most
glory to God, and most good to His elect !

Follow the movements of this inconceivable Mind ; see it
inspiring the Prophets, raising up Judges, and Rulers, and
Teachers of Righteousness— see it preparing those who were
to build up and destroy Heathen Kingdoms — making use of
Philosophers, Orators, Poets and Lawgivers — wielding to its
purposes the swords of conquerors, — the enterprize of voyagers —
the ingenuity of inventors, the genius of artists, and the policy
of cabinets — nay, pervading, informing and governing every
other mind in the whole Moral Dominion ! Think of this, and
say whether such a Mind may not justly warn you to cease
from all dependence upon created Intelligences, and to trust
implicitly upon its wisdom and counsel.

But the measureless superiority of God's power over all
human energy, should conduct us to the same conclusion.

Not that in the conduct of human affairs, that hidden force,
that power of will is to be despised, which, when it has an end
to accomplish, turns the very elements into its servants, and
converts obstacles into the means of success. Invested with
executive power, this energy of purpose achieves results almost

supernatural. Order is educed out of confusion — promptness
supplants delay — vigor expels inertness — prosperity overspreads
the gloomy face of every thing, and that cheerful confidence, so
essential to success, and which grows out of a mutual conscious-
ness of power, fills every bosom. Such is the effect which a
strong and active will, guided by an intelligent mind, exerts
almost instantaneously upon human affairs.

But how can we compare this with the Almighty power and
irresistible energy of God ? Unseen except in its results — Om-
nipresent, filling all space at one and the same time — coming
into contact with every being, and every object, every instant ;
and giving to all not only their motive powers, their inherent
forces, but their very existence — entering insensibly into the
very spirits of men and Angels, and imparting their impulses —
riding upon the wings of the winds — sweeping onward in the
flames of fire — breathing in the storm — teeming in the vegeta-
tive principle — working in the laws of gravitation — flashing in
the electric fluid — operating in every way that can be conceived
of— what limit is there to the power of God ? How entire
then, should be our dependence upon him ! How singular to
rely upon man, whose breath is in his nostrils, and whose
energy if not wasted by disease or indolence is utterly extin-
guished by death ! How strange the infatuation, to trust in man,
and not in God whose power is infinite, incomprehensible, irre-
ristible, universal, perpetual !

But the Divine Goodness, as compared with that of the best
of men, renders still more impressive the warning of the text.
It is not necessary to deny to many whose souls do not seem to
be spiritually renewed, a natural benevolence and kindness, and
an enlarged philanthrophy, which prompt them not only to
fulfil the offices of affection to their friends and families ; but
to seek to promote the happiness and welfare of the world at
large. Sacrifices of time, and thought, and ease, and comfort,
and even of influence and personal aggrandizement, are thus
often made, for the service, not of oneself, but of others, stran-
gers it may be or enemies. The beneficent fruits of human
kindness are chiefly to be seen and felt, in the domestic and
friendly circle; but they are not confined there. There is
often in minds of the highest order, and greatest energy, a

strong and earnest desire to promote the happiness of all. And
in public measures, which are suspected of being set on foot
chiefly for personal or party purposes, there is often a broad
and deep under-current of good feeling and wholesome benevo-
lence, which coming from God, and benefiting man, ought not
to be disparaged. Indeed, without some degree of goodness
and benevolence, a character is exceedingly defective, and
unworthy of confidence. Philanthrophy, true, intelligent, con-
siderate, warm, yet sober philanthropy, lies at the foundation of
both public and private virtue. Kindness, genuine kindness,
is the social bond of nations and communities, as well as fami-
lies. Love pure, fervent love, is the badge of Christian disciple-
ship. And thanks be to God ! — our earth and our country are
still blessed and adorned with many examples of these benefi-
cent emotions. But, contrast with them all, not only that now
are, but that have ever been, the goodness and loving kindness
of God ! Is it necessary that I shall dwell upon these ? Need
I do more than simply advert to them ? Are you not as fami-
liar with my views and feelings on this grand and inspiring,
yet melting theme, as with the names of your friends and chil-
dren 7 What has. my ministry been among you, from the first
time it began, until this day ? What is is now ? What is it
hereafter to be, but an attempt, earnest, sincere, yet too often
fruitless attempt to exhibit to you the wonderful love of God
as evinced in the gift of His Son 3 What theme has been
brought to your notice so constantly, as the amazing goodness
of God, which beams forth from the doctrine of a Crucified
Redeemer — a Messiah, coming to conquer not by the sword, but
by suffering — a Prince of Peace — preserving and restoring har-
mony between God and His Moral Intelligencies, — not by
intrigue — not by deception — not by a surrender of any of the
Majesty of the Godhead — or of any of the moral and intelec-
tual privileges of man, — but by a Mediation — based upon his
own sacrificial death, and perfect obedience — a King of Kings —
reigning, not over the mere persons and property, but over the
hearts of his people — a Comforter of the afflicted — teaching
them not to forget their sorrows or drown them in dissipation
and business, but to cast them upon him — a Friend to sinners —

assuring them of forgiveness, if they repent and trust in Him—
a Helper to the poor and needy — and despised and injured—
pointing them to his own earthly condition, who though rich,
became poor, that they through his poverty might be made
rich — and promising them if faithful, a seat and crown at his
side on His glorious Throne.

If all that, as God's minister, and your servant for Christ's
sake, I have said to you upon the warranty of the Holy Scrip-
tures, of the Divine Goodness and Love in Christ, has not satis-
fied you, of its all-sufficiency, as a foundation for your reliance —
let me then, this day, entreat you, in all the emergencies and
perplexities, whether political, ecclesiastical, social or personal,
that may arise and annoy you — listen to the voice of God
through the Prophet — " Cease ye from man, whose breath is in
his nostrils ; for wherein is he to be account of /"

Whether as a judgment for our public and private transgres-
sions, God in his Providence means to shake in our hitherto
happy and united country, the Political Heavens and Earth,
as he has done in Europe— and abase before His Majesty here,
as he has done there, the high personages, and offices, which
have been lifting up their heads against him — it is not for us
to know. At least, let us bear in mind — that in such distress-
ing agitations — the Rock that we are to get into is the Rock
of Ages — based upon the eternal counsel of God — and shelter-
ing all who resort to it, by the covenanted Wisdom, Power
and Love, of the one only and true God, the Holy Blessed and
Glorious Trinity ! That the family of the deceased, and all
in our native State, and our whole country, who lament his
removal from earth, may be led to trust in his Great and Ador-
able Being — is my fervent prayer.

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